Mark Mallett

DURING the course of the past year, I have been asked by several orthodox Catholic priests to speak in their parishes or retreat houses in the neighbouring Archdiocese of Edmonton. However, I learned from one of them that I was "not permitted" to bring my ministry into the Archdiocese. I wrote three letters to the Archbishop there over the past year asking for clarification and seeking any pastoral guidance he might offer. This week, I received a response from Archbishop Richard Smith:

The simple fact of the matter is that we have a policy in the Archdiocese, which stipulates that any speaker invited to address our people on matters of faith or morals must first receive a nihil obstat [Latin for "nothing hinders"] from me or my delegate. This is standard policy. In your case it was not granted because of indications on your website that you make reference to what you claim to have received in private revelations. This is an approach that I do not wish to promote within the Archdiocese of Edmonton. —Letter of April 4th, 2011

Due to the fact that my ministry reaches thousands of people each week in my writing and webcast apostolate, including those in his Archdiocese, and because this "ban" has become a source of confusion for some, I feel a certain responsibility to respond to the public nature of the Archbishop’s decision.

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IN a recent letter exchange, an atheist said to me,

If sufficient evidence was shown to me, I would start witnessing for Jesus tomorrow. I don’t know what that evidence would be, but I’m sure an all-powerful, all-knowing deity such as Yahweh would know what it would take to get me to believe. So that means Yahweh must not want me to believe (at least at this time), otherwise Yahweh could show me the evidence.

Is it that God does not want this atheist to believe at this time, or is it that this atheist is not prepared to believe in God? That is, is he applying the principles of the "scientific method" to the Creator Himself?

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I have spent several weeks dialoguing with an atheist. There’s perhaps no better exercise to build one’s faith. The reason being is that irrationality is a sign itself of the supernatural, for confusion and spiritual blindness are hallmarks of the prince of darkness. There are some mysteries the atheist cannot solve, questions he cannot answer, and some aspects of human life and the origins of the universe that cannot be explained by science alone. But this he will deny by either ignoring the subject, minimizing the question at hand, or ignoring scientists who refute his position and only quoting those who do. He leaves many painful ironies in the wake of his "reasoning."

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Philip Pullman; Photo: Phil Fisk for the Sunday Telegraph

I AWOKE at 5:30 this morning, the wind howling, snow blowing. A lovely spring storm. So I threw on a coat and a hat, and headed out into the blistering winds to save Nessa, our milk cow. With her safely in the barn, and my senses rather rudely awakened, I wandered into the house to find an interesting article by an atheist, Philip Pullman.

With the swagger of one who hands in an exam early while fellow students remain to sweat over their answers, Mr. Pullman briefly explains how he abandoned the myth of Christianity for the reasonableness of atheism. What caught my attention most, though, was his answer to how many will argue that Christ’s existence is evident, in part, through the good His Church has done:

However, the people who use that argument seem to imply that until the church existed no one ever knew how to be good, and no one could do good now unless they did it for reasons of faith. I simply don’t believe that. —Philip Pullman, Philip Pullman on the Good Man Jesus & The Scoundrel Christ, www.telegraph.co.uk, April 9th, 2010

But the essence of this statement is puzzling, and in fact, presents a serious question: can there be a ‘good’ atheist?

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FOR decades now, Catholics have had to endure a never-ending stream of news headlines announcing scandal after scandal in the priesthood. "Priest Accused of…", "Cover Up", "Abuser Moved From Parish to Parish…" and on and on. It is heartbreaking, not only to the lay faithful, but to fellow-priests. It is such a profound abuse of power from the man in persona Christi—in the person of Christ—that one is often left in stunned silence, trying to comprehend how this is not just a rare case here and there, but of a much greater frequency than first imagined.

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Crown of Thorns, by Mark Cannon

A sign in the State Capitol building in Illinois, USA, displayed prominently in front of the Christmas display, reads:

At the time of the winter solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is just myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds. —www.cbs2chicago.com, December 23rd, 2009

Some liberal minds would have us believe that the Christmas narrative is merely a story. That the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His ascension into Heaven, and His eventual second coming are merely a myth. That the Church is a human institution, erected by men, to enslave the minds of weaker men, and impose a system of beliefs that control and deny mankind of true freedom.

Say, then, that the author of this sign is correct. That Christ is a lie, Catholicism is a fiction, and the hope of Christianity is a tale. Then let me say this:

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Elijah Sleeping, by Michael D. O’Brien

RECENTLY, I answered your questions regarding private revelation, including a question about a website called www.catholicplanet.com where a "theologian" has, on his own authority, taken the liberty to declare who in the Church is a purveyor of "false" private revelation, and who is conveying "true" revelations.

Within a few days of my writing, the author of that website suddenly published an article on why this website is "full of errors and falsehoods." I’ve already explained why this individual has seriously damaged his credibility by continuing to set dates of future prophetic events, and then—when they don’t come to pass—resetting the dates (see More Questions and Answers… On Private Revelation). For this reason alone, many don’t take this individual too seriously. Nonetheless, several souls have gone to his website and left there very confused, perhaps a tell-tale sign in itself (Matt 7:16).

After reflecting on what was written about this website, I feel that I should respond, at least for the opportunity to shed even further light upon the processes behind the writing here. You can read the short article written about this site on catholicplanet.com here. I will quote certain aspects of it, and then reply in turn below.

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