It Is A Pope

By Findalis
Monkey in the Middle

 Since February 28th the Roman Catholic Church has been without a Pope when Pope Benedict XVI stepped down from the Holy See.  Since yesterday afternoon the Princes of the Church, the College of Cardinals has been praying and contemplating a successor to him.

Today a new Pope has been chosen.  The Cardinal from Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio.  He will be known to the world as Francis I.

Born 17 December 1936 to working class parents, he attended the seminary in Villa Devoto.  He entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) on 11 March 1958 and was ordained on 13 December 1969.

Pope Frances has rejected Liberation theology, same-sex marriage, women priests, abortion and euthanasia.  He is a humble man, who is a champion of the poor and working classes from which he arose.

Frances I is the first  pope from Latin America and the first to be chosen out of Europe in 1500 years.

God Rest Ye Merry Anti-Semites

By Findalis
Monkey in the Middle

There is an old hatred returning to the Christian community.  A hatred of Jews and Judaism.  It is especially vicious this time of year.  A new call for the blood of Jews to run through out the streets of the world.  A vicious cry led by the Church of England, Roman Catholic Church, Presbyterian Church (USA) and Evangelical Lutheran Church.

A new report from NGO Monitor reveals that several Christian organizations that support the Palestinian Authority are using Christmas to attack Israel. Holiday propaganda ranged from half-truths aimed at portraying Israel as oppressive to “crude anti-Semitism” based on historic Christian accusations of Jews being prophet-killers, the group said.

The report, titled, “O Boycott All ye Faithful,” criticized groups including Christian Aid, Sabeel, Kairos Palestine, and Israel Palestine Mission Network, Presbyterian Church (USA).

The latter group has published a daily advent devotional headed by a picture in which Mary and Joseph, parents of Jesus, are trapped behind a wall styled on Israel’s security barrier between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The first entry compares Israel to the Romans who once brutally oppressed the Jewish people.

“Jesus lived when the Roman empire had recently come to his land and made it part of the empire. The Romans were very cruel to any of those who dared to resist the occupation… As we look at the complexity of the Palestine/Israel issues today, I am struck by a sense of déjà vu,” wrote Reverend Richard Toll.

His message also included a warning to “collaborators,” whom he said Christians must expose. The PA considers “collaboration” with Israel in fighting terrorism a death penalty offense.

Further writings continue the trend of extreme criticism of Israel, with some hinting that modern-day Palestinian Authority Arabs are like Jesus, while Israel is like the Romans who killed him.

The annual Christmas message from Sabeel compares Israel to the Roman Empire as well, as does a video message posted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Groups based in England and Ireland – Amos Trust, Christian Aid, and the Ireland Palestinian Solidarity Campaign – used images or writings that targeted Israel’s security barrier by comparing PA residents to figures in early Christianity. Amos Trust, for example, wrote, “If Jesus were born today in Bethlehem, the Wise Men would spend several hours queuing to enter the town.”

The security barrier was built following a brutal wave of suicide attacks targeting Israeli civilians. Jerusalem, just minutes from Bethlehem, was hit by dozens of attacks murdering hundreds of people. Several of the attackers were from Bethlehem, among them a bomber who targeted high school students on their way to school, killing and wounding several dozen.

Unsurprisingly, the issue of terrorism in Bethlehem was not mentioned by any of the organizations.

“NGOs and well-known charities are exploiting the 2012 Christmas season with anti-Israel campaigns… The repeated emphasis on Bethlehem highlights the dark theological messaging,” warned NGO monitor.

“With this abuse of holiday and religious symbols, these NGOs and charities that claim to promote moral agendas are not offering messages of peace and good cheer. Rather, their intolerant and theologically charged messages exacerbate an already polarized and violent conflict,” the group charged.

Many of the offending groups are funded by the European Union and European governments. Sabeel is funded by Sweden, and Christian Aid by the UK, Ireland, Norway and the EU.

“As funders, these governments are enablers and share the moral responsibility for the actions of the NGOs,” NGO Monitor declared.

Source

A new Christmas Carol is being taught to Christian children all over the world:

Deck the streets with the Blood of Jews,
Fa la la la la la la la la.
Tis the season to hate Jews,
Fa la la la la la la la la.
Blame them for the death of Christ,
That way the PA will let us stay,
Fa la la la la la la la la.

I wonder how long it will be until this becomes a prophecy and not a song?

Obama's Georgetown Request: Cover the Symbol of Jesus

by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

President Obama's "policy" speech at Georgetown University cost the school more than they bargained for. Whether not giving some thought to the President's request, or whether being complicit in the deed, the school covered the "IHS" symbol of Jesus above the dais where the President spoke.

Covered Symbol of Jesus "IHS"

The dias above, located in Georgetown's Gaston Hall, usually looks like this:

"IHS" Symbol of Jesus

One of my favorite hymns:

"Jesus, name above all names,"

... except for Barack Obama's, apparently.

What was Georgetown thinking? Their website says they have a "Catholic and Jesuit identity." The "IHS" symbol you can see in the above photo symbolizes the name of Jesus Christ.

Roman Catholics traditionally use “IHS” as an abbreviation for Jesus’ name. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “St. Ignatius of Loyola adopted the monogram in his seal as general of the Society of Jesus (1541) and thus became the emblem of his institute.” The Society of Jesus is the formal name for the Jesuits.

In coordinating the logistical arrangements for yesterday’s event, Georgetown honored the White House staff’s request to cover all of the Georgetown University signage and symbols behind Gaston Hall stage,” Julie Green Bataille, associate vice president for communications at Georgetown, told CNSNews.com.

Here's an interesting comment I read while researching this story:

A religious order covering up the name of Jesus for a secular cause! Jesus would roll over in his grave, if HE was still there! I don't think the "shepherds" in the Catholic church quite get it anymore; but the sheep do.

Fifty-four percent of Catholics voted for President Obama. Perhaps the Obama is just taking advantage of his political capital.

Jihad Watch has some insightful comments. Here's a tease. You can read the entire article here.

Georgetown is home to the Prince Alwaleed Bin-Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, which receives millions from Saudi Arabia, and has come under fire for this very fact, and Georgetown's Center of Contemporary Arab Studies is a den of Islamist apologetics. Also, I recall the following anecdote: While attending a class (Politics in the Arab World) taught by one professor Samer Shehata -- who thinks the U.S. should befriend the Muslim Brotherhood , incidentally -- we were discussing how the Muslim world needs to begin separating church (or mosque) and state, Shehata, quite sarcastically pointing to a crucifix on the wall (apparently forgetful of the fact that Georgetown is a private, Jesuit school) made a remark like, "Yeah, but what about that?" One wonders what role all of these factors may have played in covering up the name of Jesus.

Yep, we can't help but wonder about it. That's why many of us asked, for months in our blogs, knowing what we know about Obama's background, his families ties to Islam and to communism, why would we take a chance.

Roman Catholic Church Cuts Funding to ACORN

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met this week in Baltimore and decided to cut all ties with ACORN. The Roman Catholic Church has cited complaints over voter registration fraud allegations as well as other questionable ACORN dealings.

In June the brother of ACORN founder, Wade Rathke, was alleged to have embezzled nearly $1 million from ACORN. It was then that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) froze its contributions to the group.

According to CNN, during the past ten years the CCHD has donated more than $7.3 million to ACORN projects. And $40,000 went to the Las Vegas, Nevada ACORN chapter “that was raided before the election in an investigation into fraudulent voter registration forms.”

Roger Morin, auxiliary bishop of New Orleans, said that a church review, which was completed last November, found that ACORN no longer met funding standards. In addition to the embezzlement problem Morin said the registration fraud complaints "raise additional serious concerns."

(See ACORN Voter Registration Fraud Issue Festers)
In a letter to the Bishop’s conference, Morin wrote:

“We simply had too many questions and concerns to permit further CCHD funding of ACORN groups”. . . .the ban on donations to ACORN won't be lifted "until and unless it is clear that CCHD funds will not go to an organization that has engaged in unlawful activities or voter registration fraud."

ACORN Executive Director Steven Kest issued a statement stating that it was grateful for the church’s funding in the past and that ACORN was looking forward to continuing “discussions with CCHD officials and the bishops in the months ahead . . .”

However, Ralph McCloud, the Human Development campaign's director, said the church has "severed ties" with ACORN and there are no plans for further discussion at this time.

Technorati Tags: ACORN,Roman Catholic Church,U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,funding,cut ties

Trackposted to Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, The Pink Flamingo, Cao's Blog, and Conservative Cat, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.