_ Volume 15- Issue no. 3 - November 2011 (Autumn)
The newsletter of "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" supporting the teachings of the Catholic Church and published periodically, approximately every four months.

Editorial:

IN THIS ISSUE OF ‘THE FLOCK':

THE JUNE CONFERENCE
THE CHURCH MILITANT (Michael Voris)
THE LITTLE BOOK WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR
GOOD THINGS WE SHOULD THANK GOD FOR
DEAR FRIENDS
SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER
WHEN MICHAEL VORIS SPOKE IN LONDON
OPEN LETTER TO THE BISHOPS
PRAYER CARD - St. MICHAEL
ADDRESSES FOR WRITING TO ROME

THE JUNE CONFERENCE

We feel we must apologise to you all that the Conference we advertised in our last Newsletter failed to take place – especially as so many of you booked air and rail tickets and even hotel rooms and so lost sums of money which could not be replaced. We are very sorry about that. We have never before let our supporters down like this and, please God, we never will again. As most of you already realise it was not through any fault of Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice but entirely due to ‘circumstances beyond our control.' However we feel we owe you a brief resume of the events which led up to this debacle if only to correct a few misconceptions.

The saga started in October 2010 when two of us were in Rome visiting various Curia offices. We took the opportunity to make an appointment to see His Eminence Cardinal Raymond Burke the American Cardinal who is Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura in the Vatican. His Eminence kindly agreed to see us and spent some time examining the two dossiers we brought with us – one on the Soho Masses and one on Religious Instruction in our Catholic schools.

After he had examined these files and seen exactly what our stance is on both issues, we asked His Eminence if he would agree to speak for us in the Summer of 2011. He readily agreed but stipulated that he be allowed to choose the title and subject of his talk. That suited us very well as we knew from his record in America how outspoken he could be about any abuses in the Church. We left the dossiers with him.

In December 2010 he told us he would speak on Saturday June 18th 2011 so we booked and paid the deposit on the Lecture Hall in Central Hall, Westminster for that date. We also started putting advertisements in the papers, and arranged for a good Dutch Bishop to be the supporting speaker.

Everything went very smoothly until early April 2011 when the Cardinal's Secretary e-mailed us with the title he had chosen for his talk. It was “The Restoration of Church Discipline and the New Evangelisation” . We were naturally well pleased with this subject as it is undoubtedly one which needs addressing in the Church today. However, I feel now that perhaps we should have suggested that while he discuss this topic he should give his talk a more general title because it was when this title was announced and started appearing on our adverts that our troubles began. With hindsight we can see that there could be people in this country who might not be too happy with this subject being addressed by such an important Cardinal in London.

Mutual friends had told us that the Cardinal was really looking forward to speaking in London, but in May he attended a Canon Law Conference in Harrogate which was also attended by several Opus Dei priests and lay members. Perhaps questions were raised there about his talk for us, because on 31st May, eighteen days before the Event, Cardinal Burke e-mailed us to say he had decided to withdraw from the Conference, because he had received “several expressions of concern from devout and faithful Catholics of England about the meaning of the Presentation he was scheduled to give on 18th June” . I wrote back asking him to think again and assuring him that several hundred ‘faithful and devout Catholics' were delighted he was speaking and had already paid to hear him. I reminded him that he had chosen the title and suBut the Cardinal was adamant. This was a tremendous shock and it put us in rather a deep hole. We had paid the full cost of the Hall 28 days before the event as the contract required and we had also paid several hundreds of pounds on advertising and other expenses. Indeed if we cancelled now we stood to lose over £7000 with no chance of any refund and we could ill afford that. So the search for replacement speakers who could fill the Hall was a matter of some urgency. This was not easy two weeks before the Conference as all those we contacted at first were already booked. bject of his Presentation himself.

Eventually we heard that the American priest, Father Paul Kramer who is devoting his retirement to promoting the message of Fatima, was in Ireland. Father had just given a talk on Fatima in Rome which was highly praised and attended by Bishops and Cardinals, including His Eminence, Cardinal Martino, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Vatican's representative at the United Nations. After listening to it,

H.E. Cardinal Martino asked Father for a copy of his talk.

We were delighted to have obtained the services of such a good speaker but as we were feeling rather vulnerable after Cardinal Burke's withdrawal, I asked Father Kramer to avoid any controversy and just to give a talk on the message of Fatima. He was very happy to do this as he agrees with me that Our Lady's message asking us to fast, sacrifice and pray for sinners is not heard often enough. I had to write to the ticket holders informing them that Cardinal Burke was not speaking and, understandably, many requested a refund as they only wanted to hear the Cardinal. However, Father Kramer's name on our advertisements attracted many new ticket holders to replace them.

Unfortunately, and again quite out of the blue, one of our erstwhile supporters, a certain Robert Williams, decided that unlike the Cardinals and Bishops in Rome, he didn't approve of Father Kramer, although Father has never denied Church teaching. Mr Williams believes that anyone who suggests that the Consecration of Russia to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart has not yet been done as she requested or that perhaps we have not heard the full version of the Third Secret, is not in good standing with the Church, although neither is defined Church teaching.

So, unable to appreciate that he might possibly be mistaken, Mr Williams started a campaign against the Conference and particularly Father Paul Kramer. He used the Internet and letters to the Catholic papers and he persuaded our supporting speaker to withdraw also. This meant we had to find another speaker at the very last minute. Fortunately we heard that the American Scripture scholar, Robert Sungenis, happened to be in Maryvale and he agreed to come and speak for us on the 18th. As this was at such short notice he decided to give as his talk an article of his which had already appeared in an English Catholic magazine on The Life of our Lord from the New Testament. This article had received much praise, even from the above mentioned Mr Williams.

At last we seemed settled. I informed the ticket- holders and I re-wrote the Programme for the third time before sending it to be printed. But I had not reckoned with the unstoppable Mr Williams. He decided that Robert Sungenis was also not to his liking. After all, in 2002 he had suggested that the number of Jews killed in the holocaust may not have been exactly six million. Other historians, some of them Jewish, have suggested the same, however once he realised that this suggestion upset some people, Mr Sungenis apologised handsomely.

Both “The Catholic Times” and “The Catholic Herald” printed Mr Williams' letters attacking both speakers. Although they also printed my letters putting the true facts, sadly no-one printed the letters from Father Kramer and Robert Sungenis defending themselves, although they should have been given a right of reply.

Now Mr Williams decided the Conference must be stopped so he rang “The Jewish Chronicle”. What he said to them I do not know but it must have been alarming because they rang Central Hall, who were apparently so worried that they might be hosting an anti-Jewish rally, that, after consulting Archbishop's House, Westminster, on 14th June they cancelled the Conference, without consulting us. If they had let me know their concern I could have shown them the texts of the talks which would have reassured them but it was done over our heads and there was nothing we could do. It was some small comfort that, as they cancelled, Central Hall had to refund us the £3792 we had paid for the Hall.

Now we had to inform all our ticket holders again and offer them a refund. Here we would like to pay tribute to the many good people who decided to forgo their refund and donate their ticket money to Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice. We all owe each of you a debt of gratitude. Two of us went up to the Hall on the 18th to meet those who had planned to buy tickets on the day and so had not been informed. They were all very understanding, even though some had travelled long distances.

THE CHURCH MILITANT

When Michael Voris of The Vortex spoke in London in August, he reminded us that we belong to the Church Militant so we should not be coasting comfortably along but fighting to defend Our Lord and His Teaching. We all need to be reminded of this from time to time as we only belong to the Church Militant during this comparatively short life and we cannot let the time go by without playing our part.

Once we die, hopefully, we will belong to the Church Suffering in Purgatory and then the Church Triumphant in Heaven. Meanwhile, we must take every opportunity to proclaim and defend the Divinely revealed Truths we need to know to get us to Heaven.

I often wonder if our over-riding thought when we meet Our Blessed Lord at our Judgement will be ‘O, I could have done so much more. Why didn't I?' It will be too late then as we each get one life only. Now is the time to stop “hiding our light under a bushel” and resolve to teach the Faith as and when we can and to correct error whenever we hear it, whoever is teaching it. This needs to be done among the non-Catholics who surround us but also, sadly, at this time of ‘genuine crisis' even among other Catholics who have been misled or gone astray.

Obviously this must always be done very lovingly with gentleness and an understanding of the other's position. Neither does it mean giving your opinion which is not worth much more than your brother's . It means giving Church teaching and if you are not sure of the Church teaching finding out what it is first. We have the Catechism of the Catholic Church and The Compendium to instruct us so there is no need to say we are not all equipped to belong to the Church Militant. We are or we wouldn't be here.

I remember challenging a Diocesan Official who was giving a talk for Catechists which did not reflect Church teaching. After a while she lost patience and said that she did not want to spend any more time arguing with me. I had to point out as gently as I could that she was not arguing with me but with The Catechism of the Catholic Church which I had with me and was quoting from. (Now we have the Compendium that is easier to carry around.)

Another time, when the National Director of Catechesis, Father Purnell (May he rest in peace) was addressing the Catholic Headteachers and Heads of

R.E. in Southwark he said twice “The classroom is not the place for catechesis! Catholic teachers should never do more than run voluntary Justice and Peace groups in the lunch hour.” I looked round at the large audience and saw that no-one looked shocked or even surprised and many who were taking notes were busy writing it down, so I decided I would have to intervene.

I apologised for interrupting but said I felt I had to disagree and that in my school Religious Instruction was given in every classroom every day. Poor Father was very upset and he told me I was wrong and doing so much harm, etc. Eventually he sat down and asked for a drink of water telling us to talk among ourselves while he recovered. I couldn’t help wondering if perhaps
no-one had ever disagreed with him before. When he felt better he went on with his talk.
Neither of these speakers changed their minds. Indeed Father put the same direction in his book Our Faith Story. Speakers never or very rarely change as they seem to like the new catechesis too much to give it up even when shown its errors. However all the other people in the Hall now knew there was another view and if they were concerned about what the speaker was saying this would reinforce their concern. At Father’s talk, two teachers came up to me later, discreetly, and thanked me for my intervention. I was sorry they hadn’t stood up and agreed with me but unfortunately nice English people don’t like doing that. We sometimes have to choose between popularity and fitting in or standing up for our Lord who once said if anyone stood up and defended Him he would defend them before the Father. This thought doesn’t leave us with any real choice. Indeed, it makes us realise it is an immense privilege to defend Christ and His teaching and we should be thanking God for the opportunities He gives us in our parishes and deaneries.
.
Finally, like all apostolates, this apostolate needs prayer, before we attend any meeting and also while we are there. Prayer that our words will do good and not harm anyone. Sometimes it is a good idea to ask friends who cannot attend the Meeting to pray while it is being held that if you have to defend the Truth you will do it according to God’s Holy Will.

THE LITTLE BOOK WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR

CATECHISM – WITH THOUGHTS FROM THE CURE OF ARS.
158 pp. £9.95 Pub. by St Paul’s Publishing and available from
the following Telephone Nos:
020 7828 5582,
01904 541729,
0141 226 3391,
0121 2366336,
0113 254 0850
and 0113 275 4043.

THIS little book by Hugues d’Orfeuille has been translated from the French by Alan Bancroft, who has already given us beautiful translations of Bl. Columba Marmion and the poems of St Therese and Bl Elizabeth of the Trinity. It is exactly what many parents and catechists are looking for and would make an excellent handbook for Candidates preparing for Confirmation.

The teachings of the Church are covered fully and without ambiguity starting with the Credo, then dealing with Grace and the Sacraments and The Moral Law and ending with Prayer. Nothing important is omitted and terms like in a state of grace, mortal sin, purity, Purgatory and even Hell which are rarely seen in modern religious textbooks, are not only used they are carefully explained.

An initial explanation of each Doctrine is followed by a few short questions and answers which are easy to commit to memory and a final quotation from
the Cure D’Ars which puts it in its Heavenly context. This book is written by the late Hugues d’Orfeuille, an experienced teacher of religion who does not under-estimate the ability of the youngsters he is writing for and it has been translated by an expert so it is a joy to read. It should instill both a love of their Faith as well as a good understanding of it in our young people.

Sadly I do not feel I can praise YOUCAT, the Catechism produced for World Youth Day, so unreservedly. It was a very good idea to produce a Catechism for our young people who have not been given the Catholic teaching which is their heritage but, although it contains some excellent elements, on others YOUCAT disappoints.

For example, question 197 describes Baptism “in which a child is freed from the influence of Original Sin". But a child or adult who is baptised is freed from Original Sin itself, while the ‘influence’ called concupiscence remains with us.Question 130 tells us “All baptised persons belong to the Church of Christ”. But the Church of Christ is the Catholic Church and the Council of Trent tells us, all who belong to her are united by the same faith, by participation of and in the same Sacraments under direction of their lawful pastors especially the representative of Christ on earth, the Bishop of Rome.

This is not true of all baptised persons.

Question 415 says that the Church declares that all homosexual relations in
any form are contrary to the order of creation. But the Church also declares
that they are acts of grave depravity …and under no circumstances can they
be approved. After all, you could say that dyeing your hair is against creation
but it is not sinful.

Question 338 speaks very highly of grace but it fails to point out that Sanctifying Grace, also called Supernatural Life, is a share of the Divine Life which enables us one day to live in Heaven, God’s home. I know YOUCAT has pleased many people and I hope this does not mean that we have grown so used to faulty catechisms over the last forty years we have lowered our standards. We must always insist on the full Truth plainly spoken, especially when teaching our young people. Only a full honest catechesis will give youngsters the protection they are going to need against explicit sex-ed and the other evils of modern society.

Dear Friends

We feel that we are now moving into a crucial period for the Church in this country. The crisis Blessed Pope John Paul II warned us we were facing seems to have reached a critical stage. Unless we are blessed with strong, sound bishops who will insist that the Truths of the Catholic Faith are effectively taught in their entirety in their diocesan schools and in their parish churches, the Church in England and Wales will soon be struggling to survive in this country at all.
That is why we are sending every bishop in this country the Open Letter to the Bishops and we are asking you to make copies for you and your friends to send yourself. Try and get them to the bishops before their November Meeting.
At the same time we must pray that the Lord will open the eyes of our bishops to the danger we are in and give them the courage and wisdom to behave like true Shepherds and lead us to safety by returning to sound Catholic teaching.

We must also work and pray that only strong and sound new bishops are
appointed in future. Thanks be to God we do have excellent priests now, who would make wonderful bishops but we must make sure the Papal Nuncio knows enough about them to recommend them to the Holy Father.

Apparently the Nuncio is already asking for advice on this crucial issue.

Don’t let him ask in vain. Send the names and dioceses of any priests who you feel can be trusted to insist Catholic Truth and only Catholic Truth will be taught in his diocese, to – His Excellency, Archbishop Menninni, The Apostolic Nuncio, 54, Parkside, London. SW19 5NE.

We need to choose sound priests who are not still too young but who have had some experience as parish priests. They also should be well informed on the Faith and strong enough to withstand the opposition they will surely meet when teaching it in all its fullness and beauty.

Above all we must storm Heaven with our prayers, novenas and sacrifices for
this most important of all intentions. We could join with Catholics in the Philipines who are organising a world-wide Rosary for the Church on 11th November 2011, easy to remember because it is 11/11/11. We can pray to St Michael every day using the enclosed card, pray to our English Martyrs and most of all to Our Blessed Lady who’s Dowry we are. Let’s remember the maxim, Work as if it all depends on you and Pray as if it all depends on Almighty God.

Wishing every Blessing on you and your loved ones,

Daphne McLeod.

SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER

We are enclosing this booklet with only the hard copy of “The Flock”as it gives the talks you would have heard at the June Conference if it had not been sabotaged.
For one reason we don’t want you to miss them as they are good talks which will help you spiritually. But we also want to show that there was no need for any concern about such perfectly sound Catholic talks. It was all ‘Much ado about nothing’.

Copies can be obtained by snail-mail from Daphne McLeod using the address details from the foot of this web page.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF ENGLAND AND WALES

OCTOBER 2011

Your Lordships,

We would like to congratulate you on the plan reported in the Catholic Press 24th –25th September 2011. ”Mission, Teaching and Witness” are exactly the priorities we need now. We look forward to your brave words being followed by equally brave deeds.

Your Mission. to proclaim the Kingdom of God will demonstrate the goodness in Church Moral teaching – a goodness that appeals to all human hearts as they are made for Goodness. Fortunately your voices will be heard by a great many, for when bishops speak out for chastity, faithful marriage etc. and against evils like abortion, homosexual life-styles, etc. their words are headline news.

Your Teaching is not just to non-Catholics, for although we must all take every opportunity to convert others, a Bishop's first duty is to ensure the Catholics in the schools and parishes of his diocese are taught the Truths of the Faith fully, clearly without omission or ambiguity and effectively. This duty is so important it cannot be delegated to anyone else, however well meaning. You, My Lord, are the Shepherd appointed by Our Lord to teach His children.

While Catholic children who attend state schools often keep the Faith, at present, over 90% of Catholic school leavers lapse every year from the Church, tragically never to return, so the teaching in our schools obviously needs to be addressed urgently. Those who lapse marry outside the Church and their children are never baptised. If this haemorrhage continues, official statistics show the Church in this country will not survive much longer. So this rot must stop NOW and only you can stop it.

Why is this happening? During the second Vatican Council, H.E. Cardinal Spellman of New York said “Never before have we had such a well-instructed laity.” No bishop demurred as they all knew this was true. So the Council's brief Document on Religious Education, Gravissimum Educationis, deals only with administrative matters and leaves the traditional method and content of religious instruction unchanged.

Unfortunately, others interfered and changed both, imposing ‘Modern Catechetics,' an experiment in religious instruction which has lasted for 44 years and which has proved to be an unmitigated disaster. So, less than 40 years later, in 2002, Pope Benedict XVI, speaking as Cardinal Ratzinger, said, “There exists now an enormous religious ignorance. In the times since the Council it is obvious we have not succeeded in transmitting the content of Catholic teaching.”

Some of your brother bishops in America and Australia noted this warning and discarded ‘Modern Catechetics' replacing it with sound religious textbooks. They are now reaping rewards of crowded churches and seminaries. Why didn't England and Wales make a similar move?

But better late than never. By a happy coincidence, which Padre Pio would probably have called a ‘Godincidence,' the Programme for R. E. in Catholic Primary Schools, Here I Am , is due to be replaced. Normally the same team who have produced all the previous Programmes would give us more of the same just in a different format and the ignorance and lapsation would continue.

However, now you have all undertaken, publicly, to work on the Teaching, we know we can confidently expect you to intervene and end this cataclysmic downward spiral. Now is your opportunity to provide your school-children with an authentic Catholic Religious Teaching Programme which will give them the full instruction in the Catholic Faith they are entitled to. Two essentials are required before you can give them a well structured, fully comprehensive R.E. Programme.

1. TIME to compile a text book and work book for each school year:

2. A TEAM OF FAITHFUL CATHOLIC TEACHERS to compile the Programme, who not only love and understand the Truths of the Faith but who also understand how to present them to children.

Tragically we have neither in England and Wales.

This programme is needed NOW not in a few years time if more souls are not to be lost. Most teachers are themselves victims of Modern Catechetics so, through no fault of theirs, they are not equipped to compile a comprehensive teaching programme. Fortunately there is a solution. Until we have our own Programme we can use the American Faith and Life Series , an excellent Programme covering the ages six to fourteen. This is ‘teacher-friendly ‘and a joy to use so both pupils and teachers in schools already using it really enjoy their R.E. It comprises one text book and a work book, which can be photo-copied, for each schoolyear which makes it economical. It is published by Ignatius Press, San Diego, California, USA.

Obviously this will be discussed at the November Meeting of Bishops so we remind you that whatever is decided at that meeting by your brother bishops, or however ‘Collegiality' is understood, as a Diocesan Bishop you alone are directly responsible for ensuring that the school children entrusted to your care by Our Blessed Lord are taught the Truths of the Faith effectively. Please remember, My Lord, no-one can stop you doing this in your own Diocese and therefore you have no defence for any dereliction of your duty. I can assure you that on your deathbed you will not regret your decision to furnish your schools with a sound religious programme.

3. LAY WITNESS. Of course this cannot happen yet. Lay people need to be well informed about the Faith before they can witness it to others. As our Holy Father pointed out, too many at present are steeped in the enormous religious ignorance instilled by Modern Catechetics. But if each of you sets your Dioceses on the right road with a sound programme in Spring 2012, good lay witness will follow before too long.

Assuring you of our prayers that the Holy Spirit will grant you both the Wisdom and the Courage to follow His Holy Will on this crucial issue.

We are your devoted children in Christ,

Daphne McLeod

(Mrs) Daphne McLeod for the Committee of Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice

Cut-out prayer card to St. Michael the Archangel

PRAYER Holy Michael, the Archangel, defend us in this day of battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil, may God rebuke him we humbly pray. And do thou, Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast down to Hell Satan and all the wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

Writing to Rome    Please play your part to help turn around the desperate situation in this country. Remember when reporting abuses and dissent to Rome, keep letters factual and as brief as possible, giving places and dates where appropriate and enclosing any supporting documentary evidence where possible.
Send to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI (e-mail:benedictxvi @ vatican.va) a copy of any letter you write to Rome. If you are in any doubt or need advice, please don't hesitate to contact us at Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice on Tel / Fax: 01372 - 454160
or e-mail: proecclesiauk @ aol.com
Address your letters to the following:

On all matters relating to the Church, especially dissent from Catholic doctrine:
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio, 11
00120, Vatican City State, Europe
Phone: 011 39 06 6988 3357 Fax: 011 39 06 6988 3409
Secretary: The Most Rev.Angelo Amato, S.D.B.

On matters relating to religious instruction in schools and parishes:
Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy
Piazza Pio XII, 3
00120 Vatican City State, Europe
Phone: 011 39 06 6988 4151 Fax: 011 39 06 6988 4845
Secretary: Most Rev. Archbishop Csaba Ternyak

On matters relating to Bishops:
Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
Palazzo delle Congregazione
Piazza Pio XII, 10
00120 Vatican City State, Europe
Phone:011 39 06 6988 4217 Fax: 011 39 06 6988 4300
Secretary: Most Rev. Archbishop Francesco Monterisi

On matters relating to the family, sex education, contraception, marriage:
President of the Pontifical Council for the Family
Piazza S. Calisto, 16
00120 Vatican City State, Europe
Phone: 011 39 06 6988 7322 Fax: 011 39 06 6988 7214
Secretary: Most Rev. Archbishop Josef Clemens    pcpl @ laity.va

On matters relating to the Liturgy and Sacraments:
Prefect of the Congregation for Worship and Sacraments
Palazzo delle Congregazione Piazza Pio XII, 10
00120 Vatican City State, Europe
Phone: 011 39 06 6988 4316 Fax: 011 39 06 6988 3499
Secretary: Most Rev. Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino   

TO ASSIST YOU WHEN WRITING TO YOUR BISHOP, FIND THE NAME AND ADDRESS HERE, LISTED ALPHABETICALLY BY DIOCESE.