Holier Than Thou

Madeleine McCann: Gerry’s tears, Pope is religious and Maddie is missing

by Anorak | 30th, September 2018

Did you tune in to BBC Radio 4 show on fathers and daughters to hear Madeleine McCann’s father, Gerry McCann, as he “weeps uncontrollably”, as the Daily Star says he did? TV loves tears, from cake baking shows to pro-celebrity dance contests, no broadcast is complete without a close up of someone crying. But does it work for radio? In “MADDIE DAD BREAKDOWN” the Star leads with Gerry McCann saying how he “believed in heaven”. The man who along with his wife, Kate McCann, met the Pope when the hunt for his daughter was in full cry, is religious. Want more news?

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The front-page story continues on Page 5. The Star’s editorial says “Gerry McCann’s heartbreak over missing Madeleine must touch every parent’s heart… Listeners will have sobbed along with Gerry as his tears flowed.” All of them? Having spent 11 years watching the parents and now listening to them, many people will be interested in the actual investigation and what happened to an innocent child? Well, the Star says the Metropolitan Police should get more cash because “we may be looking for a serial offender” and “it could be money well spent”. May. Could. Reporting on the disappearance of a missing child  continues to be sensationalist and speculative.

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The Mirror also leads with Madeleine McCann, and news that Gerry “dreams of hugging” her again. Over pages 4 and 5, we’re told Gerry McCann wholeheartedly believes his daughter is alive – “a view backed up up by Scotland Yard’s plea for more funds to probe the mystery.” What plea? There has been some newspaper talk of funds running low and police considering applying for more. Indeed, the Star says there is a “debate” over whether police will request more funds or not. If there is a plea for money – and does Scotland Yard plea or merely ‘apply’? – the Mirror has no details about it. It would be useful to know what progress police think will be made with more fund.

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The Sun picks up the radio broadcast, and pretty much transcribes the whole thing:

   “I couldn’t get the darkest thoughts out of our minds, that somebody had taken her and abused her. I remember just being in the bedroom – the two of us just completely distraught. It was almost feral, the reaction and the pain, feeling helpless, alone.”

And amid the pain and the emotion, the Sun surmises the story so far:

   “A number of potential leads have emerged since the little girl vanished, but none amounted to anything and no arrests have ever been made.”

Can you arrest anyone when all you know is that a child vanished?

This is the BBC’s story, and it’s useful to see their take on it:

   Madeleine, then aged three, disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007, sparking a worldwide search for her whereabouts.

A search stoked by a media feeding frenzy.

   Mr McCann was speaking to BBC Radio 4 for a programme about the relationship between fathers and daughters. He said that he was sure immediately that his daughter had been abducted.

   After being told by his wife Kate that their daughter was missing, Mr McCann said “automation kicked in” and he began searching the apartment.

   “We started searching more widely really quickly and then very quickly raised the alarm,” he said.

   “You’re in this quiet little holiday resort – that seemed idyllic – out of season and I certainly didn’t speak Portuguese so I asked [our friend] Matt to go to reception and ask them to call the police.”
…

   “I couldn’t get the darkest thoughts out of our minds, that somebody had taken her and abused her,” he continued.

   “I felt that every moment that we couldn’t find her was worse.

   “I remember being slumped on the floor and starting to call some of my family members and just saying: ‘Pray for her.'”

And the “plea” for money:

   The Home Office said last week it is currently considering a police request for an extra six months’ funding for Operation Grange.

Such are the facts.

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Amen !!!

With pleasure aquila ..

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The introduction by Kate McCann, featuring swooshing curtains and slamming doors, is an eye opener in itself - what is it with these two and their fetish for windows and doors - enter Hobs . Her composure, her language, her lack of sincerity (McCann not Hobs). More on that later but it's certainly not holy, full of holes maybe.



Meanwhile let the viewer decide for themselves.

who could forget tiny tears

It's almost weekend again so a repeat is to be expected..

Meanwhile, desperate for God’s intervention, for ourselves and for Madeleine, I asked the resort staff if they might be able to find a priest to come and pray with us and support us. I think they tried, but either they couldn’t contact anyone or there was no priest available, so I carried on praying on my own. The pain, terror and the suffocating helplessness I felt are indescribable. There just aren’t the words to adequately convey such torment. Just after 2am, I spoke to my friend Father Paul Seddon, the priest who had married Gerry and me and baptized Madeleine. He offered me words of comfort and then prayed for our little girl

madeleine by KATE MCCANN

Do devout Catholics really think and/or speak like this? If you're looking for divine intervention on the spur of the moment, why not just pray when you are and where you are? Why do you need a priest - ostensibly their daughter was only missing for an hour or two when this occurred, despite what the McCanns suggest, realistically (if you follow the storyline) they couldn't say with any certainty at that stage that Madeleine hadn't wandered off on her own and could be found at any moment - why then the need for a priest?

Anyone with half a brain cell can see this was staged from the word go - or before!

'HOPE THROUGH SORROW' Madeleine McCann’s mum Kate fights back tears at moving prayer service on 12th anniversary of her disappearance

Kate McCann attended the service without her husband Gerry

By Tracey Kandohla
3rd May 2019, 9:31 pm
Updated: 4th May 2019, 11:15 am

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Yeah well, call me an infidel but what exactly does this achieve year in and year out?  It's not searching as the McCann faction repeatedly tell us is their focus, in a manner of speaking it's an admission that there is nothing to search for.  A memory to be endorsed in the eyes of his godliness.

Technically speaking, the McCanns could have applied for their lost child to be presumed dead some five years ago, that way they could have laid her to rest in a dignified manner even without remains, rather than maintaining the false hope of Madeleine still being alive an findable.  Alas, I feel the specialist dogs Eddie and Keela put an end to any hope in that direction.

Yet, year in year out they continue this facade, this futile attempt to convince the world that Madeleine McCann was nothing but the victim of abduction, most likely by a paedophile or child trafficking syndicate.

How would anyone behave under similar circumstances, I don't know but for the sake of the child's memory, I think it would be preferable in the eyes of the world, to take a step back and dignify their beloved daughter with pleasantry rather than the horrific thought of her being in the clutch of a child sex offender or the slave trade.  

Here I think only of the memory of Madeleine McCann - the rest is up to the police.  I wonder why the McCanns don't feel the same way.

No disrespect to believers but prayers won't help find Madeleine, prayers won't save her from the situation she finds herself in, prayers won't solve the complete mystery of Madeleine McCann.

Real people however, real flesh and blood, can help make a difference.  So we are here - lest they forget.

It was almost 5am when we finally got to bed. Extra prayers tonight.
Kate McCann

Do devout Catholics use expressions like 'extra prayers tonight'?

You either pray or you don't pray - surely?

Did they attend church in Praia on Sunday 30th ?

Catholic Church abuse: Vatican defends handling of McCarrick case

Published

3 days ago

A Vatican report has found that two recent popes and Church officials ignored allegations about a US cardinal later found guilty of sex abuse.

Theodore McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington DC, was expelled from the priesthood after the Vatican concluded its investigation last year.

It has now issued a report into how he was able to rise through the ranks, despite allegations going back decades.

It argues that credible evidence only surfaced in 2017.

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In the meantime, hope and comfort were at hand from an unexpected source. It was on Sunday 27 May that Clarence first mentioned the possibility that we might be invited to the Vatican (or ‘accepted’ there) to meet Pope Benedict XVI. The ‘relevant people’ in Rome, he told us, had already been making the necessary preparations. I didn’t dwell on whether this was unprecedented, as it was later described, or even unusual.

I just remember thinking how important and wonderful this would be for Madeleine.

For a Catholic, meeting the Pope is about as close as you can get to meeting God, and we certainly needed His help. I truly believed that if I was able to speak to the Pope, my pleas for Madeleine’s safe return would be channelled more efficiently and effectively to Heaven. I also believed that this meeting might lead to many more Catholics offering prayers for Madeleine. Surely if God received a bombardment like this, Madeleine would be returned to us?

Even so, I can say, hand on heart, that at that time I never thought our encounter with the Pope would be such big news. Although I was of course aware of the huge public interest Madeleine’s plight continued to generate, I was still in my own little bubble, detached to some extent from the outside world, and this proposed journey to Rome felt like a necessity rather than a privilege. To me it was the Church’s way of supporting a fellow child of God, a humane and compassionate gesture.

Gerry, on the other hand, was able to see the wider picture, the massive global awareness it would bring, in addition to the spiritual benefits for our family.

madeleine by KATE MCCANN

Today has gone as well as we could possibly imagine.

We woke around 7.15am and got ourselves ready. There was a lovely continental breakfast prepared but both Kate and I ate very little due to nerves. We left the Embassy just after 9.00am and stopped en route to the Vatican, at Piazza Pia for a photo opportunity with St Peters in the distance. I made a very short statement regarding our forthcoming visit and expressed my gratitude to Francis Campbell, the British Ambassador to the Vatican, and his staff for making us feel as if we were part of their family.

We arrived in plenty of time for the Papal audience and were delighted to find we were seated in the ‘Prima Fila’- the first row. Clarence, Francis and Monsingneur Charlie Burns, a colourful Glaswegian who teaches at the seminary and looks after the Ambassador’s spiritual well being were seated immediately behind us. It was extremely sunny and I have to admit that Kate and I were struggling somewhat with the heat in our dark suits but Francis rescued us with an umbrella and some water and following that some heavy cloud rolled in, cooling us down.

The atmosphere in St Peter’s square was almost carnival like with up to 35,000 people there to see the Pope. He did not disappoint, driving slowly around the crowd in his open jeep, waving cheerfully. We were sombre in contrast given that we were there to ask Benedict to pray for Madeleine, although I am sure others were also there to get blessings for their loved ones. After this the Pontiff took his seat in front of approximately 30 cardinals, bishops and priests. One of the priests, Father Daniel Gallagher from the US, came up to us before the service and said some very kind words; that he was praying and everyone was praying for Madeleine daily.

The service started with a series of addresses from priests representing the various French, German, Italian, English, Spanish and Polish speaking congregations present. Each parish represented was mentioned and various bands, mainly German, played short pieces and a few choirs sang a verse and the large Polish contingent priests seated behind us wearing large yellow scarves tied like ribbons around theirs necks sang 3 or 4! At the end of this preamble the priest stated that the Pope was happy to tell us he was praying for the congregation, our families, our children and those who were suffering. These words seemed so poignant in the light of Madeleine’s abduction and naturally both Kate and I were, naturally, very emotional. The Pope’s actual address seemed to pass in a blur and I am looking forward to reading the actual transcript as I can remember very little of the actual words.

Following the completion of the Papal address in the different languages, Benedict individually greeted the other clergy on the dias. During this period Father Gallagher presented us with a small gift to remind us that he would pray daily for Madeleine and a cardinal also expressed similar sentiments. The Pope took approximately 20 minutes to meet other people in the Prima Fila before reaching us. It felt as if time stood still for a moment when the Pope looked into our faces and there was almost instant recognition and a change in his expression. He said he would pray for us, our family and Madeleine. Kate passed him a photograph of Madeleine and he blessed this and would pray for her safe returning. The meeting was more personal than we could have imagined given the number of people there and will help us sustain our hope and determination to find Madeleine.

The press conference followed shortly afterwards and was very well attended. We will give more details tomorrow as we are very tired following our visit and hope to get an early night before planning our next trip.

Gerry McCann's blog

Gerry wrote:

For a Catholic, meeting the Pope is about as close as you can get to meeting God, and we certainly needed His help. I truly believed that if I was able to speak to the Pope, my pleas for Madeleine’s safe return would be channelled more efficiently and effectively to Heaven. I also believed that this meeting might lead to many more Catholics offering prayers for Madeleine. Surely if God received a bombardment like this, Madeleine would be returned to us?

Gives Catholics a bad name doesn't he? 
Construes the Rome junket as if he were a rock star invited to the Vatican.
His pleas were not just channeled but channeled efficiently and effectively. Like a business transaction.
And then he talks of prayer as a fairy tale
Vomitous.

Surely if God received a bombardment like this, Madeleine would be returned to us?

Surely if there were a God, and He were omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and all-merciful . . .
it would never have happened in the first place.
He could either have made the 'Abductorer' a better person
Or He could have left him with free will, but arranged for the shutters to have made enough noise for people to hear, or jammed them, or caused him to twist his ankle at the last minute, or stirred Kate into action a few minutes earlier , or . . . . .  or. . . . .

The possibilities are endless.
All it requires is a bit of imagination



(But then, if I were designing the planet and the human race, I wouldn't do it this way)

Milo wrote:His pleas were not just channeled but channeled efficiently and effectively. Like a business transaction.

Indeed!

Kate McCann wrote:One night early in the week – I think it was that Tuesday evening – while we were praying privately at Nossa Senhora da Luz, Gerry had an extraordinary spiritual experience. He suddenly became aware of a long tunnel with light at the far end of it. He felt himself enter the tunnel and, as he went deeper and deeper inside, it became wider and wider and brighter and brighter. He had never known anything like this before and he immediately interpreted it as a sign urging us to do absolutely everything within our power to find Madeleine ourselves. From that moment he was convinced that we did not have to sit back passively, issuing statements and waiting for others to bring her home. We needed to take the initiative. Straight away he shared this revelation with me and tried to explain what it meant to him. We had to start right now to mobilize all the resources available to us.

His ‘vision’ – I don’t know what else to call it – in that beautiful little church had a huge impact on Gerry. It was this experience that laid the foundations of our organized campaign to find our daughter.

From the minute he got up the next morning, Gerry was on a mission. Among the first people he spoke to was the ambassador, John Buck. The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, also happened to call him. He pleaded with them both to try to improve the way the investigation and the search were being handled. We needed it to be far better than this, he told them. They knew that, too, I’m sure. Many friends and colleagues also heard from Gerry that day, asking them to think hard. What could help us to find Madeleine? Who could help? ‘Think about your contacts, then think about the contacts of your contacts. Can they help?’

Gerry’s mobile phone appeared to be permanently attached to his ear the whole day long. I can remember even feeling slightly irritated that he was able to function in this way and to be so busy. Why was his pain for Madeleine not crippling him, as mine was me? He was simply responding to the challenge he’d set himself the evening before to leave no stone unturned – a phrase that became a rallying cry after he used it in a statement to the press at the end of that week. I will for ever be immensely proud of him and thankful for his determination, effort and sheer hard work so early on, when we were both still raw and reeling. Although the ultimate goal of all this work hasn’t so far been achieved, there is no doubt that we (and Madeleine) would have been in a much worse place without it, and who knows what it might yet yield?

The Vatican’s Unimaginable Wealth



I watch this while Tchaikovsky plays in the background.



Can I say that word without being condemned to eternal damnation .

The story begins in the village of Fatima, Portugal, on May 13, 1917. On that fateful day near that tiny village, The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, appeared to three young peasant children: Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia; ages 10, 9 and 7. As was the custom, these youngsters were tending their family’s sheep when “a Lady all in white, more brilliant than the sun… indescribably beautiful,” standing above a bush, appeared to the youngsters.

From May through October 1917, the Lady appeared and spoke to the children on the 13th day of each month.

News of these apparitions began to spread throughout the region. The children recounted that the Virgin told them that God had sent her with a message for every man, woman, and child living in the century. She promised that God would grant peace to the entire world if Her requests for prayer, reparation and consecration were heard and obeyed. While many people believed the children had actually seen the Virgin, many others discounted the children’s story, subjecting them to much derision and ridicule. When it became known the Lady would visit the children for the last time on October 13, 1917, and had promised a sign that would convince the world she had appeared, many pilgrims made plans to attend.

Though the region had been subjected to three days of torrential downpour, nearly 70,000 people journeyed through the heavy rain and mud to the place of the previous apparitions to witness the predicted miracle. Many were scornful, unbelievers whose sole intent was to discredit the children’s stories.

Suddenly the “clouds separated…and the sun appeared between them in the clear blue, like a disk of white fire.” The people could look at the sun without blinking and while they gazed upward, the huge ball began to “dance”. The huge fireball whirled rapidly with dizzy and sickening speed, flinging out all sorts of brilliant colors that reflected on the faces of the crowds. The fiery ball continued to gyrate in this manner three times, then seemed to tremble and shudder, and plunge in a mighty zigzag course toward the earth. The crowd was terrified, fearing this was the end of the world.

However, the sun reversed course and, retracing its zigzagging course, returned to its normal place in the heavens. All of this transpired in approximately ten minutes. After realizing they were not doomed, the crowd began ecstatically laughing, crying, shouting and weeping. Many discovered their previously drenched clothing to be perfectly dry.

After what has become to be known as “The Miracle of the Sun,” the children were grilled many, many times, about what they had seen and been told. Their story never changed. The heart of Our Lady’s message to the world is contained in what has become known as the “Secret,” which she confided to the children in July 1917. The “Secret” actually consists of three parts. The first part of the “Secret” was a frightening vision of hell, “where the souls of poor sinners go,” and contained an urgent plea from Our Lady for acts of prayer and sacrifice to save souls, with particular emphasis on praying of the rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The second part of the “Secret” specifically prophesied the outbreak of World War II and contained the prediction of the immense damage that Russia would do to humanity by abandoning the Christian faith and embracing Communists’ totalitarianism.

The third part was not revealed until 2000. Its revelation coincided with the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta. It did not contain any striking or cataclysmic prediction, but, instead, the vision supported and affirmed the immense suffering endured by witnesses of the faith in the last century of the second millennium. Sister Lucia, the surviving member of the Fatima trio, confirmed that in the vision “the Bishop clothed in white,” who prays for all the faithful, is the Pope. As he makes his way with great difficulty towards the Cross amid the corpses of those who were martyred (bishops, priests, men and women religious and many lay people), he too falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a hail of gunfire. It is possible that the vision predicted the 1981 attack on Pope John Paul II’s life. The Pope has always credited the Virgin for his survival. Or it may be a portrayal of the Church’s continued struggle against secularism and anti-Christian movements and a continuing call to prayer, sacrifice and devotion to Our Lady of Fatima.

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Did anyone else anywhere in the world observe the Sun flinging itself around like that ?
It was surely visible to anyone in the Western hemisphere at that time.

Nah - it was a miracle did it later sweat blood I wonder?

These miracles only happen in very poor places, it seems. They benefit from visitors coming with their money, buying souvenirs and making donations. Just my opinion.

PeterMac wrote:Surely if God received a bombardment like this, Madeleine would be returned to us?

Surely if there were a God, and He were omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and all-merciful...
it would never have happened in the first place.
He could either have made the 'Abductorer' a better person
Or He could have left him with free will, but arranged for the shutters to have made enough noise for people to hear, or jammed them, or caused him to twist his ankle at the last minute, or stirred Kate into action a few minutes earlier , or . . . . .  or. . . . .

The possibilities are endless.
All it requires is a bit of imagination

(But then, if I were designing the planet and the human race, I wouldn't do it this way)

We know what God is like because His Eternal Son came down to live with us here for 33.5 years.

He performed countless astonishing miracles of healing which could only have been done by our Creator.

He walked on water and changed water into wine and multiplied five loaves and two fishes so that five thousand men plus women and children could be fed.

He forgave people ALL their sins based on their being willing to acknowledge and repent of their sins and go God's way rather than their own way. He even forgave the thief on the cross, and promised him 'Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise'. All the thief had to do was admit his sin and look to Jesus Christ as his Saviour.

To achieve this, He bore His Father's just anger against mankind's sins by suffering an agonising death on the cross, after which His Father raised Him from the dead.

God gave us free will. Adam and Eve rebelled and ate from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Since then, all mankind has an inbuilt tendency to rebel against God. That is why bad things like the death/abduction of Madeleine occur.

Christ's offer of forgiveness is free.

It is hard to understand why so many people in this world refuse this offer of forgiveness.

We, the presumed collectve we, don't know anything of the sort - only believers believe.

There is no such things as a miracle, it defies logic and it defies science.

The bible is a story book.

That aside to get back on topic, a true all forgiving god wouldn't allow bad things to happen and that includes so called acts of god - in reality acts of nature.

Bad things do happen to the best of us, why would that be if a god is up there protecting us all from evil?

The church hides bad things, is that the will of god or the will of bad people hiding behind the sanctums of religious order?

Do we have to sign up and give ourselves over body and soul to the will of some imaginary being in order to be safe from evil?

Even the most devout are prone to bad things happening to them, why would that be if body and soul should submit to god to be protected from evil?

The McCanns were said to be devout, or at least believers to an extent - why did god allow tragedy to befall?

I don't fault anyone for having a belief, their life their choice, but I do not accept believers pushing their belief and bigotry on those who choose to think differently.

CMOMM is not a platform for promoting religious beliefs - even worse when that belief is biased in support of a particular doctrine..

So my Catholicism and my belief in God were part of the foundations of my life and I didn’t question them, either, or at least, not to any great extent. There were momentary blips when I wrestled with life’s big issues quietly in my mind – God, the universe, my own existence – but for the most part I was satisfied with what I’d come to believe and what I’d been told by the people who mattered to me.

I might not have acknowledged my faith on a daily basis – and there were certainly times when church took a back seat, especially in my university days – but it was always there in the background, a source of comfort, refuge and support.

Err ... will I won't I, shall I shan't I. Ask me again tomorrow ....

but for the most part I was satisfied with .... what I’d been told by the people who mattered to me.

Quite.

We are all here because we are NOT satisfied with what we have been told . . .

As a cub-scout in the 50s having to sing the Benedicite I was not satisfied with the verse
"O ye Waters that be above the Firmament, bless ye the Lord : praise him, and magnify him for ever."
even then I KNEW it was unscientific mediaeval superstitious nonsense.
And I was 8 !

The alternative was the Te Deum
(Or Tedium, as it was known on the cub and scout pews in the transept)
"the "Te Deum" is sung at the end of Matins on all days when the Gloria is said at Mass; those days are all Sundays outside Advent, Septuagesima, Lent, and Passiontide; on all feasts (except the Triduum) and on all ferias during Eastertide.
Before the 1961 reforms of Pope John XXIII, neither the Gloria nor the Te Deum were said on the feast of the Holy Innocents, unless it fell on Sunday, as they were martyred before the death of Christ and therefore could not immediately attain the beatific vision."
where we were indoctrinated with the highly suspicious idea of the Nine Orders of Angels,
some of whom apparently act as administrators for those under them.  [I'm not making this up  Tanner J]
"To thee all Angels cry aloud : the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubin and Seraphin : continually do cry,"

I can still sing the tunes ! 
They are burned into my memory.

A s a sprog in the 50's, at a lovely village school in Buckinghamshire, I learned a hymn about ' over the sea there are little brown children, fathers and mothers..' after those few words, i can remember no more. I haven't meet anybody of my age who knew that hymn. I didn't imagine it, and I can remember the tune. I didn't understand it, of course.

Over the sea there are little brown children
Fathers and mothers and babies dear
They do not know of the little Lord Jesus
They do not know that God is near
Swift let the message fly over the water
Swift let the message fly over the sea
Swift let the message fly over the water
Telling the children that God is near.