Secular blemish at Easter

The Easter Conferences of the Teaching Unions are the best advertisement for home schooling there is. Who would willingly give their children into the hands of these activists? Every year I hope the Conference attendees are a self selecting barmy fringe, as General Secretaries Ms Keate and Ms Blowers marshal their army of malcontents to oppose every change, refuse every improvement, and deny every criticism. As Britain falls lower down the international tables, speaker after speaker blames everyone but themselves for all those children who leave school scarcely able to read and write, leave alone have any understanding of  maths, history, geography, or religion. Spurning every reform of Ministers, Labour or Conservative, these are the spokesmen for a profession that is supposed to be preparing children for a world that is changing faster than ever before. Yet they see no reason for change despite the evidence of widespread failure. Nothing can spoil Easter but if anything could it would be this sad spectacle.

Christus Surrexit - Alleluia

Packed church. Car park overflowing. Priest tearful at unexpected numbers. Ran out of candles and wine. Simple homily struck home. Lots of young. Only flaw - terrible hymns. Sang the old favourites in car going home. Estelle White has much to answer for but nothing could undermine the joy of Easter and the living congregation.

Selective Obedience

The supertrads condemn the liberals for a la carte religion but the Pope washing women's feet has shown just how selective supertrads are. Anything new, any departure from the religion of their childhood, any nuanced understanding even by the Pope and they're up in arms. Us real traditionalists  are happy to support His Holiness in using symbols to draw all men to Christ - and that means women too. The faith is unchanged but its presentation is bound to alter in so different a world.

His Holiness washes women's feet

And the self-appointed guardians of the Faith have the vapours. The dogmas of the Church are few and unchangeable, the customs in the Church are many and have always been subject to change. Indeed that change is necessary if the dogmas are to be presented unchanged to each new generation. It's a very peculiar view of Jesus that suggests He's in the slightest bit interested in red shoes or the sex of the people whose feet Pope Francis washed.

Waiting for.......

We know that we are waiting for Easter. The cross we have venerated today is empty and He will rise. We can't unknow that. Yet the Aposles didn't know, they didn't even know what they hoped. Easter was a revelation to them, so this time of waiting was truly bewildering. They still believed in Him but there was now no certain way forward. He was dead but he had promised that was not the end. Now it had happened, how could that promise be fulfilled? Saturday is still a day of waiting but we can look forward with confidence. They were looking backward without understanding what it all meant. Only the Resurrection makes sense of it all, as they came to see when the waiting was over. Jesus, the good man, makes no sense at all. Jesus, risen from the dead, makes sense of everything.

Repressive Regimes back 'family'

Catholics should beware of standing shoulder to shoulder with Moslems and extremist African Protestants on family issues. Our opposition to abortion and euthanasia must not lead to our alignment with regimes that repress women and lock up gays. Once again SPUC misses the point when it moves from its real purpose and pontificates on other issues. We won't win our sad societies to understand the evil of abortion if we associate that with the burka and the persecution of homosexuals.

SPUC in mission creep

Fighting for the unborn child is a huge and crucial task. Abortion is the biggest stain on our society in Britain. John Smeaton, SPUC's Director, should be 100% fixed on that task. Instead, he has hares off fighting against same-sex marriages. Now, it doesn't matter which side you have taken on this issue, its not the business of SPUC. They are using money raised to fight abortion to fight another, entirely different battle. It's as if Help The Aged had gone off to help the young single homeless. A good cause but not the one for which people had given them money. What's more, Mr Smeaton won't allow you to discuss the matter on his blog because no comments are allowed. Is that because he knows he's  on weak legal ground? As Margaret Thatcher once memorably remarked, "he's frit".