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Nobody can say why the Virgin of Guadalupe would appear on a hunk of rock formed millions of years before the birth of Jesus. But David Nunez says the image is unmistakable — a bluish-black stain on the football-sized rock outlines what looks like the Holy Mother. Nunez's father found the partially buried boulder while looking for landscaping rocks in an Oakdale orchard. Nunez and his father, Jesus — both Catholics from Merced — insist that it's hard to dispute that the image resembles the famous image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Merced resident David Nunez holds a rock with...

A vision on the Blessed Virgin Mary has appeared on the wall of a building in downtown Apia, the capital of Samoa. This just weeks after a huge convention of Catholics filled the streets of Apia for a conference and march. Followed by prayers for the "road switch" which occurred on Sept 7th when they switched from driving on the Right Hand side to the Left.

<p>A Nebraska man who stole a painting of the Virgin Mary to finance an abortion for a teen he raped has been convicted of first-degree sexual assault and felony theft.</p>

"OMAHA, Neb. » A Nebraska man who stole a painting of the Virgin Mary to finance an abortion for a teen he raped has been convicted of first-degree sexual assault and felony theft. Aurelio Vallerillo-Sanchez, 39, of Omaha pleaded no contest to the charges Friday and faces up to 70 years in prison when sentenced in October, Douglas County prosecutor Brenda Beadle said Saturday. A call to the county public defender representing Vallerillo-Sanchez wasn't answered Saturday. Beadle said Vallerillo-Sanchez fled to Mexico with the 300-year-old painting worth $100,000 and the pregnant teen in March 2007. "The plan was that when...

An Omaha man had less-than-divine designs for the centuries-old Virgin Mary painting he stole from St. Cecilia Cathedral. Aurelio Vallecillo-Sanchez planned to use money from selling the sacred painting to pay for an abortion for the 14-year-old girl he raped, prosecutors say. That wasn't the only detail revealed Friday as Vallecillo-Sanchez, 39, pleaded no contest to sexual assault and theft. Prosecutors say he threatened to kill the girl and her family if she went to police about the sexual assault. Advertising And, prosecutors say, they believe Vallecillo-Sanchez was responsible for the thefts of dozens of pieces of religious artwork from...

The Allure of Lourdes Written by John Horvat    Friday, July 31, 2009 A Place of Violent ContrastMy first impression of Lourdes was that it is a place of dramatic contrast, born of violence and extremes. I found it unexpectedly dramatic. The rocky foothills of the Pyrenees are filled with abrupt cliffs, mysterious caves and scraggly brush. The River Gave rapidly flows with violent intensity. While praying at the Grotto, it was not uncommon to feel sudden gusts of strong winds that added to the sense that something different and important was happening there. The intensely hot sun of...

Mary 759. Let us turn from your dogma of Christ to those dogmas concerning your goddess Mary. It would be mortal sin for any Catholic to regard Mary as a goddess. If a Catholic expressed such a belief to a Priest in confession he would be refused absolution unless he promised to renounce such an absurd idea. If you wish to attack Catholic doctrine, at least find out what Catholics do believe before you begin. 760. If you call her Queen of Heaven do you not do her an injustice in refusing to her the title of goddess? It would...

EDE, Netherlands (ABP) -- A Latina theologian says overreaction to Catholic veneration of the Virgin Mary has caused Baptists to miss important biblical teaching associated with the mother of Jesus. Nora Lozano Nora Lozano, associate professor of biblical and theological studies at Baptist University of the Americas, found potential liberation for women -- both Protestant and Catholic -- in Latin America and elsewhere by taking another look at the biblical story of Mary, Jesus' mother. Lozano, a participant in theological conversations between the Baptist World Alliance and the Vatican, made the remarks in a presentation to the BWA Commission on...

David Lassman / The Post-StandardThis sculpture of Virgin Mary by artist Geri Keil and displayed at the Marcellus Free Library has drawn controversy. A sculpture that meshes religion and pop culture is at the root of a controversy at the Marcellus Free Library. Trumansburg artist Geri Keil created the piece -- "Bebe Coca" -- as part of a library exhibit on Mexican culture, but a group from a Syracuse church signed a petition demanding the library remove it. The group says the papier-mache sculpture, which depicts the Virgin of Guadalupe (a Mexican version of the Virgin Mary) with a...

Even before Sonia Maria Sotoymayor becomes a Supreme Court justice, liberals are canonizing the woman. Actually, that’s not quite accurate. Sotomayor is being pushed above and beyond saint status. In truth, liberals want to enshrine her as The Virgin Maria Sotomayor! To do it, National Hispanic Foundation of the Arts Chair Felix Sanchez has concocted a blasphemous image. It’s circulating ‘round the Internet. Given the speed that pictures, video clips and notes go viral on the Web these days, the illustration has probably made its way to Vatican City by now. Maybe it even landed at the remote chalet where...

Thousands of Irish Catholics have flocked this week to a County Limerick church to pray at the stump of a recently cut willow that many observers say, has the silhouette of the Virgin Mary. > The workman who made the cut, Anthony Reddin, said he doesn't see the Virgin Mary. "I see it as the grain of a tree myself," he said. >

While receiving an honorary doctorate in law from the University of Notre Dame yesterday, President Barack Obama wore the school’s traditional doctoral robe that is inscribed with a prayer to the Virgin Mary as a reminder that all of the school’s activities are dedicated to the Mother of God. The robe is inscribed with two copies—one on each breast--of Notre Dame’s coat of arms, which includes the words “Vita, Dulcedo, Spes,” which are part of the traditional Roman Catholic prayer the Salve Regina—or Hail Holy Queen. “The phrase ‘Vita, Dulcedo, Spes,’ taken from the ancient prayer to the Virgin, the...

April 30, 2009 Obama to wear robe with cross and Virgin Mary prayer at Notre Dame commencement Per CNSNews.com, April 28: President Barack Obama is expected to wear the traditional doctoral robe featuring the cross and prayer of the Virgin Mary when he speaks at... Notre Dame next month, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told CNSNews.com White House Correspondent Fred Lucas on Monday.... nd doctoral.jpg "I honestly don't know what the dress code is for that day. I can assume that the president would wear what one traditionally wears at that commencement," Gibbs told Lucas during Monday's White House...

Hours before Easter services were to commence, a vandal or vandals decapitated a statue of the Blessed Virgin outside Santa Monica’s Catholic Church in Santa Monica, the parish where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, are members. “As many of you know or may have noticed, our statue of the Blessed Mother at the corner of 7th and California was vandalized, and is currently covered,” the church’s pastor, Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson, said in a message to parishioners posted on the parish’s web site. “It was an unfortunate and sad occurrence, and questions remain as to why someone would...

Virgin Mary Statue Beheaded at Santa Monica Church April 14, 2009 SANTA MONICA -- Police in Santa Monica are investigating the beheading of a statue of the Virgin Mary at a church there on Easter Sunday. The vandalism happened shortly before Easter services commenced at St. Monica Catholic Church. A priest at the church found the 55-year-old marble statue headless around 5:45 a.m. The head was laying on the ground just a few feet away. The statue stands in front of the church, on the corner of Seventh Street and California Avenue. The top of the statue was covered with...

CALIFORNIA AVE. — Santa Monica Police are investigating an alleged hate crime after officials with St. Monica Catholic Church discovered a statue of the Virgin Mary beheaded shortly before Easter services commenced. A priest found the 55-year-old marble statue, which stands on the corner of Seventh Street and California Avenue, decapitated around 5:45 a.m. on Sunday, spotting the head on the ground just a few feet away. The top of the statue was covered with a white plastic bag before service began. “Even though it was a sad event, it didn’t take away from the joy of Easter and celebrating...

A group of Protestant Christians in the Netherlands is objecting to the emblem of the European Union being placed on car registration plates in their country, saying that the symbol conflicts with their religious convictions - writes Andreas Havinga. The National Foundation for the Preservation of the Political Reformed Principles states that the EU emblem - a circle of 12 golden stars on a blue background - symbolises the veneration of Mary, the mother of Jesus, by the Roman Catholic Church. "Most people don't think about it, but the EU symbol was thought up by a Roman Catholic in honour...

Men have crowded all her glory into a single phrase: The Mother of God. No one can say anything greater of her.(Martin Luther) CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - From antiquity, Mary has been called “Theotokos”, or “God-Bearer” (Mother of God). It is a relatively recent phenomenon among some Christians that this term has even become controversial. Yet since the Protestant reformation – it has. So, sadly, it is this title which prevents some Christians from experiencing Mary as the gift that she is meant to be for the whole church and for the world. The word in Greek is “Theotokos”....

So yesterday I went to Mass with my wife's family in Philadelphia. Mass was nice except for the one year old in my arms who was the worst baby...evah. But following the Eucharist, the song was, "Mary, Did you Know?" Now, I've never given the song a moment's thought. To be honest, I think I'd only heard it once or twice on an Amy Grant Christmas CD. But I'd certainly never heard it before in Mass. My nine year old always wants to sing along in Mass so I quickly found the page for her to read the words. And...

As NewsBuster Dan Gainor has noted, Playboy Mexico thought it could make some pesos by peddling an issue with a scantily-clad Virgin Mary on the cover—just in time for Christmas. Today's Los Angeles Times contains an editorial denouncing the tasteless stunt. All well and good. But it set me to wondering. Did the LAT protest similar outrages against religous symbols when they appeared in the US? The infamous "Piss Christ" comes to mind. Even more on point is the portrait of the Virgin Mary, surrounded by lacquered elephant dung and cutouts from pornographic magazines, that the Brooklyn Museum found worthy...

A woman suffering from health problems seeks divine intervention to help pay her medical bills. She says the Virgin Mary appears in a scan of her brain, and she's betting someone will want to buy the image.

The Immaculate Conception: A Marvelous Theme Written by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira    Sunday, December 19 2004 ( Last Updated Thursday, May 29 2008 ) This year the Church celebrates the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception which affirms that Mary was conceived without Original Sin. For centuries, the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady was defended by saints, theologians and laymen. However, it took centuries of theological debate to establish a consensus in the Church. Only in 1854, did Blessed Pope Pius IX, after consulting with the bishops of the whole world, proclaim this...

Martin Luther's Devotion to Mary by Dave Armstrong .. Despite the radicalism of early Protestantism toward many ancient Catholic "distinctives," such as the Communion of the Saints, Penance, Purgatory, Infused Justification, the Papacy, the priesthood, sacramental marriage, etc., it may surprise many to discover that Martin Luther was rather conservative in some of his doctrinal views, such as on baptismal regeneration, the Eucharist, and particularly the Blessed Virgin Mary. Luther indeed was quite devoted to Our Lady, and retained most of the traditional Marian doctrines which were held then and now by the Catholic Church. This is often not well-documented...

“The Rosary is excruciating. There I said it.” Thus begins Brian Pessaro’s “My Struggle With the Rosary” at Godspy. “I wouldn’t be where I am today had it not been for Mary’s intercession,” he writes. “Since the age of 11, I was addicted to pornography. It began simple enough with sneaking peaks at my best friend’s father’s Playboys in the basement of his house. But by the time I was 25, I was so hooked on Internet porn that I would itch for my wife to leave the apartment so I could secretly jump online. Several times over the years...

A Call To Prayer: This Lepanto Moment Politics/Elections Announcement Keywords: PRAYSource: EWTNAuthor: Bowie KuhnPosted on 11/16/2000 17:00:02 PST by big'ol_freeper This Lepanto Moment   A Call To Prayer:This Lepanto Moment  Let me take you back over 400 years ago.  The Ottoman Turks were off the coast of Greece. A powerful Ottoman armada advanced on a badly out manned and out gunned Christian navy. All that stood between the Ottomans and Western Civilization were a relatively few ships, a small number of valiant men and one Rosary. So the men knelt in prayer and invoked the intercession of their Heavenly...

After his opening greeting, ‘Hail Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women,’ the archangel then continues, what we might call his prediction or prophecy. On hearing the salutation Mary, we are told, became troubled. She wondered what the unusual greeting she received might be. She was called full of grace and was told “the Lord is with thee.” “Blessed art thou among women,” and at which our Lady, understandably then continued and asked further questions. We shall first listen to the angel’s prophecy, then we will see what the prophetic words mean objectively and...

 The Early Church Fathers onThe Assumption The doctrine of the Assumption was one that developed over time. It was not something new but rather the logical result of what was already known (Mary’s Immaculate Conception). Pseudo – MelitoIf therefore it might come to pass by the power of your grace, it has appeared right to us your servants that, as you, having overcome death, do reign in glory, so you should raise up the body of your Mother and take her with you, rejoicing, into heaven. Then said the Savior [Jesus]: "Be it done according to your will" (The Passing...

May 31, 2008                                       Feast of the Visitation                                    of the Blessed Virgin Mary       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Zep 3:14-18a Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!Sing joyfully, O Israel!Be glad and exult with all your heart,O daughter Jerusalem!The LORD has removed the judgment against you,he has turned away your enemies;The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst,you have no further misfortune to fear.On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem:Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged!The LORD, your God, is in your midst,a mighty savior;He will rejoice...

Feast of the Visitation   What an easily-overlooked but beautiful Feast the Visitation is! Begun by St. Bonaventure among the Franciscans in A.D. 1263, it became a universal Feast in 1389, during the papacy of Urban VI. This Feast commemorates what is the second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary: Our Lady's visit to her cousin, Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant with St. John the Baptist at the time. At the end of the Archangel Gabriel's Annunciation to Our Lady that she will conceive, he tells her that her cousin, Elizabeth, an older woman thought barren, will also conceive. The...

CNA).- Vitorrio Messori, the most popular Italian Catholic writer has slammed so-called “adult” Catholics who want to minimize the role of the Virgin Mary, just days before the presentation of his new book “Hypothesis About Mary” in Spain. The best-selling author of books such as “Crossing the Threshold of Hope,” addresses who Mary is for believers in his new work, the credibility of apparitions in Lourdes and Fatima and Mary’s role in Christian belief.  The new book has yet to be translated into English.Messori confesses that years ago he was asked to write a book about Mary, but the proposal...

PARIS (AP) — A Roman Catholic bishop said Sunday that the church has officially recognized that the Virgin Mary appeared to a 17th-century shepherd girl in the French Alps. Speaking at Mass in remarks broadcast nationally on France-2 television, Monsignor Jean-Michel di Falco Leandri said he recognized the "supernatural origin" of the apparitions to 17-year-old Benoite Rencurel from 1664 to 1718.

Editor's Note: Today over one billion persons — about one-sixth of the world's population — are followers of Islam, a religious movement, which began in the early seventh century. While found living virtually everywhere in the world, Muslims are concentrated in a belt of countries on both sides of the equator, stretching from Morocco to the Philippine Islands. These countries — notes historian Geoffrey Parrinder in World Religions: From Ancient History to the Present — "occupy territory of great historical and strategic significances, as they lie across the most important lines of trade and communications between the Old World and...

My first personal encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary happened while I was a student at an Evangelical Anglican seminary in England. I had been brought up as an Evangelical and found my way into the Anglican church. There I was preparing for ordination. A Catholic friend who was a Benedictine oblate suggested that I might like to visit a Catholic Benedictine monastery. While there I told one of the monks that during a time of contemplative prayer I had sensed God’s presence in a very real, but feminine way. The femininity disturbed me because I knew God isn’t feminine....

March 31, 2008                                  Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord       Reading 1Responsorial PsalmReading 2Gospel Reading 1Is 7:10-14; 8:10 The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying: Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky! But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!” Then Isaiah said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child,...

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Bogota, Mar 24, 2008 / 11:19 am (CNA).- The Colombian daily “El Tiempo” revealed on Holy Saturday that a crisis that could have ended in an open conflict between Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela was averted by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe confiding the situation to the intercession of Mary under the three different titles by which she is the country’s patroness. The crisis between Colombia and its southern (Ecuador) and northeastern (Venezuela) neighbors started On March 1, when Uribe ordered a military raid into Ecuador's territory against a rebel camp used by Marxist guerrillas to launch terrorist...

Dogmas of Our Lady   The four principal dogmas relating to the Blessed Virgin Mary are: Her title as Mother of God Her Perpetual Virginity Her Immaculate Conception Her Assumption into HeavenBibliography                 Immaculate ConceptionThe Immaculate Conception is the Virgin Mary’s glorious privilege of being preserved by a special grace of God from Original Sin through the future merits of Jesus Christ. Protestants assert that the Virgin Mary could not have been immaculately conceived for then She would not have needed redemption. This is evidenced by Her own words in the Magnificat: "my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour" (St. Luke...

DALLAS — Artwork depicting the Virgin Mary as a stripper stirred trouble while on display at a small Catholic university before the piece was apparently stolen. The print was part of an exhibit last month at the University of Dallas that featured the work of students at Murray State University in Kentucky. Joanna Gianulis, a senior art major at Murray State, said she was trying to raise questions about perceptions of saints and sinners and didn't intend to be sacrilegious. "How do we know that an exotic dancer is sinful?" she said. "What if she has the best intentions and...

Should Mary be declared co-redemptrix? One of the items posted by the Roman Catholic Zenit News Agency for Monday 11 February 2008 read as follows – Cardinals Hoping for a 5th Marian Dogma To Declare Mary as Mother of Humanity ROME, FEBRUARY. 11, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Five cardinals have sent a letter inviting prelates worldwide to join them in petitioning Benedict XVI to declare a fifth Marian dogma they said would "proclaim the full Christian truth about Mary."The text, released last week, includes the petition that asks the Pope to proclaim Mary as "the Spiritual Mother of All Humanity, the co-redemptrix...

"Rejoice, unfading rose. Rejoice, the only one who budded forth the unfading apple. Rejoice, birth-giver of the aromatic balm of the King of all. Rejoice, 0 Bride unwedded, the world's salvation." The Akathist Hymn is a profound, devotional poem, which sings the praises of the Holy Mother and Ever-Virgin Mary. It is one of the most beloved services in the Orthodox Church. It was composed in the imperial city of Constantinople, "the city of the Virgin," by St. Romanos the Melodist, who reposed in the year 556. The Akathist Hymn has proven so popular in the liturgical life of...

The Virgin Mary: Left-Wing Liberationist?   By Mark D. TooleyFrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, January 11, 2008 Like most Protestants, Methodists honor but do not typically pray to the Virgin Mary. But an official with the United Methodist lobby office in Washington, D.C., apparently makes an exception for the "sassy sister savior" when she is redefined to embody the Religious Left's political ideals: a Mary socialist. Neal Christie, who is the Assistant General Secretary of the United Methodist Board of Church & Society, offered up his Marian liberationist prayer as part of his agency's special holiday message. Merry Christmas from a Virgin Mary who more resembles...

When Evangelicals ask me why the Church keeps holding up Mary alongside Christ, the best answer I can think of is this: There's one thing that even Jesus cannot do. He cannot show us what a disciple of Jesus looks like. Only a disciple of Jesus can do that. That is exactly what Benedict does at the end of his encyclical. It's easy to say, after this great discourse on Hope, "Looks great on paper. But has anybody ever actually been able to live this?" The Pope's answer is "Here's how it played out in the first disciple's life. It...

Wellington - A New Zealand woman has put a beach pebble, which she claims bears an image of the Virgin Mary, up for sale on an internet auction site, it was reported on Wednesday. Lisa-Marie Corlet, of Christchurch, told The Press newspaper she was inspired to sell the 1-centimetre wide pebble by an American woman who paid 28,000 US dollars for a 10-year-old toasted cheese sandwich with an image of the Virgin Mary on the top. "If someone is willing to pay 28,000 dollars for a piece of toast, I'm sure someone out there would pay at least that for...

Two years after Anglicans and Roman Catholics said they had reached a common understanding on the Virgin Mary, there's still something about Mary that doesn't quite sit right with some Anglicans. Specifically, some Anglicans remain skittish about Catholic dogmas on the Immaculate Conception (that Jesus' mother was born free of original sin) and the Assumption (that she was "assumed body and soul” into heaven at the end of her life). During a recent meeting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation in the USA, Episcopal and Catholic leaders said the agreement is significant but could have done more to ease Anglican concerns...

MARIAZELL, Austria (CNS) -- When Pope Benedict XVI came to the Austrian Marian shrine of Mariazell, he spoke a lot about Jesus Christ and said relatively little about Mary. That was indicative of the “style” of this pope’s Marian devotion, which Vatican officials have described as prudent, thoughtful and very Christocentric. In general, the pope sees attachment to Mary as a wonderful way for the faithful to draw closer to Christ, but has been wary of anything that tends to exaggerate or over-sentimentalize her role in the church. “We rest awhile with the mother of the Lord, and we pray...

PRIME Minister John Howard is leading condemnation against the decision to include two entries in a prestigious art competition that ridicule the Christian faith. A statue of the Virgin Mary shrouded by a Muslim burqa and a holographic image of Osama bin Laden that morphs into Jesus Christ when moved on an angle have sparked outrage from politicians and church leaders. The "artworks" were submitted as entries for the Blake Prize - Australia's top religious art competition. Yesterday, Mr Howard said the pieces were insulting and lacked any artistic merit. "The choice of such artwork is gratuitously offensive to the...

  Susan Brinkmann  Other Articles by Susan BrinkmannPrinter Friendly Version   Making Friends for Our Lady May 28, 2007 In the middle of World War II, a young factory worker named Karol Wojtyla picked up a copy of a book by St. Louis Marie de Montfort titled, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He couldn't put it down. In fact, he read the book so often he memorized entire pages. That book would have a profound impact on the rest of his life, and especially on his papacy as Pope John Paul II. The late, beloved pope was...

Fundamentalists are sometimes horrified when the Virgin Mary is referred to as the Mother of God. However, their reaction often rests upon a misapprehension of what this particular title of Mary signifies, and what the Protestant Reformers had to say regarding this doctrine. A woman is a man’s mother either if she carried him in her womb or if she was the woman contributing half of his genetic matter or both. Mary was the mother of Jesus in both of these senses; because she not only carried Jesus in her womb but also supplied all of the genetic matter for...

08 February 2007, 11:26 Virgin Mary said to appear to an American lover of foul language and bless opposition to ROCOR’s unity with the Church in Russia New York, February 8, Interfax - The anonymous creator of the ROCORNEWS website has stated that the Virgin Mary with a host of saints appeared to him during his night walk with his dog in the Central Park in New York. ‘The vision’ is now given all kinds of interpretation by irreconcilable opponents of unity between the Russian Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate, who see in this statement a sign of heavenly...

Scott Hahn on Our Lady The following is the transcript of Scott Hahn's audio and video tape presentation, "Mary: Holy Mother" as it appears in the "Catholic Adult Education on Video Program" with Scott and Kimberly Hahn. This morning we want to focus on Mary and the Marian doctrines and devotions of the Catholic Church to see where in scripture do we see, not necessarily logical demonstrations that are brought forth from proof texts that kind of force the mind against the will to give in and to acquiesce in these beliefs, but where do we find in scripture the...

Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.  Other Articles by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.Printer Friendly Version   Mary, Mother of God Marcellino D'Ambrosio December 31, 2006 The mother of the Messiah has been called many things in the last 2000 years — the Virgin Mary, Our Lady, the Blessed Mother.  But call her "the Mother of God" and you'll see some Christians squirm.This is nothing new.  One day in the early fifth century, a priest preached a stirring sermon in the presence of the patriarch of Constantinople.  His subject was the holy mother of Jesus.  The preacher continually referred to Mary as the "Theotokos"...