Pope Resigns!

I can't help but think that the Holy Father has been under sustained attack, for a long time now, by the forces of evil.

We must hope and pray that those same forces  don't succeed in undoing all the good he has done.

Gay Bishops???

Picture courtesy of ebibleteacher.com

It is time, dear brethren of the Anglican persuasion, to come back to mother Church.

We knew it could only end in tears when you broke away to allow an errant king to pursue his own base nature. Upon such a foundation collapse was inevitable; build your house on sand....etc and you know what to expect. (Matthew 7:24-27).

So we shouldn't be too surprised when the Church of England allows:

Gay Clergy,
                   in civil partnerships,
                                                  to become Bishops...
                                                                                           

                                                                    as long as they remain celibate!?!?!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20918806

Yes-you read correctly!

I'm not going to even attempt to unpick the thinking behind this inherent madness; suffice to say that this is what happens when we stray too far from the central teachings of Christ, as given through the magesterium of the Church; this is what happens when we follow what we think might be true and turn away from what we know to be true. I imagine this may still be a minority sport, two Bishops getting hitched, but I can't somehow see them being reserved a place on Noah's ark.

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That said, my dear brethren, we do want you back; we pray to welcome you back into the fold; its time to come home.

^* “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.^r25The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.^s But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.26And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand.27The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.” 

Matthew 7:24-27

image courtesy of http://arkansasgopwing.blogspot.co.uk

      
                                                                                         

A huge (Russian) bear hug for Depardieu!

GD playing the part of Russian monk Rasputin, in a recent film.

Driven away by Hollande's oppressive Tax regime, known Rusophile Gerard Deparieu may embrace Russian President Putin's offer of Russian citizenship and a stunning flat personal rate of 13% income tax.

To gain the generous 13% break, GD could live in Russia for six months in each tax year or take Vlad's generous offer.

Don't be surprised Mr H if Gerard goes for dual-citizenship...or even gives up his French passport altogether. At a time where parents are struggling to send their children to even the most reasonably priced, but excellent, schools like Chavagnes, this socialist French government seems to be doing all it can to make life difficult.

Well done to those who stand up to Tax bullies, everywhere.

Merry Christmas !

For a child is born to us, a son is given us;

                      upon his shoulder dominion rests. 

           They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah - Chapter 9

The Secret of Crickley Hall

A three-part dramatisation based on the James Herbert ghost story of the same name.

Following the opening scene where we see a lovely old house, a cramped bedroom full of orphans and a boy trying to hide from a supposedly scary man, we flick to a modern day family (although they appear to have 2.4 children and a dog, so a bit traditional there). 

Rest assured the children are modern enough, as are the parent’s laissez-faire responses to their somewhat brat like behaviour: the boy wants to play ‘bombs’ with his Lego  set and when the little girl demands her breakfast and her father asks if she’d like to help him find it she simply replies “No.”

A little later mum takes her son ‘Cam’ to the park and says:

“You can go on the slide, the swings or the roundabout, but not all three, do we have a deal?”

to which her son replies “deal!”

“deal means promise” says the mum
and the boy immediately responds with

“deal!”

...We then get a clip of her letting him play on all three.

A little later, the mother falls asleep, and shortly after Cam goes missing. About a year later, they move up to the old orphanage to help take her minds off things.

The story skips neatly enough along but then when it travels back to the war era, it goes for a typical BBC style bit of traddy Christian/Catholic bashing…portraying the owners looking after the evacuees as some kind of crazy hate-filled Christian fundamentalists who insist on such outlandish things as shoes being removed upon entering the house, quiet work, toys being earned and yes-shock horror-they believe in corporal punishment as an extension of their Christian beliefs!!! 

This production also reels forth the old ‘Christians don’t like Jews’ adage which, to be fair, is tempered a little by the kindness of the new school mistress who basically represents the ‘Jesus loves everyone’ approach, in a typically trendy modern (1960s) sandal wearing/guitar strumming non-judgemental/BBC acceptable kind-of-way.

To conclude:

If you can get passed the obvious bias then the story isn't that bad. Give it a look.

All pictures are screenshots.

BBC 1, Sundays 9pm.  

Savile & the can of worms

Image courtesy of Dailymail.co.uk

For those who don't know the story: a recently deceased top celebrity, Sir Jimmy Savile, has been accused of a number of vile crimes against children, for a period spanning decades.

I suspect, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this suspicion, that Child Abuse in parts of the entertainment is, and always has been, rife.

In the 80’s and 90’s Children’s Homes, Boarding Schools and Church institutions have all been ripped apart by scandal after scandal.

In the Education world we have learnt these lessons: - not to provide easy access and opportunity to those who would do children harm, not to leave both child and adult in vulnerable situations, where abusers can abuse or false allegations can be construed; we have learnt the hard way. The world of Education is now so risk averse that many would say we've gone too far, no longer being able to physically comfort an upset child for fear of how it appears; no longer organising trips where we know children will benefit but are told by the teaching unions that they will not support us should anything go wrong. We've come out from a painful process of self-examination…but at least we've been there.

Image courtesy of IMDb

For many years we have heard stories of child stars that end up so psychologically damaged by their experiences that they have life-long therapy, battling demons like drug dependency, mental health issues and relationship problems. Many lose this battle early on and die before their time.

Those of my generation will remember teen idols like River Phoenix, who starred in many classics including ‘Stand by me’, he died of a massive drugs overdose aged 23; also, Cory Haim, famous for his role in films like ‘The Lost Boys’ (how apt!), or Gary Coleman from  ‘Different strokes’, or Dana Plato, his co-star who committed suicide. Michael Jackson, the most famous child star did more than just hint at being a recipient of abuse whilst a ward of the industry.

What was it about their lives and the lives of others like them in these formative years that has messed them up so badly? I suspect I know what…but I would never take on such a powerful industry with so little proof; is this how some felt about Savile?

But what of the countless others? What of those who didn't even get to be stars? Do we think for a second that they weren't attracted by the ‘what might be’ spin of the countless faceless representatives of the rich and famous?

Remember that catchphrase from the 90’s show ‘the Word’:-“I’d do anything to be on TV”.

What were pushy parents prepared to allow for sake of their child’s future career? What were career minded executives prepared to ignore for the sake of their own? Haven’t many in the industry bought and sold the lives of children, for decades, peddlers of the last great bastion of child exploitation in the West. Haven’t we all been complicit in our unquestioning cult of celebrity?

So perhaps, Sir Jimmy’s exploits are only the tip of a very deep and dark iceberg?

So perhaps, it’s time we learnt the whole sordid truth, no matter how unpalatable that may be…

The greatest revelations, I’m sure, are yet to come.  

Paralympics

Image courtesy of  http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/disability-sport/19429156

When you see achievements  like this, by disabled athletes, it's hard to understand how many of those who cheer the teams on would also support termination of the unborn, on the basis of such a disability.

Where's the sense in that?