The Battle for Middle Earth Begins

I am afraid I am going to have to stick my neck over the parapet, and probably finally convince at least one or two of my quorum of readers, that I have finally lost the last of my remaining marbles. For some considerable time I have believed that a severe persecution of the Church is imminent, and that it will begin in Britain. However, it will spread quickly throughout Europe - the re-election of the extremely anti-Catholic Zapatero government in Spain is but one sign of this. I am not quite as insane as I may sound; in recent weeks I have spoken or corresponded with priests in the UK who believe exactly the same. I recently spoke with a leading Catholic journalist who told me that he believed it was only a matter of time before priests and bishops are jailed for preaching the Catholic Faith. Legislation, introduced by the Labour government in recent years (and happily promoted by recent Catholic convert, the Rt. Hon Anthony Blair) has already resulted in a number of unpleasant incidents. Now, a Catholic Bishop, the Rt. Reverend Patrick O'Donoghue, has been 'summoned' to appear before a Parliamentary Committee this Wednesday to answer for the terrible crime of stating that the Catholic Faith should be taught in Catholic schools. The Chairman of the Committee has spoken of "fundamentalism" and its dangers. This from a government that has made it a crime to mention anything about the evils of Islam - one cannot even refer to Islamic terrorists. This is precisely why it is so important who is appointed as the new Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. We will need the equivalent of a Blessed Clement Von Galen, the "Lion" Bishop who stood up to Hitler. As previously posted, it is believed that Pope Benedict regards this appointment as one of the three most important of his pontificate. The new Cardinal may have to close all the Catholic schools - or he may follow the example of all but one of the episcopate during the time of that verminous apostate and odorous wretch, Henry VIII, and give way. I do not think things are anything like as bad over here - it is more of a "white" persecution compared to what I fear will soon be a "red" persecution in Britain. I would suggest that we pray for Bishop O'Donoghue - using the prayer of St. John Fisher - a true example of what a Bishop should be - the prayer is posted above.

Finally a few words from "Old Thunder" on the irony of a decayed society forcing its vision of "tolerance" on the Church:

"For there comes a time - it is brief, as must be all final moments of decay - but there comes a time in the moral disruption of a State when the mere utterance of a plain truth laboriously concealed by hypocrisy, denied by contemporary falsehood, and forgotten by the moral lethargy of the populace, takes upon itself an ironical quality more powerful than any elaboration of special ironies could have taken in the past."

Hilaire Belloc