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Wednesday December 9, 2009 Moral and Mental Pollution from the Media "Harden Hearts and Darken Minds": Pope Benedict By Hilary White, Rome correspondentROME, December 10, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - While the world's leaders are meeting in Copenhagen to talk about the problem of "climate change," Pope Benedict XVI has addressed the problem of moral pollution through the media. Speaking on Monday at an annual ceremony near Rome's Spanish Steps for the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the pope said that pollution of society's moral environment is as dangerous to the human person as pollution of the natural environment. The pontiff...

LONDON (CNS) -- The Catholic bishops of England and Wales said they could be at risk of prosecution under a proposed law unless they accept women, sexually active gays and transsexuals as candidates to the priesthood. They made their claims in a briefing for Catholic members of the House of Lords, Britain's upper political chamber, ahead of a scheduled Dec. 15 debate on the Equality Bill, which aims to stamp out discrimination in the workplace. The bishops said the bill defines priests as employees rather than officeholders. Under the terms of the bill, the church would be immune from prosecution...

The writer Andrew Sullivan sits across the table from you on Chris Matthews' Hardball praising gay-marriage as a symbol of the homosexual community's desire to join the mainstream. He is a Catholic, conservative in many things, and a highly articulate spokesman for his point-of-view. What do you say? The requisite conservative on pundit panels usually falls back on citing heterosexual marriage's 5,000 year history as society's basic building block. Marriage has always been between a man and a woman. 65% of the American people are against homosexual unions. Etc. That's not going to get it. It's a way of brushing...

Do you wonder why 2008 election data shows that the majority of Catholics voted for Barack Obama even though his record as Illinois state senator proves him the most pro-abortion candidate who ever ran for president? Perhaps one answer is that on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, millions of Catholics will again be putting in their church's collection plate their annual donation to what the pre-printed envelope calls "Campaign for Human Development: The Catholic Church working to end poverty and injustice in America; We'll turn your dollars into hope for the poor of our nation." The generous Catholics who respond to...

Cardinal James Francis Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See, delivered a lecture on Thursday saying that the future under President-elect Obama will echo Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane. Criticizing Obama as “aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic,” he went on to speak about a decline in respect for human life and the need for Catholics to return to the values of marriage and human dignity. Delivered at the Catholic University of America, the cardinal’s lecture was titled “Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II: Being True in Body and Soul,” the student university paper The Tower reports. Hosted...

Although a week has passed since California voters overturned that state's Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, the state has felt numerous aftershocks as gay rights activists have mounted large-scale protests directed at supporters of Prop 8, specifically the Mormon church. ... Demonstrations outside Mormon temples were reported over the weekend throughout California and more are anticipated nationwide. The Mormon church, however, is not the only Prop 8 supporter coming under criticism for its role in the controversial election, as Catholics and Evangelical churches have seen protests, as well. An estimated 10,000 gay-rights protesters gathered in San Diego, Calif. outside...

Fresh off of his election victory, President-elect Barack Obama is already facing a fight from another opponent – the Catholic Church – on the issue of abortion. "Anytime someone like him, someone with his position [on abortion] is elected to a major office, it increases the difficulty for us," Ed Mechmann, of the NY Archdiocese, said. Mechmann says that at their annual meeting this week, the nation's Catholic bishops are discussing how to tackle Obama's support of the Freedom of Choice Act. That act, which currently stands before Congress, seeks to overturn the 2003 legislation signed by President Bush that...

<p>In an address delivered on October 17, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput stated that ''Prof. Douglas Kmiec has a strong record of service to the Church and the nation in his past. But I think his activism for Senator Barack Obama, and the work of Democratic-friendly groups like Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, have done a disservice to the Church, confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress pro-lifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue instead of fighting within their parties and at the ballot box to protect the unborn.''</p>

Some of you will remember my recent decision to become a Catholic. I suppose I should be surprised it ended getting derailed into a 'Catholic vs. Protestant' thread, but after going further into the Religion forum, I suppose it's par for the course. There seems to be a bit of big issue concerning Mary. I wanted to share an observation of sorts. Now...although I was formerly going by 'Sola Scriptura', my father was born and raised Catholic, so I do have some knowledge of Catholic doctrine (not enough, at any rate...so consider all observations thusly). Mary as a 'co-redeemer', Mary...

THE 95 THESES by Martin Luther 1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "Repent" (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.2. This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.3. Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.4. The penalty of sin remains as long as the hatred of self (that is, true inner repentance), namely till our entrance into the kingdom of...

Introduction: The Missing Link Why did the US support the separatist and terrorist so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, or UCK in Shqip), which sought to create an ethnically pure Albanian Kosovo based on ethnicity? Why did the US sponsor a criminal and illegal separatist movement that sought to ethnically cleanse non-Albanians and create an independent state of Kosova? Why was the US supporting and sponsoring the re-establishment of a fascist-Nazi Greater Albania that Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini had initially created? ... The recruitment of the former Nazi-fascist members of the Balli Kombetar by the CIA and MI6 in 1948...

Title: ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson Featured in CBS's 'In God's Name' Dec. 23 ELCA NEWS SERVICE December 4, 2007 ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson Featured in CBS's 'In God's Name' Dec. 23 07-201-MRC CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and president of the Lutheran World Federation, is featured in the two-hour primetime television special "In God's Name," airing Dec. 23 at 9:00 p.m. EST on CBS. Produced by French filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Naudet, the special explores "complex questions of our time through the intimate thoughts and beliefs of...

AUSTIN — A political activist dedicated to independent candidates and third-party tickets has launched a new Internet site dedicated to impeaching Gov. Rick Perry. Linda Curtis, founder of Independent Texans, launched the site to call on the Legislature to draft articles of impeachment against Perry in 2009. Curtis noted that Texas does not have the right of recall, so petitioning the Legislature to impeach the governor is the only answer when citizens are unhappy. When asked about the new Impeach Perry Web site, Perry spokesman Robert Black responded by saying: "Free speech is a wonderful thing." Curtis said the two...

A common thread that runs throughout the experiences of former priests is this: we had a great yearning to be different from those around us. We wanted to be more pure, nearer to God. We wanted to be free in conscience before God, and we sought the priesthood in which we thought we could administer salvation stage by stage to our fellow man. The nobility and charm of the priesthood also drew us, as priests around us were signally honored with special privileges and dignity. Hearing confessions, forgiving sins, bringing Christ down upon the altar, the wonder of being "another...

Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, now proven to have collaborated with Poland's communist regime, has officially stepped down. The Pope accepted his resignation. The news came unexpectedly in the morning, in the midst of preparations for the archbishop's inauguration ceremony. The decision was reportedly a result of negotiations at the Vatican level. According to some sources, it was Pope Benedict personally, who suggested that archbishop Wielgus step down after finding out that he did not reveal the whole truth in his recent statements to the Vatican about his past collaboration with Poland's communist regime. Instead of the inauguration ceremony, which was scheduled...

ROME, Sept. 14 — As Pope Benedict XVI arrived back home from Germany, Muslim leaders strongly criticized a speech he gave on his trip that used unflattering language about Islam and violence. Some of the strongest words came from Turkey, possibly putting in jeopardy Benedict’s scheduled visit there in November. “I do not think any good will come from the visit to the Muslim world of a person who has such ideas about Islam’s prophet,” Ali Bardakoglu, a cleric who is head of the Turkish government’s directorate of religious affairs, said in a television interview there. “He should first of...

Muslims and Christians Hold Dueling Rallies at RCCApr 27, 2006 8:03 pm US/Pacific (CBS) RIVERSIDE Members of a Christian evangelical group and Muslim students engaged in a brief shouting match Thursday at an otherwise peaceful rally and counter-rally at Riverside Community College. Dr. Robert Morey is the organizer of a Christian evangelical group called Faith Defenders and teaches Islamic studies at the fledgling Irvine-based California Biblical University and Seminary. The university began taking admissions last September. Faith Defenders spreads Christian teachings and distributes literature and videos critical of Islam. Morey held a lecture and rally at the campus quad, which...

Further church membership notes, relating to ethnicity: Consider two facts: First, the Catholic Church in America is growing. Second, the Hispanic population in America is exploding. Cardinal Mahony and radio talk-show host Mike Savage both seem to think the second fact is the explanation for the first. They have polar-opposite feelings about this fact, and they both show high contempt for each others’ feelings. (Not that Cardinal Mahony singled out Mike Savage by name.) But are the two related? The Census Bureau’s 1990 data report 22.3 million Hispanics. By 2003, that number increased to 39.9 million. Various studies have found...

Could the Roman Catholic Church's sex abuse crisis be tied to embedded Satanic and occult imagery in its artwork - some of it hundred's of years old? That is the seemingly incredible thesis of a new documentary, "Rape of the Soul," made not by anti-Catholic bigots, but by devout followers of the Church. Rape of the Soul is in theatrical release in major cities, including New York and Los Angeles. The documentary explores the prevalent use of satanic, sexual, and occult and anti-Catholic images in historical and contemporary religious artwork. The film also discusses the acceptance of the artwork at...

Park United Methodist Church minister Mike Allen knew it would turn his life upside down -- cost him his job, his home and his preaching credentials.Despite the certain consequences, the Lexington pastor made his choice.One Sunday in January, he stood in front of his stunned congregation and broke the news: He was going to follow his heart and convert to Roman Catholicism.With that decision, Allen joined not only thousands of members who are leaving mainstream denominations, but hundreds of Protestant ministers who are joining the Roman Catholic Church.For Allen, conversion was an eight-year process of study, prayer and reflection.It began...

Since its initial gathering in 2001, Christian Churches Together has sought to form a fellowship of the broadest spectrum of Christian churches and traditions in the USA. The gathering at Los Altos brought together a wider, more diverse circle of Christian church leaders than at any of the previous four meetings.

WASHINGTON -- Much could change with the death of Pope John Paul II. He was a unique individual chosen at a dangerous moment in time that, thankfully, has passed. No successor, even one as close to him as was the now Pope Benedict XVI, is likely to govern the church or become a spiritual symbol in the same way. But there is one commitment of John Paul II's that should stand: Vatican recognition of Taiwan. The exchange of ambassadors between secular governments and the Catholic Church always has been a bit odd. While the Pontiff's spiritual influence is enormous, the...

In the wake of John Paul II's death, the Associated Press did what the American media always do as great historical events shake the world. They took a poll. The verdict? Americans and American Catholics want change. It is hoped a more open-minded pope will take the reins. He was a great pope (you know, resisted the Nazis and the Communists and all that), but he failed to adapt to the times. What a pity. He could have capitulated to all of the demands of liberal Western democracy and really burnished his legacy. Oh well, missed opportunities ... We shouldn't...

has a bizarre cover story (not online yet) in which Elizabeth Thecla Mauro worries that Roe v. Wade may be overturned prematurely. Or something. It's hard to make heads or tails of her essay. So I'll skip over the many disgressions and concentrate on what seem to be the main points. She seems to be worried about two prospects. First, that the end of Roe "could actually lead to a full-blown schism" within the Catholic church, with parishes breaking away, battles over property ownership. "Such an event could be ruinous for the fiscal health of the Roman Church." Her second...

I've just read that the Vatican has released a statement saying that Teri should live. They are right, but they are empowered to do much more and the actions have been missing. From what I understand Michael (HINO) won't divorce Teri and give custody to her parents as he would then be unable to have a church wedding with with mistress Jodi. Should not the Bishop declare that he has removed himself from the church by his actions and thus bar him from the sacrament of marriage within the church? This is not posted to cause any Catholic bashing, and...

UNAIDS chief warns against Philippine complacency 21 Feb 2005 11:45:02 GMT Source: Reuters MANILA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The Philippines could see a sharp rise in AIDS cases in the coming years, partly due to opposition to condom use by the powerful Roman Catholic Church, the head of the United Nations AIDS programme said on Monday.

Priests get lesson in exorcism Lack of qualified clergy prompts Vatican class ROME – The Roman Catholic Church is facing a shortage that you might not have heard about: qualified exorcists. Thursday, about 100 priests rose in prayer, asked St. Mary for protection, then sat down to an eight-week study of exorcism and how to distinguish and fight true demonic possession. The course at Rome’s Regina Apostolorum, a prestigious pontifical university, represents the first time a Vatican-sanctioned study at this level has been dedicated to exorcism. In Italy, the number of official exorcists has soared in the past 20 years...

A Texan family say they have found the image of Jesus in their frying pan.Juan Pastrano, wife Mary-Lou and son Juan Jnr made the discovery when they went to wash up after a fry-up at their home in Prairie Lea. Now they are keeping the pan in a sealed plastic bag while they decided what to do with it. Two months ago a woman who discovered an image of the Virgin Mary in her toasted cheese sandwich sold it for £14,000 to casino company GoldenPalace.com. . Jewellery maker Diana Duyser, 52, was shocked when the bidding went through the roof...

BALTIMORE (AP) - Catholic Relief Services is pledging $25 million for emergency relief and long-term programs to help people in southeast Asia recover from the tsunami that has killed more than 117,000 people and left millions without clean water, shelter, food or medicine. The amount committed by the Baltimore-based group, which is the official international humanitarian organization of the U.S. Catholic community, is one of the largest to date. It's only $10 million less than the money initially pledged by the U.S. government for emergency aid. "We must brace for the commitment this emergency asks of us and be as...

The pope's disgraceful tribute to Arafat Posted: November 13, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern From the way world leaders reacted to the death of Yasser Arafat, you could be forgiven if you had mistakenly believed that Mother Theresa had died. Kofi Annan, a man whose diplomatic career has been dedicated to friendship with tyrants and contempt for their victims, declared himself "deeply moved" by Arafat's death and ordered the U.N. flag flown at half-mast. This is not all that surprising given that Annan is the same man who overruled U.N. Gen. Romeo Dallaire in April 1994 and ordered him not to...

A TASK force of Catholic bishops, headed by Wash ington, D.C.'s Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, is now engaged in the prickly examination of what to do about Sen. John F. Kerry: Should the presumed presidential nominee, who professes the Catholic faith but publicly and consistently flouts its tenets on abortion, be permitted to receive Holy Communion? -snip- In fact, it's a no-brainer: The church's Code of Canon Law 915 states explicitly that Communion must be denied those who have "obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin." Kerry and a whole herd of so-called Catholic politicians fit the bill. -snip- Since all politics...

The parishioners at a Matamata church are so upset about receiving anti-Catholic mail that they are making a complaint to the police. Anti-Catholic messages are being delivered to letterboxes of members of the Holy Angels Catholic Church in Matamata. Three other parishes in the Hamilton area have also received the mail. The Parish Priest, Eamon Kennedy, says the person responsible apparently wants to save Catholics from going to hell by attacking aspects of the Catholic faith. He says the mail has been addressed to individual parishioners in some cases and is very upsetting for some people.

Child Porn Found at Roman Catholic Seminary in Austria Excerpts -> VIENNA, Austria — A vast cache of child pornography (search) and photos of young priests having sex has been discovered at a Roman Catholic seminary, officials said Monday, leading politicians and church leaders to demand a criminal probe and the resignation of the bishop in charge. Bishop Kurt Krenn, who oversees the diocese, refused to step down, however, dismissing the images as a "childish prank." Leaders of the Catholic diocese of St. Poelten (search) where the seminary is located, about 50 miles west of Vienna, spent much of the...

-  Boston College Law School (Newton, MA): Walter Dellinger, commencement speaker, May 24.  Dellinger is a law professor at the Duke University School of Law and formerly served as U.S. Assistant Attorney General and Acting Attorney General in the Clinton Administration.  Dellinger has been closely associated with NARAL Pro-Choice America and chaired NARAL's 1992 commission to defend Roe v. Wade.  He served as counselor to President Bill Clinton on constitutional issues, drafting five executive orders that nullified President George H.W. Bush's pro-life policies on Clinton's third day in office. CONTACT: Rev. William Leahy, S.J., President, Boston College, 18 Old Colony...

VATICAN CITY, MAY 2, 2004 (Zenit.org).- A day after 10 new countries joined the European Union, John Paul II urged that the political integration of the Continent be based in part on Christian values. On Saturday, Poland, Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and the Czech Republic entered the European Union, a goal that 25 years ago seemed impossible. Yet, for the Pope this "important stage of history" is also a cause of concern, he said before he prayed the midday Regina Caeli today with 20,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square. "If the unity of European peoples...

"A constitutional amendment recognizing both marriage and civil unions is no 'compromise.'"BOSTON, March 26, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Massachusetts clerks are readying for homosexual "marriages". Town and city clerks were notified by the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics that training to perform the services would begin in early May, in time for the prescribed May 17 date set by the Supreme Judicial Court last November. A spokeswoman for Governor Mitt Romney, controller of the Department of Public Health, denied knowledge of the training being offered. "I have no knowledge of training being scheduled," Nicole St. Peter told the Boston Globe....

German Cardinal Says Pope 'In a Very Bad Way' Tue September 30, 2003 08:23 AM ET BERLIN (Reuters) - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the German head of the Vatican body which oversees doctrinal matters, was quoted on Tuesday as saying Pope John Paul was in very poor health and the faithful should pray for him. "He is in a very bad way," Ratzinger told Germany's Bunte magazine in an interview. "We should pray for the pope." Ratzinger, who heads the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told the magazine that the 83-year-old pope had taken on too much, but...

Those ever faithful Jesuits!

Capitalism, it is usually assumed, flowered around the same time as the Enlightenment — the eighteenth century — and, like the Enlightenment, entailed a diminution of organized religion. In fact, the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages was the main locus for the first flowerings of capitalism. Max Weber located the origin of capitalism in modern Protestant cities, but today’s historians find capitalism much earlier than that in rural areas, where monasteries, especially those of the Cistercians, began to rationalize economic life. It was the church more than any other agency, writes historian Randall Collins, that put in place what...

It may be a little late to start for most, but Robert Bork, the former Supreme Court nominee who has written books decrying the decline of Western culture, has just been baptized. Rev. C. John McCloskey, who represents the conservative and activist Opus Dei arm of the Roman Catholic Church and oversaw the baptism, said, "I can confirm that he was received in the Catholic Church." Bork, a scholar with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, was raised a Protestant and had called himself a "generic Protestant." He was known more for his conservative legal views, which some Democrats used to...

BOSTON, July 3, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop Sean O'Malley, only recently appointed to a Florida diocese, has been placed by Pope John Paul II as the bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston. A Vatican official told Catholic News Service that the move demonstrated both the seriousness of the problems in the Boston diocese - the epicentre of the sexual abuse scandal - and the confidence the Vatican places in Bishop O'Malley. O'Malley, a Capuchian friar, was described by the Vatican official as "a man of great spirituality." Archbishop-elect O'Malley delivered a strong pro-life statement when appointed to the Palm Beach...

So, you thought you were pretty well informed by now about all of the main players on the "conspiracy" playing field? You’ve maybe been hearing for years about (or bumped into on your own) the various elements of society who control our world from behind the scenes. You’ve gotten familiar with the role played by, for instance, the Khazarian Zionists (who invented the word "Jew" to disguise their adopted heritage, as distinguished from the biblical Judeans), or the role played by the Banksters (banking gangsters) controlling the economies of the world, by the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations), the Trilateral...

New fuel tank design linked to shuttle disaster   13:20 16 April 03   NewScientist.com news service   The Columbia shuttle disaster may been triggered by a combination of a new external fuel tank design and ageing of the spacecraft, a Columbia Accident Investigation Board press conference was told on Tuesday. Although some remaining alternatives remain to be ruled out, the CAIB's focus is now on two crucial factors. First, it appears that a new fuel tank design led to foam falling off during liftoff. A one-kilogram block was seen striking Columbia's left wing during launch. Secondly, the damage this impact caused may...

Radar tests point to lost panel on shuttle   13:56 02 April 03   NewScientist.com news service   Tests have revealed that an object spotted falling from the space shuttle Columbia on the second day of its doomed mission was a panel of protective heat-resistant tiles. The absence of this panel would have provided a point of entry in the shuttle's left wing for the superhot gases that investigators believe got inside the craft during re-entry. The plasma melted the shuttle's aluminium frame and caused the craft to disintegrate, with the loss of all seven astronauts aboard. Radar pictures revealed the object falling...

<p>Three men knelt beneath a statue of Jesus as the Most Rev. Michael A. Saltarelli anointed their palms with holy oil.</p> <p>Sun streamed through stained-glass windows as they prayed.</p> <p>John Grimm, Jay McKee and Timothy Nolan were ordained priests in the Roman Catholic faith Saturday before more than 550 people at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Wilmington.</p>