1) You’re not going to find an perfect institution this side of heaven (and as the old joke goes, “If I found a perfect church, I wouldn’t dare join it because it wouldn’t be perfect anymore”.) But the bigger point is that…

2) We need each other: coals go out when they’re not in proximity with other coals – and the work of the Lord can only be done by an (imperfect) group – and it’s that imperfection through which Grace can work

3) The cop-out? By disassociating yourself from an organized group of Christians, you’re evading accountability. And the necessary task of getting your rough edges sculpted out by grinding against other Christians in the church.

So get back in the battle and make a difference in a church. Your gifts and talents are needed to complement what’s missing somewhere, in the place God has for you.

On the issue of “Catholic” v. “catholic,” the lower case “c” has, indeed, been used for nearly 2,000 years to describe a universal Christian Church. That Church, however, does not in reality equate to the Roman Catholic Church of today. The Church founded by Jesus Christ and the Apostles was one. However, Acts 11: 26 tells us, “…the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” This original Christian Church developed into many “patriarchates,” of which Rome was one. All of the patriarchs were considered equal, although Rome was eventually said to be regarded as “first among equals” in light of the Roman Emperor Constantine’s decision to stop the murder of Christians in the early 300s and to declare Christianity as new faith of the Roman Empire. All of the patriarchates continued in the “one and equal” tradition until approximately 1054, when the Roman patriarch declared himself Pope over all and sought to “excommunicate” all of the other patriarchs. Being the supreme political and military commander in the West, he was able to pull this off within much of the West. However, in spite of Rome’s decision to essentially start its own church, the other patriarchates continued, the 1,000 year old catholic tradition -centered where it was founded by Christ and the Apostles- and continue to this day in the practice and growth of the original faith throughout the world as the Orthodox Church. There are currently over 25 million Orthodox Christians across the globe. A helpful summary of all of this may be found at: http://www.gettoknowtheoriginal.net/

I do look forward to the day when all Christians are members of a universal, catholic church. And, none of the above is meant to imply in any way that those who identify themselves as Roman Catholic or as other Christians are “totally wrong” or that their spirituality is “faulty.” However, we cannot attain unity by re-writing history and asserting domination where none exists. Humility and respect for God’s Word are key to our moving forward here. Heaven knows we have never had so great a need to focus our attention on what God would have us do.

If anything i wrote is inspiring it’s because the grandeur of the Church in some way shone through my mean thoughts.

great response, ty.

very inspiring.

The SS Obama will crash against the Rock like all his predecessors.

Amazing how old, but young, I feel as a Catholic realizing and writing that.

“Late have I loved thee, beauty ever ancient ever new, late have I loved thee!” –St. Augustine.

It is hypocritical to denounce Barack Obama’s redistribution schemes as long as you support this one, and anyone who did support it has no right to complain now that a Democrat is running this statist scheme the way HE sees fit; you should have seen this coming. The fact that the loot is redistributed by private religious organizations as opposed to the government does not in any way mitigate or excuse it. It is wrong. It’s time for conservatives to do a 180 on this issue to preserve the integrity of the movement.

Obama truly believes that religion is just some guy talking in a sanctuary, and should never been seen nor heard from anywhere else. Government is his true religion.

The Obama has cocktails every Wednesday evening paid for by his parishioners, the American taxpayer and the Chinese government.

From a purely practical standpoint this is a stupid move by Obama. If there is any desire to actually help people, putting a guy in place who gives every indication of trying to exclude the number one player in the field is not a smart way to go.

Not that I’m in the least surprised. If there’s one thing this administration has been it’s been beyond caricature. No overreach, ridiculous activity, or asinine policy position is beyond these yahoos.

In to God’s hands I pray that we can learn to live and love in the peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, all honor and glory be to God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Ghost who live and reign together, one God now and forever!

We as Catholics and all of us as Christians have felt the pain of ridicule based on faith. Although the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights states that we are protected in our faith, this truth is constantly undermined. The examples are too many to repeat. The most recent before Knox is the attempt to force religious institutions to perform abortions and to rid staff in those institutions of persons who cannot in faith perform that practice, as if people who believe in the sancity of life are somehow less than others.

I could go on but I won’t. Just want to thank everyone for feeling our pain.

When will the Obama Administration kill corporate finance and support of Knox’s Human Rights Campaign, a floodgate to campaigning for gay interests as it “works for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equal rights by lobbying the federal government, educating the public, participating in election campaigns“?

Played around with it here:

http://veronicaestrada.com/blog/2010/02/04/forcing-the-corporate-1st-amendment-issue-on-obama-as-he-allows-knox-to-diss-the-pope/

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11044a.htm

This came about because of Arian heresy — which propposed that Jesus was not both divine and man.

The Nicene Creed was explicitly for Catholics, which was the universal, global church at the time.

“Universal” can still be accurately applied to Catholicism, as it is the only church in the world where you can walk into — be it Russia, Germany, Australia, Sibera or America — and find the exact same liturgy — except in different languages, of course.

Don’t mean to threadjack.

That’s an instaban right there.