Prayer Request

Please pray for two very important intentions.
Thank you so much.

30 Years Later

Wednesday, December 9th marks the 30th anniversary of the holy death of Archbishop Fulton J Sheen.

http://www.archbishopsheencause.org/

Guns riding high on holiday gift lists

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - On Kevin Wence's 10th Christmas, he opened a gift from his father and discovered what would become "A Christmas Story" legend: a Red Ryder BB air rifle. His first gun.

Last week, Wence bought his 15th, a stainless-steel Smith & Wesson Model 686 revolver. Unlike the air rifle, this gun won't sit under the Christmas tree, he said. But it would be a family gift that he, his wife and his 24-year-old son, all trained in shooting, could use to protect their St. Petersburg home.

"In responsible hands, they're safe. They're fun. It's a hobby," Wence said as he signed a form authorizing a background check at the Pinellas Park Bill Jackson's Shop for Adventure. "Once you fire a bullet, you can't take it back. But you can still have fun with them."

The desire for fun, the hunt or self-defense has drawn shoppers looking for the perfect Christmas gift to gun stores across Tampa Bay, dealers said. At most stores, the shopping is a family affair -- a father and daughter firing at the range, husbands semiauto shopping with their wives, parents price-checking hunting bows for their young son.

"It's a feeling of confidence, like having a shield," said Tony Orifici, a salesman at Dunedin's Florida Survivalist gun shop. "Grandpa wants a shotgun. Mom wants a revolver. ... We had a family come in and buy an AR-15, a shotgun and two handguns, one for each of them..."

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White House Social Secretary's "Non- Religious Christmas"

The embattled Razzle Dazzle Czar, White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers says that the Obamas were planning a "non-religious Christmas." According to the Sunday New York Times the confession emerged at a luncheon earlier this year with former White House social secretaries. The ladies must have choked on their Caesar salads when Rogers went on to announce that the Obamas did not intend to display the Christmas Creche--the manger scene that traditionally occupies a central spot in the East Room. (This revelation reportedly drew a gasp from the retired social secretaries). The idea was that the absence of the Creche (i.e.,Christ's Birth) would make Christmas "more inclusive". Though there was serious discussion of keeping the shepherds and the Holy Family in storage, tradition finally won out. So good of the Social Secretary to put Jesus on the Christmas party invite list.

But Desiree Rogers' comments, which presumably reflect the thoughts of the First couple, betray a troubling attitude toward religion and religious people. The upshot being: expressions of faith (even something as innocuous as a manger scene) are somehow "non-inclusive". Just to be consistent why not call the White House Christmas Parties: Winter Wonderland at the White House? Or maybe The White House Red and Green Affair?

Jesus isn't the only Jew that just barely got invited to the White House this holiday season. The Jerusalem Post is reporting that Desiree Rogers and company shrunk the annual White House Hanukkah party from 800 invitees to 400. No word yet on whether a Menorah will be present. But perhaps the invited should consider bringing their own. And just to be inclusive, keep them in your purses or under your coats.

Posted by Raymond Arroyo at 3:00 PM

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Sarah Palin says US should rededicate itself to God

Sarah Palin has said the United States should rededicate itself to seeking God's will.

By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 12:40AM GMT 05 Dec 2009

Sarah Palin has said the United States should rededicate itself to seeking God's will Photo: EPA

The former US vice-presidential candidate argued that a humble spirit could help leaders to get more answers on issues such as health care, energy and national security.

In a video released Friday by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the 2008 Republican candidate for vice president, said it was important for leaders to recognise they don't have all the answers.

Mrs Palin said: "No one person has all the right answers. It takes a united nation, and it does take godly counsel, and it takes prayer and answers to prayer - and a collective humble heart of a nation seeking God's hand of protection and his blessings of prosperity.

"I think if we can get back to that, our country will be a safer, more prosperous and healthier nation."

The former Alaska governor referred to an Abraham Lincoln proclamation that declared a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer.

She said the United States has been "touched by God" because the nation's early leaders dedicated the country to God.

Mrs Palin said: "If we could get back to that, that humbleness, with that kind of contrite spirit, I think that we would be able to be provided more of the answers to so many of the great challenges that we're facing.

"And these are huge challenges, whether we're talking about health care, whether we're talking about energy independence, whether we're talking about national security measures."

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Cowbell

Vatican news for 2010 could include a consistory, few changes in the Curia

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, celebrated his 75th birthday today. Canon law now requires him to submit his resignation to the Pope, although there is virtually no chance at all that the Holy Father will choose to accept that resignation anytime soon. Cardinal Bertone has only been Secretary of State for a bit more than 3 years, he is extremely energetic, and by all available indications he enjoys the full confidence of the Pontiff...

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Eisenhower on ClimateGate: "the Scientific-Technological Elite"

Most of us know that President Eisenhower, in his farewell speech, warned of the danger of the "military-industrial complex". Regardless of your particular stand on military spending, there is no doubt that he was substantially right about the enormous abuse of power and fraud in the defense industry.

Less known is the Eisenhower's second warning in the speech.

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present -- and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite. [emphasis mine]

A remarkably succinct and accurate prediction of the situation we face today.

ClimateGate is the tip of the iceberg of the corrupt influence of our scientific elite on public policy, ranging from censorship of honest discussion of evolution in our schools to the 'Cap and Trade' boondoggle based on fabricated global warming science to the fraud and political power-play shaping up in Copenhagen to self-enriching pressure by scientists and industry to exempt human embryonic stem cell research from traditional ethical constraints on destroying human life.

We ignore Eisenhower's warning, and the overwhelming evidence before us now, at our own peril.

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Ecumenical Patriarch's Welcome of the Papal Delegation on the Feast of +Andrew

Your Eminence Cardinal Walter Kasper, representative of His Holiness the Pope and Bishop of Rome, Benedict XVI, and your honorable entourage,

It is with great joy that we welcome you once again to the courtyard of the Church of New Rome in order to concelebrate the sacred memory of its founder and protector Saint Andrew the First-Called of the Apostles. We express our heartfelt gratitude to our beloved brother in the Lord, His Holiness Pope Benedict of Old Rome, who deigned to delegate his representatives to the Thronal feast of our Church, following the custom established decades ago for an exchange of visitations during the patronal feasts of our two ancient and apostolic Churches as confirmation of their desire to lift the impediments, accumulated over a millennium and preventing the fullness of communion among them. We attribute great symbolical significance to your presence here inasmuch as it also reveals – in a deeply formal manner – the desire of the most holy Church of Rome to do whatever it can on its part, so that we may rediscover our unity in the same faith and sacramental communion according to the will of Him who has called us to unity “so that the world may believe.” (John 17.21)

As is known, St. Andrew the First-Called of the apostles, whom we celebrate today, was the brother of St. Peter the chief among the apostles; together, they knew Christ and believed in Him. The two brothers held this faith in common; the two Churches, which they founded and sanctified by means of their preaching and martyrdom, I did also hold this faith in common. This same faith was proclaimed as doctrine by our common Church Fathers, who gathered from east and west in ecumenical councils, where they transmitted it as an invaluable treasure to our Churches in order that we might build upon this faith our unity in Christ. It is this same faith, preserved intact for an entire millennium both in the east and the west, which we are again called to establish as the basis of our unity, cleansing it from any chance addition or alteration, so that “with one soul and one mind” (Phil. 2.2) we may proceed to communion in the divine Eucharist, wherein lies the fullness of the unity of the Church of Christ.

This journey toward achieving full communion, as enjoyed by our Churches in common during the first millennium, has already commenced with the dialogue of love and truth, and continues by God’s grace despite occasional difficulties. It is with vigilant concern and unceasing prayer that we follow the process of the ongoing official Theological Dialogue between our two Churches, co-chaired by Your Eminence, and now embarking upon the examination of critical ecclesiological issues, such as the question of primacy in general and that of the bishop of Rome in particular. Everyone is aware that this thorny issue proved a scandalous contention in the course of relations between our two Churches, which is why the eradication of this impediment from among us will surely greatly facilitate our journey toward unity. We are, therefore, convinced that the study of Church history during the first millennium, at least with regard to this matter, will also provide the touchstone for the further evaluation of later developments during the second millennium, which unfortunately led our Churches to greater estrangement and intensified our division.

In a world shattered by contrasts and conflicts, the exchange of peaceful and constructive dialogue constitutes the only way of achieving reconciliation and unity. In the apostolic passage read during this morning’s Divine Liturgy, the Apostles are promoted as an example of utter humility in imitation of the crucified Lord: “When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.” (1 Cor. 4. 12-13) If this ethos of humility must prevail in the relations of the faithful toward the persecutors of the Church, how much more so should it prevail in the relations among Christians themselves! The peaceful resolution of existing differences in inter-Christian relations by no means implies estrangement from truth. For truth does not fear dialogue; on the contrary, truth employs dialogue as a means of becoming acceptable even to those who for various reasons reject it. Hatred and fanaticism provoke the defensive entrenchment of each side in the blind persistence on its own positions and opinions, while consolidating differences and obliterating all hope of reconciliation. Such an attitude is absolutely unrelated to the spirit of the Christ’s Gospel and the apostolic example. For only by “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4.15) do we truly speak the truth, just as only by loving truthfully (2 John 1) do we truly love. A dialogue imbued by a sincere spirit of humility guarantees this blessed combination, which comprises the only divinely-inspired way for all those who wish to be imitators of the Apostles. (1 Cor. 4.16)

It is this spirit of sincere and loving dialogue that the Church of Christ itself is today called to implement in its relations among divided Christians, while at the same time proclaiming it to all persons of good will, wherever they happen to be. We know from bitter experience that religion can easily be misused as a banner of fanaticism and conflict among people. We have personally emphasized on numerous occasions that war in the name of religion is war against religion. This is why interfaith dialogue is particularly mandatory in our age, without entailing any compromise in one’s religious convictions. It is this dialogue that is encouraged and cultivated by our Ecumenical Patriarchate, which contributes in this way to the consolidation of peace in our contemporary world.

Your Eminence Cardinal Kasper and your honorable entourage,

Through the order established by the holy Ecumenical Councils, Divine Providence has assigned to the Church of this City the ministry of serving as the first-throne of the Orthodox Church, bearing the responsibility of coordinating and expressing the unanimity of the local holy Orthodox Churches. With this responsibility, then, we are now working diligently in preparation for the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, by activating the appropriate preconciliar instruments. Thus, only last June, we successfully convened the 4th Preconciliar Panorthodox Consultation, which dealt with the question of the Orthodox Diaspora; soon, we shall convene the Preparatory Commission for the study and preparation of other issues for the Great Council. The purpose of this entire endeavor is to forge the unity of the Orthodox Church, so that “with one mind and one heart” it may contribute to the witness of the Gospel in our modern world. In this effort and overall variously difficult service, the Church of Constantinople always considers the support of the Old Church of Rome as invaluable, and so with great love we also direct our thought there at this moment.

Greeting you – and through you, him who sent you here, namely our beloved brother in the Lord – with a sacred embrace, we pray that the Lord our God, through the intercessions of the Holy glorious and First-Called Apostle Andrew, will protect His Church from all evil, guiding it to the fulfillment of His divine will.
Welcome here among us, beloved brothers!

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Jacob Wrestling with the Angel - Gustav Doré
1855 (160 Kb); Granger Collection, New York

Supper at Emmaus - Caravaggio [1573-1610]
c. 1600-01; Oil on canvas, 54 3/4 x 76 3/4 in; National Gallery, London

Christ Among the Doctors, Dürer (1506), oil on panel

EWTN: Mass to Remember Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

From NLM:

EWTN To Air Special Mass in Remembrance of 30th Anniversary of Death of Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Irondale, AL (EWTN) – EWTN Global Catholic Network will air a special Mass in remembrance of the 30th anniversary of the death of Archbishop Fulton Sheen live from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York at 5:30 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Dec. 9. The two-hour event will encore at midnight ET.

In an outpouring of support for the canonization of the late Archbishop, dioceses worldwide will join together on this day to offer Masses for this intention. Masses will be celebrated in 35 countries on six continents.

In New York, Archbishop Timothy Dolan will be the main celebrant and homilist.

Radio Replies First Volume - Communism

1533. The Catholic Church forbids a Catholic to be a communist!

That is true. Communism is opposed to the law of God, is anti-Christian, and violates the fundamental rights of man. Apart from this, it will never remedy existing evils, and can only lead to the greater distress of those whom it pretends it will benefit.

1534. Your Church's solution of this terrible mess is faith!

It is not. Her solution is common-sense, strict justice all round, and Christian charity based upon faith.

1535. It matters little to me whether the Christian religion be right or wrong. I stand for communism which will rescue the workers from in voluntary poverty and the rich from idleness.

You quote the usual promise which accompanies all new schemes of social reform conceived without reference to the principles of sound social morality, and the undiscerning are delighted with the rose without perceiving the thorns. Meantime the Catholic religion happens to be right, and being right, matters very much to all men who have been brought into contact with it. "He that believes shall be saved; he that believes not shall be condemned," are the words of Almighty God. And eternal issues are at stake.

1536. I have studied Christian doctrine and I find that it consists of a slave-complex, hypocrisy, pagan practice, mythology, deceit and avarice.

Whatever you studied, it certainly was not Christian doctrine!

1537. The Church stands four-square for a system which means poverty, unemployment, disease, and death for the worker, and idleness, vanity, comfort, and tyranny for the owners of the means of production — and you ask me to study Christian doctrine!

Since the Catholic Church stands four-square against all the abuses you mention I must reiterate my request. Please do study Christian doctrine.

1538. The Church worships the rulers as gods, and stands for their authority.

The Church does not worship rulers, but she gives those in lawful authority the respect due to them. St. Peter knew the law of God quite well, and wrote, "Be ye therefore subject for God's sake, whether it be to the king as excelling, or to governors as sent by him. Fear God. Honor the king." 1 Pet 2:13-17.

1539. You offer your brothers, "pie in the sky when you die."

That is a travesty and a caricature. The Catholic Church offers no pie (which would not be worth having) in any sky (which is not heaven). Alas for your knowledge of Christian doctrine! The Church does say that man was not made for this life only, and that he is a fool if he expects to find heaven on earth. He can look for a reasonable amount of comfort in this world, serving God meanwhile, and afterwards he can attain a happiness not to be described in terms of pies and skies.

1540. I prefer a little solid comfort on earth while I am alive.

If you prefer that to God, I ask with Christ, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?" God ought to know the relative values of material things and spiritual souls. He made both.

1541. The sufferings of the workers have made me a communist. I believe that we should destroy the Church, and work for universal freedom, brotherhood and peace.

I am afraid you are a communist only while other people have what you do not possess. Would you remain a communist if you had the goods and others had not? It is easy to remain a communist when you want others to give you their property; but I know few who would remain communists when it is their turn to give away. And you seem to forget the communist objection to the shame of almsgiving when you demand that those who have more should give to those who have less. Or, instead of allowing them to practice charity, would you practice injustice by confiscating the possessions of others? And if you are out for universal freedom, why do you deny the freedom to men to better their positions by ability and diligence? If you want universal brotherhood and peace, why do you distort and ridicule the religion of Christians?

1542. You do not preach virtue for the love of it, but because of the sweet profit.

Then I do preach virtue! That is something. And you supply alternative motives — either for the love of virtue, or for the sweet profit. It is difficult to answer the personal charge. But at least I can say that were I out for sweet profit, it could be obtained better by other means. The man who becomes a Priest, and a member of a Religious Order involving the obligation of poverty, for the sake of a worldly income is a fool. The only profit in such a life is that of the friendship of Christ.

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What Kind of Brownie Are You?

You Are a Fudge Brownie

You are outgoing and very friendly. You enjoy talking with people, and you always can find something to say. You're never self-conscious, even when you embarrass yourself a little bit. You figure it's all part of the life experience You are truly comfortable in your own skin. You know you're not perfect, but who is really? Because you're happy with yourself, you're able to be warm to those around you. You are a natural conversationalist and a true friend.

What Kind of Brownie Are You?

Chris Matthews: Obama Went Into "Enemy Camp" (West Point) To Deliver Afghan Speech

"He went to maybe the enemy camp tonight to make his case.." - Chris Matthews

• Opinion: Chris Matthews should be fired for his Offensive Interview of Bishop Tobin

Calgary Bishop Suspends TLM

h/t to Robert Krumpel and Fr. Z.

From WDTPRS:

"Apparently, the local bishop, His Excellency Most. Rev.Frederick Henry is having a fight with the local presence of the FSSP over the distribution of Communion on the tongue. The bishop issued "norms" for the Diocese of Calgary which forbid Communion on the tongue because of H1N1. The FSSP and the people frequenting their Masses are not conforming to his wishes.
Bishop Henry issued the directive to cease distribution of Communion on the tongue following the recommendation from the Medical Officer of Health, whom I assume is a government official."

When Bishop learned that at the FSSP parish people were still receiving Holy Communion on the tongue, he ordered that they not celebrate Mass at all. He suspended the Extraordinary Form Masses. --- more

• CALGARY BISHOP ILLICITLY SUSPENDS LATIN MASS
• The Calgary Communion Show Down