Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Catholic Church calls on employers to pay a 'Living Wage'

 Photo (Courtesy) http://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/assessing-vatican-ii-a-response-to-my-critics







To coincide with Living Wage Week, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales together with three of its leading Catholic Agencies: the Catholic Education Service, CSAN (Caritas Social Action Network) and CAFOD, have reiterated the Church’s teaching on just wages and its support for the Living Wage and its importance for the support of workers’ families.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Catholic Education Service have produced a Living Wage Resource encouraging Catholic organisations, schools and charities in England and Wales to work towards its implementation.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, the Catholic Education Service, CSAN and CAFOD are all accredited Living Wage Employers.

Quoting the resolution which the Bishops’ Conference passed in 2012, Mgr Marcus Stock, General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said: “The Bishops’ Conference fully endorses the principle of the Living Wage and invites Catholic organisations and charities in England and Wales to work towards its implementation.”

Paul Barber, Director of the Catholic Education Service, said: “We welcome the Bishops’ invitation to support the Living Wage. The importance of a ‘just wage’ can be found in Catholic Social Teaching, spanning over 100 years.”

“Schools and colleges play a central role in our Catholic communities and we recognise that, though schools often face financial pressure, this is one way in which we can live out our faith in service to the Common Good.”

Helen O’Brien, Chief Executive of CSAN, the domestic social action agency of the Catholic Church, added: “Many Catholic Charities are increasingly witnessing more families living in ‘in-work poverty’ and struggling to afford the very basic costs of living such as food, utilities and rent payments. We recognise the importance of just wages as well as fair terms and conditions of employment.”

“CSAN is committed to the principle of a Living Wage, which not only enables individuals to provide materially for their families but also allows them to spend quality time with their children”.

Chris Bain, Director of CAFOD, commented: "Scripture makes many references to the importance of paying a right and just wage for work done. Although we were already paying the Living Wage for our staff before the joining the campaign, our Facilities Manager was also able to secure a Living Wage for the contract staff who deliver some of the services for CAFOD through third parties. We also feel that it was important to become a Living Wage employer as an expression of our solidarity with the principles of a paying a living wage and with those individuals and organisations striving to achieve fair pay."


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Elected officials: Jesuits are stonewalling Staten Island on Mount Manresa


Mt. Manresa supporters await the decision. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)
Steve Zaffarano



By Letters to the Editor/Staten Island Advance
on November 05, 2013 at 6:55 PM, updated November 06, 2013 at 1:50 AM




By State Sen. DIANE SAVINO,
Assemblywoman NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS
and Councilman JAMES ODDO

SPECIAL TO THE ADVANCE

As elected representatives, we are often faced with criticism from those who disagree with our views on the issues.

Recently, Rev. Mark Hallinan wrote a letter to the editor in which he mischaracterized our commitment to the fight to save Mount Manresa from development, and we’d like to set the record straight.

Since news broke of the Society of Jesus’ plans to sell Mount Manresa to a wealthy development group, residents and elected leaders from across the community have lamented the action and worked to offer mutually beneficial alternatives.

As time has passed, it has become increasingly clear — and gravely disappointing — that the Jesuits are only interested in completing their sale as constructed, unwilling to work with the community they have partnered with so successfully over the last 100 years.

Over the past year, we have teamed with people and groups like The Committee to Save Mount Manresa, not only to express our opposition to the sale, but to devise other ways to transfer the property that will protect all interested parties, while continuing the Jesuits’ track record of service to the community.

That valuable service has earned the facility tax-free status, a reasonable, albeit expensive, show of good will by taxpayers. This arrangement has been maintained amicably for generations, under the simple premise that Staten Islanders benefit from Mount Manresa and it would be here in perpetuity.

Unfortunately, the Jesuits’ refusal to engage with their community partners regarding this sale is a violation of that relationship.

While residents, community groups and elected officials have devised alternatives and embraced an open dialogue with the Jesuits, their efforts have fallen on deaf ears.

The Jesuits’ refusal to work with Staten Islanders was never clearer than during a recent court hearing regarding an injunction we have filed to block the sale as currently constructed. Acting State Supreme Court Justice Charles Troia asked the Jesuits if they would be willing to work toward a solution that would preserve the land for public use and help the developmentally disabled, while still providing their group the $15 million they seek.

The answer was a flat-out “no.”

In his letter, Rev. Hallinan wrote that elected officials should “put up or shut up.”

We strongly suggest he look within the Society of Jesus for answers as to why a better deal for all was not reached.

Putting aside the legal issues involved with the sale that are still pending, we believe the Jesuits have a moral obligation to seek a mutually beneficial resolution to the sale of Mount Manresa.

It is true that Staten Islanders have benefited greatly from the services provided on this historic property, and for that we will forever be thankful. Due to its tax-free status, however, the Jesuits have benefited from Staten Island’s generosity as well.

This has been a symbiotic relationship for over 100 years. As such, it is right and just that the Jesuits invest in the community that has invested so much into them.


Source
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Bill Hughes- Will the Antichrist Please Stand Up?



Bill Hughes- Will the Antichrist Please Stand Up?



Jesus is going to win


Published on Jul 8, 2013

Pastor Bill Hughes author of 'The Secret Terrorists' and 'Enemy Unmasked', removes the veil and exposes the real antichrist of Bible prophecy.
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CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION







Adrian McQueen


Published on May 10, 2013

The most unreported war covers the most ignored news story, the persecution of Christians worldwide and its dramatic increase in the 21st century. Unbeknownst to many, the worst persecution that has been inflicted upon Christians is not by secular governments, but by people who profess to believe in God. Quite shocking to many, when the Catholic Church was in its prime, it committed the worst horrors in history, but has cleverly covered its track and as she begins to grow in influence, if she reclaims the former control she had over the governments in the Dark Ages, she will do it all over again.
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Tuesday, November 05, 2013

Vatican embassy in Syria hit, damaged by mortar strike

News Network via AP Video/ Associated Press ) - In this image taken from Monday, Nov. 4, 2013, video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, people clear debris while searching for bodies in Douma, Syria. Activists said an air attack caused the ruin.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syria-says-government-officials-wont-attend-geneva-peace-talks-to-hand-over-power/2013/11/05/afcd3a9a-4605-11e3-95a9-3f15b5618ba8_story.html


SYRIA-NUNCIATURE Nov-5-2013 (620 words) xxxi

By Carol Glatz

Catholic News Service


VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A mortar round hit the apostolic nunciature in the Syrian capital, causing limited damage to the building and no casualties because of the early hour of the strike, said the Vatican ambassador to Syria.

Archbishop Mario Zenari, the Vatican nuncio, told Vatican Radio Nov. 5 that if the rocket had been launched just a half-hour later, he would have been saying morning prayers on the terrace near where the mortar struck.

"You can imagine what I would have encountered," he said.

He told the radio that he was just getting out of bed at 6:35 a.m. local time "when I heard a big bang and I immediately threw myself onto the floor, trying to stay away from the windows because we've already had the experience that sometimes it's not just one mortar, but two or three" that land in succession.

"It's not the first time that these rockets, this mortar fire, have fallen near the nunciature," he said.

The single strike Nov. 5 destroyed part of the roof, including the eaves of the building and part of the facade, the archbishop told the Rome-based AsiaNews agency.

If the strike had occurred later in the morning, after other employees had arrived at the nunciature, it could have provoked injuries because of the falling roof shingles and flying debris, he said.

Archbishop Zenari said they had no idea who launched the strike, but that it was "pretty powerful."

Sometimes the mortar lands where it was targeted; other times the rockets land where they do "by mistake," he said.

"I have to say, unfortunately, that these things happen every day" and few areas in the city are spared, he said. For example, a Franciscan monastery in Aleppo was damaged Nov. 2 by mortars and the Christian quarter in Damascus sees mortar fire "with a certain frequency."

One densely inhabited suburb near the capital, he said, has been hit by 2,800 mortar shells since the start of the conflict nearly three years ago as rebels try to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"Therefore, we're all in the same boat, in Damascus and in other parts of the country," the archbishop said.

Whenever mortar fire hits, he said, he always thinks about what the nation's children are going through. If the attacks make him scared, he can only imagine what the children are experiencing, especially when so many experience much worse, like "seeing homes collapse on top of them, having to flee because their home or village was destroyed," he said.

The archbishop said there is growing concern among the country's Christians. In the beginning of the conflict, the Christian minority was still "respected," but lately their situation has become "a bit worrying."

However, all Syrians are worried, not just the Christians, he added.

Archbishop Zenari said the international community and Syria's warring sides "have to really double their efforts" to come up with a political solution to the crisis.

"It's not so much an uphill struggle, but it seems that in these conditions is almost a cliff, like climbing a wall" to get a negotiated solution.

The world community and Syrian powers need to do everything possible "because the people are suffering, they are dying every day, they are leaving their villages, homes are destroyed daily, there are refugees and people displaced every day," he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in July that more than 100,000 people had been killed in the Syrian civil war.

U.S. government officials estimate that almost one-third of Syria's 22 million people have been displaced by the civil war, including an estimated 2 million who have fled the country and about 5 million who have been forced from their homes but remain in Syria.


END



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World Bank Whistleblower ***Exposes All***






TheForerunner777

Published on Nov 4, 2013

Former WORLD BANK Senior Counsel Karen Hudes Exposes IRS and JESUIT connection, OBAMA being blackmailed, NUCLEAR False Flag attack on US soil....and MORE. YOU MUST SEE ALL 3 PARTS OF THIS INTERVIEW.

WWW.THEFORERUNNERCHRONICLES.COM
FACEBOOK@4RUNNER777
TWITTER@4RUNNER777
TEXT@ (417) 693-6995
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Karen Hudes Predicts Lawlessness when U S Dollar Loses International Currency Status





Greg Hunter

Published on Sep 18, 2013

http://usawatchdog.com/gold-backwarda... Karen Hudes, a former 20 year employee of the World Bank, contends the U.S. credit rating is on very dubious ground. Hudes says, "This is actually an underhanded move because they know the U.S. dollar is going to lose its status as an international currency." What would that look like to the man on the street? Hudes predicts, "Prices would change on a daily basis. They would double. The number of families that would be employed would be in the minority . . . there would be lawlessness." Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with former World Bank lawyer Karen Hudes.
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Ezekiel Emanuel Chris Wallace HEATED Fox News Sunday. Ezekiel Emanuel On Obamacare





 Les Grossman Best of YouTube - News & Politics


Published on Nov 3, 2013


ezekiel emanuel chris wallace obamacare. Ezekiel Emanuel, principal architect of ezekiel emanuel obamacare Affordable Care Act, appeared on Fox News Sunday and strongly debated host Chris Wallace and American Enterprise Institute's James Capretta over President Barack Obama's "if you like your plan, you can keep it" pledge. The pugnacious Emanuel so loudly argued over his opponents that Wallace got tongue-tied at one point and told Capretta, "Don't talk while he's interrupting!"

Wallace fought back against Emanuel's argument that the grandfather clause, which allows people to keep any insurance policy acquired before March of 2010, was a fulfillment of Obama's promise.

"Your grandfathering is so narrow," Wallace said to Emanuel, "if your insurance company changes your co-pay by more than $5 over the course of the three years since 2010, it's no longer grandfathered in."

"That's usually a 25% change," Emanuel said. "That's a big change...You have to ask the question: how many planks do you change in a boat before it's a different boat? That's the same thing here: we had a plan, we argued about it."

"You didn't tell the American people," Wallace said. "You said, if this plan is in effect until March of 2010, you can keep it."

"That's what it said!" Emanuel said. "That's how we fulfilled that pledge."

Wallace continued to press Emanuel on a variety of issues, including why the government gets to mandate minimum insurance coverage for people who may not need it, and the number of large employers dropping insurance policies, effectively forcing employees onto the federal exchanges. "Simple question," Wallace said to Emanuel. "Are those people going to be able to keep their coverage, as the President promised?"

"The law does not say, 'Sears, drop coverage!'" Emanuel said. "Sears decides what's good for Sears. The law doesn't say to the insurance industry, 'You drop coverage!' The insurance industry decides how to make money. When the private companies decide that they're going to drop people or put them in the exchange, you decide to blame President Obama. He is not responsible for that."

Watch the full clip below, via Fox News:
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ObamaCare architect defends plan, says president not to blame for rollout glitches


POLITICS

Published November 03, 2013
FoxNews.com

Ezekiel EmanuelFox News


WASHINGTON – The architect of the Affordable Care Act insisted on “Fox News Sunday” that President Obama isn’t to blame for the rocky rollout of ObamaCare and deflected charges that the administration misled Americans about being able to keep their current health plans.

Ezekiel Emanuel, a bioethicist, was part of the president’s health care reform team for two years and is the brother of former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

“We grandfathered in plans,” Emanuel said.

Host Chris Wallace pressed Emanuel to defend the growing number of cancellation notices sent to people whose plans changed after the law was implemented, but Emanuel could not.

Instead, he blamed much of the problems on insurance companies and not the new law.

“The law does not say ‘Sears drop coverage!’ Sears decides what’s good for Sears,” Emanuel said. “The insurance decides how to make money. When the private companies decide to drop an individual, you blame Obama. He isn’t responsible for that.”

Wallace’s other guest in the segment, James Capretta of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, called the grandfather clause in ObamaCare too narrow, adding that “the whole point of the exchanges was to close down the individual insurance market.”

Capretta called out Obama’s pitch to the public about the benefits of the plan and repeated pledges that Americans would be able to keep their current insurance providers if they liked it misleading and says Obama should shoulder the blame.

“There’s no extenuating circumstances,” Capretta said. “It was central to passing the law. He said clearly you can keep your plan. This wasn’t a minor pledge. It was central to the law. He broke that pledge.”

Capretta said the Obama administration “shouldn’t be able to play fast and loose” with people’s medical coverage.

In recent days, a growing number of Democrats have joined Republicans calling to extend the March 31 deadline to sign up for health insurance. They argue that the White House should extend the deadline to make sure that people who want it have enough time to buy it.

Capretta suggested “delaying the whole thing for a year.”

Emanuel did not agree.

“(Americans) will have a full four months to sign up,” Emanuel said. “You can’t prejudge now.”
White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer added a new twist to Obama’s pledge to millions of Americans that they could keep their insurance if they like it.

“[People who are happy with their insurance] can keep it, if it hasn’t been changed or canceled,” he said on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos.

In the days that followed the Oct. 1 rollout, the site has been riddled with problems.

The ObamaCare website shut down Saturday night for “extended” repairs, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Technicians have shut down HealthCare.gov during weekends since the site launched Oct. 1, but just for a few overnight hours.

"The HealthCare.gov tech team is performing extended maintenance this weekend to improve network infrastructure and make enhancements to the online application and enrollment tools,” agency spokeswoman Joanne Peters said Saturday.

Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified during a congressional hearing that officials are working “24-7” to improve the health insurance website HealthCare.gov. The online portal debuted on Oct. 1 to mostly negative reviews over glitches in the system.

The website was designed to allow people to sign in and sign up for insurance in their state.

It is a part of Obama’s signature health care overhaul. The law, which was passed with no GOP support, was signed by the president in 2010 as a way to fix the nation’s ailing health care system and providing insurance to millions of people who couldn’t afford it.

Sebelius was grilled for three hours last week by lawmakers who wanted to know why there were so many problems with the system. Sebelius took most of the blame for the botched debut.

Jeffrey Zients, a former White House budget deputy, has said the site will be fixed by the end of the month. Sebelius has also said she feels confident about the Nov. 30 re-launch.


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World Bank Whistleblower makes Startling Confession Karen Hudes





the jesuits' jungle


Published on Oct 30, 2013


Karen Hudes exposes The World Bank.

Source: Next News Network' channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJwJEN...

Karen Hude's website http://kahudes.net/

'Dollar About to Crash',
170,000 Tons of Gold Held in Secret Hawaii Vault
-- World Bank Whistleblower
http://www.silverdoctors.com/dollar-v...

Very informative article:
World Bank Whistleblower Karen Hudes
Reveals How The Global Elite Rule The World
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/ar...

Try this link. It went blank every time.
http://www.thebigbadbank.com/
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Karen Hudes - World Bank in Collusion with the Jesuits.



the jesuits' jungle

Published on Oct 30, 2013

The Federal Reserve and the Bank for International Settlements are in collusion with the biggest crooks of all, the Jesuits, who "bought out" Bank of America and they have secret deals to apportion to themselves the riches of the world, says Karen Hudes (time 3:44 in video). Ms. Hudes is a former senior counsel for the World Bank who was fired for being a whistleblower.
http://beforeitsnews.com/watercooler-...

She also says that the IRS revenue goes to the Vatican.
Here at: 12:28

Source: Greg Hunter' channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHVgRg...

Karen Hude's website http://kahudes.net/

'Dollar About to Crash',
170,000 Tons of Gold Held in Secret Hawaii Vault
-- World Bank Whistleblower
http://www.silverdoctors.com/dollar-v...

Very informative article.
World Bank Whistleblower Karen Hudes
Reveals How The Global Elite Rule The World
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/ar...\
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Monday, November 04, 2013

Meet John Kerry, Skull and Bones Ambassador






corbettreport


Published on May 24, 2013


SHOW NOTES AND MP3: http://www.corbettreport.com/?p=7405

This week on The Corbett Report we look beyond the mainstream narrative of John Kerry and his background to find the real connections that have catapulted him into the corridors of power. From his billionaire wife to his Ivy League education to his Skull and Bones membership, we examine the real agenda of the new Secretary of State.
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What happened to the Glasses?

Photo (Courtesy) http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/files/2013/01/hillarygoodbye.jpg


Remember way back when? 

2012
  • The cancelled diplomatic rendezvous, 
  • the illness, 
  • the stomach infection, 
  • The Fall,
  • The concussion,
  • The hospitalization...
 
Hillary Clinton exiting one of the Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York, NY; accompanied by Chelsea, Bill, and a personal entourage 
 January 2, 2013
 
 
*********************************************

She The People

Hillary Clinton announces ‘No Ceilings’ initiative to empower women


By Karen Tumulty


November 1 at 7:01 pm




Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton addresses the Center for American Progress policy forum in Washington on Oct. 24, 2013. (REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)


At the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual do-good-athon back in September, the world’s most famous out-of-work secretary of state declared that women’s full participation in society remained “the unfinished business of the 21st century.”

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Who Is Accused LAX Gunman Paul Ciancia?


Pamela Engel

Nov. 3, 2013, 3:21 PM 6,859

 
FBI Handout
Paul Ciancia


Paul Ciancia, 23, is accused of entering LAX airport in Los Angeles and opening fire Friday morning, allegedly targeting TSA agents in the rampage.

He has been charged with murder of a federal officer and committing violence at an international airport. Ciancia allegedly killed a TSA officer and wounded three others.

Ciancia could face the death penalty.

He grew up in Pennsville Township, N.J., but was relatively unknown in his hometown.

One high school classmate told the Los Angeles Times that "in four years, I never heard a word out of [Ciancia's] mouth." He also said he couldn't remember one person who was close to Ciancia.

Ciancia graduated from a Catholic high school in 2008. Classmates said he might have been the victim of bullying.

Some who had contact with him contradicted the theory that he was a loner, however, and said he seemed "sociable" and "normal," NJ.com reports.

"I talked to him here and there. He seemed very sociable. Just a normal guy. When we were younger, we both had braces, so I would see him at appointments," 17-year-old Joshua Pagan told NJ.com. "Never once did I see anything off about him. ... When I first found out, it was almost like — it can’t be him."

He had no criminal history, according to CBS News.

Tragedy hit his family in 2009 when Ciancia's mother died after a battle with multiple sclerosis, NJ.com reports.

Ciancia was reportedly suicidal, but roommates in Los Angeles said they saw him Thursday and that he seemed fine.

He was allegedly carrying a note at the airport that suggested he was planning to die there, according to law enforcement officials who spoke to USA Today. Ciancia also sent a text message to his brother on Friday saying he was thinking about taking his life, according to NBC New York.

The note also said Ciancia "wanted to kill TSA and pigs" and "instill fear into [their] traitorous minds." It also mentioned how easy it is to get a gun, according to the Associated Press.

Law enforcement officials believe Ciancia legally purchased the assault rifle used in the attack from an L.A. arms dealer, according to USA Today.

Ciancia's note also reportedly referenced the "New World Order," a conspiracy theory about a secret plot to establish an authoritarian world government.

He brought more than 100 rounds of ammunition to the airport with him, suggesting that he was planning to kill more people than he was able to.

 
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-paul-ciancia-2013-11#ixzz2jhf3lWw4
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The Truth About Obamacare





Stefan Molyneux


Published on Oct 24, 2013


Obamacare facts explained by Stefan Molyneux. A comprehensive look at the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and it's implementation.

Freedomain Radio is 100% funded by viewers like you. Please support the show by signing up for a monthly subscription or making a one time donation at: http://www.fdrurl.com/donate

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http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/m...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politic...

http://themattwalshblog.com/2013/10/2...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothe...

http://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress....

http://news.investors.com/politics-ob...

http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/oba...

http://reason.com/blog/2013/10/23/the...
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To Stave Off Decline, Churches Attract New Members With Beer




by John Burnett
November 03, 2013 4:25 AM


Listen to the story

6 min 6 sec





Todd Fadel, at piano, leads singers at a recent gathering of Beer & Hymns at First Christian Church Portland. John Burnett/NPR



With mainline religious congregations dwindling across America, a scattering of churches is trying to attract new members by creating a different sort of Christian community. They are gathering around craft beer.

Some church groups are brewing it themselves, while others are bring the Holy Mysteries to a taproom. The result is not sloshed congregants; rather, it's an exploratory approach to do church differently.

Leah Stanfield stands at a microphone across the room from the beer taps and reads this evening's gospel message.

She's a 28-year-old leasing agent who's been coming to Church-in-a-Pub here in Fort Worth, Tex., for a year, and occasionally leads worship.

"I find the love, I find the support, I find the non-judgmental eyes when I come here," she says. "And I find friends that love God, love craft beer."




Every Sunday evening, 30 to 40 people gather at Zio Carlo brewpub to order pizza and pints of beer, to have fellowship, and have churchincluding communion.




Leah Stanfield, a leasing agent in Fort Worth and regular attendee of Church-in-a Pub, hands out bread during communion at the tavern. John Burnett/NPR


Pastor Philip Heinze and his Calvary Lutheran Church sponsor Church-in-a-Pub, whose formal name is the Greek word, Kyrie.

Some patrons are understandably confused. They come in for a brew and there's a religious service going on in their bar. They expected Trivia Night and they get the Holy Eucharist.

"I tell 'em, it's a church service," says bartender Les Bennett, "And they're, like, 'In a pub?' And I'm, like, yeah. Some of 'em stick around for trivia, some of 'em take off, some of 'em will hang out and have another pint or two."

That's one of the objectives: A guy sits at the bar nursing a beer, he overhears the Gospel of Luke, he sees people line up to take bread and wine, he gets curious. Phil Heinze says pub church has now become an official — if edgy — Lutheran mission.

"I'm not interested, frankly, in making more church members," Heinze. "I'm interested in having people have significant relationships around Jesus. And if it turns out to be craft beer, fine."

For most of the folks who attend regularly, this is their Sunday night congregation. Church leaders, initially skeptical, are now paying attention. Last month, the regional council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America named Church-in-a-pub a Synodically Authorized Worshiping Community. Next year, it will call a young pastor to expand the idea to other taverns around Dallas-Fort Worth.

"I think the institutional church now is getting onboard," says Heinze, "because there's a lot of anxiety frankly about the church's decline and they're trying to think outside of that institutional box."

In downtown Portland, Ore., at the stately old First Christian Church, one Saturday night a month they open the parish hall for an event called Beer & Hymns.



The sign for Beer & Hymns at First Christian Church in downtown Portland, Ore. John Burnett/NPR


There must be 100 people here tonight, most of them young, the kind you rarely see in church on Sunday morning. They're swigging homemade stout from plastic cups — with a two-beer limit. They're singing traditional hymns from a projection screen like Be Thou My Vision. And they're having way too much fun.

Like the crowd at Church-in-a-pub, a lot of folks at Beer & Hymns appear to be refugees from traditional churches.

Between hymns, people can stand up and say anything they want. Jolie Shempert, a transgender person who's studying humanities at Portland State University, steps up to the mike.

Shempert was raised in a strict church that taught that animals don't have souls, only people do. But Shempert's beloved dog, Gunner, has just died.





"I want to sing this song in defiance of that because Gunner was my friend. And he has emotions and a personality and I had a relationship with him that's as real as any relationship I had with any human being."

The Christian Church Disciples of Christ — a small mainline Protestant denomination — has experienced a steep drop in membership in recent decades. Beer & Hymns is one attempt to attract new people, in this hip, beer-loving city, while keeping a safe distance away from stained-glass windows.

Rodney Page is optimistic. The 78-year-old is a long-time member of First Christian Portland and a Beer & Hymns convert.

"I know that initially there were some people who had some trepidation," says Page. "This church has had a history and background of being anti-alcohol, so it took some convincing for some people. But eventually people went ahead with it and it's been a great success."

No one is suggesting that Beer & Hymns or Church-in-a-Pub — or any of the dozens of other beer-in-church events that are popping up around the nation — are permanent. They're transitional experiments.




Amy Piatt is senior pastor at First Christian Church Portland. She's a sixth-generation Disciple of Christ and the originator of Beer & Hymns. She says in this postmodern age, what it means to attend church is changing.

"It's probably, in the very near future, not going to be at 10 am on Sunday morning wearing your best shoes and tie or dress," she says. "It's going to be something different. I mean, what that is, we are still finding out, we're still learning together. But it's still holy, God is still there, and that's what's most important."

To doubters, the Beer & God crowd has this pop quiz. What was the first miracle Jesus performed? Turning water into wine.


Source
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REVIEW: 'Five Days at Memorial,' by Sheri Fink

Memorial Hospital at New Orleans, Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina
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Article by: CURT SCHLEIER , Special to the Star Tribune
Updated: October 19, 2013 - 2:00 PM

A gripping, detailed examination of a New Orleans hospital in the aftermath of Katrina.

If “Five Days at Memorial” were a novel, critical reaction undoubtedly would be overwhelmingly negative: It is too far-fetched.

Sadly, it isn’t fiction. An expanded and updated version of a 2009 magazine article that won author Sheri Fink a Pulitzer Prize, the book describes in remarkable detail Hurricane Katrina’s impact on Memorial Medical Center, a New Orleans mainstay, “the place you went to ride out each hurricane.”

At the center of the narrative is the decision by certain staff members to euthanize patients who could not be evacuated. Murder, or heroism? Fink’s balanced account lets you decide.

Much has already been written about New Orleans at the time: the inadequate preparation by local authorities, followed by the almost criminally inept response by FEMA. The storm hit Monday, Aug. 29, 2005. Early the following morning, city power failed. At the hospital, auxiliary generators kicked in, but with limited power. There was no air conditioning.

About 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 31, the last of the hospital’s generators failed, stopping life-support machines. The stench of urine, overflowing diapers and feces-soiled garments suffused the swampy air, Fink writes.

Chaos in the hospital was overshadowed by chaos on the outside. Gunshots were heard and rumors spread that looters were about to invade the facility and raid the pharmacy.

Usually, disasters are contained. Even in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, emergency personnel and equipment were able to get to the scene. They worked long hours, but they were relieved; they had time to eat, shower and sleep.

Katrina was different, a natural disaster unprecedented in the United States. While a number of Memorial medical staffers left — some to accompany patients, others just to get out of there — many stayed the full five days before being forced to evacuate with a few patients left behind.

One doctor told Fink that he “knew [euthanasia] was technically a crime, but his alternative was to stay in this hostile, unnatural environment until they died on their own. Or leave them to die by themselves, perhaps eaten by animals.”

The second half of the book deals with events following the disaster. A doctor and two nurses were arrested and charged with four cases of second-degree murder. A grand jury refused to indict.

With global climate change increasing the likelihood of these large-scale natural disasters, the question becomes: Have we learned anything? And the answer is: yes and no.

Fink visited Memorial before Hurricane Isaac last August and found the hospital’s patients safely evacuated — but also found the hospital’s electrical switching equipment still located in the basement, the part of the building that is the first to flood.

Meanwhile, the Institute of Medicine, an advisory board of the National Academies, said: “Neither the law nor ethics support the intentional hastening of death, even in a crisis.”

Fink, who is a medical doctor and journalist, has written an important book that will make your blood boil no matter which side of the issue you support.

Curt Schleier is a book critic and EMT and a 40-year member of his volunteer ambulance corps.


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A Vatican scientist

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Catholic News Service


Published on Jun 24, 2012

An interview with Jesuit Brother Guy J. Consolmagno, a research astronomer at the Vatican Observatory. Brother Consolmagno speaks on the relationship between science and faith.
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Related:

(Sunday -November 11, 2013)
 
Guy Consolmagno on Theology and Astronomy (PRI: To the Best of Our Knowledge)

Transcript for Guy Consolmagno on Theology and Astronomy

Interview details for Guy Consolmagno on Theology and Astronomy

VIEW OTHER INTERVIEWS FROM: Alone in the Universe?


Jim Fleming: When Guy Consolmagno was a freshman in college, he thought about becoming a Jesuit priest. Science lured him away. He went to MIT, got a doctorate in planetary science, and then realized something was missing. Today, Guy Consolmagno is “Brother Guy” a Jesuit priest and an astronomer at the Vatican. He believes science and religion can work alongside each other.

Guy Consolmagno: Anybody who’s looked at the stars and not been moved, just emotionally, has no soul. That’s something that is wonderful about astronomy that anyone at any level of education could go out and just go, “Wow!”If you look through a telescope and you see the rings on Saturn, that’s even more, “Wow!”And if you’re able to handle the mathematics to understand all of the things that you can get to when you get to graduate school, then it’s just all the more amazing and wonderful. You know, it’s one thing to be amazed at the universe is rational; it makes sense. That was completely unexpected. But that it should also be beautiful is the deepest and most wonderful mystery.

Fleming: Do you see astronomy as a spiritual pursuit?

Consolmagno: I’ll say how my religion and science interact is, it’s not the case that I’m going to use my science to prove or disprove some religious point. That doesn’t work. But they both interact on a mettle level. Religion is what motivates me to do science. Religion is what gives me the courage to say, “There are going to be answers. The universe is rational.

Fleming: So one of the big things going on right now, that I suspect is talked about a lot in all of the fields in which you work, is the search for life, that there may be life, that there is the expectation of life elsewhere in the universe, biological life, maybe intelligent life, maybe life that we can communicate with. Do you imagine that is a possibility? Is it a possibility you would welcome?

Consolmagno: Yes and yes. Absolutely. Part of that is the science fiction fan in me. I’ll confess one of the reasons I went to MIT was to read science fiction. They have a big science fiction library there. Part of it is scientific. My Master’s thesis at MIT, among other things, predicted oceans under the ice crust of Europa and even talks about the possibility of life there. That was 1975. So I would feel vindicated if we actually found life in those places. Part of it is simply, well, to quote Carl Sagan, the famous agnostic, “If there isn’t life out there, it sure is a big waste of space.”

Fleming: So tell me, does the Vatican have a position on how to respond to the possibility of life outside of Earth?

Consolmagno: The Vatican doesn’t have positions like that on anything but there’s certainly no reason to argue theologically one way or the other.

Fleming: Well, I can imagine that there might be some who would say, again, perhaps I’m just, perhaps I’m misquoting, I don’t know. God gave His only son. God created man in His own image. Those kinds of things, if those are true, how is it possible for there to be life elsewhere?

Consolmagno: Well, you know, I’ll give you three points. First, the whole idea of, “What is God’s image and likeness?” that was discussed in the Middle Ages and what they were talking about in terms of the Middle Ages was soul, what Thomas Aquinas refers to as “intellect and free-will”. In other words, an entity that is aware of itself, aware of other entities and able to make choices maybe to love or not love, to interact or not interact. That’s the essence of what the image and likeness of God is about. It has nothing to do with how many tentacles you have. The other question of God sending His son, our theology also says that this person of the Trinity was there at the beginning, long before the Earth was created. And, thus, not tied merely to planet Earth. We also have in our religious tradition, the tradition of, if nothing else, we’ve got angels who are, presumably, intelligent beings free to choose or not choose creations of the Creator and, obviously, not human beings. We’re not afraid of there being other entities out there.

Fleming: Does this suggest that there could be a seven-tentacled Jesus landing on the third moon of Saturn?

Consolmagno: For all I know. When you find him, ask me again. We don’t know how it’s going to work. One of our fellows at the observatory said, “The incarnation of Jesus is, in a sense, the word.”That’s how it’s described in John’s gospel. Who’s to say that word couldn’t exist in more than one language? On the other hand, the fact that it happened once with us human beings here on Earth is sufficient to say that it’s possible that it did happen. Like a mathematical proof, it’s the one instance that says, “OK. It could happen,”and once is sufficient. But are there a zillion? We don’t know.

Fleming: Of course for centuries, the Catholic Church’s response to the discovery of new lands, of new people, was to send out missionaries to convert everyone. Do you suppose that could happen again? It’s been the subject of that science fiction that you so love.

Consolmagno: Right. Well, the very fact that they sent out the missionaries showed that they accepted these other people as fully equal human beings.

Fleming: And if the discovery of life turns out to be lettuce plants in the galaxy next door, it’s going to be a little difficult.

Consolmagno: Well, the fact of the matter is that the possibility of finding intelligent life in our own solar system is probably limited.

Fleming: And yet it is something . . .

Consolmagno: Having said that, having said that, yeah, I agree. It’s something that is fantastic to think about precisely in the sense of science fiction and saying, “All right. Let’s posit this way. Then what happens?”Because when you ask, you know, “What is the image and likeness of God mean? What is it like to talk to a non-human entity?” You’re immediately asking, “Well, then, what does it mean to be human? What does it mean for us to have a soul? What does it mean for us to have a Savior? Is it likely that other intelligent beings who are going to be subject to, presumably, the same laws of physics and chemistry, you know, they’re going to have to eat food and if they fall off a cliff, they are going to kill themselves, are they also going to have the same laws of right and wrong? Are they going to say that lying is a sin? That taking a life, an intelligent life is a sin and that the possibility of sin exists?”These are great questions. These are science fiction questions and these are philosophy questions for which there is never going to be a final, definitive answer but always, the more you think about them, the more you talk about them, the more you play with the ideas, the more you can come back and reflect on what it really means to yourself.

Fleming: One of the other things not science fiction that is currently talked about a great deal in the world of cosmology is the theory of the multiverse, the potentially infinite number of universes and we’re living in just one. What do you think of that?

Consolmagno: Well, we’ve got people working at the Vatican observatory who are actually looking into the mathematics of this, the physics of this. One of our cosmologists did his doctorate under Martin Rees, who is one of the people who’s come up with the idea. I think it’s a great idea both to make you think and to make you appreciate the infinite possibilities of creation. Back when Genesis was being written, and whoever wrote it took the best science of that day, which was Babylonian science, and said, “Bigger than the flat world that we all know we live on and the dome and the water above and below the dome, bigger that any of that was God,”and that was as big as they could imagine. If we say, “Bigger than the solar system, bigger than this galaxy, bigger than our universe, bigger than all of the infinite multiverses together, is God.”Then we’re really talking some big.

Fleming: It does seem to present a challenge but you’re saying it’s a challenge, really, not to religion but to the imagination.

Consolmagno: It is. A religion that doesn’t challenge you is not much of a religion and, frankly, a science that doesn’t challenge you is not much of a science.

Fleming: Stephen Hawking, in his recent book said, “We no longer need philosophy.”The implication was pretty clear that he felt that we no longer need religion because science can explain everything. Do you feel you’ve answered that?

Consolmagno: Well, when Hawking says we don’t need God to start the universe, he’s right. Anyone who’s trying to use God to explain the things that science can’t explain in the 21st century, is a fool because who knows what science is going to explain in the 23rd century? That’s called the God of the gaps. In fact, it’s the fastest route to atheism because if your belief in God is the God who can explain why something happens, and then science comes along with an explanation, “Oops. Suddenly, I don’t believe in that God anymore.”Hawking is right that you don’t need God to explain the gaps in our knowledge but, of course, he doesn’t really mean we don’t need philosophy. The very statement, “We don’t need philosophy,”is a philosophical statement. And there’s an awful lot of value, a lot of value that I got as a Jesuit, in studying philosophy, in studying history, in studying the humanities. Sadly, an awful lot of British scientists of the older generation never got around to taking philosophy 101.

Fleming: Brother Guy Consolmagno is an American research astronomer and planetary scientist at the Vatican observatory.


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Saturday, November 02, 2013

The Prudent Forseeth the Evil - Bob Trefz






Michael Walston


Published on May 5, 2011

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The corruption of the church

U.S. Episcopal Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori
Mega-church televangelist Joel Osteen
Photo (Courtesy) http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january172009/symbols_kr_1-17-09.php


A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?


Jeremiah 5:30,31. 
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Roman Catholicism - The Conversion of Europe by Ian Paisley






Dave Flang

Uploaded on Jul 4, 2007

EUROPEAN INSTITUTE of PROTESTANT STUDIES - http://www.ianpaisley.org/main.asp
By Dr.Ian R. K. Paisley, M. P.
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PO Box 265
Carthage, NC 28327
Phone 910-947-2981
FAX 910-947-1140
Orders 1800 631 8220
http://www.4cc.org

The Eucharist is most likely the foundational teaching of Catholicism and it's main Biblical support is John 6:53, where Jesus said with witnesses present, eat my flesh and drink my blood, knowing full well this violated Leviticus law, resulting in death. Leviticus 7:27 Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people. Leviticus 17:10,11 Leviticus 17:14

Since in John 7:1, they sought to kill him, so what better way to bring a death penalty charge against Jesus, then by using his own words against him.
This was evident in Luke chapter 11, when Jesus rebuke the lawyers, they would use their verbal skills to trap him and waited for those words from Jesus that would condemn him. What Jesus said, with witnesses present, in John 6:53 would have certainty been sufficient to prove him a blasphemer and worthy of death.

In addition, in John 10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy (Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Exodus 21:3); and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. In this verse the Jews accuse Jesus of blasphemy, but not a peep from the lawyers, scribes, or Pharisees concerning John 6;53. Why? Because of John 6:63, with witnesses.
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The Two Kingdoms



THE TWO KINGDOMS



Adrian McQueen


Published on Nov 1, 2013


The Two Kingdoms is an up and coming series that looks at the United States, from its embryonic beginnings to her role on the world stage, the effects it has on the planet and her future plans for the world. Her 21st century corporate-led oil wars has not only effected the countries it has destabilised, but the entire world, for as oil prices go up, so does the price of food. The Two Kingdoms is based upon the prophetic foresight in Revelation 13 of the rise of two world powers, the Papacy and the United states and how they will eventually form an alliance to subdue the whole of the planet.
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Be thou my vision





Traditional Hymns

Published on Oct 13, 2013


Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
Be all else but naught to me, save that Thou art;
Be Thou my best thought in the day and the night,
Both waking and sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my wisdom, be Thou my true word,
Be Thou ever with me, and I with Thee, Lord;
Be Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son;
Be Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight;
Be Thou my whole armour, be Thou my true might;
Be Thou my soul's shelter, be Thou my strong tower:
O raise Thou me heavenward, great Power of my power.

Riches I need not, nor man's empty praise:
Be Thou mine inheritance now and always;
Be Thou and Thou only the first in my heart:
O Sovereign of heaven, my treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven, Thou heaven's bright Sun,
O grant me its joys after victory is won;
Great Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be Thou my vision, O Ruler of all.

Words Saint Dallán Forgaill (ca. 530--598), English translation Mary E. Byrne, Versified Eleanor H. Hull.
Tune: Irish folk song Slane

Music performed by Clyde McLennan www.smallchurchmusic.com

Creative Commons Video © 2013 Ian Britton FreeFoto.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License © 2013
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God's servants should be minutemen


It is important to believe God's word and act upon it promptly, while His angels are waiting to work for us. Evil angels are ready to contest every step of advance. And when God's providence bids His children go forward, when He is ready to do great things for them. Satan tempts them to displease the Lord by hesitation and delay; he seeks to kindle a spirit of strife or to arouse murmuring or unbelief, and thus deprive them of the blessings that God desired to bestow. God's servants should be minutemen, ever ready to move as fast as His providence opens the way. And delay on their part gives time for Satan to work to defeat them.

Patriarchs and Prophets, The Journey Around Edom, p. 422-423.

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Happy Sabbath