As we prepare to celebrate the Feast of Scotland’s only canonised martyr, St John Ogilvie, Feast 10 March, the following interview on priestly celibacy is of much interest…

Interview With Psychiatrist and Professor

By Carmen Elena Villa

ROME, MARCH 8, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Priestly celibacy is not psychologically dangerous, and in fact, sexual behavior based on “anything goes” is what is truly destructive to the personality.

This is the affirmation made by Dr. Aquilino Polaino Lorente, a physician and psychiatrist who teaches courses on psychopathology at the University of St. Paul in Madrid. Click here to read more

N O T I C E S . . .

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The hysteria provoked by the killers of James Bulger is thus all the more extreme because their crimes have held up a terrible mirror to society. Click here to read more

Tell us what you think. Is it right to protect the  Bulger killers? Does Jon Venables deserve another new identity?  Is it a case of piling on the Christian compassion or should there be a bit more  ”eye for an eye”  in society’s treatment of Jon Venables, second time around?

In a remarkable interfaith gesture, Fifth Annual Catholic Diocesan Youth Rally held at Reno (Nevada, USA), involving Catholic teenagers from various parts of Nevada, heard from area Muslim-Hindu-Buddhist-Jewish leaders.

Catholic teenagers listened intently in the chapel of Bishop Manogue Catholic High School to Muslim imam Abdulrahim Barghouthi, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, Buddhist priest William S. Bartlett, and Jewish rabbi Teri E. Appleby, explaining the tenets of their respective faiths, highlighting similarities. It ended with recitation of Gayatri Mantra (most sacred mantra of Hinduism from the oldest scripture Rig-Veda, dating to around 1,500 BCE) by Zed.
Click here to read more

And don’t think this phenomenon of providing opportunities for pupils to actively participate in the worship of  false gods is restricted to Catholic schools in the USA – I had an email a couple of days ago from a parent here in Scotland, expressing shock that his daughter was being taught to sing the praises of the Hindu god Shiva.

Let’s be clear:  we’re not talking about pupils being informed about other beliefs. We’re talking about Catholic schools actively promoting false religions. Put this together with our discussion about the invitation to public dissenter, ex-priest, Professor Tom Groome to lecture priests, teachers and catechists of the Archdiocese of Glasgow and you won’t be surprised to discover why we’re asking the question about parental duty.

Parents have a duty to protect and nurture the Faith of their offspring. Catholic schools share this responsibility (with the consent of the parents) but if the schools fail to teach the Faith and, instead, promote false religions, what can and should parents do about the situation?

In short, if you can think of one single reason why parents should continue to send their children to a Catholic school, whether in Scotland, England,  the USA, or anywhere else, we’d like to hear from you. Or, do parents now have a clear duty to withdraw their children from Catholic schools, to prevent malformation in the Faith?

A reader emailed the following message a couple of days ago:

I had a discussion yesterday about the forthcoming General Election this year.  That got me thinking and doing some research.  I found the draft manifesto of the Christian Party to be very interesting, especially the comments on homeschooling and life issues.  What do you think?
http://www.christianparty.org.uk/downloads/CPmanifestoDraftNov2009.pdf

Well?  What do YOU think?  To help you formulate your thoughts, I’ve copied the introductory article from a previous thread – at the time of the European Elections in 2009.

“Judgment Day is on its way. We cannot stop it. We don’t know when it will come, but just as surely as the sun rises daily, the Son of Man will come when we least expect.

Judgment Day is on its way. For many, this coming election may very well be judgment day, for this election will measure us. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells us in 10:32-33: “Everyone who acknowledges Me before others, I will acknowledge before My heavenly Father. But whoever denies Me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.

Judgment Day is on its way. When my time comes, I will be measured by my Savior for the decisions I have made. I will either be acknowledged by Jesus or denied by Him in the presence of our heavenly Father. The question I need to ask myself is this: What kind of witness will I give to Him when I go into the voting booth this election day?” Click here to read more

“…you cannot vote for a politician who is pro-abortion when you have a choice and remain a Catholic in good standing. For some Catholics this is a hard teaching, but I am simply repeating church teaching: “Human life is sacred because from the beginning it involves the creative action of God (Gospel of Life, par. 53)…the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being (abortion and euthanasia) is always gravely immoral (Gospel of Life, par. 57, 65)…protecting the mother’s health does not justify the deliberate killing of an innocent human being (Gospel of Life, par. 58).” Click here to read more

Well?  What DO you think?  Who, if anyone, can we vote for at the next General Election which is just around the corner.  Does the Christian Party look good to you – or what?  More to the point, which Party will you feel right about, at your Judgment?

Click on ‘comments’ right now to share your thoughts…

Peers have voted to lift the ban on same sex couples holding civil partnership ceremonies inside churches. The House of Lords agreed an amendment to the Equality Bill which would allow, but not compel, religious organisations to host the occasions. Gay rights campaigners celebrated the change, but opponents said it could be impractical and undermine marriage.

Click here to read the entire report – and then click on ‘comments’ with your thoughts.   Will this move undermine marriage?  Is this the thin end of the wedge – WILL churches, inevitably, perhaps, be forced to conduct same-sex civil partnerships?

This is a topic some of  us have discussed  recently in conversation but somehow it passed us by on the blog. Click here to read more and  then click on ‘comments’ to tell us if it’s stretching things to suggest that the Pope is wrong to be in favour of a one-world Government, if, indeed, he is keen to promote it.  He’s entitled to his opinion, isn’t he? 

“A Catholic faith school can say to their pupils: ‘We believe as a religion contraception is wrong.’ But what they can’t do is therefore say that they are not going to teach contraception to children, how to access contraception, or how to use contraception. What this changes is that for the first time these schools cannot just ignore these issues or teach only one side of the argument.

“They also have to teach that there are different views on homosexuality. They cannot teach homophobia. They must explain civil partnerships. They must give a balanced view on abortion. They must give both sides of the argument. They must explain how to access an abortion. The same is true on contraception as well.”

He added: “To have the support of the Catholic Church and Archbishop Nichol [sic] in these changes is, I think, very, very important, is a huge step forward…Fr Tim Finigan, a parish priest and blogger in Blackfen, Kent, said: ‘Catholic schools cannot give information about how to access the local abortion clinic since this would be formal co-operation in a grave evil.’”
Click here to read the entire article

THE head of one of Scotland’s leading Catholic schools has said the religious world he and others grew up in “is gone”. He said: “There’s no doubt that the Catholic world I was brought up in has gone. Click here to read the entire article

Mr Stoer is clearly blissfully unaware that one of the reasons the (authentic) Catholic world “is gone” is because of pseudo-Catholics like him, being allowed undue influence over pupils and their parents, also the victims of an impoverished Catholic education.  This, remember, is the home, not just of the disgraceful Gonzaga Lectures, but the forthcoming visit of the public dissenter and ex-priest, Professor Tom Groome.  From “Ladybird” to pure fiction.

With typical Modernist irony, the only “controversy” highlighted in the Scotsman article, is the upholding, by Bishop Devine, of the Church’s teaching on homosexuality.  Tell us what you think of this latest disgraceful public attack on the Church by a so-called Catholic educator.

Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP) is an international initiative within the Roman Catholic Church. The mission of Roman Catholic Womenpriests North America is to spiritually prepare, ordain, and support women and men from all states of life, who are theologically qualified, who are committed to an inclusive model of Church, and who are called by the Holy Spirit and their communities to minister within the Roman Catholic Church.
Click  here to read more
and then Click here to view the vesting of the first woman “priest” in the UK – like it could happen, right?!

So, why are we discussing this?  Well, in the light of the invitation of the Archdiocese of Glasgow to the dissident Professor Groome, who promotes women’s ordination like there’s no tomorrow, we thought it would be worthwhile looking more closely at this aberration. Remember, by permitting Professor Groome to lecture his priests and teachers, Archbishop Conti is giving tacit approval to his advocacy of women’s ordination.  Just to refresh your memory, here’s what we wrote about Professor Groome, courtesy of an American blog…

Check out the radical feminist website and view the video.  It won’t be easy but offer it up for Lent – especifically, offer it up for these poor, misguided women who are so far astray that even ex-priests like Groome should know better and seek to help them instead of encouraging them in their dissent.

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