Priest Stumbles On Truth; Bishop Corrects

A Roman Catholic priest in Minnesota has apologized for calling Islam the “greatest threat in the world” to the United States and Christianity.

The Rev. Nick VanDenBroeke apologized Wednesday in a statement posted on the website of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minnesota for the Jan. 5 comments during a 15-minute homily as pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Lonsdale.

Father Nick VanDenBroeke

 “My homily on immigration contained words that were hurtful to Muslims,” the statement read. “I’m sorry for this. I realize now that my comments were not fully reflective of the Catholic Church’s teaching on Islam.”

The mea culpa followed a request by the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations to condemn the “hate-filled” remarks, including that congregants “must oppose” Muslims’ religion and worldview.

“Silence on this issue would send the troubling message that the church holds a negative view of Minnesota’s Muslim community,” the civil rights group said in a statement.

CAIR? This CAIR?


CAIR describes itself as “America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group,” but in 2007, the U.S. government labeled CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation for financing the Hamas terrorist group.

In November 2014 CAIR was designated as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates along with a host of other Muslim Brotherhood entities. 

CAIR was listed among “individuals/entities who are/were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee and/or its organizations.” The Palestine Committee is a secret body set up to advance the Brotherhood/Hamas agenda. 

The FBI subsequently severed official contacts with the group, saying it “does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner.”

And proving once again I am too smart to be a Bishop:

In a separate statement posted on the archdiocese’s website, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said he had discussed the matter with VanDenBroeke.

“He has expressed sorrow for his words and an openness to seeing more clearly the Church’s position on our relationship with Islam,” the statement read. “The teaching of the Catholic Church is clear.”

The church “looks with esteem to Muslims,” who worship God via prayer, fasting and the giving of alms, Hebda said, adding that Pope Francis has emphasized the need for enhanced dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

As a "Catholic" He Must Know What Hell Will Be Like

Richmond, Va., Jan 30, 2020 / 12:15 pm (CNA).- Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, a Catholic, cast the tie-breaking vote on Wednesday to pass a bill to liberalize abortion access in the commonwealth. 

Senate Bill 733 received 20 votes in favor and 20 votes against on Jan. 29. Virginia’s state Senate is composed of 21 Democrats and 19 Republicans. Fairfax, as lieutenant governor, is the Senate president and casts tie-breaking votes. 

The bill, which has already passed the House and now awaits the Governor’s signature, would repeal a Virginia law mandating that only doctors can perform abortions, allowing other medical professionals, such as physicians assistants and nurse practictioners, to do abortions. The bill will also repeal a law requiring a woman to be given specific information about the abortion procedure before it takes place.  

Yeah, definitely Catholic....

 

A Maryland woman said Friday that she was sexually assaulted by Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) in a “premeditated and aggressive” attack in 2000, while both were undergraduate students at Duke University. She is the second woman this week to accuse him of sexual assault. Fairfax forcefully denied both allegations.

Democratic Party leaders quickly called for Fairfax to resign, including the influential Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. Many who had withheld judgment after the first allegation this week said they could no longer stand by him, including most of Virginia’s Democratic congressional delegation and national Democrats with presidential aspirations.

Expell the Students and VOILA! Problem Solved!

South Bend, Ind., Jan 28, 2020 / 12:59 am (CNA).- The University of Notre Dame’s refusal to pay for drugs that can cause early abortions will face further litigation in court, after a federal judge in Indiana allowed a lawsuit to challenge an agreement between the university and the Trump administration.

“Notre Dame stands on firm legal and moral ground in refusing to subsidize the limited number of contraceptive products that can act as abortifacients and harm an unborn child,” Paul Browne, vice president of public affairs and communications at the University of Notre Dame, said in a Jan. 20 letter to the editor of the Notre Dame Observer, a student-run newspaper.

U.S. District Court Judge Philip Simon rejected the university’s motions to dismiss the case on Jan. 16. A pretrial conference is scheduled for early March, the South Bend Tribune reports.

The lawsuit, filed in June 2018, charges that the Catholic university’s failure to provide abortifacient drugs violates a federal requirement dating back to 2012 holding that employer health plans must provide contraceptive coverage.

The lawsuit comes from a group of students allied with national pro-abortion rights NGOs.

Dear Sister Donna...Butt Out

Washington D.C., Jan 28, 2020 / 01:15 pm (CNA).- A Trump administration rule defining more low-income immigrants as a public burden may go into effect, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week. Catholic leaders decried the ruling, saying it will harm families’ ability to secure basic services and that it represents a radical departure from American traditions.

“We implore the administration to reconsider this harsh and unnecessary policy and rescind it in its entirety,” Sister Donna Markham O.P., president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, said Jan. 27. “By allowing this harmful policy to go into effect, the administration imposes a chilling effect on access to basic services, creating fear among eligible individuals threatening family unity and stability.”

“We will be judged on how we treat the hungry, the homeless and the stranger among us and this decision signals a watershed change of course from the best moments of our American heritage of welcoming immigrants and refugees,” Markham said.

Compare and Contrast

The Problem with Open Borders, Part 2

 Did you know that the USCCB has an "Office of Migration Policy and Public Affairs" ? Me neither. Here's what they do:

The MRS Office of Migration and Refugee Policy assists the bishops in the development and promotion of migration and refugee policy positions within the context of the Church's social and moral teaching; implements communication, public education/outreach and legislative strategies that foster greater advocacy, awareness, understanding, and support for the work of MRS and the vulnerable populations it serves.

 

Ashley Feasleyis the Director of Policy for Migration and Refugee Services at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Meanwhile...

laxcala, Mexico, Jan 8, 2020 / 02:46 pm (CNA).- A Mexican priest who had been kidnapped is in the hospital in serious condition after having been discovered released on the side of a highway with four gunshot wounds.

Fr. Roly Candelario Piña Camacho, a Piarist priest from the Diocese of Tlaxcala, was found wounded on the side of the México-Puebla federal highway Jan. 6, the diocese said. 


Local media reports did not specify when the priest was kidnapped, but said his family members paid the unspecified ransom request to his captors. He had suffered four gunshot wounds and was transported to a local hospital, where the National Guard is offering protection against further violence, according to reports.

In a Jan. 7 statement, the Diocese of Tlaxcala said that the priest is “in serious condition.”

Pay To Pray - God For Sale!

“Pay-to-play” is a phrase one hears from time to time around Capitol Hill and it’s usually not as a preface to good news or a compliment. Now comes a study of whether and how much are people willing to pay for prayers.

This is no joke. The study was conducted following Hurricane Florence in September 2018, according to Reasons to Believe, which reported that “Linda Thunström, an economist at the University of Wyoming, [who] teamed up with Shiri Noy, an anthropologist-sociologist at Denison University in Ohio.”

The study was designed as “an incentivized experiment on 482 North Carolinians who suffered some kind of hardship as a result of the hurricane. Thunström and Noy preselected the 482 North Carolinians so that they would fall into one of these two groups:

“(1) People who believed in God and identified themselves as Christians, and (2) people who denied or were unsure of God’s existence and identified themselves as either atheists or agnostics. People who held to other religious beliefs were excluded from the experiment.”

The participants were each paid a standard amount for their time, plus $5 to be used in the study process by exchanging some or all of Mr. Lincoln’s bill for:

• Prayers from a stranger who is a Christian
• Supportive thoughts from a Christian stranger
• Thoughts from a stranger who is an atheist
• Prayers from a priest

That Should Help Solve the Class Size Thing

The National Education Association approved a new "business item" expressing support for abortion access during its annual conference in Houston.

"[T]he NEA will include an assertion of our defense of a person's right to control their own body, especially for women, youth, and sexually marginalized people," the resolution states. "The NEA vigorously opposes all attacks on the right to choose and stands on the fundamental right to abortion under Roe v. Wade."

The NEA is the largest teachers' union in the U.S. with more than 3 million members. It collected nearly $400 million from American educators in 2018, according to federal labor filings. The union is also one of the most politically active in the country, spending $70 million on politics and lobbying in 2017 and 2018. Nearly all of the union's political action committee spending went to Democrats during the midterm cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

One Thing His Wife Won't Have to Worry About

Washington D.C., Jan 27, 2020 / 10:30 am (CNA).- Pro-life Democrats are “fed up” over the party’s staunch support of abortion and need to let the presidential candidates know it, the leader of Democrats for Life of America said on Monday.

“We’ve had enough,” Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America, told CNA. 
Day spoke to CNA after Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg told her at an Iowa townhall event on Sunday that he would forego the support of pro-life voters to maintain his absolute support for legal abortion.

Pro-abortion presidential candidates “are so afraid of the abortion lobby, and even making any inroads to Democrats for Life, pro-life Democrats, they’re afraid that they’re going to lose all their money and support,” Day said.

Pro-life Democrats throughout the country are frustrated over the party leadership’s increasingly staunch support of abortion, she told CNA.

“We need pro-life Democrats all over the country to go to these [presidential] candidates and ask the question: Do you want pro-life Democrats in the party? Because if not, we won’t vote for you,” Day said.

On Sunday evening, Day asked Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, about the party’s tolerance for pro-life Democrats, at a Des Moines, Iowa, townhall event moderated by Fox News’ Chris Wallace.

“I am a proud pro-life Democrat. So, do you want the support of pro-life Democrats—pro-life Democratic voters?” Day asked. “And if so, would you support more moderate platform language in the Democratic Party, to ensure that the party of diversity, of inclusion, really does include everybody?”

Buttigieg responded that “I am pro-choice. And I believe that a woman ought to be able to make that decision [on abortion],” to applause from the audience.

Your Tax Dollar at Work

Washington D.C., Jan 19, 2020 / 04:55 pm (CNA).- Planned Parenthood announced this week that it plans to spend $45 million to support pro-abortion candidates at the presidential, congressional, and state levels in the 2020 election.

The campaign, entitled “We Decide 2020,” marks the largest election spending in Planned Parenthood’s history.

Jenny Lawson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes, told CBS News that “The stakes have never been higher.”

She pointed to the upcoming Supreme Court case involving a Louisiana law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital as “an indicator of [the Trump Administration’s] intention and they've never been so bold.” 

 A recent report has revealed that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, received over $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds from 2013 to 2015.

Sorry, I don't Feel Responsible

Washington D.C., Jan 20, 2020 / 03:37 am (CNA).- The example of Martin Luther King, Jr., is still sorely needed in the United States, given continued injustices, racism and discrimination against minorities, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a message for MLK Day.

“As our nation prepares to commemorate the life and witness of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., we are grateful for his courageous stand in solidarity with all who suffer injustice and his witness of love and nonviolence in the struggle for social change,” Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Jan. 16.

“But we are once again painfully aware that we are still far off from his dream for America, the ‘beloved community’ for which he gave his life.” 

Archbishop Gomez, writing on behalf of the U.S. bishops, warned of continuing “disturbing outbreaks of racism and prejudice” against minority groups in the U.S. today.

“Racism is a sin that denies the truth about God and his creation, and it is a scandal that disfigures the beauty of America’s founding vision,” he said.

“Too many hearts and minds are clouded by racist presumptions of privilege and too many injustices in our society are still rooted in racism and discrimination,” the archbishop continued.

“Too many young African American men are still being killed in our streets or spending their best years behind bars. Many minority neighborhoods in this country are still what they were in Rev. King’s time, what he called ‘lonely islands of poverty.’ Let us recommit ourselves to ensuring opportunity reaches every community,” he said.

 I would like to add:

1) It's not my fault that people choose to break the law and enter this country illegally .

2) Read this story about crime in Chicago. The conclusion:

The data on offenders also tells a troubling story: Young, Black males are overwhelmingly committing most of the murders. Based on the data on the victims, that means young, Black males are primarily killing other young, Black males. What a terrible situation. 

Now, we can and should debate about the causes, but let us just say that it’s hard to believe that racism is the root of it. Yes, some will argue that systemic racism traps Blacks in poverty, but does that explain why Blacks would seem to target other Blacks with such overwhelming violence and frequency compared to any other race? Furthermore on the race issue, it’s interesting to note that the Hispanics seem to actually murder more than they are murdered, while both Whites and Blacks are indeed murdered more than they murder.

3) Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister. Aren't there any Catholics you could use as an example?

Because Nothing Says Catholic Like Founding a Muslim Country

 I'm too smart to be a Bishop.

Jerusalem, Jan 17, 2020 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- Following a trip to the Holy Land, a group of bishops from the United States and Europe called on their countries’ governments to acknowledge the state of Palestine and to apply international law in Israel and the surrounding area in order to promote peace and justice.

“We are inspired by their enduring resilience and faith in a worsening situation,” the bishops said of those who live in the Holy Land in a Jan. 16 statement.

The Bishops Want Me To Have My Own Country!

The bishops added that the Catholic bishops of the Holy Land have “lamented the international community’s failure to help realize justice and peace here in the place of Christ’s birth. Our governments must do more to meet their responsibilities for upholding international law and protecting human dignity. In some cases they have become actively complicit in the evils of conflict and occupation.”

Atheists Don't Believe in Hell

The Logic of a Bishop

The Bishop of Miami is mad at the Governor of Texas? I bet the Governor is concerned.

 
Miami, Fla., Jan 18, 2020 / 06:01 am (CNA).- The Archbishop of Miami has emphasized the importance of welcoming refugees, and decried the decision of Texas Governor Greg Abbott not to participate in the federal refugee resettlement program.

Archbishop Wenski

 “Often mentored by church volunteers and given resettlement support, refugees and their family quickly integrate into American society, finding work and making a positive contribution to their adopted country,” said Archbishop Thomas Wenski in a Jan. 16 letter to the editor of the Miami Herald.

Governor Abbott

“Resettlement agencies are preparing to submit proposals to the Office of Refugee Resettlement on Jan. 21 to continue this ministry of ‘welcoming the stranger.’ Catholic Charities look forward to local governments continuing welcoming refugees in those communities where we already serve.”

The archbishop noted that Catholic Charities in Florida sponsored unaccompanied Cuban minors in the 1960s, resettled refugees from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in the 1970s, and has participated in the US Refugee Program since it began in 1980.

What? No Mexicans?

Latin Mass Madness!

A Day Late, But Do You Get a Feeling Father Z Doesn't Like Jesuits?

It may be that you have been distracted by book news

However, in other news, today is the Feast of the Ass.

Today, 14 January, is the Feast of the Ass, Asses… the Festum Asinorum (in Latin, plural… inclusive!).

No, I am not talking about whom you think I’m talking about.  And, no, it’s not a special Jesuit feast.

The feast which became popular in France, could have stemmed from the so-called “feast of fools”.  It may tendrils into biblical donkeys, or the integration of the ass into the nativity narrative.  It could have been in part inspired by a sermon of pseudo-Augustine.

The day included the tradition of a parading a couple of kids (not goats) on an ass (not a Jesuit) right into the church, next to the pulpit during the sermon.  The congregation would respond with loud “hee haws”.

Who said that the Middle Ages were dreary?

In any event, it was celebrated for a long time and then faded out.

What is the Matter With Kansas?

 Remember...while Democrats have been busy impeaching President Trump, he has nominated 227 Federal Judges, and 164 have been confirmed (as of November 2019).

Wichita, Kan., Jan 13, 2020 / 07:12 pm (CNA).- Pro-life legislators and advocacy groups in Kansas, joined by the state’s Catholic bishops, are working to send a constitutional amendment to voters to counter the Kansas Supreme Court’s declaration that abortion is a constitutional right.
Kansas House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins (R-Wichita), said the amendment is a top priority for the legislature.

Jenkins

“This is not going to be about banning abortions. It’s going to be about putting it back where it’s supposed to be, and that is with the legislature,” he told the Associated Press.


The amendment effort responds to the April 2019 decision of the Kansas Supreme Court. In a 6-1 ruling, the court blocked a 2015 law banning the use of the dilation-and-extraction abortion procedure. Known by its critics as “dismemberment abortion,” the procedure uses surgical equipment, suction devices and other equipment to take apart the living unborn child and remove it from the mother’s womb.

For the first time, the Kansas court ruled that provisions of the state constitution dating back to 1859 extends to a “natural right of personal 


Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, a pro-abortion rights Democrat, won the 2018 election. She has the power to appoint justices to the seven-member Kansas Supreme Court. Her first nominee, Justice Evelyn Wilson, assumed office in December 2019. Wilson’s nomination was opposed by pro-life groups.

Kelly

 
State courts can declare legal abortion to be a right under the state constitution. Even if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade and similar precedents that mandate legal abortion across the country, these decisions will likely create binding precedent at the state level.

Instead of Running Away to North America, Meghan and Harry Could Havew Become Catholic

Monaco, Oct 1, 2018 / 12:29 pm ().- Princess Alexandra of Hanover, a member of the royal family of Monaco, has reportedly been removed from her distant place in the British line of succession after having become a Catholic.

The news was reported in English Sept. 27 by Royal Central, which cited Point de Vue, a French weekly. 

Because the British monarch is head of the Church of England, which is the established church, British law bars Catholics from succeeding to the throne.

The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 allowed heirs to the throne to marry Catholics, among other changes. However, the law still stipulates that the acting British sovereign mustn't be a Catholic. Catholics have been barred from the English throne since the Act of Settlement 1701.

 Alexandra is the granddaughter of Grace Kelly, who in 1956 became Princess of Monaco when she married Rainier III. So in addition to having been in the British line of succession, Alexandra is 12th in line to the Monegasque throne.

He Should Dress Like a Bishop (St. Sebastian's Feast Day is January 20th)

Piornal, Spain, Jan 12, 2020 / 05:00 am (CNA).- Every year on the feast of St. Sebastian, a young man from the Spanish village of Piornal dons a suit covered in colorful strips of cloth, He puts on a large, coned-shaped monster mask, and a head covering with long horns - along with plenty of protective gear underneath.

Once dressed, the monster, called Jarramplas, parades through village streets to be pummeled with tons of turnips- quite literally- chucked with gusto by his fellow villagers.

At the end of the two-day beating, which concludes annually on the feast of St. Sebastian, the Jarramplas and the whole village attend Mass and then a celebratory meal.

As soon as Jarramplas removes his mask, the young man underneath is celebrated as a hero by his turnip-wielding antagonizers.

And That's Why Cats Are Not Allowed in Heaven

Cat owners are less likely to go to church, according to a study published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.


The furry felines that have a reputation for living on their own terms were more likely to be the pet of choice for atheists, the study of 2,000 Americans found. 

Researcher Samuel Perry, from the University of Oklahoma, said that while over 60 per cent of Americans owned some sorty of family pet, previous studies had not considered whether religiosity was a factor in pet ownership or which pet people might own. 

Drawing on data from the 2018 General Social Survey, he found that "frequent" worshippers and the most conservative evangelicals reported owning fewer pets. 

Religious characteristics could also predict the ownership of particular pets, with a "negative association" between worship attendance and cat ownership. 

The study revealed that non-churchgoers owned on average two pets, while people who attended church more than once a week owned 1.4.


Perry said that the findings could be down to personality, but that it could also suggest that atheists use pets to replace the human interaction they would otherwise have if they were part of a religious community.
"On the one hand, certain pe
rsonality types might simultaneously attract some Americans toward religious participation and away from pets, and cats in particular," he wrote in the abstract.
"Alternatively, to the extent that pet ownership is a partial substitute for human bonding and interaction, Americans more deeply embedded within a religious community may have less need (or time) for pets generally, and specifically more independent 'roommate pets', like cats."

He told The Times: "We own pets because we love their company and the special interaction they provide for us. In some ways, pets are actually substitutes for human interaction.
 

I'm Starting a New One .. The Problem with Open Borders, Chapter 1

Washington D.C., Jul 16, 2019 / 01:05 pm (CNA).- The president of U.S. bishops’ conference issued a statement on Tuesday condemning a newly-announced rule on asylum eligibility at the southern border, suggesting that countries like Mexico are not a safe final destination for asylum seekers, and encouraging the Trump administration to change the policy. 
“The rule adds further barriers to asylum-seekers’ ability to access life-saving protection, shirks our moral duty, and will prevent the United States from taking its usual leading role in the international community as a provider of asylum protection,” said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the USCCB, in a statement released July 16. 

Meanwhile....

Santiago, Chile, Jan 6, 2020 / 06:50 pm (CNA).- A mob of masked protesters set fire Jan. 3 to a Catholic church dedicated to serving the national police in Santiago, Chile, while an anti-government demonstration was in progress in nearby Plaza Italia.
According to local reports, a group of masked individuals surrounded Saint Francis Borgia Church, located two blocks away from the plaza, around 8 p.m., setting fire to a vehicle parked outside and then starting fires inside the church and an attached building.
Three companies of firemen arrived at the scene, but the masked mob blocked their passage and they were unable to put out the fire in a timely manner, according to reports.
The church was built in 1876 and was originally the Sacred Heart of Jesus Chapel of Saint Borgia Hospital. In November 1975, it was set aside to serve the spiritual needs of the Carabineros, the national police force.

Beating a Dead Priest

 Read the whole thing:

Embarrassing journalism: Jim Mustian (l) and Bernard Condon (r) of the Associated Press

In the month of December, the Associated Press published no less than five biased articles attacking the Catholic Church over abuse accusations against priests decades ago. Yet if one actually takes the time to labor through the articles, one sees that the AP only offers its readers only two basic takeaways: 1) Contingency lawyers love the free money that the Catholic Church is doling out, and 2) accused priests are guilty no matter how long ago the accusations are and how nonexistent the evidence may be.

Nothing has changed in the AP's slanted reporting against the Catholic Church since it started reporting on the issue back in the 1980s. What is not even on the AP's radar in any meaningful sense is the question of whether most of these decades-old claims against Catholic priests are even true or not.

Not the Tribe in Clevland, the Other One

Juba, South Sudan, Jan 6, 2020 / 02:25 pm (CNA).- Bari ethnic leaders in South Sudan have distanced themselves from critics of the newly-appointed Archbishop of Juba. The archbishop has faced controversy since his December appointment for several reasons, including that he is not a member of the region’s predominant Bari tribe.

This may explain the animosity towards other Bishops.

 

I'm Too Smart to Be a Bishop

This Guy is a BISHOP?

 From Father Z:

At Novena News which leads to Kathpress.at we read:

Bishop of Limburg Georg Bätzing made the observation about the Church’s oppression of women and boycott from ordained office in a New Year’s Eve message.
The prelate admitted that he must “take seriously as a bishop that the exclusion of women from ordination offices is perceived as fundamentally unjust and inappropriate in a social environment that has long equated women and men in their rights”.

I’ll tell you what’s unjust.   Hearing this garbage from a bishop – anywhere.  Hearing nutty stuff from Germany constantly is oppressive.

The Magi Will Be Here, Sooner of Later

While the traditional date for the feast is Jan. 6, in the United States the celebration of Epiphany is moved to the next Sunday, overlapping with the rest of the Western Church’s celebration of the Baptism of Christ.

You'd think the mainstream media would hire a Catholic to proof read their stuff.

Oh, wait. It's from the Catholic News Agency. 

 Meanwhile, the USCCB says...

January 5 2020

 

The Epiphany of the Lord
Lectionary: 20

I'm Surprised Governor Cuomo Didn't Think of This First

In the midst of the political firestorm regarding Montgomery Elementary School student Adrian Townsend’s right to wear a cross necklace, the Chicago School Board announced today that crosses, crucifixes, and lower case T’s would be banned in all public schools in the Chicago Unified School District.
“We feel that things such as the cross may be offensive to those students who have no religious affiliation,” President of the Chicago School Board Jennifer Adams told the EOTT, adding that the school district had also decided on not only banning crosses, but anything at all that may resemble a cross. “We’ve had a complaint from one concerned parent who said that her son had come home after hours of practicing his lower case ‘t,’ telling her that Jesus had died for her sins and that she was to repent.”
A spokesman for the mother says that it now takes her son much longer to read a sentence, since he stops to kiss every ‘t,’ and to utter the words, ‘My Lord and my God,’ before continuing.

Circle, Circle, Dot, Dot Now You've Had a Cootie Shot

Vatican City, Jan 1, 2020 / 06:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis apologized Wednesday for losing his patience with a woman who grabbed his arm in St. Peter’s Square on New Year’s Eve.

“Many times we lose our patience; me too. I apologize for yesterday's bad example,” Pope Francis in a departure from his prepared remarks for the Angelus prayer Jan. 1. 

While greeting the crowd in front of the Vatican nativity scene Dec. 31, a woman yanked the pope’s arm. Visibly upset, Pope Francis slapped her hand and walked away frustrated.

Pope Francis