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  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.

Reactions mount in Canada to undercover video exposing late-term abortions

A week after The Catholic Register in Canada revealed that pro-life advocate Alissa Golob went undercover while 22 weeks pregnant to test whether late-term abortions were accessible in Canada without medical justification, the national response continues to intensify, with a new twist: a fourth hidden-camera video that Golob says she is legally barred from releasing.

Golob, co-founder of RightNow, posed as an undecided pregnant woman in abortion facilities in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary in 2023. The Nov. 19 Register story detailed her conversations with clinic counselors and physicians who told her late-term abortions could be arranged at nearby hospitals, sometimes “up to 32 weeks,” without needing to provide medical reasons.

Staff described procedures as a “mini stillbirth,” advised her she could “expel the fetus in the car,” and said reasons such as already having two children or “not wanting to be pregnant” were acceptable.

Those recordings — three of which have now been released — directly contradict long-standing political claims that late-term abortions in Canada are only performed in cases of maternal health risk or severe fetal anomalies.

In an email interview with The B.C. Catholic, Golob said the reaction from Canadians has been more visceral than she expected.

The dominant response has been “overwhelming shock and horror from the average Canadian who didn’t think late-term abortions were possible,” she said.

Many who describe themselves as pro-choice wrote to her saying the recordings were disturbing and that unrestricted late-term abortion “just shouldn’t be allowed.”

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The NEA is pushing far left teaching upon children

Appears to be human but looks can be deceiving? IT IS A HUMAN WHO SURGICALLY MADE HIMSELF LOOK LIKE A CAT! No different than a man who surgically made himself look like a woman or vice versa. Your answer has proven that your ideology has blinded you to reality, making you far less credible on this topic than I.
HE does not "look like a cat". Cats don't have metal in their face. Cats don't have tatoos. I'm guessing he also doesn't have a tail.

"far less credible on this topic than I".
Not sure what to say about that one....
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Rome’s Failure to Correct Germany’s Bishops has Emboldened Their Pro-LGBT Agenda

As the country’s bishops issue a new document encouraging diversity of sexual identities in Catholic schools, German Catholic sociologist Gabriele Kuby explains the full extent of the crisis.​


A recently published document from the German bishops encouraging Catholic school pupils to self-identify according to their “sexual identity” is the latest significant departure of the bishops’ conference from the Church’s teaching, re-igniting talk of a possible new, German-born schism.

The “orientation aid,” published on Oct. 30, states that Catholic schools should consider “diversity of sexual identities is a fact,” effectively normalizing any pupil to self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and non‑binary.

Teachers are further encouraged to use language that reflects “the diversity of sexual identities,” and are advised to present questions of sexual morality as “disputed,” allowing students to form their own judgments.

Only three German bishops have so far publicly voiced their opposition to the document: Bishops Stefan Oster of Passau and Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg, and Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, Archbishop of Cologne.

The Vatican has, at least in its teaching documents, been clear about its opposition to this “gender theory” approach, describing it as an ideology that denies the created difference of man and woman, and that undermines the anthropological basis of the family.

German Catholic sociologist Gabriele Kuby, a respected expert on the scourge of gender theory, believes this latest act of German episcopal dissent from the Magisterium is, to a large extent, a consequence of Vatican inaction against the German bishops.

In the following excerpt of an interview published in the latest edition of The Academy Review of the John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family (JAHLF), Kuby explains in illuminating detail the extent of the crisis related to the German episcopate which, aided by their 2019-2023 Synodal Path, has attempted to impose a change in the Church’s teaching on sexual morality, introduce liturgical blessings for same-sex couples, and is now trying to normalise sexual diversity identities.

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A YouTube Priest Says You Shouldn’t Pray After Communion. Here’s Why He’s Wrong...

Jimmy Akin corrects popular Franciscan YouTuber Fr. Casey Cole’s claim that it’s “not appropriate” to pray privately after Communion and that EVERYONE must sing the Communion hymn. Jimmy goes through the argument line-by-line and exposes the claim as a classic “pious little legalism.” Jimmy quotes parts of the General Instruction that Fr. Casey never mentioned and reveals what Rome actually says about post-Communion prayer. A powerful, fact-packed defense of your right to thank Jesus after receiving him in holy Communion!

Struggling with scrupulosity

Thank you Mari17. I have listened to him some. I do things on this journey that is textbook scrupulosity. I try to say the opposite of my thought, I research constantly, I seek reassurance, I pretty much stay away from triggers but every once in a while I will approach them to see if I have the same response. “Do I still feel this anger and cynicism toward God”? I know all of that is foolish but I am desperate. I read passages like Hebrews 10:26-29 And I just know it’s talking about me. I am ashamed of all my willful sin. I wish I could back 40+ years and do the right things this time. I am angry at the person I have become because of it. I am learning more about myself though. Turns out I am a narcissist. I sought peoples approval and praise because of growing up so poor. I always wanted to be known as intelligent and good at what I do. I never saw how selfish I was. Well, that’s enough of that. Sorry for the long reply.
Thank you for your response! Do you think that maybe your labeling yourself as a narcissist is also OCD, or partly OCD? We all struggle with selfishness, to varying degrees. I think perhaps something more beneficial than labeling yourself is to recognize that Jesus meets you where you are, and transforms you from there.

I also wonder about the validity of equating dependence on pain medication with rejecting Christ. Is trying to dull your pain the same as apostasy? It seems like a bit of a stretch.

I think that putting emphasis on emotion in faith can be rather damaging, particularly for those with OCD, who already tend to use too much emotional reasoning. I wonder if the most childlike faith is praying simply and then believing that God heard us, rather than feeling like we have to go through emotional gymnastics to gain His forgiveness. After all, Jesus' model of prayer, commonly known as the Lord's prayer, was very simple and straightforward.
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How do I know what God wants me to do?

Don't listen to those who say we are almost alone without being able to know because that is not biblical.

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[a]

So you may need to be filled with the Holy spirit to have more guidance and more communion with God.
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There’s a Giant Flaw in Human History

Ok so you are saying all knowledge comes from the physical and naturalistic processes and there no such such thing as any transcendent knowledge like spirituality or consciousness beyond the physical brain.
No that there is no such thing, just that there seems to be no need for it.
Maybe thats why your having trouble as its not just about Egyptian advanced knowledge and tech but the giant flaw in the history told by orthodoxy. So thats more about philosophy.

We went into some specific examples that may support that advanced knowledge. But we could also go into other examples all around the world. This also includes the cognitive evolution going back 300k rather than 50k. How discoveries like GT are pushing back the timeline and changing the level of knowledge the ancients had.
Which is evidence that they knew what they wanted to achieve before they figured out how to to it--which is exactly the same way modern technology advances.
But its every bit philosophy, epistemics and culture as the specific examples. Even more so related to how we see knowledge.

Your also forgetting that my attempt to explain how the ancients gained advanced knowledge is spectulation. In fact its more about philosophy, epistemics and metaphsyics than the hard sciences like physics.

As I said if the ancients had a more direct experience in nature and reality then they would have gained a deeper knowledge of nature and relality. Just like Marys experience of Red could only come from her subjective experience. So to is the deeper knowledge of reality.

In fact even science supports the idea that Mind and consciousness are fundemental and not objective physical reality. So if the ancients were more in tune with this fundemental reality. Then they also gained knowledge of fundemental reality from the bottom up and not the top down worldview.

This seems a blantant falsehood and demands evidence. The evidence does not clearly show what tools were used. There is absolutely no evidence showing how the large granite blocks, and boxes were made. There is absolutely evidence for machining.

No one has given any evidence for the contrary. Some have made claims but have not shown evidence. In fact the evidence they have shown was defeated. There certainly is not clear cut evidence.
Evidence of machining is not the same as evidence for your transcendent knowledge. In fact, it can be seen as evidence against it, as it suggests that the blocks were cut by earthly means, not metaphysics.
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Christian Homelessness

I've had a life-long string of insane situations. In them all Hebrews 12:3 helps me to keep my eyes focused on Christ and to get my strength from Him. Romans 5:8 keeps me solid in knowing I didn't "do this to myself" which is the first thing people assume and even think themselves when hard times show up. Romans 5:8 is saying that God proved His love already and that situations don't put that in question whatsoever, and that if the Father put Christ through what He suffered because He loves Him, then maybe the suffering is an indicator of how much we are loved because God turns our curses into blessing through the cross.

I focus on John 15:13 a lot also, because if someone jumped in front of bullet for me or wrestled an alligator to the death I would know that person loves me. Reading Matthew 27 is always a way to be close to Christ, because He had to go through that and when you love someone you go through their hardships with them. Romans 8:17 says we are only co-heirs with Christ if we suffer with Him, and He came down to this place tainted by the likes of hell itself to suffer with us, so we can at least know there is great purpose in whatever we are going through and that God has a very strong reason for it.

Romans 8 all in all is a great read to brush up on including when we are facing extreme situations or circumstances. It reminds us we are Sons and Daughters of God in Christ, and if we are Sons, and the Son of God suffered then it's for a greater purpose just like it was with Lord Jesus.

Going back to Hebrews 12:3, I stay reminded that He tells me to refocus on Him and the far more extreme agony He took that I would have had to if He had not stepped in on my behalf. It helps me "buck up" when facing the impossible or painful and I also know the harder the situation, the closer God is and the harder He fights for us.

Praying for you, and I really mean praying miracles and faith building situations. Refuse to doubt it, God rewards diligence in faith and trust in Him (Hebrews 11:6), never stop praying - PUSH Pray Until Something Happens (Luke 18:5), and remember this is God bringing good out of bad and better days are ahead, you can count on it because He is faithful (John 16:21 - Hebrews 12:2)
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Society’s New ‘Sins’: Smoking and Having Too Many Kids

An excerpt from ‘Family Faith Under Fire’ by Dr. Ray Guarendi

This selection appears courtesy of EWTN Publishing. The full book is available here.



Dear Dr. Ray,

I’m a mother of five children and happily pregnant with my sixth. I’m amazed at how free people feel to disparage my family size. I’m reluctant to tell anyone I’m expecting again.

—Getting Quieter




Tolerance is the pervasive, preeminent new moral virtue. Whatever others want to do is their choice — indeed, their right — and is to be accepted, even celebrated. Yet our society is quite narrow in its tolerance. For all its vaunted openness, the tolerance movement is riddled with ironies.

Irony #1: Tolerance for all, except some

Not everyone deserves to think his or her own way. Tolerance is reserved for those who think the right way, as defined by reigning secular rules. In the largest group of “non-acceptables” are traditional values, especially those of the Christian faith and especially the Catholic Faith.



Irony #2: Tolerance redefines itself, moving with cultural winds

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Archbishop Alemany: The Dominican Who Built Catholic California

Amid fire, famine and the chaos of the Gold Rush, Archbishop Joseph Alemany worked tirelessly to revive the faith across a fledgling California.

This year, the Western Dominican Province of the United States is celebrating the 175th anniversary of its founding in Monterey, California, by Dominican Father Joseph Alemany, who arrived as a newly appointed bishop to restore and to build up the Church during the California Gold Rush.

He was born in 1814 in Vich, Spain. After his ordination to the priesthood at age 26, he was assigned as a missionary to the United States to serve in Ohio, where he became a United States citizen, and then later in Kentucky and Tennessee, where he was appointed Prior Provincial of all American Dominicans. Thanks to an account written by a native San Franciscan during the Gold Rush, we have a wonderful insight into the dedication of Alemany, who took up residence in San Francisco following his appointment as the first archbishop in California.

The account opens, explaining that firemen often collapsed after fighting conflagrations for hours in the burgeoning, fire-prone city comprised of hastily built structures. One day, the writer witnessed the following:

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‘A Light in the Darkness’: Bethlehem Plans Joyous Christmas to Offer Hope in the Holy Land

Five Years After COVID’s and War’s Ravages, Site of the Nativity Plans Hopeful Celebration

JERUSALEM — Following two years of subdued Christmas celebrations due to the ongoing Hamas-Israel war, this year the holiday will be celebrated in the Holy Land in all its splendor, especially in Bethlehem.

“The tree is already up and employees are working 24 hours a day to prepare for Christmas,” Bethlehem Deputy Mayor Lucy Talgieh told the Register. “After five years of COVID closures and then the war, we want to celebrate.”

The festivities will include a tree-lighting ceremony at Manger Square, and the streets leading to the square and the Church of the Nativity will be full of decorative lights. A full-blown holiday gift fair and a Christmas Eve choir will both be back this year. The annual Christmas Eve Jerusalem-to-Bethlehem procession led by the Latin patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, which was so somber the past two years, is expected to be much more joyous.

The decision to restore the traditional public Christmas celebrations reflects the hope that the war in Gaza may be nearing an end, which in turn offers encouragement to Holy Land Christians, especially in Bethlehem, who have been facing a dire economic situation. Bethlehem’s fragile economy, and especially the local Christian community, are extremely dependent on pilgrimages. For the past century, the shops surrounding Manger Square, which sell beautiful hand-crafted mother-of pearl crosses and hand-carved Nativity scenes created by local Christian artisans, have supported entire extended families.

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America’s Mental Health Crisis and the Religious Sister Who’s Confronting It in California

Sister Theres Hong Phuoc Tran utilizes spiritual tools to improve people’s well-being, especially youth.

When Sister Theres Hong Phuoc Tran teaches mental health workshops at Catholic parishes, schools and religious congregations, she uses this Scripture quote — “You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength (Mark 12:30)” to illustrate that wellness consists of four components: heart (connection with others, being loved and loving others), soul (intimacy with God, finding purpose in one’s life), mind (feeding the intellect with good thoughts, seeking counsel when uncertain), and strength (living a physically healthy lifestyle).

While a few people have serious emotional and psychological problems that require professional help, most can make use of the “good tools” outlined in her workshops to enjoy wellness and a happy, fulfilled life.

“Human life has a rhythm, but chaos can enter our lives and bring us problems out of our control,” Sister Theres said. “To know how to live well, we have to know how God intended us to live. To maintain wellness, we must learn how to trust in God and accept the rhythm of our lives with gratitude.”

Sister Theres was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and immigrated to the United States at age 11. In 2003, she joined the Lovers of the Holy Cross, a predominantly Vietnamese community whose motherhouse is in Los Angeles. As their charism includes social services, she became a licensed marriage and family therapist and began seeing patients pro bono. Today, she resides in Santa Ana, California, and offers mental health workshops in Southern California.

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Trump to use wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport illegal migrants from ‘enemy nations’: sources

Deport a student after changing the rules and making her ineligible to be here? Keeping America safe from rapists and gangbangers.


Release Honduran President found guilty of importing millions of dollars of drugs into the country: It doesn't matter. Trump did it so he's keeping us safe.
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Bible on SD card or something to that liking?

Can anyone help me with getting the bible on SD card or on something that I can listen to the Bible with head phones, MP3 player perhaps?

I'm useless when it comes to computers and gadgets so keep that in mind when dealing with me
Download The Bible App Now - 100% Free
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29 Inmates at America’s Largest Maximum-Security Prison Attend Father-Daughter Dance Thanks to God Behind Bars

Father-daughter dances usually don’t make the news. But a recent event in Louisiana went viral because of its setting: America’s largest maximum-security prison. On Nov. 22, the nonprofit organization God Behind Bars helped 29 inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola, reconnect with their daughters in a memorable way.

Incarcerated men who had been selected for their good behavior wore tuxedos, presented flowers to their dressed-up girls, and danced the night away with them. Organizers transformed a space in Angola’s Bible college into a prom-like setting, with pink petals, balloons, and drapes.

Tears flowed as some fathers met and hugged their daughters for the first time; others reconnected after years apart. The men surprised their guests by performing a line dance they’d been rehearsing. Dads also gave each of their girls a handwritten letter and a Bible with highlighted passages.

God Behind Bars Sponsors Father-Daughter Dance at Angola


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Chris Pratt, Jonathan Roumie, and Gwen Stefani Invite People to Hallow’s Advent Prayer Challenge

Chris Pratt, Jonathan Roumie, and Gwen Stefani are helping to guide participants through Hallow’s Advent prayer challenge leading up to Christmas. Hallow is a prayer and meditation app, and, this year, its prayer challenge features John Mark Comer’s book “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.”

“It’s the most wonderful time of year: Christmas. The joy, the family time, the presents,” said actor Chris Pratt in a Dec. 1 Instagram video encouraging people to download Hallow and join the challenge. Pratt is an actor known for starring in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Jurassic World,” and “Parks and Recreation.”

The cookies,” he continued, holding up a plate of cookies before tossing them over his shoulder. “Of course, I don’t eat those any more.”

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Does it matter what day Christ was crucified on?

So, I heard a theory that Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday, rather than Friday (as is commonly believed.) Therefore, he rose from the dead on Saturday (the Sabbath.)

Idk enough about this view to really either affirm or deny it, but is it a gospel issue?

Can a genuine Christian believe Jesus died on Wednesday, as long as he still agrees that he rose again three days later?
Regardless of the timeline, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus are seen as the central act of salvation and the assurance of our own resurrection.

It does however affirms fulfilled prophesy and biblical truth which always helps us with our faith
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“The Seed” of Christ

“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His ‘seed’ remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1Jn 3:9).

“His seed” is not the Lord Jesus, who would never be styled as such, but rather in His title. Nor is it the Holy Spirit, who also is always named such. It is something that is “created.” It is the “new man,” the holy nature born from the “divine nature” of Christ—created by Christ—which can never decrease! This is what is termed “created in righteousness and true holiness,” and “who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10).

In which assigns believers as “partakers of the divine nature” (2Pe 1:4). Not making one divine, but only “partakers” or recipients, in which the believer, along with the sin nature has been given a holy nature, which “cannot sin.” Thus Christians alone possess a dichotomy of contrasting natures, with the old man always coming short in the outcome; natural man with the single sin nature; and the Lord Jesus with a single nature—the Divine Nature! The crux is that of not wanting to sin intentionally, as Paul said, “The evil I do not want to do . . . Now if I do what I do not want to do” (Ro 19, 20). Paul even goes as far as to say, “But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwelleth in me” (Ro 7:17, 20). Of course, he is not disclaiming ownership of the sin, because the old man yet abides within. He is just revealing a fact.

Hence the dichotomy of the Christian is thus reveled by Paul saying he is sinning with the old nature or old man, like any believer; but he in his new man or new nature “serves God” (Ro 7:25). The reason why he can say “it is no longer I who do it,” is due to the position that he is “not in the flesh” (Ro 8:9), i.e. not “willfully” pursuing evil nor desiring it (Heb 10:26; Num 15:30).

John Gill: “the new man”; “for this is a creation work, and so not man's, but God's; and is made not after the image of the first man, no not as innocent, and much less as fallen; but after the image of Christ, to which the elect of God are predestinated to be conformed, and which is stamped in regeneration; and more and more appears by every transforming view of Christ, and will be perfected in heaven, when they “shall see Him as He is” (1Jo 3:2), and be perfectly like Him, who is not only the pattern, but the Creator of it, even the Author and Finisher of faith.”
This is the beginning of wisdom. With these great truths as the foundation, we go on to learn that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ (Rom 8:1), that we are joined to the Lord and are one spirit with Him (1 Cor 6:17), that living in the Spirit compels us to walk in the Spirit (Ga 5:25), and that walking in the Spirit is the only way to not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Ga 5:16-17). We can rejoice in the fact that the law's requirements for righteousness are satisfied in us because new life in Christ has set us free from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:2-4). In short, we are able to stop pursuing righteousness because we already have it in Christ, and we are able to turn our attention to living out what He has already given us. New life in Christ Jesus is truly everything we need for life and godliness.
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A Shining Light for the Glory of God!’—Melissa Joan Hart ‘Bawling’ as Son Gets Baptized

Melissa Joan Hart, who is most known for her role in “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and who is an advocate for World Vision, is celebrating that her 16-year-old son, Brady, chose to be baptized.

“[My kids] witness a lot of that faith,” Hart told Us Weekly, referring to her family’s faith practices. “And I think through that faith, they’ve just felt stronger.”

Melissa Joan Hart Was a ‘Mess’ as Her Son Was Baptized

Faith has always been a huge part of Hart’s family. Hart, who shares three boys—Mason, Brady, and Tucker—with husband, Mark Wilkerson, mentioned how they all pray before meals, before traveling, and for loved ones who are going through difficult times. The boys see Wilkerson “reading the Bible every morning at 5:30,” said Hart.

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