Abortion Comes To Ireland…
The Government has finalised the text of the landmark abortion legislation.
The final legislation is not changed substantially from the earlier draft but the wording does:
increase the number of hospitals where abortions can be carried out;
alter what psychiatrists will be involved in assessments of suicidal pregnant women;
narrow the definition of the criminal offence of carrying out an illegal abortion;
allows the revoking of the licence of hospitals not following the guidelines. Read more…
Who would have believed it? An Irish Government passing legislation to butcher unborn babies in their mothers’ wombs – legislation that is even worse than the abortion law in the UK, and that’s saying something.
Enda Kenny defends his unconscionable promotion of this evil law by arguing that he is a “Catholic not a Catholic Taoiseach”. It will be interesting to see how that particular novel interpretation of Canon Law is received on Judgment Day.
In the meantime, we expect Mr Kenny’s Parish Priest to enforce Canon 915 – assuming that Kenny has the temerity to keep up the appearance of being a Catholic by attending Mass in his local parish. Apparently, he’s been receiving 100 letters a day objecting to the abortion legislation but will these same pro-lifers write letters to Kenny’s parish priest and bishop demanding the enforcement of Canon Law because Kenny is a very public sinner and so, in fidelity to Canon 915, he must not be allowed to receive Holy Communion?
And so say all of us?
Comments (79)
I am completely appalled at this news and definitely Enda Kenny must not be allowed to receive Holy Communion.
Those who will argue that Canon 915 shouldn’t be applied because that is being “judgmental” need to remember that Kenny is making a sweeping judgment on the lives of countless unborn babies who won’t get the chance to show that their lives are worth living.
Enda Kenny is without doubt an enemy of the Church and an enemy of God.
I’d love to know which parish he attends – in assuming it’s somewhere in the Archdiocese of Dublin? We need to send letters to his PP and his bishop and encourage others to do the same.
Good idea. If anyone knows the name of his parish priest, speak up!
Abortion comes to Ireland. I agree with you Margaret Mary, it is appalling. How many millions have been aborted throughout the world over the 5 – 10 years?
It is put as a choice. But do the pro-abortion rally really explain the facts of abortion, or show expectant mothers or the population at large how abortions are carried out? I doubt it.
This one example of abortion.
http://www.abort73.com/videos/this_is_abortion/
That the Irish government has finalised the text of the landmark abortion legislation, is an awful moment in time before God.
How many pregnant women will be pushed into abortion, ignorant of the facts before God?
Anrea Bocelli, the Italian tenor, might have been an abortion statistic if it were not for his mother refusing so called advice from doctors.
It is just unbelievable that a Catholic country like Ireland has been (even if not now) should introduce abortion and abortion up to birth. How horrendous. As for “I’m a Catholic not a Catholic Taoiseach” that’s a ridiculous thing to say.
It really is time for the bishops to stop allowing these politicians to receive Holy Communion. I totally agree – that must not happen. They are compounding their sin by receiving Communion and that is the fault of the bishops for not having the charity to refuse them, as they are public sinners.
Yes, Josephine I agree. Ireland once the land of saints and scholars. Enda Kenny and other Irish politicians should be refused Holy Communion.
How many politicians in countries throughout the world believe that this is an excellent means of population control. Demonic, that is what it is.
This is a short video of Andrea Bocelli and his talent Bhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl9WMIPzd6w
Sorry, something went awry with the above link.
Thank you, Editor for putting up a thread on this gravely serious threat to the unborn in Ireland. The island of Ireland is one of the last, if not the last place in the Western world where abortion, the deliberate, intentional taking of unborn life is illegal. According to the UN, of all organisations, Ireland has also got the best maternal health record. A rather inconvenient fact for the abortionists’ industrial killing machine, and very likely to be one of the main reasons that outside forces are so determined to impose this sacrifice to Moloch, by any means necessary.
The cackles from hell can almost be heard. The powers of darkness are coming for the unborn and massive Catholic action is required over the next few weeks if Ireland is going to be protected from the demonic “sacrament” of abortion. Even with that, the cabinet appear absolutely hell-bent on legislating. Political dishonesty and disdain for the moral law, allied to massive, unrestrained media cover up, disinformation and propaganda have brought us to this situation. Yet one more example of the errors of Russia.
The pro-life movement in Ireland is now hanging on for air support. It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that defeat for this legislation would stand comparison with the victory at Lepanto or at the Siege of Vienna.
“With God and Jesus Christ excluded from political life, with authority derived not from God but from man, the very basis of that authority has been taken away, because the chief reason of the distinction between ruler and subject has been eliminated. The result is that human society is tottering to its fall.” – Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas, 1925
On the matter of Enda Kenny’s home parish, I don’t know the answer but expect he goes home to Castlebar, Co. Mayo at the weekends. I read somewhere yesterday that he was getting a hundred letters a day, containing scapulars, prayers and photographs of butchered babies. Nothing is moving him at present.
Nothing appears to be budging a lot of the Irish bishops either. From what I’ve heard, Cardinal Burke’s words about refusing Communion to abortion-supporting politicians are going to be ignored. Yet one more novus ordo abomination.
There’s quite a lot else I’d like to say, but should have been gone 10 minutes ago.
Thanks for that great post, Leo.
What I find disturbing (among other things) is the fact that there is no free vote allowed on the abortion legislation. Unless I’ve picked it up wrongly, politicians are having to vote “as instructed”. That is absolutely shocking in itself. And are they a bunch of wimps, to accept such an assault on conscience?
Interesting that none of the many letters Kenny is receiving have touched him at all – and, sorry to say, the same is likely to be true of his parish priest. Suggest applying Canon 915 and the numpties who pass for Catholics these days scream “judgmental”!
I was so stunned at the idea that there is no free vote that I Googled it and sure enough, Enda Kenny is not allowing a conscience vote
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=18104
I know we are not supposed to judge, but to all appearances he is a truly wicked man, and a tinpot dictator. I have no time for him at all now. I would go further and say that any Catholic who votes for this man in the future, or his party, must surely be excommunicating themselves.
What is the position of a priest like Enda Kenny’s PP, If he does not refuse him Holy Communion. Surely he, too, is excommunicated?
I’m sure all here are agreed on the horrors of abortion. Abort 67, whose video is linked on the homepage really do great work. Judging by the really angry response of some people, you have to think that some demons are at play. Adults complain about frightening children, but I often think they are really the ones who are affected. A troubled conscience perhaps? Nobody complains about pictures on cigarette packets, or shocking TV ads on road safety, or pictures of the horrors of concentration camps. For all the popularity of reality TV, what are the chances of people being introduced to the unspeakable, stomach turning realities of abortion?
Unless one has been living in Ireland over the last two years, it’s almost impossible to grasp the obsessive drive to introduce abortion here. The media have been pounding at this day after day, month after month. The Goebbels-like lies and deception have really brain-washed a lot of people. Not that that’s the slightest excuse. The very name of the bill itself is a perfect example of the Government’s Orwellian deceit: The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill. Charming, charming people. The national broadcaster is to all intents and purposes engaged in actively campaigning for abortion. Abortion is now spoken about as is it was some fiscal measure, or an issue comparable to fishing quotas.
The issue of a free vote and backbenchers lack of spine is another very important issue, as you pointed out, Editor.There has even been talk about there being no vote, with the legislation being passed by some sort of general cross party agreement. Not sure if that is still on the cards though.
In recent weeks the phrase that has repeatedly come to mind is “the banality of evil”. This might seem like a big statement to make, but I’m of the view that as a race, we in Ireland will forfeit any right to stand in judgement on the German people of the 1930’s, if this legislation passes. We’ve seen what happens everywhere else where abortion is legalised. Prolifers in Ireland are now experiencing with their own eyes and ears, how ordinary people slide into the apathetic acceptance of evil.
I think it’s time for Saint Patrick to dust off his crozier.
Leo,
I think we are all completely amazed and numb at this sudden turn of events in Ireland. No wonder Kenny feels he has to push this legislation through, ignoring people’s consciences and even suggesting a consensus agreement to legalise the murder of the unborn. He knows full well that the majority of the people of Ireland have shown time and again that they do not want abortion legalised, but such is the contempt of the political classes for the voters (on both sides of the Irish Sea) that he’s not going to let the will of the people (or the Will of God) get in his murderous way.
Well, here’s an idea…
A reader emailed me earlier today to suggest that we launch a petition on our website, to campaign for the application of Canon 915 in parishes. Canon 915 should be applied by priests and bishops to “those who persist in manifest public sin” but the clergy are simply not doing their duty in this regard. They seem to fear unpopularity more than they fear God. Allow me to mention here, a young priest who often springs to my mind when the subject of weak-kneed clergy arises, because some years ago he had to make a very important decision: put simply, he had to make the choice (which is always the same choice, in its essence) between fidelity or popularity. Thankfully he made the right decision. A couple of weeks later he suddenly dropped dead. If only priests and bishops would reflect day and daily on the shortness of life and the terrible moment of judgment. We could close down this blog and put our feet up! But they don’t. God help them when that terrible moment of judgment arrives. Goodness knows, we all tremble at the thought of that moment, but to be a priest or a bishop in this awful crisis and to be taking the line of least resistance – I repeat: God help them.
The reader who suggested the petition was thinking of the politicians here in the UK who voted for same-sex marriage, but we could include pro-abortion politicians, and even those who cohabit before marriage.
I thought it would be worthwhile asking you all for your views on this; is it worthwhile posting a petition to campaign for the conscientious application of canon # 915, in order to avoid public scandal and in charity for the souls of the “manifest public sinners” who should not be compounding their sin by receiving Holy Communion.
Well? What do you think? To petition or not to petition the Vatican, that is the question!
Josephine
I share your anger towards Enda Kenny. Certainly we can’t judge the state of anyone’s soul but all the external evidence suggests the Kenny is undergoing some sort of spiritual and moral free fall, played out in full public view. What he and his co-revolutionaries against the Social Kingship of Christ are at right now is surely placing all their souls in dire mortal danger.
A few years ago everyone in Ireland would have regarded him as an amiable country lad, an unlikely prime minister and an extremely unlikely implementer of satanic anti life policies. I’m only speculating here, but he appears to me to be somebody who is being controlled by some invisible organ grinders. The whole thing is very strange and dark.
Before the last election, he gave an unequivocal assurance to prolifers that he would not legislate for abortion. That hasn’t stopped him leading a cabinet engaged in a resolute Irish version of kulturkampf: Kenny’s own misleading of parliament in slandering Pope Benedict on the issue of clerical abuse of minors, the threat to break the Seal of Confession, the closure of the Irish embassy to the Vatican, the intention to introduce a new Constitution, the creeping secular take-over of education and health, and now this extreme abortion legislation. All in two years.
On the issue of excommunication, when it was raised last month, here’s what Kenny had to say:
“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion here but as explained to the Cardinal and members of the church my book is the constitution and the constitution is determined by the people. That’s the people’s book. We live in a Republic and I have a duty and responsibility as head of Government to legislate in respect of what the people’s wishes are.”
Whether these words represent lies or stupidity, I don’t know, but the Ireland Republic is founded upon a constitution determined by a people recognizing the superior position of Almighty God: “In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred, we, the people of Éire, humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial … .” (Constitution, Preamble).
A case could, I’m sure, be made that Kenny and his cabinet are acting in treasonous fashion. What is beyond doubt is that they are resolutely revolting against the Social Kingship of Christ.
Did not Our Lady of Quito say that when civil governments attacked marriage and the family, those who should speak out will fall silent? We have to ask, where are the Catholic Bishops of Ireland in this matter? Their response to Enda Kenny should be firm and unequivocal. But, alas, the shepherds are struck (dumb) and the sheep are being scattered. Another of the bitter fruits of conciliar “dialogue.” Who could ever have imagined this in once-Catholic Ireland.
Editor
There is no doubt that the “contempt of the political classes” for Christianity, as well as the voters, becomes more brazen every day.
I think a petition for the application of canon 915 in parishes would be a very good idea. To be honest though, I’m not confident of the outcome here in Ireland. I was told today by someone who has spoken to his Bishop, that the Irish bishops will not refuse Holy Communion to politicians who vote for abortion. I’d be prepared to bet the farm in fact that the Vatican II novelty of Collegiality is playing a major role in neutering the leadership of the Irish bishops in this hour of danger.
Athanasius
Very well said. “Once-Catholic Ireland” is, I’m afraid, the reality. Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh is making some good statements but it looks he isn’t getting a great deal of support. Some of his fellow bishops appear to have become a bit too used to hiding behind the sofa.
Their Lordships would do well to consider the example of Saint Basil the Great, Bishop of Cæsarea, whose feast we celebrated yesterday.
I came across this on the Ars Orandi blog:
When St. Basil was required to admit the Arians to Communion, the prefect, finding that soft words had no effect, said to him, “Are you mad, that you resist the will before which the whole world bows? Do you not dread the wrath of the emperor, nor exile, nor death?” “No,” said Basil calmly; “he who has nothing to lose need not dread loss of goods; you cannot exile me, for the whole earth is my home; as for death, it would be the greatest kindness you could bestow upon me; torments cannot harm me: one blow would end my frail life and my sufferings together.” “Never,” said the prefect, “has any one dared to address me thus.” “Perhaps,” suggested Basil, “you never before measured your strength with a Christian bishop.” The emperor desisted from his commands.
Brilliant quote from St Basil, Leo.
Since you are the only one to comment, so far, on the idea of a petition and that in favour, think we will go ahead with it. Unless someone comes on by the end of the day with a definite “don’t do it!” and good reason, we’ll launch the petition asap.
Great idea. Go for it
Thank you – will do in due course.
I say yes the to petition for the application of canon 915 in parishes. And if the Bishops in Ireland are silent in the matter of this demonic abortion act, I would remind them of 4 things, DEATH, JUDGMENT, HEAVEN, HELL.
Death comes for everyone of us and we then face God’s judgement. If you wish to place your soul in peril then it will be hell for eternity. I’d also remind Enda Kenny that too.
semperfidelis emailed to ask me to post the following (fabulous) article – for some reason she is unable to do so herself. Shockingly, this article contains information that I, for one, did not know, that a bill was passed requiring priests to break the seal of confession – we all knew it had been proposed, but not progressed, or did I miss that news bulletin? Utterly shocking. What a terrible prime minister is Enda Kenny. And a Catholic? No way!
A Protestant Taoiseach would not do the things Kenny has
DAVID QUINN – 14 JUNE 2013
WOULD the Catholic Church be better off if we had a Protestant as Taoiseach rather than Enda Kenny? I ask the question because Enda seems to go to such great lengths to show he is not a stooge of his own church.The question is further prompted by something he said in the Dail on Wednesday in response to Mattie McGrath.
Mattie asked him if he understood why some people simply could not accept that the Abortion Bill is pro-life even though Mr Kenny insists that it is.
Enda responded by referring to the abusive messages he has received from some people opposed to the Bill including one that said he is a ‘murderer’. (I’ve been told I should be ‘castrated and hung up on O’Connell Street’, and that I ‘should have been aborted’, among many other choice threats and insults).
But then Mr Kenny said that while he is a Taoiseach who happens to be a Catholic, he is not a Catholic Taoiseach.
Why did he feel the need to say this? Would Ruairi Quinn who was sitting right beside him ever tell the Dail, ‘I’m a Taoiseach who happens to be a Social Democrat, but I’m not a Social Democrat Taoiseach’? The idea is ridiculous.
Ruairi Quinn is in politics because he is a Social Democrat and because he wants Ireland to be Social Democratic. Enda Kenny will claim that he can’t be a Catholic Taoiseach because not everyone in Ireland is a Catholic. Absolutely true. But not everyone is a Social Democrat either. In fact, there are far fewer Social Democrats than there are practising Catholics.
I’m not a Social Democrat. I don’t think Social Democracy would be good for Ireland, but if Ruairi Quinn had his way I’d end up living in a Social Democratic Ireland regardless.
Fine Gael used to be a Christian Democrat party. Could you imagine a European politician ever saying, ‘I’m a politician who happens to be a Christian Democrat, but I’m not a Christian Democrat politician’? Never.
Christians established Christian Democratic parties all over Western Europe after the war with the express intention of getting into power and implementing their Christian Democrat policies. They were very successful for a long time.
Does Enda Kenny think those parties were somehow suspect from a democratic point of view?
Those parties were, among other things, pro-life. They were pro-life partly because many members of those parties were Catholic. But they weren’t protecting the right to life of the unborn simply because that was the ‘Catholic’ thing to do. They did it because they believed it was the right thing to do, period.
Enda Kenny seems to think that if he removes the suicide clause from the Abortion Bill then he will be legislating only for Catholics.
However, if he removed the suicide clause he wouldn’t be legislating only for Catholics, he would simply be protecting the right to life of the unborn.
Mr Kenny may have convinced himself that this really is a ‘pro-life’ Bill but the fact is that it will allow the deliberate and intentional destruction of unborn human lives when a woman is deemed to be suicidal even though there will always be alternatives to abortion available. If the Bill really is pro-life then he needs to ask himself why not a single pro-life group supports it and why the likes of Ivana Bacik see it as a first step.
He also needs to ask himself why up to 40,000 people took to the streets in Dublin last weekend to protest against the Bill if it really is pro-life? That was the biggest demonstration of the year of any sort and the pro-life campaign organised it in just three weeks.
As I say, Enda seems to feel the need to prove time and again that he does not ‘defer’ to the Catholic Church, that in this respect at least, he is his own man.
He ‘proved’ it with his thundering denunciation of the Vatican two years ago. He did it again when he allowed our embassy to the Holy See to be closed.
He did it when he permitted the passage of a law that requires the breaking of the Seal of Confession, making us one of the only countries in the world with such a law.
He did it when he was using his mobile phone in front of Pope Benedict, something he would not have done in front of the Queen.
He is doing it now in allowing the Abortion Bill to ride roughshod over the consciences of pro-life doctors and the ethos of pro-life hospitals (making us more extreme than the UK in this respect).
And of course he is doing it most of all by permitting abortion when a woman is deemed to be suicidal, despite the fact that there is no evidence a single woman will thereby be saved.
Would a Protestant Taoiseach – or rather a Taoiseach who happened to be Protestant – do all these things?
I can’t imagine it. I can’t imagine a Protestant Taoiseach closing the embassy to the Holy See or playing with his mobile phone in front of the Pope, or requiring doctors to go against their deepest conscientious beliefs.
Enda needs to know we get it. We know he’s not the stooge of the Catholic Church. He has proven it abundantly. From here on in, therefore, he should just do the right thing, even if that happens to be the Catholic thing also.
Irish Independent
That is a marvellous article. But I note some of the comments underneath it on the Irish Independent site are not so good. One of them wrote this, and it shows the damage the whole ecumenical thing is causing:
“The fact that the Taoiseach is RCC must be particularly galling as it negates such opportunity. Thankfully, no less RCC authority than The Holy Father himself, last week stated his belief that good people are heaven-bound, even if they are not members of the “one true church”, a departure from previous pronouncements by the RCC. I have great hopes for Pope Francis.”
Perhaps it’s time for Pope Francis to repeat Pope John Paul II’s words about abortion being murder and maybe those who promote it and facilitate it are not at all “heaven bound”.
The confusion in the world and church right now is truly dumbfounding. The leader of a Catholic country bringing in a law to outlaw the seal of confession and another law allowing abortion up to birth? I know Our Lady said it would be “late” before the Consecration of Russia is done but just how “late” is it going to be?
What really makes me mad at people like Enda Kenny is that I suspect that, like most Irish educated people of his vintage, he will have benefited from a cheap, if not free, education from a religious order. His grandfather was a lighthouse keeper i.e. Enda is from a humble background (nothing wrong with that I hasten to add!) and these people would never have “risen” in society except for the generosity of thousands of Irishmen and women who devoted their lives to the education of the disadvantaged.
As for Enda’s emotional spill on the Magdalene Laundries, what despicable lies. I worked in the Magdalene Laundry off the North Circular Road with the Legion of Mary and I found no such abuse as claimed. They were different times and corporal punishment was used in schools as elsewhere but I never saw cruelty. Some of those lasses were very difficult to say the least and we had to be very firm with them. However, they were well treated, well fed, well dressed and had regular entertainment. I remember accompanying a group of them to see The Song of Bernadette at the cinema and they had money for popcorn and soft drinks. Those nuns were saints.
semperfidelis,
I agree with you entirely. Those who perpetuate the wicked myth about the Magdalene Laundries have either not read ‘Cathy’s Real Story,’ by Herman Kelly, or they have chosen deliberately to blind themselves to the truth. It is disgraceful to allow the lies about the Magdalene Sisters to persist and spread.
I had a look at this video where Father Gruner states that Russia is now trying to stem abortions for the first time. Abortion outnumbers live births, so much so that the Russian population is declining.
I think (and hope) Our Lady will intervene soon!
Enda Kenny should not just have the sacraments withdrawn, that doesn’t send the message, he should be excommunicated, along with the pagan apostates who voted for abortion. Hundreds of thousands have protested in Dublin, and we must pray for them. Also, what is this about breaking the seal of the confession? Isn’t it strange that when abortion is legalised, the legalisation of sodomy’ gay ‘marriage or divorce usually follow?
Pius X
The Parish priests of Enda Kenny, Eamon Gilmore and Simon Coveney are in Mayo, Dublin and Cork. If that helps.
Pius X
Can you name the parishes please?
Unfortunately I cannot name the Parishes.
Pius X
Semperfidelis
Thank you for such a really great post. Very very well said. The teaching priests and nuns and brothers contributed so much to Ireland. Education really did make a huge difference to successive generations, as you say. That lack of gratitude amongst the modern day pampered atheistic brats and their parents is really shameful.
I might just put in a word for the nuns who ran Irish hospitals to a very high standard. There was nothing slipshod or second rate there. People weren’t dying because of lack of hygiene in hospitals in those days.
On the Magdalene Laundries, the official report of Dr. Martin McAleese proved to be quite a disappointment to all the Church bashers who were no doubt looking forward to getting their hands on some more propaganda material. If I remember correctly, the story was dropped very quickly by the mainstream media.
Here’s a link to a short commentary by a reasonable, fair-minded blogger at the Telegraph, Brendan O’Neill, who also happens to be an atheist. A couple of quotes from the commentary follow the link.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/brendanoneill2/100202781/catholic-bashers-have-embellished-the-truth-about-abuse-in-catholic-institutions-its-time-to-put-the-record-straight/
“Yet the McAleese Report found not a single incident of sexual abuse by a nun in a Magdalene laundry. Not one. Also, the vast majority of its interviewees said they were never physically punished in the laundries.”
“The authors of the McAleese Report, having like the rest of us imbibed the popular image of the Magdalene laundries as nun-run concentration camps, seem to have been taken aback by ‘the number of women who spoke positively about the nuns’.”
We’ve had a similar situation, but on a much smaller scale, here in the town I live. Some nutcase accuse two elderly nuns of abusing girls at a boarding school. It was quite high profile and details of the lies we’re broadcast day in and day out.
Thankfully, lots of former pupils came forward to tell the truth. The two nuns were actually excellent teachers and carers. Truth prevailed and the nuns were acquitted.
The enemies of the Church will use whatever means, lies, cheating, slander, to heap shame on the Church. Unfortunately, there are useful idiots out there just waiting to believe these head cases!
Thanks for that, Petrus.
It seems the agenda is the same everywhere. Priests and religious really are sitting ducks nowadays, when it comes to malicious allegations. I often think that if those sound of mind, who are proven to have attempted to detroy an innocent person’s reputation, were to receive the sentence handed down for the alleged crime we would see a rather significant drop in the number of unfounded allegations. I daresay there are legal details to contend with here, but it’s an idea.
It’s certainly good those nuns had their good names vindicated, but I think it’s impossible to undo all the damage.
While the subject of this thread might appear to be of direct interest only to those living under the Kenny politburo, I think there are some closely related issues that tie in with the post Conciliar catastrophe everywhere. The defense of the unborn is the same war as that against apostasy from the Faith as well as that against contraception, embryo research, divorce, euthanasia, corruption of children in schools, and state enforced celebration of perversion.
(By the way in a list of Kenny’s kulturkampf agenda in a previous post, I omitted to mention the State’s creepy move to usurp the role of parents by means of the recent Children’s Referendum.)
The points I had in mind, that appear to crop up everywhere, time and time again, are Collegiality, the role of the laity, the graces obtained through the Mass, and the Social Kingship of Christ.
It looks like the Vatican II novelty of Collegiality is going to hinder or restrain any Bishop who wants to show real Catholic leadership in Ireland right now, as in other countries. I don’t think it should at all, but that’s what appears to happen. On the specific question of canon 915, what exactly is so difficult to understand about Saint Paul’s words in I Corinthians 11: 27-29? Do bishops and priests really want to risk aiding and abetting those “guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord”?
By the way, Bishop Seamus Freeman of Ossory deserves a mention for leading a Rosary Rally for Life and Benediction in Kilkenny last Saturday. I was told that the original plan was to have a street procession. However permission for two proposed routes was reportedly refused by the boys in blue. Hearsay that may be, but if true, it shows how far we have fallen.
Post Conciliar talk of the role of the laity and “the people of God” must be the longest playing record of all time. In Ireland, as everywhere else no doubt, evidence of effective Catholic Action is distinctly lacking. What have Catholics parents and those in the professions, in education, in medicine and healthcare, in business, in banking, in the media, in politics been up to for the last five decades? This is where their Catholic Faith is supposed to be bearing fruit, not in trying to chip away at the unique, irreplaceable, God given role of priests in their parishes.
Apathy, ignorance and gullibility on the part of modern day Catholics are proving to be great assets to the minions of Lucifer.
“In our time more than ever before, the chief strength of the wicked lies in the cowardice and weakness of good men…All the strength of satan’s reign is due to the easing-going weakness of Catholics.”- Pope Saint Pius X, Discourse at the Beatification of Saint Joan of Arc, December 13, 1908.
The usual caveat about judging souls certainly applies, but I’m convinced that a very significant element in the current failure to repel the forces of evil is a withdrawal of graces resulting from the virtual suppression of the Mass of All Time throughout the world. That might sound like strong tobacco, but it’s based on my experience of a lot of novus ordo Catholics, even those amongst the dwindling number of Irish Catholics that still go to Mass on Sunday.
Lastly, the deliberate amnesia concerning, if not outright rejection of, the Social Kingship of Christ is without doubt central to the luciferian agenda being inflicted in what was once Christendom. This whole masonic secularism and “authority comes from the people” line inevitably leads to the depths of depravity that the world is now plumbing. What “the people” can be persuaded to judge to be morally acceptable suddenly becomes the norm.
Enda Kenny’s crass remarks not being a Catholic prime minister demonstrate the extent of the progress the French Revolution’s satanic agenda.
Abortion in Ireland – why are you all in hysterics, it was only a matter of time surely! Could I respectfully suggest that we all turn our attention, and prayers, to someone who CAN help with all this – namely Fr William Doyle. Fr Doyle saw death and destruction in all its horror on the battlefield of WW1. This is now being repeated in abortion in our own times; along with many other immoralities. And all foretold by Our Lady at Fatima. Once again, Fr Doyle’s details can be found on: http://www.fatherdoyle.com. emails to: [email protected]. This saintly Irish Priest can do much – and we can do nothing, except pray to him.
Yorkshire Rose,
I don’t know anything about the priest you refer to, but I will check out the link.
However, I disagree entirely that the rest of us can do nothing except support that priest. Doesn’t make any sense to me.
Hello, Well, I am very dedicated to promoting the cause of Father William Doyle, S.J., and I would, respectfully, request your kind attention to the web details that I have given here. Of course, we must ‘work as if everything depends upon us, and ‘pray as if everything depends upon God’. Also, I am very fond of the quote by the Irish Philosopher, Edmund Burke: “For evil to triumph, all that is necessary is for good people to do nothing”. I have, of course, signed the petition organised by the Editor, and I would welcome any other practical measures of a similar nature. However, it is very easy (especially on blogs) to get ‘carried away’, and I sometimes wonder if the time spent thus, would be better spent in prayer. Wishing upon my homeland (Ireland) the ardent blessing of Father Doyle, and same for all here, dear folks.
Yorkshire Rose,
to do nothing but pray is ALWAYS wrong. Even contemplative religious do not spend the entire day praying. They have to work, and they do their work for the purpose of winning grace for souls – the objective of any true apostolate.
I’m astonished that this error persists – that only prayer is necessary – when, if that were true, the Incarnation itself would have been totally unnecessary.
We cannot shrug off the butchery of the unborn children in the womb on the grounds that we can do nothing about it but “pray” – it is, in fact, a very strange kind of prayer which results in inaction.
The Irish Taoiseach in the 1950s John Costello said ‘I am a Catholic first and Irish second, and I fully adhere to the teachings laid down by the authoritative figures of my Church’. And so say all of us?
It’s a shame Kenny doesn’t think that way, and I bet Costello, De Valera O’ Kelly are spinning in their graves. Do you think Glasnevin Cemetery is trembling? Youbetcha.
Pius X
Mayo is in the Archdiocese of Tuam, and here are contact details for Priests.
http://tuamarchdiocese.org/2011/12/contact-details-for-parishes-and-priests/
That’s all I can find. Are there any Irish people on this blog? If so can I ask if many young people still attend Mass in ROI, and how have they received abortion and gay ‘marriage’ plans in ROI? We hear all these horror stories young people leaving the Church in droves. That’s not the case in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, there are Masses at 9am, 11am and 6.30pm and the church is packed with barely a grey head in site. The fact is Catholicism is the fastest growing Church in England and Wales.
Pius X
But what you fail to understand is that Enda Kenny as a good Catholic has read Section 30 of Gaudium et Spes, which tells him that he must work for the Common Good. Common as you know means `an overall agreement`. Many Catholic politician have seized on this `teaching` of Vatican II and began to separate their position as a Catholic believer from their job as a politician. They separate Church and State. So what they hold privately they must not impose upon their constituents so they leave their `conscience` at the door when they enter Parliament. This we call the Church in the Modern World. Now I know there are many who will argue, no, the Document did not mean that, but that is how it has been widely interpreted.
Sorry, but since when did the adjective ‘common’ mean ‘an overall agreement’.
The OED defines ‘common’ as ‘shared by, coming from, or done by two or more people, groups, or things: E.g, the two republics’ common border, problems common to both communities.’
The expression has rather a long history, not least in the Catholic Church. The following is taken from the Wikipedia article on the Common Good:
‘One of the earliest references in Christian literature to the concept of the common good is found in the Epistle of Barnabas: “Do not live entirely isolated, having retreated into yourselves, as if you were already [fully] justified, but gather instead to seek together the common good.”
The concept is strongly present in Augustine of Hippo’s magnum opus City of God. Book XIX of this, the main locus of Augustine’s normative political thought, is focused on the question, ‘Is the good life social?’ In other words, ‘Is human wellbeing found in the good of the whole society, the common good?’ Chapters 5-17 of Book XIX address this question. Augustine’s emphatic answer is yes (see start of chap. 5).
Augustine’s understanding was taken up and, under the influence of Aristotle, developed by Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas’s conception of the common good became standard in Roman Catholic moral theology.
Against that background, the common good became a central concept in the modern tradition of Catholic social teaching, beginning with the foundational document, Rerum Novarum, a papal encyclical by Pope Leo XIII, issued in 1891. This addressed the crisis of the conditions of industrial workers in Europe and argued for a position different from both laissez-faire capitalism and socialism. In this letter, Pope Leo guarantees the right to private property while insisting on the role of the state to require a living wage.
Contemporary Catholic social teaching on the common good is summarised in the 2004 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, chapter 4, part II. Quoting the Second Vatican Council document, Gaudium et Spes (1965), this says, “According to its primary and broadly accepted sense, the common good indicates ‘the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfilment more fully and more easily'” (#164, quoting Gaudium et Spes, #26; italics original).
The Compendium later gives statements that communicate what can be seen as a partly different sense of the concept – as not only “social conditions” that enable persons to reach fulfilment, but as the end of goal of human life. “[T]he common good [is] the good of all people and of the whole person… The human person cannot find fulfilment in himself, that is, apart from the fact that he exists “with” others and “for” others” (#165; italics original). “The goal of life in society is in fact the historically attainable common good” (#168).
The Roman Catholic International Theological Commission drew attention to these two partly different understandings of the common good in its 2009 publication, In Search of a Universal Ethic: A New Look at the Natural Law. It referred to them as “two levels” of the common good.
Another relevant document is Veritatis Splendor, a papal encyclical by Pope John Paul II, issued in 1993 to combat the relaxation of moral norms and the political corruption (see Paragraph 98) that affects millions of persons. In this letter, Pope John Paul describes the characteristics and virtues that political leadership should require, which are truthfullness, honesty, fairness, temperance and solidarity (as described in paragraph 98 to 100), given that truth extends from honesty, good faith, and sincerity in general, to agreement with fact or reality in particular.
As an ethical and moral imperative, the common good can be seen as central to the tenets of many religious faiths. What it requires in practice can be succinctly described as doing unto others as we would wish done unto ourselves (known as The Golden Rule; cf. Matthew 7:12).
Yorkshire Rose
No personal offence meant at all, but I have to say I was very surprised at your use of the word “hysterics” in relation to the discussion here. Certainly, I think there has been a lot of justifiable anger expressed, anger that is directed at the deceit and deception of the Irish government, media and abortion lobby and also the lack of collective resolute action by the Irish bishops. There certainly hasn’t been a popular cry for abortion from the Irish people. Rather just apathy.
I know it’s not necessary to state we are all agreed here on the moral evil of abortion, but really, what’s happening now is worthy of righteous anger. If this legislation passes I’d feel inclined to shred my Irish passport. The stain of shame on this country will never be fully erased.
Certainly, abortion is available a short flight away from Dublin. Marie Stopes are already peddling their evil trade and referral business in the centre of the city. The drive for abortion has been on for decades, and has really gained momentum since the flawed Supreme Court ruling on the X case in which no psychiatric evidence was presented. I think the crucial evidence came from a sex therapist who worked or had worked for the IFPA, the Irish “franchise” of the international murder machine, Planned Parenthood.
Ever since that ruling in 1992, which was completely at odds with the wishes of the anti-abortion wishes of the Irish people expressed in a referendum nine previously, the Irish Prolife movement has feared that it was the crack in the wall protecting the right to life, and that that crack would be prised wider and wider. Those fears are now being realised.
I know that Catholic minorities in many other countries were powerless to stop the abortion juggernaut but in Ireland the situation was a great deal more favourable to the right to life of the unborn, as a result of the 1983 referendum. An international lawyer who has worked on dismantling that protection in the European Courts has described Ireland as the “jewel in the crown” of the international prolife cause. That constitutional example to other countries, and Ireland’s superior maternal health record are the reason there has been such an unrelenting, determined campaign to break down the protection surrounding the unborn.
I also believe that over the last five decades, satanic forces have given Ireland the full treatment.
As for abortion being inevitable, Irish abortionists and their political pawns have clearly had no faith in their ability to introduce this grave moral evil by means of honest talking and even-handed national debate, or balanced coverage in the media. The Irish people have been engulfed in a tsunami of sheer lies, deception and corruption of language on the part of politicians and the abortion lobby. The father of lies has certainly played a central role.
As an aside, I can recall one well known cancer consultant, who happens to sit in the Senate (the upper chamber of the legislature) comparing an embryo to a sperm or a cancer cell, when writing for a Sunday newspaper! And he presumed to make patronising remarks about Prolife advocates!
Thank you, Yorkshire Rose, for once again reminding everyone of Father William Doyle SJ. I’ve no doubt whatsoever, that you will agree that the great Jesuit would never, ever have imagined the possibility of his countrymen legislating for abortion. At this stage it has to be said that the prospects of winning the political battle appear to be diminishing, so public prayers led by the Bishops and clergy is absolutely essential, along with action over the next few weeks.
It’s now very much a supernatural battle. But then again it was ever thus.
j.kearney
That’s a very good point you make about the separation of Church and State and individual Catholic politician’s split personality when it comes to obeying divine law and the enactment of civil laws that contravene the law of God.
So- called Catholic politicians (surely Catholics in name only) in the US have been giving displays of spectacular moral and mental gymnastics for quite a while now.
The thought hadn’t occurred to me that Enda Kenny would know the names of the Vatican II documents, let alone read any extract. Then again, his handlers may well have sniffed out a suitable sounding alibi. Certainly, in Kenny’s infamous parliamentary speech of July 2011 which undoubtedly slandered Pope Benedict, use was made (completely and grotesquely out of context) of a 1998 Instruction from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith concerning the work of theologians. The Vatican’s refutation made a very small man of Kenny.
At the suggestion of a Scots reader, we’ve launched a petition on our website calling on the Vatican to insist on the application of Canon Law # 915 in every parish. You can read and sign the petition here…
Please spread the link far and wide.
“Not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give public honour and obedience to Christ…Christ, who has been cast out of public life, despised, neglected and ignored, will most severely avenge these insults; for his kingly dignity demands that the State should take account of the commandments of God and of Christian principle both in making laws and in administering justice, and also in providing for the young a sound moral education.” – Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas, #35
Instead of reading all the ego boosting flattery from the atheistic, abortionist, antichrists in the media, Enda Kenny, and every other politicial leader in fact, would do well to read the above words slowly, and repeatedly.
The world’s revolt against the Social Kingship of Christ and the Church’s post Conciliar apparent refusal to defend it is central to explaining the current crisis in which the world is almost overcome by an epidemic of evil. Unfortunately words such as the above have become unfamiliar to modern day Catholics. I doubt if Quas Primas is cited anywhere in the Vatican II documents while separation of Church and State now appears to be taken for granted.
The following rather long list of quotations from magisterial documents is not meant to test anyone’s attention span. They all, in effect, say the very same thing. One or two might be of use in future discussions. The reason I’ve put them all in is to show the unambiguous and crystal clear words of five pre- Conciliar Popes, and give an illustration of genuine continuity in papal teaching.
“Nor can We predict happier times for religion and government from the plans of those who desire vehemently to separate the Church from the state…”- Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos, #20
Pius IX condemned as false the proposition that, “In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship.” – Syllabus of Errors, #77
“For, since God is the source of all goodness and justice, it is absolutely ridiculous that the State should pay no attention to these laws or render them abortive by contrary enactments. Besides, those who are in authority owe it to the commonwealth not only to provide for its external well-being and the conveniences of life, but still more to consult the welfare of men’s souls in the wisdom of their legislation.”- Pope Leo XIII, Libertas Praestantissimum #18
“…all the arguments by which We disprove the principle of separation of Church and State are conclusive; with this super-added, that it is absurd the citizen should respect the Church, while the State may hold her in contempt.” – Ibid, #39
“As a consequence, the State, constituted as it is, is clearly bound to act up to the manifold and weighty duties linking it to God, by the public profession of religion…So, too, is it a sin for the State not to have care for religion as a something beyond its scope, or as of no practical benefit; or out of m any forms of religion to adopt that one which chimes in with the fancy; for we are bound absolutely to worship God in that way He has shown to be His will.”- Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei, #6
“She (the Church) would bring forth more abundant fruits if, in addition to liberty, she enjoyed the favour of the laws and the patronage of the public authority.” – Pope Leo XIII, Longinque Oceani, #6
“That the State must be separated from the Church is a thesis absolutely false, a most pernicious error…”- Pope Saint Pius X, Vehementer Nos, #3
“Besides this thesis is an obvious negation of the supernatural order.”- ibid
“This thesis (that the Church is not acknowledged by the State and her teachings given their place in the life of the State) inflicts great injury on society itself, for it cannot either prosper ore last long when due place is not left for religion, which is the supreme rule and the sovereign mistress in all questions touching the rights and the duties of men.” – ibid
“We shall not delay here to repeat that it is a serious error to affirm that this separation (of Church from State) is licit and good and itself.”- Pope Pius XI, Delectissima Nobis, #6
“When once men recognise, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony.” – Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas, #19
“If, therefore, the rulers of nations wish to preserve their authority, to promote and increase the prosperity of their countries, they will not neglect the public duty of reverence and obedience to the rule of Christ.” – Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas, #31
Lest anyone is misled towards any illusions of knowledge and homework on the part of yours truly, it should be added that the above quotes are taken from a very informative and comprehensive essay by David Palm which can be found on the Seattle Catholic website. Here’s the link to the essay:
http://www.seattlecatholic.com/a050615.html
There are a lot of excellent traditionalist essays to found on the site.
Please also remember the two articles by John Ingram on this subject in the Newsletters of March and May last year.
Excellent job on the petition, Editor.
Thank you, kind Sir. Cheque in post!
All sterling, cheque or cash, very gratefully accepted, Editor.
Might need some again sometime.
People should look at the RTE news tonight . Mr Kenny was heckled by “200” ( it was at least double) people at a function today . Its now affecting his diary he says……unreal. About to start killing the unborn and he complains about his diary. Hopefully the pro-life people of Ireland will not give him a seconds peace. BTW I reckon he is being told to enact this legislation by Brussels. Moral coward.
Too bad about Kenny’s diary. The babies who will die as a result of his legislation won’t have the luxury of keeping a diary, not even for one day.
As for this “Brussels is to blame” – absolute tosh. As you say, teigitur, that is sheer moral cowardice. There must be a word akin to “no” that they understand in Brussels. Yes?
You are right, but only up to a point.
Remember when Ireland voted against the EU Constitution and Bruxelles made her hold another referendum so the Irish could correct their ‘mistake’, which they obediently did.
Ireland is in hoc to Bruxelles for billions. It would not surprise me in the least if Ireland has been subject to strong-arm tactics behind the scenes to come up with this legislation.
Thanks for that teigitur.
The photographs that some of the pro-lifers were holding usually hit a few nerves. Troubled consciences? Human life and a unique soul, immortal soul created by God is indeed His gift, not that of any legislator.
Here’s a good news story that helps to reinforce exactly what is at the heart of this struggle.
http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2013/05/newborn-who-came-back-to-life-in-mothers-arms-gives-hope-to-futile-cases/#.UajOeJvTxwp.blogger
By the grace of God, this child will one day enjoy the Beatific Vision. Also, we should never forget that abortion is a “sacrament” of satan.
I found a list of all the Catholic MPs who voted for same-sex marriage on a “gay” website, so I fired off a link to our petition to each and every one of them. A nice (I hope thoughtful) start to the week for them… Only two are off the hook – one link just wouldn’t open and one MP has cleverly made sure she is only contactable by post or telephone. Cute.
Now to catch up on my much needed beauty sleep!
Next morning: beauty sleep made no difference (!) but I have now emailed the link to the petition to Enda Kenny.
Editor
Now, now, I’m sure your beauty sleep made a difference- you’re too modest. I like you, emailed Ian Paisley and hundreds of other MPs campaigning against SSM. I emailed Victor Adebowale, a peer, and he told me that I was ‘talking nonsense’, and that two people of the same sex can ‘have children naturally’. I responded in kind with, ‘until two men grow a uterus or fallopian tubes then two men can have kids naturally- you are the one talking bilge’. I implore you, dearest Editor and fellow bloggers to email this numpty en masse. Is Brian Donohoe Catholic? An Evangelical Protestant MP, David Burrowes, has received death threats, as has Mr Donohoe. So much for liberal, tolerant homos eh?
Pius X
‘Hot off the press’ from the latest edition of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.
The study was carried out by the London-based Pension and Population Research Institute and has revealed how higher abortion rates ‘have consistently run parallel to higher incidence of stillbirths, premature births, low birth-weight neonates, cerebral palsy and maternal deaths’. Further proof (if any were needed) that abortion is very bad medicine – and that in its vigorous pursuit of ‘women’s right to choose’ ideology, society at large is digging a big hole for itself.
Do spread the word.
http://www.jpands.org/vol18no2/calhoun.pdf
This legislation is appalling. The inclusion of a mental health clause means that what is being proposed is abortion-on-demand, (as in the UK), but presented in a cunning fashion which allows secular society to avoid looking at itself in the mirror.
Humanity has long since learned, via the science of Human Embryology, that life beings at conception. At that moment, a new life is created with 46 chromosomes; 23 each from his/her biological mothers egg and his/her biological fathers sperm. Science defines as a form of life with 46 chromosomes as a “Human Being”.
Despite this knowledge, look at the standard of public debate and understanding regarding abortion. Various terms are thrown about – zygote, fetus etc – to distort the fact that we are talking about human beings in their most innocent and vulnerable form. Even the argument to justify abortion is not especially coherent or precise, with everything from a womans’ health to her supposed “right to choose” being thrown in. (Not to mention examples of the most extreme circumstances – rape etc – and a good deal of bile).
Listen to all the ‘big talk’ we hear from secularists – about how they value science and knowledge, not faith, and about how rational they are. Yet its clear to see that scientific knowledge gets short shrift the very second it teaches secular society something which it doesn’t like, or which is somehow inconvenient. (In a similar way, Biological science is completely denigrated by many of the pro-homosexual arguments, which essentially boil down to suggesting our physical bodies and their biological functions are meaningless. The level of vacuousness is staggering).
The US Roe V Wade court case which started the domino effect of abortion did not seek to deny it sought to destroy human beings. Rather it suggested that although these “things” were humans, they were not people. How absurd. “Not people”, despite having the full genetic code, having their own gender, eye and hair colour, physical characteristics etc. It hasn’t taken long for the secularists to forget that they could at least be honest about abortion, once upon a time.
If this legislation passes, Ireland will inevitably follow the same path as the UK has. Any token checks and balances will soon be overwhelmed by lax practice and talk of ‘rights’. Soon enough, like Britain, Ireland will become dependant on mass immigration to offset the death rate, to ensure a suitable size and age of population for continued economic growth (which is all that seems to matter to politicians these days).
Given Ireland is, (in the grand scheme), a small country which traditionally (and now) has had very high levels of young people leaving to make a life overseas, the lives which will be lost thanks to this legislation could have a very significant effect. In that the legislation will represent a second significant drain (in addition to emigration) on the numbers of young Irish people available to take their country forward into the future.
Abortion is a crime. For all the crazy talk of extreme circumstances, like rape – the only ammunition of pro-abortionists – the greater vast majority of abortions all occur for the same reason.
That is, a woman does not want to take responsibility for the natural results of her own choice to have sex. (I do not mean to be harsh or sexist by saying “a woman” instead of “a couple”, but as women have the only clout in law when it comes to abortion, then naturally they must bear the criticism for their choices).
At heart, the vast majority of abortions represent a desire to avoid taking personal responsibility. It is difficult to imagine a more callous and inhumane waste of human life.
Gabriel Syme
Agreed – a most callous and inhumane waste of human life. Which is no doubt why the media refrain from showing graphic images of aborted babies, the “reality” which they are so keen to show in every other area of life from the outcome of drug abuse to the wreckages on the road as a result of drink driving etc. Oh and every other “operation” under the sun can be viewed on screen. That they consider graphic images of abortion “too offensive” to show on TV, speaks for itself. It sure is a crime – which is why it should never be legalised, most especially not in a country widely regarded as “Catholic”.
I am not in the least surprised by this development. Ireland lost her soul when she was aspiring to be the Celtic Tiger.
Firmiter,
How tragic that Ireland has gone from aspiring to be the Celtic Tiger to wanting to become the Celtic Wolf. (I thought that up all by myself, so a word of congratulations is in order here!)
Seriously, it is just too unbelievable for words that the Irish Government plans to introduce the legalised murder of unborn children and that their dedicated and – until now – most effective pro-life movement is in defeatist mood, according to an Irish blogger further up the thread.
Oh, I do not think pro-lifers are in defeatist mood. This past June 8th saw c. 40,000 of the amassed in Dublin.They will not go down without one heck of a stooshie.
I recently heard a comment which said”why shouldn’t we have it,when they have it in the UK”.This is the Godless mentality now common in Ireland.You may find this piece from Alive Magazine interesting but also appalling;it is a recorded interview given to a student by two Labour party members.
http://www.alive.ie/uploads/6/5/1/1/6511516/alive_june_13.pdf
I just wonder if in the West we haven’t reached the point at which a diffuse invincible ignorance means that people are no longer capable of distinguishing right from wrong.
Western culture is ever weaker, but no where more so that in its conception of man. I predict that in the near to middle future we will see the legalisation of both drugs and polygamy.
Fasten your seatbelts, folks. This is going to be one hell of a ride.
Firmiter,
I don’t think anyone (certainly not most people) can claim invincible ignorance in this day and age, with information on everything only a computer click away. It is relativism surely, not invincible ignorance, that leads to nihilism and the inability to distinguish right from wrong. Catholics, generally speaking, are not hearing the truth about Faith and Morals from the “relativized” clergy who, for one reason or another, refrain from saying anything “controversial” in their chatty, non-challenging homilies. Don’t get me wrong; they like to “challenge” congregations to be concerned for the materially poor, but that’s it. I’m told there were parishes in Scotland where the priest refused to disseminate the leaflets (issued by the Church) which argued against same-sex marriage in the recent campaign.
Again and again we find that all that is wrong in society has its roots in the crisis of Faith in the Church.
Thanks, Tirrey – will study the Alive article later.
Tirrey,
I have just had a quick look at that interview in Alive Magazine.
Are members of Parliament in Ireland mindless robots or what?
Aodhan O’Riordan’s mention that politicians to be ordered to do what they’re told, is mind boggling.
During the Nuremburg trials at the end of World War II, those Nazis accused of crimes against humanity, found that their defence of “They were only following orders”, were not accepted.
Nor does the view that a woman can do with her own body as she likes. When pregnant, a woman carries another human being in her womb, irrespective of the stage of pregnancy, be it at conception, 20 weeks, or at full term. That unborn child is also an individual.
Too true, this Godless mentality not only in Ireland, but elsewhere too. And appalling to say the least.
Sadly it has come to this.Life is not respected as it should be.Selfishness means that personal choices come first.They should read the story of Perpetua and Felicity,staunch early Christians,a great example to all.
As for the Labour Party,they are socialists and will never get my vote.Unfortunately there isn’t any party in Ireland truly upholding Catholic values.
Tirrey,
You are right about voting labour- voting Labour is a mortal sin. Dr Robert George said life begins at conception because if cells can develope, they are alive. Unfortunately, we live in a society where everything is a commodity, including the blessed children of God. The countries with the illegal abortions have the lowest infant death rate: Poland-4 and Malta-6, whereas in the UK it was 12 and in the USA it was 24 per 100 live births. If they justify suicides or mental health as being grounds, then actual born babies and toddlers can drive parents to this-are we going to kill them? At the end of the day the liberal scumbags are measuring human life by productivity, so we can therefore kill disabled people, just because something isn’t productive doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a right to live. Cardinal Scherer compared it to eugenics because Brazil has, or is going to pass a law allowing abortion for anencephaly. These babies don’t have a fully developed skull and brain, and don’t feel pain so they only live a few precious hours after birth, but there short life is by the grace of God. Pray for the unborn children.
Pius X
One of the signatories on our petition has written the following about Fr Tony Flannery of the infamous Association of (Anything But) Catholic Priests:
Fr. Tony Flannery is being very vocal on twitter mocking any Irish Bishops who contest legalization of abortion. https://twitter.com/FlanneryTony .
Editor
I certainly wouldn’t like anyone to think that the Irish pro-life movement is by any means in defeatist mood. If anything I have posted here gives that impression then I need to seriously watch my language. What I’m sure all of us here understand by the term pro-lifers are those people who actually get out and do something, whether taking part in public prayer Vigils and processions, praying outside abortion referrals centres, contacting their public representatives, distributing prolife literature, collecting signatures, , attending pro-life rallies, putting up anti-abortion posters that in many instances are taken down within a day, and in the process are sometimes labelled extremist, fundamentalist, or nutters by family, friends, work colleagues, politicians, media, and clergy, or even have imbecile strangers shouting obscenities at them in the street. The same remarks could just as easily apply to anyone who stands up for the institution of marriage, or any other ordinance of God’s law. I’m sure the Catholic Truth team who prayed at a parade celebrating sexual perversion in Glasgow last summer understand what I mean.
I’m not too inclined to describe as “pro-lifers” those who stand and watch from afar in silent apathy, or hurry by on the other side of the road. To mind my, the vast majority of those in the prolife movement are following, consciously or not, the admonition of Saint James’ epistle that “faith without works is dead”. To be a pro-lifer in this age of global demonic influence is more and more to be a “sign of contradiction.”
On the issue of defeatism, I have out of frustration, referred to too much apathy amongst Irish Catholics who aren’t helping in the prolife movement. That mightn’t have been the brightest thing to say at this point in time.
I’ve also posted earlier that “at this stage it has to be said that the prospects of winning the political battle appear to be diminishing” and that “the Irish people have been engulfed in a tsunami of sheer lies, deception and corruption of language on the part of politicians and the abortion lobby”- June 16 3.11pm. That unfortunately is the grim reality at the moment. I’m mindful of comparisons with what has happened in Westminister and France recently in relation to so-called same sex “marriage”.
Please bear with me, as I try give a brief explanation of why the political battle against this legislation is so difficult a struggle.
Enda Kenny and his Fine Gael party gave a pre-election commitment not to legislate for abortion, which quickly became worthless. And no, political promises on taxes or spending are not comparable. The Government’s intentions have been obvious for two years.
http://europeanlifenetwork.blogspot.ie/2011/07/irelands-crisis-pregnancy-agency.html
Kenny’s politburo appointed an advisory “expert” committee, which conveniently contained a number of abortionists, in order to give a veneer to plans. The government have continuously referred to a flawed Supreme Court judgment and deceitfully claimed compulsion on account of a ruling from Europe which does not oblige abortion legislation.
Earlier this year, a parliamentary hearing of expert testimony from the doctors, psychiatrists and other interested parties which was almost certainly intended to give the government cover, blew up in their faces, spectacularly. Despite the fact the several prolife doctors were prevented from giving evidence, the medical and psychiatric expert evidence destroyed the government’s so-called “justifications” for the taking of innocent life. The findings of the hearings were hastily buried from public view.
The parliamentary Health Committee’s hearing on the published legislation has been described by one parliamentarian as the greatest sham”.
At this point in time, we have a government with a large majority, the major party of which has broken its prolife promise to the electorate, a government intending to impose a party whip on legislation to permit the killing of the unborn up to birth. These twisted creatures have told us that medical aid will be children who have survived being aborted, which only goes to show that they are obviously either ignorant, or feigning ignorance of the unspeakable methods used in late term abortions.
This legislation was never a vote getter. The abortionists struggle to get a turnout of 200-300 for a demonstration. I could go on and on about lies and deception and the contempt being shown by Irish parliamentarians for democracy. I get the impression that the cabinet ministers driving this satanic agenda would sooner see their families sold into bondage than relinquish this legislation. As I’ve said before the whole thing is very dark and strange. As things stand, at this stage a climb down or defeat would be a major political embarrassment for Kenny.
And of course the prolife voice finds it very difficult to be heard in the public square. Anything approaching a vague pretence of giving a fair hearing to those protecting the unborn has been well and truly ditched. The state broadcaster has long since been infiltrated by Marxist idealogues. The paid hacks of the secular, viciously anti-Catholic press are more than happy to give plenty of backup.
If anyone wants reassurance that the Irish prolife movement is not defeatist and will never fail to stand between the unborn and the bloody hands of abortionists and the political minions of lucifer then go the website of the organization that has done more than anyone else to keep abortion from these shores:
http://www.thelifeinstitute.net/
I don’t think it is a concession of defeat to be aware of the forces at the command of the “spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12).I mentioned Lepanto and the Siege of Vienna in a previous post. The odds mightn’t have been promising there either, but Don John of Austria and Jan Sobieski prevailed nevertheless.
There are plenty of Rosaries being said in Ireland right now. Who knows, it might even be something of a rediscovery.
I’m sure Our Lady has got some surprises in store for Enda Kenny and his crew of antichrists. For their sake, and the sake of the whole of Ireland I hope those surprises come in the next few weeks.
Leo,
What is Fianna Fail’s attitude to abortion? Also, what does President Higgins think of it- Although that’s a daft question as he’s a Labour man. What about Mary McAleese, the devout ‘Catholic’ who supported homosexuality and women priestesses. The last true Catholic leader Ireland had was probably De Valera. What was Padraig Hillery or Charles Haughey like regarding church doctrine?
Pius X
Pius X
The Fianna Fail grassroots activists have expressed strong opposition to abortion. However, the party leader, Micheal Martin appears, like Enda Kenny, to be a deeply troubled man. He has expressed support for the bill and described it as “consistent with a pro-life position”!
Some of his front bench colleagues have objected in no uncertain terms, and ensured that at least in that party, there will be a free vote. What should of course be happening is that the party vigorously oppose the legislation in parliament. In that way they might regain some sort of self-respect.
To describe De Valera as the last truly Catholic leader in Ireland would be a disservice to Liam Cosgrave, who in 1974 opposed his own Fine Gael led government’s legislation to permit married couples to obtain contraception.
“I don’t think anyone (certainly not most people) can claim invincible ignorance in this day and age, with information on everything only a computer click away. It is relativism surely, not invincible ignorance, that leads to nihilism and the inability to distinguish right from wrong. Catholics, generally speaking, are not hearing the truth about Faith and Morals from the “relativized” clergy who, for one reason or another, refrain from saying anything “controversial” in their chatty, non-challenging homilies.” – June 18 10.35am
Editor
I agree completely with what you said above.
Certainly, there are very good priests who preach the Church’s teaching on abortion very clearly. They deserve the support of all of us. Sadly the situation in Ireland is very mixed. Some parish priests haven’t allowed pro-life flyers to be distributed on Church grounds, using “politics” as an excuse. Hardly a good reason on such an extremely grave matter, but I think some priests are uneasy about going out on a limb when named political parties are involved, while no doubt there are some who are worried about lay busybodies. Other priests who clearly understand the priority of Divine law have no such qualms.
I’ve been told of one parish where the priest, having allowed the distribution of pro-life literature after Mass, proceeded, in his sermon to speak against the “two extremes” i.e. abortionists and pro-lifers who use the graphic photographs.
I know one activist who was virtually chased off a public footpath outside a Church and who on another occasion was told off by a lay reader who proclaimed herself “pro-choice”. On another occasion someone was berated by a female extraordinary minister of Holy Communion for handing out flyers after Mass.
That’s just a little sample of what I fear goes on in a lot of places. So where exactly are all the much-heralded fruits of last year’s Eucharistic Congress in Dublin?
It all goes back to self- destructing novus ordoism. I don’t think that it is any coincidence that Catholics who attend the Tridentine Mass are active in the pro-life apostolate out of all proportion to their numbers.
Of course, like so much that we discuss here, the problem goes back to a lack of a lead from the Bishops. I have given favourable mention to Bishop Eamon Martin of Armagh and Bishop Seamus Freeman of Ossory before. We need a lot more examples of leadership. People will definitely respond to such leadership.
With all due respect, the recent statement by the Irish bishops isn’t satisfactory to my eyes. It contains some words that are undoubtedly true but the overall tenor struck me as being one of compromise, with an emphasis on man not God. Most of it could have been written by a secularist. There was no talk of offending Divine law, or the loss of souls. It gives the impression of desperately trying to avoid offending anybody. We had the old Vatican II reliable of liberty of conscience as a “fundamental human right”. There was nothing that even remotely resembled Pope Leo XIII’s words in Immortale Dei:
“…All public power must proceed from God. For God alone is the true and supreme Lord of the world. Everything without exception must be subject to Him, and must serve Him, so that whosoever holds the right to govern, holds if from one sole and single source, namely, God, the Sovereign Ruler of all. ‘There is no power but from God.’ (Romans 13:1)”
Or in Libertas Praestantissimum:
“The binding force of human laws is in this, that they are to be regarded as applications of the eternal law, as in the principle of all law…where a law is enacted contrary to reason, or to the eternal law, or to some ordinance of God, obedience in unlawful, lest while obeying man we become disobedient to God.”
It would have been absolutely unthinkable not so long ago, but who can say with certainty that in the not too distant future Ireland will not be faced the prospect of some sort of “National Patriotic”, Erastian Church.
At this point in time, Ireland like everywhere else needs bishops of the calibre of Saints Thomas Beckett or Saint John Fisher, or in more recent times, Cardinal Joszef Mindszenty of Hungary. The opposition nowadays is taking on an equally dangerous, if subtler, appearance to the Church’s persecutors in those earlier times of trial.
How is Liam Cosgrave doing nowadays?
Pius X
Shocking, Leo, that any priest would use “politics” as an excuse not to push the pro-life message. And it is an excuse. Have they any idea of what happens in an abortion? I think these priests – like those who have “no problem with gays teaching in Catholic schools, even if they happen to have a partner” (Cardinal O’Brien) may well have a problem of a sexual nature in their own lives.
The police here are showing graphic pictures of car crashes, in an effort to cut down on drink driving. They are delighted that the graphic images are making a big difference.
Abort67 have proved that the same is true of showing graphic images of abortion. Every priest in Ireland and every bishop, should be sent such graphic images. Without delay.
I’m just popping in, in between appointments right now, but I have to say that I’ve just checked the petition and the names that are NOT there – including people I’ve emailed personally to alert to the petition – just amazes me.
Can anyone explain to me why any allegedly orthodox Catholic would NOT want to sign a petition seeking the application of Canon Law 915, given the fact that the majority of Catholic MPS and MSPs have voted FOR anti-God legislation, whether it be abortion or same-sex marriage (and the same will undoubtedly be true when the time comes to vote for euthanasia) ?
Why? If it’s because the petition has been posted by Catholic Truth and they hate us for whatever reason (as I know some do, whether in our address book or not) then they need to question themselves closely. For one thing, the request for a petition didn’t come from any of the Catholic Truth team, but from a woman in a Scottish diocese who has been trying, unsuccessfully, to get her PP to apply Canon Law to HER MP who attends Mass in her parish and receives Holy Communion despite having just voted for same-sex marriage.
So, signing the petition is not showing support for Catholic Truth, any more than the lady who asked us to launch a petition necessarily supports Catholic Truth. Those of you who hate us should understand that by signing the petition you are showing your concern that Our Lord is not offended by the scandal of manifest sinners, with the approval of their priest and bishop, being allowed to “eat and drink unworthily” to quote the Scriptural warning.
Don’t let your hatred of Catholic Truth prevent you from making a difference by helping to end this scandal. There are already some signatures up there from people whom I know do not fully (at least) support our work. I admire their dispassionate concern to end the abuse of the Blessed Sacrament caused by the refusal of priests to apply Canon Law # 915.
Thanks to those who have signed the petition so far – we’re approaching the 200 mark which is good enough at this stage. Keep spreading the word, though – we do want to reach our goal of 1,000 signatures as soon as possible.
A reader in England has asked me to post the following link on this thread
http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2013/06/the-abortion-issue-jo-osullivan/
Editor
I read a reference to this article somewhere else although I haven’t brought myself to read it yet.
What more is there to say about the ACP at this stage except that this is reason number 735 or thereabouts for long overdue measures of a terminating nature.
Agreed Leo. And the fact that the Irish bishops are tolerating the ACP AND refusing to apply Canon 915 to those who vote for abortion underlines the dire state of play in Ireland.
And here’s a hint of things to come. This case is about a young man who is imprisoned for opposing same-sex marriage, dress it up as you will, and it’s on the way here, as well. It starts with divorce and goes downhill from there on in, abortion being a “must-have” … Note: the linked article is in French but you can translate – there is a drop down menu at the top of the page, almost centre, where you may select English.
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