Well, they do. It depends what the subject is. Safeguarding the deposit of faith handed down from Christ to the apostles? No. Everything else? It depends. Deposit of faith - the Catholic church sits upon a three-legged stool How do we make our sacred liturgy - the timeless prayer of the Church - relevant again? (preferably to appeal to those young men who might consider becoming priests themselves one day, so we might reopen our churches fully once more; and especially to those parents who are faced with the task of instructing their little children in the one, true, catholic and apostol ..read more

Just a few thoughts… Catholic Man UK hosted a talk based around two concepts: Evangelisation and Beer (Both very important topics to the modern Catholic Man). We decided that we all like different beers, and we all have different definitions and approaches to evangelisation. The ones drinking cider were decidedly dodgy, but we let them be. I was drinking Newkie Brown Despite me loving to get on my soap box and spout off on matters pertaining to the Catholic Church, I realised that I had less to say about evangelisation than the rest of the group. Interesting. It was lovely to mingle with o ..read more

Efficacy of divine intervention or a series of coincidences? It’s easy to explain why I believe in God. The complex nature of the universe, the intricacy, plus the fact that most atheists I meet are reasonable people (there are always crazy people online of all stripes, and never try to debate on Facebook, it’s not worth your sanity) means that an explanation is easy to justify – and justifying truth is important. If all else fails, I logically explained God to myself using Pascal’s wager principle about 10 years ago, which I arrived to via Aquinas’ first begotten principle. That was a weird ..read more

The Leonine prayers were a set of prayers instituted by Pope Leo XIII in 1884 to be said after Low Mass (Missa Privata). They consist of three Hail Marys, a Hail Holy Queen, a verse with a response, the prayer to St Michael, and finishing with Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Personally I love saying the Leonine Prayers after Mass. They ensure that our churches do not just descend into banal chatter once the priest has departed the altar; they re-focus our minds on what is important – our spiritual wellbeing. This is a vibrant set of prayers after the Traditional Latin Mass – now sadly lost to u ..read more

I hope I'm wrong about this. The future of the Catholic Church in England looks bleak. As Christians, we are called to a life of hope and faith - so there may be an upside once this is all done. I pray that that is the case.  Already, there are signs of hope that our Church is returning to its lost traditions. There is a way to go yet, though. And all parts of the Catholic church have a role to play – lay people, priests, parishes, schools, organisations, even the Catholic media. Parish life as we know it will not go back to normal. That’s not entirely a bad thing… business as usual wa ..read more

I’m not a theological scholar, and I’m not ordained. My total “official” education in the Catholic faith is the completion of the CCRS course as authorised by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. My main recollection of that was an argument about women priests. The lady delivering that section of the course was masterful in specifically NOT CALLING for women priests. There was still an “unauthorised debate” on the subject. I digress… This “Latin” question winds me up. Once again… what does the ordinary Catholic in the pew on a Sunday morning have against Latin? It is after all, the ..read more

Sadly, all we can currently see of our churches isn’t the beauty of Mass inside, or the glorious tabernacle residing quietly in the glow of candlelight, but the outside of a locked door. Have you made a pilgrimage to one? How many people have you seen making the sign of the cross quietly and reverently outside one as they walk by? How many people will think about having a walk past a quiet locked church? How many of those people have children? When the world’s current crisis has passed, how many families (the heart and future of the church) will come back to church? What will attract them ..read more

When you have children, faith and no way of “entertaining” either. How do you keep the faith during lockdown?  The Sacraments are no longer available (including Confession – bizarre). But good sacramentals still are – pray the rosary! Start with a decade a day, usually I’m saying mine whilst rocking the toddler to sleep in the pram, in the front garden. The neighbours must think I’m crazy. The lady that walks her dog every morning at 10am certainly does. My manly CMUK Rosary - zinc alloy beads and paracord, with relic 3rd class attached. There are some lovely streamed Masses out th ..read more

"Managed Decline". That's what it feels like, having your church merged with another. One priest covering two or more churches. Where is the "plan" for evangelisation? Why is our church suffering when others are not? The Diocese of Nottingham has three themes: "Encounter", "Discipleship" and "Missionary Discipleship". These will be in place "over the next few years" [https://www.dioceseofnottingham.uk/] - what does that even mean? What's the difference between being a disciple and being a missionary disciple? I have no idea. When you're trying to get your little ones to sit quietly during Ma ..read more