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Gov Jerry Brown was speaking ahead of meetings organised by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on climate changePope Francis’s encyclical letter on the environment was “appropriate and absolutely essential” for waking people up to the dangers of climate change, the Governor of California has said. “The world is going its merry way, with a few notable exceptions, and climate change is building up in very soon-to-be irreversible ways that will very dramatically increase human suffering,” the 77-year-old governor Jerry Brown told Catholic News Service in Rome. Brown was scheduled to speak from July 21 and 22 at meetings organised by...

July 21, 2015   Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ex 14:21—15:1 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,and the LORD swept the seawith a strong east wind throughout the nightand so turned it into dry land.When the water was thus divided,the children of Israel marched into the midst of the sea on dry land,with the water like a wall to their right and to their left. The Egyptians followed in pursuit;all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and charioteers went after themright into the midst of the sea.In the night watch just before dawnthe LORD...

How hath the LORD covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!The LORD hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his...

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning If I lacked anything. “A guest," I answered, “worthy to be here”: Love said, “You shall be he.” “I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear, I cannot look on thee.” Love took my hand, and smiling did reply, “Who made the eyes but I?” “Truth, Lord; but I have marred them; let my shame Go where it doth deserve.” “And know you not," says Love, “who bore the...

July 20, 2015 Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ex 14:5-18 When it was reported to the king of Egyptthat the people had fled,Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them.They exclaimed, “What have we done!Why, we have released Israel from our service!”So Pharaoh made his chariots ready and mustered his soldiersBsix hundred first-class chariotsand all the other chariots of Egypt, with warriors on them all.So obstinate had the LORD made Pharaohthat he pursued the children of Israeleven while they were marching away in triumph.The Egyptians, then, pursued them;Pharaoh’s whole army, his horses, chariots...

Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich just gave an interview with (of all things) Laura Ingraham's new website LifeZette. It was somewhat wide-ranging and part of it was actually quite strange (more on that in another post). But what jumped out at me the most was the Archbishop saying something that could be most accurately described by using the L word. Or to be more charitable, it was a fib. What role do traditional communities, like parishes that celebrate the Tridentine Mass, have in attracting people? People come at their own expression of faith in different ways, and I’m respectful of that....

July 19, 2015   Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Jer 23:1-6 Woe to the shepherdswho mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture,says the LORD. Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,against the shepherds who shepherd my people:You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them,but I will take care to punish your evil deeds. I myself will gather the remnant of my flockfrom all the lands to which I have driven themand bring them back to their meadow;there they shall increase and multiply. I will appoint shepherds for...

As a lifelong Catholic, I pray daily for the abolishment of abortion, and like many Catholics I have attended the rallies, marched in the rain, donated money, and from the sidewalks of Planned Parenthood worn the heckling as a badge of honor. In 2010 I was elected to the Iowa Senate as the first Republican to represent Sioux City in over 30 years, and I am proud to say that I am a Catholic, a husband, and a father who believes that abortion is murder, and that there is no such thing as an “exception” when it comes to the...

On the evening of July 16/17, to honor the memory of the murdered Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family, more than 60.000 Orthodox faithful took part in the 20 km royal procession pilgrimage from the Church on the Blood in Ekaterinburg to the Monastery of the Royal Martyrs at Ganina Yama.      On the evening of 16/17 July, to honour the memory of the murdered Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family, more than 60,000 Orthodox faithful took part in the 20-km royal procession pilgrimage from the Church on Blood in Honour of All Saints Resplendent in the...

Video from the All Night Vigil for the Feast of St. Sergius at the Trinity - Sergius Lavra (Monastery)

July 18, 2015 Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ex 12:37-42 The children of Israel set out from Rameses for Succoth,about six hundred thousand men on foot,not counting the little ones.A crowd of mixed ancestry also went up with them,besides their livestock, very numerous flocks and herds.Since the dough they had brought out of Egypt was not leavened,they baked it into unleavened loaves.They had rushed out of Egypt and had no opportunityeven to prepare food for the journey. The time the children of Israel had stayed in Egyptwas four hundred and thirty years.At the end...

July 17, 2015   Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ex 11:10—12:14 Although Moses and Aaron performed various wondersin Pharaoh’s presence,the LORD made Pharaoh obstinate,and he would not let the children of Israel leave his land. The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,“This month shall stand at the head of your calendar;you shall reckon it the first month of the year.Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this monthevery one of your families must procure for itself a lamb,one apiece for each household.If a family is too...

Hello, everyone... I am very much in need of prayers at this time. The Lord has given me a great deal of loss: physically; financially; emotionally; in my career; most of all, in those whom I love who have passed on, or are ill. Whatever He chooses to do in my life, how He chooses to use me, please pray for me for strength and healing of my heart. I thank Him for those around me; for loving and watching over me; for giving me kind people in my life- even when He decides to call them home. I thank...

Here is a video of the Greek Orthodox Divine Liturgy from the recent vigil (7/11/15) in celebration of the first feast day since the canonization of St. Paisios. The video is of the service from the Monastery of Souroti outside of Thessaloniki, which treasures the holy and wonderworking grave of St. Paisios. At the feast was present the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, along with many other bishops, clergy, monks and nuns, and thousands of the faithful. In the video one can see beautiful shots of the church, excellent chanting from the nuns at Souroti, and video of the long line of...

  July 16, 2015   Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ex 3:13-20 Moses, hearing the voice of the LORD from the burning bush, said to him,“When I go to the children of Israel and say to them,‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”God replied, “I am who am.”Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the children of Israel:I AM sent me to you.” God spoke further to Moses, “Thus shall you say to the children of Israel:The...

Masses are about to come to Me, Not out of catastrophe but willingly, Soon you shall see My spirit pouring out "FREE", A Mountain of Love, Pouring down from above, And all the Earth shall see, My love for all humanity, A Love so Alive and True! And it's headed right at you, So My question to you from Me? Is "ARE YOU" ready for what you are about to see?! ( (( ( MY GLORY ) )) ) Joel 2:28-32Amplified Bible (AMP) 28 And afterward I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your...

Detroit has many problems.  Here is another.From ABC: Threats Force Satan Statue Unveiling to Secret Detroit VenueAn 8½-foot-tall bronze monument featuring a goat-headed Satan will be unveiled at a secret, ticketed event in Detroit after the owner of a popular restaurant and entertainment complex backed out and opponents issued threats, organizers said.The 1½-ton Baphomet, which is backed by an inverted pentagram and flanked by statues of two young children gazing up at the creature, [?!?] shows Satan with horns, hooves, wings and a beard.The Satanic Temple, a group that advocates for the separation of church and state, [Therefore, allies of...

July 15, 2015   Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church Reading 1 Ex 3:1-6, 9-12 Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian.Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb,the mountain of God.There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fireflaming out of a bush.As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush,though on fire, was not consumed.So Moses decided,“I must go over to look at this remarkable sight,and see why the bush is not burned.” When the LORD saw him coming over...

July 14, 2015   Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin Reading 1 Ex 2:1-15a A certain man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman,who conceived and bore a son.Seeing that he was a goodly child, she hid him for three months.When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket,daubed it with bitumen and pitch,and putting the child in it,placed it among the reeds on the river bank.His sister stationed herself at a distanceto find out what would happen to him. Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river to bathe,while her maids walked along the river...

Roman Catholicism was 300 years too late to be “the stone that … became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35). [This is the third installment of a three part series.]When former Protestant, Taylor Marshall, wrote Eternal City, he sought to explain why Christianity is necessarily Roman. “The Church,” he wrote, “receives the Roman empire” from its previous custodians. But in concluding this, Marshall has mistakenly transposed two kingdoms—both of which Daniel addressed, and both of which Daniel set against the background of the rise and fall of four world empires. One kingdom is of earth...