Sex ed in Catholic schools

After Jackie's (CatholicMomof10) post on a rather obscene Sex Ed programme for Catholic primary schools, I happened to be talking with my daughter and her friend about school. Her friend who is also 13 attends the very good Catholic school I pulled my daughter out of.
Her friend is a lovely girl, quite shy and due to some developmental difficulties she is a little emotionally immature. This does not matter in a class of 30 of course and she has been subjected to sex ed over the last three years to a degree she has found difficult to cope with. She did not tell me what was difficult- and as she was finding telling me at all a struggle I did not pry, but simply let her talk.
She said she had tried not to look at the video and was put off by the teacher who was "blunt" on the subject.
Perhaps what was being taught was overall appropriate for the average 13 year old-but it was NOT appropriate for my daughter's friend. Schools do not or can not take each child's individual development and coping ability into consideration and so she has been subjected to something she found really awful.

My own daughter will get only what I teach her and because we have time to talk I hope I can protect her from bad influences. This has already proved the case when she was targeted by a sleazy young man a couple of years ago.

We need to protect our children. Schools, especially Catholic schools should not be offending the innocence of our children.

Actively Pro-Life; the fight is on.

After the Programme the other night on channel 4 both Mac at Mulier Fortis
and Philip at Carpe Canem have posted asking that we sign the petition which they link.
Mac has posted an extract from the programme that is harrowing in the extreme.
A doctor, trained presumably in caring for the sick has managed somehow to sit and explain the details of how he cuts apart a child and crushes his or her head to pull the corpse bit by bit from the mother.
This is legal.

The petition demands that in the light of what we know about the survival of babies born at 23weeks, that the legal age for abortion should be lowered from 24weeks to 16 weeks.
Please sign it.
The pro-life voice has been a polite whisper in the UK against the rage filled shrieking of the death-peddlers. But surely if enough of us whisper together- that still small voice could be heard above the tantrum of the baby killers.

Mac raises a valid concern that if the limit were to be dropped to 16 weeks then it would probably be with only one doctor signing for the baby's death.
Sadly in my experience the process of getting the second signature is a matter of form. The process is shockingly quick and efficient (when I've seen my friends go through it) compared to most care processes in the NHS.
I still miss those babies that my husband and I offered our lives and home to-but their mother's thought it better to abort.

I am surprised that Channel 4 has been willing and able to put out a programme that so truthfully shows the dispicable nature of this industry. Is it because we are sick of it and need to see it for what it is? I hope so.
The altarnative is, C4 think this is so much part of normal life that no one will mind too much.

God help us.

My friend Amanda Lewin who runs the Oxford pro-life campaigne has my renewed respect and prayers for what she and such a small group of people do-for so profound an evil and the mass murder of our children.

Connexions give me the creeps

Got a knock on the door this morning, and there stood two ladies flashing their Connexions badges and clipboards at me. They wanted to speak to my 16yr old. They said they were merely doing a follow up and that the Govt demands that all young people are 'followed' in this way.
Parents are not involved in this process at all. I had no idea they had my son's details on their data base and am appalled that they are supposed to keep a file on him.
They wanted to know about his work and college commitments and seemed uncomfortable with the fact that his mere mother was so suspicious of them.

I told them bluntly that this felt like interference in my son's life.

Why should the Govt mandate that an organisation be able to go behind a parent's back and keep files and 'follow' our children. Connexions has done NOTHING to assist my two older teens in getting work, planning courses...anything at all.
And I certainly do not want them offering 'health advice' thank you.

Rant over.

Fr Ray Blake 4 Westminster

Well the campaign to get Fr Ray into Westminster is under way. Those of us who think he would look great in red shoes are using the (dubious) power of the blog to state our case.

I can just see him now- walking down the road in the black and red of a cardinal, saying his rosary with Paul (OTSOTA) to one side of him and Philip (Carpe-Canum) on the other wearing black suits, shades and carrying rosaries with attitude.

Karen has been a Gem and made up the banners for the campaign.

Paul has called on Damian Thompson to join the clan-and he would make a great press officer. I don't know who has replaced Austin Inverleigh...and I wont say what I thought about the press releases then...

Fr Ray has his lovely manifesto HERE though obviously with dose of flying pigs Paul has done one too and Philip has been challenged.

I will have this- on my car as soon as it is crip-adjusted (monday!)

So all we need is a few more people on board and we can cue the really awful Blakes' 7 music.Let there be an end to 1970's liturgy!

With Mac of Mulier Fortis and the ever redoubtable Daphne McCloud in charge of RE just imagine-children leaving school actually having been taught the Faith!!!

'Tis the seaon for wellies

AutumnRose has found a lovely pair of wellies with chocs on them and an umbrella to match. Apparently she is not usually a fan of wellies.

I love 'em. They get you through muddy fields, the cut path and are great for shallow water.

Here are the ones I have:

My daughter helped me choose them while we were on holiday. My poor husband said he was embarrassed to shove a wheelchair in which sat a woman, with baby wearing Smartie Wellies.

My daughter told him they are the height of fashion. I don't think she could have meant that!

My son stands up for the Faith.

I am not one of those mums who goes on about how wonderful her kids are-but I do have to tell you this.
My second son is 16 and has just started college. He is doing a Media and Communications 1st Diploma (or whatever it's called) which will lead him to the next thing and then he hopes to do a degree in animation and gaming.
Yesterday his group were taken to see a special screening of Amazing Grace about William Wilberforce and his fight against the slave trade.
When the film was over a university lecturer spoke about the film and began to run down the Christian faith of Wilberforce saying Christianity had nothing to offer modern thinking man.

Well my son stood up and argued with him. He pointed out that it was the Christians who had put and end to slavery and that Christianity still holds true.
Some of his fellow students told him to shut up-but he refused.

He came home and told me about it-but had to return to college for a tutorial. He came home from that and to my surprise told me his tutor had congratulated him on his stand!

I must admit- I am proud of him.

The joys of Autumn

Autumn Rose has tagged me for this meme. I love the questions here.

When does Autumn begin for you? It begins with that 'smell' of cool earth and then I order the coal for the fire (smokeless of course-don't go all Al Gore on me) Then I send the boys out to make sure we have good dry kindling.

What is your favorite aspect of Autumn? I love dark nights and a roaring fire, toasting marshmallows and reading stories with the children (yep including the 18yr old)

What is your favorite Autumn memory? Taking the children to the park to collect conkers.

What do you like to drink in the Autumn? Hot chocolate specials as we call them; hot chocolate with a swirl of cream and marshmallows and maybe even a little grated chocolate. Sometimes for the grown ups we add a dash of Bailey's.

What’s your favorite Autumn food? Beef stew done in the slow cooker or carrot and orange soup with cheese grated over the top and eaten with fresh bread. Now I have to confess I have got our of the habit of making bread this last year and it is an 'autumn resolution' to make some again soon, especially as it is soup and stew season.

My daughter likes chicken soup-but it takes me so long to make. I did it t'other night and it was worth it.

What is Autumn weather like where you live? Cool and that sharp bright sunshine that only happens now. But it is somewhat warmer at the moment.

What color is Autumn? Gold mostly, but also green turning bronze and the deep purple of copper beech.

What does Autumn smell like? Earth and spices.

Christmas shopping in Autumn? Yes, I start stocking up on dried fruit, sugar, spices, etc as it spreads the cost and I make a lot of pressies.

If you could go anywhere in the Autumn, where would you go? Somewhere with trees and hot muffins...

Do you have a favorite Autumn chore? Making mincemeat and marmalade

What is your least favorite thing about Autumn? Soggy leaves with dog poo

What is your favorite Autumn holiday? We celebrate All Souls and All Saints. We have pumpkin lanterns and sweets and the little'uns dress as saints and fight the dragon. Not conventional I know-and one year St George was scared of the dragon his big sister had made so St George's big brother champion had to kill the dragon. LOL.

What’s your favorite kind of pie? Apple and cinnamon.

Do you have a favorite Autumn book?

Whatever I am reading. I have started reading the Charlotte Mason original Homeschooling series. She had such a common sense understanding of children and insisted they be treated with respect.

She talks about natural law and the kind of discipline and love that children need.

How about a favorite Autumn poem? I am not a great poetry person- I know that is rather an awful admission for a homeschooling mum.

I do get my children doing poetry, but to be honest I find it hard to get into.

So now I tag Paul On the Side of the Angels and Karen Gem of the Ocean

The Power of Prayer

Thank you so much to those of you who prayed for my daughter. She is so much better and will not need to go into hospital.
She has been doing so well and this was a bit of a blip in her recovery -but thank God (and I do) she is okay.

God bless

Our Lady of Akita

60 years later Our Lady came to the little village of Akita in Japan and reminded her-and us that it was not over. Not yet.

An angel had come to Sr Agnus Sasagawa and prayed the last part of her rosary with her

"O My Jesus, forgive us our sins; save us from the fire of hell; lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need."

Thus the angel reminds us that the message of Fatima was still continuing in 1973.

First message, July 6, 1973

Our Lady spoke to the profoundly deaf Sr Agnus; "My daughter, my novice, you have obeyed Me well in abandoning all to follow Me. Is the infirmity of your ears painful? Your deafness will be healed, be sure. Be patient. It is the last trial..."

She went on to ask that there be prayers for priests.

How deaf are we-through choice? Do we want to hear what God and His Blessed Mother have to say to us?

Second Message on August 3, 1973

"Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair by their suffering and their poverty for the sinners and ingrates."

"In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind. With my Son, I have intervened so many times to appease the wrath of the Father. I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him and form a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father's anger. I desire this also from your community, that it love poverty, that it sanctify itself and pray in reparation for the ingratitude and outrages of so many men. Recite the prayer of the Handmaids of the Eucharist with awareness of its meaning: put it into practice: offer (whatever God may send) in reparation for sins. Let each one endeavour, according to capacity and position, to offer herself entirely to the Lord."

"Even in a secular institute prayer is necessary. Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered. Without attaching too much attention to the form, be faithful and fervent in prayer to console the Master."

Third and the Last message on October 13, 1973:

". . . if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and the priests."

"The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres (other priests). Churches and altars will be sacked. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord."

"The demon will be especially implacable against the souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them."

". . . Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved."

Sadly these predictions from Our Blessed Mother are showing themselves to be all too true.

Sr Agnus suffers the stigmata and the statue in her convent that was carved from a solid piece of

wood.

The statue wept for the last time on September 15, Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

On June 20, 1988, during Bishop lto's visit to Rome, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith approved the contents of the pastoral letter. Bishop Ito's official recognitions of the occurrences and the Madonna's messages were reported in the October, 1988 issue of the magazine 30 Days. In the August 1990 issue, Cardinal Ratzinger is quoted as saying that "there are no objections to the conclusion of the pastoral letter." Cardinal Ratzinger has invited the Bishop to continue to inform him about the pilgrimages and conversions.

(PS I do apologise for the rushed nature of these posts but homeschooling is taking up a huge amount of time and my 2yr old is quite ill again at the moment. She has not needed to be admitted to hospital since Feb-please say a prayer she can stay out of hospital. She has an immune response problem that means she gets much sicker with simple things than other kids and ends up on drips and NG tubes; really distressing!)

Fatima continues

The children went through a great deal-far more than any parent could wish their child to suffer. We spend time trying to help our children avoid terrible and frightening things but Our Blessed Mother showed them hell. This was not an act of cruelty for she gave them the grace from her Son to bear the vision.

It was not the children who needed to see hell-but we needed to KNOW they had seen it and what they had seen. The cry fro PENANCE, PENANCE PENANCE was not for the little sins of three innocents but for the big sins of those of us who have lived a little longer and a little harder.

The Third secret was revealed in 2000 and because it was generally agreed that much of it had been fulfilled by the Holy Father John Paul the Great-it seems Fatima suddenly seemed finished and less important.

Certainly Pope John Paul the Great was the instrument in bringing down Russian Communism and exposing it for what it is. And there was some short time after that of peace-but it was so short and already we face more war and horror from both the far left/communist countries such as China who support the Islamic warmongers like Iran and so on.

We cannot forget Fatima yet. Our Lady undoubtedly saw the threat of Islam back then. She chose the place named Fatima that according to legend was the name of a Moorish Islamic princess who became betrothed to the Count of Ourem and became a Catholic taking the name Oureana.

While Our Blessed Mother- who stands on the crescent moon - does not mention Islam and the threat it poses she does warn of the next war. We know that the grand Mufti of Jerusalem was intrusmental in the terrible concentration camps and slaughter of the Jews and that Egypt and other Islamic countries fought enthusiastically for the Nazi cause.

Fatima is not over. We are still called to pray and the rosary is still the greatest weapon against Satan and his love of war that we have.

Our Lady of Fatima and Akita

90 yrs ago on 13th October 1917 Our Lady appeared to three children in Fatima Portugal for the 6th and last time. She had visited the children on the 13th of each month since May.

Mary had shown the children, Lucia, Francesco and Jacinta a vision of hell.

"You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.

"To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world."

She went on to tell them that in Portugal tJUN 26, 2000 (VIS) - Given below is the complete translation of the original Portuguese text of the third part of the secret of Fatima, revealed to the three shepherd children at Cova da Iria-Fatima on July 13, 1917, and committed to paper by Sr. Lucia on January 3, 1944:

"I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine.
"After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: 'Penance, Penance, Penance!'. And we saw in an immense light that is God: 'something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White 'we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God." .../THIRD SECRET/... VIS 000626 (380) he Faith would be preserved. This would lead into the third part of the Secret which was not made public until the year 2000.

Prayer for World Peace

View from the Pews have started a campaign to pray for world peace. God knows we need it.
we need to start with ourselves and our families-our communities and work up to the horrible scary stuff that seems to be simmering with the state of the Middle East and China.

My Birthday day out

Yesterday was my birthday and we had a great family day out. My sister-in-law just happened to phone in the morning because of the postal strike and so we invited her to come along too.

We went to Blists Hill Museum near Iron Bridge in Shropshire.

It's a great place where you get to see how people lived at the turn of the century and learn a little about the coal and iron works that were so much part of that area. The little houses have been transplanted along with their history to the site and someone is there to tell the story. There are real shops selling the kind of stuff you could really have bought back then; traditional soaps, china, ribbons and pins. There's a baker selling beautiful fresh bread still warm from the oven, and a candle maker.

They have a pub with chickens kept in the garden and a cottage with lovely Tamworth pigs in the garden.

An old Clydsdale trots around pulling a cart that people can hitch a ride on and there's a tea shop where my dd and I had tea and scones while the others walked along the cut (canal) to the incline plane.

The place is just great fun.

We came home to a lovely birthday cake made by my daughter with the help of the smalls- who tested the mixture to check it was okay. I knew what the 'secret' cake was made of because they both had ample amounts of it around their faces! LOL

I had a great day and I am getting used to be year older already

faccio la mamma of Antagonist Pots and Pans has tagged me;

1. Do you attend the Traditional Latin Mass or the Novus Ordo?
I attend the Novus Ordo with my family at our parish church. There is not too much abuse and I want to be loyal to the parish despite some of the problems we are having.

2. If you attend the TLM, how far do you drive to get there?
I've never attended a TLM-but should I even want to there is one a few miles away, which I might just attend out of curiosity some time once I have the car crip-adjusted.

3. If you had to apply a Catholic label to yourself, what would it be?
I'm just a bog standard Catholic-loyal to the magisterium and that's it.
4. Are you a comment junkie?
I have spates of commenting-when I have time and then spates on not commenting because I don't have time. But I do try and comment on some blogs particularly if they don't receive many because I think it offers support.
5. Do you go back to read the comments on the blogs you’ve commented on?
If I remember!
6. Have you ever left an anonymous comment on another blog?
Only in as much as I don't use my real name online. I'm afraid I have been badly bitten by those who should know better and so I choose to remain 'hidden'. I think it's safer and last time it was my children who were in the line of fire; never again!
7. Which blogroll would you most like to be on?
Fr Ray's-and I am
8. Which blog is the first one you check?
It varies, but usually Fr Ray and recently Damian Thompson's Holy Smoke
9. Have you met any other bloggers in person?
I have met one a long time ago and my son has met one as well more recently.
10. What are you reading?
I am STILL reading Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth. I am reading Louis de Wolh's Lay Siege to Heaven about St Catherine of Sienna to my oldest daughter; we have story time as part of homeschooling where I read to her. I am also rather regularly reading The Little Red Hen, The Gingerbread Boy, and Little Tuppens at the moment.
And my birthday pressies have arrived!!! So I am about to read The Charlotte Mason Homeschooling series and For the Sake of the Children by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.
I have decided I MUST find time for all this.

I have to challenge five bloggers to the quiz. This is the greatest challenge; to find five people who will read my blog and who haven't yet done the quiz!-er...can I do that later? Or would anyone like to grab this opportunity?

Heaven.

I've been tagged by Esther to answer this meme:

St. Julian of Norwich describes heaven as a place of "eternal joy". She explains: "But we are not blessedly safe, possessing our endless joy, until we are all in peace and in love, that is to say wholly contented with God and with all his works and with all his judgments, and loving and content with ourselves and with our fellow Christians and with everything which God loves, as is pleasing to love."

This meme has one question:

How do you envision heaven?

As part of my conversion story I have told you that God granted me the great consolation of sensing His Presence in the Tabernacle. He has since removed this and I must accept His Presence on Faith. Sometimes when I am looking at the Tabernacle I try and remember what I once experienced-but it is hard.

Even so I think it was a gentle touch of heaven. It is an absolute sureness of the Love of God, like a warmth that wraps you and fills you.

I think heaven must be a little like that but far far more intense.

I wonder if that Love will pour into us so much that not only will we be able to love God completely, but one another.

I know I will not be a wife in heaven-though I think I will still love my husband; but I will still be a mother and I hope to have all my 'treasures for heaven' pulled through those pearly gates.

I hope I can be with all 8 of my children- the six I have here and the two God has taken.

I also pray that those I love-who are not Christian or who may have struggled to find Grace at the moment of their death may have found that great fount of Mercy and be saved.I pray in particular for a friend who died of his alcoholism.

I envision heaven to be place where we can work much harder for the welfare of others-the Church Militant and the Church Suffering, because we will be so much more focused on God's Will and so much more sure of what that is.

Esther wonders what Blessed Margaret of Costello might look like in heaven.

Of course being Catholic we are not dualist's; we are not souls trapped in a body, we are whole body and soul and so the separation of body and soul at death is temporary and on the Last Day we are resurrected with a resurrected body.

Some time ago I read of a disabled lady who was angry and horrified to be told that in heaven she would not be disabled. She insisted that her disability was part of her. I know Deaf people who think they will be Deaf forever because it is part of how they see themselves.

While she awaits the resurrection Blessed Margaret's body is still deformed-though in corrupt. But I do not believe that when she is raised she will still be so.

And I surely hope that if I get to heaven I wont be taking any wheelchairs, crutches or painkillers with me!!

I believe the saints who say that heaven is full of song and music (and no one is dirging "Bind us Together" or "Love is his word").

Can't think who to tag yet-

October month of Mary

It's Autumn and it's the month of Mary. We are coming up to the 90th Anniversay of Our Lady's appearance in Fatima and we are also coming up to the 34th Anniversary of her last appearance in Akita Japan. October 13th is obviously an important date to our Blessed Mother. I will post about both of these approved apparations over coming up to the 13th.

While Fatima is quickly being forgotten, Akita has been largely ignored.

No one is obliged to believe these events, they are private revelation not public.

Nevertheless I think they are quite important and so I'll write about them.

Meanwhile happy month of Mary.

Update on THAT BOOK

I would just like to say that I received a kind reply from Bishop Doyle's office.
Paul of On The Side of the Angels recommended him as a good bishop so I wrote.
He is in my prayers and being a good shepherd surrounded by wolves is a very difficult task.