Jumping Without A Chute

Where Is The New Evangelization?

From the Washington Times

Evangelical Christianity has become the largest religious tradition in this country, supplanting Roman Catholicism, which is slowly bleeding members, according to a survey released yesterday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Evangelical Protestants outnumber Catholics by 26.3 percent (59 million) to 24 percent (54 million) of the population, according to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, a massive 45-question poll conducted last summer of more than 35,000 American adults. "There is no question that the demographic balance has shifted in past few decades toward evangelical churches," said Greg Smith, a research fellow at the Pew Forum. "They are now the mainline of American Protestantism."The traditional mainline Protestant churches, which in 1957 constituted about 66 percent of the populace, now count just 18 percent as adherents.Although one in three Americans are raised Roman Catholic, only one in four adults describe themselves as such, despite the huge numbers of immigrants swelling American churches, researchers said."Immigration is what is keeping them afloat," said John Green, a Pew senior fellow. "If everyone who was raised Catholic stayed Catholic, it'd be a third of the country."

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   So, why is this? Wasn't Vatican II supposed to modernize the Church and open its doors to the world so that everyone could come pouring in? Poor liturgy, non-existent apologetics and catechesis, horrid music, and an embrace of the secular to replace the sacred has forced many to leave in order to find a substitute that at least has some basis in faith. we will soon face a time when our values will be lost or hidden in the catacombs of society, a remnant church.

Abortion Hurts No One

From The Telegraph (UK)

An artist killed herself after aborting her twins when she was eight weeks pregnant, leaving a note saying: "I should never have had an abortion. I see now I would have been a good mum."

Emma Beck was found hanging at her home in Helston, Cornwall, on Feb 1 2007. She was declared dead early the following day - her 31st birthday.

Her suicide note read: "I told everyone I didn't want to do it, even at the hospital. I was frightened, now it is too late. I died when my babies died. I want to be with my babies: they need me, no-one else does."

The inquest at Truro City Hall heard that Miss Beck had split up with her boyfriend, referred to as "Ben" after he "reacted badly" to the pregnancy.

She saw her GP before the termination, but missed an appointment at a hospital in Penzance. She then cancelled, but later turned up to an appointment at a clinic at Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske. The counsellor was on holiday so a doctor referred Miss Beck to a pregnancy counselling telephone service eight days before carrying out the abortion when she was eight weeks pregnant, the inquest heard.

The coroner, Dr Emma Carlyon, ordered that the identities of the doctor who performed the abortion and her lead consultant be kept secret.

The inquest heard that Sylvia Beck, the victim's mother, wrote to the hospital after her daughter's death, saying: "I want to know why she was not given the opportunity to see a counsellor.

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The doctor said: "I discussed Emma's situation with her, and wrote on the form, 'Unsupported, lives alone, ex-partner aware'.

'Unsupported, lives alone, ex-partner aware.'

Some epitaph. More on this later.

Sheep

Can you name the winning and losing quarterbacks from sunday night's Super Bowl?

Good, now, can you tell me who Paul Smith and Jason Dunham are?

Didn't think so and if you don't know, go learn something.

Did you vote today?

If not, why?

If you did, can you tell me what your candidate's stand is on the following issues:

Abortion

Iraq War

Economy

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Cloning

If you don't know the answers and voted solely based on party affiliation, race, or gender, then you are a moron and should be kept away from the ballot box.

Great News for the Cause of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

EL PASO -- A milestone in the cause for sainthood of El Paso native Archbishop Fulton Sheen comes Sunday, with a special mass of thanksgiving at 10:30 a.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Peoria.

It is part the “postrema session,” which ends the Peoria Diocese’s role in Sheen’s path to sainthood. During the mass, documents collected over the past few years will be officially packed, sealed and notarized.

Sheen was a diocesan priest who later became famous worldwide as a radio and television personality, author and orator. He died in 1979.

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