While both liberal and conservative Catholics focus on defending various human rights, we need to vote for the candidates that will most allow us to defend the rights of God.

Many Catholics, on both sides of the political spectrum, continue to struggle with how to cast their votes in November. Some conservative Catholics struggle with the Republican Party’s changed platform and wonder if they can still vote for a Party that’s no longer pro-life. Some liberal Catholics struggle with the impact of excessive immigration on the urban poor and wonder if they can still vote for a Democratic Party that ignores it.

Several highly respected Catholic authors have written on the subject, and walking through their various perspectives provides us an opportunity to sort out and clarify the issues. In this article, I look at some of these perspectives, specifically ones by philosopher Edward Feser, theologian R.R. Reno, and commentator Kennedy Hall.

Let’s start with Dr. Feser. In his Catholic World Report piece titled “Donald Trump has put social conservatives in a dilemma,” he argues that the changes Trump made to the Republican Party’s platform constitute a complete betrayal of the pro-life cause and have turned it into what is now a moderate pro-choice Party. This creates a dilemma for social conservatives.

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CV NEWS FEED // A Catholic counselor partnered with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate to survey Catholic families whose adult children still practice the faith, identifying the practices common to these families.

In an article for Catholic Standard, Catholic counselor Dr. Greg Popcak identified the common denominator among families with adult children who practice the faith. He said that the key factor is “a family dynamic in which the family (especially the children) experienced their faith as the source of the warmth in their homes.”

While regular Mass attendance and regular family prayer time were important, Popcak said that families saw these factors as “secondary and supportive of the way they lived their faith at home.”

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Wednesday's vibrant catechesis on the drama of the migrants made a lot of noise. But the touching appeal to take on the suffering of so many people was unfortunately counterbalanced by a series of ‘excommunications’ and political judgments based on ideological visions and deficient information.


It is impossible not to be struck by the unscheduled catechesis delivered by Pope Francis at last Wednesday's audience in Saint Peter’s Square. ‘Sea and desert was the title of the Vatican communication and obviously the theme was migrants, their sufferings, their aspirations, their broken lives: “And when I say ”sea’, in the context of migrations,’ said Pope Francis, ’I also mean ocean, lake, river, all the insidious bodies of water that so many brothers and sisters all over the world are forced to cross to reach their destination. And ‘desert’ is not only that of sand and dunes, or rocks, but they are also all those inaccessible and dangerous territories, such as forests, jungles, steppes where migrants walk alone, left to their own devices'.

It is a speech that will probably turn out to be one of the most important of his pontificate, the synthesis of his arguments around his main theme. One grasps the sincere participation in the drama that involves at least 400 million people around the world; a profound and heartfelt appeal to our humanity too often engaged in ideological judgments that mask a real indifference to the pain of others. But the comments in the major newspapers with which this speech was received show how ideological even those who fill their mouths with welcome are, concerned to read the Pope's speech simply as an attack on Italy’s Meloni government as well as on those European leaders attempting to resolve a politically charged issue by restricting numbers.

Returning to the pope's speech, it is certainly important that the personal stories of suffering, violence and death evoked pierce the armour of ready answers on this world emergency. Yet there are aspects in this discourse, the conclusions the pope draws, that are out of tune and reduce everything to a political and moralistic horizon that cannot be shared in the slightest.

Continued below.

Hammster said:

Dana asked good questions.

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What will you do on day 1? Warm up question.

What is your position on fracking? Answer fact checked as lie....but whatever...

Do you regret making statements about Joe's mental fitness? Answer is a deflection. I felt like of all the questions, that was her real opportunity. She could have said yes... she regrets it...but she was wrongly putting playing for a team above the interests of the people.....that would have been genuine, if not honest, and I think more people would understand it as an answer.

Instead she doubled down. I don't recall her actual response....just that it was some "whaaaaa??? I don't know what you mean? Joe Biden is a mental dynamo!"

Hammster said:

The issue was that she didn’t push on the non-responsive answer.

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I recall her actually offering answers at one point.

Hammster said:

Kamala was great at deflecting, where it seems she answered but didn’t. Sometimes Dana would do a good follow up, but wouldn’t press when she knew that Harris wasn’t going to answer. I get it. She didn’t want to look like a bully.

It would be great to see the unedited footage or read the transcript.

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I'm gonna have watch it again. I saw a lot of substance lacking and it felt obvious. I understand politicians need to say empty statements but they need to do so in a way that tricks people into thinking an answer was given.

RileyG said:

Fascinating! Eternity is such a mind-blowing concept.

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It’s very difficult to comprehend. I’m not sure it can be without actually experiencing it.

Vambram said:

You're welcome, my brother. I'm glad that you're starting to like David Meece as much as I do.

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This means a lot, man. Remember, some young folks enjoy older styles of music, so yes, David Meece is a good musician. We need more of his style of music today. No Auto-Tune, nothing computerized, just pure vocals and real instruments with maybe a synth here and there.

Joseph G said:

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Hallelujah!!!!
The Lord Jesus Christ is ALL that we need!!!

Joseph G said:

Thanks for posting this, Vambram, really needed to hear this reminder!

I've been grieving lately over how we have to carry this body of death around with us, this old sin nature - that for some reason can still speak to us. That the Spirit of Jesus in us has to hear some of the damnable thoughts that go through our minds.

I thought about this today though - that even though Jesus didn't have a sin nature, he was willing to hear the temptations, taunts, jeers, and challenges to HIS identity for 33 years - all the way till His final breath - and won our victory by profoundly demonstrating God's love, and declaring exactly Who He is - praying to His Father for the world to hear and see that He IS God's Son - despite bearing all of God's wrath!

So yah, like the song says, we are secure because HIS robe of righteousness covers us. We just gotta keep bearing our crosses till the day the enemy's voice is silenced FOREVER! Right?

God bless!

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Amen and Hallelujah, my brother.

It seems Donald Trump was once involved in the casino industry in Australia, although it was nearly forty years ago.

There were claims of mafia links even back then.

ThatRobGuy said:

These kinds of crimes, especially involving ones that occur in cyber space often leave most law enforcement agencies "deficient".

Both in terms of resources (financial and staffing), as well as just overall knowledge. "Elite Level Cyber Guru" isn't exactly a super common skill set,

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Is that what goes on your resumes @ThatRobGuy? Elite Level Cyber Guru?

ThatRobGuy said:

often times they're probably forced to rely on people who are a little less "elite" in terms of their subject matter expertise in that area.


The actual field agents, I would presume, can only act on leads and intel that can be procured (or received and verified) by their cyber teams.

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Exactly...or else that other Department that makes sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to and nothing else will get involved and tell them to knock it off.

ThatRobGuy said:

Verification takes time and meticulous research (as it should...we don't want them raiding the wrong house on a civilian tip about who has certain kinds of files on their computer, or based on a crafty hacker being able to spoof someone else's IP address)

The grand total of specialized cyber team agents within the FBI. Drumroll please...... 65.
(plus a small joint task force they run with 20 state & local agencies that have "slightly above average" cyber crime teams when compared to other local law enforcement agencies that they can delegate some of the tasks to)

That's it.

Most Fortune 500 companies have cyber specialist teams that are bigger than that.

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And when you consider how many of those companies have been hit by ransomware or phishing campaigns that succeeded.....

ThatRobGuy said:

Given the vast size and scope of the "dark web" (which is where much of the illegal stuff takes place), the non-tech equivalent would be taking 5 regular uniformed officers, and saying "okay, your job is to keep this 200 mile radius safe and respond to incidents quickly"...of course they're going to come up short much of the time, because in that scenario, they've been set up to fail.

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That's an interesting way of looking at it

mourningdove~ said:

‘Patently Anti-Religious’: Tim Walz Has History Of Restricting Faith-Based Institutions​

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has faced multiple lawsuits for allegedly infringing on religious liberty during his time as Minnesota governor.

Walz encountered legal challenges for lockdown policies that religious organizations argued were discriminatory, placing stricter requirements on churches than businesses. He also encountered pushback after signing a law that stripped faith-based schools of funding for a program that offers free college credits to high school students.

Walz determined in a May 13, 2020, executive order that retailers would be allowed to reopen at 50% capacity, but left religious gatherings capped at ten people. After Catholic and Lutheran churches in the state announced plans to resume meeting in-person regardless of the governor’s order, he negotiated to allow religious groups to operate at 25% capacity, according to the Star Tribune.

Two churches nevertheless moved forward with their lawsuit over discriminatory treatment. Walz settled in May 2021 after the state’s motion to dismiss was denied, agreeing to treat religious gatherings the same as “the least restricted secular business regulated by the order.”

Three churches backed by the Thomas More Society also filed a lawsuit in August 2020 arguing Walz violated their religious liberties by mandating masks, limiting capacity and requiring social distancing.

“Governor Walz, a former teacher, gets an F in religious liberties,” Thomas More Society special counsel Erick Kaardal said in a press release at the time.

The Minnesota Supreme Court upheld in May Walz’s declaration of a peacetime emergency in response to COVID-19, according to the Upper Midwest Law Center.

Becket senior counsel Diana Thomson called the state’s decision to exclude faith-based schools “patently anti-religious.”

'Patently Anti-Religious': Tim Walz Has History Of Restricting Faith-Based Institutions

Democratic vice president pick Tim Walz has faced multiple lawsuits for infringing on religious liberty during his time as Minnesota governor.

dailycaller.com

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This is concerning. Between Waltz and Harris if they get in the US will have one of the most radical Leftist governments in the west. I have been following the US election from afar. But I have been following US politics for some time especially relating to Leftist ideology which is not just restricted to the US. In my country Australia similar is happening but not as extreme, 'yet'. But the same is happening in other western nations in Surope, Canada and Brtiain.

This example of the use of government position and power to control people seems to be a common theme with the Left and especially with the current Biden administration and the nominees for the upcoming election.

I notice issues like how the Biden/Harris adminstration through the FBI were spying on the Catholic church. I notice how Harris has relentlessly persued certain people for political reasons such as the protestors on Jan 6 while trying to excuse the protestors who caused millions of $$$ damage, looting and assulting. There seems to be a number of individual cases like this. I see the manipulation of media by government to censor information that they don't want and manipulation headlines to push their false narratives.

If we step back and take a look whats happening, the bigger picture or rather whats the underlying motivation and ideology behind all this we can see how this is an evolution of greater State interference and control over the years.. In otherwords the evolution of a totalitarian State. But I think the current situation is the culmination of ideology that has been cultivated in academia and into the institutions and onto mainstream society.

So its not something that just happened to happen. The rise of radical Leftist ideology and now having the prospect of having a radical Leftist government in the US is the symptom of the underlying ideology. The underlying ideology is like any political ideology be it Marxism, Feminism, Neo, Libralism or Facism. Its a belief, an assumption about how society is and should be ordered.

Basically I think its a mixture of ideas that have come before like cultural Marism, Postmodernism, Social Constructionism and the end result is what we call Woke, PC and Identity politics.

Theres also a moral basis and I think since God has been taken out of the public square other moral systems will fill the void. Thats being PC or Woke. Compassion in the form of protecting people and upholding their rights is used as the Trojan Horse to bring in the ideology and enforce it in schools, in the public institutions and the wider society.

But I think there is some hope. As this ideology has been going for a while now enough time has passed where we are seeing the reality of this ideology being exposed for what it is, an unreal belief and not fact or reality. We seen this with the winding back of Trans ideology in health, DEI in corporations though still an ongoing issue.

But also with episodes like the Olympic games opening ceremoney mocking Christians. France is an example of how the extreme end of this ideology can take over. Canada is another. But many episodes of good people being cancelled, crazy antisemetic protestors, males in womens sports, millions of illegal immigrants flooding into many western nations and now resulting in chaos and violence.

A big part of this takeover I think is the destruction of the family institute. They say that in totalitarian nations one of the first institutions to go to allow the State to creep further into all areas of life is the family as the family hold a lod of independent power. Also marriage and then religion. It seems that is exactly what we are seeing and another red flag for a coming total control by government.

reddogs said:

I heard in the news about a strange boom heard over New York City, then about more like events happening which were seen to be fireballs, and it seems to be happening elsewhere. Here is a description of the one heard this Friday morning in the south near Tennessee. "A bright line shooting across the night sky and the sound of an explosion is what many are describing after a suspected meteor shot across the night sky early Friday morning.

Home security cameras recorded the fireball shooting across the Tennessee and North Carolina night sky around 1:15 a.m. on Friday morning. Witness accounts show the fireball was first visible over eastern Tennesse before crossing into the skies over western North Carolina.

Appearing first as a dot streaking across the night sky, the light grows in intensity as the meteor appears to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. The bright light was followed a few moments later by an explosion-like sound."

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I am not an Adventist, but astronomy is fascinating. This is cool. Nothing wrong with this stuff, as these fireballs are harmless. The verse below applies to all denominations, and tells us to be not afraid. Philippians 4 is very comforting. Now, if only those fireballs were visible from Wisconsin.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV): "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Anyways, back to Star Trek Deep Space 9. If you have any astronomy questions, just ask @sjastro or me, preferably in the science section of the forums, as I am not a Seventh Day Adventist, and am posting here in fellowship as a fellow Christian.

PloverWing said:

Thanks for the link. Besides the mention of Baruch, I note:

1. In paragraph 7, Athanasius puts Esther in the non-canonical category.

2. It's not clear from the list whether Athanasius intends the longer or shorter version of Daniel in his list.

I'd say that, while this is a useful list, the canon still seems to be in flux at this point.

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Indeed, it was in flux; his letter was authoritative only within the Church of Alexandria, but what made the 39th Paschal Encyclical important was that it was the first document that has the 27 book New Testament protocanon that everyone now accepts, which at the time was not the case (you had for example the Peshitta Canon, which excluded 2 Peter, Revelation and 3 other books and was for a time the official canon of the Church of the East, and still is the basis of their lectionary system).

iarwain said:

I feel like if you are part of a church, the focus should be doing God's work, and politics is a distraction. "Render unto Ceasar". But I agree with your statement above, if we have a vote, why would you want to allow non-Christians to spread their worldview and Godless agendas? Why wouldn't you want to live under Christian values as much as you can?

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Truth. The reality of human nature is that it will always fall to the lowest common degeneracy. This is where a pure democracy will take you. If you do not participate, that is where it will inevitably fall. I am not criticizing, only stating a fact. It will inevitably fall if we do not exercise our faith and standards in this culture. Some say it has already started down that "slippery slope" and is beyond the point of no return. Derek Prince said that a nation is like an apple. Once it has started to rot, it will not stop. I do not participate in politics any longer beyond voting. I try to make public displays of faith, like praying over a meal and wearing Jesus/Christian tee-shirts. We cannot allow our culture to cast these behaviors out as abnormal or cultish.

Dear me. Presented without context. She was talking about recidivism. From here: https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/clip-harris-calling-young-people-stupid-lacks-context-2024-07-26/

'The longer, original footage shows Harris presenting a program aimed at lowering recidivism among young offenders with better reintegration.'

Didn't you check? This is desperate stuff indeed. The full video is here:

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See from 16:30 for more context. But if you have the time, see what she did for young offenders in California when she was DA. Commendable.

Gregory Thompson said:

The Russian empire rooted from a different influence, but the earlier root of "state religion Christianity" would have been similar.

I'm pretty sure we see/apply British Israelism differently.

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Why are you acting as if we have some strong disagreement if we simply using the term differently? Am I being stuck up on that particular theory? No. I just thought thats what that term refers to. If you think it refers to something else, then fine, tell me what it is. I am asking genuine questions but your one-sentence answers seem to suggest like I am taking some sort of adversarial stance.

I cannot wait for our society to move away from this once and for all. These folks need real treatment, not validation.

How awful

KevinT said:

Randy, I have enjoyed our back and forth. I think we may need to agree to disagree, and I will still extend you the hand of friendship.

Best wishes.
KT

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Feelings mutual!

Also Google Translate. The first is St. Nicholas UGCC, Busk, Ukraine
The second is St. Josaphat [UGCC], village of Perevoloka, Ukraine
... where UGCC is Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

They both have the ambo (front 'pulpit') in front of the iconostasis.

hislegacy said:

Can't buy the cards with crypto - just another hit piece OP

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Actually you can. You just have to look at the website for the new NFTs (not the old mugshot).

Such a good thing to seen that Somali Kenyans getting saved. Not only the hardest hearts bend down to Jesus. Thank you Lord.

Michie said:

Pro-life demonstrators hold "Most Pro-Life President Ever" signs during the 47th annual "March for Life" in Washington, DC, on Jan. 24, 2020. | Nicholas Kamm /AFP via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump drew mixed reactions from pro-life advocacy organizations Thursday, with some believing he suggested he would vote for an amendment to create a right to abortion in the Florida Constitution, a claim a spokesperson has denied.

Trump, the Republican nominee for president of the United States in the 2024 presidential election, spoke with NBC News' Dasha Burns at one of his campaign rallies in Potterville, Michigan. She asked him how, as a Florida resident, he intended to vote on Florida's Amendment 4 that would "overturn the six-week ban" on abortion.

"I think the six-week is too short," he replied. "It has to be more time."

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Trump's comments on Florida's abortion ballot initiative, IVF draw mixed reactions from pro-lifers

Former President Donald Trump drew mixed reactions from pro-life advocacy organizations Thursday, with some believing he suggested he would vote for an amendment to create a right to abortion in the

www.christianpost.com

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A lot of republicans have said they support the Supreme Court's decision to leave it up to the states to decide when it comes to abortion.

Right now there are some states that have no-limit on abortion at all. 9-month abortions are just fine with them. how horrible.

There is a degree of common sense that all humans should be able to agree to - even with no Bible at all. And that is -- if a baby is born and the parent kills the baby then it is murder according to a great many states in America. That is the age at which I think abortion should be considered to be illegal - across the board. If the state is willing to charge the parent with the crime of murder for a baby of a certain age to be killed after having been born -- then a 'human' capable of rational thought - should then be able to agree that killing that same baby 20 minutes before it is born - is ALSO a crime.

people may also argue that x-months before the state would charge the parent who killed the baby with murder - if the baby was born at that early stage --- (I for one would be very glad if that were indeed the debate that we had, rather than the existing horrific case we a saddled with at this point)

Christians comprise a tiny minority in Tunisia. Traditional churches such as the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, which largely serve foreign Christians, are officially recognised by the government and enjoy a relative amount of freedom, although public evangelism isn’t tolerated.
Tunisian Christians, however, aren’t officially recognised and do not have officially recognised church buildings. Tunisians who convert from Islam to Christianity face a level of hostility that forces many to keep their faith secret. This is especially true in the south, where the Muslim population is more conservative.
Gathering with other Christians brings risk of exposure due to monitoring by the Tunisian security services. If a believer’s faith is discovered, it can have a damaging impact on their daily life, including verbal and physical abuse, rejection by loved ones and job insecurity.

Meet Aizah​

“I trust that God is with us as we see more hardship. We have resilience because we know who our Saviour is. I also rejoice as more hardship makes young people come to Him.”
Aizah (name changed) from North Africa, who comes from a Muslim background.

What does Open Doors do to help?​

Open Doors works with local partners and churches in North Africa to provide leadership and discipleship training, livelihood support, legal aid, trauma counselling, Bibles and pastoral care.

Please pray​

• Pray that isolated converts will be connected to other believers.
• Pray for those who take risks to meet together to know the peace only Jesus can give.
• Pray that the Church will continue to grow and that Christians will be able to worship freel

FenderTL5 said:

I think I have the radio/single version of this song on CD, somewhere.
I met an earlier version of the Newsboys (pre-fame) in '88.

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Wow, Newsboys in the 1980s? That is pretty awesome. It is good that you have the radio version on CD. Was the radio version on a full sized CD, or one of these strange devices that are smaller versions of the CD, the Mini CD (80 mm), not to be confused with the encased minidisk.

Mini CD (aww, they are so tiny). Sadly, I never owned a mini CD, plus those could only store 21-24 minutes of music: