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Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Notre Dame won't recognize 'traditional marriage' student club | Fox News


The following excerpts are from FoxNews.com:
  • A student group at the University of Notre Dame advocating traditional marriage has been denied official recognition as a campus club at the iconic Catholic institution, although members vow to appeal the decision.
  • The group, Students for Child-Oriented Policy (SCOP), was rejected in an April 30 letter from the university’s Student Activities Office to Tiernan Kane, the club’s proposed president. The decision was based on a recommendation by the university’s Club Coordination Council, a division of student government, that found the club’s mission “closely mirrored” that of other undergraduate student clubs at the 12,000-student university.
  • “In evaluating a proposal, approval is based on several things,” read the letter to Kane. “We consider the general purpose of a club, uniqueness to campus, proposed activities, a clear constitution, a strong understanding of budget planning, projected membership, opportunity for membership, among other things.”
  • Due to the perceived duplicative mission of the group, SCOP’s proposal was rejected, according to the letter, which did not reference other university-recognized groups.
  • “As such, the Club Coordination Council felt there was not a need for another similar-type club,” the letter continued. “You are encouraged to contact the Club Coordination Council’s Social Service Division to learn about collaborating with the existing clubs working toward your mutual goals.”
  • SCOP, which was founded in January, is comprised of Notre Dame undergraduate and graduate students focused on the debate about marriage in Indiana, where the school is based, according to its Facebook profile, which had 69 members as of Tuesday.
  • The group seeks to unite a network of students across The Hoosier State in favor of “child-oriented policies,” according to its organizers.
  • “We reject the view that the young have agreed to redefine marriage,” the group’s Facebook page continues. “Rather, we think that they have not explored the meaning and importance of marriage.”
  • Messages seeking comment from Kane and other SCOP students were not returned early Tuesday.
  • Kane told The Cardinal Newman Society he believes Notre Dame should take the lead on marriage, much like it did in publicly voicing its support for the Dream Act and other controversial topics.

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Thursday, May 15, 2014

Sudan: woman at risk of death sentence for converting to Christianity : News Headlines - Catholic Culture


The following excerpts are from CWN:

  • A Sudanese court has found a 27-year-old woman guilty of apostasy and has been given until May 15 to renounce her Christian faith.
  • Ahmed Bilal Osman, Sudan’s minister of culture and information, told Agence France-Presse that “it's not only Sudan. In Saudi Arabia, in all the Muslim countries, it is not allowed at all for a Muslim to change his religion.”
  • Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, the daughter of a Muslim father and Christian mother, maintains that she was raised a Christian.

Read more by clicking below:
Sudan: woman at risk of death sentence for converting to Christianity : News Headlines - Catholic Culture



Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Time To End Communion In The Hand



For many years now, there has been a point of contention among Catholics as to whether Holy Communion should be received on the tongue, or in the hand.

There have been many disagreements, with some insisting communion should only be received on the tongue. They feel it is both irreverent and disrespectful to Our Lord for our hands to touch His body.

Others have said that this is nonsense and that these people are just hold overs from the "old days". They say that as long as we make a "throne" with our hands to receive the Body of the Lord, we are showing proper respect.

Then the "tongue only" folks point out that it would be too easy for someone to sneak off with the host for it to be used in some profane ritual.

I have to say, that I totally and completely agree with those who say that communion should only be received on the tongue. I think that the reception of Holy Communion in the hand should not just be discouraged, but banned outright in all Catholic Dioceses.

No, I am not calling anyone heretics...Vatican II modernists...or anything else.

After seeing how upset we all became with a Harvard University Club sponsoring a Satanic Black Mass, and the planned use of a host in that sacrilegious act , it became apparent to me, that only allowing reception on the tongue is the only way that should be allowed for any Catholic to receive the Body of Our Lord.

[Granted, in the case of the Harvard University Club, there were several conflicting statements as to whether or not the Satanists were actually in possession of a consecrated host. First they said they had a consecrated host....then they had a host, but it was not consecrated...then they didn't have a host at all, but planned to use bread. I think it best to assume that they did in fact have a consecrated host, and even knowing it was consecrated, they (the Satanists) would proclaim it as not being consecrated anyway, since they deny that transubstantiation takes place, and therefore deny the Body of Christ.]

If a priest, or EMHC (Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion) places a consecrated host in the hand of any communicant, it is far too easy for that communicant to pretend to have consumed the host, and then transport it elsewhere for their own nefarious purposes. We have all read about or heard of priests stopping communicants from leaving a parish with a host that had been placed in a pocket or purse instead of being consummed.

In any case, the fact remains that it would be much more difficult for anyone to remove a host from their mouth, when that host had been placed on the tongue by the priest or EMHC. It seems to me, that the action of the communicants owns saliva upon the host, would render it unsuitable for transporting, even if that was what the recipient had in mind.

Let me say here, by my own decision, beginning with my own first communion, I have always received on the tongue and not in the hand. No one told me to receive that way. No one forced me to receive that way. It was my decision, and mine only. I felt, and still do feel, it is the only proper way to receive the Body of Our Lord.

I do hope, that after this blatant disregard for the Catholic faith by some students at Harvard University, that bishops in the United States, and around the world, will put an end to receiving Holy Communion in the hand.

© Gary Stephen Smith and Faith of the Fathers, 2014.

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