Pope Warns and Catechizes Latin Bishops

Pope Benedict – Protect Human Life, Marriage and the Family

Thee Catholic bishops of Latin America must protect families and children from “education programs which trivialize sexuality” and “false ideologies” Pope Benedict XVI said in an address this week.

Pope Benedict XVI

The Latin American bishops’ conferences must focus on “promoting a culture of life and working to ensure the rights of families are recognized and respected,” the pope said. The wellbeing of families in the region, he added, is also under threat from “rapid cultural changes and social instability,” poverty and migration of people.

Pope Benedict was addressing an assembly of bishops who serve as the heads of local Catholic organizations across Latin America that are dedicated to promoting family life. The prelates are meeting this week in Bogota, Colombia, with Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, the head of the Pontifical Council for the Family.

Christine Vollmer, head of Venezuela’s Alliance for the Family, told LifeSiteNews.com that she is pleased with the pope’s forthright statement of support for the struggles of families in Latin America.

“It is wonderful that the Holy Father understands our needs here in Latin America, and that the bishops are really studying the problems and putting them as a first priority,” said Vollmer, who is also a founding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

“The Pope is completely right,” she said. It is “cultural poverty” that is “the worst thing and the one undermining not only marriage but their faith as well.”

“The cultural and educational poverty” that is rife in Latin America, “has left millions completely imprisoned in a life style which is barely human. It is much more grave than monetary poverty.”

In his letter, Benedict also said: “No effort is in vain if it helps to ensure that each family, founded on the indissoluble bond between a man and a woman, carries out its mission as a living cell of society, seedbed of virtues, school of constructive and peaceful coexistence, instrument of harmony and a privileged area in which, with joy and responsibility, human life is welcomed and protected, from beginning to natural end.”

The pope said that he particularly wanted to encourage parents in their “right – and their fundamental duty – to educate the new generations in faith and in the values that dignify human existence.”

Vollmer agreed with Pope Benedict, saying, “The example and a culture of virtue is no longer there for young people. All the ‘models’ are dreadful, coming out of TV, MTV, video games and Hollywood.”

Vollmer is the co-author of a catechetical and relationship education program for young people that uses the teaching of the Catholic Church as its foundation and which is being used in schools across Venezuela.

The curriculum, called Alive to the World (Aprendiendo a Querer), covers children from age 6 to age 18 and focuses on the life of virtue. It is being promoted by the Catholic Church as a morally healthy alternative to standard secularist “sex-education” programs, but is even becoming popular in non-Catholic, state-run schools where improvements in behavior have been noted following its implementation.

The Catholic bishops of the Latin American region have a strong track record of defending life and family from attacks that have for years come from United Nations-based pro-abortion and anti-family organizations.

The pope encouraged the bishops to “find ways to collaborate with all men and women of good will in order to continue to protect human life, marriage and the family throughout the region.”

by Hilary White
ROME, (LifeSiteNews.com)

Biggest Find Since the Dead Sea Scrolls????

For scholars of faith and history, it is a treasure trove too precious for price.
This ancient collection of 70 tiny books, their lead pages bound with wire, could unlock some of the secrets of the earliest days of Christianity.
Academics are divided as to their authenticity but say that if verified, they could prove as pivotal as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.

Lines of inquiry: The metal tablets could change our understanding of the Bible

On pages not much bigger than a credit card, are images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Adding to the intrigue, many of the books are sealed, prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation.

The books were discovered five years ago in a cave in a remote part of Jordan to which Christian refugees are known to have fled after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. Important documents from the same period have previously been found there. Initial metallurgical tests indicate that some of the books could date from the first century AD.

Revelation: Experts speculate that the tablets could be the lost collection of codices referred to in the Bible's Book Of Revelation

Hidden meaning: Scrolls, tablets and other artifacts, including an incense
bowl, were also found at the same site as the tablets

SHEPHERD'S DISCOVERY THAT UNEARTHED A TREASURE TROVE

The Dead Sea Scrolls, counted among the most important archaeological finds of the modern era, were discovered in a cave (pictured) by a Bedouin shepherd in the West Bank.
The scrolls consist of 30,000 separate fragments making up 900 manuscripts of biblical texts and religious writings from the time of Jesus.
The fragile parchment and papyrus fragments have been the subject of intense study for more than half a century by an international team of scholars who are still trying to understand the significance of some 30 per cent of the texts which are not included in the Bible or any other previously known religious writings.
The scrolls include the earliest known copy of the Ten Commandments, an almost complete Book of Isaiah and many of the Psalms.
Some of the texts were damaged by well-intentioned restoration attempts since the 1950s that included the use of Sellotape, rice paper and perspex glue.

This estimate is based on the form of corrosion which has taken place, which experts believe would be impossible to achieve artificially.
If the dating is verified, the books would be among the earliest Christian documents, predating the writings of St Paul.
The prospect that they could contain contemporary accounts of the final years of Jesus’s life has excited scholars – although their enthusiasm is tempered by the fact that experts have previously been fooled by sophisticated fakes.

David Elkington, a British scholar of ancient religious history and archeology, and one of the few to have examined the books, says they could be ‘the major discovery of Christian history’.
‘It is a breathtaking thought that we have held these objects that might have been held by the early saints of the Church,’ he said.
But the mysteries between their ancient pages are not the books’ only riddle. Today, their whereabouts are also something of a mystery. After their discovery by a Jordanian Bedouin, the hoard was subsequently acquired by an Israeli Bedouin, who is said to have illegally smuggled them across the border into Israel, where they remain.

However, the Jordanian Government is now working at the highest levels to repatriate and safeguard the collection. Philip Davies, emeritus professor of biblical studies at Sheffield University, said there was powerful evidence that the books have a Christian origin in plates cast into a picture map of the holy city of Jerusalem.

A 16th century painting depicting Jesus's death. The metal books contain pages with images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion

X marks the spot: The cave in Jordan where the artifacts were discovered

Dr Margaret Barker, a former president of the Society
for Old Testament Study, confirmed that a
sealed book is mentioned in the Bible

‘As soon as I saw that, I was dumbstruck,’ he said. ‘That struck me as so obviously a Christian image. There is a cross in the foreground, and behind it is what has to be the tomb [of Jesus], a small building with an opening, and behind that the walls of the city.
‘There are walls depicted on other pages of these books too and they almost certainly refer to Jerusalem. It is a Christian crucifixion taking place outside the city walls.’
The British team leading the work on the discovery fears that the present Israeli ‘keeper’ may be looking to sell some of the books on to the black market, or worse – destroy them.


But the man who holds the books denies the charge and claims they have been in his family for 100 years.
Dr Margaret Barker, a former president of the Society for Old Testament Study, said: ‘The Book of Revelation tells of a sealed book that was opened only by the Messiah.
‘Other texts from the period tell of sealed books of wisdom and of a secret tradition passed on by Jesus to his closest disciples. That is the context for this discovery.’

Groundbreaking find: A section of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were unearthed in 1947

Professor Davies said: ‘The possibility of a Hebrew-Christian origin is certainly suggested by the imagery and, if so, these codices are likely to bring dramatic new light to our understanding of a very significant but so far little understood period of history.’
Mr Elkington, who is leading British efforts to have the books returned to Jordan, said: ‘It is vital that the collection can be recovered intact and secured in the best possible circumstances, both for the benefit of its owners and for a potentially fascinated international audience.’
*British scientists have uncovered up to eight million mummified dogs, thought to have been sacrificed to Anubis, the god of the dead, 2500 years ago after excavating tunnels in the ancient Eygptian city of Saqqara.

By Fiona Macrae

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1371290/70-metal-books-Jordan-cave-change-view-Biblical-history.html#ixzz1ID2ExUj9

Being Faithful

I've made the analogy many times in my writings that if we truly love God, we'll act the way we do when we love another person ... and we don't even give Him the time we do to our hobbies! I think this coming May will be a whirlwind of opportunity to open our eyes to the TRUTH. God keep us safe and close! The New Springtime is coming folks, but never forget, first the harsh winter! But the New Spring will be worth everything suffered ... the colors will have texture, farsightedness will have no distortions, the beauty will astound us and the peace will embrace us with a comfort we've never known.

Taliban Catholics??

Company Uses Fetal Cells From Abortions for Artificial Flavors

Company Uses Fetal Cells From Abortions for Artificial Flavors
by Steven Ertelt | LifeNews.com

A pro-life group that monitors the use of cells from babies victimized by abortions is today bashing the biotech company Senomyx, which it says produces artificial flavor enhancers using aborted fetal cell lines to test their products.

    The group Children of God for Life is calling for a public boycott of major food companies partnering with Senomyx.

Debi Vinnedge, the director of the pro-life organization, tells LifeNews.com today that, in 2010, her group wrote to Senomyx CEO Kent Snyder and pointed out that moral options for testing their food additives could and should be used. But when Senomyx ignored her letter, the group  wrote to the companies Senomyx listed on their website as "collaborators" warning them of public backlash and threatened boycott. They included food giants PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, Campbell Soup, Solae and Nestlé. (See update below.)

"The company's key flavor programs focus on the discovery and development of savory, sweet and salt flavor ingredients that are intended to allow for the reduction of MSG, sugar and salt in food and beverage products," the Senomyx web site says. "Using isolated human taste receptors, we created proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems that provide a biochemical or electronic readout when a flavor ingredient interacts with the receptor."

Vinnedge says a boycott is important because the collaborating companies provide Senomyx with research and development funding plus royalties on sales of products using their flavor ingredients.

"What they don't tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 - human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors," she said. "They could have easily chosen animal, insect, or other morally obtained human cells expressing the G protein for taste receptors."

Vinnedge says she has contacted the food companies working with Senomyx, but said it took three letters before one company, Nestlé, finally admitted its relationship with Senomyx and company officials claimed the line of cells from abortions was "well established in scientific research".

Both PepsiCo and Campbell Soup also responded.

PepsiCo wrote: "We hope you are reassured to learn that our collaboration with Senomyx is strictly limited to creating lower-calorie, great-tasting beverages for consumers. This will help us achieve our commitment to reduce added sugar per serving by 25% in key brands in key markets over the next decade and ultimately help people live healthier lives."


Campbell Soup officials told the pro-life group: "Every effort is made to use the finest ingredients and develop the greatest selection of products, all at a great value. With this in mind, it must be said that the trust we have cultivated and developed over the years with our consumers is not worth compromising to cut costs or increase profit margins."

While Campbell Soup didn't state they would change their methods, their response, gave Vinnedge hope.

"If enough people voice their outrage and intent to boycott these consumer products, it may convince Senomyx to change their methods," she said. "Otherwise, we will be buying Coca-Cola, Lipton soups and Hershey products."

UPDATE: Within hours of its press statement to LifeNews.com, the pro-life group received notice from Campbell Soup that the company has severed its ties with Senomyx. Juli Mandel Sloves, Senior Manager of Nutrition & Wellness Communications at Campbell Soup Company, told Vinnedge, "We are no longer in partnership with Senomyx. This fact was discussed during the Senomyx conference call with its investors earlier this month."

ACTION: Contact the companies at:

Kent Snyder, CEO
Senomyx
4767 Nexus Centre Drive
San Diego, California 92121

Edmund M. Carpenter, CEO
Campbell Soup
1 Campbell Place
Camden, NJ 08103-1701

Paul Bulcke, CEO
Nestlé USA
800 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, CA  91203

Jamie Caulfield, Sr.VP
PepsiCo, Inc.
700 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 10577

Irene Rosenfeld, CEO
Kraft Foods/Cadbury Chocolate
Three Lakes Drive
Northfield, IL 60093

Mr. Torkel Rhenman Chief Executive Officer
Solae
4300 Duncan Avenue
St. Louis, Missouri 63110

by Steven Ertelt | LifeNews.com | 3/29/11 11:44 AM

UPDATE!!! March 29, 2011

Within hours of our press release, Children of God for Life received notice from Campbell Soup that they have severed their ties with Senomyx.

Stated Juli Mandel Sloves, Senior Manager of Nutrition & Wellness Communications at Campbell Soup Company, "We are no longer in partnership with Senomyx. This fact was discussed during the Senomyx conference call with its investors earlier this month."

If you choose to write to Campbell Soup, please thank them for their decision.  Mmmm good!

Fired Disgruntled Employee Vows to DESTROY Fr. Corapi!

A leader of the company that manages Rev. John Corapi’s media has claimed that the recent accusations against the popular priest were launched by a “disgruntled” former employee who vowed to “destroy” Corapi’s reputation.

Corapi, a well-known Catholic personality and member of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) who has been extremely outspoken on the life and family issues, has been placed on “administrative leave” in consultation with the diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas, where SOLT is based.
The move was in reaction to a letter by a former employee of the media company sent to several bishops and claiming that Corapi was addicted to drugs and sexually involved with multiple women.
The priest himself announced the allegations in a note on his website, and has said that all the allegations are false. 
Bobbi Ruffatto, Vice President of Operations at Santa Cruz Media, Inc., said in a statement Friday that the only evidence against Corapi thus far is “the unsubstantiated rant of a former employee, who, after losing her job with this office, physically assaulted me and another employee and promised to ‘destroy’ Father Corapi.”
Ruffatto notes that Santa Cruz is “a secular corporation and not affiliated with the Catholic Church in any way” and thus not under any bishop’s jurisdiction.
Stating that the company “fully support[s] Rev. John Corapi in this terrible trial,” Ruffatto said company leaders “have consulted with a number of canon lawyers” who have concluded “that the actions of the Bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas are, on several points of canon law, illicit,” although Ruffatto did not elaborate.
In his original note, Fr. Corapi had taken issue with the zero-tolerance policies used by the U.S. bishops to respond to allegations of misbehavior, which he suggested amount to presuming guilt until innocence is proven.
“There seems to no longer be the need for a complaint to be deemed ‘credible’ in order for Church authorities to pull the trigger on the Church’s procedure, which was in recent years crafted to respond to cases of the sexual abuse of minors,” he said.
KALISPELL, Montana, March 25, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) 

-by Kathleen Gilbert

Bishop Tobin – “Gay Marriage” Can Never Be Condoned

 Bishop Thomas J.Tobin: “Homosexual Relationships Are Not Marriage – 

Never Have Been, Never Will Be.” 

“Abysmal” Catholic apathy must be overcome to oppose those who are “fiercely determined” to impose homosexual “marriage,” Bishop of Providence, Rhode Island Thomas J. Tobin has warned. Reasserting Catholic teaching on sexual morality, he also said that same-sex “marriage” will endanger religious freedom.

Bishop Thomas J.Tobin: Defender Marriage

Writing in his April 23 column in The Rhode Island Catholic, Bishop Tobin spoke of a “relentless” political march towards homosexual marriage, with New England leading the way. “The supporters of gay marriage in Rhode Island are well-organized and well-funded. They’re fiercely determined to impose their politically correct agenda on all the citizens of the state – human history, culture and moral principles not-withstanding. Anyone who opposes them is quickly labeled a bigot,” the bishop observed.

However, he said the typical Rhode Island Catholic’s response was indifferent and cited not wanting to judge people. Tobin also said that Catholics give rationalizations about the decline of Catholic influence.

“Gay marriage will affect you and you should be concerned. And there’s a lot we can do,” the bishop wrote, proceeding to review reasons Catholics oppose same-sex “marriage.”

Bishop Tobin explained that “homosexual activity is unnatural and gravely immoral. It’s offensive to Almighty God. It can never be condoned, under any circumstances. Gay marriage, or civil unions, would mean that our state is in the business of ratifying, approving such immoral activity.”

The movement for same-sex “marriage,” he added, “seeks to radically redefine the most fundamental institution of the human race, the building block of every society and culture. From the beginning, marriage has been defined as the stable union of man and woman, designed by God to continue the human race through the procreation of children.
“Homosexual relationships are not marriage – never have been, never will be.”

Bishop Tobin introduced what he called the “champagne principle.” Saying that not every wine has the unique characteristics of champagne, the bishop argued that someone who relabeled a bottle of Chianti and tried to sell it as champagne would be arrested for fraud.
Similarly, those who seek to redefine marriage and “to usurp the title ‘marriage’ for their morally bankrupt relationships,” are “committing an act of fraud,” he charged. “It’s insulting to those who have entered the authentic, sacred and time-honored institution of marriage over the years.”

“The gay culture continues to seep into our popular culture, cleverly claiming credibility,” he said. He charged that President Barack Obama’s special invitations to homosexual families to participate in the White House Easter Egg Hunt was “just another not-too-subtle attempt to ignore the objective immorality of the situation and present gay couples as normal and happy as every other couple.”

He closed with a warning about the implications the recognition of same-sex “marriage” would have for religious liberty.

“We’re familiar with other examples of the gay agenda infringing on religious freedom,” he said, noting how Massachusetts required the Catholic Church to place children for adoption with homosexual couples and how some countries have charged Christian preachers of hate crimes for voicing Christian doctrine about homosexual practices.

“Proponents of gay marriage say that the Church won’t be forced to witness such marriages. Don’t believe it,” he said, warning that the Church may be required to admit homosexual couples as sponsors for baptism, to rent its facilities for homosexual wedding receptions, or to hire employees despite their immoral lifestyles.
“For simply maintaining its teachings in these and many other possible scenarios, the Church will be accused of bigotry and unlawful discrimination. The threat to our religious freedom is real, and imminent,” he said.

Crediting Rhode Island’s governor, its Speaker of the House, and its President of the Senate for avoiding homosexual marriage, he said they have been “consistent and courageous” in deflecting the “onslaught” of homosexual activists.
Bishop Tobin said that if only five or ten percent of Rhode Island’s Catholic population became involved on this issue “we could have an enormous impact and help Rhode Island maintain its moral sanity.”

He encouraged Catholics to become aware of political action on the issue, to write letters to the editor, and to encourage their representatives to “defend marriage and family values.
“And you can pray fervently that God will help us in this critical struggle on behalf of morality and common sense,” he added.

If the imposition of homosexual marriage happens in Rhode Island, the bishop concluded, “It’ll be our fault… simply because our abysmal apathy allowed it to happen.”

Other Bishop Tobin Articles

• Bishop Tobin: A Warning to CNA Nuns

• Bishop Tobin Unveiling Catholic Healthcare System Giving Money For Abortions

• Bishop Tobin Stands Firm

from: Courageous Priest

Novena for the Fr. Corapi Ordeal – March 25 to April 2

(From the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, to the Anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s passing, April 2)

Efficacious Novena To The Sacred Heart Of Jesus

(This novena prayer was recited every day by Padre Pio for all those who asked his prayers)

I. My Jesus, You have said, ‘Truly I say to you, ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.’ Through the intercession of Mary, Your holy Mother, I knock, I seek and ask that my prayer be granted. (here, mention your request) ____________

Our Father…

Hail Mary…

Glory be to the Father…

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

II. O my Jesus, You have said, ‘Truly I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, He will give it to you.’
Through the intercession of Mary, Your holy Mother, in Your Name I ask the Father that my prayer be granted.

Our Father…

Hail Mary…

Glory be to the Father…

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

III. O my Jesus, You have said, ‘Truly I say to you, heaven and earth
will pass away but my words will not pass away.’ Encouraged by
Your infallible words, through the intercession of Mary, Your
holy Mother I feel confident that my prayers will be answered.
(mention your request)

Our Father…

Hail Mary…

Glory be to the Father…

O Sacred , O Merciful, O Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us poor sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of You, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate heart of Mary, Your tender mother and ours.

Hail, Holy Queen…

St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us.

Salt and Light Interviews Mark Mallett on the End Times

An Interview on the End Times from Mark Mallett on Vimeo.