Prince William, heir to the British throne, has gone on record as describing 2024 as a “brutal” year. He was speaking, of course, of both his father and his wife being diagnosed with cancer. King Charles and the Princess of Wales have both been receiving treatment and, having necessarily retreated from public duties for a while, are now quietly taking on their normal duties. As I write this, the Princess will be hosting her usual Christmas carol service for children at Westminster Abbey. The guests will include young survivors of a mass stabbing attack, which took place in Southport earlier this year.
The Princess, in an invitation message for the concert, has said that the Christmas story invites us to “reflect on love, not fear”. Her own quietly courageous example gives her words meaning and value. But for the nation generally, there is somehow in 2024 a feeling that the true essence of Christmas is a bit elusive.
What will church attendance figures be like? Carol services and Midnight Mass remain popular. In the Church of England, the ancient cathedrals, with their largely traditional services, have seen rising numbers of people attending in recent years, while parishes have reported continuing low numbers. But the Anglican message is increasingly blurred. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, resigned over a safeguarding issue where he was not specifically to blame.
Meanwhile, the Church of England’s synod has voted to accept “same-sex blessings,” and last Christmas saw the first of them as two ladies—one of them proudly attired in clerical dress—beamed for the cameras after a ceremony at their church. Archbishop Welby, in an interview, recently announced that essentially he and other bishops now believe that sexual union belongs in “stable, committed and faithful relationships”, whether between a man and a woman or between people of the same sex.
The Catholic Church, of course, cannot and will not change her teaching on this. Meanwhile, for all Christians, a grave and immediate issue arose as the year drew to its end—Parliament voted to legalize the deliberate killing of gravely ill people by means of assisted suicide. On this, Christian voices were in large measure united in opposition, and the Catholic Church took the lead. In a solemn and clear announcement, all the Bishops of England and Wales, led by the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, opposed the legislation and begged everyone to lobby their Members of Parliament to urge them to vote against the Bill. In addition, each bishop wrote a separate letter to his own diocese. There has not been such a strong display of united leadership for a long time.
Despite all efforts—and the Christian and humanitarian voices raised were dedicated, substantial, and courageous—the House of Commons voted for the measure, in an unsatisfactorily short debate. There is a sense of a Rubicon having been crossed. We may yet hope—and will certainly fight—for decent and adequately funded palliative care, for the rights of doctors and others not to be forced into killing, and so on. But the weeks and months ahead will be tough and the mood is grim.
Britain has a dreary feel. There are high rates of crime and some shops report that police take no formal action when a thief is accosted. The Post Office is inefficient and has been the subject of a great scandal, in which its whole computer system was in error, resulting in a number of Post Office staff being arrested for fraud—some were imprisoned, some have since died, and all were innocent of the crimes stated. The lady in charge of the Post Office, after some public pressure, returned the CBE with which she had been honored–and amid the publicity, it emerged that she is an ordained Church of England “priest”, holds various other important positions, and had been a favored candidate as Bishop of London.
A new scandal has emerged over people being arrested for comments they have posted on the internet. When a prominent journalist was visited by police because an unnamed reader had felt offended by one of her postings, the scale of the injustice became clear. The journalist has since been cleared of any wrongdoing—and it is to be hoped that the case has opened up a proper debate about the “Non-Crime Hate Incidents,” which apparently is a police priority at present.
Britain has long been rather proud to affirm a national sense of tolerance and community goodwill. But this is threatened by real worry that an innocent comment may be denounced as racist, or that any discussion about Islam may be taken as blasphemous by a member of that community.
So, there is a palpable sense of things not being quite right as 2024 draws to a close. Old and valued traditions, things that were once at the core of Britain’s life and identity—like freedom of speech and a non-partisan police service focused on tackling crime—appear threatened. When our king speaks to us, as is traditional every Christmas, he will need to give us a message of hope. His own belief is said to be of a traditional Christian kind. In giving voice to that, he would be doing something positive and much needed at the moment.
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England has been sliding in this communist style direction for some time. For those of us who are in whole or part of English descent, it is beyond appalling to watch. Its clear the people have been beaten down by their government. And they have seemingly given up trying to hold onto their traditional culture and belief system. All of this has been worsened by a massive influx of immigrants who do not share their culture or religion and many of whom barely share the language. Until the Brits wake up from their “woke” illness and express themselves clearly with their votes, I am sad to say I expect this trend to continue to a bad end. Maybe one which cannot be reversed. Very sad to see the repression of free speech in particular.
The author writes that “the Catholic Church . . . cannot and will not change her teachings on [same-sex unions].” I trust she means that the Catholic Church cannot and will not change *God’s* teaching on same-sex unions. We can but hope; however, given the attitudes and public statements of several regrettably high-ranking prelates, some will probably try.
The question before Great Britain, as it is before all democratic countries of the West including the USA, Canada, Germany and France, is whether these countries must completely disintegrate into totalitarian regimes before they begin to appreciate the full extent of the importance of the freedoms that are synonymous with democracy.
Secondly, to have any hope of preserving or re-establishing their democracies, these countries must return to the true Christian faith that is part and parcel of democratic governance. Only a country that understands that God created them for a purpose, what that purpose is and how he has redeemed them from their sin has any hope for democratic governance.
Needless to say, the past four years here in the USA have demonstrated just how close we had come ourselves to a totalitarian form of government.
There are some–not me!–who claim that the 2024 election results in the U.S. will result in a “totalitarian form of government.” I think they are mixing up “truth” with “totalitarian.” After all, they both start with the letter “t”.
I personally hope and pray that the leaders we have elected will attempt to stay true to values expressed in the U.S. Constitution while at the same time, working on just and humanitarian policies that give practical, ongoing help to the poor, the disenfranchised, the addicted, those individuals who are from a minority and are still experiencing measurable prejudice and injustice, the (legal) immigrants, the sick, and the elderly, and truly help individuals in these groups to rise above their circumstances and live full and satisfying lives in which they also have the opportunity to “give back” to others.
What you describe is not the purvue of government. You think like a socialist. The government is not obligated to do the things you should be doing.
I echo your hope. As long as we stay ‘in the truth’ we’ll be safe.
Very well articulated and spot-on. I pray for the Motherland.
I wish the very best to you for Advent & Christmas, Miss Joanna. I know the UK faces many challenges but I believe Truth & goodness will triumph in the end.
At least your post office is up & running unlike Canada’s. I was able to send a Christmas card to family in the UK but my cards to Canada are still waiting for the postal strike there to end.
I always look forward to your articles. God bless!
Watching recent events in the UK from Canada.
We need to hear more, much more from Palliative Care doctors and nurses.
The so-called MSM are unreliable (understatement) in giving us the full picture on medically-facilitated suicide/euthanasia.
…and then there are the prolife witnesses arrested for thinking—thinking prayer for the innocent, defenseless little ones (unique persons) awaiting slaughter in the womb from abortion.
Truly cancer is an insidious disease, and prayers for King Charles and the Princess of Wales. However, the UK suffers from spiritual cancer which will require fasting atop of prayers.
I hope these matters being discussed are not seen as only the concerns of English citizens , but also the rest of us in the United Kingdom.
Michael, unfortunately too many Americans equate GB with England. If you asked 100 Americans to locate Wales on a map perhaps 60% would not be able to. Don’t doubt me on this.
Parenthetically, I’m currently reading a book on Charles II written by the Earl of Althrop – Diana’s brother. It’s a good read.
You mean Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer. Althorp House is the name of his estate. To Catch a King -Charles II’s Great Escape. Charles II saw the light and converted to Catholicism.
Michael, I took a look at your art work. I found it inspiring and most intriguing.
We Brits needs to recall the prayer for the conversion of England (aka Britain )that we learnt as children invoking the martyrs of one of the greatest persecutions in the history of the church, from mid XVIth to late XVIIIth century, when priests could be and were tortured to death for saying the HOLY MASS within the domains of King Charles III’s predecessors, and laypeople hanged as felons for assisting them, such as St Swithun Wells on 10 December 1591.
Lots of loose ends devolving into darkness in formerly jolly ol’ England. Where sacramentally valid Holy Orders drifted with Henry VIII and then ended with Elizabeth I.
We might wonder what the scientist Charles Darwin might really have thought of the perennial Faith if he, too, had not been cut off from the ecclesial mainland of late Christendom in the same way that the loose-end Galapagos species were cut off from the richly grounded permanence of the mainland.
Continental Drift. Maybe something like future “continental assemblies” under a drifting synodality?
A person in England should feel offended when someone seeks to curtail their freedom of speech. No more Jolly Ole England. Just so tragical.