by Deacon Nick Donnelly

Homosexual activists have succeeded in persuading the ruling elites to use the power of the State, media and big business to successfully campaign for the legalisation of same-sex “marriage”. A government minister of Ireland, one of the most pro-life countries of the world, has announced with satisfaction the killing of 26 babies in 2014 as a result of Kenny’s abortion law.

These are the first ‘legal’ abortions ever conducted in the Republic of Ireland. A majority in the UK House of Commons, that prides itself on promoting feminism, have voted down a motion to protect baby girls from gendercide abortion. No wonder there is a sense among faithful Catholics that moral life is spinning out of control in Ireland and Britain. The question is, does the accelerating abandonment of morality and the riotous celebration of immorality, coupled with increasing hostility towards Christianity, especially the Catholic Church, indicate the activity of supernatural evil in both Britain and Ireland? The most significant evidence that the devil is conspiring to bring these events about is the reversal of public morality, where good is now condemned as evil, and evil is celebrated as good. For example, during the referendum in Ireland good people who defended marriage between a man and woman for the procreation and upbringing of children were pilloried in the media and meetings as wicked bigots.

Faced with the activity of supernatural evil in our countries what should be the response of faithful bishops, priests and laity?


Fota VIII International Liturgy Conference, Cork, Ireland, 4-6 July 2015

Fota

The eighth Fota International Liturgy Conference was opened this morning by His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke.

The initial session of the conference heard two papers on the scriptural aspects of the priesthood of Baptism. The papers were delivered by Fr. Joseph Briody, St. John’s Seminary, Brighton, Massachusetts, and by Professor Dieter Böhler, SJ, Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen, Frankfurt.

by Deacon Nick Donnelly

The vote in Ireland has been to legalise ‘same-sex marriage’, an outcome which suggests a loss of moral clarity among the majority of Catholics in the Irish Church. I am left asking the question - is the Irish Church dead? I know this may sound shocking and some may accuse me of alarmism and defeatism. However, Sacred Scripture is clear that though Our Lord has promised to be with the Universal Church until the end of time (Mt 28:20), it is possible for a local church to die.

by Bishop Athanasius Schneider

BpAthanasiusSchneiderDuring Pentecost, the Holy Ghost filled the hearts of the faithful with his Divine presence, and their souls with his seven-fold gifts, and above all with the gift of Divine love. It is from that day that the fire of Divine love started to burn in their souls.

What are the effects of that Divine fire? It is the transformation of our weak and inconstant human love into a supernatural love. Thanks to that supernatural love, we are able to love God with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Above all, the fire of Divine love in our soul gives us the virtue of fortitude. That virtue of fortitude has, for two thousand years, given the faithful the capacity to prefer death to the betrayal of their baptismal promises, to prefer to die rather than to sin, to die rather than to betray their priestly vows, to die rather than to betray their religious vows.

by Deacon Nick Donnelly

I’m hearing that some parish priests are concerned that Catholics, who are devout and regular Mass-goers, are intending to vote ‘Yes’ in two weeks time in Enda Kenny’s Marriage Equality referendum. In my experience the vast majority of ordinary Catholics want to do the right thing, so the fact that so many are considering voting ‘Yes’ indicates a shocking level of misunderstanding and confusion over these important issues of Faith and morality.

By Deacon Nick Donnelly

The impoverished state of the Catholic faith and the Church in Ireland has been exposed by the large majority voting to legalise same-sex “marriage”. I have heard reports from the Irish Diaspora of faithful Catholics being in a state “beyond shock” at the enormity of Ireland’s betrayal of marriage and the repudiation of the Church. A friend told me that she thought that the “yes” vote was such a serious desertion of the Faith by so many Catholics that it could be one of the worst events in modern Irish history. Another friend described the “yes” vote as the greatest possible insult to past generations of Irish Catholics who had sacrificed so much, even their lives, out of fidelity to the Faith and the Church. Around the world many are asking the same question, “how could this have happened to Ireland?”

by Deacon Nick Donnelly

Last time I wrote about Enda Kenny’s same-sex ‘marriage’ referendum for Catholic Voice, a reporter for the Irish Sun newspaper contacted me. He told me my article proved controversial among ‘Yes’ supporters and asked me how I felt about them posting angry messages about me. The issue seemed to centre around my quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church which describes homosexual sex ‘as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."’ (CCC 2357).