In Full Communion with Apostasy

by Thomas A. Droleskey

One who converts to the Catholic Church from a false religion (or from no religion at all) must make a statement of abjuration of error before he can be received into Holy Mother Church. No true conversion takes place unless one accepts everything that the the Catholic Church teaches without one iota of dissent. There must be perfect unity of minds concerning the tenets of the Deposit Faith that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has entrusted exclusively to the Church that He founded upon the Rock of Peter, the Pope. Pope Leo XIII made this abundantly clear in Satis Cognitum, June 29, 1896:

Agreement and union of minds is the necessary foundation of this perfect concord amongst men, from which concurrence of wills and similarity of action are the natural results. Wherefore, in His divine wisdom, He ordained in His Church Unity of Faith; a virtue which is the first of those bonds which unite man to God, and whence we receive the name of the faithful - "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Eph. iv., 5). That is, as there is one Lord and one baptism, so should all Christians, without exception, have but one faith. And so the Apostle St. Paul not merely begs, but entreats and implores Christians to be all of the same mind, and to avoid difference of opinions: "I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms amongst you, and that you be perfect in the same mind and in the same judgment" (I Cor. i., 10). Such passages certainly need no interpreter; they speak clearly enough for themselves. Besides, all who profess Christianity allow that there can be but one faith. It is of the greatest importance and indeed of absolute necessity, as to which many are deceived, that the nature and character of this unity should be recognized. And, as We have already stated, this is not to be ascertained by conjecture, but by the certain knowledge of what was done; that is by seeking for and ascertaining what kind of unity in faith has been commanded by Jesus Christ.

The heavenly doctrine of Christ, although for the most part committed to writing by divine inspiration, could not unite the minds of men if left to the human intellect alone. It would, for this very reason, be subject to various and contradictory interpretations. This is so, not only because of the nature of the doctrine itself and of the mysteries it involves, but also because of the divergencies of the human mind and of the disturbing element of conflicting passions. From a variety of interpretations a variety of beliefs is necessarily begotten; hence come controversies, dissensions and wranglings such as have arisen in the past, even in the first ages of the Church. Irenaeus writes of heretics as follows: "Admitting the sacred Scriptures they distort the interpretations" (Lib. iii., cap. 12, n. 12). And Augustine: "Heresies have arisen, and certain perverse views ensnaring souls and precipitating them into the abyss only when the Scriptures, good in themselves, are not properly understood" (In Evang. Joan., tract xviii., cap. 5, n. 1). Besides Holy Writ it was absolutely necessary to insure this union of men's minds - to effect and preserve unity of ideas - that there should be another principle. This the wisdom of God requires: for He could not have willed that the faith should be one if He did not provide means sufficient for the preservation of this unity; and this Holy Writ clearly sets forth as We shall presently point out. Assuredly the infinite power of God is not bound by anything, all things obey it as so many passive instruments. In regard to this external principle, therefore, we must inquire which one of all the means in His power Christ did actually adopt. For this purpose it is necessary to recall in thought the institution of Christianity.

We are mindful only of what is witnessed to by Holy Writ and what is otherwise well known. Christ proves His own divinity and the divine origin of His mission by miracles; He teaches the multitudes heavenly doctrine by word of mouth; and He absolutely commands that the assent of faith should be given to His teaching, promising eternal rewards to those who believe and eternal punishment to those who do not. "If I do not the works of my Father, believe Me not" John x., 37). "If I had not done among them the works than no other man had done, they would not have sin" (Ibid. xv., 24). "But if I do (the works) though you will not believe Me, believe the works" (Ibid. x., 38). Whatsoever He commands, He commands by the same authority. He requires the assent of the mind to all truths without exception. It was thus the duty of all who heard Jesus Christ, if they wished for eternal salvation, not merely to accept His doctrine as a whole, but to assent with their entire mind to all and every point of it, since it is unlawful to withhold faith from God even in regard to one single point.

 

This is very clear. There is no room for ambiguity or uncertainty, no room for nuance. The Catholic Church teaches that one must adhere to the totality of the Deposit Faith. Catholics who knowingly dissent from articles contained in the Deposit of Faith expel themselves from the Catholic Church even though no formal ecclesiastical decree may ever be issued against them to "certify" this expulsion. A Catholic who dissents knowingly from even one article contained in the Deposit Faith falls out of the Church by means of having violated the Divine Positive Law regardless of whether any canonical censures or penalties are ever imposed upon him. Citing Saint Augustine on this precise point, Pope Leo XIII explained all of this so very clearly in Paragraph Nine of Satis Cognitum:

The Church, founded on these principles and mindful of her office, has done nothing with greater zeal and endeavour than she has displayed in guarding the integrity of the faith. Hence she regarded as rebels and expelled from the ranks of her children all who held beliefs on any point of doctrine different from her own. The Arians, the Montanists, the Novatians, the Quartodecimans, the Eutychians, did not certainly reject all Catholic doctrine: they abandoned only a certain portion of it. Still who does not know that they were declared heretics and banished from the bosom of the Church? In like manner were condemned all authors of heretical tenets who followed them in subsequent ages. "There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition" (Auctor Tract. de Fide Orthodoxa contra Arianos).

The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authoritative Magisterium. Epiphanius, Augustine, Theodore :, drew up a long list of the heresies of their times. St. Augustine notes that other heresies may spring up, to a single one of which, should any one give his assent, he is by the very fact cut off from Catholic unity. "No one who merely disbelieves in all (these heresies) can for that reason regard himself as a Catholic or call himself one. For there may be or may arise some other heresies, which are not set out in this work of ours, and, if any one holds to one single one of these he is not a Catholic" (S. Augustinus, De Haeresibus, n. 88).

 

There is zero (as in zilch, nada, the doughnut hole) Patristic support for the novel, neo-Gallican proposition that one remains a "Catholic" as long as he adheres to an unspecified"minimum" number of truths of the Faith. It is all or nothing. Those who contend otherwise have to contend with Pope Leo XIII's Satis Cognitum and the Church Fathers before repeating such a preposterous, unsupportable claim. A baptized Catholic who knowingly dissents from one article of the Faith, no less propagates publicly condemned propositions (such as the intrinsic evolution of dogma, that the "Church of Christ" is not co-extensive with the Catholic Church, that those outside of the Catholic Church do not have to convert to her maternal bosom and accept all of her teaching to save her souls, that those who adhere to false religions have the civil right to publicly propagate those false religions, that it is permissible for Catholics to engage in "inter-religious prayer services" with members of false religions, that Church and State must be separated, that papal primacy can be exercised in a way acceptable to an alleged "first millennium" understanding of that primacy without demanding that the Orthodox accept the the doctrine of papal infallibility, that there are "fundamental" and "non-fundamental" truths of the Faith, that false religions have "sacred" symbols and mountains and rites), is not a member of the Catholic Church. And it is, generally speaking, quite nice for one to be a Catholic in order to hold ecclesiastical office legitimately.

Furthermore, it is impossible for one to join the Catholic Church unless he not only abjures his errors publicly in a solemn ceremony but makes a full and open profession of Faith in her as the eternal guardian and infallible teacher of all that has been deposited in her by her Divine Founder and Invisible Head, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Pope Pius IX, writing an Apostolical Letter, Iam Vos Omnes, September 13, 1868, specifically to Protestants prior to the [First] Vatican Council explained it this way:

It is for this reason that so many who do not share “the communion and the truth of the Catholic Church” must make use of the occasion of the Council, by the means of the Catholic Church, which received in Her bosom their ancestors, proposes [further] demonstration of profound unity and of firm vital force; hear the requirements [demands] of her heart, they must engage themselves to leave this state that does not guarantee for them the security of salvation. She does not hesitate to raise to the Lord of mercy most fervent prayers to tear down of the walls of division, to dissipate the haze of errors, and lead them back within holy Mother Church, where their Ancestors found salutary pastures of life; where, in an exclusive way, is conserved and transmitted whole the doctrine of Jesus Christ and wherein is dispensed the mysteries of heavenly grace.

It is therefore by force of the right of Our supreme Apostolic ministry, entrusted to us by the same Christ the Lord, which, having to carry out with [supreme] participation all the duties of the good Shepherd and to follow and embrace with paternal love all the men of the world, we send this Letter of Ours to all the Christians from whom We are separated, with which we exhort them warmly and beseech them with insistence to hasten to return to the one fold of Christ; we desire in fact from the depths of the heart their salvation in Christ Jesus, and we fear having to render an account one day to Him, Our Judge, if, through some possibility, we have not pointed out and prepared the way for them to attain eternal salvation. In all Our prayers and supplications, with thankfulness, day and night we never omit to ask for them, with humble insistence, from the eternal Shepherd of souls the abundance of goods and heavenly graces. And since, if also, we fulfill in the earth the office of vicar, with all our heart we await with open arms the return of the wayward sons to the Catholic Church, in order to receive them with infinite fondness into the house of the Heavenly Father and to enrich them with its inexhaustible treasures. By our greatest wish for the return to the truth and the communion with the Catholic Church, upon which depends not only the salvation of all of them, but above all also of the whole Christian society: the entire world in fact cannot enjoy true peace if it is not of one fold and one shepherd.

 

Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, of course, does not accept this, proving himself to be one who dissents from the Catholic Faith. No one can claim that he does not know the teaching of the Catholic Church. He does. Very well. He rejects the truth that the Catholic Church has a mission given to her by her Mystical Bridegroom, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to seek with urgency the unconditional conversion of all men to her maternal bosom. Although I have quoted Ratzinger/Benedict's address to an "ecumenical" gathering in Cologne, Germany, on August 19, 2005, in the past, let me do so again for the sake of reiteration in order to contrast it with its exact opposite as expressed by Pope Pius IX in Iam Vos Omnes:

On the other hand, this unity does not mean what could be called ecumenism of the return:  that is, to deny and to reject one's own faith history. Absolutely not! Ecumenical meeting at the Archbishopric of Cologne English

 

Abjure one's errors? What errors? Members of false religions have "elements of truth," right? Why insult them by forcing them to abjure errors on matters that are alleged to be not "fundamental" to "Christian unity." It is no accident that the men who wanted the Oath Against Modernism "rescinded" by Giovanni Montini/Paul VI so as to remove their own multiple violations of its terms are the very same ones who do not expect those in false religions to abjure their errors in order to convert unconditionally and with urgency to the Catholic Church before they die.

Pope Pius XI, writing in Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928, expressed the exact same Catholic teaching that Pope Pius IX had in Iam Vos Omnes a little over fifty-nine years before:

So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it. During the lapse of centuries, the mystical Spouse of Christ has never been contaminated, nor can she ever in the future be contaminated, as Cyprian bears witness: "The Bride of Christ cannot be made false to her Spouse: she is incorrupt and modest. She knows but one dwelling, she guards the sanctity of the nuptial chamber chastely and modestly." The same holy Martyr with good reason marveled exceedingly that anyone could believe that "this unity in the Church which arises from a divine foundation, and which is knit together by heavenly sacraments, could be rent and torn asunder by the force of contrary wills." For since the mystical body of Christ, in the same manner as His physical body, is one, compacted and fitly joined together, it were foolish and out of place to say that the mystical body is made up of members which are disunited and scattered abroad: whosoever therefore is not united with the body is no member of it, neither is he in communion with Christ its head.

Furthermore, in this one Church of Christ no man can be or remain who does not accept, recognize and obey the authority and supremacy of Peter and his legitimate successors. Did not the ancestors of those who are now entangled in the errors of Photius and the reformers, obey the Bishop of Rome, the chief shepherd of souls? Alas their children left the home of their fathers, but it did not fall to the ground and perish for ever, for it was supported by God. Let them therefore return to their common Father, who, forgetting the insults previously heaped on the Apostolic See, will receive them in the most loving fashion. For if, as they continually state, they long to be united with Us and ours, why do they not hasten to enter the Church, "the Mother and mistress of all Christ's faithful"? Let them hear Lactantius crying out: "The Catholic Church is alone in keeping the true worship. This is the fount of truth, this the house of Faith, this the temple of God: if any man enter not here, or if any man go forth from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation. Let none delude himself with obstinate wrangling. For life and salvation are here concerned, which will be lost and entirely destroyed, unless their interests are carefully and assiduously kept in mind."

Let, therefore, the separated children draw nigh to the Apostolic See, set up in the City which Peter and Paul, the Princes of the Apostles, consecrated by their blood; to that See, We repeat, which is "the root and womb whence the Church of God springs," not with the intention and the hope that "the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" will cast aside the integrity of the faith and tolerate their errors, but, on the contrary, that they themselves submit to its teaching and government. Would that it were Our happy lot to do that which so many of Our predecessors could not, to embrace with fatherly affection those children, whose unhappy separation from Us We now bewail. Would that God our Savior, "Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth," would hear us when We humbly beg that He would deign to recall all who stray to the unity of the Church! In this most important undertaking We ask and wish that others should ask the prayers of Blessed Mary the Virgin, Mother of divine grace, victorious over all heresies and Help of Christians, that She may implore for Us the speedy coming of the much hoped-for day, when all men shall hear the voice of Her divine Son, and shall be "careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

You, Venerable Brethren, understand how much this question is in Our mind, and We desire that Our children should also know, not only those who belong to the Catholic community, but also those who are separated from Us: if these latter humbly beg light from heaven, there is no doubt but that they will recognize the one true Church of Jesus Christ and will, at last, enter it, being united with us in perfect charity. While awaiting this event, and as a pledge of Our paternal good will, We impart most lovingly to you, Venerable Brethren, and to your clergy and people, the apostolic benediction.

 

Does Joseph Ratzinger believe this? Not at all. Once again, here is Ratzinger/Benedict in his very own words as the "pontiff" he believes himself to be:

On the other hand, this unity does not mean what could be called ecumenism of the return:  that is, to deny and to reject one's own faith history. Absolutely not! Ecumenical meeting at the Archbishopric of Cologne English

 

Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI did not just "say" those words out of politeness. He meant those words, which are an exact representation of what he wrote in Principles of Catholic Theology on the subject. And there are some high-profile "converts" to the counterfeit church of conciliarism from Protestantism who have remained in their errors. One noted Protestant "convert" to conciliarism, "Father" Richard John Neuhaus, formerly a Lutheran pastor at Saint Peter's Lutheran Church in the Borough of Manhattan in the City of New York, pointed out seventeen years ago that Catholicism, as he saw it, had adapted itself to Protestantism, not the reverse, hardly an abjuration of error:

For Mr. Neuhaus, the break with Lutheranism was another step in a long political and spiritual pilgrimage. Since the early 1970's he has moved from the front lines of the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements to a monthly column in The National Review, from the pastorate of a largely black Lutheran parish in Brooklyn to an office in midtown Manhattan decorated with citations from Ronald Reagan.

But in a recent interview, he emphasized that his decision to leave the church was theological, not political. Mr. Neuhaus has long been identified with a strand in Lutheranism that calls itself ''evangelical catholic,'' with a small c. This group stresses that Luther's Reformation was aimed not at establishing a separate church but at bringing a united Christian church into line with the Reformers' view of the Gospel.

That 16th-century split may have been tragically unavoidable, Mr. Neuhaus said, but it must not become a purpose in itself; it was justified only until Roman Catholicism accepted the lessons of the Reformation.

That moment arrived, Mr. Neuhaus said, with the Second Vatican Council 25 years ago and the growth of agreement between Catholics and Lutherans since then.

But though he had hoped that Lutheranism might restore its ties with Catholicism, he had concluded that the Lutherans were like ''a people driven into exile who did so well and found themselves so comfortable that they forgot about returning to their home country.''

He became particularly discouraged when several Lutheran churches merged in 1988 to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a merger he said was not guided by any ''ecumenical vision'' or theological theory. ''It was like merging Macy's and K Mart,'' he said, ''a wiring together of interest groups.''

Mr. Neuhaus said his shift reflected the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the ecumenical movement. Calling it ''a decision I've been wrestling with and in some ways really resisting,'' he added:

''I have long believed that the Roman Catholic Church is the fullest expression of the church of Christ through time. But I took very seriously a sense of vocation that you should generally stay where God put you and do your duty there. For me that was as a Lutheran and a Lutheran pastor.''

Mr. Neuhaus said he saw no problem in identifying himself with the statements of Pope John Paul II. ''Over the last 20 years I have probably taken the teaching statements of the Roman Catholic Church more seriously than many Roman Catholic theologians,'' he said.

Lutheran theologians expressed dismay at Mr. Neuhaus's departure, which had been rumored for months, but they said they did not expect it to lead to other defections from the church or to strain relations between the Lutheran and Catholic Churches.

William H. Lazareth, who has been Mr. Neuhaus's bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church, said Mr. Neuhaus had been ''a trustworthy pastor in our communion,'' and added, ''I wish Richard God's richest blessing in his pilgrimage of faith.''

Other Lutherans, including some who share many of Mr. Neuhaus's premises, said they did not agree with his reasoning. One of his oldest friends, Robert L. Wilken, a professor of church history at the University of Virginia, said that over the last century, ''there has been a gradual deepening in Lutheranism of Catholic character and practices and self-understanding.'' Any setback from the recent Lutheran merger ''is a passing phenomenon,'' he said, ''and the deeper change will out.''

Gerhard Forde, who teaches theology at Lutheran Northwest Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., says Catholics and Lutherans have moved closer together but have not yet reached a solid consensus on the meaning of justification by faith. That idea, a central concept for Luther and the Reformation, is that people are saved through their belief in Jesus rather than through good works.

Mr. Neuhaus ''thinks we can best address this by being one church,'' Mr. Forde said. ''I think it's not a matter of getting married first and talking afterwards.''

Another theology professor at the same seminary, Lee E. Snook, went further. ''Richard John Neuhaus interprets the Reformation as a temporary blip,'' he said. ''I see it as a permanent feature of Christianity.''

Mr. Neuhaus said he was ''painfully aware'' that some Lutherans might feel distressed or even betrayed by his decision, but he added that most had been very supportive, ''not in the sense that they agree but that they understand.'' He added that he regretted that some ''triumphalist'' Catholics might cheer his decision as proof ''that any serious Christian will become a Roman Catholic.'' Saying Luther's Goal Was One Church, Noted Lutheran Turns to Catholicism

 

"Father" Neuhaus, whose Protestant embrace of the separation of Church and State and conciliarism's embrace of same is nothing less than evangelical in its fervor, "regretted that some 'triumphalist' Catholics might cheer his decision as proof 'that any serious Christian will become a Roman Catholic.'" Well, my friends, Richard John Neuhaus has found the "right" "church" for him, one that tolerates errors that Pope Pius XI noted in Mortalium Animos that the Catholic Church would never tolerate, indeed, could never tolerate. The only "precondition" for being a member of the counterfeit church of conciliarism is to accept conciliarism, a false religion.

To wit, the "conversion" of the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, to the counterfeit church of conciliarism on December 21, 2007, is remarkable only because it is a case study in absurdity and meaninglessness. Tony Blair has not abjured the errors of Anglicanism. Tony Blair has not abjured his support for chemical and surgical baby-killing under cover of law. Tony Blair, therefore, fits right into the pantheon of other good "Catholics" considered to be in good canonical standing in the counterfeit church of conciliarism such as United States Senators Edward Moore Kennedy, John F. Kerry, Richard Durbin, Thomas Harkin, Susan Collins, Joseph Biden, Patricia Murray, and Christopher Dodd and various state governors, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jennifer Granholm, Kathleen Sebelius, and Jim Doyle, as well as current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and a whole host of former office-holders (Mario Matthew Cuomo, George Pataki, Tom Ridge, Rick Lazio, Susan Molinari, Gray Davis, Richard Riordan) who also support the chemical and surgical assassination of innocent preborn children. And then there is the eighty-eight year-old former Governor of New York, Hugh Leo Carey, who was on the first to use the phrase "personally opposed to abortion but..." (Mario Cuomo learned the phrase from Carey, folks), who said publicly in 1990 that he was wrong to support baby-killing but continues to support baby-killers for public office!

Tony Blair is just one of many in the counterfeit church of conciliarism, where disunity of matters of Faith and moral is the norm, not the exception. Perhaps Tony Blair could use the now retired auxiliary "bishop" of Brooklyn, Joseph Sullivan, as a confessor. If "Bishop" Sullivan, who is close to Mario Cuomo and Geraldine Ferraro, is too busy, perhaps Blair could use Father Richard McBrien, a conciliar priest (and, yes, he is a true priest), who is in perfectly good standing with the conciliar officials in the Archdiocese of Hartford. Worse comes to worse, of course, Blair could always turn to Walter "Cardinal" Kasper of the "Pontifical" Council for Promoting the Unity of Christians, who said recently that he did not want to see massive numbers of Anglicans "convert" to the conciliar church, admitting that individual "conversions" were still acceptable. In a real pinch, of course, Tony Blair could always turn to Edward "Cardinal" Egan, the conciliar "archbishop" of New York, who has boasted of his "friendship" with pro-abortion politicians, including the "Catholic" named Rudolph William Giuliani and his successor as Mayor of the City of New York, Michael Bloomberg and the current rabidly pro-abortion Governor of New York, Elliot Spitzer.

An interview conducted by Zenit (yes, I've really been taken off of Zenit's e-mail list) with the Director of the Society for the Protection of the Unborn in the United Kingdom provides a small glimpse into Tony Blair's anti-life policies during his tenure as Prime Minster of the United Kingdom:

LONDON, FEB. 17, 2007 (Zenit) - The United Kingdom is exporting anti-life and anti-family values, says John Smeaton, director of an organization campaigning for pro-life laws.

Smeaton, the national director of the U.K.-based Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, spoke with us about the present and the future of bioethics in Britain.

Q: Tony Blair expects to step down as prime minister this year. How has the bioethical landscape in Britain changed during his tenure?

Smeaton: Under Tony Blair's leadership, the government and parliament have plunged Britain into an ethical abyss, in which there is no right or wrong but simply administrative and technical questions to be resolved by the implementation of new anti-life evils.

Two of the first things Tony Blair did in office was to establish a strategy on teenage pregnancy and to revive proposals to change the law on end-of-life treatment.

The former involves supplying abortion and birth control drugs and devices to schoolgirls as young as 11 without parents' knowledge or consent; the latter has led to a law -- the Mental Capacity Act 2005 -- which allows, and in certain circumstances requires, doctors to starve and to dehydrate to death vulnerable patients.

The Blair government exports abortion-on-demand to the developing world under the guise of the Millennium Development Goals and it has increased funding for population control agencies -- such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the United Nations Population Fund -- complicit in China's one-child policy.

Tony Blair has personally championed destructive experiments on cloned human embryos. In general, there is virtually no area of pro-life or pro-family ethical concern which has not been made worse by the Blair government.

In addition, the U.K. is a major influence within the European Union and in many other parts of the world in support of anti-life, anti-family policies.

Q: How does the level of bioethical debate in Britain compare to the rest of the world? The United States, for instance? Or Australia? Or Germany?

Smeaton: The level of bioethical debate compares badly with the rest of the world.

The mass media in Britain, led by the so-called quality media, such as the Times and the BBC, present the debate on bioethical issues such as human cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and abortion, in an almost entirely one-sided way.

Scientific and ethical considerations which suggest why human embryonic stem cell research is ethically irresponsible are either not included at all in such media coverage, or they are presented in a totally inadequate way. Also, the government of the day appears to have an infinite capacity to manipulate the terms of bioethical debate.

For example, the government succeeded in enshrining euthanasia by neglect in law in April 2005 while simultaneously successfully assuring politicians and church leaders that they were completely opposed to legalizing euthanasia.

Q: Christian leaders in Britain in recent years have lamented the state of religion, as witnessed in low church attendance. Has that affected culture-of-life issues?

Smeaton: Whatever the fundamental cause of low church attendance, the situation is worsened by the lack of clear teaching on culture of life issues.

Tragically, in Britain, induced abortion and birth control drugs and devices are provided to children at school, including Catholic schools, under the age of 16 without parental knowledge or consent.

Last year, a teacher at a mixed Catholic school in Kent, in England, spoke out publicly about the sex education given to her class of 13- to 14-year-old children. The teacher, a Miss McLernon, said: "I think people should be aware of what is going on in schools. I witnessed the nurse using a plastic model to show these children how to put on what she said was a chocolate flavored condom."

Miss McLernon said: "Every child in the class was given a card explaining where you could get free contraceptives and the abortion-inducing morning-after pill. The card also gave details of a website for young people explaining how a surgical abortion could be arranged. This is a Catholic school where you would expect children to be protected from this sort of thing."

Sadly, more and more Catholic parents are approaching the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children with terrible experiences in Catholic schools, both at the secondary and primary school level. Protests on the part of Catholic parents and teachers seeking to protect young people do not appear to be heard.

Furthermore, the British and European Union governments have enacted a body of law on the equal employment rights of male and female homosexuals and bisexuals and transsexuals which is to be enforced with the threat of severe legal sanctions.

Q: Does debate in Britain have the philosophical and theological language necessary to handle bioethical issues well?

Smeaton: Britain has not only lost its moral compass. For the most part, it has also lost both the language and the capacity to think in a morally rational way.

For most, morality is primarily connected with a curious mixture of self-interest, compassion, and the desire to avoid pain, suffering and inconvenience. This explains the capacity of the British to be both pro-choice about abortion while at the same time feeling a moral unease about it all.

Even the word "discriminate" has been appropriated as a word with wholly negative connotations when in the not-so-distant past to be called discriminating was a compliment.

Thus has the distinction between just and unjust discrimination disappeared from the moral lexicon. There is no objective language to categorize moral rightness or wrongness where sexual conduct is concerned, but at the same time there is a moral Stalinism in the legal insistence that all employers employ a person irrespective of their declared sexual orientation and personal living arrangements.

Here are one or two press releases about Blair's policies found on the website of the aforementioned Society for the Protection of the Unborn:

 

London, 22 June 2007 - It is reported that Tony Blair, the British prime minister who is about to step down from the premiership, is to convert to Catholicism.

Paul Tully, SPUC general secretary, commented: "I'm sure that many Catholics, including SPUC members, keenly hope and pray for Mr Blair's repentance and conversion to the Catholic Church's view that human life is to be protected by law from the time of conception.

"Mr Blair voted three times to permit abortion up to birth before he became prime minister. As PM he has promoted the practice of secret abortions for schoolgirls without their parents being informed; he has encouraged use of the morning-after pill, which the manufacturers say may cause early abortions. He has championed destructive research on human embryos in the laboratory. Last year his government launched an appeal for a global fund to promote abortion for the poorest people around the world.

"SPUC as an organisation has no religious or political affiliation. For many years we have called on the prime minister to repudiate his anti-life position, and we continue to do so. We would be very concerned at the impact on Muslims and their commitment to the pro-life cause if Mr Blair became a Muslim. We have similar concern for the impact on Christians if Mr Blair joins the Catholic church without publicly repudiating his publicly professed pro-abortion and pro-IVF positions," concluded Mr Tully. SPUC members pray for Mr Blair's repentance on life-issues

Westminster, 5th September 2006 - Plans outlined by Tony Blair, the prime minister, to identify those who might be a "menace to society" before they are born will lead to even more pressure upon health and social workers to provide and promote abortions in schools and elsewhere, warns the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC).

Anthony Ozimic, SPUC political secretary, commented: "Mr Blair's plan in practice means a concerted effort by the Government to impose abortion as the solution to teenage pregnancy rates. His mention of "better access to contraceptives" is only the tip of the iceberg - fast-track secret abortions for schoolgirls via school nurses is part and parcel of the Government's policy.

"Mr Blair's language echoes the discriminatory language used by Margaret Sanger and Marie Stopes before the Second World War to promote the elimination of those deemed socially undesirable through abortion and/or other forms of population control. SPUC agrees with commentators who have described Blair's plan as "eugenics", "teetering on genetic determinism", "Orwellian" etc.

"SPUC also agrees with David Paton, professor of economics at Nottingham University Business School, who has said: "The taxpayers' money spent by the Teenage Pregnancy Unit seems to have had no impact. The Government should look closely at the unit's future. Closing it should be seriously thought about." (The Telegraph, 24 February) Blair's "pre-birth" plan will lead to more pressure for more abortions, warns SPUC

 

Colonel James Bogle, a spirited defender of Christ the King in the United Kingdom, has most graciously given me his gracious permission to use his own summary of Tony Blair's sordid record even though he does not share the positions explicated on this website concerning the nature of the ecclesiastical crisis in the past forty-nine years. I thank Mr. Blair for permitting to use his most valuable information:

Blair has a 100% anti-life, pro-abort, pro-cloning, pro-embryo experimentation, pro-euthanasia voting record in the House of Commons.

During his premiership we have seen some of the most anti-Catholic legalisation this country has seen for centuries. Here is a sample of but a
few:

- The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (passed on Maundy Thursday with breath-taking cynicism). This makes euthanasia legal in the UK. Not many people realise it but it is true. It came into force this October and within 2 years we shall be seeing its effects unless the judges use the Human Rights Convention to mitigate its effects.

- The Civil Partnerships Act giving the status of marriage to homosexual relationships.

- The Equality Act which makes it illegal and punishable as a crime for Catholic adoption agencies to refuse to give out Catholic babies for
adoption by homosexuals. Catholic adoption agencies will have to close as a result.

- Various acts which have made all sorts of immoral cloning and embryo experimentation legal, extended the availability and time limits for abortion, a ministerial fiat allowing the morning after pill (equivalent to 50 times the ordinary Oral Contraceptive) to 16-year-old girls, and now the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill which will allow animal-human hybrids, more abortion, abortions by GPs and nurses (even surgical abortions), reproductive cloning and embryo creation for lesbians with complete abolition of the status of father in such transactions and much more.

- I may add, for good measure, that he and Gordon Brown (the new PM) have also handed over most of our sovereign power to the unelected European Commission whose own Court of Auditors has refused - for 13 years in a row! - to sign off their annual accounts because they are so corrupt and inaccurate!

I was Counsel for SPUC/Medical Ethics Alliance/ALERT in their attempt to challenge the legality of the morning after pill ministerial fiat. We had the law, the medicine and the medico-legal jurisprudence on our side but - of course! - we still lost. We did not have the zeitgeist on our side, of course. Did the bishops join in the challenge? No, of course not!

The man presiding over this tidal wave of sin and evil was none other than Mr Tony Blair.

His "Cool Brittania" is nothing less than "Morally-Dead Brittania". The crime on our streets now makes us the New Orleans of Europe and even worse.

But this did not affect the adulation which our bishops seem to hold for him. Throughout his premiership they never challenged him and, indeed, he was allowed to insinuate not 1 but 3 "spin doctors" into the Cardinal's office direct from his own office. They did their job brilliantly! There was never any trouble from the Catholic hierarchy during his premiership!

To cap it all, Blair long ago declared that his favourite theologian is the disgraced professor, Hans Kung, and he has often had Kung to stay at his home.

But that makes no difference to the adulation of our bishops.

With astonishing naiveté, they helped elect Blair in 1997 (with their election document entitled "The Common Good") and now he recognises them by being received into the Church.

Well, perhaps, he has changed his mind? Perhaps, he has had a real change of heart?

We shall see. But pardon me if I am not so much a little sceptical as completely unconvinced.

We can, however, be sure that our bishops have not changed their minds. They are as happy as ever to focus on receiving such a man into the fold whilst complacently ignoring the grotesquely immoral legislation that he has presided over in the last 10 years.

One begins to understand why it is written, "When the Son of Man returns shall he find Faith upon the earth?".

 

Get the idea? Tony Blair has just moved from one corner of the One-World Ecumenical Church to another.

Indeed, some self-delusional Catholics believe that Blair's "conversion" signals the end of Anglicanism in the United Kingdom. While it is true that Anglicanism is dying out as a sect, the logical fruit of its founding by a lustful king and its embrace of heretical propositions and of outright immorality, Anglicanism, especially liturgically, is very much alive in the counterfeit church of conciliarism. The spirit of the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service is very much that of Thomas Crammer, whose influence is also seen in the "Anglican Use" rite that the conciliar Vatican permits Anglican "priests" who have converted to its ranks to serve as their version of the Mass. So what if the numbers of adherents of Anglicanism is declining ever more steadily? How many members of the counterfeit church of conciliarism in the United Kingdom--or anywhere else for that matter--adheres unswervingly to everything contained in the Deposit of Faith as it has been entrusted to and taught by the infallible teaching authority of the Catholic Church?

The news of Tony Blair's "conversion" to the counterfeit church of conciliarism comes at a time when the conciliar Vatican has announced plans to make a side chapel in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, Italy, available to adherents of false religions so that they can offer their prayers to the various devils whom they worship. Remember, the story of the exorcism of Nicola Aubrey that was quoted on this site a short while ago. Consider just this excerpt once again:

As the strange circumstances of Nicola's possession became known everywhere, several Calvinist preachers came with their followers, to "expose this popish cheat," as they said. On their entrance, the devil saluted them mockingly, called them by name, and told them that they had come in obedience to him. One of the preachers took his Protestant prayer book, and began to read it with a very solemn face. The devil laughed at him, and putting on a most comical look, he said: "Ho! Ho! My good friend; do you intend to expel me with your prayers and hymns? Do you think that they will cause me any pain? Don't you know that they are mine? I helped to compose them!"

"I will expel thee in the name of God," said the preacher, solemnly.

"You!" said the devil mockingly. "You will not expel me either in the name of God, or in the name of the devil. Did you ever hear of one devil driving out another?"

"I am not a devil," said the preacher, angrily, "I am a servant of Christ."

"A servant of Christ, indeed!" said Satan, with a sneer. "What! I tell you, you are worse than I am. I believe, and you do not want to believe. Do you suppose that you can expel me from the body of this miserable wretch? Ha! Go first and expel all the devils that are in your own heart!"

The preacher took his leave, somewhat discomfited. On going away, he said, turning up the whites of his eyes, "O Lord, I pray thee, assist this poor creature!"

"And I pray Lucifer," cried the evil spirit, "that he may never leave you, but may always keep you firmly in his power, as he does now. Go about your business, now. You are all mine, and I am your master."  Exorcism of Nicola Aubrey 

 

Yes, the devil is the master of Protestant sects. He inspired the creation of each of one of them. Each Protestant sect keeps people away from the sacraments. Each Protestant sect denies people the authentic teaching that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has entrusted exclusively to the Catholic Church. Conciliarism's accommodations, both liturgically and doctrinally, to Protestantism have been nothing other than diabolical in origin. Tony Blair, whose public policies were steeped in evil, will feel right at home in the counterfeit church of conciliarism.

One supposes that members of non-Christian sects will be able to "worship" at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Why not? Hindus have worshiped their false "goddesses" in the very Chapel of the Apparitions in the soon-to-be-replaced Shrine of the Most Holy Trinity in Fatima, Portugal. The new "shrine," despite years of protestations from conciliar Vatican officials and their many "conservative" apologists, will indeed be an "ecumenical" center for more Mortal Sins to be committed against the First Commandment. Why not? Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II held his Assisi events. He praised "voodoo," of all things, in a visit to Benin (Voodoo You Trust?). Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict has termed Mount Hiei in Japan, where the Tendei sect of Buddhism gained its first "stronghold," "sacred," taken off his shoes to enter the Blue Mosque in Turkey and assumed the Mohammedan prayer position as he turned in the direction of Mecca, and he has wished God's "blessings" on Methodists, Baptists and out-and-out Zionists, all fellow travelers in the One World Ecumenical Church in which Tony Blair now has simply seated himself in a different pew.

Nothing matters to the conciliarists. Not even these words from Sacred Scripture themselves:

 

Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, Go out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: And I will receive you; and I will be a Father to you; and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Cor. 6: 14-18)

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (1 Jn. 5: 21)

 

We must have recourse at all times, especially during these days of the Christmas Octave, to Our Lady, who brought forth her Most Divine Son for our salvation. We know that the apostasy and betrayal of the present time is occurring in God's Holy Providence. We know that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is experiencing His Mystical Passion, Death and Burial at the hands of the Gentiles, aided and abetted by the ancient enemies of the Faith who exercise such tremendous influence in the ranks of the counterfeit church of conciliarism, as those who pose, albeit falsely, as shepherds of the Catholic Church make it appear as though one can be a member of her without adhering to everything she teaches without one iota of dissent. We must, therefore, cling to Our Lady, praying as many Rosaries as our states-in-life permit, clinging also to our true shepherds in the catacombs who make no concessions whatsoever to the false religion of conciliarism and its false shepherds.

Although this is the season of profound Christmas joy, today being the feast of Saint John the Evangelist, the Cross is ever-present in our lives. This is also a source of our joy. For the Child born for us in the wood of the manger in Bethlehem gave new life to us on the wood of His Most Holy Cross as He shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood to redeem us from our sins. We must offer own personal crosses--and those of the present moment in the history of the Church--with joy as we give all of our prayers and sufferings and mortifications and humiliations and penances to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, doing joy in a spirit of true joy for being alive that the time, that chosen for us from all eternity by God Himself in which live, and with true gratitude for being members of the Catholic Church, our mater and our magister, she it is who unites us in:

One Lord, one faith, one baptism. (Eph. 4: 5)

 

Viva Cristo Rey!

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saint Elizabeth, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, pray for us.

Saint Thomas the Apostle, pray for us.

Saint Andrew the Apostle, pray for us.

Saint Barbara, pray for us.

Saint Francis Xavier, pray for us.

Saint Peter Chrysologus, pray for us.

Saint Bibiana, pray for us.

Saint Sabbas, pray for us.

Saint Nicholas, pray for us.

Saint Ambrose, pray for us.

Pope Saint Melchiades, pray for us.

Pope Saint Damasus, pray for us.

Pope Saint Pius V, pray for us.

Pope Saint Pius X, pray for us.

Saint Sylvester the Abbot, pray for us.

Saint Gertrude the Great, pray for us.

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, pray for us.

Saint Benedict, pray for us.

Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.

Saint Dominic de Guzman, pray for us.

Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us.

Saint Hyacinth, pray for us.

Saint Peter Nolasco, pray for us.

Saint John Matha, pray for us.

Saint John Bosco, pray for us.

Saint John of God, pray for us.

Saint Philip Neri, pray for us.

Saint Francis Solano, pray for us.

Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for us.

Saint Brendan the Navigator, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, pray for us.

Saint Anthony of Padua, pray for us.

Saint Peregrine, pray for us.

Saint Leonard of Port Maurice, pray for us.

Saint John Fisher, pray for us.

Saint Thomas More, pray for us.

Saint Peter Canisius, pray for us.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us.

Saint Francis Borgia, pray for us.

Saint John Francis Regis, pray for us.

Saint Genevieve, pray for us.

Saint Casimir, pray for us.

Saint Hedwig, pray for us.

Saint Louis IX, King of France, pray for us.

Saint Stephen of Hungary, pray for us.

Saint Bridget of Sweden, pray for us.

Saint Brigid of Kildare, pray for us.

Saint Patrick, pray for us.

Saint Martin of Tours, pray for us.

Pope Saint Leo the Great, pray for us.

Pope Saint Gregory the Great, pray for us.

Pope Saint Gregory VII, pray for us.

Saint Boniface, pray for us.

Saint Meinrad, pray for us.

Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for us.

Saint Bernardine of Siena, pray for us.

Saint Louis de Montfort, pray for us.

Saint Joseph Cupertino, pray for us.

Saint Joseph Calasanctius, pray for us.

Saint John Damascene, pray for us.

Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, pray for us.

Saints Isidore the Farmer and Maria de Cappella, pray for us.

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us.

Pope Saint Damasus I, pray for us.

Saint Jerome, pray for us.

Saint Basil the Great, pray for us.

Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us.

Saint Louise de Marillac, pray for us.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, pray for us.

Saint Antony of the Desert, pray for us.

Saint Bonaventure, pray for us.

Saint Turibius, pray for us.

Saint Isaac Jogues, pray for us.

Saint Rene Goupil, pray for us.

Saint John Lalonde, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel Lalemont, pray for us.

Saint Noel Chabanel, pray for us.

Saint Charles Garnier, pray for us.

Saint Anthony Daniel, pray for us.

Saint John DeBrebeuf, pray for us.

Saint Irenaeus, pray for us.

Saint Polycarp, pray for us.

Blessed Rose Philippine Duchesne, pray for us.

Saint Rita, pray for us.

Saint Philomena, pray for us.

Saint Therese Lisieux, pray for us.

Saint Athanasius, pray for us.

Saint Bonaventure, pray for us.

Saint Philip Neri, pray for us.

Saint Peter Damian, pray for us.

Saint Peter of Alcantara, pray for us.

Saint Stanislaus, pray for us.

Saint Stanislaus Kostka, pray for us.

Saint Dominic Savio, pray for us.

Saint Stephen the Protomartyr, pray for us.

Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, pray for us.

Saint Adalbert, pray for us.

Saint Norbert, pray for us.

Saint John Chrysostom, pray for us.

Saint Cyril of Alexandria, pray for us.

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, pray for us.

Saints Cosmas and Damian, pray for us.

Saints Gervase and Protase, pray for us.

Saint Cecilia, pray for us.

Pope Saint Clement I, pray for us.

Saint Tarcisius, pray for us.

Saints Fabian Sebastian, pray for us.

Saint Lawrence the Deacon, pray for us.

Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, pray for us.

Saint Eustachius and Companions, pray for us.

Saints Pontian and Hippolytus, pray for us.

Saint Clare of Assisi, pray for us.

Saint Agnes, pray for us.

Saint Agatha, pray for us.

Saints Perpetua and Felicity, pray for us.

Saint Rose of Lima, pray for us.

Saint Scholastica, pray for us.

Saint Margaret of Scotland, pray for us.

Saint Peter Lombard, pray for us.

Saint Albert the Great, pray for us.

Saint Augustine, pray for us.

Saint Monica, pray for us.

Saint Augustine of Canterbury, pray for us.

Saint Anselm, pray for us.

Saint Canute, pray for us.

Saint Clotilde, pray for us.

Saint Brendan the Navigator, pray for us.

Saint Coleman, pray for us.

Saint Maria Goretti, pray for us.

Saint Mary Magdalene, pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, pray for us.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch, pray for us.

Blessed Father Vincent Pallotti, pray for us.

Saint Josaphat, pray for us.

Saint Anthony Mary Claret, pray for us.

Saint Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us.

Blessed Edmund Campion, pray for us.

Saint Saturninus, pray for us.

Saint Gerard Majella, pray for us.

Saint Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us.

Venerable Juan Diego, pray for us.

Venerable Junipero Serra, pray for us.

Venerable Miguel Augustin Pro, pray for us.

Venerable Pauline Jaricot, pray for us.

Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich, pray for us.

Jacinta Marto, pray for us.

Francisco Marto, pray for us.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

The Longer Version of the Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer, composed by Pope Leo XIII, 1888

O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil.  Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.  Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with  the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven.  That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels.  Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage.  Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory.  That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.  These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered.  Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory.  They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude.  Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church.  Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations.  Amen.

Verse: Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.

Response: The Lion of the Tribe of Juda has conquered the root of David.

Verse: Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.

Response: As we have hoped in Thee.

Verse: O Lord hear my prayer.

Response: And let my cry come unto Thee.

Verse: Let us pray.  O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls. 

Response:  Amen.