By Peter J. Smith
CHICAGO, May 18, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Homosexualist activists belonging to the Rainbow Sash Movement (RSM) are planning to demonstrate at Catholic Cathedrals and parishes across the United States this Sunday. They have targeted particularly Cardinal Francis George of the Chicago Archdiocese, since he is the head of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has publically engaged in promoting and preserving the natural definition of marriage and family in civil law.
The RSM is an organization of activists that link together and coordinate through the internet. Ordinarily they wear a 2-inch wide ribbon of rainbow colors across their shoulders, and on Pentecost Sunday they present themselves to receive Holy Communion in Cathedrals and parishes across the nation while wearing the sash.
The protest challenges the Church's teaching that engaging in homosexual behavior is harmful and constitutes a “mortal sin.” Under Church teaching, a Catholic cannot receive Holy Communion while in a state of mortal sin, and must first repent of the sin and confess it to a priest before he can be re-admitted to the sacrament.
"Europeans do not know who we are"
Saturday, 22. Mai 2010 um 08:19
There are few Christians in Baghdad. Saad Sirop Hanna (45) is one of the last priests in the Iraqi capital. He heads the Chaldean Catholic community of St. Joseph. Hanna, who himself comes from Baghdad, has decided after studying aeronautical engineering to theology and the priesthood. In the interview, the Catholic News Agency (KNA) Hanna reports on the life of the last Christians in Baghdad.(Image: Flag of the Chaldean Catholic Church)
KNA: What is the situation in your community here in Baghdad?
Hanna: We are Chaldeans, our church was built in 1959 and is the largest church in Baghdad. Because of emigration are now living in our community still about 400 to 500 families. Previously we had up to 1,500 families. As you saw, our churches are under police protection. The officials in front of the church are Christians in the police service.
KNA: When you decided in 1995 to become a priest, it was a very difficult time for Iraq.
Hanna: Yes, yes, we lived under a ban. But in terms of safety, it was better then than now. Since 2003, there is unfortunately no security in Baghdad, nor in most other cities of Iraq. There was bad and even worse years since then. 2004 and 2005, it was not as bad as 2006 and 2007, for example. 2008 there was again a bit better because the government campaigned for reconciliation. But it is still difficult. There are so many fanatical Muslims who now live completely different from our Muslim brothers and friends from the past. They think differently and they behave differently towards us Christians.
KNA: Why this change? What happened?
Hanna: After 2003 there is a misconception among the Muslims about the identity of Christian community here in Iraq. Many Muslims consider us as people from the West because we are Christians. It will bring us to the Americans and British in connection, because this way we are Christians. But we are different, and we constantly try to make that clear. Yes, we Christians like the Americans and Brits are, but we are Iraqis. Christianity in Iraq dates back to the first Century back, it is 1900 years old. The other issue is the political conflict between the Iraqi parties. A reconciliation between the Sunnis and Shiites is hard and we are in between.
KNA: Does the lack of knowledge about the Christians in Iraq to do with lack of education?
Hanna: I can only agree to a lack of education, humanitarian education. How to evaluate a person as a person and not whether he's Christian or Muslim. In general, the educational situation is very bad in Iraq. There is a lack of good schools, good teachers and good textbooks. In this respect things must necessarily change.
KNA: Many Christians have been threatened, kidnapped, killed. Have you had bad personal experience?
Hanna: Yes, I was on 15 August 2006 kidnapped. I was the first priest in Baghdad who was abducted. 28 days I was in the hands of a fanatical Muslim group. In that time I have learned a lot about myself and about the relationship between the religions. 2008 I came back to Baghdad, because I love Baghdad. , I love Iraq and I love my people, so I wanted to continue working here as a priest. I also have a lot of Muslim friends here.
KNA: Do you feel sometimes forgotten by the Christians in Europe?
Hanna: Sometimes yes, even if we have a few priests and organizations, especially from Germany really good relationship. For example "the Church in Need helps many people here in Iraq and has also helped me. But sometimes I get the impression that in Europe does not understand the history of Christians in Iraq. The Europeans do not know who we are, how we live here, what we do here, they know our church does not, they do not know how to pray. It is so important to exchange ideas in order to understand how faith has been implemented in different societies. (By Karin Leukefeld - CBA)
Moscow (www.kathnet/KNA) The Russian Parliament has raised the annual celebration of the Baptism of the Land to a National Holiday. 422 of 450 of the delegates voted yes, that the State celebrate "Day of the Baptism of Russia" effective 28th July as a Feast Day.
The celebrations on "Day of the Baptism of Russia" are financed by law according to the State. The Holiday goes back to a corresponding initiative launched by the Russian-Orthodox Church in 2008. They concluded with President Dmitri Medvedev and Minister President Vladimir Putin.
The Grand Duke of Kiev, Vladimir, was baptised on the 28th of July according to the Byzantine Rite and declared Christianity the state religion of Russia. The Kievian Rus is the predecessor of Russia, the Ukraine and White Russia. The tradition of the orthodox Church accorded St. Vladimir as the occasion of his marriage to Princess Anne of Byzantium. The Ukraine has celebrated the anniversary of Christianising as a legal Holiday since 2008.
Raised Lutheran, Deacon Doug Pierce considered careers in chemistry, classics, math and music. He thought about getting married and having a big family.
dcnpierce_2009_011.jpg
Deacon Doug Pierce
Age: 26
Hometown: Princeton
Home parish: St. Agnes, St. Paul
Parents: Todd and Patricia
Education: Two years at St. Olaf College in Northfield, bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of St. Thomas, 2006
Former job: I worked as an organist at my Lutheran churches for a number of years before college
Teaching parish: St. Bernard in St. Paul
Pastoral internship experiences: Clinical pastoral experience at Minneapolis VA Medical Center, summer diaconate placement at Divine Mercy, Faribault
Hobbies: Playing organ and piano, listening to music, drawing and painting, running, swimming, weightlifting, reading, camping, horseback riding
Favorite seminary class: “Eucharist” with Father Andrew Cozzens
Favorite book: Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities.”
Favorite movie: Alfred Hitchcock’s “I Confess.”
Volunteer work: Little Sisters of the Poor and St. Mary’s Home, St. Pau
Thanksgiving Masses:
» 10 a.m. Sunday, May 30 at St. Agnes, St. Paul
» 10 a.m. and noon (Spanish), Sunday, June 6 at Divine Mercy, Faribault
» 10:30 a.m., Sunday, June 13, St. Bernard, St. Paul
But after he became Catholic in 2002, Deacon Pierce felt called to priesthood.
“I decided that I wanted to be able to live a celibate life,” he said, “because in that way, I’d be able to serve God in a unique way that I wouldn’t be able to if I had a family.”
Deacon Pierce was an undergraduate student at St. Olaf College in Northfield when he decided to convert. Amid the college life, he went to daily Mass and adoration, and discerned his vocation.
“As I was beginning to think about it, people would mention that, ‘Maybe that’s what God is calling you to,’” he said, “even without me asking about it.”
"I read your comments ... and thought I'd send along my response, particularly since I was called 'revolting,' 'dishonest' and, worst of all, seeking to embarrass Pope Benedict," Father Martin said (slightly edited).
"In any event, it's my response to Carl Olson at the Ignatius Press blog, who raised some of the same objections that you did. In short, my reaction to what the pope said had more do with the linking of two things — same-sex marriage and abortion — which, I believe, are simply not equivalent in terms of any detriment to the common good. One is clearly about the taking of life, the other is not. In any event, here is my response, which I would appreciate your posting in some way so as to clarify things and help people understand what I was saying. Please accept my prayers for all the good work you do for the church."
FROMBORK, Poland — Nicolaus Copernicus, the 16th-century astronomer whose work was condemned by the Catholic Church as heretical, will be reburied by Polish priests as a hero on Saturday, nearly 500 years after he was laid to rest in an unmarked grave.
His burial in a tomb in the cathedral where he once served as a church canon and doctor indicates how far the church has come in making peace with the scientist whose revolutionary theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun helped usher in the modern scientific age.
Copernicus, who lived from 1473 to 1543, died as a little-known astronomer working in what is now Poland, far from Europe's centers of learning. He had spent years laboring in his free time developing his theory, which was later condemned as heretical by the church because it removed Earth and humanity from their central position in the universe.
Booklets from a subsidiary of the German government’s Ministry for Family Affairs encourage parents to sexually massage their children as young as 1 to 3 years of age. Two 40-page booklets entitled “Love, Body and Playing Doctor” by the German Federal Health Education Center (Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung – BZgA) are aimed at parents – the first addressing children from 1-3 and the other children from 4-6 years of age.
“Fathers do not devote enough attention to the clitoris and vagina of their daughters. Their caresses too seldom pertain to these regions, while this is the only way the girls can develop a sense of pride in their sex,” reads the booklet regarding 1-3 year olds. The authors rationalize, “The child touches all parts of their father’s body, sometimes arousing him. The father should do the same.”
In any case, smudging is a ceremony that must be done with care. We are entering into a relationship with the unseen powers of these plants, and with the spirits of the ceremony. As with all good relationships, there has to be respect and honor if the relationship is to work...more
He was transferred to the Apostolic Nunciature in Jerusalem on July 19, 1971, and subsequently to the Apostolic Nunciatures in Cuba in 1974, in Algeria in 1978, in Nicaragua in 1979, in Belgium in 1981, and then in India in May, 1984 with the rank of Counselor.
Archbishop Sambi was consecrated as Bishop and made Titular Archbishop of Belcastro on November 9, 1985.
He was nominated Pro-Apostolic Nuncio in Burundi on October 10, 1985, Pro-Apostolic Nuncio in Indonesia on November 28, 1991, and Apostolic Nuncio in Israel and Cyprus, and Apostolic Delegate in Jerusalem and Palestine on June 6, 1998.
ALBANY -- An Albany Diocese priest who previously served in Capital District churches has admitted to abusing two young boys in Delaware County.
The Middletown Town Court said 64-year-old James McDevitt pleaded guilty last week to two misdemeanor counts of forcible touching in connection with the abuse of two boys who were around 11 years old at the time.
McDevitt will face six years of probation when he is sentenced July 8.
12:46 pm / VATICAN CITY, May 20, 2010 (CNA/EWTN News).- Wrapping up a two-day initiative for the promotion of Russian culture and spirituality at the Holy See, a concert featuring Russian and Italian music will be offered for the Pope. The event marks the culmination of events which have exhibited an increased warmth of relations between the Russian Orthodox and Catholic Churches and could lead to an encounter between their leaders.
A group, calling itself the ‘Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Motherland Traditions’, has been circulating a booklet entitled Pope: The Cause Of Evil. “Unfortunately there are in Cyprus too, the mindless who go against the decisions of the official Church,” Archbishop Chrysostomos II said. He warned that these people were placing themselves outside the Church.
The Archbishop said the Pontiff had been officially invited to Cyprus by the government with the Church’s agreement and “as the official Church we will welcome him with love and respect.” Chrysostomos II said there will not be any talks between the Church and Pope. “We will exchange views and I believe his visit will be positive and beneficial for our country and our people,” Chrysostomos II said.
He urged those who opposed the visit to “come round” and listen to the official church…
Mercy Sister Margaret Mary McBride also was reassigned from her position as vice president of mission integration at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix after news surfaced about the abortion that took place late last year. The hospital did not say what her new job would be.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1002085.htm
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
On his TV show Glenn Beck accused President Obama of “merging” the government with churches. (transcript, no video)
The point I suspect that Beck was rather clumsily trying to make was that President Obama is trying to use churches to advance his left-wing agenda, just as atheist Saul Alinsky used churches in his organizing days in Chicago in order to advance leftism.
President Obama doesn’t need to take over the churches: many of them are already in the service of the left.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has reaffirmed his warning that there are still strong forces in the Catholic Church which would prefer that the truth about clerical child abuse did not emerge.
He has also stood by his statement that 'there are still worrying signs that despite solid regulations and child-protection norms . these were not being followed with the rigour required.'
And he rejected Irish Independent's report that his comments of last week were a 'criticism of Pope Benedict'.
This last Sunday in most Catholic parishes in the United States, the 2nd collection was for the Catholic Communication Campaign. Half of the money collected stays in each respective diocese and the rest goes to national projects. The USCCB explanation of this need is found here with this interesting comment: “The Catholic Communication Campaign provides essential funding for the Church to engage in using new communication technology in its evangelization efforts,” said Archbishop Dennis Schnurr, chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on CCC. “Many Catholics turn to their mobile devices to find the world. The Church needs to be in that world.”
I was impressed by the mention of mobile devices and our need to “be in that world” since I had just been discussing this very issue with Patti Armstrong. I had specifically asked Patti to research and write about the topic of Catholic apologetics in the age of digital and mobile communication. The fruit of our conversation is in our lead article today — warning it talks about apps. If you are like me, you don’t even want to know about apps.
You see, I use my cell phone to make phone calls (where I actually talk to a person) apparently a form of communication on the endangered species list. Once upon a time, I used a phone that plugged into the wall with a cord. It had a dial — a round thing on it that you turned to indicate a particular number. And if someone was not at home when you called them… guess what you did? You called them back (what a concept!). You did not leave a message. You shrugged, said, “I guess they aren’t home.” And then you called them back — at home, not on a cell phone that they took everywhere so they (and everyone else) were instantly available. I was already a mother when this amazing thing called a wireless phone was invented. I even had one of the first ones (that’s me, early adopter) in the whole apartment complex where I lived . You could actually take your phone and go outside with it! Even like a whole hundred feet away from the base unit! What freedom. By then it was routine to leave messages for people on their phone — the messages were recorded on little tape recorders with little tiny cassette tapes (ask your parents).
Since Lord Alfred Douglas's 1894 poem "Two Loves," which was used at Oscar Wilde's trial, homosexuality has been referred to as "the love that dare not speak its name."
But that's so 19th century.
We're living in the 21st century now, so that was . . . like . . . 200 years ago, right?
Delicious Digg Facebook MySpace Twitter Google Yahoo TechnoratiWASHINGTON (CNS) -- A group of Catholic scholars contends that management efforts to break labor unions are a grave breech of the church's social doctrine and tantamount to committing mortal sin.
A statement from Weymouth, Mass.-based Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice, released May 1, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, offers a detailed argument that actions to thwart union organizing campaigns, stifle contract talks, unilaterally roll back wages and benefits, and break existing labor agreements are a "grave violation of Catholic social doctrine on labor unions."
MONTREAL - The Harper government is distancing itself from anti-abortion comments that have caused an uproar in Quebec.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Josee Verner calls the remarks unacceptable.
The controversy was triggered when a prominent Quebec City cardinal called abortion a crime in every case - even when a rape victim has been impregnated by her attacker.
Fr Kieran O'Reilly has been appointed to succeed Bishop Willie Walsh as the new Bishop of Killaloe, which covers mainly County Clare.
Bishop Walsh is leaving his post after reaching the bishop's retirement age of 75.
He was not one of the bishops criticised in the Murphy report into an abuse cover in the Irish church.
[Fox News]The sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has triggered an interesting legal question: can you put the Vatican on trial in the United States?
Lawyers for victims in Louisville, Kentucky are trying to do just that. But the Vatican is shooting right back, filing defense motions today arguing that bishops based in the U.S. – who have direct responsibility for their priests – are not “employees” of the Vatican.
I spoke Judge Andrew Napolitano, Senior Judicial Analyst for Fox News Channel, and he told me there’s no evidence that American bishops are agents of the Vatican with respect to personnel matters.
Vienna Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn said today (Mon) he shared the concern of Eisenstadt Bishop Paul Iby’s concern about mandatory celibacy for Roman Catholic priests.
"The concern that Bishop Iby expressed is shared by all of us (Austrian bishops), and I am happy to be in a Church in which there is freedom of speech and opinion," he said.
Austrian bishops had been expected to discuss celibacy at last week’s parish council conference in Mariazell, Styria, that they all attended but there has been no public confirmation that they did.
An internal BBC email sent to me today. The BBC are hosting a staff discussion on Christianity. Who do they get to do it? A history professor and campaigner for gay rights who describes his own current religious position as that of an agnostic or atheist with a background in Anglicanism, and a Muslim academic who writes for the Tablet. As my correspondent comments, "How very BBC."
Arizona’s new law seeking to root out undocumented migrants should be repealed and the nation’s immigration system needs reform now, speakers said during a rally at St. Francis Parish in Portland.
Appealing to “more than 3,000 years of Judeo-Christian tradition,” Father Bob Krueger called for a compassionate policy instead.
He quoted Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, in which a man extends care to an enemy from across a border.
On Pentecost Sunday, May 23, 2010, members of a Homosexual Equivalency Activist Movement which calls itself the "Rainbow Sash" have announced their plans to attempt to disrupt the celebration of the Holy Mass throughout the Nation. They have specifically announced their intention to openly confront one of the great Churchmen of the United States, the Archbishop of Chicago and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Francis Cardinal George, OMI.
CHICAGO, Ill. (Catholic Online) - On Pentecost Sunday, May 23, 2010, Catholics throughout the world will celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the Birth of the Church. It is one of the Solemnities of the Church year. Sadly, members of a Homosexual Equivalency Activist Movement which calls itself the "Rainbow Sash" have announced their plans to attempt to disrupt the celebration of the Holy Mass throughout the Nation.
Austrian Catholic bishops called on Rome not to ignore the necessity for major reforms within the Vatican, highlighting the sensitive issue of priestly celibacy.
Speaking at a three-day congress in Austria, Bishop Alois Schwarz of the Carinthia diocese said that the debate in small parish churches over celibacy and ordaining married priests should be an "amplifier" for the Catholic Church worldwide, AFP reported.
His comment echoed controversial remarks by Archbishop of Vienna and Pope Bendict XVI's protégé, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn -- the highest ranking Catholic to link celibacy laws to the rampant sex abuse scandals of Catholic clergy.
[cfrsudan.blogspot] Nicholas Kristof is a prestigious op-ed columnist for The New York Times who has written extensively on Sudan. He can be credited with helping to focus the attention of the United States and the world on the genocidal conflict in Darfur, for which newly reelected Sudanese president Omar al Bashir has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. He has also written about the difficult and complex situation in South Sudan, often overshadowed by higher profile coverage of Darfur. Twice in the past three weeks (“A Church Mary Can Love” on April 18, and “Who Can Mock This Church” on May 2) though, Kristof has written pieces which express a seriously flawed understanding of the Catholic Church. Since the second one was posted from Juba (the capital of South Sudan) and referred to the Church here, I felt I should offer some kind of response.
VATICAN CITY — More than 100,000 people filled St. Peter's Square on Sunday in a major show of support for Pope Benedict XVI over the clerical sex abuse scandal.
Benedict said he was comforted by such a "beautiful and spontaneous show of faith and solidarity" and again denounced what he called the "sin" that has infected the church and needs to be purified.
Citing estimates from Vatican police, the Vatican press office said 150,000 people had turned out for the demonstration organized by an association of 68 Italian lay groups.
PHOENIX - A nun and administrator at a Catholic hospital in Phoenix has been reassigned and rebuked by the local bishop for agreeing that a severely ill woman needed an abortion to survive.
Sister Margaret McBride was on an ethics committee that included doctors that consulted with a young woman who was 11 weeks pregnant late last year, The Arizona Republic newspaper reported on its website Saturday. The woman was suffering from a life-threatening condition that likely would have caused her death if she hadn't had the abortion at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center.
