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Extreme feminism has led society to deify women, so that their decisions can mean life or death for their unborn children.

We must not allow shame and embarrassment to keep us from experiencing the joy of being forgiven, after Confession. It can be embarrassing to realise how engrossed we once were in our sins, just as children are engrossed in their ecstasy at the funfair, unable to pay attention to ordinary concerns. The time has come to make a careful assessment of how we spend our time, no longer engrossed in selfish pleasures.

In a story, a kind king told His children that He would give them every advantage, and make them very happy, but they must learn to take responsibility for their behaviour. He said: When you are grown-up, and if you deliberately do grave wrong, you will go to prison. They all agreed that the king's words are wise and just. And so it is, with the warnings given to us by Jesus Christ our God and King, about persistant grave sin, and Hell.

Human life is a precious gift from God, and unborn children are not objects to be thrown away like rubbish

If we want to look at the factors by which a civilisation is destroyed, and focus on practical matters, a society which practices routine abortion has few children living, does not replace the generation of elderly people who are dying, and has too few citizens to maintain the running of society.

A woman trapped in self-love or atheism can be resentful about apparent limitations, angry that she must remain with a two-year-old to guard him; but one who cares for a child in love for the child and loving the Will of God that she fulfil her duties, is living in the light of God, confident that to serve Him is worthwhile.

People used to hear a married woman announce her pregnancy; and they replied with "Congratulations". When legal abortion had been introduced, it became necessary to be cautious, knowing that women can find doctors to destroy their unborn babies, even without the approval or consent of the husband, the child's father.

In the UK unborn children can be condemned to death if two doctors support the mother's intentions, without any concern for the many other relations involved

As if in a bright cloud, deep in the Mind of God, lies the image of the first man and woman, with the child who is the fruit of their union. It is God's plan that each man and woman joined in marriage should treasure the children they conceive, each of whom is given life from God. It is horrible, in God's eyes, when anyone destroys babies, whether inside or outside the womb.

Something has gone terribly wrong in society, when a teacher can look at her class of infants, and say to herself, this class has been reduced by one fifth, because mothers chose to have the children killed, rather than letting them develop normally and enjoy the life God planned for them.

How strange that societies which endlessly try to protect children from harm also allow doctors to inflict the cruelty of abortion on the unborn child

It is important to help women to picture the future, if they plan to abort their babies. These poor women will not only feel guilty about killing their own children, they will find themselves looking, through tears that blur their vision, at other children whom theirs will never play with in the park, and at the bright balloons their children will never see, as they play beneath the trees.

No theologian is right, who claims that it is all right for a man and woman to make their union sterile, not fertile, and who works to overturn the constant teaching of the Church on marriage, and the transmission of life. Christ looks on with gladness whenever a faithful Catholic speaks out to defend the truths taught by the Church.

Not speaking, here, of invincible ignorance, the Lord asks: Of what value is the praise of a woman who declares, "O God, I praise You, but I am determined to ignore your wishes, as I make myself sterile in marriage, or abort my baby, or sleep with a man who is not my husband".

Just as my children and husband and other relations are always in my heart and prayers because we are members of one family, so the whole Church - the Communion of Saints, on earth, in Heaven and in Purgatory - should be held in my heart. We are a great family, with special relationships binding us. All people deserve respect and love, but especially those in our 'household of faith'.

As an ordinary, lowly human being, each baptised person has been made worthy to enter the 'holy of holies', once reserved for certain men. That 'holy of holies' today is the Presence of God. When we approach the Father, through and with Christ, it is as if we pass through a curtain; and we can be confident that our prayers are heard and granted by the Father, for we are His adopted children.

A man can be living in the light, on his way to Heaven, yet the circumstances of a person's childhood can bring about patterns of behaviour which can be hard to eradicate, even after a sincere conversion, and membership of the Church. Even people of goodwill often continue to speak with sarcasm, or brutal honesty, or self-pitying or attention-seeking phrases learned as children.

Wherever Catholics live out their faith with goodness and conviction, they have an effect upon their culture, as Catholics have since the earliest times. The Bishops hand on the truth from Jesus Christ, people are forgiven and transformed, freed from superstition, men and women are equal in marriage, the sick are cherished and not rejected, prisoners receive justice, little girls are educated, children are valued, even the unborn, the arts flourish - art, architecture, music and scholarship - and the Saints set an unparalleled example of goodness, in all sorts of ways.

Those who really love God, and who are 'children of God', and who remain faithful until death, can expect a warm greeting from God when they die, even if some purification is still necessary. If a grandmother on earth reacts with delight as her little grandson reaches out in love to embrace her, does not God our Father greet with delight each of the 'children of God' - brothers and sisters of Christ - Whom He had invited to come home to Heaven and who have accepted?

Christ our God teaches us, and helps us, through His Church; yet there are countless Catholics held back from holiness or lasting joy because of their fears: fears that, if they choose to believe and practice the Faith in its fullness, they won't be able to bear the loneliness, or persecution or ridicule, or lack of luxuries, or chastity, or the rejection of sinful pleasure; some fear God's future plans, unknown. Some fear having more children.