Funny Old World

"Journalism largely consists of saying 'Lord Jones is Dead' to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive."

At least that was G.K. Chesterton's view. Things have changed somewhat. Nowadays we are informed when a journalist dies. "Each man's death diminishes me..." and all that but....

Ash Wednesday

Fr Longenecker has a good post here.
"Reasons for Renunciation"

Coalition for Marriage Petition

It shouldn't be necessary but, alas, I fear it is. Please find the petition here.

Where do they get these barmy ideas?

I have just read a curious post on Defend Marriage in Scotland concerning the Scottish Young People's Commissioner who wants boys to be allowed to wear skirts to school. What's the problem? I hear you ask. Scotsmen are different. Wearing what- to the rest of us- look like skirts is what they do. Nor do they look any the less manly for it- at least I don't think so. It is not, however, an appeal to the nation's cultural heritage which was the occasion of the commissioner's utterance. He is evidently concerned about those children who suffer on account of their belief in having been "born in the wrong body".

Now in case anyone should think that I am picking on a uniquely Scottish foible I must mention that there was an item on the Midlands television news recently about a child in Worcester suffering from- and clearly indulged in- the same delusion.

I wonder that noone has troubled to ask just one or two obvious questions. Firstly, if indeed it is the wrong body, how did you get into it? And, second, if it is the wrong body, how can surgically- and chemically- produced alterations to that same body make it the right body?

It also seems to me that those medical professionals who carry out such operations are profoundly dishonest. Will a man, who has had "gender reassignment treatment" ever conceive, carry a pregnancy and give birth? At the skeletal level men and women are different. Watch any of the archaeology programmes on television and when bones are discovered an osteo-archaeologist will confidently determine sex on the basis of obvious features. The pelvis, although not exclusively so, is kind of crucial here with the female pelvis being being wonderfully wrought to both cradle the developing baby and allow his/her passage into the outside world. Then there is the question of genes- or chromosomes. Will a man have all his Y chromosomes replaced with X-s? Who knows? Perhaps he will lose the ability to park a car!

That adults should be indulged in such absurd behaviour is bad enough but to encourage it in children is surely one of the worst kinds of abuse.

Very Interesting Reading

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

http://ttonys-blog.blogspot.com/

For the Queen

Catholic Voices Update

I see that Catholic Voices have changed the offending passage quoted earlier. In the interests of fairness- and because, as I have said before, I earnestly wish for the success of the CV project- I am posting the changed passage in full here:

"But in reality, Catholics on campus have nothing to fear. The motion's definition of pro-choice ideology is so narrow and extreme, and its actions so brow-beating and authoritarian, that it will show informed pro-lifers who accept that abortion cannot be prohibited immediately -- including the bishops of England and Wales, who advocate incremental restrictions, but realise that a total ban is currently impossible to achieve -- to be the true advocates of moderate, rational and humane principle."

Had this been posted originally I' d not have been moved to comment. My own view, for what it is worth, is that the incremental approach is highly problematic but I cannot wholly condemn it- because we are discussing real human lives here. Apart from that, the article seems to take a remarkably upbeat, even optimistic, view of the current situation at UCLU- whether it is justified only time will tell. Sadly, fornicators have a solidly vested interest in the provision of easy abortion and, all too often, recognise it.

I pray that God will bless the good efforts of those involved in the Catholic Voices project- and all who speak up for the truth.

"Catholic Voices" Catholic?

I have just had a shock. Following a link on the "Auntie Joanna" blog referring to the recent goings on at University College London, I read what was suggested as "a good analysis" of the situation. In its summing up the "Catholic Voices" article contained the following-

"The motion contains no definition of "pro-choice"; if it means simply someone who accepts that abortion should be legal, most Catholics -- including the bishops of England and Wales, who advocate incremental restrictions, but not yet a total ban -- would fit that description."

The suggestion that our bishops would not advocate a total ban on abortion is, as far as I am concerned, unthinkable. It looks like a monstrous lie. God forbid that there should be the slightest possibility of a whisper of truth in it! I am not one to knock our bishops, even if one or two might seem a little odd. Indeed, regarding the "Catholic Voices" project I have tried to overlook what appeared to be the results of occasional ineptitude resulting from inexperience. And I certainly did not want to join with those bashing them from motives of personal pique or on the basis some "party" agenda. This, however, written on their own website- presumably a considered statement- not only flagrantly misrepresents the Catholic position on abortion but slanderously associates our bishops with it.

I ask: are the "Catholic Voices" Catholic?