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Vatican City, Sep 9, 2014 / 03:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Five members of the College of Cardinals have joint-authored a book defending Church doctrine regarding divorced and remarried Catholics, affirming that it is the most merciful approach. Set to be published in English this October, the book is entitled “Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church.” It offers a response to Cardinal Walter Kasper's call for the Church to open its doors to allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the Eucharist. According to publisher Ignatius Press, the book will outline both biblical arguments...

In early April 2014, German author Gabriele Kuby visited the Czech Republic to give a number of public presentations promoting her new book, The Global Sexual Revolution: The Destruction of Freedom in the Name of Freedom, recently translated to Czech. During her visit to Brno, I had a chance to interview Kuby about her book and ask how her Catholic perspective helps her understand one of the most important issues of our time: the continuing sexual revolution that is leading not only to private lifestyle changes but a new legal understanding of sexuality and the family. Kuby warns that the...

I am the proud father of a new book entitled simply The Ten Commandments (see at right). And you’ll be surprised, knowing me, at how brief it is—just 104 pages. But I wanted to keep it short, readable, connected to the catechism, and very practically related to living the Commandments on a daily basis. You can get it at the usual booksellers and there is also a Kindle version. I hope many will find it helpful, and it even fits neatly in your coat pocket.A couple of thoughts on moral law, which is a very precious gift to us from...

September 9, 2014Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest   Reading 1 1 Cor 6:1-11 Brothers and sisters:How can any one of you with a case against anotherdare to bring it to the unjust for judgmentinstead of to the holy ones?Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world?If the world is to be judged by you,are you unqualified for the lowest law courts?Do you not know that we will judge angels?Then why not everyday matters?If, therefore, you have courts for everyday matters,do you seat as judges people of no standing in the Church?I say this to shame...

(JNS.org) Christian militias have started to arm themselves for the first time in decades as Lebanese military leaders urge unity in the face of the jihadist threat. “ISIS is a cancerous tumor that surfaced at first in parts of Iraq and Syria and it’s still contained to a certain point and this can be removed only if we join our efforts via an international Arab alliance,” Lebanese Forces commander Samir Geagea said Sept. 6, the Daily Star reported. In the face of the threat posed by Islamic State, Christians from groups such as the Free Patriotic Movement political party are...

The latest to call for a radical change in the Church's practice and doctrine on marriage is the Belgian bishop of Antwerp, Johan Jozef Bonny. He did so in early September with a thirty-page memorandum in multiple languages, which he also sent to Pope Francis. Because the presumed support of Jorge Mario Bergoglio is inevitably part of the arguments of the cardinals, bishops, and theologians who are calling for the change, which would mean granting Eucharistic communion to the divorced and remarried: a key argument of the synod of bishops on the family set to have its first session in...

Vatican City, Sep 8, 2014 / 05:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a message to inter-religious faith leaders attending a conference on peace, Pope Francis said there are always alternatives to war and urged participants to seek avenues of dialogue. “War is never a necessity, nor is it inevitable. Another way can always be found: the way of dialogue, encounter and the sincere search for truth,” Pope Francis said in his Sept. 7 message to conference attendees. Organized by the Italian Sant'Egidio community, the Sept. 7-9 International Peace Meeting is being held in Antwerp, Belgium in commemoration of the centenary of...

Any combat training and tactical planning begins with a process of intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination. Recon (reconnaissance) is a military term used to determine the enemy force’s disposition and intention, gathering information (or intelligence) about an enemy’s composition and capabilities. Dr. Peter Kreeft wrote: “You cannot win a war if you are unwilling to admit we are even at war or you don’t know who your enemy is or you don’t know what strategy your enemy is using.”We have all witnessed how the arid wind of the enemy’s militant secular propaganda campaign has hardened the hearts of so...

Earlier this year I warned that New York City’s centuries-old St. Patrick’s Day parade up 5th Avenue could soon be shut down for violating the human rights of gay groups. It never occurred to me that the parade’s organizers would unilaterally surrender the issue.A political and public relations battle has raged for decades between the parade’s organizers—with historic ties to the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish-Catholic fraternal organization—and groups which sought to march in the parade under banners proclaiming their sexual preferences. I thought the city’s progressive politicians would work to scuttle the parade’s legal basis by revoking...

The end is near, both in movie theaters and Southern Baptist seminary classrooms.With Nicholas Cage starring in the rapture-themed thriller Left Behind coming out in theaters Oct. 3, two Southern Baptist Convention seminaries recently announced endowed professorships with an emphasis including Bible prophecy. Both Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, announced large gifts to endow the Jesse Hendley Chair of Biblical Theology. The professorships are named after an evangelist and student of New Testament Greek best known as host of the “The Radio Evangelistic Hour,” which began in 1931...

It's been all over the Italian media today - the bishop of Imola, Tommaso Ghirelli, writes an editorial for his diocesan paper in which the message is clear: "do-goodism" will bury Italy and Europe. Either Muslims in traditionally Christian countries in Europe behave as "honourable men" and publicly denounce Islamic "persecutions and acts of cruelty," or they should rather be "courageous" enough to own up to their beliefs "and leave our country," because "nobody wants enemies in their own home."

Featured Term (selected at random:LEGEND OF THE SAINTS  Popular biographical stories of the saints. Not entirely fictitious, they possess a substratum of truth, usually under considerable embellishment. The Church has consistently sought to sift this substratum of truth from the legendary additions, as in the Breviary reform under St. Pius X and the total revision of the Liturgy of the Hours by pope Paul VI, according to the directives of the Constitution on the Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Once upon a time there was a church founded on God’s entering into human history in order to give humanity a path to eternal life and happiness with him. The Savior that God sent, his only-begotten Son, did not write a book but founded a community, a church, upon the witness and ministry of twelve apostles. He sent this church the gift of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of love between Father and Son, the Spirit of the truth that God had revealed about himself and humanity by breaking into the history of human sinfulness. This church, a hierarchical communion,...

Many troubles today within the Church, and also among Christians in general, come down to a problem of mistaken or false ecclesiology. “Ecclesiology” refers to the nature of the Church. What is the Church? What is the fundamental mission of the Church? How essential is the Church in the life of every believer? What authority does the Church have in our life? Who has the authority in the Church to speak for Jesus Christ and teach in His name? What is the Church’s relationship to Holy Scripture and the sacred deposit of faith? Is there but one Church, or many?...

September 8, 2014Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary    Reading 1 Mi 5:1-4a The LORD says:You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah,too small to be among the clans of Judah,From you shall come forth for meone who is to be ruler in Israel;Whose origin is from of old,from ancient times.(Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the timewhen she who is to give birth has borne,And the rest of his brethren shall returnto the children of Israel.)He shall stand firm and shepherd his flockby the strength of the LORD,in the majestic name of the LORD, his God;And they shall remain,...

Catholics and Protestants agree that to be saved, you have to be born again. Jesus said so: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). When a Catholic says that he has been "born again," he refers to the transformation that God’s grace accomplished in him during baptism. Evangelical Protestants typically mean something quite different when they talk about being "born again." For an Evangelical, becoming "born again" often happens like this: He goes to a crusade or a revival where a minister delivers a sermon telling him...

Roman Catholic Bishop Cirilo Flores died Saturday after a battle with cancer, the Diocese of San Diego announced. Flores, 66, died at 2:47 p.m., at the Nazareth House senior living facility in Mission Valley where he had been transferred this week from a hospital in Los Angeles. Flores "passed away peacefully," with his cousin Dr. Tom Martinez, Msgr. Steven Callahan and the Sisters of Nazareth at his bedside, the diocese said. "Please remember Bishop Flores and his family in your prayers," the diocese added.

A fun article in the Washington Post. It always amazes me that there are people 'out there' who want to believe "conservative" is the proper term for loving God so intimately you always strive never be unfaithful to Him. I often wonder if they think cheating on their spouse is just 'liberal'. In any event, it would seem Bill Donohue's credibility has finally imploded. The poor man's ministry has been suffering from the effects of needing the seat at the Bishop's swanky events for quite some time. He had to keep lowering the bar to defend the indefensible. Watching him...

(Vatican Radio) There is an urgent need to promote a dialogue of life with Muslims to discourage violence against Christians on the African continent, said Pope Francis Saturday in his address to the Bishops of Cameroon at the conclusion of their Ad Limina pilgrimage to the Holy See. Cameroon lies in west central Africa and is home to an estimated 4.25 million Catholics, or 26% of the population, spread throughout 24 Dioceses. It shares a border with Nigeria to the West and Chad and the Central African Republic to the east – a region that is experiencing increasing insecurity because...

The University of Notre Dame will provide for contraceptives and abortifacient drugs in its student health-care program, the National Catholic Register reports. Notre Dame had joined other Catholic institutions in filing suit against the contraceptive mandate in the federal health-care program. In that lawsuit, Notre Dame said that the mandate would "require Notre Dame to commit scandal." But after preliminary court rulings against the university-- which Notre Dame is now appealing-- the university administration has chosen to cover contraceptive costs.