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April 6, 2012   Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord   Reading 1 Is 52:13-53:12 See, my servant shall prosper,he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.Even as many were amazed at him—so marred was his look beyond human semblanceand his appearance beyond that of the sons of man—so shall he startle many nations,because of him kings shall stand speechless;for those who have not been told shall see,those who have not heard shall ponder it. Who would believe what we have heard?To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?He grew up like a sapling before him,like...

April 5, 2012 Holy Thursday: Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper   Reading 1 Ex 12:1-8, 11-14 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,"This month shall stand at the head of your calendar;you shall reckon it the first month of the year.Tell the whole community of Israel:On the tenth of this month every one of your familiesmust procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household.If a family is too small for a whole lamb,it shall join the nearest household in procuring oneand shall share in the lambin proportion to the number of persons...

April 5, 2012 Holy Thursday: Chrism Mass   Reading 1 Is 61:1-3a, 6a, 8b-9 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,because the LORD has anointed me;He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly,to heal the brokenhearted,To proclaim liberty to the captivesand release to the prisoners,To announce a year of favor from the LORDand a day of vindication by our God,to comfort all who mourn;To place on those who mourn in Ziona diadem instead of ashes,To give them oil of gladness in place of mourning,a glorious mantle instead of a listless spirit. You yourselves shall...

TORONTO, Ontario, April 4, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Catholic schools will no longer be allowed to teach the Catechism’s doctrine that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered,” says a cabinet minister in Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government. As politicians debated a bill that would force Catholic schools to launch gay clubs on March 29th, Member of Provincial Parliament Glen Murray (Toronto Centre) lashed out against Ontario’s bishops over Catholic teaching on homosexuality. “I have to say to the bishops: ‘You’re not allowed to do that anymore,’” said Murray, an open homosexual who serves as McGuinty’s Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, according...

 Marriageby Sebastian R. FamaIn recent years the institution of Marriage has increasingly come under attack. Some consider it to be an outdated relic from the past. Some think of it as an unnecessary formality while still others see it as something that "was created for the benefit of men at the expense of women."Isn’t it true, critics will ask, that women are required to vow blind obedience to their husbands? No they aren’t, at least not in the Catholic Church. To begin with the Church does not allow people to write their own vows. Marriage is an ecclesial affair, not...

As the 2012 election campaign approaches phase two – when the major-party candidates have been selected and begin to square off – there is an unmistakable lack of ideological and political unity within the Christian community. A new national survey by the Barna Group among likely voters indicates that there are substantial differences across a wide spectrum of Christian subgroups, with only a one segment unwavering in its commitment to defeat President Obama in November. In the first of those contests Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were of equal appeal to all voters, with Mr. Obama holding a 52% to...

Anti-Day of Rest Protests for Good Friday. Pirate Party Dance Party banned in Frankfurt. Green Party Youth protest in Wiesbaden The Frankfurt authorities responsible for public order have banned the demonstration of the Pirate Party, which was to take place on Good Friday. During the protest loud music was to be played to "invite people to dance," says the Pirate Party. The spokesman for the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau called the project of the Pirate Party "disrespectful." The Young Greens, who organized in 2011 in the Frankfurt Römerplatz a demonstration and thus disrupted the Good Friday procession of...

Featured Term (selected at random):SICK CALL The call for a priest to minister to the spiritual needs of a person who is gravely ill. Normally the sacraments administered on a sick call are penance, Holy Communion, and anointing of the sick. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Starring Andy Garcia and Peter O'Toole, "For Greater Glory" is a compelling war film based on the true story of the Cristero War -- a conflict caused by the brutal government crackdown on the Mexican Catholic Church in the 1920s. Released at a time when religious freedom, especially for Catholics, is being attacked in the United States and elsewhere, the picture is also particularly timely. Beautifully shot across the plains of northern and central Mexico and accompanied by a stirring soundtrack by Hollywood composer James Horner, the movie takes the audience through the harrowing violence and suppression of the Church...

LifeSiteNews.com is reporting that actor Martin Sheen is defending his position in favor of redefining marriage despite his Catholic faith, saying that "my religion's highest standard is conscience." Apparently the long-time actor hasn't spent as much time studying Catholic teaching as he has with his other endeavors. If he had taken the time to actually read Pope John Paul II's Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, for example, he would have read that: "Conscience, as the judgment of an act, is not exempt from the possibility of error. As the Council [Vatican II, which, sadly, Sheen is also not familar with] puts...

Timothy Cardinal Dolan Age: 62 Occupation: Prince of the Catholic Church The man most likely to give Barack Obama fits on the way to Election Day is the newly birettaed Archbishop of New York. Affable, jolly and theatrical, Dolan deploys these genial weapons as the Catholic Church's point man in the battle against the Obama Administration's policies on contraception and abortion. The President barely won the Catholic vote in 2008; without an accommodation, Dolan could turn away enough voters to tilt a close election — all with a smile.

Rome, Italy, Mar 30, 2012 / 01:44 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Catholic Church in Italy has issued new guidelines that rule out scattering the cremated remains of a person or the keeping them in an urn at home. “Cremation is considered as concluded when the urn is deposited in the cemetery,” says the appendix to the new edition of Funeral Rites issued by Italian Episcopal Conference. “The practice of spreading ashes in the wild or keeping them in places other than the cemetery,” it adds, “raises many concerns about its full consistency with the Christian faith, especially when they imply...

 Natural Family Planningby Sebastian R. Fama Natural Family Planning (NFP) seems to be the Catholic Church’s best-kept secret. It’s not that the Church wants it to be a secret. The message just doesn’t seem to get out. NFP is the licit alternative to contraception, or birth control as it is usually referred to. NFP is just as effective as any method of contraception and it has the advantage of causing no harm to the woman’s body with side effects and complications.Rather than tamper with a woman’s body, NFP works with it. It is important to note that NFP is not...

April 4, 2012   Wednesday of Holy Week   Reading 1 Is 50:4-9a The Lord GOD has given mea well-trained tongue,That I might know how to speak to the wearya word that will rouse them.Morning after morninghe opens my ear that I may hear;And I have not rebelled,have not turned back.I gave my back to those who beat me,my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;My face I did not shieldfrom buffets and spitting. The Lord GOD is my help,therefore I am not disgraced;I have set my face like flint,knowing that I shall not be put to shame.He is near...

In the Lassale House in Switzerland, which is run by the Jesuits, courses will now be also offered from May onwards giving "time and space for sensuality." Swiss media speak in this context of "sex courses", a term rejected by Christian Rutishauser, the Jesuit in charge.  In the Luzerner-Zeitung, Rutishauser can promote his courses, claiming that the Church has so far actually specified "particular obligations" and set "framework conditions for sex" (within marriage).

Cardinal Karl Josef Becker sees big problems for an agreement between the Vatican and the traditionalist SSPX "to combine both positions, that's difficult," the Jesuit said in an interview with the Cologne diocesan church newspaper on Sunday. He has worked as a consultant to the CDF during the negotiations between the SSPX. Pope Benedict XVI in mid-March asked the SSPX to clarify by April 15 their position and to avoid a breach with Rome.

Featured Term (selected at random):WESTERN SCHISM Widespread division in Catholic unity caused by rival claims to the Papacy. In the Western Schism (1378-1417) there were two and later three claimants to the Papacy at the same time. The election of Urban VI (1318-89) was challenged post factum by thirteen of his cardinal electors, who in 1378 chose Clement VII as Avignon Pope in his stead. After thirty years of fruitless efforts to settle the rift, a council of prelates at Pisa in 1409 sought to depose the Roman and Avignon pontiffs and elected Alexander V. Finally the schism was healed...

Would you go to jail – with your bishop?It’s not often happened, in my lifetime, that the U.S. government would flatly require what God forbids, or forbid what God requires. Usually political judgments have had to do with teaspoon measuring and prudential reasoning, sorting and bargaining and trade-offs of competing goods. The policy picture is made by pencil: we sketch and erase, we compare estimated costs and benefits of differing public policies. These things are negotiable; and the negotiation is called politics. So it was most shocking, in the first few months of 2012, for American Catholics to face not...

  April 3, 2012   Tuesday of the Holy Week   Reading 1 Is 49:1-6 Hear me, O islands,listen, O distant peoples.The LORD called me from birth,from my mother's womb he gave me my name.He made of me a sharp-edged swordand concealed me in the shadow of his arm.He made me a polished arrow,in his quiver he hid me.You are my servant, he said to me,Israel, through whom I show my glory. Though I thought I had toiled in vain,and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,Yet my reward is with the LORD,my recompense is with my God.For now the...