FBI Says Catholics Susceptible to Hate Crimes

Hate Crimes schmate crimes. It's bad law. We should abuse it and run it into the ground. Does anyone know if it would be a good idea to start up a Catholic advocacy and civil rights organization to exploit this bad law and make a lot of cash?

By Carol Zimmermann
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- According to a recent FBI report, religious groups are not exempt from being targets of hatred.

The FBI's report on hate crime statistics for 2008, released in late November, showed that the majority of hate crimes in the U.S. were motivated by racial bias but that religious groups and homosexuals were the next largest targets.

The overall number of reported hate crimes -- more than 7,700 -- increased about 2 percent in 2008. Although racially motivated hate crimes -- the largest category -- decreased by less than 1 percent, crimes against religious groups increased by 9 percent and crimes based on sexual orientation increased 11 percent over the previous year.

Hate crimes include acts of vandalism or property damage, intimidation or physical attacks. The FBI downplays year-to-year comparisons of hate crimes compiled since 1992, saying the increased figures could simply be the result of more local agencies tracking crimes. Civil and human rights groups say the figures are not accurate enough because not all hate crimes are reported.

Thomas Perez, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, told reporters Dec. 17 that he was committed to putting a stop to violence stemming from hatred and bias and planned to hire 100 additional staffers to assist with the expanded federal hate crime laws.

In documented crimes against religious groups in 2008, Jews were targeted the most -- 66 percent -- while Muslims accounted for 13 percent and Catholics were victims of 5 percent of hate crimes.

The Anti-Defamation League said the new figures show a need for a national initiative to combat hate crimes.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, told USA Today that attacks on Catholics could be motivated by the church's opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage. As Catholics become more vocal on issues, he said, they become targets for those who disagree with them.

The sense of a growing anti-Catholic sentiment was the focus of an Oct. 29 blog entry by New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan. The entry was an expanded version of an op-ed he submitted to The New York Times that was not published.

In the entry, the archbishop likened anti-Catholicism to "a national pastime," citing frequent examples of anti-Catholic bias in the pages of The New York Times. He also said the bias was prevalent in the "so-called entertainment media."

Laurie Goodstein, one of the reporters singled out in the archbishop's blog, responded by saying she was disturbed to read his characterization that her work and that of her colleagues was anti-Catholic.

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"Goldblog" Tells it Like it is

Jewish blogger, Jeff Goldberg at "Goldblog" expresses frustration with the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Who can blame him? Simon Wiesenthal was a huge charlatan and a fraud. There are all kinds of Nazis in the Vienna phonebook, but Simon never went after them.

One wonders if all of the whining won't, as Jeff observes, undermine the cause of Jewish security rather than help in the long run?

We'd like to thank Jeff for his sanity and good will, finally, someone gets it. Jews have no more business harping about Vatican Canonizations than Catholics have lecturing Jewish leaders about how they run their internal affairs.

He writes:

Put me down as both unshocked and uninterested. I don't particularly care who the Catholic church elevates to sainthood, because I'm not Catholic. It's not my business who the Catholics decide to call saint. The Catholic Church today is respectful of Jews and Israel; it also adores its former Popes. I don't see a contradiction. I'm not sure why I'm so unmoved by these Jewish protests -- maybe because I think Jews should keep their powder dry for actual problems. Or maybe because excessive whining is just so damn annoying.

Wiesenthal Center "Shocked" by Vatican; Goldblog Unshocked

Wiesenthal Center "Shocked" by Vatican; Goldblog Unshocked: "From the AFP:The founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center voiced dismay and disappointment Monday at weekend Vatican moves to raise controversial wartime pope Pius XII to sainthood.The Vatican sparked anger in Jewish communities worldwide with moves to nudge Pius --..."

Speaking of professional whiners... another Liberal blog attacks Bill Donahue who engages the media on behalf of the Catholic Church, not only winning scattered approval from elderly Catholics who send him money, enough to fund a $15 Million dollar a year non-profit, but allows him a broad platform to potentially discredit and undermine the thing he claims to be saving. In our opinion, he shouldn't be allowed to talk about rancorous sexual topics on television. He seems to us no more credible than Simon Wiesenthal or the 700 Club, but because he gets face time and fits a certain image, he'll continue speaking for the Church though he has no official position and receives hearty endorsements from Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles.

Vatican Sends Anti-Communist Message with Canonizations

Lifesite

By Hilary White

ROME, December 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Vatican has sent the world a message of Catholicism's fundamental opposition to communism with the announcement this weekend from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Three of the greatest twentieth century opponents to the communist and socialist ideologies, Pope John Paul II, Pope Pius XII and the Polish Solidarity priest Jerzy Popieluszko, all moved a step closer to canonisation. The two popes were declared "venerable" for their heroic virtues and the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI had approved the decree of beatification for Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko, the "Solidarity chaplain" murdered by the communist secret police.

In his lengthy biography, "Witness to Hope", American author George Weigel credits Pope John Paul with instrumental behind-the-scenes work in bringing down the communist regime in Eastern Europe. According to Weigel, John Paul, a Polish nationalist, was the third leg of an international triumvirate of world leaders - with US President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - who gave moral authority to the economic and political pressure that finally led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Following the shooting of Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Piazza in May 1981, it was widely speculated that the assassination attempt had been ordered by Moscow in retaliation for the pope's support for the Polish Solidarity movement. In March 2006 an Italian parliamentary commission concluded "beyond any reasonable doubt that the leaders of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate the pope Karol Wojtyla."

Pius XII, from the beginning of his pontificate in 1939 to his death in 1958, was implacably opposed to communism which was brutally persecuting Catholics throughout Eastern Europe. In July 1949, he formally excommunicated all members of the communist party and anyone who aided or abetted it. He forbade Catholics, on pain of excommunication, to write, publish, distribute or read books, periodicals, paper or pamphlets promoting communist doctrines. His 1951 letter to the Catholic Church of Czechoslovakia denounced the Communist regime for its vicious persecution.

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Pope Attacked at Midnight Mass

Pope Benedict XVI was attacked during Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. A woman is said to have attacked the Pope as he walked towards the altar.

Immediate reports are that the Pope was unharmed and went on to start the mass.
MSNBC reports that the woman jumped over a barrier and was able to knock down the pope. Pope Benedict's security guards helped the pontiff back to his feet.
Early reports from the Daily Mail Online say that the woman was mentally unstable. She has since been arrested by Vatican Police.

The woman also knocked over Cardinal Roger Etchegaray. The cardinal was taken to hospital.

The mass had been moved to an earlier time so that the Pope, 82, would not get exhausted.

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Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG: St Thérèse takes no prisoners

Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG: St Thérèse takes no prisoners

Wave of Clergy Killings in Russia

Voice of America

The second murder of a Russian priest in as many months has prompted a call by the Orthodox Church for Russians to think about their country's spiritual and moral condition. The killings follow more violence this year directed against Muslim clerics in Russia's troubled Caucasus region.

Tuesday's shooting death of 39-year-old priest Alexander Filippov is alleged to be the act of two intoxicated men in the village of Satino-Russkoye near Moscow. His widow is quoted as saying Filippov had reproached the suspects for relieving themselves at the entrance of their apartment building.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, called Filippov a bright and clean-living individual who leaves behind three daughters.

Kirill says the priest was killed because he was not indifferent to disgusting human behavior and took a principled stand against it in accordance with his calling.

The Interfax News Agency says a total of 26 Orthodox priests have been murdered in Russia since 1990. Many others have been assaulted. They include Vitaly Zubkov, who was kicked and beaten last month, just days after the murder of his friend, Father Daniil Sysoyev in Moscow. Sysoyev had received death threats for his outspoken criticism of Islam and attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity.

News reports quote Orthodox Church Spokesman Vladimir Legoida as saying that recent events show Russians must think of the spiritual and moral situation they live in.

The head of the Religion and Law Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Roman Lunkin, told VOA many Russians call themselves Orthodox Christians but have no idea about the obligations required by organized religion. He says Russian spiritual leaders themselves often set the wrong example by mixing church-state relations.

Lunkin says church leaders send a signal that to call oneself an Orthodox, it is enough to maintain close ties with the state or government officials and to participate in official ceremonies. He says this reveals an absence of true faith, adding that priests often begin with the construction of a church building, instead of first organizing a community of believers.

Lunkin says communism stripped many Russians of religious faith, and with it any respect for priests and churches.

Lunkin recalls an incident several years ago when a priest began building a church in the Ivanovo region north of Moscow and arrived one morning to find that local residents had dismantled the structure for its bricks because there was no organized community in that village and no one knew what Orthodoxy was. He adds that local hooligans who killed the priest considered themselves to be Orthodox.

Russia's Islamic community has also been rocked this year by several high-profile killings of Muslim clerics in the Caucasus. They include Akhmed Tagayev, deputy mufti of Dagestan, and Ismail Bostanov, rector of the Islamic Institute in the southern Karachai-Cherkessia region.

Some observers link those murders to Islamic militants who are fighting pro-Kremlin authorities. The deputy head of Russia's Mufti Council, Damir Khazrat Gizatullin rejects any connection. He told VOA he attributes the violence to incivility throughout Russia stemming from 70 years of communist rule.

Gizatullin says people in Russia do not know how to listen to one another, to give others the right away on the road, or to understand the foundations of spirituality and religion. This, he concludes, leads to current situation, which follows 70 years of alienation from the spiritual roots and traditions of Russia. He says people now fail to realize that members of the clergy and all others are protected by the Almighty and by the law.

He says Communists also made the mistake of focusing on the construction of buildings at the expense of community.

Gizatullin says Soviet authorities wanted to construct more living space for people, but toilets and other communal structures were forgotten. He says there was no time, no energy, and no resources for such things, and now Russia is reaping those elements of Soviet life.

Murders of prominent Russians are not limited to the clergy. Investigative journalists and political activists have also been victims. Most of the killers remain at large.

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Revolutionary Theologian Edward Schillebeeckx (1914-2009) deceased

Radbound University Nijmegen
Yesterday, on the 23rd of December 2009, the internationally renowned theologian Edward Schillebeeckx died. Dr Schillebeeckx was Professor of Dogmatics and History of Theology at Nijmegen University from 1957 to 1983. Edward Schillebeeckx has been of major importance to twentieth century and contemporary theology. Many recognize him as a pioneer who connected faith, church and theology with modern humanity in a secular society. He has been an iconic figure for Radboud University Nijmegen.

Edward Schillebeeckx was born in Antwerp, on 12 November 1914. In 1934, he entered the order of the Dominicans and in 1941 he was ordained as a priest. Late in 1957, Schillebeeckx was appointed Professor of Dogmatics and History of Theology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, now known as Radboud University Nijmegen.

Second Vatican Council
Schillebeeckx accompanied the Dutch bishops as their advisor during the Second Vatican Council (1962 – 1965). In 1960 he wrote a pastoral letter for the bishops informing the faithful about the Council. This letter attracted international attention because of the way in which Schillebeeckx described the relationship between the faithful and the hierarchy of the Church: he believed it is the task of the bishops and the Pope to express the live of the faithful, rather than the other way around.

Faith can change the world
In 1974, Schillebeeckx published Jezus, het verhaal van een levende, (translated in 1979 as Jesus: an experiment in Christology), and in 1977 Gerechtigheid en liefde, genade en bevrijding translated in 1980 as Christ: the Christian experience in the modern world). In these books, Schillebeeckx presented Christian faith as a source of inspiration for those who wish to stand up for the poor and oppressed and change the world for good. These books have broken new ground for twentieth-century theology and are still widely read and studied.

Church authorities
Schillebeeckx continued to be involved in the internal affairs of the church after the Second Vatican Council. In addition to his earlier works on the sacraments of the Church (De sacramentele heilseconomie, 1953), his later publications deal with priesthood and the role of the faithful in the Church (Kerkelijk ambt, 1980 and Pleidooi voor mensen in de kerk, 1985, translated as The Church with a human face: a new and expanded theology of ministry). As a result of the innovative character of his works, Schillebeeckx was asked to justify himself to the Church authorities on three occasions. Shortly before his retirement in 1983, he received the prestigious European Erasmus prize. Schillebeeckx’ work is still widely studied, particularly in the United States and Great Britain.

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Archbishop Nienstedt preaches joy and conversion to prison inmates

Archbishop Nienstedt preaches joy and conversion to prison inmates

New Details on Claims against Modernist Monastery

It's going to be difficult to take a case on now that the perpetrator is dead, but the presence of systemic and institutional abuse has been part of Novice formation since Abbot Eidenschenk would inspect his Novices in the nude as part of their counseling.

A deceased former Hastings area resident and priest, who was a counselor at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., for many years, is named in two civil lawsuits filed in Stearns County alleging sexual misconduct as far back as the early 1970s.

By: Jane Lightbourn, The Hastings Star-Gazette

A deceased former Hastings area resident and priest, who was a counselor at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., for many years, is named in two civil lawsuits filed in Stearns County alleging sexual misconduct as far back as the early 1970s.

The first lawsuit was filed by Jeremiah “Jerry” McCarthy, now living in New York. He accuses the college and the church officials of knowing in the mid-1960s that the Rev. Bruce Wollmering, who died earlier this year at the age of 68, had been “sexually inappropriate” with a child.

McCarthy was a 16-year-old preparatory student at St. John's in 1971 when he met with Wollmering for academic and psychological testing and spiritual counseling. He said the sexual contact with Wollmering occurred in Wollmering's office.

According to the first lawsuit, McCarthy accuses Wollmering of having a long history of sexual misconduct with students and the college of being aware of it.

The second lawsuit, filed Dec. 16, names Wollmering, two other individuals and the Order of St. Benedict, charging them with sexual misconduct (or being aware of the misconduct) against a then-student at the university.

The suit alleges Wollmering, the Rev. Finnian McDonald and Brother John Kelly sexually violated a 19-year-old student (identified only as John Doe in the lawsuit) and that Catholic officials knew or should have known of the incidents.

Specifically, the lawsuit charges that from 1984 to 1986, through his “role of psychologist, counselor and/or spiritual advisor,” Wollmering “deceived” Doe into “engaging in illegal sexual contact with him under the guise of providing religious instruction and emotional counseling.”

The lawsuit also alleges McDonald, while heading the academic advisory program, sexually exploited Doe, and that Kelly, while a faculty member engaged in illegal sexual contact with Doe.

According to the lawsuit, Doe was “raised in a devout Roman Catholic family and therefore developed great admiration, trust, reverence and respect for the Roman Catholic Church and its agents.”

The lawsuit indicated Wollmering provided spiritual and emotional guidance to Doe. But that, beginning in 1984, “Wollmering deceived Plaintiff John Doe into engaging in sexual contact.” The sexual contact continued for approximately two years, according to the lawsuit.

“That a student gets sexually abused by three clerics in three years at St. John's shows that the recklessness, deceit, corruption of church officials was very widespread,” said attorney Patrick Noaker of the St. Paul law firm of Jeffrey Anderson and Associates, who is representing the alleged victim. “We're grateful for this young man and each of the dozens of others who have helped expose dangerous Benedictine clerics.”

The suits seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages. Doe, now in his 40s, lives on the west coast.

After the first civil lawsuit was filed in Stearns County (Dec. 9), St. John's Abbey released a statement, indicating its position. “St. John's takes the issue of sexual misconduct very seriously, and over many years, has worked to ensure that policies and procedures on human rights are followed and enforced,” the statement said. [The inevitable pusilanimous disclaimer]

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Pope traces history of Christmas celebration, notes influence of St. Francis

December 23, 2009

In his final Wednesday public audience before Christmas, Pope Benedict XVI traced the history of the feast day. He reminded the audience in the Paul VI auditorium that Easter, not Christmas, was the “the most ancient feast of Christianity.” The tradition of celebrating the Nativity developed later.

At first the celebration of Christmas replaced the Roman pagan feast of Sol invictus-- the return of the Sun after the darkest day of the calendar year. “This highlighted the fact that the birth of Christ is the victory of the true light over the darkness of evil and sin,” the Pope remarked. The Christmas celebration as we now know it was advanced by St. Francis of Assisi, whose devotion to the Christ-child helped the world to understand “that we can establish an intimate rapport of profound affection with Him, just as we do with a newborn child.”

“God becomes a defenseless child to overcome man's pride, violence and thirst for possession,” the Pope continued. "People who have not understood the mystery of Christmas have not understood the decisive element of Christian existence: that those who do not accept Jesus with the heart of a child cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven.”

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Chaldean Church attacked and Election Candidate Killed in Bomb Attack

Church hit and election candidate killed in Iraq attacks
By Mujahid Mohammed (AFP) – 14 hours ago

MOSUL, Iraq — A pre-Christmas attack on a church killed two people in the Iraqi city of Mosul Wednesday while a Sunni Arab candidate died in a bombing in Fallujah, the first such murder ahead of March polls.

They were among 13 people killed in violence across the country, despite security forces ramping up their presence ahead of Christmas and the Shiite commemoration ceremonies of Ashura.

In Mosul, two people were killed and five others wounded Wednesday morning when "a handcart used to carry flour, left across the street from the Syrian Orthodox church of St Thomas, exploded," witness Hamis Paulos said.

A hospital official in the main northern city said the two people killed were Muslims, based on examination of their identity papers.

"Christians are being targeted during Christmas time -- the security forces, police and army must provide security, the police and army are responsible for this," said Father Abdul Massih Dalmay of the church.

"Is the number of security forces not enough? There is negligence on the part of the security forces."

The attack was the sixth on Christians in Mosul in less than a month, and came after the army said it put its forces on alert in areas with significant Christian populations because of intelligence they could be attacked.

In the former rebel bastion of Fallujah, a Sunni Arab candidate for parliamentary elections on March 7 was killed in a "sticky bomb" attack.

Saud al-Essawi of the Iraqi Unity Alliance (IUA) and his two bodyguards were killed when a magnetic bomb attached to his car exploded in the city, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad.

The IUA is a multi-confessional grouping led by Ahmed Abu Risha, a key Sunni leader who turned against Al-Qaeda to play a major role in reversing Iraq's insurgency, and current interior minister Jawad al-Bolani, an independent Shiite.

Iraqi political leaders and senior American generals have expressed concerns in recent months about violence linked to the election.

The security situation in Fallujah has improved dramatically in recent years.

Since 2006, Sunni tribesmen and former rebels, known as the Sahwa (Awakening) movement, have made common cause with the US military against Al-Qaeda, greatly reducing the jihadists' presence in the area.

In Baghdad, violence killed six people, including three men at a Shiite mourning ceremony as worshippers were participating in Ashura rituals.

Twenty-eight others were wounded, including four women and five children, in the bomb attack in the east Baghdad neighbourhood of Mashtal, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another person was killed and four wounded by a bomb at a Shiite mosque in the capital's central shopping district of Karrada, police said.

Security officials have said they will increase their presence during Ashura, which in the past has been used by Sunni extremists to target Shiites. In the holy shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf, for example, 46,000 policemen and soldiers will be out in force.

Also in Baghdad, Brigadier General Riad Abdel Majid, an inspector for the defence ministry, was killed by "unknown persons who opened fire on him while he was in front of his house," an official said a day after the attack.

A magnetic "sticky bomb" affixed to a minibus in the predominantly Shiite north Baghdad district of Kadhimiyah killed one person and wounded three at around midday (0900 GMT) on Wednesday, a police official said.

Outside of Baquba city, northeast of Baghdad, two Sahwa militiamen, including local Awakening leader Adnan Serhid, were killed by a roadside bomb, according to a policeman who did not want to be named.

The Sahwa, known as the "Sons of Iraq" by the US army, joined American and Iraqi forces to wage war in 2006 and 2007 against Al-Qaeda and its supporters, leading to a dramatic fall in violence.

Attacks still remain common however in Baghdad, Mosul and some other areas.

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CCHD Grantee Refers Homeless to Planned Parenthood: Oregon

Remember Oregon, with all the sex-abuse claims from the Jesuits?

Pro-Life Action of Oregon

(Portland, Ore., Dec 23, 2009, Pro-Life Action of Oregon)

STREET ROOTS, a newspaper for the homeless, received $5,000 of Archdiocesan money this year that originates from the collection basket at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. See Dec. 17, 2009 Sentinel article: ‘Archdiocese of Portland Presents Grants to Anti-Poverty Groups.’

“When the bishops formed the CCHD, they wanted to take a step beyond charity,” Archbishop John Vlazny says, explaining the program as a complement to the work of Catholic Charities and other groups.

The idea of the bishops was to help the poor help themselves via economic development. The campaign is still choosy about whom it funds, Archbishop Vlazny says, making sure all church criteria are met.

The national campaign backs projects, but so do local dioceses. The three local grants given last week were selected with the help of a committee guided by Matt Cato, director of the archdiocese’s Office of Justice and Peace and Respect for Life. [Emphasis added.]

Follow The Left-Wing Ideology


The Street Roots newspaper publishes a homeless guide, ‘THE ROSE CITY RESOURCE.’

The Rose City Resource guidebook refers the homeless – under “Health Resources” – to PLANNED PARENTHOOD. Pro-Life Action of Oregon spoke with Eddie Barbosa today and he confirmed that their current guidebook lists Planned Parenthood. (He gave us the phone numbers and the Tri-Met bus numbers to take, thinking we called for directions.)

Furthermore, the guidebook online displays a MAP OF RESOURCES. We located Planned Parenthood locations on the map.

Also troubling is the PARTISAN POLITICS involved. Street Roots newspaper online directs visitors to DEMOCRACY IN ACTION: “Wiring The Progressive Movement.”


Help us continue to serve the community by donating to the Rose City Resource via a secure link through our friends at Democracy in Action.


Are you upset as we are? We’re pretty upset. In fact, we’re angry at the sheer ignorance of those at the Archdiocese in charge of our money.

A soup kitchen would be better!! Donate to the poor DIRECTLY!

Planned Parenthood is an enemy of the Catholic Church. Just look at this fund raising ad which mocks Our Lord’s birth: CHOICE ON EARTH.

Who else mocks Jesus Christ? SATAN. He is the prince of lies.


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Second Irish Bishop Resigns

Surely the abuse in Ireland isn't more significant than it is in Los Angeles where Cardinal Mahony has been stonewalling for years against frequent lawsuits caused by his close associates and sexual co-conspirators. We don't think that language is too strong. Cardinal Mahony must have done something very special for some very popular people, because no one is asking for his resignation.

Even worse, no one is putting the cause of the abuse where it belongs, that of liberal vampires like Roman Polanski who don't have the slightest moral moorings and think nothing of breaking a few moral or civil laws along the way.

Not quite as bad, but a close second, is the fact that this is the result of public opinion which the Church has been courting now, increasingly, hiring PR Firms to improve its brand image, since the end of the First World War.

Portland Archdiocese Bankruptcy See the Facts of the Case Here


Wednesday December 23 2009

A SECOND Catholic bishop named in the shocking Murphy Report into cover-ups of clerical child sexual abuse in the archdiocese of Dublin is expected to announce his resignation today.

Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin James Moriarty will explain that he is stepping down as head of the diocese in order to give the priests and lay people a fresh start for 2010.

The decision of Bishop Moriarty, a former Dublin auxiliary under Cardinal Desmond Connell, comes six days after Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray's resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI.

Dr Murray stepped aside over his "inexcusable" failings when investigating complaints against notorious paedophile priest Fr Thomas Naughton when he too was an auxiliary bishop in Dublin.

This dramatic second resignation will intensify pressure on two existing Dublin auxiliaries, Eamonn Walsh and Ray Field, to quit as well even though both have told Archbishop Diarmuid Martin that they did no wrong and that it would be a miscarriage of justice for them to resign or be fired.

A fifth former Dublin auxiliary now at risk of losing high office is the Bishop of Galway, Martin Drennan, who until now has put up fierce resistance to going on the grounds that he too did no wrong.

He has also strongly criticised Archbishop Martin's impassioned plea for him to accept collective responsibility for the cover-ups as questioning his personal integrity.

A sixth former Dublin auxiliary, Dermot O'Mahony, who is in retirement, resigned from the presidency of a body which organises annual trips to Lourdes for the disabled and has been ordered by Archbishop Martin not to administer Confirmation to children next spring.

Last night four informed sources in Dublin and Kildare separately said that "Bishop Moriarty will resign tomorrow in order to give his diocese a fresh start for 2010".

Intense

One source suggested that over the weekend Bishop Moriarty (73) decided after intense consultations with trusted colleagues and friends at his residence in Carlow that he would go quickly.

An announcement of acceptance of his resignation by Pope Benedict could come as early as midday today, Rome time.

Other sources, however, questioned this timescale and suggested that Bishop Moriarty plans to say today that he has offered his resignation to the Holy Father.

- John Cooney

Irish Independent



http://www.independent.ie/national-news/second-bishop-to-step-down-over-abuse-coverups-1985712.html

Quisling USCCB Mounts Another Last Ditch Defense

The Bishops aren't too happy that a lot of Marxist legistlation isn't going to be passed into law, but they are, to be fair, keen on insuring that none of this mostly favoured legislation includes funding for abortion. Considering their resistance to the Congressional Bill, it's hard to believe that their resistance against abortion funding wasn't half-hearted like the French General Staff's too deliberate ineptitude in facing the Germans in 1940. Sure, individual units of Frenchmen fought bravely against the invading Germans, but Command Headquarters was largely blind and stuck in a hermetic enclosure from the rest of its armies owing to a complete lack of effectivc communication with its subordinate units; France in 1940, like American Catholicism, is doomed to political irrelavence and defeat.

But we're Catholics, we're used to being murdered by our enemies and betrayed by our shepherds. We should thank God for these tribulations and these shepherds. They and the surrounding irreligion and illusory freedoms give us much opportunity to proove our love of God.


Read the USCCB letter, it'll be dead letter before long, possibly a historical document choronicling the decline and fall of American Catholicism. What an ugly logo.

Here's a blog writing about this. He doesn't get it.

Queen's College Concert at St. James' Catholic Church, London

Here's an ecumenical effort that doesn't give ecumenism a bad name. Treat yourself to the glories of Catholic choral music -- sung by one of the finest ensembles in England -- breath in the holy sanctity of the incense, like aqueous clouds floating in the firmament of the Cathedral apses. It's a universe of sound and vision. Special thanks to Royalcello for the mention.

From St James's Roman Catholic Church, Spanish Place, London, with the Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford.

Versicle and Response: Deus in adjutorium (Padilla)
Rorate caeli desuper (Guerrero)
Psalms: 110, 147 - Dixit Dominus (Padilla), Lauda Jerusalem (Patino)
First Lesson: Isaiah 55
Office Hymn: The Angel Gabriel (Basque trad, arr Pettman)
Magnificat (Morales)
Second Lesson: Matthew 1 vv18-23
Nunc Dimittis (Coelho)
Homily: Prof Christopher Rowland
Anthems: Ave Maria (de Cristo); Pastores, si nos quereis (Guerrero); O magnum mysterium (Victoria); Alma redemptoris mater (Fernandez); Verbum caro factum est (Lobo)
Organ Voluntary: Tiento y discurso de segundo tono (Correa de Araujo)

Organ scholars: Benedict Lewis-Smith and Matthew Burgess
Director of music: Owen Rees.

Podcasts and audio available:

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Orthodox Church Saved Russia from Both Reds and Whites

In represents the latest effort of Russian nationalist activists close to the Moscow Patriarchate to promote the role of Orthodoxy in Russia, a new book on the Russian Civil War argues that the Church saved Russians from the catastrophes that would have been visited on them by any final victory of either the Reds or the Whites.

The book, “The Civil War in Russia: An Encyclopedia of a Catastrophe” (in Russian; Moscow: Sibirsky Tsiryul’nik, 2010, compiled by Dmitry Volodikhin), argues, according to a review by Pavel Svyatenkov, that “the official historiography” of that long-ago conflict is completely wrong (www.russ.ru/pole/Cerkov-po-tu-storonu-belogo-i-krasnogo).

That historiography, Svyatenkov writes, views the Civil War “through the prism of the conflict of the Reds and the Whites,” with the battle presented as one between “the central Bolshevik government in Moscow” and “numerous ‘separatists’ – the White generals Kolchak, Denikin, Yudenich and Wrangel.”

Consequently, “from the point of view of Soviet historiography as it was established under Stalin, the Bolsheviks behaved as ‘Ivan Kalitas,’ as ingatherers of the Russian lands that had fallen away.” And “therefore, the cult of empire in the post-Soviet period is not accidental – its roots are in the propaganda model of Stalinist times.”

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Farc Rebels Kill Columbian Governor

Farc rebels in Colombia have killed a provincial governor hours after kidnapping him in a bold commando raid, marking a return of political kidnaps.

Clad in his pyjamas, Luis Francisco Cuellar was taken from his home in Florencia, capital of Caquetá province, on Monday night after at least eight suspected members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) blasted the door down with explosives, according to local officials.

His body was found hours later in a rural area. President Alvaro Uribe said last night that Cuellar's throat had been slit.

The acting Caquetá governor, Patricia Vega, told local radio that the government had confirmed Cuellar's body was found near a vehicle abandoned by the commando squad. "Unfortunately we have to accept this painful reality," Vega said. The Farc has yet to issue a statement.

Officials said information from peasants led troops to the body after Uribe had offered a $500,000 (£313,000) reward for information. Uribe's father was killed in a botched kidnapping in 1982.

Troops combed jungles and mountains of the region throughout Tuesday, searching for Cuellar and his abductors


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News site uncovers political party affiliations of Chicago bishops, chancery staff

December 22, 2009

An investigation by an independent Chicago Catholic news site has found Democrats and Republicans among the Archdiocese of Chicago’s auxiliary bishops and key members of the chancery staff.

Those who requested Democratic ballots in 2008 included retired Auxiliary Bishop John Gorman, retired Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Lyne, archdiocesan chancellor Jimmy Lago, and Father Raymond Baumhart, SJ. Those who requested Republican ballots included Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki, Father Daniel Flens (Cardinal George’s secretary), and Father Thomas Baima, vice president and provost of Mundelein Seminary. In addition, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry said that he voted for presidential candidate John McCain in the general election.


Link to original...

Drug Lord Scum Murder Marine's Family in Mexico City

This is the only news worth talking about in Mexico today; flags at half-mast.

By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO, Associated Press Writer E. Eduardo Castillo, Associated Press Writer – 44 mins ago

MEXICO CITY – Assailants on Tuesday gunned down the mother, aunt and siblings of a marine killed in a raid that took out one of Mexico's most powerful cartel leaders — sending a chilling message to troops battling the drug war: You go after us, we wipe out your families.

The brazen pre-dawn slayings came just hours after the navy honored Melquisedet Angulo as a national hero at a memorial service.

"The message is very clear: It's to intimidate not only the government but its flesh and blood," said Jorge Chabat, a Mexican expert on drug cartels. "It's to intimidate those in the armed forces so they fear not only for their own lives, but the lives of their families."

Federal officials had warned last week's killing of drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva, known as the "boss of bosses," could provoke a violent backlash from smugglers, who have gone after federal police in the past following the arrest of high-ranking cartel members.

Beltran Leyva was among the most-wanted drug lords in Mexico and the United States, and was the biggest trafficker taken down by President Felipe Calderon's administration so far. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials blamed his cartel for much of the bloodshed across Mexico.

Link to original...

Egypt's New Televangelist

HEART AND SOUL
By Magdi Abdelhadi
Arab Affairs Analyst, BBC World Service

Amr Khaled's unique brand of Muslim preaching has made him one of the most popular preachers in the world.

Such is his appeal, he was recently named the 13th most influential person in the world by Time Magazine.

In Cairo, his DVDs stand on the top shelves reserved for best sellers in the Virgin record store, next to Bruce Willis and Charlie Chaplin.

His controversial style, comparable to the almost rock star approach of some of America's Christian evangelists, has drawn criticism from the religious establishment and he has moved away from his native Egypt.

Ironically, thanks to the proliferation of satellite channels, he is now able to reach far greater numbers than he could have ever done had his message remained within the confines of a mosque or a lecture hall.

'You're fired'

Now, following on from his hugely successful TV shows - which are watched by millions across the world - Mr Khaled plans to launch his own version of the reality television show The Apprentice.

"The aim of it is not to make money, but to make the youth ready to support the society," he told the BBC.

Link to original...

Some News about the SSPX Discussions

Some News about the SSPX Discussions

CD Review: Louis Vierne, emMesse Solennelle/em

CD Review: Louis Vierne, emMesse Solennelle/em

More Proof of Shakespeare's Catholicity

Three mysterious signatures on pages of parchment bound in leather and kept under lock and key may prove the theory that William Shakespeare was a secret Catholic who spent his “lost years” in Italy.

An exhibition at the Venerable English College, the seminary in Rome for English Catholic priests, has revealed cryptic names in its guest books for visiting pilgrims, suggesting that the playwright sought refuge there.

“Arthurus Stratfordus Wigomniensis” signed the book in 1585, while “Gulielmus Clerkue Stratfordiensis” arrived in 1589.

According to Father Andrew Headon, vice-rector of the college and organiser of the exhibition, the names can be deciphered as “[King] Arthur’s [compatriot] from Stratford [in the diocese] of Worcester” and “William the Clerk from Stratford”.

Link to original...

Joseph Pearce has also written a book dealing with this subject.

Holy Father on Saint Inflation

Benedict applies a gentle brake to saint-making

DESMOND O'GRADY, ROME
December 21, 2009


Mary MacKillop's canonisation will take place under Pope Benedict XVI's policy of restoring solemnity to canonisations.

His approach differs from that of his predecessor, John Paul II, who tended to cancel the distinction between beatification, in which a person's accession to heaven and ability to intercede for others is recognised, and canonisation, in which one becomes a saint.

He believed that as many nations as possible should have their saints, to correct the impression that heaven is populated by Italians, and that they should be as contemporary as possible.

He also believed that lay people and married couples should be canonised to balance the shoals of saints from religious orders.

The result was that he beatified and canonised more people than all his predecessors of the previous four centuries. Joseph Ratzinger, before becoming Benedict XVI, complained publicly that the inflation of saints was devaluing the currency.

John Paul II held many of the ceremonies in St Peter's, but Benedict XVI has encouraged beatifications at local level by bishops of the place where the person died rather than holding them in Rome.

For beatification, one cure for which no scientific explanation can be found is needed, but for canonisation the requirement is a second miracle which must occur after the beatification.

It did not seem a great difference to John Paul II but Benedict XVI has a different perspective.

He has the more traditional view that beatification is a papal concession to allow veneration of the beatified at the local level but that canonisation involves full papal authority in endorsing veneration throughout the church universal.

When Benedict XVI visits Britain early next year he is expected to beatify the 19th-century convert from Anglicanism John Henry Newman, an eloquent defender of the rights of conscience who is much admired by Benedict XVI.

Some candidates are blocked in the saint-recognition process for decades while evidence is gathered or miracles are awaited.

It is exactly a century since the archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Moran, left Mary MacKillop's deathbed expressing the conviction she was a saint.

Evidence began to be gathered in Sydney in 1925 but the case only reached Rome in 1973.

In contrast, 17th-century reformer Pope Innocent XI was on hold for 267 years. He was beatified in 1956.


Source: http://pascendi2.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=4091311

Benedict XVI names new primate for Polish Catholics

Benedict XVI names new primate for Polish Catholics

Catholic Relief Agencies Condemn Cophenhagen Climate

Caritas Internationalis-- the international consortium of Catholic relief agencies-- and CIDSE (an alliance of Catholic development agencies) are denouncing the Cophenhagen climate as “a weak and morally reprehensible deal which will spell disaster for millions of the world’s poorest people.”

“It is inconceivable that with more than 100 world leaders gathered together in one room to make a pact to solve a global problem, they have failed to commit themselves to adequate and binding obligations” said CIDSE Secretary General Bernd Nilles.

“They can call it an historical accord, a declaration, whatever they like. The reality is that leaders have failed to deliver a concrete and effective solution; they have passed up this historical opportunity to set a clear and collective pathway to a sustainable future.”


http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=4973

Anarchist Priest Encourages Thievery in the UK

More theological error and anarchy in the CoE.


A clergyman has been criticised as 'highly irresponsible' after advising his congregation to shoplift following his Nativity sermon.

Father Tim Jones, 41, broke off from his traditional annual sermon yesterday to tell his flock that stealing from large chains is sometimes the best option for vulnerable people.

It is far better for people desperate during the recession to shoplift than turn to 'prostitution, mugging or burglary', he said.

The married father-of-two insisted his unusual advice did not break the Bible commandment 'Thou shalt not steal' - because God's love for the poor outweighs his love for the rich. [Preferential option for the poor in Liberation Theology]

But the minister's controversial sermon at St Lawrence Church in York has been slammed by police, the British Retail Consortium and a local MP, who all say that no matter what the circumstances, shoplifting is an offence.

Delivering his festive lesson, Father Jones told the congregation: 'My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.
'I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices.

'I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need.
'I offer the advice with a heavy heart and wish society would recognise that bureaucratic ineptitude and systematic delay has created an invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope.'

He added that he felt society had failed the needy, and said it was far better they shoplift than turn to more degrading or violent options such as prostitution, mugging or burglary.


Read more:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1237470/Priest-advises-congregation-shoplift.html

The Church of England is Waning: Islam is Rising

Church of England is dying and non-Christian faiths are growing, while Americans are just as likely as Englishmen to think that the Church should not try to influence the Government. Really?

Not even years of liberal policies and attempts to keep up with the spirit of the times can save it. Seems like the only faiths growing are those who actually stand for something and are not harmonious with the spirit of the age.

Church Executive Magazine :: Brought to you by Power Trade Media

Once in Royal David's City: Anglicanism in Trouble

This thing by Diogenes is the best depiction of the Anglican Communion's troubles as any and the funniest.

Minarets to be built at "Ground Zero"

We love it when stuff like this happens. It's especially interesting in light of the almost universal support that the cultural relativism that makes things like this conceiveable in the Jewish Community of New York City.

By Chelsea Schilling
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Wreckage from plane that hit the twin towers fell on the same building that may serve as an Islamic cultural center.


A new Islamic mosque will open its doors just steps from Ground Zero where Muslim terrorists murdered 2,751 people in the name of Allah on Sept. 11, 2001 – and its leading imam, who conducts sensitivity training sessions for the FBI, has reportedly blamed Christians for starting mass attacks on civilians.

The five-story building at Park Place, just two blocks north of the former World Trade Center site, was the site of a Burlington Coat Factory. But a plane's landing-gear assembly crashed through the roof on the day 19 Muslim terrorists hijacked the airliners and flew them into the Twin Towers in 2001.

Now Muslim worshippers currently occupy the building, and they plan to turn it into a major Islamic cultural center.

"The men and women stand up, raise their hands on either side of their head, murmur 'Allahu akhbar,' bow and kneel again," reports Spiegel Online.

"Only in New York City is this possible," Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, or ASMA, told the magazine. Khan is the wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, founder of ASMA.

Link to original...

Cardinal Schönborn Allows Communist Burial Service at Vienna Cathedral

This Sunday an Austrian state-artist, Stalinist, blasphemer and pornographer Alfred Hrdlicka was buried in Vienna.

The media hungry vienese Cathedral Priest Anton Faber provided a Catholic burial for the blasphemous artist.

What followed was a cabaret act where many of Vienna's leftist politicians came to mourn in the presence of unappealing bronze statues where Father Faber in his solemn black cope read the blessing for the unrepentant Communist and blessed him with holy water as his red lacquered casket was lowered into the ground with a hammer and chisel atop it in place of the traditional crucifix; meanwhile a gypsy choir sang Communist songs predicting the victory of the Red Revolution, which had cost the lives of so many Christiains.

It should go without saying that canon law forbids the burial of non-Catholics (Hrdlika was Old Catholic) and unrepentant sinners.

The following video shows some of his hideous "artworks" which adorn the Barbara Chapel in the St. Stephens Cathedral in which his funeral service was held, where Fr. Faber announced that "we are hopeful of his eternal life". Perhaps he meant something about posterity? We want to be charitable and not take things out of context after all...

Source article from Kreuz.net...


video: http://www.gloria.tv/?media=42849

Hrdlika had previously displayed a blasphemous Last Supper in the St. Stephen's Cathedral which eventually, under some duress, Cardinal Schönborn removed it at Cathcon.

Rampaging Elephants Attack People Who Persecuted Christians in 2008

Nature definitely exacts a price for sins, but this is more dramatic, almost miraculous. It reminds us of the Ents attacking Isengard.

In July 2008 a severe persecution of Christians broke out in the Indian state of Orissa. A 22 year old nun was burnt to death when angry mobs burnt down an orphanage in Khuntpali village in Barhgarh district, another nun was gang raped in Kandhamal, mobs attacked churches, torched vehicles, houses of Christians destroyed, and Fr. Thomas Chellen, director of the pastoral center that was destroyed with a bomb, had a narrow escape after a Hindu mob nearly set him on fire. The end result saw more than 500 Christians murdered, and thousands of others injured and homeless after their houses were reduced to ashes. Recently a strange and dramatic event took place in Orissa, which has many people talking and wondering.

In recent months, herds of wild elephants have begun to storm villages that are home to some of the worst persecutors of Christians during the troubles. In one village, where in August a year ago the Christians had to run for their lives while their homes were being destroyed by rioters, a herd of elephants emerged from the surrounding jungle exactly one year later, in July 2009, at the same time of the day of the attack.

These elephants first attacked a rock crusher machine owned by a key leader of the persecution movement. They then went on to destroy his house and farms.

Hundreds of villagers have been forced to take shelter in camps in the Indian state of Orissa after repeated attacks by a herd of elephants.

Seven people have been killed and several others injured in attacks by a herd of 12-13 elephants over the past few weeks in Kandhamal district.

Over 2,500 people living in 45 villages have been affected by the attacks, district chief Krishen Kumar said.


Read further...

Abortion Continues to be a Dividing Issue

Wall Street Journal

By JANET ADAMY
The Senate nudged its health bill toward tighter restrictions on abortion coverage, a change that left advocates on both sides of the issue unsatisfied.

Under a deal with Sen. Ben Nelson, women who receive a new tax credit to buy insurance would write a separate check with their own money for abortion coverage, and states would explicitly have the option of barring such coverage from plans sold on new insurance exchanges. However, the language is less sweeping than that adopted by the House in November, which abortion-rights groups interpreted as the most significant setback in Congress for their cause in many years.

As it did in the House, abortion threatened to sink the health-care bill at the last minute in the Senate. Mr. Nelson, an antiabortion Democrat, vowed to withhold his vote unless the bill included more stringent requirements to ensure no federal money goes toward paying for abortion.

Link to orignal...

Growing Power of Iraqi Kurdistan Could Backfire on Iran

Iran’s strategy to break Iraq into three component territories, and to dominate those territories in order to reduce regional opposition and to gain unfettered access to Syria and the Mediterranean as a result of the Western invasion of Iraq in 2004, has had profound success.

The country is now, at best, a federation, with elements of a slide toward confederacy or even the breaking away of some territory. Iran dominates, and will increasingly dominate, the Shi’a-controlled central heartland and the Government of Iraq, particularly when US and Coalition forces depart. Iraq’s northern — and predominantly Kurdish — region is now virtually an independent state. It is certainly an autonomous state.

Read Further....

Bishops Prefer PR to Prayer and Orthodoxy

Claims against 70 Boston priests under the charge of Cardinal Law who paid out less than $157 Million was eclipsed by the $660 Million figure being paid out to victims in the Los Angeles Archdiocese headed by Cardinal Mahony at the same time; but Mahony is still fighting with the crimes of his youth. The numbers of victims and priestly predators involved are comparable, the only difference being that Cardinal Mahony was more friendly to homosexuals and dissidents in his See where Cardinal Law was perceived as a "conservative".

Perhaps it was Cardinal Mahony's mob connections through film moughul Lew Wasserman who engineered the box office failure, "Last Temptation of Christ", or perhaps it was the luxuriant high-profile Sitrick PR man he was able to pay for that tipped the scales? It's always seemed incredibly unfair to us elsewhere, but Cardinal Mahony, who was just as much a problem in protecting homosexual priests, never had to resign his office and go back to Rome.

The unequal treatment meted out between conservatives and liberals will no doubt continue, but even a few evil Bishops in Ireland are now being forced into retirement; one wonders if they are the only ones who deserve to be thrown out considering the lack of religious education in their country as demonstrated by three priests interviewed recently on Irish Television who either didn't seem to know their Faith, or were eager to subvert it out of malice.

Still, even if you don't know the Faith, there's still a lot of real-estate out there and it's a nice gig. So in order to protect this valuable spiritual benefice, the Bankrupt Diocese of Wilmington, like Cardinal Mahony in LA, has ordered up its own http://PR company to enable it to blunt the ire of the public in the face of the scandal caused by homosexuals and exploited by the Marxist media and government.

Perhaps PR saves the day and will save the day this Christmas as the Chicago Archdiocese shells out almost a $1 Million dollars to lure fallen away Catholics, most of whom "just drifted off" over the years, to return back to their places on Sunday, praying. If they just drifted off, perhaps it is thanks to the poor catechesis by area Lavender Dons like Cardinal Bernardine and Archbishop Weakland?
Well, if you can't get them by praying, at least you can lure them by snazzy marketing gags and hiring expensive PR firms.

We think Bishops would have better PR if they actually gave some demonstrable proof that they believed in what they taught, rather than hiring spin-doctors to make them look believeable. Unfortunately, it's hard to justify the process of PR, encouraging people to mechanical compliance to your point of view through emotional appeals is going to get anyone to heaven. We don't know, but it seems unlikely that anyone will learn the fundamentals of Catholic doctrine, and judging from recent Pew polls on Catholics who view Catholicism as a spiritual smorgasboard, it seems unlikely to change.

We also think things would change if Cardinal George were to be publicly whipped by traditional Saxon monks on public television like Peter O'Toole in his portrayal of Henry II in Beckett.


Sun Times

ELGIN -- Carrie Rauch has been active in the Catholic Church since she was a child. Her devotion continues to this day as director of evangelism at St. Thomas More Catholic Church.

Yet she understands how someone can become a lapsed Catholic. It could be due to anger, personal difficulties or a struggle with the church's teachings, she said.

Parishioners at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Hampshire hold a candlelight vigil in 2007. A new initiative is encouraging Catholics to reconnect with their local parish.

What Rauch hopes is her fellow Catholics will come back to the church and sort out those issues.

"It's in God's hands to move people. We will provide the hospitality and warmth to come back," she said.

Rauch is at the forefront of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford's new campaign, Catholics Come Home, an initiative to draw lapsed Catholics back to the church.

This week saw the launch of the initiative in northern Illinois. A series of TV commercials, which began airing last week, will run throughout the Rockford and Joliet dioceses and the Chicago archdiocese until Jan. 24.

Catholics Come Home is an invitation to people who once filled the pews but now stay home on Sunday morning. It encourages them to reconnect with their local parish and participate in a program that will re-orient them to the church and its teachings.

The number of those Catholics is high, according to a recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. One in 10 American adults is a former Catholic, the study found. There are more lapsed Catholics in America than there are affiliated Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Orthodox Christians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and Presbyterians combined, according to Pew's breakdown of religions in America.

Local churches are hoping the marketing blitz will help them fix a problem that prayer hasn't [who says anyone's actually praying? Fasting might not hurt either.]

"It's scheduled to be on every cable system that serves northern Illinois, and it will even bleed into southern Wisconsin and the Quad Cities," Rockford Diocese Communications Director Penny Wiegert said. "We figure that the average person will see the spots 12 times."

Exposure like that costs money. The Rockford and Joliet dioceses each are paying $250,000 for the commercials. The Chicago archdiocese is paying $850,000.

Link to Chicago Sun Times article...

"Pope" to be Trademarked

Vatican City, Dec 19, 2009 / 12:23 pm (CNA).- The Vatican made a declaration on the protection of the figure of the Pope on Saturday morning. The statement seeks to establish and safeguard the name, image and any symbols of the Pope as being expressly for official use of the Holy See unless otherwise authorized.

The statement cited a "great increase of affection and esteem for the person of the Holy Father" in recent years as contributing to a desire to use the Pontiff's name for all manner of educational and cultural institutions, civic groups and foundations.

Due to this demand, the Vatican has felt it necessary to declare that "it alone has the right to ensure the respect due to the Successors of Peter, and therefore, to protect the figure and personal identity of the Pope from the unauthorized use of his name and/or the papal coat of arms for ends and activities which have little or nothing to do with the Catholic Church."

The declaration alludes to attempts to use ecclesiastical or pontifical symbols and logos to "attribute credibility and authority to initiatives" as another reason to establish their “copyright” on the Holy Father's name, picture and coat of arms.

"Consequently, the use of anything referring directly to the person or office of the Supreme Pontiff... and/or the use of the title 'Pontifical,' must receive previous and express authorization from the Holy See," concluded the message released to the press


http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/holy_see_declares_unique_copyright_on_papal_figure/

Federal Funding for Needle Exchange

No doubt the good folks at NPR think this is a good thing in their lemon latte world of easy virtue.

Speaking of virtue, if such a thing can be said to exist, we have more false charity on the way and if you think you're performing a meritorious act by voting for "social change" which will extort money from you fellow taxpayers... Never mind the limousine liberals, they can protect their wealth in numerous ways. The middle class and those "rich" people with combined incomes over 90k will pay for this non-sense.

More creeping, frog soup, socialism and degradation especially provided by the inestimable power of your Federal Government.

NPR

After two decades, Congress has voted to lift a ban on federal funding of needle exchange programs. AIDS activists are cheering the move, saying it legitimizes needle exchange in the nationwide fight against HIV/AIDS.

For years, needle exchange programs in three dozen states have provided clean needles to intravenous drug users as a way to reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C. But the programs have relied solely on state and local funding because of a longtime ban at the federal level. For years, some regarded needle exchange as an incentive for drug addicts to continue to use.

Link to original...

Pilgrimage to Shrine of St. Lazarus in Cuba

A pilgrimage combining two faith traditions has taken place in Cuba at the shrine of St Lazarus.

It is a religious event which has managed to continue uninterrupted, even in the face of oppression in the past.

Michael Voss reports from Havana.

See video images...

Australia to have its first Roman Catholic saint

Australia to have its first Roman Catholic saint

Popular Ohio Priest Has Parish Kneeling

SHILOH -- Belleville Catholic Bishop Edward Braxton has set a deadline of this weekend for all parishioners who attend Corpus Christi Church: You must kneel [It's called Consecration] during the high point of the ceremony, the Liturgy of the Eucharist.Braxton sent a letter marked "high priority" to Monsignor James Margason, pastor of Corpus Christi, who posted the information for parishioners.In the Catholic Church, the Eucharistic Prayer marks the central prayer of the Mass and is the moment when the "bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ," according to a directive from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The group advises that all should kneel at this time.

http://www.bnd.com/homepage/story/1057536.html

Red Basques Continue to Attack Bishop Elect

This has all the earmarks of a Marxist propaganda campaign. The priests creating this furor should be sent packing without the benefit of a severence package to fend for themselves in the streets of Barcelona with the dogs and cats.

This Bishop elect needs to stand firm against these reds like Pius XII did in Bavaria when he confronted them like Leo the Great confronted the Huns outside the gates of Rome!

SAN SEBASTIÁN, Spain, December 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The appointment of

Bishop José Ignacio Munilla to the diocese of San Sebastian in northern Spain, has been repudiated in a letter signed by a majority of priests of the diocese.

Since the rejection early in 2009 by the Austrian bishops conference of the pope's pick for bishop of Linz, some European bishops and priests have stepped up their defiance of papal wishes on appointments and Catholic teaching.

The letter said that Bishop Munilla is "not suitable" for the post and said the appointment would "discredit the ecclesiastical life of our diocese." It was signed by 131 priests, nearly 80 per cent of the diocese's complement. The letter is believed to be politically motivated, given that the Catholic Church in the Basque region is known for its "progressive" stands and its sympathy for the Basque separatist movement.

Link to original...

Revolutionary Basques here too....

Report: Vegas teacher accused of denying Holocaust | ajc.com

Report: Vegas teacher accused of denying Holocaust  | ajc.com

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Petulant Vatican Bureaucrat Criticizes Kreuz.net for Circulating Encyclical on Music

Kreuz circulates what spokesman Fr Lombardi says is a fake encyclical on sacred music, Musicam Sacrum Fovere conceived to please conservatives and earns the scorn of the Liberals at Radio Vatican who then proceed to make simpering accusations about their supposed association with National Socialism and the USA based server they use, "to avoid prosecution under German Law".

Link to original ...

Original PDF File of Musicam Sacram Fovere in Latin...

Even Garrison Keillor Angers Jews

image credit soulintention


YES!

NPR is going to be so angry. Perhaps Garrison wants to go out in a blaze of glory?

We can't wait till Garrison appears before a press conference to offer a contrite apology to his masters. Perhaps he couldn't take it anymore and he was off steam and what was intended as toungue in cheek showed his underlying ire.

How about a little sympathy for a man who's just suffered a stroke?


Garrison Keillor, self-appointed cultural representative of regular old Americans, ruffled some feathers yesterday with a mildly xenophobic rant about Christmas. After lambasting a Unitarian church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for “spiritual piracy and cultural elitism”—tweaking the lyrics of “Silent Night” for a singalong, in layman’s terms—he turned his ire in a different direction:

And all those lousy holiday songs by Jewish guys that trash up the malls every year, Rudolph and the chestnuts and the rest of that dreck. Did one of our guys write ‘Grab your loafers, come along if you wanna, and we’ll blow that shofar for Rosh Hashanah’? No, we didn’t. Christmas is a Christian holiday—if you’re not in the club, then buzz off.

The Baltimore Sun got some angry letters about this, and understandably so. Hating on Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” is, in a way, the same thing as the American Family Association’s boycott of the Gap for its “failure” to use the word Christmas in ads: both actions reject a dilution of Christmas by outsiders, just in slightly different ways. It certainly does not accord with the generous holiday spirit. And anyway: “Dreck?” Really? Who’s co-opting whom?

Pius XII to be Made Venerable Angers Jewish Groups

Jewish leaders expressed disgust Saturday when Pope Benedict XVI pushed a controversial predecessor one step closer to sainthood.

The pontiff declared Pius XII "venerable" even though he's been criticized for not doing enough to help Jews during the Holocaust.

Jewish groups had asked for the move - one step before beatification - to be postponed until they're allowed to review Vatican archives on Pius' World War II actions.

Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, called Benedict's decision "profoundly insensitive and thoughtless."


Read more:

Copts in New York Protest Persecution

This statement is from the American Copts at http://freecopts.net/english/ who organized simultaneous rallies in several States to “express their resentment and rejection to what is taking place to their brethren in Egypt, including killings, destruction and looting of their property, displacement from their homes and the forced Islamization of their minor daughters.”

Link to "the "silent" majority no more!"...with lots of photos.

Senator Nelson will Vote for Socialized Medicine

Get ready for more for a lump of coal this Christmas as new legislation which will produce unintended and unfortunate consequences not least of which will be the stifling of business, loss of jobs and ultimately, poor medical care.

For all of the ineffectual wrangling of the USCCB, the bill is likely going to include federal funding for abortion anyway, and it should cost Nelson his Senate seat when he's up for re-election. The Bishops could conceivably have stopped the Bill in the Congress, but chose to accept the fools bargain anyhow. This seems to be playing out just as Deal Hudson predicted it would back in August.

Article in the Washington Post, here.

Pro-life advocates in the state of Nebraska have applied steady pressure, but it reamins unclear just what provisions against abortion will be in place when the Bill is voted into law before Christmas as reported by google news.

Steve Ertelt says that Stupak claims that he can still defeat the bill after all.

Here's more information from lifesite on the "compromise".

Reputedly Catholic Organizations Support Casey Proposal

Bob Casey receives endorsement from the usual suspects who lay claim to a Catholic identity that benefits them with their donors and alumni, but do not, as Cardinal DiNardo says, amount to rejecting federal funding for abortion.

Washington D.C., Dec 18, 2009 / 06:56 pm (CNA).- Sen. Bob Casey's office released a statement to CNA on Friday afternoon claiming that the senator's abortion compromise has received “widespread praise” from health groups and faith leaders around the country. However, the U.S. bishops' head of pro-life issues, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, charged that Casey's language does not address the fact that the Senate bill still fails to comply with “longstanding Hyde restrictions on federal funding of elective abortions.”

Following the defeat of the Nelson Amendment in the Senate, Sen. Casey (D-Penn.), who helped co-sponsor it, sent a new compromise proposal to Sen. Nelson that would hopefully garner enough votes to pass the Senate.

After reviewing the Casey proposal, Nelson rejected the language, saying that it “does not yet ensure that a longstanding federal standard barring public funding of abortion would be maintained in the Senate health care bill the Senate has been debating this month.”

Speaking in a press release on Friday, Sen. Casey underscored that “It is critical to maintain restrictions on federal funding of abortion. But we must also focus on the needs of vulnerable pregnant women and do all we can to assist them at a time when they may find themselves alone and without support.”

[chop]

The following is a list of individuals who support the Casey proposal:

Despite the fact that no one has actually seen the proposed language of the compromise, Sen. Casey's office released a list of religious groups who have come forward in support of the illusory language. The list includes U.S. Ambassador to Malta Douglas Kmiec, Sr. Simone Campbell of NETWORK, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, the Catholic Health Association and professors from Boston College, Fordham University, Marquette University, the University of Dayton, the Catholic University of America and the University of Notre Dame

Link to original...

EWTN's Arroyo Hosts Reform CCHD Reps Who Reveal Shocking Evidence Against USCCB Anti-Poverty Arm

From Catholic Answers:

The ALL compilation is quite instructive; it links to the USCCB list of grantees as well. Skimming through the USCCB list of grantees and descriptions, I did a word search for "empower" and got 24 hits. Is that evil? No, but it means that the grantees are often more political than charitable in nature, usually associated with a "progressive" social agenda.

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Catholic Bishops Give Thumbs Down to Senate Abortion Funding Compromise

Catholic Bishops Give Thumbs Down to Senate Abortion Funding Compromise

New Spanish Traditional Site: Need Translators

Última modificación: 05 de diciembre de 2009 | Descargar en formato PDF

Horloogiyn Choibalsán nació en Achit Beysiyin[1] en el Aymag Tsetsen Khan[2] de Mongolia, el 8 de febrero de 1895. Originalmente fue entrenado como monje Lamaísta. Tras huir de un monasterio a los diecisiete años, realizó una serie de trabajos mientras acudía al Colegio Ruso para Traductores en Nislel Khuree, como se llamaba Ulán Bator en ese entonces.

Hizo contacto con los revolucionarios rusos cuando viajó a Siberia. Fundó su primera organizacón revolucionaria en 1919. Mientras iba al colegio en Rusia, se unió con Damdin Sükhbaatar para formar el Partido Revolucionario Popular de Mongolia en 1921, mientras mantenía contacto con los Bolcheviques.

Después de que las fuerzas armadas de Mongolia y el Ejército Rojo soviético entraron en Urga en 1921 y establecieron un gobierno pro-soviético, Choibalsán acudió a una academia militar en Moscú y se convirtió en Comandante en Jefe del ejército mongol. Más tarde tendría varios cargos en el gobierno, desde Ministro de Exteriores hasta Vice Primer Ministro de Guerra.

Alcanzó el poder con apoyo soviético, como resultado del desagrado de Stalin con el líder comunista mongol Peljidiyn Genden. Genden había, entre otras cosas, reducido la aplicación de una economía dirigida, rehusó el permiso para que las tropas soviéticas se basaran en Mongolia, y rehusó una orden de Stalin de "liquidar" a los monjes budistas. Cuando Stalin aumentó la presión sobre Mongolia, Genden lo acusó de imperialismo. En 1936, Genden fue sacado del poder y poco después lo arrestaron y mataron. Choibalsán, que seguía las órdenes de Stalin sin cuestionar nada, pronto se hizo al poder.

Fue cabeza de estado (Presidente del Presídium del Pequeño Hural del Estado[3], 1929-1930) y cabeza de gobierno (Presidente del Consejo de Comisarios Populares, 1939-1952) y dominó el mundo político del país. Para 1940 ya no tenía rivales. En ocasiones se le ha concedido el título del rango militar de Mariscal.

Era un cercano seguidor del líder soviético Josef Stalin y emuló sus políticas de varias formas. Por ese motivo – y por su sanguinario gobierno – con frecuencia se han referido a él como el Stalin de Mongolia. Como Stalin, desarrolló un culto a la personalidad y purgó a miles de disidentes.

Pero aunque Choibalsán no podía mantener una política exterior independiente, es muy simplista considerarlo un simple títere sin ninguna voluntad propia. Él era un nacionalista mongol, y nunca abandonó la intención de unir a todos los mongoles[4] bajo la República Popular de Mongolia. Hasta 1945 alentó la insurrección étnica en Xinjiang Oriental (con apoyo de Stalin), con el objetivo de fortalecer la influencia del Partido en la región e intentando extenderlo más allá de Xinjiang, a Gansu y Qinghai.

En agosto de 1945 el PRPM declaró una guerra a Japón y participó en la invasión soviética de Mongolia Interior. Choibalsán esperaba que fuese la oportunidad de arrebatar la zona a China, pero en agosto de 1945 Stalin concluyó un trato con China que garantizaba importantes intereses soviéticos en el Lejano Oriente, así como la independencia de Mongolia Exterior. Con estas ganancias en sus manos, Stalin rechazó los sueños pan-mongoles de Choibalsán. Sin embargo, continuarían sus peticiones por Mongolia Interior hasta 1949. La mayor concesión del dictador soviético fue dejar que Choibalsán realizara actividades propagandísticas "tranquilas" en Mongolia Interior para autodeterminación nacional.

El gobierno de Choibalsán es generalmente considerado como el más tiránico que ha existido en la historia reciente de Mongolia. Bajo su mandato se condujeron muchas purgas sangrientas de "enemigos del pueblo", y la cifra más conservadora indica que al menos 30.000 personas murieron debido a sus represiones violentas, enfocadas principalmente en figuras religiosas, antigua aristocracia y disidentes políticos. Sólo en dos años tras el inicio de las purgas de 1937 unas 57.000 personas sufrieron encarcelamiento político.


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Holy Father: Failure to Recognize Natural Law Leads to "Dictatorship of Relativism"

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - If we fail to recognize the value of natural law, or of the immutable truth, inherent in the human heart, which urges concern for the common good and rejects attacks on life, then we risk a "dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything definitive and leaves as the ultimate criterion only the self and ones own desires". This is the warning that Benedict XVI traced today from the life and thoughts of John of Salisbury, a twelfth century English theologian, the subject of his catechesis delivered to nine thousand people present in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican for the General audience.

John was born between 1100 and 1120 in Salisbury, England. According to a wealth of letters left us by the theologian, between 1136 and 1148 he devoted himself to studies by attending the lectures of the most famous masters of his time, particularly those of the theological school of Chartres. "As often was the case with the most brilliant students” he was a sought after collaborator by bishops and sovereigns of the time and between 1150 and 1161 he became secretary and chaplain to Theobald, the aging archbishop of the primary See of Canterbury. "With unflagging zeal," while he continued in his studies, he carried out an intense diplomatic activity, frequently travelling to Rome to ensure ongoing relations with the papacy. An Englishman, Adrian IV, was pope at the time. He died in 1159. In those years, there was "serious tension between church and kingdom, which sought to assert its authority, limiting freedom" in England.

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More Bad Jesuits: Georgetown

As the DC City Council was getting ready to legalize same-sex "marriage" (it's in quotes because same-sex unions are NOT marriage, despite what secular governments say). Father Joseph Palacios, a Georgetown University sociology professor joined DC Clergy United for a rally in support of the messure. I refer you to the article and will note below some logical fallacies in some of his statements.

He likens his own homosexual orientation to his Latino ethnicity. That's flat wrong. The Magisterium plainly teaches that the homosexual orientation is intrinsically disordered and is sinful if one acts upon it. Father states that he is celibate. Be that as it may, he does advocate for the promulgation of the gay lifestyle. That is inherently sinful.

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Catholic Health Association Backs Phony Casey Abortion Funding Compromise

Catholic Health Association Backs Phony Casey Abortion Funding Compromise

Useful Catholic Organizations Promote Global Warming

Anyone who advocates in favor of climate change is at best a useful idiot in the service of Marxism, including the Alaskan Bishops, the Irish Bishop's Conference and the USCCB. The fact that so many Catholic organizations have been so compliant for this false agenda is a sure indication of just how far the cancer has progressed now destroying the Catholic Faith wherever it has its nest and networks of mutually supporting individuals bent on destroying the Church.

As world-wide support for these initiatives which will only cost jobs and retard economic development and provide new avenues for oppression and social engineering, the propaganda organs of the Globalists, like George Soros who exploits Catholic organizations, will increase their rancour.

December 17, 2009

Frustrated by sputtering climate talks, Caritas Internationalis-- the international consortium of Catholic relief agencies-- and CISDE (an alliance of Catholic development agencies)-- are calling upon heads of state to act decisively during the Copenhagen climate summit’s final days.

“We must be clear what is causing the current deadlock: developed country commitments on emission reductions and support to developing countries fall far short of what science and justice requires,” said CIDSE Secretary General Bernd Nilles. “Developed countries hold the historical responsibility for climate change, which is impacting profoundly already on developing countries. They simply cannot shirk their responsibilities.”

“Heads of State must feel the weight of the public and moral outpouring over the last months and during this last week in Copenhagen and around the world,” he added. “The people are ready, we need our leaders to move.”

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Modernist Abbey Gives Money Back

A Modernist Monastery in Central Minnesota decides to return the tainted money and avoid more bad publicity. Meanwhile, they're being sued by still another individual for their negligence and promotion of homosexuality.

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — The monks of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville have decided to the return $2 million from convicted businessman Tom Petters.

The abbey received the donation from the Tom Petters Foundation for the construction of the Petters Pavilion in May 2007. The pavilion is an expansion of the Abbey Chapter House.

The monks have also decided to rename the building, but haven’t picked a new name yet. The monks made their decisions Tuesday, but they were first reported today.

The abbey will work with a court overseer of Petter’s assets to return the money.

Earlier this month, a jury convicted Petters on 20 counts in a $3.5 billion fraud scheme. Petters’ lawyers have said they plan to appeal.

Another Sign of the Times: Liberal Minnesota Archbishop

Back in June of 2008 Bill Donahue of the Catholic League recently gave a glowing report of Archbishop Nienstedt's efforts to curtail the promotion of Homosexuality at the parish of St. Joan of Arc. Despite his timely intervention, the parish's administration and problematic direction remained. It's as though a surgeon only treated the symptoms of a cancer destroying his patient's immune system, leaving the root cause of the disease untreated. So, two weeks ago, the Parish of St. Joan of Arc hosted the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus to "celebrate the inner child".

It is becoming more clear as his administration continues that Archbishop Nienstedt is erecting a Potemkin Archdiocese to appease local and vocal conservative voices, and Rome, while attempting to avoid at the same time alienating big liberal donors like the Pohlads. He previously permitted a pro-homosexual speaker, organized by Terri Griep, facillitator of CCCR and a writer at the Archdioces' paper, the Catholic Spirit, to speak at Our Lady of Grace Parish.

Celebrating their Inner Child

There was no outcry when the Gay Men's Chorus used St. Joan of Arc Parish and Archdiocesan property, promoting homosexuality against the Archdiocese's speaker policy, Bill Donahue's posturing notwithstanding a year ago, nothing has been done.

Here's what was said then, so much for those empty words; the same problems are well in place:

Catholic League president Bill Donohue supports Archbishop Nienstedt [to maintain the sole appearances of Catholicism]:

“The annual prayer service at St. Joan of Arc was never held to honor gays as equal members of the Catholic community, rather it was held to celebrate the LGBT lifestyle. That’s not a small difference. The Catholic Church welcomes people of all sexual orientations, but it is not obligated to celebrate sodomy anymore than it is obligated to celebrate fornication.

“The attacks on Archbishop Nienstedt are vicious. One local gay Catholic leader, David McCaffrey, has said that Nienstedt is guilty of ‘yet another volley of dehumanizing spiritual violence directed at LGBT persons and their families under [his] reign of homophobic hatred.’ This is a remarkable comment given that Nienstedt didn’t take over as archbishop until last month.

Columbia's Biggest Communist Groups Unite

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's two biggest rebel groups said on Wednesday they may join forces against the state after years of being pushed onto the defensive by the U.S.-backed security policies of President Alvaro Uribe.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) issued a surprise joint statement in which they threatened to unite with "force and belligerence" in their fight against the conservative Uribe.

"Our only enemy is North American Imperialism and its oligarchic lackeys," the statement said.

The ELN, formed by renegade Catholic priests and inspired by the liberation theology movement of the 1960s, has clashed repeatedly with the hard-line communist FARC.


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Muslims and Christians Flock To See Mary In Cairo

Our Lady is appearing to Copts in the poorest neighborhoods of Cairo. She doesn't say anything, but her presence speaks nonetheless. Like children, the Copts and some Muslims crowd around her mantel, seeking protection, maternal love and hope. The following is from "The Watchers Lamp" blog.

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO - Exorcisms and alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary are occurring in Cairo, in two of the city's poorest neighbourhoods, and the two phenomena are drawing in throngs of the faithful, mostly Christian Copts but Muslims as well. The most recent event is the one which occurred last Friday in the El Waaraq neighbourhood, located in the Giza area. The Egyptian Gazette reports that many claim to have personally witnessed the Virgin Mary on the roof of St. Michaels church with her arms opening in their direction, while the smell of incense and a flock of doves surrounded the area. This event allegedly occurred at least twice, but a Church appointee was unable to capture it on video. People are now awaiting for the return of Copt pope Shenouda III to return to Cairo from the USA on the day after tomorrow. He is expected to set up a committee that will look into the alleged apparitions, and to decide on the now sizeable amount of money offered by the faithful.



http://watcherslamp.blogspot.com/

Jesuit Fordham Promotes Abortion

The law school of one of the nation’s leading Jesuit universities has a student organization that advocates for legalized abortion. Law Students for Reproductive Justice-- one of the Fordham University School of Law’s 35 student organizations-- believes that “every person, regardless of gender, race, class, or ethnicity, has the right to choose whether or not to have sex, use contraception, or have a child. Our projects include brownbags with reproductive rights activists, an ongoing escort program in partnership with Planned Parenthood of New York City, a research partnership with local pro-choice legal organizations, and internship opportunities.”

Founded in 1841, Fordham University has 14,666 students, 7,994 of whom are undergraduates

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Catholics and Orthodox Sharing Priestly Duties in India

Catholic and Orthodox Churches have agreed to share priestly services and infrastructure, in a major development in their 356-year-old troubled history.

The Inter-religious Dialogue Commission of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council met with the Syrian Jacobite and Syrian orthodox Churches mid December to seek ways to foster better unity and cooperation among them, UCA News reports.

The three Churches are based in Kerala, southern India, and trace their faith to Saint Thomas the Apostle.
The Church split in 1653 after Portuguese missioners tried to impose their ways on the native Christians.

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Wealthy Liberal Catholics Paying Archbishop Nienstedt Millions

Archbishop Nienstedt is going to get a bump for inner-city Catholic Schools from the Pohlad family to the tune of $1 Million a year. Former Twins baseball team owner, Carl Pohlad had his funeral Mass in the very liberal, pro-homosexual Basilica of St. Mary's and he headed he collectivist Metropolitan Transit Commission which oversaw the destruction of the rail system and the reallocation of a cost ineffective bus system.

In any event, inner-city Catholic schools are yet another poor investment, especially from a Catholic perspective, unless Archbishop Nienstedt is willing to address the large presence of Neo-marxists who comprise the administration and teaching staff.

The Pohlad family still plays golf at Interlaken which endorses Planned Parenthood.

The Pohlad Family today announced a major commitment to keeping urban Catholic elementary schools affordable for young people from economically-disadvantaged families. Through the Minneapolis Foundation and the Catholic Community Foundation, a total of $1 million in tuition assistance will be distributed to nineteen Catholic schools for use during the 2009-2010 school year. The Pohlads plan to continue this million dollar funding each year through 2013-2014.

Archbishop John Nienstedt welcomed the commitment: “The Pohlad family’s quiet giving has focused on providing opportunities that help young people move out of poverty. We are grateful for the family’s recommitment to Catholic education in neighborhoods where poverty has been growing.”

Hat tip to Ray at Stella Borrealis.

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Cenacle Site Defaced with Graffitti in Jerusalem

g.s.) - For the past few nights in Jerusalem, someone has been contriving to sow the seeds of hatred in Christian Sion hill.

The quiet neighbourhood just south-west of the walls that surround old Jerusalem is home to the Church of the Dormition, the Cenacle, and the adjoining Franciscan friary where five friars live.

When he left the friary yesterday morning, the guardian friar, Father Enrique Bermejo, found the door covered with abusive graffiti (see the photo), in English and Hebrew, against Christians. The kindest words invited them to leave. Every night the door is also used as a urinal.

Tired of supporting this in silence, the friars decided to make these facts public - especially as, on the night between 9th and 10th December, an anonymous hand wrote in Hebrew Mawet lanotsrim, "Death to Christians" with a black spray on the perimeter wall of the Church of the Dormition, corresponding to the apse. The words were erased in a few hours (at noon they had already disappeared) after the Custos of the Holy Land had complained to the Israeli authorities.

The building with the room of the Cenacle was once where the Custos of the Holy Land and the first friars lived. They were evicted in 1551 when the building was converted into a mosque to honour a grave which is believed to be the tomb of King David.

For this reason the area is considered sacred by Muslims and Jews alike. A Jewish religious school (yeshiva) has also occupied part of the complex for some time now. The Franciscans however, have never ceased claiming ownership of the premises and today the question is included in the ongoing talks between Israel and the Holy See.

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Holy Father Accepts Irish Bishop's Resignation

ROME — The Vatican on Thursday accepted the resignation of an Irish bishop who had been criticized in a scathing report by the Irish government on systematic child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests.

The same day, the Vatican also defrocked a contentious African former bishop, Emmanuel Milingo, 79, of Zambia, known for performing exorcisms and advocating a married clergy, to prevent him from continuing to ordain priests.

In a one-sentence statement issued Thursday, the Vatican said that the pope had accepted the resignation of the bishop of Limerick, Donal Brendan Murray, 69, under a provision that allows bishops to step down before the mandatory retirement age of 75 if they are considered “unsuited” to the job.

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