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Featured Term (selected at random:EUGENIC STERILIZATION Depriving people of their generative powers in order to eliminate offspring having allegedly undesirable traits and to develop an environment more advantageous for human beings having allegedly desirable traits. the Catholic Church forbids the procedure because "public magistrates have no direct power over the bodies of their subjects. therefore, where no crime has taken place and there is no cause for grave punishment, they can never directly harm or tamper with the integrity of the body, either for reasons of eugenics or for any other reason' (Pius XI, Casti Connubii, II, 68-70). All items...

Liturgical Vestments Fr. William Saunders The liturgical vestments worn at Mass have evolved over time. Nevertheless, since the earliest days of the Church, liturgical vestments have been worn by priests for the celebration of the Mass. Even though priests of the Old Testament wore vestments in their liturgical rites, the “Christian” vestments are not really adaptations of them.Rather, the vestments of the Christians developed from the dress of the Graeco-Roman world, including the religious culture.Nevertheless, the Old Testament idea of wearing a special kind of clothing in the performance of liturgical rites did influence the Church. St. Jerome asserted, “The...

Lately I’ve been asked to write a couple of essays for the National Association of Scholars on the newest fad in freshman fall fashions. Colleges send to students enjoying their summer farewell to home and family a book that they are all supposed to read, usually something in pop sociology or psychology. When they arrive on campus, they discuss the book during freshman orientation, or they attend a seminar or two, before they settle in to professional training, or the usual disintegrative round of courses that have nothing to do with one another, chosen ad libitum. That’s supposed to give...

Featured Term (selected at random:THEANDRIC  Literally "God human," referring to those actions of Christ in which he used the human nature as an instrument of his divinity. such as were the miracles of Christ. Other human activities of Christ, such as walking, eating, and speaking, are also theandric, but in a wider sense, inasmuch as they are human acts of a divine person. The purely divine acts, such as creation, are not called theandric. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Featured Term (selected at random:NOSSA SENHORA APARECIDA Shrine of Our Lady, patroness of Brazil, at the Basilica of Aparecida, near the city of São Paulo. The statue venerated here was drawn out of the water by a group of fishermen in 1717. At first housed in a small chapel, the image became the source of so many favors that eventually it was placed in the present church, declared a basilica in 1929. More than a half million pilgrims come to the shrine annually. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used...

When the story of human history comes to a close, death and violence don't get the final word. The love of God does. That love, burning bright in the heart of Fr. Emil Kapaun in the darkness of a POW camp in the Korean war, made him a hero.

1924: Chaldean priests and the orphans under their care in Mosul (Nineveh), Iraq Majid Aziza [Lebanese daily] An-Nahar July 24, 2014 Expelled, we leave our city of Mosul, humiliated by the followers of the new Islam. We leave it for the first time in History. And, while leaving, we thank our neighbors, the neighbors whom we thought would protect us, as they used to do [in the past], [thinking] that they would rise up against the fury of these 21st-century criminals by telling them that we are the authentic children of this city, and that we are its founders. We...

CNN published an inflammatory and provocative piece of link-bait over the weekend criticizing the Catholic Church because some of the larger archdioceses happen to have “lavish homes” for their archbishops. In the process of concern-trolling for a religion he clearly despises, the writer, Daniel Burke, reveals how little he understands about the Catholic Church. Below are just seven ways he gets it wrong. Easter parade on Fifth Avenue in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, 1904 1. They’re residences, not homes. The mansions included in this article are not the personal property of the bishops, but belong to the diocese. Every...

Why is it that we, as a people, are so lethargic about fundamental things, about the rapid undermining of our very reason and constitution with hardly a whimper, indeed with widespread approval? We do become excited about many things, but for the most part we studiously avoid any implication that we have a truth problem.We do not want to know the truth about ourselves. We thus invent descriptions of reality that legitimate what we do. This fabrication of reality does not reflect what is. It incorporates our wishes into our daily fare. We mostly go along with them.We are, in...

Featured Term (selected at random:ERASTIANISM The system of Church-State relations named after Thomas Erastus (1524-83), who was a follower of Huldreich Zwingli (1484-1531) and whose real name was Thomas Lieber. Its main thesis is the supremacy of civil rulers in matters of religion. The basis for this theory is the alleged analogy between the Jewish and the Christian dispensations. Erastianism became the theological justification for the established churches in England and elsewhere. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission. 

On Friday, the President of the Catholic League, Dr. Bill Donohue, spoke with TPNN’s the Voice of Reason, Tim Constantine on the issue of Christian persecution in the Arab world. Right off the bat, Constantine asked why the president was so resistant to speaking out against Christian persecution occurring in the Middle East. Dr. Donohue countered that Obama is a devout secularist. “I’ve worked with many professors in my life and I know the way they think. They’re either indifferent to religion or they’re hostile to it. But not all religions; I mean, I’ve never seen a president show more...

Featured Term (selected at random:ROMAN ROTA Originating as an extension of the Apostolic Chancery, it is essentially a tribunal of appeal for all the ecclesiastical cases in which the Roman Curia is competent and that are not reserved to other jurisdictions. It also receives cases of appeal for Vatican City State, and is a tribunal of first instance in cases reserved to the Holy See, or that the Pope has reserved for himself by means of a special rescript of the Apostolic Signature. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used...

The Third Temple in Jerusalem will be the House of Prayer for all nations. Every prophet of Israel, without exception, prophesied that the Temple would be rebuilt, ushering a new era of universal harmony and peace. The "movement" to rebuild the Holy Temple was born almost 2,000 years ago, at the moment of the Second Temple's Destruction. After millennia of yearning, only one organization is paving the way for the rebuilding of the Temple. The Temple Institute (מכון המקדש) located in the Old City of Jerusalem is a research organization dedicated to the preparing for the construction of the Third...

The Trouble With Calvin – Pt. 3 In my last two blog posts, we examined the first two of the “five points” of Calvinism popularly known by the acronym, TULIP, which represents 1. Total Depravity 2. Unconditional Election 3. Limited Atonement 4. Irresistible Grace 5. Perseverance of the Saints (“once saved, always saved”). In this post, we will tackle the third point:Limited AtonementNo Christian that I know of would deny that some doctrines are more or less clear than others in Scripture. When it comes to the atonement of Christ, the Scriptures are most clear: Jesus Christ died on the...

One hundred years ago this week, Christian Europe commenced the horrific Great War that spread globally, raged from August 1914 to November 1918, and was responsible for the death of more than 15-million soldiers and civilians.In The World Crisis, Winston Churchill’s six-volume account of the struggle, he observed that the warriors employed “Every outrage against humanity or international law.” And when it was over, “torture and cannibalism were the only two expedients that the civilized, scientific, Christian states had been able to deny themselves: they were of doubtful utility.”The conflict’s catalyst? On June 28, 1914, the Roman Catholic heir to...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/national/pope-franciss-10-secrets-to-happiness/2014/08/01/ed283448-1996-11e4-88f7-96ed767bb747_video.html From this video it is apparent to me that he is talking to all people, even those who might have Sunday jobs. Words printed out the site.

Shown below are two parts of the same item found 25 years apart.  The front part (on the right) was found 25 years ago, while the back (left) was recently found by the crew of the Booty.  Treasure Coast Finds. Photo source: Video from Orlando Sentinel link below. A truly great discovery was made this summer by a Treasure Coast salvage crew.  In fact a lot of discoveries were made, but the one I want to focus on today isn't a gold coin or even a bunch of gold coins, but something more important. 25 years ago a very intricate...

Featured Term (selected at random:CENOBITE  A monk or nun living as a member in a religious group or community. Cenobitical life was instituted in the East by St. Pachomius (290-346) and modified by St. Basil (329-79). The greatest development, fitting it to Western needs, came through St. Benedict's Rule. (Etym. Latin coenobium, monastery; from koinos, common + bios, life.) See Also: HERMIT

Featured Term (selected at random:LEGATUS NATUS Holder of a certain office that conferred a legatine status ex officio, e.g., before the Reformation the Archbishop of Canterbury, who performed some of the functions now carried out by a papal nuncio. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

The Book of Abraham Papyri and Joseph Smith by Matt Slick There are many proofs that Joseph Smith was a false prophet, but Mormons typically will not accept them. From the biblical evidence that contradicts Mormon theology to the contradictions within its own history and doctrine, proofs abound. But Mormons, completely dedicated to their religion and their testimony, cannot and will not see the evidence. They rely not on biblical evidence--not on historical evidence but rather trust a 'testimony' that Mormonism is the restored church and Joseph Smith its true prophet. One of the tests of whether or not a...