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WOONSOCKET, RI, August 13, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two Rhode Island men were told by their priest that, because of their same-sex “marriage,” he could no longer give them Communion, according to local news reports. Lew Pryeor and Pierre Laveillee were “married” in 2007 and have been parishioners at Sacred Heart for two years. Lew Pryeor and Pierre Laveillee However, Fr. Brian Sistare at Sacred Heart Church has challenged the couple to conform to the Catholic Church’s teaching, which says that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. The subject reportedly arose during a meeting Pryeor had requested...

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 13, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray admitted Monday that he made the final decision to remove gospel singer Donnie McClurkin from the lineup of performers at a city-sponsored concert held Saturday at the Martin Luther King memorial in respond to complaints by gay activists. McClurkin was to have been a headline performer at the event , called “Reflections on Peace: Ghandi to King,” which marked the beginning of a planned series of events to commemorate King’s life during the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the civil rights leader’s “I Have a Dream” speech. But...

One of the many memorable scenes in David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago features Zhivago’s family fleeing the ugliness and brutality of Moscow after the Bolshevik Revolution for the tranquility of the family’s country estate in Varykino. Upon reaching the estate after an arduous journey, Zhivago’s father-in-law, Alexander Gromeko, finds the main house boarded up, with a notice affixed to the door. After reading the notice, he cannot contain his exasperation: “A body, styling itself the Yuriatin Committee of Revolutionary Justice, has expropriated my house. In the name of the people. Very well. I’m one of the people, too!”I know how Gromeko...

[ . . . ] . . . Christian authorities need to stop thinking and writing as though the categories of homosexual and Christian can be joined—as though the Church could tolerate or accommodate, or speak gently of, much less bless or sanctify, anything peculiar to the garment stained by the flesh that those who come to Christ throw off in their baptism. In that baptism we become penitents, and as such divided from our sins. St. Paul tells us here that no penitent is to be named by, identified by, what he has abjured. Those injured people who have...

The culture wars are getting hotter. �Social issues� will remain key issues in the next couple election cycles in these USA, which will probably cause a couple train-wrecks for Catholics and for libertarians… and even for Catholic Tea Party members. On that point, the great Samuel Gregg has a new book coming out (pre-order HERE) which I am reading in an advance copy.So… we track back to priest and bishops being involved in politics. Whenever a priest or a bishop enunciates clearly and accurately a teaching of the Church which would bring any sound Catholic to shun certain candidates, those...

Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? Was the most extensive judgment found anywhere in the Bible outside of the book of Revelation actually for the sin of inhospitality, not homosexuality?People find what they want in the Bible. If one looks hard enough, he can find "biblical" support for reincarnation, Eastern religions, Jesus as a guru, divorce for any reason, and flying saucers. Every cult of Christianity uses the Bible to validate its claims and so does some of the occult.It's not surprising, then, that a recent trend in biblical scholarship holds that a careful reading of Genesis in...

In a kind of follow up from yesterday’s blog on the call to repentance, it seems it might be helpful to list what the Bible describes as some of the more serious sins.One of the great deceptions of our time is that serious sin is a remote possibility for most people, and that it is only committed by very wicked people. And too many people assess their moral standing with unhelpful slogans such as “I’m basically a good person,� or “I haven’t murdered anybody.�We have to be more serious and mature in our discernment than this. Of course God does...

Again and again we see liberals and the MSM (virtually all liberal) cherry-pick a quote of Pope Francis and then run with it as if, by itself, it actually means something profoundly in harmony with their liberal agenda.I saw this on the blog of Syte Reitz. She vivisects the choice by the editors of the Wisconsin State Journal to post an editorial cartoon which aims to pit Bishop Robert Morlino (of Madison) against Pope Francis.Context: on 1 August Bp. Morlino observed his 10th anniversary of being appointed as Bishop of Madison and there were articles in the paper about him.The...

ALTOONA, WI, August 8, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Catholic parish in Wisconsin has told the Boy Scout troop it has sponsored for the last 20 years that it will have to find a new home in response to the troop’s decision to allow practicing homosexuals to join. The Boy Scouts of America voted in May to overturn its longstanding policy barring openly gay scouts, and instead allowed troops to include gay scouts if they choose. Boy Scout Troop 90, which meets at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Altoona, revised its membership policy to state that no boy could be denied...

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...

Plans by three Catholic hospital systems in Wisconsin to deny admitting privileges to doctors who perform abortions would "be in active violation of federal law," Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen's Department of Justice said in a court filing last week. Federal law "provides that hospitals accepting federal funds may not discriminate against a physician because that physician has participated in or refused to participate in abortions," the state Justice Department said in its filing in federal court. According to experts on federal law, if doctors can prove they were not granted privileges specifically because they perform the procedure, 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...

From National Catholic Reporter: Pope Francis has not mentioned traditional hot-button Catholic issues like abortion because he prefers to emphasize that Catholics “love people� and are not “mean or old-fashioned,� Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley has said.O’Malley, the only North American Francis asked to serve on a group of eight cardinals advising him on reforming the church, made the comments during a keynote address Tuesday in San Antonio at the annual convention of the Knights of Columbus.“Some people think that the Holy Father should talk more about abortion,� O’Malley told approximately 2,000 attendees, according to a copy of the remarks posted...

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...

The Bible is a book of bad news and good news. First the bad news: Human beings are sinners. Our sin separates us from a holy and righteous God, provokes his wrath, and causes us to ultimately suffer death and eternal separation from Him. (Rom. 3:23, Rom.1:18, Col.3:6). More bad news: We are without excuse. As a result of our wickedness, we have suppressed the truth about God made known to us and are deserving of his righteous wrath. (Rom. 1:16-32) That's a bitter pill to swallow, but it's not the end of the story. There is good news. The...

No sincere follower of Jesus would ever wish hatred, violence or discrimination against anyone. But behaving in a way that honors God is not the same as declaring that God must somehow changed His mind on sin. Tutu is an ardent supporter of gay rights and said that he "would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven." "No," he said, "I would say sorry – I mean, I would much rather go to the other place. I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this." The former Archbishop may have been...

That didn’t take long. Salon magazine this morning is extolling the virtues of multi-spouse marriages.Same-sex “marriage” proponents have always scoffed at the idea that redefining marriage would open the door for multi-spouse marriages. “My Two Husbands by Angi Becker Stevens, not only argues for “poly-amorous” unions but continues to scoff at the foolish “right wing” people who expected people to go there. Her article is novel only in that it also scoffs at the same-sex marriage definers who argued back that it wouldn’t.Stevens has been married for 16 years to her husband, and has now taken a boy\friend who she...

August 6, 2013 (Breakpoint) - If I asked you to name the “hot button” social issues of concern to Christians, you’d probably cite abortion and gay marriage right away. Of course, the coarse and hyper-sexualized nature of popular culture might also come to mind. But what probably wouldn’t come to mind is the high incidence of divorce. Given the clear biblical teaching on the subject and its impact on families and children, that is, to put it mildly, more than a little odd. Actually, as one Christian leader rightly puts it, our lack of attention to the subject is a...

When evangelical preachers lose their way and turn their backs on biblical Christianity, why is it they end up in the Episcopal Church? As a preacher who traveled in the opposite direction and left the Episcopal Church 22 years ago—or I should say the Episcopal Church left me—I think I have a clue. On March 18, the Huffington Post reported that Rob Bell, the one-time evangelical pastor who rejected the core of Christian faith, has endorsed homosexual marriage. Where was that endorsement made? Surprise, surprise: Grace Cathedral, the Episcopal Cathedral of the Diocese of California. Grace Cathedral is located in...

The age that saw the advent of Jesus Christ was a dark age rich in nature religions, superstitions, open intercourse with demons as well as philosophical and ethical systems encompassing the animism, sex worship and human sacrifice of the vast majority of the world to the Atomism (physical materialism) and pantheist Stoicism (spiritual materialism) of Greek nature sages, the Roman pantheon of deities and the Greek mystery religions. The darkness of sin was everywhere. Into this putrid cesspool of unfettered libido and perverted revelation came the "light that shines in darkness" (Isaiah 9:2; John 1:5), the Son of God, fully...

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A group of concerned Christians are calling on Facebook to remove a page that promotes the notion that the Virgin Mary of the Bible should have received an abortion. Titled “Virgin Mary Should’ve Aborted,” the administrator of the page claims to “explain what really happened in the biblical times, since the bible is full of lies.” With just over 3,000 ‘Likes,’ Celene Schartner of Australia says the page not only demeans what Christians believe, but it is slanderous and hateful. It diminishes the right to life of every unborn infant in its mother’s womb by its very title and statement....

A Catholic Archbishop is savaged in Belgium; protestors at a Catholic Church in Spain block exits and doors; in Chile demonstrators interrupt Mass, demolish confessionals, rip out pews and paint profane sacrilegious graffiti throughout the church. Pro-abortion feminists under the guise of promoting “choice” carried out these and other attacks in the last few months. Their actions make it seem that they have declared war on the Catholic Church with no regard for parishioners, common decency or law. Welcome to the pro-choice Jihad. Many of these radical extremists are enabled, if not directly funded, by an international cabal of pro-abortion...

<p>Imagine you and your spouse find out you're expecting. Having experienced this moment a few times, I know there's nothing quite like it. Your world changes, and within days, your child's entire biography unfolds in your mind: her first steps, first words, kindergarten, little league, ballet, high school, college, and eventually a young adult who will make you insanely proud. It's all so promising.</p>

The death of Trayvon Martin is a tragedy - an unnecessary tragedy. That the trial brought forward the reality that his death was caused by his own violent actions does not make it any less tragic - and unnecessary. To make matters infinitely worse, his death has escalated the polarization of our nation along racial and ideological lines. Some are using what they perceive as injustice to excuse their own commitment to injustice and general lawlessness - including high ranking officials in the federal government. Yet Christians and others committed to peace and a healthy culture have an opportunity to...

Christianity is not just about being happy and feeling good and being liked by others What’s at the root of this movement to back away from moral issues? Here’s what I think is the problem. When you advocate for moral causes like protecting the unborn, or school choice, or freeing the slaves, a bunch of people are not going to like you. Christians in the time of Jesus knew that being bold about their Christian convictions would make a lot of people think bad things about them – they expected it. But young evangelicals have gotten the idea that being...

The recent acquittal in the George Zimmerman case reignited a national discussion about race relations in America. There were many on one end of the spectrum, who stated the Zimmerman case typifies the lack of racial equity and justice in America for Black-americans, from the initial profiling of Trayvon Martin, the trying of his character during the legal procedure to the not-guilty verdict for Zimmerman. Others countered that Zimmerman was within his legal right to defend himself and that the case has nothing to do with race. Some even went to the extreme of saying Martin was a thug who...

If you are a believer and you are already married to someone who is an unbeliever, God's Word tells you to stay married to your spouse (see 1 Cor. 7:12,13). If on the other hand, you are a single Christian who is considering getting married to an unbeliever, don't do it. God's Word says, "Do not be unequally yoked." (2 Cor. 6:14) The most important relationship to a Christian of course is my relationship with Jesus Christ. Every other relationship is secondary. If a believer marries an unbeliever, he or she is choosing to ignore what God says about being...

Wealthy gay dad, Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, says he and his civil partner Tony will go to court to force churches to host gay weddings. He told the Essex Chronicle that he will take legal action because “I am still not getting what I want”. A Government Bill legalising gay marriage passed Parliament recently but it included measures to protect churches from being forced to perform same-sex weddings. Challenge Mr Drewitt-Barlow said: “The only way forward for us now is to make a challenge in the courts against the church. “It is a shame that we are forced to take Christians into...

From his website "Coming August 26: Exodus A dark stranger arrives in the middle of the night ripping open a centuries old wound in post-apocalyptic Harpers Ferry. Religious zealots have risen from the south conquering all that stands before them. Now Jason must help his fellow villagers escape to a land far away to preserve their culture and buy enough time to build a defense. Can they succeed without any technology in the face of a rugged American continent? Blogger and author Geoff Livingston confronts America’s worst fears with a world destroyed by technology and dominated by Christian fundamentalism. Don’t...

Catholic teaching on surrogacy is receiving reinforcement from current research. Mothers have long believed, cultures have long taught, and research has repeatedly confirmed that an emotional network links pregnant moms to their babies. If mom is happy, the preborn baby is content. When mom is anxious, the prenate shows signs of stress. What’s more, post-birth, this bio-emotional nexus—the gestational link—continues to yoke mothers to their offspring throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. It’s important, then, to investigate what happens when an enterprise like surrogacy sunders the gestational link. For the first time, a 2013 study suggests surrogate children experience greater adjustment...

NEW YORK, July 31 (By Dan Elias for RIA Novosti) - Vodka was flowing outside the Russian Consulate in New York City Wednesday – not into glasses, but onto the street. Dozens of gay rights activists cheered as bottles were dumped directly opposite the consulate building – in the latest protest against Russia’s new laws on homosexuality, which critics say are part of a broader crackdown on Russia’s gay community. The protest was organized by RUSA LGBT, an American gay rights group for Russian speakers, and Queer Nation, a New York-based organization that fights homophobia and anti-gay violence. “We’ve received...

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...

NEW YORK New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a guest Tuesday on "CBS This Morning" to discuss the pope's impromptu news conference on a papal flight the previous day, stressed that Pope Francis "would be the first to say, 'My job isn't to change church teaching; my job is to present it as clearly as possible.' " Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was asked to comment in particular on the pope's remark: "If a person is gay, seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge? They should not be marginalized. They are our brothers."...

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis’ comments on homosexuality during a press conference on the papal plane back from World Youth Day in Rio were largely misreported by the mainstream press, according to a Vatican official and a Church expert. During a surprise and wide-ranging in-flight press conference Sunday that lasted 80 minutes, Pope Francis reportedly said: “If someone is gay, and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge? We shouldn’t marginalize people for this. They must be integrated into society.� “The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well,� the Holy Father went...

It's hardly surprising that the world, especially Roman Catholics like myself, is breathlessly decoding what Pope Francis told reporters on his flight back to Rome from Brazil on Monday regarding homosexuality: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” The Pope’s remarks... hardly represent a break with Catholic church doctrine, which still condemns homosexuality. The Vatican’s catechismal stance regarding the LGBTs in our midst remains the same: The church may love the sinner, but it hates the sin. And since Francis was referring specifically to gay priests—who like other...

If President Eisenhower were alive today, the five-star general may be shocked to know that his own speeches are too offensive to be quoted in the military he used to command. A military chaplain has been taken to task for fulfilling the job description that most spiritual leaders (until recently) were hired to do: talk about faith. In a harmless post for his online website, "Chaplain's Corner," Lt. Col. Kenneth Reyes (USAF) of the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska wrote an inspirational piece called, "No Atheists in Foxholes: Chaplains Gave All in World War II." The phrase, which President Eisenhower...

Fort Collins Police are warning Catholic and Mormon churches in the area to be on alert after a threat from a "Islamic Jihadist." Police are looking for a white male in his 30s, approximately 6 feet tall and weighing 185 pounds, with brown hair, a full beard and green eyes, according to the Fort Collins Police Dept. He has threatened Catholic and Mormon churches saying "they would be destroyed."

Pope Francis has said that he does not judge homosexuals, including homosexual priests. “If they accept the Lord and have good will, who am I to judge them?” the Pope said. The Pope added that a homosexual orientation “is not the problem.” He called for charitable treatment of homosexuals, saying that they should not be marginalized. The Pope’s remarks-- made during a long and candid exchange with reporters who accompanied him on his return flight to Rome after a visit to Brazil for World Youth Day—were widely interpreted by reporters as an acceptance of homosexuals in the Catholic priesthood. But...

The UN Convention On The Rights Of The Child have backed a Mexican sexual abuse victims group that formed in response to the impending canonization of late Pope John Paul II. This is the first time a group has formed to challenge the Vatican when it comes to a person's sainthood. The current Pope Francis will now see a case that gives him a chance to reveal pressing questions about the Catholic Church's history with child sexual abuse. He has until Nov. 1 to come forward with any and all evidence pertinent to the case.

The Catholic church in Scotland faces a fresh sex-abuse crisis involving some of the country's senior clerics. The Observer has seen documents suggesting a scandal similar to the one that led to the resignation of Cardinal Keith O'Brien as Archbishop of Edinburgh and St Andrews. As a seminarian, a priest known as "Father Michael", who wishes to remain anonymous while an appeal to Rome is made, said he was sexually assaulted by a parish priest, Father Paul Moore. Father Michael said the church failed to deal appropriately with his complaint over a 17-year period, and that he is now being...

Promoting acceptance of sexual behavior has replaced the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the primary mission. On the one hand, the world will never be satisfied–until Christians completely renounce their faith. More importantly, the Lord will never bless such unfaithfulness to Him and His Word. We see from the sad example of what’s happened to the ELCA–the biggest split in American church history–that whatever churches and other organizations such as the Boy Scouts imagine they will gain by giving in to the world is dwarfed by what they will surely lose.

South Africa's Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu says he will never worship a "homophobic God" and will rather go to hell. The retired archbishop was speaking at the launch of a UN-backed campaign in South Africa to promote gay rights. Despite sex-same relationships being legal in South Africa, it had some of the worst cases of homophobic violence, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said. Archbishop Tutu, 81, is a long-standing campaigner for gay rights. 'Toilet brush attack' He retired as Archbishop of Cape Town in 1996, but has remained the moral conscience of the nation, correspondents say. Same-sex...

The Pope and Abortion in Brazil Brazilian president is about to enact pro-abortion law, and the pope does not know about it By Julio Severo A bill protecting victims of sexual violence was passed by stealth in the Brazilian Congress recently. There is no problem in laws protecting such victims. But pro-abortion groups praised it because it will effectively legalize abortion in Brazil. It will enforce another law that says that to get an abortion is enough for a woman to say that she was a victim of rape. There is no need of medical and legal evidence. Any...

Cardinal Raymond Burke ROME, July 26, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - America’s most senior Vatican prelate says the “moral corruption� of our time is “strictly correlated� with the abuses in the liturgy that came after the Second Vatican Council. Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect of the Vatican’s Apostolic Signatura, told Zenit’s Edward Pentin that a fitting worship of God is essential to the moral life. “There’s no question in my mind that the abuses in the sacred liturgy, reduction of the sacred liturgy to some kind of human activity,� he said, “is strictly correlated with a lot of moral corruption and with a...

LifeSiteNews recently reported the unsurprising findings of a poll commissioned by The Washington Post and ABC stating that a majority of American Catholics are in favor of abortion in “all or most cases.� Coincidentally or providentially, LifeSiteNews published this article on the same day as the Catholic Church celebrated the 45th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s momentous encyclical Humanae Vitae. I suppose it was the latter, and I thank them for doing so. The findings of the poll were disheartening. As a sinful, aspiring Catholic, this article provided me with a great lesson in humility and self-examination, and this is...

The Prime Minister spoke of his pride at legalising same sex marriage, just a year after explicitly giving a personal guarantee to do it by 2015 to a reception for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans-sexual community at 10 Downing Street. Mr Cameron told guests at the same reception one year on that Britain was now “the best place to be gay, lesbian or transgender anywhere in Europe”. He added: “That is a great achievement. That’s not my measure; that is an internationally recognised measure. But there’s still a lot more work to be done.” Thanking the ministers and civil...