Catholic Voice 23rd October 2020 Issue 302

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Issue 302

Our Lady Of Banada Pray for Our Prodigal Sons & Daughters Do you have children who no longer adhere to the teachings of the Catholic Faith you brought them up in?

Read the beautiful story of Our Lady of Banada and the conversion of Freddie Jones.

The Statue of Our Lady of Banada, pictured on the left, was gifted by Pope Pius IX to Mrs Louisa Jones, mother of Freddie Jones. He ‘came to his senses’ while she was doing a Novena to Our Lady of Banada seeking his conversion.

Today, many of our young people have gone astray and are lost sheep wandering in the wilderness of the secular world whilst living sinful lives.

Let us ask Our Lady of Banada to bring them home to the Catholic Church.

See pages 16-17

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2 EDITORIAL

Catholic Voice

23rd October 2020

Please Pray For Kim Murphy’s Recovery

Anthony Murphy I have to start with some bad news, two weeks ago my wife Kim had a mini stroke and fell down some steps. Thankfully the stroke does not appear to have done any lasting damage but the same cannot be said of the fall. Kim has fractured the sacrum bone and badly torn the main weight carrying muscle in her back, to make matters worse a large hematoma has formed and this is pressing against the nerve which controls movement in her left leg. She is in a lot of pain which is distressing to see but the main concern is that she has lost movement in her leg and at this stage the doctors cannot say whether she will be able to walk again.

take at least four months. I would therefore ask you to remember Kim in your prayers, those who have met or spoken to her will know that she is always cheerful no matter what challenges she has to face but this latest setback is a real trial for her and she is suffering greatly. The prayers of the Catholic Voice family will be a great solace to her and will be an essential aid to her recovery.

Thank you for your support during this difficult time.

servants, the prophets, Jesus Christ, Abraham, Muhammad, and all of them.”

I would now like to look at the current situation in Ireland and in particular the unnecessary restrictions brought in again under the guise of protecting us from the Chinese virus. But first I draw your attention to an incident which occurred in a Dublin church this month.

Catholic Voice contacted the Archbishop of Dublin but he has so far refused to take any action and with his recent attendance at a gathering of 500 Muslims in Croke Park we must assume he is supportive of the invitation to allow Muslims to speak in our churches.

I doubt his Islamic counterpart in Saudi Arabia would be as ecumenical.

Kim has been confined to her hospital bed for the past two weeks and is likely to remain there for at least another three. The recovery process will be slow and is likely to

A Catholic school in Dublin invited a Muslim leader to issue a blessing to the students, as well as to offer a prayer in which he referenced Christ as a mere “prophet.” On October 7th, the feast of the Holy Rosary and the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto, a local imam joined Fr. Fergal MacDonagh at Our Lady of Dolours Church, Dolphin’s Barn, in a prayer service to mark the commencement of the new school year. The Muslim leader said: “We ask the almighty to send salutations on all his beloved servants, Abraham, Jesus, Muhammad, David ……”

CatholicVoice

Fr. MacDonagh stood nearby, with arms extended during the proclamation.

Editor: Anthony Murphy editor@catholicvoice.ie Telephone: 059 8627268 ROI 00353 59 8627268 Outside ROI Keep up to date with news and articles via The Lumen Fidei website www.lumenfidei.ie

The imam continued by ending with a prayer taken directly from the Koran. After reading the Arabic text, he offered the English translation which referred directly to Christ being only one of the prophets.

“O Lord all praises to you, and we ask you to send your salutations and peace to all your beloved

There was no final prayer or blessing given afterward by Fr. MacDonagh.

Cardinal Burke stated in a 2016 interview, that “I don’t believe it’s true that we’re all worshipping the same God, because the God of Islam is a governor.” Warning of the dangers of viewing Catholics and Muslims as worshiping the same god, Cardinal Burke said “this is not helpful and ultimately it will be the end of Christianity.”

The great scandal here is that once again our young people are being forced to listen to alien ideas which at best will cause confusion and at worst will drive them away from the faith.

The Muslim view of Christ as a prophet, not as the Second Person of the Trinity is a rejection of Christianity because the Koran states that God cannot have a Son and denies the Incarnation.

The presence of an Imam in a Catholic sanctuary is an insult and mockery of God. Islam in itself is not a faith but more a militant political philosophy and it has no place in Catholic schools let alone a church. Please write to the Archbishop of Dublin and express your concerns about this event and respectfully ask him to take action.

--At the time of writing the Irish government has once again ignored the spiritual health of the nation and banned Mass forcing worship online

23rd October 2020 Catholic Voice again. Catholics are facing another period of isolation yet other social activities are allowed to continue.

The Bishops have handed over the sacraments for the government to control and regulate and God has been sidelined.

The government claims these measures are designed to protect life - it is darkly ironic that the same politicians who wish us to believe their utmost concern is the protection of human life are the very same people who allow the destruction of innocent human life through abortion and the same people who are now striving to introduce euthanasia. These people have no respect for human life and the banning of public worship by them is a sham which must be exposed and resisted.

There is absolutely no evidence anywhere to support the claim that gathering at Mass risks an increase in the spread of the Chinese virus.

Churches have shown they can open safely without risk and closing them to public worship is unnecessary. The anti-Catholic State wants to deprive us of what makes us human at a time when the solace of the sacraments has never been more needed.

Ireland with its low level of infection is now the only place in Europe where attendance at Mass is forbidden.

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May God bless you for your generosity.

EDITORIAL 3

The archbishops of Ireland have requested a meeting with the government to raise concerns about the suspension of public worship and while we should pray for the success of this meeting it is important to note that the archbishops have no need to go on their knees to the atheistic state, their authority does not come from Leinster House.

Our bishops do not need permission to carry out the Sacred mission entrusted to them for the salvation of souls. Now more than ever, Ireland and the world need strong and faithful bishops to provide leadership and to lead the people back to God whom we must serve.

The bishops of Ireland should open Ireland’s Catholic churches and should call the faithful to come to Holy Mass so that they can feed the flocks entrusted to their care by Jesus Christ. Let us pray one of them does.

4 INCHICORE ANGEL

Catholic Voice

23rd October 2020

The Angel From Inchicore Paul McGregor

It was in March 1955 that Aunt Peggy gave birth to Linda, her first child, in the tiny back bedroom of my grand-parents’ terraced house in Inchicore, Dublin.

Even before I learned that ‘linda’ is Spanish for ‘pretty’ I felt there was something more Latina than Irish about my cousin. She had long, black hair and the most striking eyes. She was indeed very ‘linda.’

But she had the sharp wit of the Irish. She would sit there, listening to the rest of us chatting away, and suddenly burst into laughter at some incongruity that the rest of us had been too slow to notice. We’d look at her, suddenly realise what the joke was about and join in her laughter. She had a smile that lit up her face, particularly when a handsome man entered the room!

She liked nice clothes. I still have her First Holy Communion photograph. She is on the sofa, wearing a beautiful lace dress, white veil and gloves, and holding a child’s Missal. Her hair is curly and there is that smile and those eyes that seem to understand so much.

She liked music too. Dickie Rock, whom she once saw in concert, was her favourite singer.

There was only one problem - Linda could not get out of her wheelchair and dance to the music.

Fr. Peter Rookey, Miracle Prayer, and Healing Cloths

You see, sometime after her birth, the nurse who had helped at the delivery, came to inform my Aunt Peggy that her daughter had cerebral palsy. My aunt wasn’t too sure what those words meant. Over the next 32 years she was going to find out.

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, cerebral palsy causes inability to control motor functions due to malfunctioning of the complex neural circuits of the basal ganglia and the cerebral cortex (the grey outer, layer of the brain that is several centimetres thick).

“Treatment is at best palliative, temporary in effect and limited in value.” The article adds, however, that, “Cerebral palsy does not necessarily imply mental retardation; many children affected with cerebral palsy grow to be mentally competent adults.”

The kids in the playground, when I was growing up, had another word for it - “Spastic!”

Spastic. I hated that word. They’d throw it around as the ultimate term of abuse and I would flinch each time I heard it. “My cousin’s a spastic,” I thought, “and she’s better than all of you!”

A neighbour on Devoy Road, Marguerite Ryan, herself just around 9-years-old at the time, would often wheel Linda along the canal, all the way to the Lourdes grotto at the Church of Mary Immaculate (The Oblates) on Tyrconnell Road.

Marguerite had heard of the miracles that had taken place at Lourdes, France, since the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1858. In her teens, Linda would make two trips to Lourdes and be immersed in the healing waters, but back then, this Irish Lourdes, a full-scale model of the original, would have to do.

The Ryan family moved away, and Aunt Peggy would later name her second daughter after Marguerite. The original Marguerite, which, by the way, is Latin for “pearl”, now lives in Dallas, Texas. From there she told me how she remembers saying to Linda that they should go to the Oblates and that, if they prayed for a miracle, then it would happen. “I remember her face as she nodded her head. Yes, this was going to happen!”

They prayed often at the grotto, but no miracle occurred.

At least no miracle in the form of a cure for Linda’s cerebral palsy. But a miracle of a different nature did occur, and it was repeated every day of Linda’s life.

That miracle was Aunt Peggy’s unceasing devotion to her daughter, a devotion that could only come from a mother’s infinite love.

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Living in England, we only witnessed this miracle at first hand when we travelled over to Ireland during the summer holidays. We saw how the only thing Linda could do on her own was laugh and smile. She could not eat, drink or go to the toilet on her own. So, we saw our aunt Peggy feeding her, carrying her to the outside toilet and up the narrow staircase to bed. And she kept on caring for Linda in that way even when we were not there to watch, day in and day out, year in and year out.

23rd October 2020 Catholic Voice

INCHICORE ANGEL 5

In her younger years, my Aunt Peggy was also very ‘linda.’ She had a bubbly personality and enjoyed life. I always remember her laughing and joking more than her sister, my mother. When a handicapped child entered her life, she didn’t stop laughing. But, in every other way, her life was turned upside down.

As close as I have been to Aunt Peggy and Linda, it is still impossible for me to fathom the depth and expanse of the love between them. I can only think of her as an angel who stood

by Linda, “every step of the way,” to quote Dickie Rock.

I recently thought of them both after reading, ‘A Good and Perfect Gift’, in which Amy Julia Becker gives a moving account of her experiences as the mother of a child with Down Syndrome. She writes: “In a Nietzchean universe, her existence was a tragedy, plain and simple - an accident, an abnormality, biology ‘gone wrong.’

But in a God-created universe, what was good and not good in her? And was it any different from that which was good and not good in the rest of us?” (p. 97) Her Down Syndrome daughter taught her to totally re-think her priorities and brought her closer to God. She quotes the passage from Matthew 18:5: “And he that shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me.”

She also quotes a friend of hers who said, “When you have a child, you feel like your heart is beating inside someone else’s body.” (p. 85) In a world in which millions of women exercise their “right to choose” and choose to have their babies killed in order to pursue a career, it’s hard to understand someone like my Aunt Peggy. At the end of their careers, such women can look back, happy with the thought that they helped increase turnover, profit and customer satisfaction, or helped their bosses implement the corporation’s ‘mission statement.’

And probably, when they see their company’s logo on the side of a truck, they feel a warm glow in their hearts.

For such women, motherhood is a dirty word, just like ‘spastic’.

And just as in the playground, my response to them would be, “My Aunt Peggy is a mother, and I bet she’s happier than all of you!”

Linda’s First Holy Communion Photo

Linda died in St James’s hospital on Those minutes may have saved her life. Further along the road she 16th December 1987. came across a car accident in which We know she is in Heaven because a woman was killed. They had she comes back to visit now and exchanged roles; Linda was now again. Once was when Peggy was Peggy’s angel. coming out of the fish and chip I recently asked my aunt Peggy shop in Inchicore which had been what she thought of her life with Linda’s favourite. She got into the Linda. “I wouldn’t change a car, but, before she could switch on thing,” she says. “I never saw it as the ignition, she felt a hand grab her a struggle.” She tells me not a day shoulder from behind. My aunt is a goes by that she does not think of very cool person. She didn’t panic. Linda. To quote Linda’s favourite singer again: “Hey! Stop messing around and get out of my car!” she shouted at the “Since you went away, I cried for you each night and day... For no suspected car-jacker. one else can take your place, smile, your lips, your eyes, But there was no reply. She looked Your your face.” around. There was no one there!

This was more of a shock to Peggy Now 93 years old, Aunt Peggy than the thought of losing her car. lives with her daughter Marguerite, She took some time to recover in Celbridge, Co. Kildare. But I before turning the key in the always think of her as the Angel ignition and driving off. from Inchicore.

6 QUO VADIS

Catholic Voice

23rd October 2020

IRELAND, QUO VADIS? Steve McGarry.

In Cork city a few days ago I visited one of those rare establishments, a Catholic bookshop. As I perused an old catechism I came across this question.

Why Did God Make Us? Answer: God made us to know him, to love him and serve him in this world and to be happy with Him forever in Heaven. Looking around society today one cannot avoid the conclusion that God’s purpose in creating us is not uppermost in most minds.

Which may go a long way to explaining why we are encountering so many difficulties in our country and in the world in general.

In the first verse of Psalm 127, we are warned “Unless the Lord guard the city, they labour in vain who guard it.”

In 1931 Hilaire Belloc published a book entitled ‘Essays Of A Catholic Layman’. One of the essays is devoted to what he calls ‘The New Paganism’ I quote:

“Our civilisation developed as a Catholic civilisation.

With ‘the loss of the ‘ Faith it will slip back not only into Paganism, but into barbarism with the accompaniments of Paganism and especially the institution of slavery.”

In 1983 Alexander Solzhenitsyn delivered the Templeton Address in London. The title of his talk was: ‘Godlessness, The First Step To The Gulag’. The opening paragraph reads as follows: “More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened...”

If I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not think of anything more precise and pithy than to repeat: Men have forgotten God, that’s why all this has happened.

In two referenda held in May 2015 and 2018, the Irish people voted 2 to 1 to introduce laws in direct contravention of the fifth and sixth commandments.

In so doing, we shouted with the Jews of 2000 years previously, “Away with this man (Jesus) release Barabbas”.

Ireland, the land of saints and scholars, had formally voted to become a Godless society. To add insult to injury, some people danced in the streets to celebrate our tragic decision. They considered it ‘Progress’.

Ireland, land of saints and scholars, how far you have fallen.

One can visualise Our Lord looking down on Ireland and repeating his lament over Jerusalem. Ireland, Ireland, “how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you refused........”(Luke 13:34).

So What Should We Do? All that is required for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. So doing nothing is not an option. Our first reaction is usually to find someone to blame; the Church; the Government; the media; — organisations over which we have little or no control. The section of society over which we have most control is ‘Me’ — ‘Myself’.

St. Ignatius made this point very forcibly. He said: “The man who sets about making others better is

23rd October 2020

QUO VADIS 7

Catholic Voice

wasting his time, unless he begins with himself.”

So what we need to do is to return to God, by trying to live an intense spiritual life. The apparitions at Fatima are a blueprint for such a life.

As you know, an angel appeared to the children three times during 1916 to prepare them for Our Lady’s coming the following year. When the angel appeared to the children, for the first time, his opening words were; “Fear not. I am the Angel of Peace.

Pray with me.”

Kneeling down, he bowed until his forehead touched the ground and prayed: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love you. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love you.”

He repeated this prayer three times.

He rose and said: “Pray like this.

The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to your supplications.”

Then he disappeared.

Celebrating The Right to Kill Innocent Human Beings

The

Dominicans

Truth ...the Only Safe

Ground to Stand On!

The first thing to note here is the reverence with the Angel addressed God, even though this apparition took place out on a hillside. As Frank Sheed points out in his book Theology and Sanity: “Seeing God everywhere and all things upheld by him is not a matter of sanctity, but of plain sanity, because God is everywhere and all things are upheld by him.”

A pertinent question arises here in relation to what has now become common practice. When we enter a church and nod to the tabernacle, do we honour God or do we insult Him? The angel makes acts of the three theological virtues, faith, hope and charity. He then asks pardon for those who refuse to believe.

"If your life is not what it could be, try telling the Truth."

- Jordan B. Peterson Director of Vocations: Fr Colm Mannion OP

Mobile: 086-0864420 | Email: colm.mannion@dominicans.ie

8 QUO VADIS

Catholic Voice

23rd October 2020

“Pray Like This”. Do those of us who can pray like that? Once, twice, ten times a day?

Before departing the Angel assured us that our prayers are always heard. He said; “The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to your supplications.”

Second Apparition Of The Angel When the angel appeared to the children for the second time in 1916 he was quite clear on what we ought to do. This is how Lucia described the scene: “Suddenly the angel appeared again and said:- “Pray! Pray a great deal!

The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer up prayers and sacrifices to the Most High”. Then I asked, How are we to make sacrifices? The angel replied:- “Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it in reparation for the sins by which God is offended and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. Bring peace to your country in this way.

I am its guardian angel, the Angel of Portugal. Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings sent to you by our Lord.” Make everything you do a sacrifice.

In other words he is telling us that every single thing we do can and should be a prayer. As St. Paul put it: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 31)

The Angel of Portugal at Fatima - Photo Castinçal (wikimedia CC3 licence)

Sister Josefa Menendez was a Spanish Nun to whom Our Lord appeared in the early years of the last century. On one occasion He said to her:

“The soul who constantly unites her life with Mine, glorifies Me and does a great work for souls. Thus, if engaged on work of no value in itself ... if she bathes it in My Blood and unites it to the work I Myself did during My mortal life, it will greatly profit souls . . I so much want souls to understand this! It is not the action in itself that is of value; it is the intention with which it is done.

When I swept and laboured in the workshop of Nazareth, I gave as much glory to My Father as when I preached during My Public Life…..

I have many hidden souls who in their ordinary work are very useful workers in My vineyard, for they cover their deeds with supernatural gold by bathing them in My Blood.

When as soon as they wake they unite themselves to Me and offer their whole day with a burning desire that My Heart may use it for the profit of souls, how great is the treasure they amass in a single day!”

These few sentences encapsulate a blueprint for reaching the heights

of sanctity, without any dramatic change in circumstances and with no extra demands on time or energy.

Morning Offering In this context the importance of the morning offering cannot be emphasised enough. We should place that offering in the chalice at the offertory of every Mass (whether we are present or not) with the drop of water. There it mingles with the wine and is changed at the consecration into the Blood of Christ. What a difference this should, and would make to the ordinary repetitive chores of everyday life.

Our human acts are now mingled inextricably with the divine acts of Christ. It also levels the playing field, because the value of any human act is determined not by whether one is a plutocrat or a pauper, but by the intensity of one’s desire to please God. This is how true joy, happiness, and peace of soul, are to be found in life on Earth. This is living and developing the ‘Super-Natural’ life which was bestowed on us in Baptism. Living like this brings with it the joy which Our Lord mentioned eight times in His final discourse with His disciples (John16:22) “a joy that no

23rd October 2020 Catholic Voice man can take from you”. That joy is a foretaste of heaven.

To return to the question in the catechism.

Answer: God made us to know him, to love him and serve him here on Earth and to be happy with Him forever in Heaven. We cannot love someone we do not know. So how do we get to know God? Firstly through prayer and the sacraments.

Next by reading the gospels. St. Jerome said that “Ignorance of the Gospels is ignorance of Christ”. In the Gospels he said, we meet Our Lord with the same immediate impact with which men met Him in Jerusalem and Galilee. Therefore we must read the gospels, carefully, prayerfully.

So God’s objective in creating us was that we should be happy with Him forever. Tragically, not everybody goes to heaven.

During the Apparition of Aug. 1917 Our Lady told the children: “Many souls go to hell because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them” Think about that tomorrow morning as soon as you wake up, and as soon as your knees hit the floor pray: O Jesus, I offer you through the most pure heart of Mary, all the prayers, works and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your divine heart. I unite my offering with all the Masses being offered today throughout the world, that it may be immersed in your most Precious Blood and be rendered thereby pleasing to the Most Blessed Trinity. Amen.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the greatest means of giving glory to God and saving souls.

If you decide to get up for Mass tomorrow, instead of staying on in bed, by tomorrow night one or a

hundred or a thousand souls could have been spared from eternal damnation.

The Holy Rosary Again at Fatima, Our Lady asked at each of her six apparitions that people pray the rosary every day, and she promised “If you do what I tell you, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.” She added, “Only I can help you”. If only we had listened, we could have been spared the second World War, the scourge of Communism and indubitably the current scourge of Covid 19, the ramifications of which are unimaginable.

Golden Years Those of us who are retired and in good health have a golden opportunity to save many souls and “Do you want to offer yourselves to God to endure all the sufferings that He may choose to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended and as a supplication for the conversion of sinners?”

Our Lady to the three children of Fatima May 13th 1917

QUO VADIS 9 in the process attain to a greater degree of glory for ourselves. If you can’t go to Mass and pray the rosary.

Then pray the rosary. If you can’t manage that then take another piece of advice from the Angel of Fatima: “Above all, accept and bear with submission, the sufferings sent to you by God.” For 2000 years the Catholic Church has been at war with the same old enemies: The World, The Flesh and The Devil. That war has never been won by armchair Catholics. It has been won by saints and martyrs.

The same holds true today. Stand up and fight. There is no neutral ground. “He who is not with Me is against Me.” Praised be Jesus Christ our King.

10 LETTERS

Catholic Voice

Letters Happy Family With Down Syndrome Boy

23rd October 2020 Send your letters to: Letters Page, Catholic Voice, St Michael’s House, Castlemitchell South, Athy, Co Kildare or email to letters@catholicvoice.ie

The Pro-Abortion Mindset Dear Editor, At this stage most people are aware of Amazon’s dominance with its commercial statistics exceeding those of some small countries, no doubt attributable, to some degree, to its “having its finger on the pulse” of consumers. Such is its size and influence that it must be a bellwether of peoples’ feelings, wants, preferences etc Which makes it all the more amazing when a worldwide business the size of Amazon makes a move which seemingly conflicts with apparently normal preferences.

Recently, Amazon began selling T-shirts bearing slogans like “Let’s make Down Syndrome extinct!”

HANDS OFF OUR KIDS

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Obviously, this is abhorrent to your readers but it should give them thought that such a huge, worldwide business can display such commercial arrogance and insolence, even though the subsequent protests caused Amazon to remove them.

These days, just how much forethought and planning do such businesses give to such decisions or do they just take a “flyer”, more in hope than belief, that such a decision will bear fruit?

Are they now so big that shareholders and consumers concerns are not that important? Did Amazon, for example, seek the opinion of some Down Syndrome associations? How about asking the opinions of some of its own employees who, no doubt, have Down Syndrome children? What does it say about such a worldwide, dominant business that it has to stoop this low in the interests of profits?

One simple question would have shut-down their apparent seat-of-the-pants decision “Is there a parent anywhere of a Down Syndrome child who is not fully in love with that very special, dependent, child?”

Name & address with Editor

23rd October 2020

LETTERS 11

Catholic Voice

Freedom At Stake

sexual’ position where it is claimed that some people are attracted to both sexes.

Dear Editor, As a former homosexual, I was very alarmed by the one-sided approach in the BBC Spotlight programme aired on BBC Northern Ireland on 29/9/20 concerning the falsely named “Gay Conversion Therapy.”

The representation was geared heavily towards those practising and celebrating the LGBT lifestyle, not those who have settled happy lives now outside of it. The interviewer constantly tried to trip up and implicate those connected to any Christian Groups that offer support for people who seek an alternative lifestyle to the homosexual one.

Surely, it is not a sin to be able to make your own informed choices in life, or for the law to decide that a person cannot in any way ‘change,’ when the LGBT activists themselves promote total changes of gender. So why is a change in sexual orientation viewed as wrong? You can’t equally justify or condemn both. What about the ‘bi-

Why must a gay man be precluded from opting for a member of the opposite sex, which its own tenets already proclaim with bi-sexuality? How can I change my gender so freely, but not sexual attraction? I would have thought a lot more ‘conversion therapy’ would be applied when a person converts from being male to female and vice-versa, than considering the direction of one’s sexuality. How much research is there into the harm that gender conversion therapy could possibly cause?

The Christian position is clear on homosexuality. It is the morality of modern society that has changed, but God’s view on same-sex unions remains forbidden for all eternity.

When I looked up the BBC helpline to check details of organisations that anyone affected by watching the programme could look up, there were only LGBT switchboards and websites, but no details of how to contact any of the Christian organisations featured

in the programme who stated clearly that they offer ‘support’ and not some primitive form of coercion such as were used by secular medical methods, not by Christian or-ganisations, before the 1950s.

The doctors who administered electric shock treatment etc are a million miles from the reality of caring Christian conversation and help that is being so selflessly offered to those who wish to benefit from such. One of the fruits of the Spirit is Love, against which the Bible says there is no law. If the British, or Irish, governments try to ban these genuine acts of love, then they will be silencing and discriminating against the minority of minorities, former LGBT people.

This discrimination was evident in this BBC programme and others that have preceded it in the media. It is about time the silenced minority were able to be more fully heard.

Colin Nevin, Bangor, Co. Down.

Catholic Voice Update Dear Reader, Since March when the pandemic first affected the publication of Catholic Voice we have been grateful for the support received to enable us to continue publishing.

As a not for profit organisation our income is from advertising, publication sales and donations. Both of the former have been seriously reduced for almost 6 months now due to the restrictions and closures of churches and therefore we are relying more heavily on your financial and prayerful support.

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12 THE ROAD TO HELL

Catholic Voice

23rd October 2020

Is There Really A Covid-19 Pandemic?

What About The Abortion Pandemic?

John Lacken

Let us continue to pray for our bishops as our country moves to the so-called Level 3 of the ‘National Framework for living with Covid-19’. Once again the Catholics of Ireland are being denied access to Holy Mass. To put this in perspective, you can go out to get your hair done, but you cannot go to receive Jesus Christ in Holy Communion at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

On a positive note our bishops have said at their Autumn general meeting: “While we fully support the guidance of the public health authorities, we will continue to engage constructively in the coming days with the civil authorities to ensure that our people have continued access to the support of Mass and the Sacraments and essential spiritual nourishment for these challenging times.”

Let us pray that our bishops will clearly act to show that receiving Holy Communion at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is more important than getting one’s hair done.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen I met someone recently outside of a Church where I had gone to pray and they asked me if I believed all that we are being told about Covid.

I replied simply, ‘No’, to which they responded ‘Why not, on what do you base your view’.

I told them that my view is not based on the opinions of others, although I have listened to people on both sides of the divide, my opinion is based on looking at the government’s own figures produced on behalf of the HSE.

I hadn’t intended getting into the whole Covid-19 debate but in this article I want to take a close look at some of those figures in the hope that it will help people to begin to question for themselves the propaganda narrative that has been pumped out tirelessly at us for just over seven months now.

Like most people, at the start of this outbreak of what is now called Covid-19, I began to take an interest in what was looking like a serious epidemic as obviously, this could have implications for my family. I found the worldometers website which provided daily updates on the infection and death rates for Covid-19 and I began to check this website about three times per day. I would compare the rates in different countries and see how Ireland was faring out. Which countries were doing well and which countries were not doing so well. Our government then locked the country down.

One day I realised that I was waking up each morning and I was counting dead bodies. There were no dead bodies anywhere near me, I know of one woman who died from Covid-19 and I know one other person who became sick from Covid-19, but that is it. Yet still, here I was counting dead bodies on a daily basis. I knew that this could not be healthy so I stopped my daily scrutinising of the figures.

As time has gone on, I have also noticed that for some people, watching an apparent disaster unfold can become addictive. Many people were off work and had more time on their hands. My very limited social media interaction began to get busy with people sending me posts and messages to ‘watch this video’, ‘share this link’.

Sometimes it would say in bold, ‘Watch This Video Before It Gets Taken Down’, seeking to create a sense of urgency, - ‘if you don’t watch this NOW you will not be

informed’. My policy with these posts has been to very quickly assess whether the content would be life changing or not. Most of it isn’t, and so I delete most of the things sent to me on social media after a quick glance. Thank God, I am still working full-time and my work load has increased due to Covid-19 so I just don’t have time to sit around watching the latest Covid-19 nailbiting thriller on Youtube.

This is not to say that I am not paying attention, but I try to keep Covid on my peripheral vision so that it does not take up too much time.

As I became aware that all is not as it seems in the Covid-19 world, I began to try to figure out what the real agenda is and, not surprisingly, I came to the conclusion that it is a continuation of the war against the Catholic Church, the traditional family and mankind in general.

My last article in Catholic Voice looked at some of the evil legislation that is going through our parliament. As I write this, it has just been confirmed that the assisted suicide bill passed second stage in the Dáil by 81 votes to 71.

This happened on the feast of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 7th October, and the bill is shortly expected to move to committee stage.

When I woke up this morning to this evil news a song popped into my head from 1989 - Chris Rea Road to Hell.

“She said ‘son what are you doing here My fear for you has turned me in my grave’ I said ‘mama I come to the valley of the rich - Myself to sell’ She said ‘son, this is the road to hell’” “You must learn this lesson fast And learn it well This ain’t no upwardly mobile freeway Oh No, this is the road to hell” The Irish government and many of our Irish politicians are on the road to hell.

23rd October 2020

Catholic Voice

THE ROAD TO HELL 13

So let’s look at the ‘official’ government figures on Covid-19 to see if they support the idea that we are in the middle of a pandemic or not.

On the 7th October, the HPSC - Health Protection Surveillance Centre published their regular ‘Epidemiology of COVID-19 in Ireland’ report for NPHET - National Public Health Emergency Team. NPHET are the guys who declared that Ireland should be locked down again going to Level 5.

The first figure from the HPSC report is the total number of confirmed cases which stood at 38,973. However what the HPSC defines as a case is a positive Covid-19 test result, one does not have to have any symptoms. To my mind this is misleading. Imagine having an allegedly deadly disease but with no symptoms and no ill health. Something is not right here and our government will not tell you how many or what percentage of those testing positive are asymptomatic i.e. they not sick at all.

The other thing to note is that these reports use cumulative figures which means that the number of cases and the number of cases per 100,000 of population will never decrease, it will always increase. We are not told how many people per 100,000 of the population have the virus right now at this particular point in time. Again this can be misleading because this is not stated in government briefings all we get is ever increasing numbers in relation to Covid-19.

The next figure we get is the total number of cases hospitalised which was 3,701 at the time of this report.

Once again we are being misled by these figures as it is implied that these people were hospitalised on account of Covid-19, but this is not the case, many of them are asymptomatic.

Deputy Michael McNamara, the Clare TD, formerly of the Labour Party but now an Independent, is the Chairman of the Special Committee on the Covid-19 Response. At a recent meeting of this committee he questioned Dr John Cuddihy of the HPSC “If somebody is admitted to hospital, they’re asymptomatic, with a broken leg for example, and require hospitalization and they’re tested and they are asymptomatic but test positive,

are they included among the statistics of those in hospital with Covid?”

Dr Cuddihy answered: “Yes, they are, if they have tested positive they are included” The same answer was given in relation to deaths. If someone dies of a heart attack, is asymptomatic for Covid but tests positive, this is also recorded as a Covid death. It may be revised months later if a coroners report corrects the mistake, but this is the clearly misleading situation that we are dealing with in relation to Covid-19 reporting. This is the information that our government is using to control how we live our lives.

Another interesting figure from this report is that the confirmed number of deaths, which is exaggerated by those who died from other causes but tested positive for Covid-19, stands at 1,563. However the government’s official figure on this date was 1,816 deaths from Covid-19, an additional overstatement of 253 deaths or a 16% over-statement of the death rate.

The explanation for this is that the government includes what are called ‘probable’ and ‘possible’ Covid-19 deaths for which there is no clinical evidence that the person who died ever had Covid-19.

At this stage, everyone should be questioning what is going on with these official figures and we are only on the first page of a 14 page document, but clearly something is amiss, something

is not right. Why are the figures being distorted in favour of a higher number of Covid-19 cases and deaths? Dr Cuddihy, in response to his affirmation that a heart attack victim with a positive Covid test would be recorded as a Covid death said “We adhere to the World Health Organisation’s case definition in terms of the recording and reporting of deaths...” So, this problem of overstating the death rate due to Covid-19 is not just an Irish problem it is happening on a global scale.

The next figure in this report is the case fatality ratio and this too is misleading as it expresses the number of deaths as a percentage of the actual confirmed cases of Covid-19. But the number of people who have had Covid-19 is probably far higher.

In June-July of this year, a Study was conducted by the HSE to Investigate COVID-19 Infection in People Living in Ireland (SCOPI): Part of their conclusions were: “Based on these findings, we estimate that 59,500 (95% CI: 39,800-85,200) people in Ireland aged between 12 and 69 years of age have been infected with SARS-CoV-2. This is 3.0 (95% CI: 2.0-4.3) times higher than the number of confirmed cases aged 12-69 years notified in Ireland.”

If we take this at face value and triple the number of cases from the HPSC report in the 12 - 69 age bracket, we arrive at a total number of positive ‘cases’ of 99,173 which would reduce the case fatality ratio to 1.58.

14 THE ROAD TO HELL

Catholic Voice

Page 11 of this report is also very interesting for what it reveals. Of the 1,816 people that are recorded as having died with Covid-19, 1,718 had underlying clinical conditions.

This would seem to mean that the number of those who died from Covid-19 alone is only 98. However this is not using the figure for ‘confirmed’ Covid-19 tests which stands at 1,583. In other words, (read this carefully), there were allegedly more people who died from/with Covid-19, who had underlying conditions, than there were deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19. It is impossible to determine how many people died directly from Covid-19 without any other underlying conditions, because the data has been skewed by classifying all positive Covid-19 tests as Covid-19 cases. It is quite probable that far less than 98 people have died from Covid-19 alone. It is also obvious, to anyone who has eyes to see, that Covid-19 is not the ‘killer’ we have been frightened into believing that it is. Someone who dies from cancer, and it is ‘possible’ they had Covid-19 even though they were not tested, will be recorded in the Covid-19 death statistics. This is clearly false reporting and this false reporting is now controlling how we live our lives.

Another part of the propaganda around Covid-19 concerns what are called outbreaks of Covid-19. Now if there was an outbreak of measles in Dublin, or an outbreak of chickenpox, you would expect to find a lot of people showing symptoms of either measles or chickenpox. However, for an outbreak of Covid-19 to be declared, there is no requirement to have a lot of people showing symptoms of Covid-19, the simple requirement is positive Covid-19 tests. But the government has drastically increased the number of people being tested without revealing how many of these are not sick and have no symptoms. So of course the number of ‘cases’ is going to increase.

From 23rd September to 1st November 2020 in Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Limerick

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23rd October 2020

From April to May of this year, the height of the so-called pandemic, there were 313,825 Covid-19 tests carried out between hospitals and other laboratories. From August to September, when Covid-19 was in decline, the number of tests was ramped up to 548,131 an increase of 234,306 tests, or an increase of 174%. Why would you ramp up the testing for a disease that is clearly in decline? Why would you spend scarce resources when your economy is clearly declining at a rapid rate due to lock-downs? Why? Why? Why? I read a statement from an Irish bishop recently where he says “...amid this current pandemic, I appeal to you all to treat the Covid-19 virus very seriously” On what is this bishop basing his opinion that there is a pandemic? It would seem that he, and all of our other bishops, are basing their opinions and policies on government propaganda and not on the actual government figures which clearly show that whilst some people do get sick and some people do die from or with Covid-19, it is certainly not a pandemic.

Of the one million, two hundred and twenty seven thousand, three hundred and seventeen tests carried out to date, at a huge cost to the exchequer, only thirty eight thousand, nine hundred and seventy three have tested positive. That’s barely three per cent. Those who tested positive and were in hospital, though not necessarily on account of their positive Covid-19 test, amounted to 3,701or 0.29% of those tested.

Looking at these figures, does anyone really still think that we are in the middle of a pandemic? Remember, all of the figures used in this article are freely available from the government and HSE websites, I have not made them up.

The responses of Dr Cuddihy are also freely available from the relevant government committee.

And yet here we are, we cannot go to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, but we can go to get our hair styled and cut.

But there is a pandemic in the world just now, it is called abortion and it claims the lives of well over 50 million nascent human beings annually. How I wish that our bishops would spend as much time, money and energy defending the unborn as they are spending protecting us from an imaginary Covid-19 pandemic.

When you walk into a Catholic Church today, where are the large posters, where are the widespread signs and notices displayed, telling us how to protect children from abortion? Instead, sanitise your hands, wear a mask, keep

23rd October 2020 two metres apart, cough into your elbow, and don’t shake hands. All this, while millions of children die from the abortion pandemic. If last years figures are anything to go by, then 5,000 Irish human beings will have been murdered by abortion up to the end of September this year as compared to the 1,593 who ‘may’ have died as a result of Covid-19.

THE ROAD TO HELL 15

Catholic Voice But let’s all focus on Covid-19 whilst our children are encouraged along the Road to Hell. To paraphrase Chris Rea:

This ain’t no Covid-19 pandemic Oh No This is the Road to Hell

Please pray for me as I have recently been invited to a private home to make another presentation to parents on the dangers of the current RSE programme. If you can organise a similar small event with parents in your own home, I am more than willing to travel, Level 3 or no Level 3. May God bless you.

How I wish that our bishops would spend as much time, money and energy defending our Catholic school children from the purveyors of pornographic sex education which will lead many of our young people to despair, as they are spending protecting us from the imaginary Covid-19 pandemic.

Do our bishops not care about our Catholic schools where the abortion, same-sex marriage and gay-lifestyle promoting organisation, ‘Belong-To’, has free access to promote their filth to Catholic school children. In the Archdiocese of Tuam, a male erotic strip-dancer, who dresses as a woman, was allowed to make a presentation to the transition year children of both a boys and a girls Catholic secondary school last year. The Archbishop of Tuam is the patron of the boys school.

LIBERALISM IS A SIN Don Félix Sardà y Salvany: – was

CATECHISM

born on May 21, 1844 in Sabadell, Catalonia, Spain. He was a Catholic priest and writer who wrote against Liberalism which he considered a grave sin. He was the editor of the weekly Spanish Catholic magazine ‘La Revista Popular’ for over forty

Holiness Pope Pius X, issued the Encyclical ‘Pascendi Dominici Gregis’ which translates as “Feeding the Lord’s Flock”. Pope Pius X was aware that the Catholic Church had been infiltrated by modernists who were seeking to undermine her doctrines from within.

Father J. B. Lemius, produced this ‘Catechism on Modernism’ in the familiar the age of 71. This book, Liberalism question and answer format is a Sin, is particularly relevant to of the time, in order to make the teachings of the the times we live in today where Liberalism permeates every Encyclical more accessible to ordinary Catholics and aspect of our society and has deeply infiltrated the thinking of by way of explaining in a clear and concise manner the many of the Catholic hierarchy. reasons why the Encyclical was published. years. He died on January 2, 1916 at

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16 OUR LADY OF BANADA

Catholic Voice

23rd October 2020

The Prodigal Sons & Daughters I often receive calls and letters from Catholic Voice readers and Lumen Fidei supporters seeking prayers for their children who have strayed from the practice of the Catholic Faith. Many of these parents wonder what happened to their adult children as they themselves tried their best to ensure that their children received a Catholic education and they were faithful in the practice of the faith themselves.

I have written many times in this paper about the demise of Catholic education in Ireland. This lack of proper formation goes some way to explaining why many young people lapse from the practice of their Catholic faith.

Another factor is that the prevailing culture is toxic to Catholicism. In the last issue I looked at some of the evil legislation that is on the Autumn legislative schedule in Ireland. This legislation has become possible through the use of mind controlling propaganda techniques which excoriate and shame those who publicly express adherence to Catholic principles whilst lauding those who favour insane ideologies such as the LGBT ideology.

My own family is not exempt from these cultural influences and my eldest child has fallen away from the practice of the Catholic Faith so I feel the pain of those parents who contact me about their own children.

I get great comfort from the story of the prodigal son in chapter fifteen of St Luke’s Gospel. The Pharisees are complaining that Jesus receives and eats with sinners so Jesus tells them three parables. The first is about the good shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine sheep to go looking for the lost sheep. The second is the parable of the woman who loses the coin and who sweeps her house clean in order to find it.

Finally he tells them the story of the prodigal son. This son is well reared by a loving and good father and yet, he still goes astray. Our children have all been given the gift of free will by God and some of them may choose to follow another path than the one their parents have shown them. This is a worrying time for Catholic parents when they see their children lost to the secular world, but we must learn to trust in God’s deep love for our children and to have the courage to wait patiently and unwaveringly like the father in the story of the prodigal son.

My wife received an envelope in the post some time back, she can’t quite remember when but she came across it again recently. She does not know who sent it to her. It contains a little re-print of the story of Our Lady of Banada from a booklet on Irish Marian Shrines of 1955. Neither of us had ever heard of Our Lady of Banada. We had heard of Banada Abbey which was founded by the Augustinians back in 1423 and which eventually came into the hands of the Irish Sisters of Charity. We did a little research and found out that the statue is now located in a church that is only twenty-six minutes from where we live. Here is the story of Our Lady of Banada from that booklet.

“In the life of Mother Mary Aikenhead, written under the title ‘A Candle Was Lit’ by Margery Bayley-Butler, we find a bewitching little story of four lively youngsters playing at makebelieve monks and nuns in a river bordered monastery in County Sligo. The house and lands adjoining the ruins belonged to the children’s parents and here in the early years of the 19th century the little ones grew up in innocence and piety, fired by the tales and traditions linking their lovely home called appropriately Banada Abbey - with the real monks, who prayed and worked on that very spot 200 years before.

Two other children, a girl and a boy, completed the family circle. The boy was the youngest and apparently the scapegrace of the household. Little did these wee people dream that they were destined by God to take a prominent part in restoring that grand old property to the Church and that Our Lady was about to bestow on their family a touching token of her love.

The history of Banada bubbles with interest from start to finish, but the scope of this article confines us to the period directly connected with the lives of the children already mentioned - Daniel, James, Mary, Georgina and Freddie Jones of Banada Abbey. Their parents, Daniel and Louisa Jones, were renowned throughout the countryside for their loyalty to the Church and their Christ-like love of the poor. We are not surprised then to hear that God enriched this truly Christian family with the fairest jewels in His treasury.

All the children, with the exception of Freddie, received the great grace of a religious vocation. Daniel and James became Jesuits, Mary and Georgina entered

23rd October 2020

Catholic Voice

OUR LADY OF BANADA 17

Our Lady Of Banada the Irish Sisters of Charity, and the third girl joined the Sisters of Mercy.

mother was kneeling in prayer. Coming up close to her he laid his hand gently on her bowed head saying

It is at this point the story of Our Lady of Banada begins. Shortly after his ordination, Fr Daniel Jones, S.J. was sent on business to Rome. In an audience with Pope Pius IX, he spoke of his home and family and begged a special blessing for Banada Abbey and all its inmates. The Holy Father not only granted his request but gave him, as a present for his mother, a lovely little statue of Our Lady, which even then had the reputation of being the medium of miraculous favours. Filled with gratitude and joy, Fr Jones brought the gift to Banada and had it erected in a place of honour in the home. A lamp was kept continually burning before the statue and there in the little oratory Mrs Jones gathered the household round her and prayed to the Holy Mother of God under the title sanctioned

by Pope Pius IX - Our Lady of Banada.

“Mother, what are you praying for at this unearthly hour?” “I am asking Our Lady to convert you” she answered. Filled with remorse he knelt down and promised Our Lady that he would change his life.

No sooner was Our Lady thus enthroned than she began to show her appreciation of the honour and devotion paid to her. Many striking answers to prayer were obtained both by the Jones family themselves and by the people of the surrounding country. The most remarkable of these favours concerned the scapegrace of the Jones household, the youngest son.

Freddie was a wild boy and a source of grave anxiety to his parents. Often he would disappear for weeks, leaving no clue as to his whereabouts, and then reappear unexpectedly at most unusual hours of the night or morning. The poor mother was broken-hearted. He seemed a truly hopeless case.

And he kept his word. Shortly after, he made a retreat under the Jesuit Fathers in Dublin. During the retreat he decided to enter the Jesuit Novitiate but was advised to wait a year in order to test his vocation.

Before the year had elapsed poor Freddie was stricken with rapid consumption and died a most saintly death. The grateful mother had her boy’s diamond pin set in a little bracelet which she placed on Our Lady’s arm in thanksgiving for his conversion. Later on, many of the family jewels were worked into a gold crown for the statue and a beautiful gold locket studded with diamonds was hung round Our Lady’s neck.

There is no doubt the Queen of Heaven had taken Banada Abbey and its faithful people under her special care. Each new favour increased devotion to the shrine and soon Our Lady of Banada was known and venerated throughout County Sligo and even beyond its borders.”

Banada Abbey was donated to the Sisters of Charity after Mr Jones’ death. Sadly, there are no longer any religious at the deserted Banada Abbey. It is now closed but the statue was moved and formally enthroned in nearby St Attracta’s Church in Tourlestrane where it remains to this day.

Suddenly one day she decided to make a Novena to Our Lady of Banada for his conversion. During the progress of the Novena Freddie returned in the small hours of the morning after having been several days away from home.

My wife and I have visited the Church on a number of occasions recently to venerate Our Lady of Banada and to pray before her statue, pictured here with the bracelet, crown and locket mentioned above. There is a document on the wall beside the statue with the wax seal of Pope Pius IX confirming the origin and title of the little statue.

When passing the little oratory he was amazed to see a brilliant circle of light shining round Our Lady’s statue. Drawing near he was more astonished to find that he could not penetrate within the circle. The same thing happened a few nights later. He saw the same mysterious light encircling the statue before which his

We prayed to Our Lady of Banada especially for our eldest child and for all of our children and it struck me that perhaps we should seek to revitalise the devotion to Our Lady of Banada for those of us who have children that have gone astray. Our Lady of Banada please convert our children. - John Lacken

18 VACCINE ROULETTE

Catholic Voice

23rd October 2020

Pro Life Campaigner Lambasts Likely Plan To Roll Out Compulsory Covid 19 Vaccine Anne O’Hare

As we begin to shoulder new harsher Covid restrictions it is evident both the British and Irish Governments see a mandatory vaccine as the only solution to the cleverly engineered crisis if we want to return to normal, claims one of Northern Ireland’s pro-life campaigners, this week.

The director of Precious Life, Bernadette Smyth, has called out the inestimable amount of money that global governments are throwing into clinical trials for a vaccine that we don’t need as “an abominable and inconceivable waste of public money.”

Mrs Smyth claimed the trillions of pounds being spent by the global economy to roll out a vaccine should instead be invested into proper care for the elderly and most vulnerable.

The threat that a vaccine for Covid-19 could be made compulsory was cemented in March this year when the Coronavirus Act was passed by Westminster Parliament granting “emergency powers” to deal with the alleged threat of the pandemic.

These powers were renewed on October 1st by a majority of 306 MP’s who believed Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, when he said the measures were still needed to keep people safe.

Mrs Smyth added: “The Act outlines that Government has reasonable and proportionate powers now to

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deal with the pandemic which will evolve overtime and will be easily open to misinterpretation.

In May this year, Mr Hancock refused to rule out the option that vaccines would be made compulsory.”

However, Mrs Smyth says forcing people to be vaccinated against their will is a blatant infringement of their human rights especially in light of the latest figures for the second wave that show almost a 95 per cent recovery rate for people who have contracted the virus in the over 65 years bracket – the most vulnerable category there is.

Mrs Smyth continued: “While many questions remain unanswered, most notably why is the media refusing to tease out these figures in any balanced debate or address the merit in alternate treatments to boost the immune system such as powerful doses of Zinc, Vitamins C and D is staggering.”

Mrs Smyth said that in the valid public interest we need to know just who is behind the manufacture of these vaccines and what poisonous nasties these biomedical companies are putting into their vaccines.

Covid-19 – The Big Players While governments around the world are eager to find a vaccine for Coronavirus, the truth of who is behind their manufacture and what these vaccines contain is being censored.

While experts say it takes a least ten years to bring a vaccine to market, it is widely expected that Novavax, a biotech company from Maryland, USA, could well have a vaccine by the end of the year despite never having brought a drug to market before.

Little else is known about the company who have already begun its Phase III trial of their experimental vaccine in Northern Ireland. The firm is enrolling 10,000 people aged between 18 and 84 to become human lab rats to test their vaccine over the next six weeks.

Bernie Smyth - Precious Life Interestingly, in a Department of Health public consultation in September this year, the Government revealed its intention in having complete immunity from civil damages relating to personal injury claims arising from the effects of the vaccine.

Relating to this revelation Mrs Smyth said: “This is clearly because they know there are serious risks associated with these products. Isn’t it criminally reckless to skip animal trials to go directly to human trials in order to provide a quick vaccine that we don’t need?”

The company will soon join Astra Zeneca, Pfizer and Moderna as a candidate to enter the final steps of the regulatory approvals process.

Moderna The company was founded by selfproclaimed trans-humanist, Derek Rossi of Harvard, Elon Musk of Space X and Ray Kurzwell of Google. Like Novavax, they have never brought a medicine, much less a vaccine to market either.

With significant financial backing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, their vaccine will be the first one ever made with

23rd October 2020 messenger RNA (mRNA) – a molecule that compliments DNA. It uses a sequence of genetic RNA material produced in a lab that, when injected, hijacks the cells’ protein-making machinery called ribosomes to produce the viral components that retrain your immune system to fight the virus.

Catholic Voice

VACCINE ROULETTE 19

Covid Va c c i n e Roulette

There are unknown risks with messenger RNA vaccines including the possibility of triggering inflammation and autoimmune conditions.

Injecting this mRNA vaccine into the muscle will make changes to someone’s DNA while most likely not changing their actual genome – the set of chromosomes within a cell. This is comparable to playing God, in that mRNA can be used to make almost any desired change to their DNA. Interestingly, it’s not about your immune system anymore – the very cells in your body will be changed. Most disturbingly, Moderna are also using DNA from an aborted baby in the development of this vaccine.

The University Of Oxford AstraZeneca (AZD1222ChAdOx1 nCov-19) Made by researchers at the University of Oxford, and the international pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, the vaccine is a chimpanzee adenovirus vaccine vector, which is genetically engineered, is looking like another Covid-19 vaccine front runner.

This vaccine includes the HEK293 cell line from an aborted baby of 1973 in the Netherlands.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), funded directly by Gates are investing 750 million dollars in the development of this vaccine.

CanSino Biologics - Chinese Military Ad5-vectored Covid-19 Made by a biotechnology company, CanSino Biologics and the Chinese Military, like AZd1222, CanSino

uses the viral vector-based vaccine on a weakened adenovirus.

MRC-5 cell line in the MMR vaccine is from an aborted baby.

This vaccine also used foetal DNA from no less than nine babies aborted live in 2020.

Animal cells are also used in vaccines and come from a variety of species and reads like something you’d expect to find in a recipe from a witches brew: a monkey’s kidney, a cow’s heart, a dog’s kidney, serum from a calf, a chicken embryo and blood from a pig.

BioNTech, Pfizer (BNT162b1) This vaccine is mRNA-based and is made by German firm BioNtech and the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Like Moderna’s vaccine, BNT162b1 uses a fatty nanoparticle wrapping to deliver a fragment of the genetic code for the SARSCoV-2 spike protein into human cells.

Nasties In Vaccines Nano Particle Aluminum This poisonous metal can persist in the brain for decades and is capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier.

Linked to neuro-development disabilities particularly Alzheimers.

The effects of aluminium on the brain can be seen in a study by Christopher Exley PhD (Keele University-Staffordshire Jan 2020) Human & Animal DNA DNA is taken from an aborted baby using the water bag delivery technique while the baby is delivered alive. Their little organs are then harvested for laboratories to carry out further research. The

Mercury Mercury poisoning symptoms include muscle weakness, poor co-ordination, numbness in the hands and feet, skin rashes, anxiety, depression, memory problems and trouble speaking, hearing and seeing.

Neomycin Sulphate (Antibiotic) Also linked to autoimmune diseases with many studies showing a link to Autism, is Heyer et el (2012). This antibiotic comes with a FDA Black Box warning. Black Box warnings alert doctors and patients about drug effects that may be dangerous.

Allergic reactions can range from mild to life threatening.

Beta-Propiolactone Known to be associated with skin cancer it has also been linked to suspected gastrointestinal, liver, nerve, skin an sense organ poison.

20 HELPING THE MISSIONS

Catholic Voice

23rd October 2020

THANK YOU CATHOLICS OF IRELAND! Mary Kearns Heartfeld thanks continues from grateful priests, sisters and lay catechists in Africa for Mass Kits, Monstrances and liturgical articles received. Although too numerous to include in full, the following are excerpts from several letters.

“I greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and pray this letter finds you well. Thank you for all that you do every day to promote the Kingdom of God. I am Fr. Fred Yangnyi MHM, parish priest of St. Jude Busaana Catholic Parish; a newly created parish in the Diocese of Lugazi, Uganda (23rd May 2019). Being a new parish, the needs and wants of the parish were numerous but especially the need for vessels and vestments used at Mass were more pressing. I received early this year the donation of a Mass Kit. Apart from the vessels used at Mass was also a white and purple chasuble.

These I must say have been very useful as it has greatly helped me in my priestly ministry, in celebrating the daily Eucharist and in reaching out to other sub-stations.

I therefore appreciate greatly this ministry of granting Mass Kits and other sacramentals to other priests and mission areas for easy celebration of sacraments. May God bless the works of your hands as you continue to do more.”

Fr. Noah Monday MHM, Parish Priest St. Jude’s Parish, Fundong, Bamenda Archdiocese, explains how important it is for a priest to be equipped with his own Mass Kit. “Sending a priest on mission outreach without a Mass Kit is like sending a child to school without a book and a pen. This is to say that a

Mass Kit is indispensable in the life of every priest. A priest is ordained for the people. And for him to live his priestly ministry he has to constantly be at the service of the people by celebrating the sacraments both in the “main church” and in the “mission stations”. To better appreciate the necessity of a Mass Kit it is important to understand the structure of a parish setup here in Africa especially in a village setting. Each parish is made up of mission stations and small Christian communities. In most of these parishes the Christians cannot afford the sacred vessels and vestments both in the main church and in the mission stations or outstations.

In some cases one parish can have 25-30 mission stations mostly in a village setup. To buy vestments and sacred vessels for each station is a big challenge for the Christians because they are not financially viable. A Mass Kit now comes in as a remedy to solve this difficulty.

The Kit contains sacred vessels, vestments, ointments for the sick and baptism among others. With the Kit we can visit as many mission stations as we can as long as we have enough bread, wine and ointments.

In some places this Mass Kit is also called the priest tools box just as a carpenter has a tools box to be able to function as a carpenter. So also the life and activities of every priest centres around this tools box.

In Africa, we also have the idea of “Small Christian Communities” which I mentioned above. It is also called the church in the neighbourhood. This idea is primarily to help the Christians gather together and share the gospel and also get to know one another in the community. One of the ways

Fr. Noah Monday MHM to encourage and build this church in the neighbourhood is to visit them and celebrate the Eucharist with them during their sharing. In order to effectively carry on these services the Mass Kit is central.

It is mandatory for every priest to own one to ease his pastoral activities.”

Sr. Noreen McGrath is an Irish sister working in Cameroon for over twenty years who has a good insight into the lives of the people there.

“I have been working closely with priests in various parishes and mission stations. Their pastoral work is taken with great seriousness and they don’t spare themselves in reaching the far away areas. Very often the roads are impassable especially in the rainy season which lasts about four months. On motor bikes or on foot they try to reach the people for Mass and the Sacraments as well as general pastoral care, at least once in a month. Just recently, a priest whom I know went on a

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Catholic Voice

motor bike for one and a half hours to reach his mission station on a slippery and uneven road to say Mass, give First Communion to forty children and baptise six small children, carrying his Mass Kit on the bike.

Nothing can compare with the joy on a young priest’s face as he receives one of these Kits after his first Ordination. Very often they are sent to remote villages where the people have very little income. As there are many ordinations (ten in the diocese I’m in) this year, there is a great need to equip the young priests with what they require for their priestly ministry – Vestments, Mass Kits, Lectionary, Pyx etc.”

Fr. Tony Emeka Onyenkwelu, a Mill Hill Missionary priest, recalls when he was first ordained for the Witu/Kipini Parish, in the diocese of Malindi, Kenya. He had his ordination alb and three chasubles but sadly did not own a Mass Kit and was obliged to borrow one from his parish priest so he

could celebrate Mass. Fr. Tony, who visited Ireland recently for a formation course, also explained that it was rare for any of the mission stations to have a Monstrance so that the parishioners were normally unaware of Eucharistic Adoration.

“I remember going for adoration in the mission stations and I would just put the consecrated Host on the lid of a pyx, tilt it and support it using a book. “ Fr. Tony is presently the rector of the Mill Hill Formation House in the Philippines. He eventually did receive his own Mass Kit and due to Mary Therese Murphy whom he met in Ireland, he was donated two Monstrances, one for his colleage Fr. Sylvester in Kenya. These two young priests were overjoyed. “It was unbelievable...it was like I was dreaming.” Fr. Tony was able to gift a Mass Kit he had received to a friend and told of his great joy.

“I gave it to Patrick Ndzedzeni from Cameroon, who was then a deacon.

HELPING THE MISSIONS 21 I can’t just express in writing how happy he was receiving that Mass Kit. There were other deacons but had only one Mass Kit and I just imagine how I wish I had more.

Patrick was ordained a priest early this month and he is sent to work in Kisumu, Kenya. He will be going to the former parish of Fr. Chrisantus Munu who had also received a Montrance. So Fr. Patrick will be having a smooth take-off thanks to all our friends from Ireland. These have been life changing aid of Ireland to the Church in Africa.

Although I am working now in the Philippines, on behalf of all the priests who have received Mass Kits, vestments, Monstrances or other religious objects, I am truly thankful. God bless you all and the works of your hands.”

For catechesis and liturgical formation:

marykeenankearns@gmail.com Tel: 087 7794687

Mass being celebrated in the Mission of the Lord’s Table Order Founded by Mill Hill Fathers - for the Turkana people in north Kenya.

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Catholic Voice

23rd October 2020

Theocracy Through Democracy Anthony Hofler

On 11th December 1925, Pope Pius XI published an encyclical letter entitled “Quas Primas,” whereby he instituted the Feast of Christ the King. There having been, much more recently, many events which are manifestly opposed to that Kingship, study of the encyclical is worthwhile. Here are some important aspects of it, and comments arising with regard to modem circumstances.

Its doctrinal basis was that Christ, as consubstantial with the Father, has all things in common with Him, and therefore has supreme and absolute dominion over all creation. “All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me,” said Christ, which, wrote Pope Pius XI, shows the infinite extent of His kingdom.

The Pope went on to explain that this kingdom is spiritual and is concerned with spiritual things, but that it would be a grave error to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since, by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to him by the Father, all things are in His power. The “all creatures committed to him” does not mean only Catholics, but everybody in the world; all individuals and nations must obey his commands; none may escape them, nor the sanctions he has imposed.

Pseudo-Catholics join secularists who demand autonomy, but, wrote Pope Pius XI, it is a dogma of faith that Jesus Christ was given to man, not only as our Redeemer, but also as a law-giver, to whom obedience is due. The authority of governments depends on compliance with their public duty of reverence and obedience to His rule; if they breach that duty, regarding their authority as coming from voters and not from God, they eliminate the main basis of the distinction between ruler and subject, and society totters to its fall.

Judging by the rampant rebellions and desertions which have occurred since the mid l960s, the Church also is tottering. This is most distressingly evident in formerly Catholic countries such as Ireland. A factor seemingly often cited in explanation of the disaster is ‘clericalism,’ by which is meant excessive deference to priests and bishops. Its opposite is ‘anti-clericalism,’ which a fair assessment of history is unlikely to prove resultant mainly from clerical misconduct, but from ideological sheer hatred of religious rules. Rules of some sort must be enforced, and the world is now dominated by determination that they will not be Catholic ones.

Such anti-clericalism was the background to “Quas Primas.” It was described by Pope Pius XI as a “plague,” and events since the 1920s have continued its symptoms which he specified: Christ’s dominion over all nations denied; the Church’s divine right to teach, make laws, and govern peoples in all that pertains to their eternal salvation denied; Catholicism gradually put on a level with false

religions and under the power and toleration of secular States; God and His laws removed completely by some countries; with deplorable results.

It is, of course, true that human nature itself can have deplorable results. If this happens within the Church, it can present enemies with an ‘open goal’ to shoot-at. In 2011 there was an Apostolic Visitation to Ireland to investigate circumstances which were causing considerable trouble, and (as it was delicately put) to “assist the local Church on her path of renewal.” According to an officially announced “overall synthesis indicating the results and the future prospects,” the investigators “encountered a certain tendency, not dominant but nevertheless fairly widespread among priests, Religious and laity, to hold theological opinions at variance with the teachings of the Magisterium. [T]his serious situation requires particular attention, directed principally towards improved theological formation.

It must be stressed,” added the announcement, “that dissent from

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Catholic Voice

the fundamental teachings of the Church is not the authentic path towards renewal.”

Another ‘pastoral priority’ which emerged strongly was the need for “a new focus on the role of the laity, who are called to be engaged both within the Church and in bearing witness before society, in accordance with the social teachings of the Church.”

Alas, the subsequent Constitutional referenda on same-sex ‘marriage’ and abortion showed that the “certain tendency” to “dissent from the fundamental teachings of the Church” was not merely “fairly widespread” but indeed “dominant.”

One of the investigators was Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor of Westminster. In 2012, he offered another explanation for the problems in Ireland: “the Church had far too much power” (“The Universe,” 8th September 2017, p.10).

Some of its ostensible members seem to believe that the less it has the better. They have made great strides towards its enfeeblement.

To worldly minds, this is simply a manifestation of democracy, and unhappy people are advised to ‘change with the times’. Although “democracy is the best expression of the direct participation of citizens in political choices” (“Doctrinal Note on the Participation of Catholics in Political Life,” Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 24th November 2002, section 4), it must not be given divine status.

It purports to show what most voters want, but it cannot in itself show what is good. To be good it must produce what pleases God. For example, elections to the German Parliament in July and November 1932 made the National Socialists the largest Party, and in a July 1934 referendum 90 per cent of voters supported the idea of

THEOCRACY 23 Hitler becoming both Chancellor and President.

Were those results good, in the true sense of that word? Would it have been good advice to tell unhappy Germans to ‘change with the times’? Democracy does not validate desires; it opens the door for them. Therefore, and despite the present situation, genuine Catholics should always work towards using democracy as a means to theocracy; that is, the obedience of society’s principles and practices to the requirements of God. Christ’s redemptive work, the mission of the Church, includes penetrating and perfecting the temporal order (Vatican II, Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, “Apostolicam Actuositatem,” paragraph 5). Our objective should be for Catholicism to permeate society so completely that it governs all aspects.

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23rd October 2020

D i rect l y o r ( t h r ough its lay members) indirectly, the Church should have power over everything, because it is God’s institutional instrument for leading people rightly. As well as being common sense, that seems to be rooted very early in Church history. Apparently Pope St. Gelasius I (492-496) taught that because the political governance of nations gives effect to principles of behaviour, it is subject to moral assessment by the Church.

The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” confirms this: “no human activity, even of the temporal order, can be withdrawn from God’s dominion” (paragraph 912), and the Catholic Church is the only divinely-commissioned interpreter of His Word (paragraphs 85 and 119).

It is the sole Church of Christ, and through it alone the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained (paragraph 816). It is “the visible plan of God’s love for humanity” (paragraph 776). Because of the entitlement to superiority which is, therefore, inherent in the Church (Our Lord could not have intended His endorsement of ‘service’ to mean subjugation of the Church to others’ wishes; a teacher serves the pupils, but has authority over them), to strip the Church of its power and to eradicate its principles from

President & Mrs Trump Pray At Pope Saint John Paul II Shrine In Washington D.C.

society’s mentality, customs, laws and structures i s o b j e c t i v e l y e x c e s s i v e a n d unjustified, even if ostensibly based on misconduct by particular individuals.

Nevertheless, the Church’s ideological enemies have seized eagerly their opportunities to do that, and the anti-clericalism to which “Quas Primas” was Pope Pius XI’s response in 1925 is not less, but more, established now.

Similarly, his comments about the needed reaction still apply.

Although Catholics have a duty to do all they can to reverse the rebellion, many lack appropriate status in society.

A reason which he presented as a mere possibility for that lack of status is manifestly a fact: slowness and timidity in good people, who are reluctant to engage in conflict or put up weak resistance, so the Church’s enemies become bolder in their attacks. “While nations insult the beloved name of our Redeemer by suppressing all mention of it in their conferences and parliaments,” he wrote, “we must all the more loudly proclaim His Kingly dignity and power, all the more universally affirm His rights.”

So, to remind Catholics visibly of those things, Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King.

He thought that the festivities

of feasts were more useful than official statements in conveying knowledge and appreciation of the faith. Pronouncements by the Church reach only a few and the more learned among the faithful, he wrote, whereas feasts reach all of them. Decimated attendance at Mass in recent decades has weakened the latter point. He thought also that the Feast of Christ the King would remind people that the Church, founded by Christ as a perfect society, has a natural and inalienable right to perfect freedom and immunity from the power of the State and any other external power.

It would remind them also, he believed, of the 1ast judgment, when Christ will most severely avenge the insults of being cast out of pub1ic life, despised, neglected and ignored, and it would strengthen and encourage the faithful to reform, for not one of our faculties is exempt from Christ’s empire.

Probably the extent to which those expected and desired reminders still ‘register’ has diminished greatly since 1925. ‘Feasts,’ like other parts of Catholic life, make little noticeable ‘impact,’ unlike the considerable ‘impact’ made by forceful promotion of errors and sins. So there is much to be done.

We must do what we can, while we can.

23rd October 2020

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Catholic Voice

Saint Francis And The Leper Sophie Jewett

Extract from ‘God’s Troubadour’ The Story of St. Francis of Assisi,

by Sophie Jewett, published 1910.

In the weeks that followed, it seemed to Francis that simply loving his fellow-men made all life joyous and easy; but one day he discovered that there were still battles to fight.

He was riding across the valley toward Assisi, and neared a little hospital for lepers, where he had often stopped with gifts of money.

His heart was full of sorrow for these sufferers from the most terrible of all diseases, and he thought: “I will go in, to-day, and leave something for them.”

Outside the gate of the hospital, crouched against the wall in the sunshine, one of the lepers sat to ask alms of passing travellers. The poor man was covered with sores, and revolting to look upon.

At sight of him, Francis felt a sickening sense of disgust and horror. He drew his purse hastily from his belt and, tossing it to the leper, rode on as fast as his horse could carry him, trying to forget the face that had been raised to his.

Suddenly, like an arrow, the thought struck him: “That man, also, is my brother, and I have despised him!”

The rider dropped his rein, and the horse went slowly along the rough road between the olive orchards.

Francis was both ashamed and disappointed. He said to himself: “My purse was an insult, for I gave it without love, and with more scorn than pity.”

The spring sun was high and hot; the sky was cloudless; not a shadow lay on the vast, bare height of Monte Subasio. At a fountain beside the road some women were washing.

They sang as they worked and, at the end of the long fountain basin, a group of children shouted with laughter, dipping their little hands into the cold water, and splashing

one another merrily. All the world seemed happy in the sunshine, and, by contrast, the misery of the poor leper seemed the greater. At the sound of hoofs, the songs and laughter ceased and all turned to look at the new-comer; but, to the surprise of everyone, the horseman wheeled swiftly about, and clattered back in the direction from which he had come.

He had not been gone ten minutes, and the leper, scarcely recovered from his surprise at the generous gift he had received, was creeping to the gate with his treasure. He moved slowly, as if in pain. Francis sprang from his horse, and, kneeling in the dusty road, he lifted the leper’s hand to his lips and kissed it, as he had been taught to kiss the hand of a bishop or a prince.

“Who is he?” one woman asked of another. “Only that young Bernardone, the merchant’s son,” was the answer; “people say that he has gone mad.”

It is likely that the leper was as greatly puzzled as the beggar in the porch of St. Peter’s had been, but Francis Bernardone was not mad.

Instead, he had learned, through his own failure and shame, a lesson that some men never learn; for, “though I give all my gifts to feed the poor, and have not love, it is nothing.”

Then an old, bent woman spoke: “Mad or not, he has a kind heart.

It was his gold that kept my poor Giovanni alive last winter. I wish that more of the rich folk were mad like him.”

Francis heard nothing! He rode fast across the valley toward the little hospital.

From that spring morning, at the gate of the leper hospital, until the day of his death, Francis of Assisi never met the man who was too filthy, or too loathsome, or even too wicked, for him to love.

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23rd October 2020

Parents Have A Moral Obligation To Oppose School Curriculum Contrary To Moral Law Cardinal Raymond Burke

It cannot escape the attention of any thoughtful person that education today is under a ferocious attack.

In both education and law, as fundamental expressions of our culture, we witness the abandonment of the understanding of human nature and of conscience by which God calls us to respect the truth of nature and to live in accord with that truth in pure and selfless love.

Saint Paul, in his Letter to the Ephesians, referring to the alienation of man from God and, therefore, from the world, declared: “But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:13-22) It is Christ alone Who opens the understanding and animates the heart to embrace the truth and to live it in love. Educators, therefore, cooperating with parents, lead children to know Christ and to follow Him in all things, and thus lead them to the peace which is the desire of every human heart. Education, both in the home and in the school, opens the eyes of the child to contemplate the mystery of God’s love for us in the sending of His only-begotten Son in our human flesh and in the sending of His Holy Spirit into our souls,

the great fruit of the Redemptive Incarnation.

Parents who in the past have depended upon schools to assist them in raising their children to be true citizens of heaven and earth, good members of the Church and good members of civil society, find some schools to be places of indoctrination in atheistic materialism with its concurrent relativism. Such schools, in fact, attempt to destroy the education received in the home regarding the most fundamental truths: the truth regarding the inviolable dignity of innocent human life, the integrity of human sexuality and of marriage, and the irreplaceability of the relationship of man with God or of holy religion. What is more, when parents rightly try to safeguard their children from such a nihilistic ideology, these schools attempt to force the indoctrination upon their children in a totalitarian manner.

Sadly, some Catholic schools, for a variety of reasons, mimic the situation in non-Catholic schools by insisting upon the anti-life, anti-family, and anti-religion ideology which marks education, in general. The latter situation is particularly pernicious, for parents send their children to a Catholic school, trusting that it will be truly

Catholic, when, in fact, it is nothing of the sort. The operation of such schools under the name of Catholic is a profound injustice to families.

At the root of the deplorable cultural situation in which we find ourselves is the loss of a sense of nature and of conscience. Pope Benedict XVI addressed this loss, in respect of the foundations of law, in his address to the German Parliament, the Bundestag, during his Pastoral Visit to Germany in September of 2011. Taking leave from the story of the young King Solomon on his accession to the throne, he recalled to political leaders the teaching of the Holy Scriptures regarding the work of politics. God asked King Solomon what request he wished to make as he began to rule God’s holy people. The Holy Father commented: “What will the young ruler ask for at this important moment? Success – wealth – long life – destruction of his enemies? He chooses none of these things. Instead, he asks for a listening heart so that he may govern God’s people, and discern between good and evil” (1 Kings 3:9).

The story of King Solomon, as Pope Benedict XVI observed, teaches what must be the end of

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political activity and, therefore, of government. He declared: “Politics must be a striving for justice, and hence it has to establish the fundamental preconditions for peace…. To serve right and to fight against the dominion of wrong is and remains the fundamental task of the politician.”

Pope Benedict XVI then asked how we know the good and right which the political order and specifically the law are to safeguard and promote. While he acknowledged that in many matters “the support of the majority can serve as a sufficient criterion,” he observed that such a principle is not sufficient “for the fundamental issues of law, in which the dignity of man and of humanity is at stake.” Regarding the very foundations of the life of society, positive civil law must respect “nature and reason as the true sources of law.”

In other words, one must have recourse to the natural moral law which God has inscribed upon every human heart. I think of my own homeland, the United States of America, in which the Supreme Court of the nation has presumed to define the beginning of human life, the partnership of marriage, and human sexuality itself according to materialistic and relativistic, sentimental considerations, in defiance of the law written by God on the human heart.

What Pope Benedict XVI observed regarding the foundations of law in nature and conscience points to the fundamental work of education, namely, the work of fostering in students “a listening heart” which strives to know the law of God and to respect it by development in the life of the virtues. True education aims to bring the human person “to full human and Christian maturity.”

Suffice it to say that parents must be vigilant that the education given to their children be coherent with the Christian education and upbringing in the home.

Even as the family is essential to the transformation of culture, so also is education because of its intrinsic connection with the growth and development of the child.

The thoroughly galvanised anti-life, anti-family, and anti-religion agenda of our time advances, in large part, because of a lack of attention and information among the general public. The pervasive mass media, the powerful promoter of the agenda, confuse and corrupt minds and hearts, and dull consciences to the law written by God in nature and upon every human heart. In his Encyclical Letter on the Gospel of Life, Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II declared: “What is urgently called for is a general mobilisation of consciences and a united ethical effort to activate a great campaign in support of life. All together, we must build a new culture of life: new, because it will be able to confront and solve today’s unprecedented problems affecting human life; new, because it will be adopted with deeper and more dynamic conviction by all Christians; new, because it will be capable of bringing about a serious and courageous cultural dialogue among all parties. While the urgent need for such a cultural transformation is linked to the present historical situation, it is also rooted in the Church’s mission of evangelisation. The purpose of the Gospel, in fact, is “to transform humanity from within and to make it new.” Like the yeast which leavens the whole

DUTY OF PARENTS 27 measure of dough (cf. Mt 13:33), the Gospel is meant to permeate all cultures and give them life from within, so that they may express the full truth about the human person and about human life.”

What Pope John Paul II affirmed about the mobilisation of consciences regarding the inviolability of innocent human life surely applies as well and as strongly to the mobilisation of consciences regarding the integrity of marriage and family life, and regarding the irreplaceable relationship with God, which is holy religion.

Pope John Paul II did not fail to note that such efforts must begin with “the renewal of a culture of life within Christian communities themselves.” The Church herself must address the situation of so many of her members who, even though they may be active in Church activities, “end up by separating their Christian faith from its ethical requirements regarding life, and thus fall into moral subjectivism and certain objectionable ways of acting.” This separation of faith from practical life is particularly devastating when it influences education. The child, who is taught to have a “listening heart,” who is naturally attuned to his conscience, to God’s law written upon his heart, is corrupted by those in whom he is led to put his trust. One only thinks of the corruption wrought by a pervasively false education in human sexuality. Parents cannot be attentive enough to the possibility of such corruption entering into what should be the education of their children.

Catholic education of children and youth is a complete education, that is, the development of reason through

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28 DUTY OF PARENTS the competent imparting of knowledge and skills within the context of the faith through the study of God and of His plan for us and our world, as He has revealed Himself and His plan to us. Pope Pius XI, in his Encyclical Letter Divini Illius Magistri, described a Catholic or Christian education with these words: “The proper and immediate end of Christian education is to cooperate with divine grace in forming the true and perfect Christian, that is, to form Christ Himself in those regenerated by baptism, according to the emphatic expression of the Apostle: “My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ be formed in you.”

For the true Christian must live a supernatural life in Christ: “Christ who is your life,” and display it in all his actions: “That the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh.””

For precisely this reason, Christian education takes in the whole aggregate of human life, physical and spiritual, intellectual and moral, individual, domestic and social, not with a view of reducing it in any way, but in order to elevate, regulate and perfect it, in accord with the example and teaching of Christ.

Hence the true Christian, product of Christian education, is the supernatural man who thinks, judges and acts constantly and consistently in accordance with right reason illumined by the supernatural light of the example and teaching of Christ; in other words, to use the current term, the true and finished man of character. For, it is not every kind of consistency and firmness of conduct based on subjective principles that makes true character, but only constancy in following the eternal principles of justice, as it is admitted even by the pagan poet when he praises as one and the same “the man who is just and firm of purpose.” And on the other hand, there cannot be full justice except in giving to God what is due to God, as the true Christian does.

It is only such a complete education which can guide our children and young people on the way of the happiness for which God has created each of us. With the help of a sound education at home and in school, children know happiness both during the days of their earthly pilgrimage and eternally at the goal

Catholic Voice of their pilgrimage which is Heaven.

It is only such an education which can transform our culture.

The family is the first place of education, a truth which defines essentially the mission of the school. The school serves the family and, therefore, works intimately with the family in bringing children to ever greater maturity, to the fullness of life in Christ. Regarding Christian marriage and the family, and the mission of education, Pope Saint John Paul, in his 1981 PostSynodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Family, Familiaris Consortio, declared that “the Christian family, in fact, is the first community called to announce the Gospel to the human person during growth and to bring him or her, through a progressive education and catechesis, to full human and Christian maturity.”

Christian education in the family and in the school introduces children and young people, in an ever more profound way, into the Tradition, into the great gift of our life in Christ in the Church handed down to us faithfully, in an unbroken line, through the Apostles and their successors.

Education, if it is to be sound, that is, for the good of the individual and society, must be especially attentive to arm itself against the errors of secularism and relativism, lest it fail to communicate to the succeeding generations the truth, beauty and goodness of our life and of our world, as they are expressed in the unchanging teaching of the faith, in its highest expression through prayer, devotion and divine worship, and in the holiness of life of those who profess the faith and worship God “in spirit and in truth.”

The Declaration on Christian Education, Gravissimum Educationis, of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, made clear that the primary responsibility for the education of children belongs to parents who rely upon sound schools to assist them in providing any part of the total education of their children, which they are not able to impart in the home. The essential good of marriage which is the gift of children includes both the procreation and the education of the child. I quote from Gravissimum Educationis: “As it is the parents who have given life to their children, on them lies the gravest obligation of educating their family. They must therefore be recognised as being primarily

23rd October 2020 and principally responsible for their education. The role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute. It is therefore the duty of parents to create a family atmosphere inspired by love and devotion to God and their fellow-men which will promote an integrated, personal and social education of their children. The family is therefore the principal school of the social virtues which are necessary to every society. It is therefore above all in the Christian family, inspired by the grace and the responsibility of the sacrament of matrimony, that children should be taught to know and worship God and to love their neighbour, in accordance with the faith which they have received in earliest infancy in the sacrament of Baptism.”

Certainly, society, in general, and the Church, in a particular way, also have a responsibility for the education of children and young people, but that responsibility must always be exercised with respect for the primary responsibility of parents.

Parents, for their part, should be fully engaged in whatever service of education is provided by society and the Church. Children and young people should not be confused or led into error by an education outside of the home which conflicts with the education given in the home. Today, parents must be especially vigilant, for some schools have become the tools of a secular agenda inimical to the Christian life. One thinks, for example, of the compulsory socalled “gender education” in some schools, which is a direct attack on human sexuality and on marriage and, therefore, on the family.

For the sake of our young people, we all must give particular attention to the fundamental expression of our culture which is education.

Good parents and good citizens must be attentive to the curriculum which schools are following and to the life in the schools, in order to assure that our children are being formed in the human and Christian virtues and are not being deformed by indoctrination in the confusion and error concerning the most fundamental truths of human life, of the family, and of religion, which will lead to their slavery to sin and, therefore, profound unhappiness, and to the destruction of culture.

23rd October 2020 Catholic Voice At the heart of a solid curriculum is both respect for the dignity of the human person and for the tradition of beauty, truth and goodness in the arts and the sciences. So often, today, a notion of tolerance of ways of thinking and acting contrary to the moral law seems to be the interpretative key for many Christians. According to this approach, one can no longer distinguish between the beautiful and the ugly, the true and the false, and the good and the evil. The approach is not securely grounded in the moral tradition, yet it tends to dominate our approach to the extent that we end up claiming to be Christian while tolerating ways of thinking and acting which are diametrically opposed to the moral law revealed to us in nature and in the Sacred Scriptures. The approach, at times, becomes so relativistic and subjective that we do not even observe the fundamental logical principle of non-contradiction, that is, that a thing cannot both be and not be in the same respect at the same time. In other words, certain actions cannot at the same time be both true to the moral law and not true to it.

In fact, charity alone must be the interpretative key of our thoughts and actions. In the context of charity, tolerance means unconditional love of the person who is involved in evil but firm abhorrence of the evil into which the person has fallen.

All education should be directed to forming the students in the charity by which the mind and heart

respond to the beautiful, the true, and the good, as God has created us to do.

Education which takes place first in the home and is enriched and supplemented by schools and, above all, by truly Catholic schools is directed fundamentally to the formation of good citizens and good members of the Church. Ultimately it is directed to the happiness of the individual which is found in right relationships and has its fulfilment in eternal life. It presupposes the objective nature of things to which the human heart is directed, if it is trained to be a “listening heart,” that is, to follow a correctly formed conscience. It seeks an ever deeper

DUTY OF PARENTS 29

knowledge and love of the true, the good, and the beautiful. It forms the individual to this fundamental pursuit throughout his or her lifetime.

May God inspire and strengthen parents and all of us in the work of forming “listening hearts” in our children and young people for their salvation and for the transformation of our culture. Under the maternal care of the Virgin Mother of God, may we seek and find in the Heart of Jesus the wisdom and strength to safeguard and promote the constant teaching and practice of the Church regarding human life, regarding human sexuality, marriage and the family, and regarding holy religion.

The Lumen Fidei Institute

Parenting Roadshow - Back On The Road We are now taking bookings for small home meetings to inform parents and other interested parties of the plans the sexologists and LGBT ideologists have for our schools. These programmes will corrupt the minds of children by giving them a false understanding of human sexuality.

We also look at the duties and responsibilities of Catholic parents with suggestions on how to strengthen your Faith life in order to be able to meet the challenges of rearing children in 2020s Ireland.

We are happy to host this presentation in small groups of up to six parents (or more depending on current covid restrictions), either in peoples homes or in other small venues. Please get in touch if you would like to host a small meeting and we can arrange the details with you.

Contact: John Lacken +353 (0)85 120 8779 E-mail: secretary@lumenfidei.ie Web: www.lumenfidei.ie Raith, Aghamore, Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, F35 V127

30 BOOKS

Catholic Voice

23rd October 2020

STRENG THEN YOUR FAITH DURING THIS CRISIS r for o

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DON’T GO TO HELL Catholic Church Teaching on Hell

THE CHURCH IN OUR TIMES

This book contains three essays, one in question & answer format, from a time when pastors were more direct and ‘plain speaking’ in presenting the Truth of Catholic doctrine to their flocks.

They were primarily concerned with the salvation of the souls entrusted to their care rather than being overly concerned about whether or not their flocks would find these Truths offensive or difficult.

They sought the Praise and Glory of God, and not the praise of men.

is a series of reflections on topical issues concerning the Catholic Church and the practice of the faith ranging from ‘Faith and Culture’, to ‘GLBT – New thinking’, to ‘Purgatory and Remembrance’. Fr Hahesy’s style is conversational and he weaves through the various topics all the while pointing to the soul’s need for God. “The daily prayers at the end of this book, will ensure the salvation of our soul and a happier life here. Please believe me. It does not seem much to ask for such a great reward. To know and love God is the ultimate good whether people know this or not, accept it or not.”

€/£7 inc p&p Ireland €/£8.50 inc p&p outside Ireland

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EGO EIMI - IT IS I

“May the present book of Rev. Fr. de Malleray FSSP, a beautiful and impressive “paper shrine to the Most Holy Eucharist”, have a wide diffusion and be a practical spiritual aid in order to renew the Catholic Faith, the Catholic Love and the Catholic Worship of the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist.” + Athanasius Schneider.

“This highly readable, informative, and edifying treatise on the Holy Eucharist will enrich the understanding and devotion of Catholics regardless of their prior knowledge of the subject: I recommend it wholeheartedly.” Dr Joseph Shaw PhD,

SCIENCE SAYS NO

In this book, Dr. van den Aardweg debunks many of the myths created by the global homosexualist movement. The argument for gay “marriage” is exposed as a deception in this ground breaking book. For many years the public has been indoctrinated with unfounded assertions which in fact are no more than modern fairy tales sold as science. In other words, as regards homosexuality, people hear and read mostly lies. The book explains why the deception is possible and shows why no assertion of the gay ideology has been scientifically validated. €/£9 inc p&p Ireland €/£10.50 inc p&p outside Ireland

SIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

This really is a fantastic book which presents Catholic teaching on sin in a simple, clear and precise way. You will learn about the nature of sin, about the different kinds of sin, mortal and venial, formal and material sins.

Reflections on the Abortion Issue in Ireland.

Oxf, Chairman of The Latin Mass Society.

The book also teaches us about sins of omission. After discussing sin, the book then speaks of the great graces offered to us in the sacrament of confession, it teaches us about temptations, about Christ’s suffering and death on the cross, and then it finishes with a very hope filled chapter on the joys of the resurrection.

Many countries, including Ireland, have removed the right to life from the Constitution and given the legislature the power to legalise abortion, which by definition is the intentional killing of the unborn child.

The assumption is that unborn babies have no human rights. The essays in this monograph expose the fallacy that unborn babies do not have the right to life and may be ‘terminated’ if that is the ‘choice’ of the mother. In the New Ireland, human killing is now legal. It is estimated that 800 – 900 unwanted unborn babies are ‘terminated’ every month. Abortion has become the murder machine of our time.”

€/£9 inc p&p Ireland €/£12 inc p&p outside Ireland

€/£10 inc p&p Ireland €/£12 inc p&p outside Ireland

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CLASSIFIEDS 31

23rd October 2020 Catholic Voice

CLASSIFIEDS From Our Lady of Fatima Do you want peace in the world?

Will you do what Our Lady tells you?

Say the Rosary every day.

Do the Five First Saturdays in honour of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Those who spread this devotion will be placed by Our Lady as flowers before the throne of Almighty God. Next issue of

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REGULAR TRADITIONAL LATIN MASSES IN IRELAND (LISTED BY DIOCESE)

DAILY & WEEKLY Armagh: New Mellifont Abbey, Collon, Co. Louth; Every Sunday 3pm.

Cork & Ross: Ss Peter’s & Paul’s, Cork: Sundays 12.00 noon Mon -Sat 10.00am.

Dromore: St.Mary’s, Newry: Sundays and Holydays 09.00.

Dublin: St. Kevin’s, Harrington Street: Sundays & non working Holy Days: 10.30; Mon - Fri 08.00; Sat 09.00.

Working Holidays & First Fridays; 08.00 and 19.00.

Dublin: St. Joseph’s, Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow; Sat 11.00 Limerick: Sacred Heart, The Crescent (ICKSP); Sun10.30; Mon-Thurs 08.00 and 19.00; Friday 19.00; Saturday 08.00 & 12.00 noon.

Meath: Silverstream Priory (Benedictine monks) Stamullen: Sunday 10.00 preceded by Terce, other days 11.00.

Meath: Johnstown, Navan: Sundays 13.00; Holydays as announced.

Ossory: St. Patrick’s, College Rd, Kilkenny; Sundays 17.00.

Raphoe: St. Patrick’s, Drumkeen, Co. Donegal Sundays 11.00am.

Down & Connor: St. Therese of Lisieux, Somerton Rd, Belfast :Sundays at 4pm TWICE MONTHLY Ferns: St. Alphonsus, Barntown, Co Wexford: Second Sunday 17.00 and occasional Third Sundays Derry: St. Columba’s , Longtower: First and Third Sunday 14.00.

Waterford: St. John’s Church, Parnell Street, Waterford City - 1pm on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the Month.

MONTHLY Armagh: St. Patrick’s, Dungannon, Co Tyrone: First Saturday 14.00.

Cork & Ross: St. Francis , Liberty St. Cork : First Saturday 13.00.

Derry: St. Marys, Aughabrack, Co Tyrone: Fourth Sunday 12.45 Elphin: St. John’s, carraoe, Co Sligo ; Last Sunday 15.00.

Killaloe: St. Joseph’s, Ennis, Co Clare: First Sunday 17.30.

Tuam: St. John the Baptist, (Old Parish Church), Knock, Co Mayo; Second Sunday 17.30.

Every effort has been made to ensure this list is up to date. Please contact the Latin Mass Society of Ireland of any changes or errors. email president@latinmassireland.com

Visit our all-new website today!

Mass Cards

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It’s now easier than ever to have Mass cards, enrolment books & religious gifts delivered directly to your door.

Web: www.mscmissions.ie Email: info@mscmissions.ie Tel: +353 (0)21 4545704

32 ADVERT

Catholic Voice

23rd October 2020

“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, And Mary Magdalene.

When Jesus therefore saw His mother And the disciple standing by Whom He loved, He said unto His mother, “Woman, behold thy son!”

Then said He to the disciple, “Behold thy mother!”

And from that hour, That disciple took her unto his own home.

(Gospel of St John 19:25-27)

www.usgraceforce.com EC Published by: Catholic Voice Newspapers, St Michael’s House, Castlemitchell South, Athy, County Kildare. Tel 059-8627268 ROI / 00353 - 59 8627268 Publisher: Anthony Murphy.

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