Chocolate Vanilla's Journal ^w^ =3
- Friendship Court
- 203 Replies
I'm happy I at least made it this far. I'm grateful to God for that.
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Catholicism Is Not a ‘Foreign Influence’ in America
- OBOB General Politics Forum
- 1 Replies
It has been coursing through the blood of this great nation since long before English Protestants built their first fort on these shores.
In the latter half of the 1800s, the Native American Party or “Know Nothings” began popularizing the slogan “Native Americans, Beware of Foreign Influence” as a means of opposing increasing immigration from Europe, mostly Ireland and Germany. The phrase developed a particularly or uniquely anti-Catholic connotation, casting (mostly Irish) Catholics as unfit for American citizenship and alleging that their first allegiance would always be to Rome, not to the U.S. The Nativist catchphrase, immortalized in Martin Scorsese’s film Gangs of New York, where Bill “the Butcher” Cutting has it emblazoned across an American flag, has made a comeback in recent months.
Although now more broadly used to caution against the influence of foreign governments and their lobbyists in American politics, the catastrophic surge in illegal immigration over the last four years in particular, and the increase in foreign-born politicians and judges, the old Nativist banner is still sometimes used to target American Catholics. When Catholic bishops ignore or diminish the Church’s age-old teachings on national sovereignty and harp on “refugees,” I often see my non-Catholic friends posting screenshots of Bill the Butcher staring at his flag. “Native American, Beware of Foreign Influence.”
But Catholicism is not foreign to America — not at all. In fact, a new Pew Research Center study has discovered that nearly half of all Americans have some connection to Catholicism, either personal or through their family. The study found that 20 percent of Americans are or identify as Catholic, nearly 10 percent of Americans consider themselves “cultural Catholics” (which Pew explains means that they identify as Catholic “ethnically, culturally, or because of their family background,” rather than religiously), 9 percent are former Catholics who have fallen away from the Church, and 9 percent say that they have some other connection to Catholicism, such as a Catholic parent or spouse. Additionally, 1.5 percent of American adults are converts to Catholicism.
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Catholicism Is Not a ‘Foreign Influence’ in America | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
In the latter half of the 1800s, the Native American Party or “Know Nothings” began popularizing the slogan “Native Americans, Beware of Foreign Influence” as a means of opposing increasing immigration from Europe, mostly Ireland and Germany. The phrase developed...spectator.org
Amen to that. The “Know-nothing” party really lived up to its name, since they “knew nothing” of the history of Maryland, for example.
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What Should a Good Homily Look Like?
- By FaithT
- One Bread, One Body - Catholic
- 8 Replies
The perfect homily IMO is short and to the point. I used to occasionally go to Mass at another church that had a priest with homilies that took about four or five minutes. He got to his point and didn’t ramble on. If was so much easier for me to pay attention.In his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium (EG), Pope Francis bewailed the fact that both priests and laypeople “suffer because of homilies: the laity from having to listen to them and the clergy from having to preach them!” (135). The Holy Father went on to characterize this situation as “sad,” noting that the homily “can actually be an intense and happy experience of the Spirit, a consoling encounter with God’s word, a constant source of renewal and growth” (ibid.). This raises the question of what a good homily ought to look like. Here we’ll offer five pointers, drawing on official Church guidelines and the writings of recent popes.
1. Staying on Topic
In his apostolic exhortation Verbum domini (VD), Pope Benedict XVI cautioned that “[g]eneric and abstract homilies which obscure the directness of God’s word should be avoided, as well as useless digressions” (59). Generally speaking, the focus of the homily should be on the Scripture readings which have just been proclaimed. As the Code of Canon Law explains, “n the homily the mysteries of faith and the norms of Christian life are to be explained from the sacred text during the course of the liturgical year” (767 §1). The role of the preacher is to draw from the sacred text to instruct and encourage the faithful.
If he wishes, the preacher may use also his homily to reflect on the Mass prayers which are specific to that day, as the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) explains: “[The homily] should be an exposition of some aspect of the readings from Sacred Scripture or of another text from the Ordinary or from the Proper of the Mass of the day and should take into account both the mystery being celebrated and the particular needs of the listeners” (65).
2. Not Going Too Long (Or Too Short!)
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What Should a Good Homily Look Like? - St. Paul Center
In his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium (EG), Pope Francis bewailed the fact that both priests and laypeople “suffer because of homilies: the laity from having to listen to them and the clergy from having to preach them!” (135). The Holy Father went on to characterize this situation...stpaulcenter.com
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Former medium warns Christians against the occult: ‘No such thing as a good witch’
- By FaithT
I dabbled in New Age many years ago. Read about healing crystals and other books. I even bought and used crystals for a while. I read about Scientology and astrology. I even had an ouija board as a kid. I never got into New Age too deeply but was searching for something; was agnostic/athiest at the time and thought New Age could solve my problems. Yet at the same time I was playing Contemporary Christian Amy Grant’s music over and over. I eventually got out of New Age and began a very long journey back to Christianity, and finally back to Catholicism. I do have to say that I still find crystals pretty, though.GRAPEVINE, Texas — Jenn Nizza still remembers the moment the door first opened.
She was 13 years old, growing up on Long Island in a culturally Catholic family, when her mother, a hairdresser, hosted a psychic party in their home.
“It was in a little beauty parlor setting. Everyone got a 15-minute tarot reading,” Nizza told The Christian Post.
Hers, like her sister’s, left an impression that would last for decades.
The cards told her things that were true, facts about her past that felt impossible for a stranger to know. “That’s the hook,” she said. “Demons can see the past. They can’t tell the future — only God can — but they make good guesses. And that’s all it takes to get you in.”
What followed was a descent that, in retrospect, she describes as both seductive and sinister. “It was daily. Multiple times a day,” she said of the tarot readings she and her sister performed on each other. From there, she pursued numerology, astrology and eventually psychic mediumship. At one point, a professional medium told her she, too, had “the gift.”
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Former medium warns Christians against the occult: ‘No such thing as a good witch’
After spending over two decades as a professional psychic deeply entrenched in the New Age movement, Jenn Nizza experienced a dramatic spiritual transformation after crying out to Jesuswww.christianpost.com
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