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Valencia, Aug 28, 2008 / 01:42 am (CNA).- The Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly in Chissano (Mozambique) took into their home this week a 25 year-old African young girl named Olivia, who despite not being baptized at the time and not having any legs, crawled 2.5 miles every Sunday to attend Mass.  Read story here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.28.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

“So when I say you must be men and women of virtue, I’m saying that you must be saints. And this isn’t something extraordinary. It’s what God created us to be. St. Gregory of Nyssa said: “The goal of the life of virtue is to become like God’.” Full article from CNA here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.27.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

This is an excellent and hard-hitting press release.  Keep them coming good shepherds.

Like many other citizens of this nation, I was shocked to learn that the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America would make the kind of statements that were made to Mr. Tom Brokaw of NBC-TV on Sunday, August 24, 2008. What the Speaker had to say about theologians and their positions regarding abortion was not only misinformed; it was also, and especially, utterly incredible in this day and age.  More here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.27.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

And she’s “studied” the issue of abortion “for a long time.”  That’s how she answered Tom Brokaw’s question last week on Meet the Press. He wanted to know how she can call herself Catholic and be pro-abortion. I was waiting to read that she’s prayed about it too.  Can you imagine this woman, our Speaker of the House, searching for the truth about whether or not it’s all right to kill one’s pre-born baby?  Anguishing over the — “issue.”  Thumbing through the writings of the doctors of the Church, as she told Brokaw she did, looking for answers.  We all know what she was looking for.  She was looking for saints who held that abortion wasn’t murder. She certainly wasn’t looking for Catholic authorities who taught that it was murder.  Someone told her that the Church only recently pronounced against abortion and that certain doctors held that the fetus wasn’t a human until about the third month of gestation. What did she find?  She found that indeed there were doctors of the Church who held the rational soul was not infused until about the third month.  The succession of souls, vegetative to animal to rational, was the common belief until more modern advances in embryology provided knowledge of fetal development previously unknown.  Even the Catechism of the Council of Trent contains this error regarding succession of souls.  Perhaps this is why it took so many centuries to define the Immaculate Conception.  If there was no “who” at conception, how could there be the Immaculate Conception?  Our Lady would still be the sinless Immaculata, only not from conception, but  rather from the infusion of the rational soul at the third month.  That is why the definition of Pius IX in 1854 settled not only the dogmatic issue but the biological one as well.  Human life begins at conception.  The human embryo is a person from conception on.

What Pelosi did not find was any Catholic authority, certainly not papal, that tolerated abortion as anything less than gravely sinful at any stage of the pre-born’s development. From apostolic times on abortion was a grave sin.  But Pelosi was not interested in that; she was on an unholy mission to find contradiction in the Church’s moral teaching, so that she could flaunt it before any bishop that called her to account. This “ardent” Catholic was out to discredit the Church.  But she does not need the Church (whose teaching she does not want) to know that abortion is sinful. It is part of the natural law written on the heart. Everyone knows it is an evil act even if they are confused about when the baby is a person.  Honest people, who have common sense and reason, now know that human life (personhood) begins at conception.  To argue otherwise is to do violence to one’s own conscience, the law of the heart.  That law can be corrupted, but never destroyed.

The full article is found here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.27.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

Denver, Aug 25, 2008 / 11:51 pm (CNA).- Tim Gill, a billionaire from Colorado who has funded homosexual activism throughout the United States, spoke at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) Delegates Caucus at the Democratic National Convention on Monday, outlining how he has worked to advance homosexual causes in U.S. politics. Gill endorsed undermining rising politicians critical of homosexual advocacy by targeting donations to benefit their opponents on the state level.  Full story here. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=13631.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.26.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

Denver, Aug 25, 2008 / 06:41 pm (CNA).- Around 5,000 Latinos gathered in Denver on Sunday afternoon to show their support for marriage and the family, making the gathering the largest to-date. While far smaller protests received local media coverage, the rally has been virtually blacked-out by the news media.  More here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.26.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

Beijing, Aug. 25, 2008 (CWNews.com) - China’s most prominent “underground” Catholic bishop was arrested on Sunday, August 24: the day that also saw the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding was taken into custody by several police officers at Wuqiu cathedral. No immediate reason was given for his arrest, and authorities have not disclosed where the aging bishop is being held.  Full story here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.25.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

“The next Republican that tells me I’m not religious, I’m going to shove my rosary beads down their throat.”  Yes, the man actually said this, as quoted in 2005 by the Cincinnati Enquirer.  More of the same here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.25.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

C-Fam reports: A recent report from the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) of the European Union (EU) has called for binding EU regulations that would equalize the legal status of married heterosexual couples with that of same-sex and opposite-sex couples across Europe.  It also recommends policies aimed at “promoting visibility of homosexuality and other gender identities” and criminalizing homophobia through “hate crime” legislation.  Full article here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.25.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

Vatican, Aug. 19, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has announced plans for the beatification of the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux.

Louis Martin and Zelie Marie Guerin Martin will be beatified on October 19, with the ceremony taking place in Lisieux, the Vatican liturgical office announced on August 19. The date of the ceremony is significant: October 19 will be Mission Sunday; St. Therese is (along with St. Francis Xavier) co-patron of the Church’s missionary effort.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.19.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

Dr. Jackson may get his chance to reexamine the Shroud and prove its authenticity. The Church would have to cooperate. He is one among other experts who believe the 1988 testing was flawed. This very interesting two page L A Times article can be found here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.19.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

CWN Reports: Bangalore, Aug. 18, 2008 (CWNews.com) - A Carmelite priest has been murdered and disfigured– in a way that suggests torture– in India’s southern Andhra Pradesh state. Read more here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.18.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

We were recently forwarded this email from an American Dominican priest working in Ecuador. What it reports bodes ill for the Church in Ecuador:

The government of Pres. Rafael Correa has been re-writing Ecuador’s Constitution for the past 10 months. The National Assembly has finished with its task of writing and now it will go to the people for a vote on September 28: “yes” or “no”? It is all or nothing.

The Catholic Church has been at odds with Correa. Here are some of the points in the constitution that the Church opposes:

1. A woman would have the right to terminate a pregnancy at any month. The word “abortion” will be replaced by “supression” of life.
2. Same sex marriages would be legal.
3. All private and Catholic education would become “public” under the control of the state. Religion will not be taught! If a student graduates from a private or Catholic school, the student applying to university, his/her tuition will be doubled!
4. When a child is born the birth certificate will not include the sex of the child. It will say “neutral” and the words ‘father’ and ‘mother’ will be stricken. Its substitutions: “co-creator 1 and co-creator 2″. A child would come into a sexual awareness at age 5.
5. “Paccha Mama” is the Earth Mother. She is mentioned in the preamble of the constitution. It says that it is from Paccha Mama that we get our existence.
6. God is named next but no other reference to him.

The language and ideology of the constitution is reminiscent of Nazi-ism, Marxist, Communist, Socialist, and Deconstructionist. It does not look good for Ecuador if this new constitution is approved. The Church has already been threatened. The Archbishop of Guayaquil ( President of the Ecuadorian Bishop’s Conference) has been threatened. Some Catholic churches have vandalized and the Blessed Sacrament have been desecrated. Here in our church someone had taped a small poster of a skull with a bishop’s hat. We had an emergency meeting of the clergy and the bishop. He said that “we need to preach the Gospel and stand united. We need to ask our Protestant brothers and sisters to walk with us.”

As it stands now, 51%=NO and 47%=YES. The remaining 2% is neutral. We need to pray that this constitution is not approved. The future of Ecuador is at stake. Venezuela is keeping a close eye on Ecuador. Bolivia’s overnment is falling apart. Ecuador does not want to follow suit: Venezuela or Bolivia. Venezuala’s new constitution lost at the polls last year. We hope that Ecuador’s constitutionis defeated at the polls in September. Will keep you posted.

The sad thing about all this is that the people will not read the entire constitution.

Brother Andre Marie :: Aug.14.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

From the USCCB newsletter:

“Catholics understand that all previous covenants that God made with the Jewish people have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ through the new covenant established through his sacrificial death on the cross,” the talking points say.

“The prior version of the text,” they continue, “might be understood to imply that one of the former covenants imparts salvation without the mediation of Christ, whom Christians believe to be the universal savior of all people.”

Full text here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.13.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

Catholiconline news

“There’s a very serious attempt on the part of Episcopal clergy in the Diocese of Forth Worth to petition Rome for some kind of recognition,” said the Rev. Courtland Moore, who is retired as rector of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Arlington.

“They make it clear that they no longer believe there is truth in the Anglican Communion, and the only way they can find truth is reunion with Rome.”

Full article here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.13.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

ULAANBAATAR (UCAN) – Lucia Otgongerel has neither hands nor legs, but after becoming a Catholic, her life changed from depression to joy.

Otgongerel’s joy comes from teaching seven special children at Faith Center, a little school that St. Mary’s Parish in Ulaanbaatar opened last September.

If you do nothing else today read this article.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.13.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

From National Catholic Register

As the world looks forward to the Olympic Games in Beijing, little is known about the human cost of staging the event.

That’s why Father Bernardo Cervellera, the director of Asia News and a veteran expert on China, has published a book in Italian on just that subject. Called The Flipside of the Medals, it is a no-holds-barred account of the continuing human rights violations in the country, and how the games are having none of the positive impact on Chinese society that many had hoped for. Father Cervellera spoke June 13 with Register correspondent Edward Pentin in Rome about the book and current Vatican-China relations.

Full interview here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.12.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

Clip from LifeSite News:

In one of the recent incidents of intimidation, Medina received a shoebox in the mail containing a dead rat and the message “death to prolifers” and also had a long letter containing death threats nailed to the door of her home.

The letter contained the message, “Remember that accidents exist, remember that accidental deaths happen daily in our country. Do not continue your anti-woman … campaign … death to traitors, death to those who oppose the nation.”

In another incident, Catholic officials found the severed head of a dog with a communion wafer in its mouth in a Catholic chapel as a warning to clergy who dare to speak out against the constitution. Full article here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.11.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

BEIJING (UCAN) – ”Underground” Church clergy who work near Beijing have faced restrictions on their work in the run-up to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Near the capital, quite a number of bishops and priests not affiliated with the government-sanctioned “open” Church have been forbidden to administer sacraments or do pastoral work since late July, Church sources say.  Full article here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.08.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off

Four of the five aren’t even Catholic.

Warsaw, Aug 6, 2008 / 09:07 pm (CNA).- Five U.S. soldiers embarked on a 10-day, 180 mile-long march to Poland’s Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa with hundreds of camouflaged soldiers from various nations on Tuesday. The shrine contains the icon of the Black Madonna, the creation of which tradition attributes to St. Luke. Read more here.

Brian Kelly :: Aug.07.2008 :: Uncategorized :: Comments Off