Septuagesima Sunday

Saint Matthew 20,1-16

At that time Jesus spoke to His disciples this parable: The kingdom of God is like to a householder who went out early in the morning to hire labourers in his vineyard. And having agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the marketplace idle. And he said to them: Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just. And they went their way. And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner. But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them: Why stand you here all the day idle? They say to him: Because no man hath hired us. He saith to them: Go ye also into my vineyard.

And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard saith to his steward: Call the labourers and pay them their hire, beginning from the last even to the first. When therefore they were come that came about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first also came, they thought that they should receive more: And they also received every man a penny. And receiving it they murmured against the master of the house, Saying: These last have worked but one hour. and thou hast made them equal to us, that have borne the burden of the day and the heats. But he answering said to one of them: friend, I do thee no wrong: didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take what is thine, and go thy way: I will also give to this last even as to thee. Or, is it not lawful for me to do what I will? Is thy eye evil, because I am good? So shall the last be first and the first last. For many are called but few chosen.

Spanish Police clash with Emergency Service Workers during protest

Papal Error I

ELEISON COMMENTS CXXXIII (Jan. 30, 2010) : PAPAL ERROR I.

Speaking two weeks ago on relations between the Rome of Vatican II and the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), Pope Benedict XVI showed once more how subtle and powerful the Conciliar error is. He was addressing on Jan.15 a plenary session of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly known as the Holy Office). The three first paragraphs of his twelve-paragraph address need to be quoted in full, but a summary, as faithful as possible, will have to do.

1. Your Congregation shares in the special ministry of the Pope to ensure Church unity by safeguarding Catholic doctrine. That unity depends on unity in the Faith of which the Pope is the foremost defender. To confirm the brethren in the Faith and keep them united is his prime task. 2 Your teaching authority, like the Pope's, involves obedience to the Faith, so that there may be one flock under the one Shepherd. 3. At all times the Church must get all Christians to witness together to the Faith, "In this spirit I place a particular trust in your commitment to overcoming any remaining doctrinal problems in the way of the SSPX achieving full communion with the Church."

The problem here is much more than just whether or not the SSPX is in "full communion with the Church". The problem is the whole relationship between unity and the Faith.. In reality, Catholic unity is essentially dependent on the Catholic Faith. A Catholic being defined firstly by what he believes, then wherever there is no Catholic Faith there can be no Catholics to unite, and wherever there is that Faith there is the essential basis of Catholic unity. Now the Pope does say (1) that "Unity is in fact primarily unity in the Faith", but generally (1,2,3) he connects unity and Faith as though they are on an equal footing, almost as though they are interdependent, whereas true unity is entirely dependent on the true Faith. How else could he arrive at his conclusion of (3), quoted above in full, where he gives the impression of instructing his Congregation to overcome doctrinal problems for the sake of Rome-SSPX unity ?

Yet the duty of Christ's Vicar is not to unite Rome and the SSPX at any cost, so to speak, but to unite them in the Catholic Faith as given us by Christ. So if there is a doctrinal difference between Rome and the SSPX (and there is, and it is huge !), then his prime problem is which of the two has the Catholic Faith, and which has not. And then he must unite the whole Church around whichever of them has that Faith, even if that happens to be the poor li'l SSPX ! "Li'l", or little, because it is insignificant except by its Faith !

Alas, Benedict XVI is more Conciliar than he is Catholic. But the Council, putting man before God, constantly undermined the Revealed doctrine of God, or the Faith, in the name of the ecumenical unity of men. That is why Benedict XVI is incapable of grasping, short of a miracle, the significance of the SSPX's doctrinal stand. Yet how many Catholics are not liable to be deceived by the smoothness of his transition from much Truth ( in 1,2) to its undoing (in 3) ? Few ! The error is as powerful as it is subtly conceived and expressed ! We must pray for the miracle.

Kyrie eleison.

Don’t Send Your Money To Haiti!

Abortion Threat

“To that Divine Plan for Order, there neither is nor can be any man-made alternative. Man has not even the right to propose an alternative”

These are the words of the late Fr Denis Fahey and in recent times a “Human Rights”  group have demanded that Ireland change its laws on abortion. The same “Human Rights Watch” is attempting to pressure countries in the homosexual agenda also. Gay ‘marriage’ and for the “rights” of homosexuals to be able to adopt children. This comes at a time when the pro-abortion lobby are attacking Ireland in the European Court of Human Rights in the ongoing A,B,C case. 

This attack is on God and on his religion, the Catholic Church. The Guardian newspaper made the point some time ago that the greatest threat was from those who hold firm to dogma and doctrine. The Catholic Church, founded by Our Divine Lord is the true Church so therefore the attack will be greatest. It has dogma and doctrine. It is Masonic to even question even one dogma of the faith.

Once again we turn to the words of Fr. Fahey:

“ All Catholics are, by the fact of their membership of Christ, wholetime Christians, and should be intimately convinced of this solidarity with Christ and with their fellow members of His Mystical Body in the really vital struggle that is going on in the world. Their attitude when leaving the church after Mass is not intended to be merely the negative one of not allowing themselves to be carried in the direction of Naturalism by the current life around them, but the positive one of striving to organise the whole framework of society under Christ the King and of impregnating the State, family life, education and economic organisation with the great truth of human solidarity in Christ’s Mystical Body”

Catholics in Ireland should rise to the call and show that the Church Militant does exist. We are Soldiers of Christ on a battlefield.

 

Killing embryos in stem-cell research

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/letters/2010/0129/1224263355254.html

Madam, – I read with disappointment the criticism by Dr Dolores Dooley (a philosopher) of Prof William Reville’s (a biochemist) views of the science of embryo research (January 28th).

The truth of Prof Reville’s assertion that ethically uncontroversial adult stem-cell research has paid back handsomely is to be seen daily in our hospitals; despite more than a decade of research, embryonic stem-cell research has not led to any therapy. Indeed, even its supporters tacitly admit that the value of embryonic stem-cell research is now less in terms of curing disease in the near future and more in terms of basic developmental biology. Such fundamental research is very valuable and important but alternatives to the use of human embryos exist in the form of ethically uncomplicated induced pluripotent stem cells (essentially “reprogrammed” skin cells).

Prof Reville’s central point was that it is a simple, if uncomfortable, fact of biology that the embryo is a living human being, albeit at the earliest stage of development. Indeed, Dr Dooley’s own Irish Council for Bioethics has acknowledged this fact, although it concluded that embryos lacked “full moral status” to save them from deliberate destruction through experimentation.

Bearing in mind legislation to protect animals used in experimentation, by a combination of judicial fiat and legislative inertia, the human embryo now literally has less protection under Irish law than does a laboratory rat.

The Government should legislate as a matter of urgency to afford protection from deliberate destruction to human embryos as exists for human beings at all other stages of the continuum of life. As Prof Reville rightly pointed out, such protection need not be incompatible with IVF. – Yours, etc,

Prof PLH McSWEENEY

PhD DSc,

School of Food and Nutritional

Sciences,

University College Cork.

College Road, Cork.

Lotta Studentesca

 

 

A group of young Italians who are defending and restoring Christian Europe. They are dedicated to defending the presence of the Crucifix in Italian  public buildings.

Dublin youth and youth workers protest Governments cuts at Dáil

A news item from Dublin. The video shows Charlie O'Connor, Fianna Fáil TD meeting with the young people.

White Masonry

The Framework of a Christian State (Fr. Edward Cahill, S.J.)

White Masonry-
“Another type of Imperfect Freemasonry is what is sometimes called White Masonry. The term is applied (again by non-Masonic writers) to the numerous associations which have sprung up in modern times (and still continue to multiply) ostensibly for the promotion of objects good in themselves, or at least not unlawful, but which, owing to their character or practical tendencies, are utilised to promote Masonic ideals, such as secularism, indifferentism in religion, and false internationalism. Among such associations may be mentioned The Rotary International..., which are organized by Freemasons for the Masonic interpenetration of Christian society.”

17 year olds baby seized by Irish social services

I know it is an article from the Daily Mail but the article is important. The Irish Health Boards and the Social services in Britain are first class liars and have failed children in State care. Their fabrications and neglect are well documented. Here we have a case of kidnap. The bastards, who are pushing the Children Rights referendum in Ireland need to be aware they will face fierce resistance. Children have the same rights as all citizens. The Irish Constitution gives a place of privilege of parents vindicating their children’s rights.  They will propose to make the State the guarantor of children’s rights. Can we trust the Irish State in the care of children? The evidence of truth suggests we cannot.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1245190/Mother-clever-raise-child-baby-removed-social-workers-running-away.html

A couple who fled to Ireland after social workers threatened to remove their baby at birth have had the newborn snatched after all.

Kerry Robertson, 17, who has mild learning difficulties, and Mark McDougall, 25, went on the run after British social services said she was not clever enough to raise a child.

But just four days after Ben was born, Irish social workers marched into the maternity ward and forced them to hand him over.

They were told they were acting at the behest of their British counterparts.

The couple, from Fife, Scotland, have been on the run for three months.

In September, their wedding was halted just 48 hours before the service when social workers claimed Miss Robertson was not bright enough to understand the marriage declaration.

Then in November they were told that her ‘disability’ meant their baby would be taken away at birth.

With Miss Robertson 29 weeks pregnant, they fled their house in the middle of the night and travelled to Ireland.

Ben was born healthy and weighing 7lb 3oz last Friday.

Last night Miss Robertson said: ‘When the Irish social workers said I had to give the baby to them, I felt sick.

‘I didn’t want to hand him over and I started crying because I couldn’t believe what they were saying. I thought I had misunderstood.

‘I had just been breastfeeding him.

Just before they took him away, I told Ben I loved him and gave him a kiss.’

Mr McDougall added: ‘Kerry let out a dreadful cry when she realised what was happening – it was terrible. She is just in pieces.

‘We believed that the Irish had more traditional values than social workers in the UK. We found a two-bedroom cottage in a beautiful village in Waterford overlooking the sea.

‘Kerry booked herself in with the local GP and at last we began to feel as if we were safe.’

An anonymous benefactor has been funding the couple after they left home with just £200, and has even paid for the house.

Artist Mr McDougall has also been selling pictures while friends and family have donated clothes, baby gear and further money.

Miss Robertson has been cared for by her grandmother since the age of nine months after her own parents were unable to look after her, with her care overseen by Fife Council.

She began getting contractions last Friday and the couple went to the local hospital, where she gave birth after a natural labour.

‘Both of us were overjoyed,’ said Mr McDougall. ‘Ben was absolutely perfect.’

But on Tuesday morning two Irish social workers – a man and a woman – came to the hospital and delivered the bombshell.

Mr McDougall added: ‘It seems that through Kerry’s medical records – although we have been on the run she has always ensured she had all the checks and scans on the baby – Fife Council had been alerted.

‘The social workers said that now Ben was born, Fife had put him on the at-risk register and he was subject to a care order.

As the social workers told us the news, the two midwives who have been caring for Kerry were so distressed that they fled the room.’

Ben is being cared for by foster parents.

Family law experts said that if Fife had genuine concerns about the baby it had a duty to pursue the couple even once they had fled its jurisdiction.

Under a 1980 European convention on child welfare, they would have contacted the Irish authorities to alert them and the Irish would then have sought an order from a judge allowing them to intervene.

Irish social workers now have to investigate for themselves and have until Monday to make a decision on the case or apply for an extension.

The couple have been allowed to see their son for two hours every other day.

Miss Robertson said: ‘Holding him made me upset all over again. I’ve told the social workers I don’t want him to have bottled milk or a dummy. I feel breastfeeding is so important and at least then he is still having some of me.’

Mr McDougall claimed the care order had the wrong baby’s name on it and the wrong date of birth. He added: ‘Kerry and I are now absolutely furious because we believe our baby has been kidnapped by social services.’

LibDem MP John Hemming, who has been supporting the couple, said: ‘There is no evidence that Mark and Kerry cannot be good parents and I just hope that the Irish authorities can resolve this as quickly as possible.’

The Irish authorities refused to comment last night.

Stephen Moore, executive director of social work at Fife Council, said: ‘I can confirm that although the Robertson family are not presently within Fife, we are committed to working closely with professional colleagues elsewhere to ensure safety and welfare of the child and indeed the whole family as this is of paramount concern to us.

‘I would urge Kerry to use all the support that is being made available to her and her baby and to get appropriate help should she need it.’

 

But we bail out the Banks

Israel rejects UN Gaza war probe

The Homosexual Agenda

Let us look at their own words from “Gay Community News”, February 1987.

“We shall sodomise your sons… We shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormitories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups, in your movie theatre bathrooms, in your army bunkhouses, in your truck stops, in your all male clubs…

All laws banning homosexual activity will be revoked. Instead, legislation shall be passed which engenders love between men… If you dare cry faggot, fairy, queer, at us, we will stab you in your cowardly hearts and defile your dead, puny bodies.

The family unit-spawning ground of lies, betrayals, mediocrity, hypocrisy  and violence-will be abolished. The family unit, which only dampens imagination and curbs free will, must be eliminated. Perfect boys will be conceived and grown in the genetic laboratory. They will be bonded together in a communal setting, under the control and instruction of homosexual savants. All churches who condemn us will be closed… We shall rewrite history… Tremble, hetero swine, when we appear before you without our masks….”

Fetal Asystole

A six year old child didn’t walk the streets of Tullamore or any of the Irish Midland towns on 16th December 2009. On 16th December, 2003 an unborn child was murdered in England at the behest of the (former) Midland Health Board.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists  says:

“… the method chosen should ensure that the fetus is born dead”, that “Intracardiac potassium chloride is the recommended method, and (that) the dose chosen should ensure that fetal asystole has been achieved.”

This is most likely how the life of the baby in the “care” of the (former) Midland “Health” Board was exterminated on Tuesday 16th, December 2003. The young mother was used by the “Health” Board.

The Guidelines call for “fetal asystole”, and set out how this is to be “achieved”

The Royal College would appear to becoming embarrassed by these guidelines. The Guidelines are becoming increasingly more difficult to access.

They can be accessed via the website http://www.rcog.org.uk/ Click: Women’s Health

Click: Guidelines. Click: Search for a guideline. Enter: further issues. Click: Further Issues.

If you think this is

wrong,

what are

you

doing about it?

Sensible Economics

ELEISON COMMENTS CXXXII (Jan. 23, 2010) : SENSIBLE ECONOMICS.

When too many powerful people have a vested interest in "economists" being confused and confusing, it is a relief to come across (on jsmineset.com) the common sense of the "Seven Commandments"of the Austrian School of Economics. The first two, as listed below, are elementary. The last five condemn five ways in which many State governments today, no doubt under political pressure, are trying to get out of obeying the first two. Here they are, each with a commentary:--

1) "Thou must earn". With all men's continual need to spend on food, clothing and shelter, every person, family and State must somehow earn. They can only earn by producing or providing the other members of the community (or other States) with goods or services which those others are willing to buy.

2) "Thou shalt not spend more than thou earnest". No person, family or State can go on for ever spending more than it earns. Otherwise it must pile up debt until the creditors call a halt. Then the debt must at last be repaid, which is painful, or it must be defaulted on, which can be disastrous

3) "No State may make too many rules". A State must make rules for the common good, but if it restricts the citizens' productive activity by making too many rules, it will harm the common good by restricting instead of promoting that activity.

4) "No State may tax too much". Similarly too much State taxation levied on productive activity will hinder, even paralyse, that activity, so that an excess of taxation will even diminish a State's tax income.

5) "No State may spend its way out of a recession". In a recession where most citizens of a State are both earning and spending less, no government can resurrect that earning and spending simply by spending more itself, because to get that extra money to spend, it must either borrow (see 2) or tax (see 4) or print money out of thin air (see 6). All three alternatives have strict limits.

6) "No State may print its way out of a recession". Nor can a government solve a recession by fabricating extra money to spend merely by printing more and more banknotes or by hitting more computer keys, because unless there is an increase in the production of goods corresponding to the increase in the money supply, too much money chasing too few goods will force up prices until hyper-inflation can eventually destroy the money altogether.

7) "No State may employ its way out of a recession". Nor can a Government solve unemployment merely by hiring the unemployed as non-productive government bureaucrats (see 1), or by paying out more and more unemployment checks (see 5).

However, if "democratic" peoples so adore Mammon that they keep on voting for politicians bought out by the servants of Mammon, who can they blame but themselves if these money-men take over their government ? And if the result will be a living misery for the same peoples, will not the Lord God have punished them by where they have sinned ? And will they have left him with any other way of making them understand that he did not give them life just for production, economics and money or even the Austrian School ? Or of bringing home to them that these things are necessary in their rightful place, but that above and beyond all of them there is an eternal Heaven and an eternal Hell ?

Conversion of St. Paul

Saint Matthew 19,27-29.
At that time, Peter said to Jesus: Behold we have left all things, and have followed thee: what therefore shall we have? And Jesus said to them: Amen I say to you, that you who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting.

Defeat Hailed as Victory‏

This weblog doesn’t believe in a ‘parliamentary democracy’ and even the notion of  ‘democracy’ is a discussion in itself. The party  political system is also a waste of time. The raising of good Catholic families is essential. The safeguard of the large family is essential for a healthy Nation. This Durendal article is excellent. Study groups for Catholic men are very important as are an Ignatian Retreat. The FSSPX regularly host these retreats. Do check out the Durendal below. Let us thank them for such a great article.

“I say that we must educate ourselves, band together with like-minded folk, and undertake apostolic works to win the hearts and minds of our brethren. We must above all strive to raise good Catholic families -- each good child is a real incremental victory, and that is why you see me write so much about parenthood and family here (and why I intend to write yet more in the future). The ancient Christians did not overthrow the Roman Empire via the polling station!”

 

http://rencesvals.blogspot.com/2010/01/defeat-hailed-as-victory.html

Worse than thieves, murderers, or cannibals those who offer compromise slow you and sap your vitality while pretending to be your friends. Compromisers are the enemy of all humanity, the enemies of life itself. Compromisers are the enemies of everything important, sacred and true.
L. Neil Smith

By N.D.C. Wansbutter, Esq.
Most of the so-called "pro-life movement" and not a few traditionalist Catholics have been doing virtual cartwheels over the "great victory" of the election of Scott Brown, a Republican, to the American Senate seat previously held by the infamous Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy. It seems that it falls once again to Durendal to the be "wet blanket" that calls this no victory but yet another defeat in that slow death by a thousand cuts (i.e. compromise) that Christendom has been dying for centuries now.
Those hailing this triumph, would castigate the writer and argue (as I've seen them write on many blogs and message boards) that the election of Mr. Brown is a huge step back towards sanity. It is an incremental advance towards a "culture of life". It was a necessary compromise, and that Catholic moral theology demands that we vote for a "compromise candidate" like Mr. Brown to prevent "and even worse evil" (in this case, Coakley).

On the contrary, it is yet another huge step backwards. It is only more proof that we have lost the war by fighting on the enemy's own terms so badly, that now we're reduced to supporting supporters of Roe v. Wade, gun control, and all other sort of nonsense because he's "better than the alternative". True, there's no doubt that Mr. Brown is, if not better, "less horrible" than his main opponent the Miss Coakley. Yet it's a sign of how far we've slid that a man who supports the murder of innocent children (Mr. Brown) could even be countenanced. Surely, twenty years ago there's be howls of rage at the suggestion -- today, those that suggest voting for such a one is not a viable solution are accused of mortal sin (a calumny tossed about quite a bit during last year's presidential election; for more reading on that see here: "Madness, Morals, & McCain's Master Stroke and Women and Public Authority over Men).

True, many children that otherwise would have been massacred in the womb with the advent of "Obamacare" may have been saved. Thus in the short term a small victory may have been won. But in the name of winning this small battle, the war is another step closer to defeat. Looking at the big picture, we must realise that some battles are not worth winning if they lead to ultimate defeat. At best I would thus call this election a Pyrrhic victory that in the long term ensures the continued massacre of the innocents.
Rather than an incremental step towards a culture of life, it is rather yet another incremental step downwards into the abyss. Apparently, all the enemy need to, is put a candidate running on an outrageously evil platform, and the friends of Christ will vote for anyone. The "standard" is now set at Mr. Brown. In a few years, they'll introduce someone even more leftist than Miss Coakley and the usual suspects will be angrily telling us that we must vote for a Miss Coakley to "stop" the new monster, then herald the Miss Coakley's election as anther great step forward.

Dear readers, victory will never be won in this way. Is the writer advocating that we all hide in our homes, taking no action, but only praying our rosary beads? By no means. Prayer is paramount, of course, and one decade of the rosary worth more than one ballot cast in Lucifer's Lottery (that is the so-called "democratic process" of modern republics). Yet I do ascribe to the phrase that we ought to "pray is our actions will accomplish nothing, and act as if our prayers will accomplish nothing". But aside from prayer, rather than play the Devil's games, I say that we must educate ourselves, band together with like-minded folk, and undertake apostolic works to win the hearts and minds of our brethren. We must above all strive to raise good Catholic families -- each good child is a real incremental victory, and that is why you see me write so much about parenthood and family here (and why I intend to write yet more in the future). The ancient Christians did not overthrow the Roman Empire via the polling station!

Yet if one still feels the need to partake in politics, then do not steal votes away from good "third party" candidates by voting for "the guy that actually has a chance of winning". Scott Brown had no chance, yet look at where he is. If all the "strategic voters" supported alternative candidates then a real party to contend against the Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. and the Liberals and Conservatives in Canada, would be possible. If they could lift a Republican to victory in Boston, they could lift a Family Coalition Party member to victory in Toronto (just as a for instance).

Chemical Abortions

http://www.lifesitenews.com/abortiontypes/chabortion_types.html

Chemical abortion can be caused by certain drugs, administered in varying ways, which act upon the hormones of the mother to create a situation in which a newly-formed human being, known as a zygote or embryo at this stage, cannot survive. Most of these chemicals are used in combination, one drug to ensure that the embryo is killed, and a second to induce contractions so that the dead embryo is expelled from the uterus of the mother.

The drugs employed to cause these abortions may be referred to as causing pharmaceutical abortions, particularly in promotional literature.

Because Hoescht, the parent company of Roussel-Uclaf, the first manufacturer of RU-486, is a major producer of agricultural chemicals, administration of abortion pills has become known as inducing "chemical abortion," and RU-486 and other chemical abortifacients are often considered "human pesticides".

Life begins at fertilization, not implantation

(Note: This is a critical point to understand - see article: "When Do Human Beings Begin? Scientific Myths and Scientific Facts" - Diane Irving, M.A., Ph. D, International Journal, Sociology and Social Policy 19:3/4 Pgs. 22-36)

There is much scientific proof that a unique human being is created after fertilization of the egg by the sperm. This human being already has a complete and unique genetic make-up. Although it doesn't resemble us at this point, the new life looks exactly like a human being should look at this stage in his or her development. We all started out this way.

Day 1-14: Fertilization: the sperm and egg join in the fallopian tube to form a unique human being. Twenty-three chromosomes of the father and twenty-three chromosomes of the mother combine, which pre-determine all of a person's physical characteristics. The picture on the left is a fertilized egg, only thirty hours after conception. Magnified in the photo at right, it is actually no larger than the head of a pin. Still rapidly dividing, the developing embryo moves down from the fallopian tube and towards the uterus.

3 weeks: Once in the uterus, the developing embyo searches for a place to implant, where it actually burrows beneath the surface of the uterus. The yolk sac, produces blood cells during the early weeks of life. The unborn child is only one-sixth of an inch long, but is rapidly developing. The backbone, spinal column, and nervous system are forming. The kidneys, liver, and intestines are taking shape.

Chemical Abortion - The prevention of implantation

Preven

Known as either the "morning-after pill" or the "emergency contraceptive kit," but more appropriately described as "post-coital interception." The Preven pill makes the lining of the uterus inhospitable to a living, human embryo. The embryo is unable to implant and gain nourishment, so it dies. Here is an excerpt from The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 6th Edition, by Moore and Persaud (P. 532):

Postcoital [after intercourse] birth control pills... Ovarian hormones (estrogen) taken in large doses within 72 hours after sexual intercourse usually prevent implantation of the blastocyst [embryo]... These hormones prevent implantation, not fertilization. Consequently, they should not be called contraceptive pills [italics added]. Conception occurs but the blastocyst does not implant. It would be more appropriate to call them "contraimplantation pills." Because the term abortion refers to a premature stoppage of a pregnancy, the term abortion could be applied to such an early termination of pregnancy.

Side effects: risk of developing blood clots and blockage of blood vessels - which may lead to heart attacks, strokes. Studies have indicated that the risk of both benign and malignant liver tumors may be increased by Preven use. Smoking and the use of Preven greatly increase the chance of developing possibly fatal heart disease.

The following quote from the Preven website affirms both, that Preven the morning after pill stops the fertilized egg from implanting into the uterus and that RU486 induces abortion. Preven, at the beginning stage of the baby's development, prevents implanation in the uterus, and RU486 causes the baby to detach from the mother's uterus.

"The ingredients of Preven are nothing new: Medical experts have used the basic recipe for emergency contraception since at least the mid 1970s. Emergency contraception pills, or ECPs, are simply high doses of the hormones found in regular birth-control pills, taken in two steps within 72 hours of sex. In contrast to "morning after" pills such as RU-486, which induce abortion by causing a fertilized egg to detach from a woman's uterus, ECPs actually prevent pregnancy. " Most people have no idea that's possible, because when Mom or Dad took us behind the barn, they usually left us with a misunderstanding of the basic facts of life," says Dr. Anita Nelson, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA. "It actually takes a few days for an egg to get fertilized and lock itself onto a uterus. And ECPs (emergency contraceptive pills) work to stop ovulation from taking place, stop the sperm from coming down the tube, or stop a fertilized egg from becoming implanted." (emphasis added)

Chemical Abortion in the First Trimester

RU-486 / Mifepristone

While many people focus solely on RU-486 (Mifepristone or Mifeprex), the so-called "French abortion pill," the RU-486 technique actually uses two powerful synthetic hormones with the generic names of mifepristone and misoprostol (or other chemicals called prostaglandins) to chemically induce abortions in women five to nine weeks pregnant.

The RU-486 procedure requires at least three trips to the abortion facility. In the first visit, the woman is given a physical exam, and if she has no obvious contra-indications ("health conditions" such as smoking, asthma, high blood pressure, obesity, etc., that could make the drug deadly to her), she takes the RU-486 pills. RU-486 blocks the action of progesterone, the natural hormone vital to maintaining the rich nutrient lining of the uterus. The developing baby is disrupted from his or her habitat and starves as the nutrient lining disintegrates.

At a second visit 36 to 48 hours later, the woman is given a dose of artificial prostaglandins, usually misoprostol, which initiates uterine contractions and usually causes the embryonic baby to be expelled from the uterus. Most women abort during the 4-hour waiting period at the clinic, but about 30% abort later at home, work, etc., as many as 5 days later. A third visit about 2 weeks later determines whether the abortion has occurred or a surgical abortion is necessary to complete the procedure (5 to 10% of all cases).

There are several serious well documented side effects associated with RU-486/prostaglandin abortions, including prolonged and severe bleeding (up to 44 days), nausea, vomiting, pain, and even death. At least one woman in France died while others there suffered life-threatening heart attacks from the technique. In U.S. trials conducted in 1995, one woman is known to have nearly died after losing half her blood and requiring emergency surgery.

Long term effects of the drug have not yet been sufficiently studied, but there are reasons to believe that RU-486 could affect not only a woman’s current pregnancy, but her future pregnancies as well, potentially inducing miscarriages or causing severe malformations in later children. (RU 486 Misconceptions Myths and Morals, pp. 71-79).

For additional details or references on the RU-486 information provided here, please access the National Right to Life website or ask your pharmacist.

Methotrexate

The procedure with methotrexate is similar to the one using RU486, though administered by an intramuscular injection instead of a pill and acts by a different mechanism. Originally developed to attack fast growing cancer cells by neutralizing the B vitamin folic acid necessary for cell division, methotrexate attacks the fast growing cells of the baby, and the trophoblast, the tissue surrounding the embryo that eventually gives rise to the placenta (pictured at right). The trophoblast not only functions as the "life support system" for the developing child, drawing oxygen and nutrients from the mother’s blood supply and disposing of carbon dioxide and waste products, but also produces the hcg (human chorionic gonadotropin) hormone which signals the corpus luteum to continue the production of progesterone necessary to prevent breakdown of the uterine lining and loss of the pregnancy. Methotrexate initiaties the disintengration of that sustaining, protective, and nourishing environment. Deprived of the food, oxygen, and fluids he or she needs to survive, the baby dies.

Three to seven days later (depending on the protocol used), a suppository of misoprostol (the same prostaglandin used with RU 486) is inserted into a woman’s vagina to trigger uterine contractions and expulsion of the tiny body of the child from the woman’s uterus. Sometimes this occurs within the next few hours, but often a second dose of the prostaglandin is required, making the time lapse between the initial administration of methotrexate and the actual completion of the abortion as long as several weeks. A woman may bleed for weeks (42 days in one study ), even heavily, and may abort anywhere -- at home, on the bus, at work, etc. Those found to be still pregnant in later visits (at least 1 in 25) are given surgical abortions.

Even doctors who support abortion are reluctant to prescribe methotrexate for abortion because of its high toxicity and unpredictable side effects. Those side effects commonly include nausea, pain, diarrhea, as well as less visible but more serious effects such as bone marrow depression, severe anemia, liver damage and methotrexate-induced lung disease. The manufacturer warns in the package insert that "deaths have been reported with the use of methotrexate," and recommends that its use be limited to "physicians whose knowledge and experience includes the use of antimetabolite therapy." Though researchers performing methotrexate abortions have dismissed such concerns because of the low dosage used, other doctors in the abortion trade have disagreed, and the package insert clearly warns that "toxic effects may be related in frequency and severity to dose or frequency of administration, but have been seen at all doses" (emphasis added).

Sad end for Waterford Crystal

Many parts of the country have a long association with crafts and other items. Small crafts, guilds, small business must be encouraged in the country.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/sad-end-for-waterford-crystal-2028544.html

IT was a painful end for Waterford Crystal.

The thousands who worked there over the years, the hundreds of thousands who visited to admire its jewels and the millions who associate the brand with this country never thought they would see the day.

Waterford Crystal was, after all, the fourth most popular visitor attraction in the country -- bringing 315,000 people to the south-east every year.

But last night the slow but inexorable decline of the world-famous attraction was complete when the factory's visitor centre and gallery closed to the public for the last time.

Since January 5, when Waterford Wedgwood went into receivership, the nail in the business's coffin was inevitable, despite a brave but doomed campaign mounted by workers who wanted the factory to stay open.

The takeover of the brand a few months later by a consortium of American venture capitalists, WWRD, did not set local pulses racing with romantic thoughts of a rejuvenation of the Kilbarry plant, and production was soon halted.

The US-backed firm will make the crystal in locations across the globe, including Eastern Europe.

Now a "for sale or to let" sign is posted on the roadway outside Waterford Crystal, with few anticipating an imminent deal for the sprawling site and its legacy of obsolete buildings.

In the coming fortnight, the remaining workers will spend their time packing up what is left of the display crystal and that will be that.

Hope

But every cloud has a silver lining, and Waterford residents hope the city's link with crystal manufacture and sale will continue. A new city council-sponsored production plant and gallery is to open in the centre of Waterford city early this summer.

However, the new showroom, which will employ between 50 and 100 people, will be a far cry from the heady days when Waterford Crystal employed up to 4,000 people.

The message went out on local radio yesterday morning -- the centre with its fabulous displays of one-off crystal creations was to shut down for good.

People poured into the long-popular tourist magnet.

Large-scale production of crystal ended some time ago, with just a skeleton staff manning the centre in recent weeks.

For Miriam Lyons, a final visit was important as she picked up a piece of crystal by which she can remember her late brother Eugene, who worked in the factory for many years.

"It's the end of an era and it's very sad. I'd have come down here a lot over the years for presents, particularly wedding presents, and friends of mine up the country would be asking me to get some Waterford Crystal," she said.

Maria Tyrell said it was "an absolute disgrace" that the situation at the business should come to this.

"The saddest thing of all was, inside the showrooms, there was a man up there on scaffolding, taking a chandelier apart. They (the workers) must have felt very sad watching that."

As a security guard at the front door told late visitors that the place was closed, the PA inside the building did the job for those indoors.

"Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention please: the visitors centre is now closing."

Sex in the US army

 

See also http://www.culturewars.com/2009/Bitch.htm

Bitch, Slut, or Dyke?

by James G. Bruen, Jr.

Irish Family Planning Association

The Irish Family Planning Association on 5/7 Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin 1, 60 Amiens Street, Dublin 1, and Level 3, The Square, Tallaght, Dublin 24 profit on the murder of babies through abortion.

Communism v Christianity

Ordinary Man

Cruise ship docks at private beach in Haiti for barbeque and water sports

Enjoying the cocktails amidst human suffering and death.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/18/cruise-ship-docks-at.html

The Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines' ship Independence of the Seas went ahead with its scheduled stop at a fenced-in private Haitian beach surrounded by armed guards, leaving its passengers to "cut loose" on the beach, just a few kilometers from one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the region's history. The ship's owners justified it as a humanitarian call, because the ship also delivered 40 palettes of relief supplies while its passengers frolicked on zip-lines and ate barbeque within the 12-foot-high fence's perimeter:

The Florida cruise company leases a picturesque wooded peninsula and its five pristine beaches from the government for passengers to "cut loose" with watersports, barbecues, and shopping for trinkets at a craft market before returning on board before dusk. Safety is guaranteed by armed guards at the gate.

The decision to go ahead with the visit has divided passengers. The ships carry some food aid, and the cruise line has pledged to donate all proceeds from the visit to help stricken Haitians. But many passengers will stay aboard when they dock; one said he was "sickened".

"I just can't see myself sunning on the beach, playing in the water, eating a barbecue, and enjoying a cocktail while [in Port-au-Prince] there are tens of thousands of dead people being piled up on the streets, with the survivors stunned and looking for food and water," one passenger wrote on the Cruise Critic internet forum.

"It was hard enough to sit and eat a picnic lunch at Labadee before the quake, knowing how many Haitians were starving," said another. "I can't imagine having to choke down a burger there now.''

Pro-Life March Paris

 

 

God be with you Ireland

International Planned Parenthood Capitalizing on Haiti Earthquake with New Fundraiser

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10011902.html

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, January 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Capitalizing on the compassion of developed nations towards Haiti following the disastrous 7.0 scale earthquake last Tuesday, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has launched a fundraising appeal in order to further their aims in the devastated pro-life nation.

Within a day of the disaster, IPPF had sent out an appeal letter, seeking “urgent” support for their Haitian affiliate PROFAMIL.

IPPF, the world's largest abortion provider, claims that funds are needed in order to restore “basic medical services” at the PROFAMIL clinics.  According to their letter, PROFAMIL has operated since 1984, providing “low-cost, quality sexual and reproductive healthcare.”

“Planned Parenthood, true to form, is using the disaster and the suffering in Haiti to raise money to perpetuate itself in its ongoing attack on decency, morality, and the right to be born,” commented Rita Diller, national director of Stop Planned Parenthood (STOPP).

“While millions of people are suffering unbelievably and are without the most basic necessities, Planned Parenthood wants to grab the donations that should be going to provide medical care, food, clothing, and housing, and funnel it to its local affiliate that pushes condoms on children as young as 10 years old,” she continued.  “Planned Parenthood has no shame.  What would you expect of an organization that killed over 305,000 innocent pre-born children last year alone?”

Pro-lifers, however, do have the option of contributing to a legitimate health care agency that needs funds to bring obstetrical support to Haiti.  Dr. Robert Walley, president of MaterCare International, a pro-life organization dedicated to providing maternal care in the developing world, informed LifeSiteNews that they are initiating a long-term project to help rebuild maternity care in the country.

“Pregnancy does not stop because of a disaster of this kind,” observed Dr. Walley, pointing out that pregnant women are enduring the same hardships as the rest.  For women who are about to deliver, he said, “the situation is particularly bleak,” given that six of the hospital's in Port-au-Prince have been lost.  “In all likelihood, as their homes have been destroyed, they simply deliver in misery where they lie, in the open without any dignity or privacy,” he said.

“It almost seems that with these type of tragic circumstances somehow the world believes that life simply stops, so emergency obstetrical care for life threatening complications is not an immediate priority,” he said.  “The result is an enormous increase in the number of maternal deaths.”

MaterCare will be sending a team to Haiti this week to conduct a needs assessment.  They will then assemble a volunteer emergency team of obstetricians, general surgeons, pediatricians, anaesthetists, and nurses.

“We offer life and hope,” said Dr. Walley.  “The pro-abortion side are already seeking funds for their death and despair and the Haitians have had enough of that.”

Police in England have fun during cold snap!

Whilst on duty!

The Economic Effects of the Reformation

The Economic Effects of the Reformation is published by IHS Press and is reviewed here by Mr. Alun Rowland




In William Cobbett's History of the Protestant Reformation we see something of the effects of the Reformation and its consequences on the lives of the average working man. An Essay on the Economic Effects of the Reformation by George O'Brien, however, provides us with the whys and wherefores and demonstrates how the theological heresies propounded by the reformers led to the current day economic situation and the rise of the twin evils, devastating our society, of Capitalism and Socialism.


George O'Brien (1892-1973) was well qualified to discuss economics as he was for over 30 years Professor of National Economy and Professor of Economics at the Catholic University College in Dublin. Before this he practiced law and in the political sphere, he represented the college in the Irish Senate for 16 years. His other works include Economic History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century (1918), followed the year after by The Economic History of Ireland in the Seventeenth Century (1919), followed soon by The Economic History of Ireland from the Union to the Famine (1921), and An Essay on Medieval Economic Teaching (1920), an unrelated work.


The perceptive introduction by Dr. Edward McPhail clearly sets out the whole idea inspiring the book:




Economic Effects makes us see the ideological foundations of capitalism, socialism and modernity in a fresh way. Remarkably, this freshness relies on ideas that date back to the early 16th century. Indeed, for O'Brien the Reformation was not merely a religious event. It was an epoch-making social and economic convulsion that in fact gave rise to both capitalism and socialism. The Reformation was much more than a religious dispute. It was an overturning of society as it was then known.


He clearly brings out the fact that the sense of morality that governed economic life before the Reformation withdraws afterwards in the wake of the new heresies and disaster ensues in the economic field. This sets the tone of the book.


In the first chapter we are presented with a thorough survey of the economic effects in general of the Reformation with the opening line:


The more study of economic history is pursued, the more clearly emerges the connection between religious and economic ideas.


The study of economics was not a branch of learning on its own. St. Thomas Aquinas would not have known anything of it as such, but would have simply understood it as a branch of ethics which was dealt with by ecclesiastics, and so all moral life was governed by ecclesiastical legislation enforced by spiritual sanctions. Religious and economic life was thus entwined. A prime example of this may be the medieval law of the Just Price that clearly shows the altruistic spirit that permeated the economic and social life of the time. The principle of the Just Price, that no one can arbitrarily raise the prices of a commodity, had to be observed in wages, buying and selling, and every contract of exchange. If this was not followed the contract was adjudged to be unjust and invalid in conscience, and the aggrieved party had a claim to restitution. Thus was medieval society governed by this and many other laws. O'Brien states that:




It follows that a society penetrated throughout, as medieval society was, by the ideas and teaching of dogmatic religion will continue essentially unchanged so long as no change occurs in the religion on which it is based. In order, therefore, to effect any far-reaching social change in such a society, it is necessary to attack the religion in which it is rooted....When in the extreme case the attack on the old religion is directed against its very foundations, and when the old faith is shaken from top to bottom, the social and economic consequences are bound to be correspondingly deep and revolutionary.


In order to look at these revolutionary changes we have to look at the reformers/revolutionaries


themselves. Luther had a natural preference for the countryside over the city. In the furtherance of his aims, his portrayed a totally false picture of later medieval society in his attempt to undermine the Church. Calvin tended more towards life in the city and displayed a greater comprehension of economic matters. He justified usury, which came to have profound consequences.


As with most heresies, those arising at the Reformation subsequently subdivided and splits occurred amongst themselves. However, one doctrine united them-justification by faith. This led to a new conception of the Church within society-that it was concerned solely with the religious domain, which consequently led to a separation of the spiritual and temporal. O'Brien sums it up well:


The older Church sought to permeate political and social institutions with the religious spirit, but the trend of Luther's teaching was in the direction of the complete independence of the secular state.


This was also reflected in the sphere of the individual for whom private judgment became a dogma. Thus Man became his own master and a self-centerd approach to society was adopted. After all, one only needed a simple act of faith to save one's soul, and good works were no longer required for salvation, and the great charitable institutions of the Church were gone in many countries. Poverty became a disgrace rather than a mark of holiness as it had been previously.


Most people are clear as to what constitutes Protestantism, but the term Capitalism requires definition because it is a much misunderstood term, especially among many Catholics with little knowledge of the Church's social teaching and who are often too hasty in defending their economic way of life. O'Brien presents us with the following definition:


Probably the most characteristic feature of this new point of view, which we may call the capitalistic spirit, is that accumulation of wealth is looked on as a good in itself....In other words, business for business' sake has become the watchword for the modern capitalist. His wealth is not designed for himself or for his enjoyment; it has ceased to be a means and has become an end.


Like the recent changes in the Church, these novel ideas did not have an effect straightaway but gradually seeped in to the mind set of the population. This developed further with the Calvinistic idea of predestination. A successful business would be a clear sign of a predestined soul truly living out his "vocation." When this rupture from the old order and the idea of making money for its own sake was established, the inevitable consequence was an increasingly large gap between the rich and poor. This was echoed by the words of great Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum when he said that the workers "bore a yoke little better than that of slavery."


This capitalistic type of economy must also be able to operate unfettered by any restraint. These restraints that were considered bounden duties in the Middle Ages have disappeared in the pursuit of money-making. O'Brien continues:


The aim of the modern capitalist may be summed up in one word-exploitation; to exploit the necessities of the hungry and the defenceless, to exploit the fruits of other people's labour-these are the aims of the business man of the capitalistic era.


Later we read of one of the many consequences:


Gain being admittedly the only aim of the capitalist, profit becomes the sole standard of measurement of success or failure in life. In the Middle Ages, a transaction would have been judged on the basis of its moral worth and public service, but at the present day, the only standard of judgment is the profit which it promises.


The modern economists developed these views pushing forth such ideas as the advantage of unrestricted competition, all of which encouraged an essentially materialistic view of life. These ideas stem from the Protestant revolt:


The idea which we have indicated as characteristic of the capitalist stand point are characteristically Protestant ideas-some of them characteristic of Protestantism in general, and some of them peculiar to certain Protestant creeds. The insistence of the capitalist on the removal of all restraints by the State is strictly analogous to the insistence of the Protestant on the removal of all restraints by the Church. It is private judgment translated in to the realm of Industry.


The individualistic nature of the Protestants is indubitable, so why not apply the same principle to economic social life. This is seen especially in the countries that wholeheartedly embraced Protestantism. Although Luther's preference for the rural life led to a more conservative and reactionary view, it was nevertheless a break with the past, but not as profound as Calvin's. His ideas were a clear, unremitting rupture with the economic life of the Middle Ages, and very much geared towards town and city life. Life in Geneva was initially based on a steady social order but inevitably the Calvinists there did not see the consequences of their errant doctrines.


The supernatural gradually disappeared from economic and social life. Increasingly, the concept that a person "saved" would be seen to be blessed in his business life and this would then be seen as a sign of his "state of grace" to those around him. This reached such a point in some places that it would be seen as most imprudent economically not to be one of those who had been "saved." O'Brien shows us the conclusion of such thinking when he draws on the writing of Max Weber, the economic historian:


Weber draws attention to the practice in some Baptist communities in the United States, in which businessmen desire to be admitted to baptism, because they know that the fact that they get through the moral examination which is held before baptism is administered will act as a kind of guarantee of their business credit; and further calls attention to the indisputable fact that, when the religious life disappears from capitalist communities, recourse is had to all sorts of clubs, conferences, fellowships and other organisations to take the place of the old organised religious opinions as the test of public respectability.


In the English world, the Calvinist doctrine went a long way to the formation of the Puritan sect. This body had a huge influence on the English world, even leading to the only English republic in over 1000 years of monarchy. A form of spirituality was developed by them whereby one must follow one's "vocation" and do good work, not the Catholic idea of "works." Idleness and laziness would have been seen as the most grievous faults. Clearly, trade and production would flourish in such circumstances, and the wish for ever increasing production-a clear indicator of the capitalist spirit-aided by the well-known Puritan austerity. The concentration on the economic life led to a neglect and even a positive distaste for any form of levity or recreation. Gone was the medieval idea of magnificentia seen in art, architecture and the general Catholic sense of "sweet reasonableness" in all things, and this heralded the advent of the drab and coldness of the Puritan world. Consequently, these "saved" souls turned even more to their almost "divinised" businesses in that their success would have shown to all that they were predestined by God, who used their business to mark them out. These concerns would go on to flourish and the profits reinvested to realize the greatest gain-both a capitalistic and Puritan character.


In these circumstances, the Puritan businessman would have had to employ increasing numbers of workers in his expanding business. These workers who would have also been imbibed with the Puritan spirit would have worked long and hard to fulfill their vocation, thus increasing their master's profit. Any form of economic restraint would not be desired as this might hinder the business man from satisfying his calling from God. In this way:


the individual may render the best service to the community, all artificial restraints on private enterprise must be abolished.


It will be seen that the economic ideals of the Puritan spirit of manufacture and exploitation were very close to those of Judaism, which directed its attention to trade and money. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that the Protestants relied very much on the Old Testament. Thus O'Brien concludes:


Judaism has undoubtedly played a very large part in the development of modern capitalism, but it has played that part, not directly, through the residence of Jews in Christian communities, but indirectly, through its impressing itself upon the Calvinist mind.


All those who have seriously studied the matter have concluded that Calvinism and so Puritanism have spawned the modern-day capitalistic spirit. The asceticism of these reformers was not aimed heavenwards but on the striving in this life to fulfil one's calling in a spirit of self-denial and frugality aimed at greater economic success.


Socialism does cover a wider meaning, and many different forms of economic organization. Some misinformed people consider that Europeans all have exclusively socialist governments. It is often said that the excesses of Capitalism have provoked the Socialist reaction and these people can see the injustice of this system but fail to look heavenwards for the solution. It was defined by Rae in 1884:


Socialism is a theory of the State's action, founded on a theory of the labourer's right—at bottom a demand for social justice—that every man shall possess the whole produce of his labour.


This social justice will be achieved by "the state's action," but this action will subjugate the role of man over that of the state. Gone was the view of the Middle Ages that the state was made for man to be replaced by the Socialist view that the man was made for the state. This in its turn has consequences to the effect that the distribution of the economic products should become a public matter and so governed by the state. Accordingly, private property rights are affected negatively. Depending on the strain of Socialism, every socialistic system has insisted upon an abolition of property rights to some extent.


Socialism has always been said to have arisen because of the excesses of Capitalism. It may be concluded therefore by some, that it is not directly related back to the Reformation. However, as the Reformation was by its very nature a protest, of itself, it bred the notion of protest. Many of the subsequent sects that broke away did so as a protest. O'Brien explains it this way:


The later sects which arose among Protestants frequently arose as a protest against the errors of the previous ones, and they almost invariably erred in the opposite direction; but nobody would suggest that the original heresy was not responsible for all its children, however little they resembled each other; and so, similarly, the Reformation must be held responsible for all the social errors as well as for the religious errors to which it gave birth.


The excesses of Capitalism are well documented and also brought to our attention by the great Pope Leo XIII in his renowned encyclical Rerum Novarum on the condition of the working classes. The excessive individualism and private judgment of the heretical sects, which led to Capitalism, undermined the cohesiveness of society. This left it open to attack by the Socialists. They shared a materialistic vision with the Capitalists but simply varied in method in achieving this. Additionally, the very radical nature of the Reformation produced very radical economic fruits such as was seen in various communistic movements. Gone were the Religious who held land in common and lived their holy rule in the name of God. The new radicals with their private interpretation of Scripture attempted to create a godly society on earth in "a confiscatory and compulsory" manner. The confiscation of the monastic lands gave a great boost to the early communistic movements. It also fundamentally undermined property rights in general. The Church was usually the greatest landowner in the nation after the Crown, and the fact that its land was taken from under it made all private property rights unsafe.






All these ideas would obviously flourish in a society with a religion that encourages private judgment. The only force which had the might to counter this would be the Catholic Church. Hence the Reformation not only helped generate these ideas, but, by its nature, did not have sufficient force to stop them when they got out of control.






O'Brien concludes his essay by stating that he has attempted to show the common origin of the two prevailing schools of modern economic thought. The stable society of medieval times was decimated by the Reformation and a monster was unleashed that split and subdivided. The guiding force behind all economic activity was removed by the reformers. God and morality was displaced from overseeing economic and business activity. The worker was left bare and defenseless with no protection. The Socialists believed that they would be able to offer this protection but their materialistic notion offered no assistance. There is only one institution that offers the remedies for all the social and economic ills of our day: the Catholic Church.






This book is a must for any Catholic who wishes to be informed of the why and wherefores of how modern society has reached the current dismal state of affairs under the double-headed beast-Capitalism and Socialism. On reading this book, one can no longer simply accept the status quo of living in a capitalistic or socialist system because of the comfortable materialistic existence that they provide. These systems are truly the descendants of the Reformation and should be recognized as such, with no Catholic ever attempting to defend them. Rather, they should be struggling and fighting to restore the rights of Our Lord as King over society.






Do not be put off by the textbookish title. It is extremely well written with all the concepts clearly set out for us. It is a masterful feat to be able to lead the reader from the serenity of economic life in the Middle Ages through the revolutionary Reformation and subsequent upheaval in society to the present terminal malaise in economic matters. Both the theological and economic notions are very well detailed and explained. Professor O'Brien's teaching experience clearly shines through here.






Alun Rowand lives in Deal, Kent, England. He attends the Latin Mass at the chapel of SS. Thomas More and John Fisher, Herne near Canterbury, Kent. He is president of the League of the Kingship of Christ in the UK.