Sinn Fein Votes to BAN Catholics From Praying Publicly

Anti Catholic political party Sinn Fein, who picketed a Dublin church earlier this year in a 12th of July style rally, have dramatically voted to BAN public prayer near abortuaries in Northern Ireland.

The party have been working extremely hard to implement Westminster’s abortion edict in the six counties, tirelessly doing the bidding of their wage masters in the House of Lords. Sinn Fein actually abandoned their previous policy of resisting British rule in the North and embraced it for the first time in order to support the aborting of Irish babies, by accepting this ruling they have now accepted that London has full authority to impose its power in the North.

Sinn Fein are often portrayed in international media outlets as ‘populist’ or even as ‘nationalist’. While those epithets once had some credence, that has not been the case for at least a decade, with their ‘Catholic’ ‘nationalist’ counterparts the SDLP also joining them this week in voting to ban Catholics from praying publicly against abortion.

The so called ‘exclusion zones’ are in response to successful outreaches from prolife groups to support those who are availing of abortion because of desperation, with many prolife groups in the North offering material and emotional support to those being coerced into destroying their baby by partners, family or friends.

Prolife groups have suffered severe intimidation and aggression from Westminster’s supporters, who have attacked them both physically and verbally. Ironically, these ‘exclusion zones’ are now being brought in on false charges of intimidation by Catholics and prolife groups, intimidation which never actually happened.

In a strongly worded Facebook post, Belfast priest Fr. Paddy McCafferty wrote:

Faithful Catholics please take careful note.

Today, every single “nationalist” and “republican” MLA in Stormont voted to prevent and criminalise peaceful and prayerful protests outside abortion mills in Northern Ireland.

Every single one of them - including those who, lyingly and deceptively, have described themselves as ‘Pro Life’ to get our votes - the likes of Nichola Mallon, Daniel McCrossan, Pat Catney and some others.

They have alleged that there is “intimidation” and they have slandered the protesters as “extremists”. They have not produced one shred of evidence to support these claims.

There is no “intimidation”. There is prayer and the attempt to save unborn lives. There is the presentation of an alternative to abortion - in other words REAL CHOICE!

There is the truth that abortion is murder and an appeal not to kill a child.

There is also the troubling of the consciences of those who advocate the slaughter and that is the REAL REASON why they want the prayerful witnesses stopped!

If wanting to prevent infanticide means that Sinn Fein, the SDLP and their cohorts will label you an “extremist”, then so be it.

I have no hesitation whatsoever in appealing to faithful Catholics not to vote for any member of Sinn Fein or the SDLP. Do not vote for them ever again. I say that as a priest and I make no apology for it.

They have nailed their colours firmly to the evil mast of abortion. It is time for us to reject them at the ballot box.

There is currently a similar effort underway in the South to do the same by banning Catholics from praying in public against abortion.

After the success of Catholics in getting an abortion mill shut down in London in recent months, it is easy to see why those who wish to kill in the womb are so determined to quash such prayers.

Webinar: 'What Should We Expect from the Synod?'

On Thursday 14th October 2021, Family Solidarity will be hosting a Webinar discussing ‘What Should We Expect from the Synod?’ at 7.30pm Irish time.

The speaker will be Jason Osborne from The Irish Catholic.

You can tune in by requesting the link from familysolidarityireland@gmail.com

For more information, visit: Webinar: What should we expect from the Synod? - Family Solidarity

Pope Francis Begins Synod

In Rome today, Pope Francis began the process that will lead to the meeting of the Universal Synod there in 2023.

Quoting Fr. Yves Congar OP, the pope said:

We must not make another church, we must make a different church.

He stated that three problems which can arise are formalism, intellectualism and immobility.

Whatever your ideological slants, only the more fanatical factions of Modernism could suggest that the past half century has not been marked by such features as those, with church architecture, liturgical norms and artwork often taken the form of indecipherable gobbledygook designed to allow aloof theologians to impose their will despite alienating millions of laity in the process.

The three words that Francis identified as the key to the Synodal path were Communion, Participation, Mission.

With that in mind, those of a more traditional mind should not shirk the process which beings today, Diocesan Synodal Consultations will begin in earnest beginning this week and we must take at face value the idea that everyone’s voice will be heard. If we do not even attempt to speak up, we cannot complain when the results do not go our way.

The Modernist Clericalism which flexed its muscles in the 1960s and 1970s in demolishing churches and similar efforts of iconoclasm is not as well poised to repeat the trick in 2021 unless they are allowed to do so in conjunction with proxies in various ‘Catholic Spring’ type astro-turf lobby groups. Many of these have already gotten underway with their own Synodal Conferences but in many cases, their suggestions (particularly in Germany) have not been well received by the public, with Cardinal Walter Kasper even joining the chorus of those criticising the extreme nature of some proposals.

In a video this week, Fr. Brendan Kilcoyne has said ‘We should be looking at the parish system and asking ourselves if this is the most serviceable system for the modern church in the Western World?’ He makes good points that traditionalists should consider with regards to how much of this problem they have an answer for, with the various Latin Mass communities offering examples of groupings of people that are not generically confined to geography. The video is very much a worthwhile watch and expresses the sense of purpose and cautious optimism that we should meet this with.

Look up your local Diocesan Websites, find out where and when your Synodal events will begin to take place and if there are none at present, speak to someone you trust or a group that you support about staging one.

We are not going to promise it will turn out exactly as we might hope, but we can guarantee that sitting on the sidelines is not an option.

Pope Francis’s opening address:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Thank you for being here at the opening of the Synod. You have come from many roads and Churches, each carrying questions and hopes in your hearts, and I am sure that the Spirit will guide us and give us the grace to go forward together, to listen to each other and to initiate discernment in our time, becoming in solidarity with the labors and desires of humanity. I reiterate that the Synod is not a parliament, that the Synod is not an investigation of opinions; the Synod is an ecclesial moment, and the protagonist of the Synod is the Holy Spirit. If there is no Spirit, there will be no Synod.

Let us live this Synod in the spirit of the prayer that Jesus addressed heartily to the Father for his own: "That they may all be one"(Jn 17:21). To this we are called: to unity, to communion, to the fraternity that is born from feeling embraced by the one love of God. All of us, without distinction, and we Pastors in particular, as St Cyprian wrote: "We must firmly maintain and claim this unity, especially we Bishops who preside over the Church, to give proof that even the episcopate itself is one and undivided"(De Ecclesiae Catholicae Unitate,5). In the one People of God, therefore, let us walk together, to experience a Church that receives and lives the gift of unity and opens herself to the voice of the Spirit.

The key words of the Synod are three: communion, participation, mission. Communion and mission are theological expressions that designate the mystery of the Church and of which it is good to remember. The Second Vatican Council clarified that communion expresses the very nature of the Church and, at the same time, affirmed that the Church has received "the mission of proclaiming and establishing in all peoples the kingdom of Christ and of God, and of this kingdom constitutes on earth the seed and the beginning"(Lumen Gentium, 5). Two words through which the Church contemplates and imitates the life of the Most Holy Trinity, the mystery of communion ad intra and the source of mission ad extra. After a time of doctrinal, theological and pastoral reflections that characterized the reception of Vatican II, St. Paul VI wanted to condense precisely in these two words – communion and mission – "the main lines, enunciated by the Council". Commemorating his openness, he affirmed that the general lines had been "communion, that is, cohesion and interior fullness, in grace, in truth, in collaboration [...] and mission, that is, apostolic commitment to the contemporary world"(Angelus,11 October 1970), which is not proselytism.

Closing the Synod of 1985, twenty years after the conclusion of the conciliar assembly, Saint John Paul II also wanted to reaffirm that the nature of the Church is koinonia:from it flows the mission of being a sign of the intimate union of the human family with God. And he added: "It is supremely fitting that ordinary and, if necessary, even extraordinary Synods be celebrated in the Church" which, in order to bear fruit, must be well prepared: "that is, it is necessary that in the local Churches work be done on their preparation with the participation of all"(Address at the conclusion of the Second Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops,7 December 1985). So here is the third word, participation. Communion and mission risk remaining somewhat abstract terms if we do not cultivate an ecclesial practice that expresses the concreteness of synodality in every step of the journey and of work, promoting the real involvement of each and every one. I would like to say that celebrating a Synod is always beautiful and important, but it is truly fruitful if it becomes a living expression of being Church, of an action characterized by true participation.

And this is not for the sake of style, but of faith. Participation is a requirement of baptismal faith. As the Apostle Paul says, "we have all been baptized by one Spirit into one body"(1 Cor 12:13). The starting point, in the ecclesial body, is this and no other: Baptism. From it, our source of life, derives the equal dignity of the children of God, even in the difference of ministries and charisms. For this reason, everyone is called to participate in the life of the Church and in her mission. If there is no real participation of the whole People of God, the discourses on communion risk remaining pious intentions. On this aspect we have made progress, but there is still a certain difficulty and we are forced to record the discomfort and suffering of many pastoral workers, of the participatory bodies of dioceses and parishes, of women who are often still on the margins. To participate everyone: it is an indispensable ecclesial commitment! All baptized, this is the identity card: Baptism.

The Synod, precisely while it offers us a great opportunity for a pastoral conversion in a missionary and also ecumenical key, is not exempt from some risks. I will mention three. The first is that of formalism. You can reduce a Synod to an extraordinary event, but a façade, just as if you were looking at a beautiful façade of a church without ever set foot in it. Instead, the Synod is a path of effective spiritual discernment, which we do not undertake to give a beautiful image of ourselves, but to better collaborate in God's work in history. Therefore, if we speak of a synodal Church we cannot be satisfied with the form, but we also need substance, tools and structures that favor dialogue and interaction in the People of God, especially between priests and laity. Why do I emphasize this? Because sometimes there is some elitism in the priestly order that makes it detach from the laity; and the priest eventually becomes the "master of the shack" and not the pastor of a whole Church that is moving forward. This requires transforming certain top-down, distorted and partial visions of the Church, the priestly ministry, the role of the laity, ecclesial responsibilities, government roles, and so on.

A second risk is that of intellectualism – abstraction, reality goes there and we with our reflections go elsewhere – to make the Synod a kind of study group, with cultured but abstract interventions on the problems of the Church and on the evils of the world; a sort of "talking to us", where we proceed in a superficial and worldly way, ending up falling back into the usual sterile ideological and party classifications and detaching ourselves from the reality of the holy People of God, from the concrete life of the communities scattered around the world.

Finally, there may be the temptation ofimmobility:since "it has always been done this way" (Ap. Evangelii Gaudium,33) – this word is a poison in the life of the Church, "it has always been done this way" – it is better not to change. Those who move in this horizon, even without realizing it, fall into the error of not taking seriously the time we inhabit. The risk is that in the end old solutions will be adopted for new problems: a patch of raw cloth, which in the end creates a worse tear (cf. Mt 9:16). For this reason it is important that the Synod be truly such, a process in progress; involve, in different phases and from below, the local Churches, in a passionate and incarnate work, which imprints a style of communion and participation marked by the mission.

Let us therefore live this occasion of encounter, listening and reflection as a time of grace,brothers and sisters, a time of grace that, in the joy of the Gospel, allows us to seize at least three opportunities. The first is to set out not occasionally but structurally towards a synodal Church:an open place, where everyone feels at home and can participate. The Synod then offers us the opportunity to become the Church of listening:to take a break from our rhythms, to stop our pastoral anxieties to stop and listen. Listen to the Spirit in adoration and prayer. How much we miss the prayer of adoration today! Many have lost not only the habit, but also the notion of what it means to worship. Listen to our brothers and sisters on the hopes and crises of faith in the different areas of the world, on the urgent needs for the renewal of pastoral life, on the signs that come from local realities. Finally, we have the opportunity to become a Church of closeness. Let us always return to God's style: God's style is closeness, compassion and tenderness. God has always worked like this. If we do not come to this Church of closeness with attitudes of compassion and tenderness, we will not be the Church of the Lord. And this not only in words, but with presence, so that greater bonds of friendship with society and the world may be established: a Church that does not separate itself from life, but takes charge of the fragility and poverty of our time, healing wounds and healing broken hearts with the balm of God. Let us not forget God's style that must help us: closeness, compassion and tenderness.

Dear brothers and sisters, may this Synod once inhabited by the Spirit! Because we need the Spirit, the ever new breath of God, who frees us from all closure, revives what is dead, loosens the chains, spreads joy. The Holy Spirit is the One who guides us where God wants and not where our personal ideas and tastes would take us. Father Congar, of holy memory, recalled: "We must not makeanother Church,we must make a different Church"(Vera e falsa riforma nella Chiesa,Milan 1994, 193). And that's the challenge. For a "different Church", open to the newness that God wants to suggest to her, let us invoke the Spirit with greater strength and frequency and humbly listen to him, walking together, as he, creator of communion and mission, desires, that is, with docility and courage.

Come, Holy Spirit. You who arouse new languages and put words of life on your lips, preserve us from becoming a museum Church, beautiful but mute, with so much past and little future. Come among us, because in the synodal experience we do not allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by disenchantment, we do not water down prophecy, we do not end up reducing everything to sterile discussions. Come, Holy Spirit of love, open our hearts to listening. Come, Spirit of holiness, renew the holy faithful People of God. Come, Creator Spirit, make the face of the earth new. Amen.

A Scottish Tale of Assisted Suicide

Many Scots believe that Liam McArthur, member of the Scottish Parliament for the Orkney Islands, just introduced a bill to legalise assisted dying/suicide. This is because the media promoted that misleading notion even before McArthur presented the recent 39-page consultation document with 4 pages of “outline” clauses.

Apparently a consultation document [CD] is required by the Scottish Parliament / Pàrlamaid na h-Alba as the first step towards a ‘Member’s Bill.’ I do not know if a draft bill would normally be appended at this stage, but McArthur’s CD is proposing the concept of an assisted suicide bill.

That acknowledged, the approval process will move quickly, so anyone wanting to oppose assisted suicide [AS] has to get stuck-in now to prevent this movement from succeeding — especially since the British Medical Association just voted for “neutrality” on the issue of assisted suicide. The first step is to complete the online survey before mid-December. Please also communicate with your MSP [member of the Scottish parliament] and if possible, show opposition publicly too. (Letter to the Editor, etc.)

Scots may search for their Member of the Scottish Parliament at: https://www.parliament.scot/msps/current-and-previous-msps

The survey link is:

https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/AssistedDyingProposal/

Scots opposed to assisted suicide should be heartened by the success the Irish had against the Dying with Dignity Bill 2020.

Why reject Assisted Suicide?

If there is one practical argument against assisted suicide, it is the dramatic increase in regular non-assisted suicide which has occurred in the Netherlands and those US states which legalised AS.

There has been over 30% increase in ‘regular’ suicide in the Netherlands since they legalized Voluntary Euthanasia in 2001. The US states which legalised AS also have a significant increase in non-assisted suicide, in comparison to the States which did not.

By 2023 it will legal for Canadian doctors and Nurse Practitioners to euthanise people suffering from mental illnesses alone. (This IS the slippery slope.) Please, listen to ‘Lia’ Garifalia Milousis as she tells her poignant story.

“I’m the future version of myself who survived to tell you this.”

Misled Media

The media clearly believes that McArthur was presenting a draft A.S. bill. McArthur can claim that they should have read the CD properly, but that might be disingenuous seeing the June newspaper reports.

The CD states that there is no draft bill at least twice. (One line on page 6: “At this stage, therefore, there is no Bill, only a draft proposal for the legislation” and on page 19: “It is important to emphasise that the information below is only an outline of what is being proposed and consulted on, it is not a Bill.”) A cynic might wonder whether the disclaimers were meant to stay un-found, considering they were so deep in the 39 pages of text.

Politico article (June 21, 2021) By Andrew McDonald:

“Lawmakers in Scotland have embarked on a third attempt to legalize a form of assisted dying, with hopes high for a political breakthrough.”

“The bill — submitted Monday — is backed by a cross-party group of Scottish Parliament members (MSPs).”

BBC (5 July 2021):

“His bill aims to introduce the right to an assisted death for terminally ill, mentally competent adults.”

BBC headline (20 June 2021)

“Assisted dying bill to be lodged at Scottish Parliament.”

The Herald Scotland on 5 July 2021

“…after the new Bill was lodged by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur last month.”

Misleading Consultation

Allowing for the disclaimers in the CD, McArthur has done little to corrected the widely-held misinterpretation that there is a draft AS bill. That silence leads me to suspect that he is running to particular game-plan — he may be trying to present the bill as a ‘done-deal,’ which later would allow him free rein to write pretty much whatever bill he wants.

Even the subtitles in McArthur’s video link project a certain message: “…who now have access to safe and legal assisted dying.”

During the video, McArthur promotes the myth which has been voiced by most every suicide advocate around the world: that A.S. is needed to avoid the dying from having a “prolonged and painful death.” Palliative Care does not ‘prolong life’ and it has been shown repeatedly (e.g. Oregon) that physical pain — or fear of pain — is an infrequent reason for people to request AS (and the vast majority not receiving proper palliation.)

Misleading safeguards

McArthur claims the Bill will have “vitally important safeguards…” but the CD indicates that he will mirror legislation in jurisdictions where safeguards have failed…spectacularly.

• Canada:

Canada legalized AS & Voluntary Euthanasia [VE] in 2016 for people with “a grievous and irremediable medical condition (including an illness, disease or disability)” when their “natural death has become reasonably foreseeable.” In just 5 years, the condition: “reasonably foreseeable death” has been removed.

The Supreme Court of Canada stipulated in the 2015 Carter decision: “…assistance in dying in other situations, such as for “minors or persons with psychiatric disorders or minor medical conditions” would not fall within the parameters suggested in its reasons...” yet by 2023 it will be legal to euthanize people suffering from mental illnesses alone.

• Oregon:

“N. Gregory Hamilton, M.D., Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, demonstrated how Oregon’s flimsy safeguards do not protect people with psychiatric and other mental health disabilities.”

“Linda Fleming, the first to use the WA state law, was divorced, had had financial problems, had been unable to work due to a disability, and was forced to declare bankruptcy. Yet the Director of Compassion & Choices of Washington said that her situation presented "none of the red flags" that might have given his group pause in supporting her request for death.” Clearly, financial duress.

• The Netherlands:

“A doctor is under criminal investigation over a potential breach of Dutch euthanasia laws after slipping a sleeping drug into a woman’s coffee before asking family members to hold her down to allow the insertion of a drip through which a fatal dose could be administered…Should a prosecution be launched, it would be the first since Dutch laws on euthanasia were relaxed in 2002 to allow a doctor to euthanise a patient if it could be shown they were in unbearable suffering and making an informed choice to die.”

The outcome: “A doctor accused of failing to verify consent before performing euthanasia on a dementia patient has been cleared of any wrongdoing by a Dutch court.”

• Belgium:

“In Belgium, the rate of involuntary and non-voluntary euthanasia deaths …is 3 times higher than it is in the Netherlands. …A recent study found that in the Flemish part of Belgium, 66 of 208 cases of “euthanasia” (32%) occurred in the absence of request or consent.”

Misleading Conscientious Objection

McArthur’s statements in the ‘Conscience’ section [3.3] initially sound reasonable, till read carefully.

“It is recognised, however, that if the Bill becomes law it would be the patient’s legal right to request assistance, and a referral to another consenting doctor should be made if the initial doctor declined to assist the patient because of their personal beliefs.”

If this is put into legislation, every doctor will have to make a specific referral for A.S. on demand.

The real twist comes from the General Medical Council:

“Guidance from the General Medical Council on personal beliefs and medical practice states that doctors may practise medicine in accordance with their beliefs, provided that they act in accordance with relevant legislation and:

• do not treat patients unfairly.

• do not deny patients access to appropriate medical treatment or services.

• do not cause patient’s distress.

A doctor refusing to aid with the provision of A.S. — or failing to make a referral — might “cause patient distress” and be accused of “treating patients unfairly” by “denying access” to a legal service.

Doctors will be coerced into compliance.

Misleading poll

“…recent polling showed that over half the population in Scotland would consider travelling abroad for an assisted death if they had a terminal illness, or one which caused them incurable suffering.”

The question begs the answer: any rational person with “incurable suffering” would naturally “consider travelling abroad for an assisted death.” That is absolutely human. What HSS does not mention is that this scenario is moot for most receiving adequate palliation. Universal palliative-care would help many more people than assisted suicide.

Such a question and response is no surprise when one considers that the poll was commissioned by the Humanist Society Scotland (2017) and performed by the polling firm, Survation, on their registered panel of 1,016 Scottish adults.

Survation proudly states: “Our record with traditionally difficult to win campaigns sets Survation apart from the crowd and we count numerous policy successes as part of our research work…We understand how the industry works and use this to develop research that guarantees press coverage.”

Misleading links

McArthur mentions the HSS / Survation poll above in his consultation document. Curiously the appended web-link in the CD https://www.humanism.scot/wpcontent/uploads/2017/09/Assisted-Dying-Poll-Data.pdf brings you to an error message from the Humanist Society Scotland website: “Epic 404 - Article Not Found.”

In contacting HSS and receiving a rapid response from Mr. Fraser Sutherland who advised that the correct link is:

https://www.humanism.scot/what-we-do/news/half-scots-travel-abroad-assisted-death-money/

That page links to the more relevant 3-page summary of the poll at:

https://www.humanism.scot/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Assisted-Dying-Poll-Data.pdf

One wonders how many other links in the CD have similar problems.

Data collection

The on-line survey data will be collected by the Non-Government Bills Unit [NGBU] of the Scottish parliament. That is likely to be a neutral process but the NGBU do not receive e-mail or hard-copy / Royal Mail responses. Those are directed to McArthur, which provides a conflict of interest.

McArthur has the discretion to eliminate certain responses:

Even if the data is fully collated, McArthur has the discretion as to whether he releases the report or not (note “may” below.)

Misleading comments

There is inadequate space to counter each misleading comment made by McArthur.

Below are two showing how this is indeed an issue “of transparency, accountability, safety and justice.”

• Trust in doctors

“First, assisted dying is associated with greater trust amongst patients and medical professionals. In countries where assisted dying is legal, trust in doctors is high. For example, research has shown that the country where doctors are most trusted is the Netherlands.”

Trust? Some elderly people go to hospital in the Netherlands with a card saying they are NOT to be euthanised without consent: unlikely “the most trusted.”

Then, a quick Google-search shows the following table at Statista.com indicating levels of trust of doctors in European countries. The Netherlands is high, but definitely not first.

• Lack of Complaints

Disability Rights Oregon has said that they have never “received a complaint that a person with disabilities was coerced or being coerced to make use of the Act”

Dead people can’t complain…

Please read the case of Roger Foley in Ontario, Canada who wants to live but administrative staff attempted to coerce him into taking Medical Assistance in Dying (AS/VE.)

Alba gu bràth

Again, please call your Member of Parliament / Pàrlamaid na h-Alba. Search at:

https://www.parliament.scot/msps/current-and-previous-msps

Also, the survey on assisted suicide must be completed by mid-December:

https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/AssistedDyingProposal/

Good Luck, Scotland!

Dr. Kevin Hay MRCPI MRCGP (inactive) FCFP

Kevin was born in the UK, graduated from University College, Dublin and now works as a family physician in rural Alberta, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @kevinhay77

Lepanto by G.K. Chesterton

WHITE FOUNTS falling in the Courts of the sun,
And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;
There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,
It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard;
It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips;
For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.
They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy,
They have dashed the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,
And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross.
The cold queen of England is looking in the glass;
The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass;
From evening isles fantastical rings faint the Spanish gun,
And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun.

Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard,
Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred,
Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall,
The last knight of Europe takes weapons from the wall,
The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird has sung,
That once went singing southward when all the world was young.
In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,
Comes up along a winding road the noise of the Crusade.
Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,
Don John of Austria is going to the war,
Stiff flags straining in the night-blasts cold
In the gloom black-purple, in the glint old-gold,
Torchlight crimson on the copper kettle-drums,
Then the tuckets, then the trumpets, then the cannon, and he comes.
Don John laughing in the brave beard curled,
Spurning of his stirrups like the thrones of all the world,
Holding his head up for a flag of all the free.
Love-light of Spain—hurrah!
Death-light of Africa!
Don John of Austria
Is riding to the sea.

Mahound is in his paradise above the evening star,
(Don John of Austria is going to the war.)
He moves a mighty turban on the timeless houri's knees,
His turban that is woven of the sunsets and the seas.
He shakes the peacock gardens as he rises from his ease,
And he strides among the tree-tops and is taller than the trees;
And his voice through all the garden is a thunder sent to bring
Black Azrael and Ariel and Ammon on the wing.
Giants and the Genii,
Multiplex of wing and eye,
Whose strong obedience broke the sky
When Solomon was king.

They rush in red and purple from the red clouds of the morn,
From the temples where the yellow gods shut up their eyes in scorn;
They rise in green robes roaring from the green hells of the sea
Where fallen skies and evil hues and eyeless creatures be,
On them the sea-valves cluster and the grey sea-forests curl,
Splashed with a splendid sickness, the sickness of the pearl;
They swell in sapphire smoke out of the blue cracks of the ground,—
They gather and they wonder and give worship to Mahound.
And he saith, "Break up the mountains where the hermit-folk can hide,
And sift the red and silver sands lest bone of saint abide,
And chase the Giaours flying night and day, not giving rest,
For that which was our trouble comes again out of the west.
We have set the seal of Solomon on all things under sun,
Of knowledge and of sorrow and endurance of things done.
But a noise is in the mountains, in the mountains, and I know
The voice that shook our palaces—four hundred years ago:
It is he that saith not 'Kismet'; it is he that knows not Fate;
It is Richard, it is Raymond, it is Godfrey at the gate!
It is he whose loss is laughter when he counts the wager worth,
Put down your feet upon him, that our peace be on the earth."
For he heard drums groaning and he heard guns jar,
(Don John of Austria is going to the war.)
Sudden and still—hurrah!
Bolt from Iberia!
Don John of Austria
Is gone by Alcalar.

St. Michaels on his Mountain in the sea-roads of the north
(Don John of Austria is girt and going forth.)
Where the grey seas glitter and the sharp tides shift
And the sea-folk labour and the red sails lift.
He shakes his lance of iron and he claps his wings of stone;
The noise is gone through Normandy; the noise is gone alone;
The North is full of tangled things and texts and aching eyes,
And dead is all the innocence of anger and surprise,
And Christian killeth Christian in a narrow dusty room,
And Christian dreadeth Christ that hath a newer face of doom,
And Christian hateth Mary that God kissed in Galilee,—
But Don John of Austria is riding to the sea.
Don John calling through the blast and the eclipse
Crying with the trumpet, with the trumpet of his lips,
Trumpet that sayeth ha!
Domino gloria!
Don John of Austria
Is shouting to the ships.

King Philip's in his closet with the Fleece about his neck
(Don John of Austria is armed upon the deck.)
The walls are hung with velvet that is black and soft as sin,
And little dwarfs creep out of it and little dwarfs creep in.
He holds a crystal phial that has colours like the moon,
He touches, and it tingles, and he trembles very soon,
And his face is as a fungus of a leprous white and grey
Like plants in the high houses that are shuttered from the day,
And death is in the phial and the end of noble work,
But Don John of Austria has fired upon the Turk.
Don John's hunting, and his hounds have bayed—
Booms away past Italy the rumour of his raid.
Gun upon gun, ha! ha!
Gun upon gun, hurrah!
Don John of Austria
Has loosed the cannonade.

The Pope was in his chapel before day or battle broke,
(Don John of Austria is hidden in the smoke.)
The hidden room in man's house where God sits all the year,
The secret window whence the world looks small and very dear.
He sees as in a mirror on the monstrous twilight sea
The crescent of his cruel ships whose name is mystery;
They fling great shadows foe-wards, making Cross and Castle dark,
They veil the plumèd lions on the galleys of St. Mark;
And above the ships are palaces of brown, black-bearded chiefs,
And below the ships are prisons, where with multitudinous griefs,
Christian captives sick and sunless, all a labouring race repines
Like a race in sunken cities, like a nation in the mines.
They are lost like slaves that sweat, and in the skies of morning hung
The stair-ways of the tallest gods when tyranny was young.
They are countless, voiceless, hopeless as those fallen or fleeing on
Before the high Kings' horses in the granite of Babylon.
And many a one grows witless in his quiet room in hell
Where a yellow face looks inward through the lattice of his cell,
And he finds his God forgotten, and he seeks no more a sign—
(But Don John of Austria has burst the battle-line!)
Don John pounding from the slaughter-painted poop,
Purpling all the ocean like a bloody pirate's sloop,
Scarlet running over on the silvers and the golds,
Breaking of the hatches up and bursting of the holds,
Thronging of the thousands up that labour under sea
White for bliss and blind for sun and stunned for liberty.

Vivat Hispania!
Domino Gloria!
Don John of Austria
Has set his people free!

Cervantes on his galley sets the sword back in the sheath
(Don John of Austria rides homeward with a wreath.)
And he sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain,
Up which a lean and foolish knight for ever rides in vain,
And he smiles, but not as Sultans smile, and settles back the blade....
(But Don John of Austria rides home from the Crusade.)

~G.K. Chesterton

Irish Men’s Rosary Rally Takes Place in Derry City

In recent months, Poland has been home to some of the most stunning Catholic images of public displays of faith.

The monthly men’s Rosary Rallies in cities such as Warsaw have attracted vast numbers of men and have given the Catholic world an image worthy of emulation, with men taking to the streets and kneeling in prayer.

Now, an impressive number of Irish men have taken part in the first such venture on these shores, with dozens of men praying publicly in Derry this past Saturday.

The men can be seen with Rosary beads in hand from the images of the event, with a statue of Our Lady of Fatima front and center. An interesting thing to note from the video is how striking it seems compared to their surrounding locality of shops and commercial outlets. Passers by are intrigued and taken in by the men’s devotion, something which has become an oft too forgotten part of Irish society in the 21st Century.

It is hoped that these events will become a regular occurrence and on the face of these images, it is hard not to see why. With so much of the Catholic faith now regulated to the private sphere and men in a small minority in most churches from one weekend to the next, to see an event like this is exactly the kind of impetus that is need to inspire as has been done so successfully in Poland and in other places.

Please pray for the continued success of the organisers and those who attended.

Irish Men's Catholic Rosary Rally in Derry City
💪🇮🇪✝️ pic.twitter.com/j6BC7nz3mp

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) October 3, 2021

Polish Embassy Reacts Angrily to Irish Government's Slur

Under anti family parties Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party, Ireland has pursued an aggressive foreign policy which has sought to damage the efforts of Poland and Hungary to implement ways of helping couples to take care of their children.

Lower taxes, limits on Sunday trading and financial supports for families have all contributed to increases in birth rates and higher standards of living in Eastern Europe. In Ireland, the inverse has been tried with the government dramatically reducing birth rates through austerity, the legalisation of abortion and encouraging young people to emigrate.

As part of the West’s new Cold War, Ireland has been at the forefront of attacks against these countries. Politicians such as Fiona O’Loughlin, who was emphatically rejected by voters before being made a Senator against the wishes of the public, have repeatedly attacked Poland with baseless accusations of discrimination. MEP Maria Walsh recently stormed Budapest to help to undermine the government in an astro turfed parade sponsored by banks that was mostly attended by activists from around Europe rather than by locals.

The tactic of trying to undermine Poland and Hungary has now switched to a new front, accusing the Poles of running the same concentration camps that millions of them died in during World War II.

First, there was the move from Israel to demand billions from Poland in restitution for Germany’s seizure of Jewish owned property from the late 1930s through World War II. This was exploited by Western media outlets who sought to portray the Catholic Polish government as being ‘far right’ and extremist when they are nothing of the sort. A remarkable charge was levelled at the Polish people which asserted that the concentration camps in which millions of Poles died were actually Polish and not German.

Now, the Irish government have joined in on the anti Polish bigotry.

Their propaganda arm, RTE, has now also used the term ‘Polish Concentration Camps’. RTE are funded by a mandatory tax which Irish people must pay or face imprisonment. Many of the higher ups at the station are heavily connected to the government and the ruling parties, through family and other connections.

In a report broadcast on the 30th September, concerning a Nazi prison secretary facing charges, RTE News repeatedly used the term ‘Polish Concentration Camps’. In a strong response to the slur, Polish Ambassador to Ireland Anna Sochanska claimed said that:

This repeated mistake is causing huge distress in the Polish community in Ireland.

In reaction to the false information on @rtenews yesterday 30.09 where Stutthof Nazi German concentration camp in occupied Poland was wrongly called “Polish concentration camp”, Ambassador of Poland to Ireland @sochanska issued this letter requesting correction. pic.twitter.com/8TFcSxGdTH

— Polish Embassy IRL (@PLinIreland) October 1, 2021

It is highly unlikely that such a ‘mistake’ is accidental from RTE. Their close connections to the government and their recent successes at assisting support for austerity programs, abortion and other state initiatives has made them into maestros of propaganda linked to domestic and foreign policy. They have been adept at isolating Catholics and encouraging disparaging treatment towards them, earlier this year they even broadcast a ‘sketch’ which claimed that Catholics worship a rapist god. The deliberately offensive and painfully unfunny segment caused uproar leading to an eventual apology, but it revealed the incredible disdain with which the broadcaster holds people of faith.

These types of attacks test the waters for more overt aggression towards Poland and dehumanisation of its people to precipitate further efforts to impose isolation. Poland and Hungary should hold firm, there is no reason for them to listen to a country like Ireland which is facing electricity blackouts in order to facilitate American data centers and freefalling birth rates.

To St. Michael in Time of Peace by GK Chesterton

Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning,
Michael of the Army of the Lord,
Stiffen thou the hand upon the still sword, Michael,
Folded and shut upon the sheathed sword, Michael,
Under the fullness of the white robes falling,
Gird us with the secret of the sword.


When the world cracked because of a sneer in heaven,
Leaving out for all time a scar upon the sky,
Thou didst rise up against the Horror in the highest,
Dragging down the highest that looked down on the Most High:
Rending from the seventh heaven the hell of exaltation
Down the seven heavens till the dark seas burn:
Thou that in thunder threwest down the Dragon
Knowest in what silence the Serpent can return.


Down through the universe the vast night falling
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning!)
Far down the universe the deep calms calling
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Sword!)
Bid us not forget in the baths of all forgetfulness,
In the sigh long drawn from the frenzy and the fretfulness
In the huge holy sempiternal silence
In the beginning was the Word.


When from the deeps of dying God astounded
Angels and devils who do all but die
Seeing Him fallen where thou couldst not follow,
Seeing Him mounted where thou couldst not fly,
Hand on the hilt, thou hast halted all thy legions
Waiting the Tetelestai and the acclaim,
Swords that salute Him dead and everlasting
God beyond God and greater than His Name.


Round us and over us the cold thoughts creeping
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the battle-cry!)
Round us and under us the thronged world sleeping
(Michael, Michael: Michael of the Charge!)
Guard us the Word; the trysting and the trusting
Edge upon the honour and the blade unrusting
Fine as the hair and tauter than the harpstring
Ready as when it rang upon the targe.


He that giveth peace unto us; not as the world giveth:
He that giveth law unto us; not as the scribes:
Shall he be softened for the softening of the cities
Patient in usury; delicate in bribes?
They that come to quiet us, saying the sword is broken,
Break man with famine, fetter them with gold,
Sell them as sheep; and He shall know the selling
For He was more than murdered. He was sold.


Michael, Michael: Michael of the Mustering,
Michael of the marching on the mountains of the Lord,
Marshal the world and purge of rot and riot
Rule through the world till all the world be quiet:
Only establish when the world is broken
What is unbroken is the word.

GK Chesterton (1929)

Baby Organ Incinerator Story Shocks Ireland

It has emerged today that the organs of 18 stillborn babies were sent from Ireland to Belgium for incineration along with medical waste during the past year.

Parents were informed of the grisly details after the organs and tissue had already been destroyed. One mother harrowingly described the horror:

My son's brain went into a bin, as if it was a piece of rubbish, you put rubbish in a bin, why would you put my beautiful son's brain into a bin.

These parents lost their children in very tragic circumstances and that tragedy has now been compounded by this scandalous travesty.

The perplexing question on most people’s minds is ‘How did organs of babies end up being transported to Belgium to be incinerated in the first place?’

The routine incineration of babies was something that was brought up regularly as a topic of interest during the Referendum to Remove the Eight Amendment in 2018. Even last year, as abortion ‘services’ became a more regular part of the ‘health’ service, prolifers actually specifically raised the possibility of the bodies of babies being sent to Belgium from Ireland for incineration.

Can you please find out how the remains of aborted babies are being disposed of from maternity hospitals? Are they sent to Belgium for incineration? Please clarify.

— Walk Tall (@DrCollins10) January 25, 2020

Supporters of the abortion law mocked the suggestion that this could happen. one replied They're transported to the Hollow Earth to fertilise the Lizard People eggs, obviously. Gawd. Another replied OK Boomer. As with every other prediction from prolifers surrounding the Repeal of the 8th amendment, this one came true and Repealers didn’t even take the time to listen, let alone understand it.

Questions that must be put to Simon Harris:
What is done with the broken and battered remains of #Ireland’s aborted babies? Are they incinerated in Belgium or are some/all donated/sold for experimentation/used by other agencies/companies?

— Walk Tall (@DrCollins10) January 9, 2020

I’m basing that statement on the fact the medical hospital waste is shipped to Belgium. I am presuming that it is shipped with the rest of the medical waste ie we need to find out more information

— Walk Tall (@DrCollins10) October 10, 2019

For those who missed this: Aborted babies are put into the yellow boxes in #Irish hospitals. Irish ‘medical waste’ is incinerated in Belgium.
Many medics are deeply upset about what is happening. https://t.co/0fSFGYHDAK

— Walk Tall (@DrCollins10) October 6, 2019

This dismissive attitude was not an isolated incident. The contempt and disdain for prolife campaigners was such that a perplexed Simon Harris even once asked Ronan Mullen (albeit under his breath) ‘What abortion industry?’ during debates after the vote.

Had Irish society done its homework in 2018, it would have known that incineration of aborted babies is a stalwart of abortion culture.

In 2014, for example, it was revealed that over 15,000 babies had been incinerated in UK hospitals in order to provide heating to the hospital buildings. The primary target of these incinerations were aborted babies, as the hospitals could in some cases save close to £20 per baby by disposing of them in such a fashion, but miscarried babies became collateral as they were disposed of in the same manner too.

The UK incident was only one occurrence however, Oregon had a similar scandal some years ago that also saw similar numbers incinerated.

Yet many in the abortion industry protested that in many cases such means of disposal were not merely legal but recommended. Those who claim that Texas has introduced a disproportionate response to abortion laws would do well to remember its previous advice on disposing of babies (not limited to aborted ones) which read:

disinfection followed by deposition in a sanitary landfill grinding and discharging to a sanitary sewer.

To be clear, RTE’s report as has been made public so far makes no mention of aborted babies being included in the ‘clinical waste’ that made its way from Ireland to Belgium.

A statement on behalf of the hospital involved said:

that this distressing incident has occurred … under very extenuating and unprecedented circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic

One rabid pro abortion party risibly responded that this was a

a hugely disrespectful way of treating human remains.

You don’t say.

Please remember the families affected in your prayers and also their little ones.

Catholic President Suggests Ban on Eating Dogs

South Korea’s Catholic leader, President Moon Jae-in, has suggested that the time has come to ban the sale of dog meat in the country.

Around 1 million dogs are slaughtered for food in South Korea each year, but numbers are declining as increasingly Westernised youngsters are shunning the practice.

Moon asked for Koreans to ‘prudently’ consider whether such a ban must now come to an end, with more humane attitudes towards dogs prevailing as more Koreans adopt them as pets.

Recent surveys show that the majority of Koreans do not eat dog meat and most also support a ban on the sale of it.

With a presidential election on the way next year, Moon’s position is one that has been echoed by other potential candidates.

During the last election, he adopted a rescue dog and has unveiled plans to revamp the country’s approach to abandoned animals.

Moon is a Catholic, having been raised in the faith by his mother. His faith has informed his diplomacy efforts with North Korea.

Cardinal Sarah Called ‘African Dictator’ ‘Mugabe’ ‘Black Wojtyla’

The panic over a potential Cardinal Robert Sarah papacy has led many liberal Catholics to turn to crass and crude remarks.

In a tweet this week, one of his opponents referred to Sarah as ‘Black Wojtyla’, insinuating that he was similar to Robert Mugabe and ‘other African dictators’ as well as stating that he was a ‘liar’.

Black Wojtyla is going the way of Mugabe and other African dictators: forgetful, irresponsible, and an overall liar... https://t.co/zTIjmOL2PJ

— Rodolfo Soriano Núñez (@rsnunez) September 24, 2021

The escalation comes as other critics of Sarah, many of them American, have used his African background as a stick to beat him with. One prominent commentator, in a now deleted tweet, even insinuated that the cardinal was part of a network of African sleeper cells planted by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre during the Twentieth Century when he was responsible for the missionary work of the Holy Ghost Fathers.

The individual who compared Sarah to Mugabe was met with disgust online, with one person telling him ‘this is racist my man, check it’. His reply was, ‘yes, well…be it…’.

This is racist my man, check it.

— Rachel! (@RachelEnders3) September 24, 2021

yes, well... be it...

— Rodolfo Soriano Núñez (@rsnunez) September 24, 2021

Despite often claiming to be more inclusive and tolerant of the church’s non European aspects, Modernists have long held suspicions towards the African church, since they see it as a bastion of orthodoxy and traditional Catholic thought.

This came to the fore in 2014, when Cardinal Walter Kasper called for a silencing of the fruitful African church, in order to listen instead to the rapidly collapsing German one. In an interview at the time that went around the world, he said:

But are African participants listened to in this regard?

No, the majority of them [who hold these views won’t speak about them].

They’re not listened to?

In Africa of course [their views are listened to], where it’s a taboo.

What has changed for you, regarding the methodology of this synod?

I think in the end there must be a general line in the Church, general criteria, but then the questions of Africa we cannot solve. There must be space also for the local bishops’ conferences to solve their problems but I’d say with Africa it’s impossible [for us to solve]. But they should not tell us too much what we have to do.

With a Universal Synod coming up in the next few years, these kinds of slurs do the church no favours.

Biden’s Party Passes Animalistic Abortion Law

Left leaning Catholics who advocated for, or at least were ambivalent to, the election of Joe Biden as President of the United States of America have blood on their hands once again.

Only two weeks ago, the president for which they ran cover sent a drone to incinerate seven innocent children in Afghanistan in a blatant war crime that church leaders have shamefully failed to condemn.

Now, Biden’s party, the Democrats, have lashed out at Texas by voting for a vicious abortion law that rivals the depravity of China when it was implementing it’s one child policy.

The violent 'Women’s Health Protection Act' allows for abortion up to birth. Democrats voted for it, giving it a victory of 218-211.

Although the bill looks set to be rejected at the Senate, it nonetheless shows the extent of the folly on behalf of those Catholics who have taken an indifferent and quietist perspective on Biden’s ascent to power.

The fact that Democrats were willing to vote for babies to be delivered alive after nine months of pregnancy and aborted for any reason, illustrates the depths to which the once admired USA have sunk.

When they lived under Communism, Eastern Europeans may have paid lip service to their authority figures and to the regime, but ultimately they saw the forces in power as being distinct from their respective historic nations. Americans must start to do the same and recognise that theirs is an evil empire, which has as its main foreign policy goal the spread of abortion and the destruction of family values, as much as was the case with the USSR.

In an interesting development, most of the tweets from Democrat politicians celebrating the vote use the term ‘abortion’ rather than the usual euphemism ‘choice’. One used ‘abortion justice’ instead of ‘reproductive justice’. Another said ‘stand up for abortion'. This is an interesting change from the usual efforts to hide the barbaric truth of the matter, the recent successes of the prolife movement in Texas have resulted in pro aborts having to push the conversation to further extremes in order to fight fire with fire.

Although this new law will not necessarily be passed by the Senate, it does emphasise the urgency for scrapping Roe vs. Wade, which has had as much of an impact on the world as had the 1917 legalisation of abortion in Russia.

The United States has also spread her errors throughout the world, this recent desperate escalation suggests that those on the side of evil are on borrowed time.

New Documentary Discusses Ireland Abortion Vote

13,000 abortions later, Ireland’s Repeal of the 8th Amendment has been shown to be exactly the disaster that No campaigners predicted.

Birth rates have plummeted by 25%, healthy babies have been aborted because doctors told their parents that they were sick and the situation looks set to deteriorate to even worse depths, mimicking the debauched British abortion regime which it aspires to emulate.

In a new documentary from Tim Jackson, the underhanded tactics of the ‘Irish’ pro abortion lobby during the vote to remove the rights of the unborn are revealed.

Without giving too much away, two aspects of it are particularly interesting.

One is the very active and intentional part that was played by American corporations who suppressed the prolife message on social media and search results. American corporations of course are no longer just for the United States, they have now planted themselves on large swathes of Irish real estate and show no intentions of moving anytime soon. The oppressive influence of Google during the Referendum is not easily forgotten and should inform many of our future perceptions on how stacked the odds are against us.

Another point of note is that when the television debates came up, it was made clear that things would be made deliberately difficult for the No side. The lack of an alternative media greatly hampered any hopes of winning the vote. For example, the only non government owned national TV station in Ireland is actually a British one. It is very difficult to conduct ourselves under enemy terms constantly and come out winners.

A fully functioning alternative media is the way forward.

This documentary is a good start on that path.

Huge Crowds Attend Polish Prolife Rally

With sustained efforts from George Soros, the United States of America and Ireland to deplete their commitment to pro family policies, Poland’s prolife lobby showed defiance this week by marching for life in Warsaw.

Recent prolife successes in the face of unrelenting pressure from outside forces have bought the prolife movement there some time, with the rise of other pro family regimes in Eastern Europe terrifying anti family governments such as Ireland’s, who are worried such policies will encourage their own citizens to look for fairer tax regimes.

The event was attended by figures from the worlds of religion, politics and activism.

Popular Polish priest Fr. Dominik Chmielewski presided over Mass for the event and spoke to those in attendance on the importance of building a culture of life.

Speaking at the event also was Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski, who spoke of his disappointment that the once optimistic European project had now been hijacked by extremists who wished to deChristianise Europe and to destroy the family in the process.

President Andrej Duda also attended, in a move that will enrage the international abortion industry. They called in every favour possible from their friends in the media to try to discredit Duda after he played a role in the banning of eugenicist abortion.

Blessed Cardinal Wyszynski was mentioned by many who spoke at the event, with his opposition to the Communism of the East now mirrored by the totalitarianism of pro eugenics forces from the West, specifically in the EU and USA.

With this year’s events scaled back due to the lockdown crisis, it is hoped that the nationwide march can resume next year.

Notre Dame Rebuilding Begins ahead of 2024 Reopening

In 2019, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris spontaneously combusted during the most virulent wave of arson attacks on Catholic churches in French history.

The first photos from inside Notre Dame Cathedral after the fire have emerged

The photographs include President Macron visiting the chapel#notredame #france pic.twitter.com/2xz5I88uTP

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) April 15, 2019

Since then, architects have worked at trying to make sure that the building was stable before attempting to begin their restoration work. They have announced this week that that time has finally come, with such work set to begin immediately ahead of a 2024 reopening.

Despite the best efforts of many Modernists to ensure an iconoclastic wreckovation which would have mutated the historic cathedral into some grotesque novelty, decency has prevailed and the church will be restored with its original design.

The restoration will also use the same types of oak trees which were used in the original.

Blessing the oaks which will be used to reconstruct Notre Dame in Paris. pic.twitter.com/dui6OIZ6Tp

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) March 13, 2021

Although this was a disaster, the powerful image of French Catholics praying and singing the Rosary outside their fallen church was one which travelled around the world. With God’s grace, a reopening in 2024 can be such a moment of unity also.

🙏🙏🙏
Catholics sing Ave Maria in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral as it burns
😇
Source: https://t.co/LOgySFFKPt
🙏🙏🙏#NotreDamedeParis #BasiliqueNotreDame #Catholics #Rosary #Chapelet #Prayer #Prayers #AveMaria #vatican #JeSuisNotreDame #OurLady #France #Paris #Parish ✝️ pic.twitter.com/XYQ3FnS1Pv

— Christian Laflamme (@L_a_F_l_a_m_m_e) April 15, 2019

Poland Tightens Laws on Sunday Trade

In 2018, the Polish parliament banned most traders from opening on Sundays.

However, the pro family law was undermined by a loophole which allowed some large outlets to remained open.

The loophole permitted retail outlets to stay open if they fulfilled certain conditions, which were often easily met by bending rules.

A new law passed yesterday in the Polish Parliament however, will now exclude them from opening unless postal services make up the majority of their business. In many cases this means that they will not be able to open up.

Sunday trading is damaging to families, in terms of time spent with their children since they will have to work in many cases, but also in terms of faith.

The expectation that Sundays are for sport and shopping is one that has severely impacted the quality of life for many families. While many European nations pride themselves as progressive for entertaining the possibility of four day working weeks and other concepts like state funded childcare.

Why not just go straight to the common sense option and have a five day working week, with Sunday trading regulated so as to allow families to spend more time with one another?

Prolifers are often accused (even by one another) of failing to offer foolproof solutions for improving daily family life. This idea is one which will be universally popular and universally productive.

Apart from with the large corporations who may feel that they miss out financially, but thankfully for them they have the likes of Anthony Blinken and Samantha Power to fight their corner against Polish families.

Assisted Suicide: At What Cost to the UK?

The Assisted Dying Bill 2021 is before the House of Lords and the British Medical Association has just voted for a “position of neutrality on assisted dying, including physician-assisted dying.” (The BMA is the largest union of British doctors.)

This Bill tasks doctors with the assessments, provision of poison, supervision of ingestion and supervision of the death of the terminally ill person. The BMA’s position is akin to the Taliban claiming they are “neutral” on women’s rights!       

The BMA vote was painfully close — 49% voted FOR neutrality; 48% AGAINST, and 3% abstained.

Credit must be given to those who voted, because both sides have a profound empathy for the dying. That said, there can be little respect for the eight delegates who abstained.

The first cost is to the honour of British Medical Association which may have abrogated almost 200 years of Hippocratic principle on the basis of a handful of abstentions. This perfectly-timed coup means that there is radically less opposition from the medical profession as Bill-13 [HL] comes for the Second Reading in the House of Lords. Ireland has shown that opposition to Assisted Suicide legislation can be effective.

Regular, non-assisted Suicide

If there is a single concrete argument against Assisted Suicide [AS] it is the increase in regular, non-assisted suicide. There has been over 30% increase in regular suicides in the Netherlands since Euthanasia was legalized there in 2001. Similarly, there are more suicides in those US States which legalised Assisted Suicide.    

By 2023 it will be legal for Canadian doctors and Nurse Practitioners to euthanise patients suffering from mental illnesses alone. All together this means that decades of suicide prevention are being flushed away.

Please listen to Lia (Garifalia) Milousis tell her poignant story in the video below. Imagine what might happen to a 2023 version of Lia.

“I’m the future version of myself who survived to tell you this.”

 The media tout AS & Voluntary Euthanasia [VE] as the “strong” and “compassionate” thing to do. This is likely to lead to “suicide contagion”: the Werther Syndrome. I believe we have a responsibility to prevent someone from taking their life out of despair — not to help them do it.

Family, Friends & Community

There must be a profound sense of abandonment and loss felt by the children who are left to pick up the pieces. “Mum didn’t love me…” or, “I should had loved her more…” It will be years before we can truly assess such trauma. This trauma is likely to affect future relationships and increase regular & assisted suicide.

We have no longitudinal evidence about how AS affects family members, friends and their community. The rationalisation that “death is a private matter” can only apply to a hermit living in some desolate place, devoid of all human contact.

The disabled, the handicapped & the mentally challenged

Baroness Hale noted that “Democracy is founded on the principle that each individual has equal value. Treating some as automatically having less value than others not only causes pain and distress to that person, but also violates his or her dignity as a human being.”

Many disabled individuals have voiced their concern that they may be coerced or put under duress to accept AS, simply because it is more “cost-effective.” This happened to Canadian Roger Foley who suffers from a progressive neurological illness. He wanted to live at home but was offered AS/VE as an alternative to forced discharge or $1,800 per day charge. (He found basic home-care services inadequate for his needs.)

Palliative Care

Palliative Care will suffer when accountants see the costs of treatment versus the cheaper AS. In time the funding for ‘expensive’ palliative programs will be reduced, which in turn will drive more people to seek Assisted Suicide.

It is telling that Medical Assistance in Dying [AS/VE] in Canada is perceived to be “a Right” and is now provided universally…while palliative-care is not.

Society

The devaluation of human life means that people will be perceived as objects. That always ends badly. This leads to the acceptance of eugenics; torture; involuntary euthanasia; capital punishment, etc.

(Editor: It might be worthwhile for readers to reflect on Britain’s role in the torture in Abu Ghraib, the torture there and the denials by Blair are evocative of the moral culpability for coercive assisted suicide The greatest moral failure of Tony Blair's premiership | Andrew Rawnsley | The Guardian )

Abu Ghraib (2004) under the Bush administration.

We can see this dehumanisation creeping into attitudes towards even political opponents; Climate-Deniers; etc.  As Daniel Goody said, ‘Human beings, have by their very existence, inherent value, worth, and distinction.’

 Demographic Death-Knell

Most western countries have birth rates which are already way below replacement levels. A terminally ill person receiving AS will only change demographics very slightly. That calculation will change completely in Canada when younger people are euthanised for non-terminal conditions.  

Health Care Workers

Caring people will leave the medical & nursing professions when they are forced to participate in a morally and ethically offensive act.

The Bill does not recommend or mandate any psychological testing for providers. In Canada, many doctors only performed one or two cases before giving up completely. Many noted an existential crisis from the killing of another human being.

The Bill does not require psychological testing of the curious few who continue to provide AS regularly. Convicted murderers, UK’s Harold Frederick Shipman and American Jack Kevorkian (“Dr. Death”) would really be in their element with legal Assisted Suicide!

Involuntary Euthanasia

In time, Health Care will attract the sociopaths who relish an ability to kill patients: some might graduate to Involuntary Euthanasia. (The killing of a patient without consent: a.k.a. murder.)

Medical Ethics

Others can better describe the damage AS/VE is causing to medical ethics and conscientious objection (noting: Ontario’s “effective referral” requirement.)

The British Medical Journal is published by the BMA and the Journal of Medical Ethics is a subsidiary of the BMJ. The JME published: “After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?” by Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva in 2011. Giubilini and Minerva suggested that infanticide (“after-birth abortion”) is ethical. This sort of tripe has been fed to BMA members over many, many years so is it any surprise they have lost their way?

Medical Education

Medical students are being taught how to kill patients before knowing how to heal properly in the first place. This means that in Canada MAiD [AS/VE] has become a regular therapeutic option.

Humanist Dr. Donald Boudreau of McGill University, said “My personal belief is that healing and euthanizing are simply not miscible.” It is only a matter of time before job requirements specify the need for applicants to provide AS/VE in all Geriatric, Palliative-Care & Family Medicine (etc.) positions. 

Please listen to Dr. Leonie Herx’s succinct comments as she reviews the issues in Canada in the video below. She is a palliative-care physician, Division Chair of Queen’s Palliative Medicine & Past-President of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians.

Human Rights

There is an open season on the Right to Life throughout the developed world.

The Supreme Court of Canada redefined the ‘Right to Life’ to mean some Canadians have the “Right to Die.” Unbelievably the SCC also gave this select group of Canadians the legal right to demand their death at the hand of another citizen (VE.) As human beings we have free will — the Freedom — to kill ourselves. There is no Right to kill ourselves (and definitely we do not have a Right to require some other person to kill us.)

International Relations

The Assisted Dying Bill allows the UK to kill citizens of other countries! That might cost dearly if a country like the People’s Republic of China objects to their citizens being killed.

The Slippery Slope

Look at what has happened in the Netherlands and Canada already.

In Canada euthanasia for mental illness will be legal by 2023.

In the Netherlands euthanasia for infants was illegal but occurred for many years under the tacitly accepted Groningen Protocol. There are many other egregious examples of non-compliance with the Dutch legislation.

Conclusion

If introduced, Assisted Suicide will cost the UK dearly.

That said, take heart from the Irish experience. Strong opposition can succeed!

Dr. Kevin Hay MRCPI MRCGP (inactive) FCFP

Kevin was born in the UK, graduated from UCD and now works as a Specialist Family Physician in rural Alberta, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @kevinhay77.

'So many children!' Pope Praises Orban's Policies

Despite a witch hunt from American media outlets and their imitators in the Irish media, Pope Francis’s recent meeting with prolife Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was a success.

Western outlets who advocate for abortion and low birth rates, lack of housing and for lower wages were disgusted that Pope Francis was entertaining someone who wanted to help families to earn a living and to grow.

As journalists tried to draw him into condemning Hungary’s new education laws and the country’s lack of cooperation with efforts by Samantha Power of the United States of America to determine European migration policies, Francis instead drew attention to the large families in Hungary’s growing population.

He defended Hungary from attacks by the European Union and made veiled references to the types of extremism that are currently emanating from the likes of Ursula Von Der Leyen and Irish politicians like Fiona O’Loughlin and Maria Walsh, the latter of whom recently landed in Budapest to march in a parade that was designed to put pressure on the government.

Francis promised to return to Hungary as soon as possible, supporting Hungary against ‘non European’ countries who are trying to use the EU to further their own ideals.

Well, thank you, thank you very much. At the beginning it was not well understood: "But you are coming only for the ceremony, and you aren't going to visit us Hungarians? And some people thought badly. No: I explained that a visit had already been planned -- it was in mind -- to Slovakia and the other began after. But I promised your President whom I met -- this is the third time I have met him -- I promised to see whether it will be possible to come back next year or the following one because the Hungarians have so many values. I was struck by the sense of ecumenism, for example that you have, but with a deep, deep, deep profundity. This is what hit me. In general, Europe - I always say this - must reassume the dreams of the founding fathers of the European Union. The European Union is not a gathering to get things done, there is a spirit behind the EU that Schuman, Adenauer, De Gasperi, these great men: go back there. Because there's the danger to be just a managment office, the European Union, and that is not good. It must move precisely toward mysticism, in search of Europe’s roots and bring it forward. And I think all the countries must move forward. It is true that there are some interests, perhaps not European ones, that attempt to use the European Union for ideological colonization, and this is not good. No: the European Union must be indepedent in and of itself, and all the countries on the same level, inspired by the dream of its Great Founders. This is my idea. And you Hungarians: I was with you last year [2 years ago] in Transylvania, that Mass in Hungarian was beautiful.

I received him, the President came to see me, he carried out this courtesy. It is the third time I have met him, and he came with the Prime Minister and the Deputy Minister. The President spoke. The first topic was ecology, really chapeau for you Hungarians, the ecological conscience that you have. He explained how they purify the rivers, things that I did not know. Then I asked about the average age, because I am worried about the demographic winter. In Italy the average age is 47, Spain I think is even worse, many villages are empty or with many elderly people. How can this be resolved? The president explained to me the law they have to help young couples to get married and have children. Interesting, it is a law that is quite similar to the French law, but more developed. They explained this to me, there they added something, the Prime Minister and the Vice-Minister about what this law is about. On immigration, nothing. Then we went back to ecology. The family, in the sense of demographics: you can see that there are so many young people, so many children. In Slovakia, too, there are many young couples. Now the challenge is to find jobs, so that they don't go abroad looking for them. But these were the things... The president always spoke, both ministers added some data. The meeting lasted quite a long time, about 40 minutes.

Pope Francis: 'Abortion is MURDER!'

In his latest plane interview, Pope Francis has doubled down on previous rhetoric which compared abortion ‘doctors’ to ‘hitmen’, by reiterating that abortion is murder and those who avail of it or commit it are ‘killing’.

When asked about whether pro abortion politicians should be allowed to receive Communion, Francis linked abortion to Europe’s demographic decline:

Abortion: it's more than a problem, it's murder, whoever has an abortion kills, no half words. Take any book on embryology for medical students. The third week after conception, all the organs are already there, even the DNA... it is a human life, this human life must be respected, this principle is so clear! To those who cannot understand, I would ask this question: is it right to kill a human life to solve a problem? Is it right to hire a hitman to kill a human life? Scientifically it is a human life. Is it right to take it out to solve a problem? That is why the Church is so hard on this issue, because if it accepts this it would be like accepting daily murder. A Head of State told me that the demographic decline began because in those years there was such a strong law on abortion that six million abortions were performed and this left a drop in births in the society of that country.

British Medical Association Drops Opposition to Assisted Suicide

Today, the BMA — the largest representative body/union for doctors in the UK — voted in favour of taking “a position of neutrality on assisted dying, including physician-assisted dying.”

The vote was painfully close: 49% voted FOR “neutrality” — 48% voted AGAINST, and 3% ABSTAINED. Every simpleton knows that doctors cannot possibly be “neutral” about a patient committing suicide. Doctors cannot be “neutral” when the profession is tasked to provide and supervise the poisons used by patients to kill themselves.

This decision provides enormous support for the introduction of Assisted Suicide to England and Wales (Baroness Meacher’s Bill is before the House of Lords: Scotland has their own legislation.) This vote will be used to brainwash the British people that AS is “just fine.” It will be used to bully politicians into voting in favour of the Bill.

The psychological persuasion will come in many forms. Humans are social creatures and one of the easiest forms of persuasion is the ‘Asch Conformity Syndrome’ which has been shown to work repeatedly in group dynamics. (Also, once Assisted Suicide has been introduced, it will be a small step to add Voluntary Euthanasia.)

Always be aware of The Asch Effect.
pic.twitter.com/o1hNxPuG4Y

— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) September 12, 2021

The Nazi propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels described “The Big Lie”:

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.

All is not lost

This is a devastating blow: but Britain has been in a pickle before! Two countries can provide good example for the UK.

The Canada Medical Association also voted to be “neutral.” That allowed the legalization of Assisted Suicide and Voluntary Euthanasia in Canada without any coordinated opposition. Since 2016 many of the initial tight restrictions have been removed and by 2023 doctors in Canada will be able to euthanise those suffering from mental illnesses alone, legally. The lesson from Canada is that remaining opposition must unite and fight the introduction of Bill 13 HL — now!

The UK should take great encouragement from Ireland where the Dying with Dignity Bill 2020 failed. The Justice Committee of the Oireachtas (Ireland’s Parliament) received over 1,400 submissions which came from private citizens and professional organizations such as the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland; Irish Palliative Medicine Consultants Association; Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; Irish Society of Physicians in Geriatric Medicine; College of Psychiatrists of Ireland; Irish Healthcare Professionals for Dignity in Living and Dying, amongst others.

There are about 300,000 doctors in the UK with just over half being members of the BMA. My hope is that many will immediately resign from the BMA and join a union which opposes AS. (The next largest union is the Hospital Consultants and Specialist Association, which appears to have no stance on AS.)

For more details on the Assisted Dying Bill 2021 (Bill 13 HL) please follow the link.

Doctors and nurses must remain our patient’s advocate, counsellor, and caregiver.

We must shield our patients from coercion. We must treat suicidal patients appropriately: not kill them.

Assisted Suicide is not “end-of-life care.” It is the Ending of Life.

Dr. Kevin Hay

MRCPI MRCGP (inactive) FCFP

Kevin was born in the UK, graduated from University College Dublin and now works as a Specialist Family Physician in rural Alberta, Canada. He has been writing on Assisted Suicide & Voluntary Euthanasia for the past 5 years. You can follow him on Twitter @kevinhay77.