Baptism of Christ

Un-baptizing; can that be done?
The Christmas season is over; today we read about the Baptism of Christ, and recall our own baptisms. some of us today renewed our baptismal promises. But not everyone. Deacon Greg Kandra notes that some are trying to “unbaptize” themselves. Some wish to “de-baptize” because they are responding to the Sexual Abuse Scandals within the church; they are so sincerely disgusted that they cannot reconcile the message of Christianity, as voiced by the church, with the deceit and...

Lawyer with 20 years experience suing paedophile priests in US comes to UK
guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 January 2011 23.17 GMT Cardinal Cormac Murphy O' Connor requested a report into the Catholic Church's child protection policies, which was published in 2001. Photograph: John Giles/PA A leading US litigator who has spent more than 20 years suing US-based paedophile priests and the church officials who moved them from parish to parish is joining a new legal practice dedicated to rooting out clerical Sexual Abuse in the UK. Jeff Anderson has filed more than 1,500 law...

Atheist to Christians: Throw away the Bible to make your religion "friendly"
A new non-profit group calling itself "Changing the Face of Christianity" has started up in Dallas with the mission to reverse "Christian intolerance, hypocrisy, homophobia, judgmentalism, and other negative Christian stereotypes, by helping Christians to be more like Jesus Christ." Interestingly enough, the group's founder R. Brad White is a former atheist. He was raised in a Methodist family, but he himself as a youth was not a believer as he relates that he "had zero conne...

Picture of the Day: Catholics flock to statue
Nearly 600 people were injured in Manila yesterday when more than a million Catholics formed a raucous procession to honour a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ, which they believe possesses mystical powers. Barefoot devotees surged over iron railings to try to touch the 404-year-old figure, which is known in the Philippines as the Black Nazarene. The predominantly male marchers, wearing maroon clothing, gathered in Heavy Rain at the city's Rizal Park. Their numbers swelled to 1.5 million afte...

Magda Abu-Fadil: Beirut Cathedral Museum Reveals Layers of Christian History
The recently opened crypt museum at the St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in downtown Beirut is relatively small but packs a powerful punch by revealing layers of Christian heritage in a land rocked by sectarian differences. The cathedral, the seventh in a series of churches dating some 2,000 years, endured the ravages of man and nature, but was repeatedly rebuilt through sheer determination and solid faith. St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral embraced by Al Amin Mosque (Abu-Fadil) It is o...

Spanish Catholic Calendar Features Near-Nude Youth To Raise Funds
SANT JOAN, Mallorca — Seeking to raise money for their Roman Catholic youth group on the Spanish tourist destination island of Mallorca, members came up with a risque idea: Pose nearly nude for a calendar recreating scenes from the Passion of Christ. The group has almost sold out of the 10-euro ($13) calendars for 2011 and is considering another print run because of high demand. But Mallorca's Bishop Jesus Murgui is blasting the effort as showing disrespect for the most important Catholi...

Credo: Kerry Knott
Kerry Knott, 50, is well aware of Washington's propensity for moral failings, and for its occasional redemptions. Today, he's focused on the latter. As president of Springfield's C.S. Lewis Institute, Knott leads an organization devoted to teaching and mentoring Christians on how to better articulate their own beliefs and to live out their faiths in public and private life. Prior to his current position, Knott spent 26 years on Capitol Hill, first as the Chief of Staff for former House Rep. Dick...

Buy this book for the RCMP Diversity Eunuchs!
Reader PJ directed me to this Damian Thompson piece: "Converting Muslims to Christianity: handy tips for modern Evangelists". The book in question is Reaching Muslims by Nick Chatrath. "...they shouldn’t conceal their Christian beliefs or miss an opportunity to discuss “the prophet Jesus” in ways that may lead their Muslim friends to become their ex-Muslim friends. In fact, there’s a section of the book dedicated to practical advice on how Muslims can renounce Islam witho...

Tattoo artist charged in assault on girlfriend
A Tattoo artist used the tools of his trade to sexually assault his girlfriend after he slammed her head against a floor and choked her, Cook County prosecutors said this afternoon. Jef Whitehead, 42, was charged with criminal Sexual Assault and aggravated domestic battery and held on $350,000 bond for allegedly attacking his girlfriend. Prosecutors said the argument between the couple began about 12:30 a.m. Saturday at a friend's home in the 1100 block of West Taylor Street. The woman was tak...

StyleLikeU: Fashion Junkie Jake Oliver Was A Jock In High School (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
"I'm definitely cooler in my head than I think I am in real life," says Jake, but no - he is as cool as it gets. A jock in High School with a passion for Fashion magazines, Jake hot-glued bandannas into the bells of his jeans and tied his grandfather's scarecrow's bandanna, with the perfect fade and size, on his head with snakeskin boots for his yearbook photo. In addition, his paisley floral Tattoo, which is the size of his forearm, is an homage to his rodeo days in Arkansas. However, what is...

Iran: No Tight Jeans for You
Iran has enforced a stricter Islamic Dress Code at a number of universities including a ban on female Students wearing long nails, bright clothes and Tattoos, a local news agency reported on Monday. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress freedom of thought, expression, and worship. Read more... We invite all Americans who share these values to join us here at Fox Nati...

Southern Sudan votes on secession
Reporting from Mugoro, Sudan — They walked in their best clothes past villages and down dirt roads until they came to the church to fold away the pain of war and redraw the map of Africa in a Referendum that began Sunday on independence for southern Sudan. Get dispatches from Times correspondents around the globe delivered to your inbox with our daily World newsletter. Sign up » They carried walking sticks and memories of those lost in decades of bloodshed to a Polling Station to...

In the Arena, once more
Some of you liked the current-events discussion show “In the Arena” which broadcasts within the Diocese of Brooklyn (and livestreams here at netny.net) and on which Yours Truly sometimes shows up. So, if you’re at your computer tonight at 7PM (Eastern) or again at 11PM, scoot yourself over to here and watch the season debut, hosted by Jane Hanson. Just hit the orange “watch now” button in the upper right-hand side! Posted in It's all about me! Me! ME! Elizabeth Sca...

German Egg Scare: Are Lax Food-Safety Laws to Blame?
Omelets are off the menu in Germany, which has been rocked by a food contamination scare after high levels of the poisonous chemical dioxin were discovered in eggs. Now there are fears that the Scandal is spreading, as authorities also find the Toxin in Poultry and other countries start banning the import of German foodstuffs. The scare has panicked German authorities and shattered Consumer Confidence. In a country that prides itself on upholding strict food-safety regulations, people are aski...

Catholic Christendom College Closes Again for March for Life
“I think it’s great that Christendom recognizes the importance of the March by closing the entire campus,” says Sophomore Jessica Inzeo. “It ensures that every Student has the opportunity to participate in this national event.” Senior Margaret Antunes agrees, and said “I don’t think any other school does this.” Antunes added, “It is a great bonding experience for all the students as we gather under the Christendom banner in support of the pro...

The Heroic Namesake of John Boehner's Church
Speaker of the House John Boehner is a long-time member of St. Maximilian Kolbe parish in Liberty Township, Ohio. Many Catholics, of course, are familiar with St. Maximilian Kolbe -- but everyone should know of his story. Here is a very brief retelling of it. As a priest living in Poland during World War II, Kolbe helped hide thousands of Jews from the Nazis. In 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo, and ultimately transferred to Auschwitz. When three men disappeared from the camp, it was deci...

Pope calls on Pakistan to scrap blasphemy
"I once more encourage the leaders of that country to take the necessary steps to abrogate that law," the leader of the world's one billion Catholics said on Monday in a traditional New Year's address to ambassadors to the Vatican. "The tragic Murder of the Governor of Punjab shows the urgent need to make progress in this direction," he said, referring to the killing of Salman Taseer by one of his Bodyguards last week over his liberal position on the law. Controversy over the Legislation flared ...

Irish Protesters Demand End to Government Collusion with Catholic Church Child Rapists
Protesters rallied yesterday outside government offices in Dublin to demand that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) stop shielding child rapists in the Catholic Church, and threatening citizens who demand action. Gerry O'Donovan, a member of the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS), joined with Kevin Flanagan, Dave O'Brien and others in delivering a formal letter of Protest to the government because of the DPP's refusal to bring charges against a Catholic prie...

Father Cutie: On leaving the church
Father Alberto Cutie talks to CNN Espanol's Ismael Cala about leaving the Catholic Church, his new life as an Episcopal priest, and more. ...

Westboro Baptist Church to Picket Funeral of 9-Yr-Old Girl Murdered in Tucson
Westboro Baptist Church says that God sent the shooter to Tucson, Arizona to kill and maim as many people as possible. And the followers of WBC plans on protesting at the Funeral of 9 year-old Murder Victim Christina-Taylor Greene. Christina was born on September 11, 2001, and was shot Saturday morning waiting to meet her Congresswoman, and passed away a short time later at the University of Arizona Medical Center. According to her father, John, Christina was recently elected to the
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Your Opinions
Milwaukee has a Poverty problem - more than one in four are living in poverty, as are nearly 40% of our Children. The Journal Sentinel took me to task, and said it was an exaggeration to repeat its own headline that Milwaukee is the nation's fourth poorest city (Page 2A, Jan. 3). It's fair to ask what's behind that figure. But it's unfair to ignore that it means more about how Milwaukee stands against our nation's biggest cities than to places such as Las Cruces, N.M., or Broken Arrow, Okla., ...

Halton Catholic school board bans gay-straight alliance groups
The Halton Catholic District School Board has come under fire for banning gay-straight alliances from its schools. The board, which includes one newly elected gay trustee, voted on Nov. 2, 2010 to bar Students from forming the gay social justice groups because they would clash with the school’s traditional Catholic value system. In an interview with Xtra, Canada’s gay and Lesbian newspaper, board director Alice Anne Lemay said there are a number of groups the board disallows, and wit...

Pope urges Pakistan to scrap blasphemy law
Stumble This! Pope Benedict XVI on Monday called on Pakistan to scrap a Controversial law against Blasphemy, saying it served as "a pretext for acts of injustice and violence against religious Minorities." "I once more encourage the leaders of that country to take the necessary steps to abrogate that law," the leader of the world's one billion Catholics said in a traditional New Year's address to ambassadors to the Vatican. "The tragic Murder of the Governor of Punjab shows the urgent need to m...

"Religion and Preferences for Redistributive Policies in an East Asian Country" i.e. Taiwan
KEY FINDINGS (based on 2006 data) According to Chang, "[i]n particular, under the social and cultural context of an East Asian country, the linkages between religious affiliation and frequency of religious attendance and preferences for redistributive policies are different from what have been found in studies of Western Christian societies." For example, "[b]eing Protestant leads to a more favorable attitude toward several social Insurance and welfare programs in Taiwan ." Meanwhile, "Buddhi...

Christian Outreach a blessing to Isle of Wight County
By James Thomas Jr. Correspondent Started as a soup and sandwich Fundraiser to help seniors pay home heating bills 20 winters ago, the Christian Outreach Program has become one of the most effective social safety nets for needy families in Isle of Wight County. It all started in 1990 when the county's fuel assistance program went broke and local churches Christ Episcopal and Good Shepherd Catholic joined forces to launch the first Souper Saturday, said Becky Farmer, chair of the Souper Saturday ...