The newest report from UNICEF suggests that nations are bound by international law to provide sexually-related materials to children without their parents’ knowledge, explains Susan Yoshihara of C-FAM, the Catholic Families and Human Rights Institute.
In issuing the ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa said including the funds would violate free exercise of religion under the First Amendment and a 1993 law aimed at protecting religious freedom. Randa cited the Catholic belief in the resurrection, which teaches that the body ultimately reunites with the soul, and the role of Catholic cemeteries in the exercise of that belief under canon law.
“The sacred nature of Catholic cemeteries – and compliance with the church’s historical and religious traditions and mandates requiring their perpetual care – are understood as a fundamental exercise of this core belief,” said Randa in overturning an earlier decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley.
The decision was a major victory for the archdiocese, and appears to eliminate one of the last large assets available to sex abuse victims who have filed claims in the bankruptcy.
While the odds of being involved
in a plane crash may be slim,
they’re not zero.
If it happened to you,
would you know what to do
to increase your chances
of walking away?
In today’s post
we’re going to offer
research-backed advice
from Ben Sherwood’s The Survivor’s Club
on what you can do
to make it out
of a plane crash alive.
Jesus said, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin,” and no one knows that more than I, who once was enslaved to lust through pornography. I was a slave because I could not control my desires; they controlled me.
Editor’s note: There was a time when most Catholics actually understood the nature and purpose of the Mass. There also was a time when more than seventy five percent of Catholics attended Mass every Sunday. Participation today is well under thirty percent – and falling.
Pope Francis labels as heretics those Catholics who hold a more traditional understanding of the faith, yet he is unwilling to make a similar prudential judgment as to the nature of many of his fellow Jesuits, certain radical women’s religious orders, and those who suffer from disordered sexuality.
Modernism, Liberalism, hypocrisy, and arrogant humility apparently go hand in hand.
The guys in the back 8 or 10 rows are Catholic bishops.
Editor’s note: At least this was NOT done during Mass.
It’s embarrassing enough as it is.
In the longest and most important speech of his four-month pontificate, Francis took a direct swipe at the “intellectual” message of the church that so characterized the pontificate of his predecessor, Benedict XVI. Speaking to Brazil’s bishops, he said ordinary Catholics simply don’t understand such lofty ideas and need to hear the simpler message of love, forgiveness and mercy that is at the core of the Catholic faith.
“At times we lose people because they don’t understand what we are saying, because we have forgotten the language of simplicity and import an intellectualism foreign to our people,” he said. “Without the grammar of simplicity, the church loses the very conditions which make it possible to fish for God in the deep waters of his mystery.”
Editor’s note: How did the post-Vatican II mantra – “God is love” – which likely constitutes the greatest depth of official Catholic catechesis, since the late 1960’s – suddenly become “too intellectual”?
The problem isn’t intellectualism, it’s liberalism – and the almost complete lack of virtually any good, practical Catholic catechesis, at the parish level.
The liberals who took over the church after Vatican II – like all “good” liberals – relied on a system of substandard education in order to obliterate from memory the old ways – in the hope that their gravely inferior, radical (but luke-warm) reforms would eventually become the “norm”.
Now that they have achieved what they intended, they’re still not happy – and that’s not surprising, considering the substandard “product” they’ve managed to foist upon the “People of God” – for the last half century.
According to Pope Francis, more CHANGE is necessary – and much, much more must be “stripped away” from The Mystical Body of Christ – for the good of the people – and the Church.
After the Catholic faith debacle of the last 50 years, one has to wonder what remains of the one, true faith that can actually still be jettisoned?
Pope Francis – in spite of his recent popular success – is turning out to be a very “shallow” – arrogantly humble pope – who seems to be obsessed with the concept of minimalism. And that doesn’t bode well for the Catholic faith – or the world.
Pray for him.
”From the two opposed languages, dogmatic and pastoral, Radaelli sees the emergence and separation ‘almost of two Churches’.”
In the first, that of the most consistent traditionalists, Radaelli includes the SSPX, whom he describes as fully “Catholic by doctrine and by rite” and “obedient to dogma,” even if they are allegedly disobedient to the pope. It is this ‘Church” [the Traditionalists] that, precisely because of its fidelity to dogma, “rejects Vatican II as an assembly in total rupture with Tradition.”
Radaelli assigns to this second “church” all the others, meaning most of the bishops, priests and faithful including Benedict XVI. This second group has renounced dogmatic language and “is in everything the daughter of Vatican II, proclaiming it – even from the highest throne, but without ever setting out proof of this – in total continuity with the preconciliar Church, albeit within the setting of a certain reform.”
They can “sell” their evil much easier in Catholic countries by using a “Catholic” agency to do the dirty. And Catholic Relief Services has shown themselves happy to oblige.
Catholic Relief Services distributes abortifacients in Madagascar: on-the-ground investigation
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Abortion-rights demonstrators vandalized Chile’s main cathedral during a Mass and used pews as barricades during clashes with police.
A group of demonstrators broke off from a largely peaceful protest calling for the legalization of abortion Thursday night and stormed into the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago, interrupting the homily.
They painted walls with pro-abortion messages, broke ornaments and hauled pews all the way to the Plaza de Armas square in front of cathedral. Police in riot gear rushed to contain them, and arrested at least two people.
I was thirteen years old when I lost my father to divorce. One of my most poignant memories of this time is sitting in the window, watching him drive away down our long driveway. I waited for him to come back for what felt like an eternity. He never did come back, and I remembered very little about him after that until I was much older.
As the years passed with little contact with my father, I lost trust in him, and my mother too. She was lost in her own pain and abandoned me emotionally, leaving me to raise myself from then on, facing each challenge that came along alone with no guidance. Until six years ago, I never tried to heal that breach of trust. Afraid of being let down again, I placed few demands on anyone, man or woman, as long as they showed up.
Washington, DC (LiveActionNews) — Jill Thaxton is a wife, mother of five, writer, and educator, and the creator of an uplifting new website, “Pregnant and Unplanned; Stories of Encouragement.”
You may be curious as to why this Presbyterian, American Lit.-teaching Sugar Land, TX resident would take time out of her already busy schedule to start a site for pregnant women. Jill says it all began when she looked outside the comforts of her stable life and began to think about others who may be less fortunate.
Once again, MRCTV’s Dan Joseph went to a college campus and asked students to sign a petition. This time the goal was to get people to show their support for legalizing 4th trimester abortion.
For those of you who failed biology, babies are born at the END of the 3rd trimester. For those of you who didn’t, watch this….
by Doug Lawrence
In a recent article, 10 Tips on How to Confess Well Fr. Ed Broom offers a number of useful tips for making a good confession – but one of the suggestions is dangerous, because it can easily lead to a violation of the “seal” of absolute confidentiality of the sacrament of reconciliation – and cause a host of other, totally unnecessary problems, as well.
According to the article, it is suggested that we should “Write down the sins so that you will not forget them once in the confessional!”
Let’s consider all the things that might happen to a written list of sins from the night before, when a complete examination of conscience might have been done – through the actual confession – and afterwards.
Unless you happen to be a hermit, living on a mountain top, or in a cave, and the priest is coming to you – and your list of sins will be dropped into a fire and be instantly destroyed – you run a substantial risk of someone – anyone – happening across your list – learning all the details of your particular sins – and violating one of the most important aspects of the sacrament.
Understanding that the seal of the confessional is binding not only on the priest, but also on any other Catholic who might inadvertently learn of your sins – by whatever means – it’s clear that putting such things down in writing is often dangerous – and generally foolish.
If the list was misplaced or somehow misappropriated – intentionally or otherwise – and the information was subsequently disseminated to others – a number of very negative consequences might result. Here’s just a few of the many possibilities. (If you happen to be a politician, a used car salesman, or a bishop, please pay close attention):
The priest might be wrongly accused of violating the seal of the confessional.
Family or friends might come into possession of the list – before or after the confession – and discover certain things that they should not know. (Did you ever leave something in the pocket of your shirt or pants, and it ended up in the wash?)
Business associates and/or others – particularly your enemies – might come into possession of the list – in which case the possibilities for gossip and other mischief – including blackmail – are virtually without limits.
You might get arrested and subsequently carted off to jail.
Your list might become a near occasion of grave sin – for some yet unknown individual.
You might suddenly begin attract new – and unwanted – friends and followers.
You may find your personal list of sins “Trending Now” on the World Wide Web/Internet.
The entire parish/neighborhood might soon know all about your innermost thoughts and personal weaknesses.
There is also a very real possibility that your friends, family and others could be caught up in any ensuing scandal.
In the confessional, most priests will ask whether you are truly sorry for “these and all your sins” – and that ought to cover anything you have genuinely forgotten to confess. Should some unconfessed sin come to mind at another time, simply confess it at your earliest convenience. God isn’t looking to trip you up!
In these days of information piracy and other forms of electronic mischief – leading to identity theft and all types of related problems – the last thing you need to do is go around making written lists of all the grave sins you have committed – especially since they might somehow end up on Facebook or Twitter, before you know it.
I suggest you do your best to frequently make a good confession – by memory. Treat such information much as you would your social security number and credit card data – taking steps to make absolutely certain it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Otherwise, you risk very serious, unforeseen and totally unnecessary consequences – which were never intended to be a part of the sacrament of reconciliation.
But Betty was not about to give up on her son. Even though she had nine other children at home, she felt like the woman in the Bible who had ten coins but lost one and could not stop searching until she found it.
“We just decided Paul needed a miracle,” Betty said. “In the end, if Paul didn’t get better, I would accept it, but in the meantime, I was really going to believe I could have a miracle and I would at least pray with faith.”
A woman from St. Madeline’s in Ridley Park, gave her five prayer cards for people who were in the process of beatification and needed a miracle. Every day after Mass, she and her mother would go to the hospital and pray the rosary over Paul, then say the five prayers. “Whenever I came to the Padre Pio prayer, Paul blessed himself, even though he was totally unconscious,” Betty said.
2 Peter 1:16-21 For we have not by following artificial fables made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ: but we were eyewitnesses of his greatness. (17) For he received from God the Father honor and glory, this voice coming down to him from the excellent glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him.
(18) And this voice, we heard brought from heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount. (19) And we have the more firm prophetical word: whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts.
(20) Understanding this first: That no prophecy of scripture is made by private interpretation. (21) For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time: but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost.
Topic: What Was St. Paul Actually Calling “Doctrines of Demons?”
In A Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, the 1953 classic for Scripture study, Fr. R.J. Foster gives us crucial insight into what St. Paul was writing about in I Timothy 4:
[B]ehind these prohibitions there may lie the dualistic principles which were already apparent in Asia Minor when this epistle was written and which were part of the Gnostic heresy.
Evidently, St. Paul was writing against what might be termed the founding fathers of the Gnostic movement that split away from the Church in the first century and would last over 1,000 years, forming many different sects and taking many different forms.
According to the CRS official website (www.crs.org), the Gates Foundation is “guided by the belief that every life has equal value.” CRS praises the foundation’s work “to help all people lead healthy, productive lives,” and “to ensure that all people… have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. …”
In exchange for perpetuating this glorious deception and maintaining a silence on the Gates/Buffett world-wide killing machine, CRS has received in excess of $40 million from Gates/Buffet for global and agricultural development and financial services for the poor from 2003 to 2009.
One of the key elements in any contest is to understand the tactics of your opponent and to recognize the subtleties of the strategy or moves they may employ. In the spiritual battle of life we need to develop some sophistication in recognizing, naming, and understanding the subtleties of common tactics of the Devil.
A 2011 book by Fr. Louis Cameli, The Devil You Don’t Know is of great assistance in this matter. Having read it recently, I think it would be of value to reflect on four broad categories of the Devil’s tactics that Fr. Cameli analyzes.
While the four categories are Fr. Cameli’s, the reflections here are largely my own, but surely rooted in Fr. Cameli’s excellent work, so recently read by me. I recommend the work highly to you where these categories are aptly and fully described more than my brief reflection here can do.
My family preferred “Aqua-Culture”
Have you ever met one of those families that just seem to have it all together? Maybe you knew such a family growing up and loved hanging out over at their house – there was such a great atmosphere there that you kind of felt like you were coming home whenever you stopped over.
The parents were happy. The kids were all well-adjusted and generally did the right thing. Everyone in the family seemed to genuinely love, respect, and care about each other. They all truly enjoyed each other’s company and had a blast doing things together.
Sure, they had problems and struggles like any other family, but they supported each other and rallied together to take care of whatever they were going through. Maybe you joked about them being so good it was creepy – perhaps they were perfect aliens from another planet — but you envied them nonetheless.
Editor’s note: The above photo is a self-portrait I took of my family while we were on a shipwreck diving trip beneath the chilly but clear waters of Lake Superior. It’s actually a composite of two different photos, shot using a wide-angle lens with good, old-fashioned “film”.
To avoid obscuring anyone with my exhaust bubbles it was necessary for me to break the cardinal rule of SCUBA diving, which is, “Never hold your breath.”
Warning: Don’t try this at home!
Here’s another wreck diving pic, shot at a different location, about 60 feet below the surface of Lake Michigan:
Frenzied crowds of Roman Catholics mobbed the car carrying Pope Francis on Monday when he returned to his home continent for the first time as pontiff, embarking on a seven-day visit meant to fan the fervor of the faithful around the globe. (AP)
Doug Lawrence's Catholic Site 