The poet T. A. Daly has these lines for grown-ups:
The fare in Lent should be austere No cakes and ale, no kraut and beer; No fatted goose with heavy wines, That Croesus fancies when he dines— They’re all taboo this time o’ year.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Divine Mercy Novena 2012
Starting on Good Friday, I am joining more than 10,000 Catholics to pray a Divine Mercy Novena!
I’m actually trying to help this online prayer community (PrayMoreNovenas.com) to get 20,000 people praying this novena for God’s Mercy. We all need Mercy, right?
You can sign up for handy email reminders to get the the novena prayers here: http://www.praymorenovenas.com/divine-mercy-novena
After you sign up, maybe you can help spread the word as well. God’s Mercy is abundant and overflowing, let’s share it!
Starting on Good Friday, I am joining more than 10,000 Catholics to pray a Divine Mercy Novena!
I’m actually trying to help this online prayer community (PrayMoreNovenas.com) to get 20,000 people praying this novena for God’s Mercy. We all need Mercy, right?
You can sign up for handy email reminders to get the the novena prayers here: http://www.praymorenovenas.com/divine-mercy-novena
After you sign up, maybe you can help spread the word as well. God’s Mercy is abundant and overflowing, let’s share it!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Obama's 99 Percent Contraceptive Use Claim ‘False'
A statistic being frequently touted by President Barack Obama that 99 percent of women have used birth control is false, according to CNSNews.com.
The assertion, used to support the mandate that all healthcare plans provide free contraception, “appears to stem from a careless or misleading restatement of a sentence” in a 2011 report that recommended the contraception requirement, says CNSNews
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
| Prayer for Healing the Family TreeRev. John H. Hampsch, CMF |
| Heavenly Father, I come before you as your child, in great need of your help; I have physical health needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs, and interpersonal needs. Many of my problems have been caused by my own failures, neglect and sinfulness, for which I humbly beg your forgiveness, Lord. But I also ask you to forgive the sins of my ancestors whose failures have left their effects on me in the form of unwanted tendencies, behavior patterns and defects in body, mind and spirit. Heal me, Lord, of all these disorders. With your help I sincerely forgive everyone, especially living or dead members of my family tree, who have directly offended me or my loved ones in any way, or those whose sins have resulted in our present sufferings and disorders. In the name of your divine Son, Jesus, and in the power of his Holy Spirit, I ask you, Father, to deliver me and my entire family tree from the influence of the evil one. Free all living and dead members of my family tree, including those in adoptive relationships, and those in extended family relationships, from every contaminating form of bondage. By your loving concern for us, heavenly Father, and by the shed blood of your precious Son, Jesus, I beg you to extend your blessing to me and to all my living and deceased relatives. Heal every negative effect transmitted through all past generations, and prevent such negative effects in future generations of my family tree. I symbolically place the cross of Jesus over the head of each person in my family tree, and between each generation; I ask you to let the cleansing blood of Jesus purify the bloodlines in my family lineage. Set your protective angels to encamp around us, and permit Archangel Raphael, the patron of healing, to administer your divine healing power to all of us, even in areas of genetic disability. Give special power to our family members' guardian angels to heal, protect, guide and encourage each of us in all our needs. Let your healing power be released at this very moment, and let it continue as long as your sovereignty permits. In our family tree, Lord, replace all bondage with a holy bonding in family love. And let there be an ever-deeper bonding with you, Lord, by the Holy Spirit, to your Son, Jesus. Let the family of the Holy Trinity pervade our family with its tender, warm, loving presence, so that our family may recognize and manifest that love in all our relationships. All of our unknown needs we include with this petition that we pray in Jesus' precious Name. Amen. +++++++++++++++ St. Joseph, Patron of family life, pray for us. |
Friday, March 2, 2012
Three Misconceptions about the Catholic Church
Read John Allen's excellent article here. He corrects three widespread misconceptions about the Catholic Church in the mainstream media and general population (and also among many Catholics) 1. The Church is all about the clergy. Nope. The clergy make up only .04% of the Catholic population. 2. The Church is in decline. Nope. The global church is growing phenomonally. What is in decline is old fashioned American cultural Catholicism. 3. The Catholic Church is the oppressor. Nope. The rate of Catholic martyrdoms is sky rocketing. In over 100 countries around the world Catholics are being persecuted, deprived of property, imprisoned, tortured and killed.
TAN Books Makes St. Michael Prayer Cards FREE to Parishes while Supplies Last Charlotte, NC (February 27, 2012) - TAN Books, an imprint of Saint Benedict Press, announced today plans to make St. Michael the Archangel prayer cards FREE to parishes willing to include the prayer in Sunday Masses for the intention of religious freedom. The offer is a response to the call of Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Ill to petition St. Michael the Archangel "for the freedom of the Catholic Church in America." Bishop Jenky's request comes on the heels of a new federal ruling that will force many Catholic organizations to provide insurance coverage for sterilizations, contraceptives and "morning-after" pills. Chairman and CEO of Saint Benedict Press, Robert Gallagher, fully supports the call from Bishop Jenky and plans to encourage the effort by offering St. Michael prayer cards for free to parishes nationwide. "The Obama mandate creates a crisis of conscience for thousands of our nation's employers, especially Catholics and other men and women of faith," said Gallagher. "It is a radical infringement upon the free exercise of religion, a persecution of religious belief in the marketplace, and an attempt by a thoroughly secular Administration to remove the expression of one's religious tenets from the public square." "The power of prayer cannot be overestimated as a means to combat this blatant attack on Catholic moral convictions," said Gallagher. "Calling on the intercession of St. Michael the Archangel to be our defender in this critical battle is something that everyone can do. At Saint Benedict Press we want to make it easy for parishes to implement this initiative by offering resources that will help them do so." For further information and to request free copies of the St. Michael the Archangel prayer cards call (704) 831-3468 or email katiem@saintbenedictpress.com. Contact: Katie Moore - Publicist Saint Benedict Press, LLC/TAN Books NC, 28273 US 704.831.3468 katiem@saintbenedictpress.com |
Monday, February 27, 2012
So I watched the newly-appointed Cardinal Timothy Dolan on EWTN this past Saturday...1st in the AM for mid-morning prayers and then in the evening for the Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral in New York.What a joy he is.If we all as Christians exuded such joy...there would be no non-Christians...coz everyone would be chomping at the bit to get what we have.
Mr. President, you owe me and millions of American Catholics an apology.
You apologized to Islamic extremists and other Muslims abroad and in the United States for something done against the Islamic faith by mistake.
What you are doing to the consciences of Catholics and indeed all American, contrary to the 1st Amendment, you persist in doing on purpose.
As President you have offended me. You have offended millions of Catholic and all American citizens who enjoy religious liberty under the 1st Amendment and who, as human beings, do not deserve to be so demeaned.
You think American military personal should be held accountable for their mistake. Why should you, Mr. President, not now be accountable for what you are doing deliberately?
You owe us an apology for demeaning our Catholic Faith.
Mr. President, you owe me and millions of American Catholics an apology.
You apologized to Islamic extremists and other Muslims abroad and in the United States for something done against the Islamic faith by mistake.
What you are doing to the consciences of Catholics and indeed all American, contrary to the 1st Amendment, you persist in doing on purpose.
As President you have offended me. You have offended millions of Catholic and all American citizens who enjoy religious liberty under the 1st Amendment and who, as human beings, do not deserve to be so demeaned.
You think American military personal should be held accountable for their mistake. Why should you, Mr. President, not now be accountable for what you are doing deliberately?
You owe us an apology for demeaning our Catholic Faith.
One Pissed off Canadian Housewife
This is very good PLEASE read....
Thought yo...u might like to read this letter
to the editor. Ever notice how some people
just seem to know how to write a letter?
This one surely does!
This was written by a Canadian woman, but oh how
it also applies to the U.S.A., U.K. and Australia .
THIS ONE PACKS A FIRM PUNCH
Written by a housewife in New Brunswick , to
her local newspaper. This is one ticked off lady...
"Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was
it or was it not, started by Islamic people who
brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001
and have continually threatened to do so since?
Were people from all over the world, not brutally murdered
that day, in downtown Manhattan , across the Potomac from
the capitol of the USA and in a field in Pennsylvania ?
Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?
Do you think I care about four U. S. Marines urinating on some dead Taliban insurgents?
And I'm supposed to care that a few Taliban were
claiming to be tortured by a justice system of a
nation they are fighting against in a brutal Insurgency.
I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle
East, start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere belief
of which, is a crime punishable by beheading in Afghanistan .
I'll care when these thugs tell the world they are
sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head, while Berg
screamed through his gurgling slashed throat.
I'll care when the cowardly so-called insurgents
in Afghanistan , come out and fight like men,
instead of disrespecting their own religion by
hiding in Mosques and behind women and children.
I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow
themselves up in search of Nirvana, care about the
innocent children within range of their suicide Bombs.
I'll care when the Canadian media stops pretending that
their freedom of Speech on stories, is more important than
the lives of the soldiers on the ground or their families waiting
at home, to hear about them when something happens.
In the meantime, when I hear a story about a
CANADIAN soldier roughing up an Insurgent
terrorist to obtain information, know this:
I don't care.
When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the
head when he is told not to move because he
might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank:
I don't care. Shoot him again.
When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed 'special' food, that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being 'mishandled,' you can absolutely believe, in your heart of hearts:
I don't care.
And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes
it's spelled 'Koran' and other times 'Quran.'
Well, Jimmy Crack Corn you guessed it.
I don't care!!
If you agree with this viewpoint, pass this on to
all your E-mail Friends. Sooner or later, it'll get to
the people responsible for this ridiculous behavior!
If you don't agree, then by all means hit the delete
button. Should you choose the latter, then please don't
complain when more atrocities committed by radical
Muslims happen here in our great Country! And may I add:
Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering, if
during their life on earth, they made a difference in
the world. But, the Soldiers don't have that problem.
I have another quote that I would like to
share AND...I hope you forward All this.
One last thought for the day:
Only five defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The British Soldier.
3. The Canadian Soldier.
4. The US Soldier, and
5. The Australian Soldier
This is very good PLEASE read....
Thought yo...u might like to read this letter
to the editor. Ever notice how some people
just seem to know how to write a letter?
This one surely does!
This was written by a Canadian woman, but oh how
it also applies to the U.S.A., U.K. and Australia .
THIS ONE PACKS A FIRM PUNCH
Written by a housewife in New Brunswick , to
her local newspaper. This is one ticked off lady...
"Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was
it or was it not, started by Islamic people who
brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001
and have continually threatened to do so since?
Were people from all over the world, not brutally murdered
that day, in downtown Manhattan , across the Potomac from
the capitol of the USA and in a field in Pennsylvania ?
Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?
Do you think I care about four U. S. Marines urinating on some dead Taliban insurgents?
And I'm supposed to care that a few Taliban were
claiming to be tortured by a justice system of a
nation they are fighting against in a brutal Insurgency.
I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle
East, start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere belief
of which, is a crime punishable by beheading in Afghanistan .
I'll care when these thugs tell the world they are
sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head, while Berg
screamed through his gurgling slashed throat.
I'll care when the cowardly so-called insurgents
in Afghanistan , come out and fight like men,
instead of disrespecting their own religion by
hiding in Mosques and behind women and children.
I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow
themselves up in search of Nirvana, care about the
innocent children within range of their suicide Bombs.
I'll care when the Canadian media stops pretending that
their freedom of Speech on stories, is more important than
the lives of the soldiers on the ground or their families waiting
at home, to hear about them when something happens.
In the meantime, when I hear a story about a
CANADIAN soldier roughing up an Insurgent
terrorist to obtain information, know this:
I don't care.
When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the
head when he is told not to move because he
might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank:
I don't care. Shoot him again.
When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed 'special' food, that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being 'mishandled,' you can absolutely believe, in your heart of hearts:
I don't care.
And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes
it's spelled 'Koran' and other times 'Quran.'
Well, Jimmy Crack Corn you guessed it.
I don't care!!
If you agree with this viewpoint, pass this on to
all your E-mail Friends. Sooner or later, it'll get to
the people responsible for this ridiculous behavior!
If you don't agree, then by all means hit the delete
button. Should you choose the latter, then please don't
complain when more atrocities committed by radical
Muslims happen here in our great Country! And may I add:
Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering, if
during their life on earth, they made a difference in
the world. But, the Soldiers don't have that problem.
I have another quote that I would like to
share AND...I hope you forward All this.
One last thought for the day:
Only five defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The British Soldier.
3. The Canadian Soldier.
4. The US Soldier, and
5. The Australian Soldier
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
EWTN Files Suit to Block Contraception Mandate
Letter from a 12-week old unborn baby
In late January, a friend and supporter of HLI America was asked by pro-life leaders in New York State to write a letter that would accompany a replica of a 10-12 week old baby in the womb. With the goal of encouraging state legislators to recognize the humanity of such tiny human beings, this replica and letter was to be sent to all the members of the New York State Assembly and Senate.
In New York, abortion of an unborn child after the 24th week of pregnancy is defined as homicide, but prior to that the killing of such a child is legal. This beautiful letter is another creative and truthful attempt to encourage our nation’s leaders to recognize that abortion is not a human right, but rather, ends an innocent human life.
That letter, written from the perspective of the 12-week old baby in the womb, is shared with you below:
Dear Member of the NY State Senate or Assembly:
I am not a blob of tissue to be disposed of. When I became a zygote at fertilization, I was already composed of 39,000 genes made up of 3.2 billion base pair sequences. Hard to believe, I know, but it’s scientifically true! These detailed directions for my development have been compared to the amount of information found in two hundred New York City phone books.
After this beginning, I worked actively to prevent any other sperm from fertilizing the same egg, and on my own impetus took a journey down the fallopian tube to implant upon my mother’s uterus.
At 5 weeks, my cerebral cortex was developing, and well before I reached 12 weeks my brain was functioning. I was already responding to stimuli.
So how can you allow me to be tortured? Shouldn’t you be working to protect me from suffering? Why allow me to be torn limb from limb?
At 12 weeks, I am not merely a design for a house yet to be built, I am already “a tiny house that constructs itself larger and more complex through its active self-development towards maturity” (Patrick Lee). If I live and grow to maturity, this growth will not involve a change in my identity or substance, only the development of what’s already there.
I am not a “potential” child, but a real child. Take a good look at the image of me that you received. My mother cannot “choose” to have a child – she already has one! Her only “choice” is whether or not to let me live.
Size has nothing to do with human rights. The sun may be vast in size, but it can’t think or love. It is only matter. It will never be part of an American family and community, nor will it ever serve my country. It will never ponder the mystery of life and the beauty of the night-skies, nor will it ever be able to conceive of the universe or meditate on Scripture.
Small as I am at 12 weeks, I can say that I am more precious than that huge and majestic sun, because I am made in the image of God, the One who created the sun, the night skies and the universe. All those things will pass away, but I am made for eternity.
Letter from a 12-week old unborn baby
In late January, a friend and supporter of HLI America was asked by pro-life leaders in New York State to write a letter that would accompany a replica of a 10-12 week old baby in the womb. With the goal of encouraging state legislators to recognize the humanity of such tiny human beings, this replica and letter was to be sent to all the members of the New York State Assembly and Senate.
In New York, abortion of an unborn child after the 24th week of pregnancy is defined as homicide, but prior to that the killing of such a child is legal. This beautiful letter is another creative and truthful attempt to encourage our nation’s leaders to recognize that abortion is not a human right, but rather, ends an innocent human life.
That letter, written from the perspective of the 12-week old baby in the womb, is shared with you below:
Dear Member of the NY State Senate or Assembly:
I am not a blob of tissue to be disposed of. When I became a zygote at fertilization, I was already composed of 39,000 genes made up of 3.2 billion base pair sequences. Hard to believe, I know, but it’s scientifically true! These detailed directions for my development have been compared to the amount of information found in two hundred New York City phone books.
After this beginning, I worked actively to prevent any other sperm from fertilizing the same egg, and on my own impetus took a journey down the fallopian tube to implant upon my mother’s uterus.
At 5 weeks, my cerebral cortex was developing, and well before I reached 12 weeks my brain was functioning. I was already responding to stimuli.
So how can you allow me to be tortured? Shouldn’t you be working to protect me from suffering? Why allow me to be torn limb from limb?
At 12 weeks, I am not merely a design for a house yet to be built, I am already “a tiny house that constructs itself larger and more complex through its active self-development towards maturity” (Patrick Lee). If I live and grow to maturity, this growth will not involve a change in my identity or substance, only the development of what’s already there.
I am not a “potential” child, but a real child. Take a good look at the image of me that you received. My mother cannot “choose” to have a child – she already has one! Her only “choice” is whether or not to let me live.
Size has nothing to do with human rights. The sun may be vast in size, but it can’t think or love. It is only matter. It will never be part of an American family and community, nor will it ever serve my country. It will never ponder the mystery of life and the beauty of the night-skies, nor will it ever be able to conceive of the universe or meditate on Scripture.
Small as I am at 12 weeks, I can say that I am more precious than that huge and majestic sun, because I am made in the image of God, the One who created the sun, the night skies and the universe. All those things will pass away, but I am made for eternity.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Catholics are a sleeping giant -- more than sixty-million strong in the U.S., and way over a billion worldwide (probably 1.2 billion, which is 1,200 million).
Wake up sleeping giant...wake up...church militant...
Feast day of St. Dorothy...
Wake up sleeping giant...wake up...church militant...
Unemployment Tricks: Jobs Claim Made by 'Shrinking' Workforce
Last week, the White House claimed that unemployment dropped for the fifth consecutive month to 8.3 percent — the lowest it has been in nearly three years — after adding 243,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But financial experts are saying the figures may have been manipulated — and that the significant drop in employment was because of the fact that the federal agency charged with computing key economic data has significantly decreased the number of Americans in the workforce.
“If you hold the workforce participation rate constant over the past year, unemployment would be about 8.9 percent instead of 8.3 percent,” GOP economist Matt McDonald of Hamilton Place Strategies said Monday on CNBC’s Squawk Box. "So it is a weird number that is out there, and I think people have to be looking at that carefully.”
The same Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report that showed unemployment dropping to 8.3 percent showed total workforce participation — the number of people either working or looking for work — declining by 1.2 million people in one month.
The unemployment rate is determined by dividing the number of unemployed job-seekers by the total labor force. By reducing the number of workers in the overall workforce, the Obama administration can show actual unemployment dropping, when, in fact, improvement has been marginal at best.
Many economists feel the official statistics seriously underestimate how bad the unemployment situation really is. They maintain that the key measure is the number of people who would like to have a job, but can’t find one.
When people retire from the workforce because of the aging of the nation’s population or give up looking for work because of prolonged unemployment, the BLS declares the unemployed person a “discouraged worker.”
At that point, the BLS lists them as “marginally attached to the workforce,” and they no longer are considered to be part of the nation’s working population.
Dropping them off the employment calculations keeps the unemployment rate substantially lower than it would be otherwise and has been key to the improvements in the unemployment numbers during the past year.
Tyler Durden of Zerohedge.com writes: “It appears that the people not in the labor force exploded by an unprecedented record 1.2 million.”
In fact, Zerohedge notes that BLS is breaking records in claims about the shrinking workforce. The most recent unemployment number was based on the assertion that the entire U.S. workforce has shrunk to a 30-year low.
An analysis by Joseph Curl of the Washington Times shows the labor force as a percentage of the available population hit 66 percent in October 1988, and remained there throughout the presidency of George H.W. Bush. It then reached 67 percent or better for 40 straight months during President Bill Clinton’s presidency, and was above 66 percent for virtually all of President George W. Bush’s presidency.
But by the end of President Obama’s first year in office, it had dipped to 64.6 percent, before dipping to just 63.7 percent last month — its lowest point in almost three decades.
One analyst who is stridently critical of the BLS numbers is TrimTabs.com CEO Charles Biderman. His firm uses what he considers a more modern and timely measurement, actual tax receipts to the IRS, to calculate employment.
By his firm’s calculations, the economy added only 44,000 jobs in January, not even enough to keep the unemployment rate from growing.
The BLS numbers "are just guesses,” Biderman tells Newsmax. “I don’t know whether they’re politically motivated or not."
The White House is doing "cartwheels" over the positive jobs numbers being promulgated from the BLS, the Christian Science Monitor says.
"These numbers will go up and down in the coming months, and there's still far too many Americans who need a job or need a job that pays better than the one they have now,” President Obama said. “But the economy is growing stronger.”
BLS spokesman Gary Steinberg tells Newsmax that the bureau publishes its methodologies for calculating the unemployment rate online. While its tweaks its various formulas to keep them up to date, he states there has been no major change in how the rate is calculated in over a decade.
“The definitions have not changed . . . if someone is not actively looking for work for the four weeks preceding the reference week, they’re not in the labor force,” he says. “That was true years ago, and it’s true today.”
Last week, the White House claimed that unemployment dropped for the fifth consecutive month to 8.3 percent — the lowest it has been in nearly three years — after adding 243,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But financial experts are saying the figures may have been manipulated — and that the significant drop in employment was because of the fact that the federal agency charged with computing key economic data has significantly decreased the number of Americans in the workforce.
“If you hold the workforce participation rate constant over the past year, unemployment would be about 8.9 percent instead of 8.3 percent,” GOP economist Matt McDonald of Hamilton Place Strategies said Monday on CNBC’s Squawk Box. "So it is a weird number that is out there, and I think people have to be looking at that carefully.”
The same Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report that showed unemployment dropping to 8.3 percent showed total workforce participation — the number of people either working or looking for work — declining by 1.2 million people in one month.
The unemployment rate is determined by dividing the number of unemployed job-seekers by the total labor force. By reducing the number of workers in the overall workforce, the Obama administration can show actual unemployment dropping, when, in fact, improvement has been marginal at best.
Many economists feel the official statistics seriously underestimate how bad the unemployment situation really is. They maintain that the key measure is the number of people who would like to have a job, but can’t find one.
When people retire from the workforce because of the aging of the nation’s population or give up looking for work because of prolonged unemployment, the BLS declares the unemployed person a “discouraged worker.”
At that point, the BLS lists them as “marginally attached to the workforce,” and they no longer are considered to be part of the nation’s working population.
Dropping them off the employment calculations keeps the unemployment rate substantially lower than it would be otherwise and has been key to the improvements in the unemployment numbers during the past year.
Tyler Durden of Zerohedge.com writes: “It appears that the people not in the labor force exploded by an unprecedented record 1.2 million.”
In fact, Zerohedge notes that BLS is breaking records in claims about the shrinking workforce. The most recent unemployment number was based on the assertion that the entire U.S. workforce has shrunk to a 30-year low.
An analysis by Joseph Curl of the Washington Times shows the labor force as a percentage of the available population hit 66 percent in October 1988, and remained there throughout the presidency of George H.W. Bush. It then reached 67 percent or better for 40 straight months during President Bill Clinton’s presidency, and was above 66 percent for virtually all of President George W. Bush’s presidency.
But by the end of President Obama’s first year in office, it had dipped to 64.6 percent, before dipping to just 63.7 percent last month — its lowest point in almost three decades.
One analyst who is stridently critical of the BLS numbers is TrimTabs.com CEO Charles Biderman. His firm uses what he considers a more modern and timely measurement, actual tax receipts to the IRS, to calculate employment.
By his firm’s calculations, the economy added only 44,000 jobs in January, not even enough to keep the unemployment rate from growing.
The BLS numbers "are just guesses,” Biderman tells Newsmax. “I don’t know whether they’re politically motivated or not."
The White House is doing "cartwheels" over the positive jobs numbers being promulgated from the BLS, the Christian Science Monitor says.
"These numbers will go up and down in the coming months, and there's still far too many Americans who need a job or need a job that pays better than the one they have now,” President Obama said. “But the economy is growing stronger.”
BLS spokesman Gary Steinberg tells Newsmax that the bureau publishes its methodologies for calculating the unemployment rate online. While its tweaks its various formulas to keep them up to date, he states there has been no major change in how the rate is calculated in over a decade.
“The definitions have not changed . . . if someone is not actively looking for work for the four weeks preceding the reference week, they’re not in the labor force,” he says. “That was true years ago, and it’s true today.”
Monday, February 6, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
So the MARCH FOR LIFE WALK in Washington attracted 500,000 people...but the secular media...you guessed it...Cnn et al...stated a few thousand attended.Hello,dudlers...can you guys add???!!!Thanks to Fox news for getting it right.
Oh and it's the Feast of St. Blaise today...don't foget to get that old throat blessed...wouldn't want any fish bones plugging up the GI tract.
Oh and it's the Feast of St. Blaise today...don't foget to get that old throat blessed...wouldn't want any fish bones plugging up the GI tract.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
I guess groundhog day is all in good fun,but why do we pay more attention to the supposed prognistications of an underground rodent than we pay to the feast days being celebrated today...the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus and the Purification of Mary.
We truly live in a secular , godless world.Have mercy on us all Oh Lord.
We truly live in a secular , godless world.Have mercy on us all Oh Lord.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
For All Good Things - St. Thomas Aquinas
Loving God, who sees in us nothing that you have not given yourself,
make my body healthy and agile,
my mind sharp and clear,
my heart joyful and contented,
my soul faithful and loving.
And surround me with the company of men and angels
who share my devotion to you.
Above all let me live in your presence, for with you all fear is banished, and there is only harmony and peace.
Let every day combine the beauty of spring,
the brightness of summer,
the abundance of autumn,
and the repose of winter.
And at the end of my life on earth,
grant that I may come to see and know you in the fullness of your glory.
Amen.
Loving God, who sees in us nothing that you have not given yourself,
make my body healthy and agile,
my mind sharp and clear,
my heart joyful and contented,
my soul faithful and loving.
And surround me with the company of men and angels
who share my devotion to you.
Above all let me live in your presence, for with you all fear is banished, and there is only harmony and peace.
Let every day combine the beauty of spring,
the brightness of summer,
the abundance of autumn,
and the repose of winter.
And at the end of my life on earth,
grant that I may come to see and know you in the fullness of your glory.
Amen.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Michael Voris of RealCatholicTV.com offers an interesting commentary ...
He asks what has brought about the collapse of more than two hundred years of a Christian moral consensus and gives five reasons:
Conservative Americans have for decades been more concerned with politics and economics rather than with defending fundamental moral values.
From the 1960s onwards the entertainment media, rather than family, school, parish or church, became the arbiter and shaper of public views and attitudes.
The courts and the legal system have gradually reflected the views of the new liberal and secular electorate.
Conservatives tend to comply with the law rather than rebel against it; they obey rather than protest.
Finally, Voris notes, Christians of all denominations have gradually abandoned traditional moral teaching. Contraception has become completely acceptable in the Protestant churches and in the Catholic Church her wise warning about the separation of sex from procreation has been largely ignored by the Catholic faithful. In America we now see the result; what Christians chose to regard simply and casually as a matter of individual choice is now, in the workplace and in the relationship between employer and employee, being forced on them by law.
All this reminds one of an obvious truth: if we are not permanently vigilant in defence of our fundamental beliefs, they will be swept away from under our feet.
He asks what has brought about the collapse of more than two hundred years of a Christian moral consensus and gives five reasons:
Conservative Americans have for decades been more concerned with politics and economics rather than with defending fundamental moral values.
From the 1960s onwards the entertainment media, rather than family, school, parish or church, became the arbiter and shaper of public views and attitudes.
The courts and the legal system have gradually reflected the views of the new liberal and secular electorate.
Conservatives tend to comply with the law rather than rebel against it; they obey rather than protest.
Finally, Voris notes, Christians of all denominations have gradually abandoned traditional moral teaching. Contraception has become completely acceptable in the Protestant churches and in the Catholic Church her wise warning about the separation of sex from procreation has been largely ignored by the Catholic faithful. In America we now see the result; what Christians chose to regard simply and casually as a matter of individual choice is now, in the workplace and in the relationship between employer and employee, being forced on them by law.
All this reminds one of an obvious truth: if we are not permanently vigilant in defence of our fundamental beliefs, they will be swept away from under our feet.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
NEWS FROM SPIRIT DAILY
NEWS FROM SPIRIT DAILY...Panicked Catholics flee violence in northern Nigeria
Monday, January 16, 2012
How to Pray Like Jesus
During a recent talk, Fr. Thomas Richter explained that praying like Jesus requires one thing: to desire for God to have his way in your life.
As the vocation director for the Bismarck diocese, it would seem that Fr. Tom knows about answered prayers. Bismarck has the second highest per capita vocations in the country, up from twenty-fourth in 2003 and twelfth in 2004. But Fr. Tom would say it’s not a matter of God answering his prayers as it is for him to be answering God's will in his life. They key to prayer, according to him, is to get out of the way.
Fr. Tom identified the important elements for Christian prayer. “First, you can only pray to the degree you have faith,” he said. “In order to grow in prayer, you have to grow in faith. No matter how many prayer techniques you use, if it’s not in faith, you’re not praying.”
“Second, the heart and soul of faith is this: God is your father and everything that you could possibly desire, he already wishes to give you. God is your father and he can only desire what is best for you. Prayer becomes a grace activity where I allow God to act, where I allow God to do the good for me that he wishes to do. “
Fr. Tom stated that since God wants what is good for us, prayer is about allowing God to remove the obstacles so that he can do all the good he wants in our lives. Too often, people fall into the trap of praying to get God to consent to what they want. “That is not Christian prayer,” he said.
Give God his Way
“God has all kinds of good things he wants to do and Christian prayer is God getting us to consent to him. Do you see the difference?” He asked.
Fr. Tom pointed out that coming up with a plan and then asking God to help us with it, is a very limited way to pray. “No one in the history of mankind ever asked God to become a man and come and save us,” he pointed out. “We never would have thought of it. That was all God’s activity.”
According to Fr. Tom, the key is how you look at what God is doing in your life. “What God desires every minute of every day is to make you like Christ,” he said. Quoting St. John of the Cross, he added, “God acts for one purpose—to make our souls great.”
For parents, Fr. Tom advised for us to desire for God to get his way with our family. He instructed us to pray, “ God, I give you permission to do whatever you want with me, even if it makes me suffer. May your kingdom come, may your will be done.” Fr. Tom explained that such a prayer describes the Blessed Mother’s prayer: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to your word.’”
Fr. Tom stressed that the husband needs to fall in love with the desire to be like Christ. “The wife cannot be under his mission until that happens. Otherwise, she’s submitting to someone other than Christ,” he said. “And then, she’s not in a Christian marriage.”
He said that praying like Jesus will ignite enthusiasm because your thoughts will be, “I cannot wait to see what the Father is going to give to me today!”
For some people, such a prayer can be scary or not seem like enough, so Fr. Tom suggested asking God to remove obstacles that prevent you from desiring God’s will. In addition to total surrender, he brought up that there is the question of intercessory prayer and asking God for your intentions. He explained that people came to Jesus for healing and God wants us to ask him for help. The key, according to Fr. Tom, is that in all your petitions, your greatest desire should be for God’s will—for you to desire to be like Christ.
The Treasured Place
Often, your own self will can interfere with your desire to do God’s will. Fr. Tom explained that the place in which God can work most powerfully is “the treasured place”—the place where you need God the most. It could be an insecurity, or a need, or some other area where you recognize your need for God. At such moments, he said, “God pulls you to places where there is an unfilled desire and you have to rely on him acting in your life.”
In the end, he said that since God does only what is good for us, we can trust that God will bring good out of all things for those who want him to get his way.
During a recent talk, Fr. Thomas Richter explained that praying like Jesus requires one thing: to desire for God to have his way in your life.
As the vocation director for the Bismarck diocese, it would seem that Fr. Tom knows about answered prayers. Bismarck has the second highest per capita vocations in the country, up from twenty-fourth in 2003 and twelfth in 2004. But Fr. Tom would say it’s not a matter of God answering his prayers as it is for him to be answering God's will in his life. They key to prayer, according to him, is to get out of the way.
Fr. Tom identified the important elements for Christian prayer. “First, you can only pray to the degree you have faith,” he said. “In order to grow in prayer, you have to grow in faith. No matter how many prayer techniques you use, if it’s not in faith, you’re not praying.”
“Second, the heart and soul of faith is this: God is your father and everything that you could possibly desire, he already wishes to give you. God is your father and he can only desire what is best for you. Prayer becomes a grace activity where I allow God to act, where I allow God to do the good for me that he wishes to do. “
Fr. Tom stated that since God wants what is good for us, prayer is about allowing God to remove the obstacles so that he can do all the good he wants in our lives. Too often, people fall into the trap of praying to get God to consent to what they want. “That is not Christian prayer,” he said.
Give God his Way
“God has all kinds of good things he wants to do and Christian prayer is God getting us to consent to him. Do you see the difference?” He asked.
Fr. Tom pointed out that coming up with a plan and then asking God to help us with it, is a very limited way to pray. “No one in the history of mankind ever asked God to become a man and come and save us,” he pointed out. “We never would have thought of it. That was all God’s activity.”
According to Fr. Tom, the key is how you look at what God is doing in your life. “What God desires every minute of every day is to make you like Christ,” he said. Quoting St. John of the Cross, he added, “God acts for one purpose—to make our souls great.”
For parents, Fr. Tom advised for us to desire for God to get his way with our family. He instructed us to pray, “ God, I give you permission to do whatever you want with me, even if it makes me suffer. May your kingdom come, may your will be done.” Fr. Tom explained that such a prayer describes the Blessed Mother’s prayer: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to your word.’”
Fr. Tom stressed that the husband needs to fall in love with the desire to be like Christ. “The wife cannot be under his mission until that happens. Otherwise, she’s submitting to someone other than Christ,” he said. “And then, she’s not in a Christian marriage.”
He said that praying like Jesus will ignite enthusiasm because your thoughts will be, “I cannot wait to see what the Father is going to give to me today!”
For some people, such a prayer can be scary or not seem like enough, so Fr. Tom suggested asking God to remove obstacles that prevent you from desiring God’s will. In addition to total surrender, he brought up that there is the question of intercessory prayer and asking God for your intentions. He explained that people came to Jesus for healing and God wants us to ask him for help. The key, according to Fr. Tom, is that in all your petitions, your greatest desire should be for God’s will—for you to desire to be like Christ.
The Treasured Place
Often, your own self will can interfere with your desire to do God’s will. Fr. Tom explained that the place in which God can work most powerfully is “the treasured place”—the place where you need God the most. It could be an insecurity, or a need, or some other area where you recognize your need for God. At such moments, he said, “God pulls you to places where there is an unfilled desire and you have to rely on him acting in your life.”
In the end, he said that since God does only what is good for us, we can trust that God will bring good out of all things for those who want him to get his way.
Monday, January 9, 2012
• Full Wolf Moon – January Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January’s full Moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule. Some called it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes applied that name to the next Moon.
Full moon rising...Jan 9,2012:
Full moon rising...Jan 9,2012:
The White House Bed
One night, Obama is tossing restlessly in his White House bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing by him. Barak asks him, "George, what ' s the best thing I can do to help the country?"
"Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, then fades away.
The next night, Obama is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through ...the darkened bedroom.Obama calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I could do to help the country?"
"Respect the Constitution, like I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight.
Barak still isn ' t sleeping well the third night when he sees yet another figure moving in the shadows. It is Abraham Lincoln ' s ghost. "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now, to help the country?" Obama pleads.
Abe replies, "Go see a play."
One night, Obama is tossing restlessly in his White House bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing by him. Barak asks him, "George, what ' s the best thing I can do to help the country?"
"Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, then fades away.
The next night, Obama is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through ...the darkened bedroom.Obama calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I could do to help the country?"
"Respect the Constitution, like I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight.
Barak still isn ' t sleeping well the third night when he sees yet another figure moving in the shadows. It is Abraham Lincoln ' s ghost. "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now, to help the country?" Obama pleads.
Abe replies, "Go see a play."
The White House Bed
One night, Obama is tossing restlessly in his White House bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing by him. Barak asks him, "George, what ' s the best thing I can do to help the country?"
"Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, then fades away.
The next night, Obama is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through ...the darkened bedroom.Obama calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I could do to help the country?"
"Respect the Constitution, like I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight.
Barak still isn ' t sleeping well the third night when he sees yet another figure moving in the shadows. It is Abraham Lincoln ' s ghost. "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now, to help the country?" Obama pleads.
Abe replies, "Go see a play."
One night, Obama is tossing restlessly in his White House bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing by him. Barak asks him, "George, what ' s the best thing I can do to help the country?"
"Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, then fades away.
The next night, Obama is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through ...the darkened bedroom.Obama calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I could do to help the country?"
"Respect the Constitution, like I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight.
Barak still isn ' t sleeping well the third night when he sees yet another figure moving in the shadows. It is Abraham Lincoln ' s ghost. "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now, to help the country?" Obama pleads.
Abe replies, "Go see a play."
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Happy Hanukkah (or Chanukah)
Hanukkah, is the eight day long Festival of Lights, and is one of the most joyous times of the Jewish year. The reason for the celebration is twofold (both dating back to 165 BC):
■The miraculous military victory of the small, ill-equipped Jewish army (Maccabees) over the ruling Greek Syrians, who had banned the Jewish religion and desecrated the Temple;
■The miracle of the small cruse of consecrated oil, which burned for eight days in the Temple’s menorah instead of just one.
The celebration is not only the Festival of Lights to commemorate the oil lasting for eight days instead of just one, but also the Feast of Dedication inasmuch as the Temple was rededicated after its destruction. (John 10:22) Chanukah means dedication. It commemorates the day the Holy Temple (this was the second temple) was re-dedicated after the defeat of Antiochus. The war was fought because King Antiochus marched into Judea with his soldiers and wanted all the Jews either to be killed, or to become Hellenists (a religion that includes mostly Greek customs, along with some Jewish customs).
Antiochus made terrible laws against the Jews which prevented them from following most of their customs. A statue of Antiochus was erected in the Jewish temple and the Jews were ordered to bow down before it. The Ten Commandments forbid Jews to worship statues or idols so they refused. Antiochus, the Syrian King and his army destroyed the Jewish Temple almost completely, and put pigs (which Jews are not allowed to eat) and idols all around it and stole holy vessels. A small group of Jews called Maccabees rebelled and after a three year war they recaptured Jerusalem from the Syrians. The Temple was all but destroyed.
The Jews had to clean and repair the Temple, and when they were finished they rededicated it to God. They did this by lighting the lamp (Menorah) – which was a symbol of God’s presence. Only one small jar of oil was found, enough to last only one day, but miraculously the lamp stayed alight for eight days. Hanukkah is not one of the larger Jewish Holy Days, but it is a joyous celebration nonetheless and falls close to the Christmas season nearly every year.
Hanukkah, is the eight day long Festival of Lights, and is one of the most joyous times of the Jewish year. The reason for the celebration is twofold (both dating back to 165 BC):
■The miraculous military victory of the small, ill-equipped Jewish army (Maccabees) over the ruling Greek Syrians, who had banned the Jewish religion and desecrated the Temple;
■The miracle of the small cruse of consecrated oil, which burned for eight days in the Temple’s menorah instead of just one.
The celebration is not only the Festival of Lights to commemorate the oil lasting for eight days instead of just one, but also the Feast of Dedication inasmuch as the Temple was rededicated after its destruction. (John 10:22) Chanukah means dedication. It commemorates the day the Holy Temple (this was the second temple) was re-dedicated after the defeat of Antiochus. The war was fought because King Antiochus marched into Judea with his soldiers and wanted all the Jews either to be killed, or to become Hellenists (a religion that includes mostly Greek customs, along with some Jewish customs).
Antiochus made terrible laws against the Jews which prevented them from following most of their customs. A statue of Antiochus was erected in the Jewish temple and the Jews were ordered to bow down before it. The Ten Commandments forbid Jews to worship statues or idols so they refused. Antiochus, the Syrian King and his army destroyed the Jewish Temple almost completely, and put pigs (which Jews are not allowed to eat) and idols all around it and stole holy vessels. A small group of Jews called Maccabees rebelled and after a three year war they recaptured Jerusalem from the Syrians. The Temple was all but destroyed.
The Jews had to clean and repair the Temple, and when they were finished they rededicated it to God. They did this by lighting the lamp (Menorah) – which was a symbol of God’s presence. Only one small jar of oil was found, enough to last only one day, but miraculously the lamp stayed alight for eight days. Hanukkah is not one of the larger Jewish Holy Days, but it is a joyous celebration nonetheless and falls close to the Christmas season nearly every year.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
O ANTIPHONS BEGIN TODAY
The O Antiphons are Magnificat antiphons used at Vespers of the last seven days of Advent in various liturgical Christian traditions.
Each antiphon is a name of Christ, one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture. They are:
December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
December 18: O Adonai (O Lord)
December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
December 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring)
December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations)
December 23: O Emmanuel (O God is with Us)
In the Roman Catholic tradition, the O Antiphons are sung or recited at Vespers from December 17 to December 23 inclusive (but see note below on alternative English usage).
In the Church of England they have traditionally been used as antiphons to the Magnificat at Evening Prayer during this period, and although not printed in the Book of Common Prayer, have long been part of secondary Anglican liturgical sources, such as the English Hymnal. More recently they have found a place in primary liturgical documents throughout the Anglican Communion, including the Church of England's Common Worship liturgy.
Use of the O Antiphons also occurs in many Lutheran churches. In the Book of Common Worship published by the Presbyterian Church (USA), the antiphons can be read as a praise litany at Morning or Evening Prayer.
The hymn O come, O come, Emmanuel (in Latin, Veni Emmanuel) is a lyrical paraphrase of these antiphons.
The first letters of the titles taken backwards form a Latin acrostic of "Ero Cras" which translates to "Tomorrow, I will come", mirroring the theme of the antiphons.
The O Antiphons are Magnificat antiphons used at Vespers of the last seven days of Advent in various liturgical Christian traditions.
Each antiphon is a name of Christ, one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture. They are:
December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
December 18: O Adonai (O Lord)
December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
December 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring)
December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations)
December 23: O Emmanuel (O God is with Us)
In the Roman Catholic tradition, the O Antiphons are sung or recited at Vespers from December 17 to December 23 inclusive (but see note below on alternative English usage).
In the Church of England they have traditionally been used as antiphons to the Magnificat at Evening Prayer during this period, and although not printed in the Book of Common Prayer, have long been part of secondary Anglican liturgical sources, such as the English Hymnal. More recently they have found a place in primary liturgical documents throughout the Anglican Communion, including the Church of England's Common Worship liturgy.
Use of the O Antiphons also occurs in many Lutheran churches. In the Book of Common Worship published by the Presbyterian Church (USA), the antiphons can be read as a praise litany at Morning or Evening Prayer.
The hymn O come, O come, Emmanuel (in Latin, Veni Emmanuel) is a lyrical paraphrase of these antiphons.
The first letters of the titles taken backwards form a Latin acrostic of "Ero Cras" which translates to "Tomorrow, I will come", mirroring the theme of the antiphons.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Over the past month we have seen crazy examples of people showing up in Congressmen’s offices, in malls, and parks who decide to “Occupy” the space in the name of economic equality (or any other number of reasons).
But St. Raymond, a Catholic church in Downey California, decided to ‘Co-Opt’ the Occupy theme and hold an “Occupy Christmas” Flash Mob at Stonewood, a local shopping mall.
This event may not be earth shattering news, but a religious flash mob held in a mall in uber progressive California is definitely something you don’t see everyday.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
ONE FOR OUR TEAM
Msg to atheists: Don't cross this Tennessee town
Several years ago, the residents of Whiteville raised money to erect a large cross atop the town's water tower. An atheist group has sued a small town in Tennessee over a cross on a city water tower.Freedom From Religion Foundation objected, and finally Mayor James Bellar had one arm of the cross removed.
"As a result of what they had done to Whiteville, the people in Whiteville just more or less took it upon themselves to start a campaign to put crosses up all over this part of Tennessee that they could," the mayor explains. "And it's just been like a crusade down here with people making crosses and sticking 'em in their yard, putting 'em on sides of buildings, and everything else."
In front of city hall, citizens placed two other crosses on the right of way and the mayor put up a cross outside his business. That action made the atheist group angry, so they filed suit on behalf of a lone atheist.
"[In] the letters that I received originally, this person was identified as a 'Whiteville resident and taxpayer,'" says Bellar. "In the lawsuit, that person has now morphed into a 'John Doe who occasionally comes to Whiteville to transact business.'"
In short, it is one atheist trying to shut down the speech of the town's majority who happen to be Christian. Mayor Bellar says the town will not stand for it and will defend itself against the lawsuit.
Msg to atheists: Don't cross this Tennessee town
Several years ago, the residents of Whiteville raised money to erect a large cross atop the town's water tower. An atheist group has sued a small town in Tennessee over a cross on a city water tower.Freedom From Religion Foundation objected, and finally Mayor James Bellar had one arm of the cross removed.
"As a result of what they had done to Whiteville, the people in Whiteville just more or less took it upon themselves to start a campaign to put crosses up all over this part of Tennessee that they could," the mayor explains. "And it's just been like a crusade down here with people making crosses and sticking 'em in their yard, putting 'em on sides of buildings, and everything else."
In front of city hall, citizens placed two other crosses on the right of way and the mayor put up a cross outside his business. That action made the atheist group angry, so they filed suit on behalf of a lone atheist.
"[In] the letters that I received originally, this person was identified as a 'Whiteville resident and taxpayer,'" says Bellar. "In the lawsuit, that person has now morphed into a 'John Doe who occasionally comes to Whiteville to transact business.'"
In short, it is one atheist trying to shut down the speech of the town's majority who happen to be Christian. Mayor Bellar says the town will not stand for it and will defend itself against the lawsuit.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
December 13th is St. Lucy Day, or Lucia, in Sweden. Lucia morning is celebrated in practically every Swedish home, and every community, office, school or club chooses a Lucia, who - dressed in a white gown and with a crown of candles in her hair - brings a tray of coffee, traditionally shaped saffron rolls, and ginger biscuits. Lucia sometimes serves glögg, a mulled wine. She is generally accompanied by a train of white-clad attendants, the girls wearing glitter in their hair and the boys wearing tall paper cones with stars on them. All sing the traditional Lucia carols.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
70% Prefer 'Merry Christmas' Over 'Happy Holidays' on Store Signs
Holiday shoppers, as they have for several years, would prefer to be greeted with signs reading “Merry Christmas” rather than “Happy Holidays” this season.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that 70% prefer that stores use signs that say “Merry Christmas.”
Holiday shoppers, as they have for several years, would prefer to be greeted with signs reading “Merry Christmas” rather than “Happy Holidays” this season.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that 70% prefer that stores use signs that say “Merry Christmas.”
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
'Live Nativity Scene' to Be Displayed at Supreme Court, Capitol Building
The Christian Defense Coalition and Faith and Action are publicly sharing the message of Christmas this season by sponsoring a live nativity scene in front of the United States Supreme Court.
Part of “The Nativity Project,” a nationwide campaign that seeks to bring the focus of Christmas back to Jesus Christ, the display not only hopes to proclaim the powerful message of the Gospel but also celebrate religious freedom, countering the hostility toward public expressions of faith.
“Sadly, we are seeing an erosion and hostility toward public expressions of faith in the public square. This is especially true during the Christmas season,” said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, in a statement.
“'The Nativity Project' is a reminder that our Constitution provides freedom 'of' religion not freedom 'from' religion. By encouraging people of good will to publicly display Nativity Scenes all across America, we are not only supporting religious liberty and First Amendment freedoms but we are loudly proclaiming the powerful message of Christmas.”
Mahoney additionally told The Christian Post that his group hopes to proclaim a message of hope and peace as well. “Peace on earth. Good will toward man.” That was the message that needed to be heard now, more than ever he believed.
“The Nativity Project” was first organized by a number of Christians in Boise, Idaho, who were troubled by the fact that manger scenes were no longer displayed in front of the City Hall and State Capitol.
“Sadly this has been occurring with frequency around the country,” Mahoney lamented. “Cities and states faced with potential legal action and negative court decisions regarding the public display of nativity Scenes have decided to refrain from setting them.”
Praying and searching for creative ways to publicly display nativity scenes, faith organizations discovered a unique and exciting approach to address the problem.
Not using any public funds, which courts have cited as a violation of the Establishment Clause when setting up nativity displays, The Christian Defense Coalition and Faith and Action applied for a permit to set up nativity scenes in front of public areas like the Supreme Court and Capitol Building.
Individual citizens and groups were allowed to apply for permits to set up nativity scenes in places like City Halls, State Capitol Buildings, courts, town squares and other public areas.
“No public funds are being used and the courts have allowed these displays to move forward,” the ordained minister from Virginia explained.
Volunteers from both faith organizations will be acting the parts in the live nativity skit, which will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 10:30 a.m. in Washington, D.C. and at the Fox News studios in New York City on Thursday.
“The traditional crèche, portraying Mary, Joseph and the Christ Child, along with angels, shepherds, Wise Men and animals, remind us of what Christmas is all about,” the Rev. Rob Schenck, president of Faith and Action, added in the statement.
The Christian Defense Coalition and Faith and Action are publicly sharing the message of Christmas this season by sponsoring a live nativity scene in front of the United States Supreme Court.
Part of “The Nativity Project,” a nationwide campaign that seeks to bring the focus of Christmas back to Jesus Christ, the display not only hopes to proclaim the powerful message of the Gospel but also celebrate religious freedom, countering the hostility toward public expressions of faith.
“Sadly, we are seeing an erosion and hostility toward public expressions of faith in the public square. This is especially true during the Christmas season,” said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, in a statement.
“'The Nativity Project' is a reminder that our Constitution provides freedom 'of' religion not freedom 'from' religion. By encouraging people of good will to publicly display Nativity Scenes all across America, we are not only supporting religious liberty and First Amendment freedoms but we are loudly proclaiming the powerful message of Christmas.”
Mahoney additionally told The Christian Post that his group hopes to proclaim a message of hope and peace as well. “Peace on earth. Good will toward man.” That was the message that needed to be heard now, more than ever he believed.
“The Nativity Project” was first organized by a number of Christians in Boise, Idaho, who were troubled by the fact that manger scenes were no longer displayed in front of the City Hall and State Capitol.
“Sadly this has been occurring with frequency around the country,” Mahoney lamented. “Cities and states faced with potential legal action and negative court decisions regarding the public display of nativity Scenes have decided to refrain from setting them.”
Praying and searching for creative ways to publicly display nativity scenes, faith organizations discovered a unique and exciting approach to address the problem.
Not using any public funds, which courts have cited as a violation of the Establishment Clause when setting up nativity displays, The Christian Defense Coalition and Faith and Action applied for a permit to set up nativity scenes in front of public areas like the Supreme Court and Capitol Building.
Individual citizens and groups were allowed to apply for permits to set up nativity scenes in places like City Halls, State Capitol Buildings, courts, town squares and other public areas.
“No public funds are being used and the courts have allowed these displays to move forward,” the ordained minister from Virginia explained.
Volunteers from both faith organizations will be acting the parts in the live nativity skit, which will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 10:30 a.m. in Washington, D.C. and at the Fox News studios in New York City on Thursday.
“The traditional crèche, portraying Mary, Joseph and the Christ Child, along with angels, shepherds, Wise Men and animals, remind us of what Christmas is all about,” the Rev. Rob Schenck, president of Faith and Action, added in the statement.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Some words of advice for poor Rick Perry...that guy just can't catch a break...just when he seemed to be improving in the debates too...
Every man is a damned fool for at least five minutes every day. Wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit. -Elbert Hubbard, author, editor, printer (1856-1915)from Wordsmith.org
Full moon tonight
Full Beaver Moon – November This was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that the name Full Beaver Moon comes from the fact that the beavers are now actively preparing for winter. It is sometimes also referred to as the Frosty Moon.
Every man is a damned fool for at least five minutes every day. Wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit. -Elbert Hubbard, author, editor, printer (1856-1915)from Wordsmith.org
Full moon tonight
| November 10th | Full Beaver Moon | 3:16 pm |
Saturday, November 5, 2011
WOW...AS SOON AS I HEARD OF THIS MIRACLE LANDING...OCCURING AS IT DID IN POLAND AND ON ALL SAINTS' DAY...I THOUGHT THAT JP HAD A HAND IN IT.
Poland, that miracle landing attributed to the Blessed John Paul II
An Aircraft during landing
On All Saints Day an aircraft with 230 passengers manages to land without a cart. On board there was a priest who was carrying with him the remains of John Paul II. The media and the web talk of a “miracle”
Monday, November 1, All Saints Day, an aircraft of the LOT Polish airlines, a Boeing 767 from Newark in the U.S., managed to land at Okęcie airport in Warsaw without a cart. More than 230 passengers and eleven members of the crew came out unscathed from this highly risky operation, which took place in Poland for the first time. Merit was immediately attributed to Commander Tadeusz Wrona, a pilot with fifteen thousand flight hours, many of which at the helm of similar aircraft. Not even twenty-four hours after this happy event, however, talk of a miracle was going around. Father Piotr Chyła, a Redemptorist who was returning home from America was on board that plane. The priest was carrying with him the remains of John Paul II, but he never wanted to specify exactly what remains they were. Despite his repeated statements he did not want to attribute the salvation to the blessed Pope, the media and internet now do not talk about anything else.
On the occasion of the liturgical memorial of the Blessed John Paul II, celebrated for the first time last October 22, the agency KAI of the Polish episcopate calculated that there are seventy among churches and chapels that possess his relics. Apart from the mortal remains, buried in the basilica of St. Peter, undivided as was thought at first (the bishop Tadeusz Pieronek recklessly announced in April 2008 the arrival of the Polish Pope's heart, to be placed in the cathedral of the castle Wawel in Krakow), this is blood and hair, which being part of his body, are considered first class, while objects once used by the Blessed, such as robes, miter and pastoral belong to the second. As emphasized by the KAI, the relics of blood and hair of the blessed are dispensed by his two former Secretaries: Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, and Monsignor Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, Latin archbishop of Lviv in Ukraine.
According to a release from the Vatican press office issued on April 26 this year, just days before the beatification of the Polish pope, “during the last days of the illness of the Holy Father, the medical staff performed blood tests, to be made available at the Blood Transfusion Centre of the Bambino Gesu Hospital in view of a possible transfusion ... However, the transfusion did not take place and the blood collected was stored in four small containers. Two of these were available to the private secretary of Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Dziwisz; the other two remained at the Bambino Gesu Hospital”. In Poland the date this blood was collected is given as - April 2, 2005, but word has it that there was another collection done at the Gemelli hospital “before the tracheotomy”, that is, in February of that year (but some say that it was collected after the intervention).
Poland, that miracle landing attributed to the Blessed John Paul II
An Aircraft during landing
On All Saints Day an aircraft with 230 passengers manages to land without a cart. On board there was a priest who was carrying with him the remains of John Paul II. The media and the web talk of a “miracle”
Monday, November 1, All Saints Day, an aircraft of the LOT Polish airlines, a Boeing 767 from Newark in the U.S., managed to land at Okęcie airport in Warsaw without a cart. More than 230 passengers and eleven members of the crew came out unscathed from this highly risky operation, which took place in Poland for the first time. Merit was immediately attributed to Commander Tadeusz Wrona, a pilot with fifteen thousand flight hours, many of which at the helm of similar aircraft. Not even twenty-four hours after this happy event, however, talk of a miracle was going around. Father Piotr Chyła, a Redemptorist who was returning home from America was on board that plane. The priest was carrying with him the remains of John Paul II, but he never wanted to specify exactly what remains they were. Despite his repeated statements he did not want to attribute the salvation to the blessed Pope, the media and internet now do not talk about anything else.
On the occasion of the liturgical memorial of the Blessed John Paul II, celebrated for the first time last October 22, the agency KAI of the Polish episcopate calculated that there are seventy among churches and chapels that possess his relics. Apart from the mortal remains, buried in the basilica of St. Peter, undivided as was thought at first (the bishop Tadeusz Pieronek recklessly announced in April 2008 the arrival of the Polish Pope's heart, to be placed in the cathedral of the castle Wawel in Krakow), this is blood and hair, which being part of his body, are considered first class, while objects once used by the Blessed, such as robes, miter and pastoral belong to the second. As emphasized by the KAI, the relics of blood and hair of the blessed are dispensed by his two former Secretaries: Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, and Monsignor Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, Latin archbishop of Lviv in Ukraine.
According to a release from the Vatican press office issued on April 26 this year, just days before the beatification of the Polish pope, “during the last days of the illness of the Holy Father, the medical staff performed blood tests, to be made available at the Blood Transfusion Centre of the Bambino Gesu Hospital in view of a possible transfusion ... However, the transfusion did not take place and the blood collected was stored in four small containers. Two of these were available to the private secretary of Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Dziwisz; the other two remained at the Bambino Gesu Hospital”. In Poland the date this blood was collected is given as - April 2, 2005, but word has it that there was another collection done at the Gemelli hospital “before the tracheotomy”, that is, in February of that year (but some say that it was collected after the intervention).
Monday, October 31, 2011
Now this makes me shiver...what do you think he was seeing...could it have been our Lord and Saviour?
Steve Jobs' Final Words Revealed by Biological Sister...Published October 30, 2011
Mona Simpson, an author and biological sister of Steve Jobs, said her brother’s final words were “Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow,” in an Oct. 16 eulogy she delivered that was published Sunday in The New York Times.
Simpson remembered the man she first learned about when she was 25, living in New York and working at a small literary magazine. A lawyer had informed her that she had a rich and famous long-lost brother.
The two met, and a relationship emerged.
Simpson, now a novelist and professor at the University of California, remembered her brother being simple but true, a hard worker who didn't flinch at the idea a failing and never bought into gimmicks.
“If he loved a shirt, he’d order 10 or 100 of them,” she said at the Oct.16 service at Stanford University. “In the Palo Alto house, there are probably enough black cotton turtlenecks for everyone in this church.”
She also recalled his philosophy on life: “Fashion is what seems beautiful now but looks ugly later; art can be ugly at first but it becomes beautiful later.”
Jobs, in Simpson’s view, was a romantic, who would often worry about his coworker’s love lives and was a consummate matchmaker. “He believed that love happened all the time, everywhere,” she said.
Jobs eventually grew ill.
The Apple Inc. co-founder died of respiratory arrest resulting from pancreatic cancer that had spread to other organs at age 56 surrounded by family members. Apple did not disclose his cause of death, but Jobs had been in poor health for a number of years.
“Eventually, even ordinary pleasures, like a good peach, no longer appealed to him,” she recalled.
Simpson remembered his final moment, with Jobs glancing toward his family.
“Before embarking, he’d looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life’s partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them,” she recalled. “Steve’s final words were, Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.”
Sunday, October 30, 2011
STORIES YOU WON'T HEAR ABOUT IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA...
200,000 hit U.S. streets -- for Virgin Mary
Queen of the Public Square
As many as 200,000 Americans took to the streets on October 15 and “occupied” thousands of public squares nationwide to voice their concerns about the nation’s future. Such an outpouring of public sentiment should have been enough to attract the attention of any decent media.
However, that was not the case. These Americans were not the angry squatters at Zuccotti Park near Wall Street in New York City. Rather, they were Americans proudly praying in over 7,500 public squares all across America asking God’s assistance in resolving the nation’s grave moral problems.
The Public Square Rosary Rally campaign is coordinated by the America Needs Fatima [1] campaign of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP). It has been held every October for the last five years as an appeal for divine assistance facing our anti-Christian culture.
Peaceful and Legal Rally
As a participant in the rosary rally on Fifth Avenue in New York City, I could not help being struck by the contrast between two opposing camps — the Public Square Rosary Rallies and the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I was hardly shocked by the corresponding media coverage.
Our rally peacefully and legally “occupied” the sidewalk in front of Rockefeller Center across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral. There is probably no more conspicuous place in all America as tens of thousands daily walk down those busy sidewalks.
Our demonstration of faith was extremely edifying as those present were comforted by the fact that they were joined by so many other rallies all over the country. Actually, there were probably well over a hundred rallies within the New York metropolitan area. There were forty in the Bronx alone. One participant at our symbolic rally on Fifth Avenue told me that all her friends had gone to local rallies. The idea of local organization was so strong that one local rally captain insisted on holding a separate rally within earshot of our own.
Joy and Faith
Participants were from all walks of life: strong in their faith and determined to give public witness that human solutions are not enough. I was impressed by how they almost shouted out their Hail Marys over the din of the busy street and knelt on the sidewalk without human respect. A few passersby would pray a Hail Mary or two while others even joined the crowd for the entire event. The bagpipes echoed up and down the concrete canyon to the strains of “Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above.” The effect was electrifying as one felt as if Our Lady were actually queen of the public square for at least a short time.
What impressed me most was the calm and joy of the participants who sensed the importance of what they were doing. They were publicly appealing to a higher authority asking our Blessed Mother to come to our aid. As a result, a palpable blessing came over the rally.
At times the wind would blow intensely making it difficult to hold the American flag and the four TFP standards. At other times, the wind calmed down and the sun would illuminate the crowd almost as if Our Lady was smiling upon our efforts.
Everything about the rally reflected beauty, calm and order. Everyone left with the impression that our prayers were heard. We felt new resolve to continue fighting in the public square against an anti-Christian culture.
Anti-Rosary Rally
On the other side of the city, Occupy Wall Street protesters raged. It could not be more contrary to our own rally. In fact, after the public square rosary, I went to Zuccotti Park to see what Occupy Wall Street was all about. I found an anti-rosary rally.
The climate was one of deliberate chaos and agitation. Tribal drums beat out their message as the protesters sat and stood around the perimeter of the small park with primitive cardboard signs championing every leftist, ecological or sexual cause imaginable and unimaginable. A Woodstock atmosphere pervaded amid the tarps and sleeping bags that littered the once clean sidewalks and well-kept lawns of the privately owned park.
What impressed me was not so much the uncleanliness of the place (although it was aggressive); it was not even the wildly contradictory messages that the different protesters presented. Rather it was the agitated spirit of revolt that permeated the whole area. This spirit would manifest itself in displays of resentment, bitterness or even a veiled politeness on the part of those there. It would erupt into outright hatred as in the case I saw of a street preacher upon whom the protesters heaped abuse and insults. Earlier it had erupted in violent clashes with the police.
I could not help but think how different these people — united in revolt — were from those who had just been united in prayer.
Throughout it all, the media that could not see 7,500 “invisible” public square rosary rallies flocked to Zuccotti Park, seemingly eager to turn this motley assembly into revolutionaries of a pseudo-class struggle using a script straight out of Marx’s Communist Manifesto.
Prayers Not in Vain
It was a relief to leave the park and head back home. I was comforted by thinking of all the rosary rallies that had taken place. Our peaceful and legal “occupation” of 7,500 public squares dwarfed the efforts of these wannabe revolutionaries who have unsuccessfully tried to build enthusiasm by holding gatherings in places outside New York City.
Judging from media reports, I calculated that the nearly 200,000 Americans who turned to God in the public square probably outnumbered these poor partisans of the left by over three to one. The media did not take note of our efforts, but millions of American passersby did. Above all, God took note.
I was also comforted by the conviction that these prayers were not in vain. Our Lady at Fatima predicted her triumph over communism in all of its many forms. If we continue to pray, fight for our culture and oppose socialism , she will not fail to come to our aid.
200,000 hit U.S. streets -- for Virgin Mary
Queen of the Public Square
As many as 200,000 Americans took to the streets on October 15 and “occupied” thousands of public squares nationwide to voice their concerns about the nation’s future. Such an outpouring of public sentiment should have been enough to attract the attention of any decent media.
However, that was not the case. These Americans were not the angry squatters at Zuccotti Park near Wall Street in New York City. Rather, they were Americans proudly praying in over 7,500 public squares all across America asking God’s assistance in resolving the nation’s grave moral problems.
The Public Square Rosary Rally campaign is coordinated by the America Needs Fatima [1] campaign of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP). It has been held every October for the last five years as an appeal for divine assistance facing our anti-Christian culture.
Peaceful and Legal Rally
As a participant in the rosary rally on Fifth Avenue in New York City, I could not help being struck by the contrast between two opposing camps — the Public Square Rosary Rallies and the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I was hardly shocked by the corresponding media coverage.
Our rally peacefully and legally “occupied” the sidewalk in front of Rockefeller Center across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral. There is probably no more conspicuous place in all America as tens of thousands daily walk down those busy sidewalks.
Our demonstration of faith was extremely edifying as those present were comforted by the fact that they were joined by so many other rallies all over the country. Actually, there were probably well over a hundred rallies within the New York metropolitan area. There were forty in the Bronx alone. One participant at our symbolic rally on Fifth Avenue told me that all her friends had gone to local rallies. The idea of local organization was so strong that one local rally captain insisted on holding a separate rally within earshot of our own.
Joy and Faith
Participants were from all walks of life: strong in their faith and determined to give public witness that human solutions are not enough. I was impressed by how they almost shouted out their Hail Marys over the din of the busy street and knelt on the sidewalk without human respect. A few passersby would pray a Hail Mary or two while others even joined the crowd for the entire event. The bagpipes echoed up and down the concrete canyon to the strains of “Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above.” The effect was electrifying as one felt as if Our Lady were actually queen of the public square for at least a short time.
What impressed me most was the calm and joy of the participants who sensed the importance of what they were doing. They were publicly appealing to a higher authority asking our Blessed Mother to come to our aid. As a result, a palpable blessing came over the rally.
At times the wind would blow intensely making it difficult to hold the American flag and the four TFP standards. At other times, the wind calmed down and the sun would illuminate the crowd almost as if Our Lady was smiling upon our efforts.
Everything about the rally reflected beauty, calm and order. Everyone left with the impression that our prayers were heard. We felt new resolve to continue fighting in the public square against an anti-Christian culture.
Anti-Rosary Rally
On the other side of the city, Occupy Wall Street protesters raged. It could not be more contrary to our own rally. In fact, after the public square rosary, I went to Zuccotti Park to see what Occupy Wall Street was all about. I found an anti-rosary rally.
The climate was one of deliberate chaos and agitation. Tribal drums beat out their message as the protesters sat and stood around the perimeter of the small park with primitive cardboard signs championing every leftist, ecological or sexual cause imaginable and unimaginable. A Woodstock atmosphere pervaded amid the tarps and sleeping bags that littered the once clean sidewalks and well-kept lawns of the privately owned park.
What impressed me was not so much the uncleanliness of the place (although it was aggressive); it was not even the wildly contradictory messages that the different protesters presented. Rather it was the agitated spirit of revolt that permeated the whole area. This spirit would manifest itself in displays of resentment, bitterness or even a veiled politeness on the part of those there. It would erupt into outright hatred as in the case I saw of a street preacher upon whom the protesters heaped abuse and insults. Earlier it had erupted in violent clashes with the police.
I could not help but think how different these people — united in revolt — were from those who had just been united in prayer.
Throughout it all, the media that could not see 7,500 “invisible” public square rosary rallies flocked to Zuccotti Park, seemingly eager to turn this motley assembly into revolutionaries of a pseudo-class struggle using a script straight out of Marx’s Communist Manifesto.
Prayers Not in Vain
It was a relief to leave the park and head back home. I was comforted by thinking of all the rosary rallies that had taken place. Our peaceful and legal “occupation” of 7,500 public squares dwarfed the efforts of these wannabe revolutionaries who have unsuccessfully tried to build enthusiasm by holding gatherings in places outside New York City.
Judging from media reports, I calculated that the nearly 200,000 Americans who turned to God in the public square probably outnumbered these poor partisans of the left by over three to one. The media did not take note of our efforts, but millions of American passersby did. Above all, God took note.
I was also comforted by the conviction that these prayers were not in vain. Our Lady at Fatima predicted her triumph over communism in all of its many forms. If we continue to pray, fight for our culture and oppose socialism , she will not fail to come to our aid.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Ember Days in the 21st century
Once not so long ago, this coming Wednesday (Sept. 21) would be marked as a day of fasting and abstinence. So would Friday, Sept. 23, and Saturday, Sept. 24. The church marks these three days as the fall Ember Days.
Although the fall Ember Days are marked as the first Wednesday following the Exaltation of the Cross (Sept. 14), they are inextricably tied to the fall equinox.
The winter, spring and summer Ember Days also occur at or around the seasonal equinoxes.
The winter Ember Days begin the first Wednesday following the Feast of St. Lucy (Dec. 13). The spring Ember Days begin on the Wednesday following Ash Wednesday. And the summer Ember Days begin the Wednesday after Pentecost.
Although they were fixed by Pope Gregory VII, their origins predate Christianity as a sacred time for marking the seasons.
I have felt for some time that we as a church, by our recent neglect of Ember Days, have lost an opportunity to connect ritually with those sacred rhythms of creation.
Given the psychic/spiritual cost of our contemporary era's alienation from those rhythms, I believe we need a revival of the potential power of Ember Days for the 21st century. Unlike our ancestors, we really don't ritualize the mysterious changing of the seasons and their relationship to the cycle of life.
About four years ago I gathered some of the folk from the Worship Commission and artists of our parish of St. Elizabeth to brainstorm some practices that we as a parish community could observe to rekindle a sense of the Sacred in terms of the great annual movement of the cosmos.
In addition to the traditional forms of fasting and abstinence, we challenged our community to some of the following methods of reconnection as part of the Ember Day observance. Following are some suggested practices we put out to our parishioners.
Fall-Tithe your grocery shopping during that period to a local food depot. Or volunteer for a soup kitchen.
Winter-Fast from electricity for one day. Limit yourself to only necessary cooking and driving. Take the phone off the hook. Have dinner by candlelight (with everyone present since no one drives that night). Go for a walk (weather permitting). Turn off the computer, television, cell phone and all electronic devices. Read a good book or have a good conversation. Go to bed at an early hour -- easy to do when the only source of lighting is by candle or fire in the fireplace.
Spring-Plant a seed (flower or vegetable) in a cup. Nurture that seed and transfer that seed out of doors when the weather permits.Go for walk at night and try to do some stargazing.
Summer-Spend at least a few hours sometime during the three Ember Days at a park, hiking or some other quiet place of solitude.
These are just a few of the ideas with which we came up. And any of these practices can be celebrated at any of the solstices (i.e. electricity fast).
What are some creative rituals you may suggest to re-engage our connection with the sacred rhythm of the Mystery of the changing season? How might you suggest your revival of Ember Days?
Once not so long ago, this coming Wednesday (Sept. 21) would be marked as a day of fasting and abstinence. So would Friday, Sept. 23, and Saturday, Sept. 24. The church marks these three days as the fall Ember Days.
Although the fall Ember Days are marked as the first Wednesday following the Exaltation of the Cross (Sept. 14), they are inextricably tied to the fall equinox.
The winter, spring and summer Ember Days also occur at or around the seasonal equinoxes.
The winter Ember Days begin the first Wednesday following the Feast of St. Lucy (Dec. 13). The spring Ember Days begin on the Wednesday following Ash Wednesday. And the summer Ember Days begin the Wednesday after Pentecost.
Although they were fixed by Pope Gregory VII, their origins predate Christianity as a sacred time for marking the seasons.
I have felt for some time that we as a church, by our recent neglect of Ember Days, have lost an opportunity to connect ritually with those sacred rhythms of creation.
Given the psychic/spiritual cost of our contemporary era's alienation from those rhythms, I believe we need a revival of the potential power of Ember Days for the 21st century. Unlike our ancestors, we really don't ritualize the mysterious changing of the seasons and their relationship to the cycle of life.
About four years ago I gathered some of the folk from the Worship Commission and artists of our parish of St. Elizabeth to brainstorm some practices that we as a parish community could observe to rekindle a sense of the Sacred in terms of the great annual movement of the cosmos.
In addition to the traditional forms of fasting and abstinence, we challenged our community to some of the following methods of reconnection as part of the Ember Day observance. Following are some suggested practices we put out to our parishioners.
Fall-Tithe your grocery shopping during that period to a local food depot. Or volunteer for a soup kitchen.
Winter-Fast from electricity for one day. Limit yourself to only necessary cooking and driving. Take the phone off the hook. Have dinner by candlelight (with everyone present since no one drives that night). Go for a walk (weather permitting). Turn off the computer, television, cell phone and all electronic devices. Read a good book or have a good conversation. Go to bed at an early hour -- easy to do when the only source of lighting is by candle or fire in the fireplace.
Spring-Plant a seed (flower or vegetable) in a cup. Nurture that seed and transfer that seed out of doors when the weather permits.Go for walk at night and try to do some stargazing.
Summer-Spend at least a few hours sometime during the three Ember Days at a park, hiking or some other quiet place of solitude.
These are just a few of the ideas with which we came up. And any of these practices can be celebrated at any of the solstices (i.e. electricity fast).
What are some creative rituals you may suggest to re-engage our connection with the sacred rhythm of the Mystery of the changing season? How might you suggest your revival of Ember Days?
Monday, September 19, 2011
The Miracle of St. Januarius
Every year on September 19 (today), thousands of people assemble at the cathedral in Naples to witness the miracle of the blood of Saint Januarius. This miracle has occurred annually since AD 1389.
Saint Januarius was the bishop of Naples and received the palm of martyrdom under Diocletian's persecution of the Catholic Church (ca. AD 303).
Somehow samples of the martyr's blood were acquired and stored in a small vial. Today, this vial contains a dark reddish dried residue.
On the feastday, the archbishop of Naples holds up the reliquary containing the blood and shows that the vials contain the dry and solid remains of blood. Next, the archbishop places the reliquary on top of the altar of Saint Clare along with the bones of the saint.
The people begin to pray and shout and then the blood begins to liquify. The archbishop then moves the reliquary around to show that the once solid contents are not liquid . The Neapolitans commemorate the miracle with a 21 gun salute. The liquified blood remains in the vial on the altar for 8 days.
Every year on September 19 (today), thousands of people assemble at the cathedral in Naples to witness the miracle of the blood of Saint Januarius. This miracle has occurred annually since AD 1389.
Saint Januarius was the bishop of Naples and received the palm of martyrdom under Diocletian's persecution of the Catholic Church (ca. AD 303).
Somehow samples of the martyr's blood were acquired and stored in a small vial. Today, this vial contains a dark reddish dried residue.
On the feastday, the archbishop of Naples holds up the reliquary containing the blood and shows that the vials contain the dry and solid remains of blood. Next, the archbishop places the reliquary on top of the altar of Saint Clare along with the bones of the saint.
The people begin to pray and shout and then the blood begins to liquify. The archbishop then moves the reliquary around to show that the once solid contents are not liquid . The Neapolitans commemorate the miracle with a 21 gun salute. The liquified blood remains in the vial on the altar for 8 days.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Rex Murphy: The media’s love affair with a disastrous president
Since 2008, much of the Obama coverage has been nothing more than orchestrated sychophancy.
As the bad economic news continues to emanate from the United States — with a double-dip recession now all but certain — a reckoning is overdue. American journalism will have to look back at the period starting with Barrack Obama’s rise, his assumption of the presidency and his conduct in it to the present, and ask itself how it came to cast aside so many of its vital functions. In the main, the establishment American media abandoned its critical faculties during the Obama campaign — and it hasn’t reclaimed them since.
Much of the Obama coverage was orchestrated sychophancy. They glided past his pretensions — when did a presidential candidate before “address the world” from the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin? They ignored his arrogance — “You’re likeable enough, Hillary.” And they averted their eyes from his every gaffe — such as the admission that he didn’t speak “Austrian.”
The media walked right past the decades-long association of Obama with the weird and racist pastor Jermiah Wright. In the midst of the brief stormlet over the issue, one CNN host — inexplicably — decided that CNN was going to be a “Wright-free zone.” He could have hung out a sign: “No bad news about Obama here.”
The media trashed Hillary. They burned Republicans. They ransacked Sarah Palin and her family. But Obama, the cool, the detached, the oracular Obama — he strolled to the presidency.
Palin, in particular, stands out as Obama’s opposite in the media’s eyes. As much as they genuflected to the one, they felt the need to turn rotweiler toward the other. If Obama was sacred , classy, intellectual and cosmopolitan, why then Palin must be malevolent, trashy, dumb and pure backwoods-ignorant.
Every doubt they hid from themselves about Obama, every potential embarrassment they tucked under the blanket of their superior sensibilities, they furiously over-compensated for by their remorseless hounding of Palin — from utterly trivial e-mails, to blogger Andrew Sullivan’s weird speculations about Palin’s womb, musings that put the Obama “Birther” fantasies into a realm near sanity. (We are now seeing an echo of that — with a new book promoting all sorts of unconfirmed gossip about Palin, including her alleged sexual dalliance with a basketball star.)
As a result, the press gave the great American republic an untried, unknown and, it is becoming more and more frighteningly clear, incompetent figure as President. Under Obama, America’s foreign policies are a mixture of confusion and costly impotence. It is increasingly bypassed or derided; the great approach to the Muslim world, symbolized by the Cairo speech, is in tatters. Its debt and deficits are a weight on the entire global economy. And the office of presidency is less and less a symbol of strength.
To the degree the press neglected its function as watchdog and turned cupbearer to a styrofoam demigod, it is a partner in the flaws and failures of what is turning out to be one of the most miserable performances in the modern history of the American presidency.
National Post
Since 2008, much of the Obama coverage has been nothing more than orchestrated sychophancy.
As the bad economic news continues to emanate from the United States — with a double-dip recession now all but certain — a reckoning is overdue. American journalism will have to look back at the period starting with Barrack Obama’s rise, his assumption of the presidency and his conduct in it to the present, and ask itself how it came to cast aside so many of its vital functions. In the main, the establishment American media abandoned its critical faculties during the Obama campaign — and it hasn’t reclaimed them since.
Much of the Obama coverage was orchestrated sychophancy. They glided past his pretensions — when did a presidential candidate before “address the world” from the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin? They ignored his arrogance — “You’re likeable enough, Hillary.” And they averted their eyes from his every gaffe — such as the admission that he didn’t speak “Austrian.”
The media walked right past the decades-long association of Obama with the weird and racist pastor Jermiah Wright. In the midst of the brief stormlet over the issue, one CNN host — inexplicably — decided that CNN was going to be a “Wright-free zone.” He could have hung out a sign: “No bad news about Obama here.”
The media trashed Hillary. They burned Republicans. They ransacked Sarah Palin and her family. But Obama, the cool, the detached, the oracular Obama — he strolled to the presidency.
Palin, in particular, stands out as Obama’s opposite in the media’s eyes. As much as they genuflected to the one, they felt the need to turn rotweiler toward the other. If Obama was sacred , classy, intellectual and cosmopolitan, why then Palin must be malevolent, trashy, dumb and pure backwoods-ignorant.
Every doubt they hid from themselves about Obama, every potential embarrassment they tucked under the blanket of their superior sensibilities, they furiously over-compensated for by their remorseless hounding of Palin — from utterly trivial e-mails, to blogger Andrew Sullivan’s weird speculations about Palin’s womb, musings that put the Obama “Birther” fantasies into a realm near sanity. (We are now seeing an echo of that — with a new book promoting all sorts of unconfirmed gossip about Palin, including her alleged sexual dalliance with a basketball star.)
As a result, the press gave the great American republic an untried, unknown and, it is becoming more and more frighteningly clear, incompetent figure as President. Under Obama, America’s foreign policies are a mixture of confusion and costly impotence. It is increasingly bypassed or derided; the great approach to the Muslim world, symbolized by the Cairo speech, is in tatters. Its debt and deficits are a weight on the entire global economy. And the office of presidency is less and less a symbol of strength.
To the degree the press neglected its function as watchdog and turned cupbearer to a styrofoam demigod, it is a partner in the flaws and failures of what is turning out to be one of the most miserable performances in the modern history of the American presidency.
National Post
Monday, September 12, 2011
Western, Muslim societies ‘irreconcilable’: Canadian poll
56% of respondents in a new Leger Marketing poll see Western and Muslim societies locked in an unending ideological struggle.
A majority of Canadians believes conflict between Western nations and the Muslim world is “irreconcilable,” according to a new national survey that revealed a strong strain of pessimism in the country leading up to Sunday’s 10th anniversary commemorations of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.
The survey of 1,500 Canadians, conducted over three days last week for the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies, showed 56% of respondents see Western and Muslim societies locked in an unending ideological struggle, while about 33% — just one-third of the population — held out hope that the conflict will eventually be overcome.Another 11% of those polled didn’t answer the question.
ACS executive director Jack Jedwab said the finding has “serious ramifications” for Canadian policies aimed at bridging divides between cultures, which are based on the premise that citizens believe significant progress in mending such religious and cultural conflicts is achievable.
The dark view expressed in the survey “contradicts a fundamental idea in multicultural democracies like ours, that conflicts between societies can be resolved through dialogue and negotiation,” said Jedwab. “This is also a key element in multiculturalism, where Canada is often seen elsewhere in the world as a model in conflict resolution.”
He adds: “If a majority of Canadians feel it is irreconcilable, what does this imply for the various projects and programs in place that aim to bridge gaps?”
The online survey, carried out Sept. 6 to 8 by the firm Leger Marketing, is considered accurate to within 2.9 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
The results also confirm the findings of other recent surveys highlighting Canadians’ ongoing anxiety about the state of security in the post-9/11 world and their deep doubts about whether the long and bloody war in Afghanistan has done much to thwart the threat of terrorism.
In fact, 65% of respondents in the ACS survey said they don’t believe the world is safer from terrorists today than it was 10 years ago. And 70% of those surveyed said they don’t believe the war in Afghanistan has reduced the chances of terrorist attacks.
Jedwab said the “pessimistic feeling” about what the war has accomplished is likely linked to the “widespread hopelessness” about the prospects for ever resolving the deep-rooted, “ideological” conflict between Muslim and Western societies.
Many Canadians have come to believe “nothing will work” to end that conflict, said Jedwab, adding that this grim state of mind will require more scrutiny to fully understand and more carefully crafted public policies to rebuild a sense of optimism about the future of global relations.
The survey did offer one notable “ray of hope,” Jedwab suggested, pointing to a result showing that a slight majority of Canadians (52%) believe it would be wrong for airport security officials to do “extra checks” of “passengers who appear to be of Muslim background.”
While 39% of respondents were open to that kind of profiling, Jedwab interpreted the majority’s rejection of the practice as a sign that most Canadians realize such infringements “would make the purportedly irreconcilable conflict even deeper if the enshrined principles of our rights charters are to be disregarded.”
56% of respondents in a new Leger Marketing poll see Western and Muslim societies locked in an unending ideological struggle.
A majority of Canadians believes conflict between Western nations and the Muslim world is “irreconcilable,” according to a new national survey that revealed a strong strain of pessimism in the country leading up to Sunday’s 10th anniversary commemorations of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.
The survey of 1,500 Canadians, conducted over three days last week for the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies, showed 56% of respondents see Western and Muslim societies locked in an unending ideological struggle, while about 33% — just one-third of the population — held out hope that the conflict will eventually be overcome.Another 11% of those polled didn’t answer the question.
ACS executive director Jack Jedwab said the finding has “serious ramifications” for Canadian policies aimed at bridging divides between cultures, which are based on the premise that citizens believe significant progress in mending such religious and cultural conflicts is achievable.
The dark view expressed in the survey “contradicts a fundamental idea in multicultural democracies like ours, that conflicts between societies can be resolved through dialogue and negotiation,” said Jedwab. “This is also a key element in multiculturalism, where Canada is often seen elsewhere in the world as a model in conflict resolution.”
He adds: “If a majority of Canadians feel it is irreconcilable, what does this imply for the various projects and programs in place that aim to bridge gaps?”
The online survey, carried out Sept. 6 to 8 by the firm Leger Marketing, is considered accurate to within 2.9 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
The results also confirm the findings of other recent surveys highlighting Canadians’ ongoing anxiety about the state of security in the post-9/11 world and their deep doubts about whether the long and bloody war in Afghanistan has done much to thwart the threat of terrorism.
In fact, 65% of respondents in the ACS survey said they don’t believe the world is safer from terrorists today than it was 10 years ago. And 70% of those surveyed said they don’t believe the war in Afghanistan has reduced the chances of terrorist attacks.
Jedwab said the “pessimistic feeling” about what the war has accomplished is likely linked to the “widespread hopelessness” about the prospects for ever resolving the deep-rooted, “ideological” conflict between Muslim and Western societies.
Many Canadians have come to believe “nothing will work” to end that conflict, said Jedwab, adding that this grim state of mind will require more scrutiny to fully understand and more carefully crafted public policies to rebuild a sense of optimism about the future of global relations.
The survey did offer one notable “ray of hope,” Jedwab suggested, pointing to a result showing that a slight majority of Canadians (52%) believe it would be wrong for airport security officials to do “extra checks” of “passengers who appear to be of Muslim background.”
While 39% of respondents were open to that kind of profiling, Jedwab interpreted the majority’s rejection of the practice as a sign that most Canadians realize such infringements “would make the purportedly irreconcilable conflict even deeper if the enshrined principles of our rights charters are to be disregarded.”
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says 'Islamicism' biggest threat to Canada
In an exclusive interview with CBC News, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the biggest security threat to Canada a decade after 9/11 is Islamic terrorism.
In a wide-ranging interview with CBC chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge that will air in its entirety on The National Thursday night, Harper says Canada is safer than it was on Sept. 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda attacked the U.S., but that "the major threat is still Islamicism."
"There are other threats out there, but that is the one that I can tell you occupies the security apparatus most regularly in terms of actual terrorist threats," Harper said.
Harper cautioned that terrorist threats can "come out of the blue" from a different source, such as the recent Norway attacks, where a lone gunman who hated Muslims killed 77 people.
But Harper said terrorism by Islamic radicals is still the top threat, though a "diffuse" one.
"When people think of Islamic terrorism, they think of Afghanistan, or maybe they think of some place in the Middle East, but the truth is that threat exists all over the world," he said, citing domestic terrorism in Nigeria.
In an exclusive interview with CBC News, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the biggest security threat to Canada a decade after 9/11 is Islamic terrorism.
In a wide-ranging interview with CBC chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge that will air in its entirety on The National Thursday night, Harper says Canada is safer than it was on Sept. 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda attacked the U.S., but that "the major threat is still Islamicism."
"There are other threats out there, but that is the one that I can tell you occupies the security apparatus most regularly in terms of actual terrorist threats," Harper said.
Harper cautioned that terrorist threats can "come out of the blue" from a different source, such as the recent Norway attacks, where a lone gunman who hated Muslims killed 77 people.
But Harper said terrorism by Islamic radicals is still the top threat, though a "diffuse" one.
"When people think of Islamic terrorism, they think of Afghanistan, or maybe they think of some place in the Middle East, but the truth is that threat exists all over the world," he said, citing domestic terrorism in Nigeria.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU HAD "THE CRUSADES" THROWN IN YOUR FACE BY ANTI-CATHOLICS.MY LAST TIME WAS FROM A 19 YEAR OLD COLLEGE PUNK...AND I SWORE THE NEXT TIME...I WOULD BE PREPARED.KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.READ AND MEMORIZE THIS.
The Crusades
Muslims love talking about the Crusades… and Christians love apologizing for them. To hear both parties tell the story, one would believe that Muslims were just peacefully minding their own business in lands that were legitimately Muslim when Christian armies decided to wage holy war and "kill millions.”
The Truth:
Every part of this myth is a lie. By the rules that Muslims claim for themselves, the Crusades were perfectly justified, and the excesses (though beneath Christian standards) pale in comparison with the historical treatment of conquered populations at the hands of Muslims.
Here are some quick facts…
The first Crusade began in 1095… 460 years after the first Christian city was overrun by Muslim armies, 457 years after Jerusalem was conquered by Muslim armies, 453 years after Egypt was taken by Muslim armies, 443 after Muslims first plundered Italy, 427 years after Muslim armies first laid siege to the Christian capital of Constantinople, 380 years after Spain was conquered by Muslim armies, 363 years after France was first attacked by Muslim armies, 249 years after the capital of the Christian world, Rome itself, was sacked by a Muslim army, and only after centuries of church burnings, killings, enslavement and forced conversions of Christians.
By the time the Crusades finally began, Muslim armies had conquered two-thirds of the Christian world.
Europe had been harassed by Muslims since the first few years following Muhammad’s death. As early as 652, Muhammad’s followers launched raids on the island of Sicily, waging a full-scale occupation 200 years later that lasted almost a century and was punctuated by massacres, such as that at the town of Castrogiovanni, in which 8,000 Christians were put to death. In 1084, ten years before the first crusade, Muslims staged another devastating Sicilian raid, burning churches in Reggio, enslaving monks and raping an abbey of nuns before carrying them into captivity.
In 1095, Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I Comneus began begging the pope in Rome for help in turning back the Muslim armies which were overrunning what is now Turkey, grabbing property as they went and turning churches into mosques. Several hundred thousand Christians had been killed in Anatolia alone in the decades following 1050 by Seljuk invaders interested in 'converting' the survivors to Islam.
Not only were Christians losing their lives in their own lands to the Muslim advance but pilgrims to the Holy Land from other parts of Europe were being harassed, kidnapped, molested, forcibly converted to Islam and occasionally murdered. (Compare this to Islam’s justification for slaughter on the basis of Muslims being denied access to the Meccan pilgrimage in Muhammad’s time).
The Crusaders only invaded lands that were Christian. They did not attack Saudi Arabia (other than a half-hearted expedition by a minor figure) or sack Mecca as the Muslims had done (and continued doing) to Italy and Constantinople. Their primary goal was the recapture of Jerusalem and the security of safe passage for pilgrims. The toppling of the Muslim empire was not on the agenda.
The period of Crusader “occupation” (of its own former land) was stretched tenuously over about 170 years, which is less than the Muslim occupation of Sicily and southern Italy alone - to say nothing of Spain and other lands that had never been Islamic before falling victim to Jihad. In fact, the Arab occupation of North Africa and Middle Eastern lands outside of Arabia is almost 1400 years old.
Despite popular depiction, the Crusades were not a titanic battle between Christianity and Islam. Although originally dispatched by papal decree, the "occupiers" quickly became part of the political and economic fabric of the Middle East without much regard for religious differences. Their arrival was largely accepted by the local population as simply another change in authority. Muslim radicals even lamented the fact that many of their co-religionists preferred to live under Frankish (Christian) rule than migrate to Muslim lands.
The Islamic world was split into warring factions, many of which allied themselves with the Frankish princes against each other at one time or another. This even included Saladin, the Kurdish warrior who is credited with eventually ousting the "Crusaders." Contrary to recent propaganda, however, Saladin had little interest in holy war until a rogue Frankish prince began disrupting his trade routes. Both before and after the taking of Jerusalem, his armies spent far more time and resources battling fellow Muslims.
For its part, the Byzantine (Eastern Christian) Empire preferred to have little to do with the Crusader kingdoms and went so far as to sign treaties with their Muslim rivals on occasion.
Another misconception is that the Crusader era was a time of constant war. In fact, very little of this overall period included significant hostilities. In response to Muslim expansion or aggression, there were only about 20 years of actual military campaigning, much of which was spent on organization and travel. (They were from 1098-1099, 1146-1148, 1188-1192, 1201-1204, 1218-1221, 1228-1229, and 1248-1250). By comparison, the Muslim Jihad against the island of Sicily alone lasted 75 grinding years.
Ironically, the Crusades are justified by the Quran itself, which encourages Holy War in order to "drive them out of the places from whence they drove you out" (2:191), even though the aim wasn't to expel Muslims from the Middle East, but more to bring an end to the molestation of pilgrims. Holy war is not justified by New Testament teachings, which is why the Crusades are an anomaly, the brief interruption of centuries of relentless Jihad against Christianity that began long before and continued well after.
The greatest crime of the Crusaders was the sacking of Jerusalem, in which at least 3,000 people were said to have been massacred. This number is dwarfed by the number of Jihad victims, from India to Constantinople, Africa and Narbonne, but Muslims have never apologized for their crimes and never will.
What is called 'sin and excess' by other religions, is what Islam refers to as duty willed by Allah.
The Crusades
Muslims love talking about the Crusades… and Christians love apologizing for them. To hear both parties tell the story, one would believe that Muslims were just peacefully minding their own business in lands that were legitimately Muslim when Christian armies decided to wage holy war and "kill millions.”
The Truth:
Every part of this myth is a lie. By the rules that Muslims claim for themselves, the Crusades were perfectly justified, and the excesses (though beneath Christian standards) pale in comparison with the historical treatment of conquered populations at the hands of Muslims.
Here are some quick facts…
The first Crusade began in 1095… 460 years after the first Christian city was overrun by Muslim armies, 457 years after Jerusalem was conquered by Muslim armies, 453 years after Egypt was taken by Muslim armies, 443 after Muslims first plundered Italy, 427 years after Muslim armies first laid siege to the Christian capital of Constantinople, 380 years after Spain was conquered by Muslim armies, 363 years after France was first attacked by Muslim armies, 249 years after the capital of the Christian world, Rome itself, was sacked by a Muslim army, and only after centuries of church burnings, killings, enslavement and forced conversions of Christians.
By the time the Crusades finally began, Muslim armies had conquered two-thirds of the Christian world.
Europe had been harassed by Muslims since the first few years following Muhammad’s death. As early as 652, Muhammad’s followers launched raids on the island of Sicily, waging a full-scale occupation 200 years later that lasted almost a century and was punctuated by massacres, such as that at the town of Castrogiovanni, in which 8,000 Christians were put to death. In 1084, ten years before the first crusade, Muslims staged another devastating Sicilian raid, burning churches in Reggio, enslaving monks and raping an abbey of nuns before carrying them into captivity.
In 1095, Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I Comneus began begging the pope in Rome for help in turning back the Muslim armies which were overrunning what is now Turkey, grabbing property as they went and turning churches into mosques. Several hundred thousand Christians had been killed in Anatolia alone in the decades following 1050 by Seljuk invaders interested in 'converting' the survivors to Islam.
Not only were Christians losing their lives in their own lands to the Muslim advance but pilgrims to the Holy Land from other parts of Europe were being harassed, kidnapped, molested, forcibly converted to Islam and occasionally murdered. (Compare this to Islam’s justification for slaughter on the basis of Muslims being denied access to the Meccan pilgrimage in Muhammad’s time).
The Crusaders only invaded lands that were Christian. They did not attack Saudi Arabia (other than a half-hearted expedition by a minor figure) or sack Mecca as the Muslims had done (and continued doing) to Italy and Constantinople. Their primary goal was the recapture of Jerusalem and the security of safe passage for pilgrims. The toppling of the Muslim empire was not on the agenda.
The period of Crusader “occupation” (of its own former land) was stretched tenuously over about 170 years, which is less than the Muslim occupation of Sicily and southern Italy alone - to say nothing of Spain and other lands that had never been Islamic before falling victim to Jihad. In fact, the Arab occupation of North Africa and Middle Eastern lands outside of Arabia is almost 1400 years old.
Despite popular depiction, the Crusades were not a titanic battle between Christianity and Islam. Although originally dispatched by papal decree, the "occupiers" quickly became part of the political and economic fabric of the Middle East without much regard for religious differences. Their arrival was largely accepted by the local population as simply another change in authority. Muslim radicals even lamented the fact that many of their co-religionists preferred to live under Frankish (Christian) rule than migrate to Muslim lands.
The Islamic world was split into warring factions, many of which allied themselves with the Frankish princes against each other at one time or another. This even included Saladin, the Kurdish warrior who is credited with eventually ousting the "Crusaders." Contrary to recent propaganda, however, Saladin had little interest in holy war until a rogue Frankish prince began disrupting his trade routes. Both before and after the taking of Jerusalem, his armies spent far more time and resources battling fellow Muslims.
For its part, the Byzantine (Eastern Christian) Empire preferred to have little to do with the Crusader kingdoms and went so far as to sign treaties with their Muslim rivals on occasion.
Another misconception is that the Crusader era was a time of constant war. In fact, very little of this overall period included significant hostilities. In response to Muslim expansion or aggression, there were only about 20 years of actual military campaigning, much of which was spent on organization and travel. (They were from 1098-1099, 1146-1148, 1188-1192, 1201-1204, 1218-1221, 1228-1229, and 1248-1250). By comparison, the Muslim Jihad against the island of Sicily alone lasted 75 grinding years.
Ironically, the Crusades are justified by the Quran itself, which encourages Holy War in order to "drive them out of the places from whence they drove you out" (2:191), even though the aim wasn't to expel Muslims from the Middle East, but more to bring an end to the molestation of pilgrims. Holy war is not justified by New Testament teachings, which is why the Crusades are an anomaly, the brief interruption of centuries of relentless Jihad against Christianity that began long before and continued well after.
The greatest crime of the Crusaders was the sacking of Jerusalem, in which at least 3,000 people were said to have been massacred. This number is dwarfed by the number of Jihad victims, from India to Constantinople, Africa and Narbonne, but Muslims have never apologized for their crimes and never will.
What is called 'sin and excess' by other religions, is what Islam refers to as duty willed by Allah.
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