Russian Statue of St. George in UN Gardens: “Good Defeats Evil”
A vital success story in the fight against AIDS in Africa has been buried in the West–buried with the increasing numbers of Ugandans dying at the hands of UN AIDS prevention programming. Confusing? Read on…
Uganda, if you recall, was one of the few African countries that massively reduced its HIV/AIDS infection rate from 21% in 1991, to 6% in 2002. Uganda was Africa’s success story. And it claimed this position entirely by pioneering the ABC program, which puts heavy emphasis on A (Abstinence) and B (Be faithful), with C (Condom use) presented as a last resort. And it worked, for what I should think are very obvious reasons.
But, as the co-chair of Uganda’s AIDS-Prevention Committee, Sam Ruteikara, wrote recently in the Washington Post, it was at the height of his country’s AIDS-prevention success that Western “advisors” stepped in, told Uganda they “had it all wrong” and systematically hijacked the Committee’s documents.Read the rest of this entry »
Abstinence is the only policy that has reduced AIDS.
UNICEF has been dumping condoms around the planet with the result of increasing infection rates among the youngest sexually active. India says “NO” to UNICEF and follows Uganda’s lead:
One of the only national programs ever to effectively combat HIV/AIDS was the Ugandan ABC program, which focused on abstinence and being faithful to one partner. Now the Indian national AIDS committee is adopting this same approach in their effort to curb HIV/AIDS rates.Read the rest of this entry »
Anglican colonialism/racism rears its ugly head once again at Lambeth. Not only has this woman bishop shown the high quality of TEC social analysis, she has demonstrated in a conclusive fashion the fruits of ordaining feminist women. Notice that she considers every man a virtual violent criminal, even if he is a bishop.
The Right Rev Catherine Roskam, suffragan bishop of New York, with a responsibility for 66 congregations, said domestic violence was culturally acceptable in some parts of the world and that “even the most devout Christians” were guilty of it. Read the rest of this entry »
To Americans, these penitential brotherhoods dressed in full regalia can seem a bit scary, but their facinating history and devotion is something we should emulate.
Hermandads (hermandades) are usually associated with the processions of statues, paintings, relics or other sacred objects through public plazas and streets on saints’ feast days and especially during Holy Week in cities and towns across Spain, Portugal and their former colonies in Latin America, India and the Philippines.
While the Hermandad’s chief work is to carry the heavy platforms through the streets on these festival days, to be a member one has to agree to perform various spiritual disciplines as preparation, must be an exemplary Catholic, and be active in the charitable works of the Church. These brotherhoods (which can also include women) are a more pious version of the Knights of Columbus found in the US. Read the rest of this entry »
A. Yes. As Jesus explained to Nicodemus in John 3…
John 3:3…Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
We must be born again of water and the Spirit in order to see the Kingdom of God. And Jesus also said:
Mark 16:16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved …
Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And Peter exhorted the crowd at Pentecost:
Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Again in:
1 Peter 3:20-21 ..when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you …Read the rest of this entry »
12+ years ago when I first started to get the clue that what was being handed to me as “Catholic” in school was not kosher, what resources did I have? Now we have the net, more orthodox books being written and more reprinted than EVER before in history.
Thousands of Catholic websites and resources for teaching, apologetics, spirituality, Church history…
In 2 years the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter will turn 20 – they are celebrating ordinations monthly. I am no insider, but from what I hear, their seminary in Nebraska – Our Lady of Gudalupe – is bursting at the seems. (Same too for their German seminary). Senior seminarians are graciously agreeing to “double bunk” in rooms intended to be single rooms for senior seminairians… and that was built way back… oh, 9 years ago?
It was full the day building was complete.
The Norbertines in Orange County are having a vocations crunch- they are too crunched in to a small property and need a BIGGER place…
In less time than the most orders have been around Bl. Theresa of Calcutta’s Missionaries of Charity have grown to over 4,500 nuns and is active in 133 countries. The numbers of the priests and brothers are ALSO growing.
The Diocese of Arlington is about to have more priests than rectories to put them in. What to do? They do have a “Vocations crunch” too… They have 60 parishes… “Of those 60 parishes, only 42 are now staffed by diocesan priests. “We’ll ordain 22 men in the next 14 months,” Father Gould the vocations director points out. “The real problem will be finding 22 beds for them. Read the rest of this entry »
New Director of the Anglican Center in Rome and Rowan Williams
The Anglican Communion News Service has a completely surreal article today that derserves examination as it could not get the Vatican more WRONG. The Article reads that Vatican’s concern for Anglican unity as greater than the Vatican’s concerns for the issues now before the Communion, homosexuality and WO. Here is the opening of the article:
Some in the Anglican Communion may have found themselves a little irritated by the amount of rhetoric that has issued from the Vatican in recent weeks on the divisions facing the church. The Anglican Representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Holy See, the Very Revd David Richardson, says that instead, the concerns of the Roman Catholic Church should be taken as a very positive reminder that the unity of the church is God’s will.
While the Pope was in Australia celebrating World Youth Day, he urged the Anglican Church to avoid schism, and Cardinal Dias warned in his address to the Lambeth Conference about the dangers of disunity to evangelism.
“My take on it at this stage,” says Revd Richardson, “is that there is a lot of investment from the Roman Catholic Church in the Anglican Church cohering, for a whole range of reasons … the last thing they want to see is a church structurally split.” Schism, from the point of view of the Roman Catholic Church was therefore, he said, “a really much more serious issue than the discipline or moral theological issues with which we’re wrestling.”Read the rest of this entry »
Evangelicals have been going through a major change of heart in their view of Catholicism over the past 15 years or so. In the 80’s when I was in college I lived in the Biblebelt and had plenty of experience with Evangelicals–much of it bad experience. The 80’s was the height of the “Are you saved?” question. In Virginia, the question often popped up in the first 10 minutes of getting to know someone. As I look back, Isurmise that this was coached from the pulpit or Sunday school as it was so well coordinated and almost universally applied. It was a good tactic for putting Catholics on the defensive even before it was known that they were Catholic—“ummmm, uhhh, well no, I’m not sure, I’m Catholic.” Then a conversation about works righteousness or saint statues would ensue. Yeah, nice to meet you, too.
Thankfully, those days are pretty much over. We now have formerly rabid anti-Catholics apologizing and even praising the pope. Catholics and Evangelicals have both learned that we have much in common and need each other to face the secular culture with a solid front. But, where did this detente come from? I think there is a real history to be told here and a book should be written. Let me give my perceptions of 7 major developments since 1993, which I regard as the the watershed year for the renewal of the Catholic Church in the United States.
1. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1993. When this document came out, it was uncertain that even Catholics would read it. We should have known that something was up when the French version hit the top of the bestsellers charts in France and stayed there for months. The English version did the same in the US. Catholics were reading the Catechism, forming study groups and challenging errant professors in the classroom. Read the rest of this entry »
Q. Scripture clearly says that “Christ was sacrificed once”. And yet the Catholic Church says their mass is a sacrifice. We know this is done over and over at their masses all over the world, every day. Thousands of sacrifices a day. Why do Catholics call the mass a sacrifice when this so obviously contradicts scripture?
A. Let me say that the mass in the Catholic Church certainly IS a sacrifice. That is why we call it the sacrifice of the mass. However, this sacrifice is completely unlike the sacrifices of the Old Testament because Jesus Christ is God. And God is ETERNAL. Therefore, Jesus’ ONE sacrifice is Eternal.
Yes, it happened once in time on planet earth. It was an historical event. However, this sacrifice sufficed for the forgiveness of sins for all of mankind both before the crucifixion and after it up to our own time and beyond. An ETERNAL SACRIFICE. Because the Lamb of sacrifice is the Eternal God of the universe He is able to offer an eternal sacrifice.
Hebrews 9:25Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people;
Hebrews 10:11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
Because Jesus offered Himself in an eternal sacrifice for sins He appears in Heaven to John as a Lamb that has been slain.
Revelation 5:6Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
So, because His sacrifice is an eternal sacrifice, at our masses we are not killing Jesus over and over and over again every time we celebrate the mass. Absolutely not! What happens is in obedience to Christ we celebrate The Lord’s Supper partaking of the bread which has become His body and the cup which contains His blood. We are transported, in a spiritual sense to the foot of the cross and partake of that ONE SACRIFICE. So, the scrim of time is pulled back at the Catholic mass and we commune with Christ in Heaven. Because He is eternal, His sacrifice is eternal. It is we who are in time and must physically return, in time, to partake of that one eternal sacrifice. His one sacrifice is re-presented to us who are still in time. His sacrifice is not repeated.
Malachi 1:11My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty.
This is seen as prophesying the unbloody (pure) sacrifice of the mass that is offered to God “from the rising to the setting of the sun” every day in our Catholic Churches.
Q. What did Martin Luther believe about the Body and Blood of Christ in the bread and wine?
A. Martin Luther believed in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. He became indignant when groups, who had followed him out of the Catholic Church, rejected the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. He deplored the fact that every milkmaid and farmhand thought they could interpret scripture correctly. Here he is in his own words.
Who, but the devil, has granted such license of wresting the words of the holy Scripture? Who ever read in the Scriptures, that my body is the same as the sign of my body? or, that is is the same as it signifies? What language in the world ever spoke so? It is only then the devil, that imposes upon us by these fanatical men. Not one of the Fathers of the Church, though so numerous, ever spoke as the Sacramentarians: not one of them ever said, It is only bread and wine; or, the body and blood of Christ is not there present.
Surely, it is not credible, nor possible, since they often speak, and repeat their sentiments, that they should never (if they thought so) not so much as once, say, or let slip these words: It is bread only; or the body of Christ is not there, especially it being of great importance, that men should not be deceived. Certainly, in so many Fathers, and in so many writings, the negative might at least be found in one of them, had they thought the body and blood of Christ were not really present: but they are all of them unanimous.”
And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.
The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.
When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”
In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.Read the rest of this entry »
I have much hope and love in my heart for PZ Myers, the militant disrespectful professor who desecrated the Eucharist. Not because I agree with what he has done – not in the least…
But I too was mired in the darkness of the sophistry that possesses him. There is hope.
In all irony, his actions may well lead to TWO greater goods – the return to reception on tongue, and so many prayers being sent heavenward on his behalf that the Grace shall grow irresistible. His conversion is imminent in God’s time.
Have a Mass offered for PZ Myers, in reparation for his sins, and for the conversion of his heart.
One day in heaven, he will thank you.
Don’t spend any time hating him. Spend all that time praying for him.
Contact any of the following to have a Mass offered on his behalf:
It’s not just about the filioque or the Immaculate Conception, folks. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have encouraged Catholics to reach out to Orthodox Christians, to respect them and learn their traditions. Catholics by and large have accepted that the Orthodox really are very close to Catholicism in many areas. But many would be surprised to learn that some Orthodox hierarchs (and Oriental Orthodox hierarchs) are soft, even permissive on the issue of abortion–soft like Anglicans.
His Holiness, Patriarch Karekin I of Etchmiadzin of Armenia (Oriental Orthodox) who came on a pastoral visit to the US had this to say about the Oriental Orthodox Church’s position on abortion- Read the rest of this entry »
Q. Didn’t the Catholic Church become paganized when Constantine forced everyone to become Christian?
A. If it did, then a Pagan Catholic Church canonized the Bible. So how could we possibly trust a Bible canonized by pagans?
The truth lies elsewhere. The idea that the Catholic Church became corrupted once Constantine legalized Christianity in the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. is a plausible idea grasped at and promulgated by anti-Catholics. The problem with this is that it does not hold up under scrutiny.
First and foremost, for Protestants and the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, is that the Bible they use to formulate their doctrines and all of Salvation History, was canonized by the Catholic Church (Pope Innocent 405 A.D.) long after Constantine legalized Christianity. So, if the Christian Church was sound only until Constantine, then the Bible was canonized by pagans. For more information about the process of canonizaton see my posts on the Old Testament, who decided which books would be in the Bible and Martin Luther’s view.
Secondly, if the Catholic Church had become pagan after the Edict of Milan, then there would have been absolutely no reason for Emperor Julian, the Apostate, to launch a major persecution of the Church in an attempt to restore paganism in 361 A.D.
And finally, the theory by many Anti-Catholics, is that during the first 300 years of Christian history the true Christian faith was alive and well but became corrupted with weird Catholic/pagan beliefs after Constantine, falls apart when one reads the early Christian writings of the first three centuries.
It is a warm thought for many non Catholics to imagine that the early church worship and beliefs were very much like present day Baptist, Calvary Chapel, Vineyard, or My Church etc. It is thought that the early church did not look anything like or believe anything like what the Catholic Church believes and practices today.
Quite the opposite is true. All of the beliefs of the Catholic Church were present in the very earliest writings of the Church Fathers. So, the unique Catholic beliefs in the perpetual virginity of Mary, her assumption, her immaculate conception, the Real Presence in the Eucharist, purgatory, hell, oral confession to a priest, sacramental baptism, Pope etc. were all believed by the Catholic Church long before she canonized the Bible.
How does one, with integrity, accept the Bible canonized by a Church one deems to be pagan or corrupt and then 1000 years after it is canonized remove seven books out of the Old Testament? On this theory it would be safe to accept the Book of Mormon as sacred but reject the Church of the Latter Day Saints.
On the other hand, if the earliest Christian Church had Catholic beliefs and practices how can a Martin Luther safely throw them out 1500 years later?
One wonders, are Jews tastey? If you see a 6-foot rabbit running your way who looks hungry (and you have not been taking any hallucinogenic or psychotropic drugs!)… Well my advice is simple – you don’t need to be the fastest runner, you just need to outrun the slowest Jew! That is who the 6-foot rabbit REALLY wants to eat.
See for yourself…
Aww gee! That’s awful sad those Zionist pigs killing Assud’s pal and all! He must be pretty lonely being left behind while Farfour gets his virgins and stuff! Right?
Now now, Allah provides! Tune in tomorrow to meet Assud’s new buddy, “Nahoul the Bee” who learns a valluable lesson about being humane to animals, while vowing to continue on in Farfour’s struggle against the Zionists!
Meet Palestinian children’s programming star “Farfour the Mouse”. He loves spending time with his grandpa, his friends, and learning about the evils of “Zionist filth”. Sadly, the “Zionist Filth” murder him. No word on if he gets “mouse virgins” in paradise.
Now that is just quality! One wonders if Mother Angelica is taking notes and if we will see a Mickey Mouse Martyr on any EWTN programming for children any time soon!
I’m thrilled that China’s Olympic propaganda stunt turned into such a fiasco yesterday and sorry that someone didn’t throw the torch into the Thames. But this is not just about Tibet: it would have been nice to see huge crowds of Christians yesterday, protesting at the vile persecution of believers in mainland China. Defiant faith: Bishop John Han was imprisoned on 11 occasions
Q. How can Catholics call their priests “Father” when scripture clearly says, “Call no man father”?
A. When you read Matthew 23:1-12 it can seem like Jesus is prohibiting the practice of calling Catholic priests “Father”.
Matthew 23:8-12 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ.[a] 11The greatest among you will be your servant. 12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
However, from this we see that if we were to take these words literally no Christian should ever call anyone ON EARTH Rabbi, Father, or teacher. Now of course Rabbi is not used at all among Christians but not because of this verse in Matthew but because it is reserved for use of Jewish teachers. However, no one in all of Christendom seems to have any problem with calling a teacher a teacher or their dad Father. Why is this OK but calling a Catholic priest “father” is NOT OK?
As I have long suspected, (December 10, and January 4) the evangelical vote is not moving toward Obama as the MSM has been reporting since last November. In fact, support for Obama among Evangelicals at this point in the election cycle (25%) is slightly less than it was for John Kerry (26%) four years ago! GetReligion.org reports this media hoax based on Pew research figures. Read the rest of this entry »
Consider if you will the situation now – the women stay bundled up and the men still riot in the streets, kill dhimmi dogs, protest over politcal cartoons, treat their women like crap, suicide bomb…
Now if the women showed some hair, some fore arm, or some ankle…. Imagine how uncivilized these men would become!
I would never dream of encouraging anything that might change that level of civility they are showing now!
I know the music is contemporary and many traditionalists will not like it. Still, it captures the Spirit of modern youth and fits with the Holy Father’s them of the Holy Spirit for WYD 2008. When I saw these images I was truly moved.
A. Well, the word purgatory does not appear anywhere is Sacred Scripture. However, the words trinity and incarnation also do not appear anywhere in Sacred Scripture. So, the fact that a word does not appear in scripture does not categorically exclude the truthfulness of the doctrine it conveys. If it did we would all need to join the Jehovah’s Witnesses. However, the Doctines of the Trinity and Incarnation are clearly found in scripture. And so is the Doctrine of Purgatory.
Matthew 12:32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
Here Jesus implies that some sins will be forgiven in the “age to come.” We know that sin cannot be forgiven in Hell and there is not need for any sin to be forgiven once you are in Heaven. So, there must be some other state/age/place where sin CAN be forgiven after this age or this life. We call this Purgatory. This word comes from the Latin word for pure purigare. It is an intermediate state between life in this world and Heaven in which the soul is purified.
1 Corinthians 3:15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
You might want to look at this whole passage in context. Again, we know that once someone is in Hell, there is no escaping. And we also know that in Heaven there is no suffering, so this passage must be talking about a purification before Heaven is attained.
1 Peter 3:18-20For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.
1 Peter 4:6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.
Luke 16:22-26 “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23″In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.24″And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’25″But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.26’And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.‘Read the rest of this entry »
Easter is the feast of the 8th Beatitude. In St. Matthew’s Gospel, the 8th Beatitude is taken from the lips of our Savior: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.” The Easter Alleluia is so joyful because it sings the glory of Christ’s own martyrdom on the Cross, fulfilling God’s loving will. The Hebrew word “Alleluia” proclaims, literally, “O God, thy will be done.” Thus it celebrates the fullness of the 8th Beatitude: the victory of Christ over death.The death of martyrs, victims of persecution, is their gate to entry into the Kingdom of God. Martyrdom for them is a victory, triumphant and instantaneous. And martyrdom has been a continuing fact of life for the Catholic Church in China during the past 47 years. Read the rest of this entry »
Having been to two WYD’s (Toronto and Cologne) I can attest that they are supremely powerful experiences. To have the gospel sifted for its specific message for today’s youth by the greatest spiritual authorities on earth is just impossible to express. It is overwhelming.
But, it can be hard to convey that experience to those who were not there.
However, Benedict’s words in themselves, even without all the experiencial props to heighten the experience, have a power to clear ones thinking and set ones heart aright. He seamlessly weaves together concerns for the environment, sexual exploitation, materialism and secularism all in light of the universal spiritual hunger for the Gospel. Powerful!
Here are some of his words at Sydney Harbor on Thursday:
“…Dear friends, life is not governed by chance; it is not random. Your very existence has been willed by God, blessed and given a purpose (cf. Gen 1:28)! Life is not just a succession of events or experiences, helpful though many of them are. It is a search for the true, the good and the beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this – in truth, in goodness, and in beauty – that we find happiness and joy. Do not be fooled by those who see you as just another consumer in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces truth.Read the rest of this entry »
Dr. Robert S. Munday, Dean of the conservative Anglican seminary, Nashotah House, in an extraordinary moment of frankness admits that the Anglican Communion is riddled with political bribery as wealthy Western liberals threaten to withdraw humanitarian funding from conservative African bishops or promise them preferments if they withhold their support of GAFCON. This is the height of corruption and moral bankruptcy. He states: Read the rest of this entry »
John William Plessington, Priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of England
Born: 1637 in Dimples, Lancashire, England (United Kingdom)
Martyred: 19 July 1679 in Chester, Cheshire, England (United Kingdom)
One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. He was born at Dimples, Lancashire, England, the son of a Royalist Catholic. Educated at Valladolid, Spain, and St. Omer’s in France. he was ordained in Segovia in 1662. John returned to England after ordination and served as a missionary in Cheshire. He became a tutor at Puddington Hall near Chester until his arrest and martyrdom by hanging at Barrowshill, Boughton. near Chester. Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1970.
The Protest of a Protestant Minister Against Birth Control
by Rev. Matthew Trewhella
Sunlight was just beginning to break over the darkness of the morning as my wife and I headed toward the entrance of the cold brick-faced building. Fear and apprehension gripped me each step of the way. A thousand questions and thoughts raced through my mind. “How much pain will there be? Why the heck did I ever do this in the first place? Maybe I should just leave.” Read the rest of this entry »
This is a gathering of Catholics in a small village. They have being many years without a priest, but today Fr. Dang has come from the city of Kunming, more than 900 km. away, so the people from the village have spread the news around and everybody has come to the church, but the size of the crowd exceeds the capacity of the church, so many of the Christians have to attend Mass standing outside.
China has adopted the one child policy. This sight of brothers and sisters together is very seldom seen in the cities.
The Feast of Pentecost
See the whole slide show here. Whoever took this pictures has an artistic eye and a great love for the people.
Prayers for the Church in China today will echo in eternity. Remember them in your daily rosary, have Masses said for the faithful there, spread the word about them.
Traditional Judaism includes belief in both heaven and hell, as we will see below. How is one’s destination decided? The School of Shammai offered this description:There will be three groups on the Day of Judgment: one of thoroughly righteous people, one of thoroughly wicked people and one of people in between. The first group will be immediately inscribed for everlasting life; the second group will be doomed in Gehinnom [Hell], as it says, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence” [Daniel 12:2], the third will go down to Gehinnom and squeal and rise again, as it says, “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on My name and I will answer them“ [Zechariah 13:9]… [Babylonian Talmud, tractate Rosh Hashanah 16b-17a]Read the rest of this entry »
Former Anglican Bishop Jeffrey Steenson is widely revered among Anglicans as a man of profound integrity and service in the Lord’s vineyard. Last week he spoke at the Anglican Use Conference. He spoke with his usual clarity and Anglican eloquence. Welcome home, Jeffery.
It all begins with the conviction that the Catholic Church simply is. She is not one option amongst many. People who become alienated from their own churches will sometimes think that the next step is to go down to the marketplace and see what is on offer: which church is going to give me the best deal? Those people seldom find the Catholic Church because they have missed the essential point – the fullness of Christ’s blessings is not distributed across the ecclesial landscape but flows from the one Church.
The Catholic Church will expand its provision of “Anglican Use” parishes in the United States in order to allow whole communities of traditionalist Anglicans into the Roman fold, a senior Catholic archbishop has announced.
Pope Benedict on a recent visit ot the Yankee Stadium in New York
The Most Rev John J Myers, Archbishop of Newark and Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision, told a conference of ex-Anglicans on Friday that “we are working on expanding the mandate of the Pastoral Provision [of Catholic parishes using Anglican-inspired services] to include those clergy and faithful of ‘continuing Anglican communities’.
“We are striving to increase awareness of our apostolate to Anglican Christians who desire to be reconciled with the Holy See. We have experienced the wonder of several Episcopal Read the rest of this entry »
Q. If Jesus died for our sins on the cross then why does the Catholic Church teach that we still need to be punished in Purgatory?
A. The non Catholic view of salvation says that Jesus died for our sins and if we repent and believe:
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins …
End of story. However, we see in Sacred Scripture that there is more to the story. For instance, in this very verse it goes on to say:
.…and purify us from all unrighteousness.
This is the Catholic Doctrine of Purgatory in a nutshell. We see in scripture and in our everyday life two aspects or dimensions of sin. By offending the eternal God we commit a sin that has eternal consequences. We being finite are completely unable to make reparation for the eternal consequences of sin. Only an eternal being is able to do this. So, God incarnate, suffered and died on the cross to save us from the eternal consequences of sin. And we appropriate this gift by baptism, faith, repentance of sin in general and particular etc.
However, there remains the temporal consequences of sin. All sin, large and small, has consequences. These consequences are more obvious at times than others. If I speed and suddenly notice red lights flashing in my rear view mirror, confessing and repenting of my sin of speeding does not make the police car disappear. I still get the ticket. I still suffer the consequences of my sin. If I have sex outside of marriage and get an STD, going to confession does not make the STD disappear. The consequences of other sins may not be as obvious. But they all need to be suffered by us either in this life or the next. This is how we are purified of the temporal consequences of sin.
As with all the stories of God dealing with His children, He does His part and His children do their part.
God warned Noah about the Flood but Noah had to build the ark.
God promised to make a nation out of the seed of Abraham but Abraham had to go.
God told Moses He would set Israel free but Moses had to lead them out.
God promised Israel the land of Canaan but Israel had to conquer it.
We clearly get a glimpse of the eternal and temporal consequences of sin in 2 Sam 12:13-14:
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD ” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD has taken away your sin; you shall not die.14″However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.”
In this passage David is confronted by the Prophet Nathan about his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. David, repents. And Nathan announces that God has forgiven him for this sin. But, his child would die as a consequence of his sin. So God’s forgiveness did not negate a temporal punishment for his sin.
“But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’”
Here is Saul who will be transformed into Saint Paul by Christ; who is promised suffering the moment of his conversion to Christianity. And the NT tells us many of these sufferings and Sacred Tradition informs us of his death by beheading. Remember he killed and persecuted many Christians before his conversion so he had much to suffer for his sin.
Martin Luther taught that we are covered over with the righteousness of Christ as a blanket of snow on a pile of dung and that is how we enter Heaven–still impure inside. However, the Catholic Faith teaches that we are completely purified of all sin, both temporal and eternal before we can enter into the presence of God in Heaven. So, using Luther’s analogy, when we enter the presence of God we are pure and white through and through.
From the back seat of the gypsy cab, Ming-Chuan “Joseph” Kung watched Beijing blur by. Everything had been pre-arranged. Everything. As the hired driver steered through the streets of the capital city of the People’s Republic of China, the seven passengers – a small delegation of Americans in town for a human rights conference – rode mostly in silence. Only periodic, superficial chitchat and the heavy breathing of the car’s heater broke the stillness of that wintry January 8 in 1994.
Soon, the touristy section stacked with American-style hotels, designed for the comfort of Westerners spoiled by Capitalism, melted into the background. The well-lighted streets and sidewalks packed with people eating, drinking, laughing that Saturday evening gave way to another reality. Read the rest of this entry »
CLOISTER – Sister Marie Therese (far left) Sister Imelda Marie (center) and Sister Marie St. Claire (right)pray at St. Joseph Monastery in Portsmouth, Ohio. (Catholic Times/Jack Kuston)
PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (Catholic Times) – Any notion that cloistered nuns who constantly pray before the Blessed Sacrament and spend much of their lives in silence must live a solemn, somewhat grim existence quickly disappears on a visit to St. Joseph Monastery in Portsmouth. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Fr. J. 
The Protest of a Protestant Minister Against Birth Control
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