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Pope lights Christmas tree and says abortion, gay marriage are threats to peace Published December 14, 2012| Associated PressVATICAN CITY –  The Christmas season kicked off Friday at the Vatican with the traditional lighting of the tree in St. Peter's Square -- and a reminder from the pope about what happened when the "lights" of God were turned off in past atheistic regimes.--snip-- "And when in the past they tried to stamp out the light of God to instead turn on illusory and misleading glows, there were seasons of tragic violence against man," he said. "And this is because when...

Newtown pastor: Parents asked about kids' last moments By Scott Stump, TODAY contributor As the parents of the children who were murdered by a gunman in a Connecticut elementary school Friday attempt to process the horror of their death, many tried to imagine what the final moments for their loved ones were like.Several of them came to be consoled by Msgr. Robert Weiss, the pastor of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown, Connecticut. Weiss spoke with Savannah Guthrie on TODAY Saturday about the moment when families were informed by authorities that their children or loved ones had perished in...

A letter to the editor today in the editorial pages of my local newspaper caught my attention. The writer lamented yesterday’s slaughter of 27 innocents in Newtown, Connecticut – as we all do. Then he identified the culprit – guns. We’ve never heard of a “mass-knifing” claiming so many victims, he pointed out. His implication was that, if we scrap the Second Amendment, there will be no more funerals for victims of mass murder. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Timothy McVeigh did not use a gun in 1995 when he killed 168 people, including 10 children,...

Yesterday, when I first heard of the horror shooting incident that took place at the Newtown, CT, elementary school, the Sandy Hook School, I was SHOCKED, SICKEN, and WITH GREAT SORROW by the unfolding of this recent heartbreaking and tragic current event. Hearing about the innocent children who were slaughtered, plus the adults as well, I ended up screaming in HORROR that innocent children, including those who are just beginning their formal learning had no chance to live a life in full. What even SHOCKED me even more was that, the young man who did the killing, a 20-year-old man...

Recently I saw a t-shirt that said, "The Virgin Mary was an Unwed Teenage Mother." That's true and it reminded me of an interruption that took place at a Quebec pro-life conference back in October of this year. LifeSiteNews.com says about a dozen pro-choice protestors descended upon an evangelical church where the conference was being held, chanting blasphemous slogans, one of which was a French pro-abortion sing-song against the Virgin Mary: Ah si Marie avait connu l'avortment, on n'aurait pas tous ces emmerdement.s. Translated this means, "Oh, If Mary had known about abortion, we wouldn't have to deal with all...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem A New Journey…The Names of God in The Scriptures Dwelling PlacePsalm 90:1 A prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

“Approved to God” "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" —2 Timothy 2:15 If you cannot express yourself well on each of your beliefs, work and study until you can. If you don’t, other people may miss out on the blessings that come from knowing the truth. Strive to re-express a truth of God to yourself clearly and understandably, and God will use that same explanation when you share it with someone else. But you must be willing to go through God’s winepress...

December 15, 2012   Saturday of the Second Week of Advent   Reading 1 Sir 48:1-4, 9-11 In those days,like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijahwhose words were as a flaming furnace.Their staff of bread he shattered,in his zeal he reduced them to straits;By the Lord's word he shut up the heavensand three times brought down fire.How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!Whose glory is equal to yours?You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire,in a chariot with fiery horses.You were destined, it is written, in time to cometo put an end to wrath before the...

Where is God At Times Like These? A meditation in the wake of a violent atrocity.By: Msgr. Charles Pope One of the great mysteries to to believer and non-believer alike is the mystery of evil and suffering.  If there is a God who is omnipotent and omniscient how can he tolerate evil, injustice, and suffering of the innocent? Where was God yesterday when the shootings in Connecticut occurred?  Where is God when a young girl is raped, when genocide is committed, when evil men hatch their plots? Why Did God even conceive the evil ones, and let them be...

What are the sources or inspiration for these subjects?Basically they are inspired by the documents of the Holy See, and in particular by the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Compendium. This was a deliberate choice so as to create an awareness of the vast richness, completeness and beauty of these documents which are, in some circles, hardly known at all. In this way, it is possible to present the essential and fundamental contents of the faith which are professed, not just by the individual Catholic, but by the Catholic Church throughout the world as it adheres to the...

SEATTLE, December 13, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Regardless of the state marriage referendum, Catholic Churches in the Archdiocese of Seattle may not participate in any same-sex “marriage” or recognize them in any way – including solemnizing such unions, allowing their facilities to conduct the ceremony or its reception, or providing marital counseling to homosexual couples. Following Washington state’s legalization of same-sex “marriage,” and marijuana, Archbishop J. Peter Sartain has issued a “policy refresher” to explain how the new laws will affect Catholic parishes in his archdiocese. The archbishop wrote that he was “disappointed that so many voters failed to recognize marriage...

Three thoughts come to my mind, and if they can help you then please receive them as some contribution to your effort to deal with the unfolding trauma. First, we have to remember that God bears us up right now in the midst of it all. Psalm 68:19 declares, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.” In those simple words I am reminded that our Lord can carry us even today. He is with us and has not forgotten us. Moreover, he alone is our hope. Secondly, it helps me to remember there is...

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to...

I would like to post some sort of prayer that is elegant and thoughtful, but at this time I can not. Dear Lord, be with the inoocents and their family. Please pray for them.

I speak to you today as a teacher.-SNIP-When I decided to become a teacher, Dr. Schaefer’s example inspired me to try to the best of my ability to teach basic, simple truths in the most understandable way. I have learned how very difficult it is to simplify. Years after the war, I returned to Washington State University and found Dr. Schaefer. He, of course, did not remember me. I was just one of many hundreds of cadets in his classes. I thanked him for what he had taught me. The math and calculus had long since faded away, but not...

A recently released Bible translation based off of the King James Bible boasts of being the first ever "Gay Bible" in the world. Titled the Queen James Bible, its publishers argued in a statement that it accurately translates certain verses pertaining to homosexuality, which have been misunderstood by religious conservatives. "Homosexuality was first overtly mentioned in the Bible in 1946 in the Revised Standard Version. There is no mention of or reference to homosexuality in any Bible prior to this – only interpretations have been made," said the editors. "The Queen James Bible addresses those controversial verses by editing them...

December 13, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Don’t like it? Change it. That’s the approach to Scriptural translation taken by the creators of a new gay-friendly Bible. “You can’t choose your sexuality, but you can choose Jesus. Now you can choose a Bible, too,” say the creators of the Bible, emblazoned with a rainbow cross, which was launched at the end of November. The editors explain in a statement that they took each of the eight Bible verses traditionally used to argue that homosexuality is sinful, and edited them “in a way that makes homophobic interpretations impossible.” For instance, in the first...

I'd like to pose a question to the defenders of the three 'person' Trinity:Matt 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:34 Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" 35 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will...

Featured Term (selected at random):GENERAL JUDGMENT The universal judgment of the human race at the final resurrection of the dead. It is expressed in all the creeds that affirm that Christ now "sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from where He shall come to judge the living and the dead," i.e., the just and the wicked. This will be a social judgment because it will manifest to the world God's justice in condemning sinners, and his mercy in those who are saved. It will also be a total judgment by revealing not only people's moral conduct...

The Monastery of the Cross Church in Jerusalem. Photo: Yosarian/Wikimedia Commons.Vandals spray-painted profanities on the entrance to and on three vehicles belonging to the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem overnight Tuesday in the latest in a spate of so-called “price-tag” attacks on Christian institutions in Israel over the past year.The vandalism at the church is the second such attack on the site this year, with a similar attack occurring some ten months ago. In both cases, police have made no arrests. The Orthodox Greek church, which lies in Jerusalem’s Valley of the Cross close to Sacher Park in Rehavia,...