Sat Sept 9th 2006

There's an important feature in this weekend's CATHOLIC TIMES, about the legal implications of new restrictions on our freedom of speech: putting the traditional Christian teaching on the wrongfulness of homosexual acts could get us in troube with the police. This sounds like scaremongering, but I don't think it is: already three different groups of Evangelical Christians and one Catholic have experienced this. The idea is that some one complains that you have made "homophobic" comments, and the police start to ask questions....there are going to be difficulties, too about Christian conference centres offering residential accomodation which refuse to give a double room to two homosexuals - who perhaps deliberately ask for one in order to start a test case.....in fact a number of worrying possibilities are now on the visible horizon and steering towards us. Get the CATHOLIC TIMES for Sept 10th 2006 (available at the back of any Cath church) and read the feature. (As it happens, it is on the page before my weekly feature on asaints and seasons....which of course you should read too).

J. and I had a glorious walk on the Common and tea at a favourite teashop before spending much of the evening at our computers. I told myself I was picking up skills re. my blog, but actually I spent quite a lot of time trawling the Internet, especially some of the religious sites. Found a delicious nutty the-end-is-nigh website which had detailed information explaining that Prince Charles is the Antichrist .

Also checked on German TV to see the Holy Father in Bavaria. He looked splendid and very happy and was greeted by children in dirndls and much cheering and formal presentations and so on. But he spoke rather seriously about passing on the Faith to the next generation, valuing what we had been given.....it is going to be quite a job to keep the Church alive in these traditionally Catholic areas given the sorts of comments made by even people of goodwill among the crowds (assuming the quotes extracted by vox-pop reporters) to be accurate.("I like the Pope but I don't agree with him about homosexual marriage and about abortion. But we do need some values, and I'm definitely Catholic." Oh, help).