INSIDE Alive! FREE Catholic Monthly Newspaper Liar journalist, fake No. 252 February 2019 250,000 copies nationwide www.alive.ie news, cover-up at German magazine Ashley Bratcher Pages 7 & 8

Pro-choice poet’s pain at loss of her baby ● See Page 6 Being a Catholic is most wonderful thing in the world Page 3

Higher Ed Unplanned star shocked deforming students’ to learn her own story minds See Page 5 ● See Page 7

Mindfulness: story What is driving leftwing behind the latest hatred for marriage mega bucks fad Page 12 and the family Page 13

Liberals wrong: Human beings are not chemical scum Page 7

● The content of the newspaper Alive! and the views expressed in it are those of the editor and contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Irish Dominican Province. Alive! 2 February 2019

English bishop launches Christians in NE Syria fear Turkish army SPEAKING to young CHRISTIANS in the north east of Syria are alarmed at people in the year 2000 ‘Year of Holiness’ the threat posed to their very existence if the US Pope John Paul II quot- withdraws its troops and gives the green light for ed St. Catherine of Turkey to take over the war against Islamic State. Siena, “If you are what that sheds light on this for us in every moment of “We certainly want you should be, you will problem?” our lives.” to see no Turkish set the world ablaze.” Truth of faith And it is in the Church, troops entering Syria, given the bru- For Bishop Mark Davies in holy yet made up of sinners, Applying that principle, tal history of the England, being “what you that “we find everything we the bishop of Shrewsbury need to grow towards holi- 1915 massacres of should be” means being a Christians carried concluded that “the call to ness.” saint. In his latest pastoral out by the Turks,” holiness is the truth of faith In terms of Church renew- letter the bishop has called Fr. Samir Kanoon, we need to recall at this al, the Bishop of on his people to keep 2019 told Catholic News moment in history.” Shrewsbury added: “No as a “Year of Holiness”, with Service. the focus on becoming This echoed the central lengthy discussions message of Vatican Council Turkey, he said, saints. between us, no restructur- “is still viewed by The renowned French II, that every single person ing or new programmes can is called to become “nothing many as the enemy author, Leon Bloy, he noted, ever be a substitute for the of Christians who spoke the truth when he less than a saint”. striving for holiness.” This teaching on the “uni- Bishop Mark Davies were forced to escape from Turkey, and fled to this region said, “the only great tragedy People dismayed by the and to Aleppo.” in life is not to become a versal call to holiness” turmoil in the Church and was the constant reading of Now Turkey wants to interfere again in Christian affairs in saint.” means that becoming a saint in society should recall past the lives of the saints. northern Syria “and it has a political agenda.” He warned is the ultimate goal of every times, often more difficult This is true for every per- “We have so much to learn that problems could result with more Christians fleeing human life. And it is only than the present, when the son whether “a student, a from them!,” he said. “We northern Syria. when helped by God’s grace saints remained faithful. busy parent, a banker, a fac- find encouragement in their that people achieve it. During the English refor- No-fly zone tory worker or a frail elderly words, which are often sim- Pope Benedict had the mation, for example, saints Syriac Christian groups in the US, and the EU are also person.” ple and profound; and, if we same vision when, visiting like John Fisher and Thomas deeply troubled and have called for a no-fly zone over north- On the same theme Bloy are attentive to their lives, England in 2010, he told a More were willing to give ern Syria to stop any possible Turkish attack. also stated: “The more holy we can draw some of the youth gathering that God their lives rather than betray They issued a statement saying “We urgently need protec- a woman is the more greatest lessons. woman she is,” a truth that never wants anyone to ‘Spirituality’ the Faith. tion from Turkey’s threats to invade and ‘cleanse’ our terri- applies to men too. aspire for second best in life. Pope Francis, said Bishop tory from Christianity, religious freedom, and democracy.” The bishop wants to pro- He wants the very best for The bishop warned, how- Davies, likes to speak of Handing over to Turkey, they said, “leaves us powerless mote daily prayer, frequent every person, and the best is ever, that many books today people whom he describes and open to be destroyed by either Turkey, or other regimes Confession, reading the holiness. have the title of “spirituali- as “the saints next door.” scrambling to see our destruction.” lives of the saints, thinking “It is important to remem- ty,” but he would encourage They are the people who Yezidi groups, also fearing a Turkish assault on Kurds, have warned of “waves of refugees” from the region flooding into like a Catholic and, above ber that our striving for people not to waste time or “have a supernatural per- Iraq. They too have urged Washington to “delay withdrawal of all, taking part in Sunday holiness doesn’t consist in even risk reading books that spective on life and fill the forces for as long as possible.” Mass and receiving holy doing something strange or might prove misleading or ordinary moments, and In early 2019, Turkey amassed tanks, howitzers and Communion. eccentric,” said Bishop damaging. even the most difficult, with armoured personnel carriers along its border with Syria. In an interview with the Davies. “Holiness is found “It is sure guides we are great love.” US Catholic Register he in the framework of our looking for, and we will find As the pope points out, recalled how Pope John ordinary lives and amid our them in the saints!,” he said. “the Lord wants us to be Paul II, when faced with a daily work and duties.” In the saints people will saints and not to settle for a Number of murders big problem, always asked: An important help which learn that sanctity “consists bland and mediocre exis- “What is the truth of faith he especially recommended in wanting what God wants tence.” soaring in Latin America

Abortion fundamentally transforms A NEW report from a Brazil-based think-tank says that more than 2.5 million people have been mur- dered in Latin America in the past 18 years. society: Guatemala Supreme Court Four countries alone, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela, account for a quarter of the world’s killings. through euphemisms such as the “right “The sheer dimensions of homicidal violence are breathtak- GUATEMALA’S Supreme Court to safe abortion” and “pregnancy ter- ing,” says the report. While the continent has only 8% of the has warned that aborting unborn Astrid mination”. Ríos world’s population it has 33% of its murders, with the rate set children “fundamentally trans- It also pointed out that “abortion is to continue rising and security decreasing. forms society, making it progres- never safe for the unborn child,” adding Nearly half the victims are aged 15 to 29, and 75% of deaths sively insensitive to human suffer- that it also hurts women’s minds and are due to guns, nearly twice the rate for the rest of the world. ing and the piecemeal destruction bodies. With elections looming in several countries some cam- ofIt humanalso gradually life.” leads “to the exclu- The Court shot down arguments from paigners are seeking to capitalise with radical proposals. sion of those most needy of protection, government officials about an interna- Earlier this year one Mexican presidential candidate suggest- such as, the unborn, the sick, the tional trend to progressively reduce ed that the hands of thieves be chopped off. elderly.” legal protection for unborn children. In Brazil the new president has promised to relax gun-con- As an example of what it meant, the The progressive realisation of rights trol laws. He told a local newspaper: “Everyone must have court pointed to “assisted suicide and “is not to be found in pushing the pos- the right to carry a gun, just like in the US. We already have a euthanasia, even for children,” in coun- sibility of annihilating the life of the ‘bang-bang’ going on in Brazil but only one side is allowed to tries that have legalised the destruc- innocent,” it said. shoot.” tion of the unborn. told the Friday Fax. This a “perversion” of what progress The report also highlighted “a major crisis” with the penal The ruling ordered the government to Ríos represented the Associacion la should mean. Helping women in crisis system in the continent. withdraw a pro-abortion “human rights” Familia Importa (AFI) which brought the pregnancies would be progress, it “Virtually every country in Latin America,” it said, “is fac- manual prepared with the help of challenge to the manual before the explained, “not violence against the ing a challenge with prison overpopulation, excessive pre- UNFPA, the UN Population Fund. Supreme Court. innocent.” trial detention, and a deterioration in services. “The Court surpassed all our expecta- The ruling described at length how the A pro-abortion group funded by multi- “Prison violence is explosive – especially in Central and tions in defending the protection of life manual promoted abortion directly as a billionaire George Soros and Planned South America. In Chile, Mexico and Peru, over 75% of sur- from conception,” lawyer Astrid Ríos “right,” as well as indirectly and Parenthood criticised the ruling. veyed inmates report feeling less safe in prison then where they lived before being jailed.” Alive! February 2019 3 We should rejoice in our Catholic faith

he great think about it: we are called to cumstances, uniting our suffering opened to us the Scriptures?” (Lk mission of deep intimacy with God, the holy with the sufferings of Jesus, puri- 24,32). theTrinity and given the sure hope of fies our faith, intensifies our chari- The apostles soon realised that Catholic Church eternal happiness. What could be ty and strengthens our hope. the gospel was good news for the Tis to bring joy to more life-transforming? What We recognise our sins, that they whole world, that they were sent to the world, full, could bring us more joy? cause harm and suffering, that they proclaim to every person the lasting joy. We are given the Word of God, alienate us from God and that we meaning in life that it gave, the Complete fulfil- the Mass, the sacraments, the need to repent. hope that it brought. ment of our Commandments to guide us, the The call to repentance has been The angel had announced that joy deepest desires. life of grace, forgiveness of our much neglected in the Church in to the Bethlehem shepherds: “I The Church sins, Mary as our mother, and so recent decades, but it is the key to bring you news of great joy, a joy to may neglect or much more. It’s mind-blowing. forgiveness and to mercy. By turn- The Civilisation be shared by all the people” (Luke Open betray its call- ness. Many people have great suf- ing from our sins we turn to God, 2,10). ing, it may for- we open up to God and his will. “By all the people!” No one was Moreover, despite our sinful fering and sorrow in their lives, Door get or hide it, Joy has been a fundamental char- to be excluded, neither sinner nor resistance to God, our faith has due to a variety of causes. We may but proclaiming never belittle that pain. acteristic of the Church from the pagan. joy rooted in the built Christian civilisation. That is earliest days. Gabriel’s first word something to be proud of and to Yet deeper than all earthly suffer- With extraordinary audacity the firm hope of heaven remains its to Mary was “Rejoice!” She was to celebrate. ing is the reality of God’s love for apostles began the Church’s mis- mission. be a woman of joy - not without We speak of “the gospel”, the us, and the peace and joy of know- sion of proclaiming Resurrection Already in this life we share the deep sorrow. “good news”. What makes news ing that we are in his hands now joy on Pentecost morning. immense joy of being a member of In response, Mary told Elizabeth: “good”? That it brings happiness and for eternity. The same joy has inspired great the Church, Christ’s body. “My spirit rejoices in God my to people - like good results from We also recognise that being a saints and missionaries through Being a Catholic is the most won- Saviour.” She speaks the joy of self- an examination. Catholic can be a costly joy. The the ages. It also inspires countless derful thing in the world, the surrender to God. And Christ’s gospel is the best martyrs let us see how costly it “ordinary” people to share the greatest gift we could receive. As But it was with Easter that the full news possible - salvation in Christ. may be, just how much may be faith with courage in their own cir- Jesus says: “I have told you these radiance of Christian joy shone in The more we explore, understand asked of us. cumstances. things so that my joy may be in the world. Raised from the dead, and respond to this gift the more Demands For Pope Benedict XVI, joy was you and your joy may be full” (Jn Jesus destroyed the power of death we appreciate it. And the more we central to his vision of life and his 15,11). to hold us. are filled with joy. But without going that far, the Bethlehem ministry. He often said, “we cannot There’s no more hiding it: noth- Our first task, then, is to let this faith can make difficult demands keep such a great joy to ourselves.” ing in this life could compare with joy sink into us, transform us, free on us in daily life, can call on us to No wonder the Scriptures None of us may keep it to our- the blessing of our Catholic faith. It us from sin, shape our outlook on share in the cross of Christ in so emphasise the joy of the disciples: selves. This joy is meant for every is the beginning of eternal life. life. many ways. “Did not our hearts burn within us person on earth. Here is the foun- It is a staggering thing when you But it is not a glib kind of happi- Remaining faithful in such cir- as he talked to us on the way and dation of our mission.

Nuns as seen in RTE and BBCcised the dramas drama’s bias PART 1 of RTE’s mini- against the Catholic faith of series Resistance, set those involved in the con- during the War of flict. Independence, had a It seemed that “the only subplot about “nasty thing worse for the Irish than nuns” and a forced centuries of brutal occupa- tion was the devoutly held adoption.The story was loosely religious convictions of the based on real events, except vast majority of the people that in real life no nuns what- involved,” he said. ever were involved. Historian Ronan McGreevy Fr Conor McDonough O.P. noted the clumsy twist too. told the Irish Catholic that Fantine in the BBC drama He tweeted that the adop- the true story “involved a Les Misérables tion story seemed to have woman losing custody of her has her child taken from her been “gratuitously and not son after a court battle with by nuns, who effectively sell very subtly shoe-horned into her parents-in-law.” her child to wealthy [the] drama.” She was later “reunited Americans.” Meanwhile BBC 1, in its with him, thanks to the help McDonough remarked on superb 6-part production of of a priest, by agreeing to the RTE twist, “The ‘evil Les Misérables, based on spy for the IRA.” nuns’ trope simply had to be Victor Hugo’s novel, pre- Colin Teevan’s drama for deployed, apparently.” sents a very different picture RTE, however, changed the Presbyterian theologian, Dr of both nuns and Catholic plot and “now the woman Kevin Hargaden, also criti- clergy. It is through encountering a kind, generous, saintly bish- op that ex-prisoner Jean Valjean is saved from a life of crime. And the nuns in the story, in their care of the dying Fantine and their protection of Valjean, are movingly depicted as tender, dedicat- ed to the poor, and fearless. Hugo, a “freethinker”, was no friend of the Catholic Church, but he didn’t let that twist his art. Alive! 4 February 2019 Abortion law is beginning of return to Penal Laws era

by Gerard Murphy need the backing of the whole at work. They may even be The present abortion law is the SHAKESPEARE and the Resistance, a new book by Clare community in doing so. forced out of their profession. beginning of a new Penal Law Asquith, explores the bard’s role in the political and reli- But arguing for “freedom of Nor will young pro-life peo- era. “No Catholics need apply.” gious opposition to Elizabeth I’s regime. conscience” only undermines ple enter these professions, The longer this campaign of their case, given the way “free- leading not only to a shortage evil is allowed to go on, the It also shows that England under Julian, the apostate dom” and “conscience” are of carers but also a radical cor- more tyrannical the state will under the queen was “a highly Roman emperor, during the understood today. become. And the more difficult Protestant rebellion, the French ruption of the health service. successful police state” and “a Freedom of conscience has Candidates it will be to oppose an increas- and Russian revolutions, not country kept in check by ter- become, in fact, the “right to ingly oppressive regime. ror”. How had it come to this? only the Church but the people Politics too will become exclu- pay dearly. choose” ideology in disguise. Meanwhile, Church leaders The trouble began with Henry By founding an argument on it sive. Already a Catholic can no slumber on, apparently oblivi- VIII, his takeover of the Church Ireland is now heading in the longer be president of Ireland. same direction, and the recent we accept and further entrench ous or indifferent to what is and his massive theft of Church The selection of pro-life candi- abortion law, with its contempt the ideology in society. Yet this happening. Catholic hospitals land and goods, all done with dates to contest elections will for God and for reason, shows is what needs to be rejected. killing unborn babies, for the “silent submission” of the Better to argue that being be ruled out by the parties, as is example, betray Christ and the clergy in what was “the suicide how far matters have already gone. involved in abortion is morally already happening with US whole community. of ecclesiastical authority”. Evil law Cromwell butchering evil or against God’s law, and Democrats. We are in the midst of an ide- Radical reformer William women and children in that being forced to do evil Schools and teachers will be ological war and we need to Drogheda. Cobbett, in the mid-1820s, Catholic doctors and other attacks human dignity and pressured to promote accep- realise that. We must decide reviewed the longterm effects pro-life people in health care passed a law that seeks to com- destroys society. tance of abortion, same sex which side we are on. Are we of the “rape” of the Church: not recognise the terrible evil an pel doctors to commit such an The recently passed abortion “marriage” and the whole for life, hope and God, or for only Elizabethan terror but abortion is. They may not evil, contradicting their life- law shows democracy morph- “right to choose” ideology. And despair? “pauperism, that disgraceful involve themselves in the rack- saving vocation and betraying ing into tyranny in our country. the corruption will continue to Can we even recognise politi- immorality, that fearful preva- et. Nor refer a pregnant mother both their patients. One major effect of the law is spread into other areas of life. cal attempts to promote evil for lence of crimes of all sorts.” to a killer doctor to have her Doctors and health care work- that Catholics and other pro-life For more than a century the what they are? History shows that when the child destroyed. ers need to fiercely oppose this health care workers will face Penal Laws unjustly discrimi- Everyone is needed to take a state turns on the Church, Yet Irish politicians have corruption of law. And they harassment and discrimination nated against Irish Catholics. stand for justice and goodness. Monthly Musings Apology from Tesco ON the Feast of the Epiphany, Irish women traditionally also cele- by Niamh Uí Bhriain brate Oíche Nollaig na Niamh Uí Bhriain is a mother and human rights activist. mBan, so that women can have a well-earned rest after Christmas. Ban smacks of totalitarianism This year, Tesco Ireland marked the day by post- ON 4th January, seven pro-life people condoned. The only good outcome ing a photo of former President Mary Robinson on social held a silent vigil outside the first de for a woman in crisis, it seems, is an media with her comment, “I was elected by the women of facto abortion centre in Galway (pic- abortion. Ireland who, instead of rocking the cradle, rocked the sys- tured right). It was a peaceful event, Prayers, support, love, compassion tem.” If Tesco thought disparaging part of their most important and their signs urged a better option – anything that might interfere with customer base would do them any favours they were quick- than abortion for women with an an abortion being carried out will not ly disabused of the notion. unexpected pregnancy. be tolerated. “Dear Tesco Ireland, I resent the implication that mother- Maria Mahoney, who took part, said On the other hand, the attacks on hood is a less noble vocation than politics... It’s a sad soci- they wanted to highlight that a doc- Prof Kinsella’s tweet were countered ety turns mothers against their own children,” tweeted one tor has two patients when a woman with hundreds of support messages woman. is pregnant, and also reach out to on social media. They recognised that Another pointed out “Mothering isn't something we do. The human rights organisation women with a message of support. Mothers is who and what we are. It is our life. You wanna founded to protect freedom of con- this unwarranted reaction to a Abortion campaigners and their rock the system? Go home and rear your children and be science wants people locked up request for prayer indicated a hatred media allies reacted with shrieks of the best mother you can possibly be.” because they are peacefully protest- of faith and an intolerance of alterna- outrage, and calls for “buffer zones”, Backlash ing something their conscience tells tive views. essentially a law which would crimi- Facing a backlash, the retail giant had the grace to issue them is morally wrong. You couldn’t Harris was quick to reassure his FG nalise anyone peacefully protesting an apology. “This [social media] post was intended to cele- make this stuff up. colleague - and his fellow abortion outside an abortion centre. Prayers campaigners - that he would move to brate inspirational Irish women for Nollaig na mBan on Sen. Catherine Noone described the outlaw peaceful protest. But he may Sunday. We are truly sorry if it caused offence, this was never our intention.” peaceful witness as “intimidating The hostility of Noone and her come up against a Constitutional behaviour” which “will not be toler- The retraction showed that while taxpayer-funded quangos cohorts didn’t stop there however. obstacle to his plans. like the Women's Council may feel free to dismiss the value ated”. She urged Simon Harris to When Professor Ray Kinsella tweeted He will also find that the pro-life of rocking the cradle, retailers know they can’t afford to speed up the process of creating a request for prayers for a change of movement will not bow to Twitter insult women who value full-time caring for family when it’s exclusion zones. heart for a woman scheduled to have mobs, nor to an unjust law which possible. We’re treading on very dangerous an abortion, the pitchforks really seeks to restrict our ability to be a In the retail wars, the customer is king, and political cor- ground when a law-maker feels she came out. voice for helpless babies and offer rectness comes a poor second. That’s worth remembering. can say that peaceful protesters will Twitter agreed that the request for women a better answer than abor- not be tolerated because they oppose prayers was “evil” and could not be tion. government policy. It's a significant step towards totali- relation to compassion and human decency, policy platform, exceeded all expectations in the tarianism, that should worry anyone From the ashes recent elections across Europe have thrown up elections. who believes in freedom of assembly WHILE Ireland has now tragically repealed the some interesting results. In Ireland, Peadar Tóibín, Renua, and indepen- In December’s Andalusian elections in the and freedom of speech. right-to-life 8th amendment, we should recognise dents like Mattie McGrath and Carol Nolan are south of Spain a pro-life political party founded Colm O’Gorman, head of Amnesty that this country continued to protect life for 50 offering political change and a new alternative. International, (now probably the only four years ago won 12 seats in the regional years after most of Europe had fallen to the A cultural change to reverse the worst of what most hypocritical outfit on the planet, parliament and looks set to hold the balance of abortion industry. came so late to Ireland may become a reality and one entirely lacking in self- power in a coalition government. awareness) also called for a law to However, even as Ireland hits rock bottom in Vox, whose strong pro-life pillar is central to its sooner rather than later. impose exclusion zones. Alive! February 2019 5 Aerial photos reveal We do need your support, please! ruins of historic church AFTER hears of search- ing, archaeologists have found what appear to be Alive! accepts CREDIT CARD Donations & Payments the ruins of one of the most important places in Tel: 01-404 8187 Christian history, the church where the AIB, Tallaght • Sort Code: 933317 Council of Nicea was Account Name: Alive Together • Account No: 29097-110 heldArchaeologist in the year 325.Mustafa Sahin had spent years IBAN ie61aibk93331729097110 • BIC bicaibkie2d. exploring the shores of a Anonymous Donations He believes the church was modern-day lake, Lake Iznik, E T in Turkey, but it was aerial built in honour of St E400: An; U I wish to support Alive!. Enclosed is my donation for

Neophytos, a hermit. He E300: Cork; O photos of the lake that 250: An; CK; An D24; E E E E also thinks it marks the site E T revealed the submerged 200: M&RH; E U 1,000 500 250 100 church. of the former Senate Palace

100: LB; T&BE; NN; C “The photography team in where the first Council of VHB&MB Dub; T&BE; E E E E Bursa City Hall have been Nicaea took place nearly JEFMacN; CB; 50 25 15 other photographing the Lake 1,700 years ago. 65: Legion of Mary & FriendsE Limavady; since 2013, but hadn’t The council was held to 50: SB; Pensioner Cork; Name thought of contacting any examine the theories of MJW; MJW; Canon’s; CNiC; Arius who held that the Son DEO’R; An;E ND; BG;E expert,” said Sahin. Address ✄ “Then a team member of God was only a creature. 40: An; 36: JM;E 30: Co. Leitrim; KD; An; 25: JJF; asked me if the remains of It overwhelmingly decided MB;E FM; Joe Mc Tralee; An; Tel: the building might have that the Son had been begot- 20: Montenotte; EC; Star meant something.” Sahin ten from the Father from all Monaghan; DR; West Cork; Please send your donation to: was amazed at “the magnifi- eternity. WE hitehall; An; An Galway; 10: Taiwo; An; PR; cent structure” just below It was also here that the STG: £100: PM; £50: CMB; the water. Nicene Creed was drawn up, Alive!, St. Mary’s Priory, Tallaght, Dublin 24 which is still recited in Mass. The church was destroyed If 8,000 people contribute just E20 each we can continue for another year. Sunday Mass by an earthquake in 740 AD numbers in Poland and sank beneath the lake. SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO DONATED TO ALIVE! DURING JANUARY up by 1.6%

NEW research reveals that the rate of participation in Unplanned star shocked to learn her own story Sunday Mass in Poland has risen by 1.6%. About half a million more IN a recent interview on Fox the greatest pro-life stories of all Catholics took part in the News American actress Ashley time.” Eucharist in 2017 com- Bratcher told how she had no Later that night, and still stunned, pared with 2016. The idea who Abby Johnson was she called her father. She wanted to number receiving Holy when she first auditioned to know, “Is this true? Why didn’t Communion rose by play her in the upcoming movie, someone tell me?” 300,000. Unplanned. He explained that they had agreed The data was collected A 6-page plot summary of the film they were too young to have a baby. from parishes for the left her wondering: “how could this “We didn’t have enough money so I Institute for Catholic incredibly passionate woman one pawned a shotgun so we could pay Church Statistics. Despite day change her mind about every- for the abortion,” he said. decades of communist thing she believed in?” And they did not know when was rule and growing secular- But she would be shocked later on the right time to tell their daughter ist propaganda, 38.3% of to discover that her own life was that they had been going to abort Polish Catholics took part more intimately linked to the plot her. in Mass in 2017. than she realised. Grateful Johnson was one of Planned Ashley Bratcher Abby Johnson Parenthood’s youngest clinic direc- Bratcher still doesn’t know “how to put into words what it feels like tors in the US, had two abortions thought twice about it until it was experience that Abby described to learn you were seconds away herself, and helped facilitate the time to explain Unplanned.” while working at Planned from never existing.” destruction of about 22,000 unborn Then the truth came out. “I need to Parenthood shook me to my core,” She added, “I’m so grateful that babies before she left. tell you something that I’ve never said Bratcher. my mother believed my life was Called in to assist in an ultra- Blacklist told you before,” her mother said on more valuable than the price of a sound-guided abortion at 13 weeks, the phone. “When I was 19 I went to shotgun, that the money intended to she was shocked to see the baby On landing the role she was have an abortion, with you.” squirming and twisting to avoid the warned it could end her career, that She continued, “I was at the clinic end my life was used to give me life. vacuum tube. A week later she Hollywood could blacklist her. She sitting on the table when the nurse, “I’m grateful that God, through his resigned. decided she still wanted to play it. who was very pregnant, came in to providence, planted me here to tell In 2012 she was received into the But she was worried about the examine me. I got really sick to my my story and that I have the privi- Catholic Church and today she is effect it might have on her mother. stomach and I knew I couldn’t do it. lege of sharing this film with the one of America’s best-known pro- “When I was in high school, she I got up and I walked out and I world.” life advocates. shared with me that she’d had an chose you.” She admitted, “yes, I do secretly She also runs And Then There Were abortion when she was 16,” said the For Bratcher it was “mind-blow- hope that one outcome of all of None, an organisation to help abor- actress. ing” that she didn’t discover this these ‘coincidences’ is that many tion workers quit their jobs and get “At 19, she became pregnant with part of her own life-story “until will find the courage my mother out of the abortion racket. me. ‘I knew I could never have an after I had stepped into this role to found when she listened to her con- The film, due for release in March, abortion again,’ she told me. It was play Abby Johnson and tell one of science and made the choice that is based on her biography. “The a casual conversation. I never gave me life.” Alive! 6 February 2019 Poet tells a side of FAMILY LIFE Very happy with my role story we rarely hear as a full-time mammy with Aoife de Clar

eyla Josephine is a hat do you do?” “Do I’m a little organised things in a zoo. There is plenty we young poet from you have a job?” Such usually fall into place. could improve on. But we are Glasgow. She recites Wquestions are often put Maybe I paint a terrible pic- trying to be the best parents we her poetry in a quick-fire The to me as I go about my daily ture of mothering seven young can be. Lway. Her poem, I Think She life. I always answer “I’m a children when we are all out We are always here for our Was A She, has been viewed mother”, and I might add a together, but I actually think my children, creating a happy more than 36,500 times on smile. life is fairly easy. home. A home that our children YouTube. That’s a lot of H Once somebody asked “You When I compare myself to enjoy being part of. A mother views. TH UT don’t do anything else?” I didn’t YOOU mothers in paid employment who tries, and often fails mis- It is about an abortion she Y even bother replying to that my heart bleeds for them. How erably, to mirror the mother- had as a teenager. She is one. hard it must be for a mother to hood of Our Lady. writing about it maybe ten Why is motherhood so under- have to leave her children in A father who strives to be a years later, and is vehe- valued today? Why is being a order to bring extra earnings good provider and guardian just mently “pro-choice”. All mother not enough anymore? I into the home. as St Joseph was. We brought the same, I think Leyla’s FORUM like being a mother. I’m very How complicated it must be these children into the world. desire to be truthful make happy with my role as a full time for the mother to organise Pro-Life They are not a burden. They are this is a powerful however, between giving mammy. after-school activities and video. a blessing and were gifted to your life for a cause and I didn’t choose it. It’s what I lessons and a childminder to us. Very moving in places, it having it taken from you became when I had my first act as mother to her children certainly shows that an when you couldn’t protect child almost fourteen years while she is away. Mortgage abortion is not a minor, it. It’s not easy to be fully ago. My children are my respon- Sadly financial pressures are quickly forgotten proce- truthful. sibility, which I didn’t want to forcing mothers to leave their dure. The poem begins: After this the poem turns hand over to anyone else. children so they can earn a “I think she was a she. No. I into a kind of rant for abor- Being a mother is not my job, wage. Couples struggle with know she was a she and I think tion. The tone becomes or work. It is who I am. mortgage repayments and that she would have looked angry, combative and brit- Motherhood is my life, it’s a there is very little help for just like me: full cheeks, hazel tle. great life and if I had my life ten them. eyes and thick brown hair that But mixed in there is a times over, I would choose the In fact, many single-income I could have plaited into fragile, defensive attitude. very same life every time. families like ourselves are dreams at night. She argues for “choice” but A nice lady recently told me refused mortgages simply “I would have stuck up aborted her baby girl that my life will be much easier because the mother is at glow-stars on her ceiling and because she felt she had no when the children are bigger. home. So mothers are forced told her they were fireflies to Leyla Josephine choice. Meantime I might get a part- out of home if they ever want protect her from the dark. I Leyla concludes: “I don’t time job so I could get ‘a little to have their own home. would have told her stories sad way. care about your ignorant break’. It was the funniest thing I recently heard us full-time about her grand-father; we views. When I become a How distressing it must be to In time to come, will she and I laughed while she looked mothers called ‘Non-conform- could have fed the swans at the mother, it will be when I leave a sick or upset child imagine her daughter leav- on blankly. ing Economic Females’. Yet we park. choose.” because your shift is about to ing home for college, the If I wanted a break I’d get a have the most important duty “She would have been like Defiant words. However, start. pride she would have felt at babysitter and go to bed or for a in the world. you too, long limbs with a sar- her graduation, the missed they tell only part of the How exhausting it must be swim, not out to work for some- catching up on household We are rearing future adults, castic smile and the newest joy of having a grandchild? story. Becoming a mother body else! Is full-time mother- pair of kicks. She would have for her does not just lie in duties, grocery shopping, cook- moulding our children into Maybe the video got so hood really seen as something strong, confident, God-loving been tough, tougher than I many views because Leyla the future, it is also a past ing and the endless laundry so bad that people think an out- people who will, please God, ever was, and I would have vents the lasting, painful experience. when all you want to do is sit side job is a ‘break’? recognise motherhood as an taught her all that my mother thoughts and feelings that Despite her pro-choice down and talk to your children irreplaceable role and a title to taught me. many women experience in position, Leyla powerfully Running around who are all fighting for your be proud of. “And I would have taken her the silence of their hearts, highlights an aspect of abor- With a bigger family there’s a attention. I never really understood just to all the museums and there and never hear other peo- tion that gets little attention, lot of running around and How stressful it must be for a how wonderful and selfless my she could see the bone ple speak about. its lasting painful impact on appointments to be met, but father who wants the best for dinosaurs and look to them She doesn’t speak of so many women. it’s a very simple life and once his family, to see his wife strug- mother was until I had my own and wonder about all the clumps of cells, or shirk the gle to juggle everything. children. My parents enjoyed the odd night out, and a things that came before she reality of a death. She will A lived-in home was born. She could have been Religious teenagers happier babysitter sat with us, but tell it like it is. I wonder what My house is usually a mess. born. is really going on behind her apart from that they were “I would have made sure A NEW US study has found that teenagers from a religious It’s a lived-in home where chil- always there. tough, hard outside. dren are constantly snacking, that we had a space on the wall She insists, almost desper- home are far more likely to be happy, are more willing to for- I trusted them and they give, and are less likely to have depressive symptoms than singing, reading, playing, to measure her height as she ately, that she is “not understood me. These years those deprived of a faith upbringing. squabbling, falling over, and I’m grew. I would have made sure ashamed”. Perhaps the real pass very quickly. I don’t want Those who attended a religious service were 47% more like- always there to sing along, help I was a good mother to look up issue is not shame but a to have any regrets. We will ly to have a high sense of mission and purpose in life, and with that word they can’t mas- to. grief she cannot recognise. enjoy our budget holidays and were 18% more likely to report high levels of happiness. ter, solve a quarrel, kiss a “But I would have supported It is like she is yearning to our camping trips and our chil- her right to choose. To choose a “Parents who bring up their children religiously can be reas- bumped head and feed a peck- dren will enjoy the security of mourn the loss of her little sured that, on average, they are creating important psycho- life for herself, a path for her- ish child. having a parent there for them girl but she is afraid to let logical and behavioural health benefits that their children will self. “I would have died for I’m always ready to listen whenever they need us. herself do so. carry with them into adulthood,” said the report. A shock when my children have a prob- We may struggle from time to that right, just like she died for Researchers at the Institute for Family Studies and at lem or just want to talk to me. time to keep our heads above mine. Harvard, led by Tyler J. VanderWeele, followed some 5,000 When Leyla states: “I Jobs are spread through the “I’m sorry, but you came at adolescents for eight years plus. water but our Catholic faith would have died for [her] day so when daddy comes the wrong time. I am not They found strong evidence “that a religious upbringing can has gotten us through many right, just like she died for home from work and all the chil- ashamed. I am not ashamed. I profoundly help adolescents navigate the challenges of these hard times in the past and for mine,” it is a shock. dren dive on him, there’s a bit am not ashamed.” years.” It also “contributes to a wide range of health and well- that we are extremely grateful. Years later Defenders of “choice” don’t of order so we can all sit down We pray Our Lady will keep being outcomes later in life.” and chat and enjoy each other. often mention death, the Young people with faith were also 30% less likely to have sex our children safe and that St Years after the abortion I am not saying we do every- grim reality in every abor- at a young age and 40% less likely to end up with a sexually Joseph will continue to inspire Leyla is still fantasizing thing right in our house. tion. transmitted infection. and guide us on our parenting about her little girl in a very There is a big difference, The researchers noted that people do not practise religion for Sometimes I feel like I’m living journey. health reasons, but the health benefits are a side-effect. Alive! February 2019 7 Human beings are not chemical scum

IRISH society in now largely ticated about people who person might end up today in the grip of a culture of have no real hope, who attack with such an empty view of Editor’sEditor’s despair. This is evident in marriage and family life, turn life. But only a disturbed per- activities as diverse as wide- against their own children son desperate for some pur- spread drug abuse, adultery, and their own future, glorify pose in life would seek to cel- consumerism, obsession with violence against the innocent, ebrate or promote such and denigrate motherhood. despair. Jottings sport. Core belief Contrast Jottings Despair is vigorously pro- moted by the political estab- The core belief of Secularism In contrast to this is the lishment, our corrupt media, was best summarised by Christian gospel of joy, hope, A closer look at our bewildered education Stephen Hawking when he eternal life and happiness, stories in the industry and state bodies. It is described human beings as rooted in Christ’s chic. Resurrection. “just a chemical scum on a Stephen Hawking round... Lack of hope also degrades moderate-sized planet.” However we look at it, the our cultural institutions, leav- This view of humanity was less power under the rubric, person who has most shaped ing them unable to distin- western civilisation for the not expressed by a margin- “right to choose”. guish between beauty and past 2,000 years, its morality, alised idiot but by one of the An intellectually and moral- ugliness, what nourishes and great icons of the post-mod- education, art, law, science, ly bankrupt ideology, it treats what is toxic. ern age. So it deserves a lot family life, is Jesus Christ. Today’s despair is promoted more attention than it each person as an isolated His gospel responded to the under cover of that big love- receives. individual, scratching for deepest yearning in people’s less deceit, Liberalism or From it flows the full horror moments of gratified appetite hearts, helped them make Secularism, which gives it a of Secularism, its contempt before the light goes out for- sense of their lives and gave Media cover-up of veneer of sophistication. for life, love, truth, fidelity; ever. them the hope of heaven. But there is nothing sophis- and its glorification of ruth- We can understand how a That gospel of hope is as true and transformative today as it EUROPE’Sits own most respected dirty news magazine, linen Der Spiegel, ever was. has been caught peddling fake news, major news sto- But the Church has to pro- ries which were just a pack of lies. Higher ignorance deforming minds claim it. Filled with joy and Star reporter Claas Relotius was exposed as a liar hope, the Church should be journalist, dishing out fake news for years (see page 9). FOR centuries an educated person was on fire to proclaim it to our His stories may have helped to intensify hostilities in someone to be admired. Today he or she is people and to the whole several war zones and people may even have died as a likely to be a nice, hopeless, aimless know- world. result of his lies. nothing, proudly viewed by some college or This is no time for watered The scandal sent shock waves through the world’s down teaching, which is real- university as an achievement. media but received nothing like the publicity it merits. ly a fake gospel. It is no time That lecturers can’t recognise the intellec- It was almost completely ignored by the Irish media. for withdrawal, silence, tual deformity they cause is one root of the No demands so far, for example, that his many awards timidity or cowardice. Joy education crisis. Nor will many of the be rescinded. and love for others must drive deprived students ever recognise that they Briefly reported on RTE’s website and by Derek Scally us into the thick of life, pro- in the Irish Times, it quickly vanished from sight. No in- were hoodwinked at college. claiming Christian hope. depth Prime Time analysis; no secularist piosity from This piece is not an attack on education as any of our righteous columnists. such, but on the leftwing ideology that But the story is crucially important and it deserves dominates so much of modern education, maximum coverage. How widespread is this kind of especially since it abandoned its concern for corruption in the media, an industry that backs truth. “choice” morality above truth? The distortion of education already pre- young people for life, how can a university Der Spiegel tried to blame gullible readers. Relotius vails in our universities and is being pushed which has no clue what life is about, which got away with his fakery, it claimed, due to the “almost more and more on 2nd and 1st level schools is afraid to even raise the question, help the boundless willingness” of people “to consider even the by ministers and bureaucrats. young? most incredible stories to be true, as long as they seem It’s never too early, it seems, to begin cor- How can lecturers decide whether or not at least plausible.” rupting the minds and hearts of children. what they are teaching, apart from know- The magazine was advising us to trust nothing we Rooted in the wider culture, modern edu- how, is even worth the bother; that it is not hear or see in the media. Have we got that? Two sides cation reflects many of the fundamental simply a great confidence trick, ripping off problems in society. As a result, our centres students and their parents? The scandal had two sides. First, the exposure of the of higher education have turned into Seats Lacking a vision of life’s purpose, and Moral confusion liar journalist and his activities. of Higher Ignorance. communicating that lack of vision, a college The other was the vicious attempt by bosses and staff Soulless cogs ends up blighting its students’ souls. Re the abortion referendum, at the magazine to suppress the scandal and to dis- A true education assumes a rational order Fianna Fáil TD Micheál credit Juan Moreno, the whistle-blower. Society today is seen largely as an econo- in the universe. Otherwise there is no point McGrath (above) told the Irish Moreno went “through three or four weeks of hell” my. So the purpose of education is to pro- in trying to “make sense” of anything. Examiner, “Once people were because “colleagues and senior editors didn’t initially duce consumers and soulless cogs for the But what is that rational order based on? expressing their own personal, believe” him. Indeed, they tried to blacken his name. economic machine, or people filling both Or, to put it differently, where does this sincerely held views, nobody The apparent attempt at cover-up was ignored by the functions, trained to keep the economy order come from? And what is the purpose can have a problem with that.” Irish media. going. for it? Wrong. “Sincerity” is never Had it been Catholic bishops, for example, both RTE Without a passion for truth, however, A dread of these questions and others like enough. Suicide bombers may and the Irish Times would been jumping up and down there can be no meaning in the notion of them, a fear that there is no way to find the be utterly sincere, but that to highlight it. Why the silence when it came to their “excellence”, a fundamental notion in edu- answers to them, lies at the heart of Irish makes what they do no less own? cation. education today. evil, nor does it comfort the vic- Did Relotius get away with his scam for so long Nothing remains only assertion, “views” A new “technological university” has been tims. because he was pushing an agenda favoured by edi- or “opinions”, and building an education set up in Dublin. The very idea is an absur- The focus on “sincerity” is tors? on them is more stupid than trying to build dity, like “same sex marriage” or square cir- part of today’s irrational, “pro- The scandal has a house on quicksand. cle. It’s not a university unless it has more choice” ideology. In fact, we can opened a media Not only does this type of education fail to than technology. And if it has, why call it know the truth, what is morally can of worms. It provide for the wider formation of students, technological? good or evil. Our minds were deserves thorough it undermines the formation given by fami- made for truth, not just opin- public investiga- But it does serve to highlight the dog’s lies, the Church, artistic activities, member- dinner that has been made of our whole ions or “personal views”. tion. But a cover- Muddled thinking in moral up is much more ship in caring voluntary groups, and so on. attempt at education in the modern secular- If education is primarily about preparing ist world. matters is widespread today likely. Claas Relotius but still appalling. Alive! 8 February 2019 Der Spiegel: Liar journalist, fake news, cover-up

media outfit be trusted? ing, “Mexicans keep out”. Irish Times report, even men- is acceptable when the cause Media Relotius, aged 33, has All lies. tioned the opposition and demands it. won many top journalism Der Spiegel later admitted vilification Moreno experi- Der Spiegel tried to blame awards, including CNN’s to readers: “Moreno went enced from his colleagues at the scandal on its readers, Watch “Journalist of the Year” in through three or four weeks the magazine. Other Irish suggesting that people 2014 and the European of hell because his col- papers ignored the story. today are just too gullible. Press Prize. leagues and senior editors The Washington Post insist- “Our willingness to con- Just weeks ago he was didn’t initially believe that ed that “fabrication scandals sider even the most incredi- ■ Relotius could be nothing are extremely rare.” It might ble stories to be true, as long A major “fake news” declared Germany’s more than a liar.” be more accurate to say that as they seem at least plausi- scandal has rocked Der “Reporter of the Year” for a It added that for several detection and exposure of ble, is almost boundless,” it Spiegel, Europe’s biggest detailed and moving story weeks, “Relotius was even such scandals is rare. said. “That was the founda- and most prestigious week- about a young Syrian boy. It Blatant considered to be the victim tion for Relotius’ success.” ly news magazine, and the was his fourth year win- of a cunning plot by Really? shock is being felt through ning the award. For example, it was blatant Truth is, the Syrian story Moreno.” Irish consumers too go on the global media industry. magazine’s editorial board. fake news when an Irish was, in fact, a tissue of lies, All this suggests a frantic trusting the media, not One of the magazine’s star But despite his “well- Times headline and political most of it made up and and vicious campaign by aware of how cynically they reporters, Claas Relotius, researched” evidence, boss- reporter Sarah Bardon stat- based on “hazy” sources. bosses and journalists to are being manipulated, has been exposed as a liar es tried to silence him, they ed, “Ireland votes to remove Relotius has also written deny or cover up the scan- often to push an evil agenda. journalist “on a grand didn’t want to know. constitutional ban on abor- for many other top German dal. So much for the maga- At a deeper level, media scale”, having produced a Nor did colleagues, who tion...” But how many read- news outlets, including Die zine’s grand slogan, “No ers noticed? Or did the Times which support “pro-choice” pack of lies in story after delight in exposing abuse of Welt, and many of his sto- fear of the truth”. care? morality, as most Irish story, year after year. power in state and church, ries were syndicated to Had a politician or bishop The Constitution never media do, need to explain About a quarter of his sto- want to listen to the whistle- other websites. All have engaged in such a cover-up contained a “ban on abor- why reporters should tell the ries so far have been blower or examine his evi- revealed as a mixture of fact been tarnished by the scan- the media would be scream- tion”. So the people did not, truth if they can get away dence. and lies or as completely dal. ing for an inquiry and for and could not have voted to with a lie that boosts their Finally Moreno returned made up. Exposed resignations. “remove” it. They removed story? to America without telling If this kind of fakery and Two senior editors were legal recognition of the right If the ethos in a news room his editors, to track down lying could go on for so The fraud was exposed by finally suspended, pending to life of all unborn children. says that people may do two “sources” Relotius long at Der Spiegel, despite Juan Moreno, a reporter an investigation. But the Having relentlessly cam- what they think necessary to its reputation, all its fact- who worked with Relotius quoted extensively in the global media have been paigned for this arrogance, achieve what they want, checkers, and reporters on a story about the US- article. stunningly silent about the the Irish Times, even after it then what is objectionable knowing they were being Mexican border. Neither had ever met him. cover-up side of this story. had won, did not want to about lying, twisting the “checked”, why should any Becoming suspicious, he Nor was there any town in Neither the RTE website admit the horror. But per- facts, concocting fake news reported his concerns to the Minnesota with a sign say- nor Derek Scally, in his brief haps it thinks that fake news stories?

This is the RTE RTE version of the news.” And the Independent 15/12/18). cations for the North if the back- same with other radio and TV sta- “The big beasts of the Irish stop were used. And he feared version of the tions. media are all backing Leo that Varadkar might not be acting At least it would alert media Varadkar’s backstop strategy,” he in the national interest but in a news consumers to the fact that they are wrote. So it is a good strategy, partisan political interest. ■ being fed just one highly biased then? Not according to Harris. Turning to media groupthink he RTE refers to “The 9 o’clock version or view of what is hap- Local said: “most commentators in the News”. The BBC and Sky also talk pening in the world. Irish media are now so heavily about “The News”. They are all The present manipulation is He believes the border issue invested in Varadkar’s high-risk telling us: “Here is how things are very successful. Research repeat- should have been approached as a backstop strategy they will be in the world and what you should edly shows that far more people political problem to be solved at compelled to become his personal think about them.” trust “the news” than trust jour- doctors, the economy, or the EU, it local level. “Bertie Ahern or Enda cheerleaders to cushion the blow This, then, is a phrase designed to nalists, and not just in Ireland. is journalists who decide what we Kenny would have found a solu- of a hard Brexit.” persuade viewers to trust what But how can this be? Who do will hear, whose voices are exclud- tion by speaking to unionists So, whatever happens, soft or they are about to hear, it is manip- they think select and shape “the ed, and how we are to think. rather than running to the EU.” hard Brexit, “a compliant and ulative. Indeed, it is only the begin- news” if not journalists? Eoghan Harris (above), who Varadkar, however, “repeatedly compromised Irish media will ning of the manipulation that goes Whether the issue be climate occasionally breaks the prevailing alienated unionists of all persua- give Varadkar an honours mark - on in every news bulletin. change, Brexit, Trump’s policies, groupthink in Irish journalism, sions, refusing to accept they had he’s in a win-win situation.” So Perhaps RTE should be obliged the Church, Peadar Tóibín’s new criticised coverage of the so-called rational fears based on facts.” much for “news” and for “inde- to say something like “this is the political movement, baby-killing Brexit backstop (Sunday Harris noted some major impli- pendent” media.

to escape from the sense of inad- equacy that plagues him. He is The Rider lost and aimless. FILM As he gives away his horse and his riding equipment, it is as if he Directed by Chloe Zhao • Distributed by Sony Pictures ow do we define ourselves? actors performing as them. has few friends. The best of them is shedding his skin, casting off the protective shell that was his Is it our personality, where Brady Jandreau lives in the is in permanent care at a medical Review identity, leaving nothing but his H facility following an even more bru- we come from, who we Badlands of South Dakota. His life tal rodeo accident. exposed sense of being without know? Is it about what we do or revolves around horses and com- purpose. what we dream of? Whatever it is, peting on the rodeo circuit. This all Rethink Despite the risk and fully aware these things are fundamental to comes to a violent halt following a The introverted and soulful of how impossible it must be, he who we feel we are. So what hap- shocking accident when a bucking young man must now completely is drawn back to horses, to the and majesty are heartbreaking. pens if they change? horse crushes his skull. rethink his life. The heartland of rodeo ring and to the person he Beyond its narrative though is a The Rider is a haunting film. Left with hindered motor func- America is beautiful, but it is also always believed he was. sobering warning about the fragili- Based on real-life, the events and tions, he is prone to seizures. desolate and isolated. It is early in the year but you will ty and sensitivity that young boys characters are portrayed by the Living with his father, Tim, and There is nowhere for Brady to not see another film like The Rider and men are vulnerable to. They actual individuals as opposed to beloved autistic sister, Lilly, Brady hide from his thoughts, nowhere in 2019. It’s stillness, poignancy too need to be cared for. Alive! February 2019 9 COMMENT EU-funded anti-refugee St. Mary’s Priory, Tallaght, Dublin 24. Tel: 01-4048187 • E-mail: [email protected] wall nobody talks about It is war THE Irish media obsess about Donald Trump’s desire he Irish State is waging war on the Catholic Church. to build a wall along the US border with Mexico. They The aim is to marginalise or destroy not only the are silent, however, about Ireland’s involvement in a 3- Church but also Christian culture. metre (10ft) high wall along the Turkish-Syrian border. The State is abetted in this project by our ever-gullible The purpose of each wall is Last year Der Spiegel Tmedia, the at-sea universities and a host of other state- the same - to keep refugees reported on its own investiga- funded agencies. and migrants out. tion: “The EU states have What is to replace Christianity? Secularism, a religion of Turkey has an 822km bor- provided the Ankara govern- profound despair, with its exclusion of God, its degrading der with Syria whose people ment with security and sur- of human dignity, its rejection of reason and its morality of have been bombarded from veillance technology valued “choice”, favouring the powerful. all directions since 2011, at more than E80 million in A Catholic, for example, can no longer, de facto, be with several EU member exchange for the protection President of Ireland, given the evil bills the president is states joining in. of its borders. now expected to sign into law. What few Irish people “This included the transfer A few weeks ago the State joined forces with the Irish realise is that a wall runs of E35.6 million by Brussels Times, subsidising its production of a leftwing magazine. along 764km (475 miles) of to the Turkish company The 475 mile 10ft high wall along the Turkish/Syrian border. The government also used taxpayers’ money to dispatch that border, funded in large Otokar for the construction of are now trapped in Turkey as copies of the anti-Catholic propaganda to all schools. pay E3 billion to Turkey for so- part by the EU. armoured Cobra II military called humanitarian aid, if refugees, unable to go home This arrogantly promoted the secularist religion and The wall, made from large vehicles, which are now being Turkey itself acted as a or into the EU. Ankara has morality among both teachers and students, even in slabs of concrete, has used to patrol the border to closed the Syrians’ escape Catholic schools. “wall”, keeping the refugees manned and unmanned tow- Syria.” route, due in part to EU pres- In the Children’s Rights referendum parents were fooled inside its borders and out of ers along it, uses the latest sure. into signing over to the State the right to protect their chil- the EU. electronic equipment, includ- Patrolling Fewer people are dying now dren. Now, girls in their early teens can have an abortion “The money was intended to ing heat-detection cameras, Again, the EU commis- in the Aegean, where the without their parents even being informed. help the Syrians in Turkey,” and has patrol routes run- sioned Aselsan, a Turkish number of boat crossings to For decades the State has funded the Women’s Council ning beside it. arms manufacturer, to pro- said Der Spiegel, “but E18 Greece has decreased. to promote cultural Marxism under the guise of feminism. As an EU member state vide Turkey with E30 million million went to a Dutch com- But this has only shifted the Many Catholic groups were part of this outfit until they Ireland is implicated in the worth of surveillance vehicles pany that manufactured six crisis, according to Der finally woke up to its real agenda. building of this wall and in for patrolling the land border patrol boats for the Turkish Spiegel. “Instead, people are The present abortion law will force Catholics out, or arming the Turkish border between Turkey and Greece. coast guard. prevent them entering, GP medicine and other sectors now dying at the Turkish- against refugees. In 2016 the EU agreed to of health care. The message is clear: Catholics need Some 3.5 million Syrians Syrian border,” it said. not apply. Penal Law Paris March These are just a few of the steps the State is taking to impose a new Penal Law on the Catholic and pro-life peo- ■ Pope Francis warmly ple of Ireland. greeted all those taking part At this point we need a full analysis of the State’s cam- in the recent March for Life paign against Christian culture and its promotion of in Paris and in a special mes- despair. sage told them that “all the This cultural revolution, in general, is not coming from evil in the world is summed the people except insofar as they are being manipulated up in contempt for human by the media or their minds are shaped by a deformed life.” university education. The annual peaceful protest Rather, it is being promoted or imposed from the top began in a small way in 2005 down, part of the EU’s drive towards a new tyranny in and now draws tens of thou- our country. sands of people from around Church authorities at all levels have been largely blind France. or indifferent to the assault on our faith and culture. Organisers rejected Worse, they are often complicit in it. attempts to trivialise the A profound renewal of faith would still be possible, destruction of human life, given a vigorous missionary effort. Instead we are wit- pointing out that “this ges- nessing the assisted suicide of Christianity in our ture poses a true case of con- country. science to the whole civil Meanwhile, adherents of the secularist religion are on society.” fire to promote their anti-gospel with its despairing vision of life. So strange and sad. Alive!

Monastic Experience Weekend

Mount St Joseph Abbey, Roscrea, Co Tipperary. Friday 22nd – Sunday 24th March

For men aged 20 to 40 who may be discerning a Experience the monasticrhythm of monasticvocation. daily prayer life.

For further info or to talk about vocation discernment, contact Vocations Director, Br Malachy, email: [email protected] or text info to 085-8338503. Alive! 10 February 2019 Pro-choice men advance polygamy Scraps a way of culture.” THE most recent census in Kenya Both Catholic bishops and the various by Tom English COLUMN has revealed that about 1.5 million Protestant leaders have called on the people, or 10% of the married pop- people to avoid polygamy despite what ulation, in the mainly Christian the law allows. We’re the guinea pigs in country are in a polygamous mar- “It’s time that we uphold the dignity of riage.“I’m proud of my big family because women,” said Bishop Philip Anyolo. “I 5G roll-out it’s a blessing from God. We should not appeal to all Catholics and Kenyans to take that as sin,” said a 49-year-old reject the polygamy call by our lead- GOVERNMENT and media sources are hailing the significance tradesman who has three wives and 13 ers.” of the 5G (fifth generation) wireless network being rolled out children and considers himself a Another problem is that it leads to across the US and Europe, including Ireland. Last year Catholic. poverty as men divide their limited Vodafone started trials in the docklands area of Dublin. In 2014 the country’s president, resources among larger families. But over 200 scientists worldwide have signed a petition stat- Uhuru Kenyatta, signed a highly contro- Whether of not men should seek the ing that 5G will massively increase exposure to radio frequen- versial marriage bill making polygamy consent of a first wife before marrying cy (RF) radiation on top of the 2G, 3G and 4G networks for legal. In a bid to increase the popula- • Catherine Waruguru, MP a second or third time is another point telecommunications already in place. tion it allows men to take multiple Some MPs argue that polygamy is pro- of controversy, and women are often And because 5G uses what’s called spouses. woman as it may protect unmarried unaware they are sharing a husband. millimetre waves, which are poorly Using Western liberalist arguments mothers. One has called on rich men to “For the sake of peace, a man should transmitted through solid material, about “equal rights” and “gender equal- accept polygamy rather than “siring first seek consent from his wife before every network provider will be ity”, a number of female MPs protested children” with different women. he takes the second one,” said a required to install antenna boxes every against the law. female teacher. 100 metres, which may mean between “If you are a man and you can keep every 2 to 10 houses in residential But other women support it. “I’m in a five wives, have them,” she said. “If But a man with three wives disagreed, areas, including schools! polygamous setup and I am not embar- you are a man and you are in a position saying he consulted none of his wives RF radiation has been proven harm- rassed about it,” said Catherine to bring up many children, do it. before marrying another one. It was a ful for humans and the environment. It Waruguru, an MP. Polygamous marriage is not a crime but man’s right to choose. has been designated a Class 2B, possi- ble human carcinogen by the World Health Organisation. The new spectrum proposed to be licensed has undergone very little research on human health WHAT effects, so basically if it’s installed in your area, you and your am the eldest of three children and stressful times and offered protection family are being used as guinea pigs. live and work in Dublin. I have one throughout my life. More than 10,000 scientific studies demonstrated side-effects brother and one sister. I was brought Often times when I am at a cross roads to human health from RF radiation. They include: cancers (par- up in a household where faith was and need guidance, I leave the issue in ticularly skin cancer), cardiovascular disease, DNA damage, Icaught, not taught. GOD God’s hands and pray that he will learning and memory deficits, impaired sperm function and Our parents structured our day answer my prayers if it is in my best quality, miscarriage, neurological damage, obesity and dia- around daily recital of prayers before MEANS TO interest. betes. Effects in children include autism, attention deficit we left for school and before we went to Upon my return home to Dublin, I hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and asthma. sleep at night. We went to Sunday Mass joined the Legion of Mary and met a The Irish government always makes a point of calling in and attended Mass on First Fridays. We wonderful community of men and ‘experts’ to advise them on health issues so why are they not also attended adoration after First women deeply immersed in the listening to eminent scientists regarding this urgent matter. ME! Catholic faith. Friday Mass. And why are the Irish and other governments so keen to have I recall singing or attempting to sing in The spiritual direction provided by the this new network service? It seems it’s all part of a ‘smart’ Latin which I really enjoyed. We never Legion, notably through the Handbook economy. We will have ‘smart’ homes, ‘smart’ businesses, left the house in the morning without It doesn’t matter how tired you are (written by Frank Duff, founder of the ‘smart’ roads, ‘smart’ cities and self-driving cars. Virtually sprinkling Holy Water to provide pro- going there and despite the food and Legion) and our spiritual director is everything we own and buy, from fridges and washing tection during the day ahead. sleep deprivation, you feel ten times applicable in so many areas of life not machines to milk cartons and nappies, will contain microchips I remember one Sunday morning the lighter leaving the island on the third just the spiritual life. that will be connected wirelessly to the Internet. It’s called the Parish Priest talking about world peace morning. Through attendance at a weekly Internet of Things (IoT) whereby every person on Earth will and how, for this to materialise, we all During my college days, I attended prayer meeting and studying the hand- have instant access to super-high-speed wireless broadband had to be at peace with ourselves. Mass on the campus as and when the book I have deepened my faith in God. from any point on the planet, even in rainforests, mid-ocean Whilst I really didn’t understand it at timetable permitted. Again I found the The military style organisation of the and the Antarctic. So much for global warming! the time, as I got older, I think I got what church and the chaplains to be a great Legion as well as the emphasis placed Laughable, if it wasn’t so serious. he meant. source of comfort at various points on communication and accountability INTERNATIONAL APPEAL: Stop 5G on Earth and in • Read At certain times during life we can throughout the academic year. are traits, I instil in my daily life Space on www.5gspaceappeal.org. experience knock backs and for me Reassuringly the chaplain used to whether it be in work or my personal • Contact the Department of Communications, Climate keeping the faith in God helps you stay remind us at exam time “There are relationships. Action and Environment. Tel: (01) 678 2000. balanced and to a certain degree to stay about seven roundabouts into Galway As a legionary a man or woman com- mits to performing two hours of volun- at peace with yourself and with the peo- and it doesn’t matter which one you teer work per week. I volunteer in the Hope and renewal ple in your life. take, you will still get to Galway”. women’s homeless shelter. My mother made the annual pilgrim- These words gave me great comfort Tasks there range from preparing the I HEARD somebody mention recently how Limerick city has age to Lough Derg every summer. I was when at certain points in my life it evening meals, to saying the evening changed from a city of deprivation and crime to one of hope very intrigued about this place where looked like I was off course when in fact prayers with the residents and sitting and renewal. The city, like any built-up urban area, still has its you could only drink black tea / coffee I was still on the road to where God down to listen and offer support to problems but the general public definately view the city in and dry toast and walk around in your needed me to be. someone who is going through a tough more positive terms nowadays. This ‘feel-good’ factor culmi- bare feet for three days in prayer. time. nated in the county’s hurling team winning the 2018 All- So before I sat the Junior Cert I made worked abroad for some years and Although I have no qualifications in Ireland final. was fortunate enough to live beside a the trip to Lough Derg and did my best this area, I call on the Holy Spirit to I’ve no doubt too that the ‘Monks of Moyross’ have played a Dominican Friary. The Friary had to stay awake and pray for guidance guide me in my conversations and help part in this hope and renewal. The Franciscan Friars of The during the exams. I repeated this for my many priests who were engaged in the- the other person. Renewal have been part of Limerick since 2007 where they first Leaving Cert and know that this greatly Iological study. In summary, I will be forever grateful established a friary in Moyross to bring “spiritual regenera- helped me remain composed and Their sermons were insightful in terms to my parents for tion” to the city. focused during the examinations. of helping me understand the meaning the gift of faith Each day the friars make a Holy Hour before Jesus in the I continued to make the annual pil- of the gospels and applying them to which has kept Blessed Sacrament. In their mission statement, they state that grimage during my studies in third everyday scenarios. me steadfast on their ‘apostolic mission comes from a life of prayer and con- level and was grateful for the guidance Indeed, I remember vividly one friar life’s journey. templation. Without prayer and the sacraments they would not and direction I obtained from this expe- explaining that “The rosary beads is the have the strength necessary to carry-out their apostolic works.’ rience. best piece of modern technology ever The friars have truly lit their lamp and put it on a stand in I still continue to make the pilgrimage invented”. Caroline Limerick. and find it a great source of fast food for Prayer and especially the rosary pro- Carthy is an the soul. vided me with much comfort during accountant. [email protected] Alive! February 2019 11 THE THINGS THEY SAY... ● High prices ing on which Der Spiegel is really cooperating with it. point in pretending other- lions of others. I am greedy. The EU customs union is based. — Martin Luther King wise. Gluttonous, in fact... an undisguised protectionist As an institution, we are ● Politicians My message to them is: It requires a great deal of system that imposes import generally known for not “Trusting in God’s mercy willpower to stick to a diet, taxes on 12,651 non-EU providing the benefit of the It is appropriate to which knows no limits, I especially when it involves imports, including oranges, doubt to anybody. When it acknowledge the courage of invite you to turn back to giving up favourite foods. rice, bananas and children’s came to Relotius, however, those in public life who, the Gospel of Life where But if we tell everyone clothes and shoes. we seem to have fallen for especially during the past you will find true peace”. who is vastly overweight The customs union pushes just about everything. year, have taken personal —Bishop Kevin Doran, pas- that their extreme obesity is up prices for consumers, As things stand today, we and political risks to defend toral letter a ‘disease’, it can only and the tariff income is col- must assume by default that the right to life. ● Too fat increase their sense of hope- lected by the Government all the articles written by By contrast, there is sad- lessness — and their refus- and sent to Brussels. Relotius were fabrications, ness that Catholics have According to the RCP, the ing to admit that overeating It is worrying that MPs including the pieces he been among those who pub- professional association of is a choice rather than fate... licly and persistently pro- the nation’s doctors, ‘obesi- I suspect this is more of a don’t know how the cus- Steffen Klusmann wrote for other publications. toms operates and how it — Steffen Klusmann, moted the taking of inno- ty’ should be reclassified as female issue. When a fat costs their constituents Spiegel’s new editor-in-chief cent human life, whether for a ‘chronic disease’ rather woman loses weight... it will continue. be resented by those of her every day. ● political or ideological rea- than as a ‘lifestyle choice’. It’s hard to think of a right Women fat acquaintances who are The undisguised protec- sons, or for their own per- RCP’s Professor Andrew more core than the right to intimidated by a display of tionist nature of the EU is Our generation is so busy sonal advancement. Goddard insists that obesity worship as one sees fit. resolve that they feel unable not in doubt, and it is not trying to prove that women In so doing, they have cho- ‘is not a lifestyle choice When historians come to or unwilling to copy. possible to articulate a can do everything men can sen a position which is clear- caused by individual greed’. write the history of the per- — Dominic Lawson, in Daily coherent view as to our do, women are losing the ly out of communion with Well, it absolutely is in my secuted Christians of this Mail unique qualities that set us the Church. There is no case and, I guarantee, mil- future trading relationship generation, it will be the apart: the God-given femi- with the EU unless the exist- silence from countries such ing system, which keeps as Ireland that speaks the ninity and unique way our shop prices artificially high, loudest. Creator designed us. is understood. — Michael Kelly, columnist Women weren’t created to — Tim Martin, chair of in Irish Independent do everything a man can do. JUST FOR PRIESTS Wetherspoon pub group, letter Women were created to do ● to MPs Fake Spiegel news everything a man can’t do. — Author Unknown ● Persecution Claas Relotius wrote many fantastic features for Der ● Tolerance Unless the world starts to Spiegel. Unfortunately, most take a strong line on reli- of them included passages Tolerance is not a Christian Attitude makes the difference for people and try to gloss their calling to be saints? gious freedom, Christians that were made up. He virtue. Charity, justice, o our homilies at over it? Having a great zeal for will disappear from large wrote about people he sim- mercy, prudence - these are Sunday Mass are bor- • Or do I grab every preaching doesn’t solve all parts of the world including ply invented out of thin air. Christian virtues. In fact, tol- ing, irrelevant, too opportunity to preach as a the difficulties, but it will the very birthplace of the He described scenes that erating grave evil within a long, repetitive, or whatev- wonderful chance to lead take us a long way. faith - the Middle East. never happened. society is itself a form of Ser. But can we really do people to a deeper grasp of Enthusiasm is contagious All across the Muslim We allowed ourselves to serious evil. much about it? I think we God’s beauty and majesty, and that applies to the faith world, Christians face perse- get sucked in too far by — Archbishop Charles Chaput can. The place to begin is with of his love for them, and of as much as to anything else. cution and discrimination Relotius. We were uncritical ● Protest because of their faith. with him in ways that we our attitude to preaching Ireland’s silence on the issue would find unacceptable He who accepts evil with- and our attitude to the homi- Too much focus on priest is shameful and shouldn’t when it comes to the report- out protesting against it is ly. We really need to think hard about this. s a theologian Joseph We also need to realise that Ratzinger (Pope Benedict AXVI) pointed out that our attitude to the homily Challenge to exclusion order says a lot about our relation- before Vatican Council II the ship with Jesus and our love priest at Mass “was not regard- for the faith. It is a barome- ed as so important.” THE UK Court of Appeal has given a pro-life activist Then came changes like “the ter of our personal spiritual- the go-ahead to challenge a legal ban on people priest facing the people” and, ity. as a result, “the priest praying outside a London abortion centre or offering And the people know that. support to expectant mothers. becomes the real point of ref- The High Court earlier Our love for the Lord, our erence for the whole liturgy. accepted that Alina enthusiasm for our voca- Everything depends on him. Dulgheriu’s rights to free- tion, our desire for heaven - “We have to see him, to respond to him, to be involved in dom of expression, religion all are on public display what he is doing. His creativity sustains the whole event.” and assembly had been when we celebrate Mass It was no surprise for Ratzinger, that “people try to reduce infringed, but left the ban in and when we preach. this new created role by assigning all kinds of liturgical func- place. Our attitude to preaching, tions to other individuals,” including readers and ministers Even some pro-abortion then is fundamental. So of Holy Communion. activists were alarmed by how do I approach this The danger is that we lose sight of the main purpose of the the Ealing council order and Alina Dulgheriu and her liturgy, to worship God. The focus shifts from God to the daughter. duty? wrote to the Times in prayer.” community. • Do I see it as a burden, a The “friendly greeting” that many priests introduce to the protest. Welcoming the Appeal task I have to do each week, It is “so widely drawn as to Mass, “Good morningl” or “you’re great to be here on such Court’s decision Dulgheriu struggling to find some- impose potentially unlawful a wet day”, only emphasises the focus on the priest. said: “My little girl is here thing worthwhile, or even restrictions on fundamental today because of the practi- The Mass already includes an exchange of greeting, “the passable, to say? rights,” they wrote. cal and emotional support I Lord be with you. And with your spirit.” Any further cheery • Do I have a casual atti- words may distract from the serious work in hand, the They were particularly con- was given by a group out- tude, not thinking too much praise of God. cerned at “the prohibition side a Marie Stopes centre. about it, giving it very little Another innovation from the 1960s, and a major distrac- on ‘protest,’ which includes “I want to ensure that tion, is a music group or choir in or near the sanctuary. Their ‘engaging in any act of women all across the coun- preparation, knowing I can waffle on for a few minutes? role is to be heard, not seen, and to lead the congregation approval/disapproval’ by try do not have this vital to a greater sense of God’s majesty. ‘any means’ — including support option removed.” • Do I find some of the Church’s teaching too much Alive! 12 February 2019 Consubstantial Mindfulness: fad or fakery? he Nicene Creed which we say each Sunday at KNOW YOUR TMass was drawn up prin- century pseudo-therapeutic nonsense. or decades the modern world cipally at the Council of Nicea believed that self-esteem, built up SPEAKER’S CORNER Certainly it has no room for Christ’s in 325ad and was revised at FAITH by “positive thinking”, was the persistent call to us to “Repent”. the first Council of way to happiness. It would heal our Note also the self-absorbed focus on “of one substance” and we Constantinople in 381ad. hurts, teach us self-acceptance and implications”: he had the key to change “the present moment”. Alzheimer It contains the statement continue to use it today. It is F unleash our “full potential”. or even save the world. Thus the move- patients too live only in the present that Jesus, the “only-begotten one of the most important technical words of the The movement began in the US, and ment began. moment, with no memories of the past Son of the Father” is “true God and no concern or hope for the future. from true God, begotten, not Christian faith. soon became a multi-billion dollar, Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness medi- Kabat-Zinn believes that meditation is made, consubstantial with the But substance has come to global industry. From pop therapy it tation as “the awareness that arises from Father.” mean many different things, spread into schools, prisons, corpora- paying attention, on purpose, in the pre- the “radical act of love and sanity” we We hardly even think about so we need to know what tions, sport, even into retreat centres, sent moment and non-judgmentally.” need in today’s world. these words today, but behind exactly the Church means. sermons and religious writings. Custom-made Being self-absorbed, focusing on one’s them lies what was probably In Catholic teaching about Despite all the hype, it didn’t deliver own breathing, attending to one’s own the biggest controversy ever in God, the word “substance” fulfilment, and probably did immense This is Buddhism-lite. With no interest body and mind as they are in the pre- the Church. refers to what a thing is, to harm. Then, just as it was running out in God or anything above us, it is cus- sent moment, is a very cosy kind of This was a debate about who what God is. What the Son is is of steam a new fad arrived, promising a tom-made for our secularist age. No “love”. It is easy to see its attraction. Jesus is and, ultimately, who what the Father is. Yet he is dis- new version of salvation: mindfulness. wonder it sells so well. Gone is the cross, the demand for self- God is. In the early 300s Arius, tinct from the Father, and we try It too has spread like wildfire, show- Note the central focus on being “non- sacrifice that we soon face when we try a priest from Alexandria, to express that by saying there ing the great yearning in people for judgmental”. Another author says, “the to love people in the real world. How are three “persons” in God. began to teach that Jesus was some escape from the noise and scram- mindful individual strives to experience we can manage to love without self-sac- Person is another important just a creature. Indeed he was ble of today’s agitated world. the world and the self as they rifice is not explained. the supreme and most won- technical Christian word. are…without judging and evaluating.” All this is an attempt to hold Jon Kabat-Zinn is the American guru There may be some short-term bene- derful creature ever, but he behind it. Having spent years doing But judging, especially about right fits from mindfulness, just as there may was not divine. on to three fundamental truths Zen Buddhist meditation, he got the and wrong, is a major part of what be from snake oil and smoking pot. But about God: that there is only makes us human. Rejecting such judg- Athanasius one God, there are three per- idea of repackaging it for secularist cul- for a Christian at least, there are better ments degrades us, and destroys moral- This false doctrine spread sons in God and that the Son is ture and turning it into a brand he could ways of receiving these benefits. rapidly through the Roman completely equal to the Father. sell to a global audience. ity and the very possibility of society. Mindfulness is not a harmless form of empire, especially in the east. Thinking about God in this He wanted, he says, to avoid “as much The “non-judgmental” ideology is “meditation” but a kind of do-it-your- But the fightback against it way stretches our minds as far as possible the risk of it being seen as really a mixture of Buddhism and 20th self “spirituality” for secularists, for was led by an extraordinary as they can possibly go, Buddhist, new age, eastern mysticism people who believe in nothing higher young man called Athanasius because we are trying to or just plain flakey.” Hiding the than themselves. who eventually became bishop understand the mystery of the Buddhist core was a smart marketing The mentality it seeks to form is radi- of Alexandria. infinite God. ploy, but it didn’t change the product. cally incompatible with the Christian The debate was carried on The other phrases, “light And what a success he has been. This faith. It ignores the reality of God and mainly in Greek since that was from light”, like a burning torch is the cure-all that is now being pro- our call to worship him; it assumes a the language of the time, and taking light from another torch, posed for everyone from stressed politi- pro-choice morality with no objective much of the controversy was “begotten, not made”, “true cians to screened-out children and ter- standards; it proposes a self-absorbed over a newly made-up Greek God from true God” are an word, “homoousion”. attempt to help us grasp the minally ill cancer patients. travesty of love, and whatever hope it When this was translated notion of “consubstantial” and Like every good guru, Kabat-Zinn had offers is limited to this world. into Latin the word used was especially the great mystery of what he calls a “vision”, in a woods Instead of squandering their time on “consubstantial”, meaning, the Blessed Trinity. near Boston. this fakery, seeking to numb their It lasted just 10 seconds but he “saw in minds, Catholics would do far better by a flash not only a model that could be • Not a harmless form of turning to the infinite riches of their put in place, but also the long-term “meditation”. own faith. — BMcK Monthly Meditation You are in mortal sin! Offering riches of God’s people results in a particular situation” in ch 22:2 we are told that “The rich have come into this pulpit in order to make (VanDrunen). and the poor meet together; the Lord your sins against the Indians known to you. The Law, especially the first five is the maker of them all.” I am a voice of Christ crying in the wilder- Fr Joseph Briody books of the Old Testament, demands Knowledge and wisdom come from nessI of this island. You would do well, then, to listen, obedience, but wisdom is the “skill of the observations of many people over not with careless attention, but with all your heart and navigating through a complicated time. We learn from each other and senses, so that you may hear this voice. Wisdom Books Part 12: world with effectiveness and prosperi- stand on the shoulders of earlier gen- This is going to be the strangest voice you ever heard, Proverbs ty.” erations. Older people pass wisdom the harshest and hardest and most awful and most dan- he various covenants of Old Wisdom is about propriety, i.e., doing on to the young. gerous that ever you expected to hear. TTestament times gave the people the right thing. It is about “finding the Proverbs emphasises heeding the This voice says that you are in mortal sin, that you live guidance on how to live. But not right word or deed at the right time” instruction of elders, e.g. “Hear, my and die in it, for the cruelty and tyranny you use in even the detailed precepts of the Old (Crenshaw). son, your father’s instruction, and dealing with these innocent people. Law could cover every situation. reject not your mother’s teaching” Tell me, by what right or justice do you keep these Israelites still needed to exercise Accessible to all (1:8). Chapters 1-8 are repeatedly Indians in such a cruel and horrible servitude? On what wisdom. They needed to be trained, Proverbs was written for Israel as the addressed to “my son.” authority have you waged a detestable war against formed, and instructed. Discipline was covenant people, but the wisdom col- Mothers too are very important, these people who dwelt quietly on their own land? important (Prov 13:24). lected in it is accessible to all people. especially in the final chapter, 31, Why do you keep them so oppressed and weary, not Wisdom books, especially Proverbs, Wisdom literature was one way Israel which presents what Lemuel learned giving them enough to eat nor taking care of them in describe an orderly world created by reached out and offered the entire from his mother. Elders are worthy of their illness? God’s wisdom. Human beings can dis- world the riches of her life with God. respect (16:31; 20:29). For with the excessive work you demand of them cover this order and thus participate in The world reflects God’s wisdom To be wise, associate with the wise they fall ill and die, or rather, you kill them with your divine wisdom. which is behind all things. Human wis- (13:20). All should cultivate humility desire to extract and acquire gold every day. The books offer wisdom rooted in dom participates in God’s wisdom. (10:8; 12:15). “People can only And what care do you take that they should be “reality”, the natural order or “natural Proverbs ch. 8 echoes the creation become wise as humble participants instructed in religion? Be certain that, in such a state as law.” Wisdom is the ability “to per- accounts of Genesis. in a multi-generational process of this, you cannot be saved. ceive the order that underlines the Proverbs, like Genesis, views human learning” (VanDrunen). — From a Sunday homily by Fr. Antonio de Montesinos world” and “to understand what sort beings as created in God’s image. A We might call it a respectful listening O.P., given on behalf of the Dominican community, in Haiti of behaviour fits and brings good common humanity is presumed, e.g., to Tradition. in 1511. Alive! February 2019 13 Celebrating the Wonder of Marriage Understanding hatred for Our Marriage in a Minute! 1. Love at first sight? Yes, but it was more, love at first marriage and family chat. We spoke on the phone first. A long story... atred for marriage and the family is now 2. Favo deeply embedded in today’s post- urite memory of our wedding Christian culture and is tearing our civili- ? The she sation to pieces. er happiness and walking down the A multi-pronged bid to destroy marriage is aisle in Multyfarnham H Abbey. It was such a perfec bringing immense suffering on adults as well as t setting with a ric children, and disintegrating society. h Catholic history. It was a special p Many people see its effects but don’t recognise lace that we attended for St Anthon the bitter hate driving it. And far from highlighting y’s Tuesday Novena and midnight the issues, our corrupt media stoke the assault on Mass at Christmas. marriage and family. 3. Best h A dimension of this war on the family, for oliday ever? Maldives a instance, is the growing acceptance of IVF, one out- nd Sri Lanka when we went on o come of contraception. ur honeymoon. A once in a lifetime t IVF with “donated” or supplied sperm leads to a • Why do feminists not campaign for rip. family rights? wife becoming pregnant by a man not her husband Thom 4. Who makes the breakfast? as and Lisa Reilly and family. and the mother of a child who is not his. This T homas makes the porridge, Lisa str betrays the marriage bond. between Christians who put love and family first ength and we leave everything in makes everything else. h IVF also degrades fatherhood. The sperm suppli- and Liberalists who put the individual and is hands along with the hands of G er, the father, is liberated from any responsibility “autonomy” or “freedom of choice” first. od the Father, the Holy Spirit and 5. Who takes out the bins? for his own child. “Choice” is the core value of post-modern liber- his blessed mother Our Lady. Thomas - We have a long dri Society is also declaring that children are no alism. Anything that might infringe on this free- veway. longer entitled to be cared for by their fathers. To dom of choice, that tries to tell us how we should 9. Best advice on marriage? 6. Song of songs? care or not is now a man’s choice, and we are on behave, is resented. Actually get married. We were 28 For Lisa - O Holy Night. For and his, not his child’s, side. This affects our views about commitment, tradi- 27. Some people wait too long. Thomas - Holy Spirit, By Franc Jus Freed from responsibility for his offspring a man tion, law, the Constitution, authority figures such esca t jump in and give it your 100%. Battistelli. T may father hundreds of children. as teachers, bosses - none of these may tell us what ry never to fight. Never say “you We cannot really grasp just how devastating the to do. Likewise with the Church. And God’s com- always...” to each other. 7. Saints on speed dial (fav N harm being done is unless we treasure the amaz- mands too are out. ourite ever go to sleep if you are angry saints)? wit ing blessing family life is. More and more we are moving to a point where h each other. Make sacrifices for An easy one - St Anthon Happiness only the state, backed up by close surveillance and y. each other. Will the good of the stiff penalties, can tell us what to do. other person! 8. Your greatest join The family based on marriage is where most peo- Irish parents were persuaded to hand over to t achievement? ple find their sense of worth, their security and state officials their own authority to protect their 10. After 8 years, what makes Getting through and ov their real happiness. We easily forget how extraor- children. As a result, they cannot now protect their ercoming a your marriage worthwhile? dinary family life is, one of the most wonderful serious health problem with We young teenage daughters from an abortion. our love each other and are a fami- eldest daughter Ellen things that God has created. And the fanatical liberalist campaign will contin- after she was ly. We have been blessed with born. th That a man and woman would commit to each ue to tear down our community life and laws until ree girls who enhance and bring It’s on-going but J other exclusively for life, and that their self-gift to our whole social landscape is hiroshimaed. esus gives us us all closer together. each other, expressed in their physical union, Nature would lead to the procreation and care of children, is a stunning idea. Nature itself may not limit us. I can be a man or This capacity to love, to enter a fruitful loving woman as I choose. And no one will tell me that union, flows from our being in God’s image. And the purpose of life is a “given”. I as an individual it makes us human. God is a Trinity of loving per- will choose for myself what the purpose of my life Family breakdown hitting sons. is. If we forget love, that we are made for relation- This ideology cuts us off from reason, respect for poorer families ship, we banjax our lives and our society. truth, the path to happiness. It is like an earth- But modern culture is hell-bent on perverting or quake in our society. even eliminating love. It seeks to form young peo- Here we come to the source of the hatred for the he disintegration of mar- as professionals to be married in ple to be self-centric and unfit for marriage. This is family based on marriage - the fact that it puts riage in Ireland is having a the first place. because it is obsessed with a 400-year-old political many ties, limits, responsibilities on its members. devastating impact on the Given the destructive impact of ideology, individualism. This anti-family rage is embodied in particular in poor and their children in particu- family breakdown on children in Based on the mad notions of Hobbes and Locke, the second wave of feminism, which launched in Tlar. particular, the present trend is which were later built into the American political the 1960s and was a radical perversion of the orig- Unskilled workers here are far leaving the poor ever more system and spread from there into the modern inal women’s movement. more likely to end up with a bro- deprived. world, this ideology puts the individual above the In the 1960s feminist leaders faced two versions ken marriage than professionals, Viewing the latest figures family. of freedom, freedom for love and excellence, build- says a new report, Mind the Gap Professor Patricia Casey, a psychi- As a result, society, its values, practices and laws ing community, and freedom of choice, promoting II, based on information from the atrist, said that “a difference of are being twisted round more and more to benefit liberalist individualism. 2016 census. three to one is extremely signifi- It was their embrace of the second which made the individual and weaken family life. Tax indi- The startling figures show that cant by any reckoning.” the movement so toxic, individualistic, anti- vidualisation is an example. She added, “when we combine Autonomy woman and anti-family. And open to exploitation the unskilled are more than three by big business expanding our desires and by the times as likely as upper class this with the fact that only 1 in 3 The principal focus in this ideology is on the soli- global abortion racket. workers to be divorced or separat- unskilled workers aged 18-49 are tary person, with his or her demands, “rights” The only way out of this moral and social quag- ed (18.1% to 6.1%). married in the first place, com- and, above all, “autonomy”. The individual must mire is a new revolution which makes love the An earlier report, also by the pared with 65% of professionals be as “free” as possible to do whatever he or she centre of our lives, which recognises that we can Iona Institute, found that the in the same age group, the picture wants. flourish only by obeying the Saviour’s wise com- unskilled were only half as likely becomes very stark.” The fundamental cultural division today, then, is mandments. Alive! 14 February 2019 ●ACCOMMODATION Activity of homelessness LUXURY 2 bed bungalow for hol- iday lets, short or long stays, all charities and lobby groups mod cons, suitable for wheel- CLASSIFIED ADS chairs, in beautiful surroundings at Knock, Mayo, 087 6406588. Classifieds: E1 per word; Box No. E3.00 extra comes under scrutiny ALGARVE, Albuferia, Portugal. ☎ Breda 01-404 8187 Luxury 1 or 2 bed aparts for rent. Sky TV, shared pool, long/short CONOR Skehan, a former chairman of the Housing Agency, term. Special winter rates. Tel: lady, wltm decent, secure gent, has questioned the way politicians and the media deal with 087 2371716. national shrine of Our Lady. THANKS to the Sacred Heart for for friendship & companionship, Friday 26th to Tuesday 29th April favour received. TR. the issue of homelessness in Ireland, and is highly critical of APARTMENT to rent in E the activities of some charities or lobby groups in the field. 65-70yrs. Replies with phone (4 nights with full board 427). THANKS to Sacred Heart of Medjugorje 3-bedroom. Lift number. Box 1903. access. All mod cons. 5 mins Group accompanied by Sp. Dir. Jesus, St Clare, Faustina, Jude, Skehan has repeatedly He noted Skehan’s refusal to RETIRED male, 72, active, likes from church. Tel: 086 1055388. Pilgrims make their own travel Theresa, John, Anthony, Michael, stressed that being homeless is describe the housing shortage travel, dining, all music, NSSD, arrangements on designated Child of Prague. MO’D. RETIRED professional cash wltm female friend for travel, Ryanair flights to/from Stansted. ●USEFUL SERVICES a terrible human tragedy and in Ireland as a “crisis”. buyer wants to purchase proper- socialising. Box 1904. Private coach from/to Stansted he wants what can be done to Rather, relying on a “hard- ty in Carrowmore Meadows, E BAINTREACH deas, retired pro- and for day’s outing. ALL unwanted home waste be done to address it. headed analysis” of the situa- Knock, County Mayo. 90,000 fessional, lives mindfully and Accommodation is in Pilgrim removed. Cookers, fridges, beds, But he provoked indignation tion, Skehan is willing, espe- region. Tel: 0044 47394 235954. spiritually, outgoing, loves a non- Hostel. Insurance not included. suites, wardrobes, carpets, etc, when he suggested that some cially “in a world of competi- Email: [email protected] E removed and disposed of in hurried pace of life, wltm refined Deposit 50 for place. Details people may be “gaming” the tive outrage”, to risk challeng- LADY seeks a lady companion to educated gent, to share coffee from Martin O’Brien 086 8254680 proper manner. No job too small share accomm. Midlands, own or big. Contact Tommy 087 system, falsely declaring ing the fashionable view. and conversation. Ideally age and Margaret Golden 086 themselves to be homeless to “If speaking the truth causes room, no rent, use of car. For range 80-85. Box 1905. 8554665. 6406015. get higher up the social hous- a backlash and leads to him company & occasional help. Box SINGLE man 60yrs, wltm a lady KNOCK House Hotel. 3 nights, REFACE your kitchen. We 1901. E change kitchen cabinet doors, ing waiting list. being personally attacked, he ●MISCELLANEOUS single or widow who is kind & Dinner, Bed and Breakfast, 177 honest. Genuine replies only. Tel: per person. No Single and worktops. Free estimates. He also argues that a certain will take that risk,” said ALOE vera. Forever living prod- 085 1926301. Supplement. Available from 21st Tel: 01 8624647. level of homelessness is “nor- Quinn. TYPEWRITERS & dictating Skehan’s point is that a knee- ucts. Distributor: Phil Colgan 01- NORTH Cork male, single, ●January. Tel: 094 9388088. mal”, and the Irish level is in 6281436; 086 2437653. 63yrs, retired, caring disposition, RELIGIOUS machines, repairs, sales, rib- line with the likes of Sweden jerk emotional reaction to a considered attractive, wltm nice bons, most makes, Tel: 01 HEALTH and wellness company HOLYFACE. Reparation books, and Denmark, which have tragic story can lead to bad lady 45-75 for friendship, rela- 8309333. requires help, flexible hours work medals, & various scapulars. very generous welfare states. policy decisions. Such was the tionship. Will travel. Tel: 086 CHAIN Saws, comprehensive from home. Part time and full Write to: Michael Gormley, 68 “We continuously allow our- case after Jonathan Corrie, a 4453870. range, replacement chains for all time earnings available email: ●PILGRIMAGES Melvin Rd, Terenure, Dublin 6W. selves to be goaded by people homeless man, died in a door- ark@flp.com or phone Anita 087 makes. Also supplied everything THINKING about a vocation? way near Leinster House at 0624108. for handling and feeding sheep. in advocacy into trying to MEDJUGORJE dentist, Dr. Interested in knowing about the the end of 2014. DO you suffer from aches and Nationwide B.T.G. Esmonde ignore the fact that we have Davor Planinic. White fillings, Dominican friars? Visit Machinery 0402 37182. equivalent levels of homeless- The public, however, had pains? Why not call and find out porcelain crowns, dental www.dominicans.ie about our amazing supplement WEDDING Photographer ness to every other major been misled in several ways implants. High quality work & GOD is merciful but also just. I called Move? Phone Anita 087 Specialist for Hire working country in Europe,” he said. about the death. Emergency excellent standards. 00387 suggest that you read the short 0624108 or email: ark@flp.com nationwide 7 days a week prices accommodation, for example, 36651889; 00387 63447840. story of Fatima, Padre Pio or the E “In any other field this start at 350 for basic package. SUPPORT Family and Media www.dr.planinic.com lives of a saint. Living God’s way would be called lobbying.” was available to him, but he We only use the most modern Association. Prolife, monitoring MEDJUGORJE 2019, from will bring you happiness in this Value for money? preferred to sleep on the street. camera technology promising the media. See www.fma.ie; text 086 Shannon, 4th Sept. Book before life and guarantee you happiness “He had an underlying his- E best possible result. Contact 3309724. Register for FMA 1st Feb to avail of 675pps. Call in the next life. Journalist David Quinn tory of drug addiction and ● James Treacy on 061 91470 or Media Alerts. John O’Brien 086 8586304. THANKSGIVING noted that Skehan, frustrated ●NOVENAS 086 0572216 or email jtrea- was subsequently found to MEDJUGORJE pilgrimages, THANKS to the Sacred Heart of [email protected]. with the pressure exerted by have died of an overdose,” DEAR Sacred Heart of Jesus I 28th May, 7 nights. Sp. Dir. Fr. some of the homelessness Jesus, miracle prayer worked for STATUES, ornaments, glass said Quinn. ask you this very special favour Desmond Brannigan. 3rd Sept: me. PS. restoration nationwide. Dr. charities, invited RTE viewers Besides, his adoptive parents (mention it). Take it, dear Heart of SP, Fr. Oliver Brennan. Tel: THANKSGIVING dear Heart of “to check out Focus Ireland’s had bought him not one but Jesus, and place it in your broken Phyllis Mulligan 087 2028492. Nicholas von Kerckhoff www. Jesus for a very special favour atelier-nicholas.com. 087 four-storey office in Dublin two houses, but his drug Heart where your Father can see DIVINE Mercy pilgrimage, and blessings received. EMH. 2203898. city centre. it. Then in his merciful eyes, it will Krakow, April 25-30, Sept 5-10, problem caused him to lose become your favour, not mine. from £479. Contact Danny 028 “And to question whether both. Amen. Say this prayer for 3 days, (Rol 048) 90245547. we got value for moneyE from The tragedy showed how promise publication and favour MEDJUGORJE. Departs 18th a sector which received 152m the media, playing on peo- will be granted. Never known to May, from £459. Contact Danny annually in private and public ple’s emotions - “he died fail. JM. ●PERSONAL 028 (Rol) 90245547. donations, and which within yards of Leinster JAMES Treacy’s Pilgrimages for employed 2,500 full-time staff House because he was home- SINGLE gent, 62, semi-retired, 2019: Easter to Rome & San between 25 organisations.” less”, can hide the true nature practising Catholic, NSND, no Giovanni; 13th June, Fatima; 30th That, said Quinn, a Sunday of a problem. ties, wltm lady for relationship July Medjugorje; and Christmas to Times columnist, “amounts to “Cheap politics and the Holy Land. Fully escorted anywhere in Ireland. Interests one staff member for every unscrupulous journalism include foreign travel, current tours and all accompanied by a affairs, outdoors/walking. Box spiritual director. Contact James four people who are currently exploit stories to incite the 1902. Treacy 061 921470. homeless.” public even when they distort Nor does it include “all NORTH Leinster, semi-retired MEDJUGORJEE Pilgrimage,E 11th our understanding of an issue July 2019. 100 secures 675 those officials working on the and lead to bad policy out- pps. Call Marian Kane (087) 271 problem for the government comes,” said Quinn. Position Papers 3260. or local authorities. On paper, “People such as Skehan try Monthly Magazine MEDJUGORJE, 19 May and 22 that seems hugely out of pro- to stop this happening by giv- Sept, ex Belfast & Dublin. £579. portion and inefficient.” ing us the facts.” A review of Catholic Tel Brenda Smyth, 028 (RoI 048) ReadAffairs it free at 90833730. positionpapers.ie WALSINGHAM. Irish group pil- Student protest grimage to Shrine of Our Lady of A GROUP of students at Oxford Walsingham, Norfolk, England’s University has launched a petition to have a renowned moral theologian and expert on natural law sacked Remember Your MEDJUGORJE MASS, LUCAN Loved One with a because of what they call his “homo- Medjugorje Mass - St. Mary’s Lucan phobic” views. Special Keepsake Feb 4th; March 11th 7.30pm John Finnis (right) has written criti- cally of homosexual conduct, describ- • Memorial Cards PILGRIMAGE TO ing it at times as evil or destructive. • Bookmarks Several academics have defended • Acknowledgement Cards MEDJUGORJE him, urging students to engage with his arguments. The univer- E • Key Rings 8th May, 7 nights, 599 pps sity had to tell students that “vigorous academic debate does • Wallet Cards E not amount to harassment when conducted respectfully.” 6th May, 9 nights 649 pps memorialcardsireland.ie E The Newman Society’s Patrick Reilly said the protest “is yet 3rd May, 12 nights 739 pps another sign that faithful Catholic colleges are among the last Call 053-92 35295 Contact Pat or Phil on for a catalogue bastions of truth and authentic freedom.” He added: “Isn’t that 087 2238911 or 01 6281436. how universities began?” [email protected] [email protected] Alive! February 2019 15 TEA BREAK TEASER KKIIDDSS’’ CCOORRNNEERR Prize Crossword...No.231 e Cryptic Clues: 25 for the first correct entry out of the E bag. Entries before Wednesday, 13th February. One Dia dhaoibh, a Pháistí, 186 COLOURING PICTURE - WIN E10 entry per family. Winner and answers next month. We love stories that have a happy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ending. That is why many of our sto- 25 ries end with the words: “And they all lived happily ever after.” “Lived happily” tells us that life is the 8 9 biggest gift of all. Without life we have noth- ing else and can do nothing. We are like a teddy bear that just lies there, not able to see or talk or smile. 10 11 But we want to have a happy life. Maybe we think lots of chocolates will make us

happy, and then they only make us have an 12 13 14 upset tummy. So we need to be sure we want things that will really make us happy. 15 16 “Ever after” means we want to be happy not just for a few days but forever and ever, 17 18 19 20 and ever. And we want everybody to share this happiness: “they all lived happily.

Can this really happen, or is it just in sto- ✄ 21 ries. Yes, it can happen, but only in heaven. 22 That means getting to heaven is our biggest goal in life. See you there. Aisling Slán go fóill, 23 24

Stare at the four dots in this image for 40 seconds, then close your eyes. What do you see? ACROSS DOWN 1. Account money causing 1. Marsha stumbles upon Hindu stress? (6) retreat (6) 4. Hold back the whiskey! (6) 2. Nothing missing from animation 8. Bird seen on the Rhone box sets? (7) swimming (5) 3. Nine musicians don’t make any 9. and 10 across: A late kind of profit? (5) Labour TD I upset - it’s in the 5. English tea Pat has with one papers! (4,3,5,2) unleavened flatbread (7) 11. Passageway found in 6. Different parts needed to make Calais leisure ship (5) snares (5) 12. Islander found in Adrian’s 7. Stop, hesitate and get rope (6) perhaps (9) 9. Keeping broken train engine with ✄ 17. 150 get angry mostly about two end bits missing (9) bell noise (5) 13. Plant to grow unusually in 19. A thorough type of rodent (7) swim? (2-5) 14. Writer returns to find a melody 21. Sounds like quite a while to for planet (7) go this distance? (7) 15. Mocks while eating greedily? (6) Name...... Jan. X-word Winner: 22. America initially uses 16. Man goes to the Spanish Republican Party to seize church (6) ...... power wrongfully...(5) 18. Month on which to reveal a The Saints Mary Fennessy, Address...... 23. ...As teen becomes upset cook’s garment (5) Blackhall, Clane, with legislative body (6) 20. The misfortune of having the Unscramble these popular saints...... County Kildare. 24. Show a lever breaking (6) number two card (5) She made a funny cross: GIRDIB ...... Good for sore throats: SLIABE Solution to Jan. Crossword: ...... Age...... Across: 1.Travel agent 8. Name...... He had wings: RAGLEIB Abacus 9. Snivel 11. Hatchback Got first picture of Jesus: NORCAIVE 14. Manor 15. Couch 16. Address...... Famous for gloves: RADEP OPI Last Month’s Colouring Picture Winner was: Replenish 20. Recoup 21. Pickle Talk about love!: TEVNALNIE 22. Dead ringers......

Answers: Teddy Wood, Down: 2. Roach 3. Vault 4.

VALENTINE. Genoa 5. Novak 6. Earth movers ...... Tel...... BRIGID, BLAISE, GABRIEL, VERONICA, PADRE PIO, PADRE VERONICA, GABRIEL, BLAISE, BRIGID, Hermitage Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16. Age 5. 7. Clear-headed 10. Thicken 12. Arose 13. Cross 16. Ruche 17. Solution to Alive!, St Mary’s Priory, Tallaght, Dublin 24. Pound 18. Icing 19. Hiker. She did not fully understand tariat and slum dweller, and as a teacher in a Christian mission. Lives of the Saints him, and the differences so often the unemployed.” Brothers’ school in Paris. No target was too high or between them, until she final- They complemented each There he joined a study group too lowly for his “indoctrina- ly pinned him down to talking other for the work they had to and began to develop his tion”, as he called it. He met Dorothy Day about himself. do. social ideas. He was revolu- both Thomas Woodlock, “He was a Frenchman; I was 23 children tionary but did not like the Dublin-born Catholic editor an American. He was a man idea of revolution. and later columnist with The He was born in a small ● Maurin instilled in Day a twenty years older than I and French community, 200 miles “I did not like the French Wall Street Journal, and John Part 25: Newspaper vision of a new society built hen Dorothy Day and infinitely wiser. He was a man, from Barcelona, one of a fam- Revolution, nor the English Moody, founder of the ratings within the shell of the old, “a Peter Maurin started I was a woman. We looked at ily of 23 children. His own Revolution,” he told Dorothy. agency. Wto work together for a society in which it is easier for things differently. He was a “I did not wish to perpetuate Moody was a convert to mother died after giving birth Christian revolution to bring people to be good”, he said, peasant; I was a city product. to five children, and his father the proletariat so I never Catholicism and was hon- the world back to its senses, because when people are “He knew the soil; I the city. married again. became a member of a union. oured by Pope Pius XI. Neither their first project was to found good they are happy. When he spoke of workers, he The new marriage added 18 I was interested in the land meeting produced spectacu- a newspaper. He wanted to call the paper spoke of men who worked at children to the family. Some of and men’s life on the land.” lar results – but they show On one side was a world The Catholic Radical but, with agriculture, building, at tools his sisters became nuns and Later he went to Canada Maurin’s determination and drifting towards revolutionary her Communist background, and machines which were the some of his brothers also and, in 1911, to the US. He perseverance. communism; on the other, a she insisted on calling it The extension of the hand of man. entered religious orders. He tried his hand at all sorts of Meeting Dorothy Day in world devastated by rampant Catholic Worker. Peter said, “When I spoke of workers, I herded sheep as a boy. jobs but continued to read 1932 was the catalyst that capitalism. Enshrined in both “Man proposes, but woman thought of factories, the Then he worked as a travel- and think. He was constantly would result in the flourishing was a godless materialism. disposes.” machine, and man the prole- ling salesman in France, and trying to engage others in his of both their lives. Alive! 16 February 2019 Children suffer from It’s far too big for them to grasp marriage break-up Dear Nettles, But that wasn’t near enough for him. In a moment of godly were apparent for both boys and have been observing human Dumbag insanity - how else can I explain AS the campaign to make divorce girls. But heightened behavioural beings for a very long time it? - he wanted to reveal to them easier in Ireland gears up, a new issues were observed in boys only." Ibut the whole notion of love writes..! his love for each and every sin- study from the UK adds to the It added that "children from more still beats me. With my twisted gle one of them. growing mass of research show- privileged backgrounds were just as heart I just can’t figure it out. Letters from a Master To each of them, individually, ing the damaging and often life- likely to have mental health problems Above all, I cannot get my from the moment of concep- long effects of family breakdown as their less advantaged peers." head around the joy these crea- to a Trainee Tempter tion, he says, “I love you”. This onThe children. latest piece of research tures feel when they are loved. is mind-blowing stuff. The infi- Disruptive nite, all-majestic God making involved 6,245 children and young Take a young mother and the how or other it reflects that The study was led by Prof Emla such a fawning remark. Has he people in Britain. surge of joy that rises in her mystery. It’s part of humans Fitzsimons of the Institute of no sense of his own dignity? It confirmed that children whose heart when her baby first being “made in the image and Education at University College Five minutes thinking about fathers had left the home suffer smiles at her. Or clings to her likeness” of Him above. London and the report was pub- this and I’m washed out. more emotional problems than other for protection. Love is like a window into lished in the journal Social Science Fortunately very few ever take children, with boys’ behaviour partic- Or a guy whose girlfriend God, and the more they look at and Medicine. it really seriously, or can get finally tells him, “I love you”. it and, worse still, the more ularly badly affected. In a comment on the findings Tom their heads around it. It’s far She might be a plain Jane, or they do it, the more they under- The study is part of an on-going Madders of the charity YoungMinds, too big for them to grasp. But have a ring in her nose, but stand him and his love. Even project tracking thousands of UK said: “The reasons why a young per- they’ll have plenty of time in those three words are enough to thinking about this makes me children born between 2000 and son may develop mental health prob- heaven to explore it. turn his world upside down. tremble. 2002. lems can be complex, but this study More entertaining are the He’s willing to do anything for That, by the way, is why they One in five of the children saw their shows how family break-ups can be hordes who think they’re cool her. have such a big hang-up about parents separate when they were confusing and disruptive for a child dudes because they don’t even On the other hand, if a girl- sex. Expressing the total com- aged between three and fourteen, and play a significant part, particu- believe in God. most of them remaining with their friend ditches a guy or betrays mitment between a husband How could anyone with half a larly in later childhood." him he can feel devastated or mothers. and wife, sex is a pathway into milligram of mind could be so A remarkable feature of research even believe that life is no Children younger than three whose the mystery of heaven, and you dense? Talk about big-time into the effect of divorce on children longer worth the effort. parents split were not included in the don’t mess with that. brain failure! What was the is the tendency among both acade- The philosophers, the psychol- research. point in him even giving them mics and the media to play down the ogists and the biologists have Share The children in the 7-14 age brack- harm lest it interfere with adults' intelligence if they won’t use it? done everything they can to But back to Him above, the In an odd kind of way, such et at the time their parents parted freedom of choice. probe love but, like myself, they loving Trinity of persons. In his density cracks me up. But a showed on average a 16% rise in The Daily Mail's report on the still can’t make head or tail of infinite wisdom he wanted to deep breath and I see the funny emotional problems, such as anxiety study, for example, began: "It has it. share his love with creatures. side of it. and depressive symptoms, and an long been suspected that divorce My own theory is that the They would bear the imprint of Yours in contempt, 8% increase in conduct disorders. has a damaging impact on children." whole love thing is rooted in a the love that created them. The report said: "Among older chil- In reality, the "damaging impact" is a far bigger mystery, and some- They would be lovers too. Dumbag dren, increased emotional problems long-established fact. 28th DIVINE MERCY Virgin statue in Rockies MOTORISTS rounding a bend on NATIONAL CONFERENCE Interstate 90, about 6 miles from the historic city of Butte in Montana, meet Main Hall, RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 a remarkable sight, a giant statue of Our Lady, perched 3,500 feet above the February, Friday 22nd (Young people), valley floor. The 90-foot-tall, brilliantly white homage to 23rd & 24th 2019 the Virgin Mary, known as Our Lady of the Rockies, was built in thanksgiving for a mir- Theme: ‘Let us not be put acle. It is particularly stunning when lit up at night. to the test’ Butte is considered one of the most Irish (Mt 6:13) cities in the US. In 1979 Bob O’Bill’s wife was dying from cancer. O’Bill, an electrician who had worked in a Main speaker: local mine, prayed for her healing and • Rockies statue of Our Lady. Fr Hayden Williams OFM (Cap) from Malta. promised to build a 5-foot statue of Our Lady International Speaker, one of the most amazing in his garden if God heard his prayer. road to the top of the Rockies, sometimes speakers in our 28 years. When his wife made a full recovery, he and advancing only 10 feet a day. Fr Eunan McDonnell, SDB, Irish Provincal. his friends set out to fulfil the promise, but As more men lost their jobs due to the reces- Fr Brendan Walsh, Pallotine’s Thurles. soon began to think on a much bigger scale. sion, whatever their faith they willingly gave Imagination Fr Patrick Cahill, Holy Family Mission, their time to pushing the project forward. Meanwhile the volunteers’ families held Glencomeragh House. At the time, Butte, once the world’s top cop- Dr Diarmuid Martin DD, Archbishop of Dublin. benefit dinners and cake sales to make up for per producer, was going through its worst any shortfall in cash. Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, Papal Nuncio economic recession ever. Mining companies Nearly six years later, in September 1985, to Ireland. had left the town, jobs were scarce and 400 tons of concrete, provided by a local com- Ms. Niamh Ni Bhriain, Pro-Life Speaker. morale was at an all-time low. pany, were poured in to form the base. On 17 E E E But the project caught the local people’s December an army helicopter lifted the stat- Tickets: Weekend 35 Sat. 30, Sun. 20 imagination, and help and materials flooded ue, in four sections, into place. in. There had been concern about strong winds from Divine Mercy Apostlate, Virtually everything needed was donated: on the mountain, but that day the air was 22 Castle Grove, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 the plot of land on top of the East Ridge, the calm. “Everything we asked of Mary up or through PayPal. heavy machinery needed to cut a road up the there, we got,” said Jim Keane, one of the Tel: 086-0669203 mountain, the cement base for the statue, and builders. the labour. Made of steel, the statue is dedicated to [email protected] • www.divinemercyconference.com Work began on 29 December 1979. workers and women everywhere, especially Volunteers spent many evenings blasting a to mothers.