Monday, September 18, 2006

Catholic News & Current Events-9/17/2006



Churches Under Attack In West Bank

Two Christian Churches were hit by firebombs. Read further by clicking here.

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Egypt's Coptic Church rejects Pope's Islam remarks
Egypt's Coptic Church has rejected Pope Benedict XVI's remarks implicitly linking Islam and violence. Read further by clicking here.

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Benedict "deeply sorry" for Muslim outrage but violence continues
Pope Benedict told pilgrims yesterday that he is "deeply sorry" for the reaction to his quoted remarks. Read further by clicking here.

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Pope's appeal for dialogue backfires

Pope Benedict XVI major mistake was to believe that an open dialouge can happen between Islam and Christianity. Read further by clicking here.

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RIP Leonella Sgorbati

Fellow Italian nuns of slain Catholic sister Leonella Sgorbati line up to board the plane carrying her body as all the nuns working at the SOS hospital were evacuated from Mogadishu September 17, 2006.


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Saturday, September 16, 2006

Islam and Pope Benedict XVI -The Real Story



I have placed these two sites here because they both bring clarity to Pope Benedict XVI comments in his speech and his obvious intent which has been lost amidst the hysteria of many Muslims who have now begun burning down Churches. The first piece is by Asia News which explains in length what the Holy Father was trying to convey. Please click here.

The other site is the Popes speech in full please click here.


Some elements of the Western media with a liberal bias have caused great damage with their malicious reporting on the Popes comments, which they took out of context.

I am deeply disturbed to see many Muslims ranting hatred and death to the Pope and the West and then in the next breath these same Muslims will then say that they are a religion of 'peace'. How can this be so when with their every word and every action the opposite is occuring?

There have been many occasions when the Catholic Church has also undergone times of controversy and attack yet there have been NO reports that Catholics have begun burning down houses of worship nor have any deaths occured to any one person. Can Islam say the same?

Once again we also see the total SILENCE of the Islamic Clerics and Mullahs when it comes to cautioning the radicals within Islam itself. If anything the opposite is occuring here is a quote from Sheikh Hassan Malin, "We urge you Muslims wherever you are to hunt down the Pope for his barbaric statements as you have pursued Salman Rushdie, the enemy of Allah who offended our religion....Whoever offends our Prophet Mohammed should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim." Is that a 'peaceful' statement?

The Islamic extremists continually bring forth historic instances where the Catholic Church behaved less than admiral the difference is that the Catholic Church has learnt from its past errors and has grown in maturity and enlightenment. Whereas Islam has never progressed from the sword and its barbaric attitudes towards all those who have a different philosophy when it comes to matters of faith. They even murder their own who feel called to leave the religion of Islam. We need only remember the outcry concerning Abdul Rahman fortunately the West intervened and so Mr Rahman was spared the sword.

Not all European countries have remained coward by the fear of Islamic extremists here the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended the Popes speech with these words, "Whoever criticizes the Pope misunderstood the aim of his speech. It was an invitation to dialogue between religions and the Pope [expressly] spoke in favor of this dialogue, which is something I also support and consider urgent and necessary...What Benedict XVI emphasized was a decisive and uncompromising renunciation of all forms of violence in the name of religion."

I hope that Pope Benedict XVI will NOT apologise for simply speaking the truth, for only in Islam has the truth become a intolerable.

Let us remember one of the late Pope John Paul II favourite words from Scripture, 'Be not afraid'.








Catholic News & Current Events-9/16/2006



Islamic protests against Pope's speech

Pope Benedict XVI has sparked a major controversy throughout Islamic Nations who have condemned his speech. Read further by clicking here.

One has to wonder how such Nations can call themselves a 'peaceful' religion as their faces contort with the rabidness of their hatred towards anyone who dares to question their so called religion of peace which is Islam. The Catholic Church does not murder anyone who leaves the fold, nor do they promote hateful language can Islam say the same thing? If a Muslim wishes to convert to Christianity what becomes of that person? They are murdered, therefore is Islam a religion of peace? I think NOT!


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The Pope’s speech: lending Islam a helping hand
This is another perspective of what the Pope was truly trying to convey in his speech which has outraged many Muslims. Read further by clicking here.

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Chile court halts sales of morning-after pill to minors
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Chile has put a hold on the distribution of the morning after pill. Read further by clicking here.

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Pope ends memorable return to Bavaria
Pope Benedict XVI has ended his visit to his native country with an emotional farewell. Read further by clicking here.

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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Catholic News & Current Events-09/12-13/2006


"As summer simmers down, the Da Vinci Code-fever is also mercifully breaking. I only wish that the curiosity that drove 40 million people to read Brown's thriller would drive millions more to take up a more noble quest—a quest for veritas, or truth. "

Read more of Charles Colsen's thought provoking commentary on "Breakpoint" regarding the state of higher education and Christianity at todays universities by clicking here.

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The rising suicide rates in India are causing alarm in the Catholic Church.

Read more about this alarming trend by clicking here.


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"First, Benedict focused his visit on reviving Christianity in his native country, which is split equally between Catholics and Protestants. Second, he addressed the status of Muslim residents in Europe."

Read more by clicking here.


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"Pop star Madonna will sing suspended from a cross in the finale of her Moscow concert on Tuesday despite a plea from the Russian Orthodox Church to drop that part of her act."

Let's face it, diplomacy and culture are not some of this woman's better qualities.

Read more by clicking here.

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The Catholic University of America has hired three new professors who are leaders in their field at The School of Theology and Religious Studies. It appears they have hirde some very good theologians for the university.

Read more by clicking here.

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"Saints Columba-Brigid Roman Catholic Church in Buffalo, New York rise from the ashes after burning two years ago."

Read more about this great news for this parish by clicking here.

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"Every individual must perform his role in life regardless of how big or small, according to Cebu Archbishop Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal who is the most senior official of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines."

Read more of Cardinal Vidal's talk by clicking here.

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"Pope Benedict XVI called today for harmony in the diverse and sometimes fractious Roman Catholic Church, comparing it to a church organ in need of tuning."

With each talk he gives, Pope Benedict XVI makes me more and more happy that he is our pontiff. Read more of what he had to say by clicking here.


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"A solemn Pope Benedict XVI knelt in prayer at the graves of his mother, father and sister in the emotional highpoint of his six-day visit to his native Bavaria in southern Germany."

Read more about Pope Benedict's German trip by clicking here.

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"Speaking to academics at the University of Regensburg, where he taught theology in the 1970s, the pope traversed centuries of Islamic, Greek and Christian philosophy to decry holy wars and forced conversions, and to hold up Christianity as the "profound encounter of faith and reason".

One thing we know, and that is, the time for being "poltically correct" is well past. I am sure that there will be outcries by the Muslims regarding the Holy Father's statement. I am just waiting for Muslim outcries against violence in the name of Islam without their inserting any excuses for behavior they claim to be condemning. I won't hold my breath waiting however.

Read more about the Holy Father's statement by clicking here.