Federal Member for Mildura, John Forrest, has told the media he will vote against homosexual “marriage” because his electorate is “very conservative” and “not ready for it”.

If the local paper’s poll (accessible only to people with the internet) manages to come up with a majority in favour of it, what will he say then?

He will have to say that he is going to vote against it because it is wrong and unnatural.

Which is what he should have said in the first place.

* * *

Very little clear thinking seems to go on about homosexuality.

It may help to compare it with alcohol abuse.

Both are traits that can cause powerful desires.

Both are bad for both individual health and for the health of the community.

Both can be resisted by means of will power plus support from friends, family or professional helpers.

Just as we have programs for rehabilitation of drunks, we might consider setting up rehab programs for those given to unhealthy sexual practices.

* * *

The two disorders are not exactly parallel, of course.

Homosexual practice is obviously worse from a moral point of view.

You can get drunk on your own.

To practice homosexuality, one must groom/seduce/recruit somebody to do it with.

This other person is harmed in a way that may well prove irreversible.

Pope Benedict, visiting his home country, Germany, has paid tribute to those who kept the faith during Nazi and Communist persecutions.

After meeting a group of victims of past sexual abuse by church workers, he humbly commented that he could “understand that, in the face of such reports, people, especially those close to victims, would say, ‘This isn’t my church anymore’.”

He vowed that the Church will “deal with all crimes of abuse” and is “committed to promotion of measures for the protection of children and young people”.

* * *

In a world where hatred seems to reign, to learn the message of God’s love is urgent and critical.

The people you meet every day need to discover that they are infinitely lovable, no matter how badly they feel about themselves.

And to experience the life-altering potency of God’s love.

It is the task of the Church to be God’s agent in passing on that message and that transforming experience of love.

Now is not the time for Christians to abandon the Church, but to redouble our efforts, at the personal level, to spread God’s life-changing love.

* * *

Today, try to let everyone you meet be aware of his/her lovability.

All are infinitely loveable, because God loves all infinitely.

We must first let God’s love change us — then endeavour to become change-agents in creating and spreading love.

It is not easy to act consistently with this kind of love.

None of us is as good at it as we ought to be.

If we humbly ask God for his grace, he will change us – and use the change in us as a step towards changing the world.

Senator Nick Xenophon yesterday named in the Senate a Catholic priest who is being investigated regarding accusations of sexually abusing a boy 40-odd years ago.

The priest had hitherto not been publicly named because of the ongoing inquiry.

So today a Church officer, involved in carrying out the investigation, has had to resign as Chairman of the Mental Health Commission — conceding that his presence on the Commission would now be a “distraction” from the Commission’s work.

* * *

Senator Xenophon has successfully destroyed two Catholic officials in one hit.

One will never be able completely to free himself from loss of reputation – even if found absolutely innocent.

The other — accused of nothing except supposedly taking too long to investigate a difficult case – has had to withdraw from public office.

What if child-abuse accusations were levelled at every priest — with demands that each and every one be stood down while being investigated?

Would that succeed in destroying the Catholic religion?

Probably not.

The latest strategy to be announced – also yesterday – is an American group planning to sue the Pope for failing to prevent child abuse.

* * *

No Catholic is happy that priests have abused children . . . .

Nor that bishops have been known to cover-up for some of them . . . .

But the answer is NOT to quit the Church.

No. We must become even more fervent in the Faith.

It is the Catholic Church — God’s chosen means of communicating with mankind – on which mankind is dependent, if ever it is to learn to love purity . . . .

 And to live purely.

Tenth anniversary of suicidal planes crashing into the towers in the USA.

They call it “9/11” – but surely that means the 9th of November.

Why not 11/9?

* * *

Anyway, to kill hundreds of innocent people is terrible, and committing suicide is dishonouring to God.

The whole event is depressing to think about and remember.

But massacres of such dimensions are not uncommon.

They happen perhaps every day . . . perhaps not quite that often.

Is this one special because it was mainly Americans who were killed?

* * *

One is reminded of the “Holocaust” in which Jews and others were killed by the German Nazi government.

Was that special because Jews are special?

If one stated that Pol Pot, Chairman Mao, Joseph Stalin etc. killed fewer people than is popularly claimed, would one risk arrest?

No. But, in Europe, people suggesting that the conventional accounts re the Nazi gas chambers may be exaggerated are arrested and punished.

* * *

It is not popular in some circles to suggest that Jesus Christ was the Son of God.

But there is evidence enough to convince hundreds of millions of people.

If it is true – then his crucifixion is infinitely more special than either “9/11” or the Holocaust.

And if he rose from the dead and awaits us in heaven (if we obey him) . . . .

 . . . then that fact should be absolutely life-changing for every human being.

Australia’s government faces a sort of a crisis.

Australian consumers – both domestic and industrial – don’t buy Australian-made.

Should we impose tariffs, making imported products no longer cheaper than local stuff?

The alternative is to do nothing much — just let our unemployment rate rise and continue selling off Australia’s assets until there are none left.

All of this doesn’t matter much really.

At stake is merely whether we can maintain our material standard of living and our freedom.

If we do nothing, we’ll probably survive somehow.

What does matter is whether we destroy ourselves spiritually.

If we do, we’ll have to exist with the consequences eternally – we’ll have forever to hate ourselves.

That will be hell.

                                                                                                * * *                            

OK.

The General Superior of the Society of Saint Pius the Tenth (SSPX) has been called to the Vatican for a “special meeting” on September 14.

He’ll meet Cardinal Levada, the Pope’s spokesman, to discuss the “canonical situation” of the SSPX.

Will the Cardinal:

(1) threaten to re-impose “excommunication” on the Priests of the Society?

(2) then offer that the Pope will restore the SSPX to “full communion” – provided Vatican appointees select who become the bishops of the Society in future?

* * *

What won’t be discussed is the real crisis, i.e. that the mainstream Catholic hierarchy no longer believe God has chosen the Catholic Church as the one Church through which he desires to communicate with mankind.

Only the SSPX  proclaims the traditional Catholic position.

Vatican policy, since the 1960’s Second Vatican Council, is that one religion is about as good as another . . . that you can find God through protestant “Christianity”, Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, Buddhism, Freemasonry – you name it.

If that was true, then God (any god who makes any difference to anything) does not exist.

That is the CRISIS facing today’s world.

On September 14, please pray for the future of the world, including the Pope, Cardinal Levada, Bishop Fellay . . . and your own soul.

In the year 1867, on August 15, Mary MacKillop took her vows as “Sister Mary of the Cross” and became a nun of the Order of the Sisters of Saint Joseph.

In a letter to her mother, she wrote, “I little imagined that I could so soon have the happiness of being allowed to make my religious profession, which I did on my favourite festival, the Assumption.”

Her favourite festival?

Yes, Mary MacKillop had a great love for the Blessed Virgin, right from childhood.

It is important to remember that Saint Mary MacKillop had a faith that was simple and traditional and, in some ways, child-like.

A pity the rest of us, in our day, too seldom follow her in that.

* * *

Mary MacKillop was NOT a rebel.

She was NOT a feminist.

She wasn’t even glamorous — despite the prettied-up pictures used in her modern day publicity.

Mary MacKillop attended Mass every Sunday and every holy day. She insisted that her Sisters and her converts did the same.

She went to Confession regularly. She insisted that her Sisters and converts did the same.

She was pure and modest. She rescued prostitutes from brothels and gave them refuges to live in until they found a better life.

Dear Mary MacKillop, Saint Mary of the Cross, pray for us that we might be faithful to Our Lord as you were.

P.S. As far as I know, the only book about Mary MacKillop that is fair to her, presenting her in all her Catholic goodness – not dressing her up as some kind of modern “ecumenist” — is “The REAL Mary MacKillop”, written by modest me.

Due to troubles with PayPal, you probably can’t get it by clicking the buttons as per this page.

If you want a copy, please write by surface mail to PO Box 533 Mildura 3502 Victoria, Australia.

The price is supposedly $20 or something. You can have it for nothing if you prefer. It will reach you by surface mail fairly promptly.