Terrorism: Nigerian Bishop Urges Religious Faithfuls to Keep Faith Alive

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Terrorism: Nigerian Bishop Urges Religious Faithfuls to Keep Faith Alive

The violent onslaught of the radical Islamist group Boko Haram has forced the Diocese of Maiduguri, which has suffered most from the militants, to effectively shrink to half its size according to its bishop.

Since Boko Haram began its offensive nearly five years ago, half of the parishes in the Diocese of Maiduguri have been deserted, according to Bishop Oliver Doeme. Ongoing violence has also displaced nearly half the local priests.

“We are thoroughly devastated by the Boko Haram attacks…as a Church, families, and individuals,” Bishop Doeme wrote in a Nov. 6 pastoral letter, which was obtained by Aid to the Church in Need. “We are wounded, traumatized, and devastated.”

The same day, Bishop Doeme told Channels TV that of the 46 priests working in his diocese, 20 have been displaced by Boko Haram; some are being sheltered in the neighboring Yola diocese. Twenty of Maiduguri’s 40 parishes have been deserted, with many of them looted, taken over, or burned down by Boko Haram….Read More

Source and Original Content by CNA

Vatican Sets Up Body to Hasten Sex Abuse Appeals

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Vatican Sets Up Body to Hasten Sex Abuse Appeals

Pope Francis has established a special body within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to speed up the process of hearing and ruling on appeals filed by priests laicised or otherwise disciplined in sexual abuse or other serious cases.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told reporters on November 11 that the members of the doctrinal congregation had been examining an average of four or five appeals, mostly in sex abuse cases, at each of their monthly meetings.

“Because of the number of appeals and the need to guarantee a more rapid examination of them,” Pope Francis has instituted a “college” within the congregation to judge cases involving priests, said a note from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, presenting the text of the papal order.

A case involving a bishop accused of abuse or other serious crimes would continue to be examined and judged by the entire membership of the doctrinal congregation during one of its regular monthly meetings, says the order, officially known as a “rescript…Read More

Source and Original Content by Catholic Herald

Nigerian Christian Leaders Seek Suspension of Political Activities in N’East Parts of The Country

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Nigerian Christian Leaders Seek Suspension of Political Activities in N’East Parts of The Country

Prominent christian leaders in Adamawa State have called for immediate suspension of political activities in the Northeast region of the country, which is presently bedeviled by Boko Haram insurgency.

The leaders asked that political leaders in the region and at the federal level should get serious with finding a lasting solution to the Boko Haram crisis.

The religious leaders said from the look of things, it seems that political parties and politicians care less about the insurgency that is daily sending Nigerians to an early grave.

Rising from a meeting at Bishop Patrick Shehaam Memorial Pastoral Centre in Yola on Tuesday, the Christian leaders in a communique noted that the suspension of political activities is necessary to allow politicians and other stakeholders to squarely face the devastating reality of Boko Haram insurgents in the Northeast region of Nigerian.

The leaders in the communique signed by Most Rev. Stephen Dami Mamza (Catholic Bishop of Yola), Most Rev. Nemuel Babba ( LCCN Archbishop ), Rev, Samuel Dalli Danti (EYN President) and Bishop Amos Yakubu ( LCCN Alheri Bishop Yola), lamented that while politicians are busy with political activities, the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents are having field day, killing innocent people and destroying valued properties.

Source and Original Content by Punch Newspapers

Sudden Death Of Dr.Myles Munroe; Ministry Struggles to Cope

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Sudden Death Of Dr.Myles Munroe; Ministry Struggles to Cope

When pastor Myles Munroe died on Sunday in a plane crash in the Bahamas, his faithful were already starting to gather at the 2014 Global Leadership Forum hosted by his organization, Myles Munroe International. The conference, the ministry has announced, will go on without him: “This is what Dr. Munroe would have wanted.”

For hundreds of conference-goers who traveled to the Bahamas to hear Munroe and other Christian leaders speak, what was supposed to be an inspirational week has turned into a memorial for an extremely influential evangelical leader. Munroe was supposed to give the opening address at the conference, which began Monday; he and several other ministry leaders were on their way to the gathering in the private plane that crashed on its approach to the island of Grand Bahama.

Bahamian Prime Minister Perry G. Christie’s statement about the accident hints at just how much influence Munroe wielded in his home country. “He was indisputably one of the most globally recognizable religious figures our nation has ever produced,” Christie wrote. “His fame as an ambassador for the Christian ministry preceded him wherever in the world he traveled, whether in the Caribbean, North America, Asia, Europe or Africa.

“He was a towering force who earned the respect and admiration not only of Christian adherents but of secular leaders both here at home and around the world.”

As is the case with many charismatic evangelical leaders, Munroe’s success as a pastor allowed him to build considerable influence and industry. In the Bahamas, the 60-year-old Munroe was the senior pastor of the Bahamas Faith Ministries International Fellowship. He was also a best-selling author and popular speaker and was well known in American charismatic circles, even if his name might not be as familiar as that of American Bishop T.D. Jakes, with whom Munroe often appeared.

Munroe’s sermons often addressed leadership, relationships and personal growth. In a devotional on Munroe’s site, the pastor says: “The greatest tragedy in life is not death but life without a purpose — life with the wrong priorities.”

Munroe’s wife, Ruth, and seven others also died in the crash at Grand Bahama International Airport on Sunday. Officials launched an investigation into the cause of the crash on Monday, and the AP reported that “severe weather was likely a factor” in the crash.

Heavy rain was buffeting the region when the Lear 36 Executive Jet struck a shipping container crane in Freeport as it tried to land, Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell said. Mitchell said that a commercial Bahamasair flight making the same route, from Nassau to Freeport, had turned back because it was unable to land around the same time as the flight carrying the Rev. Myles Munroe and several members of his Bahamas Faith Ministries.

Ruth Munroe was herself influential in evangelical circles and was a co-senior pastor with her husband. (The Munroes have two children, Charisa and Chairo.) Several others on the plane held leadership positions in the ministry, including Richard H. Pinder, a senior vice president and pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries Fellowship Church. Pinder was also scheduled to speak at the Global Leadership Forum…Read More

Source and Original Content by BCNN1

Mexican Church Supports Families Of Missing Trainee Teachers

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Mexican Church Supports Families Of Missing Trainee Teachers

The Mexican bishops’ conference has issued a statement of solidarity with the families of 43 missing trainee teachers, who refuse to accept the authorities’ explanations for their disappearance and continue calling for their relatives to be brought back alive.

“Adding our voice to theirs and to all of society, we say, ‘Enough with so much corruption, impunity and violence,’” the bishops said in a statement.

“Respectfully and energetically, we ask the authorities to take the investigation to its final consequences so that it’s known with certainty what has happened with the disappeared and the intellectual authors are punished with the full weight of the law. At the same time, we demand the enforcing of the rule of law to put an end to all forms of violence, illicit activities, corruption, impunity and the complicity of some authorities with organised crime.”

Meanwhile, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City has offered prayers during Mass for the trainee teachers, who authorities allege were captured by corrupt police, killed by organised crime and had their bodies burned..Read More

Source and Original Content by Catholic Herald

Religious Leaders Call for End to Holy Site Bloodshed

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Religious Leaders Call for End to Holy Site Bloodshed

Attachments to holy places should not be a cause of bloodshed, hatred or violence, said the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land.

Council members, who include Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders, said in a statement on November 9 that they were concerned about increased violence around the site in the Old City known as Haram al-Sharif by Muslims and that Jews refer to as the Temple Mount.

“(We) lament that the site … has become a major focus of the conflict in the Holy Land,” the statement said. “Holy places must remain dedicated to prayer and worship only.”

“Holy places are there for believers to draw inspiration to strengthen their acceptance and love of the Almighty and all his creatures, from all religions and all nationalities,” it said.

The site is considered holy by Muslims as the location of Muhammad’s journey to Jerusalem and the site of his ascent into heaven, and by Jews as the place where two biblical temples once stood. It is also revered by Christians as the site where Jesus surprised Jewish rabbis with his theological knowledge and the place where he confronted the corruption of those who used the temple as a place of commerce…Read More

Source and Original Content by Catholic Herald

Pope Calls on G20 Countries to Work Towards Ending Aggression Against Middle East Minorities

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Pope Calls on G20 Countries to Work Towards Ending Aggression Against Middle East Minorities

Pope Francis has called on the G20 countries to bring about a “definitive halt to the unjust aggression” directed at different religious and ethnic groups, including minorities, in the Middle East.

According to Vatican Radio, the Pope made his comments in a letter to the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott ahead of the G20 summit which will take place in Brisbane this weekend.

In the letter, Pope Francis said that “it has become more and more evident that the solution to this grave problem cannot be a purely military one, but must also focus on those who in one way or another encourage terrorist groups through political support, the illegal oil trade or the provision of arms and technology.”

The letter continued: “There is also a need for education and a heightened awareness that religion may not be exploited as a means of justifying violence.”

The Pope also urged support for the victims of persecution, especially those who have to flee their homes and countries.

“The situation in the Middle East has revived debate about the responsibility of the international community to protect individuals and peoples from extreme attacks on human rights and a total disregard for humanitarian law,” Pope Francis said…Read More

Source and Original Content by Catholic Herald

Man Renounces Homosexuality At COGIC [VIDEO]

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Man Renounces Homosexuality At COGIC [VIDEO]

In a very peculiar moment at the altar on Saturday night at the Church of God in Christ 107th Holy Convocation in St. Louis, a young man became a recent Internet star when he took the microphone from Bishop Brandon B. Porter to renounced his homosexuality. The fact that he renounced his homosexuality is not what made this video go viral on the internet. It’s the way he did it.

Watch the Video Below:

http://youtu.be/dXBaJfVr9us

Priest Cleared Of Sexual Misconduct Claims

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Priest Cleared Of Sexual Misconduct Claims

A Vatican tribunal has “definitively determined” that there is no proof of sexual misconduct by Monsignor Richard Loomis, a prominent Los Angeles archdiocese priest.

“Monsignor Loomis has always professed his innocence of these accusations,” the Los Angeles archdiocese said Nov. 8, saying the tribunal’s determination followed “ten years of exhaustive investigation and canonical trial.”

The tribunal’s ruling means that the allegations against the monsignor have been “conclusively resolved” and that he can return to public ministry.

“He remains a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in good standing,” the archdiocese said.

Msgr. Loomis, 68, first faced accusations of sexual misconduct allegations in 2003. The accusations concerned alleged misconduct between 1969 and 1971, when he was a seminarian. A 2003 lawsuit claimed that he had abused a teenage boy while teaching at a Catholic high school in the L.A. area, the Los Angeles Times reports…Read More

Source and Original Content by CNA

” No Surprise to See Arafat in Heaven”, Says RT Kendall

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” No Surprise to See Arafat in Heaven”, Says RT Kendall

Church leader RT Kendall has said that he believes Yasser Arafat may have accepted Christ before his death a decade ago.

November 11 marks ten years since the death of the PLO leader, regarded as a heroic freedom fighter by many Palestinians and a terrorist by many Israelis.

The first time RT Kendall was granted rare access to Arafat,the Christian writer and speaker told him he had prayed for him every day for 20 years. According to Kendall, the 20-minute appointment turned into an hour and 45 minutes, and an unlikely friendship began.

The third time Kendall visited Arafat, the pair watched The Passion of the Christ together, along with 30 members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Arafat wept during the viewing and allowed Kendall to pray for him at the end. During each of his five visits, Kendall was able to speak to Arafat about Jesus’ death and resurrection, and of how to accept Christ.

Kendall says that, despite Arafat’s translator attempting to intervene, the Arab leader was determined to hear more about Jesus and the gospel.

“It wouldn’t surprise me to see him in heaven,’ says Kendall.‘I’ll tell you why. I prayed with him five times, anointed him with oil, I gave him a [salvation] prayer…I’m not saying I know that he’s saved; I’m saying I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Source and Original Content by Premier Christian News

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