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Editor’s note: In response to the news that the St. Patrick’s Parade in New York would now accept “gay” groups in the parade and that Cardinal Timothy Dolan would serve as Grand Marshall of the parade, Catholic Citizens of Illinois has sent an open letter to Cardinal Dolan, which is published below. Catholic Citizens of Illinois, 106 Calendar Court, PMB #122, La Grange, IL 60525-2325An Open Letter to Cardinal Timothy DolanSeptember 5, 2014Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York1011 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10022Your Eminence,We were dismayed and discouraged to read that the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York...

Resign Cardinal Dolan. Resign now for the sake of your soul.

The Obama Administration has announced that it will continue its legal fight against the Little Sisters of the Poor over the contraception mandate, which religious liberty advocates say is still unconscionable. “Merely offering the Little Sisters a different way to violate their religion does not ease their conscience,” said Adele Keim, counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the Little Sisters of the Poor in court. “Religious ministries in these cases serve tens of thousands of Americans, helping the poor and homeless and healing the sick. The Little Sisters of the Poor alone serve more than...

A highly intelligent woman, who doesn’t particularly follow ecclesial politics, surprised me the other day. Hearing about Cardinal Dolan’s acceptance of gays marching in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, she said casually, “there’s going to be a schism in the Church.” An overreaction, to be sure, but she’s far from the only one to be shocked.A priest – steady of judgment – writes to me that since the announcement last week, “I’m meeting a lot of angry people.” The constant challenges to the Church’s teaching authority and countercultural truth-telling produces anger. Real anger. And internal Church weakness – especially in...

It is a common, even clichéd saying that the American Civil War pitted "brother against brother." Certainly, the conflict divided the nation as the seceded Southern states fought for independence, while the Northern and Border states fought to preserve the Union. Even within the sections, there were politicians, civilians, and soldiers who sympathized with the other "side." The issues of Slavery, "States-Rights," and the meaning of the Federal Constitution created passions and hatreds, which leapt from the ballot box to the battlefield. Even churches— especially churches— were prone to this division. Each section, denomination, and parishioner believed God to be...

Movie : KJB: The Book That Changed the World Of all places, Hulu has this well done, interesting and edifying documentary (with ads) with actor John Rhys-Davies. Describes King James 1 upbringing and and political events, including the Gunpowder Plot and shows historical background and aspects which led to this translation. 1:33 long. Worth watching. Has ads (choose priceline ones)

Vatican City, Sep 8, 2014 / 05:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a message to inter-religious faith leaders attending a conference on peace, Pope Francis said there are always alternatives to war and urged participants to seek avenues of dialogue. “War is never a necessity, nor is it inevitable. Another way can always be found: the way of dialogue, encounter and the sincere search for truth,” Pope Francis said in his Sept. 7 message to conference attendees. Organized by the Italian Sant'Egidio community, the Sept. 7-9 International Peace Meeting is being held in Antwerp, Belgium in commemoration of the centenary of...

Any combat training and tactical planning begins with a process of intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination. Recon (reconnaissance) is a military term used to determine the enemy force’s disposition and intention, gathering information (or intelligence) about an enemy’s composition and capabilities. Dr. Peter Kreeft wrote: “You cannot win a war if you are unwilling to admit we are even at war or you don’t know who your enemy is or you don’t know what strategy your enemy is using.”We have all witnessed how the arid wind of the enemy’s militant secular propaganda campaign has hardened the hearts of so...

Earlier this year I warned that New York City’s centuries-old St. Patrick’s Day parade up 5th Avenue could soon be shut down for violating the human rights of gay groups. It never occurred to me that the parade’s organizers would unilaterally surrender the issue.A political and public relations battle has raged for decades between the parade’s organizers—with historic ties to the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish-Catholic fraternal organization—and groups which sought to march in the parade under banners proclaiming their sexual preferences. I thought the city’s progressive politicians would work to scuttle the parade’s legal basis by revoking...

A fun article in the Washington Post. It always amazes me that there are people 'out there' who want to believe "conservative" is the proper term for loving God so intimately you always strive never be unfaithful to Him. I often wonder if they think cheating on their spouse is just 'liberal'. In any event, it would seem Bill Donohue's credibility has finally imploded. The poor man's ministry has been suffering from the effects of needing the seat at the Bishop's swanky events for quite some time. He had to keep lowering the bar to defend the indefensible. Watching him...

The University of Notre Dame will provide for contraceptives and abortifacient drugs in its student health-care program, the National Catholic Register reports. Notre Dame had joined other Catholic institutions in filing suit against the contraceptive mandate in the federal health-care program. In that lawsuit, Notre Dame said that the mandate would "require Notre Dame to commit scandal." But after preliminary court rulings against the university-- which Notre Dame is now appealing-- the university administration has chosen to cover contraceptive costs.

Although Abdul Hamid has largely been forgotten, he is the young man sitting in the pew next to you at Mass. Abdul was the renowned American boy John Walker Lindh who turned Taliban fighter in Afghanistan shortly after September 11, 2001. The argument can be made that he is an icon for many American Catholic youth of our current day. John Walker Lindh was “raised Catholic” in his suburban California home. By the age of 16, he left his spiritual heritage in search of “his own spiritual path.” That eventually led him to Islam and to his senseless death...

You don’t honor a saint by encouraging a sin. No doubt there have been homosexual persons marching down Fifth Avenue every year in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. There was never any ban on their participation; there was no test of sexual orientation for marchers. But next year the parade in New York will feature something new: a group of avowed homosexuals carrying a banner, promoting same-sex unions, supporting the gay lifestyle. Next year there will be only one story-line of interest to the reporters who cover the annual parade in the world’s media capital: the triumph of the gay...

INDIANAPOLIS — A lawsuit by a former Roman Catholic schoolteacher who says she was fired by a northern Indiana diocese for trying to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization can proceed to trial, a federal judge has ruled.In a mixed ruling this week, US District Judge Robert L. Miller Jr. in Fort Wayne said Emily Herx deserves a chance to prove her claim that her termination by the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend was based on sex discrimination.Herx, of Hoagland, Ind., sued the diocese in April 2012, alleging that her firing violated the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with...

Washington, D.C., September 05, 2014 (Zenit.org) | 3257 hits Below is a statement released Thursday by the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, regarding the next legal battles facing the diocese regarding the state supreme court's attempt to mandate breaking the seal of confession. The diocese reports that now the "Louisiana Supreme Court has directed the trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing and then to take the unprecedented step of deciding whether or not a sacrament actually took place."It notes that "civil courts are entirely without jurisdiction to decide what constitutes a sacrament in the Catholic Church."A statement on the case from July...

I warmly recommend to the readership a column by Francis Card. George, Archbishop of Chicago. His Eminence knocks this one over the fence.We enter in medias res. You can find the whole thing HERE: [...]In recent years, society has brought social and legislative approval to all types of sexual relationships that used to be considered “sinful.” Since the biblical vision of what it means to be human tells us that not every friendship or love can be expressed in sexual relations, the church’s teaching on these issues is now evidence of intolerance for what the civil law upholds and even...

NEW YORK — Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s positive reaction to this week’s decision by organizers of New York’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade to allow gay groups to march under their own banners initially drew charitable responses in many Catholic Church circles. But it didn’t take long for conservative church critics to turn. After initially signaling his grudging acceptance, William Donohue of the Catholic League came back with a revised view when he realized that more than one gay group could be allowed to march in the future.

The moment Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson said to Sean Hannity, that, with regard to ISIS, you have to “either convert them or kill them,” it was obvious that others would pounce on those words and claim that he was no better than ISIS. After all, haven’t these murderous terrorists done this very thing to the Christians and Yazidis, offering them conversion or death? How is Robertson any better? A headline in the UK’s Daily Mail asked, “Isn’t it ironic, Phil Robertson? Duck Dynasty star’s stance on ISIS is ‘convert them or kill them’ as terror group wages bloody religious war...

According to Joel Osteen – Pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, these first century apostles are wrong and outdated and he has come out boldly to infer indirectly that Apostles Paul, Peter, and John whom wrote much of the New Testament were wrong and need to be corrected and rebuked. When asked directly if people whom are openly practicing homosexuals are accepted into the Kingdom, Joel Osteen responded with “Absolutely, anybody is.” We all need to listen carefully to the words that this “man of God” speaks as he goes on interviews so we too can find the errors...