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A Step Too Far
A number of weeks ago, I was walking past one of the major hospitals in Glasgow. Standing outside the perimeter wall were a number of women who were silently protesting against abortion. One or two of them were quietly praying the Rosary, while a couple held up placards saying what they were doing and why. When the women are approached, they are very happy to be engaged in conversation and will very politely explain the purpose of their actions. Similar silent protests are in place outside at least one other very large hospital in Glasgow. There is no aggression, no hostility, no shouting – they are simply, quietly there. At…
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Wars, Past and Present
As a child of Portsmouth, the Royal Navy will always have a very special place in my heart; this is the home of the Royal Navy, which has been based there since 1194 and which forms an integral part of the city and it’s spirit. The Common at Southsea is dominated by the Naval War Memorial, pictured above, a place which I wandered through a million times during my childhood years. At this time each year, I gladly attach my little Royal Navy poppy to the lapel of my coat and I wear it proudly. And on this particular day – Armistice Day – I, along with the rest of…
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Our Lady of Fatima
Every 13th May, we celebrate the memory of a heavenly event which took place just outside a little village called Fatima, in Portugal. There, just over one hundred years ago, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three young children – Lucia dos Santos (aged 10) and her cousins, brother and sister Francisco Marto (aged 9) and Jacinta Marto (aged 7). The appearances of Our Lady of Fatima, and the message She gave there, have been fully approved by the Church and declared to be “worthy of belief”. Now, this does not mean we are obliged to believe in them, nor even to have any interest whatsoever in them. But we ought…
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Refuge In Her Heart
Although devoted to Our Lady of Fatima, for a great many years I could not really understand the call to “pray for peace” which seemed to form a core part of the message presented at Fatima in 1917. Certainly, I could understand the relevance of this call at the time Our Blessed Lady appeared there, when the First World War was taking place; and again, when another war – “a worse one”, as Our Lady described it – would break out two decades later. I could even understand the message had a place in the 1980s, when the threat of nuclear war was at least greatly possible. But then, “Russia”…
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Bernadette After Death
The Relics of Saint Bernadette Soubirous arrived in Carfin Grotto, Scotland, this morning. St Bernadette is, and always has been, an immensely popular Saint of the Catholic Church. If the visit of the relics of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux to the Grotto in 2019 are anything to judge by, this visit by the little Saint of Lourdes will draw huge crowds from across Scotland, particularly as this is the only Scottish destination on the national tour of the relics. Many know at least the basic details of the eighteen Appearances of the Blessed Virgin to Saint Bernadette at Lourdes in 1858, and some know that she lived the rest of…
