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I was talking with a friend a few weeks ago about a church she used to attend. She stopped going because the pastors, who called themselves “team leaders,” never wanted to deal with any topics that might be controversial, like abortion. In fact, their stated goal was that they wanted the church to be safe for people. The thought of a “safe” church has bounced around in my head off and on since then. What in the world is a safe church, especially given that the gospel itself, is not safe. Jesus isn’t safe. God Himself, is not safe. In...

This is a post that Satan apparently did not like. When I posted it last Thursday, the Server of the Archdiocese (literally) burnt up within an hour or two of posting. And while things are slowly coming back online, the post you are about to read could not be found in the archive file, anywhere. Thanks be to God some intrepid readers (at dclatinmass.com) had saved the post which I had not had time to back up. So here is a post that I suspect Satan did not want you to read. But the devil is a liar and God...

With the 2014 elections at hand, the white and black oppressors of the Left are seeking to agitate, enrage and scare the 90 % of the black Democratic voters to vote in this up coming election. The Left is horrified of losing their political strangle hold and power and truly care nothing about black America. Black America, may I ask you a very important question as one human being to another - who are made in the image and likeness of the Almighty; what has the Democratic Party ever done for you? What have they ever done? They have only...

I’ll never forget my first day of graduate school. It was in the fall of 2007, and I had beeen accepted to Hartford Seminary’s Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations program. It was familiar territory for me, as I had attended Hartford Seminary for the past two years as an undergraduate to study the Arabic language for my degree in Religious Studies. I knew many of the professors, if not personally, at least by name and face. My experiences, which I wrote about in an article published via the National Association of Scholars Journal, include the following event from my first...

A bronze statue of St. John Paul II has been placed in the gardens of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, as “gift of the Russian people.” Sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, the president of the Russian Art Academy, said that the statue, which stands nearly 12 feet tall, shows the character of the Polish Pontiff as a man who “reflects the tragedy and contradictory character of the 20th century,” and a spiritual leader “who personified universal conscience.” Russian sculptor Tsereteli to open a monument to John Paul II at Notre-Dame de Paris (Interfax)

Many Catholics today have “a strong sense that the Church is like a ship without a helm,” Cardinal Raymond Burke said in an interview with a Spanish publication. The American cardinal, who has become a focal point for the concerns of conservative Catholics, told Vida Nueva that many people have spoken to him about their fears for the direction of the Church. “They are feeling a bit seasick because they feel the Church’s ship has lost its bearings,” he said. Cardinal Burke stressed that “I do not wish it to seem like I am speaking out against the Pope.” Rather,...

A new hospital in Rome has opened a program to help childless couples better understand fertility, using minimally invasive, natural approaches without drugs. Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, noted that children “contribute greatly to the good of the parents themselves.”“Nevertheless,” he said, “we know that after a few years of marriage, some couples are faced with the ordeal of conjugal sterility. In addition to prayer, the Church is close to our brothers and sisters who are suffering, strongly encouraging scientific research aimed at overcoming natural sterility.”Zimowski’s words came just days...

A conference today at the University of Notre Dame will address “a pastoral strategy for parishes to be able to receive the gifts of self-identified gay Catholics,” while remaining faithful to Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality—but some speakers’ perspectives on “gay identity” may fall short of true orthodoxy. “Gay in Christ: Dimensions of Fidelity” is co-sponsored by Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life (ICL) and the Gender Relations Center. ICL director Dr. John Cavadini poses the following question on the University’s website: “Can Church teaching support an ‘exchange of gifts,’ enabling a parish community to receive the gifts that such people bring...

Maronite Bishop Gregory Mansour of Brooklyn has told students at Belmont University about the need for all Christians to respond to persecution with “profound defiance”.Pointing out that this was markedly different from vengeful retaliation or submissive inaction, Bishop Mansour said: “Jesus was not a passive victim. Christians are not just asked to be nice people and doormats.”He told the Belmont students that they are called to stand in solidarity with the persecuted Christians in the Middle East, and to join forces with other Christians, Jews and Muslims of goodwill to raise a voice against “the worst injustice you can...

Halloween and Reformation Day have a connection to each other beyond sharing October 31 on the calendar. October 31, 1517 is the believed date Martin Luther, a Catholic monk, nailed the 95 Theses to the doors of the Wittenberg Castle church in Germany that would spark what the Reformation. The monk was confronting a number of church laws that he felt should be revisited and revised, making all people equal in the eyes of the church. These views were seen as heretical and the Monk was eventually excommunicated from the church. Halloween, October 31, is celebrated each year by millions...

An Augustinian monk named Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany, centuries ago on the last day of October. As the 500th anniversary of the historic occasion is still a few years away, various groups are already overseeing ways and providing resources to celebrate the milestone. Tom Macy, senior pastor at Faith Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, told The Christian Post in an earlier interview that he viewed Reformation Day as a better alternative to Halloween. "As the culture celebrates the superstitions of Halloween with a focus on the darker side, it seems appropriate that this...

Pope Francis greets the faithful at St. Stanislaus parish in Rome on May 4, 2014. Credit: Lauren Cater/CNA. Vatican City, Oct 30, 2014 / 08:53 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his homily on Thursday, Pope Francis said that the devil is more than an idea, and in order to fight him, we must follow St. Paul’s instructions and put on the armor of God which protects us. “In this generation, like so many others, people have been led to believe that the devil is a myth, a figure, an idea, the idea of evil. But the devil exists and we must...

This is not good. You likely remember that earlier this month, the University of Notre Dame announced that it was complying with the law by offering spousal benefits to same-sex partners. The problem is...there's no such law. The Sycamore Trust released its latest bulletin and it's a must read. As we have reported, earlier this month the university announced that, since same-sex marriages are now legal in Indiana after the Supreme Court refused to review the lower court decisions striking down Indiana's ban, Notre Dame would extend spousal benefits to spouses in same-sex civil marriages. Those benefits include not only...

NEW YORK (AP) — Elton John called Pope Francis "my hero" for his compassion and push to accept gays in the Catholic church, at his annual AIDS benefit. John hosted the event, "An Enduring Vision: A Benefit for the Elton John AIDS Foundation," Tuesday night in New York City. He said Francis is pushing boundaries in the church and told the crowd: "Make this man a saint now, OK?" "Ten years ago one of the biggest obstacles in the fight against AIDS was the Catholic Church. Today we have a pope that speaks out about it," said John, earning cheers...

Erbil, Iraq, Oct 28, 2014 / 02:01 am (Aid to the Church in Need).- Bombs are falling and the sound of the explosion is sending shock and fear into the hearts of the people. Amid the sound of crying and frenzied activity, people pack up what belongings they can carry and make off into the night. In the midst of it all, on the night of Aug. 6, stands Martin Baani, a 24-year-old seminarian. It’s dawning on him that this is Karamlesh’s last stand. For 1,800 years, Christianity has had a home in the hearts and minds of the people...

In 1973 the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion. It was projected that the decision would not just replace illegal abortions with legal ones, but that the total number of abortions would dramatically increase (it turned out by approximately a million a year). It was clear that there were only two remedies: the Supreme Court reversing it; or a constitutional amendment proposed by Congress and ratified by the states to overturn it. This required the election of presidents who would nominate Supreme Court justices not interested in creating constitutional rights to legal abortion, and the election of pro-life...

"If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand--shine!" — Matthew 5:15 How should I live my life on this earth? What purpose does God have in mind for me, now that I have received His Son, Jesus Christ, into my heart? These are questions every believer should ask, because if you have no goals or purpose, you can waste your life. As I have often said, if you aim at...

(CNSNews.com) -- Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson and his eldest son Alan Robertson, both of whom are Christian ministers, released The Duck Commander Faith and Family Bible today, which is a New King James Version of the Bible complete with testimonials, selected indexes on Jesus’s life, weekly readings, and devotional commentary from both men throughout the book.While noting the joys of duck hunting, family, and Miss Kay’s cooking in the study Bible’s introduction, Phil and Al Robertson say that “what really gets us fired up – what’s the foundation of our daily lives and all that we do – is...

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba has allowed construction of the country's first new Catholic church in 55 years, the church said Monday. Experts said it's a sign of improving relations between the Vatican and Cuba's communist government. The church, funded by donations from Catholics in Tampa, Florida, will be built in Sandino, a citrus and coffee-growing town in the far-western province of Pinar del Rio. The church publication "Christian Life" said it will have space for 200 people.

The most unfortunate thing about the concept of mysticism is that the word itself has become mystified—and relegated to a “misty” and distant realm that implies it is only available to a very few. For me, the word simply means experiential knowledge of spiritual things, as opposed to book knowledge, secondhand knowledge, or even church knowledge. Most of organized religion, without meaning to, has actually discouraged us from taking the mystical path by telling us almost exclusively to trust outer authority, Scripture, tradition, or various kinds of experts (what I call the “containers”)—instead of telling us the value and importance...