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August 22, 2014Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary    Reading 1 Ez 37:1-14 The hand of the LORD came upon me,and led me out in the Spirit of the LORDand set me in the center of the plain,which was now filled with bones.He made me walk among the bones in every directionso that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain.How dry they were!He asked me:Son of man, can these bones come to life?I answered, “Lord GOD, you alone know that.”Then he said to me:Prophesy over these bones, and say to them:Dry...

Yes we will be shunned and scorned for bringing up these important problems with Vatican II documents. But, all the prophets were shunned and killed for criticizing the leaders of the people of God, the Israelites. We are so blessed to be traditional Catholics and to know there was a Catholic Church and many councils before 1963.

UPDATE 21 Aug afternoon:I received an email that the consecrated Host has been delivered up to Archbp. Coakley.I hope there was only one and that this event is being shut down by prayers and public sensibility._______ ORIGINAL Aug 21, 2014 @ 9:37 _____I read at the National Catholic Register that His Excellency Most Reverend Paul Coakley, Archbishop of Oklahoma City has brough a suit against the people who would perpetrate a public Satanic event, a black mass. OKLAHOMA CITY — Attorneys for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City filed a lawsuit at noon today [20 Aug] to stop the satanic black...

The consecrated host, who Oklahoma City's Archbishop claims was stolen by Satanic Priest Adam Daniels for use in September's “Black Mass”, has been returned.An attorney representing the satanic church presented the host to a catholic priest in Oklahoma City, Thursday afternoon.8/21/2014 Related Story: OKC Archbishop Files Lawsuit Over Black MassArchbishop Paul Coakley previously filed a lawsuit, asking a district judge to stop the Black Mass, scheduled for Sept. 21. With the return of the host, Coakley has agreed to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice. Daniels released the following statement regarding the incident:"I, Dastur Adam Daniels, returned this consecrated host to...

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Addressing journalists on his return from his intense five-day visit to South Korea late Monday (Aug. 18), Pope Francis bantered with reporters and lightheartedly said he may only have “two or three” years left to live. The 77-year-old pontiff covered a range of topics on the flight back to the Vatican — from war-torn Iraq and his desire to visit the U.S. next year to his personal health, hinting he may retire early. He was asked how he lived with the immense popularity he has generated around the world, evident when crowds chanted his name on the...

BEIRUT (CNS) -- A delegation of Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs visited Irbil, Iraq, to show their support and solidarity with the more than 100,000 Christians and minorities displaced in the country by the advance of Islamist militants. Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Catholics, said the Aug. 20 trip was "a first step in the implementation of the statement issued by the patriarchs," referring to a special summit Aug. 7 to address the crisis facing Christians in Iraq and Syria. ebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai, the patriarch of Maronite Catholics who headed a delegation of Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs...

Vatican City, Aug 21, 2014 / 03:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has reportedly called the family of U.S. journalist James Foley, who was beheaded by ISIS militants earlier this week. According to NBC News, a Vatican spokesperson said Thursday that the Pope called Foley’s family, who was grateful and moved by the gesture. On Aug. 19, the Islamic State (ISIS), a militant group that controls territory in Syria and Iraq, released a graphic video titled “A Message to America” which shows the beheading of Foley, who had gone missing in Syria in 2012. U.S. officials have now confirmed the...

I read at the National Catholic Register that His Excellency Most Reverend Paul Coakley, Archbishop of Oklahoma City has brough a suit against the people who would perpetrate a public Satanic event, a black mass. OKLAHOMA CITY — Attorneys for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City filed a lawsuit at noon today [20 Aug] to stop the satanic black mass that organizers are planning to stage next month in the Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall.The lawsuit asks the Oklahoma County Sheriff‘s Office to retrieve the consecrated host that the event‘s organizers claim to have, and return it to Oklahoma City...

Assisted by US airstrikes, forces of the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan have retaken the historically Christian towns of Tel Isqof (or Telskuf) and Batnaya from the Sunni jihadist forces. Christian residents who returned to Tel Isqof were “shocked” by the level of destruction committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Assyrian International News Agency reported. They restored crosses to their churches before beginning the task of cleaning up their town. Additional sources for this storySome links will take you to other sites, in a new window. Interactive Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Los Angeles...

Featured Term (selected at random:KIDDUSHIN Literally "sanctification," the Jewish marriage service and state of matrimony. Essential to the wedding is the ring ceremony, in which the groom places the ring on the forefinger of the bride's right hand and says, "Behold thou art consecrated unto me, according to the law of Moses and of Israel." The ceremony takes place under a Huppah or (canopy), symbolizing the new home to which the groom is taking the bride. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

In April 2013, the parents of slain U.S. journalist James Foley attended a prayer vigil at Marquette University in Milwaukee to pray for their son, who at that time had disappeared in Syria. Before Diane and John Foley had confirmation that spring that their son was missing, Diane said she just felt it - he had missed one of his usual phone calls home - and once they knew for sure, the couple said they were relying on their Catholic faith to cope and leaning on prayer to bring him home. “Faith has been part of family life, but this...

Instagram is famous for people posting tons of selfies and pet pictures. However, it can be used for good. I’ve found a few Catholics who really use it as a platform for their faith. It will never be a complete catechism but it can help you in your walk with the Lord. Instagram is all about being beautiful and beauty is an important way to see God today (as my Instagram bio reminds you). These Instagrammers are good for every Catholic to follow; adult or teen, in ministry or barely hanging onto their faith. I chose these based on a...

The Jewish people took the burial of the dead quite seriously; it was the way a community paid its last respects to the one who died. The Scriptures laid down quite firmly that no dead body was to be left unburied—even that of one’s worst enemy. Perhaps one of the stronger horrors that a Jewish person could imagine was stated in Psalm 78: They have thrown the bodies of thy servants as food for the birds of heaven; wild beast feast on the corpses of the just.The dead, therefore, had a right to ceremonial care. As soon as a...

August 21, 2014Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope    Reading 1 Ez 36:23-28 Thus says the LORD:I will prove the holiness of my great name, profaned among the nations, in whose midst you have profaned it.Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD,when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.For I will take you away from among the nations,gather you from all the foreign lands,and bring you back to your own land.I will sprinkle clean water upon youto cleanse you from all your impurities,and from all your idols I will cleanse...

James Foley in Aleppo in 2012. The news broke late yesterday that Islamic State jihadists executed freelance journalist James Foley and posted a video of his beheading. Foley, 40, had been missing for two years while covering the conflict in Syria. I am not going to link to the video or include screen shots from it, but I will share another link that has been circulating since the news of Foley’s brutal death: an article he wrote for the alumni magazine of Marquette University, his alma mater. The piece is about the time Foley spent imprisoned in Libya in...

Archbishop Coakley sues satanic group to hand over consecrated Host.With one month to go before a satanic group in Oklahoma City a public “black mass,” the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City is suing to force the group to hand over a consecrated Host it claims to have. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the District Court of Oklahoma County, claims Satanic leader Adam Daniels and his religious organization, the Dakhma of Angra Mainyu, have "unlawfully taken possession of property belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, specifically a Consecrated Host." Daniels, who has claimed publicly to have the Host, clarified in an interview...

VATICAN CITY — China has reacted cautiously to a bid by Pope Francis to open new dialogue with Beijing, with some officials quick to warn the Vatican not to “interfere” with the country’s religion. On his return flight from a five-day tour of South Korea, Francis said he was ready to go to China — “For sure! Tomorrow!” — after receiving a positive response to two goodwill telegrams he sent to President Xi Jinping as the pope flew over Chinese airspace. “We respect the Chinese people,” Francis told journalists on the return flight Monday (Aug. 18). “The church only asks...

I want to consider three things in this blog: first, the harm that has been done; second, our white gaze; and third, nonviolent direct action. The harm Michael Brown is dead at 18. He graduated from high school and was headed for college. The promise of his life is gone. He leaves behind parents and brothers and sisters, extended family, friends, neighbors, teachers. His body lay in the street for hours and the watchers, standing outside the yellow crime-scene tape, must have been harmed by that experience. For all of them, Michael's death leaves a lifelong void. What can be...

Residents of Ferguson “are struggling to find peace in the chaos” that has followed the shooting death of an unarmed teen by a police officer and “as people of Christ, we are struggling to find direction in the unrest,” said Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis. “We are all aware of the turmoil and tragedy our St. Louis community is experiencing,” he said in an Aug. 18 letter to Catholics of the archdiocese. After visiting Ferguson, about 11 miles from downtown St. Louis, and offering prayers at a memorial there to 18-year-old Michael Brown, Archbishop Carlson said he has...

Professor Jerry A. Coyne, professor of Ecology and Evolution at The University of Chicago, wrote one of the nastiest anti-Catholic diatribes I've read in a while; painting the Church as barbaric, sexist, and medieval and accusing it for torturing women. And then because he was still feeling it, he compared the Church to the most evilest of organizations in his estimation - The National Rifle Association. Insert gasp here. And The New Republic saw nothing wrong with this and decided to publish it. The issue at hand has to do with a woman in Ireland (but not a citizen there)...