German leader sees Christianity as 'most persecuted religion worldwide' : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

German leader sees Christianity as 'most persecuted religion worldwide' : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Liberal Group Asks IRS to Investigate Catholic Church for Alleged Political Activity | CNSNews.com

The following excerpts are from cnsnews.com:

• Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), late Friday, filed a formal complaint asking the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to investigate the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for allegedly engaging in prohibited political activity in violation of its nonprofit tax status.
• The CREW complaint alleges that the nation’s Catholic bishops are “abusing their positions to advocate against the election of President Barack Obama,” and anticipated further actions during this weekend’s sermons.
• The complaint mentions several bishops -- including Nicholas Di Marzio in New York; David Ricken in Wisconsin; Edward J. Burns in Alaska and Paul Loverde in Virginia -- who it said have “warned of the evils of the Obama administration, followed by an exhortation for Catholics to vote.”
• CREW also alleges that some bishops “have cautioned that voting for Democrats would not be faithful to Christ and would endanger the soul.”
• But the complaint zeroed in on Illinois Bishop Daniel Jenky, who, the liberal activist group said, “previously compared President Obama to Stalin and Hitler.”

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Liberal Group Asks IRS to Investigate Catholic Church for Alleged Political Activity | CNSNews.com

English court rules Catholic adoption agency must serve same-sex couples : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• A Catholic adoption agency representing three English dioceses has lost a 5-year court battle, and now faces a choice between placing children with homosexual couples or ending its adoption services.

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English court rules Catholic adoption agency must serve same-sex couples : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

For Catholic Voters, Pro-Life Issues are Not Negotiable | LifeNews.com

The following excerpts are from LifeNews.com:

• Election Day 2012 in the United States is only days away. While there are many who just can’t wait for all the political ads to disappear and the partisan discussions to finally be over with (at least for now), we cannot lose sight of the real, and potentially dangerous, consequences of this election.
• This election, on the national, state and local levels, isn’t just about economic growth, tax returns and lofty speeches. This election is about life and death, the protection of the sacred institution of marriage and our fundamental rights to live our faith.
• American Catholics are in the spotlight this election. This is the first time in history that both vice presidential candidates from the two major political parties are Catholic. It’s also the first time in history Catholic dioceses and institutions across the country have sued the federal government under an administration where the Catholic Vice President and Catholic Secretary of Health and Human Services are leading an assault against the First Amendment rights of Catholics and the moral teachings of the Church.
• When Joe Biden says that he and President Obama “share the values of Catholics” even as their administration is the defendant in the largest collection of religious lawsuits in U.S. history, you can be sure there is some confusion among Catholic voters.

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For Catholic Voters, Pro-Life Issues are Not Negotiable | LifeNews.com

Priests kidnapped in Congo : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• Three Catholic priests were kidnapped by armed men in Congo on October 20.

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Priests kidnapped in Congo : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Lutheran leader raps Catholic archbishop's opposition to same-sex marriage : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• A Lutheran bishop has chastised a Catholic prelate for organizing public opposition to a bid for legal approval of same-sex marriage.

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Lutheran leader raps Catholic archbishop's opposition to same-sex marriage : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Archbishop Lori denounces ‘godless secularism,’ Catholic politicians who favor abortion : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News :

• At the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ special October 14 Mass and Pilgrimage for Life and Liberty at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore lamented the massive loss of human life through abortion, denounced pro-abortion Catholic politicians, and rued the mounting “culture of oppression” against religious believers.

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Archbishop Lori denounces ‘godless secularism,’ Catholic politicians who favor abortion : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

No progress on solving murder of Italian missionary in Philippines : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• Police in the Philippines have made no progress toward solving the murder of Father Fausto Tentorio, an Italian PIME missionary who was killed in the Mindanao province nearly a full year ago.

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No progress on solving murder of Italian missionary in Philippines : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Obama: HHS Mandate is "Why We Passed" Obamacare, It's Staying | LifeNews.com

The following excerpts are from LifeNews.com:

• As the Obama administration faces dozens of lawsuits from Catholic and evangelical colleges, businesses and organizations forced to pay for abortion-causing drugs, President Barack Obama thumbed his nose at them.
• Obama said on Friday that his administration has no plans to get rid of the controversial HHS mandate and that the mandate was one of the reasons for approving Obamacare in the first place. According to a CNS report:

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Obama: HHS Mandate is "Why We Passed" Obamacare, It's Staying | LifeNews.com

Following Egyptian president’s visit, gunmen attack Christian home : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• Hours after Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi assured the Christians in the North Sinai city of Rafah that attacks on them “will not happen again,” gunmen opened fire on a Christian’s home.

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Following Egyptian president’s visit, gunmen attack Christian home : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Congressman Andrews Urged to Apologize for Insult to Christians, Other Religious Americans « Campus Notes

The following excerpts are from The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) Blog "Campus Notes":

• September 25, 2012, leaders of more than 20 religious and other organizations, many of them engaged in the defense of religious freedom, sent a letter urging Congressman Robert Andrews (N.J.-1st) to apologize for making insensitive and insulting remarks at a Congressional hearing on First Amendment concerns two weeks ago.
• At the hearing on September 12th, Congressman Andrews complained that the issues being considered by two House Education and the Workforce subcommittees were not “compelling questions” that deserved a hearing. This included discussion of the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) unconstitutional attempts to interfere with teaching faculty at religious colleges.
• Andrews offensively characterized the hearing as a “classic case of Nero fiddling while Rome burns,” prompting today’s letter, which describes the comment as “most unfortunate and a great insult to Christians”:

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Congressman Andrews Urged to Apologize for Insult to Christians, Other Religious Americans « Campus Notes

Pew: Religious Restrictions on the Rise « Campus Notes

The following excerpts are from The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) Blog "Campus Notes":

• The Pew Forum has released its annual report detailing the state of religious freedom in the United States. And the news isn’t good.
• The bad news is that The United States has been moved from Pew’s “low” to “moderate” category of restrictions on religious freedom.
• The worse news is that the report doesn’t even take into account the most recent year of activity from the federal government which includes the infringement of religious liberty that is the HHS Mandate.

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Pew: Religious Restrictions on the Rise « Campus Notes

Syria’s Suffering Christians Flood Neighboring Countries as Civil War Continues | Daily News | NCRegister.com

The following excerpts are from The National Catholic Register:

• Pope Benedict XVI’s mid-September visit to Lebanon reminded Christians in the turbulent Middle East that the Church has not forgotten them or the challenges they face.
• “I am not unaware of the often dramatic situation endured by the populations of this region, which has been torn for too long by incessant conflict,” Benedict said the week before the visit during his weekly Sunday address.
• Nowhere in the region are people suffering more right now than in Syria, where the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has been fighting rebel forces since April 2011, at the cost of thousands of lives.
• While in Lebanon, the Pope referred twice to the strife in Syria, which threatens to spill over into the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Israel, which captured the Golan Heights from Syria, is on high alert as well. “You know all too well the tragedy of the conflicts and the violence which generates so much suffering,” the Pope said Sept. 16 following an open-air Sunday Mass in Beirut attended by more than 350,000 people. He lamented that in Syria “the din of weapons” is now heard alongside “the cry of the widow and the orphan.”
• The war has created an enormous refugee crisis, according to the United Nations, which places the number of those who have left Syria at roughly 250,000 people. Although most have sought shelter in refugee camps or private homes in neighboring countries, some have traveled as far as Switzerland.

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Syria’s Suffering Christians Flood Neighboring Countries as Civil War Continues | Daily News | NCRegister.com

Christians in two Egyptian towns given ultimatum: leave or be killed : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• Christian families in two north Sinai towns found notices attached to their homes and businesses ordering them to leave or be killed.
• Pledging to remain, Father Gabriel Habib said that “even if we die, we are not better than the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their homeland and religion.”

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Christians in two Egyptian towns given ultimatum: leave or be killed : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Indonesia: Catholic school faces threat of closure if it doesn’t offer instruction in Islam : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• Civil authorities in central Java have threatened to close a Catholic school unless it begins to offer Islamic instruction to its Muslim students. Approximately 40 of the 1,400 students enrolled in St. Pius Catholic Schools in Tegal District are Muslims.

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Indonesia: Catholic school faces threat of closure if it doesn’t offer instruction in Islam : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Nigeria: suicide bombing targets Catholic cathedral : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• Three people were killed and 46 injured in a suicide bombing at the Catholic cathedral in Bauchi, a city of 500,000 in north-central Nigeria. Two policemen who had been guarding the cathedral in the largely Muslim city were among the injured.

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Nigeria: suicide bombing targets Catholic cathedral : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

‘Freedom cross’ campaign counters threatened lawsuit against city’s logo : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

‘Freedom cross’ campaign counters threatened lawsuit against city’s logo : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Tennessee diocese, other Catholic institutions file suit against HHS mandate : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• The Diocese of Nashville and seven area Catholic institutions have filed suit against the Department of Health and Human Services in an effort to prevent the implementation of the HHS mandate.
• “We believe that our Constitution and form of government [express] the right to religious freedom,” wrote Bishop David Choby. “Such a right is much deeper and of greater consequence than freedom to worship.”
• “We believe that the application of some provisions of the Affordable Health Care Act attack[s] this right,” he continued. “In seeking to force the Church to act or make provision to act against her moral principles, the government is asserting its interest over those appropriate and proper to the Church; and it is not competent to make such decisions or render judgments relative to moral principles long held and taught by any church, Catholic or otherwise.”

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Tennessee diocese, other Catholic institutions file suit against HHS mandate : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Aggressive secularism threatens Christians, Anglican bishop warns European court : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• A prominent Anglican prelate has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to protect Christians from militant secularists.
• Anglican Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali said that secularists have advanced their own “human-rights agenda” that now threatens to become “another inhuman ideology” that suppresses religious groups.

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Aggressive secularism threatens Christians, Anglican bishop warns European court : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Church leaders decry vandalism, 'teaching of contempt' for Christians in Israel : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• Catholic leaders in the Holy Land have condemned an attack by vandals on a monastery outside Jerusalem, and protested that a “teaching of contempt” is encouraging hatred for Christians in Israel.
• A fire was set at the door of the abbey of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows in Latrun, and anti-Christian slogans spray-painted on the outer walls, in the early hours of September 4. In a joint statement released the same day, Church leaders said that the incident was “only another in a long series of attacks against Christians and their places of worship."

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Church leaders decry vandalism, 'teaching of contempt' for Christians in Israel : News Headlines - Catholic Culture