So what’s his solution? Kill the baby.

Gloria.TV:

If Barack Obama is elected I believe it will be God’s judgment on the United States for our sins. Our sins of allowing untold millions of babies, made in his image to be murdered by abortion and birth control devices and for allowing sexual deviants free reign. Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. This is what we will be in for if God chooses us pay for our sins.

Part I:

Part II:

The resurrection of Jesus is a reality beyond doubt. The liturgical season of Easter fills us with immense joy and profound hope. However, each time we contemplate the gospel passages detailing the resurrection of Jesus we are faced with a sense of strangeness. The barriers of time and space no longer apply to him. The Lord appears and disappears with shocking suddenness. He continually demonstrates his physical reality. The Apostles and the disciples see him, hear him, and eat with him. Thomas is told to touch his wounds. The stone rolled away from the entrance, and the carefully folded burial cloths direct our gaze to the physical. He has truly risen.

The disbelief and uncertainty evidenced by those who saw him testify to an apparent strangeness in the appearance of the newly risen Christ. Slowly they came to recognize him, but they still struggled with doubt. Their response shows us that although the risen Jesus is the same Jesus that died on Calvary, his physical reality is now different than before. The body of the risen Lord is indeed his physical body, but he now moves about with a glorified body.

Repeatedly the gospels stress that something extraordinary has occurred. The Lord is tangible, but he has been transformed. His life is different from what it once was. His glorified body transcends the limitations of time and space. For this reason, he can pass through the closed door of the Upper Room, and appear and disappear as he desires. At times his disciples cannot recognize him precisely because their physical reality moves within time and space, and the Lord’s physical reality is no longer subject to time and space, although he exists within time and space.

The clarity of the physical reality of the risen Jesus provides us with the certainty of the existence of the Lord and the veracity of everything that he has taught us. The empty tomb and the neatly folded burial cloths illustrate that redemption is not only for the soul, but for the body as well.

Applied to our practical daily living, the reality of the Risen Jesus fills us with profound peace. There is no need to worry or to fear. He is truly with us. With Jesus, we know that we are journeying, not to the sunset, but to the sunrise. We enter into a new relationship with God when we really believe that God is as Jesus told us that he is. We become absolutely sure of his love. We become absolutely convinced that he is above all else a redeeming God. The fear of suffering and death vanishes, for suffering and death means going to the one God who is the awesome God of love. In reality, our life long journey is a journey to the eternal Easter in Heaven.

When we truly believe, we enter into a new relationship with life itself. When we make Jesus our way of life, life becomes new. Life is clad with a new loveliness, a new light and a new strength. When we embrace Jesus as our Lord and Savior, when we develop a personal relationship with him, we realize that life does not end, it changes and it goes from incompletion to completion, from imperfection to perfection, from time to eternity.

When we truly believe in Jesus, we are resurrected in this life because we are freed from the fear and worry that are characteristic of a godless life; we are freed from the unhappiness of a life filled with sin; we are freed from the loneliness of a life without meaning. When we walk with Jesus and follow his way, life becomes so powerful that it cannot die but must find in death the transition to a higher life.

The bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead makes our entire journey to eternal life tangible, real, certain, and credible. Because Jesus is physically alive, his Church is visible. Because Jesus is corporeal, the sacraments are visible aqueducts of his divine life. Because Jesus physically transcends time and space, he remains with us in the Eucharist as the “medicine of immortality” (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1405). Because Jesus has truly risen from the dead and ascended to the Father, we await with joyful hope his return in glory.

Nevertheless, despite the victory of Jesus over death, the attack of evil continues.

The sacrifice of Christ on the cross is unique. His death on Calvary completes and surpasses all the other sacrifices of the Old Testament. Nevertheless, Christ’s reign is to be fulfilled with his Second Coming in glory. Until that day occurs, Satan continues his attack even though he has been already conquered definitively by Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary (cf. CCC 671).

In our own times, it is not hard to notice an ever-increasing presence of evil powers in the world. The battle continues and it seems as if humanity is out of control. The perversions of a world that has rejected the Savior of the world continues to carry much of humanity down the blind road of self-destruction. The crisis of our age is rooted in the presumption that we can decide for ourselves what is good and evil without reference to God.

The reality of the risen Jesus fills us with peace and consolation because he is truly with us. His resurrection assures us of his final victory over evil. The genuineness of Easter keeps us from worry, fear, and discouragement. It sustains us in times of trial and it opens the heart to the expectation of eternal life. However, this Easter should inspire us to be apostles of life because Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

“We are the people of life because God, in his unconditional love, has given us the Gospel of life and by this same Gospel we have been transformed and saved. We have been ransomed by the ‘Author of life’ at the price of his precious blood. Through the waters of Baptism we have been made a part of him, as branches which draw nourishment and fruitfulness from the one tree. Interiorly renewed by grace of the Spirit, who is the Lord and giver of life, we have become a people for life and we are called to act accordingly” (Evangelium Vitae, John Paul II, #79.1)

The culture of death makes itself manifest in numerous ways throughout our modern world. Abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment and continuous wars are a concern to us all. However, of all of these terrible manifestations of the culture of death, abortion is the worse of them all. If we can destroy innocent human life inside of the womb of a mother, and this no longer shocks us or concerns us, then nothing else will ever shock us or gain our concern. If a society can justify the killing of an innocent unborn child, then there is no limit as to what else a society can justify regarding any other person. This is why if we really desire to have respect for the sick, the elderly and the dying; if we really want to curb the use of capital punishment; and if we truly desire lasting peace throughout the world, the first thing that we must assure is the right to life of the unborn child. As long as abortion remains an unchecked course of action, violence and injustice will continue to submerge the world in a continual spiral of chaos.

The Church must not, and cannot remain silent. The issue of abortion becomes obscured when it is lumped together on an equal basis with every other social issue that concerns us. Wisdom allows us to make objective distinctions and carefully understand the causes and effects of sinful human behavior on society. Ideologies only polarize the Church and obscures the efficacy of its mission here on earth.

As we joyfully celebrate the bodily resurrection of the Risen Lord, let us renew our commitment to the cause of life and the building up of a new culture of life.

—
Father James Farfaglia is a contributor to Domus Dei and the Pastor of St. Helena of the True Cross of Jesus Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, Texas. Originally from Ridgefield, CT. Father has founded and developed apostolates for the Catholic Church in Spain, Italy, Mexico, Canada and throughout the United States. He may be reached by e-mail at fjficthus@gmail.com. You can visit Father’s personal web site here: Our Lady of Guadalupe e-Parish

VATICAN CITY —  Pope Benedict XVI rejoiced over conversions to Christianity a day after he baptized a prominent Muslim, marking Easter Sunday in a rain-drenched appearance he used to renew calls for peace in Iraq, the Holy Land and Tibet.

A white canopy on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica protected the 80-year-old pontiff from a downpour while thousands of pilgrims, tourists and Romans braved thunder and wind-whipped rain to attend Easter Mass in the square.

On Easter, Christians celebrate their belief in the resurrection of Jesus two days after he was crucified. Thanks to the apostles’ preaching about the resurrection, "thousands and thousands of persons converted to Christianity," Benedict said.

"And this is a miracle which renews itself even today," the pope said, hours after a Saturday night Easter vigil service in which he baptized seven adults. The converts included Magdi Allam, a prominent journalist and commentator in Italy who has received death threats for his denunciations of Islamic fanaticism.

Allam, 55, deputy editor of Corriere della Sera newspaper, was born a Muslim in Egypt, but was educated by Catholics and says he has never been a practicing Muslim.

He wrote in a front-page letter published Sunday in Corriere that he was now taking on the middle name Cristiano — Christian in Italian.

[Full Story]

First Catholic church opens in Qatar Doha, Mar. 17, 2008 (CWNews.com) - An estimated 15,000 people attended the first Mass held at a Catholic parish church in Doha, Qatar, on March 15, the AsiaNews service reports. Cardinal Ivan Dias, the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of peoples, presided at the Mass on Saturday, a day after having consecrated the church of Our Lady of the Rosary– the first Catholic church in the Gulf state. The church has neither a bell tower nor a cross prominently displayed, to avoid offending the Muslims who constitute the majority in Qatar. The church was built in the capital city on land donated by Emir Amir Hamad bin Al Thani.

• St. Patrick’s Day this year was moved to Friday March 14th, in order to keep the solemnity of Holy week. (Yep, I screwed up, this post should’ve been on Friday).   Of course, secular society pays no heed to the Church and thus you will see many secular parades and celebrations.   Like many other Holy Days: Easter, Christmas, Valentine’s Day - St. Patrick’s Day has suffered much from secular influence. 
• The Shamrock is a Christian symbol of the Holy Trinity. The Shamrock became popular because St. Patrick used it to describe the Holy Trinity to pre-Christian Ireland.  He used the 3 leaves to represent Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, united by the one stem — thus an analogy to the three persons in one God.  Today, his feast day is associated with the shamrock and it is also a symbol of Ireland but many forget why and how it came about.  

  Francis J. Sheed, in his book, Theology and Sanity said that the Shamrock analogy really tells us nothing about the Trinity it merely helps us to "swallow" the doctrine.  (page 36)

• St. Patrick’s Blue, not green, was the color long-associated with St. Patrick.  Green, the color most widely associated with Ireland, with Irish people, and with St. Patrick’s Day in modern times, may have gained its prominence through the phrase "the wearing of the green" meaning to wear a shamrock on one’s clothing.
• St. Patrick’s Day only became a public Holiday in Ireland in 1903, before this time it was strictly a religious holiday.
• St. Palladius was the first Bishop of Ireland, sent by Pope Celestine to Ireland (431).
• March 17, popularly known as St. Patrick’s Day, is believed to be St. Patrick’s death date and is the date celebrated as his feast day.

The auxiliary bishop of Karaganda in Kazakhstan has spoken with Gloria.TV about his new book "Dominus est" in which he sharply criticises the practice of communion in the hand.

See the video here

More on Communion in the hand:

• Rethinking Communion in the hand  (Catholic Pages)
• Vatican official: Church should reconsider Communion in the hand  (Catholic News Service)
• Communion in the hand and the threat of death  (WDTPRS)

Mormonism - A Catholic Perspective

Think the Mormons are just a group of nice folks who uphold family values, clean living, and American patriotism?
Think again.

Think the Mormons are just a strange offshoot of Protestant Christianity?
Think again.

Think Mormons are actually Christian?
Think again!

 

More Info

The Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul, Iraq who was kidnapped on Feb. 29th was found dead today.  Catholics in Iraq have faced a difficult situation since the U.S. invasion.  Viewed by  Islamic insurgents as natural allies of the American and European "crusaders,"  Catholics have been subjected to threats, church bombings, kidnappings, and killings since the early days of the war.   The Catholic population of Iraq has dropped from 800,000 before the war to 350,000 today.   Chaldean Catholics are some of the earliest converts to the Christian faith — they trace their roots all the way back to the time of the Apostles.  Chaldean is a form of Aramaic, the language of Jesus.

The violence in Iraq threatens one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, dating back 2,000 years. The population includes Chaldean Assyrian Catholics, Syrian Catholics; and Armenian Catholics.

From CNN:

Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paul Faraj Rahho’s body was found near the town of Mosul, where he and three companions were ambushed by gunmen on February 29.

The archbishop’s driver and two security guards were killed in the ambush. Investigators believe the archbishop may have been shot at that time, the Nineveh deputy governor said.

Nineveh Deputy Gov. Khasro Goran, in Mosul, told CNN that the kidnappers had been in touch with the church and the relatives and wanted to be paid a ransom for the archbishop’s release. The contacts ended a few days ago.

Here is just a sampling of the idiotic headlines:

Catholic Church revises seven deadly sin list  (ABC Online)
Vatican’s new seven deadly sins     (Hindustan Times)
Vatican updates its "thou shalt not" list  (Foxnews)
New Sins for Catholics   (KNX 1070 News)
Vatican lists new sinful behavior    (San Francisco Chronicle) 

These idiots fail to understand that an Archbishop giving an interview is *not* the Catholic Church defining any new doctrine.   The Church does not define dogmas or doctrines by interviews, you fools!  This is a childish way of thinking.

Besides this, none of what the Archbishop said constitutes a "new sin".  What was a sin yesterday, is a sin today, and will be a sin tomorrow.   What the Archbishop said was that there are "new forms of social sin" in our era.  That is to say that there exists today practices that did not exist in the past which are violations of God’s law.   Take a couple examples: the birth control pill — it did not exist in its present form 70 years ago and yet it is a new form of an old sin.   Destructive human embryo research, which the Archbishop mentioned, did not exist 25 years ago and yet it is a new way in which one can violate the law of God.   So thus a new sin?   Not in the way the media wants you to believe.   They want you to believe the Church is just arbitrarily making up new violations and adding to the law of as it sees fit.  Not so, the law is static and its not the law that is changing as they will have you believe but our new practices/behavior/culture.   And so one has to ask:  Does this new "thing" violate the law of God?   What the Church is doing is addressing this question in reference to the new forms of sin that have arisen.  

This is the reason that Jesus Christ established a Church to protect his truth and be the pillar and foundation of the truth.   This is why he gave that Church the power to bind and loose — not every sin is listed in some table of contents in the Bible. 

The Bible speaks of the law of God.   What the Church determines for us, with divine authority, if any new situations/practices violate that law.  

The Church is the authority in the world with the voice of Christ and the protection of the Holy Spirit that guide us in the changing world with the unchanging law of God.   So when a new situation, atrocity, practice, or way of life arises it can be judged authoritatively against the law of God.   It is not that sin changes, but our practices as a people change and these practices must be held up to the law of God. 

We have a standard — God’s standard and the Church by the authority of God will judge any new practice that arises (i.e. the pill, embryonic stemcell research, new fashions which may be immoral, etc) against the standard of God.

So what of the claim that the Church somehow revised or replaced the seven deadly sins?   Preposterous.

Here is what CWN has to say about that:

As usual, a British newspaper leapt to the forefront with the most sensational and misleading coverage. The Daily Telegraph made the preposterous claim that Archbishop Girotti’s list replaced the traditional Catholic understanding of the seven deadly sins:

It replaces the list originally drawn up by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th Century, which included envy, gluttony, greed, lust, wrath and pride.

Could we have a reality check, please?

When a second-tier Vatican official gives a newspaper interview, he is not proclaiming new Church doctrines. Archbishop Girotti was obviously trying to offer a new, provocative perspective on some enduring truths. The effort backfired– but in a very revealing way.

An ordinary reader, basing his opinion only on the inane Telegraph coverage, might conclude that a "sin," in the Catholic understanding, is nothing more than a violation of rules set down by a group of men in Rome. If these rules are entirely arbitrary, then Vatican officials can change them at will; some sins will cease to exist and other "new sins" will replace them. But that notion of sin is ludicrous.

Sin is an objective wrong: a violation of God’s law. What is sinful today will be sinful tomorrow, and a deadly sin will remain deadly, whether or not Telegraph editors recognize the moral danger. The traditional list of deadly sins remains intact; nothing has replaced it. Greed, gluttony, and lust are as wrong today as they were a day or a year or a century ago. If Archbishop Girotti referred to "new" sins, it is because some of the offenses he named (such as genetic manipulation) were impossible in the past, and others (such as international drug trafficking) are much more prevalent today, in a global society. Insofar as people could have engaged in these activities a century ago, they would have been sinful then as well.

A sin is not a sin because simply an archbishop proclaims it so. Sin, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us, "is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience…" The precepts of "reason, truth, and right conscience" do not shift in response to political trends, nor do they change at the whim of Vatican officials.

The fundamental point of the L’Osservatore Romano interview was that Catholics need to recover a sense of sin, make use of the sacrament of Confession, and receive absolution for their offenses. Sin, the archbishop insisted, is a reality that man cannot escape.

Archbishop Girotti said that the modern world does not understand the nature of sin. With their coverage of the interview, the mass media unintentionally underlined the prelate’s point.