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The Vatican has welcomed Tony Blair's decision to become a Roman Catholic. A spokesman said such an "authoritative personality" choosing to join the Catholic Church "could only give rise to joy and respect". The ex-PM was received into the Church by the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor. It comes as research shows Catholic churchgoers now outnumber Anglicans for the first time since the Reformation in the UK. Ex-Tory minister Ann Widdecombe - herself a Catholic convert - said Mr Blair's voting record as an MP had often "gone against Church teaching".

Is there a Polish Ping list someone could direct this to please? I need a Polish translation (well an English paragraph translated into Polish). Brief, about 4 or 5 lines. If someone is fluent in Polish, I'd be most grateful if you could please freepmail me. Thanks!

Two prominent lay Catholics recently made headlines for their statements on sexual morality: Fox network celebrity and radio talk show host Sean Hannity and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Marine Corps General Peter Pace. One is a cafeteria Catholic who publicly dissents from Church teaching, the other a recipient of the prestigious John Carroll Award for service and commitment to the Catholic faith. Hannity, who endorses contraception as well as exceptions for abortion, tangled with Fr. Thomas Euteneurer of Human Life International on March 9th after the priest wrote a column criticizing Hannity’s radio “apology” for accidentally...

This is very funny - the actual link doesn't have a URL of its own so I've put the website up - go to the 7th bullet point down on the right hand side of the page under the title, "Greatest Movie Line Ever".

In the face of modern challenges to the Faith, Catholics who have a high profile in media, culture and government have a very grave responsibility to witness it correctly; otherwise, they will be held accountable in heaven for their anti-witness which affects the faith of millions. For example, last Friday Sean Hannity took a few moments out of his afternoon radio show to make an apology. When I heard that the rather brash Hannity was actually going to apologize for something I was interested to find out what that would be. At first he sounded very sincere in saying we...

White Catholics will decide the upcoming US elections, according to William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former domestic policy adviser to President Clinton. Galston reviewed the past 50 years of religious and political trends and how they will help researchers predict future elections, which the US faces this November when all seats in the House of Representatives of the US Congress are open. Galston presented his research in a seminar hosted by The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in May at Key West, Florida among journalists and research participants from publications like the New...

Berlin — Was it something he said? With France and Italy tied in extra time of Sunday's World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane head-butted Marco Materazzi in the chest and was ejected. France went on to lose on penalty kicks. The day after, still no one knew what the Italian defender might have said to the French star. "The Italians did everything they could do to provoke Zidane," France defender William Gallas said. Seconds before, Materazzi had grabbed a handful of Zidane's jersey just as a French attack on goal passed harmlessly by. The two exchanged words as they walked back...

How did Nicole Kidman, one-time spouse of Tom Cruise, get re-married in a Catholic church if she didn't have an annulment? Clue: she wasn't actually married before. Nicole Kidman's wedding to country singer Keith Urban in Sydney at the weekend drew plenty of media attention. But some Catholics will have looked on perplexed at how the former bride of actor Tom Cruise managed to tie the knot for a second time, in a Catholic church. It was widely reported in the run up to the weekend wedding that Ms Kidman had received an annulment for her previous marriage - the...

These words (from the great Archbishop Fulton Sheen) are for all those who say the new Pope is divisive, polarizing, exclusive. "If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which the world hates. My reason for this would be, that if Christ is in any one of the churches of the world today, He must still be hated as He was when He was on earth...

It makes me so ANGRY when O'Reilly brings on Fr Richard O'Brien (theology "professor" at Notre Dame university) and asks him moral questions about the Church. Discussing the Vatican's position on Terri Schiavo, O'Reilly asked what the Catholic position was, quoting the Pope as being against removing feeding tubes. Fr O'Brien then blatantly said this situation wasn't euthansia as there was no direct intent to kill the patient. HUH??? Depriving someone from food and water is not a direct intent to kill someone??? O'Reilly was so ignorant of his catholicism that he couldn't even refute this guy. Fr O'Brien kept...

I asked this on a thread but got no response and would really like an answer if someone could help. How come Jack Kervorkian got jailed for helping people to die (who admittedly ASKED to die) yet Michael Schiavo is getting away with it? Could this be a legal avenue for Terri's parents to go down? I mean, until a bill is passed that makes euthanasia illegal, killing someone (EVEN IF THEY ASKED FOR IT) is still a crime, right? Terri was not dying so this is a deliberate act of killing - euthansia (this can be certified even by...

I read this and found hope in a time of despair. Hope you all get something out of it also. May you all have a very holy and prayerful Triduum that will carry you through to joy that is Easter. NOTHING IS MORE POTENT AGAINST EVIL THAN PLEADING THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST By Michael H. Brown Many are those who come to us at this time with problems that involve evil. I'm speaking about both generic evil and also problems caused by actual evil spirits. It is a time, in the words of the Virgin of Medjugorje, when the...

I was told my brother is SERIOUSLY considering suicide. He has medical and financial problems and if things get worse, he will do it. PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEEEASE pray that he does not do this. He has TOTALLY left God; brought up in a very Catholic home but thinks Christianity is a big fake now. Thinks there is just non-existence on the other side which would be better than the suffering he is going through now. I don't know where else to turn. I have prayed so much for his conversion but he seems to be getting WORSE. He hates everybody...

I take it a ping is something that brings a topic up to the top? But what's the "ping list" I keep hearing of? How do you get on one? And also how does one do italics and bold? Any help to these questions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Received the following in an email from Priests for Life. Please copy and email to as many people as you know, or print out and distribute. **** From Fr Frank Pavone: If a candidate who supported terrorism asked for your vote, would you say, "I disagree with you on terrorism, but where do you stand on other issues?" I doubt it. In fact, if a terrorism sympathizer presented him/herself for your vote, you would immediately know that such a position disqualifies the candidate for public office -- no matter how good he or she may be on other issues. The...