Why not with the first????
Same rule applies to those with a homosexual orientation but its unclear how they would know if it was the first act or second act?
From The Manila Times Internet Edition | TOP STORIES >:
Priests in the Philippines found to have fathered a child will not be automatically defrocked but those with two will be immediately asked to leave the Catholic Church.
Those found committing homosexual acts will be sent to a rehabilitation center run by the Church, but if they repeat the offense they will be expelled at once.
The offenses and their penalties are contained in an 18-page “Pastoral Guidelines on Sexual Abuses and Misconduct by the Clergy” released by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines on Wednesday.
The CBCP was forced to issue the protocol after two prominent bishops earlier this year figured in sex scandals.
Bishop Crisostomo Yalung left the clergy after begetting two children by a parishioner in Antipolo City, while the Vatican removed Teodoro Bacani, bishop of Novaliches, on allegations that he sexually harassed his secretary.
For the first time last year the Catholic Church publicly apologized for sexual abuses committed by Filipino priests, but insisted that most of them remained faithful to their vows.
The Church admitted that some 200 priests have been investigated for sexual misconduct over the past 20 years. Some were dismissed; most resigned voluntarily.
Thursday, November 20, 2003
FSU Joke of the Day
In preparation for the Florida-Florida State game on Nov. 29th:
A state trooper pulls over an FSU grad on Interstate 10.
State trooper asks, "You got any I.D."
The FSU grad replies, "About what??"
A state trooper pulls over an FSU grad on Interstate 10.
State trooper asks, "You got any I.D."
The FSU grad replies, "About what??"
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
The Next Archbishop of Atlanta?
A friend who has an uncanny knack for being right when it comes to telling me weeks before who the most likely candidates are to fill vacant sees, claims Bishop Boland will be the next Archbishop of Atlanta...today he raises his voice against same-sex marriages.
From MDJonline.com - Marietta, Georgia:
"A Roman Catholic bishop who co-authored a statement opposing same-sex unions, approved by U.S. bishops last week, said Monday legal gay marriages would be 'another diminishing of society, just like abortion.'
But Bishop J. Kevin Boland of the Diocese of Savannah insisted the document, to be distributed to Catholic churches in pamphlet form, was not intended to condemn homosexuals.
'We respect their dignity as persons,' Boland said at a news conference. 'We know that, with some individuals, it's not their choice to be gay. But at the same time a gay person, just like a heterosexual person, may be obliged to chastity.'
At their annual meeting in Washington last week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted a four-page statement explaining why Catholics should oppose legal recognition of same-sex unions. As chairman of the bishops' Committee on Marriage and Family, Boland was one of the document's authors and sponsored it before the full conference."
From MDJonline.com - Marietta, Georgia:
"A Roman Catholic bishop who co-authored a statement opposing same-sex unions, approved by U.S. bishops last week, said Monday legal gay marriages would be 'another diminishing of society, just like abortion.'
But Bishop J. Kevin Boland of the Diocese of Savannah insisted the document, to be distributed to Catholic churches in pamphlet form, was not intended to condemn homosexuals.
'We respect their dignity as persons,' Boland said at a news conference. 'We know that, with some individuals, it's not their choice to be gay. But at the same time a gay person, just like a heterosexual person, may be obliged to chastity.'
At their annual meeting in Washington last week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted a four-page statement explaining why Catholics should oppose legal recognition of same-sex unions. As chairman of the bishops' Committee on Marriage and Family, Boland was one of the document's authors and sponsored it before the full conference."
The Bethlehem Code
The real secret code that largely goes unnoticed by many Bible believing Christians is the Bethlehem code. The subtle message that is written into the New Testament that points to where the Risen Christ may be found. I say it is secret because it clearly was written into the text of the New Testament but those who read the Scriptures only literally can totally miss it.
Consider for starters the Gospel of Luke, we all know the story at the beginning...the annunciations to Zechariah and Mary and Mary gives us the first hint of the "secret" when she proclaims "He has shown the might of his arm dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty,"(Luke 1:51-53) Zechariah in his prophetic utterance further gives us a clue, "by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death's shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace" (Luke 1:78,79).
Think of the themes hinted at in both of these canticles, the lowly understand a message that those in power totally miss, their hunger is filled, and those who sit in darkness are given light. Again for someone who sees these as clues that point us to a message that is about to be revealed to us, a secret message, we have only to look a few verses further for the first big revelation.
In Luke 2: 8 immediately following the birth of Jesus we read about shepherds keeping "night watch" over their flocks, literally a people "sitting in darkness" who have an experience of "the glory of the lord shone around them"...they are told by the angels who appear to them that this will be "a sign" to them.
Let's stop there what exactly is a sign? It is not an end in and of itself but rather points to a greater reality. What is the sign they will witness? They are told that they will fine an "infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." A manger is a feeding box (as one poor translation of Scripture once actually translated it) for animals. We are told that it is a "sign", what they witness there points to something beyond their experience of the birth of Christ to something else.
When the angels leave, the shepherds look to one another and say, "Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." The key phrase here is "Bethlehem" which literally means "house of bread". "Let us go to the House of Bread to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us."
All of this is how the Gospel of Luke begins... how does it end? The Risen Christ joins two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They do not recognize him. He opens the Scriptures to them. They invite Him to stay with them. He takes bread, says the blessing, breaks it, gives it to them, then physically vanishes from their site. Luke tells us quite blatantly, for the really dense reader, that they recognized Him in the "breaking of the bread". Where are we to find Jesus this day? In the bread that is broken in the Eucharist!
I'll be preaching a mission on the "Bethlehem Code" in suburban Chicago from Nov. 30- December 3rd. If you are in the area feel free to join us!
Consider for starters the Gospel of Luke, we all know the story at the beginning...the annunciations to Zechariah and Mary and Mary gives us the first hint of the "secret" when she proclaims "He has shown the might of his arm dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty,"(Luke 1:51-53) Zechariah in his prophetic utterance further gives us a clue, "by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death's shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace" (Luke 1:78,79).
Think of the themes hinted at in both of these canticles, the lowly understand a message that those in power totally miss, their hunger is filled, and those who sit in darkness are given light. Again for someone who sees these as clues that point us to a message that is about to be revealed to us, a secret message, we have only to look a few verses further for the first big revelation.
In Luke 2: 8 immediately following the birth of Jesus we read about shepherds keeping "night watch" over their flocks, literally a people "sitting in darkness" who have an experience of "the glory of the lord shone around them"...they are told by the angels who appear to them that this will be "a sign" to them.
Let's stop there what exactly is a sign? It is not an end in and of itself but rather points to a greater reality. What is the sign they will witness? They are told that they will fine an "infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." A manger is a feeding box (as one poor translation of Scripture once actually translated it) for animals. We are told that it is a "sign", what they witness there points to something beyond their experience of the birth of Christ to something else.
When the angels leave, the shepherds look to one another and say, "Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." The key phrase here is "Bethlehem" which literally means "house of bread". "Let us go to the House of Bread to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us."
All of this is how the Gospel of Luke begins... how does it end? The Risen Christ joins two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They do not recognize him. He opens the Scriptures to them. They invite Him to stay with them. He takes bread, says the blessing, breaks it, gives it to them, then physically vanishes from their site. Luke tells us quite blatantly, for the really dense reader, that they recognized Him in the "breaking of the bread". Where are we to find Jesus this day? In the bread that is broken in the Eucharist!
I'll be preaching a mission on the "Bethlehem Code" in suburban Chicago from Nov. 30- December 3rd. If you are in the area feel free to join us!
Russian Orthodox Sever Ties with Episcopalians
Interesting, strong statement.
From Vladivostok News :: Episcopal's gay bishop completely unorthodox:
"The Russian Orthodox Church said Monday that it has broken off ties with the Episcopalian movement in the U.S. calling the latter's consecration of an openly gay bishop, 'unchristian and blasphemous.'
The Moscow Patriarchate referred to a verse in the Bible stating that sex between two men is loathsome and neither fornicators nor sodomites will enter God's realm.
'The Church does not deny assistance to the unfortunate people who suffer from this ailment. God is love, and Christians must pray for all sinners and for their salvation. However, the Church cannot approve perversions of human nature created by the Lord himself,' the statement says. "
From Vladivostok News :: Episcopal's gay bishop completely unorthodox:
"The Russian Orthodox Church said Monday that it has broken off ties with the Episcopalian movement in the U.S. calling the latter's consecration of an openly gay bishop, 'unchristian and blasphemous.'
The Moscow Patriarchate referred to a verse in the Bible stating that sex between two men is loathsome and neither fornicators nor sodomites will enter God's realm.
'The Church does not deny assistance to the unfortunate people who suffer from this ailment. God is love, and Christians must pray for all sinners and for their salvation. However, the Church cannot approve perversions of human nature created by the Lord himself,' the statement says. "
Fate of the Late President Kennedy
I've been watching off and on The Kennedies on PBS this week. Today Spirit Daily has an interesting account traced back to a nun who claims that Kennedy went to confession and Mass on the morning of the day he was assasinated. Seems difficult to confirm but Michael Brown does an interesting job of trying to track down the truth. At the end of his piece he provides an interesting anecdote from St. Padre Pio.
Spirit Daily - Daily spiritual news from around the world:
"In Italy, the famous mystic Padre Pio, since canonized, was said to have broken down and wept at news of the assassination. When a fellow priest, Padre Aurelio, equally distressed, asked him to pray for the dead president's salvation, Padre Pio reportedly replied: 'It's not necessary. He's already in paradise.'"
Spirit Daily - Daily spiritual news from around the world:
"In Italy, the famous mystic Padre Pio, since canonized, was said to have broken down and wept at news of the assassination. When a fellow priest, Padre Aurelio, equally distressed, asked him to pray for the dead president's salvation, Padre Pio reportedly replied: 'It's not necessary. He's already in paradise.'"
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Tammy Faye Update
Its the "old hymns" that kept her going...and keep her going evidently.
WorldNetDaily: Tammy Faye speaks at homosexual church:
"Pastor Robert L. Morgan told the paper he has been trying to get Messner to speak in his church for the past two years because, he says, she carries a powerful message: God loves all. Messner once hosted a daytime television show with a homosexual co-host and, the Times said, has appeared at 'gay pride' events throughout the country.
'I wanted to set as an example that not all straight people hate you,' Morgan is quoted as telling his congregation prior to introducing his guest speaker.
According to the Florida paper, Messner told the churchgoers how difficult it was when Jim Bakker's Praise the Lord television network was shut down so quickly in 1987.
'Everything was gone, everyone hated us,' she said through tears, the paper reports. 'I couldn't read my Bible. You know what sustained me? The old hymns.'
She then sang, 'Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus.'
As Messner spoke, she walked among the wooden pews of the small, white church. "
Touching on her theological beliefs, the paper quotes the former TV star as stating, "I think Jesus really loves crazy people. He really does. He made so many of us!"
WorldNetDaily: Tammy Faye speaks at homosexual church:
"Pastor Robert L. Morgan told the paper he has been trying to get Messner to speak in his church for the past two years because, he says, she carries a powerful message: God loves all. Messner once hosted a daytime television show with a homosexual co-host and, the Times said, has appeared at 'gay pride' events throughout the country.
'I wanted to set as an example that not all straight people hate you,' Morgan is quoted as telling his congregation prior to introducing his guest speaker.
According to the Florida paper, Messner told the churchgoers how difficult it was when Jim Bakker's Praise the Lord television network was shut down so quickly in 1987.
'Everything was gone, everyone hated us,' she said through tears, the paper reports. 'I couldn't read my Bible. You know what sustained me? The old hymns.'
She then sang, 'Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus.'
As Messner spoke, she walked among the wooden pews of the small, white church. "
Touching on her theological beliefs, the paper quotes the former TV star as stating, "I think Jesus really loves crazy people. He really does. He made so many of us!"
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