Rioters Try to Blow Up Jerusalem Gas Station

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Rioters Try to Blow Up Jerusalem Gas Station

Arab rioting in Jerusalem escalated on Sunday as mobs attacked cars, light rail trains and tried to set fire to a gas station in the French Hill neighborhood.

The increased violence was sparked by reports that an Arab teen wounded a week earlier by Israeli forces had died earlier in the day.

The teen was reportedly hit by a sponge bullet used by Israeli police on riot control duty. Israeli officials said the teen, like all other targeted rioters, was hit in the leg by the sponge bullet, and sustained his ultimately fatal injury after falling on his head while fleeing the scene. The boy’s father insisted that the sponge bullet had hit his son in the head, and was therefore the cause of his death.

Sunday’s explosion of violence caused even greater damage to Jerusalem’s light rail, and the aforementioned gas station was badly burned. Employees reported having to escape the premises under a hail of stones and firebombs.

At least two Israeli motorists were wounded when their vehicles were attacked on the eastern side of Jerusalem.

Original Post by Israel today

Hamas Already Digging New Terror Tunnels

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Hamas Already Digging New Terror Tunnels

A senior government official in Jerusalem on Sunday told the Israeli press that Hamas is already digging new terror tunnels and smuggling a new stockpile of missiles into the Gaza Strip in preparation for its next war against the Jewish state.

“Hamas did not wait a single moment after the last round of fighting, and began its rearmament in anticipation of another round,” the official said.

Indeed, Gaza-based Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar vowed over the weekend that the ceasefire reached just two weeks ago would soon be violated in the most blatant way as the terror groups “built new tunnels” with which to threaten Israelis.

The discovery of dozens of terror tunnels running from Gaza into southern Israel shocked most Israelis, particularly those living within “tunnel distance” from the volatile coastal enclave.

Many Israeli residents of what is known as the “Gaza envelope” still have not returned home, and many who have say they no longer feel safe.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken harsh criticism for agreeing to end the war before Hamas was fully defeated. Most Israelis do not believe that expected guarantees by America, Europe or Egypt can be relied upon to prevent future Hamas attacks.

Original Post by Israel today

Don’t Give Up Hope – by Kenneth Copeland

CM Editor
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Don’t Give Up Hope – by Kenneth Copeland

Don’t Give Up Hope  – by Kenneth Copeland

Have you ever been in the middle of a faith stand, when suddenly it seemed like your faith just quit working?

Maybe you were believing God for healing, or financial deliverance, or the salvation of your family. Spiritually, everything was in place. You found the scriptures that promised you what you need. You were firing off confessions of faith like a machine gun.

But as time went by, your spiritual battery began to weaken. The power you had when you first took your stand began to wane, and you developed a gnawing suspicion that nothing would happen.

In desperation, you tried to shove those doubts away by confessing louder and longer. You frantically tried to force your faith to work. But to no avail.

You wound up still sick, still broke, still surrounded by unsaved relatives…and wondering what went wrong.

In the end, you probably just chalked it up as a faith failure.

But I’m about to tell you something that will change your life if you’ll pay attention to it. It certainly changed mine. It’s this: What you experienced was not the failure of your faith…it was a breakdown of your hope.

Faith…or Desperation?

Most believers don’t pay much attention to hope. They don’t think of it as very important. They certainly don’t consider it to be as important as faith. But the fact is, faith won’t function without hope.

That’s because “Faith is the substance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1). Sometimes I say it this way, “Hope is the blueprint of faith.” When hope is lost, faith loses its aim. It no longer has a mission to accomplish. It just scatters uselessly in every direction.

I remember one time in particular some years ago, when that happened to me. I had given my airplane to another preacher at God’s instruction, and then ordered another airplane to replace it. During the weeks while the new plane was being manufactured, I began to believe God for the full amount I needed to pay for it.

I hooked up my faith to the promises of God and I was going along fine for a while. But just a few days before the plane was scheduled to be delivered to me, I realized I was $20,000 short.

As the delivery date grew closer, I became more and more alarmed. I started making faith confessions as fast as I could. I’d say, “Thank God I have that $20,000. In Jesus’ Name, I-have-it-I-have-it-I-have-it-I-have-it.”

But the problem was, I was no longer confessing in faith, I was confessing out of desperation.

I knew something had to change, so I gathered up my Bible and my tapes, got in my boat, and went out to the middle of the lake to spend some time with the Lord. But when I got out there, I was still saying, “Thank God, I have that $20,000. In Jesus’ Name, I-have-it-I-have-it-I-have-it-I-have-it.”

Suddenly, the Lord spoke up on the inside of me: “KENNETH, BE QUIET!” He said, “I’m tired of hearing that. Just hush and let Me show you what I can do.”

When He said that, something happened inside me. My hope came alive again. Suddenly I was expectant instead of desperate. I started eagerly anticipating what God was about to do, instead of fearing what would happen if He didn’t come through in this situation.

Sure enough, the $20,000 I needed for that airplane came in and the pilot who delivered it to me ended up getting saved and filled with the Holy Spirit in the process. But none of that would have happened if I hadn’t pulled aside, locked myself away with the Word for several hours, and let the Spirit of God rebuild and rekindle the hope inside me.

Supernatural Expectancy

Before you can understand how important hope is, you have to realize that real, Bible hope is not “wishing.” That’s worldly hope. People in the world say, “I sure wish I would get a raise at work,” when what they mean is, “I want a raise. I don’t think I will get it…but it would be nice if I did.”

The kind of hope the Word of God talks about is much stronger than that because it’s not based on wishing or wanting. It is based on your covenant with God and the anointing God has provided to carry out that covenant in your life.

In fact, Ephesians 2:12 says before you knew Jesus, you were “…without Christ [or without the anointing], being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”

“But Brother Copeland,” you say, “I’m a believer. I know God’s promises. Doesn’t that mean I have all the hope I need?”

Not necessarily. You see, hope comes when you take those promises, keep them before your eyes and in your ears until they begin to build an image inside you. Hope comes when you begin to see yourself with what God has promised you – instead of seeing yourself without it.

When you have hope, you have a supernatural expectancy that what God has promised will come to pass in your life.

The Apostle Paul talks about that kind of supernatural expectancy in Philippians 1:19-20 where he says, “I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed….”

In that scripture, Paul uses two different words from the Greek language, each of which can be translated hope. One of them means the happy anticipation of good. The other can be defined as eager longing, strained expectancy, watching with an outstretched head, and abstraction from anything else that might engage the attention.

When divine hope comes alive in you, you’re so locked in on the Word of God, you can’t be distracted from it. I know what that’s like. There have been times in my life when I was so focused on something God had called me to do, and I was so tuned in to what the Word said about it, I couldn’t think about anything else.

People would try to have a conversation with me and I’d always end up talking about my hope. It would come up so big inside me that at those times, I was bigger on the inside than I was on the outside.

When your hope gets that strong, it doesn’t matter what kind of unbelief the devil tries to throw your way, it just bounces off you. You’re so one-track-minded, you can’t be drawn off course.

Back when Gloria and I first found out about faith, I was like that all the time. If someone walked up to me and said something that sounded like unbelief, I would just explode all over them! (I’m still like that, actually, I’ve just learned to be a little more gentle about it.)

One night I was in a bookstore in a church where I was preaching when such an explosion took place. I had stepped up to the cash register to buy my book and when I reached in my pocket to get my money, I sniffed.

I just sniffed! I don’t know why I did it. I guess I just felt like sniffing. When I did, the lady running the bookstore said to me, “Is it a cold or hay fever?”

Almost before I knew what I was doing, I had opened my mouth and started spurting the Word as fast as I could talk.

“THE WORD OF THE LIVING GOD SAYS IN Galatians 3:13, I’M REDEEMED FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW. Deuteronomy 28:61 SAYS ALL SICKNESS AND DISEASE ARE UNDER THE CURSE AND I AM REDEEMED FROM THE CURSE OF HAY FEVER. I DON’T HAVE COLDS, IN JESUS’ NAME! I’VE BEEN WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS! AND BY JESUS’ STRIPES I AM HEALED! HE BORE MY SICKNESSES AND CARRIED MY DISEASES….”

I nearly pinned that lady to the wall with the Word of God. Finally, she exclaimed, “Forgive me, Brother Copeland. I knew I was in trouble when I said that! But I finally understand what you’ve been preaching about. I’ve had migraine headaches all my life. I have one right now, but if you’ll lay your hand on me, I’ll be healed.”

 I did – and she was!

 What happened to her? That explosion of the Word went into her heart and suddenly she could see herself healed. Her hope came to a crisp sharpness. She saw an inner image of who she is in Christ Jesus and that no migraine could stay on her body. The minute she did, the force of faith went to work and brought that image to pass!

 That’s what the Bible means when it says “faith is the substance of things hoped for!”

Stick Your Neck Out

 How do you develop that kind of hope? You stay in the Word until your neck stretches out. I particularly like that part of the definition of hope because I know what it means to have your neck stretched.

 When I was a little boy, my grandfather was my hero. He was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian and I wanted to act like him, look like him, curse like him, chew tobacco like him and spit like him – much to my mother’s chagrin. When my mother would tell me that he and my grandmother were coming to see us, I would get so excited I could hardly wait.

 Every minute or two, I’d run to the window to see if they had arrived. Every noise sent me running for the door. I tell you, my neck was stretched out in anticipation. My Pawpaw was coming and I expected him any moment.

 That may sound like a silly example, but the Lord once told me if people would just expect Him to move as much as a child expects his grandparents to arrive, He could move on their situation and change things drastically by the power of His Spirit.

 That’s what happened in Acts 3 to the crippled man at the gate Beautiful. He had been sitting by that gate begging, his head down and his eyes to the ground. But when Peter and John walked by and said, “Look on us!” that man lifted his head and began to expect.

 Hope rose up in him because he was “…expecting to receive something of them” (verse 5).

 Of course, he received a lot more than he was expecting – he expected alms, but he got legs! That’s because his expectancy hooked into their expectancy – and, believe me, their expectancy was running high!

 It hadn’t been more than a few days since Jesus had risen from the dead, defeated the devil and all of hell with him. It hadn’t been but a few days since Jesus had looked the disciples straight in the eye and said, “Now, you go into all the world and use My Name to cast out devils. You lay hands on the sick and they’ll recover” (see Mark 16:15-18).

 I can just imagine Peter saying, “Hey, John, you know that crippled beggar down there by the temple? Come on, let’s go use the Name on him!”

 They could see themselves doing what Jesus said they could do. Their hope was “white hot.” So they went charging down to the temple and said to that cripple, “…in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”

 When they said it, they grabbed him. He had to walk, brother! They yanked him completely off the ground!

 What made them do such a thing? Expectancy!

 They didn’t tiptoe up to that gate, look around to make sure no one was watching and then whisper, “Dear Lord, if it be Thy will, heal this poor crippled man.”

 The only people who pray “if it be Thy will” are those who don’t have any hope or expectancy. If you’ve been praying that way, stop it! Go to the Word and find out what God’s will is. The Word of God is His will. It is His will for you to be well. It is His will for you to be prosperous. It is His will for you to lay hands on the sick and itis His will for them to recover.

 So stay in the Word until you’re so confident and expectant that your neck is stuck out in anticipation. Meditate on the Word until your hope gets crisp and that image inside you gets strong and clear.

 Stay in there until you’re so full of expectancy that when someone walks up to you and says, “Good morning,” you jump on them like a chicken on a bug saying, “Yes! Bless God! It is a good morning. Do you have anything wrong with you? I’ll lay hands on you right now and you’ll get healed!”

 Once hope gets that strong, it becomes courage…and hope plus courage equals the spirit of faith in action!

 The Spirit of Faith

 The Apostle Paul refers to the spirit of faith in II Corinthians 4:13 saying, “We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.”

 The spirit of faith speaks! It calls things that be not as though they were. It makes faith confessions – not because it’s “supposed to” or out of desperation, but because it’s so full of eager anticipation and confident expectation it can’t keep its mouth shut!

 The spirit of faith says, “I don’t care what God has to do, He’ll turn the world upside down if He has to, but He will change this situation for me.”

 Every time I talk about the spirit of faith, I think about my high school football team. For years, the teams from that school had been losing teams. But something happened to the bunch on my team. A spirit of winning got into them.

When we were sophomores, we were on the B-squad. We were the nothings. But we somehow got the idea that we could win. Every year the B-squad would have to scrimmage the varsity team, and usually the varsity just beat the daylights out of the sophomores.

 But the year our B-squad played them, that changed. We didn’t just beat them, we had them down by several touchdowns, just daring them to get the ball, when the coach called off the game. He was so mad at the varsity team, he didn’t even let us finish.

 What happened to that little B-squad? We reached the point where we expected to win. We had an inner image of ourselves as winners, and it eventually took the best team in the state to beat us.

 The same thing happened to Gloria and me in 1967 when we went into the ministry. We began to have an inner image of preaching the Word of God to thousands upon thousands of people. It was 10 years before we could gather up more than a handful of them at a time for one service, but we didn’t let that stop us.

 We saw the thousands in our hearts and in our minds and we just kept our necks stuck out – in more ways than one – expecting God to bring the people. Sure enough, He did.

 Of course, there were some hard times. Times when people stayed away from our meetings by the millions. Times when I preached to 17 people with the same intensity that I would preach to 6,000.

 That’s what hope does. It keeps you intensely focused on God’s promise. It keeps you seeing that promise on the inside, even when you can’t see it on the outside. It keeps you operating by the spirit of faith.

 When you have hope, the devil can’t beat you down. He can’t tear you down. He can’t stop your faith from working. Everyone around you can just stop in their tracks, but you’ll keep right on going.

 When the devil knocks you down, you just get up with a deeper resolve to hit him harder the next time…and harder the next time…and harder the next time.

 You get to the point where you expect God to move with such vigor that all the distractions in the world can’t turn your head. All the failures of the past drift into nothingness. You can’t even remember them anymore because you’re so absorbed with the expectation of what God is about to do.

 When that happens, you no longer sit around wondering what went wrong. You blast off into the glory of God, laying hold of His promises and watching your dreams come true. You live the kind of life that those who give up hope will never know.

Don’t Give Up Hope  – by Kenneth Copeland

Kenneth Copeland is the founder of Kenneth Copeland Ministries & Eagle Mountain International Church – http://www.kcm.org/

Truett Cathy, Chick-fil-A founder, dies

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Truett Cathy, Chick-fil-A founder, dies

ATLANTA (BP) — S. Truett Cathy, founder and chairman emeritus of Chick-fil-A, died today (Sept. 8) at 1:35 a.m., according to an announcement from the Atlanta-based restaurant chain. Cathy was 93.

Baptist Press will post a broadened obituary later today. This story includes information from company-released obituary follows of Cathy, a Southern Baptist churchman known for his commitment to Chick-fil-A restaurants being closed on Sundays.

Cathy, who died peacefully at home surrounded by loved ones, was born March 14, 1921, in Eatonton, Ga., moving to Atlanta with his family at age 4.

In 1946, Cathy relied on a keen business sense, a strong work ethic and a deep Christian faith to build a tiny diner in the Atlanta suburb of Hapeville. He developed it into Chick-fil-A, which today has the highest same-store sales and is the nation’s largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain based on annual system-wide sales. It was at the original restaurant that Cathy created the sandwich that became the company’s signature item.

Credited with creating the original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich and pioneering in-mall fast food, Cathy built one of the nation’s largest family-owned companies, as Chick-fil-A reached $5 billion in annual sales in 2013. Currently, there are more than 1,800 Chick-fil-A restaurants operating in 40 states and Washington, D.C.

Cathy’s oldest son, Dan, became president of Chick-fil-A in 2001, and chairman and chief executive officer in 2013, while Truett Cathy continued in the role of chairman emeritus until his death.

Cathy was a devout Southern Baptist who taught Sunday school to 13-year-old boys for more than 50 years. As an extension of the founder’s faith and the clearest example of incorporating biblical principles into the workplace, all Chick-fil-A restaurants operate with a “Closed-on-Sunday” policy. Rare within the food service industry, this policy allows employees a day for family, worship, fellowship or rest, and also underscores Cathy’s desire to put principles and people ahead of profits. Chick-fil-A will remain privately held and closed on Sundays.

Ronnie Floyd, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said Cathy “lived before the entire world a strong commitment to faith, family and work. His convictional leadership not only built a great family, but also one of America’s most phenomenal companies.”

Floyd, pastor of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas, said he will never forget Cathy’s address at a regional business summit several years ago. “To this day, it remains the largest crowd we have had in our 12-year history. His life, legacy and personality captivated the audience.”

Frank S. Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee, said he was “privileged to meet with Truett Cathy on several occasions. I deeply appreciated his stand on Christian convictions. Most of all, I admired his tenacity and faithfulness, especially exhibited in teaching young boys at First Baptist Jonesboro, Ga. His example of steadfastness and commitment to teaching the Word of God is an example to us all.”

Cathy was often quoted as saying: “I’d like to be remembered as one who kept my priorities in the right order. We live in a changing world, but we need to be reminded that the important things have not changed. I have always encouraged my restaurant operators and team members to give back to the local community. We should be about more than just selling chicken; we should be a part of our customers’ lives and the communities in which we serve.”

Cathy’s business approach was largely driven by personal satisfaction and a sense of obligation to the community and its young people. His WinShape Foundation, founded in 1984, grew from his desire to “shape winners” by helping young people succeed in life through scholarships and other youth-support programs. In addition, through its Leadership Scholarship Program, the Chick-fil-A chain has given more than $32 million in financial assistance to Chick-fil-A restaurant employees since 1973.

As part of Cathy’s WinShape Homes program, 13 foster care homes were launched and operated by Cathy and the WinShape Foundation to provide long-term care for foster children within a positive family environment. WinShape Homes has provided a safe and secure home to more than 450 children in which they could grow physically, spiritually and emotionally. WinShape Camps was founded in 1985 as a residential, two-week summer camp to impact young people through experiences that enhance their Christian faith, character and relationships. Each summer, more than 18,000 campers attend WinShape Camps.

In 2003, Cathy helped his son and daughter-in-law, Bubba and Cindy, celebrate the opening of WinShape Retreat, a high-end retreat and conference facility located on the campus of Berry College in Rome, Ga. The multi-use facility hosts marriage-enrichment retreats along with business and church-related conferences, and in summer months houses WinShape Camp for girls, directed by Cathy’s daughter, Trudy Cathy White.

Cathy was the author of “It’s Easier to Succeed Than to Fail” (Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1989); “Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People” (Looking Glass Books, 2002); “It’s Better to Build Boys Than Mend Men” (Looking Glass Books, 2004); “How Did You Do It, Truett?”(Looking Glass Books, 2007); and “Wealth, Is It Worth It?” (Looking Glass Books, 2011). He also was co-author of “The Generosity Factor” with Ken Blanchard (Zondervan Publishing, 2002).

Cathy received countless awards over the years, including most recently becoming a Georgia Trustees Inductee (2013); Fayette County (Georgia) Chamber of Commerce Dreambuilder Award (2012); Children’s Champion Hunger Award (2011); World Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award (2010); Salute to Greatness Martin Luther King Jr. Award (2009); William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership (2008); Paul M. Kuck Legacy Award (2008); President’s Call to Service Award (2008); the Cecil B. Day Ethics Award (2008); The Tom Landry Excellence of Character Award (2007); Greater Dallas FCA Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Poultry & Food Distributors Association (2005); Norman Vincent & Ruth Stafford Peale Humanitarian Award (2003); Catalyst Lifetime Achievement Award from Injoy/John Maxwell (2003); Georgia Sports Hall of Fame – Chairman’s Award (2003); Ernst & Young – Entrepreneur of the Year – Lifetime Achievement Award (2000); and Horatio Alger Award – Horatio Alger Association, Washington, D.C. (1989).

In addition to presiding over one of the most successful restaurant chains in America, Cathy was a dedicated husband, father and grandfather. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Jeannette McNeil Cathy; sons Dan T. and Don “Bubba” Cathy; daughter Trudy Cathy White; 19 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.
–30–

Original Post by Bpnews

Catholics mourn leading pro-life MP Jim Dobbin

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Catholics mourn leading pro-life MP Jim Dobbin

Catholics in England are mourning the leading pro-life MP Jim Dobbin, who has died aged 73.

The Labour MP for Heywood and Middleton in Greater Manchester died during a visit to Poland organised by the Council of Europe.

Mr Dobbin was co-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group and was awarded a papal knighthood by Benedict XVI in 2008. He had served as an MP since 1997.

Labour Party leader Ed Miliband described Mr Dobbin as a “dedicated public servant” and said his death was a “sad day for Parliament”.

He said: “A life-long, committed Catholic, Jim always took a lead in fostering links between the Church and the Labour Party, and his strong faith informed every aspect of his political and public life. This was recognised by Pope Benedict XVI when he made Jim a papal knight.

“I will miss Jim’s good friendship and decency. On behalf of the Labour Party, I offer our sincere condolences to his wife, Pat, and their children. We will all miss him.”

Catholics, pro-life groups, MPs and other admirers of Mr Dobbin’s work took to Twitter to express their condolences.

Original Post by Catholic herald

Cardinal to preach at cathedral in front of remains of Richard III

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Cardinal to preach at cathedral in front of remains of Richard III

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster is to take part in services marking the reinterment of Richard III at Leicester’s Anglican cathedral in March next year.

The cardinal will preach at a service of compline on the day the king’s remains are received into the cathedral and will celebrate a Requiem Mass the next day at a nearby Catholic parish.

Dominican friars will also sing vespers at the cathedral in the run-up to the reinterment and Fr David Rocks OP, parish priest, will preach at a lunchtime Eucharist.

The schedule, as released by the Catholic Communications Network, is as follows:

Sunday, 22 March 2015
Leicester Cathedral
The remains of Richard III will be received into the cathedral and an invited congregation will pray a service of Compline where Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, will preach.

Monday, 23 March 2015
Holy Cross Church, Leicester
Cardinal Nichols will celebrate Mass for the repose of the soul – a ‘Requiem Mass’ – of Richard III in Holy Cross Church, the Catholic parish church and Dominican priory in Leicester city centre. The choir from St Barnabas’ Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Diocese of Nottingham, will sing at this Mass, which will be open to the public.

Thursday, 26 March 2015
Leicester Cathedral
The mortal remains of Richard III will be reinterred in Leicester Cathedral, with an invited congregation and in the presence of the Most Revd Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury and senior clergy from both dioceses, and other Christian denominations alongside representatives of the World Faiths.

Friday, 27 March 2015
Leicester Cathedral
Invited guests from across the city of Leicester and the county of Leicestershire will gather in the Cathedral to mark the end of King Richard’s journey and the sealed tomb will be revealed to the public.

In addition:

The regular pattern of morning and evening prayer and the Eucharist will be kept by Leicester Cathedral throughout these days as we prepare for the King’s reinterment. A number of these services will have a very special character. All these services will be open to the public.

On Tuesday 24 March the Dominican friars will sing Vespers, the Catholic Church’s evening service, in Leicester Cathedral; this is in addition to the daily celebration of Mass and the divine office in Holy Cross Church.

On Wednesday 25 March, Father David Rocks OP, the parish priest at Holy Cross Church, will preach at the lunchtime Eucharist in Leicester Cathedral.

Further information about each service will be released in due course. Leicester Cathedral will be open for people to visit, to pay their respects and to pray from 23-25 March, and from Saturday 28 March the area around Richard III’s tomb will be open to the public.

Original Post by catholic herald

Pope Francis accepts resignation of Cardinal Seán Brady

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Pope Francis accepts resignation of Cardinal Seán Brady

The Pope has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Seán Brady as the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.

The cardinal, who passed the retirement age of 75 on August 16, will be succeeded by Archbishop Eamon Martin.

Archbishop Martin was appointed coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh by Benedict XVI on January 18 2013.

In a statement, Cardinal Brady said: “I am pleased that Pope Francis has today accepted the resignation which I offered to him on the occasion of my 75th birthday. I warmly congratulate Archbishop Eamon Martin who today becomes Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Coarb Phadraic. Let us rejoice and be glad.

“I pray that God may give to Archbishop Eamon in abundance all the graces he needs and I assure him of my help and total support at all times. Indeed I am quite confident that the people of the archdiocese – priests, religious and lay faithful – will give to their new archbishop the same whole-hearted support and faith-filled loyalty which they have always given to me and for which I will be eternally grateful.

Cardinal Brady recalled that he had been appointed a bishop by St John Paul II, worked closely with Benedict XVI and took part in the conclave that elected Pope Francis.

“That conclave has been the highlight of my life,” he said. “Pope Francis’s motto, Miserando atque eligendo, challenges and inspires me with its message of God having mercy and at the same time choosing us, despite our sinfulness. It reminds me that I too need to say sorry and to ask forgiveness. And I do so again, now. At the same time, Pope Francis’s motto inspires me to trust in the mercy of God and to pray for the strength to do always as Jesus would have me do.

“The people of the Archdiocese of Armagh and the people of Ireland will remain in my prayers for the rest of my life. I ask the favour of your prayers to help me continue to serve God as best I can all the days God gives me. God bless you always.”

In his statement, Archbishop Eamon Martin, 52, said: “During my years as executive secretary to the Irish Bishops’ Conference I saw at first hand the mammoth amount of work undertaken by Cardinal Brady as President of the Episcopal Conference and his tireless commitment to representing the Catholic Church in Ireland at countless national and international engagements. At the same time he always presents as a gentle and humble man who is never fully comfortable in the limelight. I want to thank Cardinal Seán personally for the kindness he has shown me since I came to Armagh last year, and for allowing me every opportunity to get to know the diocese. I know that I can count on his prayers and support in the years to come.

“I genuinely feel honoured to assume the role of ‘Shepherd’ in the Archdiocese of Armagh. I look forward to serving the people of 61 parishes in the counties of Armagh, Derry, Louth and Tyrone. I feel humbled to be following in the footsteps of St Patrick, and like him, I pray for ‘God’s strength to pilot me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s shield to protect me’. Over the past 16 months I have been encouraged and inspired by the enthusiasm of our young people and the dedication of our teachers, the commitment and pastoral care given by our priests and religious, and the willingness of so many people to become actively involved in the life of their parishes and diocese.

“I was ordained a bishop just a month after the election of Pope Francis. I chose my episcopal motto to be: ‘Sing a New Song to the Lord’, because I think we are all being challenged nowadays to find fresh ways of bringing the Gospel into the world. Pope Francis inspires us to write that new song in a ‘missionary key’, and reach out to everyone in society with the love and friendship of Jesus. People have been asking me to put ‘fresh heart’ into the renewal of the Church in this country.

“But I am only one person with all my inadequacies and sinfulness. The task of bringing the encouragement of faith to the world belongs to all of us – people, priests, religious Sisters and brothers, bishops – working together in communion with Christ and with one another. I am certain that a humble renewal in the Church in Ireland will only come about as our lay people exercise their specific vocation and mission to hand on the faith and to insert the Gospel into the reality of their daily lives and work.

“I pray that my heart can be more like the Heart of Jesus, burning with love for everyone. Not far from all of us today are people who feel isolated or lonely; people whose hearts are heavy with worry, illness or anxiety; perhaps someone whose heart is broken by grief or loss; a man or woman whose heart has grown colder because of some cruelty or emptiness in their lives – past or present. Every day, then, as long as this today lasts, let us keep encouraging one another with the love and compassion of Christ.”

Archbishop Martin said he would celebrate Mass on October 7 at his cathedral “to ask God’s blessing and the protection of Mary at this important milestone for me and for the archdiocese”.

Original Post by Catholic herald

Jackie Kennedy’s messages to Priests handed over to Kennedy family

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Jackie Kennedy’s messages to Priests handed over to Kennedy family

Letters between former US first lady Jackie Kennedy and a Dublin-based priest have been handed over to the Kennedy family.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Vincentian order said they wished “to confirm that private letters, written by the late Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy to our deceased confrere, Fr Joseph Leonard, have been transferred to the Kennedy family”.

“This has taken place with regard to the respect due to what is correspondence of a private nature,” the statement said before adding that the Vincentians will be making no further comment on the matter.

The letters exchanged by Kennedy and Fr Leonard were set to be auctioned in Dublin earlier this year to raise funds for struggling All Hallows College. However, the letters were later withdrawn for sale on the insistence of the Vincentian order amid public controversy about the private nature of the correspondence. The college later announced that it would have to close down due to a lack of funds and had hoped the sale of the letters would plug the gap.

The letters had been expected to sell for as much as $1.3 million (£800,000).

One letter, dated January 1964 – just weeks after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated – revealed how the tragedy left Kennedy struggling with her Catholic faith.

“I am so bitter against God,” she wrote, but added “only he and you and I know that.”

Kennedy wrote the letters between 1950 and 1964 to Father Leonard, whom she first met when she visited Dublin as a student in 1950. They began a correspondence that continued until his death in 1964. The letters also revealed that Kennedy credited the priest with her return to Catholicism after a period when she had lapsed in the practice of her faith.

Original Post by catholic herald

Church render services to Women ‘The rest of which the World has left behind’

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Church render services to Women ‘The rest of which the World has left behind’

Washington D.C., Sep 7, 2014 / 04:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Recent claims that the Catholic Church disregards women fail to acknowledge the Church’s critical work to support women and families around the world, say leaders in medicine, academia and global relief work.

“Anyone who thinks that the Catholic Church doesn’t support women doesn’t know much about the Church, its mission and its presence around the world,” said Joan Rosenhauer, Executive Vice President of US Operations for Catholic Relief Services.

“Every day, the Catholic community supports women with opportunities to strengthen their families, become better educated, and build their economic and food security. Our presence across the globe, including in some of the most remote places on earth, allows us to help many women the rest of the world has left behind,” she told CNA Aug. 27.

A recent “Poverty Matters” blog post in the British daily The Guardian criticized the Church as being anti-woman. Entitled “Pope Francis has done little to improve women’s lives,” the blog post argued particularly against the Church’s stance on human sexuality.

Rosenhauer pointed to several initiatives Catholic Relief Services has started to help alleviate poverty, particularly for women and their families. For example, the Savings and Internal Lending Communities program has provided loans to more than 1 million people – over 80 percent of them women – to help start small family businesses or help women to become financially independent.

Additionally, Rosenhauer said, “thousands of girls and women are being helped around the world every day through Church-run programs focusing on maternal and child nutrition, girls’ education, and livelihoods for women, to name just a few.” CRS runs programs that both distribute food in times of need and teach farming techniques that aid with food production and nutrition.

The Catholic Church, she continued, also provides programming, such as The Faithful House in sub-Saharan Africa, that helps strengthen families and relationships between spouses in order to help families find their basis in loving, respectful relationships.

Participants in the Faithful House, she said “report decreased alcohol use, better management of household finances, improved budgeting and savings, and the ability to pay for essential items such as school fees, household repairs, and transportation.” One participant comment that “by the time our children have their own families, society will be better than it is now because children learn from watching their parents in a loving and respectful relationship.”

The Church’s sexual teachings also help support women and families, Rosenhauer said. Catholic Relief Service’s work to teach Natural Family Planning methods help “women adopt life-affirming ways to space births in order to reduce the risk of the mothers dying during labor and improve the chances that babies will be born healthy and thrive.”

Other organizations corroborate the Church’s emphasis on providing life-affirming development policies. In 2009, Dr. Donna J. Harrison, president of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, briefed the U.N. Commissioner on Human Rights on the risks of promoting abortion as part of attempts to aid international development or address maternal mortality.

The provision of abortion in developing countries, Harrison wrote, “increases, not decreases maternal mortality and morbidity in resource poor nations,” increasing the “risk of hemorrhage, infection and incomplete abortion” in such areas.

The promotion of abortion as a development policy, she continued, also diverts funds and attention from interventions that have been proven to help reduce maternal mortality and increase overall health such as “prenatal care, skilled birth attendants, antibiotics and oxytocics.”

Helen Alvare, law professor at George Mason University and consultor for the Pontifical Council for the Laity, called critics of the Church’s reproductive and sexual teachings to consider the importance of these teachings in helping save the lives of the poor.

Abortion destroys lives, she told CNA, notably “millions of children, and their mothers suffering the physical, psychological and spiritual aftermath of a surgery unlike any other on earth.”

The Church’s teachings also help protect the most vulnerable members of society – particularly women, children and the poor – from “the sex and mating markets that grow up when sex is divorced even from the idea of kids.”

The promotion of birth control and abortion in such schemas, Alvare noted, leads to an increase in the “rates of single moms and rates of abortions,” as well as a decline in marriage rates.

Original Post by Catholic news agency

No Amount of Skills can Compare to God’s Favour

CM Editor
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No Amount of Skills can Compare to God’s Favour

No Amount of Skills can Compare  to God’s Favour 

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