You would think that atheism would be anti-religion, and it often is, but some who consider themselves atheists see value in aspects of religion, even if they can’t abide the theological elements.  Martin Marty alerts us to a book by Alain de Botton called Religion for Atheists.  Marty notes that he’s not read the book — thus no review — but points us to a Wall Street Journal excerpt that lifts up the value of religious meals that help create community, and thus offers an atheist version.  Marty asks the question as to whether such a “religion for everyone” will work.  That is, he asks whether the idiosyncrasies of our religions help define the meal and its rituals, something that can’t be reproduced outside the religious dimension.  Take a read, consider the proposal fro de Botton, and Marty’s response.  What do you think?

************************

Sightings  2/20/2012 

Religion of Atheism

– Martin E. Marty

In the two-page article by de Botton in the weekend Wall Street Journal we read a perceptive highlighting of what?s good about religion and religions. Fair. His analysis of what religion(s) can do when at its (their?) best is likely to get less attention than his projection of what the Journal headlines as ?Religion for Everyone.? Communicators who must score by coming up with the novel will find the notion of Religion for Atheists a concept hard to pass up, sure to attract notice, and demanding response. This e-column is itself a sample thereof. Rather than gorge on the promise of this new religion or than sneer at its announcement, we might serve the cause by examining the prospect of de Botton?s vision and prescription.           

His main examples of usable functions to be retrieved, replicated, advanced, and celebrated from the old dying religions?his main points draw on Catholicism?have to do with rituals, eating together as in the Mass, forming community, and the like. He pictures value in what he would ?build? and advertise as the Agape Restaurant, modeled after the sacramental love-feast (=agape) practiced by early Christians and re-modeled both in the Mass of communal meals of most believing communities.           

Now for the look ahead: I?d buy stock in the media which will debate the proposal. But if history is any guide, stock in any sort of ?Religion for Everyone? is bearish. ?It?s been done!? is a world-weary sigh which we historians are expected to sigh. Of more potential value for faith, non-faith, religion, post-religion, and communities (from local to global) is examining the question of why a ?Religion for Everyone? or ?A Religion of Atheism? or ?The Religion of Humanity? as advanced by major figures like John Stuart Mill and Auguste Comte in early-modern centuries failed so dismally if not disastrously. It may be because they were proposed by Mills and Comtes and not voiced by Muhammad, Moses, and the others. Without suggesting that this is an all-purpose reason, let me plug my favorite analysis, George Santayana?s words in Reason in Religion. A religion for everyone? He writes:           

?Any attempt to speak without speaking any particular language is not more hopeless than the attempt to have a religion that shall be no religion in particular. . . . Thus every living and healthy religion has a marked idiosyncrasy. Its power consists in its special and surprising message and in the bias which that revelation gives to life.? Its vistas and mysteries propound ?another world to live in,? and ?another world to live in. . . is what we mean by having a religion.? 

De Botton?s work is a laudable critique of what goes wrong in the old religions, which he seems to envy and about which he is nostalgic. ?The religions? could take lessons from some of what he proposes. But it does not transcend the merely secular world, and does not appear to offer ?another world to live in.? We?ll watch.

References

George Santayana, Reason in Religion, quoted in helpful context by Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York Basic Books, 1973), p. 87.

Alain de Botton, ?Religion for Everyone,? Wall Street Journal, February 18, 2012.

Martin E. Marty’s biography, publications, and contact information can be found at www.memarty.com.

———-

This month?s Religion & Culture Web Forum is by Emanuela Zanotti Carney, on Voices of Despair and Gestures of Grief in Rituals of Mourning and Italian Marian Laments in the late Middle Ages. As devotion to Mary as the “mother of sorrows” flourished in the late Middle Ages, poetic narratives of Mary’s lamentations at the foot of the cross became an important sub-genre of Marian literature.  Emanuela Zanotti Carney studies Marian laments written in the Italian vernacular, arguing that “poets and compilers … conveyed the emotional experience of the Virgin at the cross by embodying traditional rituals of mourning performed by women (thecorrotto) into their lyrical and dramatic texts” (2-3).  Seeking an emotional reaction to Mary’s grief, these laments “transformed audiences from passive recipients of a sacred story to active and engaged participants in the history of salvation” (32). Read Voices of Despair and Gestures of Grief.

———-

Source: http://www.bobcornwall.com/2012/02/religion-of-atheism-sightings.html

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Bud Hentzen, co-founder of Kansas City based charity Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA), died November 30. The 30 year old charity he helped found has served more than 650,000 children and aging through their tremendously successful sponsorship program which matches donors with individual children and other beneficiaries worldwide.

Hentzen was 83 and news of his death in Wichita was sent out today by CFCA?s Carlos Casas.

CFCA has a low-profile compared to other well-known Catholic and Christian charities, but it has grown to be one of the largest because of the trust its sponsors have in the organization and the loyalty they continuously prove to deserve.

Hentzen was a tremendous Catholic ? K of C, Serra, Holy Sepulchre, 9 kids and 52 grand and great grandkids. May he rest in peace and may his efforts continue to prosper to the benefit of God?s children in need. In lieu of flowers, please join CFCA. Instructions are in the release below:

CFCA co-founder Bud Hentzen dies at 83

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Dec.2, 2011) ? Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA), a lay Catholic organization based in Kansas City, Kan., is mourning the passing of co-founder Bernard A. ?Bud? Hentzen. Hentzen died Nov. 30, 2011, in Wichita.He was 83.

Hentzen, along with three siblings, CFCA President Bob Hentzen, the late Jim Hentzen and Nadine Pearce, and their friend, the late Jerry Tolle, founded CFCA in 1981 to help provide much-needed assistance to families living in extreme poverty in developing countries.

“Bud was the face of CFCA to many of the church institutions ? Catholic Press Association, Knights of Columbus, Serra Club,” said Scott Wasserman, chief governing officer of the CFCA governing board.

Through the years, Hentzen remained an active member of CFCA and recently traveled to Kansas City to attend a board meeting and celebrate the organization?s 30^th anniversary.

Hentzen served CFCA in various capacities, most recently as director emeritus on the governing board. His contributions helped the organization grow from a small home-based charity into one of the 200 largest U.S. nonprofit organizations listed by Forbes. Since CFCA?s founding, sponsors and donors have contributed more than $1 billion in total revenue, resulting in more than 650,000 children, youth and aging persons and their families being served through the sponsorship program.

Hentzen was an active member of the Wichita community through his involvement in various local organizations, including Catholic organizations such as the Knights of Columbus, Serra Club and Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, a pontifical society entrusted with preserving Christian sites in the Holy Land.

Hentzen is survived by his wife, Joanne Wilkes Hentzen; nine children; and 52 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A daughter, Kitty Bircher, preceded him in death.

A funeral Mass for Hentzen will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, Dec. 5, at St. Jude Catholic Church in Wichita.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to CFCA. Donations can be made directly through the CFCA website at www.hopeforafamily.org.

Founded 1981 in Kansas City, CFCA is a lay Catholic, international nonprofit working with families living in poverty in 22 developing countries. Through the contributions of U.S.-based sponsors, CFCA?s Hope for a Family program provides basic resources and encouragement to children, their families and the elderly. To learn more, visit www.hopeforafamily.org.

###

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheCatholicKeyBlog/~3/AsqfhJX052c/co-founder-of-major-us-catholic-charity.html

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I will admit that I’m a bit mystified with the fuss about the HHS Contraception ruling.  It seems pretty fair to me — employers should provide access to contraception, and if contrary to their conscience, the insurance companies should pick it up.  In reality, it behooves the insurers to do so as providing contraception is a lot cheaper than pregnancy.   The employers that are in the center of this are Catholic related institutions that employ and serve a population that is more non-Catholic than Catholic.  I understand that some see this as a religious liberty issue, but for the life of me I cannot — unless it is a question of imposing religious views on the state.  

In any case, Martin Marty illuminates one interesting aspect of this controversy — the engagement of conservative Protestants in support of the Catholic cause.  He notes that Catholic bishops have been imposing themselves for generations, but conservative Protestants once sat on the side-lines more interested in heaven than gaining political power.  Now they seem to relish it, while Mainliners, once the religious power brokers have been effectively sidelined.  It’s not that we don’t speak out, but the media pretty much ignores us.  There’s a new game in town, and we’re not involved! 

So, take a look at what our venerable commentator on things public has to say to us this morning.

******************************************

Sightings  2/13/2012 

 Protestant Accommodation

– Martin E. Marty 

Keeping an eye and ear on hourly, daily, and weekly incidents and trends in zones where ?religion and public life? intersect is one thing. Taking looks at such incidents and trends in half-century cycles is another. These longer-range surveys provide perspective. A Rip van Winkle returning from 1965 days to the scene this month would not have been surprised to hear of the Catholic bishops? blast at the Health and Human Services birth control initiatives. Catholic leaders have reacted thus for almost a century. Picture the surprise of an awakened van Winkle, however, as he saw the radical embrace of raw political power by Evangelical pastors massed in militancy to join Catholics in reaction.

?Evangelical? in this case has become the code word for the ever-expanding population of conservative Protestants who joined and join some Catholics on the front lines of Cultural Warfare. They may be great-great-great grandchildren of nineteenth-century Protestant activists, but in most of the twentieth century such activists had backed off and changed their mission. In 1970 in Righteous Empire I could speak of Evangelicalism as largely ?Private Protestantism,? which ?accented individual salvation out of the world? over against what latter came to be called ?Mainline.? It had been ??Public? Protestantism,? which was more exposed to the social order and the social destinies of citizens. Note: there remain plenty of ?Mainline? and ?Public? Protestant Activists in action today, but the cameras and microphones have turned attention from them. What is going on and what has gone on with the Mainliners, who have left a cultural niche or a political canyon to be occupied by activist ?Public Evangelicals??         In one word, ?Accommodation,? specifically ?The Accommodation of Protestant Christianity with the Enlightenment.? The title of a Daedalus article by Berkeley professor David A. Hollinger, who tutors me and so many others.

Hollinger argues that two main trends led to shifts of accent in ?Public? Protestantism. It ?accommodated? to the heritage of the Enlightenment, the movement of ideas which characterized the ideological outlook and practice of most of the national founders?no fundamentalists they!?and eventually of most academic and literary heirs of those founders. The accommodation to Darwinian Evolution and many other scientific challenges came more easily to Mainliners, who performed many kinds of services in cultural life. But these occurred at expense to their institutional power, the loyalty of church members, and much of their hold on cultural and political life.

The heirs of Fundamentalism and other now-Evangelicals may have accommodated to other ?worldly? influences?I?d list ?the market? and ?nationalism? etc.–but they held the line on many intellectual and cultural trends. Hollinger adds: mark the change in political power when, thanks to Civil Rights legislation, the Mainline mainly lost the South. He also points to the drastic demographic shifts beyond the move to the South. The change in immigration laws in 1965 robbed the northern ?white-ethnic? liberal accommodators of their former hegemonic position. The election of Catholic John Kennedy was another symbol of this shift.

How Evangelicals, often rejecters of the Enlightenment in the name of the heritage of partly-putative ?Christian America? founders, will use their power will be fateful for the American future. But these now-?Public Protestant? Evangelicals are here to stay. For younger and newer interpreters of culture, as Hollinger sees it, they are virtually the only game in town, in the consciousness of post-1965 Americans.

References

Martin E. Marty’s biography, publications, and contact information can be found at www.memarty.com.

———-

Source: http://www.bobcornwall.com/2012/02/protestant-accommodation-sightings.html

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Bud Hentzen, co-founder of Kansas City based charity Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA), died November 30. The 30 year old charity he helped found has served more than 650,000 children and aging through their tremendously successful sponsorship program which matches donors with individual children and other beneficiaries worldwide.

Hentzen was 83 and news of his death in Wichita was sent out today by CFCA?s Carlos Casas.

CFCA has a low-profile compared to other well-known Catholic and Christian charities, but it has grown to be one of the largest because of the trust its sponsors have in the organization and the loyalty they continuously prove to deserve.

Hentzen was a tremendous Catholic ? K of C, Serra, Holy Sepulchre, 9 kids and 52 grand and great grandkids. May he rest in peace and may his efforts continue to prosper to the benefit of God?s children in need. In lieu of flowers, please join CFCA. Instructions are in the release below:

CFCA co-founder Bud Hentzen dies at 83

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Dec.2, 2011) ? Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA), a lay Catholic organization based in Kansas City, Kan., is mourning the passing of co-founder Bernard A. ?Bud? Hentzen. Hentzen died Nov. 30, 2011, in Wichita.He was 83.

Hentzen, along with three siblings, CFCA President Bob Hentzen, the late Jim Hentzen and Nadine Pearce, and their friend, the late Jerry Tolle, founded CFCA in 1981 to help provide much-needed assistance to families living in extreme poverty in developing countries.

“Bud was the face of CFCA to many of the church institutions ? Catholic Press Association, Knights of Columbus, Serra Club,” said Scott Wasserman, chief governing officer of the CFCA governing board.

Through the years, Hentzen remained an active member of CFCA and recently traveled to Kansas City to attend a board meeting and celebrate the organization?s 30^th anniversary.

Hentzen served CFCA in various capacities, most recently as director emeritus on the governing board. His contributions helped the organization grow from a small home-based charity into one of the 200 largest U.S. nonprofit organizations listed by Forbes. Since CFCA?s founding, sponsors and donors have contributed more than $1 billion in total revenue, resulting in more than 650,000 children, youth and aging persons and their families being served through the sponsorship program.

Hentzen was an active member of the Wichita community through his involvement in various local organizations, including Catholic organizations such as the Knights of Columbus, Serra Club and Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, a pontifical society entrusted with preserving Christian sites in the Holy Land.

Hentzen is survived by his wife, Joanne Wilkes Hentzen; nine children; and 52 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A daughter, Kitty Bircher, preceded him in death.

A funeral Mass for Hentzen will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, Dec. 5, at St. Jude Catholic Church in Wichita.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to CFCA. Donations can be made directly through the CFCA website at www.hopeforafamily.org.

Founded 1981 in Kansas City, CFCA is a lay Catholic, international nonprofit working with families living in poverty in 22 developing countries. Through the contributions of U.S.-based sponsors, CFCA?s Hope for a Family program provides basic resources and encouragement to children, their families and the elderly. To learn more, visit www.hopeforafamily.org.

###

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheCatholicKeyBlog/~3/AsqfhJX052c/co-founder-of-major-us-catholic-charity.html

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By now you?ve heard that the Ninth Circuit Court has upheld Judge Walker?s decision to overturn the will of the voters in California who supported Proposition 8. The case will immediately be appealed to the Supreme Court. Catholics for the Common Good which has done so much important work educating Californians on the meaning and value of marriage sends along their analysis of why the decision was no surprise:

THE JAMES R. BROWNING COURTHOUSE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA ? ?The decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold Judge Walker?s radical decision overturning Prop 8 comes as no surprise,? said Catholics for the Common Good President William B. May.

?We always knew this case would be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Now that the Ninth Circuit has rendered its decision, the case can finally move to the U.S. Supreme Court where it will be decided on sound legal arguments rather than the emotional appeals by those trying to obliterate the only institution that unites children with their moms and dads.?

?The author of the decision, Judge Stephen Reinhardt, is one of the most overturned judges in the most overturned court in the U.S.?

According to Prop 8 Legal Defense General Counsel Andy Pugno, this decision ?is completely out of step with every other federal appellate and Supreme Court decision in American history on the subject of marriage.? ProtectMarriage.com will immediately file its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

?It is outrageous that judges continue to disregard the will of 7 million voters who voted to protect the centrality and integrity of marriage for children and society,? May said.

Federal District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker presided over a show trial about marriage in which plaintiff?s counsel trotted out witness after witness with emotional arguments in a PR attempt to re-argue Proposition 8.

?Failing to disclose that the judge himself was similarly situated as the plaintiffs (in a long-term committed relationship with a same-sex partner), Walker could find no rational reason for the voters to define marriage between a man and a woman and concluded they were bigoted and discriminatory,? said May.

?To reach his judgment about the voters and his decision to strike down Prop 8, he created a new definition of marriage as merely the public recognition of a committed relationship for the benefit of adults. However, the voters of California know that marriage is much more than that. It is the reality that unites a man and a woman with each other and any children born from their union. This is what marriage is; that is what it does. It is a reality that can only be recognized by law and never changed.?

Catholics for the Common Good works for a more just society. It is the sponsor of the Stand with Children Project, a movement promoting marriage and family as an imperative of social justice.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheCatholicKeyBlog/~3/NzbCAPN-S4s/why-prop-8-decision-was-no-surprise.html

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So I’ve decided what February’s goals are going to be! I am taking a break from Professor Horner’s Bible Reading System–the system or plan I followed all January long–and I am going to try John MacArthur’s plan for reading the New Testament. I am going to be reading the NT epistle, 1 JOHN, 30 to 31 times in February!!! So far I’ve been reading it in the New King James every day, but I also plan to add in other translations and other readings in study bibles as the month progresses! I also plan to focus on some of John’s other writings this month. Though I will NOT be aiming to match the number of times I read 1 John! I hope to read John and Revelation each week. I’ll also probably include 2 John and 3 John a couple of times apiece. But they are not my focus, and they are not where I find the most inspiration.

The Bibles I’ll be reading from this month include The Soul Care Bible, New King James. To be honest, I’m not reading the helps in it so much as I’m enjoying the font and layout of it. All the blue is just so soothing. And there is just something so happy-making about the font of this one. I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the fact that it is not red-letter. (Words of Christ in red). One goal I have–besides reading 1 John in this one every day–is to read Psalms and Proverbs in this translation. 

The second Bible I’ll be reading from is the ESV Student Study Bible published by Crossway. For the past year, I’ve focused so exclusively on text-only Bibles that I’ve forgotten how to ‘read’ or ‘study’ from a study Bible. And I do LOVE reading text-only Bibles. There is something so satisfying about reading the Bible and only the Bible. They are lighter to hold, and the reading seems to go by quicker. But. I’ve forgotten how to read things slowly, how to absorb things, how to meditate, how to think about things long enough to ask questions and try to find the answers. A little balance wouldn’t be a bad thing. So I’ll be trying to read from this Bible–reading the NOTES. My goal is to read the gospel of John, Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 John from this study Bible this month.
These are the books I’ve chosen for my Operation Deepen Faith challenge.

I don’t know that I have any set goals of how many books per Bible, per translation I’m aiming for this month.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Source: http://operationreadbible.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-2012-goals.html

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Before the January 28-29 weekend, many bishops sent letters or video messages denouncing a new government policy. On January 22 The Department of Health and Human Services announced a policy that flies in the face of Catholic moral teaching about birth control and abortion. That new policy requires all employers, including Catholic institutions and non-profits, to provide birth control and abortion coverage in their health insurance policies.

In their responses to this policy announcement, the Catholic hierarchy is stressing the ?freedom of religion? clause enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Archbishop Schnurr of Cincinnati disseminated a letter to the faithful on January 25, 2012. He opens his letter as follows: ?I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith.? He states that with the new HHS policy ?the Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation?s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty.?

The letter calls for prayer and fasting while stressing the need for study of the issue. He also asked for citizen support and initiative in promoting new legislation that will reverse the decision of the administration. Perhaps the strongest part of his message is that ?We cannot?we will not?comply with this unjust law.? Is this a call to civil disobedience? Are our bishops prepared to take that route to prison? Are we Catholics prepared to follow them? Here is a link to some of the responses already offered.

What more could be said? One thing I have not seen is any attempt to recognize the freedom of conscience and personal responsibility of individuals. What can be said?

Most Catholic institutions and religious ministries want to offer health insurance. Can the church and other non-profits obtain an exemption to this HHS policy? On the face of it there seems to be no room for compromise. Truly, this policy appears to be a ?conform or die approach.?

If Catholic institutions and non-profits offer no health insurance, the government could impose heavy fines. Catholics should work to further explain their understanding of religious liberty, freedom of conscience and their right to change the government by electing a new administration. In fact, it appears to me that the Department of Health and Human Services has made a serious mistake, for it is pushing Catholics to work to change the current administration.

This issue is more complex than can be described here. But I hope that all our readers are ready to take political action and to engage in civil disobedience if necessary. What do you think we Catholics should do?

Photo Credit: Robin Gillett 

About the Author

Father Dan Kroger

Dan Kroger, O.F.M., is a native of Cincinnati, joined the Franciscans in 1967 and was ordained in 1973. He taught high school and served in rural parishes in the Philippines. Dan earned a Ph.D. in Christian Ethics at Notre Dame. He also taught at De La Salle University, Manila, until he was assigned to his present post as publisher/ceo at St. Anthony Messenger Press in 2006.

Source: http://blog.americancatholic.org/2012/02/religious-liberty/

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The Venezuelan hacker group N33 took over the Twitter accounts of two journalists critical of President Hugo Chávez, reported the weekly magazine Sexto Poder. The group is also responsible for other cyber attacks against opposition members, and is considered a growing threat to freedom of expression in the South American country.

Orian Brito, of the website LaPatilla.com, had his Twitter account hacked after accusing the Venezuelan government of recruiting children for armed militias in his column for Reportero 24, according to Clases de Periodismo. Journalist Alberto Rodríguez, director of Sexto Poder’s website, was also the target of a cyber attack when he was locked out of his own account on Jan. 28.

On the evening of Jan. 31, messages threatening journalists critical of Chávez began to appear on Brito’s Twitter feed, along with photos and private conversations by the reporter, according to the National Association of Journalists of Caracas (CNP in Spanish).

Brito created the profile @OrianVengador to confront the hacker. Twitter users tweeted messages of support to the journalist with the hashtag #HackeadoPorInformar (Hacked for Reporting).

Secretary general of CNP denounced the attack. “Information cannot be eliminated or distorted to favor political interests. A democratic state is built on freedom of expression, with necessary and timely information provided by journalists,” said the secretary.

To learn how to increase your cyber security and avoid becoming a victim of digital crime, check out these tips from technology journalist Luis Carlos Díaz, who received threats from pro-Chávez hackers last November.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kcblogen/~3/Wfcc0dPWFR8/more-venezuelan-opposition-journalists-twiiter-accounts-hacked-after-publishing-critical-report

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Did you happen to see last week?s episode of ?Brawling Brothers? on MOBBED? I love that show! That particular episode was about forgiveness between two brothers.

When younger brother Nick couldn?t find it in his heart to forgive his older brother for his actions, animosity and anger filled his heart. Nick?s refusal to forgive had a ripple effect causing separation for the entire family.  It took an extreme and dramatic event to finally soften the younger brother?s heart enough to forgive the older one.

Also just last week, the feuding actors who played Janet and Chrissy on the ever-popular series Three?s Company finally reconciled after 31 years!!  Thirty-one years is a long time to hold a grudge!

We are all unique individuals (Thank God!). We all have our own personalities, our own talents and even our own idiosyncrasies. So, sometimes another person?s words or actions are quite different than our own and can cause us great angst. When someone wrongs us, we have a tendency to harden our hearts in a defensive manner, rather than to open up and become vulnerable to being hurt again. 

?Forgiveness is to set a prisoner free, and to realize the prisoner was you.? - Corrie Ten Boom  

The problem with refusal to forgive is that it hurts ourselves, holding us bound with negative feelings of pain, anger and resentment. These feelings inhibit us from being the person we are meant to be.

Jesus not only commanded us to LOVE one another but also to FORGIVE. To forgive is to be obedient to God?s will.

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. -Matthew 6:14-16

During this upcoming season of Lent, perhaps the greatest thing we can ?give up? is what is most weighing us down. Be proactive. Let go of the hurt in your heart and make room for love. You will feel free. And most assuredly, you will be pleasing God, who is all love.

 *****

Photo by Photostock

About the Author

Sharon Lape

Sharon Lape serves as both the Editorial Assistant for St. Anthony Messenger magazine and the Permissions Manager for Franciscan Media. She also researches and provides content for the popular “Minute Meditations” feature. Sharon is a proud wife and mother of four children.

Source: http://blog.americancatholic.org/2012/02/what-are-you-giving-up-for-lent/

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Iranian police have arrested 10 Christians in a raid on a prayer meeting in a private home.

The arrests mark the latest episode in an official campaign against the country?s Christian minority. One of those arrested, Mojtaba Hosseini, had reportedly been arrested previously in 2008 after he converted to Christianity, and ordered to renounce his new faith.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CatholicWorldNewsFeatureStories/~3/0lZmOQW9HN0/index.cfm

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