Tag Archives: Family life

…the reply to my letter.

I wonder if a reply will be forthcoming from Prof. Cathy Warwick?

A letter to the Princess Royal

Princess Anne is patron of many charities and organisations. One of her charities, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), has recently changed direction in one of its policies. The chief executive of the organisation, Prof. Cathy Warwick, has stated that the RCM now supports the British Pregnancy Advisory Service’s (BPAS) campaign to change the law and allow abortion, up to birth, for any reason. It should be noted that Prof. Warwick is also a trustee of the BPAS.

Many Midwives are rightly upset by this decision because they were not consulted about the change in policy and feel that their job is to support mothers before, during and after pregnancy. Indeed, many who are pro-abortion have criticised Prof. Warwick’s stance. Dr Pemberton is an NHS psychiatrist and a columnist for the Mail, he himself has assisted in abortions and has said he couldn’t understand “how anyone who knows the full facts about abortion could countenance such a grotesque idea” He went even further saying, that he “unreservedly” supports a woman’s right to choose, but added “many doctors are uncomfortable about the current cut-off”. “In the same hospital where we are trying to save a premature baby born at 23 weeks, a woman down the corridor is legally allowed to undergo a late-stage abortion on a foetus of the same gestation.”

Dr Pemberton warned that it is “so chillingly easy to treat abortions as being like any other operation”, adding: “Cathy Warwick’s proposals chill my blood. If I were a midwife, she would be the last woman on earth I’d want to speak in my name.”

The Catholic Church is quite clear that all life is of supreme value and should be nurtured from conception to natural death. Therefore, please add your name to the petition which is trying to reverse the RCMs new stance: Follow this link

In wanting to highlight these issues, Fr Liam has sent a letter to Princess Anne, one of the Royal Patrons of the RCM. To read the letter click the image below.

Synod 2015: The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and in the Contemporary World.

Today Bishop Tom issued a pastoral letter to whole diocese. At the same time the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales launched a document called ‘The Call, The Journey and The Mission’. The latter was printed and made available, after Mass, for every household.

The theme of these documents is to respond to an invitation from Pope Francis to reflect upon our experiences of marriage and family life. All of us were born into a family; all of us have a mother and father. Therefore, whether we are married or single, have children or not, we all have some experience of family life. Some of these experiences are positive, some are not.

In reflecting upon our experiences of, we have been asked to answer six questions. There is no need to answer them all at once. In fact, we are being asked to take time to think about our reply to each question. As such, there will only be one question given every two weeks. Responses to each question may then be placed in a box provided at the back of the Church. The responses will then be collected by the diocese, before being sent to the Bishops’ Office in London where Vincent Cardinal Nicholls will take the replies to Rome. Alternatively, responses may be made on-line by filling in the form here.

The questions are:

Question 1: For Sunday 01 February 2015. What are your joys and hopes of marriage and family life today?

Question 2: For Sunday 15 February 2015. What are your struggles and fears of marriage and family life today?

Question 3: For Sunday 01 March 2015. How can we better understand marriage as a vocation?

Question 4: For Sunday 15 March 2015. How does marriage enrich you?

Question 5: For Sunday 29 March 2015. How does your family life enrich you?

Question 6: For Sunday 05 April 2015. In what way, through the abiding presence of God, is your family “Salt of the earth and light to the world,” and a place of and for handing on the faith?

Benemerenti Medal Awarded

Congratulations to Rose and Pat Murphy as Pat receives the Benemerenti medal from Pope Francis!

During his recent pastoral visit, Bishop Tom presented the award on behalf of Pope Francis for Pat’s contribution to Catholic Education and Catechesis.

Both Pat and Rose have spent many years and much effort in actively promoting the vision of the Church which the Bishops of the World put forward at the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council – a vision which saw a notably increased role of the laity through their active participation in the life of the Church.

In his homily, bishop Tom made reference to the Church being more than just a stone building which can be burnt down, but that it is the living body of the people of Christ – the laity and the clergy – who bring their God-given gifts together for the good of all. In his acceptance speech Pat made reference to all the good that had been done in this area, but noted that there is still some way to go. Here in Haverfordwest he invited everyone to be more active in shaping the Local Church and indicated one way to do that would be to get involved in the up-comming discussions concerning the Synod on Marriage and Family Life.

Pat and Rose, all in the parish wish you well, and we all offer our heartfelt congratuations and blessings. May you continue to work hard for the promotion and deeper understanding of our Catholic Faith.

More pictures may be found here.

Kenyan doctors speak out over mass sterilisation exercise

It seems UNICEF & the World Health Organisation have been involved in a clandestine attempt at mass sterilisation in Kenya.

Doctors in the country have gone to the Catholic Bishops after attempts to resolve the matter with the government were ignored. Now they have gone public in an attempt to address the situation. Kenya’s Catholic bishops broke the story, charging two United Nations organisations with sterilising millions of girls and women under cover of an anti-tetanus inoculation program sponsored by the Kenyan government. A statement from the Kenyan doctors can be found here.

The Christian Institute

The Christian Institute is an ecumenical group which serves to represent Christians and their views to the wider world, and to inform Christians of what the wider world thinks of them. It offers publications on theology and Christian living, provides a news feed on Christian matters and offers legal aid to those who are being treated badly simply for holding Christian principles. Check it out and, if you’re a Facebook user, ‘like’ the page to receive their news feed.

Synod on the Family

Here is a video clip of a press conference at which Cardinal Nichols spoke. (The first question is in Italian, but after that English is used).

Baby Memorial

Today in Haverfordwest a stone memorial and four trees were dedicated to the lives of 420 babies who were buried in unmarked graves.

(Councillor Huw George, Cabinet Member for Environmental and Regulatory Services, and Pat James at the Memorial in City Road Cemetery)

The stillborn babies were born between 1928 and 1975 when it was common practice to take them from their mothers without any ritual. Now the babies will be permanently remembered at City Road Cemetery in Haverfordwest, where most of the babies were buried. The memorial is the culmination of years of campaigning by Pat James, crematorium assistant at Parc Gwyn in Narberth. The memorial was dedicated by the chaplains of Withybush Hospital, Canon Geoffrey Gwyther, Rev. Geoffrey Eynon and Fr Liam Bradley.

A radio interview with Pat James may be found here.

Pictured at Monday’s service are (L-R): Rev Geoffrey Eynon; James Allen, Superintendent and Registrar; Shane Morgan of Tom Newing & Son; Canon Geoffrey Gwyther; Robin Folland of Roy Folland & Son; Elfyn Evans, former gravedigger City Road Cemetery; Pat James and Father Liam Bradley.

Cardinal Nichols speaks to the press before the start of the Synod on the Family

Here is the video of the interview Cardinal Nichols gave to the press as he prepares to travel to Rome for the Extraordinary Meeting of Bishops for the Synod on the Family.

A day of prayer for the Synod of Bishops on the Family 2014

Today, Sunday 28th September, has been marked out as a special day of prayer for the preparations of the Synod on the Family.

The Synod – a meeting of bishops – will take place from the 5th to the 9th October and will discuss the matters which were raised last year when the Church invited every member to fill out a questionnaire on family life. Pope Francis has asked for the following prayer to be recited by all the faithful during liturgical celebrations.

Prayer to the Holy Family for the Synod

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

in you we contemplate

the splendour of true love,

to you we turn with trust.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

grant that our families too

may be places of communion and prayer,

authentic schools of the Gospel

and small domestic Churches.

Holy Family of Nazareth,

may families never again