#us catholic bishops

[cmcsmen]

Encountering the Living Christ

By Frank J Casella

For those of you who have been following my articles, you may already know about the numerous car accidents that I have survived. But there is one in particular that stands out, where I encountered Christ in a way that I never have before. It was a terrifying moment, as my car careened towards disaster and in that split second, I screamed out to Jesus for help. And then, something miraculous happened. I could feel two strong hands on my shoulders, firmly holding me down as if protecting me from harm. They stayed with me until the car finally came to a stop, sparing me from certain death. I know that some of you have also experienced a similar divine intervention, perhaps in a different circumstance, and have seen firsthand how God can work in our lives. It is a reminder that through our Baptism, we are called to be the shining Light of Christ in this world. The only question is, how much will we allow Him to participate in our everyday experiences?

They say life is a constant prayer, and I couldn't agree more. But sometimes I feel like I am undeserving of the endless love of Christ. Yet, in the midst of life's chaos, small miracles happen. From stumbling upon a lost folder to snagging a last-minute parking spot, all it takes is a heartfelt conversation with God and your Guarding Angel. When you live your life as a powerful prayer, with every word spoken from the depths of your soul, something incredible happens. Jesus himself takes notice and transforms your entire existence. Trust me, you'll see.

As a side note, that car accident was bad enough that in brought me to a NUCCA doctor. The x-ray showed that, among several things, I had arthritic activity in my neck and vertebrae 6 and 7 where rubbing together. Now, the most recent x-ray shows the arthritic activity gone and the vertebrae are, as the doctor says, perfect textbook spacing!! For me, it is all about trusting God to do what only God can do.

Another extraordinary way to encounter the living Christ is through the power of sacrifice. It is in surrendering what we hold dear that we receive blessings beyond our wildest dreams. A prime example of this can be found in my personal journey on The Light Weigh program, where I shed a remarkable 40 pounds. By relinquishing my cravings and enduring redemptive suffering, not only did I shed excess weight, and kept it off, but I also grew in holiness. This incredible transformation was a result of God's abundant blessings when we selflessly give to others. It's about supporting each other on this journey we call life. Be it our time, talents, or treasures, when we open the floodgates of our resources instead of hoarding them, the living Christ works through people and circumstances to make a positive impact in our world.

How is your journey through Lent progressing? Is the sacrifice and transformation you are undergoing leading to a deepening of your holiness? The US Catholic Bishops encourage us to take advantage of moments during Lent when our friends or colleagues express curiosity about Catholic traditions and symbolism. These are perfect opportunities to spread the good news! Here are six common questions one may encounter during this sacred season and some insightful responses to evangelize with.

Six Ways to Evangelize During Lent

Finally, evangelize and transform your family's Lenten journey from mundane to meaningful by making Sunday Mass a priority. Instead of letting other activities distract you, make the intentional effort to gather your loved ones and enter into a sacred space together. And don't stop there - when Lent comes to an end, gather around the dinner table and discuss the positive transformations that have occurred in your lives as a result of this simple change. The challenge of Lent is to turn our good intentions into concrete actions, allowing us to encounter the living Christ in a profound and transformative way. Remember, God does not make empty promises - put Him to the test and see the incredible blessings that await when you put Him first.

[chicagocatholicman]

Bishop Joseph N. Perry, auxiliary bishop of Chicago and chairman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court of the United States decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, issued on June 29:

“Education is a gift, an opportunity, and an important aspect of our democracy that is not always within the reach of all, especially racial and ethnic groups who find themselves on the margins. It is our hope that our Catholic institutions of higher learning will continue to find ways to make education possible and affordable for everyone, regardless of their background. As St. Katharine Drexel, patroness and pioneer in Catholic education, was quoted as saying in our pastoral letter Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love, “If we wish to serve God and love our neighbor as well, we must manifest our joy in the service we render to Him and them. Let us open wide our hearts. It is joy which invites us. Press forward and fear nothing.”

[liesmyth]

ok well now we gotta know, how is frociaggine used in a sentence. i must know, for research purposes,

pretty much in the same way you'd use faggotry in english! meaning a general vibe, attitude, etc. actually the pope used it correctly 💀 given that he said it in the context of a speech about how openly gay men should be discouraged from joining the church “because there's way too much homosexuality in seminaries already.” except that homosexuality wasn't the word he used

anyway I have a whatsapp group chat called “frociaggine del sabato sera” = saturday night faggotry. love that for me.

[heresylog]

ok turns out the palmarian catholic church has its own pope and i didn't realize we had an antipope in this day and age and i'm delighted

There are….several.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jennifer Bendery at HuffPost:

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has formally apologized for the church’s role in inflicting trauma and abuse on generations of Native American children and families through its participation in Indian boarding schools. By a 181-2 vote, the conference on Friday approved a 56-page document titled “Keeping Christ’s Sacred Promise: A Pastoral Framework for Indigenous Ministry.” In it, the bishops lamented that “many Indigenous Catholics have felt a sense of abandonment” by church leaders who don’t understand “their unique cultural needs.” The bishops also acknowledged the role the church played in running Indian boarding schools.

“The Church recognizes that it has played a part in traumas experienced by Native children,” the bishops said. Elsewhere in the document, they said, “We apologize for the failure to nurture, strengthen, honor, recognize, and appreciate those entrusted to our pastoral care.” For nearly a century, from 1869 through the 1960s, the U.S. government removed hundreds of thousands of Indigenous children from tribal lands and forced them into boarding schools to assimilate them into white culture. Children endured abuse and violence and even died at these schools, all the while being cut off from their families. Most of the more than 500 Indian boarding schools were run by the U.S. government, but the Catholic Church operated more than 80 of them.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issues a formal apology for the American Catholic Church’s role of forcibly assimilating indigenous peoples and abusing them for generations upon generations.

[attila-werther]

me pointing a loaded nerf gun at christians and illiterate ex christians: watch out

[thecatholiccrusade]

The Founding Father of the U.S Catholic Church

In the story of the Catholic Church in the United States, one name stands out as its principal architect: Bishop John Carroll. As the first Catholic bishop of the United States, Carroll played a pivotal role in shaping the Church’s place in a new nation founded on principles of religious freedom. A Patriot Priest John Carroll’s journey as a leader of American Catholics began during a tumultuous…

[just-an-enby-lemon]

The upside of having catholic christian trauma instead of protestant christian trauma is that my trauma is waaay more aesthetic.

Like you get all the guilty and the bigotry but you get it at a boring room by a man in a suit and there is no chance of getting playfully bitch slaped by an old man wearing a pointy hat on confirmation.

[nerdygaymormon]

Big shout out to the coalition of Catholic nuns who just told the US bishops to stop being transphobic.

“As members of the body of Christ, we cannot be whole without the full inclusion of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive individuals,” the letter reads. It goes on to argue that “we will remain oppressors until we — as vowed Catholic religious — acknowledge the existence of LGBTQ+ people in our own congregations. We seek to cultivate a faith community where all, especially our transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive siblings, experience a deep belonging.”

The letter also states transgender people are “experiencing harm and erasure” in various ways, listing daily discrimination, a groundswell of state-level legislation aimed at LGBTQ rights and “harmful rhetoric from some Christian institutions and their leaders, including the Catholic Church.”

Read about it here

[liesmyth]

best comparison I can think of for the pope thing is. imagine an ESL bishop said the word “dykery” instead of “lesbianism.”

now. as a dyke, I'm not cool with straight people using it. obviously you don't need to be a native speaker to know slurs, but “dykery” is NOT a commonly used word if you're straight and want to insult queer women. it's the kind of derivative word you're way more likely to hear in a queer context. if a straight person randomly said “dykery” in the middle of a serious conversation, and a non native speaker at that, I'd be like... where on earth did they hear THAT from?

that's why I'm laughing my entire ass off at the pope thing. ofc the catholic church is homophobic. fork found in kitchen. but why is the pope using slang from drag race

[loving-n0t-heyting]

A fun fact about andorra is that the 1278 charter that forms the basis of its modern constitution stipulated it was to be under the dominion of two co-princes: the bishop of urgell (a catalonian roman catholic diocese) and the count of foix. The latter title was eventually absorbed into the french crown upon the ascension of henry iv (then count of foix) to the french throne, meaning that the 1278 charter now effectively gave andorra over to the joint leadership of the urgell bishop and the french king. This title ofc eventually became an awkward question once several revolutions rendered the title of the king of france basically politically obsolete, leaving us with the current state of the andorran constitution under which Emmanuel macron is a co-monarch democratically elected by the citizens of a foreign country

[transtheology]

According to Matson, 39, his “disclosing,” as he describes it, is a moment years in the making. He offered his story as indicative of the often difficult path for trans Catholics, including those seeking life as a religious — a category that includes brothers and nuns.

“I am currently based in the Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky,” he wrote in an email to friends and supporters on Sunday. “I live in a hermitage at the top of a wooded hill, which I share with my German Shepherd rescue, Odie, and with the Blessed Sacrament, which was installed in my oratory shortly before Christmas.”

[...] Matson approached a canon lawyer to discuss his options and was told that only two aspects of Catholic life were categorically off the table: marriage and the priesthood. According to Matson, the canon lawyer recommended being upfront about his status as a transgender man in any vocational conversations with church leaders and mentioned the role of a diocesan hermit, which could prove less challenging than enlisting with an existing religious order.

[...] What followed was roughly a decade of searching and no small amount of rejection. Living in the United Kingdom while pursuing a master’s degree, and later a Ph.D. in theology, Matson entered a vocational discernment program and approached the Jesuit order to ask if he could join.

“They said, ‘No, we just don’t see how this would work for us,’ which was crushing, because that’s where I felt called,” Matson said.

[...] “I thought, well, if I can’t find a religious community to sponsor me, maybe what I need is a bishop,” Matson said.

A priest friend recommended different bishops to contact, beginning with Stowe, who was emerging as a leading voice among Catholics calling for a more tolerant approach to LGBTQ+ people. In 2020, Matson sent Stowe a letter, conveying his status as a transgender man, his vision for an artists’ community and his pull to religious life.

Stowe wrote back immediately, expressing his openness.

“It was an enormous relief,” Matson said. “I was in tears. I felt my hope revive.”

[...] Matson vented his frustrations to Stowe and his spiritual director, saying he wanted to speak out. But he said he was advised to first “build a foundation” in religious life for several years.

During that time, Matson had an experience that shook him. Attending a friend’s play in his religious habit, he was approached by a student who identified as trans and nonbinary. After asking if Matson was a monk, the student said they were raised Catholic, but that their parents had rejected their identity, and the student felt like they “don’t have a place in the church anymore.”

Matson responded by saying there were people in the church who would support the student, and Matson prayed with them, asking God to show the student how they are “wonderful the way you’ve made them.” The student, Matson said, grew emotional, thanking the hermit profusely and saying, “No one from the church has ever affirmed me for who I am.”

[...] As for ever leaving Catholicism itself, Matson bristled at the idea, calling the church “my family.” “I’m Catholic,” he said. “I became Catholic after I transitioned because of the Catholic understanding — the sacramental understanding — of the body, of creation, of the desirability of the visible unity of the church and primarily because of the Eucharist.”

At the very least, Matson said, he hopes going public will spark dialogue about his fellow transgender Catholics, a discussion he believes can enhance unity among the body of believers.

“You’ve got to deal with us, because God has called us into this church,” he said. “It’s not your church to kick us out of — this is God’s church, and God has called us and engrafted us into it.”

[prickly-paprikash]

The Bishop in the first Castlevania season is pure evil who believes himself good. He's nearly every crime and hypocrisy of the Catholic Church distilled into one neat, wrinkly, putrid man. He is easy to hate. He is supposed to be despised and we are expected to cheer and rejoice when Blue Fangs chewed on half this man's face.

He uses god to control and manipulate the powers and people that be. While his belief in god may be true, the church and the faith are more tools for him to retain control. It is glaringly obvious that this man is power-hungry.

There is nothing, and I mean nothing at all redeemable about that asshole.

The Abbott is every conservative relative who genuinely loves you, but is a blind idiot holding on to institutions simply because they are "right".

While the Bishop's character is real, most of us won't encounter him. We see him on the news. I'm not even American (been there once for two weeks) but even I've seen his like on news and media. He's a televangelist who consolidates wealth, clout and power through the fanaticism of his followers. He is drunk on the authority he possesses. His belief in god isn't the point; whether or not he holds faith, the man cares solely about power.

The Abbott is someone in our lives we know well. Your conservative mother who refuses to even show a modicum of tolerance towards queer people. Your father who is buying into the religious side of Youtube and Tiktok. Your brother who has grown up to carry terrifying, fascistic beliefs. Your sister who feels lost and found some semblance of acceptance in a church who still believes women are lesser. Your aunt who despises vaccines. Your uncle who tells you that you should've become a priest or a soldier.

The Abbott, deep down, has some redeeming features. But it's not enough to forgive him for his idiocy.

Ask any child who had to grow up with a religious parent, especially a Catholic or an Evangelical. They fucking love the story of Abraham sacrificing his child to God, and finding a ram in its place.

Evangelicals are bent on this tale. They will always preach that god comes before children. That children and their suffering and their needs must always take a backseat to the word of god.

A trans child asking their parents to understand—their words will fall on deaf ears because god and the holy man told them that 'transgenderism' is a vile philosophy that seeks to groom and twist kids. A college freshman debating with their parents about free healthcare and immigration will be stonewalled because the charismatic preacher said that god will provide. god will heal. god did not invite these foreigners into this land.

It is Maria, begging her father to listen and having her pleas fall on deaf ears.

The Abbott is someone I hate more than the Bishop.

Men like the Bishop exist, but they are few and far in-between.

But the Abbott? The Abbott is someone I share a table with at dinner. He's someone I see during family reunions. He's someone who shares misinformation online, and I see it on my timeline because we're social media friends.

I fucking hate him so much and I hope he gets what's his.

He never deserved Tera. He never once deserved Maria.

[scleroticstatue]

So, a while back, I ran a poll about how people interpret the Bible and I really feel like I should address the elephant in the room about Scientific interpretation. Specifically: none of us are doing it. Some of y'all even think it's heretical to interpret the Bible like that and I gotta say, God is (probably) sad if you feel like that.

See, most of scientific advancement pre-1900s was done by Christians — often Monks — and a lot of it was actually based on things they'd found reading the Bible. For example, wind and water currents were discovered because a guy was sick in bed reading Psalms, which said "the fish in the paths of the sea" and "the birds in the paths in the air." He'd never seen any paths in the sea, so he went looking for them and discovered ocean currents. Likewise, the Big Bang Theory was proposed by a Catholic bishop who figured, since the Bible said the universe had a beginning, the universe must have a beginning. Many of Newton's astronomical calculations were to explain Daniel & Revelation and his Observations on them are the foundation of experimental science.

And there are things there that you probably didn't even know! Circumcision happens on day eight, which is when blood clotting for newborns is most active and most safe. Epigenetics shows that an event can change DNA for 3-4 generations, the same amount of time God gives to generational curses. The air has weight. The Earth is suspended on nothing.

I'm not saying the Bible is a road map for how science has declared the world works, but I am saying that many of us could have our scientific minds opened by the Bible if we took time to read it like that. And I'd even challenge y'all to read it like that just once and see what you can find, both scientific principles that affirm what science knows and things for further research. You might just discover something brand new.

[reality-detective]

The Vatican: Human Trafficking Hub

The Vatican Underground- Cleared

The Dulce Base- Underground Cleared

The Area 51 Underground Base- Cleared

Orion Group ❌ (Defeated)

Ciakharr Group ❌ (Defeated)

Killy Tokurt Group ❌ (Defeated)

These are the three main factions responsible for the

The CIA is connected to the Killy Tokurt Ops. They are the one who specialize in soul scalping. This is how our government leaders were replaced. Removing the light body & soul and replacing it with a physical vessel void of any connection to source.

Sherry Shriner covered this in many videos/audios. Megan Rose spoke about this in one of her books. Corey Goode is also another source who spoke on the caste system of the Ciakharr who are the top elite in their race.

Remember when I mentioned that people were not ready once they found out who have been eating the children? Guess what was the capitol for the "Child Sex Trafficking" breeding hub?

The Vatican.

Do you remember the story or report that came out in July of 2019 where thousands of bones was unearthed in two ossuaries discovered in the Vatican City, as part of an ongoing search for clues into the disappearance of a 15-year-old girl more than three decades ago in 1983?

Do you remember the mass grave full of baby bones found along the shores of Israel's Mediterranean coast, in the ancient seaport of Ashkelon in 2014?

Do you remember An Indigenous group said the remains of as many as 751 people, mainly children, had been found in unmarked graves on the site of a former boarding school in Saskatchewan?

As a matter of fact that was a 2,300 page document that leaked that verified Pope Francis’ cover up of a Vatican Pedophile Ring. Did you know 20 Chilean Priests who went public on their connection to that very same Pedophile Ring, were killed in a plane crash right after their meeting with Pope Francis?

Back on July 20 2014 the International Common Law Court of Justice in Brussels found defendants Pope Francis Bergoglio, Catholic Jesuit Superior General Adolfo Pachon and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby guilty of rape, torture, murder and the trafficking of children. (Nothing Is Happening?)

I highly doubt it.

Two adolescent women told the ICLCJ Court that Pope Francis raped them while participating in child sacrifices during the Springs of 2009 and 2010 in rural Holland and Belgium. According to a former employee of the Curia in Rome, rapes and murders of children also took place at the Carnarvon Castle in Wales and an undisclosed French Chateau.

A Prosecutor introduced notarized affidavits by eight others claiming to witness these same crimes organized by the Vatican. Another witness testified that they were present during meetings with the then Argentine priest and Bishop Francis and the military Junta during Argentine’s 1970′s Dirty War.

According to the witness, Francis helped traffic 30,000 children of missing political prisoners into the Vatican Pedophile Ring.

Do you know why this has taken so long? If you knew how vast these underground tunnels are you would understand why certain EOs signed by D. Trump kept getting extensions.

The Military at some point will disclose the battles that went underground.

The weapons used.

The strategies used.

The entries/exits used.

The medical technology used.

The portals/gateways that were used.

You got a glimpse of this during the fight that went on underground with the Phil Schneider lectures that still can be found on YouTube about the Dulce extraterrestrial confrontation that resulted in lives being lost and him being scarred from it.

People are only looking at the human aspect of this process. They are not looking at this as governments officials serving a unknown species that want world dominion who is an entire different secret government whose base are in these DUMBS-(Deep Underground Military Bases) who control all of our 3 letter agencies who are middlemen/conduits who these covert species use to control Washington. 🤔

Julian Assange

[ynneleac]

Why do people specify Roman Catholic?

Many people - even amongst Roman Catholics ourselves - may not be aware of this, but the Catholic church is actually made up of 24 sui iuris (autonomous) churches, all in communion with the Bishop of Rome. The dominant church is, clearly, the Latin or Roman Church, which makes up the vast majority of Catholics: the Eastern churches number only 18 million of the 1.3 billion Catholics in total.

The next largest is the Syro-Malabar church, centred in the Indian state of Kerala, and descending from a native church present in the region since around the 8th century. The next largest is the Ukrainian church.

The defining feature of these churches is that they use a different Rite than that of the Roman church: West and East Syriac, Armenian, Alexandrian, Byzantine.

The other main feature is a national one:

Under the Byzantine Rite, the most diverse, you have 14 churches: Albanian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Croatian and Serbian, Greek, Hungarian, Italo-Albanian, Macedonian, Melkite, Romanian, Russian, Ruthenian, Slovak, and Ukrainian.

Under the Alexandrian rite, there are 3: Coptic, Ethiopian, and Eritrean.

Under the West Syriac rite, there are 3: Maronite, Syriac, Syro-Malankara.

Under the East Syriac rite, there are 2: Chaldean and Syro-Malabar.

Under the Latin rite, there is one: Roman (there are some other rites within the Roman church, such as the Ambrosian rite practiced in Milan).

Under the Armenian rite, there is one: Armenian.

All of these churches, though autonomous to a degree, are fully and entirely Catholic, fully united with the Roman Catholic Church.

Some are much older than others: the Maronite church, for example, has been extant since some time in the mid first millennium; while the Eritrean church was only formed in 2015.