Daily Babe News

From NY Post; An irate Edward Cardinal Egan yesterday blasted abortion backer Rudy Giuliani for breaking a long-secret promise to him by taking Communion at the pope's recent Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral.

"I deeply regret that Mr. Giuliani received the Eucharist during the papal visit here in New York," said Egan, boss of the New York Archdiocese. "I will be seeking a meeting with him to insist that he abide by our understanding."

Egan revealed for the first time that years ago - when Giuliani was mayor - the two men reached the "understanding" that the Catholic politician would not take Communion "because of his well-known support of abortion." [read more]

From LGF; For the first time, the Associated Press actually admits that Barack Obama was a Muslim in his childhood: Obama Says Voters Curious on His Faith.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Sunday he does not think voters have a litmus test on religion, whether evangelical Christianity or his childhood years in the Muslim faith.

“If your name is Barack Hussein Obama, you can expect it, some of that. I think the majority of voters know that I’m a member of the United Church of Christ, and that I take my faith seriously,” Obama said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Now that the Associated Press has given this fact their blessing, it does raise a rather uncomfortable question for a man who wants to be the commander in chief of the United States. The penalty under well-established shari’a law for apostasy—leaving Islam—is death. How would the world’s 249 gazillion Muslims react to having an American president who is also a Muslim apostate?

From Lucianne.com; Some years ago the Rev. Joe Wright offered this prayer to the Kansas State Legislature. It was widely circulated. We felt it should get a Ldot Christmas airing once again.

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance.

We know your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we've done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.

We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism.

We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem.

We have abused power and called it political savvy.

We have coveted our neighbors' possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us O God and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.

Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by you, to govern this great state.

Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the name of your son, the living savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

From Catholic News; 1980s tennis star and former World No 2, Andrea Jaeger, also known for her on-court temper, has discovered a new spiritual life caring for children in need - and now as a Dominican nun.

People reports that twenty-five years ago, Andrea Jaeger was the brat of the women's tennis tour.

Jaeger told the US celebrity magazine that she sometimes screamed at linesmen and was standoffish to competitors in her rise to the top of the tennis ladder.

Today, however, the former tennis star spends her time with young cancer survivors she visits at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Now 41, Jaeger has become Sr Andrea, an Anglican Dominican nun. The Anglican Dominicans who include priests and nuns were founded by American Rev Jeffery Mackey as the Anglican expression of the Catholic Order of Preachers founded by St Dominic. [read more]

From Miss Kelly; Life has so many layers. First, I noticed on my calendar that today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Rosary. Then I read in this week's Catholic Carnival that October is the month of the rosary, and that October 21 is the World Wide Day of the Rosary. It's everywhere! Time to find the beads and get crackin'.

Back in my college days of dabbling in eastern religions, the chanting and meditation practices of Buddhism (nam-myoho-renge-kyo) and Hinduism (pujas and mantras) reminded me of saying the rosary. I felt the same sense of quieting the waters. Focusing the mind on a simple repetition of prayers was so calming. Of course, the rosary is not just about chanting, one is supposed to contemplate the various mysteries, but the effect is similar. It quiets the mind and refreshes the soul. Don't need to go looking far, it's in your own backyard.

Back to October 7th! Perusing The Bad Catholics Guide to Good Living, I find there's a whole lot more to October 7th:

"This feast marks the massive defeat of an invading Turkish navy by joint Christian forces (called the "Holy League," no less) off the coast of Greece in 1571. The pope of the day attributed the Christian victory to the rosaries said throughout Christendom on the day of the battle."

In this victory at Lepanto, Greece, 35,000 Turks were slain and 15,000 Christian slaves were freed. The Turkish navy lost all but 40 of some 300 galleys involved in the battle. The Turkish galleys were powered by slaves, including thousands of Christian slaves. [read more]

From BBC; Speaking in Germany, the Pope quoted a 14th Century Christian emperor who said the Prophet Muhammad had brought the world only "evil and inhuman" things.

Pakistan's parliament passed a resolution on Friday criticising the Pope for making "derogatory" comments.

The Vatican said the Pope had not intended to offend Muslims.

"It is clear that the Holy Father's intention is to cultivate a position of respect and dialogue towards other religions and cultures, and that clearly includes Islam," said chief Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi in a statement. [read more]

From TimesOnline; A gay man living in an open relationship with his partner is top of the list of candidates for a bishopric announced yesterday by one of the most liberal dioceses in The Episcopal Church in the US.

In the highly likely event that Canon Michael Barlowe, a former Wall Street banker, is elected as Bishop of Newark, this will confirm fears that there can now be no reconciliation between the liberal and conservative wings of the worldwide Anglican Church.

In what can only be interpreted as an act of defiance against the Archbishop of Canterbury’s attempt to hold the Church together, the Newark diocese announced the four nominees to be 10th Bishop of Newark the day after Dr Rowan Williams defining letter to his his fellow 37 primates. [read more]

From Riding Sun; I've already blogged about one Buddhist sect's wet T-shirt contest sacred ritual. Now, the Mainichi Shimbun reports on a Buddhist temple in Aichi prefecture with a similarly compelling focus:

A certain sector of Aichi Prefecture, says Cyzo (April), is packed with sordid Shinto shrines and brazen Buddhist temples dedicated to the pleasures of the flesh.

Aichi, the monthly notes, is home to Mama Kannon, the only Buddhist temple in the country devoted entirely to the worship of women's breasts.

"Tabito" has some photos of Mama Kannon on Flickr. It looks deceptively normal at first, but a closer inspection reveals the breast-shaped incense holder, and the breast fountain with squirting nipples. [read more]

From ABC; As Mike Seaver, the eldest son in the smash hit sitcom "Growing Pains," actor Kirk Cameron could make audiences roll with laughter. But now he wants to bring them to the Lord. And he's deadly serious.

The show, which began in 1985 , dominated the television ratings. Cameron joined the cast at the age of 14.

At first, he says, he was mesmerized by Hollywood and all the benefits that came from his newly acquired celebrity status. But soon he grew weary of signing autographs and a lifestyle that seemed entirely superficial.

The transition came about after Cameron reached his 16th birthday.

He sat in Beverly Hills in his newly purchased car and decided to pray. "I said, 'God if you're there, I want to know,'" he told Nightline. "'I don't want to be fooled or blinded by any sort of religion, but if you are real I need to know because I've completely ignored you my entire life. And if I die and find out that I am wrong about your existence, I've played the part of the biggest fool, and all of my money, popularity will not mean anything on that day.'" [read more]

From Kevin McCullough at Musclehead Revolution; In a remarkably odd statement this past week, the Vatican has issued a stout defence of Charles Darwin!

In fact Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture said that "if the Bible were read correctly" that the Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin's theory of evolution were "perfectly compatible."

"The fundamentalists want to give a scientific meaning to words that had no scientific aim," he said at a Vatican press conference. He said the real message in Genesis was that "the universe didn't make itself and had a creator".

[read more]

From Catholic News Agency; According to a new grammar rule in the Netherlands and Belgium, the name "Christ" will soon be written with a lower-case "c", as stipulated by an orthography reform published last Friday.

According to the Kath.net agency, the new spelling rules also will stipulate that the Dutch word for "jews" (joden) be spelled with a capital "J" when referring to nationality and with a lower-case "j" when referring to the religion. The changes will be mandatory starting in August 2006.

From Lifesite; Rosemary Radford Ruether, a professor of Feminist Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley California, has announced that for feminists and so-called ‘liberal’ Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI does not represent them as head of the Catholic Church. She says in a media release from an organization called, “Women’s Ordination Worldwide” that the Pope “is not our Pope.”

This announcement might come as a surprise to some Catholics who know that Radford Ruether long ago renounced her affiliation with the Catholic Church. Her claim, therefore, to have the personal authority to depose the 265th successor of St. Peter the Apostle, might have some high-level Catholic theologians puzzled.

Not that such a revelation would trouble Radford Ruether who has long supported not only women’s ordination, but has spent years calling for the Church to lift her bans on homosexual deviancy, abortion, sterilization, contraception, divorce – the full roster of the sexual revolution’s demands. [read more]

From BBC; Eight members of a polygamous community have been indicted in connection with cases of alleged sexual misconduct with minors, US prosecutors say.

The charges follow an investigation into communities of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) in Arizona and Utah.

One of the men was arrested on Friday, while the others turned themselves in on Monday, AP news agency reported.

Police are still seeking the church's leader, who was charged last month. [read more]

From AP; The Supreme Court said Monday it would take up a new abortion case this fall, raising the political stakes just as the court faces the possibility of replacing ailing Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.

The justices, in agreeing to review a parental notification law from New Hampshire, showed surprising zeal to take on a divisive subject - especially considering the uncertainty of the court's future and the partisan fighting in the Senate over President Bush's nominees for federal judgeships.

The last major Supreme Court abortion case splintered the justices 5-4. A similar split could occur again, with or without Rehnquist, with additional drama outside the court. [read more]

From Yahoo/AP; A Roman Catholic priest denied communion to more than 100 people Sunday, saying they could not receive the sacrament because they wore rainbow-colored sashes to church to show support for gay Catholics.

Before offering communion, the Rev. Michael Sklucazek told the congregation at the Cathedral of St. Paul that anyone wearing a sash could come forward for a blessing but would not receive wine and bread. [read more]

From CNN; White smoke rose from a Sistine Chapel chimney and bells rang Tuesday, signaling the selection of a new pope.

Thousands of people in St. Peter's Square clapped and waved flags as the smoke billowed over Vatican City.

Suspense built as the throng waited for the symbolic ringing of bells, at which point the crowd broke into a roar of jubilation.

The 115 cardinals' morning ballots were burned at about 11:50 a.m. (5:50 a.m. EDT). [read more]

From Yahoo/AP; Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace as archbishop of Boston over his role in the clergy sex abuse crisis, has been given a role of honor in the mourning for Pope John Paul II.

The Vatican announced Thursday he will lead one of the daily Masses celebrated in the pope's memory during the nine-day period that follows the funeral, called Novemdiales. The service will be held Monday at Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica, where Law was appointed archpriest after leaving Boston.

Some Roman Catholics in his former archdiocese immediately protested. [read more]

From news.Telegraph; The first openly gay Anglican bishop has sparked outrage for suggesting that Jesus might have been homosexual.

The Rt Rev Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church of the United States, said that Jesus was an unmarried, "non-traditional man" who did not uphold family values, "travelled with a bunch of men" and enjoyed an especially close relationship with one of his disciples.

His comments, made in a recent address at the Christ Church of Hamilton and Wenham in Massachusetts, have enraged traditional Anglicans who have suggested that the Bishop should be "struck down by thunder and lightning bolts". Bishop Robinson, whose consecration in 2003 triggered a schism between evangelicals and liberals in the worldwide Anglican Communion, was giving an address entitled "Homosexuality and the Body of Christ: Is There a New Way?" [read more]

From AP; The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, celebrated a Mass for the repose of Pope John Paul II's soul Sunday on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica, calling on the tens of thousands of people gathered there to pray for "our beloved John Paul."

The 84-year-old pontiff's body lay in state at the Apostolic Palace, dressed in crimson vestments, his head covered with a white bishop's miter. The Vatican released the Polish-born pope's official cause of death, saying the man who reigned for longer than all but two of his predecessors died at 9:37 p.m. Saturday of septic shock and cardio-circulatory collapse.

The written text of Sodano's homily called the late pope "John Paul the Great," a title usually designated for popes worthy of sainthood, such as Gregory the Great and Leo the Great. Sodano did not use the title when he delivered the homily, and there was no explanation.

Vatican texts, however, are considered official texts even if they are not pronounced. [read more]

From AP; Pope John Paul II was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance Thursday, suffering from a relapse of the flu, the Vatican said, a day after the pontiff made his longest public appearance since being discharged from the clinic two weeks ago.

The 84-year-old pontiff was taken to Gemelli Polyclinic hospital after the return of flu symptoms Wednesday. He was hospitalized for "necessary specialized assistance and further tests," papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

The Vatican said the pope was taken to the clinic at 10:45 a.m. The Vatican played down the seriousness of the hospitalization, saying a patient of the pope's age is always at risk from the flu. [read more]