Astonishing spontaneous pro-family demonstrations to protest French Government's intention to force through redefinition of marriage, family. Meanwhile traditional Catholics are publicly tarred with the 'Nazi' brush by a government minister and a TV documentary

Following the French government's sly fast-tracking the so-called "marriage pour tous" bill through the Assembly and Senate and moving the date of the final reading forward by a month to April 23, thereby halving the debating time, French pro-family demonstrators have taken to the streets in a succession of spontaneous protests.

 

Various French pro-family blogs report a heavy-handed attitude by the police, with peaceful demonstrators even being hauled off to police cells for several hours on spurious grounds, before being released. One demonstrator was told by the gendarmerie that he was not allowed to walk home carrying an unfurled Tricolour. Demonstrations in France are usually tightly regulated, requiring advance notice to be given to the local police, however escalating fury at the government's steamrolling the "loi Taubira" legislation (nicknamed after the Minister of Justice who proposed it) has prompted dozens of large-scale protests in Paris and throughout the country. Roads have been blocked by "go slow" corteges of cars, and tens of thousands of demonstrators have made their displeasure felt in a peaceful and non-violent way. None of the protests that has taken place since Friday have been OKed with the police, nor do they have any one source (although the "Manif Pour Tous" network of organisations are a common thread, as evidenced by the well produced banners and placards: as one might expect, when the French "do " protest they do it with style). Twitter, Facebook and other new media have rallied crowds who - unlike their counterparts in the London riots of 2011, despite being mobilised by new technology and motivated by discontent - have caused no criminal damage and committed no acts of violence. They have, however, been clear in their demands: don't change the definition of marriage - for the sake of the family and the sake of children.

Despite the numbers involved, the media here in the UK appears almost oblivious to the protests: both the BBC and the Telegraph felt that some new detail in the tired breast implant story was worth leading with, while I had to dig for anything on the Manif Pour Tous and even when I did find the story the slant favoured the gay lobby point of view with only a nod to the pro-family protests emphasising that they were "right wing" provoked "scuffles with police" and quoted one leftist politician hinting darkly about "nazi salutes". The BBC didn't carry it at all and a search for showed that the last (and only) report on the Manif Pour Tous was in Januay and it grumbled uncomfortably about the fact that while there seemed to be lot of people protesting the redefinition of marriage legistion, obviously the young people they talked to were all in favour of it. The sot of fair reporting we've come to expect from our national treasure. If I had more time I would fisk the article, it's begging for it.

 

So that's it then: being against the redefinition of marriage makes you a thug and a crypto-nazi to boot. I'm not being entirely frivolous here: for the last year or so there has been a sinister undercurrent in French politics attempting to blacken the reputation (and thereby the credibility) of traditionalist Catholic groups in France. Consider the government's list of groups to be monitored for allegedly displaying a "religious pathology": this list specifically targeted Traditional Catholics (who, thanks largely to a relationship with the French state characterised by overt mutual distrust, are much better organised than their Britsh counterparts who tend to pretend to like and get on with the government even when it is clear that the government is unjust and immoral). Whether or not this set a precendent for a US Army TrainingBrief last week categorising Catholics as "extremists" ("defined by beliefs, attitudes or feelings far removed from the 'ordinary") is a moot point but certainly represents a trend that deserves to be scrutinised. In France, however, the most recent outrage is a TV "expose"of a Traditionalist Catholic group where two journalists had infiltated the group over the course of a year to expose the "truth" about the Traditionalist movement in France. The programme was aired on state owned France2 television station and Daniel Hamiche, who is behind the Riposte-Catholique (think a French version of Rorate crossed with the LMS Chairman's blog) was called into the studio to discuss what he thought was to be a documentary on Traditional Catholicism in France. He describes what happened as follows:

It was not [as he had been led to believe] an update on the traditionalist movement in France, but a charge - which was not that of the Light Cavalry, believe me - against Catholic traditionalism.

...

As indicated in the programme's title, journalists were "infiltrators" in a group calling themselves [Catholic] "traditionalist" in Bordeaux for more than a year in an attempt to find evidence against the group in particular, but also against [Catholic] Traditionalism generally. This group, Dies Irae - its members call it "DI" - which I did not know even existed, is actually a small formation of the radical right. By infiltrating the group and using hidden cameras, the reporters gave viewers a really disreputable image of this organisation.

...

The essence of the report is: "traditionalists = Nazis", schools indpendent of state control = incubators o fascism; priests in cassocks = chaplains LVF [the division of the Nazi army made up of French volunteers n WW2]. It was "reductio ad hitlerum" ...

 

What's happening in France is in many ways a mirror to what is happening here in the UK - our government is on the cusp of pushing through unwanted legislation that will redefine marriage and by extension change the legal framework of the family forever. Do we have the determination and organisation demonstrated by French Catholics? I don't think that we currently do and I think that our relationship with the state goes some way to explain that. More to the point, can we generate the kind of passion and commitment that the French have shown if required in the near future? And even if we can, will our government listen? Unlikely. Last week Larousse - France's O.E.D. - thrust two obscene fingers up at democracy and changed the definiton of marriage from a union of "a man and a woman" to a union of "two persons"for the 2014 edition of the book that defines the French language. Like David Cameron's bogus "consultation" on the redefinition of marriage, the powers that be in France are confident of the outcome. But are they as confident of the public's reaction to that outcome? Judging from recent comments by Manuel Valls, the interior minister, that "extemist groups" protesting the loi Taubra are seeking to "destabilise the Republic" I reckon that the French government is deeply uneasy by the alliance of peaceful, ordinary people who have come out to protest in a measured and ordered way, particularly as one of their main demands is for a referendum on the matter. I'm interested to see how this develops as it will inevitably have repecussions for the UK.

Redefining marriage is a risky and reckless social experiment, and seems an odd novelty on which to focus given the dire state of our economy and the unease British society in general. As the placards waved in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Perpignan and throughout France say: "Leave marriage alone and concentrate on unemployment!"

 

When a High Court judge says that the Third Commandment isn't important to Christian belief, it's time to start looking for the nearest catacomb...

Mr Justice Langstaff ruled on the case of Celestina Mba, a Christian care-worker, who was forced to leave her job after being repeatedly scheduled for work on Sundays despite having her employers having been told before they hired her that, as a Christian, she would not work on Sundays. Despite the evidence that other workers were  able and happy to cover Sundays, and therefore no business case could be made for compelling Ms Mba to work on Sunday, The High Court judge said " Christians have no right to decline working on Sunday as it is not a “core component” of their beliefs"

Presumably he's never heard of the Ten Commandments.

The Telegraph's report says 

Mr Justice Langstaff, who as president of the Employment Appeal Tribunal is the most senior judge in England and Wales in this type of case, upheld the lower tribunal’s ruling which said it was relevant that other Christians did not ask for Sundays off. 

The fact that some Christians were prepared to work on Sundays meant it was not protected, the court said.

So if we can discard the Ten Commandments as being a core part of Christianity, what else wouldn''t count as a "core componant" of Catholic belief in a court simply because lots of people who call themselves "Catholic" do or do not do them?... The mind boggles.

None of this is particularly surprising - if anything I'm amazed that it took so long. I was saying that exactly this would happen only a few months ago to Mr Annie-Elizabeth, and he thought I was sounding paranoid. Ha! I very rarely wish I was wrong (like most wives, I'm rarely wrong - I think almost always being right is a special dispensation of grace that comes to wives with the sacrament of marriage) - but in this case I sincerely wish I was wrong. 

Want to get really paranoid? Look at prime office space in Central London,  lying empty for two days out of seven: it's astounding that there isn't more call for a 7 day business week. The argument would be made,  initially, as it was with Sunday opening (but quickly recinded), that nobody would be forced to work on a Sunday.The NHS is toying with the idea of implementing a 7 day working week, Sunday shopping is the norm, and Sunday is no longer special (or even relevant according to the High Court) then what barrier is there to all businesses slowly adopting an "efficient" 7 day model. Of course people would be given two days off together: they just wouldn't be the weekend as we know it. Childcare? Come on, there's nothing the government would love more than getting their ideological paws on the nation's children for even more hours a week. Think of the opportunities! A seven day working week would allow full-time mothers - those scourges on the nation's economy - to work on the days when their husbands were at home. In time they could be persuaded to synchronise work patterns and give up any loony ideas of influencing their offspring. Hell, the state schools will do a much better job. And yes, I did mean, Hell.

Well, with this pretty picture of dystopia-not-quite-yet here I'm off to dig a catacomb, and it may not simply be a metaphorical one. Isn't it about time you considered doing the same?

I never thought I'd like a bouncy-castle church...

...but this inflatable church, made in Poland to be used in Russia is absolutely brilliant! Father Krzysztof Kowal the Catholic parish priest of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the far East of Russia had requested permission to build a Catholic church in the area but had been turned down repeatedly by the uncooperative local government. A novel solution was proposed by a Polish friend, Robert Wojcik, whose usual business is  building inflatable toys for children in Kolobrzeg, Poland. Wojeck created an inflatable gothic-style chapel, weighing 100 pounds and easily transportable. Being a temporary structure and inflatable means that Fr. Kowal can dodge the planning restrictions that have thus far thwarted his efforts. The inflatable chapel will be the first Catholic church on the Kamchatka Peninsula. 


"This is a real Gothic structure which stirs a lot of interest. Many people are unaware that there is a Catholic priest in the city, as there is no real Catholic church; and when we get together at home people think we are some kind of a sect," the priest said. Before the arrival of the inflatable church local Catholics gathered in homes, hotel rooms or outdoors near rivers or lakes for Mass. Because the inflatable chapel is portable Fr. Kowal will be able to move it to suit the needs of his congregation in the winter months when the weather is often -40'C. I can only guess that there aren't many Catholics in the region, as the inflatable church appears to be tiny.


Clearly this isn't an ideal scenario -  you can only imagine the potential for abuse in the wrong environment - but the various news reports about this consistently point to a local government unwilling to allow the construction of a Catholic church, simply because it is a Catholic church. This isn't an unusual situation in Russia -- two days before the inflatable chapel arrived in Kamchatka, a chapel boat carrying the relics of eight saints began a voyage down the Volga in an attempt to reach communities where there is no church. The chapel boat is an ecumenical project between the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church and carries the relics of John the Baptist, Anne, Bartholomew the Apostle, the martyrs Stephen and Lawrence, George, John Chrysostom and Cyril, the missionary to the Slav people, all of whom are important to both Churches. The relics are a gift from the Catholic Church to the Russian Orthodox Church, and the boat has been paid for by Aid to the Church in Need who help the persecuted church with both practical and spiritual aid. Help them to help priests like Father Kowal.


Hopefully the publicity generated by this story - and by Father Kowal's novel solution to bureaucratic intransigence - will encourage the authorities to allow the construction of a dignified, permanent church for the Catholics of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Things could be much worse -- and much more expensive: an inflatable church might not be your cup of tea, but at least it looks like a church unlike this

or, closer to home, this.

Photo Credits: AsiaNews.it (inflatable church),  and Wikipedia (Liverpool and LA Cathedrals)

Why are they so miserable?

I'm continually struck by how angry, unhappy and, frankly, messed-up anti-Catholic protesters always seem to be. Looking at the photos of "protesters" verbally attacking young pilgrims at WYD in Madrid made me feel physically sick: it was as though the "protesters" were trying to destroy the peace and happiness they saw manifested before them. As though they, having rejected the pearl of great price, wanted to snatch it from the hands of the pilgrims and trample it underfoot.

Photo: Reuters 

(twitch of the mantilla to Joe @ Defend Us in Battle)

Compare the posture of the pilgrims with that of the person confronting them. Contrast the scabs on the central girl pilgrim's knees with the bitter accusatory look on the figure to the right. There are more photos that tell the same story on the Reuters website.


Perhaps some good may come from this darkness: Fr. Ray Blake writes about a lapsed Catholic woman who's came back to the Church as a result of comparing and contrasting the faces of the pilgrims and protesters at last years's Papal visit.

 She saw the the anti-Pope snarling mob led by Dawkins and Tatchel, with their plastic devil horns and inflated condoms, sex "toys" and angry faces and she saw the sheer joy of those cheering the Pope and the banners carried by the enthusiastic youth. She said it wasn't about arguments, it was about faces. Dawkins & co. glaring and hopeless, those who were there cheering the Pope full of hope and smiling - anger and joy, hate and love

Hopefully in Madrid comparing and contrasting the the pilgrims and protesters will bring about similar conversions of heart.

All this week whenever I've seen photos like the one above, lines from Matthew 18 have kept coming to mind:

[6] But he that shall scandalise one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. [7] Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh.

I find it hard to pray for people like the so-called protesters, but I suppose they are the ones in most need of our prayer. It is hard to muster charity for those so intent on destroying the faith and happiness of others.

ACN petition & protest march to protect Pakistan's Christians

Some time ago I wrote about the horrendous story of Arshed Masih in Pakistan, a Christian who was tortured and murdered simply for refusing to convert to Islam. The story was reported on Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions website: the mainstream press tends to pay very little attention to what tend to be seen as "isolated" events. However there is a pattern: there has been a quantifiable increase in attacks on Christians in countries with a Christian minority, and in Pakistan the anti-blasphamy laws are increasingly being used to justify persecution of the Christian minority. ACN reports that 14 attacks on Christians in Pakistan in the last two months alone are directly related to the country's anti-blasphamy laws.


Aid to the Church in Need and the British Pakistani Christian Association have launched a petition asking the British Prime Minister to

"call upon the government of Pakistan to take action to promote justice and equal human rights for all irrespective of faith or any other diversity.

The Blasphemy Law of Pakistan (sections 298A and 295 B&C of the penal code) is being used to settle personal vendettas. We ask that the Blasphemy Law provide universal protection for all faiths, with better auditing of authorities involved with its practical application, or that the law be repealed in its current form"

You can sign the petition here.

Please support the suffering faithful in Pakistan - and encourage friends and family to sign as well.

Aid to the Church in Need will also be joining a Protest March against Pakistan's blasphamy laws. The march is orgnised by the British Pakistani Christian Association and will bring together Christian and Muslim leaders, united against religious injustice.The march will take place in London next Saturday, 2nd July. I won't be in the UK, but would encourage any readers in or around London to consider showing their support.  More information at the ACN website and on the British Pakistani Christian Association blog.