An email from Sir Henry...

So Detterling has been banned? I won't be losing any sleep over this. Tee! Hee! Hee!

Best wishes,

Sir Henry Rawlinson

 

The Calvin Robinson thread has gone absolutely viral...

The Father Calvin Robinson thread has gone absolutely viral. Thousands upon thousands of views.

If Father Calvin reads this I wish to assure him that no one believes the outrageous allegation that he supports or condones the execution of homosexuals.

GENE 

The Anglican priest Father Calvin Robinson was seriously traduced by a false accusation on this blog. It was falsely alleged that he condoned the execution of homosexuals. The perpetrator of this calumny is currently banned from commenting here. 

Herewith an extract from a piece written on the subject of false accusations against priests by the Catholic canon lawyer Michael Mazza:

The Importance of the Value of Reputation

 by civil and Catholic canon lawyer Michael Mazza 

People who are accused of crimes have a right to proper process and to their good name (bona fama). Both of those often go out the door in the case of priests who are falsely accused.

Owing to the power of speech itself, along with the close link between a person’s name and his very identity, we saw how the witness of Sacred Scripture, the early Church, and centuries of theological tradition have established the foundations on which the current juridical framework protecting a cleric’s right to bona fama rests. Authentic developments in magisterial teaching on the issue of reputation support the conclusion that respect for bona fama is not only an essential element of any human community, but that it is particularly important in the life of the Church, especially for its clergy. In light of such evidence, it is incomprehensible for an ecclesial community professing fidelity to the incarnate Word of God to ignore or downplay a right so fundamental as the right to reputation. We have seen how our bona fama is linked to our physical, mental, social, and spiritual health; we have also examined how closely connected is a person’s name to his very life. In this light, then, we can more easily see the fundamental hypocrisy at work if one professes caritas but permits calumnia.

 

Pope to Medjugorje Youth Festival: God has plan of love for each of us

Pope Francis sends a message to young people at the Medjugorje Youth Festival, and urges them to trust in God and to respond positively to His grace.

By Devin Watkins

In a message sent to participants of the Medjugorje International Youth Festival on Thursday, Pope Francis urged young people to open their hearts to the will of God.

"God has a plan of love for each of you," said the Pope. "Do not be afraid of His will, but place all your trust in His grace."

The annual Medjugorje Youth Festival takes place this year on 26-30 July in the village in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and brings together young people from all over the world to pray, reflect, and grow in their faith.

God’s will is a path to true happiness

Pope Francis began his message by reminding young people that God loves them and has a plan for their lives.

He expressed his hope that their time spent in Eucharistic Adoration and Confession at the Medjugorje festival would help them see that God's will is not something to be feared, but rather something to be embraced.

“God's will is a priceless treasure!” he said. “That is why the Virgin Mary forged a kinship with Jesus even before she gave birth to Him.”

Plan of love

Pope Francis went on to reflect on the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary, highlighting how she did the will of God despite hardships.

“She became a disciple and mother of her Son the moment she accepted the Angel's words,” he said. “From that moment, her whole life was a continuous response to God's will.”

The Pope noted that we sometimes struggle to understand God’s will, especially in difficult moments.

“There is no better will for us than the Father's will,” he said, “which is His plan of love for us with a view to His kingdom and our full happiness.”

God, added Pope Francis, loves us unconditionally and knows the very depths of our hearts and desires.

Saying ‘yes’ to God in youth

The Pope urged young people at the Medjugorje Youth Festival to offer God their unconditional “yes” in response to His love, especially in the zeal of their youth.

“Let there be no place in your life for selfishness or laziness,” he said. “Take advantage of your youth to lay the foundations of your existence, together with the Lord, because your personal, professional and social future will depend on the choices you make during these years.”

Generous response for a better world

Pope Francis concluded his message by encouraging young people to be enthusiastic missionaries of the new evangelization, carrying the joy of Christ to those who suffer or are searching.

"If you let God's grace work in you, if you are generous and persevering in your daily commitment,” he said, “you will make this world a better place for all.”

It's all done and dusted. 'Granny Barkes Fell in Woolworths' will be published for the Christmas market ...

Granny Barkes

I have heard today from my publishers in California. It's all done and dusted. 'Granny Barkes Fell in Woolworths' will come out both in the USA and in Europe for the Christmas 2023 market.

Hooray!

 DETTERLING SUSPENDED...

As from Midnight tonight Detterling will be suspended from commenting on GENE   ...  a voice in the wilderness.

I will meet on Friday at Harris & Hoole with Tony of the Big Saloon, Ducky Duckworth and Mary Winterbourne to decide an appropriate period for his suspension.

GENE

 OVERHEARD IN HARRIS & HOOLE...

(An occasional feature)

Monday 24th July

Myself, Tony of the Big Saloon and Mary Winterbourne met up for morning coffee today. Ducky Duckworth wasn't able to join us. 

The following could be overheard:

GENE: Well everyone things have further deteriorated with Detterling. 

MARY WINTERBOURNE: I didn't think that things could get any worse. This man is downright evil. How could anyone make those dreadful allegations  -  and gutlessly hide behind anonymity? 

GENE: Well Mary, it's par for the course with Detterling when he is defeated - and boy how he has been defeated this time! -  to resort to malicious lies, threats, menaces and total falsehoods.

What he wrote about my Great-uncle Claude he did very deliberately. He knows how much affection I held Great-uncle Claude in and how upsetting it is for me to read about this gentle soul depicted as a rampant, promiscuous sodomite.

What he wrote about Father Calvin Robinson was vile. But again the yellow-bellied, lily-livered bottlejob hides behind anonymity. 

MARY WINTERBOURNE: What has however emerged from these recent exchanges is that he, despite being a self-appointed apologist for the C of E, knows nothing of the 39 Articles, the Pelagian Heresy, the Book of Genesis and is arrogant enough to unilaterally dismiss the Doctrine of Original Sin. And his unquestioning support for the Gay Lobby is despicable.

Yet, as you have said Gene, he has such insufferable arrogance. 

TONY OF THE BIG SALOON:  I have always felt that deep down there is something fake about his support for the LGBT (+ whatever) folk. My theory is that had not his nephew Cuthbert been a homo he would never have hitched his wagon to the Gay Lobby. 

GENE: You are probably right Tony. Anyhow, I have issued him with the ultimatum that he withdraw his appalling allegations and apologise before midnight tomorrow or he is for the high jump.

 OVERHEARD IN HARRIS & HOOLE...

(An occasional feature)

Thursday 20th July

Busy in Uxbridge today - election to replace Boris Johnston. I summoned Tony of the Big Saloon, Mary Winterbourne and Ducky Duckworth to Harris & Hoole as there is something important I want to discuss with them. 

The following could be overheard:

GENE: Well folks I have summoned you here as there is something rather important I wish to discuss with you all.  It concerns Detterling. 

DUCKY DUCKWORTH: Has he died?

GENE: No Ducky, he hasn't died. 

MARY WINTERBOURNE: He has now accepted that Man following the Fall is no longer in God's image? He has accepted the doctrine of Original Sin?

GENE: No Mary, the silly old tosser is still claiming that homosexuality is God-given.

MARY WINTERBOURNE: After all that has been explained to him about Pelagian heresy!

GENE:  Detterling has not the slightest understanding of the Book of Genesis and is arrogant enough to unilaterally dismiss the Doctrine of Original Sin. 

And arrogance, insufferable arrogance, is his trade mark. For example he recently dismissed the phenomenon pf Medjugorje and asserted that the Church had disclaimed it. Of course the Church hasn't and at this moment the Vatican is progressing plans to have Medjugorje made a Pontifical Shrine. For good measure Detterling has diagnosed one of the Medjugorje visionaries mentally ill. The old phoney has never been to Medjugorje and has never met the lady in question. Yet he pronounces her mentally ill - something a whole parade of medical experts who have examined her over the years has not done.

DUCKY DUCKWORTH: What a canting old phoney!

GENE: Anyhow, I have called you here because I have a dilemma. You all know my commitment to freedom of speech. 

MARY WINTERBOURNE: Gene you are an outstanding champion of freedom of speech.

GENE: Well Mary, it may be that I have to set this aside in respect of Detterling.

TONY OF THE BIG SALOON:  How so?

GENE: He has this week committed two outrageous abuses of free speech. 

Firstly he has cruelly traduced the memory of my Great-uncle Claude. You have often heard me talk of Great-uncle Claude. Yes, he was homosexual - only a gay man could wear the type of cardigan he favoured - but his homosexuality was never discussed in the family. Great-uncle Claude was a gentle and generous soul. He was a celibate man whose life revolved around his work in fashion retail, his local parish - alas C of E and his music. He taught me so much about music - from William Byrd to Ivor Novello. He was so generous. When he died in 1983 he left me a substantial sum which was such a propitious windfall as I was going through my divorce and marriage annulment at that time and was on my uppers.

It is so hard to see such a soul traduced.

Detterling also this week made the most evil calumny against Father Calvin Robinson. He stated that Father Calvin supports the execution of gays. This is outright Satanic malice. 

DUCKY DUCKWORTH: What a bastard!

GENE: To conclude, I will now give him until next Tuesday, 25th July (the Feast Day of Saint James), to withdraw both these dreadful allegations and apologise. 

If he doesn't on his own head be it.

TONY OF THE BIG SALOON:  Did any of you watch the Wimbledon men's tennis final last Sunday?

 

While browsing the Huffington Post I came across this ...

Rolf Harris portrait of Jimmy Savile which sold for £4,500

 back in the 1990s

Wonder how much it would be worth today?

Christian councillor ‘cancelled’ for tweeting ‘Pride is a sin'...

A Conservative councillor claims he has been dropped by six companies after tweeting that ‘Pride is a sin’. Christian Cllr King Lawal, who has been a councillor at Northamptonshire Unitary Council for two years, claims he was banned from holding surgeries at the local library. He was suspended for 21 days, pending an investigation. 

He also claims he was forced to resign from his own company, which he had built and grown. He is preparing for legal action, with the help of the Christian Legal Centre, citing “multiple violations of his rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion.” The Christian Concern group, which is supporting him, said Mr Lawal had been “cancelled by seven organisations, including being suspended by the Conservative party pending an investigation”. It said he would “launch legal action after having his life torn apart for sharing one tweet which gave the Christian and biblical position on LGBT Pride events”. Mr Lawal’s now-deleted tweet said: “When did Pride become a thing to celebrate? Because of Pride Satan fell as an arch Angel. Pride is not a virtue but a Sin. Those who have Pride should Repent of their sins and return to Jesus Christ. He can save you. #PrideMonth #Pride23 #PrideParade.” 

The post included an image with a verse from Isaiah 3 verse 9 which said: ‘Whatever God calls “Sin” is nothing to be Proud of.’ Cllr Lawal later provided further clarification in a more detailed statement: “When I referred to Pride as a sin in my previous post, it may have been misinterpreted as hateful. Let me explain why it is not. “When Christians refer to ‘sin’ or ‘sinners’ we are speaking of ourselves. “We are not singling out specific people or groups of people as sinners. 

Sin, according to the Bible, includes lying, stealing, gossip and hatred – not just things like homosexuality, adultery and sex outside of marriage. “Jesus said that even to have unholy thoughts that we never act on is sinful. Therefore every single one of us is sinful by this standard, including myself.” Speaking to Premier Christian News, he said: “I would do it again. “First, I am a Christian, and a believer in Jesus Christ and a soldier of his army, so I am a councillor second. Actually, my political life works better with me being a Christian because I believe in truth, being honest and loving people. They don’t work against each other. I should be able to share my beliefs. Legally I can hold and share my religion.

Just listened to an interview with King Lawal on the Sunday programme on BBC Radio 4. Yes, this guy was well and truly cancelled. That's what happens if you put your head above the parapet in today's LGBT, Woke. Politically Correct world.

 

 

 

Soul Survivor scandal ‘has left me questioning a faith journey I cherish’

08 JUNE 2023

Mark Porter reflects on years at the festival and church

Dr Mark Porter

MY FIRST trip to Soul Survivor was in 2002, when Isle of Wight Youth for Christ organised a coach for us to go up together as a group. I’d grown up going to events like Spring Harvest, Easter People, and the Keswick Convention, but most of my church experience growing up was in small rural parishes. A festival on this scale was something new to me.

Going to the festival involved many firsts for me: my first experiences of Charismatic ministry, and the idea that something supernatural could really happen; my first encounters with loud Christian rock music; my first experience of such a large crowd of young and excited Christians; and my first real understanding that I might want to take ownership of my faith more seriously, and see what it might mean to take it further and deeper.

MAR

Over the next few years, I went back to Soul Survivor a number of times, and I began to notice at baptism services in my Oxford church that there was a repeated pattern I would hear again and again from those being baptised: they had grown up Christian, they hadn’t been particularly serious about it, but then they’d been to Soul Survivor, and something had changed.

Over the past ten or 15 years, my own faith journey has slowly moved away from Charismatic Evangelical environments. As a result of different tensions with leaders, practices, and theologies, and a sense that there are aspects of my faith and journey to which they aren’t completely hospitable, I’ve made my home in other churches and other ways of worshipping.

Moving away hasn’t meant a total rejection of this aspect of my faith — indeed, I treasure it as part of my journey, and there are aspects of it that I still hold close and dear. It has, however, involved a growing sense of critical distance.

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We’ve seen a lot of different scandals over recent years, many of which connect in some way to churches I’ve been part of. Soul Survivor felt quite different. For me, Mike Pilavachi has exemplified someone who was honest and relatable, who had consistently tried to downplay hype, and who eschewed the wider dynamics of Christian celebrity in favour of a ministry genuinely committed to serving young people and fostering the work of the Spirit.

The scandal around the church is something that leads me to question my own sense of judgement, and at the same time to wonder whether those parts of my faith journey which I still cherish are quite so trustworthy as I had thought. If even what seemed like the best examples of this kind of church culture end up like this, then is there anything left untouched by these dysfunctions?

At the same time, they help me to see how some of the things being asked of us at the time were less reasonable than they might have seemed. The things we were asked to give up and set down were at odds with the things the very leaders asking us were doing.

The story behind Matt Redman’s “The Heart of Worship” is one of the most formative narratives in the Soul Survivor worship ethos. It’s about how the band and their worship music got too big for their boots; so, one day, they decided to strip everything back — to return to the simplest form of prayer and worship. Reducing everything to just one person and a guitar showed how it’s really all about God and not about the performance, the power, or the other human elements that so often get bound up with worship music.

This story has been a foundational narrative in so many worship teams I’ve been part of — we’ve told ourselves that this is our job, this is the attitude we need, and that this is how we should be. But, now, we learn that that story could well have been bound up with abuses of power, with inappropriate relationships, with favouritism and gaslighting. I don’t know what to do with that.

Perhaps that’s simply how all human communities are — or perhaps there’s something about this kind of worship culture that was never quite as it should be. I’ve had more than enough mixed experiences over the years to have seen its problems as well as its possibilities. I’m still trying to sort those different elements out, and I’m not sure where they’re going to land.

 

Dr Mark Porter went on to serve as a worship leader and director of music for churches in the UK and in Germany. He is now is a research associate at the University of Erfurt, and author of Contemporary Worship and Everyday Musical Lives (Routledge, 2016).

 

 

Meet Chiara Badano, 

an average teenager saint

Courtesy of Beata Chiara Luce | Facebook

Bl. Chiara loved playing tennis and listening to pop music.

When we think about saints, we don’t usually think about teenagers who failed math class, stayed out late drinking coffee with friends, and loved listening to the latest pop music sensations. Yet, that describes Chiara Badano, an 18-year old soon-to-be canonized saint.

Badano was born on October 29, 1971, in a small village in Italy. She had a loving family and clung to her Catholic faith from an early age. Her generosity toward the less fortunate was already evident at age 4 when Badano would give away her toys to poor children and eagerly visited the nursing home to comfort the elderly.

At 9 years old she joined a youth group associated with the Catholic lay Focolare movement and was an avid disciple of their spirituality. As she grew older and entered high school, Badano was a popular girl in her class with lots of friends. She frequently played sports, sang, danced and stayed out late with friends. From the outside, she was just an ordinary teenager who loved to have fun.

Then at age 17 Badano felt a sharp pain in her shoulder that was eventually diagnosed as an aggressive bone cancer called osteosarcoma. It spread quickly and she was soon paralyzed, with the likely chance that she would die.

In the midst of the pain Badano possessed a supernatural joy and instead of seeing it as a curse, offered it all as a sacrifice to God. She continually said, “For you, Jesus, if you want it, I want it too!” Badano refused morphine, saying, “It reduces my lucidity, and there’s only one thing I can do now: to offer my suffering to Jesus because I want to share as much as possible in his suffering on the cross.”

Many of her friends visited her in the hospital and said about the experience, “At first we thought we would visit Chiara Luce to keep her spirits up, however, we soon realized that in fact, we were the ones who needed her. Her life was like a magnet drawing us towards her.” One of the doctors said about her, “Through her smile, and through her eyes full of light, she showed us that death doesn’t exist; only life exists.”

Near the end of her short life she said to her mother, “Don’t shed any tears for me. I’m going to Jesus. At my funeral, I don’t want people crying, but singing with all their hearts.” She also asked to be buried wearing a wedding gown, symbolizing how she would be forever united with Jesus in heaven.

Chiara Badano left this world on October 7, 1990, just short of her 19th birthday. She departed to meet Jesus with the words, “Goodbye. Be happy because I’m happy.“

The cause for her canonization was officially opened in 1999 and she was declared “venerable” in 2008. Shortly thereafter Pope Benedict XVI recognized a miracle attributed to her intercession and she was beatified on September 25, 2010. One additional miracle is necessary to pave the way for her to be canonized as a “saint.”

 

 

The Politics of Satan

David Warren

I try not to get into political arguments, these days, but they are hard to avoid if one has any propensity to the truth. For in this age of prompt cancellation, one is likely to utter an offending word – quite a few words are potentially offensive – and the world may react in a quite touchy way. A sensible person tries to keep his mouth shut.

My recent word was, “Satanic.” I used it without thinking to describe the impulse behind the annual “Pride” demonstrations, in June. I said that I could forgive people for having homosexual impulses, for being even exhibitionist lesbians, gays, and whatever else through the LGBT alphabet. For this is just human infirmity, I argued. “Men” (by which I meant to include the rest) have been showing what traditionalists consider to be depravity through all times and cultures, though previously it was more discreet.

“But Pride is a Deadly Sin,” I continued. “To display public Pride in one’s sexual affiliation – even if it is cisgender and conventional – is Satanic. Rather than be Proud, all real and imaginary sexes should exhibit humility.”

My conversation was with a younger “gentleman” (i.e. a male), and for a moment I wondered whether the word might be new to him. For it may be banned by progressive educators, or in popular media. If it was withdrawn from the world’s vocabulary, we would have to find a replacement.

But no. Offense was taken. Curiously, I was told that I had violated an unwritten law, against the use of “hate speech.” Nothing should be “Satanic.”

Lucifer, the bringer of light, might lead Pride Parades – for they crave bright lights. I, on the other hand, prefer Noctifer, the corresponding bringer of evening darkness (according to Catullus), or Hesperus (according to Ovid). For “Luciferian” is synonymous with “Satanic.”

Among the Canaanites, before the Jews, there was Attar, the morning star, who attempted to dethrone Baal and, upon failing, descended into the underworld; in just the way Venus descends below the horizon. We Jews and Christians recall being cast out of God’s presence, in the Book of Genesis. This seems a universal meme. Or in Milton, Satan is cast out of Heaven, but declares that he would rather reign in Hell, than serve among the good angels.

Pride goeth before a fall, as the world formerly agreed. And while humility might be rare, among exhibitionists, it nevertheless makes for a quiet life, where most forms of cancellation are unnecessary.

Saint Luke saw Satan falling as lightning from Heaven. Among Latin Christians, Lucifer became the exponent of pride, and the very devil as history moved on. The father of lies, and of evil, is variously named over time, and described differently; but there is a family resemblance in the depictions.

That Lucifer was enlightened was the ingenious observation of the first Christians, and latter-day Jews. The announcement of sin is a function of enlightenment, and perhaps has always been in the West. With this goes the thrill of enthusiasm. In our time, “gay pride” is a feature of enlightenment, and a cause of enthusiasm, as is loudly declared through the megaphone of progressive politics. We carry the torch forward, on parade.

Well, I don’t, because I am a reactionary, avoiding the alarm of son-et-lumière. I try to resist the revolutionary impulse – which again I associate with Satan, Lucifer, or whatever we call him.

It is the secret, I think, of Satanic politics, and there is a secret within this secret, that must be grasped if we are to understand the power of myth. For though Satan is loose, and has become the chief “Influencer” in our realm, we are in fact not Satan. Perhaps we can be possessed by him, as slaves are possessed by a master, but the excitement he has caused will simply pass over, as it did for the Gerasene demoniac, and then for the Gadarene swine.

Intensities of light and waves of enthusiasm; loud proclamations, rioting, and push: these are the outward forms of the demonic. But they also reflect the inward form, of Satanic politics. They are human behavior at the opposite extreme from contentment. You should know this tree by its fruits.

For the world makes sense, and was designed to be good. When politics takes control of an event, there is inevitable progress towards disaster. For in politics, and by political tactics, man is trying to displace God. He, or we, propose to determine the outcome of the event; we are results-oriented. And the consequence is never the intended one.

Here I am saying that politics itself is essentially Satanic (or Luciferian, etc.). Similarly, I find all bureaucratic solutions – the creation of bureaucracies at each and every level of the political process – to be not merely “a necessary evil,” but necessarily an evil, that should be overcome. We are drowning in “political solutions,” miles (kilometers) deep.

Our challenge is to find what is not a political solution. The first step might be to disband the committee, but the second is to put what in its place?

My own humble suggestion is to try Godly freedom. We each are uniquely called, and in freedom may discern the still voice. By contrast, the tyranny of Satanic politics is apparent in every method that it employs. For the political solution is (not mostly, but invariably) to compel action; to make people do what they would not do if they were deciding for themselves. It is “change management,” as the politicians say.

Statistics, incidentally, are the mark of the Devil. This is made clear in Biblical teaching. We do not count numbers of persons or things, or perform a census, except with a plan to change things “for the better.”

Let me mention the old and glorious Catholic saw: “All change is for the worse, including change for the better.” For we believe that Jesus rules.

___________