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March 9, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – In an explosive homily delivered Sunday, the leader of the Society of Pius X (SSPX) said the Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith wants the SSPX to be fully reconciled to help fight modernists in the Church. "Bishop [Bernard] Fellay [reported] the comments of Cardinal (Gerhard) Muller asking the SSPX to join his fight against the modernists," according to the SSPX's USA District. Fellay said "there is much contradiction" among Church leaders with regard to the SSPX, which had a break with the Vatican over Vatican Council II. Some consider the...

Father Dominic Fan Hong Bin of the Diocese of Zhouzhi, China,celebrates Mass at the Cenacle Retreat Center in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Aug. 20, 2014. (Credit: CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz.) A new study shows there are now 4,000 foreign-born women religious studying or serving in the United States, building on a rising tide of foreign-born priests. While there are headaches, these ministers are ambassadors of the 94 percent of the Catholic world that isn't American. If American Catholicism has an Achille’s heel, it’s sometimes an attenuated sense of how we fit into the rest of the Catholic world. A bit of basic...

In 1970, I took part in an early anti-abortion protest in Washington D.C. at George Washington University Hospital. It was intended to be a sit-in at the offices where hospital employees interviewed women seeking abortions. The hospital was violating the laws of the District of Columbia, which back then still prohibited abortion. But abortions were being performed at the hospital nonetheless. Our purpose was simply to demand that the hospital comply with the laws of the District of Columbia. Protesters never got beyond the entrance to the office building and were hit with pepper spray to force them from the...

Isaiah 55 New King James Version (NKJV) 1 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. 3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of...

As the pope leaves Rome for a retreat to mark Lent, rebellion and turmoil are in the airWhen Pope Francis was elected nearly four years ago, on 13 March 2013, he was escorted – like every pope before him – from the Sistine Chapel to the Room of Tears. It is the place where a new pope pauses for a moment – and no doubt many of them do shed a few tears, thinking of the momentous responsibility upon their shoulders – before stepping out on to the balcony of St Peter’s to greet the world as the new leader...

The archbishop said he would like Pope Francis to answer the dubiaArchbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia has said that it would be good for Pope Francis to answer the dubia, and that Francis cannot contradict Pope St John Paul II’s teaching on marriage. In an interview with Crux to mark the publication of his new book, Archbishop Chaput was asked what he thought was at stake in the debate over marriage and Amoris Laetitia. The document does not mention Communion for the remarried, but some bishops, including those of Malta and Germany, have claimed it authorises the practice. John Paul...

The Pontifical Academy for Life has postponed its annual assembly, because at the moment the Academy has no members other than the new president, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia. Last year Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Paglia, revised the statutes of the Vatican office, and purged the entire list of its members. Vatican journalist Sando Magister remarks that the Academy now lists 172 “former” members, but no current members. New appointments are now being considered, he writes. The annual meeting of the Pontifical Academy, ordinarily scheduled early in the year, has been moved until October 2017. The original plan for the annual assembly...

In the debate over Amoris Laetitia, many people have made reference back to Familiaris Consortio 84 where John Paul II commands that for Communion, the divorced and civilly remarried “take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples.” It is important to review what this statement is based upon so that we can understand why it cannot be changed. A post-synodal apostolic exhortation, as both of these documents are, can contain infallible statements but is not infallible in its entirety. As we can see in Amoris Laetitia, the...

Pastors, we are not just cheerleaders, we are game changers. We are called to stir and to convict so that change takes place. Granted, there are many wonderful pastors and churches—I appreciate their ministry, but, as a whole, the church has drifted off course. They have lost the compass of truth – many are more concerned about wine tasting and craft beers than truly seeking the heart of God. The pulpit regulates the spiritual condition of God’s people which affects the nation. A lukewarm, sex-saturated culture (and church) simply reflects the lack of conviction in the pulpit as well as...

Open letter to Pope Francis re Muhammad Dear Pope Francis, There is much confusion in the world today about the holiness of Muhammad. The Church must either release its finding that support the use of the term "Holy Quran" or initiate a new inquiry that can support the this classification. Too many people question the holiness of the Quran for the church to remain silent. A strong voice from the Church has the potential to unite the world. Just imagine Christians and Muslims living in harmony. The culmination of this effort should lead to the beatification of Muhammad. After all,...

Jim Wallis: "White Christianity is an idol"ANAHEIM (ChurchMilitant.com) - The aging leftist founder of Sojourners, Jim Wallis, took the main stage Saturday morning at the L.A. Religious Education Congress (LA REC) and immediately began pushing a leftwing version of Christianity, saying that "the Church" had to "rediscover Christ" — implying that Christians, for the most part, no longer follow Christ. His is an entire "social gospel" predicated on a liberal interpretation of Scripture, where care of the body is given prominence over care of the soul. In a typical swap of meaning, Wallis quoted — or rather, misquoted — the...

President of Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, thinks a women's diaconate could happen.According to the President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the diaconate for women is a possibility. Asked in a long interview for the German Church’s website katholisch.de on 24 February, what possibilities he saw for women in the Catholic Church, Ravasi replied, “The diaconate for women would, I think, be possible but it must of course, be discussed, as the historic tradition is very complex.” He thought the present fixation on women’s ordination somewhat “clerical”, he said. “Why don’t we start talking...

There are coming to us now different reports about Pope Francis’ Santa Marta homily of today which are very troubling. He mentions the Pharisees’ question about divorce and whether it is permitted and then comments on the reaction of Our Lord (Mark 10:1-12), as follows: Jesus does not answer whether it is permitted or not. He does not enter into their [the Pharisees’] classic casuistry. Because they [the Pharisees] thought of faith merely in the framework of “one may not” or “one may” – up to which point one may, up to which point one may not. Thus logic of...

GRANADA, Spain (ChurchMilitant.com) - LGBT activists are filing a complaint against the bishop of Granada, accusing him of delivering a "homily of hate." The Spanish Observatory Against LGBTfobia (the Observatory) is accusing Abp. Francisco Javier Martínez of hate speech according to the 2014 Cifuentes Act, also called the "Law to Eradicate Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia." In a homily delivered at Mass on February 14, the archbishop noted, "I think right now about all the implications of gender ideology, which moreover tries to impose itself as a law in the education of children." He asserted, "There is a pathology behind it....

February 21, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Cardinal Joseph Zen says the Vatican is betraying Catholics living their faith out clandestinely in China. In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews, he says he has been urged to speak out by Catholics who lack the freedom to speak for themselves. Priests and bishops in the underground church have faced imprisonment for adhering to the Holy See, rather than submitting to the patriotic church approved by the Communist government. Cardinal Zen, the Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong and China's highest-ranking prelate, is pleading with the Vatican not to "sell out" China's Catholics by striking a...

The Pope has criticised 'populist demagoguery' and urged people to 'welcome those who knock at our doors'Indifference, fuelled by populist rhetoric in today’s world, fans the flames of rejection that threaten the rights and dignity of migrants, Pope Francis said. Refugees escaping persecution, violence and poverty are often shunned and deemed as “unworthy of our attention, a rival or someone to be bent to our will,” the Pope told participants of the VI International Forum on Migration and Peace. “Faced with this kind of rejection, rooted ultimately in self-centeredness and amplified by populist demagoguery, what is needed is a change...

One week ago Monsignor Dario Edoardo Viganò, prefect of the secretariat for communication, reported to Pope Francis and the nine cardinals who are helping him with the reform of the curia on the progress of the Vatican media reorganization entrusted to him.The latest news is the consolidation of Vatican Radio and the Vatican Television Center into the dicastery headed by Viganò.In effect, as of January 1, 2017 the name “Vatican Radio” no longer has any legal value and has disappeared from the paychecks of its 350 employees. But this is not all there is to it. As of December 1,...

Short mandolin solo, chorus only, Till We Met Again and Victory In Jesus. The pictorials at end are of, Greg Olson's art work and I cover mandolin.

February 16, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Chicago Cardinal Blasé Cupich tweeted Tuesday that Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia document was in full fidelity with the Catholic Church and absolutely clear in the expression of its teaching on marriage, but users of the social media platform weren’t buying it. The cardinal has received countless responses, calling him out on the disagreement among the world’s bishops on the document and disputing in myriad creative ways his characterization of Amoris Laetitia as misleading.

Six bishops of the Syrian Orthodox Church have accused their Patriarch Ignatius Ephem II of “betrayal of the faith,” after the Patriarch made a gesture of respect for the Qu’ran and referred to “the prophet Mohammed.” During a meeting with Muslim leaders, the Syrian Patriarch raised the Qu’ran in an indication of reverence. That gesture outraged some Syrian prelates, whose protests were acknowledged by the Patriarch as a “serious internal problem” for his Orthodox community. The Patriarch defended his expressions of respect for Islam. “Christ loves everyone, and calls us to be peacemakers with everyone,” he explained. Six bishops against...