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Cardinal Burke recently gave a rather controversial interview on the crisis of men in the Church. The lack of men in most Catholic churches in the West is there for all to see; looking at those most involved in parish life—readers, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, Altar servers—the lack of menfolk is even more striking. The general problem of lapsation and apathy has clearly hit men hard—or, even harder—than it has hit women. This phenomenon, though undeniable, has attracted very little official attention from Church authorities. Part of the preparation for the 2015 Synod was an embarrassingly amateurish video put...

July 5, 2015   Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ez 2:2-5 As the LORD spoke to me, the spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard the one who was speaking say to me: Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have revolted against me to this very day. Hard of face and obstinate of heart are they to whom I am sending you. But you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD! And whether they heed or...

Following the Supreme Court's ruling last Friday that states must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, at least two county court clerks in Mississippi and Arkansas have already resigned because they will not comply with the court's ruling, while other clerks across the nation have had differing responses to the ruling. On Tuesday, Linda Barnette, a circuit court clerk in Grenada County, Mississippi, announced her resignation and explained that it was due to the fact that the Supreme Court's ruling conflicted with her Christian belief that marriage should only be between one man and one woman. Barnette, who held her...

The chairman of the theology department at Fordham University has gotten married—to another man. The New York Times, which up until a few years ago, declined running wedding announcements involving same-sex couples, reported that J. Patrick Hornbeck II “married” Patrick Anthony Bergquist Saturday at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Manhattan. The ceremony took place June 27, just a day after the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex “marriage” nationwide. That would not have been necessary legally, since New York State has allowed gay "marriage" since 2011. But the ceremony was conducted before the Episcopal Church in America voted this week...

Pope Francis not only will canonize Blessed Junipero Serra when he visits Washington, DC, in September. He is also preventing Serra’s statue from being removed from the US Capitol. At least for a while. Because of the Pope’s impending visit to the US, the California lawmaker who wants Serra’s likeness to be replaced in the National Statuary Hall with that of a lesbian space pioneer is delaying the vote in the Golden State’s legislature. Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, said he would wait until after Francis’ visit before pushing to have California represented in the historic gallery by astronaut...

[Snip] The new website's home page bears a passing resemblance to the global phenomenon Facebook. But Facegloria, which has attracted 100,000 users in its first month, was set up to serve those who find billionaire entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg's version sinful. [snip] "On Facebook you see a lot of violence and pornography. That's why we thought of creating a network where we could talk about God, love and to spread His word," one of the founders, web designer Atilla Barros, told AFP.

Church ‘obsessions’ As the culture pushes abortion and sex outside of marriage, the Church is called to respond with truth Msgr. Charles Pope OSV Newsweekly 7/1/2015 Question: My sister-law is hostile to the Church and says that we are obsessed by sex and abortion and don’t care about the same things Jesus did, like the poor. Is there an effective answer to this charge? Name withheld, Newark, New Jersey Answer: The charge that the Church is “obsessed” with sex and abortion — and many today add homosexuality — is not sustainable. Any look at the Catechism of the Catholic Church...

This is a tough Vortex to speak. I’m as patriotic as the next guy. I remember being a young lad of 15 as my country celebrated its bicentennial back in 1976. I watched TV that day from six in the morning until well past midnight as the non-stop, commercial-free, wall-to-wall coverage on the giant national birthday party was broadcast from sea to shining sea. I watched the tall ships sail into New York harbor, saw the explosive fireworks show over D.C. I listened and sang my lungs out with a lump in my throat as Arthur Fielder conducted the Boston...

The Foundation of Human Understanding presents Stress Expert, Roy Masters, for an interactive 1-day seminar. Past seminars have been personal, spontaneous, enlightening, humorous, and always uplifting. Learn what's at the root of marriage problems, family conflicts, success and failure, and perceive stress in a new light.

Monument to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (Photo: us.fotolia.com | stavrida); right: "Takedown" (2015) by Dr. Paul Kengor While most commentators credit the sexual revolution and the Stonewall uprising of 1969 as the “beginning” of the gay rights movement that led to last week’s Supreme Court same-sex marriage decision, the reality is that the roots of the movement to drastically change the definition of marriage can be traced back to 1848 and the publication of Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto. Proclaiming that the “abolition” of marriage and the family was central to the fundamental transformation necessary to implement a...

Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will...

In his inaugural address to Congress President Washington said, “It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplication to that Almighty Being, who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States…No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the...

Ben Franklin is the prototype for the celebrity-as-politician. His autobiography is still in print; if he were alive, he’d be on Drudge’s columnists’ list, and command speaking fees that would turn Hillary Clinton green with envy. A popular T-shirt has a quote erroneously attributed to Franklin: ‘Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.’ But John Witherspoon? He wasn’t a fan of self-promotion, which was no less prevalent then. Today, in D.C., his statue stands at a tiny triangle where Connecticut Avenue intersects with N Street and 18th Street N.W. It is routinely ignored. At...

As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and based on the facts of God’s Word, I DECLARE myself to be FREE INDEED (John 8:36). My liberty is seen in three realms: First, concerning the god of this age, to whom I once belonged, I have been DELIVERED from the power of darkness and have been translated into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col. 1:13), turned from the power of Satan unto God (Acts 26:18). Secondly, concerning my relationship to this world system, my Saviour gave Himself for me that He might deliver and rescue me from this present...

This 4th of July (which may be our nation's last 4th of July in peace), the majority of Americans throughout this land will be enjoying a day off with family and friends, eating, drinking (getting drunk), and making merry totally excluding the REALITY of our nation's founding and totally oblivious to where our godless nation is rapidly heading at present (Rev. 6-19). As long as we have our cell phones (which is our life), ignorance, pleasure, food in our stomachs and some partial remaining freedoms... all is good and tolerable in the "land of the free". Throughout the years I...

American Catholics, a very small percentage of the population of the 13 colonies, 1.6 percent, were overwhelmingly patriots and played a role in the American Revolution out of all proportion to the small fragment of the American people they represented. Among the Catholics who assumed leadership roles in the fight for our liberty were: General Stephen Moylan a noted cavalry commander and the first Muster Master-General of the Continental Army. Captains Joshua Barney and John Barry, two of the most successful naval commanders in the American Revolution. Colonel John Fitzgerald was a trusted aide and private secretary to General George...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Solomon Psalm 72 Of Solomon. 1 Endow the king with your justice, O God,     the royal son with your righteousness. 2 May he judge your people in righteousness,     your afflicted ones with justice. 3 May the mountains bring prosperity to the people,     the hills the fruit of righteousness. 4 May he defend the afflicted among the people     and save the children of the needy;     may he crush the oppressor. 5 May he endure[a] as long as the sun,     as long as the moon, through all generations. 6 May he be like rain falling on...

Sir Nicholas Winton - BBC Programme "That's Life" aired in 1988 (1:29 min) Sir Nicholas George Winton, MBE, who just died last week at the age of 106, was a British humanitarian who organized the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish Czechoslovakian children on the eve of the Second World War in an operation later known as the "Czech Kindertransport."  An article in Time paying tribute to Winton, a Jew by descent who had been raised as a Christian, was traveling in German-occupied Czechoslovakia and recognize that many children would die. He found homes for the children and arranged for trains to carry them from Nazi-occupied Prague to...

(CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ attendance for the second consecutive year at the Catholic charismatic movement’s Renewal with the Spirit convocation shows his attention to charismatic movements as means to foster ecumenical path. Not by chance, Renewal with the Spirit styled the convocation to be heavily ecumenical. During the meeting with Pope Francis’ in St. Peter’s Square, prayers were raised by Cardinals Kurt Koch and Leonardo Sandri, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity and Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches; the Anglican Archbishop David Moxon, who represents the Archbishop of Canterbury toward the Holy...

New chairman given okay to allow other LGBT marchers under their own bannerFor years, the organizers of New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade, as well as various archbishops, have defended against calls to allow homosexuals to march in the parade under any banner identifying them as a gay group. Last year, bowing to boycott pressure from several sponsors, including Guiness Stout, the parade allowed a group called "Out@NBC Universal" to march. Cardinal Timothy Dolan refused calls to step down as grand marshal in spite of the group's presence. “I have no trouble with the decision at all,” Cardinal Dolan said...