Category Archives: Weekly newsletter

Do you think with the mind of Christ?

The Catholic Church has always claimed to teach the same doctrines taught by Our Lord JESUS Christ and His Apostles. How do we know this is the case? People often accuse the Catholic Church of having invented many of her doctrines and teachings centuries after Christ. One of the ways we know the Church teaches the same as Christ is through the Fathers of the Church. These are men who helped shape the teaching of the Church in the early years and from whom we have written testimony. Among these Fathers are men who were taught by the Apostles themselves. They are St Clement of Rome, St Polycarp of Smyrna, and St Ignatius of Antioch who was a disciple of St John the Evangelist, and whose feast we celebrated last Tuesday. In their writings they describe what Catholic teaching was from the very beginning, and we can see that what the Church teaches today is the same as it was then. It’s more developed today, but substantially it’s the same.

St Ignatius was born around 30 AD and became the third Bishop of Antioch and was appointed to this See by St Peter. He was martyred in the Colosseum, but left us seven important letters which show what the Church was teaching in those times. In these letters we have the themes that the Catholic Church is a divinely established visible society, whose end is the salvation of souls, and that those who separate themselves from it cut themselves off from God. He taught that the Catholic Church is infallible and cannot err, and that the hierarchy of the Church was instituted by Christ Himself, and that the Holy Eucharist is really and truly the Flesh and Blood of Christ. And why did Ignatius teach this? Because the Apostles taught it. When the Council of Trent made all its decrees in the sixteenth century, it was drawing upon previous councils like Nicaea (325), and Chalcedon (451), and all these councils were going back to the early Fathers, like St Ignatius of Antioch. This is how Church doctrine developed. They didn’t just make it all up. They referred back to what the Church had always taught through St Peter and St Paul, St Clement, St Polycarp, St Ignatius and many others who relayed what Christ said.

Today, there are many corrupt people in the Church who wish to change the teaching we have received from Christ and the Apostles, and there is much talk of this now in the Synod taking place in Rome, particularly in the area of morals and sexuality. In some cases, when people see this happening, they start rejoicing, saying the Church will finally be brought up to date and now we’ll be the same as everyone else, thus making it so much easier to be a Catholic! And this acceptance of the secular agenda is causing much confusion. This should disturb us, because it’s a watering down of the truth we have received from Christ and could potentially cut people off from salvation. Can people thinking like this really believe that JESUS is God, because they’re saying they don’t believe everything He taught? It’s effectively saying He’s just like us, a fallible human being. But we know that the truth doesn’t change and the truth cannot change. So what do we do?

Pray is the first thing. And we are all being called to a deeper conversion. We need to be able to recognise what the teachings of Christ are, and to be able to reject those things which are not of Christ. So we must keep our focus on Him, and be very careful not to go along with the corruption. The so-called novel ideas of today might appear to make the faith easier, or you might even agree with some of them. But the fact is, if we’re thinking something different to what JESUS thinks, we’re off track, and we need to change our thinking and pray for enlightenment.

This is a time of testing, and we need to be an example to other people – to our families, our friends, the people we work with. And as Our Lord said, “let your light shine” (Matthew 5:16) and give glory to God by it. Most people just want to get along and be like everyone else. But in our present situation, if we just try and fit in with everyone else, we’re going to be accepting the corruption and be led astray. We need to reject it, embrace the truth and live it, but always with charity and humility. It’s not a case of “I’ve got the truth and you haven’t”. Many people just don’t know any better these days, and so it’s not just the truth we need to speak. It’s also the example of charity in the way we act, and in the way we treat others. In the words of St Ignatius, “I wish not merely to be called Christian, but also to be Christian”.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC

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A Statement on Marriage from Bishop Patrick

1. It is important that a couple go to see their priest in good time before their wedding. Normally, at least six months’ notice should be given.
2. Marriage preparation is carried out by the priest, often assisted by a group from the parish. Courses arranged on a Deanery basis are recommended.
3.  Catholics are reminded of their obligation to preserve their faith and to do all they can within the unity of their partnership to have all their children baptised and brought up in the faith and practice of the Catholic Church.
4. Non-Catholic partners will be informed of this promise, but they are not asked to make this or any similar promise.
5. Dispensation for a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic to take place in a non-Catholic church can only be granted for a serious reason. Couples who wish to marry in a non-Catholic church should discuss the matter with their priest in good time before their wedding day to see whether a dispensation could be granted.

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Our Guardian Angels

October, as well as being the month of the Holy Rosary, is also the month of the angels, and we celebrated the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels last Monday. People today seem to have forgotten how important and how involved these angels are in our lives.

Angels are spiritual beings which means they don’t have a body. One of the most common misconceptions people have is that if you die in a state of grace and get to Heaven you become an angel. No you don’t! What happens is that you become a disembodied spirit – your soul is in Heaven but you’re not an angel. But we get our bodies back at the final judgement.

It is the common teaching of the Church that every human being is given a guardian angel at birth. St Padre Pio (1887-1968) saw his guardian angel all the time, and he was quite surprised when at the age of 10 he realised this wasn’t the case for everyone else. But it’s not only people who have Guardian Angels. Countries, churches, parishes, dioceses and important buildings have them too. So there’s a lot more going on in the angelic world than we realise. People often say their guardian angel doesn’t help them very much. If that’s the case it’s probably because you don’t ask for his help. The more you pray to him, the more you empower him to help you out. If you never speak to him he’s not going to be able to do much for you. If you have particular weaknesses, you can ask your angel to help you. Good inspirations can often be from your guardian angel.

When God created the angels, they immediately grasped who they were, and that God had created each one with a specific task which is engrained into their very nature. So what this means is that your guardian angel was created specifically for you. God created something above you, but specifically for you. When the angels were created, they all had a choice to either do God’s will or not, and those who didn’t became demons. They either accepted what God wanted of them or they rejected it. The angels, being much more intelligent than we are, could foresee the consequences of their choice, and so their will was fixed or locked forever. So this means that the first choice your guardian angel made was to love and look after you. Imagine that! He chose you above everything else. So on his side of things there is only love and desire for your salvation. From the very beginning of your existence your guardian angel has been concerned about you. He would have rejoiced the day you were born, and on the day of your Baptism he would have rejoiced further as you became a child of God. He would have grieved when you committed sin, but would have rejoiced again when you were restored to God’s grace by making a good Confession. Imagine his happiness as you receive Holy Communion in a state of grace, and when you were made a soldier of Christ at your Confirmation.

Therefore, it must follow that he’d like to have a much more intimate relationship with you, but you have to make it happen by giving yourself over to him and allowing yourself to be guided by him. And he’s doing more for you than you realise anyway. He’s certainly always praying for you and wanting you to become more holy. If you’re sensitive to it, he’s whispering to you good and wise counsel, and he protects you from danger and evil attacks.

After your death it will be your guardian angel who will present you before the Throne of God and plead on your behalf. If you require purification in Purgatory, your angel will visit and console you there. And when that time of purgation is ended, he will take you from the flames of Purgatory and lead you up to the eternal bliss of Heaven. May we know the protection of our angel, and may they intercede and pray for us.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC

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The Promises to those who recite the Holy Rosary

October is the month dedicated to the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary and today is Rosary Sunday. Therefore, the 11.15am Mass will be a Votive Mass of Our Lady of the Rosary. The Rosary is probably the most recognisable Catholic devotion, and it is one of our most powerful spiritual weapons – the weapon as Padre Pio said. Our Lady appeared to St Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche sometime in the 13^th century and told them to promote the Rosary and she made 15 promises to those who say it daily:

1. To all those who shall pray my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and great graces.
2. Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary will receive signal graces.
3. The Rosary will be a very powerful armour against Hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin, and dispel heresy.
4. The Rosary will make virtue and good works flourish, and will obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies. It will draw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5. Those who trust themselves to me through the Rosary will not perish.
6. Whoever recites my Rosary devoutly, reflecting on the mysteries, shall never be overwhelmed by misfortune. He will not experience the anger of God nor will he perish by an unprovided death. The sinner will be converted; the just will persevere in grace and merit eternal life.
7. Those truly devoted to my Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite my Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces and will share in the merits of the blessed.
9. I will deliver promptly from Purgatory souls devoted to my Rosary.
10. True children of my Rosary will enjoy great glory in Heaven.
11. What you shall ask through my Rosary you shall obtain.
12. To those who propagate my Rosary I promise aid in all their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Son that all the members of the Rosary Confraternity shall have as their intercessors, in life and in death, the entire celestial court.
14. Those who recite my Rosary faithfully are my beloved children, the brothers and sisters of JESUS Christ.
15. Devotion to my Rosary is a special sign of predestination.

So these promises show us how invaluable the Rosary is in our spiritual warfare, because those who say it devoutly receive additional graces that those who don’t say it don’t get. Blessed Pope Pius IX said, “Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.” This is how powerful the Rosary is. Many battles have been won against all the odds by thousands saying the Rosary, most famously the Battle of Lepanto on 7^th October 1571, as a result of which Christian civilization was saved. The anniversary of this victory eventually became the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. In more recent times the deliverance of Austria, Brazil and Portugal from communist regimes has been brought about by millions saying the Rosary. Our Lady of Fatima announced herself at her final appearance as the Lady of the Rosary and said at every apparition, “Pray the Rosary daily.”

What more do we need? The recitation of the Rosary can change the course of our lives and of the world. Try with all your might, if you don’t already do so, to make great use of this heavenly weapon, beginning now in this month of October.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC

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The Archangels – St Raphael, St Michael and St Gabriel

On September 29th, this coming Friday, the Church celebrates the Feast Day of Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. These are the ‘super angels’ — the swiftest of them all. Like all angels, they are sent by God to the people: “Praise the Lord, you his angels, who mightily execute his word and obey his command”.

The archangels are the first of the spiritual creatures who proclaim how incredible God is. They are often sent on the most challenging missions. These extra special agents are always before God and serve Him day and night. When they come out of anonymity, they use a personal name, and with this name comes a specific purpose.

The warrior, the diplomat, and the merciful

First is the leader, Michael, fighter of the Dragon, whose name means ‘Who is like God?’ He is the greatest of the archangels. He is the fighter par excellence against the forces of evil. When God needs a strong, fast angel, he sends Michael. He’s the one we invoke after Mass to protect and purify the Church.

Then comes Gabriel, the diplomat, whose name means ‘man of God’. The book of Daniel presents Gabriel as an angel who interprets and explains. He is known mostly for appearing to Zachariah and, of course, to the Blessed Virgin Mary. When God wants to make an important announcement, He sends Gabriel.

And lastly, we have merciful Raphael, whose name means ‘God heals’. In the Book of Tobit, this angel accompanies young Tobias and helps him on his journey. He watches over pilgrims and travellers and also expels evil spirits bringing healing. He introduces himself as one of the seven angels that stand before God, and freely offers our pleas to Him. When God wants to make someone advance on the road of life, He sends Raphael.

When the archangels send us discreet signs

These archangels of light directly tell us how beautiful God is, while the other anonymous angels send us more subtle signs, without ‘banging any doors down’: an intuition to do the right thing, an action to avoid a bad fall, a little help in being true to ourselves, a voice in the back of our head, a gesture just at the right moment, an unexpected happy feeling …you name it they can be there.

By celebrating the archangels, the Church is telling us that we are not alone here on Earth. They fight alongside us against the dark forces of the Evil One, the Devil. They invite us above all to praise God and to take time with them to adore Him. It is then when we might hear them pass by, with or without wings, in the loving silence of prayer.

God created angels to be our protectors and guides in this life. While we may not see them with our physical eyes, they surround us and protect us from many hidden dangers.

Here is a prayer to the Archangels asking them to protect your family from all harm, whether physical or spiritual.

O Jesus, our most holy Redeemer, we ask you to bless our home, our family, our household. Preserve us from all evil. St. Michael, defend us against all the wicked wiles of hell. St. Gabriel, obtain for us wisdom that we may understand the holy will of God. St. Raphael, preserve us from ill health and all danger to life. My Holy Guardian Angel, keep us day and night in the way to salvation, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Fr David Jones OLW

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