Free Republic

The figures are astonishing. There are more than 195,289 registered charities in the UK that raise and spend close to £80 billion a year. Together, they employ more than a million staff – more than our car, aerospace and chemical sectors – and make 13 billion ‘asks’ for money every year, the equivalent of 200 for each of us in the UK. But many charities have become hungry monsters, needing ever more of our money to feed their own ambitions. And while registered charities claim that almost 90p in every pound donated is spent on ‘charitable activities’, many spend at...

On 24 September 2004 - under the surreal headline: “Catholics back AIDS condoms” - an article in London’s Daily Telegraph trumpeted the flagrant dissent from Church teaching practiced by the charity Catholic Action for Overseas Development (CAFOD). Barely a week later, on 3 October, priests up and down the country sullied the Sabbath by permitting a collection for that same organisation during Holy Mass, co-opting their hapless parishioners into the sacrilege in the process. This juxtaposition of public scandal and complicity in scandal exemplifies the casual, self-destructive response to the ongoing dissolution of the Church in these Isles. For here...

A very English schism? An official agency of the Catholic bishops of England and Wales has declared its open opposition to Church teaching. Could the Church be on its way toward schism? By Eric Hester Nov 2004 (CWR) - The English can be very puzzling. Even in their use of their own language they are different. Understatement has been carried to a fine art. For an Englishman to say that something is “not half bad” is one of the highest terms of praise. Similarly, the English do not like public disputes. Thus over the last 30 years or so, there...