respublica

In Vatican News...

The Butler Did It.

He really did.

Where America Worships

Via the Chicago Tribune

 

Click to enlarge

Notice the states where church attendance has fallen off to almost nothing and the areas where it is still strong. Mormons are strong as is the midwest.

He is Risen

He is Risen indeed

Alleluia

Ash Wednesday

The start of 40 days until Easter:

When ashes are used to remind people that they are dust and to dust they will return.  Ashes, often made from the burning of last year's palm brances, are placed in the shape of a cross on peoples foreheads to remind them that Jesus died for the forgiveness of their sins.

But, do a Twitter search for Ash Wednesday and observe how often the day is ridiculed, joked about. We need an Ash Wednesday to move away from the scoffers and jokers, the profain. Lord Have Mercy on Us.

 

The HHS mandate is...

A totally First Amendment issue.  Talk all you want about contraception-everyone uses it, it's wrong to make people not use it-that is not the main issue in the HHS mandate.  The mandate absolutely infringes on the freedom of religion. And that is why Obama and HHS rightfully find themselves up the proverbial creek.

And now there is talk Obama may come out with an accomodation today, to try and quell the uproar. Here's a Tweet which pretty much speaks to that:

"Since when did religious liberty become an accomodation?"  Kathryn Lopez

Mandate is such an ugly word. We are all Catholics now.

Another tweet

"Leno: Obama says Christian faith is the driving force behind his economic policies. So instead of blaming Bush, it's now all Jesus' fault."

Politics and social issues

What's interesting about Rick Santorum's showing in the Iowa primary is his basic platform heavy with social issues.  While every candidate surely has personal opinions on various social issues, not all of them run on them.  

But be aware that if a GOP candidate does well when doing this, there is no option to fret and complain when democrats do the same.  Winner take all, agree with positions or not.

The same thing holds true for candidates who insist on speech making in churches on Sunday morning.  If GOP people do it, and they did in Iowa, then there should not be GOP complaints about separation of church and state and the threat of the loss of tax exempt status for churches which host dem candidates on Sunday morning during the general election campaign.  And they will.

Church should be church.  

 

The best description of what makes Bill Maher who he is

From Sally Jenkins in the Washington Post on Bill Maher's obsession with Tim Tebow and his faith:

"If you want to know Maher’s overriding philosophy on anything, you have to go back to high school and the stoner in the last row, surrounded by sycophants as he makes ugly cracks about his betters."

Perfect.  

Steal baby Jesus. Please

When headlines are misleading.  From KSDK St Louis Channel 5 on outdoor Nativity Scenes:

Church Encourages People to Take Baby Jesus

Well, you say, that's an awful thing for a church to encourage, what are they thinking?  The Seminary had its Baby Jesus stolen last year and we were not happy about it so having another church recommend this is annoying.

But.  Read the story and that is not what the church is doing at all.  "The church actually made hundreds of ornaments for people to take from the manger.  On the back is an invitation to attend Christmas Day services."

Not the same thing at all.  A totally misleading headline attention grabber.

An Embarrassing, frivolous and bad idea

A Vermont toaster maker is selling toasters which burn in images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the Star of David etc onto your toast.  His selling phrase is "Religious and other Simulacra on Toast at Cheap Prices!  Humor is Free".

He calls his company Burnt Impressions.

I call this bad taste.  Not to mention making light of the object of faith.