Here is an article, reprinted in their entirety, for your perusal.

A NORTH-EAST priest who is a close friend of Tony Blair last night welcomed the former prime minister's conversion to Catholicism.

Mr Blair was welcomed into the Roman Catholic church on Friday night by the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor - leader of the Roman Catholics in England and Wales - bringing to an end years of speculation that he would convert on leaving office.

Father John Caden first said Mass for Tony and Cherie Blair when Mr Blair came to Sedgefield, County Durham, as MP in 1983.

Since then he has baptised all four of the Blairs' children at St John Fisher Church, in Sedgefield.

Father Caden said last night: "After 24 years, we can finally welcome the decision. I am absolutely delighted.

"When Tony first came to Sedgefield as a young MP, he told me his wife was a devout Catholic and that he would like to bring her to church.

"From then, he didn't just come the odd time, he came every week, up until he became Prime Minister."

Father Caden said: "He was an Anglican who married a Catholic woman and vowed to bring up their children as Catholics, which he has done, but now it is wonderful that he has stepped all the way over."

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor welcomed the decision, which culminated in a ceremony in the chapel of Archbishop's House, in Westminster.

He said: "My prayers are with him, his wife and family at this joyful moment in their journey of faith together."

Converting while in office could have caused the former premier problems with issues such as abortion, contraception, homosexuality and faith schools.

Mr Blair's former spokesman Alastair Campbell once famously told reporters: "We don't do God".

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams wished the former prime minister well. He said: "A great Catholic writer of the last century said that the only reason for moving from one Christian family to another was to deepen one's relationship with God.

"I pray that this will be the result of Tony Blair's decision in his personal life."

However, The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (Spuc) reacted with surprise to the news, citing in particular Mr Blair's views on abortion.

Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, who converted to Catholicism in 1993, said it was possible in her opinion to be a practising Catholic and Prime Minister.

She told Sky News: "I think the crucial thing to remember is at the point you are received (into the Catholic church) you have to say individually and out loud I believe everything the church teaches to be revealed truth.

"And that means, if you previously had any problems with church teaching, as Tony Blair obviously did over abortion, as he did again over Sunday trading, you would have to say you changed your mind."

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I know I haven't posted here in a while, but this article got my attention. What determination this author has......What agility.......to turn Mother Teresa into a sincere, but misguided missionary.

Since it began in 1952, nearly 85,000 people have found shelter and comfort here. And 35,000 of them left this place dead.

For someone so practical it is surprising that she never questioned the Catholic dogma.

The problem, some say, was how Mother Teresa viewed the inmates. For her, everyone at Nirmal Hriday was the sick, dying or abandoned Christ. Every sore that is cleaned and every hand that is held is in fact, his.

Her critics say she saw suffering as necessary to the salvation of the soul. The goal was not to put an end to the suffering but to help the suffer find joy in it.

"If people are sick on the streets, what they need is a hospital, they don't need a group of nuns praying for them or keeping them on a bad diet," says journalist and co-producer, Hell's Angel, Tariq Ali.

Mother Teresa's critics have often questioned the source of her funding. Among them - the right-wing dictator of Haiti, Jean-Claude Duvalier, Charles Keating, who stole $252 million in the 80s Saving and Loan scandal, and British publisher Robert Maxwell, who embezzled ?450 million from his employees' pension funds.

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Chinaâs rulers will have to be dreadfully thick not to give a favorable response to the extraordinary letter of Pope Benedict XVI pleading for the unification of Chinaâs underground Catholic churches - some of which recognize the authority of the Vatican - and the government-approved official churches, which do not. The pope is effectively conceding the main point of the half-century-old split.

The pope still insists on the right of the Vatican to appoint bishops. Chinaâs government, however, does not permit it and has persecuted underground churches loyal to Rome while supporting churches that accept the governmentâs direction.

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Outraged Catholic lawmakers in Australia yesterday rebelled against threats of retribution by the church if they vote in favour of cloning human embryos for stem cell research.

...

âMaybe Iâll go to hell, but if I go to hell Iâm going to do so by saving a lot of lives, because thatâs what this bill is about,â? Labour Party MP Tony Stewart said in a radio interview. âWe donât need a religious leader telling members of parliament what should be done.â?

Lawmakers have been allowed a conscience vote free of party pressure on a bill to legalise therapeutic cloning in the state after the federal government overturned a ban on the controversial scientific procedure last year.

The new law would allow excess human embryos from in-vitro fertilisation treatment to be used to create stem cells for research into fighting debilitating diseases such as Alzheimerâs, Parkinsonâs and cystic fibrosis. âCloning is not quite the same as abortion and the legislation for such a thing as cloning is different from actually performing cloning,â? Pell said.

âBut it is a serious moral matter and Catholic politicians who vote for this legislation must realise that their voting has consequences for their place in the life of the church.â?

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An elderly bishop in China's underground Catholic church has been detained again by police, nine months after his release from their custody, a U.S.-based monitoring group said Thursday.

...

Jia, who was ordained in 1980, has been arrested at least 10 times since January 2004, according to the Kung Foundation. It said he looks after 100 handicapped orphans.

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In a sermon last week marking the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act, he warned Catholic politicians of "the barrier such co-operation (on abortion) erects to receiving holy communion".

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Hundreds of thousands of Italians massed in Rome for a Family Day rally on May 12, demonstrating popular opposition to a government proposal that would offer legal recognition to same-sex civil unions.

Although organizers stressed that the day's rally was intended as an expression of support for the family, rather than a demonstration about any particular piece of legislation, the enormous crowd was seen-- by politicians, the media, and the participants themselves-- as a clear statement against the civil-union plan.

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Beyond mere policy, Catholic social doctrine seeks to clarify the proper order and harmony among societies, says a Catholic author and professor.

Russell Hittinger, the William K. Warren Professor of Catholic Studies and a research professor of law at the University of Tulsa, spoke Wednesday at the "Foundations of a Free Society" conference organized by the Acton Institute, held at the Pontifical Lateran University.

In this interview with ZENIT, Hittinger discusses the history of Catholic social doctrine, starting with Pope Leo XIII, up to Benedict XVI's most recent contribution to the body of knowledge in "Deus Caritas Est."

Hittinger's most recent book is "The First Grace: Rediscovering the Natural Law in a Post-Christian World."

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The effort to âbleach out Godâ? from U.S. public life threatens to disconnect American society from its history and work against efforts to build the common good, said the Catholic archbishop of the nationâs capital.

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The instructions for saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy are at this link.

The intentions of the Divine Mercy Novena are at this link

Intention for Today, April 14th:

Ninth Day

"Today bring to Me the Souls who have become Lukewarm, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: 'Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.' For them, the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy."

Most compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love, let these tepid souls who, like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg You by the bitter Passion of Your Son and by His three-hour agony on the Cross: Let them, too, glorify the abyss of Your mercy. Amen.

The instructions for saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy are at this link.

The intentions of the Divine Mercy Novena are at this link

Intention for Today, April 13th:

Eighth Day

"Today bring to Me the Souls who are in the prison of Purgatory, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution to My justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to My justice."

Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said that You desire mercy; so I bring into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls in Purgatory, souls who are very dear to You, and yet, who must make retribution to Your justice. May the streams of Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your Heart put out the flames of Purgatory, that there, too, the power of Your mercy may be celebrated.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls suffering in Purgatory, who are enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. I beg You, by the sorrowful Passion of Jesus Your Son, and by all the bitterness with which His most sacred Soul was flooded: Manifest Your mercy to the souls who are under Your just scrutiny. Look upon them in no other way but only through the Wounds of Jesus, Your dearly beloved Son; for we firmly believe that there is no limit to Your goodness and compassion. Amen.

The instructions for saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy are at this link.

The intentions of the Divine Mercy Novena are at this link

Intention for Today, April 12th:

Seventh Day

"Today bring to Me the Souls who especially venerate and glorify My Mercy, and immerse them in My mercy. These souls sorrowed most over my Passion and entered most deeply into My spirit. They are living images of My Compassionate Heart. These souls will shine with a special brightness in the next life. Not one of them will go into the fire of hell. I shall particularly defend each one of them at the hour of death."

Most Merciful Jesus, whose Heart is Love Itself, receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who particularly extol and venerate the greatness of Your mercy. These souls are mighty with the very power of God Himself. In the midst of all afflictions and adversities they go forward, confident of Your mercy; and united to You, O Jesus, they carry all mankind on their shoulders. These souls will not be judged severely, but Your mercy will embrace them as they depart from this life.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls who glorify and venerate Your greatest attribute, that of Your fathomless mercy, and who are enclosed in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls are a living Gospel; their hands are full of deeds of mercy, and their hearts, overflowing with joy, sing a canticle of mercy to You, O Most High! I beg You O God:

Show them Your mercy according to the hope and trust they have placed in You. Let there be accomplished in them the promise of Jesus, who said to them that during their life, but especially at the hour of death, the souls who will venerate this fathomless mercy of His, He, Himself, will defend as His glory. Amen.

The instructions for saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy are at this link.

The intentions of the Divine Mercy Novena are at this link

Intention for Today, April 11th:

Sixth Day

"Today bring to Me the Meek and Humble Souls and the Souls of Little Children, and immerse them in My mercy. These souls most closely resemble My Heart. They strengthened Me during My bitter agony. I saw them as earthly Angels, who will keep vigil at My altars. I pour out upon them whole torrents of grace. I favor humble souls with My confidence."

Most Merciful Jesus, You yourself have said, "Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart." Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart all meek and humble souls and the souls of little children. These souls send all heaven into ecstasy and they are the heavenly Father's favorites. They are a sweet-smelling bouquet before the throne of God; God Himself takes delight in their fragrance. These souls have a permanent abode in Your Most Compassionate Heart, O Jesus, and they unceasingly sing out a hymn of love and mercy.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon meek souls, upon humble souls, and upon little children who are enfolded in the abode which is the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. These souls bear the closest resemblance to Your Son. Their fragrance rises from the earth and reaches Your very throne. Father of mercy and of all goodness, I beg You by the love You bear these souls and by the delight You take in them: Bless the whole world, that all souls together may sing out the praises of Your mercy for endless ages. Amen.

The instructions for saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy are at this link.

The intentions of the Divine Mercy Novena are at this link

Intention for Today, April 10th:

Fifth Day

"Today bring to Me the Souls of those who have separated themselves from My Church*, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. During My bitter Passion they tore at My Body and Heart, that is, My Church. As they return to unity with the Church My wounds heal and in this way they alleviate My Passion."

Most Merciful Jesus, Goodness Itself, You do not refuse light to those who seek it of You. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who have separated themselves from Your Church. Draw them by Your light into the unity of the Church, and do not let them escape from the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart; but bring it about that they, too, come to glorify the generosity of Your mercy.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who have separated themselves from Your Son's Church, who have squandered Your blessings and misused Your graces by obstinately persisting in their errors. Do not look upon their errors, but upon the love of Your own Son and upon His bitter Passion, which He underwent for their sake, since they, too, are enclosed in His Most Compassionate Heart. Bring it about that they also may glorify Your great mercy for endless ages. Amen.

The instructions for saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy are at this link.

The intentions of the Divine Mercy Novena are at this link

Intention for Today, April 9th:

Fourth Day

"Today bring to Me those who do not believe in God and those who do not know Me, I was thinking also of them during My bitter Passion, and their future zeal comforted My Heart. Immerse them in the ocean of My mercy."

Most compassionate Jesus, You are the Light of the whole world. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who do not believe in God and of those who as yet do not know You. Let the rays of Your grace enlighten them that they, too, together with us, may extol Your wonderful mercy; and do not let them escape from the abode which is Your Most Compassionate Heart.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who do not believe in You, and of those who as yet do not know You, but who are enclosed in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Draw them to the light of the Gospel. These souls do not know what great happiness it is to love You. Grant that they, too, may extol the generosity of Your mercy for endless ages. Amen.

The instructions for saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy are at this link.

The intentions of the Divine Mercy Novena are at this link

Intention for Today, April 8th:

Third Day

"Today bring to Me all Devout and Faithful Souls, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. These souls brought me consolation on the Way of the Cross. They were a drop of consolation in the midst of an ocean of bitterness."

Most Merciful Jesus, from the treasury of Your mercy, You impart Your graces in great abundance to each and all. Receive us into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart and never let us escape from It. We beg this grace of You by that most wondrous love for the heavenly Father with which Your Heart burns so fiercely.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon faithful souls, as upon the inheritance of Your Son. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, grant them Your blessing and surround them with Your constant protection. Thus may they never fail in love or lose the treasure of the holy faith, but rather, with all the hosts of Angels and Saints, may they glorify Your boundless mercy for endless ages. Amen.

The instructions for saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy are at this link.

The intentions of the Divine Mercy Novena are at this link

Intention for Today, April 7th:

Second Day

"Today bring to Me the Souls of Priests and Religious, and immerse them in My unfathomable mercy. It was they who gave me strength to endure My bitter Passion. Through them as through channels My mercy flows out upon mankind."

Most Merciful Jesus, from whom comes all that is good, increase Your grace in men and women consecrated to Your service, that they may perform worthy works of mercy; and that all who see them may glorify the Father of Mercy who is in heaven.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the company of chosen ones in Your vineyard -- upon the souls of priests and religious; and endow them with the strength of Your blessing. For the love of the Heart of Your Son in which they are enfolded, impart to them Your power and light, that they may be able to guide others in the way of salvation and with one voice sing praise to Your boundless mercy for ages without end. Amen.

These are Jesus' words as recorded in Saint Faustina's Diary:

I desire that during these nine days you bring souls to the fount of My mercy, that they may draw there from strength and refreshment and whatever graces they need in the hardships of life and, especially, at the hour of death

Saint Faustina's spiritual life was based on deep humility, purity of intention, and loving obedience to the will of God in imitation of the virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

She wrote and suffered in secret, with only her spiritual director and some of her superiors aware that anything special was taking place in her life. After her death from tuberculosis in 1938, even her closest associates were amazed as they began to discover what great sufferings and deep mystical experiences had been given to this sister of theirs, who had always been so cheerful and humble. She had taken deeply into her heart God's gospel command to "be merciful even as your heavenly Father is merciful" as well as her confessor's directive that she should act in such a way that everyone who came in contact with her would go away joyful.

The message of mercy that Saint Faustina received is now being spread throughout the world; she was canonized by the Church on April 30, 2000; and her diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to The Divine Mercy. She would not have been surprised, for she had been told that the message of God's mercy would spread through her writings for the great benefit of souls.

Encourage souls to place great trust in My fathomless mercy. Let the weak, sinful soul have no fear to approach Me, for even if it had more sins than there are grains of sand in the world, all would be drowned in the immeasurable depths of My mercy. (Message to Saint Faustina from Jesus)

Novena to The Divine Mercy which Jesus instructed (Me) Sr. Faustina to write down and make before the feast of Mercy.

On each day you will bring to My Heart a different group of souls, and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy, and I will bring all these souls into the house of My Father. You will do this in this life and in the next. I will deny nothing to any soul whom you will bring to the fount of My mercy. On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My bitter Passion, for graces for these souls.

I answered, "Jesus, I do not know how to make this novena or which souls to bring first into Your Most Compassionate Heart. "Jesus replied that He would tell me which souls to bring each day into His Heart.

The instructions for saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy are at this link.

The intentions of the Divine Mercy Novena are at this link

Intention for Today, April 6th:

First Day

"Today bring to Me all mankind, especially all sinners,and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me."

Most Merciful Jesus, whose very nature it is to have compassion on us and to forgive us, do not look upon our sins but upon our trust which we place in Your infinite goodness. Receive us all into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart, and never let us escape from It. We beg this of You by Your love which unites You to the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon all mankind and especially upon poor sinners, all enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion show us Your mercy, that we may praise the omnipotence of Your mercy for ever and ever. Amen.

The saddest part of this story, however, is that Mr. Wallis seems to have no friends who were willing to speak the truth to him about this. His parents, for example, accommodated his desire by providing the family home as a safe environment for his assignation with the prostitute. And, oh yes, the Anglican nun who runs the hospice where Mr. Wallis lives, Sister Frances Dominica, supported him in his decision. âIt is not our job to make moral decisions for our guests,â? says Sister Frances. âWe came to the conclusion that it was our duty of care to support Nick emotionally and to help ensure his physical safety.â?

A word to Sister Frances: Real nuns donât run brothels.

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StBlogs.net would like to announce that it now offers Catholic blog hosting at no charge. Besides large storage limits and rapid, superior technical support, it prominently features content from its bloggers on its increasingly popular home page.

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Nowadays, you don't have to go to church to find a priest anymore.

You can find one, a click away.

"We are available to help people who reasonably request the sacraments," Reverend Jim Koerber told WTOC.

...

They all are resigned or retired from the Catholic church, and they are all married.

"It is not technically allowed, but it goes on regularly," Jim said." They are working actively in priestly ministry, just like me, and enjoying the heck out of it."recently, calling it a disorder that can be corrected or suppressed.

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Anti-Catholic Internet writings of two employees of former Sen. John Edwards' presidential campaign have triggered a firestorm in the online community, but the candidate said he would keep the women on his staff.

Here are some quotes from the blog entries from these two women:

Writing on the Pandagon blogsite, December 26, 2006, Amanda Marcotte wrote that "the Catholic church is not about to let something like compassion for girls get in the way of using the state as an instrument to force women to bear more tithing Catholics." On October 9, 2006, she said that "the Popeâs gotta tell women who give birth to stillborns that their babies are cast into Satanâs maw."

...or...

'On November 21, 2006, Melissa McEwan said on AlterNet that "some of Christianityâs most prominent leadersâincluding the Popeâregularly speak out against gay tolerance." On November 1, 2006, on her blogspot Shakespeareâs Sister, she referred to President Bushâs "wingnut Christofascist base" when lashing out against religious conservatives. On February 21, 2006, she attacked religious conservatives again, this time saying, "What donât you lousy motherf---ers understand about keeping your noses out of our britches, our beds, and our families?"

There's more, but it gets kinda adult and graphic and there might be kids reading this entry, so if you are interested in reading more excerpts from this blog, click on the article below entitled "John Edwards Tolerates Anti-Catholic Bigotry and Vulgarity".

You can read Melissa McEwan's blog here.

You can read Amanda Marcotte's blog here.

Here is an article on this entitled "Presidential candidate Edwards retains staffers responsible for anti-Catholic blog writings"

Here is an article entitled "John Edwards Tolerates Anti-Catholic Bigotry and Vulgarity"

Samantha Devine, 13, was told to remove the crucifix and chain to comply with rules at the Robert Napier School, a non-denominational mixed school, in Gillingham, Kent. Her father, Danny Devine, 30, of Canterbury Street, Gillingham, told the Medway Messenger newspaper: "It's just political correctness gone absolutely mad. It's a harmless crucifix and she wears it as a symbol of her religion.

...

Deputy head teacher Paul Jackson defended the school's stance. He said: "The school has a policy of no jewellery to be worn by any students in years seven to 10. All parents and students are aware of this.

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Female victims of rape will not be offered any post-intercourse contraception if they are treated at a Catholic run hospital.

The Catholic Church currently owns and runs 70 hospitals throughout Australia, both private and public, and is running them under the 80-page ethics document which forbids abortion and the morning-after pill, even for rape victims.

The decision has cause concern for many medical professionals who see the decision and practice as negligent towards women who have been attacked.

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Barely half the French population describe themselves as Catholic, according to a poll released yesterday, sparking a leading religious publication to declare France "no longer a Catholic country".

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Scientists reported Sunday they had found a plentiful source of stem cells in the fluid that cushions babies in the womb.

The announcement may make it easier to sidestep the controversy over destroying embryos for research.

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The Christian fish symbol is an ancient and sacred symbol for the persecuted Christians in the 1st century, as well as contemporary believers in Christ. But that symbol which showed that Christians identified with each other in their obedience to follow Christ is taking on a whole new meaning. The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, as one of their ministries, âMinistry with Lesbians and Gay Catholicsâ decided to make the sacred fish symbol into a rainbow fish symbol pin.

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Writing in his pastoral letter for the feast of the Epiphany, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-OâConnor strongly encouraged people to return to the regular reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to take part in Holy Hour prayer with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

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Is contemporary just-war theory just? That's the question being asked by the Global Ethics and Religion Forum, which recently launched a study group dedicated to "Revising Just War Theory for the 21st Century." That's also the question being debated by bloggers, pundits and scholars from coast to coast as they evaluate the justness of the ongoing U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Just-war theory lays out the criteria for when (jus ad bellum) and how (jus in bello) secular rulers may appropriately use military force. Rooted in St. Augustine's theorizing over the nature of a rightly ordered state, and later refined by St. Thomas Aquinas and other natural law philosophers, just-war theory has shaped the way the church and many states evaluate armed conflict for more than a millennium.

But, with the onset of the "war on terror," a growing number of political scientists, theologians and philosophers now contend that classic just-war theory fails to account for the challenges of 21st-century warfare â challenges that include terrorism, child soldiers, torture and violence by independent militia.

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"We do it not because they're not Catholic. We do it because we are Catholic," he said.

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Ave Maria University leaders spoke out about same-sex attraction recently, calling it a disorder that can be corrected or suppressed.

Provost Joseph Fessio and President Nick Healy participated in the crafting of a statement outlining the Catholic church's teachings against same-sex attraction and sexual promiscuity during a leadership conference in Denver in October.

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A Catholic newspaper is calling for a boycott of Hell Pizza in response to a recent condom mail-out.

To promote its Lust pizza, Hell distributed 170,000 condoms, along with explicit instructions on their use, to letterboxes around the country.

This prompted hundreds of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority, which ruled Hell breached standards of decency and social responsibility.

An editorial in the latest edition of NZ Catholic newspaper calls on readers to abstain from purchasing any of the items on the pizza delivery chain's menu.

The editorial said the promotion was more cynical and offensive than a TV campaign because it robbed parents of the chance to stop their children from being exposed by changing the channel.

...

"When we did research we found... it's people like the Catholic church who are giving people advice that condoms don't work in protecting you from sexual diseases and the best course is abstinence. That is a load of rubbish."

Mr MacGibbon said the company had a loyal customer base and sales wouldn't be affected by a Catholic boycott.

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For 2,500 euros ($3,169), Pilgrim Gil will make the journey in your place -- and send you a certificate stamped along the way to prove he walked your every step.

Carlos Gil, 42, who owns a small computer company, took up this medieval practice four years ago when he suddenly "felt an urge to walk to Fatima" and said charging each client was simply a way to keep doing what he loves.

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The Catholic Church in Kenya will unveil a national policy on HIV/AIDS this week.

The Church policy, This We Teach and Do, will be launched on Thursday at Resurrection Garden, Nairobi, where the Catholic Bishops of Kenya are holding their plenary meeting.

...

"This We Teach and Do aims to encourage and fortify Kenyan Catholics, Christians and Muslims and believers from other faiths, to unite in the fight against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS," a statement from a task force that prepared the Church policy said.

The policy specifies the stand and role of the Church in dealing with HIV/Aids and gives details of those involved within the Church in fighting the pandemic, the statement said.

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Vatican and Roman Catholic officials said on Sunday that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein should not be put to death even if he has committed crimes against humanity because every life is sacred.

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Dominus vobiscum and the Latin Mass are making a comeback.

The traditional Mass in the ancient language that once mesmerized Catholics and mystified non-Catholics may be easier to find on a Sunday morning under a ruling expected soon from Pope Benedict XVI.

The pope's "indult" would allow the Tridentine Mass, as the Latin Mass is called, to be celebrated without special permission.

Now, a bishop must approve use of the Latin Mass in public, although priests always could do it privately.

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Bishop Anthony Fisher, auxiliary bishop of the of Sydney, told a Senate committee on Friday that Catholic hospitals would not treat patients with cures derived from embryonic stem-cell research, a process that destroys human life.

Neither will they take part in the controversial research that necessitates the destruction of the embryo.

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The Catholic notion of "limbo" - that benign place where unbaptized babies and those born before the time of Jesus were once thought to spend eternity - appears headed for the dustbin of theology.

Pope Benedict XVI is expected to announce tomorrow that the Catholic Church is disavowing the 1,500-year-old concept of limbo, and that it trusts that God does not exclude unbaptized babies from heaven.

Benedict - who decades ago voiced doubts about what he called the limbo "hypothesis" - will be following the recommendation of a 30-member Vatican commission of theologians.

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Catholic pro-life groups are condemning what they call a phony voter guide put out by a Catholic organization with ties to abortion advocates. They say the guide from Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG) incorrectly suggests that support for pro-abortion politicians can be justified.

Joseph Cella, the president of Fidelis, a national Catholic-based advocacy group, told LifeNews.com that CACG is headed by Alexia Kelley, a former advisor to the John Kerry presidential campaign.

Kerry, a pro-abortion Massachusetts senator, lost to pro-life President George W. Bush in the 2004 elections.

"Following the 2004 elections, pro-abortion politicians recognized their vulnerability with Catholic voters and have been searching for ways to shrewdly package a convincing arguments that would appeal to morally conscious voters," Cella says about the mindset behind the voter's guide.

The CACG booklet argues âwe often must vote for candidates who hold the âwrongâ Catholic positions on some issues in order to maximize the good our vote achieves in other areas.â?

But the nation's Catholic bishops disagree, Cella explains, saying they made it clear that candidates who are wrong on abortion but hold Catholic views on other political issues don't deserve the votes of faithful Catholics.

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"Under the joint leadership of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Chinese Catholic Bishops' Conference, the National Seminary of the Catholic Church in China aims to train priests with a sound Catholic theology to commit themselves wholly to the Holy Catholic Church and dedicate themselves to their ministry," said Liu Bainian, vice president of the association.

The government has provided 73.71 million yuan (9.2 million U.S. dollars) to help with the construction of the seminary.

"The seminary is the heart of Chinese Catholic church, the top advisory body in theological affairs of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Chinese Catholic Bishops Conference, and the base for the construction of China's theological thought," said Liu.

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While most reports surrounding Pope Benedict XVI have recently concentrated on the dramas following his now infamous Regensburg speech, revolutionary changes to Romeâs Curia deserve much more attention than they have received.

Pope Benedict xvi faces quite a task to unite the fractious nations of the European Union into a cohesive resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. But he is well on course in his efforts to do so.

His strategy is twofold. First is simply to rally the leaders of these 25 disparate nations to turn their energies from squabbling with each other and direct them to make common cause against the spreading tide of Islam that threatens the very continuity of the EU. Second is to trim the fat of the Vatican bureaucracy to get it into battle format, gearing up for the crusade ahead.

It was thus most significant that, when the United Nations called for the EU to provide troops for an international peacekeeping force in Lebanon, following the Hezbollah/Israeli imbroglio earlier this year, that the papal newspaper, LâOsservatore Romano, publicly aired concern at the slowness with which nations responded. The papal organ called for nations to rally with a heightened sense of the urgency of the moment to the UN call.

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The archbishop of Washington spoke to a packed Alumni House Thursday about the Catholic Church and its views on stem-cell research, war and Islam.

The Newman Catholic Student Center invited the Rev. Donald Wuerl, who is a former college religion professor, to speak as part of a coffee house discussion series they host regularly called Theology on Tap.

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In response to the pope's controversial remarks about Islam and as a gesture of solidarity with the Muslim population, members of a national Catholic peace movement plan to fast alongside Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.

Throughout Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset as part of self-purification, worship and contemplation. This year, Ramadan starts today or Sunday, depending on the sighting of the crescent moon. (The Fiqh Council of North America, an association of 18 Muslim leaders who interpret a range of Islamic laws on this continent, set Ramadan's start at sunrise today.)

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Along Fremont's city limit, on 100 acres of rolling hills just off Interstate 680 and Sheridan Road, a group of Catholic lay parishioners plans to build a $20 million shrine and home for pregnant women, elderly and homeless people.

But its founder, Union City resident Thelma Orias, is keeping mum about the specifics. After numerous requests, she declined to comment, saying only that the project is "inspired by God."

The group, known as the Divine Mercy Eucharistic Society, was formed in 1990 and traces its roots to Saint Faustina Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun. Kowalska saw a vision of Jesus with rays of light and received a series of revelations to spread throughout the world, according to her adorers.

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A recent statement by the Florida Catholic Conference asked Governor Jeb Bush to save death row inmate, Clarence Hill, convicted of shooting a police officer to death during a robbery of a Pensacola bank in 1982, from lethal injection and to stay his execution. The Florida Bishops state they are disheartened over this execution, as there are unresolved constitutional issues in regard to lethal injection. (Hill was executed Wednesday night.)

...

Where were the Florida Catholic Bishops' disheartened pleas for Terri Schiavo's life? Why did they not ask for a stay of her execution? Where was the Bishops' equal dismay over the unresolved states and constitutional issues permitting euthanasia in Terri's case?

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The Catholic Church cannot remain silent in the face of the moral and political crisis Hungary finds itself, said the countryâs bishops in a declaration that came on the same day as prayers were offered by Pope Benedict XVI.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, after Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's admission that he lied about the countryâs economy to win April's general election was leaked.

On Sept. 18, Hungary experienced its worst riots since its failed 1956 uprising against Soviet rule when thousands stormed the state television building. A reported hundreds of protesters and police were injured in three days of clashes.

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Pop singer Madonna on Thursday defended staging a mock crucifixion during her record-breaking "Confessions" world tour, saying it was not "anti-Christian, sacrilegious or blasphemous" -- but a plea for people to help one another.

What a crock....

...

A spokeswoman for NBC television said earlier this week that the General Electric Co.-owned unit had not yet decided whether to include the scene in its November special.

But TV Guide Magazine on Thursday quoted NBC entertainment chief Kevin Reilly as saying that it probably would be in the show because Madonna felt strongly about it.

NBC hasn't decided yet? If that is becuase this is such a "tough call", there is something really wrong here.

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Pope Benedict XVI spoke publicly last month of the Catholic Church's deep environmental concerns. In doing so he did more than pursue his predecessors' stance on the issue; he reiterated the church's teaching about life -- in all its forms and stages. Of course, some who cheer the church's work in ecological matters object when the basic environmental credo of "protecting life" is applied to a human embryo or fetus.

For the church, the demand for social justice (that is, human dignity) and the primacy of life underpins its work in the environmental movement. From the papal office to national organizations of bishops to local parish garden clubs, Catholics stand with other Christian traditions, and those of many faiths, in working to reverse, or at least call attention to, such realities as global climate change, the toxic effects of certain home and landscaping products, and the accelerating extinction of entire species.

This is not always recognized among secular environmentalists, who, upon realizing that they have an ally in the church, may well admit surprise. Having written a column for over three years on the Catholic perspective of ecology, I can attest to many occasions when an environmental advocate needed an explanation as to exactly why the Catholic press was writing about wind turbines, mercury poisoning or hybrid automobiles.

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âEven as a supporter of Roe v. Wade, I am compelled to acknowledge that the language both sides use on this subject can be, unfortunately, misleading and unconstructive,â? said Kerry, who insisted, âInstead of making enemies, we need to make progress.â? Kerry blamed âexcessive languageâ? for polarizing Americans over abortion, and postulated that both sides can come together about issues like tax credits for adoptive parents, more government aid for working mothers, and universal health insurance.

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OPEN LETTER TO BOB CASEY, JR.

Dear Mr. Casey:

When I lived in Pittsburgh in the 1980s, I voted with enthusiasm for your father as governor of Pennsylvania. You are now in a campaign for a U.S. Senate seat, and as a pro-life Catholic you are in a position to maintain your fatherâs legacy. But in order for you to do so, you will have to cut your ties to an anti-Catholic and pro-abortion organization, MoveOn.org.

According to The American Spectator Online, MoveOn.org has reportedly given your campaign $168,591. This is the same organization which, in an attempt last year to protest Republican efforts to change the filibuster rules governing federal court appointees, posted a picture of a smiling Pope Benedict XVI holding a gavel outside the U.S. Supreme Court. Above the picture was the following inscription:

God Already has a Job!

He does not need one on the Supreme Court.

Protect the Supreme Court Rules

In addition to its anti-Catholic record, MoveOn.org funds pro-abortion groups like the Feminist Majority Foundation. Indeed, when Samuel Alito was being considered for the U.S. Supreme Court, the Feminist Majority Foundation publicly protested that if Alito gets on the bench, the majority of the Court would be Roman Catholics. Waving this red flag smacks of bigotry.

Justice demands that you follow the lead of other candidates for public office and return the money that MoveOn.org has contributed. If Senator Hillary Clinton was honest enough to return money donated by Wal-Mart because she disagrees with its worker benefits program, surely you are well poised to return the contributions of MoveOn.org

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In a surprise announcement, the Socialist government on Friday said it had reached a new accord on how the Roman Catholic Church in Spain will be financed.

...

The government had also announced that it would push for the Church to become far more self-financing. Both sides began talks on the issue in May following a call for a settlement from the justice minister in May last year.

Once a bastion of Roman Catholicism, Spain has become a predominantly lay society, particularly since the end of the Church-backed dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco in 1975.

The Spanish government separated formally from the Church under the 1978 Constitution, but it has nevertheless continued to finance the institution since 1979 under an agreement with the Vatican that allows taxpayers to contribute 0.52 percent of their income taxes if they choose.

Since 1989, however, these contributions have not matched church spending, and the government has made up the difference with an annual lump sum payment.

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First things first: We support free expression. We believe that a wide variety of views that produce a wide variety of arguments is good for democracy and for our republic. We support the various lively but nonviolent ways in which those arguments occur.

This includes, for example, the decision of theater faculty at the University of Minnesota to stage the play "The Pope and the Witch" by Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo. It also includes the protesting of that decision by some Catholic organizations.

The competition of ideas is central to our faith in the U.S. system of governance. Ideas, and the institutions that embody them, should, over time, rise and fall on their merits.

By any measure, the Roman Catholic Church is one of the world's most enduring institutions. Not because it has always lived its highest ideals â like every other human institution, it hasn't â but because it has pursued them, and has competed effectively in the marketplace of human yearning. It has been both liberal and conservative, both liberating and constraining, in combinations that have sustained it.

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A Catholic lay chaplain who secretly helped an al-Qaeda terrorist suspect detained in a German prison was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail for contempt of court.

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The man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 has warned current Pope Benedict XVI, whose remarks enraged Muslims last week, not to visit the predominantly Muslim and secular country in November, saying the pontiff's life could be in danger, the gunman's lawyer told AP.

"As a man who knows these things, I'm saying that your life is in danger; don't come to Turkey. I can't welcome you because I'm in prison," lawyer Mustafa Demirbag said Wednesday, quoting Mehmet Ali Agca, whose mental health has long been questioned.

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An Irish diplomat has been forced to flee Northern Ireland because of death threats from anti-Catholic extremists, the government said Wednesday.

Aine de Baroid was helping to build Irish government links with members of outlawed groups in Northern Ireland, particularly so-called "loyalist" paramilitary gangs rooted in the most impoverished Protestant districts of Belfast.

She fled Belfast in August after receiving death threats from members of the Ulster Defense Association, the largest paramilitary group in Northern Ireland with an estimated 3,000 members.

De Baroid was involved in developing contacts between the UDA and Irish President Mary McAleese, a Belfast-born Catholic who has made outreach to Northern Ireland's Protestant majority a central theme of her presidency. McAleese and her husband, Martin, have publicly befriended a senior UDA commander, Jackie McDonald, in hopes of encouraging the UDA to disarm and embrace politics as part of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord.

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Sister Leonella, a Catholic nun who devoted her life to helping the sick in Africa, used to joke there was a bullet with her name engraved on it in Somalia. When the bullet came, she used her last breaths to forgive those responsible.

"I forgive, I forgive," she whispered in her native Italian just before she died Sunday in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, Rev. Maloba Wesonga said at her memorial mass in Nairobi yesterday.

Sister Leonella's slaying, outside the hospital where she worked, raised concerns she and other foreigners killed in Somalia recently are victims of growing Islamic radicalism in the Horn of Africa country, where a hardline Muslim militia has been expanding its reach.

The shooting was not a random attack and could have been sparked by Muslim anger over recent remarks by Pope Benedict linking Islam and violence, said Willy Huber, regional head of the Austrian-financed hospital where the nun worked.

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Last week's lecture by Pope Benedict XVI that provoked angry protests in the Islamic world has also triggered a cry of protest in the arcane worlds of philosophy and theology. Former theology professor Joseph Ratzinger only mentioned Islam in passing in the lecture, which surveyed thousands of years of western thought and set out Benedict's views on rationalism in a debate that has been roiling Christianity for the past two centuries.

The pope quoted from both Byzantine emperor Manuel II and verses from the Koran as he explored the history of rationalism, and his audience understood this not as an insult to Islam, but rather as criticism of prevailing western views about liberty and reason.

Benedict's thesis about the relationship between faith and reason has its foundation in ancient Greek philosophy.

However, a sizeable number of Catholic and Protestant theologians argue that this so-called neo-Platonic perspective is inadequate for 21st century theology.

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Regarding your vocation as political leaders, Benedict writes: âThe just ordering of society and the State is a central responsibility of politicsâ? (no. 28a). He quotes St. Augustine, who suggests that âa state which is not governed according to justice would be just a bunch of thievesâ? (no. 28a). Thatâs pretty harsh language.

He goes on to say, âPolitics is more than a mere mechanism for defining the rules of public life: its origin and its goal are found in justice, which by its very nature has to do with ethicsâ? (no. 28a).

Pope Benedict is not naÃve about the challenges faced by politicians. He acknowledges that achieving a just world requires asking: âWhat is justice?â? Answering this question correctly is difficult because, in his words, our human reason is ânever â completely free of the danger of a certain ethical blindness caused by the dazzling effect of power and special interestsâ? (no. 28a). Here in the midst of political polarization and interest-group paralysis we know these dangers are not empty abstractions or distant fears.

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âThere exists a real sense of duplicity with Casey speaking at a Catholic institution while accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from radical left wing groups that attack the Church. Moreover, given Caseyâs support of homosexual adoption, Plan B abortion drugs, and homosexual civil unions, it seems wholly inappropriate for him to deliver a lecture entitled âRestoring Americaâs Moral Compass,ââ? said Cella.

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Fidelis President Joseph Cella stated: âBob Casey is shamelessly using the Catholic University of America to promote his campaign.â?

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A group of prominent European Roman Catholics have been given the task of drafting a report on the common values of the EU countries.

The project was planned by the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, the EU Observer reported.

The European Union plans to issue a statement on common values on its 50th anniversary on March 25, 2007. The Catholic bishops hope to influence that process.

One controversial question is whether a constitution for the European Union should make reference to God or to Europe's Christian heritage. The constitution rejected by voters in France and The Netherlands last year included no reference to religion.

Philippe de Schoutheete, a member of the task force and former Belgian ambassador to the European Union, said that citizens of member countries tend to forget that the union is not just about economic policy.

"The EU process has clearly been based on a certain number of values, but in the course of the process they have been largely forgotten," he said.

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On June 6, Cheryl Smith took her last $600 and drove her teenage daughter from Baltimore to Severna Park to get an abortion. When they got there, a receptionist told them the clinic had changed hands. The abortion provider had moved a few miles away, she said, but the new clinic would offer a pregnancy test and sonogram for free.

The Smiths stayed. After they saw a picture of the fetus at 21 weeks with arms and legs and a face, their thoughts of termination were gone.

"As soon as I seen that, I was ready. It wasn't no joke. It was real," Makiba Smith, 16, said. "It was like, he's not born to the world yet, but he is inside of me growing."

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"I had an abortion," Ms. Magazine urges its readers to declare. How about "I wasn't aborted"?

The Web site of Ms. Magazine--yes, it still exists--is calling on readers to sign a petition: "I have had an abortion. I publicly join the millions of women in the United States who have had an abortion in demanding a repeal of laws that restrict women's reproductive freedom."

Well, so much for the right to privacy. If Ms. readers hadn't had so many abortions, there might be more Ms. readers. As for the rest of us, here's a petition we could all sign: "I wasn't aborted."

Having narrowly escaped being aborted, I'd be the first in line.

Like most Soviet-era fetuses conceived in Russia by couples who were already parents, I was scheduled for abortion as a matter of course. In a society where abortion was the only form of birth control, it wasn't uncommon to meet women who had double-digit abortion counts. Often a couple would schedule the appointment before they even stopped to remember that they wanted a second child.

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The church has a long tradition of social justice teaching. And one of the things we reflect on as a church -- and we've done this for years -- is the issue of immigration.

We believe that people have a right to a living wage in their own country. They have a right to have secure homes in the places where they live. But if people are unable to support themselves and their families, there's also a right to immigrate.

And we also believe that each country has a right to secure borders and to orderly immigration principles and policies, but making all that fit together is a difficult task that requires reflection. And we think a comprehensive approach to this is what's really important.

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An Alabama nun transplanted from Ohio founded a TV channel offering nothing but Roman Catholic programming in 1981. She had little more than faith in God, $200 and a garage to use as a studio.

Mother Mary Angelica had a vision for Eternal Word Television Network back then, but she didn't have a plan. Today, it seems like somebody sure did.

Now available in 127 countries and more than 118 million households, EWTN Global Catholic Network marks its 25th anniversary this month. With viewers from Illinois to India, the satellite channel has grown to include radio, Internet and catalog sales, and it bills itself as the largest religious media network in the world.

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"This work is based on the material which he collected for his spiritual exhortations to his brethren, and published at the request of his superiors. Although the book thus written was primarily intended for the use of his religious brethren, yet he destined it also for the profit and edification of other religious and of laymen in the world. It is a book of practical instructions on all the virtues which go to make up the perfect Christian life, whether lived in the cloister or in the world."

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Officials from the Maryland-based Catholic Relief Services announced last week that they, along with their oversees partner Caritas Lebanon, are leading a massive effort to provide aid to the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese displaced or cut off by the ongoing battle between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group.

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Catholics in San Francisco and throughout the United States continue to be confused by the decision of San Francisco Catholic Charities to persist in facilitating adoptions to homosexual couples, an action which the Church has spoken out against.

In announcement made two weeks ago, San Francisco Catholic Charities decided that while it will close its own adoption services, it will continue to outsource personnel to an agency that facilitates adoptions in the area, including adoptions to homosexual couples.

Many claim that the motivating factor for Catholic Charitiesâ decision to change its policy on adoption is increasing pressure from the Vatican. In 2003, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), headed by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, released a document entitled Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons. The CDF document makes clear that the Catholic Church does not approve of or wish to take part in the adoption of children by couples living an active homosexual lifestyle. Since the documentâs release little visible action had taken place on the part of Catholic Charities, that is, until this year.

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"It is disrespectful, in bad taste and provocative," Father Manfredo Leone from Rome's Santa Maria Liberatrice church said late today about the star's latest stage stunt.

"Being raised on a cross with a crown of thorns like a modern Christ is absurd. Doing it in the cradle of Christianity comes close to blasphemy."

In an unusual show of religious solidarity, Muslim and Jewish leaders added their condemnation of the self-styled Queen of Pop, famous for peppering her concerts and videos with controversial religious and sexual imagery.

"I think her idea is in the worst taste and she'd do better to go home," Mario Scialoja, head of Italy's Muslim League said.

Riccardo Pacifici, spokesman and vice president of the Roman Jewish community, added Madonna should have pulled the routine considering where she was performing â a stadium a mile from the gates of Vatican City.

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Catholic publisher Silver Burdett Ginn Religion and Third Day Games, Inc. are partnering in a new series of educational computer games based on the Gospel readings. The new Gospel Champions series takes children back to biblical times by recreating Gospel stories in a state-of-the-art game that integrates action/adventure gameplay with sequenced elements of Bible stories.

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A Philadelphia woman, who considers herself a Catholic priest, led services Sunday morning. Afterwards Eileen McCafferty DiFranco greeted the faithful as they left First United Methodist Church of Germantown.

DiFranco was ordained Monday by a group called Roman Catholic Women-Priests.

Catholic church leaders say she and the other women ordained in Pittsburgh by the women's group are not priests. The church only allows men to become priests.

DiFranco, a public school nurse and mother of 4, says it is a calling that Catholic women should be able to answer as well.

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Rev. Okorie, a priest of St. Mary's Catholic Church, Afikpo, according to reports was attacked in the night with multiple stabs and machete cuts inflicted on him.

He was later taken to a nearby hospital where he died.

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By partnering with another adoption service, San Francisco's Catholic Charities will increase the number of children that find homes without directly placing kids with same-sex couples, said the agency's executive director, Brian Cahill.

California Kids Connection, a statewide adoption exchange set up by the Oakland-based nonprofit Family Builders by Adoption, features information on about 500 children on a Web site that prospective parents can browse.

Workers at the adoption service had to limit the number of children they work with because of limited staffing, but with the help of three Catholic Charities employees who will be placed there, they'll be able to handle more cases, said San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer.

The Catholic Charities workers will refer prospective parents to agencies that can complete the adoption proceedings, Niederauer said.

"That's where we'll help," he said. "What we won't be doing ... is placement in homes. We can't be involved in that anymore."

...

Cahill emphasized that his agency would still help prospective adoptive parents, including gays and lesbians, with information and referral help through an alliance with another organization. Effective immediately, however, Catholic Charities of San Francisco will no longer handle ``individual home studies, specific family/child matching, adoptive placements, or finalizations," he said.

"It is disrespectful, in bad taste and provocative," Father Manfredo Leone from Rome's Santa Maria Liberatrice church said late today about the star's latest stage stunt.

"Being raised on a cross with a crown of thorns like a modern Christ is absurd. Doing it in the cradle of Christianity comes close to blasphemy."

In an unusual show of religious solidarity, Muslim and Jewish leaders added their condemnation of the self-styled Queen of Pop, famous for peppering her concerts and videos with controversial religious and sexual imagery.

"I think her idea is in the worst taste and she'd do better to go home," Mario Scialoja, head of Italy's Muslim League said.

Riccardo Pacifici, spokesman and vice president of the Roman Jewish community, added Madonna should have pulled the routine considering where she was performing Ãïï a stadium a mile from the gates of Vatican City.

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But to the women, the ordinations are genuine, though they acknowledge the ordinations violate canon law. They say they are willing to risk excommunication in the hope of sparking a revolution of equality within an institution resistant to change.

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Universal Call is a great project and we are constantly gratified by the support and kind words we receive from our listeners. We have decided to commit to 100 programs.

However, the next program will have to wait until September 15th! Yes, Jim, your host (a.k.a. me), is moving his family of (7) across the country from beautiful sunny beachside Orange County to Murrysville, Pennsylvania!

Our usual high quality content (if I do say so myself), simply cannot be maintained whilst between buying and selling houses and between changing careers and between goodbyes and hellos, etcâ

However, I will put together a "Clip"cast highlighting some of our better moments between now and the September 15th program, so withdrawal symptoms shouldn't be too severe.

Besides, this would be a great time to listen to some of our excellent, yet overlooked, programs:

• Father Steve Sallot on "All You Ever Wanted to Know About Being A Pastor but Were Afraid to Ask"
• Paddy Jim Baggot on Obstetrics/Gynecology and Catholic Teaching
• Dr. Scott Hahn on Keeping the Lord's Day Holy
• Helen Hitchcock on Liturgy in everyday life
• Holly Pierlot on Motherhood as a Vocation
• Dating and Vocations with Fr. John Waiss

I will keep the website updated, be checking our emails and voicemails, and be lining up interviews all through this period so that we should be able to enter into the fall with momentum and continue to Answer the Call.

The governments of four Chinese provinces "have forbidden many Catholic youth from coming to Hong Kong for the Asian Youth Day" that for them is "an anti-China event", Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun said yesterday. The bishop of the territory was giving an address to inaugurate the event that brought together 1,000 Catholic youth from 20 countries across the continent.

"Many Chinese youth told us they wanted to come but they did not manage to get permission from the authorities," said the cardinal. He did not want to supply the names of the provinces implicated but said that around 60 youth had managed to come "disguised" as tourists.

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Priests have become a top "export product" as Poland, where the Catholic Church retains a vibrant strength lost in the rest of Europe, helps fill the dwindling ranks of clergy in the West.

"The Church is universal, not just Polish," said Father Marek Lesniak at the Krakow seminary, whose alumni man parishes of this large archdiocese and also work in Austria, Britain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the United States as well as Russia, Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo and Brazil.

"We are not a seminary for missionaries, but if someone has a calling for the missions, he can go," said the deputy director of the 600-year-old seminary where the late Pope John Paul - an inspiration for many of the young students here - once studied.

"We Franciscans want to join in the rechristianisation of Europe," said Father Jan-Marie Szewek of Krakow's Franciscan province, which has missionaries in Germany, Austria, Italy and the United States.

With vocations to the priesthood rising here and falling elsewhere, foreign bishops now buttonhole their Polish counterparts at Vatican meetings or write directly to Polish seminaries to ask if they can provide some extra manpower.

"I was in Cologne at the World Youth Day last year and we got lots of requests from bishops there from Greece, the Netherlands, Germany and France," said Lesniak, who celebrates Mass at the seminary in his fluent English, German and Italian in order to teach students to pray in a foreign language.

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(The Catholic Carnival, for those who are not familiar with it, is a collection of the best blog posts from Catholic-centric blogs.)

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Jim,

I wanted to thank you for bringing in Dr. Nicolosi and delving into this topic. I'm a homosexual who for 15 years lived a gay lifestyle, is in a 10 year relationship (though working towards that being a chaste one) and who rejoined the Church about six months ago. I wholeheartedly agree when Dr. Nicolosi says the Church needs to do more in this area to educate (both themselves and the laity) and to work towards offering help to those in my situation.

When I returned to the Church, the reactions I received from my friends ranged from confusion (in the case of my heterosexual friends who felt that I was so "well adjusted") to outright amazement (from my homosexual friends. How dare I turn my back on "my people"). I knew full well the Church's teaching on the matter (though not the fullness of the teaching). To be honest that's about as far s most homosexuals are willing to go. They see condemnation and shut the door on the Church. As a result, most gay people I've known or met (there are rare exceptions) who was once Catholic has either a) Left the Church entirely or b) Fled to the Episcopal church.

Especially bothersome to me are those who flee to the Episcopal church. One moment they'll be discussing the beauty of that Sunday's liturgy and the next they'll be telling me about what gay events they're going to, what they were doing at the bar the night before, etc. They've found a place where scripture and tradition could be tossed out the door in the name of radical inclusiveness. And in that is absolutely freedom to live their life in the way to which they're most comfortable. I constantly hear the cry from my liberal heterosexual friends about how equal our relationships are and how we deserve marriage and how wonderful it is to see two men "marry."

What they don't see is the rotten underside to our sub-culture. The casual bar hookups (sometimes in the bar), the bathhouses, etc. The simple fact is most gay men don't want "marriage." We only want the illusion of it and the legal and social conveniences it brings. I could count on one hand with fingers to spare the number of purely monogamous relationships I've seen or heard of. By and large, every gay relationship succeeds on setting down ground rules (spoken or unspoken