LIFE and the Catholic £££


Torch of The Faith News on Tuesday 27 July 2010 - 16:50:42 | by admin

Apologies for the break in blogging due to travel and the nasty cyber attack!

We'll give an update on our recent news soon. In the meantime Fr. John Boyle has an interesting - and disturbing - story over at
http://caritasveritas.blogspot.com/
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Fr. Boyle asks 'Day for Life - Where Does the Money Go?'
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He says - Zenit reports that City Pregnancy Counseling Psychotherapy has received £10,000 from previous Day for Life collections. A search on the Internet reveals that City Pregnancy Counselling and Psychotherapy is a non-values based organisation that puts the woman first, so that she can get to the place she'd like to be. Mmm. I think I can guess what that means, but I am prepared to be corrected. On its 'Women' page it lists various organisations that can be approached for further assistance, including the very praiseworthy charity LIFE. (!PLEASE SEE OUR COMMENTS ON LIFE BELOW!)However, there are the following very dubious organisations:
  • NHS Choice The NHS is a leading abortion provider that subcontracts its abortion work to Marie Stopes International.
  • British Infertility Counselling Association. The BICA, based in Harley Street, clearly points people in the direction of infertility treatment and is involved with the HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority). It seems to me that it is fully involved in licensed fertility treatment centres and is therefore part of the pro-IVF establishment.
  • Sure Start. (The link of BICA's website doesn't work.) Sure Start is very much involved in promoting contraception and early sex education through its Speakeasy programme which is run by FPA, another leading pro-abortion and contraception agency.
I'm sure I could go on researching.

Some of the comments on the thread for Fr. Boyle's blog-post take up the issue of LIFE being a 'very praiseworthy' charity. One comment even suggests that the City Pregnancy Counseling Psychotherapy mentioned above is an initiative of LIFE...

There are some things we must say. It is true that LIFE has done a lot of good over the years. Nevertheless it is difficult to recommend it as a charity which Catholics should support.

From 2001 - 2003 Alan worked as LIFE's North West PR/Education Officer. This role included giving talks in schools, universities and parishes as well as interviews to local media outlets.

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Alan at the 2002 LIFE Conference
in Northampton


All was going well until Alan and Angeline both attended the LIFE Counselling training. We then learned that LIFE's much-praised, counselling service was actually based on the atheistic ideology of Carl Rogers.
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This Rogerian model of Counselling allows no space for the Catholic understandings of Original Sin, Redemption, Grace or the Thomistic notion of giving good guidance and counsel. As such it is amoral and seeks only to impart 'information' to enable clients to come to an 'informed choice' through so-called 'self-actualization'. But of course such an approach could actually facilitate a woman on the road to an abortion!

Alan then did a lot of research into Carl Rogers and his influence on the New-Age style Esalen Centre and the destruction of Western Catholic institutions caused by his Rogerian encounter groups. For example; the IHM Sisters in Southern California had 615 nuns when Rogers and his team came on the scene. Within one year 300 of these were petitioning Rome to be released from their vows. The IHM Sisters began with 60 schools and ended with just 1. Having studied at Ushaw Seminary Alan can confirm that similar techniques were still having their corrosive effect on the Catholic Church in England in the late 1990's...


It must be said that there were good women counsellors in the LIFE system - and some babies and their mothers were saved. However many others were taught to leave their Catholicism at the door when counselling. They would thus cease to think and operate as Catholics in that most important and momentous of contexts in order to act as secularist, non-directive counsellors. And all this was done in order to be 'professional.' Alan submitted the findings of his research to his Catholic superiors. No action was ever taken.

Alan also expressed concern to a superior when a school nurse wished to join a local counselling group because she would be required to give out the abortifacient Morning-After-Pill to students in the daytime and then be giving LIFE counselling in the evening. He was asked 'What do you expect this lady to do? Give up her job? I suggest that you focus instead on your (then) forthcoming wedding plans.'
 
Another 'Catholic' LIFE counsellor horrified Alan by explaining to him that she took an 'if you can't be good be careful approach' with teenaged girls in LIFE counselling sessions. This approach included 'recommending abstinence but if necessary telling them to use a condom.'

Alan's ongoing research then led to the realisation that the very same Carl Rogers had even contributed to the relativistic 'values-clarification' style of non-directive, secular education which we were battling against when giving pro-life talks in schools!

The Non-Directive approach was further evidenced by a Catholic LIFE counsellor who phoned up after a school talk and said that Alan was, 'Too Catholic and too pro-life' in his approach because he had 'sought to influence the opinions of the young people'. She contended that, 'Education is about giving information to make informed choices'. This all sounded a little too much like Charles Dickens' dictatorial character Mr. Gradgrind who demanded; 'Now what I want is facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts!' 
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Alan therefore countered that 'As Catholic educators we are called to form consciences to make moral judgements between good and evil.' It is somewhat ironic that this lady - and many others at LIFE - could not see that they were being extremely directive in their non-direction... This is just another example of the dictatorship of relativism that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI spoke of in his pre-conclave homily in 2005.
 
The LIFE Non-Directive approach continued with a debacle over a new Morning-After-Pill leaflet which had a sub-section entitled 'Who should not take this Pill?' prior to listing a few examples of those who should not; rather than a blanket warning against ANYONE taking it! It also explained where it could be obtained and how it was to be taken... Thankfully after a battle this was eventually withdrawn.

The final straw was the deconstruction of the LIFE Education Team. Our team - including several committed young Catholics - had been working to promote chastity and the wonder of marriage to young people. Suddenly LIFE's Education website added quotes worthy of Brook Advisory Service including, 'Condoms can help cut diseases but are not 100% effective' and also
'To reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases reduce your number of sexual partners.'

When Alan complained about this new approach he was told that he was no longer allowed to talk about God in talks - even in Catholic schools - because LIFE is 'non-denominational and non-directive.' He was told to restrict his talks to 'medical truth.' When Alan responded that medical truth and truth cannot be separated he met stern resistance and was told that only medical truth was allowed in talks from now on. Any mention of God was described as 'exclusive language.'

Sadly the Catholic leadership of LIFE were not concerned by any of this and several young and committed Catholic speakers found ourselves in the position of having to resign rather than go against our consciences. We could not teach moral relativism or promote condoms to kids. If we had wanted to do that we would have already been working for IPPF or the Brook Advisory Service!!!

We could not ask the working Catholics in parishes to part with their hard earned £££'s under false pretenses.

No - we had joined up to defend and build the Christian, Culture of Life as called for by His Holiness, Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae.

It was painful to witness so many older Catholics embracing a secular-humanistic model in order to fight abortion. This was at best Pelagian and at worse straightforward apostasy. 

In the weeks that Alan worked his one month notice period LIFE issued a press release which condemned the practice of praying outside abortion mills as 'counter-productive'. This confirmed to us that we had certainly done the right thing in leaving.

A couple of years ago the glossy LIFE magazine even ran a weakly-reasoned article addressed to Christian members which tried to brainwash them into accepting that Non-Directive Counselling was more Christian because it encouraged practitioners not to judge others. This is the kind of fuzzy argument which one would expect from the radically anti-life Obama administration - not from an organisation which continues to take the Catholic £££ in this country. 

Anyone still in doubt should compare the content of the LIFE Education web-pages to the guidelines of the 1995 Pontifical Council for the Family document The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality. In short; Catholics cannot advocate the teaching of human sexuality to young people outside of the moral framework of the Natural and Divine Law.

What then can be done? Our immediate advice is to give your money to the excellent Good Counsel Network, SPUC, Precious Life and Family and Life organisations instead.

Cyber Attack on our Website


Torch of The Faith News on Thursday 08 July 2010 - 16:19:06 | by admin

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Apologies for our absence as we have been away.

We are now back and have learned that a cyber attack by hackers has occured against our web-site.

This includes the invasion of our files and insertion of new files... Plus a part of this attack appears to be the sending out of malicious e-mails via this site.

Please be assured such e-mails are NOT from us.

We are seeking help to secure the site at this time.

Please pray for the protection of our apostolate and website.

In Christ
Alan and Angeline
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The Urgent Need for a Rebirth of Chastity


Torch of The Faith News on Friday 28 May 2010 - 22:50:25 | by admin

We must implore Our Lady of Perpetual Help to obtain the grace from Our Lord Jesus Christ for a rebirth of chastity in our broken nation.
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Without such a rebirth it is impossible for our society to return to authentic love of God, neighbour or self. Without such authentic love there can be neither peace nor stability in the social order - much less in the hearts and souls of individuals.

We witnessed four things this week which further underlined the urgency of this need.

1. Driving past a wretched Brook Advisory Centre and seeing two teenaged girls in school uniform entering the premises with an older youth.

2. Attending a meeting with young men who had fathered children and moved on to new 'partners' with little understanding or care for the ramifications.

3. The release of the recorded marriage statistics for England and Wales by the British Government. These reveal that 2008 saw the lowest number of marriages since 1895 (the population has approximately doubled in that time). No less disturbing was the fact that 67% of all the marriages since 1992 have been non-religious, secular affairs. 

4. As if to add insult to injury we also learned yesterday that Alan's old high school may soon be offering itself as a venue for such civil ceremonies in the future. Talk about a loss of the sacred!

It is difficult to envision even a short term future for a society that so dramatically turns its back on its marvellous heritage in its rapid renunciation of the great civilization which had been painstakingly built over centuries on God, Church, family and morality.
 
Let us then invoke the intercession of that great teenaged martyr for purity, St. Maria Goretti.
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St. Maria Goretti and Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Pray for us!

Coming soon on Torch of The Faith -

1. Why we binned our telly and how the TV Licencing Authority 'Enforcement Team' want to invade our family home.
 
2. Why we love the Traditional Latin Mass.

Pentecost


Torch of The Faith News on Tuesday 25 May 2010 - 17:49:53 | by admin

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Giotto's painting of the Descent of the Holy Spirit (c.1305)

The great day of Pentecost last Sunday is another major feast with key importance for evangelisation and catechesis.

Here are a few reasons why;

1. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Trinity is fully revealed.

2. Since that day the Kingdom which Christ announced has been open to all those that believe in Him.

3. The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost ushered in the last days, the time of the Church, the Kingdom inherited though not yet consumated.

4. In this age of the Church, Christ now lives and acts to save and sanctify His disciples through the seven Sacraments. 

5. By the power of the Holy Spirit, these Sacraments communicate the fruits of His Life, Death, Resurrection and Ascension.

6. The Holy Spirit remains with the Church, teaching Her everything that Jesus said and forming her in prayer.

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By virtue of Baptism and Confimation, Catholics living in the state of Grace are empowered to go out and spread this message through their prayers, actions and words.

So get to it!

Time is Running Out...


Torch of The Faith News on Monday 24 May 2010 - 12:39:46 | by admin

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There are not many hours to go before Britain sinks to the new low of advertising abortion during TV entertainment.

This is another decisive moment in the battle for the soul of our nation. It would be a grave day indeed if Catholics failed to act. How will you respond in this hour of decision?

What can be done?

1. Please pray and fast today against this grave evil.

2. Telephone Channel 4 to register a complaint at 0845 076 0191.

3. Click this link http://spuc-director.blogspot.com/ and follow the advice of SPUC's John Smeaton re lobbying your MP and the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport. 

4. If you live in the London area join Good Counsel Network for their peaceful, prayer vigil outside Marie Stopes between 11.00AM - 1.00PM today. The address is: Marie Stopes House
108 Whitfield Street
London
W1T 5BE

5. Ask our Blessed Lord to make you a courageous witness if this matter comes up in discussions at work, college or with friends. Perhaps you might pray for the opportunity and strength to mention over the coming days that:-

A). Marie Stopes herself was a promoter of the ideology of 'breeding out the weak ' known as eugenics.

B). In 1919 she called for the forced sterilization of parents with diseases or 'bad character'.

C).  In 1920 she demanded that “the sterilisation of those totally unfit for parenthood be made an immediate possibility, indeed made compulsory”.

D). In 1921 she gave proof of the racial component of her eugenic ideology by promoting her slogan: Joyful and Deliberate Motherhood - A Safe Light in our Racial Darkness.

E). In 1935 she attended the Third Reich's International Congress for Population Science in Berlin.

F). In 1939, just weeks prior to Britain going to war with Nazi Germany, she sent a book of poems to Adolph Hitler.

G). And finally, thanks to James and Ella Preece at http://www.lovingit.co.uk/ we are aware that last week Marie Stopes in London hosted Lin Bin, Minister of China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission. Let us recall that communist China imposes forced sterilization and forced abortion on families who contravene its dictatorial one-child policy.

The advert is scheduled to air at 10.10pm this evening. Time is indeed running out... 

Prayer and Fasting Needed


Torch of The Faith News on Friday 21 May 2010 - 16:38:55 | by admin

Further to yesterday's post about the Marie Stopes Abortion adverts it seems a good opportunity for us to mention the Maria Stops Abortion blog of the excellent Good Counsel Network!  
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The name reminds us that it is Our Blessed Lady who will turn this battle around.

Good Counsel Network save babies every year because their work is thoroughly rooted in the Catholic Faith and is saturated with prayer and penance. Several years ago we spent some time with them and witnessed the authentic counselling and pro-life activism which they offer. We happily affirm that their apostolate is truly lived in the service of Jesus, Mary and life. Theirs is one of the few thoroughly orthodox apostolates currently operating in Great Britain - as such it deserves as much prayer and practical support as possible.  

These good people recently started a blog called Maria Stops Abortion over at http://mariastopsabortion.blogspot.com

Their call for people to fast and pray today has gained increased urgency in light of the latest Marie Stopes advertsing programme.

Please pay Good Counsel Network's blog a visit and assure them of your prayers in their comments box. And do send them some money to help with their marvellous apostolate!

The Domestication of Evil


Torch of The Faith News on Thursday 20 May 2010 - 22:12:41 | by admin

Over the years we've tried to defend the right to life of the pre-born by using positive and beautiful images of babies growing in the womb. 
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We had worried that the shock of seeing aborted babies may lead women who had aborted their children to despair. Our intention is always to call souls to humble repentance before the Infinite Mercy of God while there is still time. 
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However the battle just became a lot worse...
 
Therefore we are countering it by including graphic pictures of abortion in this blog-post. Please be aware - if you do not wish to see them then you are free to navigate away from this page now.

Our friend Pat has informed us that Channel 4 have descended to a new low...

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On Monday night at 10.10pm they will show an advert for the mass-murdering Marie Stopes organisation during Davina McCall's new live show The Million Pound Drop.

The adverts will then be shown throughout the month of June at various times of the day. Further research reveals that Marie Stopes will also be advertising condoms in the early evening on TV from September 2010.

Marie Stopes kill 65,000 innocents per year in the UK - for which slaughter they are paid £30 million per annum of public money from the NHS.

Their marketing director Julie Douglas has stated,
This ad' is all about providing information so women have the confidence to know who they can call to reach people who will be non-judgemental... Despite the fact that 1 in 3 UK women will have an abortion in their lifetime, the subject is still not always openly or honestly discussed.

These claims to open and honest sharing of information are disingenuous because the adverts will not demonstrate exactly what an abortion entails. In truth the advert is merely the latest step in the domestication of evil which we see all around us in contemporary society.
 
It is for these reasons that we now must share graphic images of abortion. Fr. Frank Pavone once said that America would not reject abortion until it had seen abortion; a maxim which easily translates to the UK.

Please remember - if you have had an abortion you can be forgiven and find healing by repenting to the loving God. The Sacrament of Confession brings this powerful healing and the peace of Christ which the world cannot give.

About 18 days after conception the heart of the baby is beating. By eight weeks the baby can suck its thumb and form a fist with perfectly formed hands. This poor baby was aborted at the 7 week stage...

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This person was destroyed at just 8 weeks in the womb...
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This one at 10 weeks of development...
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This is a late term aborted baby...
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How anyone can continue to watch Channel 4 after this is beyond us. The better course of action would be to turn off the TV...

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... and start interceding to Our Blessed Lord for the conversion and healing of mothers and all involved in abortion, for the salvation of the little ones, for the end to all of this filth and for our nation to turn back to God.

You can also register your disgust by voting NO to this advertisement via http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1279816/Marie-Stopes-First-UK-TV-advert-selling-abortion--pro-life-groups-demand-ban.html

The Ascension


Torch of The Faith News on Monday 17 May 2010 - 16:22:09 | by admin

Jesus Christ - Ascended into Heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father!
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The Ascension of Jesus Christ to the Father is one of the most central elements of the Christian Mystery. It is also one of the most neglected in terms of both celebration and catechesis.

Why does this matter?

It matters because, without a proper understanding, people forget;

a) That our final goal is heaven and not earth.
b) That Jesus Christ has gone ahead of us to await us, to encourage us onwards and to intercede for us to the Father.
c) That the human body is so central to human dignity that the Blessed in Heaven will eventually be united with their glorified bodies.   

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches clearly,

Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the ''Father's House,'' to God's life and happiness (John 14:2). Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where He, our Head and our Source, has preceded us (CCC 661)

To recap: God became truly man in Jesus Christ while remaining truly God. He did this to Redeem us by His Life, Death and Resurrection. When He rose again His glory was veiled until His Glorious Ascension into Heaven. 

The Feast of the Ascension has two major ramifications for YOU and I!

1. 
Because Jesus Christ has redeemed and glorified humanity we can go to Heaven; if we live and die united to Him.  

2. In the meantime He is in Heaven - as a Divine Being with a Glorified Human Nature - interceding for us to the Father; we literally have 'friends in high places!'
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3.
There is a third aspect which is frequently overlooked even though it would give great hope and strength to Christians and reasons to convert to non-Christians. 

We tend to speak of the Blessed in Heaven as though they will just be some kind of disinterested spectators before the Beatific Vision.

Clearly Heaven is a mystery and all analogies must therefore limp. However, effective catechesis must aim to inculcate a powerful hope of what Heaven will include.

It is worth considering the wonderful fact that at the Ascension Jesus enters Heaven with our Redeemed and Glorified humanity. Because of this, those who reach Heaven will finally be united with their redeemed and glorified human bodies.

The importance of this becomes clear when we consider the vitality of the outward earthly gestures which express the interior movements of the soul in love with God in this life; such as kneeling, bowing, joining hands and making the sign of the cross. Think also how we express love to others through smiles and hugs and so forth.

Christians long to meet with Jesus Christ; to listen and to talk with Him, to be held and carried by Him, to be in His Presence as His disciples and friends.
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On earth Catholics actually get to relate to Christ intimately by eating and drinking His Body and Blood.

One of the wonders of Heaven is that the blessed will be able to relate intimately to Him with their whole glorified beings in a manner which far transcends anything we have yet known or experienced!

No other religion or philosophy on this earth can offer such a majestic hope. And so we see that the Ascension is very important for catechesis and Christian celebration.

Bill Posters


Torch of The Faith News on Saturday 15 May 2010 - 12:15:38 | by admin

Exactly one month ago we discussed the anti-Christian messages being employed in the MINI adverts.mini.jpg
A couple of days ago we were passing the same advertising bill-board...   
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It seems that mocking the Church in advertising is becoming something of a habit...

The Prophetic Mission of Fatima


Torch of The Faith News on Thursday 13 May 2010 - 21:39:26 | by admin

The Holy Father is in Fatima for the feast day.
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He has made some significant statements,

"We would be mistaken to think that Fatima’s prophetic mission is complete "
while the human family is still "ready to sacrifice all that is most sacred on the altar of the petty and selfish interests of nations, races, ideologies, groups and individuals, "the Virgin continues to offer herself " to implant in the hearts of all those who trust in her the Love of God burning in her own heart".

“May the seven years which separate us from the centenary of the apparitions – concluded the Pope - hasten the fulfilment of the prophecy of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.”

He has also been reported as saying that the sufferings of the Church as a result of the sex abuse crisis were part of the 3rd Secret.

These statements have fuelled the speculation that there is more of the 3rd secret of Fatima to be released.
 

Let us do our part to heed the Message of Fatima by turning away from sin, by fasting and doing penance, and by faithfully keeping the First Five Saturdays in Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Our Lady of Fatima - Pray for us! 

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