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Cohabitation and the Church’s Teaching…

March 20, 2010 in International, Uncategorized, marriage by webmaster | 103 comments

We’ve been asked a few times to provide a thread for discussing the Church’s teaching on cohabitation.  Better late than never, then, this is it!

When asked a number of years ago if he would write a pastoral letter on the subject, Bishop Devine of the Diocese of Motherwell declined, saying it would be too “divisive”.  It is so common now, that some parents are asking why the Church won’t just accept their children’s living arrangements and let them approach for Holy Communion if they wish.

Indeed, it was during the Diocesan Assembly some years ago, following a remark along those lines from a mother of cohabiting children, that the Bishop made his “divisive” comment.  This is one of those elephants in the room that the bishops simply ignore.

Odd, really, given how readily they exhort the Government to legislate in conformity with Christian values.

Anyway, click here to read about Cohabitation and the Church’s teaching and then share your thoughts. Does cohabitation affect your family?  How do you handle the matter? Should the bishops write pastoral letters reminding the faithful that cohabitation is a grave sin? Should couples be instructed to live apart prior to marriage, before being permitted to marry in a Catholic church?

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Keep Consumerism in the Marketplace…

January 30, 2010 in Bible, International, Uncategorized, usa by editor | 13 comments

FAIRFAX, VA – “Not all consumerism is bad. Consumerism is appropriate in the marketplace. It is good to be careful consumers, to exercise the freedom to choose within our budgets and personal tastes, and to protect ourselves from fraudulent or predatory businesses.

Consumerism becomes problematic, however, when we let it permeate the rest of our lives, for example, our approaches to government, Church, and even family. Consumerism corrupts government. Since the 1960s, citizens and politicians alike increasingly view government as a buffet of goods and services. Policy debates devolve into crass arguments about which politician can provide the greatest value for the least taxes. Appeals to the virtues of freedom and self-reliance are lost; civic duty becomes irrelevant.”
Click here to read the entire article

Dan  Graham, celebrated American author, has written articles for Catholic Truth – two published, one to come in the March edition and more in the pipeline.  Dan’s article comparing the novus ordo with the traditional rite of Mass was easily the single most popular article we’ve ever published and his study of the pre and post-Vatican II rites of the Sacrament of Penance was also a big hit with our readers. Dan’s third article for us is another terrific read and is scheduled for the March edition, so with that teaser, I’ll leave you to click on ‘comments’ with your thoughts on the dangers of consumerism. Do you agree with Dan or not? 

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Lisbon Treaty: Should Irish Catholics Vote “Yes”?

September 25, 2009 in Politics, Uncategorized, abortion, bishops, conscience, family, freemasons, ireland, marriage by editor | 40 comments

Irish pro-life groups campaigning against the Lisbon Treaty have accused a senior bishop of interfering in the upcoming referendum.

Bishop Noel Treanor of Down and Connor said last week that he could “state unequivocally that a Catholic can, without reserve and in good conscience, vote ‘Yes’ for the Lisbon Treaty.

“There are no grounds to justify a No vote in the Lisbon Treaty on the basis of specifically religious or ethical concerns,” he said.

Read the  Catholic Herald article here

Well, that’s not what Irish Catholic Truth readers tell me.   They are so disturbed at what is happening in the Church in Ireland, that they’ve asked that the newsletter carry reports on their Bishops.   There’s one lined up for the November edition.

To help deliberations, click here for a  reminder of why the Irish voted “no” to the Lisbon Treaty last time round…

So, tell us what you think.   Are the Irish Bishops correct to say that a Catholic may, in good conscience, vote for this Treaty and all the “human rights” legislation that will follow in its wake?  We, in the UK, know that “human rights” is a euphemism to cover the promotion of every imaginable perversion.  If you were born a man and want to become a woman, you have a “human right” so to do.  Remember, Peter Tatchell, formerly ardent “gay” rights campaigner, is now mixing with the “great and the not-so-good” using the umbrella designation  ”a human rights campaigner”.  So, all things considered (and the danger to the unborn child at the top of the list) Should Irish Catholics vote “yes” …as their bishops effectively recommend?

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Scottish Bishops “Defend” Marriage again…

September 4, 2008 in Dissent, Morality, Politics, Scotland, Uncategorized, United Kingdom by editor | 30 comments

American Catholics who read Catholic Truth are savvy enough not to take at face value the latest report from Lifesitenews on the Scots Bishops reprimand to government about pro-”gay” legislation which undermines marriage and the family.  Educated Catholics will recall our countless reports on priests around Scotland who undermine marriage and support the “gay” lifestyle.  Yet, while they lecture the government, over whom they have absolutely no authority, these same bishops support their own dissident priests when they have all the authority they need to discipline them and remove them from positions of influence over souls.   On the contrary, all the evidence to date reveals that such priests are publicly promoted and chosen over their faithful brother priests for signs of public favour.  Pick up just about any edition of Catholic Truth for evidence of this. 

Some of you will be disappointed that we do not applaud the Bishops for this public statement, telling us to praise where possible.   Look.  It goes without saying that we are always pleased to hear or read any Catholic bishop or priest saying and doing the right thing.  But we don’t jump with joy and sing the praises of our doctor when he tells us we’re sick, as we stumble out of the surgery, crippled with arthritis, sneezing our heads off and shivering with fever.  For goodness sake, a Catholic bishop denouncing homosexuality and upholding marriage should not be a matter for comment.

What IS a matter for comment is the fact that these same bishops refuse to denounce priests like Father Ed Hone, for example, who publicly support the homosexual lifestyle – even when he publicly, in the letters pages of our national quality newspapers denounced not one, but two bishops for statements similar to the one currently on offer.   Let’s wait to see if he denounces all eight bishops…  To date the score reads two down, six to go…

When you click on the link to read this latest “orthodox” pronouncement from the Scottish Bishops, take a look to your right at the rather crude photo selected by the editor to illustrate the piece and ask yourself why the editor of Scotland’s only Catholic newspaper did not choose a photo unambiguously modest in order to illustrate the Catholic virtues of modesty, purity and chastity integral to Catholic marriage and family life.

Click the link to read the story in the Scottish (anything but) Catholic Observer…

http://www.scottishcatholicobserver.org.uk/news2.htm

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