Nina Hagen Spouts Off: From Hinduism to A Kind of Christianity

Editor: Nina and Anne Rice should compare notes.

Homosexual Ideologues and Abortion Promoters are Not Christians

[Kreuz.net] Germany. God loves the Homosexual. This was according to rock star and Protestant Nina Hagen for a Homosexual Magazine. The Sodomy is "just as holy" as a similar act by Christians, and whoever condemns Homosexuality, are "not Christians": "That is fascistic thinking" -- she exclaimed. The singer wanted to be baptized Protestant and not Catholic, because the Protestants are "more liberal". Frau Hagen thinks child murder is OK, she said, because the mother must decide herself.

Link to the original...Kreuz.net

Image stolen from: mymusicislost.blogspot.com

People are Drawn to St. Peter's: Most Popular Spot

Europe's Largest Tourist Destination -- Not to Worship

[Kreuz.net] Vatican.St. Peter's Cathedral is the most beloved "Free Tourist Destination" in Europe. This is according to the Hotel Value Site 'Tripadvisor' in the Italian daily 'Corriere della Sera'. In the second and third position are supposedly the Museum in the Nazi Concentration Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Volcano Etna in Sicily.


Photograph: from an interesting travelogue, here.

Rock Star Abbot Doesn't Believe in Pope Benedict or Bishop Mixa

[Radio Vatikan]The Abbot Primate of the Benedictines, Notker Wolf, warns of a slanted view of the Church. He said this to a group of mass servers from his Bavarian homeland on Tuesday from the Benedictine Center of Saint Anselmo.

"What has bothered me the whole time: everything depends on the Pope and Mixa -- I don't believe either in the Pope or in Mixa, rather Jesus Christ, and that is final! That the Church is human, let us not be mistaken -- it was always thus. And we are indeed only human. But I believe, it is completely important that we see: We believe in the Church and we believe in Jesus Christ! And the Pope is just in the Church is -- but he's also a man at the head. He can't do everything..."

Abbot Notker advised that Catholics should not nurture an illusory, withdrawn image of the Church. Notker is also famous a Rock Musician and Bestselling Author: "We always want a Church beyond the clouds, almost without body and soul."

Even today the Church is capable of giving the seeking person a footing, says Abbot Notker. He pointed to the headline of a newspaper, that showed the memorial service for the victims of the Duisberger Love-Parade: "There is the Chancellor, Merkel, the President (Wulff), the President of the Parliament (Lammert)-- and where are they standing? In the Church! Who really has the time or the power in the main, to show a sign of hope in this mad emergency. This is our Faith, that is our Church! I don't believe that anyone in the Mayor's office of Duisburg has received much mercy... rather the people have found mercy from God. And not just anywhere from God, but in an absolutely concrete way in the Church!

This is the man responsible for giving shelter and temporary residence to Francisco Schulte, here.

Link to original...

Photo credit: Idle Speculations.

Slander Against Conservative Lutheran Pastor by Local Mag Backfires

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, August 6, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Rev. Tom Brock is a senior pastor at Hope Lutheran Church in North Minneapolis who recently became the center of a controversy after his personal struggles with same-sex attraction were made public. Earlier in June, an undercover journalist with the Minnesota-based homosexual publication “Lavender” infiltrated and exposed Brock's attendance at a local chapter of Courage, a Catholic-run, prayer-based support group for men struggling with unwanted same-sex attractions.

Brock, 57 years old and a virgin by his own admission, says that he has never engaged in homosexual behavior. A two-week investigation by his church, a member of the conservative Association of Free Lutheran Congregations, confirmed that no evidence exists to the contrary.

“Lavender” admitted they did the story to discredit Brock, who has been outspoken in his defense of traditional marriage and who has criticized the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for allowing individuals in active homosexual relationships to serve as clergy.

Brock returned to his pulpit at Hope Lutheran Church last Sunday for the first time since he was put on administrative leave while the church’s task force conducted its inquiry. He was welcomed back with a standing ovation.

Read further...

Alaska Catholic Church Used for Episcopal Ordination of Woman Bishop

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's office announced Aug. 4 that Bishop-elect Mark Andrew Lattime of the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska has received the required number of consents from bishops with jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees to his ordination and consecration.

Lattime, 43, was elected April 10 as eighth bishop of Alaska on the fourth ballot from an initial slate of five candidates. He received 42 votes of 70 cast in the lay order and 14 of 25 cast in the clergy order. An election on that ballot required 36 in the lay order and 14 in the clergy order.

His ordination and consecration is set for Sept. 4 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Anchorage. The presiding bishop will officiate.

Read further...

Thiberville Revolt Covered by the Economist

IN THE small world of traditional French Catholicism, everybody knows about Abbé Francis Michel. For the past 23 years this small, stubborn figure in his well-worn soutane has been responsible for the cure of souls in the village of Thiberville in Normandy. The locals like his conservative style, even though his Latin services would not suit all French churchgoers. The village’s 12th-century church, and the 13 other places of worship under his care, are kept in good repair by his supporters. (These days, some priests in rural France must cope with as many as 30 churches.)

Since the start of the year Abbé Francis has been at war with the region’s bishop—in church terms, a liberal—who has been trying to close the parish and move him to other duties. Uproar ensued in January when the bishop came to mass and tried to give the priest his marching orders. Most villagers followed Abbé Francis as he strode off to another church and celebrated in the old-fashioned way. He has made two appeals to Rome, both rejected on technicalities; a third is pending.

To Father Francis’s admirers Thiberville is a pinpoint of light against a sombre background: the near-collapse of Catholicism in some of its heartlands. In the diocese of Evreux, Christianity has been part of the fabric of life for 15 centuries. Of its 600,000 inhabitants, about 400,000 might call themselves, at least loosely, Catholic. But the number of priests under the age of 70 is a mere 39, and only seven of those are under 40. That is just a bit worse than average in a country that, as recently as the 1950s, boasted 40,000 active priests; in a few years, the number under 65 will be a tenth of that. This suggests a body that is not so much shrinking as dying.

Read further...

Ecclesiastical meltdown in Austria

Ecclesiastical meltdown in Austria

Vanity Fair Blames Pope for Hitchen's Cancer

Just kidding, actually, they've only said that he's a villain and not a criminal.

Here are the details.

While you're reading, take a listen to Mahler's Titan Symphony in its third funeral march. This familiar and whimsical tune should have a pertinent resonance.

Faithful in Sicily to show Pope their commitment to 'building the Kingdom of God' :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Faithful in Sicily to show Pope their commitment to 'building the Kingdom of God' :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Christopher Hitchens Thinks Che Guevarra is GREAT: New Book by Cuban Exile

Editor:
A lot of you probably think Che Guevarra was the equal of the legend that surrounds him, others of your probably think Christopher Hitchens is a rational and honest broker, able to deal successfully with various pious frauds and other hucksters, but we'd bet that you probably didn't know that Christopher Hitchens, as irrational as the most pentecostal theist, worships at the altar of St. Che.

Christopher Hitchens may think God is not great, but Che Guevara is his hero. Not surprising that this enfant terrible and supposed former Trotskeyite should embrace a murdering Argentinian Bolschevik who thought of himself as Stalin II, but it should be a surprise to those conservatives who are swooned by the tones of Hitchen's posh accent and dithering, cancerous sneer.

Liberals idolize Che Guevara, the Argentinian n'er-do-well who hacked and murdered his way through the 60s and became an inspiration for Radicals of all kinds, whether clerical radicals destroying Churches, or schoolmarms engaged in dismantling the American education system, they all adored "Che" and sported his image and myth for all to see.

The Cuban-American who wrote this book has reason to hate Che, and his experience with Communism should give us reason to despise it as much as he does, for it aims to do here in the United States and elsewhere, precisely what it accomplished in Cuba at the hands of Che, the Soviet Union and their cronies.

And yet useful idiots from Johnny Depp to Christopher Hitchens hold him as a hero.

Review by David Forsmark of the book, 'Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him', By Humberto Fontova

Time magazine recently made the ludicrous decision to exclude President George W. Bush from its list of the "world’s 100 most influential people. Adding to the insult was the inclusion of such figures as Sacha Baron Cohen and America Ferrara, whom even fans of their characters -- Borat and Ugly Betty, respectively -- probably would not recognize in their real life personas.

But that’s not the first time Time has included essentially fictional characters on a similar list. In its list of the 100 most important people of the 20th Century, under "Heroes and Icons", the magazine’s editors included the fictional creation known as Che Guevara.

Wait, you argue, Ernesto "Che" Guevara was a real person. True enough, as the thousands of his murdered victims would attest. However, as journalist Humberto Fontova shows in Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him, Time magazine didn't come close to including the real Che Guevara on its list.

The Che portrayed by Ariel Dorfman on Time’s list was a concoction whom the magazine helped to invent in the 1950s and '60s. In fact, almost nothing in Dorfman’s 1999 wallowing in messianic hero worship in the century list article is true.

Basically, everything most people think they know about Che Guevara is wrong. Okay, maybe not everything, since Frontpage readers at least, who have seen Fontova’s work, are likely to include "bloodthirsty, Communist thug" in their description. But most of the details are wrong, as the story perpetuated by The New York Times, CBS News and Time are drawn from propaganda put out by the Castro organization, much of it made up from whole cloth — including everything Time said about him in its century-end profile.

In fact, Dorfman’s gushy ode to his vicious hero serves as a perfect outline for the myths of Che and the dose of reality Fontova deals to each of them.

Time: "(T)he story of the obscure Argentine doctor who abandoned his profession and his native land to pursue the emancipation of the poor…"

Fontova: There is no proof that Guevara ever actually earned a medical degree, much less had a profession to abandon. As we will see later, Guevara’s only effective military campaign was against poor campesinos in the Cuban countryside.

Time: "After a guerrilla campaign in which Guevara displayed such outrageous bravery and skill that he was named commandante, the insurgents entered Havana and launched what was to become the first and only victorious socialist revolution in the Americas."

Fontova: Che had a particular talent for being nowhere around when any skirmish broke out. In fact, many of the pitched battles trumpeted in The New York Times and other MSM outlets of the time never took place. In one battle that the NYT proclaimed deaths of over a thousand, Fontova writes convincingly that total casualties on both sides probably numbered around five. Talk about creative math.

Fontova shows that Che was responsible for more deaths of non-communist anti-Batista fighters than of soldiers fighting for the regime — most of whom were bribed to flee. After the revolution, Che oversaw not only the executions of tens of thousands of innocents, but he also was in charge of forcibly collectivizing thousands of small farms. In fact, Che Guevara conducted the longest counter-revolutionary campaign in the Americas, with a brutal 6-year war against Cuban peasant farmers.

Time: "Che the moral guru proclaiming that a New Man, no ego and all ferocious love for the other, had to be forcibly created out of the ruins of the old one."

Fontova: When mothers or wives came to plead for the life of their loved one, he would show his "ferocious love for the other" by picking up the phone and ordering that man or boy’s immediate execution in front of the sobbing woman.

As Fontova points out, the 14,000 executions by firing squad and other Cuban deaths attributed to the Castroites are dwarfed by the numbers killed by Stalin, Mao, Hitler and Pol Pot, but, as a percentage of the population, the Cuban communists are right up there with the other moral gurus who were also trying to create a "New Man."

Time: "Che the romantic mysteriously leaving the revolution to continue…, the struggle against oppression and tyranny."

Fontova: Che was run out of Cuba by Castro who tired of the competing cult of personality, and was a spectacular failure in Africa and South America where he rallied no one to his cause and was ignored-- or mocked—by guerillas on the ground there.

Time: "His execution in Vallegrande at the age of 39 only enhanced Guevara's mythical stature. That Christ-like figure laid out on a bed of death with his uncanny eyes almost about to open; those fearless last words ('Shoot, coward, you're only going to kill a man') somebody invented or reported;"

Fontova: "Invented," indeed. The only place Che’s defiant last words appear are in Cuban accounts. Every eyewitness tells a different tale — of a Che Guevara trying to ingratiate himself to every guard, officer or CIA agent at the scene, spinning the notion constantly that he would be "worth more alive."

But radical Duke professor Dorfman is not the only purveyor of the Che Guevara myth that Fontova deconstructs. Herbert Matthews of the New York Times was among the useful idiots who most helped Castro come to power.

As Fontova puts it, this was not a battle in the Cuban countryside or the streets of Havana but a PR war won on the pages of the mainstream press in Washington and New York.

Fontova also spends a fair amount of time discrediting New Yorker writer Jon Lee Anderson’s hagiography, Che: A Revolutionary Life, which was hailed for its "balance" in the mainstream media and widely considered the ultimate Che biography. Probably all you need to know about this 814 page book is that Anderson writes "I have yet to find a single credible source pointing to a case where Che executed an innocent." Fontova points out that Anderson spends 200 pages on Che’s largely fictional guerilla campaign to oust Batista, but deals with his 5-year slaughter of the farmers in one dismissive sentence.

Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him also takes on an ironic tone similar to Peter Schweizer’s Do As I Say, when dealing with fawning American Che worshipers who help keep his glowering face on tee shirts and coffee mugs everywhere.

Guitar hero Carlos Santana provides comic relief with spaced out statements that "Che was all about peace and love, man," or his loopy comment that Che was the first person to allow women in Cuba's casinos. Of course, Che mainly closed the casinos, persecuted anyone who listened to rock and roll — much less performed it —and his big contribution to feminism was granting women equal access to face firing squads.

There was never any excuse for the media to get it wrong. As Fontova points out in the book’s opening, Che came to the UN and shouted his love of executions from the podium in a speech as subtle as Hugo Chavez’s recent visit. That earned him a party at Bobo Rockefeller’s place in an early example of what Tom Wolfe would later call Radical Chic.

Today’s liberals outraged that there is a place in Cuba today where the US holds genocidal thugs, who are not read their Miranda rights. Meanwhile they continue to not only glorify a murderer from four decades ago, but the regime he co-founded where people are still tortured for decades for speaking their minds-- if not put up against a wall so covered in gore that its original color is no longer discernable.

Che a hero? No, he was a monster, a foul beast. To the ash heap of history he goes. Deservedly.

Read further...

Catholic League calls author Anne Rice's rejection of Christianity a 'tragedy' :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Editor: Bill Donahue must see things pretty simplistically, overly simplistically, perhaps. It has to be pretty hard to be on the sidelines writing pious, gnostic fairy tales about your half-hearted connection to a fading religion when Twilight sales are just bumpin'. Now that she's taken off the shackles of Catholic pretense, perhaps she can go back to writing the sexually charged, Gothic stuff of adolescent fantasy which made her the famous renovator of the Vampire legendarium in the first place.

It remains unclear what she will do now that she's shed her Catholic aura, but we wonder with Diogenes, what will become of the battle for greatest Christian author of history now that the only two contenders are Shakespeare and Dante?

Catholic League calls author Anne Rice's rejection of Christianity a 'tragedy' :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Another Chaldean Christian Abducted in Iraq

Kirkuk – A group of armed men abducted a Chaldean Christian man last night in Kirkuk. Local sources told AsiaNews that Yonan (Jonas ) Daniel Mammo, 50, was closing his office in the Almas neighbourhood when three armed individuals got out of a BMW and took him.

Mammo is married and has two daughters. He is not a rich man but works at an exchange control office. After he was abducted, he called his wife by phone, saying that he had been taken. Since then, there have been no news from him. Many believe he was kidnapped for ransom.

Mgr Louis Sako (pictured), Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk, has contacted other religious leaders in the city and the government. Violence against Christians in particular and the population in general are becoming increasingly frequent across the country as a result of a power vacuum. Four months since parliamentary election, Iraq's political parties have not yet been able to form a government. "The country is in the dark," a source told AsiaNews, "and in such a situation groups of plunderers and criminals get stronger more and more."

Last week, a Turkmen colonel and his son were killed downtown. "For Iraqi Christians," the source said, "bearing witness means martyrdom".

Source: Asia News

http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=37414&t=Iraq%3A+++Another+Christian+abducted+in+Kirkuk
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Couple Loves Motorcycles and Catholicism

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (CNS) -- You may see them riding their motorcycles at March for Life rallies, motorcycle rallies, Knights of Columbus and Girl Scout meetings. They look like bikers, but their goal is far different.

"We're not a motorcycle gang, we're a motorcycle ministry," said Hank Stanco, Oklahoma state coordinator of the Catholic Cross Bearers Motorcycle Ministry.

Although Christian motorcycle ministries have been around for a long time, most chapters of the national Christian Motorcyclists Association are connected with Protestant or nondenominational churches. The Catholic version of this evangelical ministry is new.

Read futher at CNS...

Jewish Donors Help Catholic Schools in Boston

Richard J. Henken, a Boston real estate company executive, grew up in a conservative Jewish family on the south side of Newton. He attends services on the Jewish High Holy Days and considers his religion an important aspect of his identity.

Tweet 1 person Tweeted thisSubmit to DiggdiggsdiggYahoo! Buzz ShareThis He also gives $25,000 to $30,000 a year to Catholic schools. He serves as an officer on the board of the Catholic Schools Foundation, which raises millions each year to help send children from low-income families to Catholic schools.

“When I started telling my friends I had joined the board, I got a couple of funny looks,’’ he said. “But whoever it is that wants to step up and provide a nurturing environment for at-risk youth based on Judeo-Christian values, I’m with you all the way.’’

Read further...

Supreme Knight renews consecration to Our Lady of Guadalupe: And Insults Her

Despite these pious assertions, the Knights of Columbus is still a gutless and facile organization devoted not to the truths of the Catholic Faith, but to values completely alien and hostile to it.

Unfortunately, many Catholics will continue paying, praying and obeying.

On Faithful Citizenship, the Supreme Knight noted that “the vast majority of Knights of Columbus activity is directed toward matters of faith, charity and family life. We are not a political organization, and partisan politics is expressly prohibited by the Constitution and laws of the Order.”

“Our members include people of many political persuasions, and our goal is unity in faith and fraternity, whatever our political differences might be,” Anderson said. However, he explained that “we do, however, take positions on a limited number of key issues that we believe are fundamental to faithful Catholic citizens and involve matters that must transcend partisan politics.”
“Our guides in this area are two of the great documents of the Second Vatican Council: 'Gaudium et Spes,' which addressed the role of the Church in the modern world, and 'Dignitatis Humanae,' its teaching on religious freedom and the fundamental dignity of the human person.” [This is shorthand for not getting rid of members of the Knights who are Freemasons, Pro-Abortion or other brands of Unfaithful Catholic. On the contrary, the Knights will throw out those who are Pro-Life.]

Supreme Knight renews consecration to Our Lady of Guadalupe :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

ACLU praises Muslim center near Ground Zero - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

ACLU praises Muslim center near Ground Zero - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Christopher Hitchens: I'm sorry that I probably won't live to see the death of 'elderly criminal' Benedict XVI

A man who spent his carreer criticizing people he believed were evil, and yet denying the existence of the Good whle offering uncritical praise for the murderers like Che Guevarra, this naive and inveterate [former?] Trotskeyite is dying.

He has a reputation for intellectual honesty, truly a testimony to the inestimable gullibillity of the Democratic masses.

Vanity Fair have sent me a preview of Christopher Hitchens’s very unpleasant piece about his cancer – unpleasant not just because Hitchens describes in detail the invasion of his body by a monstrous tumour, but also because it contains a despicable slur against the Pope. (And Henry Kissinger, but I don’t care about that.)

He writes: “Will I really not live long enough … to read – if not indeed write – the obituaries of elderly criminals like Henry Kissinger and Joseph Ratzinger?”

This should scarcely need saying, but Pope Benedict XVI is not a criminal: neither Hitchens nor anyone else has produced evidence that he covered up the crimes of paedophile priests. On the contrary, he sought to tighten up canonical procedures against sex abusers. There were plenty of cover-ups; it’s just that the former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith didn’t organise them and, indeed, fought battles with some of those prelates who did.

Christopher Hitchens: I'm sorry that I probably won't live to see the death of 'elderly criminal' Benedict XVI

Two Hitchens, one Good and the Other a Trotskeyite

Drawn like a vulture to the scene of an accident, I've noticed a certain confluence between newly converted conservatives from Trotskeyism. This is an article about Peter Hitchens, though, the brother of our apparent former Trotskeyite, or "Trot" as they're called with some derision by the ascendant Communist Party faithful.

Understandably, both men are deeply religious, although one of them conceals this beneath a sneer and gavoling anti-clerical invective laden approach at England's leftist Guardian. Both Hitchens, although they are inveterate battlers against everyone they regard as immoral, and occasionally each other, and disagree about God, both hate the "clap-happy" pablum of the contemporary worship service available in all denominations for the disedification of many. Well, here's the article. We're going to write more about Christopher Hitchens, whom we feel has a lot more loyalty to Internatiional Socialism than his newfound conservatism indicates.

Hitchens Brothers’ Rift Starts With Religion
By MARK OPPENHEIMER
Published: July 30, 2010

Permalink Oxford, England

Chatting at a coffee shop in his hometown, Peter Hitchens is disinclined to talk about his older brother, Christopher, the famously combative journalist.

In May, Peter published the American edition of “The Rage Against God,” a pro-Christian tract meant to counter his brother’s 2007 book, the popular atheist manifesto “God Is Not Great”; last month, Christopher announced that he was starting treatment for esophageal cancer.

The two brothers have never been close, and in fact are well known to dislike each other. But Peter is obviously sad when asked about his brother’s illness, and one can imagine that, if he had known what was to come, he might have kept his sword in its scabbard.

But that is not in the Hitchens nature. Christopher is known in England, in his adopted United States and beyond as a mercurial provocateur — once a Trotskyite, now a supporter of the Iraq war, always an atheist, author of a derisive book attacking Mother Teresa — while Peter’s fame is concentrated in England. But his own books, journalism and television commentary, all very conservative, show the same frank ruthlessness, and the same ability to attract enemies. For two sons of a respectable officer in the Royal Navy, they are not very good boys.

Christopher has moved somewhat to the political right in the last few years, thus aligning the brothers’ views a bit. But they still are far apart on religion, and that is what “The Rage Against God” is about. Peter got the idea for the book after a public debate with his brother about theism, in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 2008.

“I do not think that either of us engaged properly with the other on that occasion,” Mr. Hitchens writes. Afterward, he resolved to hold no more such debates, fearing that they could only lead to enmity and further estrangement. “I am 58. He is 60. We do not necessarily have time for another brothers’ war.” (Christopher is now 61.)

Read further, here.



H/T: to Royal Cello at Royal World.

Bedtime for Democracy: Court Strikes Down Prop-8

The ruling Judge Vaughan Walkeris a Reagan and Bush appointed gay judge who was noted in the past for "impartiality". Now, he's ready to shed the illusion of impartiality to back the cause of moral relativism and strike a blow against the arbitrary whims of Democracy here.

A federal judge shot down California's ban on same-sex marriage Wednesday, ruling it unconstitutional.

"Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license," U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled.

"Indeed the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California constitution the notion that opposite sex couples are superior to same sex couples."

Read further...

15th Annual Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of the North American Martyrs: September 22-25, 2010

Brother Andre Marie wrote the following letter in support of the fifteenth annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of the North American Martyrs. Pilgrimage is something which has become a much more popular devotion in past years as we continue our work of restoration:

Palmer — a pilgrim returning from the Holy Land, palm branches in hand.
Alms — money or goods given as an act of charity.

* * * * * * *

Dear Friend,

You might call it “alms for palms”.

For as long as Christians have been making pilgrimage, they have known that no one in the Church goes it alone — ever.

Some go by giving. Others give by going.

Every pilgrim who returns palm in hand, knows he has gone hand in hand with those who have supported him by prayers and alms.

Whether from home or highway, everyone can participate in the annual Pilgrimage for Restoration.

Link to Pilgrimmage for Restoration, here.

Photo: Pilgrimmage Ratzinger Forum

NEA Orders Members to Read Communist Handbook

The National Education Association (NEA) is the premier teachers union group in the country.

As such it is instructive to learn the sort of reading material that the biggest of all teachers unions tells its own members to study so that they can more adequately represent teachers in America today. A look at the NEA website reveals a shocking recommendation to its members.

The union that represents the teachers that we send our children to every school day suggests that its members read the communist-like manifesto of famed left-wing agitator Saul Alinsky. That's right, the NEA wants its members, America's teachers, to become programmed by the ideas and policy prescriptions in a communist manifesto. And while making the recommendation, the NEA also absent-mindedly seems to forget that Alinsky was an avowed socialist that wanted to remake America from a representative democracy into a communist state.

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/publius-forum/2010/08/national-education-association-orders-members-to-read-communist-guide-book.html

H/t: pewsitter
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Relics of John the Baptist Found in Bulgaria

3 August 2010 Last updated at 04:20 ET Help Bone fragments of St John the Baptist appear to have been found on Sveti Ivan Island near Bulgaria's southern Black Sea.

He is considered one of the most important figures in Christianity.

Further tests are still to be carried out on the fragments, which were discovered late last month.

The BBC's Malcolm Brabant reports.

Link, here...

Methodist Twitter Communion, Cancelled

It is with a deep sense of disappointment that I have to announce that Twitter Communion on August 14th will be cancelled and will be replaced by an alternative form of prayer.



Whilst I have not been absolutely forbidden to perform the Communion on Twitter, British Methodist Church authorities have strongly urged me to cancel it. The main reason for this, they say, is that it comes at difficult time, because the whole issue of performing services like Twitter Communion over the Internet is being re-examined by the Methodist Church. Holding a Twitter Communion before an official conversation has taken place could delay or even jeopardise the tentative steps the Church is taking in this direction.

It was never my intention to be controversial much less confrontational. The whole point of Twitter Communion was to offer the Christians around the world the opportunity to step beyond their differences, to meet in fellowship and love and to celebrate the common-union we all share through Christ’s body and blood.

Read further...

Orthodox Leaders on Homosexuality

With the release of a declaration on homosexuality and the inherent dignity of gay men and lesbians, by more than 100 Orthodox rabbis, educators and mental health professionals in the United States and Israel, a segment of the Orthodox community is now in full agreement with the Roman Catholic Church. The statement, without using the exact phrasing of the Church, supports hating the sin while loving the sinner. I am filled with both dread and hope by this recent development.

The declaration fills me with hope because it publicly states what most of the signers have privately believed for some time. By collectively stepping into the light and staking a claim for what is experienced as a fairly radical approach by most people in the Orthodox community, the men and women who signed this "statement of principles on the place of homosexuals in the Orthodox community" have responded with tremendous courage.

They have also responded with incredible integrity. The statement is bounded by en entirely normative i.e. Orthodox understanding of homosexuality and the limitations imposed on any gay person who actually expresses their sexuality in any way.



Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/windowsanddoors/2010/08/orthodox-leaders-on-homosexual.html#ixzz0vZWOmD4D

The Cross and the State: Poland in Plane Crash Wake

[Wall Street Journal] Many Poles hoped that April plane crash of the Polish presidential jet would shock the nation enough to bridge the divide between conservative and liberal camps. But it’s only added fuel to the already heated debate about whose values should prevail.

Today’s demonstration and controversy about the removal of the cross erected in front of the presidential palace as a memorial to those who died in the tragedy shows Poland is once again divided into “true Poles” — those pledging their allegiance to the core of Poland’s Catholic Church — and all others, exposing deep rifts about the role of the Catholic church and its relationship with the Polish state.

The “true” Poles won their battle on Tuesday when, gathered in their hundreds, they prevented the relocation of the memorial.

Read further...

No Priestly Ordination for Men Who Are Deeply Affected Homosexuals

Kathnet got some of the highlights but did not mention that the Pöltner Bishop favors the use of condoms in cases where one of the partners in a marriage suffers from AIDS. The following article also doesn't mention the Bishop's faint criticism of Cardinal Schönborn, of whom he was respectful and whom he believes has good intentions, but gives too much to the critics of the Church in the sex abuse crisis, according to Kreuz.net, who commented on the same interview.

St. Pöltner Bishop Klaus Küng warns of the abuse with abuse. Authenticity in pastoral care and in Church life as the way for a new beginning. Homosexual networks are a danger.

Vienna (kath.net)
More authenticity in the pastoral care and in Church life are, according to the view of the St. Pöltner Diocesan Bishop, Klaus Küng, the right way for a new beginning for the Church, "where the joy of belief is audible, there is also the ability to be appealing", said the Bishop in an interview with the daily "Der Standard".

The discussions about the abuse cases in Austria, Bishop Küng views critically. "We live in a very highly sexualized society; eroticized masses, hardly any films without sexualized content. That is an aspect which is too little discussed in society -- also when abuse naturally has a very complex cause," he said to "Standard".

At the same time, warns Küng, is the abuse of the abuse. It will attempt to push everything on the Church, and the Church is very much inclined to take a lot of guilt on itself. Abuse is, however, not a problem of the Church alone. Others around intend, that they could use the abuse debate to put the Church under pressure, in order to provide a way for reform. Efforts of this kind would come from within the Church.

Bishop Küng supports the measures agreed upon by the Austrian Bishop's Conference for the prevention of sexual abuse in Church institutions. The Institution of the Victim's Representative under the direction of the former Steyrian State District Attorney, Frau Klasnic and respects the Commission. I have to consider, however, that every additional position for the handling of the cases, lengthens the process. We have already in every Diocese an Ombudsman and that is sufficient. Every case doesn't require five commissions."

Bishop Küng is cautious about damages for the victims of Church abuse. Firstly, the perpetrator should answer the costs. Küng sees the question in the big picture: "we may not now raise our hand and say, we'll pay everything. With that we see other countries, like Germany, are under pressure", he said to the "Standard".

Church Goes on the Offensive to the People

Especially when the current situation is painful to overcome, he's an optimist, says Küng. It has always been the case in Church history that these dramatic situations have taken place, which have turned out for the good. Bishop Küng says: "But then there is at once in the midst of these great difficulties the bearing of fruit."

The Church must go on the offensive for the people, said the Bishop to "Standard". A great example was Pope John Paul II. "He had a way to energize that reached the whole world", said Küng. The evanglization isn't only a mission to lead people to the Church. Bishop Küng: "It's more important that everyone feels responsible to Christ himself."

Why should young people be engaged in the Church, when these are characterized by "impure sexual morals, nontransparent structures, withdrawing social image, inequality of the sexes", asked the Standard editor. Precisely because the young desire an awareness of why we are really here, answered Bishop Küng. "The question of God is also for the young people the central question of life", he said in his own words. The Standard editor did not address the answer, but stuck to the theme of sexual morality. The Catholic Church holds its teachings on condoms as "Iron clad". How should an enlightened person of today understand this? Young people are thoroughly captured by what true love leads to, said the St. Poltner Bishop. Also as in regards the condom ban the position of the Church is reduced to the AIDS issue, actually it is daily engaged in a great battle against AIDS. Bishop Küng said: "At present 50 percent of all AIDS assistance comes through the Catholic Church."

Even by celibacy the Standard editor sees the Church's "refusal to reform". For Bishop Küng celibacy is a sensible preparation for priestly ordination. "There is no stronger sign for God and for the love of the Church than the conscious sacrifice of marriage and family", he said.

Especially those who are from youth deeply affected by homosexuality, may not be ordained as priests, answered Küng to a corresponding question from "Standard". Homosexual networks are a threat for a Cloister or a Diocese, because "one attracts the other". Then there exists in a place a certain atmosphere, which becomes an attractive place for homosexual candidates, said Küng. Then, only a radical solution is possible. "If I become aware, that such a situation has the upper hand in a seminary or a cloister, I can only lock it up", said the Bishop.

The original, here...

St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park sees increase in number of prospective new priests

“More heeding the call to priesthood at Menlo Park seminary” reads the headline in an Aug. 1 story published by the San Mateo County Times. The story is about St. Patrick’s Seminary & University, where priests are trained for the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the dioceses of Fresno, Monterey, Oakland, Orange, Sacramento, San Jose, Santa Rosa and Stockton, as well as for dioceses in Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

“From a young age, Juan Alejo has aspired to live a priest's life,” reported the Times. “‘Since I was a kid, I heard this call,’ said Alejo. Now the 35-year-old, who is heeding that summons by attending St. Patrick's Seminary & University in Menlo Park, is among a growing number of men flocking to seminaries in recent years to become Roman Catholic priests.”

The growth in the number of seminarians, said the newspaper, has prompted St. Patrick’s “to plan for a major campus expansion that could cost up to $50 million.”

Read further at California Catholic Daily...

An Open Letter in Support of Pope Benedict's Visit

Here's an open letter, prompted by what Father Blake of Brighton feels is a lack of enthusiasm for the Papal visit. He's advocating a Confraternity of Priests to do something about it, here:

We, priests of England and Wales, wish to express our joy at the forthcoming visit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Britain.

We welcome the many wise things the Holy Father said to us through our Bishops on their ad limina visit earlier this year which are of particular significance to the health of the Church in England and Wales, such as "the Catholic community in your country needs to speak with a united voice" and the need "to be attentive to the promptings of the Spirit, who guides the whole Church into the truth, gathers her into unity and inspires her with missionary zeal".

More than ever, with the proximity of the Papal visit and anxious for its success we recognise especially the need "to draw on the considerable gifts of the lay faithful in England and Wales". Concerned for the Church's mission we to see a great need in England and Wales to ensure "that they [not only the lay faithful but we priests] are equipped to hand on the faith to new generations comprehensively, accurately, and with a keen awareness that in so doing they are playing their part in the Church’s mission". We also acknowledge the importance within our national context of what His Holiness said about the Magisterium, "In a social milieu that encourages the expression of a variety of opinions on every question that arises, it is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate. It is the truth revealed through Scripture and Tradition and articulated by the Church’s Magisterium that sets us free."

We wish to thank His Holiness for encouraging our Bishops to hold up to us "an example of dedication to prayer, pastoral sensitivity towards the needs of his flock, and passion for preaching the Gospel", and also for urging them encourage the faithful "to avoid any temptation to view the clergy as mere functionaries but rather to rejoice in the gift of priestly ministry".

h/t: kathnet.com

Pope's Visit: Britains Are Selling Vatican Souveneirs

T-Shirts, Papal Flags, Scarves and other things with the Vatican Coat of Arms in the oficial "Pope's Visit" logo are available on-line.

London, 03/08/2010 (kath.net/KAP) Yellow-White everywhere: The purchase of souveneirs before the Papal visit of Pope Benedict XVI in September to Great Britain has already begun. In the official "Pope Visit Store" on the internent, there are T-Shirts, cups, papal flags and other objects with the Vatican Coat of Arms for sale.
Those who are interested can go to the www.papalvisitstore.com where crosses, rosaries and pictures of Benedict XVI and Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) are for sale. The beatification of the Anglican convert CardinalJohn Henry Newman will on September 19th in Birmingham will be the high-point of the four day Papal visit. You can also find those baseball hats with the motto of the Papal Visit "Heart Speaks Unto Heart". This was inspired by the British media's hat story, apparently by the Pope himself, who wears baseball hats in his free time.

Benedict XVI. will visit Great Britain from the 16th to 19th September. The visit is being handled as a state visit of the Pope to Great Britain. John Paul II was here the last time for his pastoral visit in the United Kingdom in 1982. The program also contains meetings with the English Queen Elizabeth II, leading politicians of the land and of the Anglican Church of England.

Finally, that there are entrance fees for Mass with the Pope during his visit has made the headlines. So the Papal Mass on the 16th of September in the Scotish Glasgow Bellahousten Park which the media cites as being at a rate of 23 Euros for entrance. Further information is available at the visit website: www.thepapalvisit.com.

Original...

On anniversary of anti-Christian attacks, thousands march in Pakistan :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

On anniversary of anti-Christian attacks, thousands march in Pakistan :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Texas priest reminds Catholics of ‘absolute duty’ to oppose abortion, homosexual unions :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Texas priest reminds Catholics of ‘absolute duty’ to oppose abortion, homosexual unions :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Catholic Faculty of Luzern Seeks Anyone but Catholics to Help Them Survive

[Kath.net/Luzern, Switzerland] The Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Luzern is too small, to live along and in order to survive, it is on a search for a partner in education. In the first position on their wish list, however, there is no Catholic Faculty, rather the protestants of the University of Zurich, reported the Luzern Times "zisch".

Originally there was originally supposed to have been a cooperation with the Catholic Faculty of Freiburg. This was not to be though. The Luern Rector, Rudolf Stichweh says that problems of coordination and the mentalities of the different faculties are responsible. Freiburg is known as "conservative", Luzern on the other hand is "liberal", said the Rector.

Therelationship to the Protestant Faculty of the University of Zurich looks different, said Otfried Jaren Pro-Rector of the University of Zurich. "The differences between the Theological Faculties are not so great, although Luzern follows a Catholic and Zurch has a Protestant tradition."

Link to Original...

Sheriff Tony DeMeo Theatens to Arrest Federal Agents

Illegal Immigrant Suspected of Killing Nun in Head-On Drunken Driving Crash

Published August 02, 2010

A man reported to be in the country illegally is accused of killing a nun in a head-on car crash in northern Virginia.

Police say the suspect, 23-year-old Carlos Martinelly Montano of Bristow, Va., was drunk and speeding when he lost control of his Subaru Outback on Sunday and crashed into a Toyota Corolla carrying three nuns returning home from a week-long retreat in Richmond, MyFoxDC.com reported.

Montano survived and is charged with involuntary manslaughter and drunken driving -- his third drunken driving charge in five years -- MyFoxDC.com reported, and police said they are considering a higher-level homicide charge based on the circumstances of the crash.

Sister Denise Mosier of the Benedictine Monastery died in the crash.

Read further...

Study Finds That Swiss Journalists Know Little About Religion

Swiss Journalists know little about religion and are hardly interested in religious questions.

Zürich(kath.net/KNA) Swiss Journalists know nothing about religion and are hardly interested in religious questions. They cover religion as a fringe topic, occupied like a media scientific study. Journalists are comparable with the general population, generally less religious and the share of the non-confessional are even higher in the professional group.

The study group of Professor Vinzenz Wyss (Winterthur) and Urs Dahinden (Chur), who are concerned with the relationship between religion and journalist, have the balance sheet: primarily, journalists refused coverage of stories they were assigned whose explosive nature was known, and thence, "kept their fingers off them". Only very few specialized media personalities in Switzerland have the necessary knowledge to report competently on religious subjects, said Dahinden on Monday in Zürich.

The lack of knowledge of many journalists was revealed in that they don't ask the right questions. If a business journalist said, he had gotten no budget from the managers and said "I'll just ask simple questions", the readers who were involved would find it unacceptable, says Dahinden. Such answers as "but we have our testimonies about religion," are unacceptable

Many religious communities don't have any professional publicity service, offered the researchers. The authors of the study recommend that religious communities participate in the education of journalists, to disseminate basic information and contacts. Through Co-Financing of journalistic education, one can contribute to the improvement of the knowledge in the theme of religion.

The study was conducted and financed in connection with the Swiss Federal Government approved National Science Program "Religious Communities, State, Society."

The original, here...

Prince Charles's messianic delusions are beginning to worry me. Does he think he can turn the UK into his personal cult?

Prince Charles's messianic delusions are beginning to worry me. Does he think he can turn the UK into his personal cult?

Arthur Schopenhauer: Architect of the Culture of Death

Arthur Schopenhauer: Architect of the Culture of Death

Jerusalem Catholic Patriarch profoundly resents city's gay pride parade :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

They should try marching in some Muslim "Holy Sites".

Jerusalem Catholic Patriarch profoundly resents city's gay pride parade :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

MP3 Players With Catholic Content Are Sent to Soldiers in Field

British Soldier Saved by Rosary

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:17 PM on 2nd August 2010


Comments (4)
Add to My Stories

A soldier who stood on a landmine and was shot in the chest in Afghanistan is convinced a rosary saved his life in exactly the same way as his great-grandfather towards the end of the Second World War.


Glenn Hockton, 19, who is now home from a seven-month tour of duty with the Coldstream Guards in Helmand Province, was on patrol when his rosary suddenly fell from his neck.


His mother Sheri Jones said today: 'He felt like he had a slap on the back. He bent down to pick up his rosary to see if it was broken. As he bent down he realised he was on a landmine.'


From from the Mail.uk...read further....

Traditionalist Anglican Bishops Divided About Response to Woman Bishops

LONDON (CNS) -- A group of traditionalist Anglican bishops has admitted that Anglo-Catholic clergy are sharply divided over how to respond to the ordination of women as bishops.

Fifteen bishops belonging to Forward in Faith, the largest Anglo-Catholic group in the Church of England, admitted that the Anglo-Catholic faction of the church could not decide collectively what course of action to take.

They said members faced a range of options in response to the mid-July vote by the General Synod, the church's national assembly, to create women bishops by 2014 without meeting demands of objectors.

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Easily the ugliest church in the world

Easily the ugliest church in the world

Holy Father says, "Theology is Recovery"

Italy. "Theology is for the Holy Father, recovery. He reads a lot, writes memos, but also finds time to work on his next book. This is according to the private secretary of the Pope, Msgr Georg Gänswein, briefly for the boulevard magazine 'Bild' about the upcoming book on the childhood of Jesus. The publication also reports that the Pope has a press briefing every day. In the evening he watches Italian television or, if his brother is visiting, the German 'Tageschau'.

Link to original...

Child molester could go free - baltimoresun.com

An Obama appointed Judge.

Child molester could go free - baltimoresun.com

Allegations of Murder Related to President Obama, Liberation Theology and Chicago Corruption

There have been rumors of the dread Chicago Boys Club for a long time which has not shied away from murdering those who might implicate their members of child sexual abuse. The untouchable Cardinal Bernardin was at the murder scene of Francis Peligrini who was stabbed 20 times.

Father Andrew Greeley whose friend it was who died at that time, claims he can name names, but he's suffering from a head injury he received and at last report was in fair condition.

Now, three murders have happened in connection with the President of the United States. According to Andrew Greeley, the Chicago Boys Club is far reaching and influential, connected with Chicago's police force, judiciary and political world. They've murdered people before and threatened Catholic Attorney, Sheila Parkhill who was investigating the affair. What could be their connection with the violent execution style murder of two men who attended Obama's leftist Church, and the death of another by complications with AIDS?

Read about these latest allegations of the President's homosexual behavior and the mysterious deaths of three men close to him, as one of the victim's mother speaks out about her son's homosexual liaisons with the President here.

Chicago School Refuses to Host Rove, Welcomes Obama Appointee

Chicago School Refuses to Host Rove, Welcomes Obama Appointee

Irish "Priestesses" Sacrifice Their Catholicism For Feelings of Power

It's not about salvation, grace or beauty, for when had you ever really believed in God, save perhaps as a child and then no more. This is about power and that you feel you've been cheated. Go ahead then, you can be the priestess of your own cult in the Irish Republic. No one's depriving you of that. Perhaps also, you have a desire to mar, disfigure and destroy that which is beautiful and of which you feel deprived. Go ahead then, the world is yours, revolutionary woman. You may have everything you desire, except salvation and even the feelings of exultation you feel you've gained in sacrilege will be a bitter disappointment.

[Irishtimes.com] ‘SHOCKING.” “A travesty.” “A slap in the face.” “The action of a paranoid, scared, running-for-cover Vatican.” Those are just some of the phrases used by Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan to describe the latest directive from Rome on the ordination of women.

The Vatican’s Normae de Gravioribus Delictis , published two weeks ago, concerns sanctions in canon law for clerical child sex abuse, concelebration of the Eucharist with Protestant ministers, heresy, apostasy, schism – and the ordination of women. It reaffirmed the sanction of excommunication for anyone involved with the ordination of women in the Catholic Church.

Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan is a leader of an ever-growing band of dissidents from this policy. She is “happy to be excommunicated. If they keep going like this there’ll soon be more ‘out’ than ‘in’. We’re at the heart of the church, renewing it. We’re not going to put up with second-class membership any more. We are an empowered community of Catholics. Mysticism and social justice are in my DNA as an Irish Catholic. I love the faith, but this corrupt church has to be reformed. Where are the excommunicated paedophiles or bishops who covered up the abuse of children?”

Read Irishtimes.com...

Liberals Hate Bishop Morlino of Red Madison, Wisconsin

Good news about Bishop Morlino. The elderly and increasingly irrelevant, local Call To Action crowd got a few lines in the local paper to vent about him. Madison hosts one of the most liberal Universities in the country and is a real hub of depravity. It's comforting to have this man wielding a shepherd's staff, at least if we can garner anything from his enemies in the Newspaper 'Forward':

"I started feeling uncomfortable about Morlino pretty much from day one," says Beyers [a crotchety 71], a resident of Madison's far southwest side and member of the local chapter of Call to Action, which has crossed swords with the bishop. "He's big on obedience. He doesn't think that laypersons should have any say. Morale is very low among the priests. He's a tyrant with them. Some of them are scared to death of him."

Sometimes you a man, in this case a manly Bishop, is a measure of his enemies. Bishop Morlino has chosen his enemies well.

h/t: Neoconservative Te Deum laudamus blog

New Head of Christian Unity Says Good Things

Rorate Caeli has published this from Gaudium Press, which is a statement from the new head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, holding forth on things liturgical, not explicitly ecumenical (although they are related as we shall see in the interview), necessarily from the Vatican Council in the interview, here at Gaudium Press.

Of course, the Archbishop acknowledges a fundamental truth that the Council was made to do things which were never explicitly mandated, or even implicitly. Whatever else is going on here one thing is certain, this is not something Cardinal Kasper would have said. The former head of Christan Unity would never have said anything like this, in fact, he was at often at pains to say anything that wasn't offensive to pious ears.

One commenter at Rorate identifies how the addle-headed idea of facing versus populum (like your ordinary USA Novus Ordo Mass was originated from a man Paul VI believed to be a Freemason, Archbishop Annibale Bugnini and the German liturgist, Pius Parsch.

The Archbishop's statement is surprising for a man who is otherwise accused of being for Women's Ordination and generally opposed to Benedict XVI and Father Fessio's "reform of the reform"; he certainly oppposed the Bishop of Chur years ago in his attempt at reform.

We see this as an auspicious and surprising beginning. Perhaps now we could have the Archbishop repudiate his position on Women's Ordination too?

Gaudium Press - These two views [of the Church as People of God and as Mystery] also influence one's position on the liturgy. How should the liturgy be understood today?

All those things that some people say that was new after the Second Vatican Council were not a theme of the Constitution on the Liturgy [Sacrosanctum Concilium]. For instance, celebrating the Eucharist facing the faithful was never an object of Tradition. The Tradition had always meant celebrating facing East, because that was the position of the resurrection. In Saint Peter's Basilica, the celebration took place facing the people for a long time because that was the direction facing East. The second thing was the vernacular language. The Council wished that Latin remain the language of the liturgy.

Yet all those very deep, fundamental, things of the liturgical Constitution, are still ignored by many. For instance, the entire liturgy and the Paschal liturgy. The Easter of mystery, of death, and of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. One cannot celebrate the Paschal [mystery] without sacrifice, and that is the theme that is mentioned in theology. Because the Constitution on Revelation [Dei Verbum] is not yet known in the Church either. We still have much to do in order to receive the Council.



Rorate Caeli...

Ancient Prison Becomes Catholic Church

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Tradition holds that St. Peter was jailed in Rome's maximum security Mamertine Prison before he was crucified upside down and buried on the hill where St. Peter's Basilica was later built.

And now after recent excavations in Rome's oldest prison, archaeologists say they have uncovered evidence that, while not providing direct proof, does support that belief.

The prison, which lies beneath the Church of St. Joseph of the Carpenters facing the Roman Forum, was closed for the past year as experts dug up old floors and picked away plaster.

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Archbishop of Zaragosa Presides Over Traditional Burial

Fides et Ratio

At 9:41 AM, by Isaac García Expósito

Archbishop Manuel Ureña Pastor, Archbishop of Zaragoza, presided over a solemn funeral, which was conducted entirely in Latin and the ancient liturgical books in the Parish of Épila. This beautiful memorial service was fully justified by the beauty of the temple and the historic nature of the event.

During a restoration, the remains of the family of the Count of Aranda, who have rested in the church of Épila since 1745 - had to be moved. The entire ceremony was done using traditional ritual, with ornaments in black, and sung in Latin (De profundis, Domine Deliver me, In Paradisum, Ego sum, etc.).

Monsignor Ureña also gave a great reflection on the meaning of death and Christian hope. It was very well received by the faithful who packed the church.

The stupid prejudices of the past decades are abandoned and the liturgical heritage of the Catholic Church is used again and is supported enthusiastically by the faithful.

Link to original ...Fides et Ratio (more photos)

Catholic priest found dead in Mexico :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Catholic priest found dead in Mexico :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Bishop Mixa Pipes Up

German Media Mafia: "Sadly, the media only partly reports the truth, when they are not reporting in a contrived manner".

[kreuz.net] On July 27th the user 'Miriam' published a letter to the dismissed Bishop of Aubsburg, Msgr Walter Mixa on the Social Networking Site, 'kathspace.com'

'Miriam' reports: "A little while ago there was an address where someone could write Bishop Mixa to congratulate him on his fortieth jubilee as a priest."

That's what she did: "Today I found in my mailbox a letter from Bishop Mixa."


Augsburg, in July 2010

Bishop em. Dr. Walter Mixa

Dear Frau Frie...

may God heartily reward you for your congratulation on my fortieth priestly jubilee and especially for the prayers in what has been for me a very trying time!

The past weeks were personally very difficult to endure; this was only possible through the prayers of many true believers and through the tangible help of God.

The media have only report part of the truth, when they haven't just reported in a contrived manner and thereby not only knowingly damage my own person, but also the reputation of the Church.

We are here in a time, in which we must be afraid as Christians, must show and live in faith in the help of God in the truth of the love of God in Jesus Christ.

Only through Jesus Christ, through his human trials, through his bitter suffering and death on the Cross and through his Resurrection could we find in various situations of our life a true help and power for our existence in life and in death.

As a community of Catholic Christians we must be supported and stand together in the truth of our traditional Faith and in the celebration of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist!

With all good wishes and tender blessings I am,

Dr. Walter Mixa
Bishop em. of Augsburg

The thank you letter contained the following text:

Lord Jesus Christ,
You Shepherd and Head of Your Church, stand by our Bishop
with the power of Your Blessing,
that he will be inflamed with zeal,
to us an example through his transforming,
to us borne through his love,
to us strengthened by his patience,
to us held in the joy of the Holy Ghost,
to us we receive knowledge from his teaching,
and he unites us to be Your Holy People
and to acclaim at the Liturgy
in the spirit and in the truth

Johann Maria Sailer

I ask for your prayer
for your support
in my service.

Your Bishop +Walter

Father Peter Williams Says Eucharistic Adoration is Cause of Increased Vocations in St. Paul Seminary

A surprisingly positive article at NPR about the St. Paul Seminary. Not even a peep about anything negative, unless you consider the byline to the story that "economy doesn't give boost to seminary students this year". Father Williams says it's the Eucharistic Adoration instead.

St. Paul, Minn. — A couple dozen seminarians and nuns bend their heads in prayer during Mass at the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity. It's on the campus of the University of St. Thomas.

The school has defied national trends for Catholic seminaries with its recent spike in enrollment. Officials say point blank: the economy is not a factor. They cite some distinctly non-economic drivers for the boost, including what one official called "increased Eucharistic adoration."

Father Peter Williams deals with potential seminarians. He says he has fielded the occasional inquiry about priesthood from men battered by the recession. Some lost jobs, some went through bankruptcy. Williams says that can raise some questions about admitting people.

Link to NPR article....

Bulgarian Assasin Unit "Service 7" Set to Kill Political Opponents

Some will certainly recall Ali Agca, who attempted to assassinate John Paul II in 1979, and his alleged connection to Bulgarian Secret Service.

[novinite.com] A secret Bulgarian unit known as "Service 7" was set up to "execute death sentences" on opponents to the Communist regime, secret files show.

One of the executioners, code-named "Piccadilly" is said to be the agent who carried out London's notorious killing of Georgi Markov in 1978 by using an umbrella to stab a poison filled pellet into the Bulgarian writer's leg.

The existence of the death squad, long denied by former officials, came to light after Alexenia Dimitrova, a Bulgarian journalist, discovered files accidentally released by Bulgaria's intelligence service had released under a new law declassifying former state security archives.

Read further...

Ecusa To Develop Gay Rite

Follow it here at the "Acts of Apostasy" blog.

Nuns With Music Deal Get Death Threats

PARIS

[Reuters] Benedictine nuns from a secluded convent in southern France have received death threats after winning a deal aimed at creating a chart-topping album, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

The nuns from the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation near Avignon had their prayers answered last week after beating 70 other religious orders from North America and Africa to the deal with Universal Music.

The sisters, whose album is set to be released in November, put a clip of their Gregorian chants online, but realized on Tuesday a raft of death threats had been put at the bottom of the clip, La Provence reported on its website.\

Link, Free Republic...

Working Mothers Still Need to Feel Guilty

The Washington Post attempts to becalm womens' fears about working as they disseminate their propaganda about the alleged viability of working women. After going on for a few paragraphs citing a 115-page study about how working motherhood doesn't impede child development, the article contradicts itself toward the end:

[Washington Post] The study, "First-Year Maternal Employment and Child Development in the First 7 Years," reaffirms the now-established point that women who work full time in the first year of motherhood risk mild developmental harm to their children. Part-time employment has no negative effect, nor does it matter whether a mother works full time after the first year.

The reason may be that a mother with a full-time job cannot provide an infant "the kinds of intensive interaction that babies require," needs that diminish in the toddler years, Brooks-Gunn said. High-quality child care, too, is hard to find for an infant. She and co-author Jane Waldfogel experienced those issues firsthand, having both worked full time with infant children. They wrote the paper with researcher Wen-Jui Han.

Link to Washington Post Article...

Bishop Finn in the War on Porn

Bishop Finn in the War on Porn

Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be Jesuits

Don

Fordham University on the Eve of St. Ignatius' Feast

Here's a Fordham blog about the Jesuit "movement." It addresses St. Ignatius' feast which is tomorrow, but it also addresses social-justice and feminist issues.

July 31st is the Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit movement within Catholicism. Who are the Jesuits? Many people don’t fully understand what the Jesuits do or who they are or what they believe in. The Jesuits, or Society of Jesus, was founded by Loyola, a priest and theologian in Spain, during the Counter-Reformation, a response of the Catholic church to the advent of Protestantism. The Jesuits are principally known today for their deep devotion to education (many schools, including Fordham, are Jesuit schools) and missionary work around the world.

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Knights Say They Can't Oust Pro-Abort Members, But Pro-Life Members, Yes

Editor: That's right, you knew these guys were phony from the start.

Pro-Life Catholics Should Picket Knights of Columbus Convention

Contact: Kenneth M. Fisher, 714-491-2284, 714-260-3821 cell, crcoa@dslextreme.com

ANAHEIM, July 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- Pro-life Catholics in the Washington, D.C., area should picket the 2010 Knights of Columbus annual convention this August 3-5 over the group's refusal to expel pro-abortion politicians, says Kenneth M. Fisher, founder and chairman of Concerned Roman Catholics of America, Inc.

"Pro-life Catholics should make sure that every Knight at the convention knows that the leaders of the Order have refused, in writing, to stop harboring pro-abortion politicians in the Knights," says the Southern California-based Fisher. He cited a letter that the Knights' Supreme Counsel and General Advocate, John A. Marrella, wrote to Massachusetts State Deputy William F. Donovan on April 15.

Fisher points out that in the letter, Marrella warned that "subordinate councils" must leave the disciplining of pro-abortion Knights up to the Supreme Council -- yet at the same time, Marrella also wrote, "If the public figure's bishop has not excommunicated him for his public positions on issues relating to matters of faith and morals, it would be highly inappropriate for the Knights of Columbus to do so."

"So the Supreme Council is insisting that nobody in the 1.4 million-strong order can do anything at all about the pro-abortion politicians right in their midst," says Fisher. "That is preposterous. Besides, expelling a member is not 'excommunicating' him -- and you can bet the Knights would rightly kick out racists and criminals

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Protestant Youth Director at Hearing in Hannover for Child Abuse

A north German news service reports the following on a Protestant youth director.

Youth Worker to Court for Abuse

[NDR]A former volunteer youth-group minister from a Protestant church in Hannover has had to answer before the District Court. The prosecution accuses him of the sexual abuse of four boys in 15 cases. According to allegations, the defendant is said to have made the boys docile with gifts. The attacks are said to have occured between 1993 and 2008. The youngest victim was said to be nine at the time of the crimes and the eldest was 15 years old. The 45 year-old defendant announced that he wanted to comment on the allegations. The hearing is to continue on August 3rd.

Evangelical Church of Germany Reacted Immediately

On learning of the incidents of volunteer youth workers, the perpetrator was immediately relieved of his duties. [Took you long enough] The baker had met the children at his work as director of a youth-group called "Christian Youth Society of Hannover". The defendant has been in custody since February.

Original...

Another Christian Abducted in Iraq

A 50-year-old man was taken last night from his office. Crime is up in the city because of the power vacuum in the country. For the past four months, politicians have failed to form a government. For Christians, it is a time of martyrdom.

Kirkuk (AsiaNews) – A group of armed men abducted a Chaldean Christian man last night in Kirkuk. Local sources told AsiaNews that Yonan (Jonas ) Daniel Mammo, 50, was closing his office in the Almas neighbourhood when three armed individuals got out of a BMW and took him.

Mammo is married and has two daughters. He is not a rich man but works at an exchange control office. After he was abducted, he called his wife by phone, saying that he had been taken. Since then, there have been no news from him. Many believe he was kidnapped for ransom.

Mgr Louis Sako (pictured), Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk, has contacted other religious leaders in the city and the government.

Violence against Christians in particular and the population in general are becoming increasingly frequent across the country as a result of a power vacuum. Four months since parliamentary election, Iraq’s political parties have not yet been able to form a government.

“The country is in the dark,” a source told AsiaNews, “and in such a situation groups of plunderers and criminals get stronger more and more.”

Last week, a Turkmen colonel and his son were killed downtown. “For Iraqi Christians,” the source said, “bearing witness means martyrdom”.

Link to original... Asia News.

Israel threatens to cut off water supply to Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Tel Aviv (AsiaNews) – The Churches of Jerusalem are perplexed and concerned by the municipal authorities threat to cut off water supplies to the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. Since water supplies were first operational in the area, successive governments have always provided access to the Holy Sepulchre free of charge as a public service to the pilgrims and act of courtesy to the religious, Catholic and non-Catholic, who custody the sanctuary.

So did the British government in the Holy Land (1917-1948), the Jordanian (1948-1967) and so far the Israelis. But now Israeli municipal authorities have stepped up pressure and threats to cut off water supplies unless a tax is paid, not only in future but also for all water supplied since 1967.

The revelations were made to AsiaNews by sources in the Basilica, who prefer not to be identified in the hope that the city authorities will have a change of heart. The curious fact is that the payment requests are directed to a nonexistent entity, "the church of the Holy Sepulchre." An administration that does not exist, since the ancient basilica is governed by a special, internationally recognized, legal regime, known as the "Status quo". The "Status quo" means that the spaces, time, and functions are divided between the Catholic Church, represented by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land and several groups of non-Catholic monks, primarily Greek and Armenian but also to a lesser extent, Copts, Ethiopian and Syrian Orthodox.

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Israel-threatens-to-cut-off-water-supply-to-Church-of-the-Holy-Sepulchre-19074.html

Les Intransigents Closed Down By Wordpress

As Wessex says:

It is to expected that the elites and the status-quo would eventually look at any medium that draws a crowd if they perceive it to be a threat. We see it in all areas of life if we look hard enough. Money of course talks and the powerful know its capability.

Here is a translation about what's going on with the site:

Hello everyone,

Many of you have to contact us for more surprises on this Friday, July 16, that the online newspaper hardliners has been censured by his hosting Wordpress. After two and a half years of work and more than 160,000 visits per month, the motivation for this sudden action is explained by the convergence of various elements:

Complaints association leaders hate extremists or individuals, filed shortly organizations "vigilance" on the Internet and government institutions to silence us or put us on trial, have continued to increase, especially in recent weeks. What hitherto was not a problem in itself and made us laugh even more because we do not fear the threats and other intimidation (quite the contrary) ...

Wordpress has recently had to clean pressure the U.S. government for a case of "abuse" in relation to legislation (particularly in relation to piracy) . Tens of thousands of blogs protected by the host would then undergo a purge. Suffice to say that after being threatened by Joe Biden, Cheney, the host should be held in tile and instead consider the very large number of international complaints although it has long been protected for reasons we do not develop here.

Recent articles about us in Le Monde, Le Figaro or Le Post, have probably given more credence to these complaints.

We welcome our enemies who, after our two and a half years of intensive work, are finally getting to something. Their efforts will be obviously futile. We intend to come back strong! We guarantee that every blows we receive will only strengthen us! Hardliners, soon it will be even better!

We will now take a short time off to prepare the ground and provide maximum opportunities for our side to have a robust tool that will, again, as long as possible. We must see with whom we work this time for something good that will guarantee a maximum of roadblocks to our enemies. We have several ideas in heads. In any case, it will not blogspot. Perhaps a return on Wordpress if we manage to re-negotiate with them because, after all, they protected us well so far. We'll see.

We thank all those who have followed and supported during this first great adventure for two and a half years. We had fun! But there is still much work to do, although the virus "intransigent" has already contaminated the canvas Catholic politicized and opened the eyes of many. We repeat: the fruits of our work which we are most happy is the fact that we were the intermediate conversions of God. Conversions with good training that go with it most of the reason for our work.

We regret nothing, we take everything.

The struggle continues.

May the Peace of God be with you
El Cristero, July 17, 2010

Link to translation at Ignis Ardens, here.

Even a Dead Lefebvrist Can't Hope for the Clemency of an Old Liberal

He desired that a Priest of the Society of Pius X would say a Requiem in his parish church. Had he been protestant, he would have had no problem.

[Kreuz.net] In the middle of July François died in the village of Troistorrents in the southwest of Switzerland.

Troistorrents is a 4000-soul community in the extreme west of the southwest Swiss Canton of Wallis.

The deceased had lived his entire life in the village. He was an adherent of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X.

Troistorrents is located 44k west of Ecône, where the french speaking Pius seminary is located.

As a relative of the village priest, Fr. Philippe Aymon, a priest of the Society asked for him to open the church doors for the celebration of a Requiem, which he refused to do.

This was reported by the Swiss paper 'Le Matin'.

Pastor Aymon unacrimoniously told the paper: "The adherents of Ecône may not use any Catholic Church."

This was not his decision: "This is a directive of the Archdiocese!"

The village belongs to the small Diocese of Sitten. The current old-liberal Bishop Norbert Brunner is also the president of the Swiss Bishop's Conference.

The family has no bitterness for him, explains Fr. Aymon: "I had the son of the deceased on the telephone. He was very respectful."

Because of the Bishop's absence due to vacation, Pastor von Sierre and Fr. Robert Zuber, further information.

Fr. Zuber gave a more complete explanation: "In the early nineties when I was pastor in Val d'Anniviers, I recall, that there were two burials for adherents of Ecône."

Actually, these adherents, who participated in the burial, were supposedly behaving "very poorly and had no respect for the things and for the property" of the church -- said the minister: "I believe, that this directive touches on that time."

Since the doors of Troistorrents are closed, the Requiem will be read on the next to the last Monday by Society Priest François Udressy in Ecône.

In the obituary for the deceased it reads:

"Because of the refusal of the Diocese, the Church of Troistorrents to open, where the deceased was Baptized, Confirmed, received his first Communion, was married and had participated in all of the burials of the town, the burial Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, July 20th at 3 O'Clock in the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Ecône."

Link to original...

US Rabbis Dub Isreali Judiciary the Court of Sodom

MEDIA ADVISORY, July 27 /Christian Newswire/ -- In advance of the July 29th homosexual parade scheduled to begin in a religious neighborhood in Jerusalem and conclude with a reception at the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, Rabbi Yehuda Levin, spokesman for the 850 plus members of the 70-year-old Rabbinical Alliance of America, issued the following statement:

For years now the imperial judiciary of Israel has demonstrated a clear bias against things and people religious and the traditional values and heritage of a Jewish people described in the Torah (Bible) as a "Nation of Priests and a Holy People". The Israeli Government aided by a socially libertine Supreme Court, which may be to the left of Elena Kagan, constantly denigrates the religious sensibilities and faith concerns of not only traditional Jews worldwide but global inter-religious faith communities that consider Israel to be the "Holy Land not the Homo Land".

Most recently the mayor of Tel Aviv joined the Israeli Minister of Tourism to announce the funding of an initial 6-month outreach effort to attract homosexual tourists from France and Germany. So while the Torah state in Leviticus 18:22-30: "Let not the land vomit you out for having contaminated it" (with these abominations)..., the Israeli officials import as much deviance and immorality as they can, worldwide.

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/458814536.html
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

USCCB Concerned about Media and Blogs that Assume the Role of the Magisterium

Editor: Well, there is a vacuum.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The month after a New Orleans summit between bishops and Catholic media professionals, a Webinar examined the role of Catholic media outlets and the links between them and the bishops, who are quite often the publishers of locally produced Catholic newspapers and broadcast programming.

The July 28 Webinar, "Faithful Catholic Media: Continuing the Conversation," jointly sponsored by the Catholic Press Association and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was intended as a follow-up to the summit, held as part of the Catholic Media Convention in New Orleans in early June.

"The bishops don't have all the answers," said Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala of Los Angeles, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Communications, during the Webinar. But he focused on three aspects of Catholic media, which he said makes it unique.

One is that Catholic media "can help Catholics -- and everyone -- understand what is happening in our world and in our church from a Catholic perspective," Bishop Zavala said. "What does it mean to be holding one's iPhone in one hand and the Gospel in the other? ... This is a vital role that only Catholic media can fulfill."

Card. Zen: not true that “Beijing really wants Bishops appointed by the Pope”

by Card. Joseph Zen Zekiun, sdb

There is still a long way to go in relations between Beijing and the Holy See on the appointment of bishops, which is not the result of an "agreement" but a "tug of war." The test of communion with the pope lies in the boycott of the Assembly of Representatives of Chinese Catholics. The tenacious cardinal of Hong Kong responds to an article by Gianni Valente of "30 Days".

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - Gianni Valente, (once?) my friend, writes again on 30 Days (2010 No. 5) about the Church in China. I admire his interest for this Church so dear to us and his zeal in bringing it to the attention of his readers. I am sorry to say, however, that I cannot agree with the way he sees things in that very complex situation.

Read further...

Bomb Blast at Church in Ukraine Kills 1

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A bomb blast Wednesday at a southern Orthodox church in Ukraine has killed one person and wounded eight, officials said

A homemade explosive device detonated near the entrance to the church, in the southern city of Zaporozhye, Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman Yulia Barysheva told The Associated Press. She said nine people had been wounded, one gravely. A duty nurse at a Zaporozhye hospital, Irina Sergeyenko, later said one blast victim had died.

The blast comes on the day the former Soviet nation marks the anniversary of its conversion to Christianity in 988 AD.

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Anne Rice Breaks With Christianity, Again. This Time by Facebook

Anne Rice Breaks Up With Christianity via Facebook

Wednesday July 28, 2010
Link to Original

Well, some stars like Amanda Bynes use technology like Twitter to tell the world they are retiring. Some stars like Kelsey Grammar announce the end of his marriage. But today Anne Rice became the first pop culture figure I know that decided to break up with Christians, and she did it using facebook.

On her official website she posted the following announcement via her facebook feed this afternoon:"I quit being a Christian. I'm out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of ...Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen."

I am not sure what sparked this outburst or if it is just a rant that will later be tempered with something else a little less emotional. I know that she has long spoken out in interviews that she struggles with some of the Catholic Church's stands on issues . But she has also eloquently spoken out about her deep spiritual need for Christ.

Read further at original...