A CONCISE PLAN TO SAVE EUROPE

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The following is an open letter from 'The Catholic Knight' to all European governments. Please feel free to copy and distribute this open letter as you see fit...

Your Excellencies,

By now you are well aware of the demographic crisis your nations will soon face. The very cultural identity of Europe is threatened. If you will indulge me for a moment, I believe I have a solution to this crisis which may reverse this trend within just a few short decades. This concise plan has only three points.

First, examine the laws and policies of both your national governments and the European Union, with the intent of eliminating all restrictions to the free exercise of Christian religion. Attempt to structure these laws in such a way that encourages the free exercise of religion in general. This should be coupled with laws that strengthen the rights of parents to educate their children according to their religious beliefs.

Second, examine the laws and policies of both your national governments and the European Union, particularly laws related to taxation and entitlements, with the intent of encouraging traditional marriage and the procreation of children within the traditional family.

Third, liberalize your immigration policies to give a most favored immigration status to the direct descendants of European settlers on other continents, and simultaneously tighten immigration laws on applicants with no ancestral ties to Europe. Consider this a "right of return" policy for the descendants of Europeans. For example; provide immediate relocation packages, with fast-track citizenship eligibility, to any non-Euopean who can provide proof of a direct European ancestor having emigrated within the last 100 years.

The third point will not work as effectively unless the first and second points are also addressed. There is no reason to believe these three points, working together, wouldn't provide an immediate resurgence of European culture and stabilize European demographics within a few decades. I encourage you to implement these emergency steps as quickly as possible, to save what is left of Europe before it's too late.

Sincerely,

'The Catholic Knight'
An Anonymous Internet Blogger

Pope Pelosi Is At It Again

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Her Holiness Pope Nancy Pelosi pontificated today on the official teaching of her new "catholic" religion specifically tailored for American Cafeteria Catholics....

(LifeNews.Com) - "I have some concerns about the church's position respecting a woman's right to choose," Pelosi responds. "I am a practicing Catholic, although they're probably not too happy about that. But it is my faith."

"I practically mourn this difference of opinion because I feel what I was raised to believe is consistent with what I profess, and that is that we are all endowed with a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions," she continues. "And that women should have that opportunity to exercise their free will."

read full story here

Clearly what we have here is a NEW RELIGION with spokespeople who claim an authority higher than the Holy Father himself. This is heresy, plain and simple. The bishops cannot let this stand. Withholding communion is not enough. These people are preaching a NEW RELIGION. Pelosi herself implies that her views on abortion law were the teaching of the Catholic Church when she was a child. How can they let this go on? Every second these heretics, like Pelosi, are allowed to identify themselves as "Catholic" diminishes the pastoral influence of the bishops. It also distorts the image of the Church. These are heretics, if there ever was such a thing. They should be dealt with as such, and every second that goes by without formal excommunication, makes the U.S. Catholic Church the scandal of Rome, and the laughingstock of the secular world.

2010 Prediction - Will America Survive?

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Leave it to 'The Catholic Knight' to forecast another winter flurry of pessimism-porn right after the Christmas holiday. Hey, at least I didn't post this before Christmas and ruin the spirit of the season - like I did last year.

Okay, so we could just dismiss these dire predictions as doomsday hype were it not forecasted by people with such good track records. I should point out that these Russian predictions do synchronize with leading trends forecasters in America too, with one exception. The American trends forecasters predict America will recover after a political revolution in 2010 and 2012. The Russian forecasters say we'll never make it that far into the future, and the United States will break apart into half a dozen pieces before the year 2010 is done.

How much stock we put into those predictions is irrelevant, as the Russians seem to be putting their money (and military) where their mouth is. Multiple news stories coming out of the former Soviet state confirm the Russians are beefing up their security forces and preparing for "instability" in the North American hemisphere. Apparently the Russians aren't going to take any chances....

(Wall Street Journal) - A polite and cheerful man with a buzz cut, Mr. Panarin insists he does not dislike Americans. But he warns that the outlook for them is dire.

"There's a 55-45% chance right now that disintegration will occur," he says. "One could rejoice in that process," he adds, poker-faced. "But if we're talking reasonably, it's not the best scenario -- for Russia." Though Russia would become more powerful on the global stage, he says, its economy would suffer because it currently depends heavily on the dollar and on trade with the U.S.

Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of June 2010, or early July, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces -- with Alaska reverting to Russian control.

In addition to increasing coverage in state media, which are tightly controlled by the Kremlin, Mr. Panarin's ideas are now being widely discussed among local experts. He presented his theory at a recent roundtable discussion at the Foreign Ministry...

read full story here

Fortunately Mr. Panarin was wrong about the timing of a "civil war next fall." This article was printed in September of 2008, and "next fall" past by a month ago. Whew! But that doesn't mean the prediction is entirely wrong. The timing may just be off. Might I add that American trends forecasters where predicting tough times to happen by fall of 2009 as well. So what went wrong? How could it be that people with such amazing track records could miss? Well, some say the economic stimulus packages have had the effect of postponing the inevitable. In other words, our economy is on a sugar high, but it won't last. Congress is already planning "Economic Stimulus 3.0" for early 2010 in the amount of another $700 to $800 billion.

Personally, I think Mr. Panarin is on to something, and so is Mr. Celente, Mr. Schiff, and other trends forecasters. The days of Empire America are over. Economically speaking, we're the walking dead. We just don't know it yet. The only question is this, when reality finally hits us, just how bad will it be? Will our economic free fall be enough to plunge us into another Civil War? (Remember, we had one once before.) It's far more likely, in my opinion, that if violence were to erupt, it wouldn't happen until after the 2010 election (maybe early 2011), starting with a conflict between the whitehouse and a newly elected congress, effectively polarizing the whole country between those who support President Obama and those who do not. That's just my opinion anyway. I really don't know what the future holds for the United States of America. All I do know is this. Election 2008 was the one that sealed our fate, whatever that fate may be. In it, the American people chose to elect a president and a congress that have zero regard for human life and the traditional family, all for promises of health, wealth and "change." In spite of the weakness of the Republican alternative, it was an election in which the choice could not have been more clear. Shall we maintain the status quo, or plunge ourselves even deeper into socialism and moral relativism? Sadly, America chose the latter. Now we get to reap the consequences. Joy.

American Economy and Dollar will CRASH in 2010

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Gerald Celente is the leading trends researcher in the United States. He has a strong track record, and has accurately predicted future events for the last 30 years.

Columbian Governor Declares Christianity Illegal - Christians Arrested - Persecution Underway

(Christian Telegraph) - 28 indigenous Colombian Christians have been imprisoned since October for refusing to denounce their faith, reports MNN.

Logan Maurer with International Christian Concern says the central government gave local governors relative autonomy. "They have devolved power to a governor there who has outlawed Christianity. He has said that if anybody there is a Christian, they're going to go to prison."

With that announcement, the local governor over the Kogui (ko-gee) called the Christians together on October 27th. "He was holding a meeting to discuss this issue," said Maurer, "and he surprised these Christians by saying, 'You're all under arrest.'"

The governor wants them to maintain more of the traditional identity to the tribal region, which includes animism. The group is still being held because they refuse to reconvert...

read full story here

Pope Attacked on Christmas Eve !!!!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The 82 year-old pope quickly recovered and carried on as if nothing happened. The Vatican reports that he was uninjured by the attack. Not even a holy midnight mass is safe for the pope these days. Fortunately, the angels were watching over him this time. It's yet another thing we should all be thankful for. Be safe and have a Merry Christmas!

Mary Appears To Muslims !?!

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Now those who read this blog regularly can testify the "The Catholic Knight" is one not easily given to reports of the supernatural. I am highly suspicious of all claims of apparitions, and rightfully so. Most of them turn out to be false. However, every once in a while one does catch my attention. The supposed Marian apparition at the Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo Egypt is particularly interesting for two reasons. First, it is drawing in lots of Muslims. Second, it has been so thoroughly documented on video that it cannot be dismissed out of hand.

As a man having a modest training in science, I can tell you this is not the product of natural phenomenon or trick camera images. Something is definitely appearing and it is radiating it's own light. I can only come up with two possible explanations for the apparitions videos. One, it is an elaborate hologram generated by expensive equipment within the surrounding structures. (A highly unlikely scenario.) Or two, it is a real and genuine apparition of a being that exists outside of our perceptible dimensions of space.

Is this the Virgin Mary? Well it kind of looks like a "woman clothed in the sun." Could that be her? I suspect - yes. It will be interesting to watch what comes of this in the days ahead. If it is truly a sign from Our Lady, then I would expect two things. One, IF any messages might be received from her, they will be 100% consistent with Catholic and Orthodox dogma. Two, her apparition will result in the conversion of many Muslims.

For those unfamiliar with Islamic beliefs, Muslims do believe in Mary, but not in the same way Catholic and Orthodox Christians do. They revere her as an important figure, and virgin mother of Jesus (considered a great prophet in Islam), but no more than that. In Islam Mary is regarded as symbol of piety and submission to God.

All we can do at this point is watch, wait and see. But let us do so prayerfully, and with cool heads, so as to pay careful attention and not get caught up in emotional frenzy...

BREAKING: BOTH JOHN PAUL II AND PIUS XII MADE VENERABLE !!!

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: In a surprise move Pope Benedict XVI has signed the edict making both Popes John Paul II and Pius XII venerable, setting both on the path toward sainthood. It was widely speculated that Pope John Paul II would be made venerable this Saturday, but few if anybody, expected the same action for Pope Pius XII. Both popes are known for their actions toward helping the Jews. It is estimated that Puis XII saved approximately 800,000 Jews from Nazi death camps.

Predictably, some Jewish groups are now outraged at the Holy Father's decision to make Pius XII venerable. This is likely because they would rather believe Soviet era propaganda than the actual historical record. Sad but predictable. I wonder why so many Jews prefer communist lies to the testimony of their own people who lived through that horrible era?

Russian Orthodox Church Allies With Vatican To Fight Western Secularism

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Do I get the strange sense that something prophetic is unfolding? Perhaps the three little seers of Fatima could answer this...

(Zenit) - Help for the West

Then Archbishop Hilarion makes his main point: Russia can help. Russia can come to the rescue of the West.

"The Russian Orthodox Church, with its unique experience of surviving the harshest persecutions, struggling against militant atheism, reemerging from the ghetto when the political situation changed, recovering its place in society and redefining its social responsibilities, can therefore be of help to Europe," he writes.

Then he draws a line in the sand.

"The totalitarian dictatorship of the past cannot be replaced with a new dictatorship of pan-European government mechanisms. […] The countries of Orthodox tradition, for example, do not accept laws that legalize euthanasia, homosexual marriage, drug trafficking, the maintenance of brothels, pornography, and so on."

In short, the archbishop is saying that the Orthodox, including the Russian Orthodox Church which he represents, are ready to fight for Christian values in the West, alongside Catholics and Protestants.

And Archbishop Hilarion does not exclude disobedience against unjust laws.

"Obviously, disobedience of civil law is an extreme measure that a particular Church might adopt in exceptional circumstances," he writes. "It is nonetheless a possibility that must not be excluded a priori, in case a system of secularized values should become the only one operating in Europe."

Was this a random, unrepresentative text, out of the mainstream?

Well, one indication that it is not merely a stray opinion, but rather part of a growing consensus, is that the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano saw fit to publish Archbishop Hilarion's text almost in its entirety on Dec. 2.

John Thavis, the distinguished Vaticanist for Catholic News Service -- of the U.S. bishops' conference -- wrote Dec. 11: "The Russian Orthodox Church has come forward to propose a strategic alliance with the Catholic Church aimed, in effect, at saving Europe's soul from 'Western post-Christian humanism.' The offer came in an introduction written by Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion to a book of speeches by Benedict XVI on Europe's spiritual crisis, published in Russian by the Orthodox Moscow Patriarchate. In an unusual move, the Vatican newspaper published almost the entire introduction in its Dec. 2 edition."

Thavis notes that Archbishop Hilarion's proposal comes precisely as 140 Christian leaders in the United States met in New York and issued the "Manhattan Declaration" pledging renewed zeal in defending the unborn, defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and protecting religious freedom....

read full story here

Jewish Lobby Seeks To Ban Christmas In Israel

(Ynetnews.com) - A new front for religious battles: Hotels and restaurants. The "Lobby for Jewish values" this week began operating against restaurants and hotels that plan to put up Christmas trees and other Christian symbols ahead of Christmas and the civil New Year.

According to the lobby's Chairman, Ofer Cohen, they have received backing by the rabbis, "and we are even considering publishing the names of the businesses that put up Christian symbols ahead of the Christian holiday and call for a boycott against them."

Fliers and ads distributed among the public read, "The people of Israel have given their soul over the years in order to maintain the values of the Torah of Israel and the Jewish identity.

"You should also continue to follow this path of the Jewish people's tradition and not give in to the clownish atmosphere of the end of the civil year. And certainly not help those businesses that sell or put up the foolish symbols of Christianity....

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: I wonder what the fallout would be if a fundamentalist Catholic lobby said the same things ("clownish atmosphere" and "foolish symbols") about Jewish celebrations?

Christians Persecuted In Holy Land By Muslims And Jews

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: This Christmas pray for our Catholic brethren in the Holy Land, the REAL victims of all the violence in the middle east. Yes, I said it. The REAL victims. Yes, there are Muslim victims, and yes, there are Jewish victims, but both parties are in perpetual war with each other, each committing their own atrocities. What of the Christians however, the forgotten victims of the middle east. How many atrocities did they commit this year? Answer = zero. When was the last time you heard of a Palestinian Christian blowing himself up in a crowded marketplace, or an Israeli Christian authorizing the demolition of a residential neighborhood? Answer = never. Yet Christians suffer at the hands of both Muslims and Jews in the Holy Land, for no other reason than just existing...

(AsiaNews) – A further outrage was committed last night against the Franciscan church adjoining the Cenacle on Mount Zion, next to the Room of the Last Supper (pictured, Benedict XVI’s visit in May 2009).

Obscene graffiti on the doors leading to the church read “We killed Jesus", "Christians out" (in English and Hebrew) and "F... off", which were adorned with a "Star of David", apparently so as to leave no one in doubt about the religious affiliation of the perpetrators.

To make the point further, the assailants had urinated on the door and left a long trail of urine leading to it.

According to churchmen at the site, the urination on the door of the shrine has become an almost daily event....

read full story here

BREAKING: U.S. CATHOLIC BISHOPS NOW OPPOSE HEALTHCARE REFORM BILL !!!

(Catholic Online) - What is called the “Nelson-Hatch-Casey Amendment” to the Senate Health Care Reform Bill was defeated Tuesday by a vote of 54 to 45. The Senate voted to table it, effectively ending the effort. If passed, it would have protected against the coerced use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortion. It was similar to the Pro-Life “Stupak Amendment” which was included in the House Version of the Health Reform Bill...

read full story here

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(USCCB) - Cardinal George concluded: “While we deplore the Senate’s refusal to adopt the Nelson-Hatch-Casey amendment, we remain hopeful that the protections overwhelmingly passed by the House will be incorporated into needed reform legislation. Failure to exclude abortion funding will turn allies into adversaries and require us and others to oppose this bill because it abandons both principle and precedent.”...

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The U.S. Senate has just sealed the fate of the healthcare reform bill by refusing to attach pro-life protections to the legislation. As a result, the U.S. Catholic Bishops now have no choice but to oppose this legislation outright if some king of pro-life protection is not put back into the bill. This is the doing of the United States Senate. They brought the demise of healthcare reform upon themselves with their crazed pro-abortion zeal.

It is now the DUTY of every Catholic in the United States to call their U.S. Senators and tell them to vote AGAINST the healthcare reform bill. Failure to do this is to indicrectly cooperate with procuring abortions! Furthermore, it is now the duty of every U.S. Catholic bishop to formerly excommunicate every Catholic Senator who votes in favor of this legislation. Failure to do this is to neglect their duties as bishops and effectively a cooperation with procuring abortions.

We are now in crunch time! This is it! The faith and morality of every Catholic is tested, and there is no reason to believe that God himself is not keeping score. GOD IS WATCHING YOU. Will you live up to your Catholic faith today? Contact your U.S. Senator by clicking here, and forward this message to every Catholic you know.

Live Broadcast of Conference on Anglicanorum Coetibus

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: On Saturday 12/12/2009 8:00am PST - A live conference on Anglicanorum coetibus will be broadcasted on Internet video stream at this URL: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/anglicanorum

Or you should be able to watch it here...

Free live streaming by Ustream

The Information Day on Anglicanorum coetibus will be webcast live on Saturday, December 12th, beginning with Mass at 10 a.m. (CST), followed by the meeting.

You can watch live [above], and you can access it any time afterwards [by clicking the link].

If you are in the San Antonio area, you are welcome to attend the Mass and the meeting.

The Mass will be in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The meeting will be moderated by Mr. Charles Wilson, and our guest speakers will be Mr. Michael Dunnigan, Mr. Duane Galles, and Mr. Ralph Johnston.

Charles M. Wilson is the founder of the Saint Joseph Foundation, and serves as its Executive Director. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and his Master's degree in Theological Studies from the Oblate School of Theology. His area of academic concentration was canon law. He is an associate member of the Canon Law Society of America and serves on the Board of Governors of Eternal Word Television Network.

Ralph Johnston serves as the Headmaster of The Atonement Academy, having obtained his Master’s degree from Yale University. A member of the parish, and an avid follower of these momentous events, he was the first person to deliver a formal request to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for the establishment of a Personal Ordinariate in the United States.

Duane Galles lives in Minneapolis. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the St. Joseph Foundation and the key canonical consultant there for some twenty years. He is qualified as a civil and canon lawyer, having received his Doctor of Canon Law (JCD) degree from St. Paul University in Ottawa, Canada.

Michael Dunnigan is both a civil and canon lawyer. He received his Licentiate in Canon Law (JCL) degree from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome and is now preparing to defend his JCD dissertation.

Christmas Vacation For 'The Catholic Knight'

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT:  I will be taking the rest of the month off from blogging to honor Christ's Advent and Nativity.  Should any significant news break, I will break my silence to comment on it.  But outside of a major event effecting our faith or world, 'The Catholic Knight' retires for the Christmas season.  HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

ACTION ALERT: Please Act Immediately !!!

U.S. Senate may vote any day now
on Hatch-Nelson Amendment
to prevent government-funded abortion

 

WASHINGTON (December 4, 2009) -- This is an urgent congressional alert from the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC).

The U.S. Senate is working across the weekend, voting on amendments to the massive health care bill (H.R. 3590) proposed by Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nv.). NRLC strongly opposes the bill because of multiple provisions that would promote abortion and the rationing of lifesaving medical care.

Pro-life Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ben Nelson (D-Ne.) plan to soon file an amendment to the bill, which will be supported by the NRLC and other major pro-life groups. The Hatch-Nelson Amendment would make the same critical policy changes to the Reid bill that were accomplished in the House of Representatives by adoption of the NRLC-backed Stupak-Pitts Amendment to the House version of the health care legislation (H.R. 3962) on November 7.

Thus, the effect of the Hatch-Nelson Amendment would be to prevent the proposed new government health insurance program -- the "public option" -- from paying for abortions, and also to prevent federal funds from being used to subsidize the purchase of private health plans that pay for elective abortion.

Time is short! Please telephone the offices of your two U.S. senators. Urge them to support the Hatch-Nelson Amendment to the health care bill (H.R. 3590). The Washington offices of all U.S. senators can be reached through the Capitol Switchboard, 202-224-3121. In most cases, you can also obtain fax numbers, and phone numbers for senators' in-state offices, through the NRLC Legislative Action Center at this internet address:
http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/dbq/officials/

After the Senate has voted on the Hatch-Nelson Amendment, there will be other critical votes on the health care legislation! The legislative situation may change rapidly. Any time you want to check the current status of the legislation, visit this page on the Legislative Action Center:
http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/alert/?alertid=13157881&type=CO

For further information on the abortion-related issues the health care legislation, go to: http://www.nrlc.org/ahc

For further information on the rationing-related issues on the health care legislation, go to: http://powellcenterformedicalethics.blogspot.com/

Pro-Choice Catholic Politicians Should Either Quit Politics Or Change Their Views

Anglican Ordinariates Are For ALL English Speaking Catholics - Designed To Combat Rogue Bishops And Restore Traditional Catholicism

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: This is a remarkable article about the pope's creation of Anglican Ordinariates in relation to the problems the pope is currently experiencing with rogue bishops in the Roman Rite and what has become the tyranny of the "Novus Ordo Culture."

Apparently the Anglican Ordinariates are a gift to ALL ENGLISH SPEAKING CATHOLICS, as well as Anglican converts to the Catholic Church seeking refuge from the moral relativism pervading the Anglican Communion these days....

Prophecy Fulfilled
If his own bishops were trustworthy, if the Holy Father were confident that most of his local bishops would treat the Anglicans with due respect for their rights as Catholics, he would not set up the additional machinery of the Anglican rite. But, as the Calgary bishop demonstrates, the Holy Father can't even trust his own bishops to treat Catholics with due honor and respect. How much honor would they give to filthy little Anglican converts (for that is essentially how many Catholic bishops view these - spit when you say it - traditionalists).

Why are laymen being given their own liturgical rite?
Because, unlike most of the world's Catholic bishops, these laymen actually understand and appreciate holy and beautiful things.

The irony is delicious. The Vatican II types who wanted laymen empowered are getting precisely that with the new Anglican rite. Not only are laymen being empowered, they are being treated as episcopal equals. The men and women who felt thrills go up their legs when they heard that Catholicity subsists in the Church, that elements of Catholicity exist even in Christian communities outside the visible bonds with Rome, have been justified. The new Anglican rite demonstrates that when the Holy Father needs people who have a truly Catholic perspective, he now has to go outside the visible Church to get them. Who said Vatican II wasn't prophetic?

Many people have commented on the fact that some of AC's provisions regarding the Anglican orders are transitional. For instance, treatment of lay people as if they were retired bishops will only last for the life of the current Anglican bishops. Yes, that's true. But it is also transitional in the sense that the current crop of Catholic bishops will likewise be dead before those "transitional" AC provisions are no longer necessary. The AC provisions aren't just waiting out the Anglican bishops, they are waiting out the Catholic bishops as well. Indeed, it cannot have escaped the notice of all Catholic bishops that they are being forced to treat laymen with episcopal deference. No doubt this has played some niggling role in Calgary's cavalry charge into the teeth of a German panzer division.

Obviously, the bishop of Calgary has picked a fight he cannot win. Rome will crush him like a bug. His suppression of normal Eucharistic reception and the FSSP is too outrageous, too schismatic, too much in violation of everything the Pope hopes to accomplish. If the Catholic Conference of Pennsylvania could force out a man like Bishop Martino because Martino was too holy for them, then the bishop of Rome can force out the bishop of Calgary because he's too unholy.

Calgary's probability of getting a new bishop in the next couple of years is now astronomically high, if only because bishops in other dioceses around the world are watching.

And so are the bishops in heaven. We know which side St. Ambrose is on....

read the full version of this remarkable article here

Ten Reasons Why Liberal Christianity Will Die

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Father Longenecker recently made a blog entry titled "10 Reasons Why Modernist Christianity Will Die." It's a fantastic article in which he points out that the very ten things that define Modernist Christianity, are ironically the very ten things that will eventually destroy it. In summary....

1. Modernists deny supernaturalism and therefore they are not really religious.
2. Modernism is essentially individualist and not communal.
3. Modernism is also subjective and sentimentalist.
4. Modernism is historically revisionist.
5. Modernists contracept and abort.
6. Modernism makes no great demands for its devotees to be religious.
7. The modernist himself does not really understand why anyone should be religious.
8. Modernists allow for moral degeneracy and that saps the strength out of real religion.
9. Modernists aren't actually much fun.
10. Modernists are dull.

read full article here

I would like to take Father Longenecher's observations a step further by applying it to all of Protestantism in general. Currently, we're living in a time when Modernism has only visibly infected the older mainline denominations. What many people don't know is that it's already infected the newer Evangelical denominations as well. What we see happening to the older mainline denominations today, will soon be happening to the newer Evangelical denominations within two to three decades at the latest. Personally, I suspect we'll start to see it within ten to fifteen years. Likewise, they too will follow the same path as the mainline denominations. They will do what they did, breaking up into smaller groups, eventually splintering themselves into extinction. The day will come eventually when every individual Protestant will become a church of one.

OFFICIAL: Communion On Tongue Cannot Be Denied Because Of Swine Flu

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: It's official. The H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus is no excuse for denying a faithful Catholic communion on the tongue. So all of these parishes and diocese that have attempted to do that are now in violation of canon law, and are in direct opposition to the Vatican. The final statements of the letter indicate the Vatican will take corrective measures with any priest or bishop who denies communion on the tongue for this reason.

If you should find yourself in a parish, where people are being denied communion on the tongue because of the H1N1 (Swine Flu) outbreak, click on the image of the letter above, print out a copy, and share it with you pastor immediately. That should be enough. However, if the matter is not quickly resolved, write a letter explaining the problem to your local bishop and CC the Vatican.

Top Catholic Cardinal Says 'No Way' To Senate Healthcare Bill

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: It's a mortal sin to vote for this bill as is. The provisions for public funding of abortion and euthanasia must be removed. If any Catholic politician votes for this bill as it is, with public funding for abortion and euthanasia intact, that politician can expect disciplinary action from the Catholic Church which may include formal excommunication at the discretion of the bishop.

Let me say just two things about this.

First and foremost, it is well within the rights of ANY church, mosque or synagogue (not only the Catholic Church) to discipline its own members according to the teachings of that religious institution. In Christianity this is specifically outlined as a process involving private rebuke, exhortation and if necessary interdiction, followed by excommunication. The Catholic Church in particular safeguards the rights of it's members by permitting tribunals in which those excommunicated persons may appeal the decision of the local bishop in ecclesiastical courts going all the way up to the Vatican supreme court known as the Apostolic Signatura. So Catholic bishops are usually very reluctant to excommunicate unless they know they've got a watertight case that will withstand the appeals process. In the case of most pro-choice U.S. Catholic politicians that watertight case has already been made, as many of them are already forbidden to receive communion, yet the bishops withhold formal excommunication for now.

Sadly, there is a foolish notion in America today, promoted by many on the Left side of the political spectrum, which asserts that religious institutions (the Catholic Church in particular) have no right to discipline politicians because of the supposed "separation of church and state." They assert that because the Church is disciplining it's members in Congress, it is effectively meddling in politics. Some of these people even go so far as to suggest the Catholic Church ought to be legally punished for it's supposed "political meddling" by revoking it's tax exemption. The late Senator Ted Kennedy not only suggested it, but actually threatened it at various points during his political career. Other politicians, and members of the media elite, continue to do the same today. Such threats demonstrate a profound ignorance not only of religious procedure, but also civil rights and how the Constitution of the United States is supposed to work.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

- Article I, Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution

A careful examination of this text plainly states that "congress shall pass no law." Notice it doesn't say "the church shall take no action." Clearly the prohibition is placed on government, not religious institutions. It is the government that is restrained, not the church. Basically according to this document, which is the supreme law of the land, the Church (any church or religious institution) can do whatever the hell it wants, but the government cannot create laws that restrict the activity of religious institutions. So according to the U.S. Constitution anyway, the Catholic Church can threaten to excommunicate every Catholic politician in congress, for whatever reason, and actually do it, while the congress is powerless to do anything about it. That deceased blowhard Ted Kennedy, and all his windbag relatives, can shout and threaten all they want, because in the end, that's all the power they really have.

Now the second thing I want to say is this. The U.S. Catholic Church IS engaging in some politics here. As I stated above, it is well within it's rights to do so, and this is true with any religious institution. However, it's not what most people think. The Church is not using disciplinary action as a threat to influence the outcome of congressional legislation, rather the Church is withholding disciplinary action as an incentive to influence the outcome of congressional legislation. It's the classic case of "good-cop verses bad-cop." You see the U.S. Catholic bishops (playing the role of "good-cop") are intentionally NOT complying with the directives of Rome (playing the role of "bad-cop"). For Rome has made it explicitly clear that Catholic politicians who support abortion are to be subject to interdict at the very least, and in most cases formally excommunicated. Yet the U.S. Catholic bishops (i.e. "good-cop") have been slow to implement this mandate, and that is specifically to give Catholic politicians a chance to redeem themselves. This particular health care legislation is one such example. If their strategy works, and the legislation is either amended to eliminate abortion and euthanasia, or the legislation goes down entirely, then the U.S. Catholic bishops ("good-cop") might be able to hold back the heavy hand of Rome ("bad-cop") a little longer, thus saving U.S. Catholic politicians the embarrassing scandal of formal and public excommunications. Is this playing politics? Well, yes it is, but it's nothing new. The Catholic Church has been using the EXACT SAME strategy on communist nations for decades. It was specifically used to manipulate authorities within the Soviet Union to allow for more religious freedom. The shocking revelation that the Church is now employing this exact same strategy against the United States Congress says a lot about how the Vatican views our current political alignment.

After all is said and done however, this isn't really politics as you know it. You see the Catholic Church stands nothing to gain, politically speaking, from getting congress to drop abortion and euthanasia from healthcare reform. If anything, the Church only stands to incur the wrath of liberal politicians and media elitists if they should happen to succeed. The Church knows this. Furthermore, Catholic hospitals stand to lose a ton of money on federal reimbursements they'll probably never receive from any government healthcare program on births that would have been prevented by abortions had the government been allowed to fund them. So Catholic hospitals have nothing to gain from this either. The Church knows this. No, this is not politics as you know it. It is a kind of politics completely foreign to the American way. It is politics based on a truly altruistic morality that is designed to protect the well being of the helpless. The Church is fulfilling it's mandate to defend those who cannot defend themselves, and because of this it engages in a type of politics Americans simply don't understand, and many hate with every fiber of their being. It doesn't make any sense to them you see, because it's not the American way, as it's something that can neither be bought nor paid off. How do you bribe a political-religious entity that simply will not compromise, even to it's own detriment?

GLOBAL WARMING FRAUD !!!

Saint Albert Gore
Patron of Green Fraud and Scientific Deception
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: You can't say I didn't warn you....

(Telegraph) - If you own any shares in alternative energy companies I should start dumping them NOW. The conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth (aka AGW; aka ManBearPig) has been suddenly, brutally and quite deliciously exposed after a hacker broke into the computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (aka Hadley CRU) and released 61 megabites of confidential files onto the internet. (Hat tip: Watts Up With That)

When you read some of those files – including 1079 emails and 72 documents – you realise just why the boffins at Hadley CRU might have preferred to keep them confidential. As Andrew Bolt puts it, this scandal could well be “the greatest in modern science”. These alleged emails – supposedly exchanged by some of the most prominent scientists pushing AGW theory – suggest:

Conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction of embarrassing information, organised resistance to disclosure, manipulation of data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more.

One of the alleged emails has a gentle gloat over the death in 2004 of John L Daly (one of the first climate change sceptics, founder of the Still Waiting For Greenhouse site), commenting:

“In an odd way this is cheering news.”

But perhaps the most damaging revelations – the scientific equivalent of the Telegraph’s MPs’ expenses scandal – are those concerning the way Warmist scientists may variously have manipulated or suppressed evidence in order to support their cause....

read full story here

Yes "The Catholic Knight" tired to warn you. Here are some examples...

• http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2008/05/environmentalists-advocate-genocide.html
• http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2008/04/global-warming-is-lie-latest-science.html
• http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2007/12/pope-condemns-al-gore.html
• http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2007/06/fred-thompson-on-global-warming.html
• http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2007/03/tribute-to-al-gore-global-warming.html
• http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2007/03/nasa-exposes-global-warming-crock.html
• http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2007/02/president-of-czech-republic-calls.html
• http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2006/12/why-global-warming-is-good.html
• http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2006/12/science-discovers-real-cause-of-global.html
• http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2006/01/save-earth-kill-plant.html

Those of us who have at least a novice understanding of science already knew this. We've been sounding the alarm for nearly a decade now. Man-made global warming is a FRAUD! If you've bought into it, you've been had, hoodwinked and suckered! Now how much money did they get out of you?

You shouldn't feel too bad though. You're in good company. These man-made, global-warming, "climate change" charlatans bamboozled princes and kings, presidents and prime ministers, senators and congressman, pastors and prelates. Yes they got the cream of the crop, while simultaneously netting the masses, pulling in billions of dollars for their "cause" while getting the world's leaders to adopt policies and sign treaties that restricted free enterprise and taxed the little guy. It helped to keep the third-world in poverty by getting the industrialized world to look for "alternative energy." Yes, citizens of the world, you've been hoodwinked. We tried to warn you. Some of you listened, but most of you would not. Now thanks to these global-warming, environmentalist Cretans a black stain has soiled the reputation of modern science. It was the biggest fraud in the history of the world! How can the people of earth ever trust the so-called "experts" again? Why should they? Why would they let themselves be taken for fools twice?

Yes, the earth did warm for a time. What the global-warming "climate change" charlatans failed to point out is that Mars and Venus were warming too, along with Jupiter and Saturn. Now last time I checked, we didn't export any gas guzzling SUVs to those celestial bodies. Could it be that the one thing they all had in common was simultaneously the same thing that was warming them? What is this mysterious common thing? Could it be the sun? Ah yes, as many good scientists pointed out, and continuously tried to warn us against the so-called "experts," was that global-warming climate change was universal throughout our solar system, that is was caused by the unusually high sunspot cycle, and there was nothing man could have done to increase it or reduce it. It's a natural phenomenon, it's happened before, and it will happen again. These same good scientists warned us against the so-called "experts" and the politicians who capitalized on their prophecies of man-made impending doom. The world has actually been cooling since 2005, but this information was suppressed by the so-called "experts" who told us they knew best. Yes, the earth has been cooling for four years now, along with Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn, because the sun has just gone through it's low point in it's sunspot cycle, and we can expect the world to continue cooling for another couple years at least, before it begins warming again as the sun reaches the high point of it's sunspot cycle. That is, assuming the sun behaves in it's normal predictable way. However, history tells us that sometimes the sun has a mind of it's own, altering it's sunspot cycle for unknown reasons, and this radically effects the climate on Earth, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. Of course it is only the Earth's climate that we all notice.

This is not to say that the industrialized world should not innovate to create alternative forms of energy, if anything it should for political and pollution reasons. Nobody likes smog, and the western world is way too dependent on foreign oil. Of course, the third-world needs oil, if it's ever going to rise from it's poverty stricken state, and enter the industrialized world, which it must do before it can afford to pursue methods of alternative energy. However, what this scandal reveals to us is that we are not in crisis mode. There is no crisis. The earth warms and cools based primarily on solar cycles beyond our control. These ridiculous environmental treaties and taxes are a fraud. They're designed to sucker the industrialized nations into a Marxist agenda while simultaneously fleecing them of billions of dollars - taxed via your hard earned wages that is.

In the wake of this scandal, let us turn to the words of Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical letter Caratas In Veritate, in which he urges Christians to pursue technologies and conservation in ways that protect the environment WITHOUT doing it in such a crisis mode that it deprives the poor in the developing world from much needed industrial growth. In other words, the environment is important, but not at the expense of your fellow man. It's time for people to WAKE UP and understand that the so-called "experts" on man-made global-warming climate change have their own agenda which has nothing to do with the environment, and everything to do with ripping you off, at the expense of the poor.

BREAKING! Catholic Bishops Call For Civil Disobedience !!!

(Newsmax.com) - A formidable coalition of 150 Catholic, Orthodox and evangelical leaders are calling on Christians in a new manifesto to reject secular authority – and even engage in civil disobedience – if laws force them to accept abortion, same-sex marriage and other ideas that betray their religious beliefs.

On Friday, these leaders released a 4,700-word document – called the "The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience."

The document was signed by leaders ranging from evangelical leader Chuck Colson to two of the leading Catholic prelates in the U.S., Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, and calls on Christians to engage in civil disobedience to defend their doctrines....

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: It's sad that it's finally come to this. We have finally reached the point when American Christians must choose between obedience to God or obedience to American government. While the bishops, and other Christian leaders, would not specify what they meant by "civil disobedience," I think it's safe to say they didn't mean anything "unChristian."

I think some possible examples of what they might have meant was something like health care workers refusing to participate in state mandated abortions or euthanasia, even if it violates federal mandates. Catholic hospitals and medical facilities might refuse to provide contraceptives, even if it violates healthcare "reform" laws. Public school teachers might refuse to teach certain immoral curriculum, even if it gets them fired. Private businesses may refuse to acknowledge same-sex marriage, even if it violates anti-discrimination laws.

I suppose we could take it further than that. It might mean a public school teacher wearing a cross, and having a Bible or rosary on her desk, even if it supposedly "violates federal law." It might mean saying "Merry Christmas" when either the government or your employer has told you not to. It might mean continuing to call sodomy (homosexuality) a sin even when the state classifies that as a "hate speech."

Basically I think it just means being a stubborn Christian, and refusing to change, in spite of what the law says. For a law that is immoral is no law at all - on the contrary - it is lawlessness. I think this is what the bishops, and other Christian leaders, mean when they say "civil disobedience." To interpret it as anything more than that is to interpose a non-Christian message on a clearly Christian document. This stunning and timely manifesto can be viewed HERE.

I would like to take this to the next level. While the founding fathers of the United States may have been Masonic Deists, with their own agenda to usurp the Christian monarchs who once ruled this land, they would have never dreamed it would eventually come to this. In fact, I would dare say that what our federal government has already become, and threatens to become in the very near future, would be nothing short of a nightmare to them! I suspect they would run back to the king of England, and swear their unwavering allegiance to him while kneeling before his throne, if they thought it might prevent what has become of the United States today. Of course, there was no way they could have known that back then, and of course, there is no guarantee that remaining part of the British Empire would protect us from the oppression we must now face.

So I would like to propose a new idea. Should the elections of 2010 and 2012 fail to produce results that bring us back to a more constitutional form of government, then it will have become obvious that our nation has outlived it's governing document, and our government is now broken beyond repair. Few are aware that a movement has been bubbling beneath the political vitriol for decades. For years now, there has been a push for another constitutional convention. Quietly, states have been passing resolutions calling for one, and we are now only two states away from that becoming reality. The stated purpose of this constitutional convention is just to add a few amendments to the constitution itself, but we all know the federal government doesn't need a whole constitutional convention just to do that. This can be done through the normal amendment process outlined in the constitution. So there are those who suggest that something more sinister is afoot. Maybe they're right. Maybe the powers that be are planning to completely rewrite the U.S. constitution. Who knows if the conspiracy theories are correct, but after all is said and done, it may not matter. Because if a constitutional convention is held at some future date, it creates an opportunity for each state to examine the ties that bond us together into one "perfect union." It may come to the point where unity is no longer the most important thing. When you examine everything that is going on, and the unlawful "laws" various population centers in the Northeast and West Coast would like to impose on the rest of us, the time may be right to start over from scratch. The time may have come for state secession and the establishment of new nations on the North American continent. Yes, the time may have come to dissolve the Union. A constitutional convention can do this in a peaceful and orderly way. It can happen either inside the convention itself, or else it can happen through the ratification process when certain states refuse to ratify the final document.

What can emerge are groups of states that bind together to form countries, and these new countries can be built on respect for the practice of Christian religion and the morality that comes from it. Granted, this may seem radical right now, but if the upcoming elections don't produce a favorable effect in a few years, it may not seem so radical after all. In fact, it may be the only reasonable solution to governing such an rebellious and stubborn people as the citizens of the former United States.

Another Protestant Denomination Destroyed By Homosexuality

(The Washington Times) - Conservative members of America's largest Lutheran denomination announced that they are splitting from the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, making it the second mainline Protestant church to undergo a major schism over the issue of homosexuality and related matters of biblical authority.

The U.S. Episcopal Church has experienced a similar split, with whole dioceses attempting to leave, new Anglican churches formed and a series of property fights in the years since the 2003 consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

On Wednesday, an 11-member steering committee of Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Renewal), meeting in New Brighton, Minn., said it cannot remain inside the 4.7-million-member ELCA after the denomination agreed at its August churchwide assembly in Minneapolis to ordain partnered gay clergy....

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Liberalism is a cancer that infects all Christian institutions (even the Catholicism and Orthodoxy), but the Protestants appear to have no immunity to it whatsoever. Their only defense is amputation. They don't cut off the infected limb, but rather cut themselves away from the entire infected body, to start over from scratch with a new denomination. Schism is their most effective defense, but with each schism their numbers decrease, and in time it stands to reason that Protestantism itself will splinter into oblivion.

Rome & Canterbury - A Tale Of Two Cities

..........

(Catholic Register) - The primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), feeling “overwhelming joy,” says he hopes to deliver a “yes” before Easter to the Holy See’s offer of Personal Ordinariates that would welcome his members into the Catholic Church.

Archbishop John Hepworth called the apostolic constitution published Nov. 9 by Pope Benedict XVI “generous at every turn” in its description of the Anglican heritage, dogmatic provisions and pastoral language. It followed the Pope’s dramatic October offer to welcome Anglicans into the Catholic Church without abandoning their prayer books or liturgical traditions.

The TAC comprises several Anglican Churches that parted with the 77-million strong Anglican Church’s Canterbury Communion over the ordination of women — some as early as 1977. The TAC, with about 400,000 members, is among the largest group of Anglicans likely to embrace the Personal Ordinariates offered by the Holy See.

Hepworth said Rome went even farther than the TAC had asked in its formal request submitted to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in October 2007. He now expects a positive response from TAC member churches....

read full story here

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(Times Online) - The Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday made his most outspoken challenge to the Roman Catholic Church since the Pope invited disaffected Anglicans to switch to Rome.

Speaking before he meets Benedict XVI tomorrow, Dr Rowan Williams told a conference in Rome that the Catholic Church’s refusal to ordain women was a bar to Christian unity.

“For many Anglicans, not ordaining women has a possible unwelcome implication about the difference between baptised men and baptised women,” he said.

The Anglican provinces that ordain women had retained rather than lost their Catholic holiness and sacramentalism, he said....

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Therein lies the rub, and that's why Rome will never take Canterbury seriously again. For that matter, neither will Canterbury be taken seriously by Constantinople nor Moscow. In fact, the entire Catholic and Orthodox world (consisting of 2/3 of all the world's Christians) will never regard the Anglican Communion as anything more than a PROTESTANT organization, on par with the Lutherans, Methodists and Baptists. A mitre and crosier doesn't make one a bishop, no more than using incense and liturgy makes you "catholic." Authentic Catholicism has to do with authority and succession. To be a bishop you must have authentic apostolic succession, and in order to have that, the Church must have the authority to ordain you.

Pope John Paul II made it clear, that Jesus Christ has not given the Church the authority to ordain women. There was nothing he could do about it. The matter was closed. In his 1994 Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, the Holy Father reminded both Anglicans and the Bishops of the Catholic Church. "I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful." In other words, not even the pope can make it okay to ordain women. The only way women can be ordained is to take it to a higher authority than the pope. I suppose that would be Jesus Christ himself. So if Jesus Christ were to return to earth, and ordain a bunch or women, then the Church would have the authority to do the same. Barring this miraculous event however, things are destined to stay exactly the way they are, and any Christian organization that takes it upon itself to ordain women, has stepped completely outside the pale of Catholic Orthodoxy. The ordination is invalid, and the organization permitting it is committing heresy.

It was the ordination of women that prompted traditional Anglicans and Episcopalians to split from the Anglican Communion back in 1977, eventually resulting in the formation of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC). Simultaneously, another group of traditionalist Anglicans in the United States sought reunion with Rome, and that was granted by Pope John Paul II back in 1980 with the Anglican Use Pastoral Provision. In 2007 the bishops of the TAC also petitioned to enter the Catholic Church as well, and in November of 2009 that request was granted (and then some) by Pope Benedict XVI's Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus.

The moral to this story is that liberalism kills churches. It destroys them from the inside-out. While liberalism infects all churches, (including the Catholic Church), it seems that Protestant communities have no immunity to it. Their institutions appear completely incapable of defending themselves against it. Their only effective defense appears to be amputation. In other words, Protestant traditionalists must cut themselves off from the infected body and attempt to survive on their own.

In some cases, Protestant churches actually embrace liberalism. Such was the case with the Anglican Communion, and Rome has made it very clear that ecumenical reunification will be impossible with an ecclesiastical body containing female clergy. Hence the reason for Rome's generous provision to all Anglicans willing to leave the Communion and pursue membership in the Roman Catholic Church. Now there are two ways to "be Anglican." You can either be Anglican within the PROTESTANT Anglican Communion that bucks 2,000 years of Church history, tradition and authority. Or you can be Anglican within the Catholic Church, among true Anglo-Catholics who have retained their Anglican traditions and patrimony to the fullest, yet are fully incorporated into the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

More African-Americans Are Turning To Eastern Orthodoxy

Many black Christians join move to Orthodox traditions

After a lifetime in traditional black churches, Robert Aaron Mitchell discovered the sights, smells, sounds and ancient traditions of the Orthodox church.

"I discovered Orthodoxy while I was on the Internet one day back in 2001, and I was so drawn to it that I had to go attend a liturgy," Mitchell says. "I had no frame of reference for these traditions, but suddenly, I felt like this void was filling in my life. I felt like I was finally coming home."

Mitchell, 48, a project manager for AT&T in Detroit, is among a small but growing number of black Americans, many of them professionals, who are joining Orthodox churches. That's the branch of Christianity that split with Rome about 1,000 years ago and is known for colorful icons and the ethnic traditions it preserves in religious customs.

The attraction, Mitchell says, lies in discovering that for thousands of years, Africans played a vital role in the Orthodox world.

The Rev. Moses Berry, an Orthodox priest and pastor of Theotokos "Unexpected Joy" Orthodox Mission, Ash Grove, Mo., began his career as a Protestant preacher, a family tradition reaching back into the 1800s. Then, in 1983, he visited an Orthodox church in Atlanta and was so moved that he retrained to become a priest in the Orthodox Church in America. He also helped to organize the coalition of clergy, scholars and lay leaders coming to Detroit.

"Reconnecting with the Orthodox tradition connects us with the earliest Christian traditions," Berry says. "It means that, when our ancestors were brought here as slaves, they didn't arrive here with just a collection of tribal religions. They didn't all discover Christianity here. In fact, many Africans already were part of the ancient Christian church."

That was especially true for Africans with roots in the eastern part of the continent, Laike-Mariam Misikir, 50, says. An automotive engineer from Ann Arbor, Mich., Misikir is from a family of Orthodox priests that extends back many centuries in Ethiopia. In Detroit, Misikir serves as a subdeacon, assisting priests during liturgies...

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Talk about getting in touch with your roots -- wow! This is really good news, because ancient African Christianity is so rich in tradition and culture. It makes sense that African-Americans would be attracted to this. It makes a lot more sense than the 'black Muslim' movement we saw back in the 1960s. Africans were Orthodox Christian long before Islam came along. The first black Christians were baptized way back in the middle first century. (It's actually recorded in the Bible -- Acts 8:26-39.) While the first black Muslims didn't come along until six-hundred years later. In fact, many Africans were worshipping the one true God, with dignity and beauty, while northern Europeans were still worshipping the sun, moon and trees. That's just a matter of historical fact. Northern Europe wasn't evangelized by Christianity until the middle 5th century. So there is a lot of cultural recovery to be gained by African-Americans returning to their Christian roots in Africa. The dignity and beauty of the Eastern Orthodox liturgy is second to none. Only the traditional Latin mass of Catholicism comes close, and even then there is some debate. I sincerely hope this movement takes off. It would be a wonderful thing.

The Brotherhood of St Moses the Black is a pan-Orthodox nonprofit organization. Its mission is to minister to Americans the gift of Orthodoxy. In an effort to be good stewards of the manifold grace of God (I Peter 4:10), the organization presents an annual conference that targets those who have little exposure to Orthodoxy as well as the African roots of Orthodoxy. Its vision is to bring Americans closer to Jesus Christ.

Links to Orthodox Churches in the United States:

http://www.oca.org/
http://www.goarch.org/
http://www.copticchurch.net/

US Catholic Bishops Approve Final Portions Of New Liturgy Translation With Compromise

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: And it's about time!

(The Catholic Spirit) - The U.S. bishops approved the English translation and U.S. adaptations of five final sections of the Roman Missal in voting on the second day of their annual fall general assembly in Baltimore.

With overwhelming majority votes, the bishops approved translations of the proper of the saints, specific prayers to each saint in the universal liturgical calendar; the commons, general prayers for celebrating saints listed in the "Roman Martyrology"; the Roman Missal supplement; the U.S. propers, a collection of orations and formularies for feasts and memorials particular to the U.S. liturgical calendar; and U.S. adaptations to the Roman Missal....

read full story here

However, this apparent victory does not come without compromise...

(Post Gazette) - Archbishop Aymond defeated Archbishop Vigneron 126-110, suggesting that the bishops may want someone to diplomatically convince Rome to continue tweaking a new English translation of the Mass that some bishops say is so faithful to the Latin that its English is awkward and ungrammatical. Archbishop Vigneron had been defeated for the same post in 2004, by Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, who was nominated from the floor that year.

Bishop Trautman is an outspoken critic of the new Mass translations. Yesterday he lost his last battle to prevent approval of the Mass translations, but was delighted with Archbishop Aymond's election.

read full story here

How To Start An Anglican Use Catholic Parish

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: After learning that a friend is working on establishing an Anglican Use Ordinariate parish in my area, I decided to fill in my readers on how they might want to do the same if so inclined. It's very simple really. All it takes is some determination and networking.

Anglican Ordinariates are like diocese, specifically designed for the Anglican Use liturgy and the propagation of Anglican patrimony. They were established by Pope Benedict XVI in November of 2009, and built on the Anglican Use Pastoral Provision established by Pope John Paul II in 1980. Initially designed for American Episcopalians entering the Catholic Church due to social crisis within the Episcopal Church USA, Anglican Use parishes have proved to be beneficial not only to former Anglicans, but also to Roman Catholics and converts from all walks of life. The Anglican Use liturgy is more firmly rooted in English Catholic history and culture than the typical English translation of the Roman Rite currently used in Catholic parishes today.

TO START AN ANGLICAN USE ORDINARIATE PARISH....

First, you need to determine that you're not reinventing the wheel. Search your area to see if an Anglican Use parish isn't already nearby, or if somebody else isn't trying to start one. Should you discover one (or one forming), you may want to simply join that group. Anglicans (or Episcopalians), as well as any non-Catholic, can join an Anglican Use parish simply by talking to the priest, and going through the standard initiation process. Roman Catholics can join Anglican Use parishes simply by going to mass there and getting involved in the parish. Once established there, a formal transfer to the Ordinariate can be made through written request, and the local priest can help you with this process.

Second, if no Anglican Use parish is within reasonable driving distance, one can be formed in this way. Start networking to find fellow Catholics and former Anglicans (as well as other Christians) interested in starting an Anglican Use parish in your area. Use whatever networking means are at your disposal.

Third, once you have a stable group of about ten people, you can begin regular prayer meetings using the Daily Office of either the "Book of Divine Worship," or "Book of Common Prayer" (whatever is available), and notifying the Anglican Use ordinary bishop of your intent. Making contact with the Anglican Use ordinary bishop is essential if you want to eventually get a priest assigned to your area. A list of Ordinary bishops will be provided here just as soon as one becomes available. In the meantime however, you can contact the Anglican Use Society here... email: president@anglicanuse.org phone: 484-437-8703

Fourth, you may want to contact the local diocesan bishop for the Roman Rite as well, as this may help you gain access to local Catholic parishes that might be willing to host an Anglican Use parish until it's large enough to acquire your own chapel.

Fifth, continue networking and growing through aggressive evangelism of non-Catholics, and educating Roman Catholics about Anglican Use Catholicism.

That's the basic elements of it anyway. Follow these steps with perseverance and prayer. Be patient. It may take some time. Set realistic goals. You'll have an Anglican Ordinariate parish eventually. Good luck!

Church Of England Forces Anglo-Catholics To Choose Between Rome Or Canterbury

Female Anglican Bishops

(Telegraph) - Conservative Anglo-Catholics, your time is up. As my colleague Jonathan Wynne-Jones reports, the General Synod committee charged with looking after opponents of women bishops has ruled out the idea of dedicated male bishops to safeguard traditionalists.

The logic of the decision makes perfect sense to me. The C of E has the legal authority to decide whether to ordain women priests and bishops. Having acquired that authority, it voted to ordain women priests in 1992 and will now take the obvious step of raising women to the episcopate. Anglo-Catholics lost the battle to stop this happening 18 years ago; for a time they were allowed to cover their eyes and pretend that women priests had nothing to do with them, but with the arrival of the first women bishops they will have to take their hands away from their faces, look around, and make up their minds whether to go or stay. Actually, many Anglo-Catholics have quietly decided that they can accept ordained women, and have tiptoed out of Forward in Faith and into Affirming Catholicism. The C of E certainly need not worry about the disappearance of bells and smells: women are just as adept at swinging a thurible as men.

The timing of the General Synod decision, in the same week as Pope Benedict’s generous and statesmanlike Apostolic Constitution, will concentrate minds. Many traditionalists will conclude that Anglo-Catholicism itself was eventually bound to fail: for although the Church of England embraces a great deal of Catholic liturgical practice - more so now than at any time since the Reformation – it governs itself according to Protestant principles of self-determination.

The Pope’s Ordinariate will appeal greatly to those Anglo-Catholics who now understand that their movement has been destroyed by its inherent contradictions....

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Anglican Catholics or "Anglo-Catholics" in England (trapped inside the Protestant 'Church of England') are now faced with the same situation their Episcopalian brethren in America have faced for decades trapped inside The Episcopal Church USA. This is the reason why traditionalist Anglicans, both inside and outside the Protestant Anglican Communion (PAC), have been beating down the doors of St. Peter's for thirty years begging to be let in. The PAC is a contradiction. You cannot be both Catholic and Protestant at the same time. You either belong fully to one or the other. The author of the article above hit the nail on the head. You can have the smells and bells of catholicism all you want. You can even celebrate mass with enough pomp and circumstance to turn the average Roman Catholic green with envy. After all is said and done however, being "catholic" really isn't about that. After all is said and done, being truly "Catholic" is about authority, particularly how it's structured, and who gives it. From this authority flows the right to administer the sacraments, lead the congregation in worship, and catechize the faithful. It's taken traditionalist Anglicans just a little over 100 years to come to this full realization. What began as the Oxford Movement ends with a return to Rome. It was inevitable. For the authority that gave us all the priests, bishops, incense, bells and liturgy, is the same authority that said "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church."

To embrace Catholic traditions on liturgy, but refuse Catholic traditions on authority, is in itself an oxymoron. Many of the Anglo-Catholics have discovered this, and many more will do the same in the months and years ahead.

For now however, it is a time for choosing. Rome has opened it's doors wide and promised not only to preserve Anglican patrimony, but also facilitate the means for it's full propagation throughout the ages, having demonstrated with the eastern rites it's ability to do so. While Canterbury (via the Church of England and the Episcopal Church USA) has continued hell bent, down the road of modernization and liberalization -- i.e. relativism! -- now without any concessions to the traditionalists who object.

Today we see what kind of metal the Anglican Catholics are really made of. What will the disciples of John Henry Newman do? Where do they stand? Are they Catholic? Or are they Protestant? Which shall it be? The age of fence-straddling is over. To be Catholic is to embrace Catholic authority and all that it teaches. To be Protestant is to embrace Protestant authority structures, and everything that seems to go right along with them, including female bishops, homosexual clergy and gay weddings. In case you haven't noticed, the Anglicans are not the only Protestant denomination suffering from this. The same problems plague the Lutherans, Methodist and Reformed churches. It's not so much an "Anglican problem" as it is a "Protestant problem."

So what's it going to be Anglicans? Are you Catholic or aren't you?

THE RISE OF ANGLICAN CATHOLICISM !!!

Click Here To See Full Video Of Anglican Catholic Mass

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The Anglican Apostolic Constitution has been published by Rome, and a new era in Church history has begun -- the era of Anglican Catholic Renewal! Being an Evangelical convert to Catholicism myself, I spent about a year in a moderately conservative Episcopal parish before swimming the Tiber. It was the Anglican love for catholic liturgy and form that opened my eyes to the beauty of the Catholic Church just before the turn of the millennium. So 'The Catholic Knight' has a special interest in the development of this Anglican reunification with Rome.

First let me say this. The future of Anglicanism lies squarely within the Catholic Church. The Protestant Anglican Communion (PAC) and the Archbishop of Canterbury are now defunct. I call it the "Protestant" Anglican Communion (PAC) because that is exactly what it is - Protestant. Granted, many Anglicans show a love and affection for all things catholic, and they deserve full recognition for that. One could possibly say they are "catholic" only in the extreme lesser sense, because they embrace many catholic practices. However, most Anglicans reject the authority of Rome, and while that does not negate their catholicism in and of itself, their lack of valid holy orders does. Anglicans have a 'catholic' style of religion, but the national provinces of the Anglican Communion are essentially Protestant churches. Therefore, the Anglican Communion is essentially a Protestant organization. Hence I call it the "Protestant Anglican Communion" or just PAC.

Now the reason why the future of Anglicanism lies squarely in Rome and not the PAC is because the PAC has demonstrated a complete inability to police it's own provinces and protect those who object to the liberalizing trends of modernist relativism. The PAC has effectively embraced the ordination of female bishops and homosexual bishops simply by it's inability (or refusal) to jettison those diocese that engage in this practice. So what is the future of the PAC? Simply put, it's going to be more of the same - a lot more of the same! In fact, we can expect the liberalizing trends of northern provinces within the PAC to accelerate in the years ahead as more and more conservatives leave the communion for other churches, or to join the Catholic Church via the Anglican Ordinariates.

Rome will preserve Anglican tradition far better than Canterbury ever could. How do I know that? Simple, we have over a thousand years of example. The Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church have operated in union with Rome, and with nearly complete autonomy, for a millennium. When we think of Eastern Rites, our minds often default to the Eastern Orthodox, who are not currently in union with Rome. However, what many people don't know is that a lot of Eastern Catholic churches refused to break with Rome, or else they chose to reunite with Rome after the initial schism back in 1054 AD. Those churches that remain in union with Rome are virtually indistinguishable from Eastern Orthodox churches, and yet they are fully Catholic in the sense that they are in full communion with the pope. The same will be the case with the Anglican Ordinariates, and thirty years from now, when the PAC is nothing more than a liberal shell of the great Christian body it once was, Anglican Ordinariates will be growing strong and leading the way for Catholics in the English-speaking world. By that time, the Anglican Ordinariates will be more "Anglican" than the PAC, and just as "catholic" as Rome itself.

The full text of the Anglican Apostolic Constitution can be viewed on the Vatican website HERE. What I provide below are excerpts, with my own commentary....

I. §1 Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church are erected by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith within the confines of the territorial boundaries of a particular Conference of Bishops in consultation with that same Conference.

§3 Each Ordinariate possesses public juridic personality by the law itself (ipso iure); it is juridically comparable to a diocese.

Ordinariates are a lot like diocese. They will be erected by Rome itself, working together with national Catholic bishop conferences, to establish these ordinariates within their territories. They will certainly overlap existing diocese, and each ordinariate will have it's own "Ordinary" (or bishop) who will govern that ordinariate with full episcopal authority, answering directly to Rome.

§4 The Ordinariate is composed of lay faithful, clerics and members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, originally belonging to the Anglican Communion and now in full communion with the Catholic Church, or those who receive the Sacraments of Initiation within the jurisdiction of the Ordinariate.

Effectively, you become an "Anglican Catholic" (basically a "Roman Catholic" but with an additional Anglican identity) and in full communion with the pope, if you enter the Catholic Church through an Anglican Ordinariate parish. Now in regards to regular Roman Catholics who wish to join an Anglican Ordinariate, Fr. Phillips at his Anglican Use blog does a good job addressing this issue here.

§5 The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the authoritative expression of the Catholic faith professed by members of the Ordinariate.

Just in case there was any doubt, Anglican Catholic Ordinariates are fully Catholic, in full communion with the pope of Rome, and the beliefs are 100% identical.

III. Without excluding liturgical celebrations according to the Roman Rite, the Ordinariate has the faculty to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments, the Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical celebrations according to the liturgical books proper to the Anglican tradition, which have been approved by the Holy See, so as to maintain the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church, as a precious gift nourishing the faith of the members of the Ordinariate and as a treasure to be shared.

The Anglican "Book of Common Prayer" has already been revised and approved by Rome under the new title of "Book of Divine Worship." A free online PDF version can be acquired HERE. It is expected that a newer revision will eventually be published after the new Ordinariates have been formed, and a general conference is convened among the new Anglican ordinary bishops to further define and propagate their traditions. Of course this new revision will have to be approved by Rome as well. The Anglican Catholic mass is in many ways similar to the traditional Roman Rite mass (extraordinary form), however it is all in traditional high English, and it includes some things that are particularly unique to Anglican tradition. It also excludes a few things which are particularly unique to Roman tradition. The same could be said for the Anglican Divine Office (or "Liturgy of the Hours").

§ 2. The Ordinary, in full observance of the discipline of celibate clergy in the Latin Church, as a rule (pro regula) will admit only celibate men to the order of presbyter. He may also petition the Roman Pontiff, as a derogation from can. 277, §1, for the admission of married men to the order of presbyter on a case by case basis, according to objective criteria approved by the Holy See.

The rule of celibacy applies identically to the Anglican Ordinariates as it does the the Byzantine Catholic Rite, and other Eastern Catholic rites. Typically celibate men are admitted as candidates for Holy Orders. However, married men (men already married that is) may apply for Holy Orders on a case by case basis. It is presumed that at least some will be admitted, however we can expect celibacy to be the common norm for Anglican Catholic priests, just as it is for Byzantine Catholic priests. There is no reason, whatsoever, to believe that this permission will lead to priests getting married, as some in the press have theorized. This tradition is 100% compatible with eastern Catholic traditions and the Roman Catholic tradition up until the Second Lateran Council in 1139 AD.

§ 5. Candidates for Holy Orders in an Ordinariate should be prepared alongside other seminarians, especially in the areas of doctrinal and pastoral formation. In order to address the particular needs of seminarians of the Ordinariate and formation in Anglican patrimony, the Ordinary may also establish seminary programs or houses of formation which would relate to existing Catholic faculties of theology.

VII. The Ordinary, with the approval of the Holy See, can erect new Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, with the right to call their members to Holy Orders, according to the norms of canon law. Institutes of Consecrated Life originating in the Anglican Communion and entering into full communion with the Catholic Church may also be placed under his jurisdiction by mutual consent.

VIII. § 1. The Ordinary, according to the norm of law, after having heard the opinion of the Diocesan Bishop of the place, may erect, with the consent of the Holy See, personal parishes for the faithful who belong to the Ordinariate.

XII. For judicial cases, the competent tribunal is that of the Diocese in which one of the parties is domiciled, unless the Ordinariate has constituted its own tribunal, in which case the tribunal of second instance is the one designated by the Ordinariate and approved by the Holy See.

Yes, you read that right! The Anglican Ordinary bishop may erect his own seminaries, institutes of consecrated life (holy orders), parishes and tribunals, all in cooperation with Rome and having heard the opinion of the Roman Rite diocesan bishop this may effect.

In effect, what we have is a "church within the Church" fully governed by the pope and the norms of canon law. Also, we have the makings of a whole new rite (or the resurgence of an old rite) within the Catholic Church, should it ever come to that at some point in the distant future. At present the status of "Ordinariate" was far more than anyone expected and is more than satisfying to the Anglicans involved. The rites and privileges they've been given within the Catholic Church are nothing short of amazing!

'The Catholic Knight' predicts this will have a profound effect on Catholics in the English-speaking world, though maybe not right away. Time will be the main factor here. Anglican Ordinariates will prove to be both liturgically traditional, and profoundly orthodox on doctrinal matters, just as they already have proved in the United States where "Anglican Use" parishes have existed for some thirty years. The effect of Anglican Ordinariates will call all Catholics to a more traditional and orthodox expression of the Catholic faith in the English-speaking world. Indeed, the creation of Anglican Ordinariate parishes will not only be attractive to Anglicans within the PAC, but also some Roman Catholics disgusted with the liberal practices and teachings typically found in many Roman Catholic parishes these days. Thus it is completely reasonable to assume that future Anglican Catholic parishes will consist of a mixture of parishioners coming from both the Anglican tradition, and regular visitors from the Roman Catholic tradition. Anglican Ordinariates in England and the United States are effectively as good as established, simply because of the presence of many Anglicans already in full-communion with the Roman Catholic Church in these areas. More nations will soon follow.
If you wish to join an Anglican Catholic parish, or would like to start one in your area, use these contacts below for more information...

Inside the United States contact: president@anglicanuse.org
Outside the United States contact: plusjohn@senet.com.au