Where the Rubber Hits the Road

Permit for statue of Satan at Oklahoma State Capitol submitted - U.s. - Catholic Online

Here is an English translation of this short French article: There will be no Christmas decorations in the Service Canada Centres this year . T hese decorations are prohibited. This is stipulated in a note circulated in early November by the Senior Executive Service of Canada, Marc Simoneau. According to press reports , the Christmas wreaths, trees and other symbols of the Nativity must be absent from public areas in the service centers. Officials explained that the measure is to avoid complaints about religious beliefs. There are 118 centers in federal services in Quebec. Centres de Service Canada - Les décorations de Noël interdites

The Mexican priest has been convicted of the crime of "proselytism". I looked it up in the dictionary and here is the definition of proselytism: Noun: a person newly converted to a religious faith or sect; a convert, esp a gentile converted to Judaism Verb: a less common word for proselytize So the priest has been convicted of promoting the faith of the Church with the aim of converting people to the Catholic faith. And this is a crime in Mexico???     Every priest should be so lucky as to all be convicted of this 'crime'. Mexican priest to appeal charge from Federal Electoral Institute :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Archbishop Charles Chaput (Denver) IF the day should ever come that I would leave my beloved Ottawa Valley Diocese of Pembroke, and were to leave the country, the Dioceses headed by the Archbishops mentioned in this story would be my destination. These men are orienting their diocese in the right direction, choosing to engage the argument in defense of faith in the Public Square. It would be an honor to harness myself to the team that is being guided with such wisdom. In Canada men like Archbishops Collins (Toronto) and Smith (Edmonton) and Bishop Henry (Calgary) are also working towards the same goal. They too are a blessing for the Church in North America. With the elevation of Cardinal Ouellet to the Congregation of Bishops in Rome, and with the imminent replacement of over 50% of the Bishops in Quebec over the next five years (as they reach 75 years of age), the chances for other like minded Bishops throughout the province are future is pregnant with hope for better times in ...

Here's an article taken from the Globe and Mail website , written by Jane Taber  in which she reports that the Conservative Party has taken offense at what it calls a 'faith-war' being waged by the CBC. Notwithstanding the political implications of a political party complaining about the media (as if that's never happened before!), Taber does a decent job of summarizing the 'evidence' that the CBC is indeed antithetical to the voices of faith in the public square.

An eight year old elementary student in Tauton Massachusetts was suspended from school and sent to a psychiatrist for drawing a picture of Jesus on the cross as his submission for an assignment to draw something that reminds him of Christmas. Thankfully the psychiatrist said it was safe for the child to return to school as he was not "a threat" to himself or others! I appreciate that a teacher may have over-reacted, but surely someone in the school system would have seen how inane sending the child for a mental health evaluation simply for expressing belief in Jesus before the student was actually subjected to a mental evaluation! So, no longer is it sufficient to take Christ out of Christmas, but now it's a sign of mental illness to express a belief that Christ, by his birth, death and resurrection is "the reason for the season"? Sending people to mental health professional and institutions for expressing their faith was something that we associated with...