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The Catholic Church must help parents stand by their gay children, Pope Francis said in a new interview about his papal ministry. The pontiff’s comments come a day after Francis urged top church officials to pay attention to the “signs of the times” and listen to ordinary Catholics, according to The Independent. “We come across this reality all the time in the confessional: a father and a mother whose son or daughter is in that situation. This happened to me several times in Buenos Aires.... We have to find a way to help that father or that mother to stand...

Home » News » National Little Sisters in court: Don't stop our ministry of serving the dying poor By Mary Rezac December 9, 2014 - Catholic News Agency Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on pinterest_share Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services5 Mother Loraine Maguire and the Little Sisters of the Poor outside the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Credit: Mary Rezac/CNA. The Little Sisters of the Poor asked an appeals court Monday to shield them from the federal contraception mandate, saying that it threatens their 175 years of service to the poor and dying. “As...

A year-end review of 2014's Bible and religious movie lineup. In the beginning…of 2014…was the promise of Bible movies. And was it good? As 2014 dawned, it looked like the year the Hollywood seas would part for Bible and religious movie offerings. Three Bible epics were in development for nationwide release by major studios: Darren Aronofsky’s “Noah,” Mark Burnett and Roma Downey’s “Son of God,” and Ridley Scott’s “Exodus: Gods and Kings.” Moreover, none other than superstar Angelina Jolie was directing a biopic of an evangelical lion and war hero Louis Zamperini. A slew of smaller films aimed at the...

...When ushered into the master bedroom of the Mormon patriarch Brigham Young at his winter home in St. George, Utah, a few years ago, I felt duty-bound to ask an obvious question: Where did the other women sleep? Other women? The church tour guide blushed, and laser-stared me as if I’d blasphemed the Mormon Moses. I wondered about arrangements and jealousies, the conjugal timing of a man who was married to 55 women, by most accounts. I didn’t ask about the sexual acrobatics of the great pioneer, just the spreadsheet logistics of managing all those spouses. ...The Church of Jesus...

A GROUP OF pro-choice campaigners placed a banner advertising abortion pills on Galway Cathedral yesterday morning. The recently-formed Díobháil group placed the banner, which advises women on where they can procure pills which induce miscarriages, on the cathedral yesterday at 7am. It remained there until after 11am. PICTURES ON LINK A spokesperson for the group today told TheJournal.ie that they are aiming to spread the word on the pills. “The main aim was to spread the message of Women on Web. They are a really good women’s organisation that help women in countries with oppressive abortion laws. “Otherwise, women are...

I’ve heard a lot of pro-abortion arguments in my day, but every now and then I run across one that just seems so completely nonsensical, it takes me aback. One such convoluted argument comes from Beverly Wildung Harrison, formerly a professor of Christian ethics at the Union Theological Seminary. Harrison, who died a few years ago, wrote the book Our Right to Choose in which she used Christian theology to justify abortion. The book Abortion: My Choice, God’s Grace by another pro-choice Christian, Anne Eggebroten, puts forth the following quote by Harrison: Presidents, members of Congress, and other leaders have...

A Catholic religious order, the Little Sisters of the Poor, will appear before a federal appeals court today to tell it to protect their religious liberties and prevent the Obama administration from making them comply with Obamacare’s abortion mandate. The mandate compels religious groups to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions. Without relief, the Little Sisters face millions of dollars in IRS fines because they cannot comply with the government’s mandate that they give their employees free access to contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs. Previously, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily protected the Little Sisters from the...

I obviously think the relentless captioning of the Joe Biden window photo is humorous. I wonder if anyone else has noticed what to me was the main feature of the picture. Joseph Biden is the first Catholic occupant of the White House since JFK, 51 years and a couple weeks ago. And here he is being presented with an image of St. Peter's Cross. That's a Catholic symbol. Protestants don't use it at all; they either think it's satanic or Catholic. So I think that it is significant enough for a sort of meditation. I imagine that Simon Peter had...

From pro-life Christian Dr. La Verne Tolbert: “So, who is having these abortions? We are. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood: The highest proportion (43%) identify themselves as Protestant. 27% of women having an abortion identify themselves as Catholic, and 8% as members of another religion. 22% reported no religious affiliation. 13% identified themselves as “born again” or evangelical….. Those who claim to know Jesus and who protest against abortion the most account for nearly 80% of all abortions.” Dr. La Verne Tolbert “Abortion: the Sin of Idolatry”, Doctor Alveda King and Dr.La Verne...

Pro-choice Pastor Roger Paynter, in a sermon to his congregation: “… Abortion is not the automatic breaking of God’s will… In general, we should say that God is against the ending of all life, but that in some tragic circumstances, he understands – even allows – and certainly forgives the choices we have to make.” Robert M Baird and Stuart E Rosenbaum, editors The Ethics of Abortion, 3rd edition (Amherst, New York: Prometheus books, 2001) 236

A new row over food banks erupted last night after a report backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury called for a £150 million state-backed system to combat hunger in Britain. The Most Reverend Justin Welby appeared to be on course for a clash with David Cameron after calling on the Prime Minister to reverse his decision not to take European funds to boost UK food banks.

A light unto nations. In the spirit of the recent Dennis Prager posts on the Ten Commandments, an audio class on Jewish impact on the World. A fascinating anthropological-like contrasting of world history against Jewish History. It's long-ish but highly informative on how the good old (ancient) days weren't so good without the Ten Commandments. Hate the civil society? Blame the Joooooooooossssss!

Holy Family Parish of Inverness in Chicago is facing a lawsuit filed by a gay choir director it fired after he became engaged to his partner. Colin Collette filed suit against the parish on Thursday, arguing that since the state recognizes gay marriages the church should too. "It saddens me to have this integral part of my life taken away because I have chosen to enter into a marriage, as is my right under Illinois law," said Collette, as reported by NBC Chicago. Ranjit Hakim, executive director of the Cook County Human Rights Commission, told The Christian Post that they...

At first, it was easy to overlook. With all of his statements about caring for the poor, the disabled and immigrants, and all the fanfare surrounding his famous "Who am I to judge?" proclamation, Pope Francis seemed like a breath of fresh air for a church stuck resolutely in the past. The fact that he never commented on the long-standing marginalization of women in the Catholic Church, and asserted quite plainly that there would be no ordination of women, did nothing to dampen progressive enthusiasm for the new pope. There has been a hopeful sense that he would get around...

In a unanimous vote earlier this week, the D.C. Council passed legislation repealing “the exemption allowing religiously-affiliated educational institutions to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.” The repealed exemption (2-1402.41) read: (3) Notwithstanding any other provision of the laws of the District of Columbia, it shall not be an unlawful discriminatory practice in the District of Columbia for any educational institution that is affiliated with a religious organization or closely associated with the tenets of a religious organization to deny, restrict, abridge, or condition — (A) the use of any fund, service, facility, or benefit; or (B) the granting...

ROME – On his flight back to Rome after visiting Turkey, the Roman Catholic Pontiff known as Pope Francis told reporters that Islam should not be equated with terrorism and violence–a statement that some may disagree with considering the teachings of the religion. “On Islamophobia, it is true that when one sees these terrorist acts, not only in this region, but also in Africa, there is this reaction [of], ‘If this is Islam, I am going to get angry,'” he said. “And so many Islamic people are offended.” “Many, many [Muslims] say, ‘No, we are not this. The Koran is...

Traditional marriage and family arrangements are changing. (I am talking here primarily about Western societies where Christianity and Judaism have been strongly influential—mostly European-based societies and those affected by them via colonialism and/or missionary endeavors.) For centuries monogamous, heterosexual, lifelong marriage has been the norm with other arrangements, including marriage between close relatives, forbidden. Divorce and remarriage gradually became acceptable. Even many fundamentalist Christians and orthodox Jews have accommodated to it. Now, of course, even some evangelical Christian theologians are joining the movement for full marriage rights for people of the same sex. It appears to be inevitable that most...

Activist priest Michael Pfleger was urging churches everywhere to take time out of services on Sunday for some civil disobedience, as a response to the second case of a grand jury failing to indict a white police officer who killed an unarmed black man. “I think it’s a great opportunity to show a unity in church. The church has to be vocal in this,” Pfleger said. His call for action comes one day after a Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict New York Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of 43-year-old Eric Garner. The grand jury decided...

About 80 high school students braved bitterly cold winds Tuesday morning for a pro-life gathering outside Lincoln’s Planned Parenthood. Most of them came from high schools in Beloit and Tipton in Kansas, but about 25 Lincoln Pius X students joined the event planned by students at St. John’s Catholic High School in Beloit. Patrick Eilert, a senior at St. John's, said the school has been traveling to the nearest abortion clinic for “peaceful protest and prayer” for the past six years and last year decided to try to get other high schools around the nation involved. “We’re trying to give...

Today’s politics has no place for legitimate authority based on higher standards, so power must base itself on Choice, otherwise known as the Triumph of the WillVery recently the view that homosexuality is entirely normal has become not only widespread but compulsory in secular public discussion. Leaders of thought tell us the change has been part of a general deepening of moral insight and improvement in the art of living. The older outlook oppressed millions out of fear, bigotry, and ignorance. We have learned better now, except for a few haters and dimbulbs who need to be re-educated or else...