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The Taliban could be admired for their religious conviction and their sense of loyalty to each other, the new bishop for the Armed Forces said. The Rt Rev Stephen Venner called for a more sympathetic approach to the Islamic fundamentalists. The Church of England’s Bishop to the Forces said it would be harder to reach a peaceful solution to the war if the insurgents were portrayed too negatively. His comments in an interview with The Daily Telegraph came as the Prime Minister visited Afghanistan and claimed that the Taliban was fighting a “guerrilla war” aimed at causing “maximum damage”. Gordon...

The federal government's border fence has been called the Tortilla Curtain. But in the swamp of border politics, there's a more effective barrier at play, one that filters ideas rather than people. It explains why most Americans still don't fully understand the disaster on our southern border. This tortilla curtain is propped up by much of the major media, activist groups and cheap-labor-addicted businesses, big and small. They're all spinning us, for their own reasons. But the list includes the feds, too.

Reporting from Los Angeles and Riverside - The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles on Saturday elected the first openly gay bishop since the national church lifted a ban that kept gays out of its highest ordained ministry, a move that deepened divisions between liberals and conservatives in the faith. Clergy and lay leaders, meeting in Riverside for their annual convention, chose the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool, 55, who has been in a committed relationship with another woman since 1988, from a field of six candidates. She is a canon, or senior assistant, to the Diocese of Maryland bishops. Glasspool's...

Shortly after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, a secret government report highlighted a way terrorists might easily enter the United States carting weapons of mass destruction. It wasn't by air or sea. The classified analysis pointed to an arid and sparsely populated stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona teeming with drug runners. "This area has become very active with smuggling and encrypted radio traffic," says the report titled "Threat Assessment for Public Lands" completed by the Interior Department in late 2002. "This would be an ideal area to smuggle a weapon of mass destruction." The report, marked...

December 4, 2009 Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, Grace to you and peace in this season of Advent anticipation and hope. At its November 14, 2009 meeting, the synod council passed two resolutions in response to the actions of the churchwide assembly votes on ministry policies and the social statement on Human Sexuality. These resolutions were passed after thoughtful conversation by a majority vote. The resolution addressing the "bound conscience" clause of the churchwide resolutions was adopted by a vote of 10 in favor, 5 opposed and 1 abstention. The memorial requesting that the ELCA church council repudiate and...

Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s dispute with Rhode Island Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin attracted national attention on Sunday when Kennedy said that Tobin had asked him to refrain from receiving communion because of his pro-abortion views. MSNBC television talk show host Chris Matthews debated Bishop Tobin today about abortion, law and Rep. Kennedy’s Holy Communion:

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, in Rhode Island because of the congressman's support for abortion rights, Kennedy said in a newspaper interview published Sunday. The decision by the outspoken prelate, reported on The Providence Journal's Web site, significantly escalates a bitter dispute between Tobin, an ultra orthodox bishop, and Kennedy, a son of the nation's most famous Roman Catholic family. "The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion," Kennedy...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, in Rhode Island because of the congressman's support for abortion rights, Kennedy said in a newspaper interview published Sunday.

Acting Bishop of Basrah, Imad Al Banna, holds a Catholic Mass at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Nov. 7. Banna also had lunch with troops and civilians and was given a Liberty Bell statuette by the 28th Combat Air Brigade, Pennsylvania National Guard. Photo by Sgt. Matthew Jones, 28th Combat Aviation Brigade. COB ADDER — The acting Bishop of Basrah held Catholic Mass here in honor of the service members and civilians working toward a safer, more secure Iraq, Nov. 7. Bishop Imad Al Banna, a Chaldean priest, spoke Aramaic, an ancient language spoken in Palestine 2,000 years ago and still...

Bishop John D'Arcy has announced his retirement over the weekend. Bishop D'Arcy holds the priestly duties of the Fort Wayne/South Bend Diocese. At the Cathedral Of Immaculate Conception, parishioners will see the changing of the guard. The Bishop is retiring because of mandatory retirement age rules. He has served the diocese for 24 years as Bishop. John D'Arcy was born......

In an unusually overt step into politics by a religious leader, the Roman Catholic bishop of Brooklyn is urging voters, via robocalls, to support Vito J. Lopez, an assemblyman and the Brooklyn Democratic boss, whose hand-picked candidate is in a tough race for a City Council seat. The bishop, Nicholas A. DiMarzio, in a recorded phone call sent to every registered voter in City Council District 34, praised Mr. Lopez’s legislative service to the Catholic Church this summer. Mr. Lopez played a key role in defeating a bill that would have let adults file suit over childhood sexual abuse that...

[Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I) told CNSNews.com that the Catholic Church is doing nothing but fanning “the flames of dissent and discord” by taking the position that it will oppose the health-care reform bill under consideration in Congress unless it is amended to explicitly prohibit funding of abortion.] Bishop Tobin's rejoinder: “Congressman Patrick Kennedy’s statement about the Catholic Church’s position on health care reform is irresponsible and ignorant of the facts. But the Congressman is correct in stating that “he can’t understand.” He got that part right. As I wrote to Congressman Kennedy and other members of the Rhode Island Congressional...

Sometime around the year 107 A.D., a short, sharp persecution of the Church of Christ resulted in the arrest of the bishop of Antioch in Syria. His name was Ignatius. According to one of the harsh penal practices of the Roman Empire of the day, the good bishop was condemned to be delivered up to wild beasts in the arena in the capital city. The insatiable public appetite for bloody spectacles meant a chronically short supply of victims; prisoners were thus sent off to Rome to help fill the need. So the second bishop of Antioch was sent to Rome...

The Most Rev. Michael A. Saltarelli, D.D., Bishop Emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, passed away early this morning from cancer. He was 77 years old. Bishop Saltarelli served as the eighth Bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington, which encompasses the State of Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore, from November 21, 1995 until July 7, 2008. “Bishop Saltarelli loved the Lord, loved the Church and loved the Diocese of Wilmington; and the people of the diocese returned that love,” said the Most Rev. W. Francis Malooly, Bishop of Wilmington. “...His ministry embodied his episcopal motto, ‘Obedience to Jesus Christ.’”...

Bishop-elect Bernard A. Hebda / Pope Benedict XVI Pittsburgh, Pa., Oct 7, 2009 / 11:11 am (CNA).- The Holy Father has appointed a priest from the Diocese of Pittsburgh to become the fourth bishop of Gaylord, Michigan.  Msgr. Bernard A. Hebda, who is a graduate of both Harvard and Columbia University, will succeed Bishop Patrick R. Cooney who submitted his resignation to the Vatican upon reaching the age of 75 in March.Bishop-elect Hebda, who is currently undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts at the Vatican, expressed his excitement for his new position today, saying that...

His Excellency, Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, will offer a Pontifical Solemn High Mass at St. Margaret Mary Church, an apostolate of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, this Sunday, September 20, at 12:30 p.m. The occasion is the 20th anniversary of the first indult Traditional Latin Mass celebrated at this church in 1989. St. Margaret Mary was the first church in California to offer the Traditional Latin Mass every Sunday under the indult granted by Pope John Paul II. in 1988. In 2005, the Institute was invited to the Oakland diocese by then-Bishop Allen Vigneron. Under the...

Concerns to take to heart in health care and proposed reforms "The overwhelming preoccupation of our national political government and consequently of the captive media is the vexed and vexing question of health care reform. It is almost impossible to get reliable consistent figures as to the number of people who lack health care coverage in the United States. Each advocacy group inflates or minimizes the numbers to suit each groupÂ’s respective fantasies. If, for instance, the number of people who actually, at this moment, lack health care is estimated from a low of 18 million to a high of...

Here is video of a man being booed when he asked a question in Spanish at a town hall meeting. (Watch Video)

YOU could have been reading a chapter of Dan Brown's best-selling novel The DaVinci Code. Two people painstakingly deciphering the Latin words on hundreds of tombs inside one of the oldest places of worship on these islands. Using a centuries-old map to identify a vault hidden under the floor of the 13th Century gothic building with tower attached, they solved a mystery that had surrounded the Irish ancestors of US president Barack Obama. It's the stuff of dreams, but it has become a reality in Kilkenny, Ireland's medieval city. And so it was to St Can-ice's Cathedral that Kil-kenny film...

August 28, 2009 Dear Priests, Deacons, Religious and Faithful of the Diocese of Fargo, At this time in our nation’s history, we continually face new challenges as we witness to the Gospel in an ever increasing secularized society. Currently our civil leaders are discussing different proposals to provide greater access to health care in our country. Indeed, the Church has officially manifested her teaching, since Pius XI to Benedict XVI, in the recognition of the great importance of ensuring that all peoples have access to health care. In principle, the Church ought to always promote wider and more complete access...

Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone Proposition 8, the California constitutional amendment that deprived gay men and women of the right to marry one another, was perhaps the ugliest and most divisive electoral moment since Proposition 187, which denied illegal immigrant children access to health care and public education. All across the state, gay men, lesbians, and their friends picketed hostile churches and boycotted businesses that backed the amendment. And as they contemplated their fate, they asked themselves: Who did this to us? Was it the Mormons? The National Organization for Marriage? Black voters? White evangelical megachurches? Now, eight months after...

Georgia Congressman Sanford Bishop faces steep opposition to government run heath care and the single payer option. One participant said "There is going to be an uprising in this country that will make the Boston Tea Party look like a picnic!"

Bishop Richard F. Stika Knoxville, Tenn., Aug 17, 2009 / 10:42 am (CNA).- Catholics in the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee are praying for their new bishop after he suffered a mild heart attack while on a trip this past weekend.According to Deacon Sean Smith, chancellor of the Diocese of Knoxville, Bishop Richard F. Stika, was paying a visit to a friend who is sick in Florida. Things took a turn for the worse when the bishop "became ill with severe flu-like symptoms, which precipitated a diabetic crisis," Smith said.The "diabetic crisis" caused Bishop Stika to suffer a mild heart...

Topics go well beyond healthcare - 2d Amendment, tax policy, bailouts, and cap and trade. Makes one proud. Best example of democracy since the Revolution.

Monsignor John Barres took the first step toward the episcopacy Wednesday, pledging loyalty to the Catholic Church and the pope during a hymn-filled evening prayer ceremony and calling on Christians not just to read the Gospels, but to live them. Barres will be ordained and installed as the Diocese of Allentown's next bishop today in what is expected to be a three-hour Mass at the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena. With its packed pews and soaring settings of the psalms -- and a turnout of clergy that included Cardinal William Keeler, retired archbishop of Baltimore -- Wednesday night's vespers...

H. Gerard Knoche, Bishop of ELCA Delaware-Maryland Synod, to Retire 09-171-MRC CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. Gerard Knoche, bishop of the Delaware-Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), announced he will retire Oct. 31, 2009. Knoche, 66, was elected bishop of the synod in 2000 and re-elected to serve another six-year term in 2006. In a July letter to members of the synod, Knoche said his health has been a concern for the past few years. "The synod has been very patient and much in prayer during my past illnesses, for which I am most grateful,"...

Opening Statement for the Bishop Election Forum by Pastor Scott Grorud (WordAlone board member, Hutchinson, Minn.) [Note from Mark Chavez: Pastor Grorud made this statement at the last forum in the Southwestern Minnesota Synod election process for bishop at the synod assembly at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn., on June 12. As you will see in his statement, he was not seeking to be elected to the office. Nor did he seek to make his opening statement more widely available. I asked him if we could make his statement available because he made such a clear and bold witness...

Q: What has been the fallout of all of this on your own diocese, in New Hampshire? Have you lost many church members? A: Except for one parish in Rochester early on, no. That left about 15 people in that congregation, they met for about a year, and then asked me to close them down because there weren’t enough people to sustain a continued parish. That’s all. That’s it. There’s no one, no priests or parishes associated with the breakaway groups. Our diocese grew by 3 percent last year. … Q: Who are you pulling in? A: We have received...

Change And Repent, Bishop Tells Gays A senior Church of England bishop has called on homosexuals to repent and "be changed" in comments that have infuriated equality campaigners. By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent 04 Jul 2009 The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, has defended traditional biblical teachings on homosexuality and said the Church should not be "rolled over by culture". Dr Nazir-Ali spoke as tens of thousands of people, including Sarah Brown, the Prime Minister’s wife, joined the annual Pride London march to celebrate homosexual culture. A war of words broke out between Labour and the Conservatives over...

In Allentown, the local press is sitting up and taking notice of the diocese's incoming bishop -- and his story is certainly out-of-the-ordinary, with influences ranging from Lincoln to Sheen to JPII: Monsignor John Barres' life must feel as unsettled as the weather of these late June days. He carries an awkward interim title -- Bishop-elect Barres -- and tries to tend to the daily duties of his office even as he prepares to leave it for good and assume command of the Catholic Diocese of Allentown. Barres [pronounced Bar-riss] will become the fourth bishop of the diocese on July...

Bishop tries, fails to launch a probe into Pelosi's claims about alleged CIA liesUtah congressman says speaker's comments have tainted the House's reputation. by Thomas Burr The Salt Lake Tribune Updated: 06/16/2009 05:19:57 PM MDT Washington - Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, argued a second time Tuesday that the House should appoint a special panel to investigate what Speaker Nancy Pelosi knew of alleged torture techniques and whether the CIA lied to her as she claimed. But Bishop's resolution calling for a probe -- similar to one he tried in May -- failed on a strictly party-line vote of 247-171. Republicans...

You Tube's Local Pstor is back at it. His newest clip had me laughing out loud at the song choice... Thanks to Morningstar madness we will soon see Todd and his new, young wife on a platform near you. ...

Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Appoints Successor; Names Auxiliary Bishop in St. Paul-Minneapolis WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Edward P. Cullen, 76, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and has named as his successor Msgr. John O. Barres, 48, chancellor of the Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware. The same day he also named Father Lee Piché, 51, as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Bishop–elect Piché has been vicar general of the archdiocese.John O. Barres was born September 20, 1960, in Larchmont, New York, to Oliver...

Washington D.C., May 16, 2009 / 01:12 am (CNA).- Encouraging Catholic universities and other institutions to act within the structure of the Church, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. Donald W. Wuerl has warned that those institutions which ignore legitimate instructions from the bishops weaken the Church’s "practical communion." Writing in a Tuesday column in the Catholic Standard, Archbishop Wuerl noted periodic media reports about Catholic institutions apparently behaving at odds with their Catholic identity. He said the incidents often prompt discussion about the unity of the Catholic Church and how Catholic institutions relate to the broader Church."Institutions that are recognized...

Permit me to add my name as well to the long list of Bishops of the Catholic Church who are utterly appalled at your dedication to immorality and wrong-doing represented by your support for the obscenity called “The Vagina Monologues” and your absolute indifference to the murderous abortion program and beliefs of this President of the United States. The fact that you have some sort of past connection with the State of Nebraska makes it all the more painful that the Catholic people here have to see your betrayal of the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. I can assure...

Fr. Cleary's is an oddly written letter. It does not ask the President of the United States to withdraw from speaking. It is a rambling defense of the Catholic position and an apparent effort to be diplomatic. I have read it several times and am still confused as to its real intent. One more Bishop weighed in today, the Most Reverend John C. Nienstedt, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. His letter to the President of Notre Dame was absolutely clear and extremely short. He did not need a lot of words. It was made public by the Cardinal Newman...

RIO DE JANEIRO - A Roman Catholic archbishop says the abortion of twins carried by a 9-year-old girl who allegedly was raped by her stepfather means excommunication for the girl's mother and her doctors. Despite the nature of the case, the church had to hold its line against abortion, Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho said in an interview aired Thursday by Globo television. "The law of God is higher than any human laws," he said. "When a human law — that is, a law enacted by human legislators — is against the law of God, that law has no value. The...

For the third time in the last seven weeks, the nation's longest diocesan vacancy has been settled. This morning, Pope Benedict appointed Auxiliary Bishop Roger Morin of New Orleans as bishop of Biloxi. At the helm of the Southern Mississippi church of 68,000 -- which took $70 million of damage in 2005's Hurricane Katrina -- the 67 year-old succeeds a fellow New Orleanean, Thomas Rodi, who was named archbishop of Mobile last April and has since done double-duty as apostolic administrator of his former charge. The head of the US bishops' Catholic Campaign for Human Development -- which garnered elevated...

Statement of the Diocese of Scranton in Response to Misericordia University’s Plans to Host Speaker Keith Boykin "Misericordia University’s Diversity Institute is twice providing at the University on February 17, 2009, a platform for Keith Boykin. "Mr. Boykin has authored three books and all three have been nominated for a Lambda Literary award. Lambda is a legal advocacy effort for homosexual causes. Mr. Boykin is an avid supporter of same sex marriage and is an activist for positions disturbingly opposed to Catholic moral teaching. "Bishop Martino wants Catholics of the Diocese of Scranton to know of his absolute disapproval of...

Dear Senator Casey: I wish to thank you for voting in favor of the Hatch Amendment to the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reorganization Act of 2009 which would have made unborn children eligible for child health assistance had it passed. I am grateful for what you have done on behalf of children in America who are without health care. It is with deep regret, however, that I learned of your vote against the amendment offered by Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) to the same Children’s Health Insurance Act. Senator Martinez’s amendment would have reinstated the Mexico City Policy. That policy, instituted...

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) — The Irish government has ordered a new investigation into how a Roman Catholic bishop mishandled complaints against sexually abusive priests in his diocese. The decision by Children's Minister Barry Andrews is raising pressure on Bishop John Magee to resign. Magee has already apologized after a church-appointed investigator found that he failed to tell police promptly or fully about allegations against two priests since 1995. Andrews says the bishop has offered misleading accounts to investigators. He says a government commission currently probing the Catholic Church's handling of abuse cases in Dublin will extend its work to Magee's...

The bishops of the Church of England have agreed to admit women to their ranks in a compromise that also aims to accommodate traditionalists. Under the plan, female bishops would be equal to their male colleagues, The Times of London reports. But the church would also have a class of subordinate "flying bishops" to serve parishes who do not accept women's ordination as priests. Several churches within the worldwide Anglican communion ordain women, including the Episcopal Church in the United States, which began in the 1970s and now has a female presiding bishop. The Australian church recently consecrated its first...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Kenny J. Wallis President of KeepArkansasLegal Little Rock, Arkansas 501-412-4063 Little Rock, AR – November 7, 2008 –KeepArkansasLegal is concerned about a Bishop who believes that the US taxpayer is responsible for the citizens of every country and that poverty is a license to commit crime. In a public statement announcing the letter “I was a stranger and You Welcomed Me: A Pastoral Letter on the Human Rights of Immigrants”, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor claims that “being able to immigrate to another country is an intrinsic human right”. Bishop Taylor also states that “We do support them...

Don't forget to see part one and Bishop Robert Finn's homily from the consecration of Old Saint Patrick Oratory in Kansas City. As opposed to the pic dump you see here, Kansas Catholic will be posting pics methodically and actually explaining them. So check back there often. Saint Louis Catholic has a list of other sites with pics. He also announces that St. Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis, whose choir came to sing at the St. Pat's consecration, will be hosting all-day Adoration on Election Day. Kansas City has the world's tallest bishop. Here, actually, Bishop Finn climbs...

The money quote: "According to the principles of Faithful Citizenship, Catholics must support the just care of the poor, the rights of workers, the dignity of people who immigrate to a new nation, the conservation of the environment; we must assess the very complex economic issues, seek to provide affordable health care for people who do not enjoy that security, and foster the more humane treatment of those who are imprisoned, to list only some of the issues that we now face. However, before and prior to all of those vitally important concerns, Faithful Citizenship places the issue of Life...

Last Saturday I had the privilege of consecrating the restored church of Old St. Patrick. This is the oldest existing Catholic church in Kansas City. It will serve as the Oratory for the Latin Mass community which first began here under Bishop John Sullivan, and for many years has shared the parish of Our Lady of Sorrows. One of the beauties of the Traditional Latin High Mass that I celebrated is that it highlights a most profound aspect of the Mass, namely our participation with the Communion of Saints. The high altar, multiple candles, incense and Gregorian chant, collectively give...

In his interview with the News Journal published on October 19, 2008, Senator Biden presents a seriously erroneous picture of Catholic teaching on abortion. He says, “I know that my church has wrestled with this for 2,000 years,” and he goes on to claim repeatedly that the Church has a nuanced view of the subject that leaves a great deal of room for uncertainty and debate. This is simply incorrect. The teaching of the Church is clear and not open to debate. Abortion is a grave sin because it is the wrongful taking of an innocent human life. And the...

Local and national Catholics reacted Tuesday to statements by Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph F. Martino apparently discounting teachings of the national body of bishops during a political forum at a Honesdale Roman Catholic Church this weekend. Martino arrived unannounced in the midst of a panel discussion on faith issues and the presidential campaign at St. John’s Catholic Church on Sunday. According to people who attended the event, the bishop chastised the group for holding the forum and particularly took issue with the discussion and distribution of excerpts from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ position on voting issues. The...

Judgment Day is on its way. We cannot stop it. We don’t know when it will come, but just as surely as the sun rises daily, the Son of Man will come when we least expect. Judgment Day is on its way. For many, this coming election may very well be judgment day, for this election will measure us. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells us in 10:32-33: "Everyone who acknowledges Me before others, I will acknowledge before My heavenly Father. But whoever denies Me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father." Judgment Day is on its...

In his upcoming column for the Catholic Key, Bishop Finn responds to the question "Can a Catholic vote, in good conscience, for a candidate who supports abortion?" He says he is asked this question "over and over again", and this is his response. (You will remember, at the outset, that Bishop Finn co-authored this excellent pastoral letter along with Archbishop Naumann of Kansas City. Finn made it into AmP's '06 coverage: Everyone Loves Bishop Finn - "and with good reason!" I added at the time.) First of all, Finn explains that a politician who seeks the Catholic vote on...