More from Ireland

SSPX priests and faithful lead the way in Catholic Action in Ireland. 

(Report from The Irish Examiner)

RELIGIOUS protesters prayed at the gates of University College Cork (UCC) for the second day in a row yesterday as a controversial image of "Our Lady of Guadalupe" went on display on campus.

Mexican-born artist Alma Lopez’s digital print was among 12 of her art works displayed on the second floor of the Rahilly building as part of an academic conference on Chicano culture — US citizens of Mexican descent.

The exhibition sparked controversy earlier this week after the Bishop John Buckley of Cork and Ross described the Our Lady image as "offensive".

But it attracted a steady stream of visitors throughout the day. Most dismissed the controversy and urged those protesting outside to open their minds and visit the exhibition.

The group of some 20 or so men, women, children and priests who braved the rain to pray decades of the rosary at the university’s main gates, refused to view the image.

They held placards denouncing it as blasphemous and distributed literature to passersby.

Mary Wrenne, from Ballincollig, Co Cork, clutched a statue of the Virgin Mary and vowed to continue her protest tomorrow.

"As a woman, I am offended by this image," she said. "This exhibition is extremely disrespectful to the Mother of God."

Fr Francis Gallagher, a member of the Society of St Pius X, travelled from Athlone to join the protest.

"This is very offensive to Catholics. I am here to protest what I would consider to be disrespect towards the Mother of God," he said. "Having her dressed in an immodest way gives a bad example." He said UCC authorities should have cancelled the exhibition.

"We have artistic talents because God has given them to us and we should use them in some way to glorify God. "What this lady is doing certainly doesn’t do that. It’s not art — it’s some kind of gimmick."

Joe O’Connell, from Cork, who said he was a member of the Fatima Centre Ireland, said he has asked the gardaí to investigate whether the image was blasphemous. John O’Callaghan, from Cork, said he has written to the President of UCC asking him to resign.

"Our Lady has always been held in great esteem by the Irish," he said. "But this exhibition is insulting and demeaning to all our histories."

A member of UCC’s Atheist Society supported their right to protest but criticised their stance, and the current blasphemy laws. "We believe that religious and nonreligious people alike should be protected from harm, and incitement to harm, but religions, just like economics and politics, should be open to criticism," a spokesman said.

Ms Lopez said the image does not represent the Mother of God and was never intended to offend. "I never intended to offend, desecrate, blaspheme, or disrespect anyone’s religious beliefs with this image," she said.

A notice from some friends of I & A in Ireland

We have received advice from Mrs Johanna Higgins of the Association of Catholic Lawyers of Ireland www.catholiclawyersblog.wordpress.com regarding the proposed Art Exhibition at the University of Cork
As blasphemy is still a crime in Ireland it would be helpful if readers would make a complaint directly to the Garda Station in Cork regarding the proposed offence.

Garda station number is 00-353-214-327301 (Cork Garda - Police - Station in vicinity of the University)
The offence is section 36 (2) of the Defamation Act 2009.

When you phone you should say they want to make a formal complaint, and that you would like a reference number and a reply. If the Garda (Police) says that no offence has yet been committed, you should say that you are making the police aware of a planned offence and that you would like a more senior officer to deal with the matter.(Also conspiracy and attempted crimes are against the law)

The more complaints they have on record the more likely it is that they will have to act. Also the offence of blasphemy is judged by how "outraged" people really are, so complaints will be evidence of that. You are encouraged to email as well as phone - details and template message below, to assist you. People outside of Ireland are entitled to complain to prevent a crime occurring in that country.
Template Message to send (or adjust as you wish)
TO
Chief Superintendent Michael Finn, Cork West Division
email: michael.finn@garda.ie
Copy mfarrell@sec.ucc.ie (university offices)
(cc)
I wish to make a formal complaint against University College Cork and the artist Alma Lopez for planning a blasphemous exhibition depicting Our Lady of Guadalupe in an outrageous and indecent image.
The information about the event is here:
http://www.ucc.ie/en/hispanicstudies/events/forthcoming/Text-124124-en.html
This displaying of this image and the book by Alma Lopez would be an offence against the Defamation Act 2009 at section 36 (2). This exhibition has been banned elsewhere and has caused offence to Catholics, including senior members of the Church in America. The artist’s intention is to provoke outrage and hurt.
Please acknowledge and record my complaint and send me a reference number.
Yours Sincerely
Name and address

I & A in London

A Catholic and I&A member from London writes:

A little update for our readers, and the wider world, who may have been wondering about the activities of Integrity & Action members in London.  We may have been silent of late, but we have not been inactive.

Throughout Lent, many I&A members turned out to support the efforts of the “40 Days For Life” campaign, outside the Headquarters of BPAS in Bedford Square, London. Although not a uniquely “I&A” event, the campaign was worthy of our support. It drew Catholics from across the capital and beyond, saying the rosary, holding placards and images of Our Lady, and offering help to people entering the building. It was also, as it happens, a good opportunity for I&A members to reach out to the more serious members of the modern Catholic parishes. Information about Tradition and the Traditional Latin Mass were exchanged, and a lot of interest shown by those whom we found ourselves along side, although the fact that I&A members very often found themselves in the majority can perhaps be taken as tragic evidence of the lack of militancy or fervour within many Catholic parishes .

Although it ended on Palm Sunday, the “40 Days for Life” campaign in London was generally successful  in two important ways. Firstly in that it brought about several turnarounds by pregnant women who were on their way in to “abort” their infant in the womb – each one an innocent life saved, and potentially a soul too, only one of which would be more than enough justification and reward for our efforts. Secondly it raised the issue of abortion with the media, and brought it back into the public spotlight, when many of our politicians and media would doubtless prefer that the bloody murder carries on unnoticed and unremarked. Any effort to bring the Satanic horror of abortion back into the public consciousness is surely not a wasted effort. God help our country.

Parallel with this, I&A members have also been taking part in a peaceful demonstration outside a Catholic parish church in central London, the church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Gregory, in Warwick Street, Soho. For those who do not know, this church is the bi-weekly seen of an abomination and an outrage against Almighty God. Dubbed the “gay rights Mass” or the “homo Mass,” this is advertised as being for  “...gay, bisexual, and transgendered Catholics” - and is pointedly not for the purpose of preaching the message the Gospel, of chastity or of obedience to God's law. Indeed, it is infamous for being a place where these unfortunate, confused people are encouraged in their “lifestyle,” where much homosexual flirting (and worse) takes place openly in the pews, and “gay marriages” are blessed by the the priest (there is not a resident parish priest, but several visiting priests who say Mass there on a rota). The people who go there were once described by a visiting journalist as “openly, boldly homosexual”. Since we always stay outside, we cannot personally say what happens inside the church. But if we tell you that the first two people to arrive last week were unmistakably men wearing ladies dresses and makeup, perhaps that will give you a general idea.

This abominable “event” (forgive the euphemism, but what can one call it?) was set up four years ago by the then Archbishop Primate of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, and has been consistently supported and defended by his successor, Vincent Nichols, who is on record as saying words to the effect that the people who have any kind of a problem with this “gay Mass” are the ones who really need converting. When even the official face of the Catholic Church will not

Once again, credit for the idea of organising a peaceful Rosary demonstration outside the site of this  abomination cannot go to I&A. For years now a small group of elderly Catholics, notably Mrs Daphne McLeod, have been keeping a silent witness to the truth when nobody else will.  We usually more than double their numbers with our attendance, but this is still not enough.

That is why Integrity&Action calls upon all Catholics who are serious about the Faith to join us every 1^st and 3^rd Sunday, at 5pm, in Warwick Street, Soho, London. Please email us for further information.

If the thought of praying the Rosary on the street, in full public view, and sometimes enduring the jeers and even threats of passers-by makes some Catholics shrink back in fear (which is a natural reaction, after all), then we must remember that God will not be mocked. Who will make reparation for these outrages if not us? God help our country. Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.

The Catholic Volunteer Movement's latest soup kitchen - in Winchester

So we did it. On Sunday, 1^st May, six of us took to the streets of Winchester and spent the afternoon with three homeless, giving them food, drink and a sympathetic ear. THREE! IS THAT ALL?Let me re-phrase it. There were three men who would have received NOTHING if we had contented ourselves to spend an average Sunday in the comfort of our homes. That’s the difference.

Sure, we had our hiccups. I poured the tea for the first guest we saw. The dark fluid caused alarms to ring in my mind. A somewhat light colour had been expected. But after sending one of the helpers to buy milk, I was content that at least we had provided the quintessential English hospitality of a cup of tea!However, my relief was short lived when the next question was questioned "Do you take sugar?" But quick thinking brought McDonalds come to the rescue!And then we couldn’t find many of them. The homeless have a knack of blending into the stonework, to the pleasure of the local council, but to our disappointment.

  

However, I was comforted by the thought that in Sacred Scripture, numbers are significant but quantities mean nothing.  The greatest battles were won with the smallest armies and the smallest numbers signify the greatest mysteries.The signification of three needs no explanation. But what of six?Judas Machabeus originally called up six thousand men, and won many victories over an enemy of far greater number.Ok, we’re not six warriors, but we did strike a dent in the demonic plan in expanding the work of the Divine Plan.

And, lastly, I have to say, we really enjoyed it. Though our guests were getting well fed and watered, a fire was set in my belly, filling me with much joy. There’s something blessed about meeting up with God again in these people.

So all in all, a well-spent afternoon: making a difference and igniting a fire in our bellies.

Please note that there is now a CVM blog - http://thecvm.wordpress.com

Update on Ted Atkinson

Ted has been in touch again to say that there was an adjournment of his case until 2pm on 31st March in Kings Lynn. This was because there was a legal quibble over his ASBO (anti social behaviour order) which he was 'awarded' for his pro life activity. At the grand age of 79, this must make him the oldest person in the country to have an ASBO for the most unjust reason.

Update on Ted Atkinson - see post of 12th December 2010

The great Catholic activist and our friend, Ted Atkinson from Norfolk is in back in court again in Kings Lynn on 3rd March for his commital hearing. He has a Catholic solicitor and barrister in his legal team.

Please remember him and his fight for the unborn in your prayers..

Marie Stopes – Liberator of women, or racially motivated eugenicist? III

It is very interesting to see how a humanist religious language is substituted for true religion, and eugenics (as Robert Hugh Benson well saw in Lord of the World) eulogized as nothing less than a ‘sacred’ duty: ‘Parenthood, with the divine gift of love in its power, with the glorious potentialities of handing on a radiant, wholesome, beautiful youth should be a sacred and preserved gift, a privilege only to be exercised by those who rationally comprehend the counter-balancing duties.’ (212). Likewise, ‘It is the duty of a seer to embody his message in such a form that its beauty is apparent and the vision can be seen by all the people.’ (219)

It is clear in reading you these few quotations that there is a certain kind of terminology or language employed that is less familiar now, or at least far less common. Thus instead of talking of humanity she talks of ‘race’, and instead of populations she talks of human ‘stocks’. There is no accident here, however, or careless use. Stopes was a decided racist, and anti-semite. She was also an ardent supporter and, as one might now say, fan of Adolf Hitler. As late as August 1939, just one month before we were at war with Germany, Stopes was writing to Hitler with these words: ‘Dear Herr Hitler, Love is the greatest thing in the world: so will you accept from me these (poems) that you may allow the young people of your nation to have them?’[1] Havelock Ellis among many others noted her anti-semitism, and she also drew critical fire for attending the Nazi-sponsored International Congress for Population Science in Berlin in 1935.

But Stopes also practised what she preached. She once again became notorious when she cut her own son, the Humanist ‘philosopher’ Harry Stopes-Roe, out of her will, because he insisted on marrying Mary Eyre Wallis, later Mary Stopes-Roe, who was myopic. Stopes reasoned that her grandchildren might inherit the condition. One of the comments left on the Telegraph website subsequent to Gerald Warner’s critique of the stamp bearing Stope’s portrait suggested that it was quite wrong to call Stopes ‘anti-life’; after all, ‘she wanted every child a wanted, loved and cared-for child’. A brilliantly acid rejoinder to this comment puts it thus: ‘which translated means “Stopes was very much anti-life. She wanted every unwanted child a dead child."’ Even her own grandchildren!

Possibly still the best and most far-reaching criticism that has been made to date of the whole basis of eugenics, and with it birth-control, is that of G. K. Chesterton, in his 1922 work Eugenics and Other Evils. I mention this work not only because I happen to find Chesterton’s critique so congenial, but still more because Stopes seems so concretely to encapsulate the objects of that critique. Chesterton was, of course, ridiculed at the time by Shaw and so many other fashionable intellectuals, but his analysis has, I think, stood the test of time, and one might even say that it appears to be quite prescient about our current post-eugenic environment. It is not the occasion to rehearse the whole of Chesterton’s argument here, but there are nevertheless a couple of points that could be made to show how the general trend of his argument relates to Stopes.

Chesterton’s book[2] is divided into two sections, the first of which deals with the utter impracticality of this ‘false theory’. Chesterton sought to demonstrate the absurdity of the eugenic position, firstly on the grounds that it is a pseudoscience that is not in a position to demonstrate the beneficial nature of its practices, and secondly (and perhaps more importantly), because there is no authority, other than sheer tyranny, that could make decisions on such intimately private and human activity. We have already seen how Stopes’s arguments for eugenics rely on false analogies with agricultural practice, to the degree even of likening a woman to a strip of land. Perhaps more pernicious still is her supreme confidence that she has just the scientific expertise and authority to decide who should marry, to whom, and how many, if any, children, they should be allowed. One can see in this simple plea for power the whole system of servitude that Belloc so ably characterised, rearing its ugly head once more. Like many another utopian, Stopes fantasises entirely on the condition that she is the boss, and no-one else. Of course, Chesterton notes, the problem with experts is that they all disagree with each other (one might add that they also have an unnerving habit of changing their minds on the merest whim).

The second half of the book is the more challenging, and all the darker for it. Chesterton portays with biting accuracy, the ‘real aim’ of eugenics; in fine, the enslavement of the working and poorer classes to the capitalists and their industrial economy. Having realised (whether consciously or not) that to give their workers the means to buy the tools necessary to make their own living (i.e. real productive property) would not be to their own economic advantage, the only real solution is to make them utterly dependent for a living on them alone. This necessarily involves paying a salary so low that a working man can only find the means to subsist for himself and his family. This, Chesteron explains, has necessarily meant a great increase in the impoverishment of the labouring classes with respect to the wealthy, the consequence of which has been an increase in a whole range of social ills, unrest and so the ‘revolt’ to which Stopes herself refers. Now it begins to dawn on us the abject hypocrisy of Stopes’s solution. She doesn’t suggest that a real living is offered to such working families, but rather that they be progressively sterilised so that ‘innumerable tens of thousands of stunted, warped, and inferior’ beings might be eliminated; an economic and aesthetic ‘problem’ removed from bourgeois life. That is the savagery of her ‘care’ for women; that those reduced to abject poverty might have their one last freedom left (that of family) taken away too. This is the liberal ‘utopia’ she imagines. No great leap of imagination is required to see that the same ‘calculations’ lie behind much of our contemporary debates about population reduction, climate change, the provision of condoms and other contraceptives to the world’s poorest people.[3] What is dressed up in terms of philanthropic concern is exactly the same self-serving nihilism that Chesterton ascribed in his own day to the cynical ploys of the English capitalist classes to their own population. It is absolutely incumbent upon us to demonstrate, just as Chesterton did in his own day, the absurdity, the falsity, and the utter hypocrisy, that lies behind our own Malthusian intelligentsia.

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[1] Cited by Gerald Warner, ‘Marie Stopes is forgiven racism and eugenics because she was anti-life’, The Daily Telegraph, 28 August 2008. Warner doesn’t state what his source for this letter is.

[2] G. K. Chesterton, Eugenics and Other Evils (London: Cassell and Company, 1922).

[3] This might be a place to expand this talk into a discussion of ‘overpopulation’ in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, where it is exactly radical underpopulation, usually the result of civil war, endemic disease, and more distant causes such as the slave trade, that is so often the reason for poverty.