The Bishops’ Conference has decided that Day for Life 2012 is all about the Olympic Games. Every year, it’s anything BUT what Pope John Paul intended

Reading the ‘Westminster Record’ (the Diocese of Westminster’s monthly newspaper) one is often left feeling that it is a cheerleader for various worthy causes, a promoter of ‘feel-good’ events and … Er, that is about all. The July edition calls on parishes to ‘Olympify’ events! Surely – in keeping with the New Evangelisation – we should seek to Catholicise the world around, rather than incorporate the secular? In view of the ‘Keep your Head Down and Be Nice’ message emanating from various quarters, it is no surprise to learn that the Day for Life is to get the same treatment. That said, thank you for publicising the matter Dr Oddie.

You are at it again, Mr Oddie! Complain, complain, complain! Is there anything you like or approve of? Is diversity of opinion, or of the world, a curse to be destroyed, or a wonderful blessing from a gloriously abundant God? 

If you read the piece you will see that I mentioned that passage; but it’s absolutely clear that abortion and euthanasia are intended to be the main emphases. To use this passage to EXCLUDE them is clearly utterly wrong. The original context says “from time to time”: not to the exclusion of all else.

 Wouldn’t that be a monolithic Church, made in your own image, run by men for men?

I asked you this last time; are you ra Catholic pries, or not? Yes or no? If you are, you ought to understand that this is an important issue which our bishops are failing adequately to address. If you are a protestant, that explains your anti-dogmatic sentimentality. What’s the answer/ 

I would have thought the answer is most assuredly NO.

The same can be said about that whole passage and abortion/euthanasia. The Day for Life should be about the celebration of human life, in all of its forms. And he sporting, internationalist, welcoming form, as promoted by the Olympics, is one of those forms. If abortion an euthanasia are sidelined for a year, that’s no bad thing in terms of the passage you quote. Yes, usually it will focus on abortion an euthanasia, but moving away from that, from time to time, is fine.

I think sometimes as a faith we get overly obsessed with certain issues to the exclusion of other important issues, I think to take a break from decrying human evil, in order to celebrate human achievement, is no bad thing at all.

There’s a Rev (or sometimes Fr) Gerry Reilly who is (or maybe was) the Retirement Officer for the Crewkerne deanery in the Anglican Diocese of Bath and Wells.

 Surely the message is more important than the identity of the messenger. Dismissing it because of the presumed identity messenger is very short-sighted, as we see in the visit of Jesus to Nazareth.

That is great. Does its place include your parish? How often do you treasure it?

It’s a Catholic thing: we like to see our priests identified as priests to understand their comments in the light of their condition as priests.  It sometimes means that they attract greater scorn than a layperson might if the platitudinousness of their comment brings shame on the clerical state as well as on them. 

That’s a sort of meme lurking behind comments by Catholics on this post and on rather a lot of others on this site.

The Church is primarily the gathering of men’s souls towards God.

Oh he os involved with”thinking Anglicans”. All very well as long as he does not think he is a priest. Still, no law against thinking.

”
 If abortion an euthanasia are sidelined for a year, that’s no bad thing in terms of the passage you quote.”

But has not Mr Oddie pointed out that they have been sidelined for the previous four years?

You miss the point. The fact is that if you were a Catholic priest I would be deeply disturbed by the drivel you spout: but as it has become clear that you are a protestant minister of some kind, I really don’t care what you think; I’m just not interested, and certainly won’t be wasting any more time responding to your self-satisfied, arrogant and very clearly anti-Catholic provocations. Monolithic be damned.

Your Bishops’ Conference seems to be infected with the same smoke of Satan as our USCCB. Any criticism of that organization is met with cries of lack of charity, personal attacks, and the like: denials of the criticism followed by mild admissions of oversight, as with the CCHD contributions going to semi-political organizations connected with abortion outfits, and such. Now there is the scandal of contributions [$5 million] going to an outfit called CARE whose head is paid $300,000, which has the same dubious practices, to which the USCCB bureaucrats reply with the same bureaucratic language [is this taught in colleges?]. Apparently the Church in Canada is afflicted with the same spiritual disease. The similarities in all these cases [one supposes it to be true in France and Germany and other countries] betoken, it seems to me, that the Church is indeed under attack from Satan – as Belloc pointed out – the great personal enemy of the Church when he came to realise at the moment of the temptation that Christ is indeed God..  

It seems that the Eccleston Square bureaucrats want to be topical with reference to the Olympic games and have produced this inoffensive, mundane and uninspiring message to launch the “Day Of life,2012″.   Any mention of the twin evils of abortion and euthanasia seems to be inconspicuous by it’s absence.  It sounds like the present episcopal conference of England and Wales are going out of their way to avoid any clear allusion to these constant threats to life, and are happy to indulge in insipid prose about the maintenance of good health and dietary information.  To paraphrase a witticism that characterized the disastrous leadership of generals in the First World War, we are experiencing the leadership of lions led by donkeys in terms of those who have been privileged with the high office of episcopal leadership, ducking or refusing to pronounce and promulgate the Church’s clear teachings, particularly against the twin evils of abortion and euthanasia.   Hopefully the Holy Spirit will descend upon the present generation of bishops and inspire them to take up the challenge of doing this, and there does seem to be a turn around in relation to more orthodox bishops being appointed, as in the recent case of Bishop Mark Davies to lead the Diocese of Shrewsbury.

1) The use of pseudonymous internet “tags” is a straightforward matter of self-preservation — some types of people pottering around these internets are quite willing, otherwise, to have a go at interfering with and attempting to harm or potentially destroy the personal lives of those that they foment hatred for. I have witnessed this type of behaviour with my own eyes, not directed at me.

2) Vatican II most certainly did take place, but the so-called “spirit” of V2 is a set of utterly uncatholic expectations and desires that the Council Fathers never suggested in the first place, and that have no place at all in Catholicism.

Well said Mr Oddie! 

No, but you were asked a direct question. You have never replied.

Most people, I believe, know abortion is wrong and are greatly concerned about the ever increasing rates of abortion. They are probably also dismayed by the daily death-toll of soldiers in Afghanistan (not nascent life, but adult lives cut off leaving wives and children bereft): I’ve never heard any Catholics express regret about that. When Catholics show that they want to protect life in all its aspects, they may be listened to on abortion and euthanasia. As it is their one-dimensional emphasis on these issues and their fanatical belligerence (see many of the comments here) repels ordinary people with whom they might make common cause. Catholics also seem unaware of the extent to which the abuse scandal has damaged their moral credibility. Until such time as they show themselves to be much more aware of their own deficiencies, more humble and able to listen to people in their real needs and dilemmas (more Christlike in fact) their so-called pro-life stand will continue to be ignored as empty hypocritical posturing.

Philothea:  I must say my experience is different.  Most people may be against too much abortion but when it comes to hard cases or cases where they are actually involved then there attitude often changes – they take the utilitarian or consequential line of saying the end justifies the means.  The Catholic Church asserts the absolute right to life and condemns all killing of innocent people.  As for Afghanistan I am one Catholic who would withdraw our troops to-morrow.  I know of many others who would agree.  I also have the gravest doubts about the use of unmanned drones in countries with which one is not actually at war.

If you feel that people on this blog are writing with “fanatical belligerence” why not gently correct them with reasoned argument?

I can assure you that Catholics are only too sadly aware of the damage done by the abuse crisis.  I also think that on the whole Catholics are aware of their own deficiencies.  This is why we have confession preceded by examination of conscience in order to make ourselves aware of our sinfulness.  It takes quite a lot of courage to confess one’s more sordid actions to a stranger.

Nobody is perfect but that should not prevent anyone in speaking out about what they believe to be wrong especially where innocent third parties, i.e. unborn babies, are concerned.  Accusing such people of hypocrisy comes across as somewhat too easy.

“It is almost as though Vatican II had not taken place!”

I wish it had not. As for ecumenism –

Prayer for England
O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother look down in mercy upon England, thy dowry, and upon us who greatly hope and trust in thee.
By thee it was that Jesus, our Saviour and our hope was given unto the world; and He has given thee to us that we might hope still more.
Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the cross, O Sorrowful Mother, Intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold, they may be united to the Chief Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son.
Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith, fruitful in good works we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee in our heavenly home.
AMEN.

For your information, Mr Oddie, Fr Reilly was ordained in the church of Rome and became an Anglican shortly after Vatican II. He has therefore celebrated the Tridentine Mass far more times than you have ever attended it. Who is being patronising now?

Eventually abortion will be criminalised….as pro-aborts are doing ‘away with themselves’….while those who are anti-abortion generally fill the remaining demographic vacuum.

Nature will reassert itself if nothing else.  But God willing, abortion will be outlawed before that, and children in the womb will have the protection of the law too.