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Unintended Consequences: How the “relevant” church and segregating youth is killing Christianity. I recently spent six-months doing a rotation as a hospital chaplain. One day I received a page (Yes, hospitals actually still use pagers). Chaplains are generally called to the rooms of people who look ill: People gray with kidney disease, or yellow with liver failure, discouraged amputees, nervous cancer patients. In this room, however, was a strikingly attractive 23 year-old young lady sitting up cheerfully in the hospital bed, holding her infant daughter and chatting with family and friends. Confused, I stepped outside and asked her nurse, “Why...

Father Patrick Dowling. Courtesy of the Diocese of Jefferson City. Jefferson City, Mo., Aug 12, 2013 / 02:12 pm (CNA).- The mysterious Missouri priest who gave anointing to a woman in her wrecked car near Center, Mo. has been identified as Father Patrick Dowling, of the Diocese of Jefferson City. “I thank God and the amazingly competent rescue workers,� Fr. Dowling stated today in a comment on CNA's original article on the Aug. 4 incident. “I thank them for making me welcome in such a highly charged situation and allowing me to minister as a priest.� Katie Lentz was trapped...

A comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion. Christians are also geographically widespread – so far-flung, in fact, that no single continent or region can indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity. A century ago, this was not the case. In 1910, about two-thirds of the world’s Christians lived in Europe, where the bulk of Christians had been for a millennium, according to historical estimates by the Center for the Study...

He writes: - A Pentecostal church in the favela is located in front of the place the Pope spoke to the people. This church lead a vigil the whole night before the visit making a lot of noise and pestering the neighbours as a form of protest and resistance against the Pope’s presence in the community. When the Pope arrived, he saw the church and said “let’s go there to salute them�. He went to the church, praised the pastors, prayed a Our Father together with them saying that we all who follow Christ are His children. The church then...

Michele Ferri is the brother of 51-year-old Andrea, a petrol station manager who was allegedly gunned down by two men including one young employee he treated like a son. The death shocked the north-eastern town of Pesaro. Michele Ferri wrote a letter to the Pope telling him of his inability to forgive the killers and was shocked when he picked up the telephone Wednesday evening to hear: "Ciao Michele, it's Pope Francis." At first Mr Ferri thought it was a joke but said he was overcome with emotion when he realised it was really Francis on the line from the...

Give Rachel Held Evans credit. She was able to generate a lot of discussion with her post, “Why millennials are leaving the church.” Evans’s contradictory article, however, is merely another polemic against the conservative evangelicalism she’s been battling for years. The solution to winning back? Churches just need to follow her lead and go liberal!

You are a homeless person. You are sick and you know it is bad. You stagger into the ER of St. Ipsidipsy Catholic Hospital in Tall Tree Circle. You have no insurance, health coverage, or money. You are seen by a doctor and treated.The Obama Administration then punishes the hospital for treating you, a person without government-approved obligatory Obamacare.From the Daily Caller: Obamacare installs new scrutiny, fines for charitable hospitals that treat uninsured peopleCharitable hospitals that treat uninsured Americans will be subjected to new levels of scrutiny of their nonprofit status and could face sizable new fines under Obamacare. A...

On one particular morning, just two weeks after His resurrection, Jesus stood on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. And, seeing the Apostles in a boat just off shore he said, Little Children, Have you caught anything? (John 21:5).It is a rather strange way to speak to grown men: “Little Children� (παιδία = paidia = little ones, children, infants, the diminutive of pais (child), hence “little ones�). And yet how deeply affectionate it is.We often think of ourselves in grander terms, terms that bespeak power, wisdom, age and strength. But I suspect that, to God, we must always seem...

At a special ceremony on July 6, Pope Francis briefly met with clergy and officials who, over the past two years, have been involved in the diocesan phase of the beatification process of Vietnamese Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan.Cardinal Van Thuan spent 13 years in prison, nine of them in solitary confinement in Hanoi, following his appointment as coadjutor archbishop of Saigon just seven days before South Vietnam fell to the Communist North in 1975.He was released in 1988 and Pope John Paul II called him to Rome, where he eventually became president of the Pontifical Council for Justice...

Thomas Peters of Catholic Vote in May 2012. Credit: Michelle Bauman/CNA. Washington D.C., Aug 9, 2013 / 05:51 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A young Catholic blogger known for his defense of the faith in the public square is thankful for prayers and support as he begins the long process of recovery following a severe accident. “Rehabilitation will not be easy and there are no answers for how much Thomas will be able to rehabilitate,� said Natalie Peters in a statement collaborated with Thomas, her husband. However, she told CNA that she and Thomas “have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of prayers�...

via YouTube A traffic accident and subsequent rescue mission in Missouri is getting international attention this week, not because the emergency crew was successful in saving a woman's life -- but because a mysterious priest allegedly appeared seemingly out of nowhere to calmly offer a prayer. And then he disappeared. The New London Fire Department is calling it the "Highway 19 Miracle." The case of this "mysterious priest" is already going viral, with USA Today referencing the appearance of an "angel" and the Daily Mail referring to the "riddle of the angel priest." "God's Country?" says the New York...

Pope Francis visits with Vatican workers on August 9, 2013. Credit: L'Osservatore Romano. Rome, Italy, Aug 9, 2013 / 09:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- This summer the Vatican is finding out what it’s like to have a Pope in residence during the hottest weeks of the year, which for Francis seems to include visiting workers and planning for the fall. On Aug. 9, Pope Francis paid a surprise visit to the area of Vatican City known as the industrial area. For the small city-state that involves a power plant, carpentry shop, warehouse, metal working shop, and the offices of the newspaper...

They work with the poorest of the poor. They've seen the effects of drugs, murder, violence, bombings and more in poverty-stricken communities in the U.S., England, Ireland, Nicaragua, and Honduras. They've experienced tough kids like those in the New York's infamous South Bronx.  But the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal had never encountered a hardness of heart like they found in the notroriously crime-ridden neighborhood of Moyross.  How do you reach out to those who are considered unreachable? Find out when EWTN airs "The Monks of Moyross," at 9 p.m. ET, Sunday, Aug. 11, with an encore 3 a.m., Monday,...

Pope Francis waves after leading the Angelus from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Aug. 4. (CNS photo/Stefano Rellandini, Reuters) (Aug. 5, 2013) By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When Pope Francis spoke to journalists about the need for a stronger Catholic pastoral approach to marriage and to divorced people, he made a parenthetical reference to how the Orthodox churches handle the breakup of marriages differently. “The Orthodox have a different practice,� he told reporters July 28 during his flight back to Rome from Rio de Janeiro. The Orthodox “follow...

Too many Catholics are uncomfortable using the biblical and traditional words, “Repent,� convert and conversion. To repent means to change your mind and come to a new way of living. To convert means to turn from sinful ways or erroneous teaching.But too many Catholics, including priests are uncomfortable using words like this. We used to speak of convert classes etc. But now many prefer abstract descriptions like, “Inquiry Classes� or the even more abstract “RCIA�Many draw back lest they seem to suggest that others are wrong, “going wrong,� need to change, or, heaven forfend, “sinful.� Words like repent and convert...

A psychologist who advised the Catholic Church committee that deals with sexual abuse says the church's insurance company dictated how victims should be treated under the Towards Healing protocol. [SNIP] ...he was disturbed by how much influence Catholic Church Insurance had in formulating the church's protocol. "When I came into the process somewhere in 1996/97, CCI was at every meeting," he said. "They either had one or two of their senior representatives, and/or a lawyer at each of the meetings I attended. "They would object to any language that was used in the Towards Healing document that would put the...

In our time, people of faith, acting on their consciences shaped by the Judeo-Christian tradition are being accused of hate. "Hate" has got to be the most overused word of our time. If someone is politically incorrect in their views, they are often falsely accused of hate. According to Webster's, hate means "To feel great hostility or animosity toward." Some atheists took offense recently to a military chaplain's quoting of the old saying, popularized by Dwight Eisenhower, "In battle, they learned the great truth that there are no atheists in the foxholes." Some atheists in the military have taken issue...

CENTER, MO. -- Rescue workers want to thank a higher power for coming to the rescue early Sunday morning. Emergency crews spent an hour and a half trying to extricate a 19-year-old Quincy woman trapped in her in crushed car on Missouri 19 near Center, Mo. The Missouri Highway Patrol said Aaron Smith, 26, crossed the center line and struck Katie Lentz head-on. Now, friends, family and those who rescued Lentz would love to find and thank a mysterious priest who they say helped make the rescue possible. New London Fire Chief Raymond Reed said rescue crews spent the first...

LOWELL — Last November, police watched a driver cruise through a neighborhood for some 20 minutes, passing a prostitute several times to get her attention. When officers pulled the man over, he initially said he was “just driving around,” according to a police report. But when police pressed him and suggested he was not being truthful, the man told officers he “wanted to just go home,” the report stated. On Sunday afternoon, police had another encounter with Monsignor Arthur M. Coyle, a high-ranking official with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, this time arresting him and accusing him of soliciting...

He was the bishop of Pyongyang. For more than sixty years he was considered "missing." But now the Holy See has made his death official, at the age of 106. To permit the opening of his cause of beatificationVATICAN CITY, August 5, 2013 - Twice a month the Vatican secretariat of state publishes modifications to the Annuario Pontificio for the current year. The booklet of last July 1 contains a curious piece of news on one of the most impenetrable countries of the globe, North Korea, which periodically makes international headlines with the threat of using nuclear weapons. The news...

Of all the challenging things Francis has said since becoming pope, none has been more quoted than this line: “How I would like a Church which is poor, and for the poor!” Simple and direct, it perfectly captures the spirit of Francis’ new pontificate. And what gives it such power and meaning is the personal witness behind it. Francis’ sparse and austere lifestyle is well-known: As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he shunned limousines and chauffeurs, opting instead for public transportation. Rather than live in the bishop’s residence, he chose a modest apartment. After becoming cardinal, he continued his own grocery...

I think this analysis suggests a positive case, in the American context at least, for a papacy that simultaneously calls U.S. Catholics away from a too-close entanglement with the fortunes and platform of the Republican Party, and that consistently reminds non-Catholics and non-Christians that there is more to Christianity than the particular set of issues that have (understandably) kept many American believers in a right-of-center political orbit. This is, again, something that the last two popes did as well — but if Pope Francis’s public profile continues to come across as more “liberal” than theirs, it might actually play a...

The Pope is soft on Islam. "It is true that the Muslim world is not totally mistaken when it reproaches the West of Christian tradition of moral decadence and the manipulation of human life." Encourages Homosexuality. "It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the church's pastors wherever it occurs." [SNIP] He is overtly humble and does not embrace his office: "The authority of the pope is not unlimited;" "The cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble worker in the Lord's vineyard....

He died because he acted like the incarnate Son of God; spoke like the incarnate Son of God What infuriated the establishment most were the claims to Lordship, the posture of authority, the exalted titles, the exercise of Messiahship, the presumed right to forgive, the way in which Jesus put himself in the center of Israel’s story, the delusions of grandeur, the acceptance of worship, and the audacity of man being God. Jesus did not die because the Jerusalem nasties couldn’t stand a souped up incarnation of Sesame Street.

From my Shamelessly Proud of Where I Came From file…a great story involving my alma mater in Maryland, St. Vincent Pallotti High School: The first two people in line arrived within 10 minutes of each other Friday evening, ready to sleep on the sidewalk overnight for free dental care at a high school in Laurel on Saturday morning.Twelve hours later, one woman was reclining in a dentist’s chair, getting a new tooth made of a synthetic composite. The other was heading home: The temporary clinic, which served 700 people Friday and Saturday, was unable to provide the treatment she needed,...

The Gospel today is not merely a warning against greed, it is an instruction on income and wealth given by Jesus to help us root out greed. As the Gospel opens the problem of greed is presented, and then a prescribed perspective about wealth is offered. Lets take a look at both parts of this gospel.I. The Problem that is Portrayed - The text begins: Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.� He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?� Then he said to the...

Q: What’s the canonical status of priests ordained by SSPX bishops, and what’s the canonical status of the sacraments they administer? –JohnA: It would have been marvelous to be able to respond to John that the priests of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) were now fully united to Rome, and thus had a status comparable to the members of any other religious institute in the Church. Sadly, however, this is not the case! While Pope Benedict was clearly hoping to reconcile the SSPX to the Church during his papacy, the fact is that this important item on his...

Singapore celebrates its 48th birthday on Aug 9, and to tie in with this, The Straits Times Photo Desk has put together 48 Singaporean Seconds, an audio-visual tribute to Singaporeans who have made this little red dot their home. We are releasing their stories and videos in the next few weeks. In the 18th instalment of our series, we talk to Sister Linda Sim. Linda Sim, 58, mission awareness coordinator When Sister Linda Sim was growing up, all she wanted to do was serve the nation. n the 1970s, she applied to the Singapore Armed Forces to be a front-line...

On March 13, 2013, around 12:25 pm, I was standing behind a podium in a classroom at the law school at the University of Colorado in Boulder. I was speaking there at the invitation of the school’s Federalist Society. Unexpectedly, in mid-sentence, my cell phone vibrated. I pulled it out of my pocket, flipped it open, and saw on the screen, “New Pope has been elected.� It was a text from my wife, Frankie, and was followed by similar texts from my three siblings and a phone call from my parents, who, wisely, don’t text. Seconds later, from the...

Those who have followed my writings and rantings over my ten or eleven years of blogging (I began blogging, ahem, when I was twelve) know that I have a few pet peeves. They include, but are not limited to, pronouncements from Hans Küng, declarations from Anne Rice, lousy music, Dan Brown novels, burnt coffee, and people who think the Oregon Ducks' (football) offense is "a gimmick". And then there is the women's ordination movement, which I find to be both completely disingenuous and hysterically ignorant. Or, as I put in a post a few years ago: Why does this rankle...

If Army chaplain Emil Kapaun served in Afghanistan today rather than Korea six decades ago, President Obama would probably give the Catholic priest discharge papers instead of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

What had been rumored for months is now fact: [01138-01.01]APPOINTMENT OF THE BISHOP OF BRIDGEPORT (USA)The Holy Father appointed Bishop of Bridgeport (USA) Bishop Frank Joseph Caggiano, until now titular Bishop of Inis Cathaig and Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn (USA). Bishop Frank Joseph CaggianoBishop Frank Joseph Caggiano was born March 29, 1959 in Brooklyn. After attending elementary school “Saints Simon and Jude� and the secondary school “Regis High School� in Manhattan, went to the “Cathedral College� in Douglaston. He studied theology at the Seminary “Immaculate Conception� in Huntington, getting the “Master of Divinity�.He was ordained a priest...

Billy Graham At my age, there are a lot of things that health and strength no longer permit me to do. Sometimes when Franklin is visiting, I jokingly offer him this advice: “Don’t get old!” But there are still many things I can do, and one of them is pray. I’ve been praying fervently that we might have a fresh spiritual awakening in America. If ever there was a time this country needed the intervention of God, it is now. We can and should pray for America as a whole, but remember that when God sets out to change a...

The convention of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is over. There were no big controversies. Virtually all of the resolutions passed, overwhelmingly, and those that didn’t were defeated overwhelmingly. No challenges to Lutheran orthodoxy even came up. The delegates were pretty much all on the same conservative page. After the jump, Lutheran journalist Mollie Hemingway writes about the difficulty religion reporters have in covering a church convention that is peaceful and non-contentious. But surely what didn’t happen is huge news for Lutherans. To be sure, issues remain, but could it be that the LCMS is getting unified again? Were any...

Chicago politicians this past weekend asked Cardinal Francis George not to pull funding from immigration campaign groups who support legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Groups that potentially could lose funding of between US$25,000 and US$30,000 a year include organizations affiliated with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Latino Union, Resurrection Project, United African Organization, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, Albany Park Neighborhood Council, ARISE Chicago, Chicago Workers Collaborative, Interfaith Leadership Project and Most Blessed Trinity. The funding for these organizations comes from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development which requires fund recipients to be compliant with Roman Catholic teachings....

The spectacle of a Pope visiting a muddy Brazilian slum in order to scold the rich has delighted most Catholics. Some traditionalists are less easily won over, however. They distrust a humility that's expressed in soundbites and photo-ops. Benedict, they point out, is just as humble a man. When Francis said last week that the Catholic Church was "perhaps too cold, too caught up with itself, perhaps a prisoner of its own rigid formulas," they take it personally. [SNIP] On the other hand… what if Francis succeeds in decontaminating the Catholic brand? Sorry about the jargon, but if Catholicism really...

Even for jaded journalists World Youth Day came as a surprise. The organization was appalling. Public transport collapsed. The ATMs ran out of money. The field where the young people were supposed to sleep overnight and attend Mass on Sunday turned into a quagmire after heavy rain. Even the mayor of Rio de Janeiro admitted that the city had scored “closer to zero than ten.”The three million young people who gathered on Rio’s famous Copacabana beach were wet, crowded, sleepless, and standing in queues for foetid portable toilets.But there were few complaints. Instead, the atmosphere was upbeat and cheerful....

The Sacred Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life issued a Decree on July 11, 2013, dissolving the General Council of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate (FFI), appointing an Apostolic Commissioner to govern the religious community, and ordering its priests to celebrate Mass in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, unless they, as individuals or as a local community, obtain express permission from the authorities for Mass in the Extraordinary Form. The new commissioner for the FFI is Capuchin Father Fidenzio Volpi. The Decree, which bears protocol number 52741/2012, was authorized by Pope Francis...

SHAANXI PROVINCE, CHINA: There's a small farming village approximately 120 kilometers west of Xian, the provincial capital of Shaanxi Province, China. Local residents live under impoverished circumstances, but even though they are poor on a materialistic level, they are wealthy beyond means when it comes to a strong spiritual faith as devout Roman Catholics. With just a population of under 10,000, the town can lay claim to 3 full-time priests, and there are over 10 male and female villagers, who have just entered into a seminary or convent. A few of them are even studying Theology in the Vatican. FReepers,...

The interview that will be making headlines around the Catholic media this morning, from John Allen in NCR: On the way to Rio de Janeiro on July 22, Pope Francis told reporters that “I don’t give interviews.” But at the end of his seven-day tour de force in Brazil, not only did the pope give an interview, it was a whopper.He took questions from reporters traveling aboard the papal plane for a full hour and twenty-one minutes, with no filters or limits and nothing off the record.Francis stood for the entire time, answering without notes, and never refusing to take...

Oh boy. There's nothing wrong with what Pope Francis said here but the words are vague enough that those who want to misconstrue them will have plenty of opportunities to do so. Yahoo News has the part in question: The National Catholic Reporter says Francis participated in a wide-ranging interview with reporters on the plane for close to 90 minutes. While he spoke openly about many church topics, Francis' most newsworthy soundbite came when he said he would not judge gay priests and seemingly opened the door for gay acceptance within the church. "When I meet a gay person, I...

Pope Francis gives the homily during the closing Mass of WYD, July 28, 2013. Credit: EWTN. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jul 28, 2013 / 08:07 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Christians are called to be disciples of Jesus with a mission, going out from their small circles to make disciples of all nations, Pope Francis taught today during the closing Mass of World Youth Day. “Jesus is speaking to each one of us, saying: 'It was wonderful to take part in World Youth Day, to live the faith together with young people from the four corners of the earth, but now you...

Katherine Bauman reads the first reading during the Mass for the Evangelization of Peoples July 28, 2013. Credit: EWTN. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jul 28, 2013 / 06:42 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The young woman who proclaimed a Scripture reading at the Papal Mass at World Youth Day said that it was an unforgettable experience that enabled her to encounter the Church in a unique way. “It was amazing to look out and see more than three million people, and to think that this is all due to 12 men who said ‘yes’ to God’s call 2,000 years ago,� said 19-year-old...

Pope Francis has made a big impact on young people at World Youth Day, they are particularly touched by his humility, simplicity and love for the poor Over three million young people from some 195 countries attended the World Youth Day in Brazil.  I spoke to many of them, and found again and again high praise for Pope Francis.  Without exception, I found that everyone is impressed by his ‘humility, his love for the poor and his insistence that the Gospel is for everyone. They are impressed too by his insistence that they are called to be ‘protagonists’ in building...

A Question for Atheists: The Book of God's Existence Atheists maintain that rejection of faith is superior to practicing faith. However, despite this commonly held view, one may at least force an atheist to admit he/she is capable of practicing faith. Simply ask this question: Suppose there exists a book simply titled "The Book of God's Existence" which, using formal logic and reasoning, proves the existence of God. However, if one who does not already believe in God reads this book that person is doomed to eternal damnation. Many prominent and vocal atheists have read the book intending to prove...

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met with the leadership of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean, CELAM, which is holding its general coordinating meeting this week. The meeting was one of two appointments expressly desired by the Holy Father outside the context of World Youth Day, during his week-long visit to Rio for the World Youth Day celebrations. The first was a visit to the Marian shrine at Aparecida. It was in Aparecida in 2007 that the CELAM bishops held their 5th General Conference, which produced a major three-part document outlining a plan for assessment of...

(Vatican Radio) Celebrating the World Youth Day Holy Mass in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, Pope Francis told those present that it was time to go and to pass on this experience to others. Addressing a crowd of over 3 million people gathered on Copacabana beachfront for the concluding Mass of the weeklong event, the Pope focused his message on the very theme chosen to run through World Youth Day: “Go and make disciples of all nations”. Listen to the report… To the millions of young people gathered to be with him, Pope Francis offered three simple ideas: “Go, do...

Polish pilgrims celebrate after hearing the news that the next World Youth Day will be hosted by Krakow, Poland in 2016. Credit: Estefania Aguirre/CNA. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jul 28, 2013 / 09:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- “The next World Youth Day in the year 2016 will be in Krakow, in Poland!� the Pope said at the close of Sunday Mass in Rio July 28. The event is sure to attract millions. Bl. Pope John Paul II was Archbishop of Krakow before his election to the papacy. The archdiocese has about 1.5 million Catholics and over 1,100 diocesan priests across 439...

Pilgrims watch as the Stations of the Cross are portrayed during World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro July 26. (CNS/Paul Haring) By Cindy WoodenCatholic News Service RIO DE JANEIRO (CNS) -- With his cross and resurrection, Christ promises to walk with and ease the burden of every suffering person, whether that suffering comes from violence, addiction, a broken family, hunger, persecution or the death of a loved one, Pope Francis said. The traditional Friday mood change of World Youth Day took place July 26 as the pope and more than 1 million young people returned to Copacabana beach...

Felipe Passos speaks at the World Youth Day 2013 prayer vigil. Credit: CTV. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jul 27, 2013 / 07:50 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The young Brazilian Felipe Passos moved the hearts of three million World Youth Day participants, including Pope Francis himself, when he told the story of how he became bound to a wheelchair and discovered “the Cross.� Felipe, 23, spoke at the World Youth Day prayer vigil July 27 at Copacabana Beach. He told how at the end of the past World Youth Day, held in Madrid in 2011, he made two spiritual promises. He promised...