Bishop † Seán † Manchester

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2012-01-22T22:53:00.001-08:00

Kindly post your question, query or concern on this blog's comments (immediately below) and I shall address it here. I only ask that you refrain from posting links to other sites and sign off with your real Christian name ~ or your name in full should you prefer ~ rather than post anonymously.

Time to Forget

2012-01-22T22:52:00.001-08:00

Dear Bishop Manchester, will you be giving any more interviews about your investigations and experiences at Highgate Cemetery which has again recently been in the news? — Inge Schwaiger

It was necessary to tell the full story, even though this was not an easy decision, due to the overwhelming public interest in the case, but I really now feel the topic has been exhausted and all there is to say about it has been said. The topic has also exhausted me after four decades of television and radio interviews, film documentaries and related projects. There will always be people, Asa Bailey being the latest, seeking to cash-in and exploit my work for their own ends. In the case of Asa Bailey, too young to remember the happenings at Highgate, he has gone so far as to copy the title of my book for a novel and an exploitation movie which can only disappoint anyone believing these products to be related to the mysterious goings-on four decades ago. As a matter of interest, my book The Highgate Vampire is optioned for cinematic treatment with a major film production company, but that is not something I am allowed to elaborate on at this stage. Asa Bailey's unrelated efforts were recently discussed in an article in the Highgate & Hampstead Express and that is yet another source of misinformation which required my intervention. The journalist and news editor eventually accepted they might have got things wrong and amended their article accordingly. The journalist in question had contacted me three weeks prior to her article being published, and my initial statement to her was: "The unfortunate thing about the media is that they are sales driven and in my experience seldom get very much correct, even when pointed in the right direction." She, or rather her news editor (according to her), made my point most handsomely, but, at least, they corrected the mistakes that had appeared in the online version of their article.

So, yes, I am willing to set the record straight where need be, but I gave my final interview about this case to the broadcast media some time ago and have no intention of returning to the topic despite persistent requests from television and radio programmes to do so every week. I still make contributions to television and radio, but this subject of public fascination — in some cases obsession — concerning events at Highgate Cemetery more than forty years ago is not an area I wish to elaborate on further. Having said that, my memoir in its unexpurgated form, if and when published, will obviously return to the topic in proper and fitting context to my life.

Unimaginable horrors were experienced by folk at the time of the contagion and these I feel are best not evoked. They should be left undisturbed. The reality that I and others, some sadly deceased, experienced all those many years ago no longer exists, and next to the hunger to experience the supernatural, albeit in this case at its most malificent and deadly, there is perhaps no stronger hunger than to forget.

Should an individual have a particular query about those mysterious happenings, I will give that person an answer (but not an interview); otherwise I have too much in the present with which to be concerned without reliving nightmares from the past.

Seal of St Michael

2012-01-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

I should like to ask His Excellency: what does the seal of Michael the Archangel look like, how is the seal to be used, and where can one be obtained? Thank you, and God bless you. In Christ, Theodore.

The seal that appears below is carried for protection, and is used by exorcists when engaged in confronting demons. Like all symbols of this kind, its efficacy lies in the symbol being blessed in the correct manner and, most important of all, the strength of faith held by the person carrying it. Authentic seals are not easily obtainable, and suppliers of esoterica are not to be recommended. Try a traditional Catholic source, and have a traditionalist priest bless it. Without the requisite faith of the user, however, the seal and/or sigil is impotent.

Seal of St Michael

Sigil of St Michael

Friday the Thirteenth

2012-01-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

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Dear Bishop, what significance, if any, does Friday the 13th hold for you? Many thanks and God Bless. — Pauline Wright

In order of that day's importance for me, the Last Supper, a momentous historical moment for all Christians, witnessed a total of thirteen in attendance including, of course, Judas Iscariot whose betrayal led to Jesus Christ's act of Sacrifice in His crucifixion. Tradition says that Judas was the thirteeth to sit at the table and the first to leave. The day of the Crucixion was a Friday. Some believe it to have been Friday the thirteenth.

The founding of our religious order — Ordo Sancti Graal — was on Good Friday, April 1973, which happened to be Friday the thirteenth.

My television debut forty-two years ago was on a programme called Today (Thames TV) which was transmitted on Friday the thirteenth.

There the significance for me ends.

Conversational Tangents

2012-01-11T01:48:00.000-08:00

You were mentioned yesterday morning on the BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast Show by its presenter Nicky Campbell who referred to your interview broadcasts in the past in glowing and affrectionate terms. He seems impressed to have known you. I believe you are regularly heard on programmes abroad, mostly repeats, but when will you be doing something here in Britain? — Raymond Hunt

I had many interesting and lively discussions on air with Nicky Campbell on his very popular BBC Radio One programme when I was still living in London in the latter decades of the old century. This included late night questions from listeners where I was able to deal with anything they cared to raise about topics aired during the daytime show. These could range from the occult and supernatural to ecclesiasticism and my own spiritual odyssey; historical figures to the English Romantic Movement in the nineteenth century. We had some quite interesting chats after the show had been transmitted on subjects both related and unrelated to those raised during the programme. I have also made live television guest appearances with Nicky Campbell before large studio audiences who were also able to put questions to me following the featured material.

More recently, I was recording a studio talk on the topic of Montague Summers for a Bristol radio station yesterday which shall probably be transmitted in three or four days' time. Summers should be of some fascination to folk in Bristol because he grew up in a wealthy family living in Clifton, near Bristol. I touched on some of those who knew Montague Summers personally, including my own friend and colleague Peter Underwood, and described the seventeenth century vampire protection medallion Summers blessed and gave to Peter on his second visit to Richmond Green, Summers' last home, shortly before the demonologist's death in 1948.

There was so much more to say about the man whose works introduced me and many others to the world of the malign supernatural, but, as often happens, the presenter strayed into an increasingly tangential conversation concerning such distractions as ecclesiastical minutiae, Christian exorcism, the modern witchcraft movement, necromantic diabolism, demonology, even Masonry and the Illuminati. I kept trying to steer our talk back to the subject I had actually been invited to discuss, but clearly the presenter had an interest in matters he believed I could shed some light on, and consequently managed to extract enough material for six separate programmes. Personally, I would have much rather kept to the topic at hand rather than fragment in different directions before I had even begun to get up steam.

Be assured, Montague Summers is quite fascinating enough in his own right to merit a programme entirely to himself, which is what I had hoped to provide yesterday. Hopefully there will still be enough included about "Monty" in the final edit to wet the appetite for much more to come in the future.

On such as the Illuminati, I proffered that if they do not exist there is no worth in speculating endlessly about their possible manipulation at the apex of an elite, albeit hidden, political control system, and if they do exist it would certainly be somewhat unwise to do so.

Epiphany

2012-01-06T02:30:00.000-08:00

O God

Who by a star

guided the wise men to the worship of your Son

we pray you to lead to yourself

the wise and great of every land

that unto you every knee may bow,

and every thought be brought into captivity

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Shadows In The Nave

2012-01-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

This was a Christmas gift from my good friend and colleague of many years, Peter Underwood. The haunted history of England's churches and chapels is brought vividly to life in this comprehensive and beautifully illustrated modern guide. Here you will encounter the compelling world of the unseen linked with a thousand years of worship — including the Tudor phantom of Rycote, the lonely monk of Minsden Chapel and the black-magic ghosts of Clophill, to name but a few. From the authors of The Borley Rectory Companion comes this astonishing book, which covers seventy-five of the most notorious and lesser known of our haunted ecclesiastical buildings. Combining a wealth of historical and paranormal information with stunning original and atmospheric photographs, this volume is perfect for researchers and armchair ghost hunters alike. Paranormal historian Paul Adams and writer and photographer Eddie Brazil join Peter Underwood, the UK's most experienced ghost hunter and respected author of over fifty books on the supernatural, in another literary partnership that will chill all but the sturdiest of hearts.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

Felix Sit Annus Novus!

Pax et benedictio,

+Seán Manchester

Prayer for 2012

2011-12-31T09:36:00.000-08:00

O triune God, Thus have we again by Thy grace brought a year of our wretched life and weary pilgrimage upon earth to a close, and today in Thy name begin another. Lord! how unspeakably great is Thy goodness, how innumerable are Thy benefits which Thou hast shown unto me and mine in the past, though on account of our sins we have deserved nothing at Thy hands but wrath and punishment! Thou hast graciously preserved Thy precious Word and holy sacraments in Thy holy congregation, peace and unity in the government, prosperity and blessing in material comforts, and didst richly bestow for our enjoyment all manner of blessings for body and soul. Thou with paternal care didst protect Thy church from false doctrine and persecution on account of the true faith, our land from hostile invasion and evil contagion, our houses and property from fire and water, and didst by Thy care faithfully avert from us all dire calamities. How shall I find words to express the inestimable value of these blessings? How can I according to my obligations be sufficiently thankful? Behold, Lord, I offer to Thee, at the close of the old year, the fruits of my lips, and glorify Thy grace and mercy with all my strength and powers. My soul must honor Thee, my spirit must praise Thee, my mouth shall thank Thee, and all that is within me must proclaim Thy glory. I prostrate myself in heartfelt sorrow before Thy feet and confess unto Thee with a penitent heart all my sins in which I was conceived and born, and with which I have offended Thee during the past year, as well as during the whole of my past life.

Most beloved Father! do not now reckon such past sins to my condemnation, and do not remember in Thy wrath my past transgressions, but graciously forgive and forget the same for the sake of the sufferings of Thy dearly beloved Son. Jesus, my beloved Saviour, be merciful to me, a poor sinner, blot out like a cloud and mist all my transgressions by Thy merit, cast them into the sea of Thy innocent blood, that they may never more come to light or before the judgment of God. O God, Holy Spirit! create within me the new man, that I may not bring into the new year old sins and impurities, but to-day begin a new life and partake anew of Thy grace. Withhold from me, O Triune God! all long and well deserved punishment, and continue to bless me and mine with all manner of bodily and spiritual, temporal and eternal gifts. Let Thy grace rest upon us anew every morning, and renew Thy good will to all who in this new year seek their refuge with Thee and wait upon Thy goodness. Grant unto us still further Thy precious Word, which is a joy and comfort to our hearts. Enlighten our teachers and pastors, and grant unto their holy work the blessing of heaven; strengthen our faithful rulers and prosper all their good undertakings, which are pleasing to Thee. Bless our parents, and prosper Thou the work of their hands. Fill our souls with true fear of God, and our hearts with joy in the Holy Ghost. Bestow unto our bodies health, and grant peace within our borders. Crown this year with Thy goodness and grant unto us that which is necessary to the support of life. Protect Thy church from error in the faith and from scandalous living, our land from war, famine and pestilence, our homes from consuming flames and all damage and danger, the products of the field from hail and tempest. Curb the wrath and fury of satan, and send Thy heavenly hosts that they may guard and protect us in all our ways.

Convert our enemies and check all our persecutors, help the oppressed, provide for the poor, feed the hungry, give drink unto the thirsty, clothe the naked, free the innocent captives, comfort the distressed, gladden the sorrowing, strengthen the weak, care for the sick, be merciful to the widows and orphans, deliver the oppressed, guide the traveler and accompany the dying through death unto life.

Lord! teach us to act according to Thy good pleasure, and Thy good Spirit direct our footsteps, that we may walk before Thee in faith, patience and hope, in godliness and honesty, in meekness, humility and chastity, and all Christian virtues. But when we sin, then chastise us gently; when our sins trouble us, comfort us with Thy grace, and Thy joyful Spirit uphold us. When satan assails us, do Thou support us, when the world persecutes us, then protect us; when our flesh and blood would overpower us, then strengthen our spirit; when we err, set us aright again. When we fall, lift us up by Thy hand. When we become weak and weary in our calling, refresh us. When we are in necessity and danger, relieve us. When we are sick and weak, then be our physician. Should we according to Thy will during this year depart from hence, grant that our spirits be commended into Thy hands. O Lord! hear; Lord! be merciful; Lord! take heed and grant it for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Have a Blessed Christmas

2011-12-24T02:30:00.000-08:00

Résonet in laúdibus

Cum jucúndis plaúsibus,

Sion cum fidélibus.

Appáruit quem génuit María.

Gaudéte, gaudéte, Christus natus hódie!

Gaudéte, gaudéte, ex María Vírgine.

Sion lauda Dóminum

Salvatórem ómnium;

Virgo parit Fílium.

Appáruit quem génuit María.

Gaudéte, gaudéte, Christus natus hódie!

Gaudéte, gaudéte, ex María Vírgine.

Natus est Emmánuel,

Quem praedíxit Gábriel,

Testis est Ezechiel.

Appáruit quem génuit María.

Gaudéte, gaudéte, Christus natus hódie!

Gaudéte, gaudéte, ex María Vírgine.

Sancta tibi Trínitas

Os ómnium grátias

Résonet altíssimas.

Appáruit quem génuit María.

Gaudéte, gaudéte, Christus natus hódie!

Gaudéte, gaudéte, ex María Vírgine.

Powers of the Devil's Undead

2011-10-31T01:30:00.000-07:00

Bishop Sean, Does the Vampire as you know it (as you discussed in the last entry, The Demonic Aspect) have any supernatural powers (i.e. strength, agility, speed, shapeshifting, etc.)? If this is the case, especially with regards to strength and shapeshifting, would you please explain? — Kyle Germann

A chapter titled "Antidotes & Exorcisms" in my vampirological guide The Vampire Hunter's Handbook explains: "They cast no reflection, nor shadow and can assume animal shapes. Some have been thought to control elements locally. Metamorphosis into mist is not unknown either. ... They can intrude upon sleeping persons' dreams and sometimes mesmerize their prey ... [and all] have the ability to remain undead indefinitely unless exorcised in a precise manner."

My exorcism attempt at Highgate Cemetery in 1970.

The Demonic Aspect

2011-10-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

Bishop Sean, Could you, in as much detail as possible, explain your "Demon Vampire" theory? I am writing a book on Vampires, and from what I've read, I find it to be fascinating. With your permission, I would like to include your theory in my book. Could you tell me more? — Kyle Germann

The detail you seek can be found in my concise guide on this topic which book was published by Gothic Press in 1997 and should serve to cover all you need to know about vampires and vampirism.

The demonic aspect is not my personal "theory," but rather a position held by most clergy specialising in this branch of demonolatry, ie vampirology, down the centuries. In a nutshell, the vampire, like all that is of that ilk, originates from the ranks of fallen angels, and is a corporeal manifestation capable of death and destruction whose agency is exclusively demonic. It is this unearthly combination of the corporeal and the demonic that instils such dread where the vampire is concerned. Blood is the means by which the entity achieves this manifestation and without quaffing warm human blood the vampire would be unable to take corporeal form.

We know these vampires are not living people, but neither are they God's true dead. The Devil's undead is perhaps a term more apt than we might at first imagine. Certainly no other description can come as close to conveying the meaning of this phenomenon. The vampire's partaking of blood into what appears to be a living cadaver offers some level of nourishment. Yet most people if they ingest more than a mouthful of blood will vomit. It is not that there are proteins and iron found in blood which nourish the physical need, but rather the fact that the blood is the life and through it the essence of earthly being is made counterfeit in the demon's guise. Blood is absolutely essential for a demon to achieve materialisation; more so for a corporeal manifestation of the kind pertaining to those revenants recorded down the centuries as blood-sucking vampires.

Biological aspects of vampirism notwithstanding, how do we explain the immediate and rapid deterioration of the corpse once the traditional manner in which folk rid themselves of this hideous pest is applied? For it will fall apart and decay as do other corpses once exorcism takes place! And it will collapse into a pile of dusty bones where centuries have elapsed. As I explained in lengthy interviews lasting hours with the American broadcasters Art Bell and his successor George Noory a few years back, time catches up with the vampiric wraith at the moment of exorcism when the supernatural predator returns back to what it always was and should have remained before contamination occurred. The physical aspect becomes God's true dead while the demonic aspect is cast out.
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Past, Present and Future

2011-10-04T02:00:00.000-07:00

"Do you plan on writing any more books in the near future?" — Ruben H

I am so engaged in the present that to reflect on the past, as writing a book often requires, is a luxury I find myself seldom indulging in. That notwithstanding, one day in the future perhaps another work will emerge, but don't hold your breath in the meantime.

I am constantly being asked whether I will release an autobiography. I wrote a memoir of sorts some eight years ago which remained unpublished save for select extracts that appeared temporarily on the internet. These were immediately seized upon and infringed by antipathetic elements with a view to misrepresent and defame me. It is not that I especially care whether those who occupy dark places use what I share from the past as ammunition for their own mean-spirited ambitions, but so much happens in the here and now that finding time to devote to writing a book is something of a luxury. That notwithstanding, I hope to have a fresh memoir ready for publication in the not too distant future. Beyond notification of its release and ordering information, extracts will not be appearing on the internet.

With regard to the past, today is the feast of St Francis of Assisi who is mine and probably many other people's favourite saint. It was on the feast of St Francis, of course, that I was elevated to the episcopate in 1991. Few saints have had greater impact on my life than this humble leader of an Order at first unpopular with the Church authorities until they realised he walked far more closely in Our Lord's footsteps than any of them. His experience and part in supernatural events is also well chronicled; most notably his visions, levitation and stigmata.

Below is my own attempt to portray the little saint — who means so much to so many — on canvas:

Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life

2011-09-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

Hello Bishop, I would like to ask you if you think believing in the existance of extraterrestrial life contradicts a belief in the Catholic faith? I know some traditional Catholics don't believe in aliens in outer space, but at the same time I hear people like Dr Michio Kaku and Dr Stephen Hawkings say that there probably is other intelligent life in the universe. — Ruben H

We should retain on open mind on such matters until proof positive one way or the other arrives. I hold the view that the likelihood of intelligent extraterrestrial life is remote at best and most probably non-existent. I emphasise that we are discussing intelligent extraterrestrial life and not low level life forms such as might occur where certain elements are present. This might surprise some people who have come across comments fraudulently attributed to me on the internet and the proliferation of same by someone particularly hostile towards me and my Christian faith. Regarding the latter, I do not regard the two scientists referred to as supporting the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life as being (a) Christian, or (b) believers in God as that belief would be defined and understood by traditional Christians and especially those in the Catholic Church.

Michio Kaku (born 24 January 1947) is an American theoretical physicist, the co-founder of string field theory, and a "communicator" and "populariser" of science. Light-cone string field theories, however, were introduced by Stanley Mandelstam and developed by Mandelstam, Michael Green, John Schwarz and Lars Brink. An explicit description of the second-quantisation of the light-cone string was given by Michio Kaku and Keiji Kikkawa. According to Michio Kaku, about 30% of scientists (polled since WWII) are religious and believe in God, and he says he believes the Bible is scientific. Michio Kaku also says: "I work in something called String Theory which makes the statement that we are reading the mind of God. It’s based on music or little vibrating strings thus giving us particles that we see in nature. The laws of chemistry that we struggled with in high school would be the melodies that you can play on these vibrating strings. The Universe would be a symphony of these vibrating strings and the mind of God that Einstein wrote about at length would be cosmic music resonating through this nirvana … through this eleven dimensional hyperspace — that would be the mind of God. We physicists are the only scientists who can say the word 'God' and not blush." He further explains: "Einstein believed in two types of Gods, for example. He did not believe in a personal God, or a God of intervention. He did not believe that God answered our prayers. But he did believe that there was a God of Spinoza. This is the God of Harmony. He said we are like children entering a huge library for the first time, not knowing how to read the thousands of books that are beyond our understanding."

The Cambridge research biologist Stephen Hawking (born 8 January 1942) was originally more in line with the direction of traditional thinking on God with his famous book A Brief History of Time in which he said: “If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason — for then we should know the mind of God.” Unfortunately, in his new book The Grand Design and in a companion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Hawking now says God is unnecessary after all. Stephen Hawking's interests have been in thermodynamics, relativity, and quantum mechanics. Hawking's key scientific works to date have included providing, with Roger Penrose, theorems regarding gravitational singularities in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes should emit radiation, which is today known as Hawking radiation (or sometimes as Bekenstein–Hawking radiation).

Any confusion which may have arisen over my position on intelligent extraterrestrial life is probably due to the online version of the Dorset Echo receiving comments falsely attributed to my name in the summer of 2007 that were widely disseminated to the effect that "mysterious lights" seen in the sky over that county, thought by some to be UFOs, were the "supernatural powers" conjured by a man who has made a career out of harassment and stalking; a man, moreover, who was sentenced to almost five years' imprisonment in the 1970s for vandalism, desecration and threatening police witnesses with black magic. This sad individual, noticing reports on television and in newspapers about strange lights over a coastal county, obviously felt there was potential mileage in this unusual phenomenon for his agenda, namely self-publicity and furthering his personal vendetta against a Christian bishop. The online comments in the Dorset Echo were unmoderated. One of his coterie, posting fraudulently in my name, claimed that the eerie lights over Dorset had nothing to do with UFOs but were the remarkable supernatural powers of the offender who in the past has unconvincingly claimed to be a "high priest of witchcraft." With stage one accomplished (publicity in a newspaper for the offender) it was time to post abuse against me; stage two having already been set in place because the original comment had been fraudulently attributed to me, which left the way open for a tirade of abuse in subsequent comments. However, the IP behind the fraudulent "Bishop Seán Manchester" comment proved to be identical to that of a member of the offender's cabal. The comments were immediately removed by the editor after his newspaper was alerted by my secretary who requested a record be kept for the police should the problem keep recurring. Needless to say, I do not believe (and have never believed) that the offender in question has any supernatural powers, or that he is anything other than an incorrigible hoaxer and a charlatan.

The same offender attempted to repeat the exercise last month when equally fraudulent comments appeared in the same newspaper under the name of a religious order (Ordo Sancti Graal) which I happen to oversee and am Superior General. The following false attribution was posted in the Dorset Echo:

"We recall a spate of UFOs sent to disturb our fair coastal region in 2007 and suspect that the current unpleasantness originates from the same demonically infested individual.”

Within a matter of a few hours of the bogus comments made on August 19th, the offender posted in the early hours of the next day what follows:

"Oh dear! I was just sent this report by somebody who spotted this in the '[Dorset] Echo' yesterday. I wouldn’t mind, except that ‘I’ am the ‘demonically infested’ person who was supposed to have sent a ‘biblical flood’ upon the quiet town ... yesterday. That newspaper reported that [the town] had suffered the worst rainfall for 30 years, and it was possibly related to a similar UFO invasion upon this fair tourist town (previously reported by the reliable '[Dorset] Echo') in the latter part of 2007. Needless to say, I was the ‘black magician’ held for being responsible for these alien disturbances, and , not least, for causing one particular resident to take refuge in his loo outside his bungalow [sic] on a cliff-top in [the town]. What can I say!? It is true that I am in personal contact with the Commander of the alien invasion force who plan to return to the planet Earth very soon, to ‘escort’ certain earthlings to their distant planet of Bonkinite for the purpose analysing, and eradicating certain forms of evil human behaviour."

Once again, the newspaper in question was contacted and informed of what was going on. They confirmed the geographical location of the IP behind the comments to be many miles removed from Ordo Sancti Graal, and immediately deleted the falsely attributed foolishness, promising to monitor the situation in future now they know for a fact that neither I nor my religious order (Ordo Sancti Graal) have ever posted comments on their newspaper website.

Grail Church Belief

2011-09-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Your Excellency, I am interested to learn what the British Grail Church, restored in 1973, believes and how this might differ from other churches? — Maggie

"Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments

and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven;

but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the

kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness

exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter."

(Matthew 5: 19-20)

The Grail Church adheres to the revealed truth in Holy Scripture and the tradition and Faith of the early Church as formulated in the Ecumenical Symbols and specified precisely by the unanimously accepted decisions of the seven Ecumenical Councils and of the Fathers of the Church. All teachings that have no substance in Holy Writ and were not accepted by the early Apostolic Church are not received nor held as Articles of Faith by Ecclesia Apostolica Jesu Christi (hereafter referred to as the Grail Church) whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction (an entirely non-stipendiary ministry) is confined to the British Isles with missions to the rest of the world.

The Grail Church holds fast to all seven Sacraments, including the doctrine of the Real Presence. The Seven Sacraments are an outward, visible symbols of the inward, spiritual Grace, Presence and working of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In accordance with the faith and practice of Holy Mother Church,

These Sacraments are declared to be:

Baptism, whereby the forgiveness of sins and new life in Christ and membership into His Mystical Body the Church is proclaimed and that this sacrament is necessary for Salvation.

Confirmation as the seal of the Holy Spirit in completion of Baptism.

The Mass, as the sacrifice whereby Our Lord, Jesus Christ unites us to His all-sufficient Sacrifice, once made, to bestow on us remission of sins, and all other benefits of His Passion, whereby He is truly present under the forms of bread and wine, and gives Himself to us in His Body and Blood, to be our heavenly food and to unite us to Himself and to all in His Sacred Body the Church.

Holy Matrimony, which is a mystical bond of one man and one woman together in lifelong commitment and unity.

Holy Orders, which is the perpetuation of the sacred and apostolic ministry in accordance with the will of Christ established for the Government of His Church as the ministers of His Gospel and Sacraments; and that the three orders of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons by Christ's institution are to be confined to the male sex; and that Bishops alone possess the fullness of apostolic authority as Overseers of the faithful and conveyers of Holy Orders.

Confession, through which the faithful are called to conversion of life, confession of sins and reconciliation with God, and through which we are called to forgive others.

Holy Unction, whereby the healing power and consolation of God is specifically bestowed upon the faithful who are sick in body, mind or soul.

The Grail Church does not subscribe to the pagan doctrine of a just war (justum bellum) in contrast to most of the remainder of mainstream churchianity. Our Lord’s words (Luke 6: 27-36) make the prohibition clear. Augustine laid down the just war theory which was then built upon by Thomas Aquinas. Churches would thence become the great offenders in war and bloodshed over the centuries, making a mockery of Christ’s teaching to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

The Grail Church is not simply an alternative to mainstream churchianity, but a living sanctuary for Christians who cannot reconcile their Faith with the drift into modernism, revisionism and error by the established institutions. The larger institutions, eg the Anglican and Roman folds, have certainly embraced modernism to the detriment of Christianity and with the inevitable decline in their number. At the time of the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Ottaviani, one of the ablest members of the Curia, asked: “Are we seeking to stir up wonder, perhaps scandal, among the Christian people, by introducing changes in so venerable a rite, that has been approved by so many centuries, and is now so familiar? The rite of Holy Mass should not be treated as if it were a piece of cloth to be refashioned according to the whim of each generation.” But that is exactly how it was treated in the succeeding years. From its pagan origins the Roman Church has returned to a more pagan religion than obtained even in the dark ages.

The Grail Church, in common with the Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic and Eastern and Western Orthodox Churches, permits only men to be ordained in the sacred office of the priesthood. The tradition of only ordaining men to the ministerial priesthood goes right back to the time of Jesus Himself, who chose only men to be His apostles. The priest (in persona Christi), especially in the Eucharist, represents Christ, who is God become Man, not God become Woman. This does not mean that women are not important in the Church. On the contrary, apart from Christ Himself, we believe that the most important role of all in God’s plan was given to a woman, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of God in her womb; a role, indeed, which no man could have fulfilled.

The Grail Church does not regard the Blessed Virgin Mary as Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate and asserts that such mediation belongs exclusively to Our Lord Jesus Christ. Neither does the Grail Church accept the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the Corporeal Assumption of Mary (1950) as Articles of Faith necessary to salvation. Neither dogma is explicitly contained in Holy Writ. The Roman Catholic Church, therefore, cannot add to the depositum fidei for even the Vatican is emphatic in proclaiming that there can be no new revelation of divine truth.

Decrees promulgated by the Roman Church in 1870 concerning the Infallibility and Universal Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, the Pontiff or Pope, are rejected by the Grail Church. The term “pontiff” formerly applied to any bishop, but became corrupted when adopted by the “supreme pontiff” as Pontifex Maximus, an exclusively pagan title. Many bishops employed the title “pope” (meaning “father”) in the early Church. Pope Leo in the fifth century was the first to use it officially. Pope Gregory in the eleventh century, by decree, reserved the title for the Bishop of Rome. The Grail Church, however, recognises and gives due honour to the Pope as Bishop of Rome and as Patriarch of the West on the ancient principle of primus inter pares. He is the "first among equals" in the episcopate and thus has a special role and responsibility.

Enforced celibacy (foretold and warned against by Paul in 1 Timothy 4: 3) is unacceptable to the Grail Church. It was introduced by the Roman Church in 1139 for those in holy orders. Peter, on whom so much importance is placed by Rome, was married, as were the first thirty-nine popes. Priests and bishops naturally had families of their own, so the rule of celibacy was imposed to prevent Roman Catholic Church property being inherited by anyone other than the Roman Catholic Church itself. Holy Scripture nonetheless warns against those who will “forbid marriage.”

The ordination of homosexuals is forbidden within the Grail Church. Whilst acknowledging a need for pastoral care of homosexuals, the Grail Church fully recognises that homosexual acts must be unequivocally opposed by all who follow Christ, observing what is set down in Holy Scripture as a prohibition. Paul makes it quite clear (1 Corinthians 6: 9) that practising homosexuals, along with other sinners, are excluded from the Kingdom of God. This applies to both male and female homosexuals, a condition “contrary to nature” (Romans 1: 26-27).

Freemasonry’s intrusion into Christendom is not acceptable to the Grail Church. Many bishops and clergy in the Anglican Communion have been Freemasons who are also thought to have entered Roman Catholic seminaries more than half a century ago. Other denominations have also been infiltrated. The Roman Catholic Church did once resist Freemasonry and Canon 2335 made it clear that such membership incurred instant excommunication. However, in 1983 the new Code of Canon Law deposed the anti-Masonic Canon 2335 and replaced it with Canon 1374 which makes no mention of Freemasonry. It is now believed by a number of respected Roman Catholics that Freemasons have significantly infiltrated the Roman hierarchy, a process thought to have begun in earnest after the Second World War. Freemasonry is unacceptable owing to it being a pantheistic religion which embraces occult ceremonies that are incompatible with Christianity.

The Grail Church is the spiritual continuity of the Apostolic Church founded at Glastonbury by Our Lord Jesus Christ and developed by Joseph of Arimathea and those who accompanied him with the Sacred Cup after the Passion from Palestine to the western confines of England. Its restored continuity is via apostolic successions (Catholic and Orthodox) that are recognised as being valid by most of Christendom, including the Roman Catholic Church. The jurisdiction of the Grail Church is autocephalous and, therefore, is independent of all other jurisdictions and shall foreseeably remain so in order to retain its doctrinal and spiritual integrity. Its ministry is fully sacramental, putting emphasis on the Eucharist, baptism, healing and exorcism. Much more information about its early origin and latter-day restoration can be found in The Grail Church book.

Those who belong to the Grail Church are Christians who have an English liturgical and theological heritage and a spiritual heritage and an ancestral connection to the Celtic Church, also known as the British Church. The Grail Church is Catholic because it accepts the doctrine of the ancient Church which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.

The Grail Church accepts the teachings of the Undivided Church, the Church of the first millennium of Church history. From the Day of Pentecost, when the Church was established, to the Great Schism in AD 1054, the Church was truly Catholic: one in faith and doctrine, even though there were differences between the way Eastern and Western Churches worshipped. Therefore, the Grail Church claims, in essence, to be both an English Catholic Church and a Western Orthodox Church.

The Grail Church is part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, faithfully continuing the English Catholic tradition. It practices and upholds the historic Catholic Faith.

The Grail Church believes that there is one true and eternal God in Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, without any difference or inequality, Consubstantial, Undivided and of one Essence in Three Divine Persons through whom all that is, was and ever shall be, was created and has its being.

The Grail Church believes that Jesus Christ is the unique and final revelation of the Person and Purpose of God, in whom alone is the fullness of God's truth and grace, and that there is no other through whom salvation may be obtained.

The Grail Church believes in the Communion of Saints, which is the blessed company of all faithful people both living and departed.

Traditionally the Universal Church has been considered to comprise of the Church Triumphant (those Christians who are in Heaven), the Church Militant (those Christians who are living) and the Church at Rest (those Christians who are dead but who are not yet in Heaven).

The Grail Church believes that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of Our Lord and God Jesus Christ, and that she is preeminent above all others as the first-fruits of those who are saved by Him.

The prayers of the saints in heaven assist the faithful on earth according to the Revelation of St John (Revelation 5: 8 and 8: 3-4 in the light of 6: 9-11). The Saints are not to be given worship or adoration that belongs to God alone, but their prayers support Christians on earth just as the prayers of Christians on earth support one another in prayer).

The Grail Church believes in the sanctity of human life; that life begins at the moment of conception; and that the willful taking of that life from the womb to the grave is a mortal sin.

Furthermore, the Grail Church believes that the wilful, intentional, and direct taking of any innocent human life is murder, whether disguised as "euthanasia", "mercy-killing" or "assisted suicide."

The Grail Church believes that all men will appear before Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate Judge and Ruler of all Mankind to receive the due recompense of their faith and works.

Since it has been stated that the Grail Church is not a "Roman" but an "English" Catholic Church it does not consider itself to be under the Bishop of Rome's "Universal Jurisdiction." Its position is comparable to the practice of the Undivided Church. Furthermore, the Pope claims to be infallible in certain matters. The Grail Church believes in infallibility, but it believes that it is found not within the office of the Pope, but within the Church itself, and that this is best expressed when it is acting as an undivided unity through the medium of the Ecumenical Councils. Since AD 1054, however, this has not happened. As a result the pronouncements and decisions of Church Council's within the Roman Catholic Church, such as the Council of Trent, Vatican I and Vatican II are not considered to have the same authority.
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The Grail Church

2011-08-31T02:00:00.000-07:00

"The Church of Christ is never a place, but always a people; never a fold, but always a flock; never a sacred building, but always where believers gather in His name. The Church is you who pray, not where you pray. A structure of brick and marble can no more be a Church than your clothes of serge or satin can be you. There is nothing more sacred than you — for your soul is the sanctuary of God."

— Seán Manchester (The Grail Church)

“Many will have heard the legends concerning Jesus visiting Glastonbury and St Joseph of Arimathea bringing to that sacred place the Holy Grail. This book provides the evidence. It also addresses the systematic erosion of belief in our times and provides disturbing reasons why even some ‘Christians’ no longer accept a personal God or the existence of the Devil.”

— Melvyn Willin (reviewing The Grail Church in Society News)

“Fascinating reading for anybody interested in Jesus’ wilderness years and history of the Apostolic Church of the Holy Grail in Britain from its birth through its disappearance for twelve centuries — and then its rebirth in April 1973.”

— Shaun Marin (reviewing The Grail Church in Encounters)

Christianity came to Britain in the first century. Tertullian of Carthage (circa 208) said that the Christian Church of his day "extended to all the boundaries of Gaul, and parts of Britain inaccessible to the Romans but subject to Christ." Eusebius of Cæsaria (circa 260-340) in his Demonstratio Evangelica said: "The Apostles passed beyond the ocean to the Isles called the Brittanic Isles." Sabellius (circa 250) revealed: "Christianity was privately confessed elsewhere, but the first nation that proclaimed it as their religion and called it Christian, after the name of Christ, was Britain."

On page 87 of The Grail Church, its author writes: "To the native Celts the Grail Church became known as the British Church; so as to distinguish it from the Anglo-Saxon English Church. When the Anglo-Saxons adopted Roman Christianity the British Church receded until it eventually vanished. Yet the memory of the Holy Grail could not be eradicated; indeed, its symbolic potency only grew with the passing of time."

The Holy Grail was considered to be a relic of inestimable value as the Cup of the Last Supper that was later used by St Joseph of Arimathea to collect a few drops of the Saviour's blood. Apocryphal writings credit St Joseph with possession of the Cup.

The Holy Grail was brought to the British Isles by St Joseph of Arimathea where, six centuries later, it disappeared. In later legends, as a result of the Holy Grail being lost, the country was strangely afflicted with large areas becoming an uninhabitable wasteland. Those who ventured there died. And a sixth century monk named Gildas wrote a history (Gildæ sapientis de excidio et conquestu Britanniæ) which spoke of a great famine and disease that rendered the island of Britain virtually uninhabitable, resulting in mass migration to the Continent. He attributes the catastrophe to the Britons' loss of faith. There are parallels with then and now. A steep decline in moral attitudes and social behaviour, plus, more significantly, the distortion and loss of faith, makes us ripe for a coming wasteland. There is a difference, however, because this time it might be on a global scale.

Christianity came to Britain in the first century and, according to the book's author, is the essence of our civilisation. Lose it and we lose everything. He believes the consequence of that loss is already apparent.

Of the Grail Church itself, Seán Manchester writes: “The British Church receded until it eventually vanished. Yet the memory of the Holy Grail could not be eradicated; indeed, its symbolic potency only grew with the passing of time.”

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know

2011-08-30T06:40:00.001-07:00

Caroline Lamb (née Ponsonby) was born in 1785, the fourth child and only daughter of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough, and his wife Lady Henrietta Frances Spencer, who was the sister of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. In 1805 she married William Lamb (later Lord Melbourne) against the advice of her parents. This childlike attitude is carefully reconstructed in the character of Calantha, one of the protagonists of her novel Glenarvon, whose strict religious principles and childish behaviour are at the origin of her extreme vulnerability. Calantha is also the name of a character in Seán Manchester's gothic novel, Carmel, which is loosely rooted in fact. Caroline and William Lamb had three children, of whom only one survived, Augustus, who had mental problems throughout his life. Caroline met Lord Byron in 1812, first at Lady Jersey's Ball, where she refused to be introduced to him, and later at Holland House. Their illicit relationship lasted from March to November and was as intense as anything could be when Romantics meet. The affair with Byron was also an evasion from the dullness of her matrimonial life. William kept her in what was virtually a silver prison, treating her as a child rather than a sensible and mature woman and mother. Her only past-time was reading, which, together with her extremely emotional attitude brought her to confuse reality and fantasy. Like many other female admirers of Byron, she had felt attraction for him while reading Childe Harold, which made her desperate to meet the author. Both the reading of Childe Harold and her liaison with Byron helped her to break the rigid codes of femininity and domesticity that had been imposed on her since her childhood. Byron inspired her to transform from the faithful, albeit docile, wife to the overwhelmingly passionate and desiring woman. The idea of a demonic Byronic hero was undoubtedly influenced by Caroline's widely-read Glenarvon (1816) and by her two other novels, Graham Hamilton (1822) and Ada Reis (1823), together with Gordon: A Tale (1821). There is also evidence that Caroline's works influenced John Polidori's The Vampyre (1819) and hence the Byronic tradition that derived from it. Of all the affairs that shook an epoch notorious for its scandals there was none more tempestuous than the liaison between Lady Caroline Lamb and Lord Byron. There can be little astonishment, then, why the subject of Lady Caroline Lamb continues to fascinate. Seán Manchester’s unique biography sheds much light on a life that, together with Lord Byron’s, dazzled and dismayed London’s high society at the height of the Romantic Age in nineteenth century England. Gothic Press is, therefore, delighted to make available a quality hardcover edition of this splendid work, illustrated throughout – including many portraits of Lord Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb – that, by individual request, will be signed and dedicated by the author who is related by blood to Lord Byron, the poet’s only son being his great, great grandfather. Including fascinating photographic material, eg Lord Byron's coffin in its vault and Lady Caroline's forgotten resting place, this first edition signals the very last breath of the Romantic Movement.
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The Vampire Hunter's Handbook

2011-08-29T01:30:00.000-07:00

“All these things happen, and the eyes of ordinary men do not see them.”

— Michael Sendivogius (17th Century)

"This book is not about fictional vampires of the Bram Stoker’s Dracula genre, but real life blood sucking monsters. It should also be pointed out that there is a long tradition of people who hunt down and kill vampires. This book is not for the faint-hearted, or those people who live alone in rambling houses located on deserted moors."

— Shaun Marin (Encounters magazine)

"Sean Manchester is, unsurprisingly, very well read in both classical and more recent sources on vampires and vampirism, and cites them with great authority while taking the reader through a brief tour of vampire lore and mythology. This is a book I’d recommend to anybody with an interest in Manchester or vampires. The parts which deal with vampires are obviously based on years of substantial research and personal experience."

— Joe McNally (Fortean Times magazine)
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The Highgate Vampire

2011-08-23T01:42:00.001-07:00

Elizabeth and Barbara, two sixteen-year-old students of La Sainte Union Convent, were walking home late at night after visiting friends in Highgate Village. Their journey took them down Swains Lane which intersects Highgate Cemetery, a Victorian graveyard in two halves on a steep hill. These intelligent students could not believe their eyes as they passed the cemetery's north gate at the beginning of their downward path between the two graveyards. For there before them, amongst the jutting tombstones and stone vaults, the dead seemed to be emerging from their graves. The two schoolgirls walked in eerie silence until they reached the bottom of the lane. Here they spoke for the first time, having finally found their voice, and confirmed they had both experienced the same terrifying scene. So frightening was their experience that Barbara would not talk about it again. Elizabeth, however, gave the author her account some months later. It was tape-recorded and can be heard in a television film documentary about the Highgate Vampire case. Elizabeth recounted: "We both saw this scene of graves directly in front of us. And the graves were opening up; and the people were rising. We were not conscious of walking down the lane. We were only conscious of this graveyard scene." Demonry later took hold on Elizabeth where her elocuted and very attractive feminine voice would suddenly erupt into a distorted masculine sound, deep and harsh, that issued threats. Her boyfriend, Keith, recalled this phenomenon in an interview he gave for a documentary (True Horror: Vampires distributed by Discovery Channel) which also includes archive recordings of Elizabeth speaking about her vision and the punctures on her neck.
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“Ever since I became aware that Highgate Cemetery was the reputed haunt of a vampire, the investigations and activities of Seán Manchester commanded my attention. I became convinced that, more than anyone else, he knew the full story of the Highgate Vampire.”

— Peter Underwood, author and paranormal researcher, London, England

“I am very impressed by the body of scholarship you have created. Seán Manchester is undoubtedly the father of modern vampirological research.”

— John Godl, paranormal researcher and writer, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

“Seán Manchester is to be congratulated on this fine piece of research work which I confess to enjoying to the extreme.”

— Professor Devendra P Varma, vampirologist and author, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

“A most interesting and useful addition to the literature of the subject.”

— Reverend Basil Youdell, Literary Editor Orthodox News, Christ the Saviour, Woolwich, England

“This book will certainly be read in a hundred years time, two hundred years time, three hundred years time - in short, for as long as mankind is interested in the supernatural. It has the most genuine power to grip. Once you have started to read it, it is virtually impossible to put it down.”

— Lyndall Mack, Udolpho magazine, Chislehurst, England
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From Satan To Christ

2011-08-23T00:54:00.001-07:00

Illustrated with original photographs, this is the true account of an attractive young woman born into an English ‘shire family, who left university, came to London, and was drawn into what ostensibly appeared to be a witchcraft coven which slowly revealed itself to be a satanic cult that engaged in every profanity and depraved act imaginable: devil worship, live sacrifice, demon raisings, blood rituals, death curses, black masses etc. Her story is written by the man who rescued her, helped her recover, and promised to protect her. Today they work together in helping others enmeshed in satanic cults who want to be saved from the destructive presence in their lives. Restored to the Christian Church, she now wants to share her story so that it may serve as a warning. Places and names have not been changed. Her disclosures unveil frightening facts behind today’s rising tide of Satanism. Recent polls indicate that those who subscribe to the occult and “alternative” belief systems, including witchcraft and Satanism, far outnumber Christians in Great Britain. The wider topic is covered with personal revelations about diabolists and occultists with whom the author has crossed paths. These include a notorious figure in the 1970s who was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for quasi-satanic offences at London's Highgate Cemetery and for threatening people with black magic "death dolls," and a self-proclaimed "master of the black arts" and successor to Aleister Crowley who attempted to raise demons with the aforementioned pseudo-occultist. The author draws upon personal experience and observation throughout his telling at the behest of another's initiation into the sinister world of witchcraft which proved to be her introduction into Satanism where her eventual sacrifice was planned by the coven — for which reason she was kept relatively pure and untouched by their sick and depraved behaviour.

Carmel

2011-08-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

"We are transported into that fearful realm of supernatural evil peculiar to vampires as the author skillfully restores those near-extinct elements from yestercentury. At the centre is a story painfully real. It is the story of the holder of the name of the book’s title. Is she an actual person? Or merely a novelistic embellishment? Just as the case of the Highgate Vampire inspired much of this sequel to Stoker's Victorian vampire tale, so the person of book title's name inspired the persona of the main character. Based on some real events, the effect of CARMEL as a vampire tale will chill your blood. Here is a terrifying exploration into the nether world of the undead where the reader is found wandering betwixt Victorian tombstones as the original contagion spreads its venom in 20th century England. Do not fret - Transylvania is not forgotten." — Katrina Garforth-Bles (National Secretary, V.R.S.)

“Seán Manchester is the natural writer of any attempt to resume the story of DRACULA.” — Vincent Hillyer (author of Vampires)

“There is but one person who can write the definitive sequel to Stoker’s original masterpiece . . . one person who will imbue it with the same eerie atmosphere and remain true to the tradition . . . that author is Seán Manchester.” — Devendra P Varma (author of The Gothic Flame)

“This vampire tale is a most enchanting read. Seán Manchester’s style, imagination and sensibility makes CARMEL quite a jewel. Stoker has, at last, a literary heir worthy of writing a sequel.” — Sylvaine Charlet (authoress of Lits de Pierres)

“I felt I had to say how much I enjoyed CARMEL - easily the best vampire novel I have read since the original DRACULA. Absolutely enthralling. Tremendous atmosphere and a mounting tension that in my experience has only been equalled by Bram Stoker’s masterpiece. Congratulations! Congratulations!” — Peter Underwood (author of Exorcism!)

Such Things Exist

2011-08-16T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hello dear Reverend Manchester! Today, as I found your blog, I decided to salute you and give you my best wishes. Also, at the same time, I would like to ask you if you think that there are still some vampiric activities going on at the present time (at one place or another on this earth) and if so, if you also believe that vampirism will be a plague that will follow human kind until the end of times? — Hans Verschelden

We must be careful how we define "vampiric activity," but so long as we understand it to mean predatory demonic interference then, of course, such darkness still prevails in the world, and, yes, I believe it to be a demonic contagion which will be with us until the final days of man and will almost certainly magnify as worldly events worsen.

Two years ago, I decided to start a baccalaureate degree in theology in a University located in Montreal, Canada (I live in Montreal). Unfortunately now, I cannot even tell you how much I am disappointed and disillusioned by what is taught today in theology departments. For example (believe it or not, but I swear it is true), today, in the faculties of theology, they deny the existence of Satan and all of the demons as well (yes, you read right). In fact, during the last term (I dropped from the baccalaureate since and so, i am not studying anymore), a friend of mine raised the problem of evil and of the existence of demons during a given lesson. The teacher (a man holding a doctorate in theology), then answered him (while laughing...), that demons were only inventions of men and that they simply do not exist. I really wonder what Rome would think of such theological teachings which deny the existence of demons? And I even wonder more about how is it that Rome does not know about such innommable teachings by its .... theologians ...??? And (even worse), if Rome is in fact aware of such teachings, how is it that they tolerate them? Aren't they responsible for the faithful? I just cannot believe what is taught there! And so, because of that (what better reason can I have), I do not want to be a part of that Church anymore, a church which even denies the teachings of Christ concerning demons (I cannot believe I am writing this). Dear Bishop Manchester, I told you about this story of mine because I read that you are presiding over the traditional Old Catholic Church in England. So, I would be very grateful to you, if you could tell me if there is a branch of your Church in Canada (as I certainly know that the Church you are presiding is faithful to Christ's teachings). Wishing you all the best. A very disappointed believer. — Hans Verschelden

Our jursidiction does not extend beyond the confines of the British Isles and, whilst a pure branch of Christianity and, moreover, part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolc Church, we are relatively small in number by comparison to the major denominations. It is generally believed by most traditionalists that the Church of Rome was infiltrated at seminary level by those on the Left-hand Path after the Second World War, and that part of the mission of the infiltrators was to introduce heresies such as you outline. Under the guise of liberalism and modernism, this new "theology" barely accepts anything that Christians held doctrinally to be true for two thousand years. The works of the late Fr Malachi Martin (23 July 1921 – 27 July 1999) support this view. He was professor at the Vatican's Pontifical Biblical Institute, and held three doctorates. He was also the sole author of sixteen books covering religious and geopolitical topics, which were published in eight languages, as well as writing additional books under nom de plumes and in collaboration with others. Fr Martin spoke at least ten languages. He had first made explicit reference to a diabolical rite held in Rome in his 1990 non-fiction best-seller about geopolitics and the Vatican, The Keys of This Blood, in which he wrote:

"Most frighteningly for [Pope] John Paul [II], he had come up against the irremovable presence of a malign strength in his own Vatican and in certain bishops’ chanceries. It was what knowledgeable Churchmen called the ‘superforce.’ Rumours, always difficult to verify, tied its installation to the beginning of Pope Paul VI’s reign in 1963. Indeed Paul had alluded somberly to ‘the smoke of Satan which has entered the Sanctuary’ . . . an oblique reference to an enthronement ceremony by Satanists in the Vatican. Besides, the incidence of Satanic paedophilia — rites and practices — was already documented among certain bishops and priests as widely dispersed as Turin, in Italy, and South Carolina, in the United States. The cultic acts of Satanic paedophilia are considered by professionals to be the culmination of the Fallen Archangel’s rites."

These allegations have largely gone unnoticed, possibly because Fr Martin was so careful in his descriptive passages that he might even have been referring to the coronation of Pope Paul VI. But he revealed much more about this alleged ritual in one of his last works, Windswept House: A Vatican Novel (1996). In this story, he vividly described a diabolical ceremony called “The Enthronement of the Fallen Archangel Lucifer” supposedly held in St Paul’s Chapel within the Vatican, but linked with concurrent satanic rites in the United States, on 29 June 1963, barely a week after the election of Paul VI. In this novel, before he dies, a pope leaves a secret account of the situation on his desk for the next occupant of the throne of Peter, a thinly-disguised John Paul II. According to The New American, Fr Martin confirmed that the ceremony did indeed occur as he had described. “Oh yes, it is true; very much so,” the magazine reported he said. “But the only way I could put that down into print is in novelistic form.”

Windswept House is a sweeping novel, set on the grand global stage and the unfolding of the next stage of civilisation, the ominously-named New World Order. It tackles head on a number of heavy issues from abortion to the Third Secret of Fatima, but the essential message seems to be that Satanists lurk in the shadows, from the heart of the Vatican down to the local parishes; manipulating those fooled by the false spirit of Vatican II. They are doing everything in their power to subvert the Roman Catholic Church, while Pope John Paul II, intent on his geopolitical millennial end game, fiddles about, waiting for a sign from the Blessed Virgin while the Church literally falls apart around him. In Windswept House, Fr Martin was quite explicit about the conditions in the Vatican, opening the novel with the above-mentioned satanic ritual. In it, Satan was formally enthroned in the Vatican in the Chapel of St Paul (by all reports a dark and appropriately eerie place). The ceremony was co-ordinated via telephone with another simultaneous rite in South Carolina. (This could be a reference to the claims of “Leo Taxil” who wrote spurious exposés of the Masons and fallen priests as devil-worshippers in the 19th century. He, too, claimed South Carolina — Charleston, to be exact — was a satanic headquarters. This was the hometown of Albert Pike, the only Confederate general memorialised in Washington, DC, who reformed the Scottish Rite and was indeed a self-confessed Luciferian.) As first set forth in Decline and Fall, Fr Martin saw this diablolical compromise as permitting the world’s wickedness to corrupt the Church by exposing it to the temptation of temporal power, though he had made no mention of a pact with the Masons in that earlier book. Though he used transparent psuedonyms, he made it obvious that he regarded John XXIII as a holy dupe and Paul VI, whom he did not like, as an even greater dupe, but a far less spiritual one. Fr Martin regarded the Ecumenical Council as having been virtually taken over by modernist heretics and Soviet puppets. By the accession of John Paul I to the throne of Peter, one of his characters estimated that in effect, half the bishops in the US were in schism, and a third in heresy. (Other sources have confirmed this is indeed a Curial view).

The ultimate villians in Vatican are not corrupt bankers nor priests, nor even Communists, but a force he called the “Universal Assembly” — a Masonic conspiracy of Western plutocrats, undoubtedly the Illuminati. Although other writers have alleged Curial members belonged to the Masons, Fr Martin actually accused Paul VI of being a Masonic Lodge member. Freemasonry and the Catholic Church, of course, have had a long history of antipathy.

Listen to the voice of Fr Malachi Martin at this link.

Dear Bishop Manchester, thank you very much for your fast and detailed answers concerning both of my messages. Be sure, that they are very appreciated. What you are saying concerning Rome being infiltrated is certainly exact. In fact, what other reason could explain why such teachings occured (and are tolerated) in all theology faculties? Today (as you wrote that your jurisdiction does not extend beyond England), I made a google search regarding diverse Old Catholic Churches organisations inside Canada but, unfortunately, I lack any informations about their "credentials" and "philosophy" (in short, I dont know about their theological beliefs). I found some links about "Old Catholic Church." Are these Churches similar to the one you are presiding over (I mean in terms of beliefs and philosophy)? Or even better (and easier): is it possible for a person from a foreign country (in my case, Canada) to become a member of the Church you are presiding? Once again, I thank you very much for your time and advices. Kind Regards. — Hans Verschelden

The majority of jursidictions such as you identify (I have omitted the links from your response) are modernist and liberal. Indeed, the original Dutch Old Catholic Church is now Protestant, and not remotely Catholic. I would go so far as to say that many so-named churches are among the worst examples of heresy with their priestesses, bishopesses and same sex "marriages" etc. There are a few, however, who strive to hold fast to traditional teachings and doctrinal integrity. Looking for them, needless to say, is like searching for a needle in a haystack. We are today awash with heresy, perversion and the outright diabolical. This is what originally led me from the Roman fold to become primate of an autocepahlous jurisdiction. Yet it is a difficult path with much to struggle against; though for some it is the only way forward. That notwisthstanding, as a church is not a building, but rather a place where Christians meet in communion at Our Lord's table, it is somewhat difficult to see how membership from a distance of thousands of miles can be anything more than nominal.

Nanteos Cup

2011-06-29T01:07:00.000-07:00

In 1997 I was involved in a UK documentary film about Jesus' visit to the western confines of England, and in 1998 I participated in a similar documentary for an American television network. I provided the genesis of the Sacred Cup (sometimes known as the Holy Grail) from Palestine to England in the custody of St Joseph of Arimathea. In the NBC documentary, I spoke from Glastonbury Abbey and in the UK programme the Grail Chapel at the Holy Grail Retreat Centre. As well as discussing the supernatural healing properties attributed to the Sacred Cup of the Last Supper, I talked about the visits believed to have been made by Jesus to England and the coming of the Grail to Glastonbury after the Passion. Since that time I have been inundated with requests for Prayer Cloths that have been anointed and blessed with oil and water in the Nanteos Cup (see photographs above). I must stress that I have never stated that the Nanteos Cup is the Holy Grail, ie the Sacred Cup used by Our Lord at the Last Supper, and personally entertain not inconsiderable doubt in claims of this kind made by others. I do not, however, question the benefit derived by those who subscribe to its healing qualities via investment in the Divine nature of cures attributed to healing via the Nanteos Cup.

Afflicted Places

2011-06-08T01:52:00.000-07:00

Dear Bishop, I read with great interest your fascinating book on the Highgate vampire, and visited Highgate Cemetery. However , I was unable to find the remains of the neo-gothic mansion, which should not be far from the cemetery? I could't find Crescent Road on the plan. Could you be kind enough to give me the precise address? I must also admit that the visit to the cemetery was so quick that I couldn't identify the sealed vault in the Lebanon Circle — just a question of curiosity. Thank you so much for your answer. God bless you. With best regards, Olivier Kourilsky.

The ne-gothic mansion was demolished many years ago and only a ruin façade of the original building remains. This façade has been incorporated into the approach to the purpose-built dwellings now standing on that site at number one Avenue Road on the corner of where it technically joins Crescent Road.

There are certain places that remain seemingly afflicted even in the wake of the original contagion being successfully extirpated, leaving a sense of tremulous fear and sometimes an aura of evil so powerful it makes people feel queasy and faint. Two such places thus afflicted I am occasionally asked about are the Western Cemetery at Highgate, and number one Avenue Road N6 on the borders of Highgate and Hornsey. The latter is seen in the above picture from the first edition of my book The Highgate Vampire. The mansion was subsequently demolished following the exorcism about which I write in my book. In the early 1970s, there was much talk of satanic ceremonies, ritual sacrifices, demon raisings and, worse still, number one Avenue Road was confirmed to be the final resting place of the demonry that had contaminated Highgate Cemetery for many years prior.

The Hornsey Journal, 7 December 1973, recorded: “Neighbours talk of strange goings-on at night and mysterious flickering lights in upper windows. … Investigating the reports, Journal reporter Roger Simpson and photographer Ted Stormer came across unmistakable signs in a top floor room of a witchcraft ceremony. The Journal understands that this was a bizarre attempt to raise the horned god in a black magic ceremony. … Residents refuse to walk past the house, which looms behind overgrown trees.”

In my book, I recounted: “Something evil was said to have taken residence and now stalked the lonely corridors. Mysterious lights were occasionally seen flickering behind vacant windows which stared down like eyeless sockets. … Eventually, the crumbling neo-gothic mansion was demolished and in its place twelve flats were built whose design incorporated the façade of the original mansion as though to act as an eerie reminder of what once stood at this site. But few need any reminder. … Many visitors … have reported feeling frightened as the chill atmosphere pervades the warmest of days. It is as if the very bricks retain the memory of its evil past.”

All that remains today, as seen in the above photograph, is the neo-gothic façade of the former building which locals clamoured to have razed to the ground following a series of demonic disturbances and, of course, a highly dramatic exorcism that took place in early 1974.

Another place still causing a certain sense of dread — in some even panic and nausea — among visitors is the afflicted tomb that once housed the demonic manifestation at the heart of the disturbances and deaths attributed to supernatural evil in and around the Western Cemetery at Highgate. The tomb, temporarily bricked-up following the exorcism ritual I performed in 1970, can be seen at the far end of the Egyptian Avenue leading to the Circle of Lebanon in Highgate Cemetery in the pictures above and below. Today visitors are not allowed to roam the Western Cemetery, and have not been allowed to do so since the mid-1970s. Visitors can nevertheless take a guided tour organised by the Friends of Highgate Cemetery where they will, understandably, be closely monitored.

Electronic Voice Phenomena

2011-06-08T01:17:00.000-07:00

Hello Bishop. I would like to ask what is your opinion on Electronic Voice Phenomena? A lot of paranormal investigators have captured EVPs with their digital recorders. The subject seems to be coming very popular in America. I myself have captured what appears to be voices with my digital recorder. One of the voices was recorded in an old rice factory in Firebaugh CA. One of the voices recorded sounded like a women, maybe in her forties, say "Juana". One of the things that makes it kind of strange is because, about 200 feet from the factory is a road side memorial with a cross. And on the cross, It says "juana chino". I'm not sure if that was written on the cross or on the bent metal bars of the dish where a car accident appeared to have taken place. — Ruben H.

Electronic voice phenomena (EVP) are recordings of voice or voice-like sounds that are not audible to the human ear. This is also known as instrumental transcommunication which is the collective term for conversing with the world beyond using electronic instrumentation. These instruments can include tape recorders, camcorders, telephones, answer-machines, radios, televisions, or anything else that is electronic. The frequencies of these sounds are usually well below the range of sounds that can be perceived by the human ear. They are usually brief, emitting for the duration of only one word or a short phrase. They are sometimes in a foreign of archaic language. Many are cryptic. Parapsychologist Konstantin Raudive, who popularised the idea of electronic voice phenomena, confirms the emissions as being typically brief, usually the length of a word or short phrase. Konstantin Raudive, a Latvian psychologist who had taught at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, made over one hundred thousand recordings which he described as being communications with discarnate people. Some of these recordings were conducted in an RF-screened laboratory and contained words Raudive said were identifiable. In the 1920s, Thomas Edison told a reporter from the Scientific American magazine that he was working on a machine that would be able to contact the dead.

Ever since the invention of electronic recording devices, people have found strange and often eerie voices surfacing on their recordings. Sometimes the voices speak directly to them, despite nobody else being present. Electronic voice phenomena (EVP) is claimed by some to be the voices of souls who have passed on and wish to speak to loved ones left behind. Could this be the case with Juana Chino? Or is it something else, natural or supernatural (demonic), causing the phenomena?

Thomas Edison, when interviewed, stated: "It is possible to construct an apparatus which will be so delicate that if there are personalities in another existence ... this apparatus will at least give them a better opportunity to express themselves." That first device was the electronic recording.

Some will say that all people are hearing in electronic voice phenomenon recordings is random noise filtered through the desire to hear something. Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus, often an image or sound, being mistakenly perceived as recognisable.

We create sounds on the Earthly plane by passing air through our throat and mouth to create the sound frequencies our ears perceive. It has been sought to discover how a non-physical entity can produce the frequencies on tape that we can hear. Perhaps the reason the EVP researchers do not hear the voices directly is because whatever is causing the sounds are having to manipulate existing sound frequencies at the point in the machine where the processing of the analog sound to a digital format for storage is taking place?

Whatever the truth might be about electronic voice phenomena, the jury is still out.

Exorcism

2011-06-05T06:13:00.000-07:00

What branch of Christianity teaches its preachers how to perform exorcisms? I've always been interested in becoming a minister, but I've noticed that many churches do not believe that demonic activities exist. As a youth I was exposed to some demonic events (usually at night while lying down to sleep) and so I know such things exist. I found that whenever anything happened as soon as I'd pray it would stop/go away. I was raised very religiously. Anyway, please let me know what branch of Christianity recognizes such things and instills its ministers with the knowledge of how to perform exorcisms. I desire to help others and serve God by becoming a minister, but I don't want to waste my time and money going to college to become a minister in a branch of Christianity that doesn't even recognize the real existence of Satan and demons. Is it only the Catholic church that I should be looking into? I remember you used to have a website that had a rather lengthy exorcism prayer. Could you please tell me the prayer - I doubt that I will ever come across it again by chance, and it may be some day I will have the occasion to use it for good. Thank you for your time and help, I have respected and admired you greatly for many years. — Mark

Father David C. Trosch states: "Only Catholic priests who are both legally and morally ordained and are faithful to the teachings of Sacred Scripture, as validly understood through the legitimate moral authority of the Church, and who remain spiritually sound should attempt an exorcism."

In Mark 16: 17, Jesus Christ states: "Believers will drive out demons in My name."

Our Lord confronted Satan in the wilderness. He also cast out demons during His ministry on Earth. Indeed, these comprise the majority of His miracles in the Synoptic Gospels.

How can a Christian, therefore, not recognise the real existence of the Devil and his legion of demons if Christ did and, moreover, instructed us to cast out demons in His name?

The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church in its traditional manifestation fully accepts such existence and consequently the requirement of exorcism. This embraces the traditional wing of such denominations as Anglo-Catholicism, Roman Catholicism, Old Catholicism, Eastern Catholicism, Western and Eastern Orthodoxy.

To exorcise means to deliver a person from the presence or influence of evil spirits. That the Devil, within the limits allowed by God, has retained a certain power over men even after the coming of Christ is clearly testified by Holy Scripture and the history of the Church. Jesus drove out demons from the possessed and He bestowed this power upon His apostles and disciples. In the early times of the Christian era many lay persons possessed this power as a charism.

It is in harmony with reason and faith to assume that the Devil has greater power over the unbaptised in consequence of original sin. For this reason, at a very early date, exorcisms were performed repeatedly over the catechumens in preparation for baptism. To perform these exorcisms and, in general, to exorcise persons possessed by or under the influence of evil spirits exorcists were ordained.

The rite speaks of exorcists as spiritual physicians endowed with the power of healing. This may also refer to bodily afflictions caused by the Devil; once the influence of the Devil is broken by the exorcism, the affliction ceases.

The other duties of the exorcist stood in close relation to this principal function of the Order of the Exorcistate. According to the usual interpretation of the instruction read to the ordinands, he was to direct persons under exorcism, and for that reason barred from Holy Communion, when to withdraw. Furthermore, it was his duty at sacred functions to administer the water for the washing of hands to the officiating priest. The latter ceremony symbolises purification from sin, hence a banishing of the influence of the evil spirits; it was fitting, therefore, to assign this duty to the exorcist.

A simple exorcism for priests or laity can be found on my website at this link where I also provide a solemn exorcism (as found in the Rituale Romanum) at this link.

Unless you are familiar and comfortable with Latin, I recommend the vernacular for such exorcism prayers and rituals.

From Russia With Love

2011-06-04T01:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Bishop Sean Manchester! I apologize for my English (unfortunately, I can`t speak and read English well). My name is Tatiana and I`m orthodox Christian from Russia. I saw Your performance on the TV- channel Discovery. And I schould like to ask His Excellency:

1. Whether you plan to publish Your books in Russia in the Russian language, as in Russia is an interest in your books?

2. I apologize for perhaps a naive question - You were not afraid to come into the house where he was a vampire from Highgate (because it was very dangerous)? I saw the image of the vampire - it is really terrible! Thank you in advance!

Help You Our Lord Jesus Christ!

Tatiana

Thank you for your enquiry. I have many Russian friends in the Orthodox faith. Unfortunately, the books I have written are not published in Russia, much less in the Russian language; but, of course, the English language versions of each of the titles published in Great Britain will always be distributed by Gothic Press to individual customers in Russia, or, indeed, anywhere else. There are, however, no plans at present to publish my works outside the UK.

Fear is something all too easy to succumb to when dealing with the malign supernatural, and on occasion I have been as frightened as the next person, but — and this is what separates the trained and seasoned exorcist from those who understandably do not take it upon themselves to confront such demonry — it is also something one must quickly overcome when the inevitable struggle ensues between the forces of darkness and the power of the Light.

Ethiopian Orthodox Canon of Scripture

2011-05-06T05:14:00.000-07:00

I should like to ask His Excellency, what are the most reliable English translations of those books that are in the Ethiopian Orthodox canon of Scripture, but which are not to be found in any other church's canon (for instance: the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees)? There seem to be several translations of these texts available, but I should like to know which are the most accurate. I thank His Excellency for his time and consideration. In Christ, Theodore

The Ethiopic Book of Enoch, M. A. Knibb (Oxford University Press, 1974). You need to acquire an edition with plenty of footnotes on the details of the translation and detailed comparisons of the various known manuscripts and fragments of the book. The most widely distributed English translation of the Book of Enoch is probably not the best possible translation. It was first translated into English in 1821 and revised in 1883. The 1883 edition, however, can be confusing with chapter references listed from two different manuscript editions, and some chapters being only one verse long and other chapters being divided in the middle of a thought.

The Book of Enoch contains many dreams and visions. Enoch prophesied the end of the age in which he lived, which came with Noah's Flood, and also the end of the next age and everything inbetween. He also spoke about fallen angels, Hell, the coming of the Elect One (Jesus Christ), the Bible, and the Millennial Age. The very first line in the book refers to the time of Great Tribulation which is also mentioned in Daniel, Matthew and the book of Revelation.

I am sure you are familiar with The Biblical Canon Of The Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today, R. W. Cowley (Ostkirchliche Studien, 1974), containing canon lists of such books as Sinodos and Fetha Nägäst. Sinodos is a collection of material attributed to the apostles and early church councils. Fetha Nägäst, the canon law, specifically cites Sinodos as its source in its section on the canon, and so has the same list. This list adds to the universally accepted canon at least the books Judith, Tobit, 2 books of Maccabees, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus and Pseudo-Josephus. The Broader Canon comprises the traditional Amharic commentary on the Geez text of the Fetha Nägäst, while the Narrower Canon is the list of the books actually printed in the large Geez and Amharic diglot, and Amharic Bibles, issued by the Emperor's command. The canonicity of the books included in the large Geez and Amharic diglot, and large Amharic editions of the Bible, and in the "narrower" Canon, can be regarded as undisputed in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church today. The former Emperor is reported as saying that these editions of the Bible are complete.

Osama bin Laden

2011-05-04T01:26:00.000-07:00

Hello! I am increasingly troubled by the scenes of triumph and jubilation that are marking the death of Osama Bin Laden. When did the murder of a fellow human being become a cause of celebration? Am I alone in this? Kind regards, Tee

You are not alone. The death of a human being, no matter whom, is certainly no cause for celebration and public displays of rejoicing. I found the entire spectacle altogether rather distasteful. Better we do not stoop to the level of those of whom we disapprove. Better there be quiet dignity maintained with renewed prayers for all who have died as a consequence of these troubled and unsettling conflicts.

Christians should never rejoice at the death of a man. I find myself totally in agreement with Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi who said exactly the same following the death of Osama bin Laden.

The world’s most wanted man was killed by US forces at a compound in Abbottabad, north-west Pakistan, following a tip-off dating back to last August. In a special press conference in Washington, President Obama announced that the Saudi-born fugitive, responsible for the September 11th attacks on the United States which killed three thousand people, was dead. “Justice has been done,” the US president proclaimed.

Fr Federico Lombardi, however, in an official statement from Rome said that we should not rejoice at the death of a human being, stating:

“Osama bin Laden – as we all know – was gravely responsible for promoting division and hatred between peoples, causing the end of countless innocent lives, and of exploiting religions to this end. Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibility of each and every one of us before God and before man, and hopes and commits himself so that no event be an opportunity for further growth of hatred, but for peace.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the news of Osama bin Laden's death, saying: “The news that Osama bin Laden is dead will bring great relief to people across the world.”

Easter Day

2011-04-24T01:44:00.000-07:00

He is risen ...
..

Resurrexit, certum est, quia impossibile.

2011-04-08T01:50:00.000-07:00

It is done.

Salvation

2011-04-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

Do Jews and Protestants go to hell? Can either become vampires? - Michael Douglass

Christian denominations, whether Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant, have historically taught that an afterlife awaits everyone. All people will eventually spend eternity in either Heaven, where the rewards are beyond anything we can imagine, or Hell, where unbelievable levels of pain and suffering will endure without any hope of relief.

Different denominations teach that their followers have a better chance at attaining Heaven, and that believers in other faiths, cults or sects are either totally excluded from Heaven or, at least, are more likely to go to Hell. In John 3: 3, a man named Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews. Yet Jesus told him that unless you are born again you cannot see the kingdom of God. The statement "born again" means that God has to see you in a body other than the body of Adam. When we place our faith in the Precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 6) we are baptised into the Body of Christ. This means that in the eyes of God we are in a Body that has never sinned against God in any way. That is how man is redeemed. Whether you are a Jew or Gentile or any nationality, without the Body of Christ, no man or woman will enter Heaven. So anyone who says Jesus Christ is not risen in a physical body is still yet in his sins (1 Corinthians 15: 17).

Jews do go to Hell, as many of them still believe that the Messiah has yet to come. They reject the New Testament and the Son of God, the Risen Christ. The Old Testament saints were considered believers for they believed what they were told about the Saviour of the world that was to come, as prophesied in Genesis 3: 15. Christ is also pictured many times by His many ancestors, eg Adam. Christ is the Second Adam. Therefore, Jews that die outside of Christ do, unfortunately, go to Hell. Jews, even though they are God's people, are not all destined for Heaven, for they, as well as Gentiles, non Jews, have to believe in Christ and be born again with a new nature to combat our old one that wants to sin.

The Jews of today are not the Jews of the Bible. A group of them deviated from their beliefs and rejected their own saviour from their prophesies. Christians are now the new "jews" who did follow the teachings and accepted the saviour when He appeared. Therefore, the Jews of today forfeit their birthright just as their ancestors did during Jesus' time. By an extension of their own law, the Jews of today will be in Hell, as many of the groups of Jews throughout the Old Testament who continued to deviate from God's word and were punished. Redemptive grace is focused most clearly in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, whom Christians recognise as the Living Christ. We might refer to Jesus as Grace Himself, as Grace in the Flesh, as Grace walking around. The grace of Christ can inspire us in such a transformative way as to change our awareness of ourselves, of our potential as human beings and as mankind, and our awareness of God's gracious purpose for us and through us for all Creation. It is this changed awareness which recognises a still more specialised form of grace — the grace made available to all who choose to serve God's hope for all in Christ. This is the grace which makes us disciples and is available as spiritual power for goodness' sake. Jesus exhibited this kind of power and challenged us to do the same.

Contagion of a demonic kind, including vampirism where the person is afflicted in life and is not one of God's true dead, is something anyone outside of a state of grace is susceptible to, and is certainly not restricted to particular faiths or denominations. We are potentially all at risk from the wiles of the Devil and his demonic horde.

Jesus rejects Satan (Matthew 4: 1-11, Mark 1: 12-13, Luke 4: 1-13)..

Glastonbury Holy Thorn

2011-03-30T02:00:00.000-07:00

Is there any news following the terrible attack on the holy thorn at Glastonbury last December? - Kes

The Holy Thorn grew from a cutting of a tree said to have been planted by St Joseph of Arimathea two thousand years ago before it was cut down by what many now believe were four men with a chainsaw. Needless to say, they carried out their act of malice under cover of darkness. There is no news so far leading to the culprits being reprimanded; though community leaders in Glastonbury set up a fund to try and find out who vandalised this sacred tree. Thousands of people arrive each year to pay homage to it as part of their pilgrimage to a place full of reminders of our earliest Christian heritage in these Isles. If no culprits are identified the money raised will go towards the replanting and future protection of the tree. Local folk are convinced that more than one person was involved, and an increasing number are reaching my view that this wanton vandalism was the work of those on the Left-hand Path.

Television interview about St Joseph of Arimathea and Glastonbury.

St Joseph of Arimathea visited Somerset nearly two thousand years ago and drove his staff into the soil at the spot where the Holy Thorn was vandalised three months ago. The staff is thought by many to have once belonged to Jesus, and while most hawthorns only flower in the spring, the Holy Thorn flowers at both Christmas and Easter. It is, therefore, heavily symbolic of the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The sacred tree has been protected by a metal cage to discourage such vandalism. This did not deter the diabolical group who attempted to remove the cage in order to dig up the entire tree in the dead of night. Once this failed, they resorted to cutting off all the branches leaving an iron encased stump. This means that with the stump still intact the tree might recover in due course; although we won't know until Easter. Until then, what remains of the Holy Thorn would best be watered with our prayers.

Personal images of Glastonbury with the Holy Thorn (bottom, left) prior to being vandalised. Also seen are the site of St Joseph of Arimathea's church (top), the Abbey grounds and Glastonbury Tor.

I am delighted to report that this month a new shoot has appeared on the vandalised tree despite it being mercilessly cut down. We wait to see if this will survive to herald the return of the Glastonbury Thorn.

Acquisition of Relics?

2011-03-18T02:40:00.000-07:00

Dear Bishop, What are your thoughts on 'purchasing' relics from such sources as the internet? Assuming they are authentic, my understanding is that these sacred objects are not to be sold but clearly 'donated' to a church, mission, etc. On the other hand, purchase of a relic will take it out of circulation for one's private chapel or church, which at least, takes it out of commerce and potential 'nefarious' sources. Thoughts? Thanks! Joseph

Buying relics should probably be avoided. Their authenticity, for the most part, is doubtful, but, even presuming the item is genuine, the dubious practice in my view is morally questionable. I can see your point in wanting to take a genuine relic out of the market place, but in doing so you are obliged to engage in the commercial process itself, which is distasteful in the extreme. True relics very rare and beyond price. They should be donated without the involvement of money to the appropriate church, chapel or shrine.

This item is a reliquary supposedly containing a relic of St Nikolaus, and is currently on sale at $150.00 plus $20.00 postage. Santa Claus, of course, is based on St Nikolaus (aka St Nicholas). Most adults tend not to believe in Santa Claus until faced with the prospect of acquiring a "relic" of his originator with a price tag to match.

Gitte May-Britt Gifford R.I.P.

2011-03-10T01:30:00.000-08:00

Our dear friend Gitte died last Friday at her home. She was a very close friend of my late London Secretary, Diana Brewester, and often visited Highgate, London, when Diana was alive. Likewise, Diana would visit Gitte in Denmark. When Diana passed away in December 2003 it was Gitte who ensured that her last wishes were carried out. Her generous assistance during that period was invaluable. Yet I feel that the loss of her friend was something from which Gitte never really fully recovered. I miss Diana, too, seven years after her sudden departure following a terrible illness. It remains uncertain as to what took Gitte from us because the autopsy results were not disclosed, but I am in contact with her last boyfriend, Daniel, who has been as helpful as anyone can be in these circumstances. He is as much in the dark about her end, however, as we are. That notwithstanding, Gitte showed immense loyalty and courage. Frequently outspoken, she was a formidable opponent and a fiercely loyal ally. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her. The funeral is being held this morning in Odense, Denmark. We invite prayers for Gitte who is now in the care of her Creator. She leaves behind a daughter, Siri, who is also very much in our thoughts and prayers.

I shall always remember Gitte May-Britt Gifford as an exceptionally strong-willed woman whose thinking could not be influenced or altered by anything other than indisputable fact. She had an inquisitive mind of great intellect, and her unquenchable thirst for knowledge was tempered only by a sense of humour which made her all the more human and all the more likeable. Towards the end, I suspect the balance in her being and life became upset. It is deeply distressing that one so intelligent and so relatively young (she had just turned forty-five last month) can suddenly be taken from us. I shall not forget her, especially her kindness, and her determination.

Glastonbury Thorn Vandalised

2010-12-10T04:22:00.000-08:00

Your Grace, regarding the vandalism, one report says that the tree remains may still be viable for branches. Let us pray that this holy relic of the first Christian ministry to Britain recovers fully, and that the vandals are caught posthaste. Wishing you a happy Advent season - Michael Marinacci.

We were alerted as soon as the discovery of this wanton act of vandalism had occurred. It is covered on some of our church pages found on Facebook and elsewhere, but I confess to having been put in a rather contemplative state by it all. The destruction of the living tree, as I see it, is entirely symbolic of the erosion in our land of spiritual values held precious for many centuries. This is symptomatic with the ever diminishing presence of Christianity, as darkness and all that dwells in the shadows spreads exponentially like a plague. We simply cannot continue as a country in a direction that takes us further away away from the Light without serious consequences to our cultural identity and destiny. It is spiritual suicide. This has come as a wake up call and is especially poignant for me. I ask for your prayers on behalf of the distressed inhabitants of this uniquely spiritual place.

The act was clearly premeditated and considerable trouble was taken to saw through the tree, as iron railings surround it. To my mind, this sacrilege was perpetrated by those who travel a darkly left-hand path.

I have been deeply moved by local expressions of distress, evinced in some by weeping around the stump of what is left after years of the tree being visited by pilgrims from all over the world. To them I say the tree will one day miraculously return to life; just as one day our Faith will reflower and spread again to every town and village throughout the British Isles.

Joseph of Arimathea came to Britain after the crucifixion two thousand years ago bearing the Holy Grail - the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper. He visited Glastonbury and thrust his staff into Wearyall Hill, just below the Tor, planting a seed for the original thorn tree. Roundheads felled the tree during the English Civil War, when forces led by Oliver Cromwell waged a vicious battle against the Crown.

However, locals salvaged the roots of the original tree, hiding it in secret locations around Glastonbury.

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It was then replanted on the hill in 1951. Other cuttings were also grown and placed around the town - including its famous Glastonbury Abbey.

Experts had verified that the tree - known as the Crategus Monogyna Bi Flora - originated from the Middle East.

A sprig of holy thorns was taken from the Thorn tree by Glastonbury's St Johns Church last Wednesday and sent to the Queen.

The 100-year-old tradition will see the thorns sit on Her Majesty's dinner table on Christmas Day

Avon and Somerset Police have launched an investigation after locals found that vandals had hacked off the branches of the iconic tree. They were dumped next to the trunk which is protected by a metal cage.

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Locals wept openly after the desecration had happened at the foot of the tree, on the town's Wearyall Hill opposite its world-famous Tor as they struggled to contain their emotion.

Katherine Gorbing, curator of Glastonbury Abbey, said: "The mindless vandals who have hacked down this tree have struck at the heart of Christianity. It holds a very special significance all over the world and thousands follow in the footsteps of Joseph Arimathea, coming especially to see it. It is the most significant of all the trees planted here and can be linked back to the origins of Christianity. When I arrived at the Abbey this morning you could look over to the hill and see it was not there. It's a great shock to everyone in Glastonbury - the landscape of the town has changed overnight."

Glastonbury Mayor John Coles rushed to the tree site after he heard the news.

Mr Coles, 66, said: "I'm stood on Wearyall Hill looking at a sad, sad, sight. The tree has been chopped down - someone has taken a saw to it. Some of the main trunk is there but the branches have been sawn away. I am absolutely lost for words - I just do not know why people would want to do this. This tree was visited by thousands of people each year and is one of the most important Christian sites. It is known all over the world."

Deputy Mayor William Knight, 63, added: "This is absolutely mindless. We are all devastated."

There is a full page photograph of the Glastonbury Thorn with the Tor in the background, taken soon after I became Bishop of Glastonbury, on page 33 of The Grail Church: Its Ancient Tradition and Renewed Flowering.

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Click on this link to read more about the recent vandalism.

Click on this link to learn about reward offered to catch the vandal(s).
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Ingrid Pitt R.I.P.

2010-11-29T07:50:00.000-08:00

What are your thoughts about the actress Ingrid Pitt who has died in the last few days? I ask because I believe you knew her. - Mair Jones

Ingrid Pitt (originally Ingoushka Petrov or Natasha Petrovna) was born on 21 November 1937 in Warsaw, Poland to a German father and a Polish mother. She became an actress probaby best known for her work in Hammer Films, having made her debut in Doctor Zhivago in 1965 playing a minor role. Inevitably, Ingrid Pitt will always be associated with the roles of Carmilla in The Vampire Lovers (1970), a film based on Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's novella, and Countess Dracula (1971) in the film of the same name loosely based on the life of Countess Erzsébet Báthory (7 August 1560 – 21 August 1614).

I did not know her especially well, and her daughter Steffanie not at all; though Ingrid was sometimes an invited guest at my live appearances before a large television audience where aspects of the supernatural were under discussion. I remember her sitting immediately before me in the front row, frequently conservatively attired, wearing a tweed suit, her eyes fixing me intently throughout. We would have refreshment together afterwards in the green room, and that is how we came to know each other. We worked on a couple of projects for television when I was still based in London. I did just one more project with her after I had removed approximately a hundred or so miles from the capital, and recall one day complimenting her as she arrived at the medieval prison location on the south bank of the River Thames (which provided one of the many sets for that particular film documentary made over a number of months). I will never forget the look of utter astonishment in her green-blue eyes before her features relaxed and she smiled at me. Perhaps compliments had dried up by then, but she had been a most striking looking actress in her day. Furthermore, I was hidden in the shadows behind the studio lights and might not have been immediately recognisable to her.

She always kept me informed about her ventures and sent me her books and magazines from time to time. These publications seemed mostly to concentrate on the theme which had brought her fame in the 1970s. I was invited to a number of her gothic parties, but never found time to accept. Perhaps the inclination was also lacking. The sadness in her eyes always struck me as hiding some deep-rooted tragedy in her past. I nearly mentioned this to her on one occasion, but decided against it. Some things are better left. What was obvious about Ingrid, however, was her intelligence and immense dedication. She was a natural storyteller and charmed audiences with personal appearances at retrospective screenings and other events. She lived in Argentina for a while and was a friend of Isobel Perón, the third wife of former President, Juan Perón.

Ingrid died in a south London hospital on 23 November 2010, two days after her seventy-third birthday, having collapsed a few days earlier. There are not many left from that epoch of Hammer Films which those of a certain generation remember with relish. What I like about these films is that ultimately they are morality tales where faith and the existence of things supernatural are to the forefront. Ingrid played her part in all that for which we should be grateful.

Our deepest sympathy is extended to Steffanie, Ingrid's daughter, who has confirmed that her mother suffered with heart problems, probably the cause of her death, and had not been in good health for at least a couple of years. May she now rest in peace.

Liturgiam Authenticam

2010-10-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

"St Paul tells us that 'the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.' That time has now arrived."

- The Grail Church

Holy Grail (imprint of Gothic Press), 1995.

(Quoted from page 122).

João Teixeira de Faria

2010-10-19T05:45:00.000-07:00

Hello Bishop Manchester. I would like to ask you what is your opinion of the those that claim to have the gift of healing? One such person that claims to have the ability of healing is a Brazilian named John of God. Do you think there are people today that has the ability to heal? - Ruben H.

João Teixeira de Faria (born 24 June 1942), known also as João de Deus ("John of God"), is a medium and according to himself, a psychic surgeon in Brazil. He is based in Abadiânia, a small town in the state of Goiás, southwest of Brasília. João is not a licensed doctor. He is said to have been so rebellious he was thrown out of school after the second grade and could not keep a job. At sixteen it is claimed the "entity" of King Solomon entered his body, and performed a miraculous healing. For years, João wandered Brazil offering healings. Three decades ago, he took residence in his casa in the plateaus and became known as "John of God."

João Teixeira de Faria

Some people say the healings are just a front - a way to make "John of God" rich. Even though he charges no fee for treatment, João appears to be a wealthy man. He owns a cattle ranch not far from where he sees patients. It comprises more than 1,000 acres. When it was pointed out to João that his town has become a tourist beacon with thousands coming to spend money for herbs and other items, he looked hurt. His eyes turned red and watered. He said he has money but he spends it to pay for food and education for the poor. "I have cattle, but that's not enough to keep the casa," he said. Yet there are rumours that "John of God" has a much darker side. Juliana Almeida Franca, a district attorney who has investigated "John of God," says he sent her death threats - delivered by a relative. João denies this. João has also been accused of taking advantage of a woman who came to be healed. He insisted his healings are legitimate. "You can fool the people for one to two years. But you cannot fool people for 45 years," he protests in his own defence. I do not see in João de Deus a man of God, but rather someone who claims to communicate with spirits of the dead and also someone claiming to be a so-called "psychic surgeon." Such practices are obviously prohibited to Christians and clearly invite charlatanry by those who adopt them.

Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce0OqlOaft0

I do believe in Divine Healing where the healing derives from God, but I do not believe João Teixeira de Faria is such a healer. Far from it. He is a medium and as such his actions are utterly condemned in scripture. Calling himself "John of God," therefore, is blasphemy. He does not represent God. He represents himself and such "spirits" he evokes - assuming he communicates with external entities from the spirit world at all - and these will be from an unknown source.

Divine healing should not be confused with “faith healing” or “spiritual healing.” Divine healing is the effect of the Holy Spirit upon our natural beings. When the sick, suffering and demon possessed touched Our Lord Jesus Christ, virtue went out of Him - the power of the Holy Spirit flowed from the Saviour. Divine healing can be experienced through the following means:

The laying on of hands in His name.

Anointing with chrism.

The prayer of Faith.

Fasting and prayer.

Anointed cloths.

Gifts of healing.

The Eucharist.

Prayers and Protection

2010-09-23T00:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Bishop, May I ask you a favor? I’m going through a tough time, and experiencing health issues at the moment, could you please send good "vibrations" my way (don‘t know if it‘s the right word), or send your prayers/protection my way? You can use my picture to do so if you want. I’m asking this favor, because I really trust in you and I would really feel much more protected knowing you’ve been praying for me. Thank you. Yours sincerely, Jordan.

Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in praelio. Contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur. Tuque princeps militiae caelestis, Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo divina virtute in infernum detrude. Amen.

(Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.)

Almighty God, heavenly Father, breathe Your Holy Spirit into the heart of this Your servant Jordan and inspire her with love for goodness and truth. May she, fearing only You, have no other fear; knowing Your compassion, be ever mindful of Your love; and serving You faithfully unto death, live eternally with You; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O divinum Cor Iesu, praesta, quaesumus, animabus purgantibus requiem aeternam, morituris gratiam finalem, peccatoribus veram paenitentiam, paganis fidei lucem, nobis nostrisque omnibus tuam benedictionem. Tibi ergo, Cor Iesu piissimum, omnes has animas commendimus et pro ipsis tibi offerimus omnia merita sacri Cordis tui. Amen.

(O Lord Jesus Christ, who have said: Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you; mercifully attend to our supplications, and grant us the gift of Your divine charity, that we may ever love You with our whole heart and with all our words and deeds, and may never cease from praising You. Amen.)

Prayer for a Sick Child

2010-09-08T09:59:00.001-07:00

We thank God for the great gift of Lewis, and ask Him to restore this child to health if such be His holy will. This we beg of You through Your love for all children. Amen.

Demonic Influence on World Events

2010-09-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

As a historian, I am curious about your thoughts on any vampire or supernatural involvement in major wars, from ancient to modern times, and if there is any involvement, specific examples. Are vampires and other supernatural beings conscious enough to involve themselves with world events, or do they mostly keep to themselves? - Abby Murray, Bath.

Demons have the ability to turn mankind from God and lead us toward destruction. Indeed, that is their ambition. Demons live in another realm, a nether region, and they require a portal to enter our realm. Many believe a portal can be opened using witchcraft and the occult.

Satan's kingdom is a lie. He wants to be like God, but in the first of the Ten Commandments, God told Moses: "I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods that are proposed to us in the kingdom of darkness." St Paul tells us to be on our guard: "The Spirit says clearly that some men will abandon their faith in later times. They will obey lying spirits and follow the teaching of demons" (1 Timothy 4: 1). When the Israelites were about to come into the promised land, God gave them many commandments that had to do with the true worship that He desired, and the false worship that He hated. These same commandments hold true for us today.

In Satan's kingdom, the Devil wants everything that is in the Kingdom of God, but his kingdom is counterfeit. In the kingdom of darkness there is false worship, adoration and evil prayer. He offers us phoney happiness and peace. He holds out to us dark wisdom and knowledge. This is how he tempted Adam and Eve (Genesis 3: 5). Satan said: "No, God knows well that the moment you eat it [the forbidden fruit] your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad."

In his kingdom, Satan also offers us a health that is unto death, and a protection that is false. Just as we picture the angels of heaven singing and worshipping God, there is also a depraved sound which is the musical din of the kingdom of darkness.

The Lord says that we must be true to Him. We cannot serve two masters. Jesus said: "He who is not with Me is against Me" (Matthew 21: 30). We have to be firm in our resolve to follow only Jesus Christ.

Forbidden power is a form of magical power that produces effects apart from God and in a way that is beyond ordinary human means. It is to be avoided at all costs. These powers influence war just as demons frequently influence the leaders who take us to wars that lead to death and destruction. The rise of atheistic communism in the world is an obvious example, but there could be many such examples reaching back throughout history.

Revisiting Old Haunts

2010-09-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

I have recently started reading into The Highgate Vampire and other supernatural and occult accounts from around Britain. Me and a friend intend to travel around the country to investigate the phenomenon. However, we are starting from scratch. Any advice you could give us for our trip would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks, Robin Galton.

The best advice I can give is to avoid involvement in the occult, and do not seek the malign supernatural. Leave well alone. The Devil can tempt us, but he cannot touch us directly unless we open the door and let him in. We should not fear Satan and his demonic horde, but neither should we look for him in the day to day happenings of our life. There are positive aspects of the supernatural such as healing, miracles and visions. Phenomena that once existed with regard to places on your proposed tour list probably no longer afflict those places today, and all you will be doing is visiting areas where something is believed to have once occurred in the past, and very well might have done so back then. But there is nothing to see today.

This is certainly true of Highgate Cemetery where a demonic contamination was in evidence forty years ago, but no longer is there evidence of that manifestation at any of the places associated with the case which was finally closed in 1982. The neo-Gothic mansion was demolished back in the 1970s, and Highgate Cemetery has been regularly maintained and patrolled by the Friends of Highgate Cemetery (FoHC) since the graveyard was relinquished by the private owners, the London Cemetery Company, during the time of the terrifying supernatural occurrences. These reached back a great many years; certainly into the nineteenth century. The eleven acre woodland graveyard, which belonged to the Great Northern London Cemetery, where a secondary contagion occurred that was linked to Highgate, was built on by property developers soon after the unearthly incidents took place. Little remains to visit.

Mormonism

2010-09-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

Hello Bishop. I would like to ask you if you consider Mormonism (LDS) or those that are Mormon to be Christian? I think that most Catholics consider Protestantism and Eastern Orthodoxy to be part of Christendom. But I don't think a lot of Christians consider Mormonism to be part of Christendom. - Ruben H.

Mormons are not Christians and Mormonism does not belong to the Body of Christ. Brother Terry Chateau states that "Mormonism and Freemasonry are so intimately interwoven and interrelated that the two can never be dissociated." Masonry is universally recognised throughout Christendom to be incompatible with Christianity. Mormonism, not least its Book of Moroni, is incompatible with Christian faith and doctrine.

"The Joseph Smith family was known and acknowledged to have been a close knitted one, where strong individual affection and loyalty existed between each of the members. It was a Masonic family which lived by and practiced the estimable and admirable tenets of Freemasonry. The father, Joseph Smith, Senior, was a documented member in upstate New York. He was raised to the degree of Master Mason on May 7, 1818 in Ontario Lodge No. 23 of Canandaigua, New York. An older son, Hyrum Smith, was a member of Mount Moriah Lodge No. 112, Palmyra New York. Numerous attempts have been made to prove that Joseph Smith and his family where depraved, degenerate and disreputable persons. These documented facts, namely, the Masonic membership of Joseph Smith, Sr., in the Lodge in Canandaigua, and Hyrum's membership in Palmyra Lodge, are of the most significant importance. Being the elite institution it was recognized by the public to be at that time, and their active membership in two of the Masonic lodges of the area is convincing evidence of the stature and high esteem the members of the family enjoyed in the eyes and opinions of those who knew them best. ... When the first Mormon pioneer company entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, under Brigham Young's leadership, a significant body of Masons entered with him. As of that date, the full Mormon Hierarchy was comprised of Masons. A review of the 143 men entering the valley at this time shows how wide-spread Masonry had become among the Mormons. Three of the group were black slaves, 16 were young men not yet of age, which leaves 124 who might possibly have been of the Craft. Of these there were 10 whose age was not known, who with 38 others are not known to have been Masons. This means that 76 of the possible 124 left, or 61%, were documented members of the Craft. Brigham Young, knowing both Mormonism and Freemasonry in depth, fully realized that nothing constructive or positive could result from a series of continuing exchanges over the years, judiciously instituted the inflexible policy that the Mormon Church had nothing to say publicly regarding Freemasonry. This position has been steadfastly and discretely adhered to for almost a century and a half, with very few exceptions. There is ample evidence that Brigham Young took his Masonry seriously and gave studious attention to its meaning and significance. This is evidenced in the many photos and paintings showing Brigham Young wearing his Masonic pins. It should be acknowledged that the vast majority of the Mormon Masons took their Masonic obligations most seriously and deeply to heart. Great numbers were devoted and dedicated Masons who truly loved the Order. Freemasonry among Mormons was not merely a fraternity nor a shallow and trivial fraternal experience. It was what it really is - a genuine brotherhood. Their lodge meetings were serious convocations entirely devoid of jovial lightheartedness and the strenuous, physical horseplay which characterized most frontier lodges. Their time and attention were fully occupied with the heavy demands of degree work."

Mormonism and Freemasonry

"Baptist leaders have referred to Freemasonry as “an ungodly brotherhood of satanic darkness”; “there is an inherent incompatibility between Masonry and the Christian faith”; “there is a great danger that the Christian Mason may find himself compromising his allegiance to Jesus.” (The Baptist Union of Scotland, 1965).

Lutherans say “Masonry amounts to idolatry.” (Missouri Synod, 1959).

Presbyterians: “Masonry is a religious institution and as such is definitely anti-Christian.” (General Assembly, Rochester, 1942).

Methodists: “There is a great danger that the Christian who becomes a Freemason will find himself compromising his Christian beliefs. Methodists should not become Masons.” (General Assembly, London, 1985).

The Church of England: “A number of very fundamental reasons to question the compatibility of Freemasonry with Christianity.” (General Synod, London, 1987 ~ where several members of the committee were Masons!)

Russian Orthodox Church: “Any Orthodox who joins Masonry loses all the right and privileges of his membership in the Church.” (Strange Altars, Acker, page 60).

Roman Catholic Archbishop Emanuel Milingo: “We are now in the last days of Satan’s reign and he is working overtime through his agents to complete the takeover of the world. His agents are nothing less than the Freemasons who have permeated to the very heart of Christ’s Church. It is the task of Freemasons to lull Christians, especially priests, into believing that the Devil and his demons do not exist. Satan plays with priests like toys when they do not believe in him. After the last war bring young Freemasons were placed in seminaries around the world. These agents of Satan were waiting for their time to come. … The Freemason antichrists became priests for this purpose. They aim to take religious power throughout the world, just as they have taken economic and political power.” (Powers of Darkness, Powers of Light, Cornwell, 1991).

Freemasonry
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Prayer for the Sick

2010-08-06T01:50:00.000-07:00

O Lord Jesus Christ, who during your brief life on earth went about doing good to all men and women, be merciful to me in this my hour of special need.

Divine Healer, your tender heart was ever moved at the sight of pain and affliction. I beg of you, if it be your holy will, to help me regain my strength. Send forth healing to all who suffer, whether in mind or body. Grant to each of us that peace of mind which you alone can give.

Father in heaven, I thank you for all the good things that you have bestowed upon me, especially for the precious gift of life. Thank you for having so loved the world that you sent us your Son, Jesus Christ, who died for our salvation.

Jesus, my saviour and friend, grant to all people the blessings of good health both in mind and body. Help us to do your will in all things. Give us strength to love and heal one another, ever remembering your words: "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto Me."
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Something to do with the blood ...

2010-08-06T01:44:00.000-07:00

Do vampires actually heal quickly like most people write about in books? If so, how is it possible for them to heal quickly? I think it would have something to do with the blood but I am not exactly sure how. But then again I don't know if vampires do actually heal quickly. So is it fact or fiction? - Elizabeth Kolodziej

We must first examine what a vampire is before attributing human qualities to what is in essence a demonic predatory manifestation capable of masquerading as a dead person to the point of materialisation through quaffing warm blood by which process the corporeal shell is seemingly nourished and sustained. Ultimately, however, the vampire is a supernatural being, so to ask if such creatures "heal quickly" is irrelevant. They already possess the ability to metamorphose, which permits them to change into virtually anything, including other creatures and even mist.

To rely on works of fiction, particularly recent inventions that pay no heed to tradition and folklore, serves only to take you further from the answers you seek about these hideous demons. I would recommend such works as The Vampire: His Kith & Kin and The Vampire in Europe by Montague Summers as a good starting point for anyone wanting the kind of information you are seeking. There is also my own The Vampire Hunter's Handbook.

Mel Gibson

2010-07-24T02:03:00.000-07:00

Hello Bishop Manchester. I would like to ask you what is your opinion of the current crisis that actor/director Mel Gibson is going through right now. Do think that their might be a conspiracy to ruin the career and image of Gibson? I know that he took a lot of heat in the media for making the Passion of the Christ. - Ruben H.

Sympathy for the American actor would be a lot easier if consistency in what he says and does was more in evidence. Hence I do feel Mel Gibson has all too often made a rod for his own back; not helped, of course, by an apparent serious alcohol problem. He sometimes equivocates and soon afterwards retracts or modifies certain of his more controversial statements. He has also contradicted himself on a number of occasions. I feel he should stick to his guns unless his utterances are not reflections of his true feelings at the time due to the influence of alcohol. He is obviously something of an enigma; but, then, in some people's eyes, I daresay so am I.

Born on 3 January 1956, Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson is also a film director, producer and screenwriter. I regard him as a talented, albeit troubled, soul who might very well be facing a conspiracy to ruin his career since the making of The Passion of the Christ.

Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney when he was twelve-years-old. He later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art. Mel Gibson's precise religious affiliation is obscure in most people's eyes. He once considered entering the Roman Catholic priesthood. He has described himself as "an old-fashioned Catholic," and has made speeches opposing abortion access, the use of contraceptives, and equal treatement and rights for homosexuals and lesbians as heterosexuals receive. Gibson experienced a spiritual crisis in the mid-1990s at the age of thirty-five. He told The New Yorker magazine: "I got to a desperate place ... And I just hit my knees. I had to use [Christ's] wounds to heal my wounds." During September 2002 he revealed that he no longer believed in the Roman Catholic Church as an institution, saying: "I agree with everyone who says the Vatican is a wolf in sheep's clothing."

Gibson was raised a Traditionalist Catholic. When asked about the Catholic doctrine of Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus, Gibson replied: "There is no salvation for those outside the Church ... I believe it. Put it this way. My wife is a saint. She's a much better person than I am. Honestly. She's ... Episcopalian, Church of England. She prays, she believes in God, she knows Jesus, she believes in that stuff. And it's just not fair if she doesn't make it, she's better than I am. But that is a pronouncement from the chair. I go with it." When he was asked whether John 14: 6 is an intolerant position, he said that "through the merits of Jesus' sacrifice ... even people who don't know Jesus are able to be saved, but through Him." Acquaintance Father William Fulco has said that Gibson denies neither the Pope nor Vatican II. Gibson told Diane Sawyer that he believes non-Catholics and non-Christians can go to heaven.

Gibson's traditionalist Catholic beliefs have been the target of criticism, especially during the controversy over his film The Passion of the Christ. Gibson stated in the Diane Sawyer interview that he feels that his "human rights were violated" by the often vitriolic attacks on his person, his family, and his religious beliefs which were sparked by The Passion.

In a July 1995 interview with Playboy magazine, Gibson said President Bill Clinton was a "low-level opportunist" and someone was "telling him what to do." He said that the Rhodes Scholarship was established for young men and women who want to strive for a "new world order" and this was a campaign for Marxism. Gibson later backed away from such conspiracy theories saying: "It was like: 'Hey, tell us a conspiracy' ... so I laid out this thing, and suddenly, it was like I was talking the gospel truth, espousing all this political shit like I believed in it." In the same 1995 Playboy interview, Gibson argued that men and women are unequal as a reason against women priests.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) accused Gibson of homophobia after a December 1991 interview in the Spanish newspaper El País. Gibson later defended his comments and rejected calls to apologise. However, Gibson joined GLAAD in hosting ten lesbian and homosexual film-makers for an on-location seminar on the set of the movie Conspiracy Theory in January 1997. In 1999, when asked about the comments to El País, Gibson said: "I shouldn't have said it, but I was tickling a bit of vodka during that interview, and the quote came back to bite me on the ass."

On 8 July 2010, Gibson was alleged to have made a racial slur against Latinos using the term "wetbacks" as he suggested turning in one of his employees to immigration authorities. On 9 July 2010, some audio recordings alleged to be of Gibson were posted on the internet. The same day Gibson was dropped by his agency, William Morris Endeavor.

Mel Gibson lives in the parish served by the Roman Catholic church Our Lady of Malibu, but has funded the construction of his own traditionalist, autocephalous The Church of the Holy Family in the same area where Mass is the Old Rite and conducted in Latin. His church is not affiliated with any Roman Catholic diocese.

In the interview he said: "I believe in God. My love of religion was given to me by my father." Mel Gibson shares many beliefs with his father, Hutton Gibson who "is an outspoken critic of the Catholic Church and a vocal adherent of the sedevacantist movement, so-called from the Latin phrase meaning 'empty seat'." The group forms part of the Catholic Traditionalist movement which has a membership of several thousand adherents. Sedevacantists deviate from the Roman Catholic Church in some fundamental ways. They believe:

That the office of pope in the Roman Catholic Church is currently vacant.

That every pope since Pius XII has been spurious.

Many of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962 to 1965) are heretical.

The Mass is to be conducted in Latin and the Old (Tridentine) Rite should be used.

The Virgin Mary is regarded as a co-redemptrix and mediatrix, sharing these powers with Jesus Christ.

I am sympathetic to much of the above, bar the last concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary. The concept of co-redemptrix refers to an indirect (or unequal) but important participation by the Blessed Virgin Mary in redemption. Popes began to mention the concept of co-redemptrix in official Church documents in the very early part of the 20th century, and continued to do so throughout that century. The dogmatic definition of co-redemptrix was brought up at Vatican II by Italian, Spanish and Polish bishops but not dealt with on the council floor. Subsequently, popes, while sympathetic to requests from the faithful and bishops, did not include such language in their encyclicals. A dogmatic definition proposal is not supported by all Catholics, myself included, partly based on the argument that such a dogma might limit the redemptive role of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and partly based on the argument that it would also complicate ecumenical efforts for a better understanding of the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the salvation mystery of Jesus Christ. Although Mary has been referred to on numerous occasions as co-redemptrix, mediatrix, and advocate, none have the force of an infallible papal declaration.

Mel Gibson met Robyn Denise Moore in the late 1970s when they were both tenants at a house in Adelaide. Robyn was a dental nurse and Mel Gibson was an unknown actor working for the South Australian Theatre Company. On 7 June 1980, they were married in a Catholic Church in Forestville, New South Wales. The couple have one daughter and six sons. Their seven children are Hannah (born 1980), twins Edward and Christian (born 1982), William (born 1985), Louis (born 1988), Milo (born 1990), and Thomas (born 1999).

After twenty-six years of marriage, the couple separated in August 2006. Nearly three years after the separation was announced, Robyn Gibson filed for divorce on 13 April 2009, citing irreconcilable differences. In a joint statement, the Gibsons declared: "Throughout our marriage and separation we have always strived to maintain the privacy and integrity of our family and will continue to do so." The divorce filing followed the March 2009 release of photographs appearing to show him on a beach embracing another woman.

On 28 April 2009, the woman in the photographs was revealed to be Oksana Grigorieva, a Russian pianist and an artist on Gibson's record label. Gibson and Grigorieva had been together for three years, at the time, and she was pregnant. Grigorieva gave birth to their daughter Lucia on 30 October 2009. In April 2010, it was made public that Gibson and Grigorieva had split amid claims of domestic violence during their relationship. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department launched a domestic violence investigation, and Gibson filed for a restraining order against Grigorieva after she had previously filed a restraining order against him to keep him away from her and their child. The restraining order was modified the next day regarding Gibson's contact with their child.

The July 2010 reports of voicemail recordings included alleged racist remarks, with Gibson using the word "niggers". Civil rights activists commented that Gibson had shown patterns of racism, sexism and anti-Semitism and called for a boycott of Gibson's movies. Back on 28 July 2006, Gibson had been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol while speeding in his vehicle with an open container of alcohol. A leaked report revealed that during Gibson's arrest for driving under the influence he made anti-semitic remarks to arresting officer James Mee, who is a Jew, saying "Fucking Jews ... the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Gibson issued two apologies for the incident through his publicist, and in a later interview with Diane Sawyer, he affirmed the accuracy of the quotations. He admitted to making anti-semitic remarks during his arrest and apologised for his "despicable" behavior, saying the comments were "blurted out in a moment of insanity" and asked to meet with Jewish leaders to help him "discern the appropriate path for healing." After Gibson's arrest, his publicist said he had entered a recovery program to battle alcoholism. On 17 August 2006, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge and was sentenced to three years on probation. He was ordered to attend self-help meetings five times a week for four and a half months and three times a week for the remainder of the first year of his probation. He was also ordered to attend a First Offenders Program, was fined $1,300, and his licence was restricted for ninety days.

At a May 2007 progress hearing, Mel Gibson was praised for his compliance with the terms of his probation, his extensive participation in a self-help programme, beyond what was required.

Black-Eyed Children

2010-07-12T01:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Bishop Manchester, let me start off by saying what a pleasure it is to be coresponding with you. I am a great admirer. The question I have is about a somewhat recent phenomenon refered to as "the black eyed children". The first occurrence took place in Abilene Texas, January of 1998 where two young teens between the ages of 12 and 15 show up at a persons house or car and demand to be let in, they clearly state that they cannot come in unless they are invited. The common thread linking all known sightings is all witness' claim to experience a grave sense of fear, the "flight or fight" feeling when first meeting the black eyed children; the coal black eyes; the witness' always smell a foul odor coming from the kids, and every instance that's occured the kids have stated that they need permision to enter. I was just wondering what your take on this whole thing might be and if there's something that could be done to combat these things in case of an encounter with one. - Derek

The term has floated across the internet since 16 January 1998 when journalist Brian Bethel first posted his chilling encounter with overly-lucid children whose eyes were dead and coal black; without a hint of iris or white. Since that time many people have reported encounters with black-eyed children who approach them, make demands and terrify them out of their wits. Theories have been proposed to explain this strange phenomenon, but the answer remains elusive. Could it be nothing more than internet "mass hysteria"? Could it be that out of all the accounts that have been discussed only a small number are based on something real, the remainder having been fabricated? People who experience demonic possession know that something does come over the eyes when possessed, but surely these are not swarms of demonically possessed children on the rampage?

There are so many similar accounts that it is hard to look past the fact that something very disturbing is happening. Fabrications notwithstanding, I would not rule out the possibility of demonic interference or even possibly vampirism, but without close examination of an actual case it is pointless to speculate.

As already stated, the first well documented and discussed account came from a journalist named Brian Bethel in January 1998. In his story, two children (aged twelve and fifteen) approached him as he sat in his car while parked in a parking lot. At first glance, they looked normal, wearing clothes that were fashionable, and had a pale, olive-coloured skin. In acknowledging the two boys, Bethel was overcome with a peculiar fear which he describes in his account: "I could feel fight-or-flight responses kicking in. Something, I knew instinctually, was not right, but I didn't know what it could possibly be."

Claiming that they were on their way to the cinema, but had left their money at home, the two boys asked Bethel for a ride back to their house. When he did not allow them into his car, the youngsters appeared to become annoyed and repeatedly asked for a ride. As Bethel's fear and panic increased, he found himself wanting to open the door, but was unable to do so. Then he noticed their dead eyes, and a primal fear took over and momentarily paralysed him. The children had coal-black eyes, completely lacking pupils and irises.

As if sensing that their opportunity to gain admission into the car was being thwarted, they grew more urgent and demanding. Bethel was finally able to overcome his fear and managed to drive away. While his story might sound far-fetched and too much like horror fiction for sceptics and cynics, there are just too many accounts of a similar nature to completely dismiss them out-of-hand. These accounts have now multiplied to become a new urban legend.

Tales involving black-eyed children generally do not explain the cause of the children's eye colour or the origins of the children themselves. Some imply they could be ghosts or demons, specifically vampires: the tales frequently emphasise that the children must be admitted or invited into the house or car in question, and in this way are reminiscent of vampire folkore. Are they vampires? I suspect for the most part not, but an open mind is essential when consdering anything which might possibly have a supernatural source.

Penal Substitution and Satisfaction Redemption

2010-05-31T04:00:00.000-07:00

Your Grace, What are the main differences between the protestant "Penal Substitutionary" view of Christ's redemption and the Catholic "Satisfaction" Dogma of of Redemption? - Ken

Penal substitution is a theory of the atonement within Christian theology, especially associated with the Reformed tradition. It argues that Christ, by His sacrificial choice, was punished (penalised) in the place of sinners (substitution), thus satisfying the demands of justice so God can justly forgive the sins. It is a specific understanding of substitutionary atonement, where the substitutionary nature of Jesus' death is understood in the sense of a substitutionary punishment. Early church fathers who have expressed this notion of penal substitution are Justin Martyr (100-165), Eusebius of Caesarea (275-339), and Augustine of Hippo (354-430).

Instead of salvation being conditional upon sin, Roman Catholicism has long attached the belief in Jesus Christ to the concept of salvation itself, and for non-Christians has asserted various "dispensations" ranging from "eternal damnation" to "salvation conditional upon conversion." Catholic controversies regarding universalists, such as Origen, are notable events in Church history, and have typically resulted in the proclamation of Catholicism being the "one true faith," along with dispensationalist concepts.

Catholics profess belief that Jesus Christ brought about redemption from sin and assert that salvation is possible only within the Roman Catholic Church. This doctrine remains, but is not always articulated with clarity. Modern teaching usually uses language similar to the following: Jesus was a divine sacrifice who brought about "redemption for all mankind."

Roman Catholics believe "Man stands in need of salvation from God," and "Divine help comes to him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him." It was for our salvation that "God loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins; the Father has sent His Son as the Saviour of the world, and He was revealed to take away sins." "By His death (Jesus, the Son of God) has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation to all men."

Roman Catholicism teaching on justification is the principal cause of division from Protestantism, and holds a soul is justified "by reason of a perfect act of charity elicited by a well disposed sinner or by virtue of the Sacrament either of Baptism or of Penance." This condition can be appropriated by proxy, in recognition of the faith of a qualified sponsor, and is held to be effected by an actual change in the recipient's heart, that of the infused love of God, so that the justified are not only reputed to be righteous, "but we are truly called and are just, receiving justice within us."

A further teaching is that this justification can be increased by doing works enabled by the grace of God dispensed through Roman Catholic sacraments, and which grace includes that of the merits of saints. Such works of faith are also held to help merit eternal life. Regarding those who co-operated with such grace, the Council of Trent concludes that "nothing further is wanting to the justified, to prevent their being accounted to have, by those very works which have been done in God, fully satisfied the divine law according to the state of this life, and to have truly merited eternal life." Canon 32 similarly states, "If anyone says that the good works of the one justified are in such manner the gifts of God that they are not also the good merits of him justified; or that the one justified by the good works that he performs by the grace of God and the merit of Jesus Christ, whose living member he is, does not truly merit an increase of grace, eternal life, and in case he dies in grace, the attainment of eternal life itself and also an increase of glory, let him be anathema."

Jesus Christ has provided the Church with "the fullness of the means of salvation which [the Father] has willed: correct and complete confession of faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession." Baptism is necessary for salvation, and is sufficient for those who die as children and those permanently deprived of their use of reason. The sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after Baptism, just as Baptism is necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been reborn. But these are not the only sacraments of importance for salvation: "The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation." This holds especially for the Eucharist. "Every time this mystery is celebrated, the work of our redemption is carried on and we break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ."

At the same time, however, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that through the graces Jesus Christ won for humanity by sacrificing Himself on the cross, salvation is possible even for those outside the visible boundaries of the Church. Christians and even non-Christians, if in life they respond positively to the grace and truth that God reveals to them through the mercy of Christ may be saved. This may include awareness of an obligation to become part of the Catholic Church. In such cases, "they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it, or to remain in it." Catholics believe that people, even those who are not explicitly Christian, have the moral law written in their hearts, according to Jeremiah 31: 33 (prophecy of new covenant): "I will write my law on their hearts." St Justin wrote that those who have not accepted Christ but follow the moral law of their hearts follow God, because it is God who has written the moral law in each person's heart. Though he may not explicitly recognise it, he has the spirit of Christ. St Thomas Aquinas, the premier theologian in the Catholic Church, explains this paradox as follows. If a person lives according to the natural law written on his heart, God will send him a means of knowing the truth by either natural or supernatural means; that is, he will send a missionary to teach him the faith or, if necessary, even an angel.

The Church expressly teaches that "it is necessary to hold for certain that they who labour in ignorance of the true religion, if this ignorance is invincible, will not be held guilty of this in the eyes of God," that "outside of the Church, nobody can hope for life or salvation unless he is excused through ignorance beyond his control," that "they who labour in invincible ignorance of our most holy religion and who, zealously keeping the natural law and its precepts engraved in the hearts of all by God, and being ready to obey God, live an honest and upright life, can, by the operating power of divine light and grace, attain eternal life."

The Veil for Christian Women

2010-05-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

Many Christian blogs are posting that a woman must cover her hair, and some women are now covering their hair with veils, snoods, etc. I'm not sure what to think about this. Doesn't it say in the Bible (I believe Corinthians 11) that a woman should cover? What is your opinion? Thank you very much for your time. Melissa.

"You yourselves judge: doth it become a woman, to pray unto God uncovered?"

(1 Corinthians 11: 13)

Women who enter a church to pray should cover their head, but not their face, with a veil. That is my view.

"But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonours his head, but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonours her head — it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her wear a veil.

"For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. (For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.) That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels. ... If any one is disposed to be contentious, we recognise no other practice, nor do the churches of God."

(1 Corinthians 11: 3-10,16)

In obedience to sacred scripture, many Catholic women wear some kind of veil or head-covering. Some wear a head-covering only at Mass. Others feel called to wear a head-covering at other times during the day, as well as at Mass. Many non-Catholic Christian women also wear a head-covering.

These women are following the call of the Holy Spirit. Society discourages women from wearing a head-covering and from doing anything else which shows submissiveness and obedience. Yet these women have found the light of truth in the midst of dark times.

The moral law requires all women to wear the veil on their hearts. A woman should not wear the veil on her head, until she is wearing it first on her heart. A woman who wears the veil on her heart accepts the place that God gives to women in the Church, the family, and society.

Women who wear the veil on their hearts are imitating the Virgin Mary in her humility, submissiveness, and obedience to Christ. The veil should cover her head, but not her face. It is first and foremost symbolic of humility, submissiveness and obedience.

When St Veronica saw Jesus carrying His cross, she took off her veil and gave it to Him to wipe His face. He handed the veil back to her, and it had an image of His face on it. In this way, Christ gave a special blessing to the practice of wearing a veil. Even Veronica's name comes from this event. She is called vera icon because she had a true icon of Christ, her veil with His face on it. Nearly every Catholic Church has the stations of the Cross with this event at one of the stations.

The Virgin Mary wore a veil or head-covering because she understood this symbol of the different roles given to men and women. Those women who wear the veil are imitating the Virgin Mary in her humility and submissiveness. Nearly every Catholic Church has a statue or image of Mary wearing a veil.

Glastonbury Abbey Bookshop

2010-04-15T05:33:00.000-07:00

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This is the Abbey Bookshop at Glastonbury. You will find all kinds of items on sale; including gifts, posters, cards, fancy goods, as well as plenty of books and magazines. But you will not find a copy of The Grail Church which is about the history of Glastonbury and how the earliest Christian Church was founded on a site within what is now the ruin abbey grounds, St Joseph of Arimathea's apostleship and the reflowering of a pure branch of Christianity in recent times.

My book used to be on sale at this Christian bookshop back in the 1990s, but something happened when influences bore down on those who run it. These influences are not Christian, needless to say, and visitors are surprised nowadays to discover what is on sale. Some of the books, magazines and other items on display are of a distinctly non-Christian nature. Some are blatantly pagan. One might have thought that there are sufficient shops in Glastonbury already specialising in witchcraft and paganism without it requiring an outlet in what is ostensibly a Christian bookshop run by the Church of England within the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey itself.

Do not imagine for a moment that I have not brought this matter to the attention of the establishment and the local vicar. But they are modernists and liberals. And I am a traditionalist. Moreover, I am Catholic, albeit autocephalous. So there you have it. Glastonbury is a concentrated microcosm of the macrocosm, the British Isles! We need to restore Christianity to not just one small market town in rural Somerset, but to the whole of Great Britain.

Ghosts and Demons

2010-04-15T05:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks for your comments on the UFO question and for posting the links, I found them to be of interest. I appreciate your willingness to address my questions, I hope that any others who might visit your blog find the discussions of interest. I would like to ask another question if I may. Spiritualism is purported to be the practice of contacting the dead. It is (or was) more popular in England than in the United States. Practitioners of Spiritualism believe they are contacting the spirits of people who have passed on. Some however, believe they are contacting demonic spirits who masquerade as the deceased in order to deceive. Would you care to share your views on the subject? Thanks for your time, Sincerely, Scott.

A ghost is generally regarded as the soul or spirit of a deceased person capable of appearing as an apparition or manifesting itself by some means to the living. Such apparitions range from an invisible presence to translucent spectres and life-like forms. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is called necromancy. In spiritism (also known as spiritualism) it is described as conducting a séance.

Christianity teaches that the soul enters the afterlife after expiry. The person's soul is then judged as to whether or not it is a worthy candidate for entry into Heaven. Those souls that are not accepted into Heaven are consigned to Hell. Catholics believe in Purgatory, or a waiting place for such souls who are not obviously saintly or wicked, but there is little belief in Purgatory outside the Catholic Church. Most ghosts are considered to be souls assigned to Purgatory, condemned for a specific period to atone for their transgressions in life. Their penance is generally related to their sin. These ghosts in medieval times appeared to the living to ask for prayers to end their suffering. Other dead souls returned to urge the living to confess their sins before their own deaths. Some will point to the possibility that Earth is purgatory for those souls that have become ghosts, but only a very small number of Christians make this argument and it is not backed by general Christian doctrine.

The basic Christian premise of good souls going to Heaven and the bad ones go to Hell is strongly questioned by a belief in ghosts. Ghosts are considered by most who believe in them to be the spirits of people who have never departed the Earth. These spirits travel around continuing to do the same things that were done in life. This is completely against the fundamental tenet of Heaven and Hell as understood by most Christians. Paradoxically, many Christians still claim to believe in the existence of ghosts.

The Catholic Church, however, believes that ghosts, ie spirits, do exist. There are even times when spirits appear to our benefit, but Catholics are warned against attempting to contact spirits.

“Ghost” is simply another word for “spirit” (geist means “spirit” in German). Spirit is of three kinds: the human spirit which combined with body make up a human being; the defined spirit that has no body, such as angels; and the infinite Spirit, or God, of Whom the Third Person is the Holy Ghost. When someone asks whether ghosts exist, he usually has in mind the first kind, a human spirit. Hence Father John Hardon defines a ghost as “a disembodied spirit. Christianity believes that God may, and sometimes does, permit a departed soul to appear in some visible form to people on earth. Allowing for legend and illusion, there is enough authentic evidence, for example in the lives of the saints, to indicate that such apparitions occur. Their purpose may be to teach or warn, or request some favour of the living” - Fr John A Hardon SJ, Modern Catholic Dictionary (Garden City, New York: John A. Hardon, © 1980) published by Doubleday and Company, p. 229.

The last sentence of Father Hardon’s definition implicitly gives the Church’s teaching on ghosts. Appearances of ghosts are understood with regard to our salvation. Ghosts can come to us for good, but we must not attempt to conjure or control spirits. The Church teaches that spiritism, ie seeking recourse or power from ghosts, is contrary to the virtue of religion (the Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me”):
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“All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others — even if this were for the sake of restoring their health — are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, number 2117).

Thus, while the Church recognises the existence of ghosts, Catholics are not to intentionally seek them out — for good or for ill. Another theory about ghosts is that these spectres are actually a space-time-continuum replay of events that have happened in the past. This theory is possible, and is the most likely one that could fit into the belief system of the majority of Christians. Finally, there is always the strong risk that a "ghost" might, in fact, be a demon masquerading as a departed soul to torment and deceive the living. The Catholic Church unequivocally teaches that angels and demons are real personal beings, not just symbolic devices. The Catholic Church has a cadre of officially sanctioned exorcists who perform many exorcisms each year. These exorcists teach that demons attack humans continually but that afflicted persons can be effectively healed and protected either by the formal rite of exorcism, authorised to be performed only by bishops and those they designate, or by prayers of deliverance which any Christian can offer for themselves or others.

In contemporary Christianity, demons are generally considered to be angels who fell from grace by rebelling against God. However, other schools of thought in Christianity or Judaism teach that demons, or evil spirits, are a result of the sexual relationships between fallen angels and human women. When these hybrids (Nephilim) died they left behind disembodied spirits that "roam the earth in search of rest" (Luke 11: 24). Many non-canonical historical texts describe in detail these unions and the consequences thereof. This belief is repeated in other major ancient religions and mythologies. Christians who reject this view do so by ascribing the description of "Sons of God" in Genesis 6 to be the sons of Seth (one of Adam's sons).

In religion and mythology, occultism and folklore, a demon (or daemon, daimon; from Greek δαίμων daimôn) is a supernatural being that is generally described as a malevolent spirit.

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus casts out many demons, or evil spirits, from those who are afflicted with various ailments. Jesus is far superior to the power of demons over the beings they inhabit, and He is able to free these victims by commanding and casting out the demons, by binding them, and forbidding them to return. Jesus also lends this power to some of His disciples, who rejoice at their new found ability to cast out demons.
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By way of contrast, in the book of Acts a group of Judaistic exorcists known as the sons of Sceva try to cast out a very powerful spirit without believing in or knowing Jesus, but fail with disastrous consequences. Jesus, on the other hand, never fails to vanquish a demon; irrespective of how powerful the demon might be (see the account of the demon-possessed man at Gerasim); and even defeats Satan in the wilderness (see the Gospel of Matthew).

There is a description in the Book of Revelation 12: 7-17 of a battle between God's army and Satan's followers, and their subsequent expulsion from Heaven to Earth to persecute humans (although this event is related as being foretold and taking place in the future). In Luke 10: 18 it is mentioned that a power granted by Jesus to control demons made Satan "fall like lightning from heaven."

UFO Phenomena

2010-04-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

Dear Bishop Manchester, Varying schools of thought exist concerning the UFO phenomenon. For example, some suggest it is a ruse to mask sightings of secret military craft, others suggest they are legitimate visitations by biological beings from other planets elsewhere in our universe. There is however a group of Christians who minister specifically to UFO ubductees and have successfully stopped reoccurring abduction scenario's by leading the victims into a relationship with Christ and teaching them how to pray for protection from evil. In their view, it is believed that genuine UFO phenomena is of demonic agency and is possibly the context in which the Evil One would stage an end times deception. I would like to ask if in your experiences whether you have dealt with the UFO phenomena and would you please share any comment you may have on the subject? Thanks very much for your time and consideration. Warm Regards, Scott.

In a number of radio interviews and one or two television interviews, I have speculated on the similarity between the description given of unfriendly extraterrastrial "greys" and demons; especially demons described by those who have confronted them at close quarters; even the demons depicted in some medieval art. I have not personally investigated or otherwise dealt with what might be regarded by certain folk as "UFO phenomena." In the case of "greys" allegedly making an appearance, I would most probably view them as demonic and nothing whatsoever to do with UFOs.

An attempt was made three years ago to fraudulently attribute comments concerning "mysterious lights" over southern England to me. Dorset police confirmed they had received a number of calls and suggested it could possibly be a meteor shower. They discounted the possibility of a military cause because the military services inform them if they are conducting exercises at night in the area. The James Randi Educational Foundation Forum, however, were not slow to pick up on a fake comment made in my name that appeared on an online newspaper website courtesy of a mischief-maker.

Then someone calling himself "CLD" recorded on 19 June 2007:

"Imagine many people in a seaside town encounter strange lights in the sky. Some feel they are alien space craft. Others feel the lights are the work of a 'witch' who is casting a spell from afar. The evidence:

1. Newspaper stories reporting the lights

2. Eyewitness accounts of people who saw the lights

3. Testimony of a prominent citizen attesting that the witch caused the lights

4. Newspaper accounts of the witch's occult beliefs and practices

As you can see, some 'evidence' - although it may appear concrete - is simply not reliable. Even though there may be a large quantity of it, and some people are convinced by it, the evidence can't be considered conclusive in any way. It would be irrational to conclude the lights are something fantastic like aliens or the work of a witch when more ordinary explanations (such as chinese lanterns) are available."

Imagine, morover, a person with the intials "DF" noticing reports on television, in national and local newspapers, about mysterious lights over a coastal county in England. This person clearly recognised the probable mileage in these myserious lights for his agenda, ie self-publicity and furthering his personal vendetta. "DF" noticed that online comments in the Dorset Echo were unmoderated and alerted one of his collaborators. This crony then posted in my name a controversial comment claiming that the mysterious lights over Dorset had nothing to do with UFOs but were rather the remarkable supernatural powers of "DF" who some still believe to be a witch.

Stage one accomplished: publicity in a newspaper for "DF."

Stage two is already set in place because the original comment posted had been fraudulently attributed to "Bishop Seán Manchester," namely myself, which naturally left the way open for a tirade of abuse aimed at me in subsequent comments.

There were three problems with the plan:

1. When checked by the newspaper's webmaster, the IP behind the fraudulent "Bishop Seán Manchester" comment was found to be identical to that of a pro-"DF" poster who just happened to also post multiple attacks against me.

2. The comments were speedily removed by the newspaper's editor after being alerted by my secretary who requested that a record be kept for the police.

3. I do not believe (and has never believed) that "DF" has any supernatural powers. I do believe (along with most journalists, editors and especially most witches) that "DF" is disingenuous and has been since his pseudo-occult career began in the 1970s.

"DF" could not resist exlpoiting "CLD"'s inane message for his own self-aggrandisement:

"By the way, I wonder who this (obviously very powerful) 'witch' you referred to could be!?"

- "DF" (20 June 2007 @ 04:52 am - James Randi Educational Foundation Forum)

I only recall this otherwise trivial matter for those seeing mention of UFOs who might remember this incident, or, as is more likely, one of the myriad of oft-repeated regurgitations of the false attribution to me which was subsequently spammed across the internet on message boards and forums by this man's sorry clique.

The argument for the "demonic nature of UFOs and ascended masters in their connection to the occult" is made by by Paul Christopher at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyMCXTGkc8k

Other links pursuing the demonic connection with UFOs can be found at:

http://www.bibleufo.com/links_90.htm

http://www.rense.com/general32/expose.htm

http://www.cuttingedge.org/NEWS/n1308.cfm

http://home.att.net/~warplover/08_ufos_and_demons.html

http://www.asoldierofgod.com/UFOs_-_Demonic_Deception.html

http://www.rb59.com/prophecy-news/2008/02/bible-scholar-talked-with-alien-demon.html
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Metamorphosis

2010-04-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Bishop Manchester, I happened upon a podcast interview you gave for "World Of The Unexplained" a few years back where you discussed the events at Highgate. That led me to your book on the subject which I finished a few days ago. Thank you for writing it, I am glad to have it among my collection of books. I have been a Christian for many years and hold firmly to a Biblical world view. I would never seek to experience any manifestation of evil supernaturalism, but I do think it wise to have a basic understanding of its diverse forms. It is my hope, that you would have the time and inclination to answer a few basic questions with which your book left me. (1) Is it correct to understand that the human corpse of a vampire never leaves it's resting place, but remains in an undead state as sort of a placeholder for the demonic agency, which materializes on its own, possibly retaining the physical likeness of the human corpse, with the possibility of assuming other likenesses as well? (2) The climax of your book describes an incantation to demand that the demonic agency materialize before you. An opening in the ground occurs and the agency appears in the form of a large spider. (This is not the first time I've read of demonic agency taking this form. See the book "23 Minutes in Hell" by Bill Wiess.) Upon impaling this form, it changes into the body of Luisa which then begins to decompose to her proper state in our time. You then state that you return her to the ground. Am I understanding this correctly? If my understanding in the first question is correct then their seems to be an inconsistency between the two incidents. How could Luisa's bodily form exit the grave? Does it have something to do with the incantation that you spoke? I would very much appreciate any comment you could offer. It would serve to help me understand this phenomena as much as it can be understood. (3) You speak some incantations in Latin and you also mention various vampiric deterrents but you don't give much detail as to exactly what they are. (Admittedly, I am a detail person, and the level of detail you give may be more than sufficient for most readers.) Where do the incantations come from? Are they contained in literature specific to the Catholic Church? And the physical deterrents, like the circle of salt, where did your learn of these, from the work of Montague Summers? (His books I have not read.) I very much appreciate any consideration you give my message. In closing I would suggest a book for your interest, "The Handbook of Spiritual Warfare" By Dr. Ed Murphy. This is an extraordinary work, with many interesting case studies dealing with people who have demonic attachments and their subsequent removal. These are not exorcisms in the classic sense, these situations are more subtle and harder to detect, and therefore much more common. Thank you sir, for your time. Warm regards, Scott.

It is not correct, in my experience, to understand that the corporeal form "never leaves its resting place," though I have read of the theory you postulate. Not, however, in the works of Montague Summers who was also aware of the efficacy of salt, a substance used in Christian ceremonial for the blessing of holy water and much else besides when attempting to present a barrier to demonic intrusion.

The corporeal form, through its demonic agency, does have the supernatural ability to dematerialise and rematerialise outside the confines of its tomb. This is extended to all manner of metamorphosis, as described in my book. So it can "assume other likenesses," and retain more than just the spectral appearance of an apparition when it returns to the corporeal from something else.

Due to the words I uttered, Lusia took the form of what I at first thought to be "a misty vapour stealing towards me." The exorcism continued for almost an hour before "an uncanny change" in my environment occurred that led to "the outline of a figure on the grave before me." Whether or not it was metamorphosing into what I was about to behold, the next manifestation was indeed a diabolical abomination "the size of a large cat" which "scurried back and forth in the most terrifying manner around the perimeter" of salt interspersed with cups of holy water. This form was impaled as the exorcism reached its climax. It straight away began to metamorphosise back to a corporeal state, albeit now God's true dead, requiring reinterrment and the prayers for the dead. The formula I used is found in the pre-Vatican II Rituali Romano.

I recommend the works of Montague Summers; particularly The Vampire: His Kith & Kin and The Vampire in Europe. There will be much found within these volumes to satisfy your curiousity. My own The Vampire Hunter's Handbook contains sections on antidotes and exorcisms, exhuming and invoking, tradition and blood lust. This, too, might prove helpful and go some way to addressing deterrents.
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Greenwich Mean Time

2010-03-29T03:33:00.001-07:00

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Hello Bishop. I was wondering how you felt about the possible abolition of Greenwich Mean Time for the UK, as proposed by all three major political parties? - Jenny

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I strongly oppose it. Quite apart from the fact that there has been no meaningful public debate on the matter, this is yet another assault on our identity and tradition which will only create more confusion and bewilderment. I have never been happy about moving into British Summer Time (BST) each year (as we did yesterday), only to return to Greenwich Mean Time come the autumn. I would prefer to always be in our unique time zone. Currently the clocks go back by one hour every October, providing more daylight in the mornings but meaning that it gets darker earlier in the afternoons. The change has taken place annually since 1916 when clocks went back by an hour to give farmers more time to work in their fields. Under one proposal the clocks would go forward by an hour throughout the year, not just during the summer months but permanently. There is even a proposal for the clocks to go forward by an hour throughout the year, so the winter would be GMT+1 hour and the summer GMT+2 hours. Tory, Labour and Liberal are all agreed upon some sort of change.

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is a term originally referring to mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. It is commonly used in practice to refer to Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC) when this is viewed as a time zone, especially by bodies connected with the United Kingdom, such as the BBC World Service, the Royal Navy, the Met Office and others, although strictly UTC is an atomic time scale which only approximates GMT with a tolerance of 0.9 second. It is also used to refer to Universal Time (UT), which is a standard astronomical concept used in many technical fields and is referred to by the phrase Zulu time. In the UK, GMT is the official time only during winter. I would like to see us return to GMT throughout the year. GMT is substantially equivalent to Western European Time. Noon Greenwich Mean Time is not necessarily the moment when the noon sun crosses the Greenwich meridian (and reaches its highest point in the sky in Greenwich) because of Earth's uneven speed in its elliptic orbit and its axial tilt. This event may be up to sixteen minutes away from noon GMT (this discrepancy is known as the equation of time). The fictitious mean sun is the annual average of this non-uniform motion of the true Sun, necessitating the inclusion of mean in Greenwich Mean Time.

Gordon Brown has already stated that abandoning putting the clock back by an hour every October was “worthy of consideration” and raised the prospect of a three-year trial. The Prime Minister recently told tourism leaders in the West Country that he had been “thinking carefully” about the switch. Gordon Brown said he had been considering the idea on a recent visit to Afghanistan last December, where the time difference is split by half hours. He said: “We have got to keep this under review. I cannot give you a promise of a three-year trial but it is something I was actually thinking about very carefully. It is worthy of consideration. Different parts of the UK have different views on this issue as well. It is important that we recognise the different requirements in different parts of the country, but I think the savings that you are talking about are potentially real.” Ben Bradshaw, the Culture secretary who is in charge of tourism policy, said: “It is an absolute no brainer. It is high time we moved on it.” Road safety campaigners welcomed a review of the rules. Cathy Keeler, deputy chief executive at Brake, said: “The practice of using Greenwich Mean Time is rooted in tradition, rather than common sense.” Opposition to the annual change has invariably come from people in Scotland where the days are shorter because it is nearer to the North Pole. The Scottish parliament might even opt to enter a different time zone if the British government decides to abolish Greenwich Mean Time. I might consider doing the same.

Books

2010-03-11T01:52:00.000-08:00

Dear Bishop Manchester, Where can I buy your books in the Netherlands? I am very interested in your work. Do you have a representative in the Netherlands? Kind regards, Marco Roos, The Netherlands.

I am receiving enquiries regarding my books which still remain in print and available for purchase. Mostly it is people outside Great Britain wanting to know how to obtain copies due to difficulty in finding a supplier. By far the most efficient method is to order direct from the publisher Gothic Press. If you live outside the United Kingdom, please be sure to click on the appropriate button when placing an order via the webpage found at the following link:

http://www.gothicpress.freeserve.co.uk/Bookshop.htm

Werewolfism

2010-03-11T01:22:00.000-08:00

Hello Bishop Manchester. I would like to ask you a few questions. First question is, has the Vampire Research Society ever investigated any situations of that might have involved werewolfism or any other kind of shapeshifting. Second question is how common do you think werewolfism is in America and western Europe? - Ruben H.

The Vampire Research Society has an interest in werewolfism and has investigated suspected cases in the British Isles and France, but it is impossible to know how common the affliction might be in such places as America and parts of Europe generally. This is largely because the lycanthrope/werewolf can fall under a number of different categories, some of them medical, and is of a different kidney to the vampire. I met a woman in Highgate in the 1980s who believed she was turning into a werewolf, but actually suffered from an extreme form of lupus syndrome which is a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when the body's immune system attacks its own tissues and organs (auto-immunity). Inflammation caused by lupus syndrome can affect many different body systems, including joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, heart, and lungs. It occurs more frequently in women than in men, although the reasons for this are unknown. Four types of the condition exist — systemic lupus erythematosus, discoid lupus erythematosus, drug-induced lupus erythematosus and neo-natal lupus syndrome. Of these, systemic lupus erythematosus is the most common and serious form of lupus syndrome. These are medical conditions and not werewolfism.

Some people with lupus syndrome also have problems with their blood clotting too quickly. These people have anti-phospholipid antibody syndrome, lupus anti-coagulant or anti-cardiolipin. The condition is managed with blood thinner like coumadin or wafarin and must be carefully monitored. Lupus erythematosus is a connective tissue disease. There is also a mental illness called lycanthropy in which a patient believes he or she is, or has transformed into, an animal and behaves accordingly. This is sometimes referred to as clinical lycanthropy to distinguish it from its folkloric counterpart where the person has the apparent ability or power of a human being to undergo transformation into a wolf, or to gain wolf-like characteristics.

The term lycanthropy comes from the Greek lykánthropos (λυκάνθρωπος): λύκος, lýkos ("wolf") plus άνθρωπος, ánthrōpos ("human"). It is sometimes used generically for any transformation of a human into animal form, though the precise term for that is technically therianthropy. The werewolf may be regarded as a man or woman who, either of his or her own will through the black arts, is able to assume the hideous appetite, ferocity, cunning, and other qualities of the wolf; so that he or she will attack human beings in the same way as a wild animal. There are recorded instances where the person has taken on a wolf-like appearance. Werewolfism can be hereditary, or acquired through a demonic agency, but, unlike the vampire, werewolves are living persons either afflicted, or self-afflicted, with the malady that sometimes results in an apparent transformation. Vampires, on the other hand, are demonic entities in apparent corporeal form which manifest at night to feed of the blood of the living whereby their material appearance is maintained and indeed nourished. Werewolves, on the other hand, are people who assume a wolf-form and wolf-like behaviour.

The lycanthrope werewolf should not be confused with the voluntary werewolf, under whom for this consideration any form of apparent shape-shifting may be included. An essential prerequisite is a pact, formal or tacit, with a demonic agency. Such metamorphosis as that examplified in the voluntary werewolf can only be wrought by engagement in the dark arts. Shapeshifting is certainly not uncommon where demonic agencies are involved, and I have, perhaps unsurprisingly, encountered this phenomenon in the course of my research and investigations.

Communion of Saints

2010-03-04T03:31:00.000-08:00

I'm young, I'm naive, and I'm curious - all religion fascinates me. I was wondering why Catholics seem to pray to saints rather than Jesus / God directly. For example the Hail Mary's; why do you pray to Mary and ask her to pray for you? Does the bible not teach that we should pray to no man, bow to no graven image or statue? I'm not meaning to sound cruel or judgmental, I just want to understand. I would really appreciate an answer. Thank you. - Amanda

Jesus Christ is the one and only shepherd of the flock, ie the Church (John 10: 16). Yet in a subordinate way He shares His shepherding with others, beginning with Peter (John 21: 15-17) and extends it later to others (Eph. 4: 11). The saints in heaven are aware of what is going on, and they specifically pray for things that go on here on earth. The saints in heaven are not bound by time and space as we are. In eternity, 1 John 3: 2 tells us: "Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

Certainly by the year 100 AD Christians were honouring other Christians who had died, and asking for their intercession. Many people think that honouring saints was something the Church set up later, but it was part of Christianity from the beginning. Why do you keep pictures of your loved ones in your wallet or around your home or office? You might answer that you carry those pictures to remind you of people you love, to help you feel that they are close to you when you are not together, or to share with people you meet. You would not say you worshipped them. Those are some of the same reasons Catholics have statues and pictures of saints. Seeing a statue of St Therese of Lisieux who lost her mother when she was a child might make us feel less alone when we are grieving. A picture of St Francis of Assisi might remind us of how much he loved God's creation and make us more aware of our environment. Prayers to saints are meant to be a humble request to the saint, asking them to pray on the person's behalf. This practice has both Biblical and Church support, assuming one does not cross the line from prayer to worship. When a Catholic prays to a saint, they are not worshiping the saint, but rather asking the saint to pray for them. It is not meant to be any different than one person asking another person to pray for them. The saint and the person are praying together to Jesus Christ who alone we worship. Christ uniquely mediates between God the Father and men.

Mary's chief glory is in her nothingness, in the fact of being the "Handmaid of the Lord," as one who in becoming the Mother of God acted simply in loving submission to His command, in the pure obedience of faith. She is blessed not because of some mythical pseudo-divine prerogative, but in all her human and womanly limitations as one who has believed. It is the faith and the fidelity of this humble handmaid, "full of grace" that enables her to be the perfect instrument of God, and nothing else but His instrument. The work that was done in her purely the work of God. "He that is mighty hath done great things in me." The glory of Mary is purely and simply the glory of God in her. And she, like anyone else, can say that she has nothing that she has not received from Him through Christ.

Like all Christians, Catholics believe in life after death. Those who have lived good lives and died in the faith of Christ will, as the Bible tells us, share in His resurrection. While we live together on earth as Christians, we are in communion, or unity, with one another. But that communion does not end when one of us dies. We believe that Christians in heaven, the saints, remain in communion with those of us on earth.

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2: 5)

Civil Partnership Ceremonies

2010-03-04T02:04:00.000-08:00

Traditionalists fear clergy could be taken to court and accused of discrimination if they reject requests to hold civil partnership ceremonies or "gay marriages" on religious premises. This would apply to churches, mosques and synagogues. The warning follows a landmark vote by peers in the House of Lords that would allow the ceremonies to be held in all places of worship. What would you and the priests under your jurisdiction do if you were asked to marry homosexual and lesbian couples? - Clare

Our position remains unaltered. It will not happen. Nothing could prevail upon us to go against scripture on this matter. Under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, homosexual couples are allowed to hold civil partnership ceremonies in register offices and approved venues such as stately homes and hotels, but they were banned from doing so in churches while the events were not allowed to be religious in character. In the amendment to Harriet Harman’s controversial Equality Bill tabled by Lord Alli late on Monday night, the ban on religious premises was lifted. It was passed on a free vote by 95 to 21, with only two of the bishops – the Lords Spiritual – taking part. The amendment stated: “For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this Act places an obligation on religious organisations to host civil partnerships if they do not wish to do so.” But the fear is that the protection from discrimination in the "provision of goods or services" guaranteed in the Equality Bill will mean that homosexuals could take legal action against clergy who refused to hold the ceremonies in their church.

Waheed Alli aka "Baron" Alli, pictured above, whose amendment to the Equality Bill in effect amends the Civil Partnership Act, making it legal under secular law for churches to celebrate civil partnerships and "marry" homosexual and lesbian couples. Alli is a multi-millionaire media entrepreneur and politician who sits in the House of Lords as Labour Peer "Lord" Alli. Born in 1964 of Indo-Caribbean parents, Waheed Alli is openly homosexual and also a Muslim. He has used, some might say abused, his political position to further "gay rights" and constantly campaign on behalf of homosexual causes.

The Bishop of Bradford, the Rt Rev David James, warned during the debate of the “unintended consequences” of this amendment. He said that although it was being presented to “simply be an available option” to some religious groups, he was “not so confident” that it would remain so. The Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, said: “I believe it will open, not the Church of England, but individual clergy, to charges of discrimination.” Lord Waddington, the former Home Secretary, said a clergyman “prepared to register marriages but not to register civil partnerships would be accused of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of services.” The vote was nonetheless welcomed by equality campaigners such as Rabbi Aaron Goldstein, the joint chairman of the Rabbinic Conference of Liberal Judaism, who said his community was “looking forward to being able to celebrate its first ever Jewish spiritual blessing together with the English legal ceremony.” Quakers and Unitarians predictably also intend to hold homosexual and lesbian "marriage" ceremonies on their premises.

My clergy and I seek the repeal of the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 which enacted recommendations that allowed for the first time in Great Britain homosexual acts and sodomitical practices between consenting males and married couples. Hitherto it had been a criminal offence for either heterosexuals or homosexuals to engage in sodomy. An amendment in 2000 reduced the age restriction to sixteen. Waheed Alli played no small part in that appalling decision. I and my clergy, therefore, would like to restore the status quo to how it was prior to 1967. We shall add our weight to any Christian group campaigning in that regard, ie for the restoration of traditional family values with morals based on the New Testament.

Political Affiliation

2010-02-05T09:17:00.000-08:00

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Do you have any sympathy or affiliation towards any Party? - Anthony Hogg, Australia.
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I have at no time owed political affiliation to any party. The only time I stood as a candidate in the political process was as an independent for the preservation of a woodland cemetery. This did not involve party politics; though I was supported at the time by the then Ecology Party and individuals in some other parties. My various campaigns have attracted people from all parts of the political spectrum and none. I have personally known people, even leaders, at both extremes of party politics and quite a few in the middle. All attempts to involve me in party politics in the past have failed. I have absolutely no faith in the political system and suspect I would be found unacceptable to most parties making an approach today as my allegiance is not to Caesar but to God. Moreover, I would not want to be acceptable to those who are driven by power and corruption.

Psychic Vampires

2010-01-26T08:26:00.000-08:00

Hello Bishop. I would like to ask you if you ever encountered a psychic vampire. I heard that unlike the traditional vampire, which is a re-animated dead corpse, the psychic vampire is a living person that can steal another person's energy. - Ruben

Individuals who seem to drain the energy of those around them have probably been experienced by many people, myself included, but here we are employing the word "vampire" as an adjective.

Experiencing such energy-drainers is nowhere near the same as a predatory demonic entity masquerading as a dead person; though I recall an old lady who ran an antiquarian bookshop in north London many years ago telling me about her encounter with Aleister Crowley as he passed her on the shop's stairs and how she immediately felt faint and nauseous. Was this Crowley draining her of energy? Or was it his extraordinary notoriety effecting how she felt? She claimed the former. I suspect the latter. But we will never know.

So-called "psychic vampires," or "psi-vampyres" as they sometimes like to call themselves, claim to lack an adequate energy system, and this inadequacy compels them to feed upon and tap into the energy and vitality of other unsuspecting host victims. This allegedly results in a temporary surge of energy in the "psychic vampire" and a serious loss of physical and mental energy for the "prey."

Victims attacked by "psychic vampires" have reported to have felt depleted both mentally and emotionally. The more unfortunate victims suffer from a prolonged loss of energy and permanent damage to their general health and vitality. In certain severe cases it is claimed the prey might even suffer from very serious illness after having such an encounter. I cannot say I have witnessed anything of this sort. That notwithstanding, I have been aware of a small number of people who appear to be draining on one's energy when in their presence. Yet I suspect we have all experienced this at some time without necessarily attributing it to "psychic vampirism."

Revelation 21: 4

2010-01-07T01:44:00.000-08:00

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away..

Epiphany

2010-01-06T02:00:00.000-08:00

Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising.

Lift up thy eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side.

Then shalt thou see, and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee.

The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Madian and Epha: all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense: and shewing forth praise to the Lord.

When Jesus therefore was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of king Herod, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem,

Saying: Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to adore him.

And king Herod hearing this, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

And assembling together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born.

But they said to him: In Bethlehem of Judea. For so it is written by the prophet:

And thou Bethlehem the land of Judea art not the least among the princes of Judea: for out of thee shall come forth the captain that shall rule my people Israel.

Then Herod, privately calling the wise men learned diligently of them the time of the star which appeared to them;

And sending them into Bethlehem, said: Go and diligently inquire after the child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and adore him.

Who having heard the king, went their way; and behold the star which they had seen in the East, went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was.

And seeing the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him: and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And having received an answer in sleep that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their country.

(Matthew 2: 1-12)

The Light of the World

2009-12-25T00:00:00.003-08:00

Christmas Trees

2009-12-25T00:00:00.001-08:00

Some of the Christmas Trees at the Retreat ~ 2009