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Washington, D.C., Apr 13, 2009 / (CNA) -- The Catholic Church has welcomed another high profile politician into the fold -- former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. According to press reports, Gingrich, who spent most of his life as a Baptist, attended an evening Mass at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, March 29, and received the Sacrament of Confirmation the same evening. Gingrich, who has had two well-documented divorces outside the Catholic Church, recently appeared on Fox News to discuss North Korea, but also spoke briefly about his conversion. The conservative leader said that “reading...

With six of the state’s twelve bishops over 70 and the Church’s mandatory retirement age of 75, looming episcopal appointments by the Holy Father could change the face of Catholicism in California. In a story published April 5, the Los Angeles Times reported, “With Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony prominently among them, many of the nation's senior Roman Catholic bishops are nearing mandatory retirement, offering the Vatican a significant opportunity to reshape the American church… Nationwide, the retirements will provide Pope Benedict XVI a chance to put his stamp on a church that is struggling to serve growing ranks of...

Resurrection is historical reality, Benedict XVI tells world in ‘Urbi et Orbi’ Easter message From the depths of my heart, I wish all of you a blessed Easter. To quote Saint Augustine, "Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra -- the resurrection of the Lord is our hope" (Sermon 261:1). With these words, the great Bishop explained to the faithful that Jesus rose again so that we, though destined to die, should not despair, worrying that with death life is completely finished; Christ is risen to give us hope (cf. ibid.). Indeed, one of the questions that most preoccupies men and women is...

NEW YORK (AP) — The incoming archbishop of New York says he will challenge any suggestion that Roman Catholics are unenlightened because they oppose gay marriage and abortion. Archbishop Timothy Dolan also tells The Associated Press that he wants to restore pride in being a Catholic. Dolan made the comments in an interview Monday in Manhattan. He is scheduled to be installed as the leader of the Archdiocese of New York in ceremonies on Tuesday and Wednesday at St. Patrick's Cathedral. He succeeds Cardinal Edward Egan, who is retiring. The 59-year-old Dolan was most recently the archbishop of Milwaukee. In...

A majority of Roman Catholic adoption agencies have cut their ties with the Church rather than defy gay equality laws. Five agencies have declared themselves independent - and some have changed their names - to comply with laws that say they must allow homosexual couples to adopt children.The retreat ends decades in which the adoption charities have worked in the name of the Catholic Church with support from dioceses, clergy and congregations.The decision to end the formal connection with the Church follows a deadline set by the Government for charities to comply with the 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations. These...

When Catholics serve on the national stage, their actions and words impact the faith of Catholics around the country. As a result, they open themselves to legitimate scrutiny by local Catholics and local bishops on matters of Catholic belief. In 2008, although National Broadcasting Co. probably didnt intend it, Meet the Press has become a national window on the flawed moral reasoning of some Catholic public servants. On August 24, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, describing herself as an ardent, practicing Catholic, misrepresented the overwhelming body of Catholic teaching against abortion to the shows nationwide audience, while defending her...

Why am I a Catholic? There are a thousand ways to answer that question, and this book will take up many of them. By its end, there will be one answer. -SNIP- ...and in America (continuing racism), with the recognition that hatred of the Other (whether Jews, blacks, or, say, Muslims) is still virulent. Women came to a new self-understanding, from the workforce jolt of World War II to the claustrophobia of the suburbs in the 1950s to the liberation of the 1960s (the birth control pill) and 1970s (Roe v. Wade). Sexual sensibility itself was upended, with gay rights,...

Pope Benedict XVI will tonight attack the rise of aggressive secularism in western societies, warning them that they risked drifting into a 'desert of godlessness'. The Bavarian-born Pontiff will use his Good Friday meditations to compare deliberate attempts to purge religion from public life to the mockery of Jesus Christ by the mob as he was led out to be crucified. He will say said that 'religious sentiments' were increasingly ranked among the 'unwelcome leftovers of antiquity' and held up to scorn and ridicule. 'We are shocked to see to what levels of brutality human beings can sink,' he will...

Mexico City, Mexico (CNA) -- Father Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Mexico City, has issued a warning about the “terrorist” nature of the call for a “holy war” against the Catholic Church by the leader of followers of Santa Muerte -- “St. Death.” David Romo Guillen, leader of the devotion to “St. Death,” especially popular among drug traffickers and criminals, called for a “holy war” against the Catholic Church after the Mexican Army destroyed several places of worship it suspected to be criminal hideouts, especially in the northern part of the country, including one shrine to Santa Muerte...

As Easter approaches, in addition to looking upward, Catholics would be wise to look inward this year, and ask themselves one very important question: Who are we? Many Catholics are angry that the University of Notre Dame, a private Catholic institution with a 90% Christian enrollment and a crucifix in every classroom, has asked President Obama to speak at its coming commencement. Francis Cardinal George, archbishop of Chicago, called the invitation an "extreme embarrassment" to Catholics, who consider right-to-life issues among the most fundamental to their faith. Archbishops in Milwaukee and Newark made similar statements. And pro-life students at Notre...

From The Times April 8, 2009 Tony Blair tells the Pope: you're wrong on homosexuality Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent Tony Blair has challenged the “entrenched” attitudes of the Pope on homosexuality, and argued that it is time for him to “rethink” his views. Speaking to the gay magazine Attitude, the former Prime Minister, himself now a Roman Catholic, said that he wanted to urge religious figures everywhere to reinterpret their religious texts to see them as metaphorical, not literal, and suggested that in time this would make all religious groups accept gay people as equals. Asked about the Pope’s stance,...

President Barack Obama has named to the federal government’s faith-based initiative a gay-rights activist who, last month, described Pope Benedict XVI and certain Catholic bishops as “discredited leaders” because of their opposition to same-sex marriage. Harry Knox, who is a newly appointed member of Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, is the director of the religion and faith program at the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual activist group. In addition to his remarks about the Pope, Knox also criticized the Catholic Knights of Columbus as being “foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression” because of the Knights’...

Chicago, Tuesday, April 7 Two Protests at Notre Dame Trustees' Offices Notre Dame by-laws state that the Board of Trustees is charged to: "Ensure that the University maintains its essential character as a Catholic institution of higher learning;" Inviting President Obama flagrantly violates the "essential character" of a "Catholic institution;" Obama's policies are resulting in the death of the innocent across the world. It is a betrayal of the innocent unborn that are being killed, a betrayal God's Laws, and therefore an offense against heaven. Join us in Chicago to call on the Trustees to fulfill their duty.

 Here are some links to go to if you would like to download some wonderful music for Easter: Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music - The Musical Offering in MP3The download links at the page above look like this: Introitus: Resurrexi (Graduale Romanum)Hover your mouse cursor over the underlined / italicized text and right-click, then select 'save target as' from the right-click menu and choose your preferred download location. Hymns for the Celebrations of the Liturgical Year, Pontifical Musical Chorus of the Sistine ChapelThe download links at this page are different, they look like this: IO SONO RISORTO  For these...

WASHINGTON -- As many as 150,000 new or returning Catholics are expected to join the Catholic Church in 2009 in the United States. Many of them will do so at the Easter Vigil liturgies, April 11, in parishes across the country. In some cases the numbers show the growth and vitality of the Catholic Church in places where it has traditionally been a small minority. For instance, the Archdiocese of Atlanta estimates that 513 catechumens and 2,195 candidates will join the ranks of the Archdiocese in 2009. About 1,800 of them will do so at Easter. These numbers do not...

Conservative author and former House speaker Newt Gingrich will celebrate the Easter season this year in a very special way – by converting to Roman Catholicism. “I have become increasingly drawn to Catholicism over the past several years while attending Mass with my wife, Callista,” Gingrich tells Newsmax. “ After prayer and reflection, I believe this is where God has led me. I’m looking forward with great joy to being received into full communion with the Catholic Church.” Rumors of the religious conversion began circulating last month when Gingrich, a Baptist since college, told The New York Times that he...

Catholics and Catholicism are at the receiving end of a great deal of startling vituperation in contemporary America, although generally those responsible never think of themselves as bigots.” With these words, the historian Philip Jenkins opened his 2003 study entitled The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice. Mr. Jenkins might well consider it time to produce an updated edition. In it, he might ponder whether the recent renewal of anti-Catholic politicking is only an opening salvo in an unprecedented campaign to curb religious liberties in the United States. In which case, all of us — not just Catholics — stand...

COMMENTARY: Pope Benedict XVI is under fire for reiterating the Catholic Church's opposition to condom use while on his first pilgrimage to Africa. The pontiff told reporters that condoms are not the solution to the AIDS epidemic ravaging the continent; rather, they “aggravate” the problem. His comments sparked a firestorm. “My reaction is that this represents a major step backward in terms of global health education, is entirely counterproductive, and is likely to lead to increases in HIV infection in Africa and elsewhere,” said Quentin Sattentau, a professor of immunology at Britain's Oxford University. Even the French government got involved....

Campus Snapshots by: Malcolm A. Kline, March 19, 2009 From desecration of Christian icons to shouting down dissident viewpoints to penny ante smackdowns of candidates in student elections, America’s college campuses have become, if not fascistic, then at least places where fascism can happen. Cooper Union Crucifies Catholics When reports surface about the Koran being desecrated in a federal detention center, public outrage understandably follows. Yet most major media outlets do not deem it a story when Christian icons are violated. Similarly, few academics and cause groups deem it worth of collective indignation. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil...

The Vatican seems to be going through some tough waters; last weekend's article in the Vatican paper, Osservatore Romano, honoring International Women's Day is a vivid example. The headline: "The washing machine and the emancipation of women: put in the powder, close the lid and relax". The message: what has really changed women's lives is household technology, not rights or pills or work or the vote. The humorists are having a ball. Let's count among them Rush Limbaugh, whose rambling, sarcastic commentary deserves to be recounted in full (his mock outrage will not do a lot to solve the gender...

So, how does Saint Isidore of Seville become the patron saint for the Internet? The Observation Service for Internet, who drew it's mission from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, researched the Internet and related technologies to select a patron saint that best reflects the concerns and ideals of computer designers, programmers and users. The saint chosen by the Observation Service for Internet was Saint Isidore. "The saint who wrote the well-known 'Etymologies' (a type of dictionary), gave his work a structure akin to that of the database.

Hartford, Conn. (CNA) -- Following a deluge of phone calls and emails, a bill introduced in the Connecticut Senate to reorganize the financial and pastoral structure of the Catholic Church has been pulled and tabled for the rest of the legislative session. Meanwhile, state Sen. Andrew MacDonald and state Rep. Michael Lawlor, the sponsors of the bill, have sent it to the state attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, to determine if it passes constitutional muster. The two lawmakers also canceled a hearing on the bill. Despite the bill being pulled, the Diocese of Bridgeport is telling its members that the bill...

Hartford, Conn., Mar 10, 2009 / (CNA) -- A new study on American religion finds that Catholicism is facing a “stunning” decline in the northeast United States as the population center of U.S. Catholics shifts towards the southwest. Secularism continues to grow in all regions, while mainline Protestant denominations face the most significant population decline. The study, titled the “American Religious Identification Survey” (ARIS), was conducted by the Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. According to the ARIS report, Catholic numbers and percentages rose in many states in the South and West mainly due to immigration....

The bill that would allow the state legislature in Connecticut to reconfigure the governing structure of the Catholic Church has been pulled. Introduced by Rep. Michael Lawlor and Sen. Andrew McDonald, the bill was withdrawn at the behest of the person who proposed it, Tom Gallagher; he is a contributor to the National Catholic Reporter, a left-wing Catholic newspaper. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will now review the constitutionality of the bill. Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows: “Every pre-law undergraduate knows that what Lawlor and McDonald tried to pull off—in stealth fashion—was flagrantly unconstitutional. For their fascist stunt,...

A Catholic pro-life group has sent a letter to the Vatican calling on Pope Benedict XVI to excommunicate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from the Catholic Church due to her position on abortion. Front Royal, Va.-based Human Life International (HLI) had the letter delivered from its Rome office in February, according to Cybercast News Service’s CNSNews Web site. The letter was sent “because so many people have called on the bishops in the jurisdictions she lives in, who could possibly do it — and they won’t,” HLI President Rev. Thomas Euteneur told CNSNews. “Pelosi has a home in the archdiocese of...

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday he would visit the Holy Land from May 8-15 in the first papal trip to the area since 2000. The visit would be the second official trip by a pope to Israel. Announcing the dates of the long-planned pilgrimage, the pope said he would go to sites Jesus visited and would pray for "the precious gift of unity and peace for the Middle East and all of humanity."

Vatican City, Feb. 18, 2009 (CNA) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s photo-op with Pope Benedict XVI turned sour when the pontiff used the 15-minute meeting to reaffirm the teachings of the Catholic Church on the right to life and the duty to protect the unborn. No photo of Speaker Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and the pope will be forthcoming since the meeting was closed to reporters and photographers. The two met in a small room in the Vatican just after the pope's weekly public audience. Immediately after the meeting, the Holy See’s press office released a statement saying, “Following the general...

"The Socialists say they do not care about our star land. We tell them we do not care about their mud land. They hold that this world is no drill place, but a pleasure ground, with roses, roses, roses all the way, and no rose with a briar. They would pluck the fruit and believe there is no forbidden fruit. Poor little third rate planet! You're making too much of it, my friends. You cannot stop sin and death, my brethren, and of what use is Socialism on a deathbed, which for the Catholic is the beginning of life and...

A priest in California is outraged at a novelty store's large display window of "Saint Obama" candles displaying an image he says "depicts our beloved saints in a not so saintly way." The candles feature President Obama's head atop the body of St. Martin de Porres, a Peruvian-born Dominican friar, who became one of the first black saints in the Americas upon his canonization in 1962. Rev. Tony La Torre of St. Philip the Apostle Church in San Francisco says the candles, sold by the Just for Fun store for $15, "mock and ridicule the Catholic/Christian faith." "I am appalled,"...

The Vatican gave the Creationist lobby a left right sign of the cross today, announcing it would stage a conference on Darwinism next month and declaring that it was one of the Fathers of the Church that thought up the idea in the first place. At one point the conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University wasn't going to give Creationism or Intelligent Design a hearing at all. But apparently the organisers have relented, and will consider Intelligent Design as a "cultural phenomenon" rather than as a valid scientific theory, giving US-based IDers the chance to be smirked at by a...

Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said while the Church had been hostile to Darwin's theory in the past, the idea of evolution could be traced to St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas. Father Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Santa Croce University in Rome, added that 4th century theologian St Augustine had "never heard the term evolution, but knew that big fish eat smaller fish" and forms of life had been transformed "slowly over time". Aquinas made similar observations in the Middle Ages. ...

BC Crosses to Bear by: Malcolm A. Kline, February 10, 2009 Accuracy in Academia has devoted considerable attention to policies and practices at Boston College that make the institution run by the Jesuit order of priests sometimes look “Catholic in name only.” Thanks to the fine young men and women keeping the faith at The Observer, the alternative newspaper on campus, we now know that administrators there are making some effort to return tradition in the midst of academic fads. Nevertheless, the reporters at The Observer at Boston College show, old habits of accommodation are proving hard to break. “Returning...

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: One of the most overlooked facts of the American Civil War Era is the sympathy the South gained from Europe's most influential monarch - the pope of Rome. Pope Pius IX never actually signed any kind of alliance or 'statement of support' with the Confederate States of America, but to those who understand the nuance of papal protocol, what he did do was quite astonishing. He acknowledged President Jefferson Davis as the "Honorable President of the Confederate States of America." From this we can glean three things about Pope Pius IX... 1. He considered Jefferson Davis worthy...

On January 29, nearly 50 Catholic Democratic congressmen sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI stating their concerns over Bishop Richard Williamson’s comments questioning the historical record on the Holocaust. The bishop belongs to the St. Pius X Society, a group which recently had its excommunication lifted by the pope. The congressmen implored the pope to denounce the bishop’s views. Catholic League president Bill Donohue spoke to this issue today: “The congressmen’s letter to the pope smacks of posturing and hypocrisy, and is factually wrong. They begin by saying ‘we are writing to express our deep concerns with your decision...

Puffs of smoke, speeches in Latin and multipage encyclicals have all been used by the Vatican to communicate with the faithful. Now the pope is trying to broaden his audience by joining the wannabe musicians, college pranksters and water-skiing squirrels on YouTube. In his inaugural YouTube foray Friday, Pope Benedict XVI welcomed viewers to this "great family that knows no borders" and said he hoped they would "feel involved in this great dialogue of truth." "Today is a day that writes a new page in history for the Holy See," Vatican Radio said in describing the launch of the site,...

The Church's ultimate trial 675 Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.573 The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth574 will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.575676 The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the...

Vice President-elect Joe Biden worshipped and received communion Sunday at the same Roman Catholic church President John F. Kennedy attended just hours before his inauguration. Biden and his wife, Jill, sat in a pew reserved for him and his family toward the back of Holy Trinity Catholic Church, and listened as the Rev. Larry Madden, S.J., delivered a sermon about God as a constant anchor and the promise of hope and change for those who believe. Although Madden did not mention Biden's name, the presence of the vice president-elect was obvious in other ways. Secret Service agents were discreetly stationed...

As a young boy in Poland before World War II, Karol Jozef Wojtyla possessed an uncommon warmth for an often reviled group of outsiders – Jews.  Like most others in his hometown, Wojtyla was Catholic. But he counted Jewish children among his friends – attending school with them, even playing goalie on their soccer team.  Wojtyla was speechless when one of them, a fellow actor in drama club, informed him that she was leaving to escape looming anti-Semitism.  Decades later, those early experiences and friendships would have a dramatic influence on Wojtyla – the future Pope John Paul II.The Jewish threads of John...

Washington, DC, Jan. 13, 2009 (CNA) -- In his first lengthy article explaining his position after the election of President Barack Obama, Pepperdine University Professor Douglas Kmiec is accusing “right wing Catholic bloggers" of distorting his position, attacking him personally, and potentially poisoning the relationship between the Holy See and the future administration of President Barack Obama.

Refuting liberal Catholics who use Scripture to justify higher taxesFirst, an example of a liberal Catholic. I offer up Joe Biden, who appointed himself an expert on Catholic social doctrine.Says Joe:“Catholic social doctrine as I was taught it is, you take care of people who need the help the most,� he said [in defense of his proposal to hike taxes on the wealthy by calling it patriotic] The subtle word there is Y-O-U. Joe is correct, Catholics are taught to be charitable, give generously and care for the poor and vulnerable among us. However, I completely disagree with him that...

A voice is heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more. –Matt. 2:18 quoting Jer. 31:15 Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, 'Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted—and you yourself a sword will pierce—so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.' –Luke 2:34-35 In the Catholic Church, each day's liturgy brings a different celebration or commemoration, either from the life of Christ or...

"God is Love and whoever remains in Love remains in God, and God in him." –(1 John 4:16) "In perfect Love there is no fear, rather perfect Love casts out all fear." –(1 John 4:18) The Feast of St. John the Evangelist—the Apostle, the Beloved Disciple—is no doubt a great feast day of God's Love. St. John was the first to use Love as the perfect synonym for God, and as the last apostle to die as well as the author of the last book of the Bible, John is in many ways the last word on Love (with a...

THE world had subsisted about four thousand years, and all things were accomplished which, according to the ancient prophets, were to precede the coming of the Messias, when Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, having taken human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and being made man, was born of her for the redemption of mankind. The all-wise and all-merciful providence of God had, from the fall of our first parents, gradually disposed all things for the fulfilling of his promises, and the accomplishing the greatest of all his mysteries, the incarnation of his divine Son. Had...

Bringing our fallen-away relations back to Church during AdventREV. JOHN HORGANEach Christmas, our churches are thronged with people who come to pray before the Manger, join in the singing of carols, and feel the warmth of the Saviour's love. Some of these men and women are not Catholic; others do not practice the Faith regularly. Some are estranged from the Church, angry at her teachings, hurt by her representatives; a larger number simply live their lives as if the Church had no place in their world, no bearing on their lifestyles, careers, and choices. . . except at Christmas. Many...

On the surface, something about Barack Obama picking Rick Warren to give his inauguration invocation seemed fishy. I mean, Warren was the man responsible for one of Obama's few (and perhaps biggest) campaign faux pas, when he made Barack look silly last summer trying to answer the question "When does life begin?" But then I realized that Barack, brilliant politician that he is, was using his special reverse "If I can't beat him, join ME!" psychology, already duping Warren and many of his on-the-surface Christians into his camp for the next election. However, while I predict this pick for Obama...

Yes, I guess I can agree with Catholic Answers that my calling Senator Biden "Ding-Dong" (or at least implying that Joe was the person in the un-holy Obama-Rham-a-Ding-Dong trinity) is uncharitable. I suppose "hypocrite" or "heretic" would be more technically correct, at least from the Catholic critic's standpoint.

For American Catholics who remain loyal to Rome, it is safe to say that 2008 is not your ordinary Advent. For following close on the heals of the birthday of Jesus is The Inauguration of Indignation, and with that deadly medley of Obama-Rham-a (Rham Emanuel)-Ding-Dong (Joe Biden) ready to seize control and dictate Our Nation's morality, it is essential we remember the full scope of this liturgical season, and make this Advent not just a sentimental commemoration of Christ's first coming, but a thorough preparation for His second—and final—visit.

This is a link to The Daily Vortex. "Twisted Sister" will remain up just for the day ... then this link switches to the most recent Vortex.

Muslim prayer rooms should be opened in every Roman Catholic school, Church leaders have said. The Catholic bishops of England and Wales also want special toilet facilities in schools to be adapted for Islamic cleaning rituals. Their demands will shock both Catholic parents and the Government because they go way beyond the legal requirements on catering for the rights and needs of religious minorities. But the bishops are keen to answer critics who say religious schools sow division - and to show that they are leading the way in building bridges between people of different faiths. The bishops acknowledge in...

Having spoken out a time or ten against the sweet-talking new-age messiah myself, I fully understand the depression attached to the newly elected democratic pro-death administration that many faithful Christians now suffer. But as John Paul II used to say, "Be not afraid," for God has sent us a voice—or Voris—to lead us in the coming battle that his namesake angel and saint first fought so long ago. Michael Voris' new Web venture, RealCatholicTV, is the classic example of a dream that was both a long-time coming and one that arrived just in time. After graduating from Notre Dame in...