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Rebutting claims in Noonan's Wall Street Journal column, the New York Archdiocese goes on the offensive.Church closures are a sad, increasingly predictable fact of life in some U.S. dioceses, and that is not news to Peggy Noonan, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal and a parishioner at the Church of St. Thomas More on Manhattan's tony Upper East Side. But Noonan ruffled feathers in the local chancery when she argued in a Dec. 26 column that Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York had no good reason for floating a proposal to shutter the church she attends. With its standing-room...

The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kindgom of heaven. - Matt. 5:3 Before the Lord God made man upon the earth He first prepared for him by creating a world of useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and delight. In the Genesis account of the creation these are called simply "things." They were made for man's uses, but they were meant always to be external to the man and subservient to him. In the deep heart of the man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come....

(Editor’s Note: Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, who previously served as Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome from June 2008 until November 2014, recently visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis. Prior to that he served as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Mo., and as Bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse, during which time he founded the Shrine. His Eminence granted an interview to The Wanderer on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe during which he shared his insights...

So you’ve vowed to up your intake of kale and have signed up for yoga to kick off the New Year. But has your spiritual life been part of your New Year’s resolutions? Here are a few ideas of small, practical steps you can take to get spiritually stronger in 2015.1. Daily Mass. If you don’t go at all, try going one day a week. If you go one day a week, try two. If you go every day….well, good job.“The best way to economize time is to ‘lose’ half an hour each day attending Holy Mass.” - Frederic Ozanam 2....

REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi Pope Francis kisses the statue of baby Jesus as he arrives to lead the New Year mass in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Jan. 1, 2015. The Catholic world is awed by the simplicity, humility, and heart for the poor of His Holiness, Pope Francis.Images of him embracing a boy suffering from cerebral palsy, hugging children and the disabled, walking to greet the crowd, reaching out to non-Catholics, reforming the Roman Curia, kissing a man afflicted with a rare disease, his telephone calls and tweets, and selfies with the people, have endeared him to the people...

We are very close to the new year, 2015 AD. And most of us at the new year have it in mind to pray for the future year not only for ourselves, but also for our family, country, and culture. With that in mind, there is something of an admonition to us all that I would share from Scripture. For while we look to the new year with hope, we do well to soberly assess the warnings of God that are seemingly more applicable than ever. Above all we must pray so as to avoid the otherwise necessary chastisements of...

I meant everything I wrote in my last post about the Consecration of Russia. I believe it is accomplished and was fully accepted. But it would not surprise me or be at all inconsistent with how God works if the consecration turned out to be ongoing – and that there was to be a final consecration of Russia individually by name before the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart. What I know is that God always accomplishes His will, sometimes through our stumbling efforts, sometimes despite them. So I don’t worry much about it. Truth is, I had an ulterior motive....

(Vatican Radio) The number of Catholics in the world has increased with growth registered across all five continents. The figures are taken by the Fides news agency from the latest edition of the Church’s Book of Statistics updated to 31 December 2012. These show that on that date the number of Catholics in the world stood at 1,228,621,000 with an overall increase of more than 15,000,000 compared to the previous year. The Americas and Africa registered the biggest increases followed by Asia, Europe and Oceania. The world percentage of Catholics stood at 17.49 %, a decrease of 0.01% compared to...

Bishops appeal for change in report prepared for the first family synodMost German bishops now believe that divorced and remarried Catholics should be allowed to receive Holy Communion, according to a new report published by the German bishops’ conference. In late December, the bishops published “Theologically Responsible and Pastorally Appropriate Ways for Accompanying the Divorced and Remarried” on the bishops’ conference website. Matthias Kopp, spokesman for the Bonn-based bishops’ conference, said: “This document contains reflections only and has no juridical power.” He said the German bishops’ conference hopes “to offer its own theological contribution in this area. While we can...

 Investor’s Business Daily notes the stark chilling nature of Pope’s upcoming climate push. It’s anything but Catholic. Pope Francis' recent leftist statements should trouble Catholics and non-Catholics alike, but even more disturbing are the pope's latest declarations on the dramatic action needed to fight climate change. The Vatican apparently now has been infiltrated by followers of a radical green movement that is, at its core, anti-Christian, anti-people, anti-poor and anti-development. The basic tenets of Catholicism — the sanctity of human life and the value of all souls — are detested by the modern pagan environmentalists who worship the created, but...

The establishment of a pro-life centre to assist pregnant women in crisis has resulted in the lives of more than 100 babies being saved in the past two years. That's according to the operators of the Holy Innocents Crisis Centre, which was set up after a heated national debate on abortion in 2009. At that time, pro-lifers - persons opposed to abortion - and pro-choice lobby groups sought to provide convincing arguments for their positions in Parliament. Among the pro-lifers was prominent philanthropist Father Richard Ho Lung, who decided to start the Holy Innocents Crisis Centre at National Heroes Circle...

Newsweek magazine decided to greet the start of 2015 with a massive cover story on the Bible. For decades now, major newsmagazines have tended to feature cover articles timed for Christmas and Easter, taking an opportunity to consider some major question about Christianity and the modern world. Leading the journalistic pack for years, both TIME and Newsweek dedicated cover article after article, following a rather predictable format. In the main, scholars or leaders from very liberal quarters commented side-by-side those committed to historic Christianity on questions ranging from the virgin birth to the resurrection of Christ. When written by journalists...

An interview with Fr. George Rutler, pastor of the Church of St. Michael in New York City, and noted author and commentatorRev. George William Rutler, 69, is pastor of the Church of St. Michael in New York City. He was raised in the Episcopal tradition while growing up in the Northeast, and served nine years as an Episcopal priest. He converted to Catholicism in 1979, and was ordained a priest in 1981. He has served in a variety of parishes in New York, and as chaplain for many organizations, including Legatus, an organization for Catholic business leaders. He has served...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uESf7la8C80&list=PLCIlBJSHXyrrhBeYGilqH9S5DgotIqAR8&index=13

Iranian pastor Behnam Irani is being held in solitary confinement and is facing 18 new charges, including "spreading corruption on Earth," which is a capital crime. This is similar to "Moharabeh," or "warring against God," which was recently charged to another Christian, Pastor Matthias Haghnejad. Pastor Irani was arrested in December 2006, and sentenced in 2011 to six years imprisonment for "action against the state" and "action against the order." The fresh charges appear to be part of a surge in repression under the Rouhani presidency targeting religious and ethnic minorities. In June, Pastor Irani was removed from prison and...

Atrocities by the Islamic State (ISIS) are softening the hearts of Muslims to Christianity, and evangelistic techniques and technologies are proving effective, but locally-based missionaries say the main reason for the spike in conversions in the Middle East is simply that former Muslims are finding God is real. In war-torn areas of Syria and Iraq where ISIS is fighting to establish a caliphate, Muslim refugees to neighboring countries, Internally Displaced People and people remaining at home are learning about Christ from native aid workers, podcasts and broadcasts. Tent churches among refugees are sprouting like mushrooms. For people who have suffered...

In a few days Georgia Walker, at age 67, intends to become a priest, at which point she will be excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. That doesn’t faze her. “I don’t accept the legitimacy of that excommunication,” said Walker, who will be the first woman in Kansas City to defy the church and be ordained a priest. The church in turn will not accept the legitimacy of her ordination because, under canon law, only men can be priests. “That’s their problem,” Walker said of the church. That steadfastness is a trait of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests,...

Mary Wagner was arrested Tuesday morning after entering the Bloor West Village Women’s Clinic. Mary entered the abortion facility around 9:15 a.m., with pairs of white and red roses with attached pregnancy support hot-line cards. She had pro-life counselling pamphlets available to give to the women who were scheduled for abortions that hour. It did not take very long for the police to arrive, three cruisers within 35 minutes. Mary was arrested and handcuffed around 10:00 a.m. Several supporters were outside on the sidewalk, praying and distributing pro-life pamphlets to the general public. One of the supporters, Father Paul Nicholson...

Pope Francis delivers his first Sunday Angelus on March 17, 2013. Credit: InterMirifica.net. Vatican City, Dec 26, 2014 / 10:21 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis marked the feast day of Saint Stephen on Dec. 26, noting that the martyrdom of the early Church saint helps prevent the Christmas season from being reduced to a trivial celebration. “The Gospel of this feast gives a part of Jesus’ discourse to his disciples in the moment in which He sends them on mission. Among other things, He says, 'You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the...

Syrian refugee and Caritas Jordan volunteer Amer Fahd Al Naser, his wife Noor, and their sons, at their apartment in Jordan, October 2014. Credit: Kevin Jones/CNA. Beirut, Lebanon, Dec 26, 2014 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic participation in refugee and humanitarian relief in the Syrian civil war is strengthening a foundation for future peace despite the great difficulties of the region, says an official of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. “The Church is a very big player in the humanitarian efforts,” said Monsignor Giampietro Dal Toso, the pontifical council’s secretary. “The fact that we are helping the whole population...