Monday 29 September 2014

Bishop Kieran Conry

With regard to the resignation of Bishop Kieran Conry I see that the bloggers are out in force blaming Vatican II and/or the decline in use of the extraordinary form of the Latin Mass. Throughout Church history there have been priests, bishops and popes who have fathered children and broken their vows of celibacy. There have been priests, bishops and popes guilty of heresy throughout Church history. There have been been priest and bishops guilty of sexual abuse throughout Church history. To assign errant behaviour on preferring one style of Mass over another or saying that it is the fault of Vatican II, Vatican I or the Council of Trent is to stretch credulity to breaking point. The simple fact is that we are a Church of sinners who are seeking to know Christ. All we can do and all we should do is pray for each other, that is to pray for the sinner and not condemn. I for one have too many motes in my eyes to worry about the specks in the eyes of others.

Tuesday 2 September 2014

The King Family

Bringing the weight of Southampton Hospital, Hampshire Police and the Spanish authorities to bear on a loving family desperate to save the life of their little boy, to isolate him from his family and to handcuff and detain his parents fills me with dismay and anger. This is a despicable way to treat decent people and contrasts sharply with the sickening betrayal and neglect of those 1400 youngsters in Rotherham. It's disgraceful to see soft targets bullied and coerced while awkward, belligerent ones are given an easy ride.
This has become a distorted, twisted country with warped values as, once again, we see a legal instrument, the European Arrest Warrant, sold to us on the pretext that it will bring criminals such as gangsters, terrorists and sex offenders to justice, being used instead to attack the law abiding and respectable. If this sort of nightmare can happen to the King family, it can happen to any of us.