Saturday, March 16, 2013

Our Distinctive Sign


The banner of the third angel has inscribed upon it, “The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Our institutions have taken a name which sets forth the character of our faith, and of this name we are never to be ashamed. I have been shown that this name means much, and in adopting it we have followed the light given us from heaven.... The Sabbath is God’s memorial of His creative work, and it is a sign that is to be kept before the world. 

There is to be no compromise with those who are worshiping an idol sabbath. We are not to spend our time in controversy with those who know the truth, and upon whom the light of truth has been shining, when they turn away their ear from the truth to turn to fables. I was told that men will employ every policy to make less prominent the difference between the faith of Seventh-day Adventists and those who observe the first day of the week. In this controversy the whole world will be engaged, and the time is short. This is no time to haul down our colors. 
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A company was presented before me under the name of Seventh-day Adventists, who were advising that the banner or sign which makes us a distinctive people should not be held out so strikingly; for they claimed it was not the best policy in securing success to our institutions. This distinctive banner is to be borne through the world to the close of probation. In describing the remnant people of God, John says, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). This is the law and the gospel. The world and the churches are uniting in harmony in transgressing the law of God, in tearing away God’s memorial, and in exalting a sabbath that bears the signature of the man of sin. But the Sabbath of the Lord thy God is to be a sign to show the difference between the obedient and the disobedient.  I saw some reaching out their hands to remove the banner, and to obscure its significance....

When the people accept and exalt a spurious sabbath, and turn souls away from obedience and loyalty to God, they will reach the point that was reached by the people in the days of Christ.... Shall anyone then choose to hide his banner, to relax his devotion? Shall the people whom God has honored and blessed and prospered, refuse to bear testimony in behalf of God’s memorial at the very time when such a testimony should be borne? Shall not the commandments of God be more highly esteemed when men pour contempt upon the law of God?—Manuscript 15, 1896.


Selected Messages Book 2, pp.384-385.
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Pope shocks Jesuits with unexpected phone call



Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 15, 2013


NCR Today
Pope Francis



ROME As the receptionist at Rome's headquarters of the Jesuit order was going about his business Friday, he got an unexpected phone call.

The man on the other end of the line said simply: "This is Pope Francis. May I speak to Fr. General?"

That's former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a Jesuit himself and as of Wednesday night the bishop of Rome and global leader of the Roman Catholic church.

In perhaps a bit of fidelity to the priests and brothers he's served amongst since he entered the order's novitiate in 1958, the new pontiff had called down the street from the Vatican to speak to Fr. Adolfo Nicolás Pachón, the order's superior general.

The receptionist was so shocked at the call, according to an email being circulated among the Jesuits, the pope had to continue: "This is not a joke. I am Pope Francis. Who are you?"

After gaining some composure, the secretary forwarded the call to Nicolás' personal secretary.

"I am Pope Francis", said the pontiff again. "May I speak to the General?"

"Holy Father, we are praying much for you," said the secretary, a Jesuit brother.

"Praying for what?" asked the Pope. "To go ahead or to go back?"

"To go ahead", the secretary said, walking into the Nicolás' office with mobile to his ear and still speaking.

According to the email, the superior general was also shocked and so disoriented he switched between calling his confrere "Pope," "Your Holiness," and "Monsignor."

"Thank you for your personal letter to me", the pope said, referencing a letter the Jesuits had sent upon learning of Bergoglio's election to the Roman see.

"I look forward to meeting you", said the General.

"And I you", said the Pope. "We shall meet as soon as we can. I will phone you and we can fix a date."

It's traditional for the heads of religious orders to meet with a new pope in the first few months of his pontificate.

For a flavor of the event, see before for a video interview from CPRO Rome of the Jesuit curia's receptionist.



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Friday, March 15, 2013

Warning!!! Jesuit Infiltration Undeniable



WARNING!!! JESUIT INFILTRATION UNDENIABLE-TO 7th DAY ADVENTISTS + ALL CHRISTIANS- A MUST SEE!!! Pt.3


Joshua A. Watchman

Published on Sep 28, 2012

JESUIT INFILTRATION IN THE CHURCH IS CRYSTAL CLEAR - BUT DO NOT LEAVE THE CHURCH THESE THINGS WERE FORETOLD FOR OUR BENEFIT AND INSTRUCTION...(anti-christ,666,jesuit,il­luminati,freemason,obama,war,spirits,dis­asters,new world order)

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Non-Catholics Greet Pope Francis With Guarded Optimism

The Adventist Review shares the following world news from Religion News Service as a service to readers. Opinions expressed in these reports do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Review or the Seventh-day Adventist Church. -- Editors



By ALIA E. DASTAGIR
(c)2013 USA Today


With the words ``Habemus papam''--we have a pope--Roman Catholics had a new leader, and the wider world had a new ministry to watch.

The direction the new pope takes his flock is of great importance for committed Catholics, but the papacy is also closely watched by other faiths. The pope wields vast influence as the world's most powerful moral leader and the public face of Christianity.

Pope Francis of Buenos Aires, formerly Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, emerged from the conclave as the first pope from outside Europe in modern times, the first Jesuit, the first from Latin America, and the first named Francis, in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, who dedicated his life to helping the poor.

Leaders of other faiths appeared to embrace the selection cautiously, not unlike some Catholics themselves, offering prayers and congratulations, but also using the opportunity to lay out their own hopes for the new pontiff.

The Orthodox Union lauded Francis for his solidarity with the Argentine Jewish community and expressed hope that the pope ``will be an active force in the battle against those who would use religion as a justification for violence and intolerance.''

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said he looks ``forward to working with him to continue to foster Catholic-Jewish relations as we have with his predecessors. There is much in his record that reassures us about the future.''

New Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who will be formally installed just two days after Francis' official installation on March 19, said he will keep his Catholic counterpart in prayer as the two men take up the most visible Christian leadership roles.

``Pope Francis is well known as a compassionate pastor of real stature who has served the poor in Latin America, and whose simplicity and holiness of life is remarkable,'' said Welby, whose position is often considered the unofficial leader of the world's Protestants.

``He is an evangelist, sharing the love of Christ which he himself knows. His choice of the name Francis suggests that he wants to call us all back to the transformation that St Francis knew and brought to the whole of Europe, fired by contemplation and closeness to God.''

Pawan Deshpande, a member of the Hindu American Foundation Executive Council, congratulated the Catholic Church, but expressed a desire for change from the tenure of the pope emeritus, Benedict XVI. Some Hindus consider the former pope's reign as a lost opportunity for dialogue.

``As a pluralistic faith, Hindus respect the papacy for its importance to Catholics, and hope that the Church now begins a new era of mutually respecting Dharma religions and other pluralist traditions as divinely inspired paths as well,'' Deshpande said in a statement pm March 13.

B'nai B'rith International President Allen J. Jacobs wants Pope Francis to continue the Catholic-Jewish dialogue. "We welcome Pope Francis I to his new role as leader of the Catholic Church. Catholic-Jewish relations had remained a focus of Pope Benedict XVI and we look forward to continuing the solid foundation that already exists for interfaith dialogue."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a leading Muslim civil rights group in Washington, offered its support to the new pontiff, after somewhat difficult relations between the Muslim world and the Vatican during Benedict's tenure.

``We congratulate Pope Francis on his election by the College of Cardinals and offer the Muslim community's support and cooperation in every positive effort he will undertake for peace, justice and the betterment of humanity,'' executive director Nihad Awad said in a news release.

(Kevin Eckstrom of Religion News Service contributed to this report.)


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Vietnam why did we go?





The Religious Beginnings of an Unholy War

The Shocking Story of the Catholic "Church's" Role in Starting the Vietnam War

By Avro Manhattan





Avro Manhattan (1914-1990).

Avro Manhattan was the world's foremost authority on Roman Catholicism in politics. A resident of London, during World War II he operated a radio station called "Radio Freedom" broadcasting to occupied Europe.

He was the author of over 20 books including the best-seller The Vatican in World Politics, twice Book-of-the-Month and going through 57 editions. He was a Great Briton who risked his life daily to expose some of the darkest secrets of the Papacy. His books were #1 on the Forbidden Index for the past 50 years!!


More About the Author:


With an immense collection of facts, photos, names and dates, Manhattan proves that the Vietnam War began as a religious conflict. He shows how America was manipulated into supporting Catholic oppression in Vietnam supposedly to fight communism.

Manhattan explains:

How religious pamphlets and radio broadcasts convinced one million Catholics to leave North Vietnam and live under Catholic rule in the South, overwhelming the Buddhists.


How brutal persecution of Vietnamese Buddhists led to rioting and suicides by fire in the streets.


Why the reports of what was really happening, written by American military and civil advisers, failed to reach the U.S. President.


Why the project backfired, and as U.S. soldiers continued to die, the Vatican made a secret deal with Ho Chi Minh.



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Jehovah’s Witnesses ‘a cruel cult’



Jehovah’s Witnesses ‘a cruel cult’

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Friday March 15, 2013



Jehovah’s Witnesses are a cruel religion with no soul, says Melbourne cultbuster Raphael Aron.

Aron is a a psychologist, counsellor and director of Melbourne’s Cult Counselling Australia.


The Age says

His warning comes as the federal government considers tightening the definition of a charity to prevent some cults and quasi-religions keeping their tax free status. Independent senator Nick Xenophon has renewed calls for a national cult-busting agency.


Aron specifically targets the Jehovah’s Witnesses practice of shunning— a Biblical concept twisted beyond recognition by the cult.


“I am still waiting for a justification for someone to be able to rip away a five or six year old child from their extended family because Mum or Dad have decided to leave the Jehovah’s Witnesses,” he says.
Former members say shunning can involve bullying, threats, harassment and stalking to lure the ‘apostate’, or lapsed member, back. The religion’s scripture magazine The Watchtower describes ‘apostates’ as “mentally diseased” outcasts who “seek to infect others.”
Mr Aron says shunning is “draconian, cruel and callous.”



Jehovah’s Witnesses

Theologically, Jehovah’s Witnesses is a cult of Christianity. Sociologically the movement has many cult characteristics as well. [Note the difference between theological and sociological definitions of the term ‘cult.’

Christian denominations and theologians overwhelmingly view the movement as falling outside the boundaries of normative, Biblical Christianity. While the movement’s Governing Body views itself as “God’s faithful and discreet slave,” its members and followers can not be considered to be Christians.

Research resources on Jehovah’s Witnesses


Source
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Beware the Ides of March! Julius Caesar and a Look at the Romans' Ides of March



From N.S. Gill's Ancient/Classical History Glossary



Ides of March assassination of Caesar, by Vincenzo Camucini .Elessar

Definition: The Ides of March was a date on the Roman calendar (Idus Martias) corresponding with our date of March 15. It was a fateful date.

Roman Events on the Ides of March

~ Anna Perenna Festival

In ancient Rome, a festival for Anna Perenna was held on the Ides of March. Ovid, a poet and contemporary of Rome's first emperor, Augustus, wrote a collection of Greek myths in Latin called the Metamorphoses. In this monumental piece of Latin literature, Ovid explains that Anna Perenna was the sister of the tragic, love-sick, suiciding Carthaginian queen Dido, familiar to Romans from the Aeneid, which was written by another Augustan Age poet,Vergil (Virgil).

"On the Ides of March the plebs celebrated the Annae festum geniale Perennae (corresponding to the chief day of the Hindu Holi) near the banks of the Tiber (Ovid, Fasti iii. 523-42, 675-96). Rome was, therefore, empty of the lower classes. Is this why the nobles chose the day for the assassination of Julius Caesar?"
"The Ides of March"
C. M. Mulvany
The Classical Review, Vol. 19, No. 6 (Jul., 1905), p. 305


~ Caesar's Assassination

A more well known occurrence on the Ides of March, in 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was assassinated, at the foot of a statue of Pompey where the Senate was meeting.* Before Caesar went to the theater of Pompey to attend the Senate meeting, he had been given advice not to go, but he didn't listen.

Source of the Expression "Beware the Ides of March"

Because of the assassination and the soothsayer's exchange with Julius Caesar about the dangers he faced in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar tragedy, the Ides of March now signifies a fateful day. Here is the relevant passage:

Caesar: Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue shriller than all the music Cry "Caesar!" Speak, Caesar is turn'd to hear. Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March. Caesar: What man is that? Brutus: A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.

Julius Caesar Act 1, scene 2, 15-19

Changing Significance of the Ides of March

1. Before the historical assassination of Julius Caesar, the Ides of March was:

- A division of the calendar based on the phases of the moon.
In some months, the Ides is on the 15th, and in others, it is the 13th. It's supposed to be on the day of the full moon. [See Roman Calendar.]

- March's Ides marked the beginning of the consular year: The two annually-elected Roman consuls took office on the Ides from c. 220 B.C. to 153. From 153 B.C. the consuls began to take office on the Kalends of January (what we call New Year's Day).


2. Even immediately after the historical assassination of Julius Caesar, "the ides of March" could be understood to refer to the assassination. Cicero didn't have to say "the assassination of Caesar." He could assume he would be understood when he alluded to the assassination just by reference to "the Ides of March."

Instead of saying something like the take-down of the dictator means there is hope for the Republic, he wrote -- with complete confidence that he would be understood:

Idus Martiae consolantur.
The Ides of March are encouraging.
~ Cicero Letters to Atticus.14.4 (url = homepage.usask.ca/~jrp638/DeptTransls/CicLetters.html April 19, 44 B.C.)

*See In the Steps of Julius Caesar for why Senate met in the porticus attached to the theater of Pompey that day.


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St. Patrick—Catholic or Sabbath Keeper?


The Rest of the Story

Maewyn Succat, Feed My Irish Sheep!

Most people have heard that Patrick was an Irish Catholic who drove the snakes out of Ireland. The truth about Patrick (which wasn’t even his real name) is far more exciting than the fiction! Further, he was neither Catholic nor Irish!

Below are some quotations derived from two web sites acknowledged belo:



INDEX

“There is strong evidence that Patrick had no Roman commission in Ireland ... As Patrick's churches in Ireland, like their brethren in Britain, repudiated the supremacy of the popes, all knowledge of the conversion of Ireland through his ministry must be suppressed [by Rome] .... There is not a written word from one of them [Roman sources] rejoicing over Patrick's additions to their church, showing clearly that he was not a Roman missionary .... Prosper does not notice Patrick .... He says nothing of the greatest success ever given to a missionary of Christ, apparently because he [Patrick] was not a Romanist .... Bede never speaks of St. Patrick in his celebrated 'Ecclesiastical History' .... So completely buried was Patrick and his work by popes and other Roman Catholics, that in their epistles and larger publications, his name does not once occur in one of them until A.D. 634.” (William Cathcart, D.D., The Ancient British and Irish Churches, pp.83-85)

"It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labor. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of the week.” (James C. Moffatt, D.D., The Church in Scotland, Philadelphia: 1882, p.140)

“In this latter instance they seemed to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early monastic church of Ireland by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours.” (W.T. Skene, Adamnan Life of St. Columba, 1874, p.96)

“The youth in the Culdee [Celtic Assembly in Scotland circa the 6th century] schools clung to the fundamental Christian doctrines, such as the divinity of Christ, baptism, the atonement, inspiration of the Scriptures, the prophecies connected with the last days. They did not accept the doctrines of infallibility, celibacy, transubstantiation, the confessional, the mass, relic worship, image adoration, and the primacy of Peter” (Truth Triumphant, Wilkinson, p.108).

“Two centuries elapsed after Patrick's death before any writer attempted to connect Patrick's work with a papal commission. No pope ever mentioned him, neither is there anything in the ecclesiastical records of Rome concerning him. ... Patrick preached the Bible. He appealed to it as the sole authority for founding the Irish Church. He gave credit to no other worldly authority; he recited no creed. Several official creeds of the church at Rome had by that time been ratified and commanded, but Patrick mentions none. In his Confession he makes a brief statement of his beliefs, but he does not refer to any church council or creed as authority. The training centers he founded, which later grew into colleges and large universities, were all Bible schools. Famous students of these schools—Columba, who brought Scotland to Christ, Aidan, who won pagan England to the gospel, and Columbanus with his successors, who brought Christianity to Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy—took the Bible as their only authority, and founded renowned Bible training centers for the Christian believers .... Patrick, like his example, Jesus, put the words of Scripture above the teachings of men. He differed from the Papacy, which puts church tradition above the Bible. In his writings he nowhere appeals to the church at Rome for the authorization of his mission. Whenever he speaks in defense of his mission, he refers to God alone, and declares that he received his call direct from heaven.” (Truth Triumphant, pp.82-84)

“... Many legends grew up about this popular saint. One of the best known is that he charmed the snakes of Ireland down to the seashore so they were driven into the water and drowned. Much else that is told of Saint Patrick is little more than legend. He left a sort of autobiography in his Confession, written in crude Latin .... Much study has been given to Saint Patrick, but little that goes beyond the testimony of his own writings can be accepted as certain...” —World Book Encyclopedia: under “Patrick, Saint”

“The Roman Catholics have proudly and exclusively claimed St. Patrick, and most Protestants have ignorantly or indifferently allowed their claim ....But he was no Romanist. His life and evangelical Church of the 5th century ought to be better known.” (McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. VII, p.776; article: Patrick, St.)

If you found this Article Preview to be interesting then read more at these sites:

realtruth.org

truthontheweb.org


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"Saint Patrick" and the Early Celtic Church: Sunday-Keeping ...


Patrick and the Early Celtic Church:
Sunday-keeping Roman Catholics or Sabbath-observant Christians?



Many have heard stories of the "Patron Saint" of Ireland: Patrick. But of these stories that abound, and the beliefs that are held concerning him, much is quite erroneous. Many think that Patrick (born ca. 360 CE) was Irish--he was not, but rather he was of Scottish/British origin.


"The place of his birth was Bonnaven, which lay between the Scottish towns Dumbarton and Glasgow, and was then reckoned to the province of Britain. This village, in memory of Patricius, received the name of Kil-Patrick or Kirk-Patrick. His father, a deacon in the village church, gave him a careful education." (Dr. August Neander, General History of the Christian Religion and Church, Vol. II, p.122. Boston: 1855).

"Patrick himself writes in his Confession: 'I, Patrick, ...had Calpornius for my father, a deacon, a son of the late Potitus, the presbyter, who dwelt in the village of Banavan....I was captured. I was almost sixteen years of age...and taken to Ireland in captivity with many thousand men.'" (William Cathcart, D. D., The Ancient British and Irish Churches, p.127).

"Patrick, a son of a Christian family in southern Scotland, was carried off to Ireland by pirates about 376 A. D. Here, in slavery, he gave his heart to God and, after six years of servitude, escaped, returning to his home in Scotland. But he could not forget the spiritual need of these poor heathen, and after ten years he returned to Ireland as a missionary of the Celtic church." (ibid, p. 70).

Many also believe Patrick to be of the Roman Catholic system, yet in Patrick's own Confession which we read part of above, he claims that his father was a deacon and his grandfather a presbyter. While the Roman Catholic Church holds the doctrine of "sacerdotal celibacy," wherein members of its ministry are to remain unmarried and thus virgins, the ministry of the Celtic Churches held no such doctrine. This is one of many doctrinal distinctions between the two faith sytems. The claims that Patrick was a Roman Catholic are mere fabrications as we shall see clearly.


"There is here a hiatus of unknown length in his life; a chasm, however, which his midiaeval biographers have filled up according to the liveliness of their fancy, or the supposed credulity of their readers. They wrote of his studying with St. Germain, and of his attending a monastery near the Mediterrenean, and finally of his going to Rome and receiving ordination from the pope. All these are mere inventions, and were not put forth till more than five hundred years after St. Patrick's death, and all of them are presented without a shadow of proof....In the establishment of his Church, St. Patrick in no instance ever appealed to any foreign Church [i.e., Rome, or anywhere else], pope or bishop. In his Epistle to Coroticus (sect. 1), he simply announces himself as bishop: 'I, Patrick, an unlearned man, to wit, a bishop constituted in Ireland: what I am I have received from God'...These well authenicated statements of St. Patrick concerning himself are wholly at variance with those of Probus and Joscelyn, who, for the first time, put forth their fabrications full five hundred years after his death. In regard to his studying with St. Germain at Tours, and of his going to Rome for ordination, all these stories were invented in the 10th or 12th century. Joscelyn, who wrote the fullest life of the saint, about A.D.1130, has, in one sense, really the praise or dispraise of bringing the Irish Church into that of Rome. The abbe, not being embarrassed with facts, dates, or contemporary history, wrote easily and readily, and presented a life of the Irish saint that exactly suited his times, in the beginning of the 12th century. He represented St. Patrick and the early Church of Ireland in the 5th century as exact models of his own in the 12th. This life of the saint was readily received and adopted as the only true one by the Roman Catholic Church, and it has ever been the 'storehouse' from which his numerous and papal biographers have drawn their materials. After the publication, and the general reception of this book, there was no hesitation in the full acknowledgment of all the Irish Christians, and of St. Patrick among them. Archbishop Usher, on the Religion of the Early Irish, asks (iv, 320): 'Who among them [the early Irish] was ever canonized before St. Malachias, or Malachy, was?' (A.D. 1150). St. Patrick himself seems never to have been sainted till all Ireland was sainted or canonized." (McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. VII, pp.774,775; article: Patrick, St.)


"There is strong evidence that Patrick had no Roman commission in Ireland...As Patrick's churches in Ireland, like their brethren in Britain, repudiated the supremacy of the popes, all knowledge of the conversion of Ireland through his ministry must be suppressed [by Rome]....There is not a written word from one of them [i.e., popes] rejoicing over Patrick's additions to their church, showing clearly that he was not a Roman missionary....Prosper does not notice Patrick....He says nothing of the greatest success ever given to a missionary of Christ, apparently because he [Patrick] was not a Romanist....Bede never speaks of St. Patrick in his celebrated 'Ecclesiastical History.'...So completely buried was Patrick and his work by popes and other Roman Catholics, that in their epistles and larger publications, his name does not once occur in one of them until A. D. 634." (William Cathcart, D. D., The Ancient British and Irish Churches, pp.83-85)

Due to the world of Patrick's day knowing the truth about him and the Celtic Church, Rome made no mention of, or claim to, Patrick until at least 200 years after his time. Bede did however make record in 431 A.D. of an attempt of a Roman Catholic missionary to bring the Celtic assemblies under the rule and doctrine of Rome:


"Palladius was sent by Celestinus, the Roman pontiff, to the Scots [Irish] that believed in Christ." (Bede, Ecclesiastical History, p.22) But "he left because he did not receive respect in Ireland" (William Cathcart, D. D., The Ancient British and Irish Churches, p.72).

Such disrespect would be unheard of if the Celtic assemblies had indeed been adherents of Rome's "gospel." Rome was looking to claim what the true Gospel already had when it entered the "Britians" (Britian, Ireland, Scotland) during the first century:


"That the light of Christianity dawned upon these islands in the course of the first century, is a matter of historical certainty" (Richard Hart, B. A., Ecclesiastical Records, p. vii; Cambridge: 1846).


"The Christianity which first reached France and England (i.e., Gaul and Britian) was of the school of the apostle John, who ruled the churches in Asia Minor, and therefore of a Greek, not Latin [i.e., Roman], type." (Gordon, World Healers, p.78)

"A large number of this Keltic community (Lyons, A.D.177)--colonists from Asia Minor--who escaped, migrated to Ireland (Erin) and laid the foundations of the pre-Patrick church." (Thomas Yeates, East Indian Church History, p.226)


Tertullian, ca 200 A.D., wrote "by this time, the varied races of the Gµtulians, and manifold confines of the Moors, all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons (inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ)...In all which places the name of Christ who is already come reigns." (Tertullian, Answer to the Jews, chap. vii.)

Tertullian had included the Britons among the many nations which believed in Christ, and he speaks of these places as being "inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ." In other words, the Church there was not founded by, nor subject to, Rome.


"He (Patrick) never mentions either Rome or the pope or hints that he was in any way connected with the ecclesiastical capital of Italy. He recognizes no other authority but that of the word of God. ...When Palladius arrived in the country, it was not to be expected that he would receive a very hearty welcome from the Irish apostle. If he was sent by [pope] Celestine to the native Christians to be their primate or archbishop, no wonder that stout-hearted Patrick refused to bow his neck to any such yoke of bondage." (Dr. Killen, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, vol.1, pp.12-15)

"Patrick rejected the union of church and state. More than one hundred years had passed since the first world council at Nicaea had united the church with the empire. Patrick rejected this model. He followed the lesson taught in John's Gospel when Christ refused to be made a king. Jesus said, 'My kingdom is not of this world' (John 18:36). Not only the Irish apostle but his famous successors, Columba in Scotland, and Columbanus on the Continent, ignored the supremacy of the papal pontiff. They never would have agreed to making the pope a king." (Truth Triumphant, pp.85,86)

"Two centuries elapsed after Patrick's death before any writer attempted to connect Patrick's work with a papal commission. No pope ever mentioned him, neither is there anything in the ecclesiastical records of Rome concerning him. ...Patrick preached the Bible. He appealed to it as the sole authority for founding the Irish Church. He gave credit to no other worldly authority; he recited no creed. Several official creeds of the church at Rome had by that time been ratified and commanded, but Patrick mentions none. In his Confession he makes a brief statement of his beliefs, but he does not refer to any church council or creed as authority. The training centers he founded, which later grew into colleges and large universities, were all Bible schools. Famous students of these schools -- Columba, who brought Scotland to Christ, Aidan, who won pagan England to the gospel, and Columbanus with his successors, who brought Christianity to Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy -- took the Bible as their only authority, and founded renowned Bible training centers for the Christian believers. ... Patrick, like his example, Jesus, put the words of Scripture above the teachings of men. He differed from the Papacy, which puts church tradition above the Bible. In his writings he nowhere appeals to the church at Rome for the authorization of his mission. Whenever he speaks in defense of his mission, he refers to God alone, and declares that he received his call direct from heaven." (Truth Triumphant, pp.82-84)

Pope Gregory had sent delegates to the Christians Celts: "'Acknowledge the authority of the Bishop of Rome.' These are the first words of the Papacy to the ancient Christians of Britain. They meekly replied: 'The only submission we can render him is that which we owe to every Christian.'" (Merle D' Aubigne, History of the Reformation, Book XVII, chap. 2.) "'But as for further obedience, we know of none that he, whom you term the Pope, or Bishop of Bishops, can claim or demand." (Early British History, G. H. Whalley, Esq., M. P., p.17 London: 1860; see also Variation of Popery, Rev. Samuel Edger, D. D., pp. 180-183. New York: 1849)


"The monks sent to England [in 596 A.D.] by Pope Gregory the Great soon came to see that the Celtic Church differed from theirs in many respects…Augustine himself [a Benedictine abbot]…held several conferences with the Christian Celts in order to accomplish the difficult task of their subjugation [submission] to Roman authority…The Celts permitted their priests to marry, the Romans forbade it. The Celts used a different mode of baptism [i.e., true baptism: immersion] from that of the Romans…The Celts held their own councils and enacted their own laws, independent of Rome. The Celts used a Latin Bible [i.e., the Itala] unlike the [Roman Catholic's Latin] Vulgate, and kept Saturday as a day of rest.” (A.C. Flick, The Rise of Medieval Church, p.236-327)


"It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labor. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of the week." (James C. Moffatt, D. D.,The Church in Scotland, Philadelphia: 1882, p.140)


"In this latter instance they seemed to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early monastic church of Ireland by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours." (W.T. Skene, Adamnan Life of St. Columba, 1874, p.96)

As noted above, the Christianity which first reached France and Britian was of the school of the apostle John, who ruled the churches in Asia Minor. Colonists from Asia Minor laid the foundations of the pre-Patrick church. They brought with them the doctrine which they received of John, Paul, Philip, and the other apostles of the Lord, which included not only the observance of the seventh day Sabbath, but also the commemoration of Christ's death upon the 14th of Abib--Passover!


"It is probable that the primitive Christians kept the Pasch on the 14th of Nisan as determined by the Jewish authorities, and regarded it as the anniversary of the crucifixion. ...The churches of the Roman province of Asia...followed the older custom, keeping the Pasch on the 14th of Nisan, whatever the day of the week." (James F. Kenney, The Sources for the Early History of Ireland, Vol.1, pp.211, 212; Columbia University Press, New York, 1929)

"...they ignorantly refuse to observe our Easter [Pascha] on which Christ was sacrificed, arguing that it should be observed with the Hebrew Passover on the fourteenth of the moon." (Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, II, 19 wherein Bede quoted "Pope" John's words concerning the Celtic brethren)

Other doctrines that Patrick, Columba, and the Celtic assemblies held included the observation of the other Festivals of the Eternal (Lev.23), the belief in the mortality of man and the hope of the resurrection (vs. immortality of the soul and going to heaven, hell, and/or purgatory); the distinction between clean and unclean animals; "improvised" prayers (from the heart, rather than merely from the lip with repetitions); that Christ Jesus is our only Mediator--as opposed to various "saints," Mary, angels, etc.; and that redemption and atonement comes through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ alone--separate from works and heeding commandments/doctrines of men (see The Celtic Church in Britian by Leslie Hardinge, as well as Truth Triumphant by B.G. Wilkinson, for documentation).

"The Roman Catholics have proudly and exclusively claimed St. Patrick, and most Protestants have ignorantly or indifferently allowed their claim...But he was no Romanist. His life and evangelical Church of the 5th century ought to be better known." (McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. VII, p.776; article: Patrick, St.)

We hope you have been edified in knowing the truth about the real saint Patrick who kept the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Author: Brian Hoeck


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Thursday, March 14, 2013

The Vatican Billions



by Avro Manhattan

from Scribd Website





“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Matthew 6:21





Chapter 1

  • The Historical Genesis of the Vatican’s Accumulation of Wealth
  • Historical genesis of the Vatican’s accumulation of wealth
  • The splitting of Christianity accelerated by its policy of temporal riches
  • Christianity expropriates all rival religions
  • How the Apostolic tradition of poverty was abandoned.
Jesus, the founder of Christianity, was the poorest of the poor.

Roman Catholicism, which claims to be His church, is the richest of the rich, the wealthiest institution on earth. How come, that such an institution, ruling in the name of this same itinerant preacher, whose want was such that he had not even a pillow upon which to rest his head, is now so top-heavy with riches that she can rival - indeed, that she can put to shame - the combined might of the most redoubtable financial trusts, of the most potent industrial super-giants, and of the most prosperous global corporation of the world?

It is a question that has echoed along the somber corridors of history during almost 2,000 years; a question that has puzzled, bewildered and angered in turn untold multitudes from the first centuries to our days.

The startling contradiction of the tremendous riches of the Roman Catholic Church with the direct teaching of Christ concerning their unambiguous rejection, is too glaring to be by-passed, tolerated or ignored by even the most indifferent of believers. In the past, indeed, some of the most virulent fulminations against such mammonic accumulation came from individuals whose zeal and religious fervor were second to none. Their denunciations of the wealth, pomp, luxury and worldly habits of abbots, bishops, cardinals and popes can still be heard thundering with unabated clamor at the opening of almost any page of the chequered annals of western history.

But, while it was to their credit that such men had the honesty to denounce the very church to which they had dedicated their lives, it is also to the latter’s discredit that she took no heed of the voices of anguish and anger of those of her sons who had taken the teaching of the Gospel to the letter and therefore were eager that the Roman Catholic system, which claimed to be the true bride of Christ, be as poor as one she called master. When she did not silence them, she ignored them or, at the most, considered them utterances of religious innocents, to be tolerated as long as her revenue was not made to suffer.

Whenever that happened the Vatican did not hesitate to resort of the most prompt and drastic coercion to silence anyone capable of setting in motion forces, within or outside her, likely to divest her of her wealth.

The employment of suppressive measures went from the purely spiritual to physical ones; the ecclesiastical and lay machineries were used according to the degree and seriousness of the threat, and this to such an extent that in due course they became so integrated as to operate at all levels, wherever the two partners deemed themselves imperiled.

The result was that finally the religious exertion of Roman Church became so intermingled with her monetary interests as to identify the former with the latter, so that very often one could see a bishop or a pope fulminate excommunication and anathema against individuals, guilds, cities, princes and kings, seemingly to preserve and defend the spiritual prerogatives of the Church, when in reality they did so exclusively to preserve, defend or expand the territorial, financial or even commercial benefits of a Church determined to retain, and indeed to add to, the wealth it already enjoyed.

This policy was not confined only to come critical or peculiar period of Catholic history. It became a permanent characteristic throughout almost two millennia. This feature, besides causing immense sorrow to the most fervent of her adherents, became the spring of countless disputes, not only with the principalities of this world, whom she challenged with her incessant quest for yet more temporal tributes, but equally with vast sections of Christendom itself.

The splitting of this giant religious system into three distracted portions, Roman Catholicism in the West, the Orthodox church in the Near East, Protestantism in Northern Europe, to a very great extent became a reality very largely because of the economic interest which lay hidden behind the high-sounding dissensions between the simmering rival theological disputations.

Thus, had the Church of Rome remained apostolically poor, it is doubtful whether the lay potentates would have aligned themselves to the support of the ecclesiastical rebels, since the greed of the former for the possible acquisition of the immense wealth controlled by the Church in Germany, England, and elsewhere would not have become the decisive trigger which made them side with the revolutionary new spiritual forces whose objectives were not solely confined to the curtailment of the spiritual and political might of Rome, but equally to depriving this religious system of the wealth which she had accumulated through centuries of uncontrolled monopoly.

It was the allurement of the immediate potential redistribution of the Vatican’s riches among the lay potentates which a successful religious secession would have rendered possible, that became the principal factor ultimately to persuade them to rally to the side of Luther and his imitators. The dynastic issue of King Henry VIII of England was not as basic as the economic motivation which really led to the final breakaway from Roman authority.

The landed gentry who supported his policy did so with their eyes well fixed upon the economic benefits to come. The variegated alignment of the German princes with Lutheranism was prompted chiefly by the same basic economic considerations. It was such concrete, although seemingly secondary, factors which in the long run made the Reformation possible.

Seen in this light, therefore, the Roman Catholic Church's persistent ignoring of the fundamental command of Christ concerning the riches of this world caused irremediable harm to the spiritual interests of Christendom at large; and, even more than that, ignited revolts, provoked revolutions and promoted destructive wars which were to scar the western world for hundreds of years, up to our own days.

That was not always so. The true early Church acted upon, and indeed practiced, the tenets of Jesus Christ, thus putting the accumulation of the treasures of heaven before the accumulation of those of the earth.

But as the Roman Catholic system began to develop, the first tiny seeds of the temporal amassment of wealth were planted. These were eventually to grow into the monstrous giant mustard tree which was to obscure the light of Europe for over a thousand years.

The early Christians, following upon the example of the Apostles and the first and second generations of Christ’s disciples, upon conversion obeyed Christ’s commandment to the letter and disposed of their possessions. These they either sold or gave to the Christian community, the latter using them for communal benefit, so that all members would partake of them in equal portion. There was no personal attachment as yet to riches thus used, either on the part of the single Christian individual or for any autonomous Christian nucleus. The ownership, possession and enjoyment of any wealth was anonymous, impersonal and collective. There was also the help of the poor, of the slaves, of the sick and of the prisoners.

During the first and second centuries the early Christians, by acting in this manner, retained the innocence of the apostolic tradition; and even during the third, although the Church’s wealth had already become substantial, she managed to act in harmony with Christ’s injunction about poverty. Christians, however, by now no longer sold their goods upon being baptized. They had come to harmonize the possession of worldly good with the teaching of Christ by conveniently quoting or ignoring sundry passages of the Gospels. Also, by following the example of the Church, which as a corporate body had begun to accumulate wealth. Its retention was justified by her help of the destitute, and also by the fact that the habit had started by which many, upon their death beds, left estates or money to her.

It was thus that the apostolic tradition of poverty was eventually abandoned. There was nothing contradictory, so the argument ran, in Christians retaining earthly riches so long as these were used in the “service of religion.” The argument seemed a sound one to the individuals, particularly since Christianity had “turned respectable.” The Roman Catholic Church thus gradually became the custodian of wealth passed on to her by her sons, acting as its distributor and administrator. Until now there had been no indication of the shape of things to come.

This was soon visible, however, with the historical event of the utmost importance. The emperor Constantine, following concrete political consideration, had decided to align the growing forces of Christianity on his side. A pious legend has it that he put upon the Roman standards a cross, with the words “In this sign conquer!” He won against the rear guard forces of the pagan world.

Constantine recognized Christianity in A.D. 313. Thence forward a new phase was initiated. The Church Triumphant began to vest herself with the raiment of the world. The state became the protector. With this came not only power, but also wealth. Accumulation of the latter was no longer regarded solely for the purpose of helping the poor. It became a visible testimony to her newly found status; a necessity which went with her prestige and mounting strength and power.

This was reflected in the multiplying erection of prestigious cathedrals, the opulence of the vestments of her prelates, the magnificence of her liturgy. Parallel with these grew unchecked worldly pride, also mounting greed for earthly riches. The two begot lack of charity, which turned soon into blatant intolerance.

Pagan temples were either closed, transformed into Christian shrines or demolished. Their properties were summarily added to the Church’s patrimony. The wealth of sundry religions was mercilessly expropriated, their clergy dismissed or persecuted, when not civilly or even physically obliterated. This transfer of political might made an easy transition into acquisitional power, the Roman Catholic Church set out in earnest to promote a policy of swift appropriation of real estate, of highly remunerative governmental posts, and even of speculative monetary and commercial enterprises.

Simultaneously with the accelerated growth of prestige, might and wealth, a new factor appeared on the scene amidst the ruins of the classic and the new emerging cultures: the monastic communities. These, the nuclei of which had come to the fore in original obscurity even when the Church was being persecuted, now transformed themselves into vast associations of pious individuals determined to ensure the spiritual riches of heaven by the abandonment of the riches of the earth. But now, unlike their predecessors the anonymous hermits who sustained themselves solely upon locusts and spring water, their imitators found it increasingly difficult to follow such a strict mode of life.

The legacies of the pious, the presents of parcels of expensive lands, estates and goods from newly converted highly placed pagan individuals, and the thanksgiving of repentant sinners, all contributed within a few centuries to make the monastic families in Europe the custodians of earthly riches and thus the administrators of earthly goods. This Church soon found herself not only on a par with the political and military potentates of this world, but equally a competitor with these amassers of wealth, from her high prelates, consorting with the high officials of the imperial court, to the monastic communities, springing up with ever more frequency in the semi-abandoned hamlets of former Roman colonies.

The early apostolic tradition of poverty became an abstraction; at most, a text for sermons or pious homilies.

And, while single heroic individuals preached and observed it, the Church Triumphant, congregating with the principalities of the earth, not only ignored it; she shamelessly stultified its injunctions, until, having become embarrassed by it, she brazenly disregarded it, abandoning both its theory and, even more, its practice.


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At Missoula's St. Francis Xavier, celebration for new pope




HOPD

In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis looks at the crowd from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who chose the name of Pope Francis, is the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)


11 hours ago • By Martin Kidston


Less than 30 minutes after Pope Francis appeared on the Vatican balcony and led a crowd of tens of thousands in the Lord’s Prayer, the bells rang over St. Francis Xavier Church in Missoula.

Ten minutes later, the cork was popped on a bottle of Korbel California Champagne at the St. Francis Xavier Parish next door. Glasses all around, followed by a toast.

“Cheers to the new pope,” they hailed.

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Francis Xavier



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


This article is about the person. For schools and other uses, see St. Xavier (disambiguation).
Saint Francis Xavier


A painting of St Francis Xavier, held in the Kobe City Museum.


Apostle to the Far East
Born 7 April 1506
Xavier, Kingdom of Navarre, (Spain)
Died 3 December 1552 (aged 46)
Portuguese Base at São João Island, China
Honored in Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran Church, Anglican Communion
Beatified 25 October 1619 by Pope Paul V
Canonized 12 March 1622 by Gregory XV
Feast 3 December
Attributes crucifix; preacher carrying a flaming heart; bell; globe; vessel; young bearded Jesuit in the company of Saint Ignatius Loyola; young bearded Jesuit with a torch, flame, cross and lily
Patronage African missions; Agartala, India;Ahmedabad, India; Alexandria, Louisiana; Apostleship of Prayer;Australia; Bombay, India; Borneo;Cape Town, South Africa; China; Dinajpur, Bangladesh; East Indies; Fathers of the Precious Blood; foreign missions; Freising, Germany; Goa, India; Green Bay, Wisconsin; India; Indianapolis, Indiana; Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan; Joiliet, Illinois; Kabankalan, Philippines; Nasugbu, Batangas,Philippines; Alegria, Cebu,Philippines; diocese of Malindi, Kenya; missionaries; Missioners of the Precious Blood; Navarre, Spain; navigators; New Zealand; parish missions; plague epidemics; Propagation of the Faith; Zagreb, Croatia; Indonesia


Society of Jesus



History of the Jesuits
Regimini militantis
Suppression

Jesuit Hierarchy
Superior General
Adolfo Nicolás

Ignatian Spirituality
Spiritual Exercises
Ad majorem Dei gloriam
Magis

Notable Jesuits
Pope Francis
St. Ignatius of Loyola
St. Francis Xavier
Blessed Peter Faber
St. Aloysius Gonzaga
St. Robert Bellarmine
St. Peter Canisius
St. Edmund Campion


Francis Xavier, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta (7 April 1506 – 3 December 1552) was a Roman Catholic missionary born in the Kingdom of Navarre (now part of Spain) and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a student of Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits, dedicated at Montmartre in 1534.[1] He led an extensive mission into Asia, mainly in the Portuguese Empire of the time. He was influential in the spreading and upkeep of Catholicism most notably in India, but also ventured into Japan, Borneo, the Moluccas, and other areas which had thus far not been visited by Christian missionaries. In these areas, being a pioneer and struggling to learn the local languages in the face of opposition, he had less success than he had enjoyed in India. It was a goal of Xavier to one day reach China.


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Pope Francis Brings 'New Gifts' to the Catholic Church

The Future of the Catholic Church Under Francis







Published on Mar 13, 2013


Pope Francis is known as a humble man, invested in issues of poverty, who is socially progressive and doctrinally conservative. Ray Suarez talks to Chester Gillis of Georgetown University and Sister Simone Campbell of NETWORK, a social justice organization, about how the new pontiff will help shape the Catholic Church.

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Transcript


RAY SUAREZ: And for that, we're joined by Chester Gillis, a dean and professor of theology at Georgetown University. He has written extensively on the history of the papacy and Catholicism. And Sister Simone Campbell is the executive director of Network, a progressive Catholic organization which promotes social justice.

Well, the new pope joked that the fellow cardinals went to the ends of the earth to find him. He is the first pope from the global south. In his context, Sister, what does it mean to be socially progressive and doctrinally conservative?

SISTER SIMONE CAMPBELL, NETWORK: I think in the Argentine context, especially in the global south, it means to be keenly aware of the suffering of people at the margins of society.

He has spoken very strongly against the income disparities, against the concentration of wealth in the north by First World countries, against the consequences, the adverse consequences of globalization and globalized trade for people who are poor.

And then he is apparently very conservative on some of the social issues. And -- but that's very consistent with this whole idea that it's lifting up people in poverty is the key. That's where Jesus went, that's where Jesus was. And so I think he lives -- and it's interesting that he picked the name Francis, because that -- Francis was the most radical to reject the riches of his time and to embrace the whole concept of voluntary poverty, care for those at the margins.

It's a significant step, I think.

RAY SUAREZ: Dean, he comes from a background of supervising priests, rather than being a theologian or intellectual of the church. What practical aspect -- what practical application does that have in his new job?

CHESTER GILLIS, Georgetown University: Well, that means he's a pastoral person, which is probably a good thing for the church.

He's also a Jesuit. And Jesuits are intellectuals, all of them virtually, and a very powerful order in the church. So I think he has both sides. He has the pastoral side. And Jesuits are contemplatives in action. So there's a contemplation side and a spiritual side, but it is the activity side that has to manifest itself in culture and society. And it has to be on the side of the poor, the preferential option for the poor, as has been said.

I think that's part of his orientation. He supervised priests, so he knows how to run an organization. He knows how to manage people. He knows the pressures of that job. But they haven't -- he hasn't let that go to his head.

RAY SUAREZ: At the election of the last pope, Benedict XVI, it was observed because of his age that the electors were anticipating a short papacy. And, in fact, that's what they got. But Pope Francis is 76 years old, Sister. Did they just do it again?

SIMONE CAMPBELL: Well, I think they did just do it again. But I think this is also an important step, because in our fast-paced globalized world, I think maybe the electors have some insights that a very long papacy like with John Paul had a lot of positives, but there was a lot of anguish at the end of the papacy, and a lot of things went undone, because we always need a variety of skills and a variety of gifts to make a difference.

And I think that's what they're choosing, some new gifts, but not for too long.

RAY SUAREZ: There's been stories of financial mismanagement, decline of the church in the West, and, of course, the ongoing unfolding, consistent revelation of the sexual abuse scandals. What's job one after the installation?

CHESTER GILLIS: I think that job one is to put a management team in place, so to speak, to make some changes probably, even in the Curia, and put people in whom he trusts and who will make some changes in those structures and maybe even to more transparency in the Roman structure.

You know, who would want this job, you wonder. You say, my goodness, it's not an easy task. And you're right. He's coming in at a very difficult time. This is not coming in when things are smooth. So he can make a big difference in a short period of time, potentially.

SIMONE CAMPBELL: Yes.

CHESTER GILLIS: And part of that would be by what kind of management structure and with whom he surrounds himself to manage the affairs of the Vatican.

RAY SUAREZ: But that's a tough thing when you're coming in from the outside, isn't it?

SIMONE CAMPBELL: Oh, it is extremely difficult coming from the outside.

But the thing that he brings, it appears, is a sense of humility, a sense of humor, which is wonderful, and the capacity to welcome in everyone to the center. And I think it's that capacity to welcome people in that will allow him to form a management team that can do something different.

He comes from a democratic country, which is -- has been -- is led by a woman, so he is used to having other voices to deal with. So I think the fact that he understands democracy, knows the value of various voices, has worked with strong women will allow us then to create a good team that is diverse and that is pastoral as well as administratively sound.

RAY SUAREZ: His home, Latin America, is also the home of a third of the world's Catholics. But it's also a place that's seen a lot of decline in the church, a lot of move to Protestant churches, to a more exuberant form of worship, great inroads in the church.

Evangelism is being talked about a lot, that is, spreading the faith. He's been living that struggle, hasn't he, Dean?

CHESTER GILLIS: Yes.

And the evangelism has really been an evangelism to Catholics, ironically. Evangelism traditionally has always been trying to convert people to Catholicism. In this case, it's the bring people back to Catholicism. As you suggested, in Latin America, there's a great migration to evangelical Protestantism that's problematic.

In Europe, there's just a decline in religious interest and people just drop out. So to evangelize in both contexts is a very important element of the church. And someone who can carry that message, but also has a certain credibility about his own character and humility, I think, will help in that.

But it's a struggle. It's not going to be easy. This is not going to turn around on a dime.

RAY SUAREZ: Sister, what are your hopes now, as we're approaching the installation of a new pope, the seating and anointing of a new pope and Easter?

SIMONE CAMPBELL: Well, I live in hope. And I think this peace of evangelization is really important, because it's also that the people will evangelize our leaders.

Our leaders within the church need to hear from ordinary people. And that, I believe, Pope Francis has already been touched by them. But he will now need to be touched by the whole world. And when you touch the pain of the world as real, there is a solidarity, an engagement with the Gospel, a living faith that blossoms forth. And I guess I just pray for a moment of blossoming.

RAY SUAREZ: It must be a shocking thing to go to Rome and then find out you're really never going to live in your home again.

SIMONE CAMPBELL: You're not going home.

RAY SUAREZ: You're not going home.

CHESTER GILLIS: You're not going home. When you're elected, that's it. Somebody brings your belongings from your home country, and you are -- and you never have the same identity. You will be known as Francis for the rest of your life.

And there's -- the first thing the cardinals do is pledge obedience to him. Now, these were his colleagues and his peers a few hours ago, and now he's the Holy Father, as he's referred to the in Rome all the time, the Holy Father. It has to be an astonishing change for him. I'm sure he contemplated it to some degree, but I'm sure it's humbling.

I hope it's humbling. And it's probably a little bit frightening, saying, I hope I can do this. I hope I have the courage to do this, I have the insight, the spirituality, and the stamina to do the job.

RAY SUAREZ: Dean Gillis, Sister Simone, good to talk to you both.

SIMONE CAMPBELL: Thank you.

CHESTER GILLIS: Thank you, Ray.


Source
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

160 houses and 2 churches burnt in Lahore: photos

03/13/2013 17:17
PAKISTAN

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has opened an investigation accusing the police of complicity within the attack. Photos of the arson attack.


Lahore (AsiaNews) - The Supreme Court of Pakistan accused the Punjab police of sheltering the criminals involved in the arson attack on the Christian Joseph Colony of Lahore, on last 9th march. At least 160 houses, 18 shops and two churches, one catholic and one Seventh day Adventist, were burnt. Below photos of the arson, received today by AsiaNews.


















Source

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President's charm offensive too little, too late



awesomenewszz 

Published on Mar 12, 2013


President's charm offensive too little, too late

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Pope Francis (Wiki)

It's impressive how quickly things happen in the present techonlogically advanced day we live in;  Merely 2 hours after the announcement Wikipedia has a full article:

Papacy

The Holy See




Bergoglio[12] was elected pope on 13 March 2013 at 7:06 p.m,[13] the second day of the 2013 Papal conclave, taking the papal name Francis.[14]

Bergoglio is the first Jesuit priest chosen to be pope.[15] He is also the first pope from the Americas and the first one from the Southern Hemisphere. Indeed, he is the first non-European pope in over 1,200 years. The last non-European pope, St. Gregory III, was born in Syria and reigned from 731 to 741.[16] Francis is also the first pope since Pope John Paul I to take a previously unused papal name.[17]

FIRST JESUIT POPE



FILE - This Aug. 7, 2009 file photo shows Argentina's Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio giving a mass outside the San Cayetano church in Buenos Aires. Bergoglio, who took the name of Pope Francis, was elected on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, files)


By The Associated Press
AP / March 13, 2013



Pope Francis — the first Jesuit pope — has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina.


The former Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 76, reportedly got the second-most votes after Joseph Ratzinger, the last pope, in the 2005 papal election. He has long specialized in the kind of pastoral work — overseeing churches and priests — that some say is an essential skill for a pope.


In a lifetime of teaching and leading priests in Latin America, which has the largest share of the world’s Catholics, the former Bergoglio has shown a keen political sensibility as well as a self-effacing humility, according to his official biographer, Sergio Rubin. His personal style is the antithesis of Vatican splendor.


Bergoglio is also known for modernizing an Argentine church that had been among the most conservative in Latin America.


__ Michael Warren.


___


‘‘Pope Live’’ follows the choice of the new pope as seen by journalists from The Associated Press around the world. It will be updated throughout the day with breaking news and other items of interest. Follow AP reporters on Twitter where available.


Source
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WHAT, NO PETRUS ROMANUS?


Argentina's Bergoglio elected as new pope






By Philip Pullella and Barry Moody

VATICAN CITY | Wed Mar 13, 2013 3:55pm EDT

(Reuters) - Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected in a surprise choice to be the new leader of the troubled Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday, and said he would take the name Francis I.

Pope Francis, 76, appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica just over an hour after white smoke poured from a chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel to signal he had been chosen to lead the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

The choice of Bergoglio was announced by French cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran with the Latin words "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum. Habemus Papam" ("I announce to you a great joy. We have a pope"

Francis becomes the 266th pontiff in the Church's 2,000-year history at a time of great crisis and difficulty. Although a conservative he is seen as a reformer and was not among the small group of frontrunners identified before the election.

He also went against one of the main assumptions before the election, that the new pope would be relatively young.

He is the oldest of most of the possible candidates and was barely mentioned in feverish speculation about the top contenders before the conclave.

FIRST JESUIT POPE

He is the first Jesuit to become pope.

Read more
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Creepy O-cult video of the day: “Deliver us, Obama!”

Updated By Michelle Malkin • September 29, 2009 11:00 AM

 

....

The same separatist, anti-American theology of liberation that was so boldly and bitterly proclaimed by Obama’s pastor is shared, if more quietly, by Obama’s Gamaliel colleagues. The operative word here is “quietly.” Gamaliel specializes in ideological stealth, and Obama, a master student of Gamaliel strategy, shows disturbing signs of being a sub rosa radical himself. Obama’s legislative tactics, as well as his persistent professions of non-ideological pragmatism, appear to be inspired by his radical mentors’ most sophisticated tactics. Not only has Obama studied, taught, and apparently absorbed stealth techniques from radical groups like Gamaliel and ACORN, but in his position as a board member of Chicago’s supposedly nonpartisan Woods Fund, he quietly funneled money to his radical allies — at the very moment he most needed their support to boost his political career. It’s high time for these shadowy, perhaps improper, ties to receive a dose of sunlight.
The connections are numerous. Gregory Galluzzo, Gamaliel’s co-founder and executive director, served as a trainer and mentor during Obama’s mid-1980s organizing days in Chicago. The Developing Communities Project, which first hired Obama, is part of the Gamaliel network. Obama became a consultant and eventually a trainer of community organizers for Gamaliel. (He also served as a trainer for ACORN.) And he has kept up his ties with Gamaliel during his time in the U.S. Senate.
The Gamaliel connection appears to supply a solution to the riddle of Obama’s mysterious political persona. On one hand, he likes to highlight his days as a community organizer — a profession with proudly radical roots in the teachings of Chicago’s Saul Alinsky, author of the highly influential text Rules for Radicals. Obama even goes so far as to make the community-organizer image a metaphor for his distinctive conception of elective office. On the other hand, Obama presents himself as a post-ideological, consensus-minded politician who favors pragmatic, common-sense solutions to the issues of the day. How can Obama be radical and post-radical at the same time? Perhaps by deploying Gamaliel techniques. Gamaliel organizers have discovered a way to fuse their Left-extremist political beliefs with a smooth, non-ideological surface of down-to-earth pragmatism: the substance of Jeremiah Wright with the appearance of Norman Vincent Peale. Could this be Obama’s secret?


Read more

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White Smoke Rises; New Pope Is Chosen




Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Alberto Pizzoli/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Oded Balilty/Associated Press

Oded Balilty/Associated Press

Oded Balilty/Associated Press

Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

Johannes Eisele/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

White smoke billowed from a makeshift chimney atop the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday night, signaling the election of a new pope.

By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: March 13, 2013



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Wisdom and Understanding



.Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
- Proverbs 3:13.





Illustration:
 Total Confusion by Tamra Pfeifle Davisson

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