Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council on the south coast of England is looking to distinguish itself by introducing the UK's first no-pray zone outside an abortion clinic, after Manchester City Council used a Public Spaces Protection Order (the press euphemism is ‘buffer zone’) this summer with the same aim.
Why do some of us face the perils of praying outside, and making ourselves available outside abortion clinics to offer practical help, so that people in a crisis pregnancy crisis have real choice, thus averting the scale of what happens inside places where ‘unwanted’ babies are disposed of ‘safely’?
About forty years ago, I ‘supported’ a friend who wanted to have an abortion. At the time, while I did make clear to her my thoughts on abortion, I also said to myself, ‘Who was I to tell someone else what to do with their own body?’
It is the mantra that we’ve all been faced with over the last 55 years since the late Queen signed abortion into law here in the UK on 27 October 1967, thereby authorising the killing of over ten million of our most vulnerable, youngest, human progeny—all dutifully and unquestioningly funded by our taxes. The mechanism of Royal Assent had in fact been amended by statute that same year.
For a few years from 2003 onwards, it increasingly dawned on me, having religiously attended all the marches in London to add my voice to the millions against a war on Iraq (alas, in vain), that more have been killed via abortion than in any or all wars. The realisation had to be planted by someone telling me this simple statistic.
It stopped me in my tracks to discover the ugly eugenics programme of the abortion industry, and I suddenly had to face an inconvenient and unfashionable truth. I began to educate myself on the facts, and found little groups who pray and process through the streets month after month to uphold the dignity of human life from the earliest beginnings in the womb of all mothers, following the unitive act between a father and a mother which creates an entirely separate human being, defined by the Encyclopædia Britannica as:
fertilization, union of a sperm nucleus, of paternal origin, with an egg nucleus, of maternal origin, to form the primary nucleus of an embryo.
Surprisingly, despite the educational system foisting more and more Sex Ed on schoolchildren, overseen by politicians, many young people seem to view sex as a recreational activity quite unconnected with procreation, and in any case are programmed to think the phrase ‘It’s always a woman’s choice’ is sacrosanct and must never be examined too closely. In reality, abortion is rarely what the woman actually wants.
Since the ‘Covid pandemic’, many have been surprised at how compliant the jabbed have been, but let us reflect on how compliant we all have been in tolerating the annihilation of millions of members of our future generations for decades with hardly a whimper, even from those of us who claim pro-life to be a strong tenet of our belief system.
As with most people who give public witness to what is going wrong in our society, we really would rather not have to be doing this but as the saying goes: if not us, who? We certainly don’t have the backing of the authorities, who at every turn are trying to take away our basic right to free speech and public prayer even in formerly Catholic Ireland; but we are fighting for our rights, as a Liverpool lady exemplified last year. Can you believe they are trying to criminalise our thoughts now?
Yet more was gagged than the sane speech of medical experts all over the world over the last two years who dared to question the official narrative. The same thing has happened to the pro-life movement for decades—with little, if any, public support from our spiritual leaders. Many of us in the pro-life movement realised the linkage and also pleaded with our church leaders to speak out on the now more widespread concerns about Covid jabbing, to no avail. The below letter met with crickets from the Catholic bishops.
Open Letter to all Roman Catholic bishops of the UK and Ireland, 5 September 2022
Today, innocent people in care homes will be jabbed again by agents of the state. Please exercise your right as moral figures in the community and do NOT allow old people to be jabbed unnecessarily and effectively euthanised in your dioceses.
We, God’s children, are one race, the human race. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Catholic Church. However, you pay lip service to concerns about race, while at the same time letting many lay people treat their priests, especially priests who hail from former missionary territories, as puppets to comply with the parish councils’ every new-age humanist whim. You allow anti-Catholic ideologies free rein in Catholic schools. The outcome of the Synodal Way so far is a testament to how the Dogmas of the Catholic Church are being watered down, while good priests are being persecuted from within the Church.
The example of double-speak we get from the Vatican is horrendous, and still we all just pray for help and courage to act to reverse the damage done—those of us who are left, that is. Some are taking to the streets on their knees, praying the rosary in public. Others have completely lost the Faith, especially in the last two years when you clearly demonstrated that you fear disease more than you fear God.
It’s never too late for you to repent. You deprived the faithful of the sacraments. You replaced holy water with sanitisers. Many of your priests and nuns still wear masks, scaring the elderly into following suit. Even governments have had to admit they do nothing for a person’s health. Worse, you guilt-tripped people into taking experimental jabs that sent many to an early grave, and compromised the health of hundreds of thousands, even children who were never in danger from what never was an actual pandemic. We the faithful need you to make a stand against what has been done to our Church over decades, and especially the last two years, along with the immoral use of aborted foetuses in the processing and testing of such so-called ‘vaccines’ that mess with people’s DNA and natural immune system, about which we already pleaded with you in August 2020 [letter reproduced below].
Do not imagine that your paying lip service to the horrors of abortion is enough. Get down and support your local prayer group, and get yourselves jailed if necessary. You have stood by too long and failed to communicate the Word of God, Christ the living God, to your faithful. You have abandoned the sheep out of respect for the world.
It wouldn’t be the first time bishops had to make a public confession for sins against the Laws of God, for dereliction of duty. We need to see you lead by living and preaching the seven spiritual and seven corporal works of mercy. Until then, may Christ have mercy on all our souls as we offer up our prayers for you.
Saint Mother Teresa, patroness of the poor, please pray for us on this your Feast Day, The 5th day of September in the Year of Our Lord 2022
‘I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples’
St Bernadette of Lourdes, patroness of illness and poverty, pray for us as we visit your relics in Britain.
Britain's established Protestant hierarchies in the Church of England and Church of Scotland are even worse, in that they do not even pay lip service to being pro-life. Some clever efforts are being made to call out the C of E with an ironic twist on ‘Where’s Wally’.
It is clear to many—even those who claim to have no religious beliefs—that Christianity is our only hope, and as I wrote this on the feast day (Wednesday 21 September) of St Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, let us recall his Gospel on the right medical intervention for a ‘pandemic’:
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick.”
Matthew 9:12
His Gospel also has something to say about crisis pregnancy and trusting in God:
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Matthew 2:13–15
There are many ways to support both a pro-life stance and free speech. Here is a list of organisations worth investigating, in alphabetical order:
- ADF UK
- Centre for Bioethical Research
- Christian Concern
- Forty Days for Life — here is a map of all the forthcoming venues where vigils will be held around the UK and the world by peaceful prayer volunteers from Wednesday 28 September onwards.
- Good Counsel Network
- Helpers UK
- March for Life UK
- Right to Life UK
- Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child — SPUC’s latest project. The Alma Mater Fund, provides financial grants to pregnant university students facing difficulties.
Keep an eye on the activities of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, which is trying to follow a dangerous path of banning peaceful public prayer and is to release its decision on the matter imminently. The best response to the Council's public consultation has been this letter by Christian Hacking of the Centre for Bioethical Research, which sums up the hypocrisy of the politicians who pretend to care about people’s freedoms and the abortion businesspeople who intone, They have signs—they approach women!
For anyone wishing to experience what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, being outside these places is a real opportunity to know the helplessness of being on the Way of the Cross to Calvary with Mary, his mother and the other women and St John. It certainly is not how local rags like the Bournemouth Echo (last link in paragraph above) tend luridly to portray what happens.
But this isn’t the only way to witness! We must get this issue further into the public consciousness for education and debate. The medical profession and the educational establishment have strangled any opportunity for discussion about the moral implications for a society that covers up the horrors of the highly lucrative and utterly demonic abortion industry. It’s about time we aired some dirty linen and faced up to what we have all been a party to one way or another—and our political and spiritual leaders must also be held to account.
We include below the original letter to the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales of 2020.
A Letter To All The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales — 19 August 2020
Fittingly, on this feast day of St John Eudes, who was dedicated to the Sacred Heart, and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, as a lay group of Catholics from all over England and Wales, we are writing to you, our Bishops, to express our alarm at your recent guidance The Catholic Position on Vaccination, which appears to instruct the faithful that they have a “moral obligation” to adopt any upcoming COVID-19 vaccine, even if it has been unethically developed.
“The end does not justify the means.”
— Catechism of the Catholic Church: Article 4, The Morality of Human Acts, 1749It has come to our attention that you, Bishop Paul Mason (Lead Bishop for Healthcare) and Bishop John Sherrington (Lead Bishop for Life Issues), on behalf of the Bishops of England and Wales, have said, and still say on your website —
“This paper will aim to provide clarity and assurances to Catholics about Church teaching and moral issues regarding vaccination. It will demonstrate the Church’s support for vaccination to protect the most vulnerable of our society, especially those affected by immunodeficiency, pregnant women and their unborn children.
Finally, it will address concerns regarding the development of future vaccines, including those regarding the Church’s teaching on vaccination raised by Catholics during the COVID-19 pandemic...”Our response :
Canon 212.3 of the Catholic Church highlights that the Christian faithful:
“have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals [...] attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons.”
In light of this, we would like to fulfil our duty and draw attention to the statement by you the Bishops which puts into question the ‘integrity of faith and morals’ as well as ‘the dignity of persons’.
Firstly, you state, “It will demonstrate the Church’s support for vaccination [...]”
It is not the Church's role to endorse vaccination or any other medical procedure as it does not have medical competence to do so. Its role should strictly be on the morality of any medical procedure and simply to advise the faithful whether they are permitted to accept that procedure or not.
We are deeply concerned about the contradictory statements contained in your document, specifically between the Catholic “moral objection on vaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted human foetuses” and the veiled invitation to make an exception with “the use of historical cell lines derived from aborted foetuses in the 1970s”. These are precisely the cell lines used in the COVID-19 vaccine promoted by Oxford (HEK 293) at this present time. We are also very concerned that there is no acknowledgement about the unethical experimentations taking place right now, led by Oxford University.
The use of these cell lines derived from a healthy baby girl aborted decades ago, raises ethical objections not only from people of faith but from anyone who believes in the dignity of human life. As Catholics our conscience calls us to defend the sanctity of human life, including this girl’s, whose organs have been manipulated by scientists.
We agree that “today such experimentation would be unethical by any standards” and we find equally unethical the experimentation of the Oxford vaccine on people in South Africa currently taking place.
Along with the fact that vaccine producers make use of aborted foetuses, they use other carcinogenic materials and DNA-altering technology. This should be a serious concern for us all.
We, as a group of concerned lay practising Catholics from various parts of England and Wales who, alongside other pro life witnesses, do our best to support women in crisis pregnancies around this country, are not reassured by this document on your website . This, at a time when the government has taken advantage of the current situation to introduce dangerous measures for allowing abortions to be carried out at home , leading to the deaths of at least two women.
You the Bishops state:
“The Catholic Church strongly supports vaccination and regards Catholics as having a prima facie duty to be vaccinated...We believe that there is a moral obligation to guarantee the vaccination coverage necessary for the safety of others. This is especially important for the discovery of a vaccine against COVID-19.”
Our response:
This is untrue. There is no moral obligation to guarantee the vaccination coverage necessary for the safety of others. To suggest so is misleading, and by making this statement in advance of any government disclosures you are preempting government action on setting out rules for vaccinations. Like any other medical intervention, the patient always has the right to choose whether they want that treatment or not. Vaccination is just another kind of medical intervention that we should have the absolute right to accept or refuse.
You the Bishops state:
“Avoidance of vaccination carries with it dangerous and potentially grave consequences for the most vulnerable in society.”
Later in your paper, you also state:
“We hope that the ethical sourcing of such a vaccine is possible. In spite of assurances given in June 2019 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care that “the Department is not aware of any new vaccines being produced using human diploid cells”, we are now seeking clarity on this matter because of new evidence.”
Our response:
The claim that ‘the Department is not aware of any new vaccines being produced using human diploid cells’ is in no way sufficient for anyone to base a recommendation of a vaccine. It is of great concern that we are expected to rely on such incomplete information, to make a serious decision. In fact, it appears that the partaking of a vaccination , formed in unprecedented time scales, based on insufficient data and research is what ‘carries with it dangerous and potentially grave consequences for the most vulnerable in society.’
We are happy to hear you are ‘seeking clarity on this matter because of new evidence’.
You the Bishops state:
“The Church is opposed to the production of vaccines using tissue derived from aborted foetuses...Nevertheless, the Church teaches that the paramount importance of the health of a child and other vulnerable persons could permit parents to use a vaccine which was in the past developed using these diploid cell lines.”
Our response:
This statement is paradoxical and leads to confusion. It is not possible for the two views to be aligned. ‘Paramount importance of the health of a child’ points to the reality that an aborted foetus cannot be used in a vaccine.
You the Bishops state:
“If a pregnant woman, for example a teacher in a school, comes into contact with unvaccinated children, unfair and complex moral decisions may be imposed upon her, including whether it would be safe for her to work during her pregnancy. Exposure to unvaccinated children could incur serious consequences, the gravest of which include a threat to the lives of the mother and her unborn child.”
Our response:
The language used here is emotive and manipulative and misses the point for consideration. We should be concerned with protecting the health of the pregnant woman, the children and her unborn child. As we rightly consider the dignity of her unborn child in the womb, so too must we consider the dignity of the unborn child which has been used in the vaccine. There is no ‘unfair and complex moral decision’ to be made for the pregnant woman. The simple course of action would be for her to avoid any environment which she feels is a risk to her unborn child and her pregnancy.
You the Bishops cited:
The Pontifical Academy for Life “clearly states the moral obligations which we have as a society to vaccinate in order to protect the health of the most vulnerable... the burden of this important battle cannot and must not fall on innocent children and on the health situation of the population.”
Our response:
The most vulnerable in society is the unborn child. Certainly, ‘the burden...cannot and must not fall on innocent children’ and that is precisely why it is unacceptable to encourage vaccines which are derived from aborted foetuses. In addition, the ‘health situation of the population’ would be gravely compromised by partaking in a vaccine made from dangerous, toxic substances and DNA-altering technology as is being reported by many highly qualified medical practitioners and scientists.
You the Bishops state:
“The Church distinguishes between the present unethical sourcing of vaccines and the use of historical cell-lines which were derived from aborted foetuses in the 1970s.”
Our response:
There is nothing to be distinguished here. An aborted foetus in the 1970s is no less a tragedy than an aborted foetus in 2020. To say so is arbitrary and suggests that there is some sort of hierarchy of human beings.
You the Bishops state:
“While today such experimentation would be unethical by any standards, we wouldn’t deny life-saving vaccination because of its dubious historic provenance.”
Our response:
As stated at the start of this letter, “The end does not justify the means.”
There is no standard that can be ethical when we are relating to the use of aborted foetuses in vaccines. Dignity of human life does not change with the mood of the moment. It does not depend on the opinion of people. It exists inherently, whether we recognise it or not. That is the nature of Truth.
You the Bishops state:
“We hope that this document has been helpful in providing clarity and assurances about the moral issues regarding vaccination and we encourage Catholics to commit to protecting the most vulnerable in our society, one method of which is effective vaccination.”
Our response:
As Catholics, we are as ever committed to protecting the most vulnerable in our society; the elderly, the sick and the unborn. This is precisely why we implore you to reconsider your guidance on the vaccination.
The statement made in your paper, made on behalf of the Bishops of England and Wales, was made in advance of government measures on the matter, similar to the statement to close churches before any government lockdown was announced. Unfortunately, it does not provide clarity or assurances on the morality of the vaccine.
We pray several times daily for you our Bishops in these very difficult times. We beg you to speak out on the Truths of the Catholic Faith.
Leaders in the Catholic Church should warn the faithful against the use of unethical vaccines and to be aware of both the unethical aspects of a) production and b) experimentation.
The Church should also be aware of therapeutic treatments, tried and tested, which are curing with great efficacy the COVID-19 virus. Perhaps Catholic’s could be encouraged to promote these treatments for the defence of the most vulnerable.
As a society, we seem to have drifted into a pseudo-morality and false compassion when it comes to discussing and discerning the right course of action in issues pertaining to human dignity and life.
In this current global crisis, there are many voices. Many ideas and opinions which can confuse and construe the matter at hand. We need to keep focus on what is important, as human beings and as Catholics.
With all due respect, our mission is not to concern ourselves with population control. As Catholics, our attention should be towards the end goal which is Heaven. Our aim is to become saints. This is guided by how we conduct ourselves in both spiritual and earthly matters—prayer for souls alongside proper practice of morality. If we do not strive to remain consistent in our morality, we are mere charlatans, not Catholics.
We should renew our faith in God and Divine providence, rather than putting our faith solely in [what is presented to us by the mainstream as] the science of the day. We cannot control every aspect and eventuality of human life, but we can control our response; and our response must be guided by faith, charity and prudence.
The truth is that there is clear evidence that the vaccine being promoted runs contrary to the faith and morals of the Catholic Church and the dignity of the human person. In light of this knowledge, we must serve and protect the truth by means of refusal to partake in the COVID-19 vaccination.
“No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it.” — St Maximilian Kolbe
God Bless,
Yours sincerely,
[signatories]
Addendum by Charles Malet
Above is the text explaining public spaces protection orders (PSPOs) from the Handbook for Policing Students (2020).
Imposing such restrictions in Ophir Road, Bournemouth, does not appear to be either proportionate or justified, since it cannot be demonstrated that it is 'injurious to the local community'.
From the way in which the Protection Order in question is written up, it is clearly only for the benefit of the staff and service-users of one organisation, not for the local community.
To describe people crossing them as anti-social behaviour is just another illustration of how laws, powers and policies may be used if their interpretation is subjective.
