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The 2011 census puts the Muslim population of the UK at around 5 per cent, a total that has been boosted by around 600,000 Muslim immigrants who have arrived in the UK over the past decade. Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, said to UK daily the Telegraph that the decline of Christianity is “inevitable.” “In another 20 years there are going to be more active Muslims than there are churchgoers,” he said.

May 18, 2013   Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter   Reading 1 Acts 28:16-20, 30-31 When he entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself,with the soldier who was guarding him. Three days later he called together the leaders of the Jews.When they had gathered he said to them, “My brothers,although I had done nothing against our peopleor our ancestral customs,I was handed over to the Romans as a prisoner from Jerusalem.After trying my case the Romans wanted to release me,because they found nothing against me deserving the death penalty.But when the Jews objected, I was...

IntroductionROY WENZL & TRAVIS HEYING What soldiers say Kapaun did is so heroic that it defies believability. Some people regard the meek man as one who will not put up a fight for anything but will let others run over him .... In fact from human experience we know that to accomplish anything good a person must make an effort; and making an effort is putting up a fight against the obstacles. - Father Emil Kapaun Emil Kapaun — priest, soldier and Korean War hero — is a rare man. He has been awarded the Medal of Honor, the...

There has been some misunderstandings about God and healing that needs to be cleared up. Some people think that God puts sickness on people to teach them something, that is not true. The scripture says that Jesus came to undo the works of the devil (1John 3:8). What is one work of the devil, let's look at Acts 10:38, How God anointed Jesus of Nazereth with the Holy Ghost and power: who went about doing good, and healing all that was oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. So, sickness is not of God it is from the...

Televangelist Pat Robertson is under fire once again after telling the wife of a cheating husband to get over the infidelity and provide a better home so he doesn’t “wander.” Robertson was responding to a letter from a woman identified as Ivy during Wednesday’s episode of “The 700 Club.” Ivy wrote, “We have gone to counseling, but I just can’t seem to forgive, nor can I trust. How do you let go of the anger? How do you trust again? Robertson’s co-host began to answer the letter when the one-time Republican presidential hopeful interjected with the “secret” to getting past...

My love for you and through you "IS" My Ordination . So take on my ordainment that My love through you endures for it is "this" commandment alone that "IS" the very Cornerstone that I speak of against which there is NO weapon but My love is never changing it does not whither or fade it does not wax or whane for I AM Eternal and it "IS" the I AM I speak of " I AM THAT I AM " ----> MY LOVE and MY LOVE you "MUST" BEcome . 1 Corinthians 13 If I [can] speak in the...

[SNIP] The Church's predictions came as it launched an attack on plans by the First Minister, Alex Salmond, for a new class of “belief” ceremonies – alongside traditional religious and civil weddings. The Scottish Government is currently attempting to overhaul the marriage laws north of the border, primarily to introduce same-sex marriage. But the bill would also include a wider update of matrimonial laws including plans to create a “third way” to get married, through so-called “belief” ceremonies to accommodate those who do not belief in a deity but do but do promote a belief system. It follows the popularity...

The new ELCA gospel boils down to a natural man’s religion replacing fundamental Bible truth with politics. A vague ethic of love is preached for the betterment of society. Sin is seen as ignorance. Jesus is not savior but only an example of sacrificial living. Universal salvation is proclaimed for all. Gone are missionaries, the urgency for lost souls, honest awareness of sin and the need for conversion. Gone are theological and moral absolutes. Present is the undermining of scripture, protests, endless social statements and lobbying platforms. This enterprise is capped off with the desire to unite all mainline liberal...

Russell Ford’s testimony is captivating, surprising, sobering, and, at times, rather humorous. The following interview is much longer than most CWR features, but we think readers will find his story, perspective, and insights both challenging and encouraging. Also, Russell's recent appearance on EWTN's "The Journey Home" can be viewed on the EWTN website. CWR: For those who might not be familiar with your background, let’s go back to the mid-1980s. Prior to going to prison, were you a Catholic? What were you doing prior to being imprisoned? Ford: No, I wasn’t a Catholic. I hunted bounty after I got...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Psalm 32 A Maskil of David. 1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. 3. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 4. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. 5. I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will...

Here’s a story about a poignant and prayerful work of mercy most people never hear about.Details: No one Mary Helen Wells knew was at her funeral.The physical sum of her 85 years filled a donated urn Monday afternoon, among 36 other donated urns full of unwanted remains. A kindly priest said prayers and stowed them in a crypt. A groundskeeper sealed it, and the mourners, gathered on principle, dispersed.In South Florida, hundreds die every year without a survivor to claim them. The causes vary: liver failure,dementia. One homeless man died in 2011 when an industrial oven he was helping someone...

Secret Petitions Today's Scripture “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4, AMP) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria In the Psalms, it talks about the secret petitions of our heart. These are the hidden dreams that you haven’t told anybody about. One way you know they’re from God is that they’re so big you cannot accomplish them on your own. God does this on purpose so that it will take faith. Faith is what pleases God. Faith is what allows Him to do the impossible....

His Ascension and Our Access "It came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven" —Luke 24:51 We have no experiences in our lives that correspond to the events in our Lord’s life after the transfiguration. From that moment forward His life was altogether substitutionary. Up to the time of the transfiguration, He had exhibited the normal, perfect life of a man. But from the transfiguration forward— Gethsemane, the Cross, the resurrection— everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race...

This week Minnesota became the twelfth state in the United States to redefine marriage. Jay Bakker, son of the televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, marked the occasion by offering “rainbow bread” for “communion” at the inaugural service of Revolution Church Minnesota on Sunday, May 12th. Bakker explained all were welcome to participate in the meal regardless of religious belief or lack thereof, and that “today we do this in remembrance of what Christ did and what folks who followed in Christ’s footsteps did, but also in the celebration of what’s happened here in the House and with what...

The problem is not that we are sinners, but that we do not allow ourselves to be transformed by the encounter with Christ in love: this was the main focus of Pope Francis’ remarks at Mass on Friday morning in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae residence in the Vatican, which was attended by employees of the Vatican Museums. At the center of the homily was the day's Gospel reading, in which the Risen Jesus thrice asks Peter if Peter loves Him. “It is,” said Pope Francis, “a dialogue of love between the Lord and his disciple,” one that...

Many Vatican-watchers interpreted the election of Pope Francis as Rome’s counter-offensive against the rise of neo-Pentecostalism in the global South. Pentecostalism is the fastest growing sect in the Latin America, where a third of the world’s Catholics live, and is giving the established Roman Church a run for its money — so to speak. The latest figures show that the numbers of Pentecostals throughout Latin America has soared since 1970 — when they represented a mere 4 percent of the population — to nearly 30 percent. In Guatemala it is estimated that four in ten are Pentecostals. Reasons for the...

Pray For Our American Heroes and Our Nation Armed Forces Day - May 18, 2013 Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me. Take up shield and armor; arise and come to my aid. Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me. Say to me, “I am your salvation.” Psalm 35:1-3 (NIV) ---- ----

Caracas, Venezuela, May 16, 2013 / 12:16 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Reporter Macky Arenas of the Catholic Lay Report said the serious food shortage in Venezuela could lead to a lack of wine and hosts for the celebration of Mass. Arenas explained that the shortage in the country is due to “the lack of raw materials.” “This is not a country known for the production of wine, and the only national company has told the bishops it will not be able to meet demand,” she said in statements to CNA. Officials in Venezuela are warning that the situation will not improve...

May 17, 2013 Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter   Reading 1 Acts 25:13b-21 King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesareaon a visit to Festus.Since they spent several days there,Festus referred Paul’s case to the king, saying,“There is a man here left in custody by Felix.When I was in Jerusalem the chief priests and the elders of the Jewsbrought charges against him and demanded his condemnation.I answered them that it was not Roman practiceto hand over an accused person before he has faced his accusersand had the opportunity to defend himself against their charge.So when they came together...

The Baltimore Catechism Revised Edition (1941) Part Three: The Sacraments and Prayer Prayer Lesson 37 from the Baltimore Cathechism475. What is prayer? Prayer is the lifting up of our minds and hearts to God.Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heavens. (Lamentations 3:41)476. Why do we pray? We pray: to adore God, expressing to Him our love and loyalty; to thank Him for His favors; to obtain from Him the pardon of our sins and the remission of their punishment; to ask for graces and blessings for ourselves and others. Watch and pray,...

New allegations claim the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) not only delayed the applications of new conservative groups, but also targeted a Christian group, Family Talk Action, and a well-established group, the Leadership Institute. In September 2011, well-known family advocate Dr. James Dobson's newest Christian ministry, Family Talk Action Corporation, filed a Form 1024 with the IRS requesting 501(c)(4) status. The attorney in charge had 26 years experience of filing these forms. "The Family Talk application was every bit as compliant as the ones he'd filled out in the past," said Alex McFarland, the group's Director of Apologetics. McFarland told The...

New York’s Timothy Cardinal Dolan warned Gov. Cuomo to be ready for a holy battle if he tries to strengthen state abortion-rights laws. (snip) Archbishop Dolan said the conviction Monday of Philadelphia abortion provider Dr. Kermit Gosnell on murder charges calls for laws that go the other way instead. “I am in a bit of consternation as to why in a time when there seems to be kind of a sobering up about these horrors of the unfettered access to abortion, why in New York we are talking about even expanding it further,” Dolan said. When asked how Cuomo could...

How truly pitiful it is to see women who should be dedicated to the Lord performing their own personal  farce. Here are two nuns who need a good ecclessial smack-down for undermining the faith and scandalizing the faithful: The cast of dissenters: Catholic Sister Elaine Hirschenberger from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is Executive Director of a secular organization called Woman's Space (sic) in Rockford IL.​ If you go to the Womanspace website it's filled with somewhat innocuous events and ambiguous statements. They are, of course, "empowering" women and changing the world "one woman at a time." But are they transforming...

My dear friends, I know I'm going to get it for this post but in love I must say it (2 Cor. 12:15). Someone has to and it might as well be me. For the past 5 years I have been feeling the spiritual temperature at Free Republic and other conservative forums and have found that moral and biblical relativism, biblical ignorance, conservative optimism, Christian ecumenicalism and the outright rejection of the TRUE Gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12, Rom. 10:2-4, 1 Cor. 15:1-4, Eph. 2:8-9) nearly dominate this and other conservative forums. Thank God for Free Republic, they do...

A Priest for Forty HoursBy Thomas Peters This incredible story came to me first via family.St. Joseph Parish in Maumee, Ohio posted this note to their Facebook page on Wednesday (it has already been viewed and shared thousands of times since then): As many of you know, our seminarian Deacon Scott Carroll has been battling cancer for some time. Although Scott looked forward to joining his classmates for ordination on June 22, 2013, it became clear this week that an earlier ordination might be prudent.On Wednesday morning, Bishop Blair ordained Fr. Scott to the Order of Presbyter. The ordination...

This past week we celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. (And, given my mention of Fatima, you may wonder why I have Our Lady of Guadalupe pictured here, but more on that in a moment). But as for Fatima, with all the emphasis on the magnificent teaching and prophetic fulfillment of that apparition, something that has always intrigued me is that she would appear of all places in a town called Fatima. Why Fatima, a town that recalls the daughter of Mohammed?Indeed, I have often heard that Muslims hold our Blessed Mother Mary in high regard. This reverence...

“We have started down the path of a disposable culture,” Pope Francis said in a May 16 address to four new ambassadors to the Holy See. In his remarks to the new envoys, the Pope spoke about injustice in the world economy, and especially in a socio-economic system in which “human beings themselves are nowadays considered as consumer goods which can be used and thrown away.” The Pope accepted the diplomatic credentials of Bolot Iskovich Otunbaev of Kyrgyzstan, Davis Shoul of Antigua, Jean-Paul Senninger of Luxemburg, and Lameck Nthekela of Botswana. He addressed them as a group, insisting that economic...

Milan (AsiaNews) - Some 1,700 years have passed since Emperor Constantine granted Christians the right to believe in God, yet "the persecution of Christians has not ceased;" thus, "the Church of Christ will never cease to generate martyrs" until God "enlightens everyone, so that they understand that peace, reconciliation, tolerance, meekness, and mercy can only have a positive effect on human society in general, especially in terms of deeds and words." Religious freedom and the journey of a divided Church " towards unity according to the Lord's command" are central to the thoughts Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I expressed this morning...

Isaiah 26:8 O Lord, we Love to Do Your Will! Our Heart's Desire is to Glorify Your Name.

Dennis Prager and others have done an excellent job of highlighting the genuinely anti-Semitic content of a recent Church of Scotland publication entitled “The Inheritance of Abraham? A Report on the ‘Promised Land,’” and Prager has even called it “ugliest depiction of Jews since medieval times.” What has not been mentioned, however, is the great tradition of philo-Semitism in recent Scottish Church history, making the contrast all the more extreme. Some of the great Scottish Presbyterian leaders of the 19th century built on the heritage of English Puritan theologians like John Owen (1616-1683), who wrote, “The Jews shall be gathered...

Featured Term (selected at random):INTELLECTUAL VISION Supernatural knowledge in which the mind receives an extraordinary grasp of some revealed truth without the aid of sensible impressions. Thus St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) wrote of his seeing "the humanity of Christ with the eyes of the soul." These visions take place either through ideas that are already acquired and that are then co-ordinated and interpreted by God, or through infused ideas, representing divine things, that are thus better perceived than a person would otherwise perceive them. At times the visions are obscure and their object is only dimly understood; at other times...

As we all know, in far too many cases in years past, priests were accused of sexual abuse by genuine victims—and these crimes were simply swept under the rug, by church officials who eschewed their God-given responsibility to take appropriate action. This is an established, ugly fact that is not up for debate! It’s true that there’s often more than one legitimate way for an ecclesiastical superior to deal with these problems; but doing nothing, preferring to ignore the issue in the hope that it will simply go away, never has been or will be an option, ever. Note that...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Psalm 38 A Psalm of David. To bring to remembrance. 1. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your wrath, Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure! 2. For Your arrows pierce me deeply, And Your hand presses me down. 3. There is no soundness in my flesh Because of Your anger, Nor any health in my bones Because of my sin. 4. For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. 5. My wounds are foul and festering Because of my foolishness. 6....

Ask Big Today's Scripture …you do not have because you do not ask. James 4:2, NKJV. Today's Word from Joel and Victoria I wonder today how many people have been disappointed simply because they didn’t pray and ask God for the big things in their hearts. You might say, “Well, Joel, God is God. If He wants to bless me, He will bless me.” But no, it says in James 4:2, “You have not because you ask not.” If you’re not asking big, you are shortchanging yourself. You will never reach the fullness of your potential if you only...

The Habit of Recognizing God’s Provision ". . . you may be partakers of the divine nature . . ." —2 Peter 1:4 We are made “partakers of the divine nature,� receiving and sharing God’s own nature through His promises. Then we have to work that divine nature into our human nature by developing godly habits. The first habit to develop is the habit of recognizing God’s provision for us. We say, however, “Oh, I can’t afford it.� One of the worst lies is wrapped up in that statement. We talk as if our heavenly Father has cut us...

Saint Paul was the focus of Pope Francis’ homily at Mass Thursday morning, and in particular his talent at ‘being a nuisance’, at unsettling people who had grown too comfortable in their faith and imbuing within them that Apostolic zeal that is necessary for the Church to move forward. Emer McCarthy reports: Pope Francis said that Apostolic zeal, implies "an element of madness, but of spiritual madness, of healthy madness” and proclaiming Christ has its consequences, which can often result in persecution. Nonetheless, stated the Pope, we must not be ‘backseat Christians’ cozy in our comfort zones. Drawing inspiration from...

May 16, 2013   Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter   Reading 1 Acts 22:30; 23:6-11 Wishing to determine the truthabout why Paul was being accused by the Jews,the commander freed himand ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to convene.Then he brought Paul down and made him stand before them. Paul was aware that some were Sadducees and some Pharisees,so he called out before the Sanhedrin,“My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees;I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.”When he said this,a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and...

The problem with much Christian worship in the contemporary world, Catholic and Protestant alike, is not that it is too entertaining but that it is not entertaining enough. Worship characterized by upbeat rock music, stand-up comedy, beautiful people taking center stage, and a certain amount of Hallmark Channel sentimentality neglects one classic form of entertainment, the one that tells us, to quote the Book of Common Prayer, that “in the midst of life we are in death.” It neglects tragedy. Tragedy as a form of art and of entertainment highlighted death, and death is central to true Christian worship. The...

German family denied asylum, HSLDA appeals Tuesday, May 14, 2013 The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld the Obama Administration’s denial of asylum granted to the Romeike family. The Romeikes fled Germany in 2008 when they were subjected to criminal prosecution for homeschooling. They were granted asylum in 2010 by Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman, but that grant was overturned by the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2012. A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit heard the Romeikes’ appeal on April 23 in Cincinnati, and issued today’s unanimous decision against the family. “We believe the Sixth Circuit is wrong...

Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley of Boston speaks at a press conference for the 2012 USCCB Fall General Assembly. Credit: Michelle Bauman/CNA. Boston, Mass., May 15, 2013 / 02:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley called the successful production of embryonic stem cells by cloning human embryos an “abuse� which ignores the dignity and value of the human person. “The news that researchers have developed a technique for human cloning is deeply troubling on many levels,� the archbishop of Boston, who chairs U.S. bishops' pro-life activities committee, said May 15. “Creating new human lives in the laboratory solely to...

I spent a lot of time yesterday sorting out my feelings about Gosnell and his conviction, as well as the way some extreme pro-life people are talking about him. Thanks to a few respected colleagues who took some time with me to discuss in private, I think I’ve worked out the three major feelings I have. I suspect most of my readers will agree with the first two, but have questions about the third: 1 I’m glad limited justice has been served. 2 I’m glad he’s going to prison. 3 Yet, I don’t want Gosnell to go to Hell. I’d...

We have no idea yet if Pope Francis is simply going to lead by words, exhortation, and example or if he is going to back up his words, exhortations and example by concrete directive and promulgations. We have had him for only two months or so and we're still trying to figure him out. He is clearly into the "reform of the reform" and moving forward with that, not backwards. However, for him it is not just a focus on the liturgy, but rather on the people of the Church beginning with bishops, priests and religious, in particular women...

Suppose, one day, you’re reading a historical account of life in Alaska in the 1920s and one of the main characters in the account is named Sting.“That’s surprising,� you think.Suppose that Sting is portrayed as married to a woman named Oprah.“That’s improbable,� you recognize.Then you read that Sting has a brother named Spock.You say to yourself: “Okay. Something is wrong here.�What is it? And what does all this have to do with the gospels?You might be surprised, but the names of the figures mentioned in the gospels actually provide evidence that they’re true.Here’s the story . . . The basic problem...

Michelangelo was asked the question how he could make a beautiful sculpture like his “Moses� out of a large block of marble. He famously answered that he simply began and chipped away everything that wasn’t Moses.And this is a paradigm for us, into senses.Clearly for us, the Lord must chip away everything in us which is not Jesus. Yes, everything that is not of the Lord must go. St. Paul said, “I live, no not I, Christ lives in me! (Gal 2:20). And thus, the Lord chips away at all in us that is not of him that we may...

An interview with Cardinal Kurt KochOn May 14, 1948, the British occupation of Palestine ended and the State of Israel was proclaimed. On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the founding of that State, Oliver Maksan of the international Catholic charity “Aid to the Church in Need” (ACN) spoke with the president of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, Cardinal Kurt Koch, about the current status of the Vatican dialog with Judaism. The original German-language interview was posted at the Austrian Catholic news website www.kath.net. English translation by Michael J. Miller with permission of Aid to...

The memorable play of Irish author and playwright Samuel Beckett, "Waiting for Godot," has become a metaphor for situations in which people wait for someone unlikely to come, or do not even know what they are expecting. They just keep waiting and waiting. The handful of Orthodox Greeks left in Turkey appear to be waiting for Godot, too, caught in a very typical Turkish situation. The Theological School of Halki, which is attached to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, has been closed down since 1971. Almost every day for the past 42 years, the Orthodox community has been anticipating the news of...

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied asylum to a Christian family that came to America to homeschool their children. As previously reported, Uwe and Hannelore Romeike fled to the United States in 2008 after German authorities demanded that they stop homeschooling their six children. Homeschooling was made illegal in the country in 1938 under the dictatorship of Adolph Hitler, and the law has never been repealed.......

Featured Term (selected at random):FAMILY ROSARY International movement promoting recitation of the Rosary by the members of a family at home. Encouraged by the popes, the practice was singled out for special recommendation by Pope Paul VI in his Apostolic Exhortation in 1974 on devotion to the Blessed Virgin. "There is no doubt," he declared, "that after the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, the high point which family prayer can reach, the Rosary, should be considered as one of the best and most efficacious prayers in common that the Christian family is invited to recite" (Marialis Cultus, 54)....

COLUMBUS, May 14, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – The Central Ohio Association of Catholic Educators (COACE) is backing the diocese in its decision to fire a homosexual teacher, according to a letter sent to the teacher. Gym instructor Carla Hale, 57, was fired from her job at Bishop Watterson Catholic High School last month after an anonymous parent wrote to the Diocese of Columbus to complain that in an obituary for Hale’s mother, Hale was listed as a surviving family member together with her longtime lesbian partner, Julie.