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I just witnessed a couple of Orthodox posters get kicked off a "Catholic Caucus" thread. I thought, despite their differences, they had a mutual understanding that each sect was considered "Catholic". Are not the Orthodox considered Catholic? Why do the Romanists get to monopolize the term "Catholic"? I consider myself to be Catholic being a part of the universal church of Christ. Why should one sect be able to use a universal concept to identify themselves in a caucus thread while other Christian denominations need to use specific qualifiers to identify themselves in a caucus thread?

Says That Doctrine Is Live-Giving, Not ProhibitingVATICAN CITY, FEB. 5, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is urging prelates to call Catholics to complete fidelity to the magisterium, presenting Church teaching as a message of hope rather than a series of prohibitions. The Pope stated this today in an audience with the bishops from Scotland who are in Rome for their five-yearly visit. He underlined the need to focus anew on lay apostolate" so as to give "strong impetus to the task of evangelizing society." The Pontiff added, "That task requires a readiness to grapple firmly with the challenges presented by the...

..former Beatles drummer, Ringo Starr has found God at nearly 70 years of age. This was revealed in a story written by Ben Todd who said, “John Lennon caused a worldwide storm by claiming that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. “Now, more than four decades on, it seems his former bandmate Ringo Starr has acknowledged a humbler place in the grand scheme of things.

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) -- A federal judge in Connecticut has sided with a Machinists union in its legal fight to block jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney from moving 1,000 jobs out of the state. U.S. District Judge Janet Hall issued a permanent injunction Friday, stopping the company's plans to shift the jobs to Columbus, Ga., Japan and Singapore.

2000 years ago before Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, He chose men. The elite class and religious rulers of that day called these men ignorant. God, however, called these men to be His Fishermen and Ambassadors to the dying world. "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting...

The publishing world sees very few books reach blockbuster status, but William Paul Young's The Shack has now exceeded even that. The book, originally self-published by Young and two friends, has now sold more than 10 million copies and has been translated into over thirty languages. It is now one of the best-selling paperback books of all time, and its readers are enthusiastic. According to Young, the book was originally written for his own children. In essence, it can be described as a narrative theodicy - an attempt to answer the question of evil and the character of God by...

BOSTON – Scott Brown says he has already told Senate Republican leaders they won't always be able to count on his vote. The man who staged an upset in last week's Massachusetts Senate special election, in part by pledging to be the 41st GOP vote against President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that he staked his claim in early conversations with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Whip Jon Kyl. "I already told them, you know, `I got here with the help of a close group of friends and very little...

DEAR FREEPERS, OUR BELOVED SISTER MARYSECRETARY HAS HAD TO RETURN TO THE HOSPITAL WITH VARIOUS KIDNEY RELATED LEVELS BEING GREATLY OUT OF WHACK. She needs a lot of prayer currently that her new kidney balances out and functions properly . . . with no negative side effects. THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR PRAYERS. She's dearly beloved and a real FREEPER TROOPER.

I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you. 1 Corinthians 11:2 Most Protestant Christians believe that the Bible is the only source concerning faith. According to them, there is no need for Apostolic Tradition or an authoritative, teaching Church. All that they need is the Bible in order to learn about the faith and to live a Christian life. The "Bible Alone" teaching can be appealing in its simplicity, but it suffers from fundamental problems. A few are considered here.First the Bible itself states that not everything...

n a strongly worded appeal that will test their political influence, especially with their pro-life and Republican allies, the Catholic bishops of the United States have told Congress to put politics aside and focus on the "moral imperative" of passing universal health care. "The health care debate, with all its political and ideological conflict, seems to have lost its central moral focus and policy priority, which is to ensure that affordable, quality, life-giving care is available to all," the three bishops who are leading the lobbying effort for the Catholic hierarchy write in a letter sent Tuesday to all 535...

Over the past 33 years I have heard members of various groups of professing Christian people cite Matthew 16:13-19 and apply it either to their specific denomination or to the Body of Christ in general. There are more, probably, but the ones I have direct knowledge of are as follows: 1. Roman Catholics; to them the church mentioned in the passage is the Catholic, or the Roman Catholic Church, depending on who I might have been speaking to. My own dad was a Catholic until 1975, and he almost always used the expression “Roman Catholic” (until 1975 always defending it)....

Gibbs: 'Right decision' to read underwear bomber his rights White House press secretary Robert Gibbs Sunday defended the decision to read so-called alleged underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab his Miranda rights after just 50 minutes of interrogation, saying that ”FBI interrogators believe they got valuable intelligence and were able to get all that they could out of him.” “That decision was made by the Justice Department and the FBI by experienced FBI interrogators, Gibbs said on “Fox News Sunday.” “But make no mistake Abdulmutallab was interrogated and valuable information was gotten by those experienced interrogators.” After he was read his...

Emus and ostriches became fat, flightless birds after dinosaurs died out and were no longer around to chase them, scientists believe.An abundance of food and lack of predators following the mass extinction 65 million years saw previously flighted birds put on so much weight that they had to walk instead, according to research by Australian National University. A molecular dating study revealed that the African ostrich, Australasian emu, South American rhea and New Zealand moa became flightless independently following the disappearance of dinosaurs.

Chris Matthews, on Thursday's Hardball, trashed Sarah Palin, for all things, not quickly responding to a Glenn Beck question about who her favorite Founding Father was. After playing a clip of Palin telling Beck, initially, that she liked, "all of them," before settling on George Washington as her favorite Founding Father, the MSNBC host portrayed Palin as the dumb student: MATTHEWS: You know in school when you didn’t read the book and you had to answer the essay question of the book and you hadn’t read it. "I thought the book was interesting at times, sometimes it was boring but...

Monsignor Guido Marini, Benedict XVI’s master of ceremonies, this week strongly underlined the Pope’s recommendation that when Mass is celebrated facing westwards, the priest should place a crucifix at the centre of the altar. This was to make clear that the celebrant was not “facing the people�, but facing Christ. The Holy Father could hardly have made himself clearer on this point. So why do the Bishops of England and Wales allow the vast majority of their priests to ignore his wishes? Why do the bishops themselves routinely ignore the recommendation?Perhaps someone will ask the bishops when they make their...

Three men, including an Iranian-born chemical engineer living in Glendale, have been charged in a scheme to smuggle sophisticated industrial components into Iran that could be used in the development of a nuclear weapon, authorities said Wednesday. The case has drawn interest at the highest levels of government, an official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement told The Times. The charges come as the U.S. is rallying allies to block Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

A mystery object from space is about to whizz close by Earth on Wednesday. It won't hit our planet, but scientists are stumped by what exactly it is.

But why is New Year’s January 1st and why do we call this 2010? The answers are very Catholic and Christian. I would like to elaborate a bit on what Deacon Curtis began a few days ago as we explore the relgious roots of what is perceived by most to be a very secular holiday.