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Why don't Catholics go to confession any more — or, more precisely, why do so many go so seldom? Here is an old problem that doesn't seem to be getting better. Evidently we need to dig deeper into its causes and solutions. In a book-length interview called God and the World (Ignatius Press, 2002), Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger — now Pope Benedict XVI — acknowledged that the "misuse of guilt feelings" can occur. But something even worse, he said, was "to extinguish the capacity for recognizing guilt." The Nazis sought systematically to do that. Are we once again reaching that point?...

When the feds quickly announce they won't press charges against runaway-bride Jennifer Wilbanks, 32, when the Albuquerque police chief discusses the "stress that she's been through" and law enforcement in Georgia is still noodling over whether to prosecute her for staging a kidnapping that didn't happen, you know you live in a country where actions mean nothing. Don't get me wrong: There have been serious consequences to Wilbanks' apparently premeditated hoax -- she bought her bus ticket a week before running off, and left behind her keys, wallet and ring, which made her disappearance look like a kidnapping, or worse....

A talk delivered at the Annual Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America, St. George Serbian Orthodox Church, San Diego, California, February 28, 2003 Offenses as Blessings If looked at in the right way, the offences that come to us are actually blessings in disguise. They offer us an opportunity to forgive and thus receive God's blessings and Grace. As St. Ignatius Brianchaninov affirms, "All the sorrows and sufferings caused us by other people never come to us except with God's permission for our essential good. If these sorrows and troubles were not absolutely necessary for us, God...

THE POPE WHO TURNED ANTISEMITISM ASIDE By Jeff Jacoby The Boston Globe Thursday, April 7, 2005 http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/04/07/the_pope_who_turned_anti_semitism_aside/ As a young boy in the 1930s, my father attended public school in Snina, a town in eastern Czechoslovakia. Twice a week, a Catholic priest would come in to teach the catechism, during which the few children who were Jewish were sent to wait outside. As they left the classroom, my father recalls, the priest invariably made some insulting remark about the Jewish people. For Jews in the Europe of my father's youth, such Christian contempt was a fact of life. Its origins...

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca, who gravely wounded Pope John Paul in a failed assassination attempt in 1981, was grief-stricken over the Pontiff's death, Agca's brother said Sunday. Agca, now in an Istanbul prison, was mourning the loss of "a great friend," the gunman's brother Adnan Agca told Reuters. "He is extremely saddened, he is in grief. He loved the Pope," said Adnan Agca. "They developed a personal friendship while Mehmet Ali was (imprisoned) in Italy, and they had announced their brotherhood. "The Pope showed my brother and the rest of our family closeness. He was a...

John 20: 1-16 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have put him!”So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the...

She went out for cigarettes. That's my favorite detail of the story of Elizabeth Ashley Smith. This was not a noble calling; it wasn't even a noble errand. But the craving for nicotine at 2 o'clock in the morning led Smith into the loaded gun of one Brian Nichols, a man who had already raped one woman and murdered four men. Acccording to Smith, Nichols forced her into her apartment, tied her up, put her in the bathtub and told her "I'm not going to hurt you if you just do what I say." What would you do under those...

Today, as Good Friday looms tommorow with another innocent victim being crucified by a mob on the liberal's cross of "laws" (that a hate-filled judge says can be ignored) and "laws" (that a hate-filled judge says can be ignored "must" be followed to the letter. The media is promoting her death, and is ignoring contrary news and information. That, we may not be able to overcome. But the publicisn't the only Witness to this murder. So, while she is being slowly starved to death to "preserve" our rights to abortion, hatred, revenge, pride, and to conceal previous assaults, let us...

Patron Saints of Desperate, Forgotten, Impossible or Lost Causes Saint Philomena Martyred at about age 14 in the early days of the Church. In 1802 the remains of a young woman were found in the catacomb of Saint Priscilla on the Via Salaria. It was covered by stones, the symbols on which indicated that the body was a martyr named Saint Philomena. The bones were exhumed, cataloged, and effectively forgotten since there was so little known about the person. In 1805 Canon Francis de Lucia of Mugnano, Italy was in the Treasury of the Rare Collection of Christian Antiquity (Treasury...

As a Christian Freeper, I am wasting my time as I follow each Terri thread, rather I should be praying for GOD WILL BE DONE. I am guilty as many others judging Terri's husband, his lawyer,Judge Geer and our congressmen who wish to see Terri die.In the end the "Lord's Will" will be done" Not mine, not yours, but "OUR LORD'S"! Mean while I wasted my time, as others here have, throwing slurs and ill wishes towards those I don't agree with, including some very dear Freepers. I should have been praying! Praying that "OUR LORD"S WILL BE DONE!Praying that...

Date: 2005-03-14Those in Mortal Sin Can't Go to Communion, Says PopeIn a Message to Priests at Course on "Internal Forum"VATICAN CITY, MARCH 14, 2005 (Zenit.org).- In keeping with Church teaching, John Paul II issued a reminder that no one who is aware of being in a state of mortal sin can go to Communion. The Pope confirmed the traditional teaching of the magisterium in a message published by the Holy See on Saturday. The message was addressed to young priests who attended a course last week on the "internal forum" -- questions of conscience -- organized by the tribunal of...

Following receipt of a letter from Tim Stoen, a former aide to Jim Jones, in which he apologizes for his behavior years ago when Jones' cult was based in Ukiah, Les Kinsolving, the San Francisco Chronicle reporter who was targeted by the group, offers forgiveness. For Stoen, who publicly disassociated himself from the cult a year before Jonestown, the Kinsolving letter is his most public admission yet of wrongdoing on behalf of the Peoples Temple. "I have asked God to forgive me for my wrongdoing in being a part of Peoples Temple. He has mercifully given me a second chance,"...

I really like Judith Regan, and I am a liberal democrat. I like her because she is a very passionate and deep woman. She has keen insight on human nature, but she is nevertheless an idealist who is very hurt by the tragic nature of reality. She is a great essay writer and has great understanding of the poetic nature of things. I think as person she has a lot to offer us if she is able to maintain a positive and constructive outlook of life. She strikes me as a person that may be given to distress and depression,...

Sixty-three years ago today, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor —an action that dramatically altered the course of history. Jacob DeShazer was on KP duty in California when he first heard the news. Furious at what the Japanese had done, he resolved to retaliate personally. And in April 1942, he got his chance—as a B-25 bombardier when Doolittle’s Raiders attacked Tokyo. During that fateful run, DeShazer’s plane ran out of fuel, and the crew bailed out over enemy territory. DeShazer was captured and spent the next forty months as a POW—including thirty-four months in solitary confinement. Three of his buddies were...

Previous thread --- SUGGESTED LETTER TO AMERICA FROM BILL CLINTON Now, it is your turn. Bill Clinton faces his mortality and is about to undergo serious surgery. If you were his spiritual advisor (no, not Jesse Jackson), what you advise him? What has he done for what he should seek forgiveness? I am getting ready for Mass and hope to enjoy this thread when I get back. Have at it.

IT STARTED WITH THIS THREAD A LETTER TO AMERICA by Bill Clinton (ghostwritten by DFU) When one faces his mortality, things that were murky can become clear. No one likes to think of his mortality, but suddenly I have been forced to do so. I must use this opportunity to set the record straight. First, to my family, Chelsea and Hillary, I love you very much. I couldn't have been blessed with a better daughter. Hillary, throughout all the rocky times, I really have loved you. Because of my weakness of character, I cheated on you hundreds of times....

Iraqi Christians pray for their attackers (Filed: 03/08/2004) Adrian Blomfield in Baghdad finds the newly targeted minority community defiant yet calling for forgiveness With a tear rolling down his cheek, Fr Faris Toma stood amid the wreckage outside his Baghdad church yesterday, and prayed for the bombers who killed 10 of his congregation. An Iraqi woman passes a church bombed yesterday "We cannot understand why or how they could do something like this," he said. "All we can do is ask God to give them forgiveness and grant us peace." As American soldiers picked through the blackened remains of 19...

Bill Highlighting Unborn Child's Pain Introduced by Pro-Life Leaders in CongressWASHINGTON (May 31, 2004) - - Pro-life leaders in Congress, with the strong backing of National Right to Life, have introduced a major new legislative initiative that throws a spotlight on the pain inflicted on unborn children by abortion.The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act was introduced on May 20 by Senator Sam Brownback (R-Ks.) (S. 2466) and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) (H.R. 4420), with numerous cosponsors.NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson, who appeared with Brownback and Smith at a press conference in the U.S. Capitol announcing the new legislation, said, "There...

NEW YORK (AP) -- One sad voice says ''I'm sorry I was ever born.'' Another says he's sorry for turning his back on true love. Another confesses to an affair. These are the callers to the apology hot line, a college student's effort to offer solace to troubled souls. Critics worry the line might help people avoid the face-to-face closure needed for true healing. ''You might get something off your chest, but how really honest is that to the person you're trying to apologize to?'' asked Kevin Irwin, a Catholic University of America theology professor. The hot line's creator, 20-year-old...

Just when you thought CNN couldn't get worse...