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“I want to commend to you in a very particular way a spiritual activity of the Holy League. It draws its name from the historic Holy League which was an activity of intense activity and prayer during the time of the threat and the overtaking of Europe by Islam, and through prayer and especially through Eucharistic adoration and through the praying of the Holy Rosary, a great victory was won at the Battle of Lepanto, a victory that we recall every year on October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. “The Holy League is a very...

Religious carry candles in procession at the start of a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis to mark the feast of the Presentation of the Lord Feb. 2. The Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican also marked the World Day for Consecrated Life. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) After growing up in Nigeria and being named the youngest bishop in the world at the age of 32, Cardinal Francis Arinze attended the final session of the Second Vatican Council. Following his elevation to cardinal by Pope John Paul II, he was appointed President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue,...

Should we baptize babies? The Christian Church continues to be sharply divided over this important question. Those who answer "yes" (Lutherans, Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, etc.) claim Biblical support for their position. Those who answer "no" (Baptists, Seventh Day Adventists, many "Bible" or "evangelical," or "non-denominational" churches) say the Bible is on their side. The pro-infant baptism churches assert that Christ commanded infant baptism. The opposing side asserts that nowhere is such a thing commanded. They hold that at best it is useless and at worst harmful. It is their practice to rebaptize adults who were baptized as babies. The Lutheran...

The Pope to members of the Neocatechumenal Way on the “missio ad gentes”: take to the peripheries of the world the message the God loves humanity and that love is possible Vatican City, 6 March 2015 (VIS) – This morning in the Paul VI Hall Pope Francis received in audience seven thousand members of the Neocatechumenal Way, including two hundred families who will shortly depart on the “missio ad gentes”. “The task of the Pope is to confirm brothers in the faith”, said the Holy Father. “You too, with this gesture, have asked Peter's Successor to confirm your calling, to...

Dear James , Because you are a valuable friend of Catholic Answers, you have been selected to participate in a survey to help us improve our apostolate. As a thank-you, we will be giving away 25 signed copies of Tim Staples’s newest book, Behold Your Mother. Combining the best recent scholarship with in-depth knowledge of Scripture, this book offers the most thorough Marian apologetics you’ll find anywhere. Give us your feedback by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, March 8, 2015 and you will be entered to win one of 25 signed copies of Behold Your Mother! Click here to start the...

A Requiem Mass in the traditional Latin form is to be offered at a Catholic church in Lancashire to mark the reinterment of King Richard III, which will take place on the same day at Leicester’s Anglican cathedral. The mortal remains of Richard III, who died in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, before the Reformation, will be reinterred in the cathedral on March 26, in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury and an invited congregation. The Requiem Mass for the repose of Richard III’s soul will be held on the same day St Catherine’s Church, in Leyland, Lancashire,...

The plan of Marquette University to change the name of its theology department into the Department of Theology and Religion seems to be just one of the latest attempts by the repressive juggernaut of the Culture of Desecration and Death to have the truth aborted by ambiguity and moral relativism. Theology has, as its main point of reference, a discerning reverence for the sacred mystery and objective reality of God . Its primary quest is to allow God to intimately know us in a loving communion. In this way, it allows God to transform our lives and perspectives. As He...

This post has been a long time in the making. For the past decade, every time I read a post by some avant-garde religious/church-planting/emergent/post-modern blogger, I think, “Hmmmmm. I should respond to that.” Then kids need diaper changes, sermons need to be written and shut-ins need to be visited. Right now, however, I have some time to write a response. Time and time again, I have read blog posts about how the church is doing church wrong. The church is a victim of its ambivalence toward its own perpetual exclusivity of the present generation who has needs that are not...

The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu has dared students who cannot comply with the religious rules and practices in Catholic schools to quit and move to other schools, if they so desire. According to him, many of the students who attend Catholic schools chose the schools because of the age- long discipline and religious ethics that have existed in those schools. His comment follows a statement by the Bishops Conference Tuesday that directed heads of Catholic schools to “remain resolute” and continue with all religious practices and training associated with the Catholic faith despite a...

Bl. John Henry Newman said it best: “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.” History paints an overwhelming picture of St. Peter’s apostolic ministry in Rome and this is confirmed by a multitude of different sources within the Early Church. Catholic Encyclopedia states, “In opposition to this distinct and unanimous testimony of early Christendom, some few Protestant historians have attempted in recent times to set aside the residence and death of Peter at Rome as legendary. These attempts have resulted in complete failure.” Protestantism as a whole seeks to divorce Christianity from history by rending Gospel...

The Great Council of the Orthodox Church in 2016A Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church has been scheduled for 2016. In March of 2014, the leaders of all the autocephalous (independent) Orthodox Churches met in Istanbul, the sacred see of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which historically (since at least the fifth century) coordinates such assemblies, facilitating unity while serving as a center of appeal among these churches. Arguably the foremost decision unanimously agreed upon at that assembly of church heads was the convocation of a Great Council in 2016, tentatively planned to be held in the Church of Haghia...

The Relationship BetweenGood Works and Salvation Salvation is NOT BY WORKS  (Ephesians 2:8-9) Salvation is UNTO GOOD WORKS (Ephesians 2:10) Good works are not the MEANS of salvation (Titus 3:5). Good works are the RESULT of salvation(Titus 3:8). Good works are not the CAUSE of salvation. Good works are the CONSEQUENCE of salvation. Good works are not what a person must do to be saved. "But to him that WORKETH NOT, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:5). Good works are what a saved person does."This is a faithful saying,...

span.WPParaTextBox { border-width: 0.0133333in; border-style: solid; border-color: black; padding: 5px; margin: 0px; display: block } <p>div.WPParaTextBoxWrapper { padding: 0px; float: none } <p>p { margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1px } <p>body { font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal }             Am I A True Believer?   In this brief study we want to consider the important, soul-searching question: Am I a true believer? To help you answer this question, consider the following questions. Think about each one in an honest, personal way. Take time to look up the Bible verses that are given along with each question. Ask...

New York City, N.Y., Mar 1, 2015 / 04:23 pm (CNA).- A lot has changed in journalism since 1961, but not Msgr. Daniel S. Hamilton’s resolve to rebut the New York Times on its editorial opinions regarding matters of faith and morals. The New York priest has submitted Letters to the Editor of the publication since 1961 and recently compiled them all in a self-published book entitled “Jousting with the New York Times 1961-2014: Worldviews in Radical Conflict.”Why has he written so faithfully? “Among various instruments contributing to and constituting the political process, newspapers with their editorials and Letters to...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (RNS) The collected works of Jonathan Edwards, the 18th-century preacher and one of America’s most famous theologians, are now available for download thanks to Logos Bible Software. But for those who don’t want to cough up $1,289.95 to purchase them, there’s good news: The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale Divinity School lets you view them online for free. The colonial preacher was instrumental in America’s Great Awakening and is known for fiery sermons such as “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” The 26-volume collection, “The Works of Jonathan Edwards,” comprises more than 10,000 sermons, articles...

Pope Francis may have ventured where angels fear to go last month in raising the issue of responsible parenthood, but one Kiwi family is unafraid to share their distinct experience.Michael and Rebecca Loretz of Avondale in Auckland have nine children aged between 20 years and 15 months. And all of them were born by caesarean section. So their ears pricked up when they heard reports of the Pope’s comments during an in-flight press conference after his visit to the Philippines. Francis spoke of a woman he met who was pregnant after having had her first seven children by caesarean...

Poland could be the scene of the next traditionalist schism within the Roman Catholic Church, a leading intellectual on the conservative wing of the church writes.Pope Francis is openly departing from the teaching of the “Polish pope”, Dominik Zdort wrote in daily Rzeczpospolita on Friday. Pope Francis may be be seeking the establishment of a new religion, distinct from Catholicism since John Paul II’s teaching was without a doubt within the Catholic tradition, Zdort wrote. The traditionalist writer sees the potential for a schism, as “never before has such a large (and growing) group of hierarchs been openly against the...

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once wrote: “There are not over a hundred people in the United State who hate the Roman Catholic Church; there are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church.” I was one of those who hated because of what I wrongly believed about the Catholic Church. The reason I had these beliefs was due to being told what to believe about the Catholic Church from those who were told what to believe about the Catholic Church. No one was willing to find out what the bottom line was concerning the Catholic Church....

Midway through the Sunday Mass at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Dodgeville, the service took a sharp turn toward fundraising. Monsignor Daniel Ganshert, the parish priest, told parishioners that for years, people in the Madison Catholic Diocese had been praying for more men to be called by God to the priesthood. The Holy Spirit has responded, Ganshert announced jubilantly. There are now 33 seminarians, or priests-in-training, up from six in 2003 when Bishop Robert Morlino arrived. But that increase comes with responsibility, Ganshert said. The diocese needs $30 million to educate current and future seminarians — “a serious chunk of...

The Christian LifeAnd How It Is To Be Lived   "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me"...