SEARCHING FOR THE ARCHBISHOP (13); Re: overt support for Progressio - supporter of contraception, abortion rights, family planning, general Culture of Death aims and dissent, and all round evil but "mercy-based" weasel-wording uber-feminist con-artists; more new normal; (Notes #14)

• This unanticipated but pathetically inevitable post is not part of our ongoing sub-series (Link 1, Link 2) concentrating on the issue of His Grace and the matter of women priests, the next part of which (note for our monitors' attention) will appear this week.

Less than 50 minutes ago we read in the Catholic Universe (Feb. 11th, 2016) that His Grace, Most Rev. Malcolm McMahon, ninth Archbishop of Liverpool cares "passionately about social justice and Progressio’s work".

Furthermore, he – and the Archdiocese of Liverpool in general – is supporting a Lenten challenge directed towards supporting the most "vulnerable" in Zimbabwe.

N.B. Progressio just loves the interchangeability of words like "vulnerable" and "fragile"...in one sense they can mean people who are starving and poverty-stricken or in another they can refer to girls/women denied their rights to the Culture of Death.

Just as an exercise, it took us less than 20 minutes, simply by Googling a combination of "Progressio", "Progressio Catholic", "Progressio Church teaching", "Progressio abortion contraception", "Progressio planned parenthood" we came up with the following links (at the foot of this post) about this rancid but brightly and florally marketed – always with the smiling black faces – post-Catholic organisation that is yet another of the myriad of "mercy-based" evil tentacles attached to the worldwide Culture of Death.

That's how easy it is.

That's how quick it is.

40 minutes later, we've posted this.

SEARCHING FOR THE ARCHBISHOP (12.2); Re: His Grace and the subject of "women priests"; our analysis finally triggered by matters arising from the Roscoe Lecture, October 2015; this time considering the confusion of 2001; second in a short sub-series; Notes #14

Advice: this post is the second of a sub-set within a broader Series. It can be read either as a standalone commentary or in the light of the previous "intro" piece here. 

–

Heard the one about a future Pope, a future archbishop, a botched youth magazine interview, and an inexplicably incompetent diocesan newspaper?

No, we didn't "get it" either.

Anyway, we'll have another stab.

To try to understand, that is, just how it transpired, in 2001, that His Grace The Most Rev. Malcolm McMahon OP, now the ninth Archbishop of Liverpool, since 2014 – but back then having not long since been appointed the Bishop of Nottingham – was twice reported to have been firmly in favour of female ordination...only for the truth, apparently, to have been emphatically the opposite (as indeed it should have been and should always be).

Thankfully, as we later learned, the future Pope Benedict XVI had the matter clarified to his satisfaction just 12 months later in 2002.

However, as far as we can ascertain (caveat), the rest of the Catholic world didn't discover for perhaps as long as another (almost) eight years that His Grace had been dangerously "misquoted" (his word) and that his actually stated views in 2001 were, apparently, diametrically opposed to what they were erroneously alleged to be.

So, as far as we can tell, this mind-bending story which has bounced around the Catholic media and blogosphere for many years – but often very short on detail and seemingly never really examined under-the-bonnet – is a five-fold-farrago comprising the following elements:

i) what His Grace's true quotes were in 2001;
ii) an apparently completely distorted youth magazine interview;
iii) a "diocesan" (our emphasis) journal that later compounded that error by republishing it;
iv) the relatively swift but (seemingly) unpublicised assurances given to Rome in 2002; and
v) a very belated but necessary public clarification possibly as late as 2008...denouncing the "misquotes"

You couldn't make it up, as they say.

Except that, apparently, a gang of kids did exactly that!

"Anneye got three Hail Marys off der Bishop of Liverpewl! LOL!"; more "Cillagate"

Our first post of the new secular year (Deo gratias for safe delivery).

Sadly, we find our first duty is to report further fallout from "Cillagate" (pew nod to the prodigious team at Torch of the Faith for originating that pithy short-hand for this local and national [well, it should have been!] Catholic scandal).

We'd hoped that our last word on this, still all-too-depressing, mess had been written with the last of our three posts dissecting the repulsive, episcopally-approved occurrences that were permitted in this archdiocese late last summer. We use the term "our last word" with no little irony, for it was an equal scandal that, apart from this parish – and the aforementioned Torch of the Faith blog, and the superb Catholic Collar and Tie blog – one of this land's biggest public sacrileges and insults to the Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in years, certainly one of the most widely broadcast, was completely ignored not only across the Catholic media but also by the Traditional Catholic blogosphere. We're tempted to say something about "the unreported north" but we'll let it go; let's face it, near everyone else has!).

The Year of Who? You? Who Knew? (updated: 15/12/15)

Apologies. We just couldn't resist!

You know, just for a moment, we genuinely thought that the Church of Pope Francis had finally gone into super-turbo-charged anthropocentricity...and perhaps you can forgive us for fearing that an inevitably humanist end-point had finally been reached.

But, phew, we now see that it's just the most deliciously ironic "Year of Mercy" graphic design blooper on our archdiocesan website.

That's all it is, isn't it?

Yeah, of course it is.

Isn't it?

SEARCHING FOR THE ARCHBISHOP (10) - Re: The Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy 2015/16; His Grace's pointed signal to the Archdiocese; limited remarks only; Notes #11

Leaving aside the significant reservations that we – and many across the Traditional Catholic world (e.g. this from Rorate Caeli) – have concerning the "Year of Mercy", which began on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception last week, we wish to place on record the measured, succinct and very pastoral words of His Grace The Archbishop to mark the start of this extraordinary jubilee.

The Prayer for the Jews - Re. their Lordships' belief that it needs to be "reviewed" (yet again!); the telling contradictory views, beyond the grave, of one of C20th England's staunchest Catholic liberals

“Pope John gave us an indication of his own frame of mind on the subject when he had the formula praying for the 'perfidious Jews' removed from the Easter liturgy. Since then the Jews have been prayed for in the same manner as everybody else and without any insulting adjectives.”
– Norman St John-Stevas

We offer a different – probably unique – though very illuminating and contemporaneous perspective on the petty nonsense peddled by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales late last month, who effectively called for the abolition of the already thrice revised Prayer for the Jews (last re-written in 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI), as currently used in the Extraordinary Form (EF) of the Solemn Good Friday liturgy (per the 1962 Missal of Pope St John XXIII), and presumably for it to be replaced by that currently used in the Ordinary Form (OF) liturgy (per the 1970 Missal of Blessed Pope Paul VI).

SEARCHING FOR THE ARCHBISHOP (9) - Re: Pastoral Letter, Advent, 2015; limited remarks only; Notes #10

The underscored emphases are ours.

"What does the Jubilee of Mercy have to do with our preparations for ‘the coming of Jesus’? Well, let us think what happened to the world at the first Christmas. We say it at Mass every Sunday: the Son of God "was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man"; in the Apostles' Creed it is simpler: Jesus Christ was "born of the Virgin Mary". It does no harm to let that sink in, because it is astonishing to claim that God "shared our human nature" (Eucharistic Prayer IV). God can seem so far from our daily life, but he could not have come closer to us than by becoming one of us."

– Most Reverend Malcolm McMahon OP Archbishop of Liverpool; Pastoral Letter for the Second Sunday of Advent, 2015

–

We refer readers back to the first, and what we believe was one of the most telling, posts we have published thus far in our year-long and ongoing "search". A far from insignificant instance.

SEARCHING FOR THE ARCHBISHOP (8.2) - Re: His Grace's Men - those invited to mark this archdiocese's formal commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the closure of the Second Vatican Council; on the eve of the arrival of the FSSP at Warrington; Notes #9

PREAMBLE

A lengthy scrutiny, which we'd like to have written in just 15 words:

Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP should not have been 

invited to speak in this archdiocese last week.

Sadly, we have to go to the lengths and methods below to demonstrate why.

Because, for whatever reason, it seems so patently beyond the grasp of so many.

Much further down in this post, we're going to include a deliberately de-activated web-link to an online source which provides information of the gravest, most shocking and most eye-opening kind imaginable. We cannot overstate that enough.

The facts conveyed by this respected (by British society at large, not us) web-source – which also enjoys the backing of the UK Government and the considerable largesse of both the British public and some of its most renowned charities, and probably the sympathy and support of many, apparently practising, Catholics in this land – are so telling and revealing that we'd rather you didn't avail yourselves of the detail therein. We'll let you know when we post it; so that you can bypass it.

Eh?

"My Jihad - moving, beautiful, emotional and instructive"

Screengrab (below) taken from an online version of a major Liverpool archdiocesan "parish cluster" newsletter (i.e. an amalgamation of several parishes) - July 2015.

We have amended nought, save for blocking-out the name of the parish priest, a man of very significant influence in this archdiocese. Yes, a Catholic parish priest wrote the words above.

Well, then?

We quote (but they underline):

–

Vatican II and the Church today

A weekend exploring the continuing impact of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council in the life and mission of both the local and global Church

The organising committee is sorry to inform you that the conference has had to be cancelled. This is due to insufficient delegate numbers having booked to justify bringing the planned speakers to Liverpool. I am sure that you will share our disappointment that it will no longer be possible for us all to benefit from the wisdom and conversation that was planned for this conference. Refunds to those who have booked will be made from the source that you made your purchase.

_

There is a Twitter feed (with its seven "followers" - at least one of whom was a Trad-mole, ahem) that you can follow. However, at 5.45am it really wasn't saying much. Maybe after breakfast?

SEARCHING FOR THE ARCHBISHOP (7) - Re: One Year Ago This Week; episcopal welcome to the Archdiocese for the dissenting ACTA group; call to find "new pathways to dialogue"; limited remarks only; Notes #7

A timely reminder that exactly one year ago to the week, this happened (all in bold below we quote directly from the ACTA - A Call to Action website). We would make one remark at this juncture (n.b. ahead of a very busy post-Synodal autumn in this Archdiocese): it's Gospel.

Who it's all about...Re: the "Requiem Mass" for Priscilla Maria Veronica Willis OBE (aka "Cilla Black" - the UK celebrity singer and TV star) at the Catholic church of St Mary, Woolton, Liverpool - August 20th, 2015 (#3); Scrutiny

This third post on the subject follows our previous two here (1) and here (2). The posts should be considered as a set.

The "Order of Service" produced for Cilla Black's funeral (a BBC link to the document is here) is all that's needed to prove that a potential public scandal and Eucharistic sacrilege lay in wait. Many alert Catholics saw it coming a mile off. We did. The team at Torch of the Faith can even provide documentary evidence (provably published just two hours prior to the funeral) that they did.

If lay people were switched-on enough to the dangers, you'd expect that a permanent deacon, two priests and an auxiliary bishop – i.e. the four-hand clerical team that celebrated the funeral –  were equally so. Either that quartet knew the clear risks, or they didn't. Simple as that. If they didn't, then serious questions should be asked about the extent of their prudent involvement in the preparation of a very public funeral broadcast live in the UK on TV, radio and the Internet – the latter also having a global reach; nothing, absolutely nothing, should have been left to chance, misinterpretation, or ambiguity. If, however, they did know of the possible perils (far more likely), then more serious questions must be asked about why they didn't take firm, preventative action.

Who it's all about...Re: the "Requiem Mass" for Priscilla Maria Veronica Willis OBE (aka "Cilla Black" - the UK celebrity singer and TV star) at the Catholic church of St Mary, Woolton, Liverpool - August 20th, 2015 (#2); Preamble

* This post – the second concerning the subject of the funeral of Cilla Black – is a preamble piece, ahead of a third, necessarily punctilious, scrutiny which we intend to publish in the next 24 hours. These matters are being aired and published contemporaneously "for the record".

We are hugely indebted to the Torch of the Faith team – also based in the Archdiocese of Liverpool – for flagging-up the biggest of the scandals, among many, perpetrated at last Thursday's bewildering and depressing funeral "Mass" for Cilla Black. See our first post on the subject.

It had been anticipated – and strongly suspected in the aftermath – that such a conspicuously heterodox, worldly and irreverent event would inevitably provide the wicked (yes) platform for open public scandal and sacrilege to especially occur during the distribution of Holy Communion.

And so it was.

This is not using the benefit of hindsight, as we'll go on to prove.

What's it all about...? Re: the "Requiem Mass" for Priscilla Maria Veronica Willis OBE (aka "Cilla Black" - the UK celebrity singer and TV star) at the Catholic church of St Mary, Woolton, Liverpool - August 20th, 2015 (#1)

At the time of writing, the Archdiocese of Liverpool website is highlighting (as shown above), a link to an important briefing paper ("Assessing the evidence on Assisted Suicide") produced just three days ago by the English and Welsh Catholic bishops, ahead of the UK MPs' debate in the House of Commons, 20 days from now, about a bill which seeks to enshrine in British law the legal right to "enable competent adults who are terminally ill to choose to be provided with medically supervised assistance to end their own life; and for connected purposes".

The primary aim of the bishops' short document is actually to refer readers onwards to another work: a study produced by the Anscombe Bioethics Centre ("Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: A Guide to the Evidence") which comprehensively nails the lie that this murderous campaign (heavily backed by the UK media and assorted UK celebrities, incidentally) is founded upon "mercy". Moreover, it asserts that its anti-success, if given Royal Assent, would only serve to "undermine key principles of law, medical ethics and palliative care". 

Offering eight reasons not to legalise Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS), it is the fourth in a sobering list provided by the Anscombe team which forms the bedrock case: 

Legalising PAS would undermine a foundational principle of law and justice. All human beings possess, in virtue of our common humanity, an equal and intrinsic dignity. It is contrary to justice and human solidarity intentionally to kill an innocent human being (that is, someone not engaged in unjust aggression).

Whilst rightly highlighting the links to this hugely impressive, incredibly clear and ultra-urgent document, the Archdiocesan website also directs readers to coverage of the high-profile funeral celebrated yesterday by the Auxiliary Bishop in one of the city of Liverpool's most famous Catholic churches – which was also broadcast live to millions across the UK on TV, radio and the Internet – of a soul who scandalised many of her fellow baptised Catholics by publicly proclaiming her support for assisted suicide and especially the Dignitas euthanasia clinic in Switzerland.