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Cardinal Timothy Dolan is certainly right when he says that Pope Francis “wants to shake us [Catholics] up.” But is he doing more harm than good? Among his most quoted recent statements are: “I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars. You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else.” And, “The most important thing is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you. And the ministers of the Church must be...

Did Christ establish many Churches? --Christ established only one Church, to continue till the end of time. As God is one, He established one Church, which He commanded all men to obey and to follow in the way of salvation. God is essentially one. He is Truth itself. How can He say to one group of men that there are three Persons in one God, and to another that there is only one Person? How can He say to one body that the Holy Eucharist is Himself, and to another that it is mere bread? God cannot contradict Himself. "He...

In recent columns in the mainstream press, columnists have been distorting gleefully the Pope's recent statements to make it appear he's the liberal that will bring the Catholic Church in line with their own agenda. (See: What the Pope really said.) In actuality, Pope Francis is no more likely to approve gay marriage or homosexual activity than any other pope. If the media were less agenda-driven, they would be trying to debunk a miracle that defies explanation and which involves Pope Francis when he was a bishop in Argentina in 1996. For many Christians, Holy Communion is a symbolic...

Of course. The Church is a two-thousand year old, transnational society. It’s bound to have acquired some small-minded rules along the way. Want an example? Take Canon 718 of the Pio-Benedictine Code, the rule that prohibited non-members of the parish rosary society from marching under the flag of the rosary society in a Corpus Christi procession. Per Canon 718, mom (who was a member of the rosary society) could walk under the rosary banner, while dad and the kids (who were not members) had to march under, what? I guess, the banner of the Non-Members of the Rosary Society. One...

A few weeks ago, while pondering the upcoming sapphire anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life) and the continuing controversy over the “birth control encyclical” throughout both Church and society, I came across the following, in an essay the Polish Nobel laureate Czesław Miłosz wrote shortly before his death in 2004: “Increasingly the institution of marriage is being replaced by simply living together, which has followed upon the sundering of the link between sex and fertility. This is not just a revolution in the area of moral norms; it reaches much deeper, into the very definition of...

Here is a screenshot from Drudge:Today someone wrote: Three links on the Drudge Report referencing “comments” made by the Pope and/or “THE VATICAN” regarding atheists and papal celibacy. Is this more MSM nonsense? Benedict and the condom kerfluffle part deaux?I’m surprised not to see any comments from Catholic media regarding this stuff. I’m interested in your thoughts. There might not be a lot of commentary because headlines like these are too stupid for explanations. Then again… I am getting all sort of panicky email, so I’ll do this again.This will have to be a little messy, but it should be...

The other day I received a rather lengthy email from a fellow responding to a chapter in my book, Nuts and Bolts - A Practical How-To Guide for Explaining and Defending the Catholic Faith, specifically responding to my defense of calling priests "father."Score One Up For the ProtestantsI have answered this question hundreds of times over the years, but this fellow's critique caught my attention first of all because he used my own style of argumentation against me. I liked that. "Matthew 23:9," he reminded me, "says, ‘Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father,...

Pope Benedict on Homosexual “Marriage” Why does the Catholic Church teach that marriage is only between a man and a woman, and how should we respond to calls for homosexual “marriage”?The issue of homosexual “marriage” is a controversial one today.It is being voted into law, or imposed by courts, across the United States and across the world.What does the Catholic Church have to say on the subject, and why does it teach what it does?Here we offer an “interview” with Pope Benedict XVI that draws on his previous writings on the subject of homosexuality, on giving legal recognition to homosexual...

In a press release that accompanied the statement, Christie said, “I’ve always believed that people are born with the predisposition to be homosexual,” quoting a statement he made on CNN. “My religion says [homosexuality is] a sin. But for me, I don’t” agree.

Santiago, Chile, Aug 16, 2013 / 04:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Two twin brothers in Chile say that their mother’s determination in protecting them from abortion despite the advice of doctors helped to foster their vocations to the priesthood. “How can I not defend the God of life?” said Fr. Paulo Lizama. “This event strengthened my vocation and gave it a specific vitality, and therefore, I was able to give myself existentially to what I believe.” “I am convinced of what I believe, of what I am and of what I speak, clearly by the grace of God,” he told CNA....

"....unfortunately, if you were reading the headlines from some media outlets, you would have learned just one thing. As the Huffington Post put it: “Breakthrough: Pope OK with Gays.” This is the worst coverage of a religious story I have seen to date. Let’s begin with the fact that the pope has always been “OK” with homosexuals. In fact, by the demands of his own religion he is required to be much more than just “OK.” The Christian faith teaches that every person is endowed by God with an inviolable dignity and therefore deserves our unconditional respect and love. A...

A judge has ruled in favor of a student who sued after he was thrown out of class by a gay activist teacher for expressing his religious beliefs against the homosexual lifestyle. Federal District Judge Patrick J. Duggan of the Eastern District of Michigan declared the teacher’s actions in punishing Daniel Glowacki violated his First Amendment Rights. "While the Court certainly recognizes that schools are empowered to regulate speech to prevent students from invading the rights of other students, people do not have a legal right to prevent criticism of their beliefs or for that matter their way of life,"...

A Catholic mother who was brutally murdered by a gay man because she challenged him about his homosexual lifestyle “died as a martyr for her faith,” according to Bishop Thomas Paprocki, head of the Catholic diocese in Springfield, Ill., who also said the woman’s “murder was widely ignored by the media,” apparently for political reasons. The woman, Mary Stachowicz, a 51-year-old mother of four children and devout Catholic, was beaten, stabbed, raped, and strangled to death by then-19-year-old Nicholas Gutierrez on Nov. 13, 2002. He then wrapped her body in plastic and stuffed it under the floorboards of his apartment....

“I believe what the Church teaches.” To utter this sentence sparks surprise, laughter, horror, or even disdain from non-Catholics – and not a few Catholics. A number of replies may follow. “You can disagree if you wish.” “The Church cannot tell you what to do, especially in the bedroom.” “Don’t you want to think for yourself?” There are assumptions underlying these glib responses. First, the teachings of the Church are burdensome, archaic, or irrelevant. Second, these teachings do not need to be obeyed; the individual can disagree, if he/she desires. Third, to believe these teachings is a denial of freedom;...

Embassy Row: Gay diplomat an ‘insult’ Church leaders in culturally conservative Dominican Republic are outraged that President Obama nominated an openly homosexual activist to serve as ambassador to the Caribbean nation. Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez, the Roman Catholic archbishop of the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, Bishop Pablo Cedano and the Rev. Cristobal Cardozo, leader of the Dominican Evangelical Fraternity, are urging President Danilo Medino to reject the nominee, Chicago lawyer James Brewster. “It’s an insult to good Dominican customs,” Father Cardozo said last week. Bishop Cedano denounced the nomination for showing “a lack of respect,” and added cryptically:...

(Reuters) - Senior Roman Catholic and Lutheran officials announced on Monday they would mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 as a shared event rather than highlight the clash that split Western Christianity. The Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) presented a report in Geneva admitting both were guilty of harming Christian unity in the past and describing a growing consensus between the two churches in recent decades. The 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's 95 Theses, the doctrinal challenge that launched the Protestant Reformation, will be the first centenary celebration in the age of ecumenism, globalization and...

June 12, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In an interview with the US Bishops’ news service, Catholic News Service, Cardinal  Raymond Burke, the head or “prefect” of the Vatican’s highest court, spoke about the relationship between contraception and the culture of abortion. "Contraception is the beginning of the anti-life movement,” Cardinal Burke told CNS’ Francis Rocca.  “It certainly will favor an abortion culture. It takes the nature of the sexual union and violates it in a very significant way by removing the pro-creative aspect which is inherent to the union of man and a woman, the sexual union, the conjugal union.”  In...

“With all of the people struggling so hard to preserve freedom of religion, and with all that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has said in defense of this important value, Georgetown's choice of the architect of the radical challenge of such freedom for special recognition can only be seen as a statement of where the university stands - certainly not with the Catholic bishops.” Blatty said that the university’s stubborn support for Sebelius was “the last straw” for him. “Commencement speakers generally give advice to graduates on how to live their lives,” Blatty said. “[Georgetown] wants advice on...

May 10, 2013 (HLIWorldWatch.org) - Polls show that most young people today, even those who identify themselves as Christians, have no problem with “same-sex marriage.” If young people today are at all aware of what the Catholic Church teaches about marriage and human sexuality, what they think they know is often only a caricature of the truth. They see it as simply a set of prohibitions established by men. But what the Church actually presents is a vision of the beauty of marriage as a sacred union between one man and one woman who are committed for life and open...

Pope Francis told priests on Sunday to practice what they preach, saying the church’s credibility was on the line. During a Mass to formally take possession of one of the Vatican basilicas in Rome, Francis said ordinary Catholics need to “see in our actions what they hear from our lips.” … “Inconsistency on the part of pastors and the faithful between what they say and what they do, between word and manner of life, is undermining the church’s credibility,” he said. …