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Just as a lack of a balanced diet can cause sickness and even deformity in children, so a lack of the fullness of truth (where a distorted Christian message is heard, or where Orders are not valid) can lead to 'deformity' or 'sickness' in souls, even when they have good-will.

Just as a lack of a balanced diet can cause sickness and even deformity in children, so a lack of the fullness of truth (where a distorted Christian message is heard, or where Orders are not valid) can lead to 'deformity' or 'sickness' in souls, even when they have good-will.

The Communion of Saints is like a whispering gallery in a Cathedral dome that can unite those far away. Each person can choose to be 'in communion' or to board himself away. Some, half-boarded, are not full members of the Catholic Church, or half-hearted Catholics. Those completely exposed are in communion even if very far apart geographically. Those absent have chosen to live in mortal sin.

Authentic Catholic teaching is like a glass of pure water for thirsty souls. Teaching which contains errors or distortions is like a glass of water which contains some dangerous organisms.

Care must be taken when Catholic Bishops meet with Anglican clergy, so that Catholics are not led to believe that there are parallel sets of 'Bishops', with sacramental orders of equal validity. Yet it is useful for full-time Christian leaders to talk about common issues of importance.

No other body, amongst Christian groups, is One and Holy and Catholic and Apostolic, as is the Catholic Church, and with Christ Himself Present within her in the sacraments, particularly the Blessed Sacrament. Some Christians have sacraments but not complete unity. Others seem united but have few sacraments and are not Catholic.

When the bread and wine are consecrated by a Catholic priest, they are changed into the Sacred Body and Blood of Christ; and Christ transforms the Communicant, by His Divine life. It is no small matter, that many people, perhaps through no fault of their own, or through not knowing the truth, receive only bread and wine, in Christian bodies which do not have valid Orders.

It is no small matter, that through a break in Apostolic Succession at the Reformation, many Christian leaders have invalid orders. Not being priests, they cannot consecrate bread and wine. They and their followers receive only bread and wine at their Communion Service. It may not be their fault, but they do not receive the transforming food, Christ Himself.

Christ will say, to some of the Christians who come to Him to be judged: "You say you loved Me, though you ignored My Mother?" Then that person will see how grievously He has offended Christ, who told us to honour our mothers and fathers and Who now lives in Heaven with His Virgin Mother beside Him.

Christ invites those Catholics who pay little honour to His ever-Virgin Mother Mary to imitate, in this matter, the Orthodox, who have not grown cold in their love for the Blessed Virgin nor lessened their devotion.

The Deposit of Faith is handed on in the Catholic Church from age to age. Some other Christians teach some of the truths which the Church proclaims - but the Church has no need to go to other Christians to learn what she should teach. Her teachings stem from Christ and the Apostles. Yet individual Catholics can learn from the virtuous example of charity, patience, etc. given by other individual Christians.

The Lord asked me to look at the time when Rome and Constantinople were united in loving and serving God in Three Persons, under the guidance of the successors of St. Peter and the Apostles - until an exchange of insults damaged this. That earlier happier state can be re-gained. But re-union is not possible with other Christians who do not accept the Pope's prominent role and who imagine that woman can be priests.

Bishops and priests who fail to teach the Faith in its fullness, rarely or never speaking against contraception or abortion, send a wrong message not just to Catholics but also to other Christians who notice what they say, and conclude that these are matters of little importance. Such things, objectively, (such as contraception, abortion, so-called 're-marriage' and other practices) are serious sins.

There are three groups that endanger their salvation by not benefiting from the 'Bread of Life' which is Jesus our Eucharistic Lord: those who refuse to believe in Him or to join the Church, those other Christians who insist on believing that their Orders are valid, but who receive only bread, and those Catholics whose Communions are ineffective because of the refusal of those Communicants to believe in what Christ teaches them through His Church.

It is true that groups of Christians outside the visible unity of the Catholic Church join in Christ's saving work by baptising their members. But it is tragic that those young Christians are often taught mistaken things about faith and morals, and so encouraged to sin - even if their instructors thought they were right, in approving of contraception, divorce and remarriage, even abortion and other evils.

The Catholic Church is the 'city, set on a hill' by Christ, so that everyone can come to her, learn from her about God's plans, and about sin and virtue, and be reconciled and prepared for Heaven. Catholics must not disfigure the Church, by their bad behaviour; yet other Christians, though baptised, need her. She alone teaches the complete truth about Christ and His Way, opposing the spirit of of the age.

To be baptised is to have received a wonderful gift of Divine Life. But many people outside the visible Communion of the Catholic Church receive no clear instruction about faith, and holy living, as their own leaders argue about the need for sacraments, and about sexual morality. It is sometimes as tragic a state as if a person had received a wonderful computer, but without a user's manual. It could remain inactive or ever useless.

Just as a person with a computer but no instruction manual presses various buttons but has no help from the computer until the booklet arrives, so many persons baptised outside the visible Communion of the Catholic Church have received a valuable gift, and try to live according to the various theories of various Christian leaders, who argue about faith and morals; but only when they are received into full Communion do they receive clear instruction about holy living, and receive the power from God in the Sacraments.

The Catholic Church is a visible body on earth, that cannot be mistaken for any other. It is not possible for her to water down her teachings in order to placate Christians in other bodies; yet her Bishops and other clergy can speak, side by side with other Christians, about matters in secular society on which all Christians agree.

It is unwise for Catholic Clergy to suggest 'pulpit exchanges' with other Christian leaders. When Catholic lay-persons, quite rightly, are not allowed to preach during the Sacred Liturgy, it is hardly fitting for a Protestant to do so, who is not in full Communion with the Church and does not share all of her teachings - nor does he have valid orders.