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His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, in an interview conducted during the Sixth World Conference of the Faith and Order Commission in Wadi El Natrun, Egypt, reflects on the deep heritage of the Coptic Orthodox Church, its unique roles, and the importance of hosting the historic conference, which drew more than 400 people who explored the theme “Where now for visible unity?”Your Holiness, you mentioned in one of your statements that “A homeland without churches is better than churches without a homeland.” Can you clarify this statement? How do you describe the role of the Coptic Orthodox Church in this context?...

20 November 2025 Thursday of week 33 in Ordinary TimeSt Edmund, King and Martyr Church (London)Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First reading1 Maccabees 2:15-29'Heaven preserve us from forsaking the Law and its ordinances'The commissioners of King Antiochus who were enforcing the apostasy came to the town of Modein to make them sacrifice. Many Israelites gathered round them, but Mattathias and his sons drew apart. The king’s commissioners then addressed Mattathias as follows, ‘You are a respected leader, a great man in this town; you have sons and brothers to support you. Be the first to step forward and...

As the West is finally waking up to the genocide of Christians in Nigeria, Christians are also facing brutal oppression in Communist China. Recently, the persecution has escalated to levels not seen since Mao Zedong ruled the country. Last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the largest crackdown on Chinese Christians in years. More than 20 clergy and parishioners were arrested, along with a prominent underground church pastor. Christian leaders have reported that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has demolished thousands of unsanctioned churches. In September, mirroring the hardline tactics of the Soviet Politburo, Xi Jinping decreed that all faiths...

19 November 2025Wednesday of week 33 in Ordinary Time Mechthild of Magdeburg commemorated near the Magdalene Chapel in MagdeburgReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First reading2 Maccabees 7:1,20-31The creator of the world will give you back both breath and lifeThere were seven brothers who were arrested with their mother. The king tried to force them to taste pig’s flesh, which the Law forbids, by torturing them with whips and scourges. But the mother was especially admirable and worthy of honourable remembrance, for she watched the death of seven sons in the course of a single day, and endured it...

18 November 2025 Tuesday of week 33 in Ordinary TimeSaint Rose Philippine Duchesne Catholic Church A Personal Parish of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in KansasReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First reading2 Maccabees 6:18-31'I will make a good death, eagerly and generously, for the holy laws'Eleazar, one of the foremost teachers of the Law, a man already advanced in years and of most noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth wide to swallow pig’s flesh. But he, resolving to die with honour rather than to live disgraced, went to the block of his own accord, spitting the...

The fight is between two people who never married but whose daughter now is nearly a teen. And the coming decision by the Maine Supreme Court will determine if judges in that state can simply overturn the constitutional religious rights of parents. The battle has been outlined by Liberty Counsel, which explained the judge’s trial court ruling in the dispute between mother and father is well into the extreme range, or beyond. For example, the judge ruled that the custodial mother “is a fit parent EXCEPT for the fact that she is a Christian.” The war erupted over the non-custodial...

Like the Sabbath, the week originated at creation, and it has been preserved and brought down to us through Bible history. God Himself measured off the first week as a sample for successive weeks to the close of time. Like every other, it consisted of seven literal days. Six days were employed in the work of creation; upon the seventh, God rested, and He then blessed this day and set it apart as a day of rest for man. In the law given from Sinai, God recognized the week, and the facts upon which it is based. After giving the...

17 November 2025 Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious on Monday of week 33 in Ordinary Time St Elizabeth of Hungary Church, Cleveland Ohio Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst reading1 Maccabees 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-64The persecution of Antiochus EpiphanesThere grew a sinful offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus; once a hostage in Rome, he became king in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks. It was then that there emerged from Israel a set of renegades who led many people astray. ‘Come,’ they said...

16 November 202533rd Sunday in Ordinary Time St. Margaret of Scotland Parish TorontoReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingMalachi 3:19-20For you the sun of righteousness will shine outThe day is coming now, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and the evil-doers will be like stubble. The day that is coming is going to burn them up, says the Lord of Hosts, leaving them neither root nor stalk. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays.How to listenResponsorial PsalmPsalm 97(98):5-9The Lord comes to rule the peoples...

my wife and I had just arrived at our new parish. Something I’d not anticipated, however, were the serious theological challenges that were awaiting me in my new church, which was embroiled in debate regarding the nature of the Godhead, particularly the nature of Christ and the personhood of the Holy Spirit. As so often happens, the church was divided into two camps: the majority supported official Adventist teachings, while the minority, consisting of sincere church members, believed that the Adventist Church had erred in embracing the doctrine of the Trinity. This group agitated for a return to the teachings...

, at a recent, very crowded Sunday night mass at St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village, Father Jonah Teller, OP made a simple announcement indicating that times are changing. According to Teller, the number enrolled in the parish’s Order of Christian Initiation of Adults — the process in which adults convert to Catholicism — had tripled since last year, with roughly 130 people signing up. ... There’s a similar story at St. Vincent Ferrer on the Upper East Side, where their OCIA numbers have doubled since last year, swelling to nearly 90 people. “We’re out of space and exploring adding...

What’s the allure of false teaching, particularly in regard to future things? Why do so many people go astray from what the words of Scripture tell us about what lies ahead for us and the world? These questions again came to my mind after I received an email boasting that “dispensationalism is on the decline.” By that, the writer meant that many Christians are turning away from our belief in Jesus’ thousand-year rule on the earth. As evidence, he cited Kirk Cameron’s apparent switch from belief in a pre-Tribulation Rapture to Dominion Theology, which teaches that the church will usher...

I receive dozens of e-mails from Rapture Ready readers every day. A few readers send me several e-mails every day. They want to be sure that I didn’t miss important reports, and some hope that I will alert others. I have already read most of the articles they send, but I receive a few articles about things that I was unaware of. I try to pass on reports about things that I believe people should know. I receive a few e-mails from readers that tell me they are anxious for the Rapture to happen. Quite often, they want to join...

Transcript: Caller: So did the Catholic Church, did they change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday? Mark Brumley: I’m gonna say no, and I’m gonna say no because we don’t understand Sunday to be the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the seventh day. In the Old Testament it was part of the covenant and part of God’s commandment to observe the seventh day as a way of acknowledging the goodness of God’s original creation and God’s saving act of bringing Israel out of bondage in Egypt and establishing Israel as his new covenant people, as the beginning of the process of...

15 November 2025 Saturday of week 32 in Ordinary TimeSt. Albert The Great Catholic Church - Burbank, Illinois Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingWisdom 18:14-16,19:6-9The Red Sea became an unimpeded wayWhen peaceful silence lay over all,and night had run the half of her swift course,down from the heavens, from the royal throne, leapt your all-powerful Word;into the heart of a doomed land the stern warrior leapt.Carrying your unambiguous command like a sharp sword,he stood, and filled the universe with death;he touched the sky, yet trod the earth.For, to keep your children from all harm,the whole creation, obedient...

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT. Q. What is the Third Commandment? A. The Third Commandment is: Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Q. Which is the Sabbath day? A. Saturday is the Sabbath day. Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. Q. Why did the Catholic Church substituted Sunday for Saturday? A. The Catholic Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday. Q....

14 November 2025Friday of week 32 in Ordinary Time St. Laurence O'Toole - Laramie, WY Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingWisdom 13:1-9How have those who investigated the world been so slow to find its Master?Naturally stupid are all men who have not known Godand who, from the good things that are seen, have not been able to discover Him-who-is,or, by studying the works, have failed to recognise the Artificer.Fire however, or wind, or the swift air,the sphere of the stars, impetuous water, heaven’s lamps,are what they have held to be the gods who govern the world.If, charmed by...

I guess I haven’t been paying enough attention, at least not to the extent I thought. The other night, I was listening to talk-show host and attorney Mark Levin—his program that I don’t often catch. He was coming hard against some in this nation who are calling Christians and Jews in support of Israel evil, or at least ignorantly misdirected. Specifically, he was talking angrily against podcast host Tucker Carlson, former star of Fox News. Levin said Carlson and a guest on his podcast were saying they hated Christian and Jewish Zionists more than any others in the entire Israel-vs-its-enemies...

Be honest. You’re seeing things every day that you didn’t think you would see in your lifetime! It must be the last days. Up is down, and black is white. Evil is good, and good is evil. But some of these items listed, I never could have imagined. Here is just my latest short list of things I didn’t think I would see: 1) Per Tucker Carlson, I have a brain virus because I support Israel. Who could have imagined such an accusation? As a self-proclaimed Christian, Tucker surely doesn’t know the Bible, which is as pro-Israel as you can...

13 November 2025 Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini on Thursday of week 32 in Ordinary Time Saint Francesca Xavier Cabrini Shrine in ChicagoReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingWisdom 7:22-8:1Wisdom is a breath of the power of GodWithin Wisdom is a spirit intelligent, holy,unique, manifold, subtle,active, incisive, unsullied,lucid, invulnerable, benevolent, sharp,irresistible, beneficent, loving to man,steadfast, dependable, unperturbed,almighty, all-surveying,penetrating all intelligent, pureand most subtle spirits;for Wisdom is quicker to move than any motion;she is so pure, she pervades and permeates all things.She is a breath of the power...