Comments(0) Apparently so, if these saints of the East are to be believed — some of them having been Popes themselves. Amazing!
[Source: Catholic and Enjoying It!]
Comments(0) Comments(0) You see this normal human skin cell? Flick this genetic switch and — voila! — an embryonic stem cell!
Now will the New South Wales parliament please pay attention?
Comments(0) Thanks to the Catholic Report, I found the best thoughts and words to share about this feast of Corpus Christi. Nothing like a living witness, just as powerful as the Lord showed us it can be, and as he intended every one of our Christian lives to be. Fr. Owen Kearns at the National Catholic Register shares these victorious words on the Eucharist from Fr. Ragheed Ganni, recently martyred in Iraq outside his Church with some deacons:
| “Mosul (Iraq) Christians are not theologians; some are even illiterate. And yet inside of us for many generations one truth has become embedded: Without the Sunday Eucharist we cannot live.
“This is true today when evil has reached the point of destroying churches and killing Christians, something unheard of in Iraq till now. On June 2004 of last year, a group of young women was cleaning the church to get it ready for Sunday service. “My sister Raghad, who is 19, was among them. As she was carrying a pail of water to wash the floor, two men drove up and threw a grenade that blew up just a few yards away from her.“She was wounded but miraculously survived. And on that Sunday we still celebrated the Eucharist. My shaken parents were also there. For me and my community, my sister’s wounds were a source of strength so that we, too, may bear our cross. “Last August in St. Paul Church, a car bomb exploded after the 6 p.m. Mass. The blast killed two Christians and wounded many others. But that, too, was another miracle — the car was full of bombs but only one exploded. Had they all gone off together the dead would have been in the hundreds since 400 faithful had come on that day. “People could not believe what had happened. The terrorists might think they can kill our bodies or our spirit by frightening us, but, on Sundays, churches are always full. They may try to take our life, but the Eucharist gives it back. … “There are days when I feel frail and full of fear. But when, holding the Eucharist, I say ‘Behold the Lamb of God, behold, who takes away the sin of the world,’ I feel his strength in me. When I hold the Host in my hands, it is really he who is holding me and all of us, challenging the terrorists and keeping us united in his boundless love.” |
It’s easy to forget that Christians are still persecuted today. We must never forget, lest, by making light the Lord’s forewarnings about our own lot of persecutions, we might think the same about everything else He told us. The cross is our glory, and we have a share in that cross, just as we have a share in its glory.
Comments(0) So Cardinal George Pell is requiring Catholic Educators to swear to uphold the Catholic faith?
Yes!
Actually the cartoon has it wrong. They actually *need* those brains in order to assimilate that. Otherwise, if we hand the Catholic faith to folks with their brains in the bin, they’ll only do what comes natural to them (in that state): dismiss the Catholic faith without a thought.
Pun intended.
Comments(0) They murder the men who are guarding the Church then convert it into a Mosque. How are they getting away with this without a squeak from the mainstream media?
Please pray for the Christians in Iraq!
[Story found via The Catholic Report.]
Comments(0) So this member of parliament says to the cardinal ‘I would rather go to hell than take orders on how to vote from the Cardinal.’ Dramatic, no? Lots of cliches I can think of here, but that’s not nearly as interesting nor as urgent as what is at the heart of such an outburst. With such a retort, this MP is not appealing to the matter at hand — which is the ethics of creating human embryos in order to use them as raw material, resulting in their death. No, this statement is about authority and power. Government is ideally about public service, but I wonder how much concern the MP has for the female public who risk the onset of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome from the drugs that are used in the harvesting of egg cells. I wonder how much thought the MP has put into the question of where human life really begins. If he’d care to check with embryologists, he might get the surprise of his life. And does he spare any thought to the dismal track record of embryonic stem cell research with zero successful human treatments so far? Has he considered how this legislation sets back the funding opportunities for adult stem cell research, which is far more promising and has enjoyed more than 70 successful human treatments so far?
But no, this MP isn’t about those things. This is about who’s in charge. This is about bravado. And sadly, this is about pandering to the crowd, who can be so taken with the idea of standing up to the Church that they can’t be bothered to think about the matter at hand.
So the MP would rather go to hell? Oh he’s doing his share to get us there, alright. When human beings at their most vulnerable are seen as no more than spare parts? Oh he’s getting there..
Comments(0) Thanks for The Catholic Report, here are two must-read responses to atheism (athesists). One was written by Peter Hitchens, in response to his brother, militant atheist Christopher. The other was written by Mark Shea in response to an atheist-reader.
Comments(0) This alert was sent to me by Right to Life Australia. Please get involved if possible. And pray!
| Dear Friends of Life,
We should like you to immediately contact by mail, fax or phone the Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to protest against the proposal led by Dr Mal Washer, M.H.R. Moore, with the support of 50 pro-abortion federal M.P.s to overturn Australia’s current ban on providing foreign aid for abortions in poor countries. Margaret Tighe Contact should be directed to: C/o Parliament House, PO Box 6022, Canberra, ACT 2600 Prime Minister Howard (at Parliament House) Hon Alexander Downer (at Parliament House) Tel: (02) 6277 7500 |
Comments(0) Members. We are. Not entirely sure how. Swept off our feet. But when I think about it, it seems more consistent with the work of God that we would feel like this and be a bit daunted. As some have said of the Catholic Church, it seems that CfC has claimed us (rather than we who claimed the CfC for ourselves). If a group had told us that it was as easy as 1-2-3 — with no obligations, no sweat and no worries — then it would be too trivial to be of God.
I’d been searching for a spiritual director for months now, so this seems to be God’s answer. And I’ve been musing over the Catholic/Evangelical divide for years now, and CfC is both — but while Evangelical, it is not Protestant. Perhaps I am onto the future of Evangelical Catholicism. The evangelizing zeal and spirit of Evangelicalism is alive in CfC! But while it is of the laity, it does not supplant the clergy. It instead focuses on what the laity does best — to be efficacious leaven in daily living — while remaining grounded on the Church as having both lay and clerical ministries. There is no inclination to merge these ministries. The household of God is huge, and His children have been given different callings and different gifts. Let the Magisterium of popes, councils and bishops teach and clarify. Let the clergy administer the sacraments. Let the religious orders teach, and minister to the needy. And let the laity, from families at the root, be leaven to the world. St. Josemaria Escriva would be pleased. 
May the Lord bless this new direction in our family’s life. Veni, Sancte Spiritus!
