Airbrushing the Reformation: Historical Revisionism Invades the Church

Torch of The Faith News on Saturday 05 November 2016 - 13:27:16 | by admin

Fiddling While Rome Burns: In the viral ''Carpool Karaoke'' video from Rockford Illinois, Bishop David Malloy speaks of the sacredness that has been given to him as a responsibility in his capacity as a Successor to the Apostles. We must ask: Does this video really convey any of that to the young people being led by these two, erm, worthies? Would future generations - many of whom may not even encounter a living Catholic priest - glimpse anything of this sacredness if they were to uncover this clip as a primary source of historical evidence? 

Considering a Valid Approach to History

There is one sense in which revisions in the understanding of historical events and periods can be valid. I speak, in the first part of this article, in terms of the discovery of new and authentic primary sources, or the rediscovery of long obscured sources, dating to the historical epoch being studied.

Whilst the above image urges us to exercise caution in such matters, there is no doubt that new historical discoveries can shed invaluable new light on the characters, events, motivations and previously unanswered questions relating to a given historical epoch. 

A helpful example of this is provided by considering Eamon Duffy's careful re-examination of the period leading up to the ''Reformation'' here in England.

Professor Duffy presented a weight of fresh scholarly research and interpretation in his books The Stripping of the Altars - Traditional Religion in England 1400 - 1580 and Voices of Morebath - Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village.

Duffy's return to - and careful handling of - the primary sources enabled him to overturn the popular understanding, dominant since the Reformation, that Catholicism in England had been in a moribund state in the era leading up to the Protestant Revolt.

In that popular view, founded as it was on the notions of the Protestant victors who had succeeded in supplanting the Catholic Faith here, late medieval England had just been waiting, like so much dry tinder, for the Protestant Revolt to set it alight with fresh life and new freedoms.

Duffy's revision of history was able to overturn that faulty conception, through a scholarly bypassing of the popular Whig histories that still largely held sway, and having recourse to the reliable sources themselves.

Rather than a declining medieval paradigm which was already circling the drain, Duffy instead unearthed a vibrant Catholic civilization: it was one that was rich in faith, devotion, pageant; and which had a highly organized communal life centred on the Most Holy Eucharist and the cycle of the Liturgical Year.

It is Duffy's contention, and the evidence for it is plentiful, that this Catholic culture proved very resistant to the 'new religion'.

Indeed, the Catholic Faith ran so deep in the souls of the people and their society that the ''new order'' had to be enforced on them by harsh coercement from on high.

Parallels to the last 50 years in the Catholic Church are acute.

Radical Subjectivism - An Invalid Approach of Postmodernity

In stark contrast to this careful recovery of historical understandings stands the postmodern approach of subjectivism.

To be sure, interpretation of history always includes some subjective elements. This is why the best historians are those who guard against their own prejudices by attempting to understand the people and events from within, drawing from original sources and data in a careful manner which is, as far as possible, unclouded by their own preconceptions and desires.

This approach constitutes a search for genuine objectivity.

Sadly, it is too often ignored in a postmodern culture which wants to reinterpret everything in terms of its own subjectivism and ideological agendas. Those who view history through such a postmodern lense, end up seeing only projections of themselves into the past.

The more objectivity enters into historical research, then the more likely we are to comprehend ourselves truly in light of the past which has contributed to our present cultural formation.

In this we glimpse the importance of demonstrating just how much Catholic Christendom actually shaped our Western civilization.

And so to Lund...

This brings us once more to this week's events in Lund.

One of my favourite historians is the careful scholar Christopher Dawson. I was re-reading Dawson's account of Martin Luther's revolt last night, after watching Michael Matt's quality ''catacombs'' video over at the Remnant's website.

In his book The Dividing of Christendom, Dawson provided a crisp summary of Martin Luther.

In part, Dawson's critique reads: ''He recognized no truths except those which he felt and saw directly by an immediate act of psychological intuition. In comparison with this nothing else mattered. The authority of the Church, the witness of tradition, the religious experience of others, the dogmas of the theological schools, counted for nothing or less than nothing when they did not agree with his personal intuitions and convictions. This makes his teaching more subjective and one-sided than that of any other Christian thinker. What he saw, he saw with blinding intensity and certitude. What he did not see did not exist, or was the delusion of Satan.''

Reading the various internet sources, it becomes apparent that there are not a few observers who claim to discern this kind of subjectivism, even Lutheranism, in the actions and words of Pope Francis.

There appear to be parallels here too, with the warnings uttered by Pope St. Pius X against the Modernists' notion of ''vital immanence''. That is to say, the suggestion that all things to do with the divine and religion have their source only within man and not from God.

Such ideas lead to a never-ending subjectivism, which places individualistic experience, as opposed to Divine Revelation and Grace, at the centre of the religious quest of mankind. It is this false conception which has issued into the populist ''experiential catechesis'' and has proved to be so corrosive of the systematic handing on of the Faith in recent decades. 

In the days leading up to the events in Lund, we drew attention to a couple of attempts to ''airbrush'' the history of the Reformation as just ''one big misunderstanding''. If widely accepted, this would enable today's ecumenists to pull a sleight of hand and construct a new ''history'' in their own image and likeness.

It is the way of the post-moderns to refuse to submit to reality as it is received, in their headlong rush to impose new constructions of their own making on the world.

This mentality has led to too many people living in a world of make-believe that has little to do with any kind of objective reality. It is extremely dangerous from a spiritual perspective.

That such a reading and approach to history is invalid remains clear from the wide divergence of the Lutheran World Federation from any Catholic understandings of dogma, doctrine, liturgy and moral practice. To speak truly: such radical subjectivism is the very enemy of any unity worthy of the name.

Against that, we must recall that true unity can only ever be a fruit of Truth and Grace; it will never be acheived by merely man-made constructions. In fact, such unity already exists in the very essence of the Catholic Church which Christ founded on the Apostles and their successors.

Telling History Differently...

During an address given in Lund, Pope Francis quoted from the ''Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity, From Conflict to Communion, 17th June, 2013, 16''. He read: ''With this new look at the past, we do not claim to realize an impracticable correction of what took place, but to tell that history differently''.

Similar words have been uttered by the lay-dressed Sr. Susan Wood of Marquette University. A member of the International Lutheran-Catholic Dialogues, Sr. Wood gave an address at a seminar in Rome during last May.

As reported at the time by Vatican Radio she spoke of a new unity to be reached between Lutherans and Catholics, ''not by telling a different history, but by telling their shared history differently''. It is a notion being put forward by various key figures in the ''ecumenical movement'' in these days.

If it sounds dangerously like the kind of subjectivist reading of history discussed above - itself so fundamentally Lutheran - then we suggest that this is because it is such a subjectivist reading!

After all, have Pope Francis, Cardinal Koch, Sr. Wood, Bishop Kenney, Msgr. Mark Langham or any of the Lutherans suddenly brought forth some new primary source evidence to cause us to tell our history differently? Or even to demonstrate that we really have a shared history?

To the contrary, Luther left behind him an immense body of literature, which still constitutes the primary source evidence for any historical understanding.

And as Bishop Athanasius Schneider so rightly pointed out this week, during his time at the Cosmos Club meeting in Washington D.C., the Council of Trent has already given us an infallible response to the collected errors of Martin Luther. The immense canon of Trent presents us with another key primary source. And as Bishop Schneider recalls, this is one having immense spiritual authority.

Becoming Messengers of Truth

During his speech in Lund, Pope Francis quoted from St. John Paul II's letter to Cardinal Johannes Willebrands. He read: ''We must not allow ourselves to be guided by the intention of setting ourselves up as judges of history, but solely by the motive of understanding better what happened and of becoming messengers of truth.''

In this article, we have demonstrated that such an understanding can only be reached by having the humility to receive from the actual historical sources, rather than by attempting to impose newly post-modern and subjectivist constructions to fit a pre-ordained agenda.

To do that would only make us all Lutherans.

As the Catholic historian Professor Roberto de Mattei has just announced in the Corrispondenza Romana, ''The Council of Trent pronounced the decisive word on the incompatibility of the Catholic Faith with the Protestant one. We cannot follow Pope Francis along a different path.''  

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Some Regional News

Torch of The Faith News on Friday 04 November 2016 - 16:45:40 | by admin

1. Fr. John Thompson - Requiescat in Pace.

Of your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of Fr. John Thompson, who died last Sunday at the age of 81. Father was one of those larger than life characters who seemed to be known by everyone in the Liverpool Archdiocese and far beyond.

He has served as the parish priest at St. Francis de Sales in Walton for the last 32 years. Among his many exploits, Fr. Thompson could count driving a Formula 4 racing car and delivering vehicles overseas for the SURVIVE-MIVA missionary organization.

We first met him and experienced his fast wit during a quiet pilgrimage to Lourdes several years ago. I guess it would be fair to say that Father would not see eye to eye with us on all issues! Nevertheless, folks in Walton speak very highly of the support he has given to them during their lives and struggles.

Fr. Thompson's body will be received into St. Francis de Sales' church by Archbishop Malcolm McMahon on Tuesday, 8th November at 7pm. His funeral Mass will then be offered there at 11am on Wednesday, 9th November. Burial will follow at Ss Peter and Paul in Crosby.

Please join us in praying for Fr. Thompson to receive a merciful judgement from the Lord: Eternal rest grant unto him dear Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him, and may he rest in peace. Amen.

2. Fr. Hubert Strowbridge - 60 Years of Priesthood.

We express our congratulations to Fr. Hubert Strowbridge, who is celebrating 60 years of priesthood today! This picture of Angeline with Fr. Strowbridge was taken several years ago in the presbytery at St. Helen's Church in Great Crosby - the parish where we were married - during some talks that we were giving there on the theme of chastity and Holy Matrimony.

Although he has since retired from running a parish, Fr. Strowbridge remains an entertaining and kindly man, who gives a consistently joyful witness to the Faith. We were always impressed by the way Father walked the roads, getting to know locals, and visiting all of the houses in his parish boundary - as did the priests of old.

Fr. Strowbridge will celebrate a Holy Mass in thanksgiving tonight at 7:00pm. There will also be an Archdiocesan Mass with the Archbishop at Holy Cross, Corporation Street, St. Helens, WA10 1EF, at 11:00 am tomorrow morning. 

3. Fr. Simon Henry - 25 Years of Priesthood.

Fr. Simon Henry has now posted up a splendid series of photographs from his recent Silver Jubilee Mass at his Offerimus Tibi Domine blog-site. As the photographs there show, the Traditional Latin Mass was offered by Fr. Simon, with the FSSP priests Frs. de Malleray and Mawdsley acting as deacon and subdeacon. There were also many other priests and lay faithful from the Archdiocese and beyond.

The image above shows Archbishop Malcolm McMahon preaching during the Mass about the life of St. Wilfrid, whose feast was also being celebrated that day.

Fr. Simon has noted at his blog that Archbishop McMahon is a great supporter of his priests. This is something that we have heard from a number of priests; as well as accounts of acts of charity by the Archbishop to suffering members of the faithful. These are the kinds of things that do not make headline news, but are seen by God and are certainly appreciated by the faithful. 

The above pictures and news demonstrate something of the breathing space that Tradition has certainly enjoyed during the time of Archbishop McMahon's leadership in Liverpool.

I was actually at Fr. Simon's ordination at English Martyrs parish 25 years ago. At the time I was a lad of just 19-yrs of age and, although my parents had only recently converted, I would not become a Catholic myself for another 2 years. In fact, at the time of Fr. Simon's ordination, I really had no idea that I would eventually convert myself.

Nevertheless, I remember being greatly struck by seeing Fr. Simon being ordained to the sacred priesthood in the presence of so many of the faithful. To see a young man making such a committment of his life to God definitely made a big impression on me at the time.

It just remains for us to say: Ad multos annos!

4. First Saturday at Our Lady of the Rosary in Buckley.   

We came across this marvellous advert at Mr. Kevin Jones' LMS Wrexham Blog. We encourage all readers who can travel to support this Traditional Latin Mass and/or keep the First Saturday of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary with a good Confession, Holy Communion, prayer of the Rosary and 15-minute meditation on one of the Rosary mysteries.

Given the importance of Our Lady of Fatima's warnings, and the tenor of the times in the Church and the world, the devotion of the First Saturdays must be paramount!

And that, is the latest regional news round-up.  

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November: Remembering the Holy Souls and Purgatory

Torch of The Faith News on Thursday 03 November 2016 - 15:28:25 | by admin

Several years ago, we purchased a copy of Divine Intimacy from the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate at Lanherne in Cornwall. This book was written by the Belgian, Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen. He was a Discalced Carmelite priest, teacher and spiritual director, who lived from 1893 - 1953.

Consisting of meditations on the interior life for every day of the liturgical year in the Traditional Calendar, this book is like gold for the spiritual life. It is worth the effort to track a copy down to draw from each day. Here is one of Fr. Gabriel's reflections on the Holy Souls, from yesterday's Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. 

All Souls' Day makes us mindful not only of the death of our dear ones, but also of our own. Death is a punishment, bringing with it, of necessity, a feeling of pain, of fear, of uncertainty. The saints experienced it, and Jesus Himself willed to undergo it. 

Thus the Church puts before us passages from Scripture most suited to encourage us: 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord... henceforth they rest from their labours, for their works follow them' (Ep, 3rd Mass: Ap 14, 13). 

The life of the body dies; the life of the spirit and the good deeds accomplished during life remain; these deeds alone accompany the soul in its journey from this life and render its death precious. 

'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.' This death has been justly defined: 'dies natalis,' the day of birth to eternal life. Would that our own death might be such! A dies natalis which would bring us into the beatific vision, bringing us to birth in the indefectible love of heaven.

However, by inviting us to pray for the faithful departed, today's liturgy reminds us that between death and eternal beatitude there is purgatory.

Because our works do follow us, and not all of them are good works, or, even if they are good, they are full of faults and imperfections, it is necessary for the soul to be purified of every blemish before being admitted to the vision of God.

And yet, if we were perfectly faithful to grace, there would be no need of purgatory, for God purifies here below those who give themselves wholly to Him, who let themselves be fashioned and formed according to His good pleasure.

Furthermore, purification accomplished on earth has the great advantage of being meritorious, that is, of increasing grace and charity in us, thus permitting us to love God more for all eternity; whereas in purgatory, one suffers without growing in charity.

That is why we should desire to be purified during life. But let us have no illusions: even on earth total purification entails great suffering. If now we are not generous in suffering, if here on earth we do not know how to accept suffering, pure and unmitigated, as Jesus did on the Cross, our purification will of necessity have to be completed in purgatory.

May the thought of that place of expiation rouse our zeal to pray for the souls of the departed, and may it also make us more courageous in embracing suffering in reparation for our own faults.

Prayer: Grant, O Lord, eternal rest to the souls of the faithful departed; and may the thought of death spur us on to greater generosity. Amen. 

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Halloween Horrors in Lund!

Torch of The Faith News on Tuesday 01 November 2016 - 10:55:20 | by admin

I was not going to taint this great feast of All Saints with any mention of the events in Lund yesterday. However, some things must be said.

Meeting House...Table...Bread and Wine

Firstly, let us recall that the 16th-Century Protestant revolutionaries were intent on overthrowing the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Here, for example, is what the heretic Thomas Cranmer had to say on the matter: ''First, the form of a table shall more move the simple from the superstitious opinions of the Popish Mass unto the right use of the Lord's Supper. For the use of an altar is to make sacrifice upon it: the use of a table is to serve men to eat upon.''

One of the most wicked features of the Protestant Revolution in the 16th-Century was the large-scale destruction of the stone High-Altars throughout Europe. Here in England, the stone tops of many High-Altars in the abbeys and parish churches were laid as porch stones, in order to force the parishioners to walk over the original Altar to enter for the heretical Protestant Lord's Supper service, celebrated on a simple table.

This was nothing short of diabolical.

Coming closer to our own times, and as I have said before, at Ushaw Seminary in the 1990's, we were forced to attend a Mass every Monday evening which used a low coffee table - at times even a low circular table from the public bar - with participants reclining and sprawling on bean-bags scattered about the floor.

This has all been done to destroy any conception of the Mass as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; and of the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Most Holy Eucharist.

Another breach that came from the Reformation, was the reconception of the church-building from its conception as the Holy of Holies, in which the Holy Sacrifice and Real Presence are central, into a notion of the church-building as a mere meeting house for ''believers''.

With all of this background for context, now let us hear Pope Francis' troubling words in Lund yesterday.

The emphasis in dark type is mine: ''Jesus Christ calls us to be ambassadors of reconciliation... (using stones)... for building bridges so that we can draw closer to each other, houses where we can meet together and tables - yes, tables - where we can share the bread and the wine, the presence of Jesus Christ Who has never left us and Who calls us to abide in Him so the world may believe.''

Although Francis speaks of the ''presence of Jesus Christ'', his talk of meeting houses, his strong emphasis on the word ''tables'', and his use of the expression ''bread and wine'' all have a distinctly Protestant ring.

After all, Lutherans have their own erroneous conception of Christ's ''presence'' at the Lord's Supper service. Orthodox Catholic priests and laity do not traditionally speak like this; preferring instead to speak reverently of the Sacred Host and the Precious Blood. 

This all calls to mind Francis' consistent failures to genuflect before the Most Blessed Sacrament.

And also the never-refuted claim by Jacquelina Sabetta, the divorced/re-''married'' woman from Argentina, who claimed that Francis told her on the telephone to go to Communion, with the disturbingly sacrilegious words that were reported in major daily papers throughout the world: ''A little bread and wine does no harm.''     

Gifts of the Reformation?!!!

Pope Francis prayed yesterday that the Holy Spirit would help us to ''rejoice in the gifts that have come to us through the Reformation''.

Anyone who has honestly studied the Reformation is aware that Luther's revolt caused a horrific split from the Church and the sundering of Christendom: contributing to wars of religion and state; paving the way for the worst aspects of the Enlightenment; and ending in the Enlightenment's own subsequent collapse into the atheistic and post-Christian milieu which threatens to submerge us today.

What is to celebrate in any of this, when it has caused so many millions of souls to live and die without the salvific graces of the Catholic Faith?

The only thing a true Catholic would want to celebrate in any of this is the fact that God raised up a glorious Catholic/Counter Reformation to truly reform the Church, to resist and overcome the disparate Protestant heresies and to evangelize effectively in the New World.

We can thank God for the Council of Trent, the Catechism of Trent and the Canons of Trent. We can thank Him for the great reforming saints like St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis de Sales, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Philip Neri and St. Vincent de Paul.

How any Catholic could thank God for Martin Luther and his ilk without blasphemy is unclear.    

Post-Modern Halloween?

Thirdly, and certainly more subjectively, the above image seems very disturbing to us.

Given that the Lund event took place on Halloween - a day which has sadly become the most evil day of the year - it is beyond strange to have Pope Francis and the Lutherans sitting on a stage which is literally dominated by something that looks like a giant, post-modern Jack-o-Lantern.

Even more odd, is the fact that the central flame seems to be on its side.

If you look at the clearer and larger versions of this picture, which are readily available on the internet, it gives an impression akin to the ''All Seeing Eye''. Whatever it is, it looks weird.

A Truly Merciful Embrace

A couple of days before the Lund event, Pope Francis tweeted a message asking everyone to ''abandon the language of condemnation and embrace one of mercy.''

Perhaps the most genuine implementation of this in Lund came from the courageous members of the American Fatima Center (US spelling).

A group of these members travelled to Lund to bear witness to the true Catholic Faith. To the displeasure of the local Catholic priest (!), they gave out literature to local Catholics as they left Holy Mass at the weekend. They also prayed the Rosary in reparation, gave out solid literature to anyone else who would accept it and made a series of videos. These latter can be viewed at Fatima Network News under the Rapid Response Team banner.

As I said above, to my eyes at least, these people gave perhaps the most genuine response in Lund to Francis' call for an ''embrace of mercy''.

Here is what they have said at their website: ''We hold no enmity toward Lutherans, but we cannot pretend that contradictory beliefs can both be true, or that no contradiction exists, when it clearly does. Nothing can be built on a foundation of lies, no matter how many sweet words are poured forth and how many ecumenical embraces occur. Through Luther's cry of ''Faith Alone'' and his rejection of the dogmatic and sacramental theology of the Catholic Church, Europe was shaken to its foundations and we live among the ruins. The only way to put the pieces together again is to invite those who have left the One True Church to return to Her loving embrace and receive the graces waiting for them in the Sacraments instituted for them by Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ...

...What is at stake is the salvation of souls. Since there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church, we must do all we can, in the spirit of fraternal charity, to help those who have left their spiritual home to return to it. Love demands the truth, and the truth will set us free.''

Judging by the 65-year old Els from Sweden, Pope Francis' approach has done little to further that authentically Catholic mission.

Els told the National Catholic Register that she emphatically did not feel drawn toward the Catholic Church as a result of the Papal visit. Instead she contended that ''Francis does not want us to be altogether as Catholics, but remain as we are. We have to keep our identity and that is the only way to become one church, because unity is in diversity, and not in difference.''

And so, to the splintered minds of post-modernity, being ''two churches'' is what makes us ''one church''.

By the standards of natural logic, this sounds about as sensible as employing a chocolate fire-screen.

It makes for a strange twinning of Gansweinian proportions...

As Fides et Ratio famously taught: faith and reason either flourish together, or else they will both perish without the other.

On this Feast of All Saints we must pray for the leaders of the Catholic Church to recover the true sense of the Church as the Light of All Nations - the real Lumen Gentium if you will - and not to remain blinded by the sinister Jack-o-Lanterns of post-modernity.

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Some Traditional Latin Masses for All Saints Day in NW England

Torch of The Faith News on Monday 31 October 2016 - 17:12:55 | by admin

Tomorrow's great Feast of All Saints is a Holy Day of Obligation. There are a number of Traditional Latin Masses available in the North West region of England. Please note that some parishes are also providing further Traditional Latin Masses for All Souls Day on Wednesday.

The following list may not be exhaustive.

Bolton

St. Osmund's, Long Lane, Breightmet, Bolton, BL2 6EB.

7:30PM - Low Mass

Farington

St. Catherine's, Stanifield Lane, Farington, Leyland, PR25 4QG.

7:45pm - Missa Cantata 

N.B. - An additional Missa Cantata will also be offered at 7:00pm on Wednesday for All Souls. 

Ford

Holy Spirit, Poulsom Drive, Ford, Liverpool, L21.

7:30pm - Low Mass

Liverpool

St. Anthony's, Scotland Road, Liverpool, L5 5BD.

Low Mass - 12 noon

N.B. - Another Low Mass will also be offered at 12 noon on Wednesday for All Souls Day.

Lydiate

Our Lady's, Southport Road, Lydiate, L31 4HH.

Low Mass - 7pm

N.B. - Another Low Mass will also be offered at 7pm on Wednesday for All Souls Day.

New Brighton

ICKSP Shrine of Ss Peter, Paul and Philomena, Atherton Steet, CH45 9LT.

9.00am - Low Mass

12 noon - Low Mass

7:00pm - Missa Cantata in Gregorian Chant

N.B. - Further Traditional Latin Masses will also be offered on Wednesday for All Souls. These include: 9am Low Mass; 12 noon Low Mass; and 7pm Missa Cantata in Gregorian Chant.

Preston

ICKSP Shrine Church of St. Walburge, Weston Street, Preston, PR2 2QE.

9am - Low Mass

7pm - Low (Sung) Mass

N.B. - Further Traditional Latin Masses will also be offered on Wednesday for All Souls. These include: 9:00am Low Mass; 12 noon Low Mass; and 7pm Sung Mass and Absolution at the Catafalque.

St. Helens

Holy Cross, Corporation Street, WA10 1EF.

7:30pm - Low Mass

N.B. - Another Low Mass will also be offered at 7:30pm on Wednesday for All Souls Day.

Shrewsbury

St. Winefride's, Crowmere Road, Monkmoor, Shrewsbury, SY2 5RA.

7:30pm - Low Mass

N.B. - Another Low Mass will be offered on Wednesday at 7:30pm for All Souls.

Warrington

FSSP Shrine Church of St. Mary's, Buttermarket Street, Warrington, WA1 2NS.

12:10pm - Low Mass

6:00pm - Solemn High Mass

N.B. - Further Traditional Latin Masses will also be offered on Wednesday for All Souls. These include: 12:10pm Low Mass; 7:30pm Sung Requiem Mass.

We give thanks to God and to these good priests for the availability of these Traditional Latin Masses in the North West region of England and encourage readers in this area to attend them where possible.

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It IS The Mass That Matters!

Torch of The Faith News on Sunday 30 October 2016 - 10:07:30 | by admin

Pope Francis in Cuba beneath an image of the mass-murdering Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.

The Beginning of Sorrows - Mark 13:8

As I write this early on Sunday morning, the Feast of Christ the King in the Traditional Calendar, reports are coming in that another major earthquake has just destroyed the beautiful church in Norcia. This is, of course, the basilica of St. Benedict; in which the Benedictine monks have been bringing such a powerful restoration through the Traditional Liturgy of the Church. The BBC reports that monks and nuns had to flee the shaking building as it collapsed.

Early reports note that this latest quake is perhaps the strongest to occur in Italy for several decades. It has been felt very strongly in Rome. A few days ago, another strong earthquake was also felt in Rome, which caused serious damage to a number of Italian churches, some dating back to the 14th-Century, in other parts of Italy. This week's shakings have come just a couple of months after some 300 people were killed and various buildings, including the Norcia basilica, were damaged in August's large earthquake.

It is difficult not to see these instances as warnings of Divine displeasure regarding the travesties planned to take place in Lund tomorrow and the radical take-over by Modernists of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the JP II Institutes. 

The Holy Mass comes from Heaven and is thus truly universal. As such, it is only sectarian to resist the Holy Mass; as do the followers of Luther and Marx!

Last night, I read that an interview with Pope Francis regarding tomorrow's Lund ''commemoration'' had been printed in the Jesuit Signum and the Swedish newspaper Dagens nyheter. In that interview, Francis had said: ''We must strive to be together with others. Catholic and sectarian are two words in contradiction. This is why at the beginning I was not planning to celebrate a Mass for the Catholics on this trip. I wanted to insist on an ecumenical witness.''

No Pope in 2,000 years of Church history has ever spoken of the most august Sacrifice of the Mass in this manner.

Indeed, I cannot help but notice a strong symmetry in that scandalous phrase with the approach taken by the priest at Ushaw Seminary that I recently described in the article Satan's War on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

During my time there in the late-1990's, that Ushaw priest had asked our class for our thoughts on holding a ''Mass-free day to celebrate the Millennium with local Protestants''. When we had defended the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, this priest had castigated us for being ''sectarian''. The following weekend, he tore a strip off our year-group in front of the whole college, during Sunday Mass, for being ''sectarian'' in our outlook.

Of course, there is nothing ''sectarian'' about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the heart of all that exists in this world. The Holy Mass is described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as ''the source and summit of the Christian life'' (CCC 1324).

The Plot Thickens

Another disturbing parallel between Pope Francis and the Ushaw regime is that the latter applied the ''rigid'' label to seminarians who were known (and thus persecuted) for their orthodoxy. As I have said a couple of times before, I have met seminarians and former-seminarians from America, Germany, Holland and Ireland with the exact same story to tell regarding the sinister use of that word ''rigid'' to hinder orthodox vocations. 

Remarkably, that same Ushaw priest who called us ''sectarians'', let's call him Il Presidente, spoke in class of Che Guevara and even brought the Marxist-connected ''liberation theologian'' Fr. Jon Sobrino to host a conference at Ushaw Seminary. Catholic News Agency (CNA) have listed Sobrino as part of a de facto advisory board to the revolutionary Sandanista government. CNA added that this was a government which sent all of its high level-and many of its mid-level officials - to East Berlin for Communist indoctrination and other training, whilst allowing the dreaded Stasi to build for Nicaragua a secret police network.

The plot thickens because, during that Sobrino conference at Ushaw,  the priest who had described us as ''sectarians'' for our love of the Holy Mass, made the Marxist fist salute on a number of occasions at the end of the presentations. He also consistently spoke highly of the Medellin Bishop's Conference in Colombia; a meeting which Ion Mihai Pacepa - the former Communist general in Romania's secret police - had admitted was being influenced behind the scenes by the KGB. Pacepa also said the same of the whole ''liberation theology'' movement and its key leaders.

All of this, including tomorrow's planned events in Lund, also ties in to that Traditionalist publication which I read in the mid-90's. Regular readers will recall that this had suggested that the Marxist infiltration of the Church would be almost complete when Martin Luther began to be hailed as some kind of saint figure. At the time, that claim seemed so far-out as to be outrageous. Since then, shall we say, a lot has happened.

This is why I have little time for Mr. Joseph Shaw's recent description of the Communist infiltration of the Church as a ''comforting fantasy''. Indeed, I find it hard to think of anything less comforting... 

The Mass is the Very Life of the Church

In contrast to all this reductionist and un-Catholic talk of the Holy Mass as being somehow sectarian, let us conclude with the more edifying reflections of the brilliant apologist, and late Co-adjutor Archbishop of Sydney, Archbishop Michael Sheehan (1870 - 1945).

The Mass, according to St. Francis de Sales, is ''the centre of the Christian religion, the mainspring of devotion, the soul of piety, an ineffable mystery which embraces the untold depths of divine charity''. It is the very life of the Church, the secret of her holiness and vitality''.

No wonder that the spirits of darkness should have inspired the heretic with hatred for the Mass, for they know that when they strike at the Mass, they strike at the heart of the Church.

No wonder that Pope Urban VIII should say that, if the angels could envy man anything, it would be his power to offer the Holy Sacrifice.

No wonder that the faithful in all the ages of persecution, from the days of the Catacombs to recent times, were willing to pay with their lives for the privilege of assisting at Mass.

Go back in thought to the penal era in Ireland: at daybreak in some mountain fastness you see a little group of men, women, and children, clustered round a rude altar at which a hunted priest is celebrating the Sacred Mysteries. They take no heed of the cruel blasts of winter. So intent are they on the progress of the great Sacrifice that their persecutors come upon them unawares: the ravening wolf descends on the flock of Christ, and their blood commingled with the very Blood of the Lamb is borne by Him to the high throne of God.

Think of the martyrs of England and Wales: how they risked everything, including their very lives, if only they could have a priest, if only they could assist at Mass.

No need to say that we, their descendants in the faith, should never fail in loyalty to the Mass; that we should never tarnish their proud name by indifference to the most precious gift of Christ.''

It Truly is the Mass that Matters - Keep the True Faith Friends! 

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29th October - Mea Culpa!

Torch of The Faith News on Saturday 29 October 2016 - 23:59:58 | by admin

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Wide of the Mark - From Judas to Luther

Torch of The Faith News on Saturday 29 October 2016 - 15:37:27 | by admin

As well as the good that he has no doubt achieved as a priest, Msgr. Mark Langham does have rather an unfortunate history of distressing the faithful here in England.

What follows is not mere gossip, but a gathering of important data which has long remained in the public realm; and which provides a prism through which to comprehend the present.

Gospel of Judas at Cathedral Hall

On 21st March, 2007, during his time as Cathedral Administrator of Westminster Cathedral, the controversial book The Gospel of Judas received its UK launch in Westminster's Cathedral Hall. At the time, this event was a source of confusion and scandal to concerned observers.

99 Names of Allah in the Cathedral

A few months later, on 19th June 2007, Sir John Tavener's 99 Names of Allah was performed, to the accompaniment of Tibetan temple bells, inside the Cathedral itself, with Msgr. Langham's permission and support.

Many Catholics were angered that English Catholicism's mother church had been used over their heads in this manner. Not only was this taken as an affront to the Most Holy Trinity, the Real Presence of Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist and the pious sentiments of the Catholic faithful, but numbers of the faithful were also concerned that some Muslims may take this as an act of worship, meaning that the Cathedral was now understood as being a de facto mosque. 

A number of Catholics, including Fr. Tim Finigan, responded by holding a prayer vigil outside on the Cathedral's famous Piazza. This vigil included the Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, Litany of the Holy Name, Litany of Loreto, Salve Regina, Christus Vincit and a hearty rendition of Faith of Our Fathers!

Fr. Finigan explained that it is not right to sing the names of Allah according to Muslim faith in a Catholic Cathedral dedicated to the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Other Catholics were concerned, too, that Tibetan temple bells are used to summon the deity. Praising Allah according to Muslim faith and chiming Tibetan temple bells are clearly inappropriate acts in a Catholic cathedral consecrated to the worship of God through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Anti-Catholic Film in the Cathedral

As if to add insult to injury, Msgr. Mark Langham also allowed Westminster Cathedral to be used as a location for the filming of the historically inacurrate, and strongly anti-Catholic, film Elizabeth: the Golden Age. This movie was particularly distasteful due to its resurrection of the wicked myth of ''killer priests''.

In their report on this vile film, the movie reviewer at America's National Catholic Register stated: ''Pound for pound, minute for minute, Elizabeth: the Golden Age could possibly contain more sustained church-bashing than any other film I could think of.''

As that particular scandal unfolded, and many Catholics spoke out, Fr. Ray Blake courageuosly argued that ''this film is highly damaging to the Church, to our history and to the truth, it is a disgrace that permission was given in the the first place.''

With high-handed disregard to the protestations of so many faithful Catholics in the country, Msgr. Langham smugly boasted about the use of the Cathedral for the filming at his blog Solomon, I Have Surpassed Thee. He wrote: ''The trailer is now available; from it one gleans a thrilling, if distorted, version of historical events, and it does appear to perpetuate the myth of 'killer priests'. However, it does look spectacular and evocative, and is a 'must see' for the autumn!''

A Distorted Version of Historic Events...

As we saw earlier this week, in our article on Bishop William Kenney's views on the Reformation, such cheery airbrushing of history seems to be becoming increasingly normative among modernistic members of the clergy; men who seem so out of touch with both the Faith and the faithful in their own flocks.

Not to be outdone in the field of historical airbrushing and disregard for the sentiments of the faithful, Msgr. Langham has now made his own contribution to the forthcoming events in Lund.

In a Catholic Herald article entitled, A Leap Across the Great Divide, Msgr. Langham suggested this week: ''There is no doubt that this anniversary presents a challenge to Catholics. Catholics cannot celebrate the Reformation, but our commemoration can be more than a bland acknowledgement of a historical anniversary. In the larger horizon of life in Christ and the unity for which he (sic) prayed, we may recognize - and even give thanks for - the contribution and witness of Martin Luther.''

Msgr. Langham's dealings with the horrible Elizabeth movie give evidence of an assertion of style over substance when it comes to history and theology.

Having studied both in some depth, I urge readers not to fall for the revisionist interpretation which suggests that the Reformation was ''just one big misunderstanding''.

To the contrary, the Catholic Church's response took decades of careful prayer, discernment and practical application in order to correct and overcome the dehumanizing heresies which had also been carefully formulated by Luther and those other Protestant heresiarchs who beat subsequent paths away from him.

Hard Truths About Luther

Without Luther's revolt, there would have been no splitting of the Church, no sundering of Western Christendom, no violent wars of religion, no rise of Freemasonry, no atheistic Enlightenment and no collapse into the post-modern atheism which surrounds us today.

Msgr. Langham suggests life in Christ and the unity for which Christ prayed as the larger horizon. He will receive no argument from us on that front. 

However, no Catholic can commemorate - much less ''give thanks for the contribution and witness of'' - a man who blasphemed Christ, disparaged the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, mocked the Papacy and sacrilegiously fornicated with a former nun in a convent.

In any case, the unity which Christ both promises and gives is inherent in the very nature and essence of the Catholic Church. Our Blessed Lord established the Catholic Church and He sustains it by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the furtherance of this Truth, rather than any ''commemoration'' of Luther, that we will be praying about this weekend. May we never forget that real unity is a fruit of truth and charity. 

Our Lady, Destroyer of Heresies - Pray for us! 

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A U-Turn from Bishop Philip Egan?

Torch of The Faith News on Friday 28 October 2016 - 13:50:11 | by admin

A Series of Happy Events

Like so many Catholics in the UK, we were delighted when Bishop Philip Egan was appointed as the new Bishop of Portsmouth in 2012.

And there was good reason to be delighted: at the time of his consecration, Bishop Egan shone brightly as one of the few episcopal beacons of orthodoxy in the sea of modernism which constitutes so much of English Catholicism. In contrast to the general milieu, Bishop Egan was widely known for both his orthodoxy and his enthusiastic commitment to evangelization.

Christocentric and Orthodox

In his opening address at Portsmouth Cathedral, His Lordship spoke enthusiastically about conversion to Our Lord Jesus Christ and of the love of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. He concluded his address with a heartfelt request for prayers to enable him to be a bishop that was humble, holy, orthodox, creative and courageous, as one fashioned after the Lord's own. This was indeed a breath of fresh air to the beleaguered faithful in these isles. Bishop Egan's address was so powerful that it resonated for months in an environment starved of orthodoxy and passion for the truth.

Defence of Chastity

A few months later, Bishop Egan followed up this address with a veritable tour de force of a pastoral letter. On the Feast of the Holy Family, His Lordship proclaimed Humanae Vitae as a prophetic document; recalling that Pope Paul VI had warned of the catastrophic consequences that would follow if the dual purposes of conjugal relations in marriage - the procreation of children and the union of spouses- were separated through contraception. Bishop Egan even spelled these out in terms of the destruction of the family, the popular reduction of sexual expression to a mere leisure activity, the prevalence of pornography, the trafficking of people for prostitution, and the explosion of addictive behaviours leading to shame, guilt and even despair. In contrast to these problems, His Lordship pointed the way to ''lasting happiness and fulfillment'' involving the grace-aided struggle for self-mastery.

Bold Stance Against ''Gay Marriage'' 

In December 2012, Bishop Egan also wrote a strong public response to Prime Minister David Cameron over the issue of homosexual ''marriage''. His excellent letter warned that Cameron was luring the English people away from their common Christian patrimony and values.

Tradition Friendly

During the autumn season of 2013, Bishop Egan happily presided at a Traditional Latin Mass in his Cathedral. It was the first to be celebrated there for many years.

Putting Christ First

There was more to come the following December, when Bishop Egan called on the priests and people in his diocese to consecrate themselves both individually and communally to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in order to put the Lord first in their lives, in the midst of a society becoming dominated by ''powerful forces of chaos and moral malaise''. It had been a long time since many English Catholics had heard an English bishop speak with this kind of faith and clarity.

Defence of the Blessed Sacrament and Souls

During March, 2014, Bishop Egan gave an interview to LifeSiteNews reminding people who dissent from Church teaching, on issues like abortion and sexual morality, that they are not to approach for Holy Communion. He also pointed out that this is not so much a punitive measure as an act of mercy, which stands as a way to encourage people to genuine repentance and conversion.

His Lordship received a lot of backlash for this courageous interview. In fact, he was even disgracefully undermined by the Bishops' Conference, when their dissenting layman Greg Pope - writing in his capacity as Head of Parliamentary Relations for the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales - wrote to Catholic MPs and Peers to assure them that there were no plans from the Bishops' Conference to deny Holy Communion to anyone who voted in support of ''gay marriage''...

Bold and Prayerful Stand Against Euthanasia

Notwithstanding this diabolical attempt to erode His Lordship's Christ-given authority, Bishop Egan next urged all the priests and laity in his diocese to make a firm stand with all people of good will in resisting Lord Falconer's deadly ''Assisted Dying Bill''. He called for every parish in the Portsmouth Diocese to hold a Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration to encourage intercessory prayers, on the night that the infamous bill would be debated in the House of Lords, in July 2014. The bishop also provided good resources and the addresses of the various Peers to enable the faithful to write pro-life letters to the House of Lords.

Traditional Parish

On Our Lady's Birthday, 8th September 2015, Bishop Egan appointed Fr. Serafino Lanzetta, the splendid theologian-priest and author from the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, as parish priest at St. Mary's in Gosport. Under Fr. Lanzetta's leadership, this parish would host six Traditional Latin Masses each week - though sadly not on Sundays - sung with Gregorian Chant. In the present ecclesiastical climate the provision of this parish, and with this particular priest, was a doubly courageous thing to do.

There were many other good things that Bishop Egan did too: like offering Sacred Scripture classes, encouraging evangelization and providing guidelines to promote chastity and orthodoxy in the diocese's schools.

Whose Happy Now?

Some folks detected a possible wobble in the wheels of this orthodox train of events when Bishop Egan suddenly began to speak of ''climate change'' in his pastoral letter at Christmas 2015. However, given his sincerity and overall trajectory we did not like to read too much into this occurrence. Anyone who has studied the science which questions the validity of climate-change data would agree that this is a non-doctrinal issue on which Catholics are free to disagree.

However, given the plethora of encouraging things listed above, orthodox Catholics were certainly scandalized when news broke in February 2016 that the dissenting group A Call to Action (ACTA) were holding an event in one of the parishes within Bishop Egan's Portsmouth Diocese.

The event would include the dissenting Fr. Daniel O'Leary as well as Bishop Peter Doyle as keynote speakers. Regular readers will recall that Bishop Doyle was the man who had said to Vatican Radio, during the heat of Synod '15, that there was no room in Church teaching for a same-sex relationship ''at the moment''; and he then went on to call for a ''greater theological exploration of anthropology'' in that area... 

As we have recently discussed, ACTA is a group that itself publicly dissents from the Magisterium over the issues of women priests, contraception, same-sex ''marriage'' and other ''LGBT'' issues.

What scandalized UK Catholics was not only the shocking fact that the ACTA event was being allowed to happen within the Portsmouth Diocese, but that it was even advertised on the diocesan website. Indeed ACTA's own website proudly boasted: ''This event has the blessing of Bishop Philip Egan, RC Bishop of Portsmouth''.

This seemed to be a remarkable u-turn from Bishop Egan's earlier words and actions. 

Worse came when a number of people wrote in to Bishop Egan to complain about his episcopal backing of the ACTA event. Bishop Egan replied through his secretary: ''The word ''blessing'' is strong and Bishop Philip would perhaps not have chosen this word himself. He did give his permission for this event to take place and was happy to do so.''

And he was happy to do so...

A U-Turn of Some Magnitude

You'll remember the shocking Wijngaards Statement that we critiqued here on 22nd September, 2016. We speak of the public expression of dissent issued, with the backing of three UN agencies (!) by 100 ''Catholic'' figures against the Church's Magisterial teaching in the areas of contraception, masturbation, homosexual relationships and IVF.

Well, Deacon Nick Donnelly, reporting for EWTN GB, has exposed the fact that one of the signatories to the infamous Wijngaards Statement will now appear as a keynote speaker, at an event chaired by Bishop Philip Egan in the Portsmouth Diocese this November.

The event is called the Care of Our Common Home Conference and is based on Pope Francis' environmental document Laudato Si. It will include guests of other faiths and no faith at all to discuss care for the planet. The dissenting speaker in question is Professor Mary Grey, Emeritus Visiting Professor of St. Mary's in Twickenham.

Another of the keynote speakers at this event will be Fr. Augusto Zampini, a theological adviser to the troublesome CAFOD organization. Again, readers may recall that Tina Beattie, another of CAFOD's theological advisers had written a letter earlier this year in support of the fallacy of ''early and safe abortion'' in Poland.

At the end of our recent critique of the Wijngaards Statement, we noted that the signatories needed to be reminded by their bishops not to approach for Holy Communion until they had repented, confessed, received sacramental absolution and publicly recanted their support for such gravely sinful acts as the use of contraception, masturbation, homosexual activity and IVF.

This expression of Catholic Truth is itself entirely in keeping with the above-mentioned interview which Bishop Philip Egan gave to LifeSiteNews in March 2014.

Holding the Line

During that interview, Bishop Egan had also reflected that the Catholic Church in the UK faced a difficult future. He stated that the prospects could nevertheless be good if Catholics became convicted and led others to Christ and His Truth.

He thus explained that we need to help our contemporaries to see that a true grasp of values, such as respect and diversity rightly understood, actually comes from the Christian underpinnings of our civilization. Without a recovery of this, His Lordship warned, true values would only be lost in a sea of relativism that would ultimately lead to the tyranny of a police state.

The bishop then concluded that the Church could prosper in the future if Catholics held the line and did not lose their nerve.

What is Going On?

How then, can Bishop Egan now welcome a woman as a keynote speaker alongside of him, that so publicly dissents from the Church on issues like contraception, masturbation, homosexual activity and IVF?

Based on his earlier statements and acts, will His Lordship caution Mary Grey not to approach for Holy Communion in his diocese? Will he make a public statement to distance himself from Mary Grey on the issue of the Wijngaards Statement? Will he ask her why anyone should take her views on environmentalism seriously when she cannot even take her own Church's moral teachings seriously? Given Grey's public support for contraception, masturbation, homosexual activity and IVF, will Bishop Egan cancel her appearance at the event?  

If he does not ask or do any of these things, is Bishop Egan aware of the grave public scandal and confusion that this will cause?

Is Bishop Egan under some kind of undue pressure to backtrack from his former expressions of orthodoxy? Or is he just doing all this to cover his back in the days of Pope Francis? Perhaps he no longer holds his earlier orthodox positions? Just what is going on?

Please Pray for Bishop Egan

As we said above, Bishop Egan called at the start of his episcopal ministry for prayers for him to be a humble, holy, orthodox, creative and courageous bishop. For a long time, His Lordship has encouraged Catholics by being all of these things in the face of some pretty tough opposition.

Please do pray for Bishop Egan to continue in the good way that he originally began.    

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Remembering the 8,042,157 Babies Killed in Britain by Abortion

Torch of The Faith News on Thursday 27 October 2016 - 13:00:41 | by admin

Today, the 27th October 2016, is the 49th anniversary of the signing into law of the British Abortion Act. On this day in 1967, the bill decriminalizing abortion under certain grounds received Royal Assent. The British Abortion Act did not actually come into force until six months later, however today's date marks the official acceptance of ''legal'' abortion here in the UK.

We know a good Catholic pro-life activist, and mother of eight (now-adult) children, who was serving at that time as a policewoman in the north of England. As she has said in the course of her pro-life work: ''In the days immediately before the legalization of abortion, we police officers were rightly expected to enforce the law by arresting all abortionists; from the day of its legalization, we were expected to enforce the law by tolerating the killing of innocent babies. How could abortion be wrong one day; and then somehow become right the very next day?''

The official government statistics show that, since the official legalization of abortion in the UK, some 8,042,157 babies have been killed by surgical abortion.

Each day, around 500-600 babies are being killed by surgical abortion in these small isles. Indeed, in the city of London, abortions take place on all seven days of the week, including the Lord's Day of Sunday. Whilst so many folks politely sip their tea as though we were living in the best of times, post-modern Britain has been thoroughly engulfed by the Culture of Death.

In his reflections for this year's grim 49th anniversary, SPUC's chief executive John Smeaton has said: ''This anniversary shows that the only lasting protection for society's weakest, most vulnerable human beings, ultimately, are moral absolutes. Our aim must be to stop abortion completely, whilst offering positive support to women in crisis. We need to make the idea of abortion being completely illegal normal - because it really is normal not to kill children.''

Please join Torch of The Faith in praying today in memory of all the babies who have been destroyed, and the many mothers and families who have been gravely damaged, by the cruel crime of abortion.

Please pray, too, for the ongoing 40 Days for Life prayer vigils which are taking place each day until Sunday 6th November, outside of abortion facilities in London, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Hallam, Leeds and Manchester; and opposite the town hall in Llanelli.

Our Lady of Walsingham and Cardigan - Pray for us!  

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