I have written a draft editorial for a new issue of The Mitchell Mail - though I am starting to think I should give this a new title since it is not really the same thing as The Mitchell Mail.

Anyhow, here it is:

AS we enter a new liturgical year, so we also embark upon a new series of this long-neglected paper. It is the hope of the Editor that the new series will be fuller and more informative than those which preceded it. We are aware that there has been a lapse of several years since our last issue; and for this we beg the pardon of the Gentle Reader, who is requested to bear in mind the pressures of time and other things we have been under with regard to a University degree and other matters. We have decided to begin this new series at no. 1.
We are some way into the academic year, but we have only just begun the liturgical year. We are in year A, and so we shall be hearing the Gospel of St Matthew read at Mass. We were privileged to begin this liturgical year in the Cathedral Church of St Mary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, at the Vigil of Prayer for Nascent Life—requested for all the dioceses of the Universal Church throughout the world by the present Holy Father. We were privileged to hear our Bishop, Seamus Cunningham, preach eloquently and, we respectfully submit, loudly, while we were there. The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary were each introduced by various people—a pair of Catholic doctors, a pair of elderly Catholics, and so on. We wondered how the world would react to this vigil of prayer; interestingly, we have not seen any of the virulent reaction we might have expected, though we recall reading a comment on the Internet to the effect that the writer did not mind our praying, so long as we did not vote. There was a reading from St Matthew’s Gospel—that concerning men going about their business right up until the day when Noah went into the ark.
We intend, as in former numbers, to provide the Gentle Reader with information in the real and full sense of that word—which is from the verb to inform. We intend also to provide the reader with information regarding events in which he might have an interest; and we intend to provide reviews of concerts, books, and such things. We shall publish news that relates particularly to the University of Durham, the parish of St Cuthbert in that city, to the city itself, and to St Theresa’s parish in Lexden, Colchester; but we shall not restrict ourselves to these matters. We shall provide reflections and meditations for the spiritual benefit of the reader. In fact if our writings do not benefit the reader spiritually, we consider that we have failed in our efforts.
We make no apology for the fact that this paper will be, and is, intended to be Catholic in manner, tone, style, and spirit. We do not apologize for the truth of the Catholic Faith, still less do we in any sense retract or withdraw it. We shall include some pieces on Catholic devotional life—for it is the spiritual life that matters—but we shall not restrict ourselves, in religious matters, to spirituality: and we certainly shall not follow the absurd mantra of those who desire to “keep religion out of politics.” No: on the contrary, for as long as politics concerns itself with moral matters or any matters pertaining to Divine Revelation, so long is it the duty of the Church, and consequently our duty as members of that Mystical Body, to concern ourselves with political matters. And it does not seem probable to us that politics will keep itself out of these matters for a very long time to come.
We should like to publish some portion at least of such correspondence as we may in future receive. We hope that this paper will never be used for commercial advertising, though we shall, if we may be permitted to use the expression, personally advertise for such events, &c., as we deem may be of interest to the Reader.
We are determined that this journal shall be of unimpeachable Catholic orthodoxy. We live in times of theological crisis, in which bad theology has been popularized in Catholic circles, so that the Catholic Church is divided, in the words of Michael Voris, into “the faithful, the unfaithful, and the confused.” We have no intention whatever of increasing the number of the two latter. We have every intention of augmenting the number of the former, until Christ reigns in the heart of every man, woman, and child, on God’s earth; and we are at no pains to conceal the fact. For what other reason than this did Christ establish His Church? We repeat, we are determined that this journal shall always be solidly orthodox; and may God forbid that anything not in perfect conformity with the holy Catholic Faith should ever be stated in these pages. There is a cynical spirit that falls short of unorthodoxy, but it sneers at the authority of the Church and it utterly reeks with pride. We intend to publish no articles of that kind. We intend to put a stop—a screeching, grinding halt—as far as the same is within our power—to the confusion within the Church; and while this paper is but one very small step, and unlikely to do much in that way on its own, we hope that the combined efforts of many, together with the grace of God, will combine to achieve the desired end.
We consider also that by publishing the real teaching of the Church, and not the ersatz Modernist-cum-Socialist emetic that many Catholics have been force-fed, particularly among many who attended schools called Catholic schools, we may perhaps give a better idea of the Church to those outside Her communion than some of them may have formed from sources of so-called Catholics who have despised their own Mother.
We shall always exhort our Catholic readership to stand up for what they know to be true. It has been said before that “God will have no cowards in his service.” Yet so many Catholics are cowards. How many cowards are there in heaven? None! Revelation, chapter 21, verse 8. No: we shall not sit by and watch, while souls fall into hell like the snowflakes we see falling from the sky. Cowards cannot win a war; and we are at war. We are engaged in the most terrible war ever undertaken, and our troops think they can just shrug their shoulders and smile. The idiocy! Everything, all we have, our very selves, are at stake in this battle; and we watch those who should be our comrades-in-arms lay down their weapons. What can we be expected to think? What can we be expected to feel? Or sometimes we find that our fellow soldiers have not even been trained—not only not properly, but not at all! How would you expect an army to succeed that did not train men for war? The training of a soldier is not pleasant; it is not comfortable; and something would be very seriously wrong if it were. Can we then imagine that the training of a soldier of Christ will be pleasant or comfortable? No, of course not. It is our intention, then, to bring the gravity of this crisis to our readers’ attention, and stimulate them to play their part in the battle to the uttermost of their power. Great emphasis will be placed on this, because it is one of the most important issues with which we are concerned. For until men are aware of the spiritual realities around them, we can expect no outcome but disaster, and specifically spiritual disaster, which is the worst kind of disaster.
We shall provide our readership with spiritual reading from the great writers of our tradition—Thomas à Kempis, Lorenzo Scupoli, St Francis de Sales, St Alphonsus Liguori, St Augustine, &c. We shall provide commentary on liturgical prayers; we shall also provide social and political commentary. We shall provide objections to the interminable objections we have heard against our holy Religion, but have not been able to refute them—such as the never-ending case of Galileo.
It is our opinion that the quality of one’s reading is of much greater importance than its extent. We desire that all that we publish shall be of good literary quality; for hereby it will be a greater pleasure for the Gentle Reader, and we are aware of the power of literary style. We understand that many books have had great effect for evil upon the world on account of their literary style (Voltaire’s works, for instance). But while quality is of greater importance than quantity, it is nevertheless one of our aims to improve the armoury of the Reader in being able to defend the Faith—and, we may add, himself: and to this end it is necessary to provide him, we think, with a great deal of knowledge; quantity is, in this case, of not inconsiderable importance.
We also desire to direct our Reader to other writings that will help him in his spiritual life; and so we should remark that we shall not restrict our reviews to modern books, but also to older works which we consider may be of interest to our readership. All our reading, like everything we do, should be for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Everything we do should be directed to that end; if it is not, it is wasted.
It should be remembered, of course, that we were made to know, love, and serve God—and that while knowledge comes first, it is less important than the other two. As Abp Fulton Sheen has said, “Character resides in the will, not in the intellect;” and we are of the opinion that there is some danger that a work of this kind may appear to overemphasize the intellect. We hope that we shall be able to treat of both in their right proportion.
This paper, then, will have aspects of a newspaper and aspects of a periodical. It is our intention that it shall deal with various matters, and we do not intend to exclude anything that we consider to be relevant to us and of interest to our actual or potential, but we hope actual, readers.
We are well aware that the contents of these journals will not infrequently be offensive to some people; we insist that we do not set out to offend anybody for the sake of it; rather, we say what we know to be Truth, and we should be most amazed if the Truth did not offend anyone.
We hope that these periodical journals will be found informative, and that they will bear fruit. We hope that if they do not inspire their Readers with apostolical zeal, those Readers will learn something, at least, from them; and we may be sure the inclusion of readings from Scripture and the writings of Saints will be spiritually fruitful, even if none of our original writings are found to benefit anybody.
Finally we should like to remind our readers of the vocation of all men, and specifically of the vocation of the laity. All men without exception are called to holiness, and finally to enjoy the Beatific Vision. We dare to hope that our work may play some small part in leading at least some one soul in the direction of holiness. But the particular vocation of the laity is to evangelize: to bring Christ to others. And how can we evangelize, as Bp Seamus Cunningham said at St Dominic’s Priory on Advent Sunday, if we are not evangelized ourselves? Let us then allow Christ to come to us, let us allow ourselves to be made holy by Him, that we may bring Him to all others. And in Advent we await His Coming to us at Christmas. Let these seasons be times of great grace for you all.