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The Rev. Pawel Franciszek Szurek is taking his message of Christian empowerment from the pulpit to the airwaves with a new show, "Change Your Attitude … Change Your Life," debuting this morning at 9 on New York-based The Apple 970 AM, a 50,000-watt conservative-talk radio station. Szurek — born in Krakow, Poland, and pastor for two years at St. Philip the Apostle Church in Clifton — never dreamed he'd rise to the level of The Apple. Szurek recently became an instant hit at a radio gig on WMTR 1250 AM by offering messages of spiritual strength, despite, he says, an...

Fellow Christians can write and encourage Rifqa through her website, follow the link provided for more information. In a previous report on Rifqa Bary—the Ohio teen who had converted from Islam to Christianity, and fled to Florida as she felt her life was in danger from an honor killing by her father—the Florida judge had ordered Rifqa's parents to present immigration documents to the court before the girl could be sent back to Ohio. However, according to a report on Bary's website, a "behind the scenes" deal was said to have been cut where the Florida court would drop the...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace Penance Table of Contents     As Catholics, we have no doubt that Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance on Easter Sunday night. St. John describes the event in great detail. In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, “Peace be with you,” and showed them His hands and His side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord and He said to...

Folks, Sandro Magister, the world-renowned vaticanista, hosted in his website an exchange between Muslim theologian Aref Ali Nayed and the Catholic Islamologist Michel Cuypers which I think you should read. The subject of the exchange is one that I’ve covered repeatedly in these humble folios, having to do with the need for a higher criticism of the Koran in order to know, expose, and study its literary genres, its historical context, the oral traditions that converged in its formation, and the phases in its redaction that gave us the text as we read it today. Of course, such an...

ELCA Resource Addresses 'Worship in Times of Public Health Concerns' CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The declaration of a national emergency has raised a number of questions across the United States about safely assembling for school and worship during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Worship and Liturgical Resources answered many of those questions in a resource titled "Worship in Times of Public Health Concerns." U.S. President Barack Obama signed an Oct. 24 proclamation that "the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in the United States constitutes a national emergency." The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services had...

Featured Term (selected at random):HEAVEN The place and condition of perfect supernatural happiness. This happiness consists essentially in the immediate vision and love of God, and secondarily in the knowledge, love, and enjoyment of creatures. Until the final resurrection, except for Christ and his Mother, only the souls of the just are in heaven. After the last day, the just will be in heaven in body and soul. Although the same God will be seen by all and enjoyed by all, not everyone will have the same degree of happiness. The depth of beatitude will depend on the measure of...

Judas carried the bag. That is, he was the treasurer for the desciples. Judas was a thief but that is beside the point He projected himself as a progressive humanist. He was concerned about the poor more than he was concerned about Jesus. John 12:1-8. "Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary Of Bethany a pound of spikenard, very...

As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger once said so well, one major difference between Protestants and Catholics is that Catholics pray for the dead: "My view is that if Purgatory did not exist, we should have to invent it." Why? "Because few things are as immediate, as human and as widespread—at all times and in all cultures—as prayer for one"s own departed dear ones." Calvin, the Reformer of Geneva, had a woman whipped because she was discovered praying at the grave of herson and hence was guilty, according to Calvin, of superstition". "In theory, the Reformation refuses to accept Purgatory, and...

At Saint Mary the Virgin Catholic Church, the 75-year-old priest is married, members sing from an Episcopalian hymnal and parishioners kneel at the altar to receive Communion. Years ago, the Texas parish and a handful of other conservative Episcopal churches in the U.S. decided to become Roman Catholic. Though they were confirmed by the Vatican, they were still allowed to practice some of their Anglican traditions, including having married priests. Now, these churches may have helped pave the way for Anglicans worldwide, or Episcopalians as they are known in the U.S., to become Catholic under a new Vatican plan created...

From Sandro Magister of Chiesa: ROME, November 2, 2009 – At the general audience last Wednesday, Benedict XVI made a clean break. He didn't discuss the figure of a Church Father or a great medieval Christian author, as he has done systematically for a long time. The previous Wednesday, for example, he talked about Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and the Wednesday before that, about Peter the Venerable, the great abbot of Cluny. No. This time, pope Joseph Ratzinger turned his catechesis into a history lesson on theology. He dedicated it entirely to describing twelfth-century Latin theology, which blossomed in the...

Man of Sorrows November 2, 2009  "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Isaiah 53:3)  The marvelous hymn of the last century "Hallelujah, What a Savior!" provides in pithy but powerful form an insight into the work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on the cross. For the next few days, let us use its familiar verses to "think on these things" (Philippians 4:8).  "Man of Sorrows!" What a name For the...

November 2 Spiritual Warfare and Sin: Irreconcilable Hostility For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. --Ephesians 6:12 In the early days, when Christianity exercised a dominant influence over American thinking, men and women conceived the world to be a battleground. Our fathers believed in sin and the devil and hell as constituting one force, and they believed in God and righteousness and heaven as the other. By their very nature, these forces were opposed to...

From the comments section: In my other life (the life that pays my salary), I am sinfully proud of my ability to correctly use terms and to grasp semantics. David Swartling, who is my secret hero, has made it impossible for me to ever again use the phrase "simple majority." I now, belatedly, grasp the difference between "vision" and "visions." I'm laughing out loud. Perhaps this distinction could be made into a YouTube video... Sincere thanks for your good work for this church, and a big shalom to you.

Lutheran CORE Responds to ELCA Congregational Mission Director 09-246-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Two leaders of the Lutheran Coalition for Renewal (CORE) said, with a "resounding yes," they are serious about their endeavors as an organization. They also said they "take no joy in following a process that will likely lead Lutheran CORE to depart from the ELCA's (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) institutional life and ministry." The comments were in a letter written by the Rev. Kenneth H. Sauer and the Rev. Paull E. Spring -- both former ELCA synod bishops -- in response to an Oct. 12 open letter...

Christ and the Christian It would be impertinent to speak of a Christian without first trying to find out about Christ. Calling someone Christian only indicates that in some fashion he resembles Christ. But Who is Christ? Why are there millions of people who call themselves Christians? Philosophers have given their name to disciples who follow their system of thought Platonists, Thomists, Kantists, Marxists. None of these, however, have attained the prodigious continued devotion that Christ inspires in His followers. Even Buddhism, which demands a total surrender to its rules, has very little to say about Buddha himself, whose image...

This weekend’s feedback is in response to a number of queries about the Church of England (Anglicans) officially apologizing to Darwin. However, they don’t speak for all attenders of this church, since many of them are still faithful to Scripture and are appalled by their ‘leaders’. There are numerous mistakes in the article by the official CoE representative, a Rev. Dr Malcolm Brown, on the official CoE website, and Jonathan Sarfati replies point-by-point...

A disturbing though came to me that I can't counter the way I would like to. My thought is this: What if life was like a ride at Disneyland? Maybe we have been spirits waiting in line for a body just like people wait in line for an amusement ride. Worldly life is then like a rollercoaster ride where nothing is ultimately real. Good and evil are just part of the ride and may not even be part of the spiritual world. What's important to the spirits is that you get a body. And anything can happen to you: short...

MURRIETA, Calif., Nov. 2, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Left Behind Games Inc. (OTCBB:LFBG), dba Inspired Media Entertainment, a leading publisher of Christian video games, announced that it has entered into an agreement with Lenox Hill Partners of New York to assist in identifying 12 potential acquisition candidates in the next six months. Troy Lyndon, CEO, says, "Although we are pursuing our own internal growth, we are also seeking to expand the business through strategic acquisitions. Of the 12 acquisition candidates, it is our hope to find at least one that will align with our goals and enhance our profitability. Specifically,...

Without a doubt every picture ever painted was made with but three primary colors. Black is no color at all and they say all colors are found in white light. So many things can be made with a few basic building blocks. So understand that I realized all of this when I found myself on a roll this morning churning out strange sentences. If they had not formed such an unique strange pattern and story I wouldn't bother you people with them. The other day something inspired me to write a halloween message that would add up to 666 in...

After a three-year process, the Vatican recently decided to invite the world's 77 million Anglicans into the fold, offering full communion within the Roman Catholic Church while retaining Anglican liturgy and the married priesthood. While the decision will offer an opportunity to the worldwide Traditional Anglican Communion, representing 300,000 to 400,000 Anglicans who sought "full, corporate, sacramental union" with the Roman Catholic Church, it is not expected to dramatically affect the American Episcopal Church, according to area clergy who were pleased or disaffected by the news. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River reacted with cautious optimism, warning that much...

Psalm 72:12-14 He will Take Care of the Helpless and Poor when they Cry to Him; For they have No One Else to Defend them. He Feels Pity for the Weak and Needy, and will Rescue them. He will Save them from Oppression and from Violence, For their Lives are Precious to Him.

It's hard to tell in the quiet of a colour-splashed autumn morning, but Redeemer Fellowship Church is trying to set roots in a rough neighbourhood. For churches, anyway. Until this new church opened last month, its 19th-century Congregational church building in suburban Watertown was empty for nearly two years. Just across the street, a closed Baptist church is filled with condos. So is a former Catholic church a kilo-metre away. Dead churches are a familiar story in New England, which recent surveys indicate is now the least religious region in the United States. But some see opportunity in a place...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Charleston is going by its full name again. Since August, a black cloth had hung over the word "Lutheran" on the church's sign on Corridor G. It was Pastor Richard Mahan's way of protesting the vote by leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to allow gays and lesbians in lifelong, monogamous relationships to serve as clergy. The church removed the cloth a little more than a week ago. In its place, a new symbol hung for about a week: A sign that stated "Reclaiming the Name" in red letters, under...

At Lighthouse Church of All Nations in Alsip, the congregation can get more than just prayer at the Sunday worship services. If a lucky -- or "blessed and highly favored" -- churchgoer is in the right seat, they can also receive a cash prize. At each of the three Sunday services, the Rev. Dan Willis pulls a number of one seat from a bag and the worshiper in that seat wins a cash prize. Two of the churchgoers win $250 and the third gets $500. The church gives away $1,000 each Sunday, Willis said. The cash prize is part of...

After the Pope, the Secretary of State, and the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the most influential man at the Vatican-- #4 on the overall list-- is the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. That congregation supervises the selection of bishops for dioceses all around the world; it's easy to see why the office is so important.The prefect today is Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. By reason of both tenure (he's just passed 9 years in that office) and age (he turns 76 in January), he is overdue for retirement. The prelate who succeeds him will...

Finished with Fear Today's Scripture "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline" (II Timothy 1:7, NLT) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria So many people today are living with less than God's best because they've allowed fear to stop them from pursuing their dreams. We have to remember that fear is not from God. It's a lie from the enemy to paralyze us and steal our power. Today's verse tells what God has given us: power, love, and self-discipline or self-control. When you are confident in God's promises,...

Obedience or Independence? "If you love Me, keep My commandments" —John 14:15 Our Lord never insists obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit with Him. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an "If," meaning, "You do not need to do this unless you desire to do so." "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . ." ( Luke 9:23 ). In other words, "To be...

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - November 2 -------------------------------- Morning Devotional "I am the Lord, I change not." - Malachi 3:6 It is well for us that, amidst all the variableness of life, there is One whom change cannot affect; One whose heart can never alter, and on whose brow mutability can make no furrows. All things else have changed-all things are changing. The sun itself grows dim with age; the world is waxing old; the folding up of the worn-out vesture has commenced; the heavens and earth must soon pass away; they shall perish, they shall wax old as doth...

The Inquisition 1068. What about the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition? You have probably read many imaginary descriptions of that tribunal which pretend to be history. However let us be quiet about torture inflicted by Catholics four hundred years ago. Seventy years ago a young servant girl was transported for life to Tasmania for scorching linen while ironing, and that from England three centuries after the Reformation! We are rather in a glass house. In 1848 things occurred in Norfolk Island in the name of gentle English Protestant enlightenment which would make your hair stand on end. Here are...

The early 21st century stands as a period of profound moral confusion. On the one hand, mothers and doctors are permitted to crack open the skulls and suck out the brains of nearly-born babies with government sanction under the banner of partial birth abortion. Should these very same people hike into the woods and crack open a bald eagle egg, they could face serious prison time. It would therefore seem that contemporary society is marked by two seemingly contradictory extremes—- that of extreme license and that of excessive control. However, upon closer inspection it could be concluded that these conditions...

November 2, 2009                                        The Commemoration of                                         All the Faithful Departed                                         (All Souls)                                                        (The following readings are selected                                                             from the options for this day.)             Reading 1Responsorial PsalmReading 2Gospel Reading 1Wis 3:1-9 The souls of the just are in the hand of God,and no torment shall touch them.They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;and...

Psalm 94 1O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself. 2Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. 3LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? 4How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? 5They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage. 6They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. 7Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. 8Understand,...

November 2 All Souls Day  The death of one we love leaves us empty. Yearning for lost companionship, we grieve through remembrance, tears, and prayer. Whether death comes mercifully to end a long illness or ruthlessly in violence or accident, mourners struggle to live day by day without the person who made those days bright, who made them feel loved, and who lightened burdens like these. Catholics who grieve find comfort in faith. Belief in life after death helps us receive the loss of someone we love with anticipation. We believe we will reunite with those we love after death. Catholics...

Secular linguists are puzzled by the existence of twenty or so language families in the world today. The languages within each family (and the people that speak them) have been shown to be genetically related, but few genetic links have been observed between families. This is a problem for secular linguists. If, as they believe, man evolved from an ape-like ancestor, man would at some point have gained the ability to speak. This process of change would actually be superbly dangerous, as they admit. But still, if speech did evolve somewhere, somehow, we would expect to find that all languages...

Yesterday, a squad of Navy SEALs engaged in combat operations in Afghanstan had several men badly wounded by RPG explosions. Freeper "Wardaddy" is related to one of them. Navy SEAL Bryan Stuart is Wardaddy's close cousin's son. He has been medevaced to Germany for surgery. Other details are sketchy as of yet.

Read this BEFORE you get married This article appeared in the weekly parish bulletin column of St. Lambert's Church in Skokie, IL. The author is "The Rev. Know It All" the resident apologetics personality of the pastor Fr. Richard Simon. Here it is in its entirity: ********************************** Warning:: THIS EPISODE OF THE REV. KNOW IT ALL IS EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE. IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU OR ANYONE YOU KNOW. PLEASE READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE. THE REV. KNOW IT ALL IS NOT OPPOSED TO ALL WEDDING CELEBRATIONS. HE IS NOT TALKING ABOUT YOUR WEDDINGWHICH WAS A TRIUMPH OF PERSONAL SANCTITY AND GOOD...

York's Planned Parenthood protests a protestor Center cites priest's behavior and criminal past. Father Gabriel: 'I'm not backing down' By MELISSA NANN BURKE Daily Record/Sunday News It didn't take long for staff and volunteers at the York office of Planned Parenthood of Central Pennsylvania Inc. to take note of the Rev. Virgil Bradley Tetherow . Tetherow, known as Father Gabriel, first appeared on the sidewalks outside the clinic in the summer of 2008, often dressed in his vestments as if prepared to celebrate Mass. His behavior toward staff, volunteers and visitors set him apart from other clergy who came to...

I. A seminary in Ireland, now closed, was dedicated to the training of priests for foreign missions, for strange places such as California. It was called "All Hallows", that is, All Saints, November 1. Oxford University in England has a college called "All Souls," November 2. Taken together, all saints and all souls are designed to cover all of the final combinations of the human race except all the still living, who are waiting to join one or the other of the previous categories. Come to think of it, all "all saints" all have souls. What are left are...

Pope Benedict prays the Angelus from the window of his study overlooking St. Peter's Square Vatican City, Nov 1, 2009 / 09:58 am (CNA).- To the faithful gathered on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus, Pope Benedict XVI presented the communion of saints, a “beautiful and comforting” reality that says “we are never alone.”  In particular he held up the ancient cult of martyrs in the early Church, and in this Year for Priests, “the saintly priests, both those canonized…and those many more that are known to the Lord.” Pope Benedict also spoke of Monday’s commemoration of the...

In my homilies to you over the years, I’ve often spoke of our Catholic Faith, and sometimes of our Byzantine Tradition; but I have rarely spoken of the particular Church to which we belong, and of it’s history in Eastern Europe. Our Metropolitan Church is located entirely in the United States; and, the further you travel outside of Pennsylvania, the less you see of any ethnic identity among the members of our parishes; but, as you know, the ancestors of our Church’s original members came from an Orthodox Church which came into union with Rome in 1646 at the Union...

What are the real differences between the OPC and the PCA? Most of the stories told in the OPC are told by ex-PCA’ers who had a bad experience in the PCA. And most of the stories told in PCA are told by former OP members or ministers who were frustrated in the OPC. And so the stereotypes grow!   Alternately, someone with experience in two or three OP churches generalizes from that to the whole OPC (or vice versa, with the PCA).   My own experience is somewhat limited, but I have had the advantage of serving for the last...

Growing up in evangelicalism, I was one of those kids who felt mediocre at meetings where ex-drug addicts gave their "testimony" of suddenly losing their craving for LSD. My grandmother used to speak of two groups of Christians: those who were "saved" and those who were "gloriously saved." Everything a good, clean Baptist youth is supposed to be, I didn't "dance, drink, smoke or chew, or go with girls who do." So unimpressive was my testimony that I did not even remember the day I was "saved." That, of course, was a problem...a big one. From time to time, I...

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Psalm 103:1 This is the season when we in the United States tend to turn our thoughts to thankfulness for the blessings of prosperity and peacefulness. And well we should. Our country, with all of its struggles, is still the most emulated and sought after civilization of the modern world. And, in spite of the efforts on the part of some, it is still a nation of moral laws and religious stability. We have much to be thankful for...

PROVO — Mormons are a peculiar people — not only in their religious beliefs, but in the political arena as well... SNIP BYU assistant political science Chris Karpowitz...unique findings were...Mormons are still peculiar... The study surveyed 35,000 Americans, including 250 Latter-day Saints, and the rough data showed that Mormons are more conservative than self-proclaimed, born-again Christians in some areas and less conservative in other areas. "The finding is … Mormons and evangelicals may appear to be politically sympathetic, but it's wrong to infer that these two groups are always in sync," Karpowitz said. For example, it's evangelicals, not Mormons, who...

Full Title: The Eternal Weight And Importance Of Justification by Faith...The Uncompromised Preaching Of The Reformation "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly,...

Have you ever given it much though about the phrase, “Lift Christ up with Praise�? Quite often you will here a pastor use this phrase as he instructs you to give glory to God though His Son. But have you ever really consider what the phrase means to you and and the significance of it? Give me a moment of your time and allow me to introduce you to something very few Christians have actually ever considered when hearing this phrase, “Lift Christ up with Praise�. Most people know the verse John 3:16 , many have even memorized it....

Psalm 48:1,2 How Great is the Lord! How Much we should Praise Him. He Lives upon Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. What a Glorious Sight! See Mt. Zion Rising North of the City, High Above the Plains for All to See; Mt. Zion, Joy of All the Earth, the Residence of the Great King.

An Ignorant Jesus?  Rev. William Most, Ph.d              Was Jesus confused? Did He know He was Messiah? or divine? Did He know much  about the afterlife? Did He have at least one superstition? Did He have only the mentality of a Jew of the first third of the first century? -- Wild as it may seem, some prominent scholars charge Him on all the above counts, and more too.              But: What does the Church teach on these things? Pope Pius XII, in his great Encyclical on the Mystical Body, on June 29, 1943, rejected all such charges. He taught:...

Saturday, October 31, 2009 Striving for Perfection A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB. Sometimes we're so impatient to be perfect even with our own selves. We want it done yesterday. Part of our own stability and perseverance has to do with the fact that we have to be stable in our perseverance. We have to go through it and not expect perfection so quickly. It's humiliating to be humble. It's in our nature to be want to be done with it so quickly that we don't have to deal with it anymore. And yet don't we find that when...

"You Are Not Your Own" "Do you not know that . . . you are not your own?" —1 Corinthians 6:19 There is no such thing as a private life, or a place to hide in this world, for a man or woman who is intimately aware of and shares in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. God divides the private life of His saints and makes it a highway for the world on one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for...