It was always said that the Angels, who had to stand by, helplessly, because they were obedient to the Father’s Will, when their Lord and King suffered cruel punishment and died on the Cross, bellowed out such an agonizing shout, it reached to the ends of the earth; the curtain of the temple tore and the earth trembled and the mountains shook.
There were reports of earthquakes and mountains splitting all over the world.
On the anniversary of her 13-day starvation and dehydration death at the hands of her former husband, pro-life advocates are remembering Terri Schiavo and promising to help disabled patients like her.
Kristan Hawkins, the executive director of Students for Life of America, will be speaking today at the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network’s symposium at Ave Maria School of Law. She spoke with LifeNews.com before the event, where she will touch on prenatal diagnosis and health care’s effects on special needs patients.
“We honor Terri Schiavo today, by speaking at the Medical Ethics Symposium at Ave Maria School of Law. Her fight for Life reflects the importance of caring for those with special needs, especially with end of life decisions and prenatal diagnosis,” Hawkins said. “In both cases, pro-lifers need to stand for the most defenseless among us.”
First ..the email ..
“Hello! I am writing on behalf of a few of my friends who go to [a university].
I first want to thank you for the work you guys do. The information that you provide in your videos has helped my few friends and I begin the conversion process of some protestants. I really want to express my gratitude for this.
However, we have a huge problem. The Newman Center on campus is such a problem for all Catholics here. For example, one of our priests here preaches about being a “flexible” Catholic.
Another priest tells students that their sexual activity on campus is okay. My friends and I went to this workshop on developing a relationship with God. These old women there spent time discussing about how the Church “is not black and white” and “has many in-consistencies.”
This was all being taught by the Director of Religious Education at the parish! My friends and I knew it was bad, but we had no idea. The reason why I am writing this is because I don’t know what to do.
The spiritual damage to all of the students who go the the Newman Center is sickening and saddening. What should we, as faithful Catholics, do besides just pray? We pray for things to change all the time, but on a more active role what can we do to help change the situation?
Thank you so much. The work you do is amazing. I pray for this ministry every day!
God bless you!”
Read Michael’s response (PDF)
Attend the Michael Voris Chicago area speaking event, April 30
Pierce Brosnan admits that he might not have learned all he needed to know about math from the Christian Brothers in Ireland, but the teachers imparted one thing that has stayed with him to this day – his Catholic faith.
If Rockne was merely the greatest coach who ever lived (his 13-season record of 105 wins, 12 loses and 5 ties, still remains the best ever in college football) his death at forty-three would not have brought such grief, nor would his legend have been so lasting. Son of Norwegian immigrants, Rock came to America at the age of five after his father’s two-wheel carry-all buggy won an award at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. Knute learned the game of football in the rough and tumble Windy City neighborhood of Logan Square, under the watchful eye of (I’m not kidding!) “an Irish copper named O’Goole.” Knute’s dad Lars wasn’t keen on college, so Rockne earned his way to Notre Dame (then cheaper than the University of Illinois!) by working in the mail room for five years before entering Our Lady’s University, “the lone Norse Protestant invader of a Catholic stronghold,” a balding broken-nosed freshman, at the age of twenty-two.
The Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity is in the spotlight, following the allegations of misconduct against one of its members, Father John Corapi. The Register spoke with Father Gerard Sheehan, regional priest servant, based in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas, to learn more about the charism of the order and its rules for members.
Sister Johnson is a prominent feminist theologian and a former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society, an ecumenical organization. She belongs to a religious order in New York, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood.
The Rev. Thomas Weinandy, executive director of the bishops’ Secretariat for Doctrine, said in an interview: “The primary concern was not over feminism or nonfeminism. The bishops are saying that the book does not adequately treat a Catholic understanding of God.”
Editor’s note: The simple fact is, a huge number of today’s Catholic sisters are Catholic in name only, and that poses a serious danger to the spiritual welfare of the Catholic faithful.
By Maureen Ward
In the area of Catholic Pastoral Care, the Legion of Mary is second to none. How can it not be since Frank Duff “invented” Pastoral Care so to speak. When Frank Duff, who was a Civil Servant by trade and a St. Vincent de Paul member in his free time, initially started the Legion of Mary which began as a little association to do spiritual works of mercy, the first assignment was to visit the sick in the wards of a large Dublin Hospital .
In pro life issues, I am afraid the Legion of Mary is lagging behind what I believe Frank Duff would have expected of this association that he founded.
When it comes to unborn children who unquestionably are the weakest of the weak, the most downtrodden of the downtrodden, the Legion of Mary, in many places, seems to me to be sadly lacking in mercy if we do not include them in the Legion’s ministry. We are abandoning pre-born children and their mothers in our outreach. Some in the organization consider these pro-life works of mercy, such as instructing, counseling and praying as being political. I disagree. It is not political to counsel and it is not political to instruct. It is certainly not political to pray.
Unfortunately I have even had some members tell me that praying cannot count as a suitable legion work. Prayer is probably the most important legion of Mary work there is. Here is a quotation from Pope John Paul II “Pray for the many spiritual and material needs of your families, your communities, the whole Church, and all of humanity. Indeed, prayer is the first and greatest work of charity that we must do for our brothers and sisters.” I couldn’t agree more,
There are so many ways that the legion of Mary can answer the Church’s Call to defend and promote Life. Praying silently or counseling women at abortion sites seems like a good way to me. We could and probably should be promoting Holy Hours with prayers for unborn children and their mothers and all others who are affected by abortion. Also, there is the Spiritual Adoption Program for the unborn which I think would be an ideal project for a Praesidium to take on. If the Legion of Mary really presents the “True Face of the Catholic Church” (Pope John XXIII) then we must visibly and with conviction, defend all of her Teachings.
Shawn Carney the National representative from 40 days for Life says:
“When you pray at the abortion facility you represent the last hope for the baby scheduled to be aborted …
… but you are also represent the first sign of mercy as the woman leaves the facility after the abortion.”
She’ll answer as many questions as possible,
right here, every Thursday.
Email responses will also be provided, as time permits.
Cathi H writes: What does Jesus mean when he says,
“Ask and you shall receive” when clearly there are a million cases when it doesn’t work out that way? And I’m not referring to selfish prayers, but for things like wisdom, peace, provision for my children’s needs, etc. Thanks!
Alice answers: Jesus wasn’t joking when he said, “Ask and you shall receive.” Our Lord does not make empty promises. He is true to His word. God answers every prayer in His own way, in His own time. When we don’t get what we want quickly, we think God has refused to give us what we ask for in faith. However, God’s prayer clock does not tick according to our time.
“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens….He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without men ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11)
Clearly, God’s ways are not our ways. After praying for wisdom, we might become tongue-tied when attempting to counsel a troubled friend. Perhaps, we were called to be a listener, not an adviser, to our friend, and God answered our prayer after all. If we pray for peace in our family, God might ask us to be a peacemaker, who must endure the stress of settling family feuds.
One of my relatives has been angry with God since the death of her husband. she felt that God ignored her prayers for successful surgery. Recently, she was crying that God let him die. Recalling his alcoholism, smoking, emphysema, COPD, acid reflux and type-A personality, I suggested that instead of shortening her husband’s life, maybe God lengthened it, in answer to a prayer whispered long ago.
After they adopted a child, the husband had asked God to let him live to see his daughter celebrate her 21st birthday. That prayer was indeed answered, since their daughter had just turned 21, at the time of his death. My friend had never considered the date of her husband’s death as God’s gift of a longer life.
God’s unique way of answering prayers also involves my precious daughter, who is battling her third relapse of Hodgkins’ Disease. On April 1, she was scheduled to enter the hospital for her 2nd Stem Cell Transplant. Scores of people have been praying that she would need only a mini transplant, instead of a major one, that requires intense amounts of chemotherapy. Her suitcase was packed, and just last Saturday, she received the Sacrament of Anointing.
Last night, the oncologist informed her that a PET scan had revealed a small spot, necessitating the major procedure. Instead of feeling devastated, she was unusually peaceful, calmly asking if there was another way to eradicate the spot. Her oncologist mentioned a new drug that has been extremely successful, so she decided to try it, in the hope that the mini transplant will indeed be possible.
“Leave it to the Lord and wait for him.” (Psalm 37:7)
Our family is very happy with her decision, as we have been praying that she wouldn’t need the 2nd stem cell transplant, or that she would receive the mini transplant, instead. We believe God is answering our prayers for healing … in His way … and in His time.
“That is why I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24)
In Christ’s Love,
Alice
Doug Lawrence suggests this short, daily affirmation:
God hears my prayers. God will answer my prayers. God is answering my prayers. God has answered my prayers. God will continue to answer my prayers. God will never leave me or forsake me. Amen.
British archaeologists are seeking to authenticate what could be a landmark discovery in the documentation of early Christianity: a trove of 70 lead codices that appear to date from the 1st century CE, which may include key clues to the last days of Jesus’ life.
As UK Daily Mail reporter Fiona Macrae writes, some researchers are suggesting this could be the most significant find in Christian archeology since the Dead Sea scrolls in 1947.
The codices turned up five years ago in a remote cave in eastern Jordan—a region where early Christian believers may have fled after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.
The codices are made up of wirebound individual pages, each roughly the size of a credit card. They contain a number of images and textual allusions to the Messiah, as well as some possible references to the crucifixion and resurrection.
Al Sharpton, the so-called champion of civil rights angrily opposes the billboards: they’ve “depicted black women in an unfair way…The way you address that is not by demonizing black women.”
How would you address it, Al? Continue supporting Planned Parenthood’s assault on black women, continue turning your leftist blind eye to the truth? Every time Planned Parenthood convinces black women to have abortions, they demonize black babies as unfit for America.
On Tuesday, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., testified before Democratic Senator Dick Durbin‘s committee hearing on the civil rights of Muslims. Though he acknowledged the existence of extremist ideology within Islam, he opted to characterize this ideology as being something different from “authentic Islam.”
Even more troubling, however, particularly for a Catholic like myself, was his insistence that criticisms of the radical Wahhabist theology of ISNA, the group selected for dialogue by the USCCB, are misplaced. He further mentioned the “common good,” a legitimate term in worldwide Catholicism but co-opted by the radical Left in America, in the context of dialogue with these particular Muslims.
In our pluralistic society, religious values and commitments are assets for the common good, not sources of division and conflict. Today we note with particular sadness that Muslim Americans with whom we have had a positive dialogue for over the decades have had their loyalty and beliefs questioned publicly in sweeping and uninformed ways. This compels us to reach out in solidarity and support of their dignity and rights as Americans and believers. We worry about the rhetoric and actions that target our Muslim neighbors and friends. Like our own historical experience, their very loyalty as Americans and traditions and values are being threatened.
There are very troubling realities involved in this statement. First of all, Catholics should be concerned that the USCCB has opted to have Muslim-Catholic dialogue with ISNA.
According to terrorism expert Steven Emerson, ISNA “is a radical group hiding under a false veneer of moderation”; “convenes annual conferences where Islamist militants have been given a platform to incite violence and promote hatred” (for instance, al Qaeda supporter and PLO official Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi was invited to speak at an ISNA conference); has held fundraisers for terrorists (after Hamas leader Mousa Marzook was arrested and eventually deported in 1997, ISNA raised money for his defense); has condemned the U.S. government’s post-9/11 seizure of Hamas’ and Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s financial assets; and publishes a bi-monthly magazine, Islamic Horizons, that “often champions militant Islamist doctrine.”
That is really just the tip of the iceberg. ISNA is the largest Muslim Brotherhood front group on the North American continent. Has Cardinal McCarrick read the Team B II Report, Sharia: The Threat to America?
I see a Church in which the vast majority of priests are good and sincere men who work very hard, conscientiously and generously, to serve the Lord Jesus and His people.
I see a Church in which most of our parishes are strong and vibrant; parishes that are filled every Sunday with good and faithful people who assemble to hear the Word of God, to receive the Holy Eucharist, and to thank God for the many gifts and blessings they’ve received.
I see a Church in which thousands of individuals, women and men, young and old, assist the Church either as paid professionals or volunteers in diverse fields such as Catholic education, religious education, youth ministry, Catholic Scouting, parish leadership and liturgical ministries.
I see a Church that has dedicated lay organizations – such as the Knights of Columbus, the Daughters of Isabella, the Saint Vincent de Paul Societies and many others – which invest lots of time, talent and money to do great, but often unseen things, in service to our Church and community.
I see a Church that’s not at all afraid to wade into the turbulent waters of intense public debate and bring the truth of the Gospel to issues such as health-care reform, immigration, abortion and same-sex marriage.
I see a Church that provides outstanding social services – supporting nursing homes and food pantries, helping refugees get settled in their new homes, teaching immigrants to speak English, providing heating assistance for families, and opening shelters for homeless folks during dark, cold winter nights.
I see a Church that’s determined in its defense of human life, with brave and hardy individuals praying in front of abortion clinics on frigid January mornings, generously providing for the needs of single moms, and testifying on behalf of holy matrimony in the halls of the State House.
I see a Church in which scores of remarkable young people spend their vacation time travelling to Jamaica and other Central American countries ministering to impoverished, handicapped children who will never have the material blessings that they themselves have.
You see, in the Catholic Church there are so many good people; so many good things that happen everyday. This is just a snapshot of the Church I see, and no doubt I’ve missed other parts of the beautiful mosaic. To those I haven’t mentioned, I apologize, but thank you too, for your dedication and truly good work.
Ali Sina is an Iranian ex-Muslim who established the organisation for apostates of Islam Faith Freedom International. In his latest book he posits that Muhammad is a narcissist, a paedophile, a mass murderer, a terrorist, a misogynist, a lecher, a cult leader, a madman, a rapist, a torturer, an assassin and a looter (*). Sina has offered 50,000 dollars for the one who can prove otherwise. Nobody has claimed the reward as yet. And no wonder, as the description is based on the Islamic texts themselves, such as the hadiths, the descriptions of Muhammad’s life from testimonies of contemporaries.
The historical Muhammad was the savage leader of a gang of robbers from Medina. Without scruples they looted, raped and murdered. The sources describe orgies of savagery where hundreds of people’s throats were cut, hands and feet chopped off, eyes cut out, entire tribes massacred. An example is the extinction of the jewish Kurayza tribe in Medina in 627. One of those who chopped off their heads was Muhammad. The women and children were sold as slaves. Confronted with the lunacy of Islamic terrorists today, it is not hard to find out where the lunacy comes from.
In this interview with ZENIT, Badde explained some of the conclusions of his research on this veil, and why he thinks it is bound to change the world.
ZENIT: Some have referred to the Veil of Manoppello as belonging to Veronica, and having the image of Jesus’ face from before the Crucifixion. Your investigation, however, led you to a different conclusion. Could you clarify what this veil is?
Badde: This veil has had many names in the last 2000 years — maintaining only its unique character in the same time.
It is, in fact, “the napkin” or “handkerchief” (in Greek: soudarion), to which St. John the Evangelist is referring in his report of the discovery of the empty tomb by St. Peter and himself, that they saw “apart” from the cloths (including the shroud of Joseph from Arimathea) in which Jesus had been buried.
This napkin, St. John says, had originally been laying upon the Face of Jesus.
This veil had to be kept completely secret right away — together with the Shroud of Turin — in the first community of the Apostles in Jerusalem due to the ritual impurity in Judaism of everything stemming from a grave. And it remained secret for many centuries.
This explains why it had been bearing many different names in the course of history after it appeared in public some hundred years later in the Anatolian town of Edessa for the first time.
Among all these different names are for instance: The Edessa Veil, The Image or Letter of King Abgar, The Camuliana Veil, The Mandylion, The Image Not Made by Man’s Hand (in Greek: acheiropoieton), The Fourfolded Veil (in Greek: tetradiplon) or — today — The Holy Face (Il Volto Santo). The “Veil of Veronica” is just another name of all those that meant altogether this very veil in Manoppello.
A Catholic Perspective
Answering Scandal with Personal Holiness
Fr. Roger J. Landry: Perhaps the single best commentary on the matter.
Tell Father You See Jesus
Bud Macfarlane: The attack on the twin towers of our faith.
The Catholic Bishops and the Scandals
Kenneth Whitehead: Why so many bishops ignore dissent.
A Close Look at Voice of the Faithful
Deal Hudson: “VOTF is simply another group of dissenters.”
The Bishop’s Secret Letter
Deal Hudson: Eight American bishops call for a Plenary Council.
Scapegoating and the Scandals
Father Richard John Neuhaus: Where there is no mercy, there is no hope.
The Deficiencies of the Bishop’s Policy
Charles Rice: Vague definitions leads to the intimidation or blackmail of priests.
Homosexuality, Dissent and Modernism – The Roots Of Abuse
“The bishops still don’t get it.”
In 2010, the pro-life organization wrote to Senomyx CEO Kent Snyder, pointing out that moral options for testing their food additives could and should be used. But when Senomyx ignored their letter, they wrote to the companies Senomyx listed on their website as “collaborators” warning them of public backlash and threatened boycott. Food giants Pepsico, Kraft Foods, Campbell Soup, Solae and Nestlé are the primary targets of the boycott, though Senomyx boasts other international partners on their website.
Senomyx website states that “The company’s key flavor programs focus on the discovery and development of savory, sweet and salt flavor ingredients that are intended to allow for the reduction of MSG, sugar and salt in food and beverage products.…Using isolated human taste receptors, we created proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems that provide a biochemical or electronic readout when a flavor ingredient interacts with the receptor.”
Senomyx notes their collaborators provide them research and development funding plus royalties on sales of products using their flavor ingredients.
“What they do not tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 – human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors”, stated Debi Vinnedge, Executive Director for Children of God for Life, a pro-life watch dog group that has been monitoring the use of aborted fetal material in medical products and cosmetics for years.
Submitted by Nancy W.
Submitted by Doria2
Q: How does one typically make a serious problem with a disgruntled ex-employee go away?
A: You have your attorneys promptly negotiate an amicable settlement with all affected parties, typically including withdrawal of any and all statements and/or claims made “in the heat of battle” … groundless or not … plus an ironclad “gag” order … with no admission of fault, on either side … and then, a certain amount of cash changes hands.
Of course, in the Father Corapi case, that would still leave the church investigation to deal with.
For that, a good confession (by all those involved) should suffice.
Doug Lawrence's Catholic Site 