St Brigid on Beer

I would like the angels of Heaven to be among us. I would like an abundance of peace. I would like full vessels of charity. I would like rich treasures of mercy. I would like cheerfulness to preside over all. I would like Jesus to be present. I would like the three Marys of illustrious renown to be with us. I would like the friends of Heaven to be gathered around us from all parts. I would like myself to be a rent payer to the Lord; that I should suffer distress, that he would bestow a good blessing upon me. I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings. I would like to be watching Heaven's family drinking it through all eternity.

Draft Translation online

is available here

il Tabletto

Much as I hate to add to their sales, I note that the Tablet this week publishes the draft of the new Mass translation.

A priest once shared with me his belief that it is not immoral to take all the copies of the Tablet from the back of a church without paying if you do so to bin them. I think he may have been serious.

Surprise, Surprise!

Underage abortion rates soar in Lothian

Well, guess what? We told them so. Three years after the introduction of the Healthy Respect sex education programme in Lothian, " . . .girls aged between 13 and 15 in the Lothians were 14 per cent more likely to become pregnant than elsewhere in Scotland. Before the scheme was introduced, they were three per cent more likely."

And still more figures showing that despite all the free condoms and "contraceptive" pills, "across Scotland, last year’s figures for teenage abortions were the highest since abortion was legalised in 1967. The statistics show a total of 12,217 abortions carried out on women of all ages in Scotland last year, up from 11,772 the previous year."

Does anyone else suspect there is some kind of agenda behind this sex ed thing, given that it looked improbable that it would reduce STD transmission or pregnancy rates, has evidently failed, and yet it is still receiving money? If it were cancer involved would there not be a media uproar by now?

Never mind Michael Rose . .

. . . why is Philip Trower's recent book so little mentioned in the Catholic blogosphere?

Turmoil & Truth is reviewed by Francis Phillips here and the UK publisher's blurb is here under "contemporary issues".

"Philip Trower confronts the turmoil of the post-conciliar years without flinching, but he explains its causes with such a sure grasp of Catholic truth that his readers will find their confidence in the Church strengthened and enlightened." - John Saward

The Alternative Catechism

Why did the apostles leave bishops as their successors?

This is a mystery but is probably a charitable way of ensuring that the faithful undergo their purgatorial suffering in this life rather than the next.

Baldrick, does it have to be this way? Our valued friendship ending with me cutting you into long strips & telling the Prince that you walked across a very sharp cattle grid in an extremely heavy hat?