God bless Cormac

I found this on the Mail Online, I hope it is true, I am sure that there has been a lot of negotiation behind closed doors but there has to be time when the Church and its bishops, yes and its priest too, have to stand up and face down our secularist state. God bless the Cormac.

A Roman Catholic adoption agency headed by Britain's most senior Catholic churchman is to defy the Government over its controversial gay equality laws.
The Westminster Catholic Children's Society, whose president is Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, will ignore new rules that require it to place children with same-sex couples.
While other Catholic adoption agencies are caving in to the legislation by severing their ties with the Church or even closing, the Westminster Society will continue its policy of placing children only with married heterosexuals and single people.
Its stance will set the Cardinal - who welcomed Tony Blair into the Catholic Church last December - on a collision course with New Labour and the gay rights lobby.
It is a high-risk strategy that could provoke a costly and bruising test case in the courts, with campaigners determined to see the Society closed down.
But advisers to the Cardinal, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, believe they have found a legal loophole that could allow the Society to remain open and loyal to Catholic teaching, which opposes gay marriage and adoption by gay couples.
The Government, which forced the Sexual Orientation Regulations through Parliament after a bitter Cabinet battle and in the face of fierce opposition from religious leaders, would be severely embarrassed by a defeat in the courts.
Ministers were already reeling last night from a leaked report commissioned by the Church of England, which accused them of favouring Muslims over the Established Church and creating a moral vacuum in the country.

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Work in Progress: 10 course lute

During Lent I commissioned a new 10 course lute, here is the first picture I have had from James Marriage, my luthier (the link takes you to one of James' grander instruments). The body of my instrument is made of rosewood with holly strips between the ribs, the ethical substitute for ivory, the neck and peg box are veneered in rosewood and inlayed with panels of olive wood, bordered by ebony and holly.
There is still a lot of work to be done to finish it, it needs coat upon coat of varnish and hours of polishing before it is fitted with its 19 pegs for its 19 strings. Each course is double strung except for the highest course which is a single string.
The annoying thing is a few weeks after I commisioned I had a recurrence of a viral thing I get every few years that affects my fingers and walking, it gets a bit difficult typing, hence fewer post recently, and my lute playing is clumsy as I can't quite feel the strings and the Lord gets a bob rather than a proper genuflxion, but like all things it will pass, "then I will praise Him on the ten string lute".

Government sidelines Christianity

The Government pays 'lip service' to Christianity and favours Islam and other minority religions, according to a report commissioned by the Church of England.

The damning study criticises the policies of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown for focusing 'intently' on minority beliefs whilst neglecting the Anglican faith.

It also accuses Labour of ignoring the breakdown in society and failing to recognise the Church's potential contribution to public affairs.

The report says: 'We encountered on the part of the Government a significant lack of understanding, or interest in, the Church of England's current or potential contribution in the public sphere

'Indeed we were told that Government had consciously decided to focus... almost exclusively on minority religions.'

The report calls for a 'Minster for Religion' to utilise the untapped reserves of volunteers in churches and charities and accuses the Government of 'religious illiteracy'.

It comes days after Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, accused Gordon Brown of sacrificing liberty for misguided notions of equality and betraying New Labour's mantra of 'rights and responsibilities'.

The 180-page report, entitled 'Moral, But No Compass' shows how church leaders feel betrayed by the Government.

Mr Brown - who emphasised the strength of his 'moral compass' on becoming Prime Minister - is in particular likely to be stung by the title of the report.

The Government will find it hard to dismiss its findings as it represents the opinions of 70 Church of England bishops as well as more than 250 MPs, peers and academics.

In more bad news for Labour the study also praises the Conservatives for their 'strident' plans to tackle poverty.

This comments mark a change in the relationship between the Church and the Tories.

Relations have been strained since senior clergy blamed Margaret Thatcher for Britain's deepening spiritual decline in the 1980s.

The Bishop of Hulme, the Right Rev Stephen Lowe commissioned the The Von Hugel Institute at Cambridge to carry out the study

It was reported last night that the Archbishops of Canterbury and York are among those who have endorsed the findings.

However, a Church of England spokesman said church leaders have not yet seen the report and will respond on Monday when it is officially published.

The spokesman went on: 'The hard-hitting report raises issues of considerable importance, the authors say, and makes recommendations that challenge the Government to recognise the Churches' involvement and potential in public service reform.

'Authors Francis Davis, Elizabeth Paulhus and Andrew Bradstock will present their report to the Church on Monday when Bishop Stephen Lowe will respond.'

Card O'Brien: Examine Conscience

(Zenit.org)
A Scottish cardinal is urging British politicians to an examination of conscience over recent votes in the Parliament that constitute "attacks on human life."

Speaking at a Mass in the Crypt of the House of Commons, Cardinal Keith O'Brien reminded members of Parliament and the House of Lords that society is currently living a "time of confusion over the most basic questions about our society and the values we hold dear."

The archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh added that country needs its legislators to follow their conscience, even at the expense of political difficulty.

Parliament voted May 19 in favor of the "Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill," which allows for the creation of human-animal hybrids, made by introducing human DNA into animal ova.

They also approved the creation of "savior siblings," are created using in vitro fertilization techniques with the goal of making a genetic match to help an ill older brother or sister. Embryos whose genes do not match will be discarded.

On May 20 the Parliament legislated that fathers are not a necessary prerequisite for seeking in vitro fertilization, and that the upper limit on the abortion law should stay at 24 weeks of gestation.

Sad reality

"It has struck me that for all the Church's calls for recognition of the inviolability of conscience," Cardinal O'Brien said, "the sad reality is that the vast majority of politicians have given support to various attacks on human life with apparent lack of reproach from conscience."

He asked, "What does one say then, in the face of those who without guilt condemn the innocent in the womb, show disregard for family life and play God with the building blocks of life?"

The cardinal continued: "We know that many people of faiths other than our own, including Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh, who believe in the sanctity of unborn human life, join with us at this present time and are continuing to seek through their ongoing efforts a change in the present laws.

"Yet our culture does much to dull that inner voice of conscience. A feature of our age is the incessant noise, the lack of quiet, endless distraction; the ipod and mobile phone ensure silence and reflection are the preserve of very few."

"We cannot but help notice that consciences among even some who ostensibly see themselves as loyal Catholics or champions of the life have been dulled even so far as to acquiesce with what is euphemistically called a right to choose," the cardinal added.

"God's gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control. So you are never to be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord," Cardinal O'Brien said, quoting St. Paul.

He added, "That is precisely what all involved in political life are called upon to do at this present time."

Chastity

A friend of mine who is staying for a few days was talking about The Rule of St Benedict and said it is notable that he doesn't talk about chastity much at all, what he does talk about endlessly is the Divine Office and the reciting of the Psalms.

Raising one's heart and mind to, my friend said, is how Benedict allows God to control the passions.

Interesting?

Not in my parish

Clare, our choir director sent me this, it is from a list of workshops for liturgical musicians:

PLAY IN THE MYSTERY: DRUM AND CHANT Philip Roderick. Improvise with the divine in the mystery of creation; rekindle the body and spirit through percussion and song. Bring cardboard boxes, rattles, shakers, yourselves into this simple but profound soundspace. Philip will facilitate improvisational chant and play the cardboard box, the djembe and the extraordinary and ambient Hang Drum. Philip Roderick is an Anglican priest, founder-Director of The Quiet Garden Movement and leader of Contemplative Fire - a 'fresh expression of Church'. http://www.contemplativefire.org/

It is actually happening at a Catholic venue, but nothing on chant, strangely.

Infant contemplation

A friend of mine brought his precocious two-ish year old to see me. On the wall opposite my sitting room is a 19th century icon of the Mother of God of Kazan.

Little James in between making threatening gestures to my seventeenth century missal with his fire engine, wanting to eat a Ming tomb figure and wanting to add a foreword to one of the Pope's books with a red crayon, he kept going up to stare at the icon at one time for over a minute. At home his prayer routine was basically a cuddle and "God bless...".

When I have recharged the battery in my camera I am going to make a large copy of the icon and send it to him.

I was so struck by the magnetic pull of the icon and this story by Paulinus and Fr Tim.

Compare and contast.