Beneath the hype, Rio a major test for Francis | National Catholic Reporter

Beneath the hype, Rio a major test for Francis | National Catholic Reporter

Canada's Politicians Criticized for 'Failure' to Protect Children | Daily News | NCRegister.com

Canada’s Politicians Criticized for ‘Failure’ to Protect Children | Daily News | NCRegister.com:

Catholicism in America: In Progress or Regress? | Daily News | NCRegister.com

Catholicism in America: In Progress or Regress? | Daily News | NCRegister.com

Pope Francis: God Redeems Atheists For 'Good Works'... Christians Must Accept Non-Believers

A note for those who question the appropriateness of accepting non-believers among us as good people. Note please that these words come from our Pope. Thus it would seem to me that those who castigate me and others on this blog for conversing and developing friendships with people of different convictions are in fact arguing with him, not just with me!!!

In the homily to his morning Mass Wednesday, Pope Francis said that Christians must stop perpetuating narrow definitions of  'good' and embrace atheists as God does -- for the work they do to make the world a better place.

Click on link to read entire article:

Pope Francis: God Redeems Atheists For 'Good Works,' Christians Must Accept Non-Believers:

Pope Francis: To Evangelize, We Must Be Open to the Action of the Spirit of God - International - Catholic Online

Pope Francis: To Evangelize, We Must Be Open to the Action of the Spirit of God - International - Catholic Online

First report by Vatican financial watchdog reveals suspicious transactions - Vatican Insider

First report by Vatican financial watchdog reveals suspicious transactions - Vatican Insider

Priests for Life: Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act Most Significant Legislative Step Forward - U.s. - Catholic Online

Priests for Life: Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act Most Significant Legislative Step Forward - U.s. - Catholic Online

U.S. Catholics: Overly Assimilated? - latest column from George Weigel

"With his new book, American Church: The Remarkable Rise, Meteoric Fall, and Uncertain Future of Catholicism in America, mild-mannered Russell Shaw has become the bull in the china shop of U.S. Catholic history, knocking heroes off pedestals and overturning conventional story-lines—all in aid of trying to understand why the Church in America is in a precarious position today vis-à-vis the ambient public culture and the government.

Shaw’s answer: We’re in deep trouble because of a longstanding U.S. Catholic determination to be more American than thou—to disprove ancient charges of Catholicism’s incompatibility with American democracy by assimilating so dramatically that there’s no discernible difference between Catholics (and their attitudes toward public policy) and an increasingly secularized, mainstream public opinion.

Shaw mounts an impressive case that Catholic Lite in these United States has indeed taken its cues from the wider culture, and as that culture has become ever more individualistic and hedonistic, the historic U.S. Catholic passion for assimilation and acceptance has backfired. Moreover, Shaw’s call to build a culture-reforming Catholic counterculture is not dissimilar to the argument I make about the Church and public life in Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church"

Click on link below to read entire article:


U.S. Catholics: Overly Assimilated? | First Things

Supreme Court to hear prayer case - latimes.com

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will revisit the issue of church-state separation and decide whether a town council can begin its monthly meetings with a prayer from a Christian pastor.

Supreme Court to hear prayer case - latimes.com

Did God Send the Tornado? The Problem of Natural Evils ~ Dr. Taylor Marshall | Canterbury Tales

Did God Send the Tornado? The Problem of Natural Evils ~ Dr. Taylor Marshall | Canterbury Tales