Catholic Church

Part 1 According paragraph 9 of a “Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelization,” published in 2007 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “The growth of the Church in history, which results from missionary activity, is at the service of the presence of God through his Kingdom: one cannot in fact detach the Kingdom from the Church.” It seems to follow from that inseparability that the Kingdom of God arrived on Earth when Our Lord founded the … Read More

This article is available for download. You can download it and print it for private use and for private sharing but it cannot be reproduced in any other publication. To download a print copy click here – Catholic Duties 9 In the last article on Sapientiae Christianae Pope Leo XIII spoke of those who hide their cowardice under the guise of a false prudence. He now points out another equally false position to adopt, that of false zeal. “On the … Read More

The ‘festive season’ will begin soon, illustrating the dominant ‘understanding’ of its significance. Will you be making a cards-list, or is that unnecessary because it is the same every year? Among the most indicative aspects are songs played by radio-stations and through the customer-announcements facilities in shops. Most of them focus on tangential topics such as Santa and snow. On the barometer of gregarious joy, they range from Andy Williams’ “Most Wonderful Time” to Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Paper.” At the … Read More

This article is available for download. You can download it and print it for private use and for private sharing but it cannot be reproduced in any other publication. To download a print copy click here – Catholic Duties 8 Pope Leo XIII, whilst acknowledging the autonomy of the secular State, now begins to turn his gaze upon the duties of the Catholic Church to resist the secular State whenever the State impinges upon the rights and duties of the … Read More

This article is available for download. You can download it and print it for private use and for private sharing but it cannot be reproduced in any other publication. To download a print copy click here – Catholic Duties 7 Pope Leo XIII, having outlined the authority of the Church and the authority and primacy of the Pope, now begins to look at the rights of both the civil authorities and of the Catholic Church. He does this with a … Read More

This article is available for download. You can download it and print it for private use and for private sharing but it cannot be reproduced in any other publication. To download a print copy click here – Catholic Duties 6 As we continue reading Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical letter Sapientiae Christianae, we are brought to what is perceived in our time to be a very controversial matter. The obedience that is due to the Pope. The pontificate of Pope Francis … Read More

This article is available for download. You can download it and print it for private use and for private sharing but it cannot be reproduced in any other publication. To download a print copy click here – Catholic Duties 5 In the previous article in this series, we looked at some of the ways in which Ireland has fallen away from the Catholic faith and particularly at how very young children are now being targeted for corruption by those who … Read More

That question, which first occurred to me decades ago, came into my mind again after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.  I suspect that the event did not bring it into many other people’s minds, and I did not hear the question debated. There was instead plenty of factually-correct and merited acknowledgement of Her Majesty’s unwavering dedication to her role.  It is, however, neither unreasonable nor deliberately disrespectful to mention that the applause was for seventy years of public platitudes … Read More

This article is available for download. You can download it and print it for private use and for private sharing but it cannot be reproduced in any other publication. To download a print copy click here – Catholic Duties 4 Pope Leo XIII wrote his encyclical letter Sapientiae Christianae in 1890. This was during what has become known as the Second Industrial Revolution. The prosperity of mankind was increasing in certain parts of the world. The steam engine was being … Read More

This article is available for download. You can download it and print it for private use and for private sharing but it cannot be reproduced in any other publication. To download a print copy click here – Catholic Duties 3 Sincere Catholics should always strive to be good citizens. This is a natural part of our duty to love our neighbour. Difficulties arise however, when the governing body enacts laws which are either contrary to God’s law or which usurp … Read More

This article is available for download. You can download it and print it for private use and for private sharing but it cannot be reproduced in any other publication. To download a print copy click here – Catholic Duties 2 My last article closed with a quote from Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Sapientiae Christianae where he outlined the purpose of the letter. “We deem it expedient in this letter to define more in detail the duties of the Catholics, inasmuch … Read More

This article is available for download. You can download it and print it for private use and for private sharing but it cannot be reproduced in any other publication. To download a print copy click here – Catholic Duties 1 Catholics in western societies are living in similar times to the early Christians. We live in societies that are openly hostile to our Catholic Faith. Many Catholics have compromised in order to get along in the world. Others use their … Read More

That the Catholic Church has a long history of opposition to classroom based sex education may come as a surprise to many Catholic parents. Many of our Catholic bishops have compromised with the world and they now endorse classroom based sex education contrary to what the Catholic Church has taught for centuries. The Church’s opposition to classroom based sex education is rooted in her deep understanding of man, of his fallen nature, and of his inclination towards sin. Catholics who … Read More

On Friday morning, as I was researching this article I started feeling a little bit down and wondering what I could write. New scandals concerning priestly convictions for child abuse were breaking in the Church. The corruption of children through state sanctioned sex education was gathering pace. I read a piece from someone who has left the Catholic Church where he said, “I saw no indication that God was really in the details, that he was faithful to those who … Read More

Are you inhibited by fear of being regarded as an ‘extremist’? If so, is your fear based on emotional aversion to unpopularity, or on a strategic belief that unpopularity thwarts progress? Consider the following analysis. Pro-life attitudes can be (and probably very often are) described as ‘extreme,’ and therefore their adherents as ‘extremists’. Incidentally, it is unwise to draw many conclusions when someone is described as, or claims to be, ‘pro-life’. Unreliability lurks beneath vagueness. An experienced pro-life campaigner once … Read More

In my current presentation on the family which is part of my book launch, where I expose the tactics of the global organisations who seek to corrupt the innocence of children, I quote from Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical letter ‘Sapientiae Christianae’ on Christians as citizens. I came across this encyclical whilst reading another encyclical, that of Pope Pius XI on Christian Education – ‘Divini Illius Magistri’. Pope Pius XI quotes Pope Leo XIII concerning a particular point regarding the duties … Read More

[“Whatever the current difficulties may be, Christ’s disciples must assert the demands of faith in Christ without reticence and without compromise, in theory and in practice, because they are the demands and precepts of God.” Cardinal Robert Sarah, “God or Nothing,” Ignatius Press, 2015, p.276.] In religious and political contexts we often hear references to, and recommendations of, “dialogue” as a means of ‘managing’ differences of belief and of objective. The theory is that the participants in dialogue will state … Read More

War Against the Innocence of ChildrenThere is a global war being waged against the innocence of children. The primary aggressor is the devil but he uses willing human accomplices to carry out his plans to destroy the innocence of children. The devil hates the innocence of children because they remind him of how far he has fallen and of how much he has lost by rebelling against God. The devil’s pride blinds him and drives him on in his mistaken … Read More

Update 16/04/23: I have been contacted to suggest that Joe Biden may not have been invited to Knock Shrine but may have put it on the agenda himself. I have changed the wording below to reflect this i.e. “those who welcomed Joe Biden to Knock Shrine”. In one way this actually makes the situation worse because it suggests that the sacraments of the Catholic Church were suspended to accommodate the visit of a secular ruler who publicly defies Catholic Church … Read More

Well-meaning people sometimes say, to ease disappointment from an unfulfilled hope, that ‘results aren’t important’. Common sense, however, tells us that the importance of something extends to what happens to it. So someone who attempts an important task will want it to succeed, and someone who loses a valuable possession will rejoice in its recovery. Our Lord confirmed this.[1] He does not want any soul to be lost, and came into the world to avert such losses,[2] so results in … Read More