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In the various Christian traditions Marian doctrine and devotion take shape in manifold and diverse ways. Since the Second Vatican Council the Church has striven to promote a new and more careful study of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the mystery of Christ and of the Church; to encourage theological faculties in the pursuit of knowledge, research, and piety with regard to Mary of Nazareth. The Mother of the Lord is understood as a "datum of revelation" and a "maternal presence" always operative in the life of the Church. [1] The history of theological reflection witnesses...

By His Grace Bishop BASIL (Essey) Mary the Theotokos is very close to my heart, and, I am certain, close to the hearts of all who love her Son, Jesus. I can hardly think of her name without tears. When God, in the fullness of time, because of His great love for His creation, sent His Only-Begotten Son to save us sinners, He chose to do so in a way that is at once simple and tender, and profound, beyond our comprehension. He came to find a bride. And God the Father, who is above all and in all and...

A call came in recently from a woman who wanted to remind me about all the "good fruits" associated with the alleged Marian apparitions at Medjugorje. You know, the thousands of confessions and conversions, rosaries and other prayers prayed, and even numerous priestly vocations which are attributed to men having made a pilgrimage there. Well . . . I don't deny that there are good "fruits" associated with Medjugorje, but even so, I am strongly disinclined to believe that it is the site of authentic Marian apparitions. And, as I explained to the caller, I personally do not agree that...

SPRINGFIELD - An image many of the faithful took as a miraculous manifestation of the Virgin Mary is fading from the window at Mercy Hospital where it appeared in September 2008. The rainbow-hued image is slowly being replaced by a white crystalline residue, said Mark M. Fulco, senior vice president for strategy and marketing at Mercy. The fading bolsters expert opinion that the image was caused by moisture infiltrating between the panes of glass through a faulty rubber seal. Now that the window has been removed and stored, the water is evaporating and leaving behind the white residue. Fulco said...

Dear prayer partners, Our dear marysecretary had a successful kidney transplant surgery early this morning. Her pastor reports: "From: Jerry S. Subject: Mary's Surgery Date: Friday, November 6, 2009, It is 4:45 am we just got home the hospital; Mary’s surgery went well, she now has a new kidney and the doctor seemed please with the results. Thank you very much for your prayers and please keep them up because there is a long road to recovery, also keep Richie in your prayers that he can get some rest. You prayer warriors are much appreciated, may God’s blessing be upon...

"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” – Mary worshipping God in Luke 1:46–47 Mary was simply a very godly young woman who loved the Lord and trusted in Him despite great risk to her own reputation. She repeatedly appears as a devout woman who loved God and was a loving mother to Jesus. Contrary to some aberrant teaching, she did not remain a virgin, but mothered other sons such as James and Jude, who visited Jesus with Mary during His ministry (Matthew 12:46; Mark 3:31–35; Luke 8:19–21) and later became pastors who penned...

The calendar has been produced by the Madrid Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual collective COGAM Controversy in Madrid with the launch of a 2010 lay calendar which shows images of ‘transsexual virgins’ recreating religious scenes decorated with crowns, condoms and phallic symbols. The lay calendar takes the religion out of the dates of the year, so Christmas Day becomes the day you eat the traditional Spanish turron to mark International Democracy Day, for example. The images are all based on famous Catholic images and iconography. The Venezuelan photographer who assembled the calendar, Juan Antinoo, had been commissioned by COGAM, the...

In 1994, after intense study, discussion, and prayer, we issued a statement titled “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium.” In 1997, we bore common witness to “The Gift of Salvation,” underscoring God’s unmerited justification of sinners because of the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, true God and true man, and our only hope of salvation. In our third statement, “Your Word is Truth” (2002), we affirmed a convergence in our understanding of the transmission of God’s saving Word through Holy Scripture and tradition, which is the lived experience of the community of faith under the...

Yesterday was the anniversary of the Fatima apparitions. The actual event took place on October 13th, 1917, in Fatima, Portugal. I have written extensively on this subject and although I didn’t BLOG on it yesterday, I will do so today. I received a comment from Matt, who pointed me to the trailer, for the up and coming movie about Fatima. Thanks Matt! www.the13thday.com Here’s a thumbnail sketch of the events of Fatima. According to those who witnessed it, the Virgin Mary appeared to three children on October 13. Upwards of 70,000 people had waited for her appearance and the promised...

What is your first response when you hear someone refer to the mother of Jesus Christ as the “Co-redemptrix�? Extreme? Excessive pietism, even if well-intended? Heresy? Only Jesus is the Redeemer. If not directly heresy, then extremely dangerous? At least anti-ecumenical? At best confusing?Witness of the Saints Now let’s look at some people who have in fact called the Virgin Mary the Co-redemptrix: John Paul II (on six different occasions); Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta; St. Padre Pio, stigmatic wonder worker of the 20th century; Sr. Lucia, the Fatima visionary; St. Francis Cabrini, the first American citizen to be canonized;...

  Many of our Protestant friends appreciate Mary in a way their ancestors didn't. This is a good thing. Some of them even like her a lot, and in a way that their ancestors would denounce. This is an even better thing. But there are limits, which too many Catholics just can't see.   By "Protestant" I'm thinking particularly of our Evangelical friends who are, in doctrinal seriousness and many other ways, close to us. For centuries they simply ignored Mary, even at Christmas. The only time they thought of her in any substantial way was when they were...

The Rosary and MeA young man, nineteen years old, trudges up a hill in Berkeley, California. Asked by his parents to leave his New York home, he hitchhiked across the country with a friend. He has moved from crash pad to crash pad, and slept in backyards and in the grassy hills behind the University. He has been taken in by an Episcopal priest and his wife, and gets room and board in exchange for house-cleaning and baby-sitting. His lips move as he climbs, and in his hand is a cheap rosary.

When Oakland’s Bishop Salvatore Cordileone visited Berkeley’s Jesuit School of Theology at the Graduate Theological Union on September 22, he was greeted by approximately 20 protestors. The protestors were seminarians and faculty from the theological union’s schools. The bishop was there to commemorate the merging of the Jesuit school with Santa Clara University. The protesters were there to oppose Bishop Cordileone for his defense of natural marriage. According to the QueerToday.com website, protestors included Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, president of the Starr King (Unitarian Universalist) School of Ministry; Rev. Roland Stringfellow, the organizer of the GTU’s Center for Lesbian and...

The Wilton Diptych (The following from a pamphlet titled "Walsingham: The Shrine of Our Lady - Spiritual Guide," which I obtained on a trip to the shrine of Our Lady in Walsingham, England in September 2004). "On the Sunday after Corpus Christi 1381 in Westminster Abbey, King Richard II knelt amidst a great throng of his subjects to re-dedicate England to Mary, as her dowry. Westminster was the shrine of St. Edward the Confessor, traditionally held to have been the first to make this dedication and in whose reign Walsingham had been founded. Richard made at least two pilgrimages at...

Pope Benedict XVI Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug 23, 2009 / 09:45 am (CNA).- Before Sunday’s Angelus prayer with pilgrims in the courtyard of Castel Gandolfo, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about today’s Gospel, in which Jesus' teaching about his presence in the Eucharist is met with resistance from the Jews and his own disciples. Followers of Christ must respond to his challenging teachings with lifelong commitment instead of trying to adapt his teachings to the fashions of the times, the Pope said."The fourth Evangelist,” Pope Benedict explained, “relates the reaction of the people and disciples, shocked by the words of...

THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY A Roman Catholic Dogma Originating with Heretics and Condemned as Heretical by 2 Popes in the 5th and 6th Centuries. By William Webster The Roman Catholic doctrine of the assumption of Mary teaches that she was assumed body and soul into heaven either without dying or shortly after death. This extraordinary claim was only officially declared to be a dogma of Roman Catholic faith in 1950, though it had been believed by many for hundreds of years. To dispute this doctrine, according to Rome’s teaching, would result in the loss of salvation. The official teaching of...

...The “Fiat” is more than a prayer and the “Magnificat” more than a hymn of praise. Together they constitute a lesson book, a guide, for our own lives. This lesson book is desperately needed by Christians, indeed all people of good will, in an age characterized by pride and arrogance. The pattern of the life of Mary, the first disciple of the Lord, reveals a trajectory of surrendered love. If we embrace the mystery of Mary, we will find the meaning of our own lives. We were created out of Love, in Love and for Love. As the beloved disciple...

Cover of the January 1922 issue of St. Maximilian's 'The Knight of the Immaculate' periodical, depicting Our Lady 'flanked by two swords impaling the serpents and propaganda of heresy and Masonry' [taken from Fr. Angelo Mary Geiger's Mary Victrix blog] [The following is excerpted from "Kolbe: Saint of the Immaculata," edited by Brother Francis M. Kalvelage, FI.] "Maximilian's secret weapon...is a medal of Mary that is really no secret. It just seems though it is, as it isn't being used and propagated as St. Maximilian would have us use it in bringing souls to Christ." "The Medal of the Immaculate...

The sponsor of the anti-Semitic hate fests known as Durban I and Durban II, Mary Robinson, can't stand even the slightest criticism of her receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama. Stephen O'Farrell of the Irish Independent (Mary Robinson is Irish) reports her viewpoint: FORMER President Mary Robinson accused "certain elements" of the Jewish community of bullying after a number of pro-Israel lobby groups voiced concerns over her being awarded the top US civilian honour. ....

The Fruits of the Mysteries of the Rosary When I was growing up, my mother and I would say the rosary every day together. Before each decade, she would announce the mystery and the fruit, or virtue, associated with it. I have continued the practice of saying the rosary in my adult life. Indeed, it is one of my favorite devotions and can’t imagine life without it. I do remember all the mysteries of the original Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious sets of five decades. It took me a while, but I even managed to memorize the Luminous Mysteries established by...

The Allure of Lourdes Written by John Horvat    Friday, July 31, 2009 A Place of Violent ContrastMy first impression of Lourdes was that it is a place of dramatic contrast, born of violence and extremes. I found it unexpectedly dramatic. The rocky foothills of the Pyrenees are filled with abrupt cliffs, mysterious caves and scraggly brush. The River Gave rapidly flows with violent intensity. While praying at the Grotto, it was not uncommon to feel sudden gusts of strong winds that added to the sense that something different and important was happening there. The intensely hot sun of...

Mary 759. Let us turn from your dogma of Christ to those dogmas concerning your goddess Mary. It would be mortal sin for any Catholic to regard Mary as a goddess. If a Catholic expressed such a belief to a Priest in confession he would be refused absolution unless he promised to renounce such an absurd idea. If you wish to attack Catholic doctrine, at least find out what Catholics do believe before you begin. 760. If you call her Queen of Heaven do you not do her an injustice in refusing to her the title of goddess? It would...

One would think it impossible to spill any more ink about the Blessed Virgin Mary, judging from the number of Marian titles on the shelf at a local Catholic bookstore. But when popular Catholic author Mark Shea was considering entering the Church, there were no comprehensive titles where he could address his concerns as an evangelical Protestant about Catholic Marian doctrine and devotion. Twenty years later, that book was still missing from the shelves, so Shea set out to write it. The result is Mary, Mother of the Son, a three-volume apologetics tool published by Catholic Answers. Shea is...

Q. Why do Catholics pray to Mary, instead of God? A. When we say the Hail Mary or the Rosary, we don't pray to Mary as we pray to God; we are asking her to pray, or intercede, for us-"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death". As Christians, we are all, including Mary, praying to the Father through Jesus. Christians, including Catholics, are all agreed that there is one Mediator between god and man, the Man Jesus Christ (1 Tim.2:5). Prayer is essentially a dialogue between man and God....

As you probably know, this is our third installment in a series of five sessions that we are spending together discussing how to answer common objections, questions regarding key tenets that are distinctive to the Catholic Church. We have focused upon the Pope and yesterday we looked at purgatory. This morning we want to focus on Mary and the Marian doctrines and devotions of the Catholic Church to see where in scripture do we see, not necessarily logical demonstrations that are brought forth from proof texts that kind of force the mind against the will to give in and...

MT. LEBANON, Pa. -- A Virgin Mary statue in a Mount Lebanon church has been knocked over and broken by vandals who also used orange paint to write "666" on the statue's forehead. Police are searching for those who vandalized the grotto in St. Bernard Church Saturday morning, police said. The Rev. David Bonnar said it was "a really horrific act."

VATICAN - Pope concludes Month of Mary in the Vatican Gardens: “In Mary's school we too learn to recognize the Holy Spirit's presence in our life, to listen to his inspirations and to follow them with docility.” Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – On the evening of Saturday, May 30, in the Vatican Gardens, there was a procession with the recitation of the Holy Rosary, to conclude the Month of May, Month of Mary. At the end of the celebration. At the close of the celebration, which was presided by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Vicar General of His Holiness for Vatican City...

Statue of Our Lady, Help of Christians, with rhododendron blossoms, Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, USA, as posted on America Needs Fatima blog (The following is excerpted from the 24 May entry in Volume VIII of the 1983 Marian House edition of the English translation of Dom Prosper Guéranger's 'The Liturgical Year' by the Benedictines of Stanbrook.) "...Ever since our entrance upon the joys of the Pascal season....there has not been a single feast our blessed Lady to gladden our hearts by telling us of some mystery or glory of this august Queen....It would seem as though Holy Church wished to honour,...

Thousands of pro-life Catholics have called on Father John Jenkins, President of Notre Dame University, to rescind his invitation to President Barck Obama as commencement speaker this Sunday. The faithful are offended that the University is bestowing an honorary Doctor of Laws on a president whose policies, political and judicial appointments are the most pro-abortion of any president in history. Few really expected Jenkins to do so. But what should Obama have done? Notre Dame University bears the name of the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, a wonderful, courageous, and wise woman. The only recorded advice that Mary ever...

The origins of devotion to Our Lady, under the invocation Help of Christians dates back to 1571. In that crucial year, Christians and Turks met in the largest naval battle ever. The great Pope Saint Pius V had labored for years to get the Catholic League together and in fighting shape. On October 7, 1571, 210 Catholic ships, mostly Spanish and Venetians, opposed 290 Turkish ships. The Catholics won a spectacular victory under the leadership of the Spanish Prince Juan of Austria. The Catholic descriptions of the battle differ from the Turkish in one main point: Muslim sources say during...

The Catechism of St. Thomas Aquinas THE HAIL MARY THE ANGELIC SALUTATION This salutation has three parts. The Angel gave one part, namely: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women."[1] The other part was given by Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, namely: "Blessed is the fruit of thy womb."[2] The Church adds the third part, that is, "Mary," because the Angel did not say, "Hail, Mary," but "Hail, full of grace." But, as we shall see, this name, "Mary," according to its meaning agrees with the words of the Angels.[3]...

He was on the ropes. He was millions in debt. A huge corporation was trying to take his patent, ruin his company, and break him legally. His marriage was full of tension. He wore a pattern on his kitchen floor, pacing. So desperate was Louis P. Saia III that he thought of stalking the executives trying to break him. There was nothing left for him and his wife (even his lawyers were dropping him) and he was so beside himself with anxiety -- an upheaval he describes as nearly worse than if a loved one died -- that he could...

THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY By Father Paul A. Duffner, O.P. THE MEANING OF THE WORD "HEART" IN CHRISTIAN PIETY Human life is dependent, in a special way, on the proper functioning of the heart. By its pulsations every minute of the day and night, blood is circulated to every part of the body. If it ceases to function for but a short period death follows. Yet, unceasing as is its beat, as a rule we are unaware of the heart’s activity, sending life-sustaining blood to every limb and organ. While the heart controls the flow of blood through the...

Last night, the Office or Mission and Ministry sent out a campus-wide email alerting the student body that an unknown suspect had vandalized the statue of Mary that stands on Copley Lawn by painting its face black. From the looks of the email, (”we do not know the motivation of the person or persons who painted the face, nor whether they are members of the University community or not”), nothing seems to be known about the perpetrator. According to the email, the incident happened “late last week” and the Department of Public Safety is investigating. The OMM also said they...

An amazing story of a personal encounter with the Blessed Mother. In this show, you'll hear Julie’s touching story. She was living with her boyfriend, but Mary and the Rosary helped bring her back to the Eucharist... ...and you'll hear from Beau. Through Mary's simple command to listen, she helped him hear God's voice.

Catholics and Christians in Mexico have expressed outrage over Playboy’s latest cover. The shot feature a model wearing a white head covering and nothing more in front of a stained-glass window, an obvious attempt to evoke the Madonna (the original, not the singer) at the time Mexican Catholics celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Fox News was all over this story, to no one’s surprise: I suppose I should be outraged as well, but honestly, Playboy and the rest of the porn industry stopped surprising me years ago. Their hostility towards religion has been obvious for a long...

A Baby Changes Everything. My Christmas wish to FreeRepublic. Merry Christmas.

“What Sort of Greeting Might This Be?” (Luke 1:26-38)Every year on the Fourth Sunday in Advent, the Holy Gospel is a reading about Mary. Last year it was the message to Joseph that Mary would bear a son. Next year it will be Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth. This year it is the Annunciation to Mary herself that she will conceive in her womb and bear a son. So each year on this Sunday we hear something about Mary becoming the mother of our Lord, which is most fitting on the Sunday closest to Christmas. As I say, our text today...

BBC has got a Muslim trying to rewrite historic Jewish Jesus from Judea (attempting -- to no avail -- to "Arabize"& confuse JUDEA with Arabia...). Accompanied with a typical Islamic-bigotry's bombarding propaganda of the "bad" Israelis that dare to try fight the Arab Muslim (invaders) that terrorize the Jews (with security checkpoints). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7784227.stm BBC's Aleem Maqbool: The road to Bethlehem

Archaeologists have discovered vases of perfumed ointment which may have been used by Mary Magdalene to anoint the feet of Jesus. The Italian team have been digging for several months at the ancient Palestinian town of Magdala – from where Mary gets her name. The archaeologists of the Franciscan academic society Studium Biblicum Franciscanum found the unopened vases dating to the first century AD conserved in mud at the bottom of a swimming pool in Magdala's thermal complex. The town is on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee and Mary Magdalene is mentioned several times throughout the Bible....

An image of a very pregnant Mary, the mother of Jesus, looks down on Old Town from a billboard on West Burnside Street and Northwest Third Avenue. In the weeks before Christmas, she is a reminder of the approaching celebration of her son's birth. She's also a testament to a Milwaukie woman's deeply held beliefs. "I'm not political," says Valerie Aschbacher, who commissioned the sculpture that was photographed for the billboard. "Mary's not political. She's an image of the gospel of life." Many people would not agree. They see life -- when it begins and how it ends -- as...

Mary Worship Still Alive in Catholicism10/21/2008 - Tur8infan Benedict XVI is reported (link to report) as recently praying to Mary: "We implore you to have pity today on the nations that have gone astray, on all Europe, on the whole world, that they might repent and return to your heart," the text of the prayer reads. This is a prayer that is openly idolatrous. Mankind needs to turn, not to the heart of Mary, but to the Son of Mary, Jesus Christ the Righteous. The true and proper object of worship is God alone. Matthew 4:10 Then saith Jesus...

Question: Do Presbyterians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus? A friend of mine said the Presbyterian church did not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus from Mary. She said that Joseph was the biological father. I am sure she is mistaken but would like a clarification on the doctrine of the Presbyterian church on this. Answer:Thank you for your fine question. Your instincts were correct; we do firmly believe that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit. We affirm with the Nicene Creed: "We believe ... in one Lord Jesus Christ, ... who...

On this day when the Church’s liturgy celebrates the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Gospel you have just heard reminds us of the meaning of this great mystery: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that men might be saved (cf. Jn 3:16). The Son of God became vulnerable, assuming the condition of a slave, obedient even to death, death on a cross (cf. Phil 2:8). By his Cross we are saved. The instrument of torture which, on Good Friday, manifested God’s judgement on the world, has become a source of...

[A true friend of mine, whom I've known for just over a year, gave me a present, in true Hobbit form, at her birthday party this month. The present, a sixty-year-old book, is a 1948 reprint of a 1914 edition of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, printed by E.J. Dwyer, an Australian publisher. Not only does it have the all the prayers of the Little Office, it contains something I had never seen before, a commentary on the prayers themselves. She knew that I would greatly appreciate this book, and I am truly grateful that she...

The story of Mary will be told once again this Christmas time. But what is the Bible's teaching about Mary? The biblical viewpoint The Bible believes in a Divine Saviour, and a Divine Saviour can be expected to come in a remarkable way. It is a presupposition of New Testament thought which needs no argument, nor many references. The only accounts we have in the New Testament of the virgin conception of Jesus appear in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Luke was a medical doctor (Colossians 4:14) and in the course of his careful research (Luke 1:1-4) he probably...

The Birth of the Virgin Mary - Esteban Murillo (Louvre, Paris)   Thy birth, O Virgin Mother of God, heralded joy to all the world. For from thou hast risen the Sun of justice, Christ our God. Destroying the curse, He gave blessing; and damning death, He bestowed on us life everlasting. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. For from thou hast risen of Sun of justice, Christ our God. ­ from The Divine Office - Matins (Morning Prayer)The Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been celebrated in...

An argument FOR Perpetual Virginity from Epiphanius of Salamis (1) I finally had some time to closely work through the argumentation in favor of Mary's perpetual virginity from Epiphanius of Salamis (310/320-403). I'd like to present some of his arguments. With the one below, I'm not going to comment on it, but let it stand as it is. The argument though concludes, "the holy Virgin cannot have had marital relations." 12.1 But if we need to take the matter [Mary's perpetual virginity] up from another point of view, let's examine the findings of the naturalists. They say that a lioness...

24 star Mary Lynn Rajskub gave birth to a baby boy, Valentine Anthony, Thursday – almost two weeks after her due date, her rep Courtney Knittel confirms exclusively to PEOPLE. "It was like an episode of 24 with the clock ticking," jokes Rajskub. Valentine, who weighed in at 9lbs., 5oz., is the first child for Rajskub, 37, and her boyfriend Matthew Rolph, 28, a physical trainer.

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - This year 2008, the Marian Shrine of Lourdes is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In these 150 years pilgrims have continued to flock to this place of grace, to honour the Mother of God. All the many places “visited” by Our Lady have a special mysterious touch of her presence in our midst. Our Lady seems to make a continual visitation to peoples and nations and now and then she stays a while, just as she went to her cousin Elisabeth and remained with her for three...