Irish al-Qaeda hit squad

Another story of how "a minority" of Mohammedans are "misunderstanding" their religion of peace.

From RTÉ comes the news that seven Mohammedans have been arrested in Waterford and Cork in relation to conspiracy to murder charges.

Tuesday, 9 March 2010 22:54

Five people have been arrested in Waterford and two others in Cork in connection with an investigation into a conspiracy to murder a Swedish cartoonist.
Cartoonist Lars Vilks has been threatened over his drawing depicting the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.
The head of an al-Qaeda faction in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, posted an audio tape on the internet in September 2007 offering $100,000 for the killing of Mr Vilks.

This morning, detectives arrested three men and two women in Waterford and Tramore and another man and woman at Ballincollig, near Cork city.
A number of searches also took place and documents, computers and mobile phones were seized.
A garda spokesman said the operation was part of an investigation into a conspiracy to murder an individual in another jurisdiction.
Members of the Garda National Support Services and the Special Detective Unit were also involved in this morning's operation.
Gardaí say they are working closely with police forces in a number of other European countries and in the US.
The seven people arrested this morning range in age from their mid-20s to their late-40s.
They are being questioned at garda stations in Waterford, Tramore, Dungarvan and Thomastown.
All are being detained under section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, which allows for them to be held for up to a week.
Those in custody are originally from Morocco and Yemen, but it is understood they all have refugee status and are legally in the country. It is believed they know each other and some could be related.

Misdialled numbers

Catholic News Agency has a story here about a woman who telephoned her local death mill because she was running late for her scheduled abortion. She misdialled the number and ended up talking to a representative of 40 Days for Life, a pro-life group. She ended up cancelling the abortion and decided to carry the child to term.

St Frances of Rome

9 March is the memmorial of St Frances of Rome. The breviary entry says about her:

"Born in Rome in the year 1384. She was married when very young and gave birth to three children. She lived in troubled times and gave her goods to the poor and tended the sick. She was outstanding in virtue especially in humility, patience and devotion to the needy. In the year 1425 she founded a Congregation of Oblates following the rule of Saint Benedict and died in 1440."

In the life of Saint Frances of Rome, Lord
You gave us an outstanding example
of the married state and of the religious life.
Grant that we may discern your presence
in all the circumstances of our lives,
and follow you to the end of our days.

St John of God

St John of God was born in Portugal on 8 March 1495. He served in the army in Spain under Emperor Charles V before becoming a friar and dedicating the remainder of his life to the poor and sick.

He founded a hospital in Grenada and is probably best known as founder of the Order of Hospitallers aka Brothers Hospitallers of St John of God.

St John of God died on his 55th birthday on 8 March 1550 and was canonised by Pope Alexander VIII in 1690. He is the patron saint of hospitals, the sick, nurses, fire fighters, alcoholics and booksellers.

Anti-Catholicism and British politics

Damian Thompson had a very interesting op-ed in yesterday's Telegraph titled "Gay church blessings and a crisis of faith". The whole piece can be found here.

Much of the article makes sense to me. I certainly agree that Labour's overarching guiding light is " an ideology of human rights rooted in European secularism". There is no doubt too that we are often our own worst enemy and the comment "..many of the leaders and most of the bureaucracy of the Anglican and Catholic Churches in Britain are rooting for Labour in the culture wars" is spot on.

The article also picks up on the fact that Catholics in the cabinet have been systematically removed since Paw Broon took over. What the article doesn't do, perhaps for obvious reasons, is point out that Scottish Presbyterians are, to a man, anti-Catholic bigots. Ask any Scottish Catholic who lives in, say Bridgeton, or Ibrox, or Govan how welcome he feels in his own country. Ask any Catholic who lives in a small town like Kilwinning or on Lewis or Harris or North Uist how free he feels to practice his faith. Ask any Glasgow Catholic subjected Orange marches all summer long how that feels.

Can it be mere coincidence that since the "son of the manse" has taken over as Dear Leader, all practicing Catholics have been removed from Government?

Oh give me a home,
Where there's no Pope of Rome
Where there's nothing but Protestants stay.
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And flute bands play The Sash every day.

Really cool music video

This is too good not to share.



h/t: Fr Finigan

After the Australians come the Americans

I love it when a plan comes together!

In February we had the news that Forward in Faith Australia had voted in favour of accepting the Pope of Christian Unity's offer for an Ordinariate.

Now comes the news that the Traditional Anglican Communion in the USA have made the decision to formally request an Ordinariate for the USA.

Deo gratias

Saint Casimir, patron of Lithuania, Poland and the young

Today is the feast day of St Casimir.

The breviary says about him: "Born in the year 1458, the son of the King of Poland. He practiced the Christian virtues especially chastity and love of the poor. He was conspicuous for a firm faith and for his veneration for the Holy Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin Mary. He died of phthisis in the year 1484."

St Casimir was canonised by Pope Adrian VI in 1522.

Catholic and being stuck in the past

What is it with Anglicans and their desperate desire to be seen as Catholic? Richard Harries, the former bishop of Oxford, stakes his somewhat shaky claim in this article in The Times.

The premise of the article is, essentially, that as an Anglican he is already a Catholic, only better. The only better part is founded on the Anglican misconception that objective truth doesn't exist and that the church should accept the prevailing mores of society ie "move with the times". Artifical contraception - check. Abortion (in difficult cases of course) - check. IVF - check. Gay "marriage" - check. Ordination of women - check. And so the list goes on.

Moral relativism by leading Anglicans is nothing new. What is new is the outrageous attempt to legitimise the lack of doctrine or adherence to truth by suggesting that Cardinal Newman would somehow have approved of present state of Anglicanism.

I suspect the only sense in which Blessed John Henry Newman may have approved is that the present Anglican state of affairs is driving at least some of its members home to Rome.

Me? I'll take being "stuck in the past".

Fr Dwight Longenecker has a great rant about this same issue on his blog.

St David

St David is not a saint who appears in the General Calendar. He is, however, the patron saint of Wales and so today, 1 March, is a feast in England and a solemnity in Wales.

Very little is known for certain about Saint David. He was probably born in Cardigan circa 520. He was a bishop and primate of Wales and died around 588. He was renowned as a preacher and founded monasteries and churches all over Wales.

Unlike  the patron saints of the other nations making up the British Isles (Andrew, Patrick and George) David was actually born in the country of which he is patron.

He was canonized by Pope Callistus II in 1123.