BIG C CATHOLICS

The theme of this year's Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is "Your Right Hand, O Lord, Glorious in Power." (Exodus 15:6). The octave of prayer for the promotion of Christian unity takes its impetus from Exodus 15:1-21, the words of Moses: Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea; his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power— your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries; you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble. At t

This year (2017) Advent is unusually short, Sunday being the only day in the fourth week. In the General Roman Calendar, December 24th, Christmas Eve, is the last day of Advent as well as (beginning with the vigil Mass) the first day of Christmas time. This raises the question as to whether the fulfillment of one's Sabbath obligation may also fulfill the Christmas obligation to attend holy Mass. The answer is no . A February newsletter issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship observed that a "two-for-one" Mass cannot occur in the very rare circumstances when two of the six holy days of obligation, such as when the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary or the Christmas solemnity of Our Lord's Nativity fall the day before or after Sunday. The committee stated, "When consecutive obligations occur on Saturday-Sunday or Sunday-Monday, the faithful must attend Mass twice to fulfill two separate obligations.&quo

In late 2014, an online book began circulating in jihadist circles entitled, Black Flags from Rome . It discusses the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in Europe with the expressed goal of sacking Rome and destroying the Vatican. Stressing Muslim grievances against the West, including the Crusades,  Black Flags from Rome states: "the Islamic State’s secret weapon = secret white converts," and "recruits" sympathetic to their cause "will give intelligence, share weapons and do undercover work for the Muslims to pave the way for the conquest of Rome." Islamic militants frequently threaten the Pope and symbols of Catholicism . A pro-ISIS media group, the Wafa' Media Foundation, recently told its followers: "The Crusaders' feast is approaching... show them the meaning of terrorism." The message includes a chilling image of smoke rising from Rome with a fighter jet overhead and a jihadist standing next to the sort of makeshift armore

Pope Saint Pius X’s papacy was both courageous and immensely consequential. The Modernist crisis in biblical exegesis occurred during his reign. Using new methods of historical and literary criticism scholars challenged the meaning of Scripture. Such methodology led to erroneous conclusions that called into question many Church dogmas. St. Pius X published the encyclical, Pascendi dominici gregis , denouncing the Modernist heresy. He also instituted the Oath Against Modernism to be sworn to by all clergy, pastors, confessors, preachers, religious superiors, and professors in philosophical-theological seminaries. The oath addressed five solemn tenets central to the Catholic Faith . It reads in part: "I believe with equally firm faith that the Church, the guardian and teacher of the revealed word, was personally instituted by the real and historical Christ when he lived among us, and that the Church was built upon Peter, the prince of the apostolic hierarchy, and his successors

Pope Francis, in a shocking and unprecedented move, has replaced all 27 members of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship , the body that oversees liturgical matters. Typically, the pope appoints to the congregation a few new members to replace those who have served for several years. The overhaul stunned vatican-watchers. The appointments are a blow to Cardinal Robert Sarah's efforts to achieve a "reform of the reform" as a proponent of more reverent liturgy. The new members of the congregation include: Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State, Cardinal Beniamino Stella, the prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and Archbishop Piero Marini, who clashed with liturgical conservatives while serving as master of ceremonies for Saint John Paul II. The liberal bent of the congregation is marked. The conservative prelates who were removed include: Cardinals Raymond Burke, Angelo

Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI will be honored on the 65th anniversary of his priestly ordination with a quiet ceremony in the Clementine Hall of the apostolic palace later this month. Joseph Ratzinger was ordained a priest for the Munich archdiocese on June 29, 1951, in Freising, Germany. He was 24. The Vatican celebration will occur June 28th. Pope Francis is expected to attend. See Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI's Vatican page for more.

The following remarks are from the homily of Pope Benedict XVI at the canonization Mass of Saint Damien. [St. Damien was canonized along with four others on October 11, 2009, at the Vatican in Rome.]  Jozef De Veuster received the name of Damien in the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. When he was 23 years old, in 1863, he left Flanders, the land of his birth, to proclaim the Gospel on the other side of the world in the Hawaiian Islands. His missionary activity, which gave him such joy, reached its peak in charity. Not without fear and repugnance, he chose to go to the Island of Molokai to serve the lepers who lived there, abandoned by all. Thus he was exposed to the disease from which they suffered. He felt at home with them. The servant of the Word consequently became a suffering servant, a leper with the lepers, for the last four years of his life. In order to follow Christ, Fr Damien not only left his homeland but also risked his health: therefore as th

Late last night, news organizations began reporting that Senator Bernie Sanders [I-VT] had been invited to the Vatican by none other than Pope Francis himself. When asked about such reports, Sanders said he was invited by the Vatican, was a fan of the pontiff, and looked forward to speaking with Pope Francis during the senator's upcoming visit to Rome. The Vatican has since denied Sanders' version of events. Bloomberg News reports that: Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ plan to attend a Vatican-sponsored conference put him in the middle of a diplomatic row as a senior Vatican official accused the senator of showing "monumental discourtesy" in angling for an invitation that puts a political cast on the gathering. Sanders, whose foreign policy experience is under attack by competitor Hillary Clinton, said Friday he was "very excited" about being invited to the conference on economic and social issues hosted by a pontifical academy in