A new Prime Minister
From the 5th of April, Britain has had a new Prime Minister in the person of the Rt. Hon. James Callaghan, M.P. He succeeds the Rt. Hon. Harold Wilson, who has resigned. Great are the responsibilities which fall on the new Prime Minister in view of the serious economic situation in the country. If the Prime Minister recognises that the present malaise afflicting the nation stems from its abandonment of spiritual values and its concentration on material things then he will not look for an easy road to recovery for the nation apart from a true acknowledgment of God. Let us pray that the Prime Minister may be given wisdom from above for his burdensome task in leading the nation at this critical time. May we plead also that the nation may be preserved in the good providence of God from the extreme socialism, if not communism, which the far left of the Labour Party represents.
Rise in Juvenile Delinquency
The Police Federation are endeavouring to warn the public of the increasing incidence of juvenile delinquency by publishing leaflets setting out the situation as it presently prevails. It is obvious from what they bring out that the Children and Young Persons Act, 1969, has been a failure. The Federation warns that the law is not effective in dealing with the hard core of delinquent children. Statistics, it is said, have shown that those under 17 years old committed 25 per cent of all serious crimes, more than 40 per cent of burglaries and robberies and nearly a sixth of all violent crimes. It is good to know that the Home Office is reviewing the Act and it is to be hoped that provisions of a more sterner kind will be forthcoming.
The making of a Roman Catholic Saint
Great publicity has been given to the alleged cure of cancer obtained by a Glasgow Roman Catholic through the supposed intervention of “Blessed” John Ogilvie, a 17th century Jesuit priest, who was hanged for treason at Glasgow Cross in 1615. Great hopes are now entertained that the Vatican will canonise John Ogilvie.
Whatever may be said about the cure of Mr John Fagan, one thing is certain — and that is that John Ogilvie, the 17th century Jesuit priest had nothing to do with it. How easily are poor Roman Catholics imposed upon by a deluded hierarchy if they think such a thing possible. How blind, too, they must be if they accept the mythical canonisation by their Church of a person who departed this life over 350 years ago. What all this brings out clearly is that the Church of Rome is still steeped in all the error and superstition of a false and anti-christian religion.