A Letter from Father George Woodall

Dear Friends, 

I had intended to write to you in these days, in view of the forthcoming celebration of Holy Week and Easter. "I am the resurrection and the life" (Jn. 11:25), says Jesus in last Sunday's Gospel, on the occasion of the last great sign before His Passion, showing Him as the Lord of life, offering to all of us, fragile, mortal, sinful human beings salvation from sin and death and the assured hope in Him of rising to eternal life, to share the eternal life, joy and peace which come from perfect union in Him, through the Holy Spirit, with the Father, in the sublime life of the Blessed Trinity. 

LAWS VIOLATING THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO LIFE: This week has seen Parliament in the U.K approve of clauses in a Bill which pretends to allow a pregnant woman to take the abortion pill even without medical assistance and also for a pregnant woman to have her child aborted up to birth itself. No government has any right to allow (or command) anyone directly and deliberately to kill an innocent human being, from the first moment of conception until natural death; God alone is the author of life. These provisions in the Bill can have no binding force in conscience. They will put doctors, nurses and pharmacists under even greater pressure. The strict obligation in conscience for everyone is never to make use of either of these or of any similar provisions and to work by peaceful means to reverse such utterly unjust laws.

As we enter into Passiontide, we pray for these particularly innocent victims, for the innocent victims of the appalling wars which have been unleashed, which continue to expand, and which bring slaughter and devastation. We pray for the conversion of those responsible for such unjust actions and for those who neglect or refuse to resolve matters through honest negotiation, with full respect for the laws of God and for international law. 

In all of these respects, as disciples of Christ, we are called to give continued, difficult witness to God, to justice, truth and life, even if we are often a voice crying in the wilderness. Throughout the history of the Church, it has often and perhaps usually been a small minority of saints, whose persevering fidelity to Christ, in the face of powerful opposition, has prevented goodness and truth from being utterly suppressed and has brought light in the midst of darkness. We pray for all those who continue to offer such witness today, especially couples living the vocation of marital love, of parents welcoming and protecting the gift of new life from God, of medical professionals at the service of life, with its inherent dignity in the midst of all its fragility, and of all in the Church and others of good will, who give enduring witness to Christ in the face of the evil from which He came to save us. 

Finally, I ask your prayers of thanksgiving for the former chaplain to MaterCare International, Fr. Dixie Taylor, doing much better now than he was some time ago, who on Thursday next week, 26th March, will celebrate his 90th birthday. We offer him our warmest congratulations, 'Ad multos annos! I have not seen him for many years, although we speak each week, but I shall be going to Boarbank to join him and to concelebrate at Mass with him on Thursday. I know that he will be delighted by the support of your prayers, you, who with Dr. Robert Walley and with Fr. Dixie's support, have striven for so long to be at the service of life.

Let us always remember the words of St. Paul, the Apostle of Christian hope, which we heard at Mass on Sunday, since we carry within us the living hope and the living witness of the Holy Spirit. "If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, through His Spirit who dwells in you" (Rom. 8:10-11).

Wishing you all a blessed Passiontide and Holy Week and then the joy in the Risen Lord, when we celebrate His triumph and our hope at Easter.

God bless you all, 

Fr. George Woodall