Tag: Church (building)

As of now, the atheist government in Beijing and the bureaucrats in the Vatican are acting as if they were allies, having signed a deal last September that neither the Vatican nor the communists have released to the public, and that will govern how Catholic bishops are appointed in China. Does China's atheist regime try to force Catholics to act in ways that are contrary to their faith? The State Department said last May: "The CPA does not recognize the authority of the Holy See to appoint Catholic bishops. So, a man appointed as a bishop in China's "official" church could only qualify for that position if he were to pledge support for a party that demands its members be atheists. Yet last Sept. 22, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, announced that the Holy See had signed a "Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China Concerning the nomination of Bishops." He also indicated that the bishops in China's "official" church had been legitimized. But the Vatican did not release the text of the agreement or explain in detail what is in it. Nor did they tell Cardinal Zen or other faithful Chinese Catholics. "Candidates will be chosen at the diocesan level through the 'democratic election' system that the Chinese authorities introduced in 1957, whereby the priests of the diocese, together with representatives of women religious and laypeople, vote from among the candidates presented by the authorities that supervise church affairs," said America Magazine. That is all he can do," said Cardinal Zen.

With the start of the campaign period, a number of dioceses have issued a directive prohibiting the posting of political tarpaulins in church premises. Among these is the Diocese of Balanga in Bataan, which is headed by Bishop Ruperto Santos. “We have pastoral directive that there will be no political tarpaulins in any church patio and fences,” he said in an interview. “It is prohibited to allow the posting of any candidate’s or political party’s political advertisement (tarpaulin, banners, stickers, etc) in church property including political rallies in church premises,” read his circular letter addressed to his priests. Priests are also prohibited to solicit from political candidates or political parties donation for church renovation and constructions or other church projects that may compromise the non-partisanship of the Church during the campaign and election process. “It is prohibited for any priest to openly and directly campaign for a particular political party or candidate,” he said. However, Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes did not anymore issue the same in his diocese saying the people already know that it is forbidden. Sponsored Links . HoochMom Doesn't Allow Her Daughter To Eat Sugar Or Carbs, Wait Till You See HerHooch Science101Scientists Are Still Struggling To Understand New 'Pizzly Bear' CreatureScience101 Crowdy FanDoris Day Is Almost 100 And Wants You To See HerCrowdy Fan Senior Living | Search AdsMilpitas Wasn't Expecting Cheap Senior Apartments to be this GoodSenior Living | Search Ads Tecovas Handmade BootsThousands Are Switching To This New Cowboy Boot (Here’s Why)Tecovas Handmade Boots CNETMeet the US Navy's new $13 billion aircraftCNET Sponsored Links . Investing OutlookMan Who Called DOW 20,000 Has Surprising New PredictionInvesting Outlook HoochMom Doesn't Allow Her Daughter To Eat Sugar Or Carbs, Wait Till You See HerHooch Science101Scientists Are Still Struggling To Understand New 'Pizzly Bear' CreatureScience101 Gundry MDFeeling Old & Sluggish?

COLUMBIA — When Gov. Weeks away from a highly competitive GOP gubernatorial primary, all of the Republican candidates are flexing their Christian muscles in attempt to woo the Palmetto State's more religious voters who make up a significant and vocal portion of the party's base. Yancey McGill has cited his own Christian upbringing as his reason for signing a pledge to support the abortion ban bill. Now, all of the Republican candidates have said they would support the abortion ban, a sign of the importance of pro-life credentials in the race. Evangelical voters make up a significant proportion of the turnout in GOP primaries around the country. That has not stopped churches from urging parishioners to take to the polls and consider their Christian values when doing so. 'Pastors are multipliers' State Sen. Darrell Jackson, a Hopkins Democrat and pastor at Bible Way Church of Atlas Road, suggested that Republicans who believe they have a leg up with Christian voters are only thinking about white evangelicals. Skepticism towards the GOP among religious African-American voters, Jackson argued, stems from a view that "we certainly understand the importance of our faith but we believe our faith dictates that we reach out and help those who are less fortunate.” While many black churchgoers are also pro-life, Jackson said Democrats have an opportunity to make inroads if they are authentic about their beliefs. "If you listen to what some Republicans say, you'd think Christians and people of faith are only concerned about one issue," Jackson said. "You may discount the faith community but pastors are multipliers," Connelly said.

Catholics have a special duty to resist polarization, both in politics and in the church. That was the message from Bishop Robert McElroy, the head of the Diocese of San Diego, who was in Chicago delivering a lecture named for the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, a former Chicago archbishop who sought to unite Catholic camps that sometimes disagree on how to live out the church’s call to protect life at every stage. Bishop McElroy, who holds a doctorate in political science from Stanford University, said that Catholics must strive to adopt a new “Catholic political imagination” that embraces “the virtues of solidarity, compassion, integrity, hope and peace-building.” Using Pope Francis’ 2015 address to the U.S. Congress as inspiration, Bishop McElroy said Catholics, especially church leaders, must “reassess” how they “carry out the mission of evangelizing the political culture of the United States” and lamented that the church’s views are often used not to promote the common good, but to score political points. Bishop McElroy said that Catholics must embrace “the virtues of solidarity, compassion, integrity, hope and peace-building.” “Catholic teaching has been hijacked by those who break down the breadth of our social doctrine by reducing it to the warped partisan categories of our age and then selecting those teachings for acceptance which promote their partisan worldview,” the bishop said. Referencing a new apostolic exhortation from the pope, in which he calls believers to holiness and urges them to embrace the full range of Catholic social teaching, including opposition to abortion as well as concern for the poor and marginalized, Bishop McElroy lamented that “in the partisan reality of our day, these two complementary claims of the Gospel are placed in political opposition.” “Even worse,” he added, “skewed distillations of Catholic moral teaching are deployed by both sides to explain why one set of these issues automatically enjoys a higher claim upon the consciences of believers.” Bishop McElroy’s views have been interpreted as being part of the “seamless garment” approach to Catholic social justice teaching, a notion advanced by Cardinal Bernardin in the 1980s. What he dubbed a “Catholic political imagination” could guide this political evangelization, which would include “heartfelt compassion for all those who are suffering in society,” including those who suffer because of racism, poverty, gun violence, threats of deportation and sexual harassment. Polls show that political polarization has increased dramatically over the past couple of decades. “These are wounds in our society which tear at our social fabric and constitute immense human suffering that must be addressed,” he said. In 2017, that number had increased to about 45 percent. Responding to a question from a Loyola undergraduate student, Bishop McElroy said engaging young Catholics will be especially important for the church in this area, calling an upcoming synod of bishops devoted to young adults “enormously important in the life of the church.” “Unless we can find ways of engaging with the younger generation, it’s going to be a greatly crippled church moving forward,” he said.

A surprising 43 percent of Tar Heel residents were born out-of-state, according to a recent blog post by the Carolina Population Center at UNC Chapel Hill. Help us deliver journalism that makes a difference in our community. The politics of those born out of state seem to be a little different from North Carolina natives. In 2017, non-natives for the first time outnumbered native North Carolinians. Of the 2.96 million registered voters known to be born out of state, 33 percent are Democrats, 30 percent are Republicans and 37 percent are unaffiliated. Another way of looking at it is that of all registered Democrats, 56 percent are North Carolina natives and 44 percent were born out of state. Of all registered Republicans, 51 percent are North Carolina natives and 49 percent were born out of state. Of all the unaffiliated voters, 41 percent are North Carolina natives and 59 percent were born out of state. White Southerners moving into North Carolina tend to register as Republicans, while black Southerners tend to register as Democrats, according to an analysis by Bitzer on his blog, Old North State Politics. The two Southern states that twice voted for Democratic President Barack Obama — Virginia and Florida — are also the two Southern states where polls show the voters are to the left of North Carolina’s voters.

Europe, in particular, stands aghast at a world where spirituality and power go hand-in-hand and where elders are part of the political and religious structure. So the question as to whether Jesus was exclusively a religious leader or a politician is one that would sound absurd to people in much of the world. But take a look at Denis Arcand’s Jesus of Montreal – the best of the so-called Jesus films – and you’ll get a sense of how absurd it is to separate the politician from the religious figure. As he researches Jesus’ life and reenacts that life in the play, the events of Daniel’s own life show startling parallels to key scenes in Jesus’ life: the turning over of tables in the TV audition, breaking bread for the audience, the trial in the Montreal court, the temptation by Mireille’s lawyer (who takes Daniel/Jesus to the top of a Montreal skyscraper and shows him all he could possess). He heals people and calls them to a new life and prophesies about future judgement. He calls his opponents a “brood of vipers” (Matthew 23:33), “whitewashed sepulchres” (Matthew 23:37) and “children of the devil” (John 8:44). But mostly Jesus lifts up those who were ignored in that society: children, women, the poor. Passion for politics Who was this Jesus? A Jesus who is neither a member of the established religion of the day nor a career politician. Perhaps the challenge for European culture in the 21st century is to rediscover a holistic approach to politics and faith – an awareness that faith envisions politics and that politics is the outworking of a moral vision at the heart of what it means to be human.