Welcome to Catholic and Loving It!
Blogged by James Preece on 29th January 2010
Regular readers can read my interview with Bishop Drainey here.
Welcome to any new visitors this weekend, especially if you found my link in the Catholic Herald. I'm a 27 year Catholic old young dad of two who goes to Mass every week because he wants to and not just because his wife drags him along, there are about six of us in the whole country - do let me know if you meet any more. I grew up in a Church designed do destroy faith in God and for most of my generation it's worked very well. Fortunately I have a rebelious streak in me and worked things out for myself, not because I'm clever but because like Gandalf, God likes to work with the most unlikely creatures imaginable.
I've been blogging on the state of the Catholic Church in England since 2002 and in that time I've written a lot of stuff. Here are some recent highlights:
On the Sex Abuse Scandals (we've learned nothing)...
- The Catholic Church: A Culture Favourable to Abuse
- How the Catholic Church Creates a Culture which is Favourable to Abuse
- The Sword of Damocles?The Culture of Abuse in the Diocese of Middlesbrough
On Criticising the Clergy (it's okay to do it)...
- Should Catholics criticise priests?
- Pope: Laypeople should shut up, keep their heads down and let the clergy get on with the job...
On Archbishop Nichols (picks on traditionalists, doesn't do his job)...
- Throwing his weight around
- Inexorably Distancing: The Movie
- Turning Their Back on the Church's Ordinary Pattern of Prayer
- A Joke...
- Nobody is going to anything about anything?
On Kieran Conry (The Bishop for Youth)...
There's lots, lots more to be found via the Tag Cloud on the left. Try my posts on Bishop Drainey or if you fancy a laugh, Middlesbrough Cathedral.
The best way to keep up to date with the latest goings on is to subscribe to the free email updates or if you are a bit technical, try the RSS Feed
Reader Comments
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Michael said...
Just wanted to say a quick hello - came across your site (via CH) and it looks fantastic! Your subscriptions list is about to increase by one...
Best,
Michael
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epsilon said...
Your article was excellent James!
The bishop's response was all large and fine on some points, but
"It is one thing to say that he would like to see these things in Middlesbrough diocese, but Pope Benedict is personally taking the lead himself. I asked if we might see any of these traditional practices from Terence Patrick Drainey.
'I don't know.'"
!!Well if Terence Patrick Drainey doesn't know who does!!
His loyalties appear to be to the "English Church" - well for what it's worth TPD: mine are to the Roman Pontiff, and when the plates come around on Sunday I hope they'll be piled high with notes (of zero GBP value) from the punters telling the CBCEW and their cronies in the CESEW what they think of "English Catholic" cow towing to this child-pornography trafficing government.
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zosh said...
just so you know, I think the bishop may be tutting a lot, as there a probably a lot of people in a mot of the areas of the UK who do not know the Our Father in Latin...I am one of them...its a shame yes...but it has never been used in my church, and even when I have been to church abrod, it is also said in respective languages and not Latin
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anon said...
I think we have much bigger issues in the church than teaching children and young people the latin versions of the basic prayers. we should be starting by teaching them to even make the sign of the cross.
lets get into the real world
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James said...
It's not about sitting down and teaching these prayers, it's about allowing these prayers to get an airing now and then so that they are at the very least vaguely familiar as a part of the rich tapestry of our Catholic faith and not (as they are now) completely alien.
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Tom said...
James - just wanted you to know that I thought your interview with Bishop Drainey was spot-on.
You brought out many key issues and he responded in what seems like a positive fashion. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I hope that he puts into practice in Middlesbrough diocese what he seemed to espouse in his responses to your questioning.
Well done! and keep up the good work - not only in interviewing bishops, or in running your great blog (which I read regularly), but in being a good and faithful husband and dad. You're someone of whom the Church in this country can be proud. Would that some of our bishops had the courage of your convictions.
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