Worse is the continuing inclusion of 'Marriage Care', which, despite being listed in the national Catholic Directory 2008, has no respect for Catholic teaching on marriage and promotes sex education. We have been campaigning to remove this from the Catholic Directory here.
You can download the revised list here.
Original post (13/07/08)
Action: complaints, please, to Bishop Crispian (email), the editor of this part of their website (email), and copies to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (contact details). Previous complaints to the web editor, Rose Marr, elicited the response that the Bishop has approved the list.
The website of the Diocese of Portsmouth includes a downloadable Word document claiming to list organisations 'supporting the family'. This includes several good Catholic organisations, some dubious secular ones (the Samaritans, for example, support abortion; Age Concern promotes the homosexual agenda), the formerly Catholic Marriage Care (see our dossier), which supports gay marriage and sex education, and three self-styled Catholic groups which campaign against Catholic teaching about homosexuality: Quest (see our dossier), the Roman Catholic Caucus of the Gay and Lesbian Christian Movement (see our dossier), and Catholics for Aids Prevention and Support (aka Positive Catholics), which is an off-shoot of the RCCGLCM, run by its leading figure, Martin Pendergast.
The parent organisation of the RCCGLCM, the Lesbian and Gay Christian
Movement, call the Pope a 'homophobe' (the picture on the right is from their conference), and Pendergast read out a conference statement attacking the Catholic bishops of England and Wales for opposing the Sexual Orientation Regulations. Quest publicly campaigns against the Church's discipline on homosexuals in seminaries, and sought to undermine the bishops stand against the sexual orientation regulation, criticising Archbishop Vincent Nichols. For the full details see our dossiers.There are more very dubious groups on this list but complaints should focus on these last three groups, since they explicitly claim to be Catholic and explicitly dissent from Church teaching. None of them accept the Church's teaching that homosexuality is intrinsically disordered and that heterosexual marriage is based on a 'complementarity' between the sexes which is lacking in homosexual relationships: the constant teaching of the Church reiterated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. ... Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
It is a grave scandal that these groups are being put forward as supporters of the family when they deny the Church's teaching on sexuality, whereas a genuinely Catholic homosexual support group, the Encourage Trust, is excluded from the list. There is no possible justification for the endorsement of the Diocese of Portsmouth for these groups, and none of the three is included in the national Catholic Directory (Quest was thrown out of it by Cardinal Hume); on the contrary the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 'The Pastoral Care of the Homosexual Person', 1986 says:(See here for the full text.) 17: 'All support should be withdrawn from any organisations which seek to undermine the teaching of the Church, which are ambiguous about it, or which neglect it entirely.'
Here is the list in case they remove it from the site (information about other groups here would be gratefully received):
Age Concern
Tel: 0800 009 966
Email: marymitchell@ageconcernhampshire.org.uk
Alanon & Alateen Helpline (10am-10pm)
Tel: 020 7403 0888
Anti-Bullying Campaign Helpline for Parents
Tel: 020 7378 1446
Association of Interchurch Families
Paul and Lucy Docherty
Tel: 01329 233602
Email: paul@docherty1.co.uk
lucy@docherty1.co.uk
Association of Separated and Divorced Catholics
National Enquiry Line Tel: 0113 264 0638
Beginning Experience
(support for those who have lost a spouse through death, separation or divorce)
www.beginningexperience.com
Called to be One: a national pastoral and mutual support network for Catholic parents of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual People
Sue/Paul Tel: 01642 465020
Care for the Family (promotes family life and helps those hurting because of family breakdown)
Garth House, Cardiff, CF15 7RG
Tel: 029 2081 0800
Email: mail@cff.org.uk
www.careforthefamily.org.uk
Carers in the Community
(for those caring for people with mental illness)
Tel: 01642 818332
www.carersinthecommunity.org.uk
Caritas-Social Action
Tel: 020 7901 4875
Email: caritas@cbcew.org.uk
Catholic Association for Racial Justice
Tel: 020 8802 8080
Email: info@carj.freeserve.co.uk
Catholic Blind Services
Tel: 0121 441 5577
Catholic Children’s Society
(professional care of children requiring family placement)
Tel: 020 8668 2181
Email: info@cathchild.org
Reading Office Tel: 0118 987 5121
Email: reading@cathchild.org
Winchester Office Adoption Tel: 01962 842024
Email: adoption.winchester@cathchild.org
Foster Care Tel: 01962 854652/01962 842024
Email: fostering.winchester@cathchild.org
Catholic Deaf Association
Voice Tel: 0161 834 8828
Fax: 0161 833 3674
www.cda-uk.com
CFH – The Caring Fellowship
Chairman: Jim Sharpe Tel: 01753 863283
Secretary: Paula Medd Tel: 023 92 369183
Catholics for Aids Prevention and Support
Tel: 020 8986 0807
Email: positivecatholics@btinternet.com
Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (COPCA)
Tel: 0121 233 1963
Fax: 0121 236 3379
Email: admin@copca.org.uk
Catholic Women’s League
Branch President: Stella Adams Tel: 023 92 467394
Branch Liaison Officer: Dinah McLaughlin Tel: 01962 627494
Email: dinah_mclaughlin@yahoo.co.uk
Child Death Helpline
Tel: 0800 282986
Childline (for children in frightening situations)
Tel: 0800 1111
Compassionate Friends Helpline
Tel: 0845 123 2304
www.tcf.org.uk
Cruse Helpline
Tel: 0870 167 1677
Email: helpline@cruse.org.uk
Disability Alliance
Tel: 020 7247 8776
Fax: 020 7247 8765
Email: office.da@pipex.com
Domestic Violence Helpline
Tel: 0808 2000 247
Drinkline (9am-11pm Monday to Friday)
Tel: 0800 917 8282
Drugs Helpline
Tel: 0800 776600
Faith and Light
(an international Christian Association of people with learning difficulties, their families and friends, founded by Jean Vanier)
John Williams Tel: 023 80 260061
Email: johnandcarolwilliams@chandlersford76.fsnet.co.uk
Fertility UK
(Natural family planning & access to local teaching services)
www.fertilityuk.org
FFLAG (Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)
Helpline Tel: 0845 652 0311
Email: info@fflag.org.uk
www.fflag.org.uk
Gamblers Anonymous Helpline
Tel: 020 7384 3040
Get Connected – a referral service for young people
Tel: 0808 808 4994
Email: help@getconnected.org.uk
Gingerbread Advice Line
Tel: 0800 018 4318
Email: advice@gingerbread.org.uk
Immigration Advisory Service
Tel: 020 7967 1200
www.iasuk.org
Life Fertility Care Programme
(provides supportive Natural Infertility Treatment and Natural Fertility Management)
www.lifefertility.co.uk
Life Pregnancy Care Service
The National Hotline: Tel: 01926 421587
www.lifeuk.org (main website)
www.preghelp.org (pregnancy help)
Lone Parents Helpline
Tel: 0800 018 5026 (9am-5pm Monday to Friday)
(Wednesday now open to 8pm)
www.loneparenthelpline.info
Marriage Care:
National Helpline: Tel: 0845 660 6000
(lines open 10am-4pm Monday to Friday local rate)
Counselling
Appointments Marriage
Preparation
Coordinator
Bournemouth 0800 389 3801 01202 672788
Newbury 0118 946 2529 -
North East Hants 0800 389 3801 01252 677176
Oxford 01865 742019 01491 873193
Portsmouth 0800 389 3801 023 92 263191
Reading 0118 946 2529 -
Southampton 0800 389 3801 01962 882636
National Association of Ovulation Method Instructors (NAOMI)
www.billingsnaomi.org
National Board of Catholic Women
Verena Wright
Tel: 023 92 610026
Email: verenanz@hotmail.com
National Debtline
Tel: 0808 808 4000
www.nationaldebtline.co.uk
National Missing Persons Helpline
Tel: 0500 700700
NSPCC (anyone concerned about a child at risk)
Tel: 0808 800 5000
PACT Prison Advice and Care Trust
Tel: 020 7490 3139
Email: info@prisonadvice.org.uk
Parentline Plus Helpline
Tel: 0808 800 2222
Email: info@parenting.org.uk
Parenting Programmes
Family Caring Trust
Tel: 028 3026 4174
www.familycaring.co.uk
Positive Parenting Publications
Tel: 023 92 528787
Quest Linkline for gay and lesbian Catholics and their families
Tel: 0808 808 0234
Rainbows (for children affected by loss)
National Office Tel: 01582 724106
Email: rainbows.dc@virgin.net
www.rainbowsgb.org
Rethink (to help everyone affected by mental illness to recover a better quality of life)
Tel: 020 89 746814
www.rethink.org
Retrouvaille (for those whose marriages are in difficulties)
Tel: 08000 327858
Email: info@retrouvaille.org.uk
www.retrouvaille.org.uk
Roman Catholic Caucus: Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement
Tel: 020 8986 0807
Email: info@lgcm-cc.org
Samaritans
Tel: 08457 909090
Email: jo@samaritans.org
Sands: Still birth
Tel: 020 7436 5881
Email: helpline@uk-sands.org
Saneline
Tel: 0845 767 8000
Sexual Health and National Aids
Tel: 0800 567 123
SOBS: Bereaved by Suicide
Helpline Tel: 0870 241 3337
Email: sobs.admin@care4free.net
www.uk-sobs.org.uk
Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC)
Tel: 020 7222 5845
Email: information@spuc.org.uk
Society of St. Vincent de Paul
Kevin McDermott
Tel: 01202 418354
Teams of Our Lady
(married couples growing spiritually and as a community)
Chris and Frankie Lane
Tel: 01329 310785
Email: c-f.lane@ntlworld.com
The Portsmouth Diocesan Tribunal
The tribunal seeks to assist, within canon law, those whose marriages have broken down and are seeking to establish whether they are able to marry in the Catholic Church
Tel: 01252 878789
Fax: 01252 871120
Email: portsmouthtribunal@tiscali.co.uk
Union of Catholic Mothers
Diocesan President: Maureen Meatcher
Tel: 0118 979 0359
Worldwide Marriage and Engaged Encounter
Portsmouth Diocesan contacts: Chris and Mary Farrall
Tel: 01962 620289 Email: chrisandmaryfarrall@ntlworld.com
Eastern Region Co-ordinators: Tony and Pam Darroch
Tel: 0118 981 1105 Email: torrisdale_pam@yahoo.co.uk
www.wwme.org.uk
Young Minds Parents Information Service
Tel: 0800 018 2138
Please advise us if any changes or additions are
needed to update this information
Department for Pastoral Formation: 01329 835583
Email: rmarr@portsmouthdiocese.org.uk
3 comments:
You are claiming victory but after reading your original post on this matter I tried to get the offending documenton the Portsmouth Diocesan Website but it was not there. My enquiries told me thatit had already been remover. Although the link on this site did connect to the document, it was not at that time on the website. I also found out that Rose Marr was a secretary and not their webmaster and that she ceased to work for the diocese in 2006. I agree that the organisations you referred to should not be promoted by the Church but this is no victiry for Catholic Action. It was based on outdated information It seems that someone in the Portsmouth diocese had seen the error of their ways and removed the offending information. As you quote Rose Marr as your source of information, your research was obviously well out of date. I trust you will have the good grace to inform the CDF of your error.
The document was on the website when we posted: that's where we got it from!
Rose Marr was the contact name on the website: and email to her email address were being answered at the time. If Portsmouth can't keep its details up to date, too bad, but it doesn't make any practical difference.
I hope you're going to inform the CDF of your dissent from the traditional rules of spelling. For us, it clearly is a victory: the diocese has removed dissident groups from its list of recommended organisations: exactly as faithful Catholics requested.
Good for them. Shame on you.
Praise God for truth, I pray to that it be grounded and built upon love. That all your work for the Church may be expressed in exaltation and gentleness, as our dear Holy Father radiates. May we be Holy, by truly and deeply encountering the love of God. We pray that darkness be exposed and light shine out for all the world to see.
Blessings in Christ dearest defender of the faith. Be bold In LOVE :)
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