Church raises $30,000, cancels $4 million in medical debts: The power of perseverance

Northview Church

Northview Church in Indiana asks itself regularly: What would happen if the church packed up and left the state? Would anybody notice? Would anybody care?

It turns out, people who owed $4 million in medical debt would.

The church, which operates seven campuses and averages about ten thousand people on a typical Sunday, conducts what it calls the Dollar Club four times a year. Each person in attendance is asked to contribute a dollar, which the church pools and uses to meet needs. The church typically raises between $6,000 and $10,000; the money goes to support foster families, help with medical bills, and so on.

In May, however, the church told members they had a special opportunity and asked them to donate $3 or $4.

A few weeks later, the church partnered with a charity called RIP Medical Debt, one of the organizations that buys such debt from hospitals, doctors, and even investors, usually for a penny per dollar. The church donated $30,000 to this charity. Since some medical debt in Indiana was cheaper than normal, the charity then leveraged Northview’s donation to alleviate $4 million in debt.

“Play after every storm”

The weekend news was dominated by President Trump’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, where he became the first sitting US president to step into North Korea. The stock market is expected to gain more than 250 points this morning after the US and China agreed not to impose more tariffs. “Pride” parades across the nation and NBA free agent announcements also made headlines.

In a culture headlined by politics, moral issues, and celebrity athletes, Northview Church asks a good question: If you and I “packed up and left” our community, would anyone notice or care?

The good news is that anyone can make a difference that matters. Consider Michael Atkins, who began his career in education by working as a school custodian…

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Vatican warns against attempts to limit secrecy of sacrament of confession

The Holy See’s Apostolic Penitentiary, a tribunal dealing with absolution and confessional matters, reiterated the secrecy obligation for clergy in a six-page document approved by the pope and made public on Monday.

For years now, the Catholic church has been besieged by lawsuits and other civil actions and targeted by prosecutors, including in the United States, aimed at obtaining justice for children and other victims of sex abuse by clergy and systematic cover-up by many pastors and bishops.

 

Some have suggested that the secrecy of confession could be problematic in tackling the problem.

“Every political or legislative initiative aimed at ‘forcing’ the inviolability of the sacramental seal would constitute an unacceptable offence against the freedom of the church, which doesn’t receive its very legitimisation from any single country but from God,” the document said.

Such initiatives would also violate religious freedom, it asserted.

In a written comment on the document, Tribunal head Cardinal Mauro Piacenza cautioned against interpreting the statement as any slackening in Pope Francis’ recently reiterated resolve to combat clergy sex abuse and cover-ups by superiors.

“It’s opportune to make clear that the text of the statement cannot and doesn’t want to be in any way a justification or a form of tolerance of the abhorrent cases of abuse perpetrated by members…

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“8 out of 10 Americans Support Restrictions on Abortion”: March for Life Ad Airs Before Democrat Primary Debates

“8 out of 10 Americans Support Restrictions on Abortion”: March for Life Ad Airs Before Democrat Primary Debates



Before the first Democratic presidential primary debate on MSNBC Wednesday night, March for Life aired a commercial revealing that the party’s extreme positions on abortion are far from American’s consensus.


Relying on poll data from Marist Institute for Public Opinion on behalf of the pro-life Catholic fraternal organization Knights of Columbus, the minute-long commercial titled “Consensus” explains that 8 out of 10 Americans “support restrictions on abortion.” 


The diverse group of women featured in the ad blame politicians for listening to pro-abortion lobbyists and a vocal minority instead of Americans. According to the commercial, only 13% of people support unrestricted access to abortion. 


“These pro-choice politicians listen to them, not us,” the commercial said. 


The poll asked 1,000 people across the U.S. in February for their opinions on abortion. According to the Daily Caller, the poll found that not only do Americans oppose funding abortions in the U.S., but also abroad too, including 56% of Democrats. 


The women in the ad explained that 6 out of 10 Americans who claim to be pro-choice responded that “abortion should happen only during the first three months of pregnancy.” The ad continued to share that consensus across the country is that there should be “real legal limits” on…

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