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........But his greatest presidential stumbling block may be right under his nose. At home, Newt's second wife, Marianne Ginther Gingrich, tells me she doesn't see herself in the First Lady's job. "Watching Hillary has just been a horrible experience," commiserates Marianne. "Hillary sticking her neck out is not working." What happens if Newt runs?, I ask. "He can't do it without me," she replies. "I told him if I'm not in agreement, fine, it's easy" --she giggles at her naughtiness. "I just go on the air the next day, and I undermine everything...I don't want him to be president and...

A Killer’s Conscience

Related Videos | expand "It's probably from, you know, growing up in Hawaii and it's sunny outside, and sitting on the beach," President Obama also said on an interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters set to air Friday night on "20/20." In the full interview, set to air tonight, President Obama says that "nothing frustrates me more than when people aren't doing their jobs."

Featured Term (selected at random):OFFICIAL SECRET Confidential information entrusted to a person holding an official position in the Church or civil society, as in the medical, legal, or counseling professions. An official secret may not be communicated, without the permission of the one who confided the information, unless very grave necessity requires it. The seal of confession arising from the sacrament of penance is a special form of official secrecy. Confessional matters may never be divulged. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Concerning recent Irish and Australian proposals to require priests who, through their ministry in sacramental confession, learn the identity of child sexual abusers (or of any other malefactors, for that matter), to disclose such information to civil authorities, I have little to say because, well, because there is little to say, canonically, at any rate. Such proposals, even if they become law, will have absolutely no effect on a priest’s obligation to preserve the seal of confession. Absolutely none. The seal of confession is a not creature of civil law, rather, it rests on divine law and is articulated by...

A group of Irish priests has announced that the country’s Catholic clergy will refuse to comply with any law requiring them to break the seal of the confession. The statement of defiance comes in response to proposed legislation announced by the government late last week, under which priests could face up to five years in prison for failure to disclose sexual crimes against minors admitted by penitents. The Irish government said that under the legislation confessions would not be exempt from rules on mandatory reporting of child abuse, claiming that the move is a response to Ireland’s clerical abuse crisis....

Meet your worst nightmare: a Wall Streeter who got paid millions to work at investment banks while he was stealing money from innocent investors and his company. Justin Paperny, a 36-year old who lived the Wall Street dream until a few years ago, tells a shocking tale of greed and sociopathy to Cincinatti.com. Paperny looks like the hundreds of thousands of well-bred youngsters who go to work on Wall Street every year. He grew up wealthy in a suburb outside of LA, went to college at USC, and went to work on Wall Street. He was paid $200,000 his first...

ROME, July 5, 2011 - World Youth Day is not an invention of Benedict XVI, but of his predecessor. Pope Joseph Ratzinger, however, has introduced two very significant innovations. The first was in Cologne, in the summer of 2005. At the culmination of the nighttime vigil, Pope Benedict knelt before the consecrated host. At length, and in silence. With hundreds of thousands of young people touched by this act of adoration. Since then, with Pope Benedict, silent Eucharistic adoration has become a constant not only of the World Youth Days, but also of other mass gatherings, for example the vigil...

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10) Last week we heard about what Baptism means for daily life. Baptism is not just a once in a lifetime bath, but an ongoing dying and rising of the Christian. Daily the sinner dies in the death of Jesus....

I wonder how many of our friends who’ve come to that dark crossroads in their lives and decided upon the path to death would not have chosen it had we been more purposeful or available to them. I’ve learned of or known several people over the past couple years who have made the decision to prematurely end their lives, based apparently upon utter hopelessness. I learned of one this morning — a teenage girl who last week reached the end of hope and saw nothing good on the other side.

The Time is Near, Have You Gone to Confession? By: Msgr. Charles Pope   It’s Holy Week and Lent is drawing to a close. Have you made a good confession? It just doesn’t seem possible that any Lent can be complete or even proper without going to confession. In many diocese there is a “Light is On for You” outreach wherein confession is available in all the parishes of that diocese every Wednesday night from 6:30 pm – 8:00pm. That is surely the case here in the Washington Area. I’ll be in the box waiting for people this Wednesday! So...

About the ContestIn an effort to help promote New York’s All Day Confessions event, happening Monday April 18th, The Diocese of Brooklyn in conjunction with both the Archdiocese of New York and Diocese of Rockville Centre have launched a grassroots digital campaign called i-Confess. Using both social and digital media, the goal of this campaign is to generate interest in the act of Confession. The subject matter of the Film must focus upon encouraging school children and young adults to attend confession, MUST specifically mention, reference and provide information about the Reconciliation Monday, April 18, 2011, and MUST direct the...

Examination of Conscience Here is a helpful examination of conscience, based on the Ten Commandments. Perform a brief examination every night, but go through a more thorough examination before confessing your sins to the priest. Directions The Commandments of God Have I doubted in matters of faith? murmured against God because of adversity? despaired of His mercy? Have I believed in or consulted fortune tellers? Have I taken part in non-Catholic worship? Have I recommended myself regularly to God? Neglected my morning or evening prayers? Omitted my religious obligations because of human respect? Presumed upon God's mercy in committing sin?...

What about the 75% of American Catholics who, according to polls, receive the sacrament of penance less than once a year or never? Escapists perhaps? This year as in other recent Lents, dioceses and parishes across the country are making a push to get Catholics back to this neglected sacrament. I wish them much success. The flight from sacramental penance has been one of the genuine disasters of contemporary Catholic life. What explains it? Many things undoubtedly combine to play a part: an often-cited loss of the sense of sin, fatuous presumption that God approves of me no matter what,...

Is Confession a late invention of Catholicism, or was it used from the earliest times? Let's see what the earliest writers say.DIDACHE (as early as 70 AD) -- Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life....On the Lord's Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure. (4:14; 14:1) ST. IRENAEUS OF LYONS (180 AD) -- [The gnostic disciples of Marcus] have deluded many women...Their consciences have been branded as with a hot iron [cf....

I guess it was only a matter of time, but I’m still a little surprised at how quickly the left connected the dots. Always on guard against elaborate right-wing conspiracies, the brain trust over at Crooks and Liars needed just a few hours to uncover the truth: that Breitbart organized the elaborate sting featuring actors posing as doctors to hand out fake ‘medical excuses’ for union protesters. So, it is probably only a matter of time before they learn the full truth. The doctor sting, in fact, was only an afterthought, dreamed up by our research lemur after a tequila...

Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi Vatican City, Feb 9, 2011 / 12:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The sacrament of Confession "cannot be substituted by any computer application," the Vatican said Feb. 9. The remarks by papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, came amid a flurry of misleading international media reports on a new application developed for Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod. "Confession: A Roman Catholic App" helps Catholics prepare for confession by offering a “step-by-step” guide to the sacrament and a “personalized examination of conscience.” Many media outlets wrongly reported that the application allowed Catholics to go to Confession on...

Are you a sinner? Don't worry, there's an app for that. The Roman Catholic Church has approved a recent iTunes addition called Confession, a $1.99 app that bills itself as "the perfect aid for every penitent." As you can see above, it lets you pick a commandment and tick off all your sins, keeping a running tally to bring into the confessional with you -- a sort of anti-tasklist, if you will. Can't find your particular misstep? No problem! You're able to add your own, custom dastardly deeds, filling in those gaps the app's authors didn't think anyone would fill....

A judge on Monday overturned the 1993 conviction of a deaf man who was sent to prison for raping a 5-year-old girl despite an absence of physical evidence linking him to the attack. Stephen Brodie, 39, dropped his head in relief after an interpreter signed to him that Judge Lena Levario had set aside his conviction on the grounds of actual innocence. He then turned to face the courtroom audience, some of whom waved both hands in the air — sign language for applause. "I feel like a burden has been lifted," Brodie told reporters through a translator. "I feel...

The woman who gained sympathy around the world after a stranger threw acid in her face has made a shocking confession: she made the whole thing up. Bethany Storro, 28, confessed to police yesterday, saying the severe burns she suffered in the horrific 'attack' were actually 'self-inflicted'. Police said they did not know the motive behind her bizarre plan. Her confession - which is set to cause outrage around the world - came after police, suspicious at the holes in her story, turned up the pressure by searching her house.

While in Rome recently, I went to confession at St. John Lateran. It's the cathedral of Rome, and I'd heard the grace was better there. I got an old Irish priest, soft-spoken, deliberate, patient, and with a habit of sighing frequently as you spoke. He sounded -- and looked, when I saw him a little later -- like the old Irish priest from central casting who loves dogs, is patient with rambunctious boys and ironic to the old women, and is never surprised by any wickedness this world can produce.I soon realized that I could confess to stealing a...

‘Confession’ David Weiss By David R. Weiss St. Paul, Minn. I am impatient with confession. That’s putting it too politely, but the moment I try to state the matter more clearly it just gets messy: I do not enjoy starting my worship experience by reminding myself (and everyone else) that I am sinful. Well, doesn’t that sound a little suspicious? Isn’t the whole point of confession that we ought to come before God by first acknowledging — confessing — the deepest and most vulnerable truth about ourselves? And doesn’t my discomfort with that merely prove its importance … and reveal...

I am impatient with confession. That’s putting it too politely, but the moment I try to state the matter more clearly it just gets messy: I do not enjoy starting my worship experience by reminding myself (and everyone else) that I am sinful. Well, doesn’t that sound a little suspicious? Isn’t the whole point of confession that we ought to come before God by first acknowledging — confessing — the deepest and most vulnerable truth about ourselves? And doesn’t my discomfort with that merely prove its importance … and reveal my own rebellious nature? No. My brothers and sisters who...

The True Account of Prisoner Claude Newman (1944) by John Vennari, from the March 2001 issue of “Catholic Family News.” The following true story of Claude Newman took place in Mississippi in 1944. The account was told by Father O'Leary, a priest from Mississippi, who was directly involved with the events. He has left for posterity an audio recording it. Claude Newman was a Negro man who worked the fields for a landowner. He had married when he was 17 years old to a woman of the same age. One day, two years later, he was out ploughing the fields. Another...

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Dear Dr. Elia, I love reading your column on Mormon Times, and appreciate how you've addressed the issue of pornography. I had a pornography addiction from my late teens, off and on, through almost 17 years of marriage. My wife never knew until four-and-a-half years ago, when I finally told her — I had overcome the addiction about three years earlier, with no relapse (and now, almost eight years later I'm still free, with no sense of weakness or teetering but still wary and vigilant). Needless to say, it was devastating. She sunk into deep depression, went through anger, rage,...

A few weeks ago, when I began this miniseries on St. John Vianney as a confessor, I asked why so many men and women from throughout France made enormous sacrifices to get to the barely accessible hamlet of Ars to go to confession. I replied at the time with the words of one of the several hundred thousand reconciled sinners who had made such a pilgrimage: they came to Ars because there was something truly special about the confessor. They believed they were encountering “God in a man,� someone whose radiant holiness gave them a glimpse of the irresistible beauty...

A Missed Anniversary: "Vous les Americains Sont Pires que les Francais." 29 April 1975 April is a month of bittersweet anniversaries. 19 April of course marks Lexington and Concord, the Warsaw Ghetto, Waco, Oklahoma City, and in certain drunken ATF debaucheries, the birthday of their patron saint, Elliott Ness. The picture above marks another event, the fall of Saigon in 1975. This photo was taken 29 April. Saigon fell the next day on the 30th. Phnom Penh, Cambodia had fallen about two weeks before. I missed marking this anniversary this year. I don't know why. The memories always hang heavy...

In all the media hype surrounding the sex abuse scandal, haters of the Church have wondered if that scandal could destroy the Church and the priesthood. The short answer is no, but a scandal like this one could. (Not destroy permanently, of course. Nothing could do that.) Father David Verhasselt, a priest in the parish of St. Catherine of Alexandria Church in the diocese of Milwaukee, has been placed on administrative leave because he is under investigation for breaking the seal of confession. The charge is so serious that Archbishop Jerome Listecki has even barred Fr. Verhasselt from visiting the...

ST. FRANCIS, Wis. (AP) -- Steven Geier says that four times in the mid-1960s, the Rev. Lawrence Murphy coaxed the then-14-year-old student into a closet at St. John's School for the Deaf just outside Milwaukee and molested him, using God to justify his actions. Geier said when he told Murphy what was happening was wrong, the priest replied, "Oh, yes. God sent me. This is confession." Geier, now 59 and living in Madison....

LOS ANGELES — In his 28 years with the Burbank Police Department, Sgt. Robert Quesada had never heard of anything quite like it: A well-respected teacher at one of the city's public schools walks into police headquarters and confesses to having an affair with a 14-year-old boy. With her attorney by her side, police say, Amy Victoria Beck told detectives the relationship with one of her former students began in March 2009 and continued until last December. She said it left her wracked with guilt. "I can't tell you that I remember anything like that ever happening before," Quesada said...

I have heard the priests of my parish encouraging us to go to confession during Lent. I admit I have not been to confession in years because I am not sure I know how to go to confession. With all the changes that occurred in the '60s, would you please review how to go to confession? The Second Vatican Council did decree that “the rite and formulas of penance are revised in such a way that they may more clearly empress the nature and effects of this sacrament” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 72). Accordingly the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship issued...

A 'pay-to-confess' telephone hotline for Catholics too busy to go to church has been condemned as 'utterly unacceptable' by bishops in France. The service - called the Phoneline to the Lord - charges users 30p a minute to confess their sins to an automated answering machine. When the number is called, a soothing male voice says: 'For advice on confessing, press one. To confess, press two. To listen to some confessions, press three.'   But with soft organ music playing in the background, the voice warns: 'In case of serious or mortal sins - that is, sins that have cut you...

Tiger Woods just gave a live speech for the first time since the car crash, and on ABC News they are immediately trashing him after the press conference, but what did Tiger Woods just say? Was it "too rehearsed"? Here are my typed notes from the speech. Its up to me to start living a life of integrity Character and decency are what really count I owe all those families a special apology I am truly sorry Its hard to admit I need help ... The path of Buddhism ... I drifted away from it ... it teaches me to...

BRIDGEPORT, Conn.- Catholic leaders in Connecticut said they are trying to fill confessionals during Lent by taking out billboards seeking sinners wanting to shake their guilt. Bishop William Lori of the Bridgeport Diocese said he took out a full-sized billboard urging Catholics to take advantage of the extended confessional hours being offered every Tuesday until the end of Lent, WFSB-TV, Bridgeport, reported Thursday. "I wouldn't call it commercializing. It's evangelizing. The church has always used whatever media to get the message out and it's a great message," Lori said. The bishop said many people are wary of confession. "They get...

If you are expecting this article to provide suggestions for dropping some pounds during the Lenten season, I’m afraid that you may be disappointed. However, I strongly urge you to continue reading since the “weight” loss that I will address will allow you to shed some of the sins and earthly attachments that keep you from getting closer to God!Let’s face it, we are all weighed down to some extent by selfishness and assorted vices. Given a choice, very few of us will choose suffering over comfort. Many times, we don’t even realize how much we love to be comfortable....

ROME, FEB. 16, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university. Q: Many priests recommend the faithful to have confession at least once year, as in the second precept of the Church (Catechism No. 2042, "You shall confess your sins at least once a year"). But I heard a priest say that this is not necessary unless there are grave sins, as in Canon 989, "All the faithful who have reached the age of discretion are bound faithfully to confess their grave sins at least once a year." Theoretically, one...

New York City, N.Y., Feb 16, 2010 / 08:04 am (CNA).- A young adults group in the Archdiocese of New York has recently announced a 24-hour confession event which will take place in March during the 2010 Lenten season. The Cathedral of Saint Patrick Young Adults (CSPYA) group is holding their second annual “24 Hours of Confession” project March 5 -6 at 51 parishes throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, Duchess, Staten Island, as well as Orange, Rockland and Westchester counties. “Catholics need to know that confession is all about God's forgiveness and love and that the priest is there for them,”...

Peace Of Mind “Peace on earth!” announce the angels at Christmas. But how and where do we find that peace? Simple: confession. People sometimes wrongly think of confession as a place of judgment and guilt. We have good news: It’s a place of healing and peace. The Registerchallenges each reader this Advent to go to confession and recommend it to at least one other person. The guide provided here can help. After all, as Pope Benedict XVI said: “The renewal of the Church in America and throughout the world depends on the renewal of the sacrament of penance.” 1 The...

Dear Eldrick: First, sorry to hear about the second most famous “crash” last week. (I’m sure in retrospect, you wish you were with those other “crashers” at the White House, rather than being eased out of your Escalade at 2 in the morning.) Second, I know you and the lovely Elin have been ducking the local fuzz in terms of elaborating on what happened and you tried to extinguish the fire with yesterday’s half-baked statement but... Third, as much as you don’t want to hear it, your only choice now is to take the “penalty stroke” and fess up about...

October 25 Fr. James T. O’Connor: The Creed:… the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body  

Broken Keys by Ian Wolfe — October 21, 2009 And when [Jesus] had said this, he breathed on [the disciples] and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” John 20:23 The church has given to her ordained ministers through the gift of the Holy Spirit the power and authority to exercise the apostolic ministry to bind and loose sin.1 Traditionally Luther’s Small Catechism included a section on the Office of the Keys, although not written by Luther himself.2 I note...

One of the harsh realities facing the Catholic Church is the fact that many of her members no longer receive the sacrament of Confession on a regular basis. For one reason or another, many Catholics don’t feel the need to go to Confession. Let’s look at some of the common objections and discuss why the sacrament of Confession is still as relevant today as it was when Jesus instituted it 2000 years ago.“I confess my sins directly to Christ. Why do I need to go through a ‘middle man’?” This may come as a surprise to some, but the Church...

A discussion from a comment on the post Bare Minimum for Salvation Lena: I just want to say that Jesus did in fact die for the sins of mankind. No matter what “works” you do it is not enough to get you into the kingdom.BFHU: AMEN!Lena: Thankfully though, there is hope and you can have that hope. God offers His grace as a gift for the taking, should you so choose to accept it. How do you accept this gift? You have to BELIEVE that Jesus died for you—and yes—He paid the WHOLE price!BFHU: Protestants do not believe in...

DON'T LOOK BACK AT 'SODOM' ONCE WHAT YOU'VE DONE HAS BEEN CONFESSED, CLEARED When we convert -- when we actively go to Jesus -- we leave worldliness.  We leave transgressions. The spiritual blinders lift. We see "backstage" in the dynamics of life and there is no going back -- or shouldn't be. Too often, however, a part of us remains stuck in history. Are you hung up on the past? Do you spend time hovering over what you once did (before conversion) -- past mistakes? Do you have trouble forgiving yourself (even after correcting the impulse that led to...

Pope: There's an Answer to Empty Confessionals Explains St. John Vianney's "Virtuous Circle" Secret VATICAN CITY, JUNE 18, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is urging priests to not become resigned to empty confessionals, but to help people rediscover the beauty of the sacrament by deepening their understanding of the Eucharist. The Pope stated this in a letter to the priests of the world, on the occasion of the Year for Priests, which begins Friday in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney, the Curé d'Ars. The saint "taught his parishioners primarily by the witness of...

Pope Benedict XVI has raised the alarm over the decline in confessions, urging priests not to become "resigned to empty confessionals" but rather to help the faithful rediscover "the beauty of the sacrament", which answered "a deep and humble longing for forgiveness".

Hours after detectives arrested Vincent Smothers in a suburban Detroit alley in the spring of 2008, they say, he came out with a stunning confession: "I don't have a profession," he allegedly told an investigator. "I kill people for money." Then, police say, he laid out details of how each of eight hired hits happened. He stalked his victims before shooting them at close range. He killed some while talking on his cell phone and fired on others even when they appeared to lay lifeless on the ground. Even in Detroit, which had more than 300 slayings last year, Smothers'...