Trump Blocks Overseas Abortion Funding
January 23, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order (Mexico Policy) that blocks federal funding for overseas organizations that provide or even promote abortions. Read More...
A Simple Way To Pray
By Sadeer Farjo
There are so many different ways to pray. A simple way that works for me is to read a short sentence from the Gospel, usually one that Jesus has spoke and then I pray "speak LORD for your servant is listening"1 Samuel 3:9 and "speak Lord for your adopted son is listening." Then I do just that, I listen.
Many people have a hard time listening. I am often asked how do I listen? Simply put, I stop talking, shut my mouth, and listen. When I find my mind wandering I just go back and read the Gospel verse and go back to listening.
Does God speak to me? The answer is yes. Does God speak to me with audible words? No. So then how does God speak to me? Read More...
How to Persevere?
We all have it in us, in a sense, to push forward. We can motivate ourselves in many ways to get done what is necessary in life. Sometimes we are motivated by things that are good and other times things we think are good. However we when think, by our own strength only, we can persevere then we shall find ourselves terribly lacking. We often fool ourselves into thinking that we are strong enough to do everything on our own. We busy ourselves with so much and give little time for prayer, reading scripture or writings of the saints. The struggle becomes much more evident when we find ourselves battling against particular temptations that we are accustomed to being enslaved by. Most of us fall into similar patterns of rise, fall, confess, penance, and right back to rise, fall, confess and penance again. This vicious cycle may be an honest attempt at perseverance in holiness but it also may be the fruits of a lethargic soul whose conscience is withering away. This kind of cycle can lead, if not tempered with spiritual warfare, to an openness to commit sin without fear because confession is accessible. In this mindset, absolution holds no assistance for this lost soul as there is no sign of true contrition nor any desire to amend sinful ways. But aside from this, we must recognize that the struggle, not the tolerance, against sin is necessary. Take notice that Jesus told His disciples that He came to “free captives from their captivity”. Jesus is saying outright that those that commit sin are slaves to sin. Think of it if you will, a human being enslaved by something? You have lost your freedom because of this. Does this not upset you? Does this not make you want to rise up against your cruel slave master? Then do so by going to the one who breaks the bonds and chains of the very sin you have given room to operate in your life!
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Cardinal Burke Disagrees With Pope Over Tridentine Mass Classification
WARNING. Before reading please REALIZE the Pope giving his private opinion does NOT make something official Church Teaching.
In a current interview with Spadaro Pope Francis said that the “Latin Mass” is “just an exception for nostalgics.”
Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke disagrees . On November 25, 2016, in a interview with La Fede Quotidiana Cardinal Burke states that the "The traditional Roman rite is no exception".
Source: http://www.katholisches.info/2016/11/25/kardinal-burke-widerspricht-papst-franziskus-ueberlieferter-ritus-ist-keine-ausnahme/ Read More...
Catholic Solutions for Anger
“Be angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger.” - Eph. 4:26. Is it so wrong to be angry? Can we not be righteously angry when we are seemingly surrounded by incomprehensible wickedness? Well, let's study Ephesians 4:26 for a moment, the Haydock Commentary reads,
Ver. 26. Be angry, and sin not, as it is said Psalm iv. 5. Anger, as a passion of the mind, may proceed from a good motive and be guided by reason; as our Saviour, Christ, (Mark iii. 5.) is said to have looked about at the Jews with anger, i.e. with a zeal against their blindness and malice. --- Let not the sun go down upon your anger. If moved to anger, return without delay to a calmness of mind and temper. (Witham) --- Be angry when reason or necessity compels you; but even then, so restrain your anger that you neither offend God nor scandalize your neighbour. Moreover, lay it aside as soon as you are able, so that the sun go not down upon your anger. (Jansenius)
Notice that the early Church Fathers, as well as Christ Himself, understood that there is a place for anger, even in a righteous setting. This 'righteous anger' often comes from zeal or profound love and obedience for the faith that when the faith is trod upon swells great anger for the zealous one. But this anger is not to linger nor is it to swell so as to offend God or neighbor (become a sin) as unbridled anger does give place to the demonic influence and possible infiltration. But what if we are in that very temptation of anger that would offend God and neighbor? What shall we do to overcome? Read More...
3 Things to Discuss During Thanksgiving Dinner: Religion, Politics & Money
Cardinal Cupich was asked why Pope Francis is being "harsh" on people who love Pope Benedict & Pope John Paul II teachings?
On Judging Others
We have been told, “Judge not and you shall not be judged,”-Luke 6:37 and rightly so, we must obey this as it was our Lord Himself that instructed us to do so. However, does Jesus mean this unilaterally in all situations for all people or was there a context that we may have missed? If we are diligent in studying the Apostolic faith, we may yet have our answer. With St. Paul, the concept of judging others was clearly within the framework of the Church and not those outside of it. As we read, “For what have I to do to judge them that are without? Do not you judge them that are within? For them that are without, God will judge. Put away the evil one from among yourselves.”- 1 Cor. 5:12-13. St. Paul is making a distinction here. In this context, he was making a righteous judgment against an incestuous adulterer and admonishes the Corinthians to purge this offender so that sin may not linger among them. Even going as far as saying, “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ,” but recall that St. Paul was “judging” the matter within the Church as he said those outside the Church, God will judge. In this context, we have to recognize that judgment against someone IS wrong but to make distinction and call out what is evil in the Church is necessary even at the point of naming the offenders within the Church.
But what of those that are outside of the Church that are causing terrible harm to the Church? Read More...
Gaining Courage
The principal act of courage is to endure and withstand dangers doggedly rather than to attack them. - St. Thomas Aquinas
We find ourselves constantly bombarded by unbelievable forces of ignorance and outright wickedness. Depraved and deplorable acts of unmerciful hatred committed against the innocent and helpless as well as degenerate minds of tyrants gaining ground in both secular and religious frameworks. No matter where we look, it seems as though bad news is never too far away. The path our country is on barely gives a spark of hope as to a restoration of truth, justice, mercy, and Christ centered communities. It seems as though all hope is lost or is it? What does it mean to be courageous especially in the face of all the enemies of true religion and peace among men? How can we rediscover courage in a land seemingly stricken with despair and lawlessness? Read More...
President-elect Trump Speaks To 60 Minutes About Abortion & So Called Gay "Marriage"
As many know, our website Catholicnetcast.com endorsed Trump for President so I want to take a second and congratulate Trump for his win and I pray that he truly will cooperate with God to make America great again!
On November 13, 2016, President-elect Trump spoke to 60 Minutes reporter Lesley Stahi. Two non-negotiable issues for Catholic arose. The first is the so-called "gay" marriage. Below is their exchange.
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The Catholic Church vs Clinton Campaign
If a Catholic chooses to adhere to the Apostolic teachings of the Church and has the gift of faith at least the size of a mustard seed, then you should be more than a little concerned about Hillary Clinton and the agents of her campaign. It would be bad enough if she continued on in supporting advances on homosexual “marriages”, partial-birth (and all forms of) abortion, criminal tax hikes on the already exhaustively taxed middle class, the outright negligent use of classified information, the mysterious deaths of the Clinton family's opponents or former associates, and the list goes on. But here recently, the world was revealed to the Clinton campaign machine's attitude toward the Catholic faithful, specifically.
“Email exchanges—hacked from Hillary campaign chairman John Podesta—between Hillary campaign spokeswoman Jenifer Palmieri and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress John Halpin from April of 2011 mock conservative media mogul Rupert Murdock for raising his children Catholic. According to Hillary's inner circle, Catholics are phonies, only opting to be public Catholics because being an Evangelical is socially unpalatable, and attracted to "severely backwards gender relations.”
“It’s an amazing bastardization of the faith. They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy,” said Halpin.
“I imagine they think it is the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion. Their rich friends wouldn’t understand if they become evangelicals,” Palmieri responded.
“Excellent point,” Halpin replied. “They can throw around ‘Thomistic’ thought and ‘subsidiarity’ and sound sophisticated because no one knows what the hell they’re talking about.”
We also know for a fact and straight from her own mouth that she stands as an enemy to the Apostolic faith from such quotes as,
“Laws have to be backed up by resources and politically will. And deep-seated religious beliefs have to be changed.” - Hillary Clinton, April 23rd, 2015 – Speech delivered at Women's World Summit
And what makes it worse is that a “Catholic” is her running mate, Tim Kaine. This man dares to make no distinction between his fowl political allegiances with Planned Parenthood and LGBT and the Catholic faith! Tim Kaine on several occasions has been quoted in the 'hopes for the Church's stance to change on homosexuality' and when asked about Hillary's progressive abortion stances, he makes a nose dive into 'extreme cases' when her policies do not call for such obscure causes of rarity. But instead, Hillary's policies open flood gates for countless innocent children to be slaughtered even up to the last day before being born! You ask, what is her attitude toward the Church? Hatred, disgust, disdain, rebellious, proud, obstinate, and unrepentant. If we are to delude ourselves into thinking that just because a so-called cafeteria Catholic like Tim Kaine is her running mate, that she somehow is square with the Church, then we are lost as a people. Even if we had not been revealed to these and many other emails revealing her (and those she surrounds herself with) attitude toward the Church, we can see the fruits she produces...and they are thoroughly rotten. Make no mistake and let me be clear on this; Hillary Clinton and those that side with her are making war against the Holy Roman Catholic Church and because it is the Mystical Body of Christ, these unfortunate souls are at war with Christ Himself. May God have mercy on all of them so that they may repent! Read More...
Faithful Priest Encourages Prayer, Fasting, & Voting For Upcoming Election
Fr. Ben Kosnac is the pastor of Ss. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Catholic Church located in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Fr. Ben explains what we need to do as American Catholics when choosing the president of our country. For the presidential election, Father Ben encourages his parishioners to pray the Rosary in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, fast, and vote. Fr. Ben clearly outlines that when we are voting for the president we are not merely voting for one person. Rather, with the President comes the Vice-President, Supreme Court Justices, and other federal officials. Also outlined in the video are the 5 nonnegotiables: abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, and so-called "homosexual marriage." Fr. Ben goes on to explain that it is important for Catholics to vote to promote certain goods. He also articulates that it's also important to vote to diminish certain evils. I encourage everyone to watch the video.
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Fasting Teaches, Self-Control, Patience, & Discipline
There are so many ways to follow after God. That is another way of saying there are many holy things you can do to please God. Some of these things can be easy and others can be hard to do. These “things” that we can do to please God are what Catholic's call penance. Penance is the holy work of giving to God our love and attention for the good of all people. Penance is also used as a way of 'paying for the cost of sin'. Let me explain with an example, let's say you were playing baseball and you threw the ball into my window and broke it! So you come to my house to tell me how sorry you were and let's say that I forgave you for breaking my window. Great! So all is well right? Well, not really because the window is still broken. Who do you think is going to have to pay for that window? It would be good 'penance' to work in some way so that you can assist me in getting the window fixed. In this way, you are not only forgiven but you also do something with that new found forgiveness and increase that goodness by doing something right. This is the same thing we experience in the Sacrament of Confession where we come to confess our sins with great sorrow for sinning (to have contrition) and the Priest gives Absolution (Priestly authority to forgive sins) but before the Priest forgives you, he asks you to do a penance that will help pay the cost of your sins. For as Scripture says, “the wages of sin are death” so therefore we do many penances for the sake of holiness but also to bring holiness to our lives that we may enter fully into Christ. As I said before, there are many different kind of penances, some easy and some not. One of those difficult ones is to 'fast'.
Read More...Offer It Up
Offer It Up
We all have bad days. Sometimes we do not get what we want and that can make us sad or even upset. When we go through a hard time we usually call that a suffering. When we suffer it is hard to know what to do. We can even wonder why we have to suffer in the first place. Questions on what to do and why bad things happen to good people can sometimes make us confused and angry. And when our emotions are hurt we need to do the best thing to make us feel better. This is one of many reasons why we pray to God for help. But how should we pray especially when we are hurt? Read More...
Padre Pío
Padre Pio
On May 25th, 1887 a young boy by the name of Francesco Forgione was born in the small farm town of Pietrelcina, Italy. Francesco came from a very faithful family, and they noted that from a very young age he showed exceptional spirituality and faith. He loved attending church, and dedicated his life to God at age 5. From before this age and beyond, he was constantly praying and thoroughly enjoyed it. As a child he was able to see and communicated with his guardian angel. He was also consistently communicating with Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. When this was discovered, he was surprised to know that this was not regular, and that not everyone experiences these gifts. At age 15 he attended the noviate of the Capuchin Order of the Friars Minor in Marcone, Italy. The other students at the noviate noted that he had a profound love for prayer, which set him apart from them. Francesco Forgione was ordained on August 10th, 1910, officially entering priesthood. During his initial years of priesthood, he found that celebrating mass was his most spiritually rooted activity. His masses often lasted several hours, with many emotional pregnant pauses in his speech. Read More...
On Loneliness
As Christ once said, “In the world you shall have distress,” or in other words, while we live on this earth we will always be faced with sufferings. Of the many crosses we are sure to bear, loneliness is one of those sufferings. Though there are many kinds of sufferings to be had which vary in severity depending on the circumstance; loneliness altogether is a silent pain. For each of us at one time or another has experienced harsh loneliness. The pain of missing companions or having no one to turn to for every day struggles or even just to talk. How are we to cope with such an emptiness especially through the eyes of the Church? As stated before, Christ did say that in this world we would have much distress but rest of that scripture reads, “but have confidence, I have overcome the world,” where that might sound 'easier-said-than-done', there is great truth in this.
Catholic Solution For Gaining Patience
“Patience is power.
Patience is not an absence of action;
rather it is "timing"
it waits on the right time to act,
for the right principles
and in the right way.”
- Bishop Fulton Sheen
“Let nothing perturb you, nothing frighten you. All things pass. God does not change. Patience achieves everything.”
- St. Teresa of Ávila
Have patience with all things, But, first of all with yourself.
- St. Francis De Sales
In a world such as ours with all the troubles that come within an inch from our noses to a mile away, how are we supposed to exercise patience? Some of us are naturally inclined to be low key and do not let life's little (or big) downs get to them. However, there others that seem to have been born with a short fuse and any amount of spark can make an explosion. Where this may be so for most, there are those that often vary in between the two extremes. Either way, patience is hard to come by on a daily basis. Though this may be true, we must understand that patience is not just having a good mood or even forcing it to make it through something but rather a virtue. We lose sight of this reality especially when we are in the heat of a moment that requires patience. Remember, that those that are deemed Blessed or Canonized as Saints did not only perform heavenly miracles but they also practiced virtues. These virtues that were practiced did not come by their own strength but by graces given by God. And guess what? Those holy men and women ASKED for the graces!
Read More...Catholic Solution For Anxiety
We are accustomed to anxiety and stress all too well. There is rarely a moment in our days where we are not faced with some level of anxiety or pain. The stress of duties imposed upon you whether it be of work, family, friends, etc. can be overwhelming. However, inevitably there shall come a time when great distress finds us and renders us pinned down in absolute chaos. These are of the anxieties that are deep reaching and often most difficult to withstand such as a death of a loved one or financial/emotional/spiritual ruin. What then shall the Catholic do under seemingly diabolical attacks on our peace and well-being?
In a word, we are to pray. Now this is not a 'cop-out' for lack of better terms but rather the ultimate strategy against despair. We simply cannot afford to forgo prayer and expect to be able to deal with life's various twists and turns. This of course means we pray whatever the 'season' may be in our lives; whether the joys of springtime or the pains of winter we are to give place to God as master of our lives. It is graces that we must seek in order to be given the faith we need to carry our crosses. Keep in mind, there has never been a time our Lord ever said to us that to follow Him was to be a walk in the park. Instead, Jesus made it clear that to follow Him meant to, “Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me daily.”
So, prayer is the answer but first, let's recall the easier days of your life when stress was at an all time low if any at all. Do you remember how easy it was to pray?
Did Simon or Jesus Carry the Cross To Calvary?
Huffington Post Irrevently Calls Jesus "The First Transgender Man”
“The first couple’s (Adam and Eve) refusal to cooperate is turned around by Mary’s yes, and the second act of cloning occurs. The Holy Spirit comes upon the second Eve, and the child takes flesh from her and is born. Born of her flesh. Born with XX chromosome pairing. Born genetically female, and yet trans-formed into man.”
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