After the Papal Visit

What a few days we've just witnessed. Attending the Beatification Mass in Birmingham was my personal highlight of a fantastic four days. For millions who couldn't attend any of the events, the TV coverage was excellent, and gave millions of people outside the church an insight into what being a Roman Catholic really means.

But now the Pope has returned to the Vatican and we must carry on, inspired and heartened by his presence and his words. There are many ways we can live our faith and we have a duty to try hard to do that. Faith is more than thoughts and words, although they are important, it is about how we live our lives day to day.

The modern media gives even the busiest person the chance to pray. Before Easter I went on a retreat to Pantasaph Friary in Wales. The few days there were so rewarding and, among other things, I decided to continue with my morning and evening prayers after the retreat, especially as Fr Louis Maggiore had been kind enough to give me a fine prayer book.

But many people are so busy they find making time for prayers difficult. Step forward Universalis. This gives you the chance to spend a few minutes at the start and end of your day to pray at your desk.

We must work hard to be guided in our everyday lives by our faith, and to defend our faith even when that may be difficult. If we ignore the guidance of our faith when we take positions of responsiblity, what is the purpose of our faith? We must all try hard to do what we know is right, even if that is difficult at the time and may make our lives less comfortable as a consequence.

The Pope inspired us all on his visit and there are things I intend to do differently as a consequence of his wisdom. We all have a duty to question what we do and why we do things, and to continue learning and trying hard to improve as human beings. We owe that not just to God, but to each other.

An interesting article on the Papal Visit from the Telegraph Online.

From the Mail Online.

An account of yesterday's Beatification Mass from the Telegraph Online.

The Joy of Pope Benedict's Visit

What has been so heartening about the Papal Visit has been the response of the public at large. Many people have commented on the negativity of the media towards the Pope, and the Roman Catholic Church, in the weeks leading up to his visit. Now, having seen him live, without the negative spin of the media and the anti-Catholic bigots, they have been extremely impressed.

During my working day I meet the public constantly and have spoken to many, the vast majority of whom know nothing about my faith, and I have been amazed at the positive comments from people I meet. Many comment, quite unprovoked by me, about the contrast between the the mean spiritedness of the anti-Catholic bigots, and the generosity and wisdom of Pope Benedict XVI. The intensity of the modern media can be a curse, but remove the spin and bias, show people live on TV uncensored, and you really see the reality.

The generous response to the Pope has renewed my faith in the basic decency and courtesy of the overwhelming majority of people in this country. So many people, especially yesterday when the Pope spoke in Westminster Hall, have said how relieved they are that at last somebody has spoken what so many of them believe or feel. There is a mean spirited and nastiness among 'aggressive atheists' who, judging by the public response these last few days, have a massively disproportionate amount of influence in public life, especially within the media. But the public have seen through that.

The Pope has truly struck a chord with people. Many feel that there is a vaccuum in public life, be it in politics or business, and they are not happy. Something is missing and the Pope, on this visit, told us all what is missing, and people have accepted that.

Tomorrow I will be in Birmingham for the Mass and Beatification of Cardinal Newman. The more this visit has progressed the more priveleged I feel to be a part of it in a very small way. Maybe there won't be a huge resurgence in Catholicism in this country, but I am convinced that we will see more people turning to our church and more people, believers and non-believers, learning from this visit and starting to question the world around them and what is wrong with it.

Poor Ian Paisley

Great quote from Ian Paisley yesterday about the Papal Visit:

"I don't want his blessing and I will be keeping as far away from him as possible..."

Mr Paisley speaking in Edinburgh, the day the Pope arrived, in Edinburgh.

The Pope in Britain

The first day of the Pope's state visit to the UK has surpassed all expectations. Huge crowds greeted the Holy Father and the Mass in Glasgow was a wonderful experience, even for us watching on TV.

I really can't wait until Sunday when I'll be at the Mass and Beatification of Cardinal Newman in Birmingham.

To keep up to date please go to Papal Visit.

More Bull from Aggressive Atheists!

You know when a bandwagon is building up, media whores like Stephen Fry jump onboard, which he did today via the Grauniad. Yes, he doesn't see why British taxpayers should foot the bill for the Pope's visit.

Poor Stephen, maybe he's skint! But please remember, we Roman Catholics pay tax too. Shame these 'not from my taxes' imbeciles don't shoot their mouths off so vindictively when assorted third world despots come on state visits, entertained and protected with our taxes.

Talking about third world it's been fun today seeing the media and 'aggressive atheists' twist the words of Cardinal Kasper. He told an interviewer that Terminal 3, or maybe 5, at Heathrow was like landing at a third world airport. Of course it's being reported by the BBC as shock, horror, 'Cardinal calls Britain third world'.

I haven't used Heathrow in 20 years or more. But people I know who use it regularly have also likened it to a third world airport. But eh, the Pope arrives tomorrow so let's say what the hell we want if it means slagging him and the Catholics off.

Then Cardinal Kasper is attacked for mentioning the 'aggressive atheism' that is rife in the UK. Only for aggressive atheists to attack him. You know, those who have been ranting in the media for days snow, led by aggressive atheists like Dawkins, Tatchell and now Fry.

And these people call us Catholics illogical.

But, as the Holy Father arrives in Blighty tomorrow, let's end on a high note:

The Papal Visit

I accept that plenty of people have criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church, and they have every right to voice their concerns and the Church has to defend itself. But what we are witnessing today in the UK is an outpouring of bigotry, lies and half truths about the Church and, more especially, Pope Benedict XVI.

For the first time in my life today, after looking on the internet and listening to a BBC phone-in, I was ashamed to be British. There is a sick level of hatred directed at Catholics as the Pope's visit draws nearer that should shame all who regard themselves as tolerant and, dare I say, liberal? It was so refreshing then to find the following article in the Telegraph Online:

This week will witness the historic spectacle of the Pope delivering an address in Westminster Hall to the leaders of British society. Later on Friday, Benedict XVI will visit Westminster Abbey – but it is his speech in the Palace of Westminster that carries the greater symbolic weight. No building in Britain reveals more of the foundations of our constitution. Medieval kings were feasted and deposed in the 900-year-old hall. Guy Fawkes and King Charles I were tried there. So, too, was Sir Thomas More, for refusing to accept the right of the monarch to exercise papal powers.

The last fact underlines the sensitivity of the visit of Pope Benedict, which begins on Thursday; for, unlike John Paul II, he will be here as the guest of the Queen. Matters are made even more delicate by scandals in the Roman Catholic Church, for which Benedict XVI has been put on trial by the British media. As this newspaper has argued, that is the wrong spirit in which to approach this remarkable state visit. The attempts to implicate this Pope in paedophile abuse have fallen apart under scrutiny – and, in any case, he will be here as our guest, not as a defendant. In the past, Westminster Hall may have served as a courtroom; but it is also a setting for hospitality, and that will be its function this week.

The role of host is an opportunity for people to show off – in a good way – all that is best about themselves. At the Palace of Westminster, the former Joseph Ratzinger will breathe the air of an institution that, in contrast to Continental legislatures, has resisted tyranny. He is expected to recognise this by referring to the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, a gesture rendered all the more poignant by the fact that as a very young man he served, briefly and unwillingly, in Hitler's armed forces.

In 1940, the British people fought not only to resist conquest but also to preserve their tolerant values. Today, this country permits and even celebrates many things of which the Catholic Church disapproves. But it should be stressed that this Pope, perhaps more than any other, is an admirer of British democracy. As a devotee of Cardinal Newman who speaks our language fluently, he appreciates our tradition of civilised discourse with people whose views we do not share.

In recent months, that tradition has been threatened by the anti-religious rhetoric of "defenders of the Enlightenment", who display an intellectual intolerance almost worthy of the Inquisition. That is a shame. By all means, let critics challenge the Pope's teachings while he is here. But this four-day visit is not an invitation to drown out the voice of the leader of a billion Christians with sneering and mockery. Visitors to these shores as well as British citizens have the right of free speech. Our distinguished guest must be allowed to exercise it.

Peter Tatchell, The Pope and Hypocrisy

It is interesting to see the anti-religious bigotry being ratcheted up as the Pope's visit gets closer. Facebook is especially entertaining at the moment with those proclaiming their hatred of the Pope and all things Roman Catholic screaming that we Catholics are 'homophobes', 'child torturers', 'paedophiles', when they can actually spell it correctly. Oh yes, and it seems, we 'still burn people at the stake' in one particularly amusingly irrational diatribe.

Of course these people, represented by the likes of Dawkins and Tatchell, proclaim to oppose Catholicism because they are open minded, liberal and tolerant. Course they are, until you disagree with them, then they spit bile and venom in a quite irrational way. Peter Tatchell, talking about irrationality, is a fine one to talk. Following is an article about Tatchell from The Christain Institute:

‘Homosexual rights’ campaigner Peter Tatchell has repeated his call for the age of consent to be lowered to just 14.
His position has been strongly rebuffed in the past, with one commentator saying that sex is for people who can cope with the consequences, “In a word, adults.”

Mr Tatchell’s latest comments echo those made by him last year as well as in a controversial letter he sent to The Guardian in 1997, in which he talked about the “positive nature of some child-adult sexual relationships” and even said he knew cases of nine-year-olds for whom sex with adults “gave them great joy”.

Choice

Mr Tatchell’s recent remarks feature on an American forum website, Big Think, during a month in which the site published debate articles about “dangerous ideas”.

The ‘gay rights’ activist claimed that: “Despite what the puritans and sex-haters say, underage sex is mostly consenting, safe, and fun”.

He believes that laws which put the age of consent at 16 are harmful to teenagers. “They signal that a young person is not capable of making a rational, moral choice about when to have sex”, he said.

Experiment

In an online article in 2009, Mr Tatchell wrote: “An age of consent of 14 might be more realistic and reasonable than 16.

“If sex at 14 is consensual, and no one is hurt or complains, is criminalisation in the public interest?”

He added: “Some teens, and even young children, innocently and spontaneously explore and experiment at an early age. In most cases this causes them no harm at all.”

But commentator David Lindsay, writing on The Daily Telegraph’s website, slammed these remarks saying “sex is for people who can cope with the consequences, physical and otherwise. In a word, adults”.

Condone

In an outspoken letter to The Guardian in 1997 Mr Tatchell went even further, saying several of his friends had had sex with adults when they were aged between nine and 13.

“None feel they were abused. All say it was their conscious choice and gave them great joy”, he said.

Mr Tatchell went on to say that while “it may be impossible to condone paedophilia, it is time society acknowledged the truth that not all sex involving children is unwanted, abusive and harmful”.

The letter, dated 26 June 1997, is reproduced in full below:

ROS Coward (Why Dares to Speak says nothing useful, June 23) thinks it is “shocking” that Gay Men’s Press has published a book, Dares To Speak, which challenges the assumption that all sex involving children and adults is abusive. I think it is courageous.

The distinguished psychologists and anthropologists cited in this book deserve to be heard. Offering a rational, informed perspective on sexual relations between younger and older people, they document examples of societies where consenting inter-generational sex is considered normal, beneficial and enjoyable by old and young alike.

Prof Gilbert Herdt points to the Sambia tribe of Papua New Guinea, where all young boys have sex with older warriors as part of their initiation into manhood. Far from being harmed, Prof Herdt says the boys grow up to be happy, well-adjusted husbands and fathers.

The positive nature of some child-adult sexual relationships is not confined to non-Western cultures. Several of my friends – gay and straight, male and female – had sex with adults from the ages of nine to 13. None feel they were abused. All say it was their conscious choice and gave them great joy.

While it may be impossible to condone paedophilia, it is time society acknowledged the truth that not all sex involving children is unwanted, abusive and harmful.
Peter Tatchell

But then again Tatchell has always been a self-obsessed publicity seeker, a self made man who is in love with his creator. When the best that opponents can do is trundle out a loony like Tatchell, you know they are on a sticky wicket.

Of course one thing the Pope's visit has done is to highlight the number of small minded, mean spirited puritans we still have in this country. The next Oliver Cromwell is just around the corner sadly.

I remember the first Ulster Protestant I discussed politics with claiming that I couldn't be a patriot because I owed my allegiance to a foreign state, the Vatican. I found it quite laughable at the time. But in 2010 I think I would prefer to owe my allegiance to the Vatican than to the United Kingdom.

Papal Visit Radio Station

If you would like to follow the Papal visit, other than on the BBC, there is a dedicated Papal Visit Radio Station.

As the Project Director says below, it may not be as polished as the BBC, but I'll certainly be giving it a try other than next Sunday when I'll be at the Beatification Mass in Birmingham.

Here is the introduction from the HGUH website:

The radio station is another part of my ‘crusade’ to give Catholic young people, who have creative talent, an outlet for their gifts within the Church. HeartGivesUntoHeart (HGUH), our own Catholic community internet radio, would not exist without them. We took the decision in February to go ‘live’ for the Pope’s Visit (a full 15 months before the original schedule). Life has been manic ever since with a very steep learning curve!

I would like to dedicate the project to Pope Benedict and all the many people (some young and some not so young) who have contributed to the gigantic task of going live within a 5 month timeframe – they’ve all been fantastic. There have been so many people giving freely of their time and gifts and I would like to say "thank you" to you all.

Many of the programmes were made by young Catholics who had never done anything like it before – without their hard work and dedication this radio would not have been possible.

We may not have the polish of the BBC, but I think you’ll agree it's more than compensated by their enthusiasm, fresh thinking and vibrancy!

Thank you all

God Bless


Gerry Coates

Project Director