Category: Faith

Catholic Civil Rights Group Begins Radio Campaign Urging Boycott of Los Angeles Dodgers ‘Pride Night’ for Honoring Anti-Catholic Hate Group

Susan Berry, PhD

The Catholic League began its anticipated radio campaign Tuesday that urges listeners in the Los Angeles area not to attend the Dodgers’ June 16 “Pride Night” game, during which the club is scheduled to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a self-described group of “queer and trans nuns” that puts on exhibitions that ridicule the Catholic faith and religious women, and desecrate Jesus Christ with sexual imagery.

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Former Abortionist: Media’s ‘Blatant Lie’ That Doctors Feel ‘Trapped’ by Abortion State Trigger Laws

Susan Berry, PhD

A former abortionist-turned pro-life advocate wrote at Conservative Review Monday that, even in South Dakota, media are pushing the leftist narrative that state laws restricting abortion are harming women in difficult pregnancies.

Patti Giebink, M.D., author of Unexpected Choice and a former Planned Parenthood abortionist, took to task a South Dakota Searchlight reporter who claimed “physicians feel ‘trapped’” by the state’s abortion trigger law by noting the media’s “dishonesty” about several key facts.

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Catholic Org Launches Initiative Encouraging Parents to Revolt Against Sexually Explicit, Transgender Books

Georgia Star News Staff

A Catholic organization is launching a campaign through the month of June that encourages parents to revolt against books containing sexually explicit and transgenderism content offered to children in public libraries as a part of Pride Month.

CatholicVote, a nonprofit conservative advocacy group, is promoting its second annual “Hide the Pride” campaign, which encourages parents to visit their local libraries and check out as many books as they can that “push eroticism, glorify LGBTQ identities, undermine parental rights and are 100% contrary to the Church’s teaching on love and sexuality” in an effort to prevent others from accessing them, the organization told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Parents joining the campaign are encouraged to participate in groups and request that librarians take their Pride Month display down, the campaign information stated.

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Kirk Cameron’s Children’s Book ‘Pride Comes Before the Fall’ Released at Start of LGBTQ ‘Pride’ Month

Susan Berry, PhD

Actor and children’s author Kirk Cameron released his book Pride Comes Before the Fall on June 1 as LGBTQ activists began their celebration of “pride” month.

“Thrilled to announce the release of my new children’s book, Pride Comes Before the Fall!” Cameron announced Thursday on Twitter.  

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Los Angeles Dodgers Pitcher Blake Treinen Condemns Team’s Decision to Honor Anti-Catholic Hate Group

Susan Berry, PhD

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Treinen released a statement Tuesday in which he expressed his “disappointment” that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group that engages in obscene performances that are “blasphemous,” are being “honored as heroes at Dodger Stadium.”

The “sisters,” an organization that openly ridicules Christian beliefs and desecrates Jesus Christ, Treinen said, “display hate and mockery of Catholics and the Christian faith.”

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Catholic Major League Pitcher Trevor Williams Rebukes Dodgers for Honoring Anti-Catholic Hate Group

Susan Berry, PhD

Washington Nationals pitcher Trevor Williams said Tuesday in a statement posted to Twitter the move by the Los Angeles Dodgers to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an anti-Catholic hate group, “makes a blatant and deeply offensive mockery of my religion.”

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Catholic Advocacy Group Launches $1 Million Ad Campaign to Boycott Los Angeles Dodgers for Honoring Anti-Catholic Hate Group

Susan Berry, PhD

A leading national Catholic advocacy group has responded further to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ announcement that the organization will move ahead with honoring an anti-Catholic hate group of self-described “queer and trans nuns” during its “pride night” game event in June.

Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote told Fox & Friends Weekend Sunday the Dodgers “have decided to honor and celebrate a detestable, vile, and perverse anti-Catholic organization.”

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Commentary: Catholic Campus Ministry Produces Priests at Liberal CU-Boulder

Admin

One Catholic campus ministry center is doing what it can to ensure future generations have priests – and it is accomplishing this work at a liberal school in a liberal town.

The St. Thomas Aquinas Center at the University of Colorado-Boulder continues to help young men realize their call to the priesthood.

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South Carolina Becomes 23rd State to Protect Babies with Heartbeat

Susan Berry, PhD

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) signed the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act Thursday morning, legislation that protects babies in the state from abortion from the time a heartbeat is detected.

McMaster’s signature on the bill now makes South Carolina the 23rd state to protect babies with a heartbeat, and marks that half of the United States is now protecting babies from abortion at or before 12 weeks.

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Los Angeles Archdiocese Condemns Dodgers for Reinviting ‘Queer and Trans Nuns,’ Calls for Catholics to ‘Stand Against Bigotry’

Susan Berry, PhD

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has released a statement condemning the Los Angeles Dodgers for reinviting the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” a self-described group of “queer and trans nuns” that puts on exhibitions that desecrate the Catholic faith.

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Los Angeles Dodgers Apologize and Reinvite Drag ‘Nuns’ Group as ‘Pride Night’ Honoree

Susan Berry, PhD

The Los Angeles Dodgers apologized to and reinvited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a radical anti-Catholic group that defiles the Catholic faith, to be honored at the team’s game night “pride” event. The move by the Dodgers’ organization to reinvite the blasphemous group of self-described “queer and trans nuns” comes following backlash from radical LGBTQ activists and their political allies.

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Christian Leader Calls for Immediate Release of Covenant School Shooter’s Manifesto Following Durham Report: ‘FBI Has Been Compromised’

Susan Berry, PhD

The director of the Christian Defense Coalition told The Star News Network in an interview Friday it is crucial that the FBI release The Covenant School shooter Audrey Hale’s manifesto to the public, especially in the wake of the “scathing report” by Special Counsel John Durham that has led to a firestorm over the federal law enforcement agency’s integrity and analysis.

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Study Finds 71 Percent of American Men Experienced Negative Impact to Mental Health After Loss of a Child to Abortion

Susan Berry, PhD

A newly released study about the impact of abortion on American men finds 71 percent of men experienced “adverse changes” to their mental health following the loss of a child to abortion.

Results of the study, commissioned by Support After Abortion, a nonprofit focused on post-abortion healing education, found that of the 71 percent of men who suffered “adverse changes,” 83 percent said they “either sought after abortion help or said they could have benefited from talking to someone.”

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Commentary: Transgenderism and the Contemporary Church

Georgia Star News Staff

“The church’s response to those who identify as transgender,” Andrew T. Walker writes, “must be, immediately and with integrity, ‘You are welcome here. You are loved here.’”

This position reflects the broad inclinations of contemporary evangelicals, who generally seek to intentionally love and welcome those in the transgender movement. Though scripturally grounded churches may disagree with much of transgender ideology, they still strive to love those within the movement.

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Commentary: Confronting China’s War on Religion Part Four

RealClearWire

On Thanksgiving Day, 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen, a Hong Kong priest, was convicted, along with five others, of failing to register a defunct charitable organization that tried to help pro-democracy demonstrators targeted by the regime.

Ostensibly, the charges stemmed from the group’s failure to submit paperwork to authorities. But Chinese people of faith and governments around the world understood the real message Beijing was sending when it arrested Fr. Zen, known as “the conscience of Hong Kong,” last May. The purpose of the prosecution, said U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price, was to show that China’s government “will pursue all means necessary to stifle dissent and undercut protective rights and freedoms.”

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Parents of Student Urging Pro-Catholic Teachings Suspended from Their Teaching Positions, Under Investigation

Susan Berry, PhD

The parents of internationally known Ontario high school student Josh Alexander have been suspended from their teaching posts in another board and placed under investigation over what appears to be their son’s outspoken views against his Catholic school board’s cave to the LGBTQ agenda.

“From the beginning, I understood the consequences my actions may have and I was willing to take that stand and face the consequences,” Alexander told The Epoch Times, according to a report Thursday.

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‘Faith and Wellness’ Report Finds 99 Percent of Evangelicals Believe Prayer and Active Faith Contribute to Positive Mental Health

Susan Berry, PhD

Nearly 100 percent of evangelical Protestants believe that prayer, reading the Bible, and living out a strong Christian faith impact mental health in a positive way, says a report released Thursday by Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research.

Noting that rarely is any group of people, including evangelical Protestants, in nearly entire agreement, Infinity Concepts, a self-described “integrated marketing-communications agency inspiring people of faith to action,” and Grey Matter Research, a consulting firm that specializes in serving Christian organization, say results of the current study is unique.

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Commentary: The Long Road to Confronting China’s War on Religion Part Three

RealClearWire

It’s morning in Istanbul, but Joseph is reliving his morning routine in the camp, before the 16-hour shift starts. After the prisoners had sung Communist songs for their breakfast, the Chinese guards played a video for them shot in cinema verité style. It began with Chinese plainclothes agents tackling Uyghurs, cramming them into unmarked cars, and pulling bags over their heads.

Then, the camera would pan away, revealing, not China, but a foreign street with signs in German, Arabic, or English. Joseph says the film was a tease: Run away. Please try it. We’re everywhere. Even Washington, D.C. 

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Catholic Civil Rights Leader: Washington Post Fails to Mention Its Recent Poll Revealed 78 Percent of Transgender Adults Had Serious Mental Health Problems Growing Up

Susan Berry, PhD

Catholic League President Bill Donohue observed Monday that The Washington Post neglected to mention in its news story about its own poll on transgenderism that trans individuals reported a more significant percentage of mental health concerns than all adults surveyed.

Bill Donohue noted that The Post’s “2517-word story, published May 5, covers just about every aspect of the 26-page survey except for the issue of mental health.”

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Commentary: Christian Popular Culture’s Revival Cast Out the Money Changers

RealClearWire

“Jesus Revolution” and “The Chosen” are not just Christian dramas but the avant garde in a revolution in faith entertainment. The former – a feel-good movie about hippies who returned to Christ during the 1970s, starring former “Cheers” and “Frasier” star Kelsey Grammer – has grossed more than $52 million since its debut just a few weeks ago, making it the most successful film released by studio heavyweight Lionsgate since 2019.

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Commentary: The Long Road to Confronting China’s War on Religion Part One

RealClearWire

In 2016, when President Xi Jinping delivered a speech calling for the “Sinicization of religion” in a nation of one billion, he was espousing a century-old impulse among his people while also inadvertently underscoring a persistent paradox that Chinese Communists brought with them when they took over the country in 1949 – and have never shaken.

The impulse is that the major faiths observed in China are not indigenous to the world’s oldest civilization. Buddhism was imported from India and Tibet. Islam arrived in overland trading routes and human migration from the Middle East, while Christianity, another Abrahamic faith, came across the ocean from Europe and America. To Communist leaders, and many Han Chinese civilians, these traditions represent potentially destabilizing foreign influence. 

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Catholic Leader Rebukes Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman for Navy’s Use of Drag Queen for Recruitment Campaign

Susan Berry, PhD

In a strong rebuke Thursday to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the president of the nation’s prominent Catholic civil rights organization charged that the U.S. Navy is continuing to use “the policies of the far-left, the woke brand of politics,” in its recent drag queen digital campaign supposedly intended as a recruitment strategy.

Bill Donohue of the Catholic League wrote to General Mark Milley, condemning the scandal of the Navy’s acknowledgment the service branch has recruited Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, a sailor who “misidentifies,” as Donohue states, as “non-binary,” and who performs as a drag queen, to serve as a “digital ambassador” in a pilot program geared toward attracting young recruits.

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Former Student Urges Catholic School District to Promote Church Teachings Rather Than Cave to LGBTQ Agenda During ‘Pride Month’

Admin

A former student at Cardinal Carter Catholic High School in Aurora, Ontario, was cheered this week when he gave a passionate speech at a board meeting during which he urged the district to adhere to the teachings of the Catholic Church to help all students rather than cave to the LGBTQ agenda during the upcoming “pride month.”

Myles Vosylius, 20, drew applause from parents and other citizens at a York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) meeting Tuesday as he shared his own conversion story related to his parents’ divorce while he was in high school.

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Catholic Advocacy Group Sues FBI and DOJ for FOIA Documents Related to Government Targeting of Catholics

Susan Berry, PhD

National Catholic advocacy organization CatholicVote filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit with Judicial Watch Thursday against the FBI and DOJ for failing to provide records requested under FOIA regarding the government’s targeting of Catholics.

CatholicVote President Brian Burch spoke to Fox & Friends Thursday about the lawsuit.

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Pope Francis Will Allow Women to Vote in Bishop Meeting for the First Time

Georgia Star News Staff

The Vatican announced Wednesday during a press conference that women would be allowed to vote during the upcoming Synod of Bishops in October, according to The Associated Press.

Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary general of the synod, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the relator general of the synod, announced that Pope Francis had approved the proposed changes by the council overseeing the synod, according to American Magazine. Under the new rules, both women and laymen will be allowed to vote for the first time in the history of the practice, and five religious sisters will be appointed as representatives for different orders, according to the AP.

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Red State Passes Bill Allowing Religious Institutions Access to State Funding

Georgia Star News Staff

The Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday protecting religious institutions from being denied access to state funding.

The Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act was introduced by Republican state Sen. Shane Jett and Republican state Sen. Julie Daniels to further reinforce the First Amendment by preventing the state from denying faith-based groups access to taxpayer dollars, according to the bill. The legislature passed the act Tuesday by a 64 to 27 vote, officially sending the act to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt’s desk to be signed into law.

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Survey: Faith Surged Among Young People amid COVID Pandemic

Susan Berry, PhD

A survey first reported Monday by the Wall Street Journal found that 30 percent of young people say their faith grew stronger during the COVID pandemic, and that the percentage of those who say they know a “higher power” exists surged to 28 percent in December 2022 from the 22 percent reported in the 2021 survey. Conducted by nonprofit Springtide Research Institute, the survey cites the context of the COVID pandemic lockdowns, when young people were largely isolated from others, and the subsequent mental health crisis among them had already begun to reach “epidemic proportions.”

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Hundreds of Methodist Churches in Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Depart the Denomination Over ‘Human Sexuality’ and Other Matters

Kaitlin Housler

On Saturday, 264 congregations part of the United Methodists of the Holston Conference had their requests processed to leave the denomination, citing “issues around human sexuality and other matters.”

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Hillsdale College Professor: Man’s Divine Nature Not Just a Christian Principle, But a ‘Rational’ One as Well

Susan Berry, PhD

Hillsdale College’s associate dean for its graduate school of government in Washington, DC, told attendees at an event Friday evening in Connecticut that while the enemies of religious liberty reject that which is divine in man, that concept is not “a Christian principle, per se,” but, in fact, “a rational principle.”

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Commentary: Saint John Paul II’s Enduring Legacy

Georgia Star News Staff

In recent weeks, slanderous allegations have been made against Saint John Paul II.

On Divine Mercy Sunday, a day established by John Paul II, Pope Francis defended his predecessor saying, “Certain of interpreting the feelings of the faithful throughout the world, I direct a grateful thought to the memory of Saint John Paul II, the object of offensive and unfounded inferences these past few days.”

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New Jersey U.S. Rep. Chris Smith Rips Biden Administration for Canceling Franciscans’ Longstanding Contract to Provide Military Hospital Pastoral Care

Susan Berry, PhD

A letter Friday from Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin condemned the Biden administration’s decision to end the contract for provision of pastoral care by a community of Franciscan clergy to service members and veterans at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

“I write today with grave concerns regarding the provision of Religious Services at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, specifically Catholic pastoral care, and request you immediately provide access for Catholic priests who seek to offer pastoral care to service members and Veterans who are in the hospital,” Smith wrote, noting the cease-and-desist letter issued by the medical center to the Franciscans at Holy Name College.

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Minneapolis First Big City to Broadcast Muslim Call to Prayer Five Times Daily Year-Round

Susan Berry, PhD

Minneapolis has become the first major city in the United States to allow the Muslim call to prayer to be broadcast over speakers five times per day, year-round, including in the early mornings and late evenings. The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously Thursday – during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan – to approve an amendment to the city’s noise ordinance that would allow the “adhan” – “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” call to prayer to be sounded every day, year-round, five times daily.

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Commentary: Catholic Sisters’ Allegiances in Question After Transgender Day of Visibility Statement

Georgia Star News Staff

Spring is filled with myriad holy days for the Catholic Church. St. Patrick’s and St. Joseph’s feast days are widely celebrated, and the Solemnity of the Annunciation on March 25 gives another cause for celebration during the somber season of Lent. Soon after, Lent leads to Palm Sunday, which quickly gives way to the Paschal Triduum, the holiest days of the year. Then, at last, the joy of the Easter season begins.

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Report: Biden DOJ Offers No Jail Time for Transgender Perpetrator Who Admitted to Desecrating Church and Assaulting Worker

Susan Berry, PhD

The Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) is recommending no jail time and three years of probation for a transgender activist who admitted to vandalizing a Catholic church with profane graffiti, desecrating a statue of the Virgin Mary, and assaulting a church worker, according to a Fox News Digital report.

A plea agreement that was reportedly viewed by Fox News Digital shows the Biden DOJ says a man who uses the name Maeve Nota, 31, should receive zero jail time, despite admitting to vandalizing St. Louise Catholic Church in Bellevue, Washington.

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Catholic Advocacy Group Prepared to Sue FBI for Failure to Comply With FOIA on Targeting of ‘Radical Traditional Catholics’

Susan Berry, PhD

A leading national Catholic advocacy organization says it is prepared to file a lawsuit against the FBI for failing to comply with its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that seeks communications information related to a leaked document that revealed the bureau was targeting so-called “radical traditional Catholics.”

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Lawsuit: Oregon State Officials Deny Woman’s Adoption Application Because of Her Christian Religious Beliefs

Susan Berry, PhD

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a federal lawsuit last week against the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) on behalf of a woman whose application to adopt siblings from foster care was denied because her Christian faith beliefs do not allow her to agree to support the “sexual orientation, gender identity, [and] gender expression” of children placed in her home. “Oregon’s policy amounts to an ideological litmus test: people who hold secular or ‘progressive’ views on sexual orientation and gender identity are eligible to participate in child welfare programs, while people of faith with religiously informed views are disqualified because they don’t agree with the state’s orthodoxy,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jonathan Scruggs, who runs the ADF Center for Conscience Initiatives.

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Insider Pulls Back Curtain on Season Four of Sensational Jesus Streaming Series

Georgia Star News Staff

“They are truly family,” Katherine Warnock says of the cast members of “The Chosen.” 

The cast of the popular streaming series “The Chosen” is back on set to film Season Four, and “what you see on screen is truly authentic behind the camera as well,” says Warnock, vice president of original content for “The Chosen.” Filming of the new season kicked off at the end of March. 

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Over 60 Members of Persecuted Chinese Church Saved, Bound for Texas

Georgia Star News Staff

A persecuted Chinese Christian church has been freed from Thai prison and is bound for Texas, human rights advocates told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Friday.

Over 60 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, also known as the Mayflower Church, is scheduled to arrive at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport late Friday evening, ending the church’s three year-long quest for asylum after fleeing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecution in 2019, Pastor Bob Fu, founder of ChinaAid, told the DCNF. Despite applying for asylum in Thailand in August, the members of the Mayflower Church were arrested last week for overstaying their visas, prompting international concern that the church might be deported back to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and face persecution.

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Commentary: The Evolution of Easter Eggs

Georgia Star News Staff

A lot of Easter traditions – including hot cross buns and lamb on Sunday – stem from medieval Christian or even earlier pagan beliefs. The chocolate Easter egg, however, is a more modern twist on tradition.

Chicken eggs have been eaten at Easter for centuries. Eggs have long symbolised rebirth and renewal, making them perfect to commemorate the story of Jesus’ resurrection as well as the arrival of spring.

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Holy Week Starts Off with Lots of Palms – but Palm Sunday’s Donkey Is Just as Important to the Story

Georgia Star News Staff

For the Catholic Church and many other Christian denominations, the Sunday before Easter marks the beginning of the most important week of the year – “Holy Week,” when Christians reflect on central mysteries of their faith: Christ’s Last Supper, crucifixion and resurrection from the dead.

Palm Sunday commemorates the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem shortly before the Jewish holiday of Passover. According to the Christian Gospels, people lined the streets to greet him, waving palm branches and shouting words of praise.

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Commentary: New Study Shows American Religious Divides

Georgia Star News Staff

America is a diverse country. In most cities, you can find people from nearly every ethnic or racial background imaginable. This is becoming the case in rural areas as well. But America is host to a considerable amount of religious diversity as well. And while race relations are often the subject of considerable discussion, understanding interreligious relations is a necessary part of understanding the country as a whole.

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Minister Rips Biden Administration for Refusal to Condemn Nashville Shooting as ‘Hate Crime’ Against Christians

Susan Berry, PhD

A Presbyterian minister condemned the Biden administration’s refusal to denounce the Nashville school shooting as a “religious hate crime against Christians.” Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian Defense Coalition, said in a statement Thursday that President Joe Biden and his administration’s failure to declare the shooting at the Covenant Christian school a hate crime against Christians “is deeply troubling and concerning.”

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Connecticut Archdiocese of Hartford Investigates Possible Eucharistic Miracle

Susan Berry, PhD

The Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut, issued a statement Tuesday about its ongoing investigation into a possible Eucharistic miracle that was reported at St. Thomas Church in Thomaston earlier in March.

Rev. Joseph Crowley, pastor of St. Thomas, announced on March 5 after the distribution of Holy Communion that a lay eucharistic minister had witnessed a possible miracle when the vessel holding the hosts showed more hosts had appeared.

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Catholic League: Nashville Shooting Should Be Investigated as a ‘Hate Crime Against Christians’

Susan Berry, PhD

The president of the Catholic League said Tuesday that the Nashville school shooting “needs to be investigated as a hate crime against Christians” based on the report by the police chief that the transgender shooter held “some resentment for having to go to that school.” “The shooter, Audrey Hale, is a female who misidentified herself as a male,” wrote Bill Donohue, who heads the Catholic civil rights organization. “Her resentment against The Covenant School, a Christian school, is important given that Christianity teaches we are either male or female.”

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Notre Dame Invites Gay Priest for ‘Queer Holiness’ Event

Georgia Star News Staff

The University of Notre Dame is hosting a “Queer Holiness” event next week to discuss “Experiential Christian Anthropology,” according to the event page.

On March 23, the university’s John J. Reilly Center is hosting a “Queer Holiness” event with Rev. Dr. Charlie Bell to address the church’s “hostile questions” regarding the LGBTQ community. Bell, a gay deacon in the Church of England and a Cambridge fellow, is also the author of the book “Queer Holiness,” which claims to “find a better way to do theology – not about, but with and of LGBTQI people.”

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Commentary: Biden Turns Christianity on Its Head

Georgia Star News Staff

Gender ideology preys upon the young, convincing girls and boys that they were “born in the wrong body” and rushing them onto experimental drugs, hormones, and surgeries that will leave them stunted, scarred, and infertile. Yet the ostensible Catholic who currently occupies the Oval Office not only supports this horror but had the gall to condemn those who would protect children from it as “sinful” and “cruel.”

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Commentary: America’s Byzantine Trajectory

Georgia Star News Staff

When Constantinople finally fell to the Ottomans on Tuesday, May 29, 1453, the Byzantine Empire and its capital had survived for 1,000 years beyond the fall of the Western Empire at Rome.

Always outnumbered in a sea of enemies, the Byzantines’ survival had depended on its realist diplomacy of dividing its enemies, avoiding military quagmires, and ensuring constant deterrence.

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Pope Francis Says Celibacy for Catholic Priests Is ‘Temporary,’ Ban Could Be Reconsidered

Just the News

Pope Francis says the Catholic Church’s celibacy decree for unmarried men ordained as priests is a “temporary prescription” that could be reconsidered. 

“In the Western Church, celibacy is a temporary prescription,” Francis told the Argentinian outlet Infobae late last week, as translated. “I do not know if it is settled in one way or another.”

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Catholic Civil Rights Group Condemns State Legislation to Force Priests to Break Seal of Confession

Susan Berry, PhD

Bills in the states of Vermont, Delaware, and Washington would include in mandatory reporting laws information about child sexual abuse a priest learns during the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a move the Catholic League states lacks sound reasoning.

Last week Catholic League President Bill Donohue warned the “seal of confession” is “under fire” in Vermont, noting the Catholic civil rights organization is once again “doing battle with lawmakers who want to violate” the priest-penitent privilege, mostly in legislation concerning the sexual abuse of minors.

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