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Ted Haggard was once one of the most power evangelical leaders in America. New Life Church leader Ted Haggard was once one of America's most charismatic and powerful evangelical leaders, with an audience of more than 30 million people. Ted began counseling foreign dignitaries and consulting on a weekly basis with President George W. Bush. By 2005, Time magazine named him one of the most influential evangelicals in America. But no one—not even his devoted wife, five children and his Colorado Springs, Colorado-based congregation—suspected that Ted was paying an admitted male escort for crystal meth. In November 2006, Mike Jones...

Sexual misconduct is as old as sin, but the avalanche of sexual misconduct that has come to light in recent weeks is almost too much to bear. These grievous revelations of sin have occurred in churches, in denominational ministries, and even in our seminaries. We thought this was a Roman Catholic problem. The unbiblical requirement of priestly celibacy and the organized conspiracy of silence within the hierarchy helped to explain the cesspool of child sex abuse that has robbed the Roman Catholic Church of so much of its moral authority. When people said that Evangelicals had a similar crisis coming,...

On the ecumenical terrain as well, Pope Francis is breaking new ground.No pope before him would have put a Protestant at the head of “L'Osservatore Romano.” And he did it, appointing as the director of the Argentine edition of the Holy See’s official newspaper the Presbyterian Marcelo Figueroa, his longtime friend.No pope had ever been able to arrange a meeting with the Orthodox patriarch of Moscow. And he succeeded, with an appointment at the airport of Havana.In the dialogue with non-Catholic Christians, Jorge Mario Bergoglio doesn’t overlook anyone at all. He shows a friendly face to even the toughest interlocutors,...

Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio has said that the German bishops’ policy, allowing for Protestant spouses of Catholics to receive Communion on a regular basis, is consistent with the laws of the Church. Cardinal Coccopalmerio— who recently retired from his post as president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, the Vatican body charged with interpretation of canon law— told Vatican Insider that the law currently allows for Protestants to receive Communion under exceptional circumstances. However, he went on to say that when a Protestant attends Mass together with a Catholic spouse, “We can honestly answer that it is an exceptional case.”...

LAKE GARDA, Italy, July 17, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — Papal homilies about the “God of surprises,” discourses on the “ideologues of doctrine,” and the upcoming youth synod’s stress on the need to listen to “the voices” inside and outside the Church in order discern the Spirit, may seem new to many Catholics.  But for one noted historian, this language isn’t new at all but is steeped in a “fascist spirit” that emerged in Catholic circles during the interwar period of the 1920s-30s, was carried forth by controversial figures like Teilhard de Chardin, and is now being unleashed. According to Dr. John Rao, this spirit is...

The Bishop of Würzburg's invitation goes well beyond previous statements from German bishopsThe Bishop of Würzburg has allowed all Protestants married to Catholics to receive Holy Communion at jubilee Masses for married couples in his cathedral. Bishop Franz Jung, who was installed as bishop just last month, told spouses in “inter-denominational” marriages that they were welcome to “join the Lord’s table” at the Masses, which are taking place on Thursday and Friday. An article on the diocese’s website says the bishop “expressly invited interdenominational [literally ‘confession-uniting’] couples to celebrate the Eucharist”. The article says that, in the coming months, the...

His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia has expressed the view that now is not the right time for a Papal visit to Serbia. His comment comes in an interview with Blic, reflecting on his recent meeting with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. During the meeting, Pat. Irinej expressed gratitude for the official position of the Vatican, which has not recognized the independence of the southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija. Pat. Irinej notes in the interview that he did not speak about the possibility of a Papal visit with the Cardinal during their meeting, but that he...

ROME, June 27, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — The reception of Holy Communion in the Catholic Church — even in exceptional cases — by a Protestant or other non-Catholic constitutes a “lie” that betrays the Apostolic tradition and the Church’s constant practice for over two thousand years. According to Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary of Astana, Kazakhstan, the reception of Holy Communion by a non-Catholic would be a falsehood because Eucharistic Communion is meant to manifest the “perfect union” of the Church’s members. Admitting a non-Catholic who does not accept the integrity of the Catholic Faith (e.g. the papacy, the Marian dogmas, etc)...

The Bishop of Rome’s support is being called upon by two sides of Eastern Orthodoxy over the creation of a new independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church.VATICAN CITY — Within the span of a week, Pope Francis met with the spiritual head of Eastern Orthodoxy, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, and the representatives of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow. Both Constantinople and Moscow are locked in a battle over the creation of a new and independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which could shift the balance of power in Eastern Orthodoxy and impact the course of Orthodox-Catholic ecumenical dialogue. Pope Francis’ May...

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE - After a day of touting ways in which Christians might share in greater unity, that commitment to coming together didn’t prevent Pope Francis from backing the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog in its decision to insist on caution regarding proposals for intercommunion with Protestants. On a return flight to Rome on Thursday from a day-long ecumenical pilgrimage to Geneva, Francis said he supported the Vatican’s Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal-elect Luis Ladaria, in requiring a rethink of a draft proposal from the German bishops that would allow for non-Catholics to receive...

Five signatories of JDDJ to discuss implications for church life (LWI) The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) together with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), as well as the Methodist, the Reformed and the Anglican communion will start a consultation process to discuss spiritual and ecclesial implications of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.“We have now five signatories of this ecumenical declaration,” says Kaisamari Hintikka, LWF Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations. “We feel we are called to ask together what kind of  spiritual and ecclesiastical consequences the JDDJ might have for our churches.”Milestone in ecumenical dialogue...

The leader of the ecumenism committee said the Vatican's rejection of the German proposal was 'inexplicable'The Vatican is facing a backlash from Germany after the publication of a letter on Communion for Protestants. A majority of the bishops’ conference had approved a plan to allow Protestant spouses of Catholics to receive Communion if they experienced “distress”. After an appeal from a minority of German bishops, Pope Francis originally declined to give a decision. But yesterday it emerged that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in a letter approved by the Pope, later told the German bishops that they...

Cardinal Marx Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported today that Pope Francis rejected a proposal for inter-communion from the German Bishops Conference. This struck me as odd since in 2015 Pope Francis told a Lutheran woman asking about receiving Communion with her Catholic husband to “go forward” guided by individual conscience. Curious, I read further. It turns out that after intense debate, Cardinal Marx, the progressive president of the German Bishops Conference, announced in February that the Conference would issue guidelines explaining that Protestant spouses of Catholics could receive Holy Communion in “individual cases” and “under certain conditions.” Some opposing German...

On May 29, the man killed three people in the centre of Liège. The Church of On, in Marche-En-Famenne: this is where the funeral of Benjamin Herman, the killer of three people in the attack on Liege, will take place, according to L'Avenir. St Laurent The assailant's body, killed by the police shortly after committing these crimes, will be buried in the village cemetery. The priest of the village of On, François Barbieux, spoke about the approach of the family of the one who is radicalized in prison: "The family is quite aware of the unacceptable nature of the acts,...

Pope Francis – Russian-Orthodox Must Not Become Catholic During a May 30 meeting with a delegation of the Russian Patriarchate of Moscow, Pope Francis stressed that he doesn’t want Russian Orthodox to be become Catholics, “We will never allow ourselves to do this, I do not want it.” Francis insisted that “in Moscow - in Russia - there is only one patriarchate: yours. We will not have another one.” Francis also rejected the idea that there should be first a doctrinal agreement and then an ecumenical walking together. “This does not work for ecumenism”, he claimed. According to Francis, Christians...

Portland, Maine, May 31, 2018 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After the Maine Council of Churches changed its decision-making process earlier this year, the Bishop of Portland was forced to withdraw from the group, the Portland Press-Herald reported Tuesday. The council had previously required unanimous agreement before advocating on a public policy issue, but in February adopted a simple majority vote. This meant that continued membership in the group could have forced the Diocese of Portland to be represented by views at odds with Catholic teaching. Bishop Robert Deeley wrote to Bonny Rodden, president of the Maine Council of Churches,...

Well I finally got around to it – I am reading through some of the Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin. I say “some” because the complete work spans more than 1500 pages and deals with some of the most weighty and complex theological issues known to mankind. I have chosen for now to plod my way through the most controversial aspects of Calvin’s writings; the topics of predestination and election. Most of my friends who call themselves Calvinists are eager to disassociate themselves from the doctrine of “double predestination”. They state that God has predestined some to...

Even a consensus among German Catholic bishops allowing intercommunion with Protestants cannot change Catholic teaching, says a Canadian archbishop. Even more important is the challenge to remain faithful to Catholic doctrine and not to propose practices that undermine the faith, and the need to foster loyalty and communion with the universal Church,” said Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, SJ, of Ottawa in an interview. “It is puzzling to learn that the Holy Father told the bishops that whatever they determine is acceptable as long as they all agree.” A majority of German bishops would like to offer communion to Protestant spouses of...

Sherry Anne Weddell recalls the moment when she stepped “across the threshold” and entered a Catholic church for the first time. It was while she was studying at the University of Washington in Seattle and, coming from a Southern Baptist background, she was looking for a Protestant church in which to pray. All those in her vicinity were closed, but Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church was open. “I know it sounds incredible, but I didn’t know what that (the Blessed Sacrament) was, and if you had explained it to me I wouldn’t have believed you,” she said in a May 12...

His comments come as debate over Communion for Protestants intensifiesThe President of Germany has called for the Catholic Church to allow Protestants to receive Communion. Speaking at Katholikentag, a major conference for German-speaking Catholics in Münster, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: “Let us seek ways of expressing the common Christian faith by sharing in the Last Supper and Communion. I am sure: Thousands of Christians in interdenominational marriages are hoping for this.” Steinmeier said he was speaking “not as Federal President, but as an avowed Evangelical Christian who lives in an interdenominational marriage.” He also criticised the Bavarian government’s decision to hang...