Wednesday, April 15, 2009

President Obama Says He Is "Unaware of Tea Parties"



There is a ton of info at Gateway Pundit on the Tea Parties across the country.

Pope Benedict's Urbi et Orbi message


Pope Benedict said during his Urbi et Orbi message that ever since the dawn of Easter a new Spring of hope has filled the world. He said the Resurrection is not a theory or a myth, but a historical reality, a singular unrepeatable event.

He said The proclamation of the Lords Resurrection lightens up the dark regions of the world in which we live.

Pope Benedict added that it is true that death no longer has power over man and over the world, there still remain very many, in fact too many signs of its former dominion.

ARCHBISHOP DOLAN GREETED BY NEW YORK CATHOLICS

Rocco is following all of the activity closely here.
The following story comes from the AP:

The installation of New York Archbishop-designate Timothy Dolan is stretching over two days in St. Patrick's Cathedral, in services before thousands of well-wishers ranging from his second-grade teacher to the Vatican's U.S. ambassador.

Dolan, 59, the former Milwaukee archbishop, is taking over the most visible American job in the Roman Catholic Church and the nation's second-largest diocese after Los Angeles.

Cardinal Edward Egan, 77, is retiring as New York's archbishop after nine years. Dolan is expected to eventually be made a cardinal, as well.

His predecessors were men who were prominent not only in the church, but also in broader society. Cardinal Francis Spellman was so influential in New York politics that his residence was dubbed "the powerhouse." Cardinal John O'Connor was the most forceful U.S. Catholic voice in the public debates of his era. In the 2000 election, when President George W. Bush apologized for visiting Bob Jones University, which considers Catholicism a false religion, he wrote a public letter of contrition to O'Connor.

Read the rest of the story here.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Talent on loan from God!

Steven Colbert defends the faith!

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Bart Ehrman
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorNASA Name Contest

The Miracle of Life

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Turin Shroud 'could be genuine as carbon-dating was flawed'

I have always believed the Shroud of Turin was real, but now it seems that science is giving it a second look!  The following comes from the Telegraph site in UK:

Radio carbon dating carried out in 1988 was performed on an area of the relic that was repaired in the 16th century, according to Ray Rogers, who helped lead the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STRP).

At the time he argued firmly that the shroud, which bears a Christlike image, was a clever forgery.

But in a video made shortly before his death three years ago, he said facts had come to light that indicated the shroud could be genuine.
Rogers, a chemist from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, said: "I don't believe in miracles that defy the laws of nature. After the 1988 investigation I'd given up on the shroud.

"But now I am coming to the conclusion that it has a very good chance of being the piece of cloth that was used to bury the historic Jesus."

He came to his conclusion after re-examining a theory from two amateur scientists that he had earlier dismissed as being from "the lunatic fringe".

Sue Benford and Joe Marina, from Ohio, suspected the 1988 sample was from a damaged section of the linen shroud repaired in the 16th century after being damaged in a fire.

Rogers said: "I was irritated and determined to prove Sue and Joe wrong."

However, when he came to examine threads taken in 1978 - luckily from the same section as the 1988 sample - he found cotton in them.

He said: "The cotton fibres were fairly heavily coated with dye, suggesting they were changed to match the linen during a repair.

"I concluded that area of the shroud was manipulated by someone with great skill.

"Sue and Joe were right. The worst possible sample for carbon dating was taken.

"It consisted of different materials than were used in the shroud itself, so the age we produced was inaccurate."

In the video, made shortly before he died of cancer in March 2005, he said: "I came very close to proving the shroud was used to bury the historic Jesus."

This latest evidence, to be broadcast in The Turin Shroud: New Evidence at 8 pm on Sunday on the Discovery Channel, is the latest chapter in the shroud's history.

For the last 21 years most have considered it to be a medieval fake, after the 1988 tests dated it as being made between 1260 and 1390.

The result overturned 10 years of hope among Christians that it was real, after the first scientific tests found evidence of blood and serum stains.

The earliest documented sighting of the shroud is from 1353, but last week a historian claimed in the Vatican's newspaper that she had found a "missing link" in the Holy See's Secret Archives proving the Knights Templar had safeguarded it during the 13th century.