Via a note from Damian Thompson on Twitter, I found Ed West's excellent post about the National Secular Society: The National Secular Society aren't secular - they're atheist bigots.This was prompted by the NSS reaction to the Scottish Nationalist Party candidate for Glasgow North East who is associated with Opus Dei. They apparently think that this disqualifies him for office. Looking up the story, I am delighted to find that the candidate in question is David Kerr. David has worked for the BBC for many years and wrote a powerful critique of the Panorama programme "Sex and the Holy City", showing its inaccuracies and bias. This research was used by Robin Aitken in his book "Can we Trust the BBC?"
The National Secular Society needs to be worried. In addition to his association with Opus Dei, David has also been a regular at events run by the Faith Movement. He is more than able to answer the expostulations of those secularists who imagine that science has disproved the existence of God.
A Catholic man involved in his trade union, working in the media, and getting actively involved in politics: David offers a fine example of the lay apostolate in action. As Pope Benedict has pointed out in Caritas in Veritate, the Church has a right to a voice in the public square. It is good to hear that someone like David Kerr is there at the coal face.
9 comments:
Excellent. I'm really glad you've blogged on this, Father Tim.
I can't emphasise how important it is that the general public, the electorate is made aware of the corrosive nature of anti-Catholicism.
Bigotry MUST be confronted.
I met David Kerr once very fleetingly and had a telephone conversation with him, one hack to another as it were. He's known as very nice man and very bright too.
A few years ago he wrote a corroscating analysis of the Beeb's treatment of Catholicism. His themes were taken up in Robin Aitken's book, Can We Trust The BBC? Aitken's book is well worth a read, especially the chapter on Catholicism.
Whoops, just read all of Father Tim's post and found I'd repeated his points in my earlier comment.
It looks like the David Kerr story has been well covered by the blogs. Good.
But let's not stop here. I think Catholic bloggers should start paying even more attention to the National Secular Society's ravings, you know subject them to some er, critical scrutiny.
Good for him for standing out against the secularist consensus. On the day the Da Vinci Code came out, I had the head of the Opus Dei Oxford centre in to school to take assembly.
The secularists just need defying. In a recent letter in the Catholic Herald UI argued that Catholic adoption agencies, for example, should just defy the law and face the consequencies. I am sure More and Fisher did not muse : I had better follow the latest regulations and guidelines."
The Tory candidate has also objected to him on the grounds that Opus Dei is "a controversial and secretive organisation". I wonder how many freemasons there are in the parliamentary Conservative Party.
Dear Father Finigan
I'm glad to read that David Kerr is at the work face of the public square in Glasgow in line with Pope Benedict's encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate.
My paper for HRH The Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture (now the Prince's Foundation)was titled 'Deptford Temenos' and it called for the right to a voice in the public square for the poor and unemployed.
Tonight you and Fr Zuhlsdorf will be meeting at the Buckingham Arms close to Parliament Square in Westminster, to participate in a London Blognic in the lead up to the Mass to celebrate your silver jubilee at 7pm at Our Lady of the Rosary Blackfen, next Tuesday 28th July 2009. Have a great one!
It is fair to say that my own family name of Hobson is not a prominent feature on London's 2009 'City Challenge' landscape. As you know last Monday I asked Jenny Trevillion, the MPA's Comments & Complaints Officer to investigate' the appalling NEGLIGENCE of the MPA's Chief Executive Catherine Crawford in relation to her treatment of my FOOTBALL AGAINST RACISM IN EUROPE case material ', and yesterday morning BBC Radio London 94.9 revealed that Commander Ali Desaei and other senior black police officers in the NBPA have now accused Ms Crawford of prejudice.
In my professional opinion, my individual FOOTBALL AGAINST RACISM IN EUROPE 1991-2009 initiative and intellectual property has been reduced from pioneering FARE 'City Challenge' work to a suppressed ingredient of secular Met Police internal house politics.
On a much lighter note, young Mr Brewer, and young Mr Moss from my son Michael's training group at St. Mary's University College, Twickenham, will be running in the mile and 800m tonight in the Aviva Grand Prix at Crystal Palace. Our Lady's London '2012' Olympic City Challenge is coming along nicely, here is the link for my son Michael's BBC Blognic contribution for June: Michael Hobson's Diary
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8095000/8095164.stm
The hermeneutic of continuity recently published an update of my FARE 2008/9 professional work which as you are aware has now reached a critical legal juncture here in London : vesper has left a new comment on the post "Mass at St Peter's".
PAPA RATZI ORA PRO NOBIS!
Our Lady of the Rosary pray for us in Nick Griffin's NF/BNP/EU/GLA/LDA/ODA NEO-NAZI DEVELOPMENT TIMES Amen
Yours sincerely
Roy Hobson aka Our Lady's Vesper ON-LINE +
More from: www.spreadtheword.org.uk 's cityofsharedstories YouTube - Roy Hobson (From Dark to Light Too)
8 Badlow Close,
Erith,
Kent DA8 3SA
Good job blogging on this Father. I think the folly of the medias representation of this election is separating catholic teaching from opus dei. The work does not have any of its own teaching only that of the Church. I mention this only because it seems many Catholics appear to be under the same misapprehension as the media.
I am sure crux fidelis did not mean to portray opus dei as the catholic version of the freemasons. This description is inaccurate. We can't compare a movement concerned with holiness in everyday life with that of the masons; undermining ecclesiatical and civil authority.... as well as being some sort of secret society. Anyone that I have met from the work has been far from secretive. Perhaps this misconception comes from their being a relatively small and new organisation in the uk. There are no accusations of secretivity in south america or spain where the movement is well established...
I entirely agree, Patrick and would add that there seems to be an attempt to demonise Catholics who are faithful to the magisterium as "extreme" or "right wing" in contrast to those who dissent from the Church's teaching and are presented as "moderate".
Am admirable man, but ... a Scottish Nationalist. What does a Catholic in Glasgow North East do if they like Mr Kerr's pro-life views, and admire his articulate response to the secularist humbug of the NSS, but are fundamentally opposed to the principal policy of the party he represents?
The solution, as you imply, is to have people like Mr Kerr in every political party, but I hope those Catholics who think that the Union between Scotland and England is important and worth preserving won't feel guilty if they vote against him.
Patrick, the accusations of secretiveness came from the Tory candidate not me. What I meant was that if he is so worried about membership of secretive organisations then perhaps he should be concerned about the freemasons in his own party.
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