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A few years ago I was told that at the ceremony of induction of the vicar of one of the local Anglican churches, the Bible which was handed to him had embossed on its front cover the emblem of the Freemasons, the square and compasses. It subsequently came to light that nearly all the male members of his Parochial Church Council were "on the square", and his predecessor as vicar had been a Mason as well. This is not a "low", or Evangelical, church, but very firmly in the Anglo Catholic tradition, where a number of clergy and lay people...

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield announced this summer that 19 Catholic Churches are closing leaving many fighting to keep their places of worship open or looking for another church. We found local Catholic churches that are not part of the Roman Catholic diocese but are Catholic and run their church democratically. Laurie Costello, member of National Catholic Church, says, "We came from the Roman Catholic Church and we just weren't happy with the way things ran." Laurie Costello and her family changed churches 5 years ago when the Springfield Diocese closed the Roman Catholic school she grew up in....

VULGAR CATHOLIC HALLOWEEN COSTUMES October 29, 2009Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on this season’s Halloween costumes:There are costumes depicting Jesus, priests, nuns, ministers, rabbis and imams, and most of them are innocuous. But there are two costumes that are vulgar, and, as usual, they are designed to offend Catholics: a priest with an erection and a pregnant nun, often sold as a pair. Some immigrant groups are upset about an illegal alien costume, but even those who are complaining don’t say it is vulgar. A mere depiction of Muhammad in a Danish cartoon that was anything but vulgar...

October 29, 2009The following article was submitted in a slightly shorter form to the New York Times as an op-ed article. The Times declined to publish it. I thought you might be interested in reading it. FOUL BALL!By Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan Archbishop of New York   October is the month we relish the highpoint of our national pastime, especially when one of our own New York teams is in the World Series!   Sadly, America has another national pastime, this one not pleasant at all: anti-catholicism.             It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic Church a...

Two churches in Little Falls are learning just how polarizing the topic of gay clergy can be among its members. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's decision to allow homosexuals in monogamous relationships to serve as church leaders even resulted in one Little Falls pastor's resignation. The Rev. Nate Bjorge's last day as lead pastor at First Lutheran Church in Little Falls is Friday. On Oct. 11 the church held a congregation-wide vote on whether the church should remain in the ELCA or join Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ, another Lutheran body. The church voted to stay in the...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Benedict XVI says Church needs to proclaim Gospel on the ‘digital continent’ Pope Benedict XVI Vatican City, Oct 29, 2009 / 11:30 am (CNA).- Addressing the full Pontifical Council for Social Communications today, Benedict XVI urged its members to help communicate the teachings of the Church on the “digital continent” of the ever-changing technological landscape. Reflecting on the role of social networking and increasingly real-time electronic communication, Pope Benedict XVI said on Thursday that "modern culture is established, even before its content, in the very fact of the existence of new forms of communication that use new languages;...

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” Psalm 91:1

Among the major nations of the Western world, the United States is singular in still having the death penalty. After a five-year moratorium, from 1972 to 1977, capital punishment was reinstated in the United States courts. Objections to the practice have come from many quarters, including the American Catholic bishops, who have rather consistently opposed the death penalty. The National Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1980 published a predominantly negative statement on capital punishment, approved by a majority vote of those present though not by the required two-thirds majority of the entire conference.1 Pope John Paul II has at various...

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:Last Friday on the Washington Post blog, “On Faith,” English atheist Richard Dawkins said the Catholic Church was “surely up there among the leaders” as “the greatest force for evil in the world.” He labeled the Eucharist a “cannibal feast,” adding that “possession of testicles is an essential qualification to perform the rite.” He also blamed the Church for sending missionaries “out to tell deliberate lies to AIDS-weakened Africans” regarding condoms. The Church’s outreach to Anglicans, he said, makes it “a common pimp,” noting that those who convert “will be joining an institution...

Is Reagan Conservatism dead? The answer is a resounding - No! The ideal is as solid as it has ever been, but the objective view of this writer is that it is not enough to deliver this nation from the 70 year socialistic grip of liberalism and its horrific consequences (moral and institutional) on our society and people. Anyone who has an objective view and appraisal of our current situation would have to agree. In light of the present conditions plaguing our country and what seems to be the disintegration of the Republican Party, Conservatives have been on suicide alert...

"God Is Dead." No. When Friedrich Nietzsche announced the death of God in 1882, he thought that in the modern, scientific world people would soon be unable to countenance the idea of religious faith. By the time The Economist did its famous "God Is Dead" cover in 1999, the question seemed moot, notwithstanding the rise of politicized religiosity - fundamentalism - in almost every major faith since the 1970s. An obscure ayatollah toppled the shah of Iran, religious Zionism surfaced in Israel, and in the United States, Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority announced its dedicated opposition to "secular humanism."

You tube video of Christians trying to ask Muslims questions at Arab Festival in Dearborn, MI. Police side with the Muslims.

Larry David found comedy fodder in piety on the latest episode of his series, “Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ On the show’s most recent installment, which aired Sunday, David urinates on a painting of Jesus Christ, causing a woman to believe the painting depicts Jesus crying. … During Sunday’s episode, David, who created, wrote and produced “Seinfeld,” visits a bathroom in his assistant’s home and splatters urine on a picture of Jesus. Instead of wiping it off, David leaves the restroom. Minutes later, David’s assistant enters the bathroom and concludes that Jesus is crying. She then summons her mother to the bathroom,...

  For anyone who strongly identifies with traditional Christianity, the October 6-9 series on Fox News's Hannity, with Sean Hannity interviewing Michael Moore, was rich in irony and vaguely distressing. The occasion was Moore's new film, Capitalism: A Love Story.   Two bright, likable, and deeply sincere married men of middle age passionately argued the positions of the liberal Democrats or progressives (Moore) and the conservative Republicans (Hannity). What generated some irony was that both celebrity worldlings revealed themselves to be regular Sunday mass-goers. They viewed their years in Catholic schools warmly and with pride, and readily associated some...

The following message (though not this picture) was posted yesterday on the Mormon Church's public affairs blog. It explains the group's unhappiness with recent news reports that refer to "splinter groups" which hive off from the Salt Lake City-based "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (AKA "the Mormon Church") as "Mormons." These splinter groups (AKA "Mormon Fundamentalists") assiduously devote themselves to the practice of the doctrine of polygamy (which was renounced by THE Mormon Church in 1890) and around whichever Viagra-addled alpha male has set himself up as the prophet, seer, and revelator for that particular harem.

Father Vincent Lampert (right), from St. Francis and Clare Parish in Indianapolis, Ind., lectures at Foellinger Auditorium on Monday. Fr. Lampert discussed his experiences as one of 12 officially trained exorcist priests in the United States. Joanna Mirowska The Daily Illini With Halloween around the corner and Hollywood releasing horror movies such as "Paranormal Activity" and "Saw VI," one cannot help but feel chills running down his or her spine. St. John's Catholic Newman Center had the timing right when it invited exorcist Father Vince Lampert to speak about his experiences Monday night at Foellinger Auditorium. Lampert, the head priest...

The Conservative movement today consists of individuals with various personal beliefs (both religious and ideological), but conservatism in general sadly rejects outright the absolute authority of the Bible, the Holy Word of Almighty God. It is a “bestselling” book widely reverenced, but too many Conservatives reject its Divine authority and preeminence. These “Subjective Conservatives” cannot see out of this box called time, and thus they are oblivious to the realities of Holy Scripture truth. This includes the coming establishment of the literal Kingdom of Almighty God on earth, as well as their own eternity destiny (John 3:3-5; Romans 8:5-8; 1...

A man named Milton Supman died last week. He died quietly, at 83. He'd grown up in the only Jewish family in a small North Carolina town, his father a dry goods merchant who had moved there from Hungary. His family gave him the handle which was to be the origin both of a stage name and of a peculiar, indescribably influential bond with millions of American children - Soupy. When Soupy Sales died last week, a lifelong friend of mine posted video clips of his work on her Facebook page. Her daughter, herself an adult now, added this comment:...

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn celebrates Mass at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Turin in 2000, the last time the Shroud of Turin was on public display. (CNS/Nancy Wiechec) By Cindy WoodenCatholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI will join hundreds of thousands of pilgrims traveling to northern Italy in 2010 to see the Shroud of Turin, which many believe is the burial cloth of Christ. The Vatican and the Archdiocese of Turin announced Oct. 27 that Pope Benedict will visit the city May 2. "As the first act of his visit, the Holy Father will...

Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island-- who shows a rare gift for plain speech on public issues-- deserves congratulations for his effort to educate Congressman Patrick Kennedy on the reasons behind the US bishops' opposition to a health-care reform proposal that allows subsidies for abortions. It won't be easy. Kennedy, you will recall, told a reporter that he could not understand why the US bishops are opposing the reform bill. Do they like reform? Isn't it, like, a good thing? In a quick public response, Bishop Tobin characterized Kennedy's statement as "irresponsible and ignorant," explained the political issue in...

There are plenty of questions being asked in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America following a decision in August to allow pastors to be involved in committed, same-gender relationships. In response to the decision, there will be a series of meetings at churches in the ELCA's southeastern Minnesota synod during the coming weeks, including a three-week series starting Sunday at Zumbro Lutheran Church in Rochester. Bishop Harold Usgaard recently recorded a videotaped message to prompt discussion about the fundamental questions raised by this issue. The questions include: Who is welcome in ELCA congregations and who is not? Usgaard also wrote...

By focusing on the issue of married clergy in the Catholic Church, the secular media has got the thin end of the story of last week's offer of reunion from the Vatican to "traditionalist" Anglicans. The more interesting story, says Fr. Philip Powell, a Dominican priest based in Rome and a former Episcopalian, is the "huge cultural shift" in the Anglican Church that it presages. Fr. Powell gave his analysis of the move in an interview with LSN, saying that despite accusations from the left and from some quarters of the Anglican Communion, it was not an opportunistic grab for...

Sleepy Eye, Minn. - In addition to Halloween, this Saturday is also a special date of historical significance for many Christians. October 31 is celebrated by Lutherans as Reformation Day, for it is the date Martin Luther is believed to have nailed his 95 Theses, or grievances against the Roman Catholic Church, on the door of All SaintsÂ’ Church in Germany. This act marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, which ultimately led to Lutheranism itself. As many Lutherans look back to their Reformation heritage over the weekend, members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are doing some...

Speaking for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has stated that a religious coalition, which recently petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to clamp down on "hate speech" by conservative talk-show hosts, has misrepresented the U.S. bishops' involvement in their initiative. The USCCB Office of Communications is listed as a member of the So We Might See Coalition, a group billing itself as a national interfaith coalition against hate speech in media led by the United Church of Christ's (UCC) Office of Communications' Executive Director, J. Bennett Guess. The USCCB drew fire from conservative...

The calendar has been produced by the Madrid Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual collective COGAM Controversy in Madrid with the launch of a 2010 lay calendar which shows images of ‘transsexual virgins’ recreating religious scenes decorated with crowns, condoms and phallic symbols. The lay calendar takes the religion out of the dates of the year, so Christmas Day becomes the day you eat the traditional Spanish turron to mark International Democracy Day, for example. The images are all based on famous Catholic images and iconography. The Venezuelan photographer who assembled the calendar, Juan Antinoo, had been commissioned by COGAM, the...

Fr. Leo Patalinghug author of Grace before Meals: Recipes for Family Life (Truequest Communications, $15.95) was thrilled about the opportunity to appear on the popular Food Network program Throwdown with Bobby Flay. After all the priest who runs the Pastor Field Education Program for seminarians at Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Maryland believes cooking is one of the best ways to teach about the faith, especially the source and summit of the Catholic faith; the Eucharist. That’s why he decided to put his love for cooking into a book and a media ministry (www.gracebeforemeals.com) so families, especially Catholic families...

John Satawa's family has displayed a nativity scene on a street median in Warren, Mich., virtually every Christmas season since 1945, but following an intimidating letter sent by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Satawa's county has put stop to the 63-year-old tradition. The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation proclaims its purpose in the letter to the Road Commission of Macomb County was to "protect the fundamental constitutional principle of separation of church and state." But Satawa contends there's nothing unconstitutional about his privately owned and maintained Christmas display. With the help of the Thomas More Law Center, Satawa has filed...

This week sees the opening on various cinema marquees of the film Collision: a buddy-and-road movie featuring last year's debates between Pastor Douglas Wilson, who is a senior fellow at New St. Andrew's College, and your humble servant. (If I may be forgiven, it's also available on DVD, and you can buy our little book of exchanges, Is Christianity Good for the World?) Newsweek's reviewer beseeches you not to go and see the film, largely on the grounds that it features two middle-aged white men trying to establish which one is the dominant male. I would have thought that this...

There is a massive power shift underway in Washington D.C. today, which is leading our nation to abandon our Judean/ Christian heritage and founding principles at an alarming rate. Many evangelical Christians are seeing the exponential change in this country toward a secular, socialist state – especially in the last ten months – which is, quite frankly, scaring them to death. This concern is noteworthy and quite merited in light of the significant changes that are now happening, but many Evangelicals are ignorant the Scriptural prophecies (predictions) describing these very events. They are stumbling over and wondering what Almighty God...

A petition to the Federal Communications Commissioner (FCC) to investigate popular conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh for purported "hate speech" has caused a stir among Catholic circles after it was revealed that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) communications office is backing the initiative. One conservative commentator has even cited evidence that the religious coalition behind the petition, of which the USCCB communications office is a part, may be affiliated with the federal government's recent campaign against conservative media. "So We Might See," a group billing itself as a national interfaith coalition against hate speech in media,...

...holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such people. (2 Timothy 3:5 RSV) In other words, Paul says that the primary cause of these repetitive cycles of stress and danger is the hypocritical lives of Christians who outwardly look pious, religious, committed and devoted, but are actually unchanged inside and have no power to overcome evil in their lives. Hypocritical Christianity -- that is the bottom line in these times of stress. I do not think any of us really grasps the revelation of Scripture about the nature of the church. The New Testament everywhere...

David Gibson's head appears to be spinning over at The Washington Post: When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope in April 2005, all the world rejoiced -- or recoiled -- with the certain knowledge that the cardinals had settled on the one man who would be more conservative than John Paul II. <snip> Thus far, Benedict's papacy has been one of constant movement and change, the sort of dynamic that liberal Catholics -- or Protestants -- are usually criticized for pursuing. In Benedict's case, this liberalism serves a conservative agenda. But his activism should not be surprising: As a sharp...

I think it's rediculous that our Bishops caved into Jewish "concerns" about the U.S. Catholic document regarding conversion of the Jews. Another Jewish tap dance.

After pondering Cardinal Newman's insightful sketch of the hallmarks of a true gentleman, I can only say, "we need more gentlemen!" Gentlemen of this caliber are in very short supply these days. Newman says . . .

There the LORD will be our Mighty One. It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them. For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; it is he who will save us. (Isaiah 33:21-22)

[ABOVE: Rifqa Bary] The Fate of Riqua Bary Seems Not to Matter to Authorities Does Riqua Bary's life matter? How the authorities stacked the deck against the runaway Muslim girl from Ohio who converted to Christianity.In virtually unprecedented breach of protocol, the State of Florida ridiculed Riqua Bary's belief that she would be in danger if she, as a Christian convert, were returned to her father and brother's household. Ms Bary is a 17-year-old minor. Being raised in a Muslim household, she was well aware that the crime for apostasy was death. With the help of a Christian missionary,...

I have been involved with Internet discussions and apologetics for a very long time, at least in Internet terms. I remember debating a man from the Netherlands via email about Catholic theology in 1992, before I was even officially received into the Catholic Church. Considering “Internet years” are somewhat like dog years, I figure that’s 119 years of online debates and discussions (and it even feels like more sometimes). Over that time I have developed some rules of engagement for Internet apostolate that might be helpful for others. 1) Always remember the superiority of the real world over the virtual...

Our Church of England bishops can be such flirts. They were at it again over the weekend, as traditionalists met to consider Pope Benedict XVI's bombshell decision to welcome disaffected Anglo-Catholics, even the married ones, into Roman Catholicism, while keeping some of their Anglican ways. Since the Vatican's announcement last week, Anglo-Catholic bishops and priests have been lifting the hems of their copes to show Rome a glimpse of silk-gartered ankle. But they're coy and demure, too; they make it clear that they'll want a decent dowry from the Archbishop of Canterbury before they throw themselves into the arms of...

The Church of England has survived the Spanish Armada, the English Civil War and Elton John performing “Candle in the Wind” at Princess Diana’s Westminster Abbey funeral. So it will probably survive the note the Vatican issued last week, inviting disaffected Anglicans to head Romeward, and offering them an Anglo-Catholic mansion within the walls of the Roman Catholic faith. But the invitation is a bombshell nonetheless. Pope Benedict XVI’s outreach to Anglicans may produce only a few conversions; it may produce a few million. Either way, it represents an unusual effort at targeted proselytism, remarkable both for its concessions to...

THE MOST illuminating aspect of last weekend’s Knock “apparition� was what wasn’t seen. A so-called clairvoyant had predicted that at 3pm on Sunday the Virgin Mary would make an appearance. The crowd gathered. The clock ticked down. And, sure enough, at 3pm . . . she didn’t turn up.Instead, a few minutes after that, some of those present say they saw the sun either spin, or shoot out rays, or that they did indeed see the Virgin Mary.A Mayo News reporter wrote: “Standing beside some people from the parish of Knock, we witnessed something that we had never seen before. Whatever...

Columnist Maureen Dowd, in Sunday’s New York Times, has weighed in on the Vatican investigation now taking place into the state of American nuns. The investigation, officially called an apostolic visitation, has been met with a fair bit of skepticism because there is a strong sense, among many sisters, that this is an attempt to put American nuns back where they belong: behind convent walls and dressed in the traditional habit. Since Vatican II, many nuns have opted for less structured lives, taking on a range of secular jobs and living on their own instead of in a community. All...

For the servant (slave) of Christ (His soldier); all that he/she possesses is at the total disposal of Almighty God, to be used for His honor and glory here in time (Romans 12:1-5). Be not offended in what God wills, allows or uses in your life to further the Gospel message to a lost and dying world (Matt 11:6, Rom 8:28). Endure hardness as a good soldier (2 Tim 2:3-4). Some times the very thing in which we are seeking to preserve or save is to be on the chopping block and removed. Fret not my beloved, Almighty God is...

A hate crimes bill sent to President Obama for his signature raises a red flag for Christians. On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed a hate crimes bill that Christian leaders have warned for years could greatly infringe on the rights of those who speak to loudly about their religious views. Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel agrees with most observers that President Obama will sign the measure -- adding that the president desires to "throw a bone to homosexual activists because they have been breathing down his neck...and this is a way to hold them off."

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 23, 2009 (Zenit.org).- When priests are given the choice between marriage and celibacy, the tendency is to choose celibacy, at least according to the experience of the bishop of Cairo of the Chaldeans.Bishop Youssef Ibrahim Sarraf said this today in response to a question concerning married priests at a press conference to present the final message of the synod on Africa. The question was asked in light of the announcement this week that Benedict XVI will publish an apostolic constitution that will allow groups of Anglicans seeking communion with the Church to do so through personal ordinariates....

More than two decades ago, some like-minded Lutherans merged to form the nation’s largest Lutheran body, optimistic that they could create a mighty ministry force. But unity among the 4.7 million members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is splintering over a landmark policy change. At its national assembly in August, ELCA members voted to give each church the option of blessing same-sex couples and hiring gay and lesbian clergy in committed relationships. For some of the 176 congregations in South-Central Texas, the change marks a long-awaited and just victory for their gay and lesbian members. But more conservative...

A growing national schism within the country’s largest Lutheran denomination is also being felt locally, with several area churches considering breaking their ties with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). At least one church — Christus Lutheran Church in Clintonville — has already taken the first step in the secession process, following a congregational vote in which 85 percent supported leaving ELCA. A second secession vote must still be staged, after a minimum of three months has elapsed from the first vote, prior to making the move to secede official. The controversy stems from a vote by the ELCA...

 Does the Church teach two Gospels?  Daniel Gregg Also posted at Torahtimes.org          When the preacher says Christ died for our sin, what does it make you think?  Does it make you think that he paid the penalty for sin so that the repentant might be forgiven?   Or does it make you think one only needs to believe to be perfectly righteous in God's sight, and then one is saved on the basis of God's vision of righteousness?     Believe it or not, the Church teaches two gospels.  One is a gospel of repentance and pardon, by which a man may be...

THE Anglican Archbishop of Perth has cautioned disgruntled Anglicans not to join the Catholic Church in anger and haste. Rogert Herft said the Vatican's offer to receive Anglicans would provide a "helpful way for those who wished to join the Roman Catholic Church to do so on similar terms to many Roman Catholics".

Jeremiah 29:11 I Know the Plans I have for You, Says the Lord. They are Plans for Good and not for Evil, To Give you a Hope and a Future.

One caution: Many of the details remain up in the air This week's big Vatican story is obviously the decision to create special structures, called "personal ordinariates", to welcome Anglicans seeking to join the Catholic church. In some reports, the move was touted as a bold gambit to end the schism that began with the English Reformation in the 16th century -- a dubious bit of spin, given that the actual number of Anglicans likely to sign up for one of these ordinariates will almost certainly be quite small.When the dust settles, the centuries-long breach between Rome and Canterbury will...