December 2006 archive

The execution of Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein after capture

Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion.

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Thessalonian monkeys attack monastery

Head of a Franciscan Friar, ca 1615, by Peter Paul Rubens

A group of monkeys attacked the Orthodox monastery at Mount Athos in Greece with crowbars and sledgehammers on Wednesday.

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If Gregorian is wrong

If Gregorian has been telling the truth about the Bacchiocchi issue, then the outcome is clear – Bacchiocchi will be put in perspective, and Gregorian retains respect. On the other hand, if Gregorian has NOT been telling the truth … what then?

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Latest update on Bacchiocchi

Bacchiocchi says his submission to Gregorian and Bishop Murray will be ready in about 10 days.

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Anglican-use Catholic parishes

The Book of Common Prayer printed by John Baskerville

Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church is the first Anglican Use parish, established on August 15, 1983. They now have a blog, in addition to their website.

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Christmas is not pagan

Midnight Mass 2012

Again from the SDA2RC blog, something the Worldwide Church of God splinter groups, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and some Adventists, such as Bacchiocchi, need to consider – the evidence that Christmas was not derived from a pagan celebration.

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More on Sunday and Pope Sylvester I

Michael Schiefler has been trying to squeeze more water out of a stone on his anti-Catholic website. I commented on it before. He seems to think he has the name of the Pope that changed the Sabbath to Sunday nailed down – Pope Sylvester I. Scheifler is basing his claims on second-hand information based on what are probably spurious documents.

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The return of Christ

St Ambrose by Giovanni di Piamonte, ca 1456

We ask for what reason our Lord was unwilling to state the time of His coming (cf. Mk. 13:31-32). If we ask it, we shall not find it is owing to ignorance, but to wisdom. For it was not to our advantage to know; in order that we being ignorant of the actual moments of judgment to come, might ever be as it were on guard, and set on the watch-tower of virtue, and so avoid the habits of sin; lest the day of the Lord should come upon us in the midst of our wickedness.

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Original sin and the Orthodox

Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople

The Eastern Orthodox Churches often object to the western / Catholic concept of original sin. The SDA2RC blog lists two excellent articles by Orthodox authors about why this may simply be a misunderstanding of terminology, with both sides quite compatible in their beliefs.

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Leaving the SDA church

10 Commandments

Brandon’s comment: “I believe that more and more, people are turning away from the negative carcitures of other Christians and the focus on legal requirements rather than the gospel of Christ.”

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Day of Atonement in 1844

Ellen White

Seventh-day Adventists claim that in 1844 … the Day of Atonement (10th of Tishri) on October 22. One of the major reasons why Adventists cannot discard this date is that a prophet of their church has stated that this was the date. Either they have to acknowledge her error, or they have to stick to their non-date. To do so, they pretended that the Karaite Jews used this date.

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Dating Christmas

Midnight Mass 2012

The SDA2RC blog has an article on Christmas from the Catholic News Service. Wikipedia and Truth or Fables also have articles showing that Christmas is truly Christian, not a pagan celebration. Something worth reading for those who object to “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”

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Daniel’s prophecies

Hebrew Bible

The prophecies in Daniel are one part of the Bible that Adventists love to interpret to their heart’s content … and to misinterpret. Daniel provides Adventism with a lot to fuel their anti-Catholic desires. And when you don’t accept their interpretation of the prophecies, they often want an alternative interpretation.

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Adventists and evolution

White-tailed gnu (Black wildebeest)

Adventists, who struggle to reconcile a literal reading of the Bible with the record of science, might appreciate reading his [Dr Francis S. Collins] new book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

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Liberal fundamentalism in America

Declaration of Independence

Federal Judge Says San Francisco’s Labeling of Catholics as “Hateful” is Constitutional.

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Gregorian University fires famous Latin teacher

Aristotle, Physics

Fr. Reginald Foster, one of the most renowned Latinists in the world, was fired last week from the Gregorian University by the Society of Jesus, stating that too many students were taking Fr. Foster’s classes without paying tuition. – from the Catholic News Agency

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Second part of Bacchiocchi’s response

Bacchiocchi’s Response to False Allegations Pt 2 has been posted on-line by Bacchiocchi. One has to wade through a lot of information, such as recommendations for his book, that really do nothing to prove his side of the story. If you cut it down to the necessary facts, does he really provide solid evidence? He provides a good case. But a lot of it remains unverified. His explanation of the process of publishing his thesis is convincing. Does anyone out there have a copy of the original abridged version?

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Prayer is spiritual breathing

St. John of Kronstadt

“Prayer is spiritual breathing; when we pray we breathe in the Holy Spirit; “praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 1:20). Thus, all church prayers are the breathing of the Holy Spirit; as it were spiritual air and also light, spiritual fire, spiritual food and spiritual raiment.”

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Is Saturday the True Sabbath?

Donkey, Boston Public Library

Obviously, then, the challenge to the Catholic comes on several fronts; first, we must examine the argument that the seventh-day Sabbath was truly “given as a sign forever, and a perpetual covenant”; next, we must show from Scripture that the apostles did, in fact, worship on Sunday; finally, we have to answer the accusation that it was a pope (or council) who imposed the change, and that this was not done until (at the earliest) the mid-to-late 4th century.

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Six Imprisoned Health-Care Workers in Libya

Six Imprisoned Health-Care Workers in Libya Are Pawns in a Far Larger Strategic Game

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