Please Pray for the 8 Million Babies Killed by Abortion in Britain Since 1967


Torch of The Faith News on Monday 27 October 2014 - 09:44:54 | by admin

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Today is the 47th anniversary of the Royal Assent given to the Abortion Act by Queen Elizabeth II. Since the British Abortion Act was passed, over 8 million babies have been killed in the womb in these isles.

SPUC has called for a one minute silence to be held at 11.04 a.m. to mark the moment when Royal Assent was given. During this silence, and throughout the day, SPUC asks people to honour the children who will never be born or loved in this life; to remember the mothers and fathers who have killed their own children by abortion and also to recall those parents who have withstood enormous pressures to give their babies the best chance of life by respecting their right to be born.

On his blog, SPUC's John Smeaton notes that in 2013 alone 190,800 babies were aborted in England and Wales - around 550 every day. 773 of these abortions were carried out on girls below the age of 15. 

Good Counsel Network is marking the day as a National Day of Prayer and Fasting for Life. They ask people to pray a Rosary - or if they already pray a daily Rosary to pray an extra one - today. In terms of fasting, Good Counsel Network encourage a one-day fast on bread and water for those who are able. For those whose health or circumstances preclude such a fast, Good Counsel Network encourages them to make some other sacrifice, such as refraining from luxuries - like alchohol, chocolate, cigarettes or TV - which they enjoy. They also invite supporters to attend Holy Mass and/or Eucharistic Adoration to pray for an end to abortion and euthanasia.

Good Counsel Network have drawn from Sacred Scripture for the theme for this day: 'And the people of Ninevah believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least... God saw their efforts to renounce their evil ways. And God relented about the disaster which He had threatened to bring on them, and He did not bring it (Jonah 3:5,10).

Please join with SPUC for the minute of silence at 11:04 a.m. and with Good Counsel Network in prayer and fasting. Reparation is needed for this mass-killing of the innocent.       

Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ - Traditional Calendar


Torch of The Faith News on Sunday 26 October 2014 - 14:50:19 | by admin

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This feast was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925, in order to remind the faithful in these days of indifference and irreligion that Christ is the King of all men, endowed with all kingly power to rule and to judge. 

Individuals, families and nations are bound by the moral and religious law of Christ. It is only by acknowledging loyally His supreme authority in public and private life that society will attain liberty, peace and order and that individuals will attain eternal life. 

The Kingdom of Christ is not territorial or terrestrial, but one of Truth, Holiness and Justice (Roman Missal).

He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. And all kings of the earth shall adore Him: all nations shall do Him service (Gradual Psalm 71).

The Apostasy Deepens as Archbishop Malcolm McMahon Welcomes Dissenting 'A Call to Action' Conference to the Archdiocese of Liverpool


Torch of The Faith News on Friday 24 October 2014 - 23:26:35 | by admin

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You will remember that we had a few things to say earlier this year about the dissenting group A Call to Action (ACTA). Deacon Nick Donnelly consistently exposed their dissent from the Magisterium with his articulate and orthodox Catholic blog Protect the Pope. In this he stood out as a pastor of souls.

During the year we had pondered writing to the new Archbishop of Liverpool to alert him to the fact that ACTA would be hosting its annual conference at Liverpool Hope University this weekend. (We had earlier written a few e-mails to the auxiliary Bishop Tom Williams, but we never received a reply).

Anyway, it seems that the Apostasy through which we are all living is deepening its pervasive hold. ACTA have actually been welcomed to the Archdiocese with the following message from Archbishop Malcolm McMahon. Yes, you read that correctly. Here are his words:-

'As a new arrival myself, I take great pleasure in welcoming you all to the Archdiocese of Liverpool, and to this ecumenical beacon of hope that is this chapel, and this university. I pray that your continued commitment to the well-being of our church, in finding new pathways to dialogue and service, and promoting the joy of the gospel, will be a source of strength and encouragement, at this time of challenge and opportunity. May you have a fruitful, creative and joyful day.

God bless you all, 
+ Malcolm
Archbishop of Liverpool

We are shocked though not surprised by this development. You will recall that Terry Duffy, the Co-ordinator for ACTA in Liverpool, spoke on Radio Lancashire in March about an article which we had written for the Protect the Pope website. During the interview, Mr. Duffy stated that ACTA did not see it as at all corrosive that ACTA was campaigning for same-sex 'marriage' or women priests.  

And a brief word about that chapel which Archbishop McMahon describes as 'an ecumenical beacon of hope'. It has two tabernacles on a shared shelf; one for the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament and one for the bread of the Anglicans. Does no-one love Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament anymore? If they do, how can they tolerate and promote this sacrilegious indifference? During the Reformation, priests ministering in Lancashire were hung, drawn and quartered rather than go along with such apostasy. A few years ago, a friend of ours attended a Catholic conference there and was confused as to where he should genuflect. When he asked a Catholic lady which was the 'Catholic tabernacle', she suggested that this no longer mattered.

Dear readers, with this latest development we see that the Apostasy deepens and takes hold. That the dissenters in ACTA have gained confidence from the battles at the Rome Synod is clear from their agenda for this weekend in Liverpool. For example, Fr. Timothy Buckley CSSR will lead a session entitled Remarriage and the Eucharist - After the Synod. (It is important to remember that the Kasper thesis has not been approved by the Synod and that it contradicts 2,000 years of Church teaching).

It is difficult to see how Archbishop McMahon could understand that an organization promoting dissent from the Magisterium over homosexual 'marriage', contraception and women priests could be in any way continuing to contribute to the well-being of the Church. But then he did appoint the infamous dissenter Greg Pope to the 'Catholic' Education Service; a former MP who had signed a parliamentary motion praising a condom manufacturer for helping schools to promote 'National Condom Week' and another praising international and domestic pro-abortion organizations. As an MP, he also voted in an anti-life manner a few times. But look, we've said all this a number of times before.

The Diabolical Disorientation, which Sr. Lucia of Fatima warned about, is deepening.      

Modernizers or just (Post)Modernists?


Torch of The Faith News on Friday 24 October 2014 - 14:25:50 | by admin

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Numerous Popes have affirmed that the true Catholic is naturally a Traditionalist. The Greek origins of the word 'catechesis' express the fact that the authentic teacher of the Faith is the one who faithfully 'echoes' what he has first received from Christ through the Church. Even Jesus Himself proclaimed: 'My teaching is not my own, but His Who sent me' (John 7:16). This is the outlook which has informed and shaped every true Catholic ever since.

Modernizers are not so keen on receiving the Faith in this manner. They might be happy to draw from aspects of Catholicism, perhaps even a large proportion of the teachings of the Church. Certainly, they enjoy the lifestyle, status and power it bequeathes to them. However, at some point they wish not to receive the Deposit of Faith as the fullness of revelation, but rather as a construct upon which they can impose their own meaning. They are more than happy to retain the Church's resources and networks of communication, but they would demolish and clear away anything standing in the way of their own aims. In this they reveal their adherence - whether by conscious will or ignorance only God may know and judge - to the heresy of Modernism; that hydra which Pope St. Pius X unmasked as the 'synthesis of all heresies.' 

By the time we were born, Modernism had mutated into Post-Modernism; a terrifying example of the shattering wound inflicted on human reason once true religious faith had been assaulted and reinterpreted. If, for the Modernist, 'religion is what you make it'; for the Postmodernist, the 'making' replaces religion. Everything is to be deconstructed and reconstructed according to the whims of the individual. 

Sadly, many contemporary Catholics have not received a sound formation and have instead imbibed the values of Postmodernism - or rather its lack of values - perhaps unthinkingly. Certainly those of us who grew to adulthood in the last five decades have come through systems of education, socialization, work and entertainment which are saturated with total moral and religious relativism. GK Chesterton was not wrong when he announced that Catholicism was the only thing which preserved a man from becoming a prisoner of his own age. Alas, few now living in the West have had sufficient grounding in orthodox Catholicism in their homes, parishes or schools to resist the corrosive effects of Postmodernist relativism. The extent of this may be discerned, not only in the heretical and immoral notions being pushed forward at the Rome Synod, and even included in the mid-term Relatio working document, but by the shocking numbers who voted for them. For too long, seminaries failed to hand on Thomistic clarity and a truly Catholic conception of metaphysics to their seminarians; the orthodox were often persecuted, whilst those opposed to the True Faith were promoted. We have now reached the point where a large number of cardinals and bishops appear to have lost the Faith, or maybe never to have even had it. 

The often unseen cultural influences of, amongst others, William of Ockham, the Protestant Revolutionaries, various Enlightenment thinkers, aspects of the Industrial Revolution, the Nihilists and the dreadful Sexual Revolution have transformed our general cultural outlook in the West from one of receptivity to one of imposition.

It was not always this way. Though always imperfectly realized and limited because of human sinfulness, Christendom provided an environment wherein nature, life, other people and the Faith could be received as gifts to be cherished and handed on. Postmoderns typically view each of these as objects to be used. They no longer wish to receive meaning, but to impose it. This manifests all around us today in the widespread use of contraception and fertility technologies such as IVF, extreme 'body art' - only yesterday we encountered a young man in a shop with one third of his face horrifically tatooed - homosexual 'partnerings', and attempts to merge human beings with technologies as typified by the well-funded and so-called transhumanists.

It has resulted in a refusal to accept the Church's Divinely instituted Nature and Mission, and an attempt to supplant these with the aims and values of a secularized 'Christianity'. This manifests itself in so-called experiential catechesis, liturgical experimentation, the jettisoning of belief in Natural and Divine Law and a widespread attempt to manufacture doctrine for a 'new epoch'. Postmoderns in the Church do not wish to receive meaning but to impose it.     
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We glimpse something of this in Cardinal Kasper's words about Africans. In truth, his words are as revealing as they are morally repugnant. Although Postmodern ideology is making inroads into Africa and Asia, dragging in its wake forms of 'aid, healthcare and sustainability' which are frequently culturally and spiritually destructive, it remains the case that Africans generally retain an outlook which accepts God and receives existence and nature as gifts to be nurtured. The human person and the traditional model of the family are seen as mystical realities. A recent video of African bishops and pro-life leaders on EWTN demonstrated just how much this remains the general paradigm in Africa. This is also demonstrated in the beautiful open letter written by Obianuju Ekeocha; an African woman who has done much to uphold the Culture of Life and who was moved to tears by the remarks of Cardinal Walter Kasper. As ever, grace has built on nature and the Catholic Church flourishes in Africa because of its defence of God, spirituality, morality, the family and nature. Homosexualization remains taboo in Africa, not because Africans are a bunch of backward tribesmen, but because they remain generally in closer contact with the Natural and Divine Law than a decadent and secularized West. Certainly this is the case with African Catholics who view contraception, abortion, 'gay marriage', and divorce, not as models of progress but as evidence of cultural degeneration. Indeed, many bishops, priests and laity in Africa have been united and organized in their resistance to Western efforts at population control in their homelands.

The priests, nuns and lay catechists that we have met and worked with in recent years, from Nigeria and Cameroon, are among the most orthodox and well-formed Catholics we have ever met. They were also very joyful. Their catechetical programmes demand levels of ongoing conversion, knowledge, understanding and committment from both catechists and catechumens which could only be dreamt of in Northern Europe today. 

It is truly remarkable that a Synod of the whole Church, on marriage and the family, was so dominated by the degenerate demands of a small number from countries where the Church is dying out because those same leaders have both tacitly and actively encouraged their people to compromise with sin and to spiritually and physically contracept themselves out of existence. Why were the bishops from Africa not given a greater voice? After all, it is they who have been fighting tooth and nail to defend their civilization from the likes of IPPF and elements within the UN. Could it simply be that our modernizers are really Modernists who have morphed into Postmoderns? Have they rejected the Deposit of Faith? Can they no longer receive, but only impose? Is their hermeneutic not one of continuity, but one of rupture? Cardinal Kasper's attitude towards the views of Africans seems to reveal more than a mere cultural arrogance. He appears to reject their views because they do not tally with the imposition of Postmodern mores on the Church.

Fides et Ratio spoke of the need for the Church to engage with the cultures and thought forms of Africa and Asia as part of Her future evangelization. It is to be hoped that the Synod of 2015 will be diverted from its present trajectory and onto a serious attempt to shine the Light of Christ onto the key challenges of our time. This can only be done if the Deposit of Faith, in harmony with the Natural and Divine Law, is received as normative and not viewed by a number of post-modern clerics, who give much evidence of having lost the True Faith, as mere constructs to be voted into obsolesence if they can gain a sufficient majority. As Cardinal Raymond Burke has recalled; the Faith is not decided by vote.   

Next time, we wish to consider a little of the ecclesiastical background and 'theology' of Cardinal Walter Kasper. For now, we conclude with two themes:-

1. St. Paul taught the early Christians that the Church was the Mystical Body of Christ and that the Holy Eucharist unites us as one. 1 Corinthians 12:21 teaches: 'And the eye cannot say to the hand: I need not thy help; nor again the head to the feet: I have no need of you.' The African bishops must be listened to as a vital part of the Church and not patronized or ignored as though the Church was some kind of 1800's Imperialist hegemony.

2. The blog Call me Jorge has unearthed some of the artwork used for the Synod on the Family.      
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It is based on a painting by Marc Chagall, one of the Jewish pioneers of Modernist art. The image chosen for the Synod's artwork depicts King David and his adulterous lover Bathsheba - two Biblical figures whose sinful 'relationship' displeased God and caused the unjust death of Bathsheba's real husband Uriah. We might wonder why a modernist art depiction of two such characters would be chosen for a Synod on Marriage and the Family. As the Americans would say: ''Go figure!''  

Listening: But to Whom?


Torch of The Faith News on Tuesday 21 October 2014 - 23:49:32 | by admin

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Cardinal Walter Kasper suggested to Vatican Radio that Pope Francis wanted the Synod to be an instance of 'the listening Magisterium'. But to whom would they be listening? We now know only too well that, for Kasper at least, it would not be the participants from Africa! 

The chief claim to be a 'listening Church' derives largely from the questionnaire which was sent out to every diocese in the world within months of Cardinal Bergoglio becoming Pope. The questionnaire merely demonstrated the fact that, in the decadent West, few Catholics today adhere to the moral teachings of the Church. This is hardly news to the orthodox Catholics who have struggled to hand on the full content of the Faith, whilst being consistently undermined by liberal bishops, priests and laity for years. The modernizers hope to use the negative findings of the questionnaire to gain a relaxation of the Church teaching - or at least the 'pastoral practice' - in order to 'move with the times' and 'show mercy'. In reality, this attempt merely serves as proof of the spectacular long-term failure of bishops and priests to provide orthodox teaching and pastoral support in the area of sexual morality. Commentators have rightly pointed out that the use of the questionnaire as a battering-ram against the moral teachings of the Church is akin to an inept teacher using the the failure rate of his own students to argue for a watering-down of the curriculum.

It all calls to mind a young liberal Catholic I encountered soon after my conversion. He took it upon himself to go around local bars and pubs asking drinkers for their opinions on Catholic sexual ethics; he hoped to use their hostile - and surely somewhat inebriated - responses as evidence to argue for a change in the Church's moral teachings! 

It is worth subjecting Cardinal Kasper's African misadventure to closer scrutiny, because such cultural arrogance reveals something deeper. We intend to do this in our next article. For now, we can acknowledge that, without intending to do so, Kasper expressed the real crux of the battle which unfolded at the Synod. And, although Cardinal Nichols has attempted to tranquilize public opinion by claiming that there was no real division at the Synod, a searing battle there truly was.

We speak of the contest between those receptive to God, revelation, nature, other persons and cultures on the one hand, and those who seek to construct and impose meaning on the other. It is the struggle between the Catholic mind and that of the post-modern; the confrontation between those receptive to the Deposit of Faith and those seeking to impose novelty upon it. Allow us to speak more plainly still: This battle was only a stage in the more dramatic and larger war between those hoping to remain wedded to Jesus Christ and the Truth He reveals and those working to divorce the Church from Him in order to perform an arranged marriage with a new secularized world order. Ultimately this is a battle which transcends the physical realm, but it does not exclude it. Whether we like it or not, you, me - and everyone else living today - are caught up in this titanic struggle. 

The gravity of this struggle is underscored by the failure of Pope Francis to defend and articulate the true teachings of the Catholic Faith at a time in history when there was already a grave urgency for this to be done. This has consistently been the case with Pope Francis. It was the case when Kasper first presented his 'thesis'. It was the case when the Diocese of Rome issued a press release announcing that 20 couples, including those already living together, would be married just prior to the Synod; thus spreading serious scandal by not explaining whether these couples had been instructed in chastity, repentance and the need to marry in the state of grace. It was the case when it became clear that the Synod was being manipulated. It was the case when the despicable Relatio was released and when the machinations behind its formation became clearer. And it remains the case with Pope Francis' concluding address and the Synod's Final Report; neither of which resolve the confusion and distortion surrounding the Synod. The whole saga gives the impression of something unwholesome and stage-managed. 

We'll need to reflect more on these things in future articles. In the meantime, readers may like to reflect on the fact that the Synod, ostensibly called to deal with marriage, family and evangelization could so dramatically fail to square up to the sophisticated threats posed by various governments, IPPF, and elements within the UN; who between them are working to secure the global dominance of - what St. John Paul II called - the Culture of Death. Spooky too, that the problematic lines in the mid-term Relatio would have begun to align the Church towards the ideologies of those powerful groups. Perhaps the Synod should have listened less to the elderly dissenters who lead spiritually moribund local churches in Northern Europe and more to vibrant Africans who tackle these issues every day, whilst co-operating with the Holy Spirit to grow the Church exponentially in their dioceses.

Ah well, there is an old African proverb which states: Much silence makes a powerful noise.         

New Foundation Course for Catechists - School of the Annunciation


Torch of The Faith News on Monday 20 October 2014 - 12:04:35 | by admin

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Our friend Carol Harnett has e-mailed us to advertise a new Foundation Course for Catechists which is being established in association with the new School of the Annunciation.

This course is for those who wish to deepen their understanding and practice of handing on the Deposit of the Faith with the mind and heart of the Catholic Church.

The 18-month course will be delivered by experienced tutors from the School of the Annunciation. It is comprised of 5 study days and 2 Lectio Divina days, held either at Ealing Abbey in West London or Buckfast Abbey in Devon, as well as home study through distance learning, tutor support, liturgy, prayer and fellowship.

The course costs £345 and will help parish catechists or anyone else who wishes to pass on the Faith with confidence.

We can vouch that Carol Harnett and the other tutors have long experience of forming effective catechists in a manner which is creative, joyful and faithful to the Magisterium.

The First Study Day is at Ealing Abbey, West London, W5 2DY on Saturday, 22nd November, 2014. 

Further information and application details are available from c.harnett @schooloftheannunciation.com and 01364 - 645660.

Please keep this initiative in your prayers.    

19th October 2014 - Dad's 2nd Anniversary


Torch of The Faith News on Sunday 19 October 2014 - 09:53:42 | by admin

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It is two years today since Dad went from this life to God after suffering from cancer and having been fortified by the sacraments of Holy Church. He was 69 years old. The Traditional Latin Mass will be offered today for the repose of his soul.

We include today two texts which he left us. The first is the letter he instructed to be read out at the end of his funeral:-

What I really want to say today is a simple message to you all. 

Being a convert to the Catholic Faith gave me many joys and helped me through my physical and mental sufferings. I had a fervent desire for all who I met, whether family members, friends or just acquaintances, and all that desire was that they would come to know Jesus as their Saviour and find their way into His Holy Catholic Church.

My desire is the same today, although now there is a feeling of urgency about it, for I will not be around to speak to you all face to face, but I promise to pray for you all and will continually ask Our Lord and Our Lady for anyone who is not a Catholic to seek to know Our Lord and follow the path of Christ into full Communion in the Holy Catholic Church.

My final words to you today are that you will pray for me as I will pray for you. What more can we ask, but that we remember each other at the Altar of God?

May God richly bless you all and may Our Lady smile on you. Thank you... your devoted Husband, Dad, Grandad and Friend. Thank you and God bless, and may Our Blessed Lady keep you all in Her care and may the name of Jesus be glorified forever!
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The second of Dad's texts is one we found placed in a book only last week:-

Let your living water flow over my soul. Let your Holy Spirit come and take control of every situation that has troubled my mind. All my concerns and burdens on to You I roll.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Father, Father, Father,
Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit.

Come now Holy Spirit and take control. Hold me in Your loving arms and make me whole. Wipe away all doubts and fear. And take my pride. Draw me to Your Love and keep me by Your side. 

To those reading this: Give your life to Jesus. Let Him take you in His arms and make you whole. As you give your life to Him, He will set you free. And you will live and reign in Him eternally.

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Dad, we love and miss you very much. We thank God for the many graces He bestowed on you in this life and pray that you will share in His Resurrection as you always desired.

Eternal rest grant unto him dear Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him, and may he rest in peace. Amen.

What the Synod Teaches


Torch of The Faith News on Saturday 18 October 2014 - 12:21:44 | by admin

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LifeSiteNews has put together a helpful overview of the summaries of the 10 working groups working on the final document of the Synod in Rome. Remember, the full summaries of these documents were only released because a significant number of bishops inside the Synod revolted against the enforcement of restrictions on Synodal communications by those controlling the Synod. The words of Luke 12: 2-3 can instruct and console us: 'There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be known in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the house tops'. 

It must be said that the picture emerging from these full summaries is very different to the impression given by the official - and troublesome - Relatio text. The summaries demonstrate a deal of alarm and concern amongst the Synod Fathers in their responses to the mid-term Relatio report - which they had not even seen prior to its release into the public sphere and which did not represent their contributions.

LifeSiteNews notes that there did remain in the group discussions and summaries a vague openness from some to giving Holy Communion to remarried Catholics in specific circumstances. It is important to note that the CDF issued a letter to the world's bishops on this issue on 14th October 1994; a communication which restated and affirmed the traditional pastoral teaching of the Church. The issue of 'valuing homosexual orientation' was totally rejected by the working groups at the Synod. Indeed, there was consternation and emotion expressed that the Relatio had been made public under these terms. It is becoming clearer from various sources that perhaps only two - out of the large gathering of bishops at the Synod - had voiced any discussion of homosexual 'partnerships' at all. There were also calls for Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI's encyclical reiterating the Church's traditional teaching on contraception, to be reasserted. Other orthodox voices at the Synod called for Christ's teachings on the need for conversion from sin to be cleary affirmed. Still others spoke in condemnation of abortion and 'assisted fertilization techniques'. None of this clarity would have been grasped beyond the Synod had the revolt against the sterile controls being put on the Synod Fathers occured at the eleventh hour. For this we can thank God and Cardinal Pell for his leadership and openness.

This Synod teaches in ways that perhaps it was never intended to. Some of its lessons our readers likely knew anyway, but it does no harm to have them reaffirmed. 

We can learn from it that, no matter what man-made machinations, manipulations or enforced silences are attempted, God is still in charge of His Church. And He can truly be the God Who surprises us by bringing resistance to error when all seems lost and at times this resistance can come in unexpected ways and from unexpected quarters.

We can also learn that, in spite of several decades of confusion, dissent, infiltration and a widespread reluctance to teach on sexual morality, a great number of the bishops remain orthodox on moral issues, at least when push comes to shove.

We can also learn that a significant number of cardinals and bishops are now in increasingly bold and open dissent from the true teachings of the Church. Cardinals Marx, Kasper, Schonborn and others have really committed themselves in public to affirmations of positions gravely at odds with the true teachings of the Church. This demands a response from the Church - from the Papacy down to the people in the pews. Even the more orthodox men, like Cardinal Pell, give evidence of their formation in a culture of Modernism. For example, even in his encouraging video interview, he praises Pope Francis for desiring all voices - ''left, right and centre'' - to speak freely. The fact that these labels, which more properly belong to the sphere of politics, are applied to the Church, and that there is no public indignation against heresy and the promotion of immorality and sacrilege reveals that the best of men, like the rest of us, are formed in a cultural mileu which has turned from the full content of the Faith. Growing and living in a post-modern environment has taken its toll on all of us and, if we are honest, many of us have become 'soft' on sin for a quiet life. The answer here is for each of us to pray more for our leaders and to go deeper into our own learning of the Faith. 

We've also learned a great deal about Pope Francis which only his long awaited statement about the Synod can clarify.

Perhaps many of us have also learned something of our own sinfulness, littleness, lack of faith and radical need for God's grace in trying times. In these circumstances, we see how quickly our concupiscent nature is exposed and we are tempted to rebel or get into a rage. This can teach us important lessons in self-knowledge for the coming trials for the Church. Confession, humilty, constant vigilance and prayer are the antidotes here. More positively, many will have learned something of the depth of their love for Christ and His Holy Law. 

A key lesson for the days ahead is to notice how publicly Satan is now challenging Christ - right at the heart of the Holy Church. If he is this strong in his public assaults on the the House of God, we can be sure he is strong in these times against each and all of us. The more rebellion spreads in the Church and wider society, the more faithful we must be. So we need to keep close to Christ and pray without ceasing.

The most important lesson to remember is that Jesus Christ founded His Church and the gates of the underworld will not ultimately prevail against it.

Keep the Faith!         

The Battle of Our Times: Let Christ be your Rock, your Refuge, your Deliverer, put your trust in Him (Psalm 18:2).


Torch of The Faith News on Friday 17 October 2014 - 22:58:46 | by admin

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Several weeks ago our lives changed dramatically. My mum - aged 68 - suffered a serious stroke, received Extreme Unction from a Traditionalist priest and spent ten days in hospital. When we brought Mum home, she could not remember the house in which she has lived for 33 years, nor much of her past life. Her speech had been seriously damaged and she had lost the ability to care for herself. By God's grace, we all live together and are thus able to love and care for her. This has all rather precluded us from writing blog posts each day. However, we are very grateful to you all for checking in each day for new articles. May God bless you. 

There are no words to express the anguish resulting from the suffering of one's mother, nor the pain caused by her sudden loss of memory, speech and everyday skills. 

In these days we have also experienced something along those lines in relation to the present sufferings of our Holy Mother, the Church. The 'Relatio post disceptationem', released from the Synod in Rome for global consumption on Monday 13th October, pierced the hearts of all who sincerely love Jesus Christ and His Holy Catholic Church.

To describe this text as problematic would be a serious understatement. Light on Sacred Scripture and Tradition, and demonstrating the profound loss of the sense of sin which so characterises our times, the Relatio brings into sharp focus the spiritual battle raging throughout the Church and the world. In truth, this battle has been growing in magnitude and ferocity during the course of the last five decades. It seemed to us on Monday, that Mother Church had Herself forgotten much of Her past life and had lost the ability to speak with understanding and precision. 

The Relatio, as it stands so far, is a source of grave confusion and scandal to Catholics, and to all people of good will, who have tried to co-operate with God's grace in resisting sin in their own lives and its promotion in the wider culture. The spiritual and cultural damage it has done could take decades to heal and overcome. Alas, the times are so precipitous, one wonders if such a period will be granted us.

13th October

This is certainly a momentous date in the history of the Church and the world. It is of course the date on which the apocalyptic Miracle of the Sun occured at Fatima - an event witnessed by over 70,000 people, which converted many sinners. 

Less well known is the fact that this was also the date on which Pope Leo XIII received the vision of Satan attacking the Church; which private revelation led him to compose the powerful Leonine prayer.

It is also the date on which, in the approved private revelations to Sr. Agnes Sasagawa at Akita in 1973, Our Lady warned that, if men did not repent, the Father would inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity which would wipe out a large proportion of the planet. This would be preceded by a trial in the Church wherein the devil would infiltrate into the Church 'in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops opposing bishops.'

We were fascinated - and troubled - to discover this week that the 13th October was also the date in 1962 on which Cardinal Achille Lienart cut off Cardinal Ottaviani's microphone during the opening stages of Vatican II, as part of the liberal usurpation of the direction of the Council. 

16th October

Yesterday, the anniversary of St. John Paul II's election as pope, was the date on which many cardinals and bishops at the Synod in Rome began to find their voice in publicly rejecting the machinations and manipulations which appear to have forged (if you will allow the pun) the text of the Relatio. With their public interviews and affirmations of the true teachings of the Church, Cardinals Burke and Pell have given much consolation to beleaguered Catholics everywhere who - due to the sensus fidelium - had already rejected those parts of this interim working document which were in clear opposition to the traditional Magisterium of the Church. We speak especially of its tacit approval of adulterous couples, greyness on contraception and attribution of value to 'homosexual orientation' rather than recognising it as an objective disorder. It is important to remember that, although the release of this document to the media has given a widespread appearance to the contrary, this document is only a discussion paper with no Magisterial authority and that, according to Cardinal Pell, it was criticised by 3/4 of the Synod Fathers who spoke in the first hour after its release to them. It must be said that the way the Synod has progressed gives the appearance of something stage managed. This has not only damaged the trust of many faithful Catholics, but frustrated participants at the Synod itself.  

Let Christ be Your Rock

Since the proclamation of the 'Kasper thesis' several months ago, and its affirmation by Pope Francis as an example of 'serene theology', none of us has really doubted that this October Synod would be anything other than a battle royal for the heart and soul of the Catholic Church. And so it has proved. There can be few faithful Catholics for whom this has been a peaceful or life-giving experience. To hear of a retired couple promoting the acceptance of homosexual coupling in the Vatican without a single call to repentance by a reigning pontiff or a single cardinal, bishop or priest is a dramatic testimony to darkness of the times we live through.

But courage! Christ assures us in John 16:33 that we will have trouble in the world, but that He has overcome the world. Perhaps few of us - especially as converts and reverts to the Faith - realized that we would have quite so much trouble from within the Church! Nevertheless, we have been given a great opportunity to prove our faith in Christ and His promises for His Church. If you are suffering interiorly because of the dangers faced by the Church, then this shows that you have already received many graces from Our Lord Jesus Christ. The priority of His grace in your life will continue to console, strenghten and sustain you, as long as you rely on Him. 

A couple of weeks ago, due to all the turmoil surrounding the Synod and also my family, I entered what John Bunyan would likely have called the Slough of Despond. I learned a few things through this experience which some readers may find helpful in the difficult days which undoubtedly lie ahead. 

1. It is Jesus Christ, His Sacraments and Grace which will sustain us and His Church. Keep frequenting the Sacraments and nourish these graces with prayer, penance, acts of charity and good Catholic spiritual reading - not Bunyan then! Immerse yourself in the rich sources of our Faith. Make of your home a haven of prayer and study. Don't just read blogs but get into Sacred Scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, Lives of the Saints, and works such as St. Thomas Aquinas' marvellous Catena Aurea. Contemplate sacred art and study its catechetical content - such as presented by Fra Angelico, Rembrandt and Rublev. Listen to Gregorian Chant in your home. 

Confession and Holy Communion are fundamental to maintaining spiritual sanity and sanctity in any time. This is especially so now. 

Receiving sacramental grace helped me to get my focus back on the Lord Jesus Christ and to receive His peace. 

2. This - coupled with wise counsel from my spiritual director - helped me to recall that the Church has come through the attacks of many heresies, ideologies and empires and has outlived them all. The question to humbly ask is: Was I there then and did the success of the Church at that time depend on little sinful me or on Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit? It is Christ's Church and He is always in control. 

3. We say that we believe that Peter is the Rock and that the devil will not ultimately prevail against the Church.  

Now, when it certainly appears that many cardinals, bishops, priests, protected lay intelligentia - and even Pope Francis himself - might be about to lead us into the Great Apostasy, we have the perfect opportunity to grow in the virtue of Faith. We can truly grow in a given virtue by exercising that particular virtue. God has chosen us to live in these times and to use the material they present to us to save our souls and to help save others by co-operating with His grace. Never forget that in the end all things serve God's Holy Will.   

Trust that Christ's promises are true and believe that those who oppose His truth will dash themselves against this Rock, rather than that He shall let it be moved.    

4. Satan is only a counterfeiter of the truth. He can only work with parody and half-truth. At some point he is always forced to show his hand in his schemes. This allows those who are truly open to the Holy Spirit the opportunity to recognise the deception and to reject and resist it. Have not the events of the last couple of days undeceived many who were perhaps wavering? 

The Battle Ahead

All of this being said, we can be in no doubt that the Church has entered some of the darkest and most treacherous waters in Her 2,000 year history. Please readers, let us pray for one another to persevere in the Faith by remaining afloat on St. Peter's Barque. Ask God each day to give you the graces needed for your salvation and sanctification. Make frequent Confession; Receive Holy Communion worthily and often; Pray the Holy Rosary with devotion; Pray the Holy Michael Prayer often; Read Sacred Scripture and traditional Catholic literature; Keep the Faith in your hearts and minds with all the strength of your will.

Luke 22:31: 'And the Lord said: Simon, Simon. Behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he might sift you like wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren.'

Let us pray for the Holy Father and for the Church to be faithful to Christ and to clearly expound the true teachings of the Church as She has received and preserved them these past twenty centuries.

Keep the Faith! 'He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved' (Matthew 24:13).    

''I never would have lapsed if I had known the Traditional Mass was available to me in my teenage years'' - Philip Dillon (Aged 27)


Torch of The Faith News on Wednesday 20 August 2014 - 11:47:57 | by admin

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We've mentioned a few times that we have met and heard about a growing number of young people being converted - and reverted - by encountering orthodox catechesis and the Traditional Latin Mass. Whenever we have drawn attention to these graces, we have pointed out the importance of the Traditional Latin Mass for the New Evangelization. 

We were therefore delighted to discover that a letter bearing witness to this phenomenon has been printed in Hexham and Newcastle's diocesan newspaper, Northern Cross. The letter is so clear - and moving - that we include it here in its entirety:-

I am a twenty-seven year old lay Catholic of the parish of SS. Cuthbert and Joseph in North Sheilds. Both my paternal and maternal grandfathers were Catholic but most of my family is Protestant albeit in name only. I attended St. Joseph's R.C. primary school as a child, and of my own volition I converted to Catholicism because I wanted to make my First Holy Communion with my Catholic cousins. In 1995, I was baptized, made my First Confession, and received Holy Communion. Sadly, I fell away from the practice of the Faith in my teenage years. In 2007, through the grace of God, I went through a conversion experience. I began praying the Rosary, reading the Catechism and watching the Eternal Word Television Network. At around this time, I watched a video on YouTube of the Traditional Latin Mass narrated by Archbishop Fulton Sheen. The solemnity and reverence of the Traditional Rite was deeply moving and I decided to attend Mass for the first time in ten years. 
The next Sunday, I attended the Extraordinary Form Mass at St. Dominic's in Byker. The Usus Antiquior was completely foreign to me, but I was awestruck by the beauty of the prayers, the solemnity of the worship, and the devotion of the people. The quiet prayerfulness of the Liturgy allowed me to fully participate in the Mass as I placed myself at the foot of the Cross with Our Blessed Mother and the Beloved Disciple. The prayers of the Mass enlightened my understanding and inflamed my love for Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. I became conscious of the infinite Majesty of God and I also became painfully aware of my own sinfulness. When the Mass ended, I resolved to change my life and embrace the Faith I lost in my teenage years. 
The Traditional Mass is the reason I began living the Sacramental life. I continue to attend this Mass at St. Joseph's in Gateshead. As a child I attended the Mass of Paul VI, but the Missal of 1962 brought me back into the Church. The Old Mass is solely responsible for my adult conversion; in fact, I would never have lapsed if I had known this Mass was available to me in my teenage years. My experience is fairly common. The proliferation of Juventutum groups around the world and the many vocations to Traditional congregations and Priestly Fraternities attests to the fact that a lot of young Catholics are deeply attached to the riches contained in the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope St. John XXIII. The Traditional Latin Liturgy also has a presence at World Youth Day. It is my fervent belief that the Traditional Latin Liturgy is a vitally important part of the New Evangelization, and I am grateful for our bishop's continued support of this liturgy and am certain that it will quietly call many lapsed Catholics home and bring about new conversions!

We have no idea whether Philip Dillon will ever read this article. Nevertheless, we are delighted by his letter and deeply encouraged by it. It rings so true with our own experiences, which we described in two articles, on February 18th and 22nd 2014, entitled Faith... Addiction... Tradition... Parts 1 and 2. Philip's experiences also resound with those of other young adults that we have met and also read about in the last few years.

We will speak more of this in the near future. For now, let us give thanks to God and pray that more people will be given access to the Traditional Latin Mass and that this will bring a rich harvest of souls home to Jesus Christ and His Holy Church. On this 100th Anniversary of Pope St. Pius X's death, let us follow his and St. Paul's lead and ''Restore All Things in Christ!''         

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