De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Talking to faithful doctors, professors, monks, nuns, priests, young people and lay people, one theme constantly resurfaces; our wish for faithful prelates, for courageous bishops and archbishops who would be prepared to stand up and defend Church teaching. Well in San Francisco, they have one, and just look at all the stick he is getting. Well, if you wish for proper Catholic leadership, perhaps a good way of showing the Lord that you're serious would be to get behind this man now and support him however you can? On Wednesday, April 15, The San Francisco Chronicle reported “Prominent Catholics call on pope to oust S.F. archbishop.” The column began “In an unprecedented move, more than 100 prominent Roman Catholic donors and church members signed a full-page ad running Thursday in The Chronicle that calls on Pope Francis to replace San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone for fostering “an atmosphere of division and intolerance.” Photo number 6 of 13 accompanying T...

A NATIONWIDE PETITION calling on the government to uphold the right of parents to withdraw their children from sex education in schools was launched on 30th April at the Emmanuel Centre in London. The petition to Education Secretary, Michael Gove, was launched by  C2PC , the Campaign to Protect Children, at its 'Stolen Childhood Conference'. The conference examined, from a range of perspectives, the dangers to which our children are being increasingly exposed, and the reasons for this, with strategic action and change proposals at both government and family level.   The petition asks the Government to resist the aims of pressure groups to make sex education compulsory with increasingly explicit material introduced to primary school children. 'We very much support this petition which seeks to prevent schools undermining the authority of parents to protect their children from unacceptable, explicit sex education which is damag...

Further to my post a couple of days ago which considered the state of Catholic Education, and what (if anything) to do about it, Michael Merrick has pointed me to some very interesting comments of his own on the subject. In his first post , he discusses a question which I have heard for some time now in Catholic circles: Is it right for our Mass-going population to continue to fund schools which are Catholic in name only? This question was bravely posited by the Rt. Rvd. Bishop Michael Campbell in a pastoral letter. Michael notes: It is worth saying that, until relatively recently, this question would simply not have been asked, or at any rate not framed in such terms. Indeed, the very use of the words ‘Catholic in name only’ (or CINO in shorthand) is itself provocative for those who have not and do not necessarily see the role of Catholic schools as being ‘Catholic’ at all, at least not with a capital ‘C’. That the Church should compromise its generous access and influence w...

Fr. Andrew Pinsent,  B.A.,  M.A.,  Ph.D.,  Ph.B.,  S.T.B.,  Ph.L.,  Ph.D.(again).    I want to expand on some thoughts concerning Catholic education . I am suggesting that there is some disconnect between Catholicity and our Catholic Schools. I think that in some schools, Catholicity has somehow evolved into a holistic "every child matters" approach to inclusive education rather than being about a seriously different approach to academic study. This is not to discount the excellent Catholic teachers who I know are out there battling away, but rather, knowing some of them, I would like to support, encourage and thank them for what they are doing. Why? I think this has happened as a result of a growing false understanding of the Christian ethic as being non-judgemental . Also, a lack of decent Catholic apologetics and a dearth of academic engagement with the more controversial aspects of Catholic doctrine. I wonder what a survey of Catho...

I was asked to draft a letter on behalf of the governors of our school to our local MP regarding the proposed re-definition of marriage. I took my inspiration from the letter Bishop Philip Egan wrote to David Cameron and the letter our priests wrote to the Telegraph , as well as the educational consequences spelt out by, among others Fr. Tim Finigan . Here is the text: David Amess MP House of Commons London SW1A 0AA Dear Mr. Amess We have decided that it is necessary and essential that we contact you as a governing body in order to express our deep concern and disquiet regarding the proposed re-definition of marriage by your party. It is our opinion that the proposals constitute a further erosion of the value and sanctity of the institution of marriage which will necessarily have repercussions for society. These repercussions do not seem to have been taken into consideration by the coalition government, neither do the legal ramifications. Whilst we understand t...

St. Thomas More—Ora pro nobis. Contrary to the modern misconception that faith is somehow in adversity to knowledge and reason, historically, the truth has, in fact, demonstrated exactly the opposite. Schools are actually a Catholic legacy. The Church has always had a mission to educate, making it a duty to offer this, especially, to the poorest in society. Following Catholic emancipation in the 19th Century, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales prioritised the building of schools before the building of churches. The Church's commitment to education remains just as strong today. There does appear to be a malaise at the heart of the contemporary Catholic educational system however. This was referred to by the head teacher of Ampleforth College in an address he gave to the Catholic Grant Maintained Schools Conference in 1996. He criticised, in particular, the reaction of some Catholic religious educators in the face of 'steeply rising rates of divorce, the abandonme...