The Cappadocian Fathers

The Cappadocian fathers. Who are they? What was their role in the early Church? What really can protestant theologians say about these men? Can anyone but the Orthodox and Catholic (apostolic) Churches claim them? Naturally we have some friends claiming Apostolic Succession with which we disagree, so what else did these men have to say besides being the primary defenders against the Arian heresy, and the defenders and champions of the doctrine of the trinity? What did they say about Petrine Primacy, Infant Baptism, Apostolic Succession, private interpretation of scripture? Find out in my latest article, simply titled "The Cappadocian Fathers".

Chuck Norris defends Karl Keating: David vs. Goliath of government agencies

(Source: WND)

One of the most hideous ways the IRS usurps power and control over Americans is through its oppression over nonprofits and especially religious groups. Threatening to withdraw tax exempt status or to levy penalties are just a couple ways it exercises its tyranny.

For example, on April 3, 2009, Catholic Answers, one of the nation's largest lay-run apologetic (or defense) ministries for the Catholic movement, filed suit in federal court against the Internal Revenue Service for violating its rights to free speech.

What spurred on the lawsuit is that the IRS imposed fines on Catholic Answers because President Karl Keating wrote in one of his e-letters that 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry shouldn't be allowed to receive the Eucharist (communion) because of his pro-abortion stand, advocacy and voting record. Whether you agree or not, Keating was voicing his conviction and opinion, which is his First Amendment right to do. At no point did Catholic Answers even tell people for whom to vote or not to vote.

Does that letter-writing act sound like something that deserves IRS fines and further taxes?

You can imagine the long, uphill battle that will ensue for Catholic Answers as it attempts to sue the IRS. It confesses that it's doing so "not just for ourselves, but on behalf of non-profit organizations and churches all across the country that are constantly harassed, threatened, intimidated, and persecuted by the IRS." That is the reason it is also appealing to the public for donations.

Everything is wrong and ludicrous about these types of governmental actions, from the tyrannical power of the IRS to the violations against American rights and freedoms. And two major historical inconsistencies emerge from these situations as well: First, early in our country's formation, the pulpits used to be the conscience of this nation. Preachers were never restricted in their political voice in any way per the First Amendment. In fact, clergy and politicians used the pulpits to rally support, without threat of governmental intrusion or penalty.

Second, the Internal Revenue Service wasn't started until nearly 100 years after the Revolutionary War in 1862 as the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Its creation coincided with the creation of the income tax, which it was designed to collect (though it would be later ruled as unconstitutional until 1913 via congressional law). Both were the initial work of President Lincoln and Congress, which saw them as necessary to pay for civil war expenses.

But could Lincoln even have imagined how the IRS would have become the most bloated federal bureaucracy on the planet?

Today, the IRS is the No. 1 enemy of your pocketbook. It is the government's financial mafia, the thug collection agency for government's intimidation, control, extravagant spending, corporate bailouts and national debt. It can't be overhauled or even reformed. (Congress's attempts have failed.) Who doesn't fear an IRS audit? It's the only federal agency before which you are considered guilty until proven innocent. I have a better definition for the acronym I.R.S.: Internal Rip-off Service.

The best answer is to abolish the IRS, sweep away the present tax code and implement a Fair Tax that lives up to its name. The Fair Tax does away with all taxes and puts in their place a single consumptive (fair) tax, which is the closest, practical, modern proposal to the taxation system favored by the founders.

With the Fair Tax, the harder you work and the more money you make, the better off you and our economy will be. You pay taxes only when you buy something, which means you can control how much you're taxed, and you're never penalized for working hard. It's time we had a system through which people didn't have to figure out ways to cheat to save their money. It's the biggest economic stimulation package there is. Again, as the Fair Tax website says, "Think of it as the world's biggest economic jumper cables!"

Of all the present fallacies in the American system, the IRS must be the one that causes America's founders to roll most in their graves. Its control and power is not only unconstitutional, but its outrageous taxations strike at the core of the very reason for America's secession from England. The founders would be horrified by the power of the IRS and its plethora of taxes we now have to pay: income taxes, employment taxes, capital gains taxes, estate taxes, corporate taxes, property taxes, Social Security taxes, gas taxes, etc.

The founders opposed domestic taxes. They regarded high taxes and aggressive tax collectors as tyrannical, and always to be guarded against. Patrick Henry warned: "Excisemen may come in multitudes; for the limitation of their numbers no man knows. They may, unless the general government be restrained by a bill of rights, or some similar restriction, go into your cellars and rooms, and search, ransack, and measure, everything you eat, drink, and wear."

That is one of many reasons I encourage everyone to join a T.E.A. (Taxed Enough Already) party this Independence Day. You may not think your participation contributes much, but it was dozens, then hundreds, of small resistances that eventually led a revolution in the beginning.

You might not be in solidarity with everything Catholic Answers believes, but you must commend its courage to stand up and fight the Goliath of government agencies. We already know its odds of losing. Yet we also must remember how the story ends: It just takes the right man with the right stone to bring Goliath down.

Catholics and the Bible: The Real Story

Catholics and their view of scripture are being misrepresented by the non-Catholic population. In my latest article, a transcription from the Catholic Action Edition of the Holy Bible, we see through the Encyclicals of three Popes, what the official Catholic stance on the Bible is. From Pope Leo XIII, Pope Benedict XV and Pope Pius XII, we can with little effort see the extensive writing on the very subject of Holy Scriptures, their place in Catholic Theology, and indeed the history of the Apostolic Church. This assembly of information took nearly a full day to complete, but I believe the work promises to bear the fruit of understanding. Light where there was darkness, truth where there was confusion. This extensive collection of commentary will give the reader the Catholic Side of scholarship, interpretation, preservation, and tell an amazing story through the eyes of some of the most prolific leaders of the Catholic Church. Is what anti-Catholics say true? Does the Church run from scripture? Was scripture kept from the masses? With unmistakable reverence the Church preserves, passes on, and venerates the Holy Scriptures. See for yourself. Read "Catholics and The Bible".

Ancient Holy Land quarry uncovered, team says

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli archaeologists said on Sunday they had discovered the largest underground quarry in the Holy Land, dating back to the time of Jesus and containing Christian symbols etched into the walls.

The 4,000-square-meter (yard) cavern, buried 10 meters beneath the desert near the ancient West Bank city of Jericho, was dug about 2,000 years ago and was in use for about half a millennium, archaeologist Adam Zertal said.

The cave's main hall, about three meters tall, is supported by some 20 stone pillars and has a variety of symbols etched into the walls, including crosses dating back to about AD 350 and Roman legionary emblems.

Zertal said his team from Haifa University first discovered the site three months ago while they were putting together a detailed archaeological map of the area.

"We saw a hole in the ground ... and went down and discovered this giant cavern, originally a quarry, built uniquely with hall after hall," Zertal told Reuters.

The team believes the stones were used in buildings and churches in the region, but Zertal said further research was necessary.

The site may eventually be turned into one of the largest underground tourist sites in the Holy Land, he said.

(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Michael Roddy)

The Bible: What is Scripture?

Perhaps the most visible and predominant view of American Christianity is that of Americanized Protestantism. Though, the term doesn't necessarily sit well with those I apply it to, I do so based on historical precedent, and of course, precedent set by the Catholic Church. Another view in contrast to the view of most of these, is the view of the Canon of scripture as the Apostolic Churches (Catholic, Orthodox and others) are concerned.

Increasingly we find that a multitude are running from the resulting denominations spawned from the protestant reformation. In light of this, it has become a decision many are faced with, whether they will rejoin the Mother Church, "Non-Denominational" or so called "Bible Teaching" Churches.

One of my latest articles on Apostolic Apologetics discusses the issue of the Canon of Scripture, which for any person that considers themselves to be Christian, is of central importance. If we for example, say we are "Bible Teaching", how then can we neglect to teach the development of the Canon of Scripture (that is, what exactly is in the Bible)? Moreover, if we are not teaching the whole of scripture, can we call ourselves "Bible Teaching"? The same goes for many protestant concepts, including "Sola Scriptura", and of course the rejection of Catholic doctrine on "scriptural grounds".

In my time researching, learning, discussing and even debating, it has been alarming to me to see the amount of misinformation that is perpetuated in non-Catholic circles on the subject of the Canon. Perhaps the most common of these false teachings is that the Catholic Church, at the Council of Trent, added to the Bible what protestants now call the Apocrypha. This is indeed a common belief, however even "reformed" protestant scholars can tell you this is quite simply not the case (example).

The Canon of scripture as Catholics now have it, still includes the mislabeled "apocrypha" (correctly called the deuterocanon), and have since at the very latest, the fourth Century. This is an alarming revelation to those who like me, were raised and indeed indoctrinated to believe that the Catholic Church committed many "evils", and foremost among them was the perversion of the Canon of scripture.

When confronted with the facts of the matter, it is increasingly clear that the real Bible, which is of the Apostolic Church, is indeed the Catholic Bible. Now I will concede here, that many of our Eastern brothers in the Orthodox and other Eastern Churches have a larger canon even than that of the Roman Church. The additional books of the larger canons of these Churches were the result of geographical acceptance, rather than general consensus throughout the Church as was the case with the so called "apocrypha".

It is extremely important to understand the history of the Canon of Scripture, as if by the account of the Apostolic Fathers we accept some, and not others, we should be questioning our logic. The logic behind the rejection in today's protestant Churches of these texts, is exactly the subject of my latest article, plainly called "Deuterocanon/Apocrypha". You are encouraged to read, and by all means voice your opinion on the subject either here, or on the built in comments function within that page. Thanks for reading, and God Bless.

David servum meum

Vatican Designates Cathedral of Saint Paul as National Shrine

The Vatican has designated the Cathedral of Saint Paul to be the first national shrine in honor of the Apostle Paul. This special distinction was granted by the Office of the Holy See and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, following a request by The Most Rev. John C. Nienstedt, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

This will be the first national shrine in the State of Minnesota and the only national shrine in North America dedicated to honor Saint Paul.

According to canon (church) law, “The term shrine signifies a church or other sacred place to which the faithful make pilgrimages for a particular pious reason with the approval of the local ordinary (bishop).”

Those wishing to participate more fully in the life of the National Shrine can become members of the Archconfraternity of the Apostle Paul.

Tens of thousands of people, particularly tourists, already visit the Cathedral of Saint Paul every year. Bus loads of children also come to learnabout the role of the Mother Church of the Archdiocese. The number of visitors is expected to increase significantly as a result of this designation as a national shrine dedicated to Saint Paul.

Over the decades, the Cathedral developed as a catechism in stone and glass by evangelizing through its grandeur and beauty. The patron Saint Paul is particularly honored through a series of bronze grills that depict major events in his life, from his conversion to his martyrdom. The Shrine of the Nations, which features patron saints of ethnic groups from Europe who settled the area, serves as a reminder that the work of the Apostle to the Gentiles continues through every age.

(Source: http://www.cathedralsaintpaul.org/ )

Editor's note:

Grand news, as this is my home parish. Have a look at the official website.

6,000-year-old tombs found next to Stonehenge

(Times Online)

A prehistoric complex, including two 6,000-year-old tombs, has been discovered by archaeologists in Hampshire.

The Neolithic tombs, which until now had gone unnoticed under farmland despite being just 15 miles from Stonehenge, are some of the oldest monuments to have been found in Britain.

Archaeologists say they will hold valuable clues about how people lived at the time and what their environment was like.

The discovery is also close to Cranborne Chase, one of the most well researched prehistoric areas in Europe.

“It’s one of the most famous prehistoric landscapes, a Mecca for prehistorians, and you would have thought the archaeological world would have gone over it with a fine tooth comb,” Dr Helen Wickstead, the Kingston University archaeologist leading the project, said.

From examining similar sites, archaeologists know that complex burial rituals were common at the time. Typically bodies would be left in the open air until the flesh had decayed, leaving only a skeleton. Then bones were put in special arrangements in the tombs.

“The tombs were like bone homes for important people in the community,” Dr Wickstead said.

The tombs were discovered by Damian Grady, an English Heritage photographer, who flew over the area in a light aircraft taking aerial photographs of the land, looking for marks or features on the landscape suggestive of ancient monuments. One photograph showed two long mounds.

After discussions with colleagues, Mr Grady was left in little doubt that the mounds were the site of ancient tombs. He contacted Dr Wickstead inviting her to investigate.

After carrying out a survey of the land using electromagnetic detectors and ultrasound, Dr Wickstead created a map of what lay beneath the fields. She was able to identify the two tombs with troughs on each side, known as long barrows, typical of Neolithic burial sites.

Her team was also found artifacts, including fragments of pottery, flint and stone tools, close to the surface.

So far Dr Wickstead’s team have only used non-invasive techniques to figure out what lies inside the tombs, which are located on the land of a local female farmer.

Because the original surface of the land has been preserved beneath the mound, scientists will be able to examine it for traces of pollen and identify which plants and trees were common at the time.

Whether they are excavated will depend on local feeling, she says.

“We’re treading very carefully on the excavation issue,” Dr Wickstead said.

“We want to be sure that it’s what people living in Damerham village want. It’s their heritage.”

The Kingston University team are due to publish preliminary findings of their research in the journal Hampshire Studies.

(Source: Times Online--Spelling Corrected by me)

After 65 years, Catholic hero talks about D-Day assault

HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- Decorated D-Day veteran Lenny Lisovicz says the whispers are true.

For 65 years my family had heard whispers that he and 220 men stormed Omaha Beach and that he and his captain later went AWOL in Paris, France.

They heard he returned to combat and fought all the way to Germany and his courage was rewarded with the prestigious Silver Star.

Then -- after that sacrifice and loss -- he was committed to a hospital.

On the 65th anniversary of D-Day, Uncle Lenny finally talked at length about everything he had seen and done. And he said it was all true.

Nowadays, Uncle Lenny lives a tranquil life. At 91, he is proud of his garden, where he grows corn, tomatoes and grapefruit. He takes in stray cats, attends Mass and sends money regularly to Catholic missionaries.

But his thoughts are never far away from a sliver of sand thousands of miles away. He turned down my offer to visit Normandy.

"I don't want to see it. I try to rub that out of my mind. It won't go away," he said.

But now, he finally agreed to share his memories. Watch Uncle Lenny describe storming the beach »

It began with The Longest Day: June 6, 1944. My uncle was a 26-year-old lieutenant with the Army 1st Infantry Division, the famed "Big Red One." They had been training in England for something big for months.

Then, over the loudspeakers in the barracks came the famous declaration from Gen. Dwight Eisenhower: "You are about to embark on the Great Crusade."

The Germans were taken by surprise in one of the greatest amphibious invasions of all time, which would mark a turning point of the war in Europe.

Don't Miss

• Horrors of war vivid for D-Day heroes

"I just imagined what that enemy observer felt when he looked through that concrete bunker and looked out at that ocean and all he could see was boats, warships," Lisovicz said.

But the Nazis had a superior position.

"They had you pinpointed. It was just like shootin' ducks on a pond. Your comrades would get artillery busted. A hand flying here, a leg there, guts laying out on the ground, asking for help and you couldn't help them. You had to move. You just had to push them aside," he recalled.

But the Allies couldn't push their way onto the cliffs until a massive air assault began.

"At times there were so many planes in the sky you couldn't see the sky... ," Lisovicz said. "You could see them forming from all directions coming into one pattern. And that's how we got off the beach, darlin'."

Their orders were to meet up with the paratroopers, who landed behind enemy lines. My uncle said they found them by smell, because they were all dead.

"They backed them in a corner and machine gunned them down and didn't have enough decency to cover them," he said.

That was when an unwritten order came down: "No prisoners. And we didn't take any."

It was shortly after this that he decided he had enough. He and the captain went AWOL in Paris. To add insult to injury, they stole the major's jeep. Their freedom lasted only about a week.

"The MP told us he was going to shoot us for going AWOL. But who cares? You didn't care anymore," Lisovicz said. "You were just fed up with war, fed up with killing, just absolutely fed up."

But they weren't shot -- not by Americans, anyway.

My uncle and the captain went back into combat. The captain was killed by a camouflaged tank. My uncle was now the commanding officer. And the fighting was ferocious as he battled his way into Germany.

He set trip wires for flares in one pivotal battle. At about 3 a.m., the flares went off. The Germans had overrun the outer defenses of the platoon. It was chaos.

The Silver Star says that he "skillfully deployed men and weapons into strategic positions and with accurately directed fire, held the foe at bay until supporting troops arrived and repulsed the attack."

But there was more.

"When I looked up I seen a man walking up with two of my comrades. It was a German. So I went after him. And got him and brought my men back," he said.

The Silver Star described it as "extraordinary gallantry and aggressive leadership."

Only 22 of the 220 men that stormed the beach with him came home alive.

That was the last time my uncle saw combat. He had been hit. He learned about his Silver Star in the hospital.

He wanted to return, but he was shell-shocked.

"It took them a year and a half of my life for them to straighten me out and get back to civilian life," he said.

(Source: CNN)

SCIENCE FILE / Q&A - Earth's twin is out there -- somewhere - An astronomer sees signs of parallel planets within our grasp.

(LA Times)

By John Johnson Jr.
November 17, 2007

For the last 20 years, UC Berkeley astronomer Geoff Marcy has been the world's leading planet finder. Of the 260-odd planets that have been discovered in other solar systems, Marcy and his team have found 150. His most recent discovery, announced last week, is a fifth planet orbiting a star called 55 Cancri, about 41 light-years from Earth. Marcy, 53, sat down in his office to talk about the friendly and not-so-friendly competition to find the first Earth-like planet that could harbor life.

Describe your latest discovery.

This is one of the nearest stars to our sun. It has nearly the same mass as our sun, the same temperature as our sun and the same age. Frankly, what's delightful about it is that we now have five major planets orbiting it. The planets around 55 Cancri have a range of masses, from around 10 Earth masses at the smallest, to the largest, which is around four times as large as Jupiter. It's certainly the largest complement of planets ever found around another star.

Are any of these planets habitable?

This newest planet, No. 5, resides in the habitable zone, about 0.8 Earth-sun distances from its star. So this new planet we've found would be warmed up -- like a face to a campfire -- to lukewarm temperatures, making the water, if any, liquid. Having said that, we suspect that this new planet is made mostly of hydrogen and helium gas. Its mass is about 55 times the mass of Earth. So it probably isn't just a solid rock, like our Earth. Such a big planet with a rocky core and a fluffy gaseous envelope probably can't support life as we know it.

How many planets have you discovered?

My team has discovered 150. The Swiss team is a strong second. In fact, I just got an e-mail from the leader of the team congratulating me on the five planets around 55 Cancri.

So the competition is friendly?

It's a touchy friendship. We laugh about it. But in the true spirit of science we appreciate the competition because we know if we snooze, we will lose the next precious planets that are the next exciting batch to find.

What's the allure of an Earth-like planet?

To find the first Earth was a dream of Aristotle. Even in the religious realm, people have wondered, and still do, whether Earth was uniquely put here. Not to delve into touchy issues, but there's still a large -- how shall I put it -- spiritual question. Is the Earth the center of creation? And we're about to find out whether there are any other Earths out there. The Vatican will be interested. It's no joke. I've gotten two calls from them.

What are the prospects for finding planets farther out?

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There are three very exciting missions NASA is planning right now that would advance the search.

The first one is called Kepler. It's a space-borne telescope that will be able to measure the tiniest dimming (caused by a planet crossing in front of the host star), to one part in 100,000, allowing us to detect Earth-like planets.

The goal is to image a huge chunk of the sky around the constellation Cygnus, monitoring 150,000 stars continuously for four years . . . It's scheduled to launch in 2009.

What about the other missions?

The next one NASA is pushing is the Space Interferometry Mission, which is being designed and built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. What SIM will do is find Earth-like planets in the habitable zone around the nearest stars. SIM is going to find the nearest Earth twin a few light-years away.

And the third mission?

The Terrestrial Planet Finder. I listed it third because it's further technologically down the line. We had hopes of launching in 2016, but I think that's not likely. . . . It would take the first pictures of Earth-like planets. Look at our own solar system. Which of the planets is blue? Earth. So if you found another star with a pale-blue dot tooling around that yellow star, that blue color and chemical analysis of the planet might give us a strong suggestion of life.

When do you think we'll see the first Earth-like planet?

I would say within three years we will have the first suggestion of rocky, lukewarm planets. We won't have the spectra. We won't know if there's oxygen. But we will know there's a rocky planet warmed up by its proximity to a campfire, if you will, where water could be liquid.

Say we find an Earth twin, what do we do then?

I know exactly what we do. UC Berkeley, in conjunction with the SETI [Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence] Institute, is building a new radio telescope north of Mt. Lassen in Hat Creek designed to search for radio and television signals from an advanced technological civilization. It's called the Allen Telescope Array.

If the array picks up radio waves, then what do we do?

There is a written protocol for this. Step A is to communicate broadly and uniformly to the world what you think you have found, so that everybody can follow up and double and triple and quadruple check your work. . . .

I would recommend that Step Two be a . . . conference, where all of the nations are represented and we talk about it. The immediate question is what message, if any, to send back.

Remember, any such dialogue will not be lively repartee, because a star 50 light-years away means it takes 50 years to get back to them and 50 years to get back to you, so the jokes will not have quite the timing that they have when Seinfeld is on stage.

--

john.johnson@latimes.com

(Source: LA Times)

Contributed by nirv