Bro Noe Dora 's Journey of Faith from being Born Again Pastor to a devout Catholic Faith Defender

AsiaNews: Nepalese Dalits abandon Hindu faith en masse. They believe in Jesus who will save them

Our Catholic missionaries work so hard in bringing the Good News to far-flung areas like Nepal, who hardly had heard about Jesus Christ and His one and only Church ~ the Catholic Church. And once we labored for souls, WOLVES in SHEEP'S CLOTHING enter and snatch them away from the fold like the Jehovah's Witnesses (Founded by Charles Taze Russel in 1870), the Iglesia Ni Cristo® (founded by Felix Manalo in 1914), The Seventh-Day Adventists or Sabadistas (Founded by Ellen Gaud White et.al. in 1863) and many other different and opposing Protestant sects sowing division and confusion among them by introducing them to many different corrupted copies of the bible to suit their evil agenda etc. Let's pray that this young Nepalese Church will not succumb to temptation and remain faithful to Jesus, the Church and the Magisterium. To the Triune God be the Glory forever! -CD2000

by Christopher Sharma

In Surkhet district tens of thousands humiliated for caste reasons ask to be baptized. The decision was taken during a secret meeting with 200 representatives. Hindu prohibition makes their lives impossible. The fact is symptomatic of a more general phenomenon. In Nepal there is a law against discrimination, but police do not intervene and complaints are never taken into account.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) - The Dalits have decided to organize a secret meeting to pray for Jesus to save them. Conversions and renunciations of the Hindu faith are occurring in the Surkhet district of western Nepal. The Dalits are marginalized because of their caste belonging. And they are tired of suffering serious discrimination and threats.

Sanu Nepali, 21, was beaten by some senior caste members on Wednesday, July 5. They accused him of bathing in public drinking water, polluting it physically and above all "spiritually." He ended up in the hospital.

Two months ago, a nine-year-old Dalit boy, Bhim Bahadur, was brutally beaten with perhaps only because he dared to enter the kitchen of a family of a higher caste of his, in the village of Barahatal, in the same district.

It is estimated that about 50,000 Dalits in Surkhet District, who were victims of serious discrimination, have decided to leave the Hindu faith and embrace the message of Christianity. The decision was taken in the meeting with a large number of representatives.

Lal Babu BK, one of the participants said, "We were more than 200. We have come together to convert to Christianity to save ourselves. We have all practiced Hindu faith for generations since it was mandatory, but today the country is secularized and Hindu faith can not save us. Those who torment and who humiliate us are Hindus like us. By being named untouchables we are judged from the bottom down. We can not even touch lower caste people, can not enter their homes, we can not touch public drinking water and can not have access to public places. So what is this belief? Are we certain in this faith? We concluded 'no' and decided to convert to Christianity. " "We are in danger everywhere," he added, "and we are discriminated at any time, so we ask for the grace of Jesus because we have seen that there is no discrimination in Christianity. We believe that Jesus can protect us." "The decision is made even if we have not yet contacted the Christian priest who can baptize us," concluded Lal Babu BK, "we will do it and we hope the priest will welcome us."

Sudip Pathak, a human rights activist, commented: "People are free to take all necessary protection measures when they are threatened and the state can not protect them."

Binod Pahadi, a Dalit and former parliamentary activist, said: "It is not only the question of the district of Surkhet, but it is symptomatic of the situation in the whole country. There is a law against discrimination and for equality, but in practice there is a strong oppression of low caste people. "

Jayasara, mother of Bhim Bahadur BK, said: "We made this decision from the moment we had no alternatives to save us."

A few months ago, a similar case had occurred in the capital of Kathmandu. Kamala Nepali, a Dalit woman was violently beaten for having touched the water taps in Chandeshwori in Tokha Municipality in Kathmandu. Shanta KC, the woman who beat her has never been punished.

There are legal provisions against such discrimination, but when victims present their complaints, they are not heard.

Police Officer Bhattarai, involved in this case said, "Victims can not produce evidence and we can not punish anyone in the absence of evidence."

However, there are thousands of people who are victims of such aberrations in Nepal.

Become a Catholic!

The conversion story of an adolescent

Source: Catholic Start Herald

By Mary Beth Peabody , January 25, 2018

Michelle attended pre-K and kindergarten at Saint Peter School, Merchantville, and returned in fifth grade after several years in public school. She recently converted to Catholicism. “This was actually the best Christmas I ever had,” she said. “It had my baptism, my holy Communion and my mom’s birthday and Christmas … Jesus’ birthday.”

Photo by Mary Beth Peabody

“Our Special Christmas.” That was the subject text in the email I received from my uncle, Lou Keeler, on Christmas Day. Uncle Lou’s email described the great gift he and my Aunt Morrie received when they volunteered to be proxy sponsors for a sixth grade student who was converting to Catholicism, just two days before Christmas. He said her name was Michelle and she was a student at a local parochial school.

Patheos: What I Wish I’d Known About Catholics (And Why I Became One Once I Did)

Source: Patheos

Posted in February 13, 2017 by K. Albert Little

Photo Credit: Karol Franks.

I‘m a Catholic, but I didn’t begin as one.

I began my faith journey at the age of fifteen when, with the help of a good friend, I decided to become a Christian; an Evangelical Protestant, although I didn’t know the particular brand name at the time. And I meant well. I found a local Pentecostal church populated by a group of devout young Christian who welcomed me unequivocally. We were a motley crew. I fit right in.

Then in university, at a time when so many Christians lose their faith and their identity, I plugged into an incredible campus ministry. There I met lifelong friends, grew a great deal both emotionally and spiritually, and met my beautiful wife. (It was evident, she’d say, that I still had a lot of maturing to do.)

But the trajectory of my faith life would take a subtle but noticeably fork in the road one day when an Evangelical pastor asked me what’s more important, the Bible or tradition.

I didn’t have an answer, and that stumped me.

And when I dug for answers, I was even more stumped, and unsatisfied. This began a long journey of searching, prayer, and unexpected discoveries.

A journey which culminated at Easter, two years ago, when I entered full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

When that Evangelical pastor asked me about the Bible and tradition I knew very little about either, as it turns out, and my research eventually led me to look into Catholicism and its historical claims.

What I thought I knew about Catholics, as an Evangelical, was a lot.

Turns out I was wrong about almost everything.

I’m became Catholic because of what I’ve learned.

St. Francis de Sales is a favourite saint of mine. In the 16th century, as the Reformation split apart the Christian Church in Europe he wrote, preached, and worked tirelessly to explain the Catholic faith, and bring Protestants back into the fold.

He was incredibly successful and something in his mission of cordially explaining his faith resonates deeply with me.

To paraphrase St. Francis de Sales to the early Protestants: If you’d known what the Catholic Church really taught you’d never have left.

In my case, if I’d known what the Catholic Church really taught I’d have become Catholic a long, long time ago.

Catholics Don’t Worship Mary

The Catholic Church doesn’t teach the worship of Mary. Worship (and adoration) are for God alone.

As an Evangelical I thought that Catholics worshipped Mary alongside her son, Jesus. There are plenty of churches named in her honour, Catholics seemed obsessed with statues of the Virgin, and the Rosary, of all things, seemed to be nothing more than vain repetition and worship directed towards Jesus’s mother.

The reality, I’ve learned, is much different.

Catholics don’t worship Mary but, because of her special role in salvation history, she is venerated. How is that different? In Catholic theology, which, remember, was the theology of the whole Christian Church for 1,500 years, we ask Mary to pray for us.

Like Mary’s request to Jesus at the wedding at Cana, Catholics believe that Mary has the ear of Jesus in a special way. This is also reflected in biblical typology—the same kind of exegesis that Jesus used to explain His role in salvation to the apostles on the road to Emmaus. In the same way I can ask my best friend—a living, breathing Christian—to pray for my intentions, the Catholic Church teaches that Mary can be asked for prayer in the same way.

When Catholics say they pray, “to Mary,” they don’t mean that Mary will answer our prayers. This understanding of “pray” is more a difficulty of the English language.

When we “pray to” Mary, we ask for her to pray for us, to Christ.

Jesus answers all prayers. We ask Mary to pray on our behalf.

Catholics Don’t Worship the Saints

In the same way, the Catholic Church believes that holy men and women (more women than men, for the record) are, presently, in the presence of God.

We call these people saints and, like the Virgin Mary, we can ask for their prayers.

As pictured in Revelation, the prayers of the saints gathered around the altar float up like incense before God. That’s why, since the very beginning of the Christian Church, there has been a strong belief in ability of the dead to pray for us—and the practice of us asking them for their prayers.

This is why the earliest Christian Churches were built on sites where holy men and women were martyred like the churches honouring Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Rome.

The beautiful theology of the Catholic Church says that the Church, as a body of believers, is made up of all past, present, and future Christians. We’re all one and the same and just because I pass away doesn’t mean I cease to be a part of that active body. Jesus conquered death as so does His Church.

The saints, as Christians, continue their role in the body, only now in the presence of God.

Jesus is Present in the Eucharist

For all the different branches and denominations of Protestantism I’ve learned that no one takes Jesus’s words more seriously than the Catholic Church.

When Jesus said, “This is my body; this is my blood,” the Catholic Church—and the whole of Christianity for 1,500 years—takes Him at His word.

Incredibly, the Catholic theology of transubstantiation says that when the priest consecrates the elements (the bread and the wine) they become the actual body and blood of Jesus through a mysterious, miraculous process. The fact that we can’t see, touch, or taste these elements are real flesh and blood is part of the miracle.

This bold claim is backed up not only by a thousand and a half years of Church history but by solid exegesis of the gospels.

Jesus, from Bethlehem (which means “the house of bread”), who was laid into a manger (which is a feeding trough) when He was born is the actual manna from Heaven.

If I had known that I can actually receive Jesus in the Eucharist I would’ve stormed the doors of my local Catholic Church a decade ago.

There’s Only One Mass

What strikes me as even more incredible is the Catholic theology of the act of the Eucharist itself: There’s only one.

Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross was once and for all, final, and this is something that all Protestants can get behind. The brilliant, beauty of the Mass and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic elements, however, is that it links us up with all of Christian history—past, present, and future.

Jesus only died once.

When the priest prayers the Eucharistic Prayers and says, “This is my body; this is my blood,” we are, as a church community, reliving the Last Supper and Jesus’s death on the cross.

We are linking up, together, with all of the other Christians who have ever, and will ever, celebrate the Eucharist.

And we’re linking up with the saints, angels, the Virgin Mary, and God Himself in Heaven as we see this same celebration taking place in Revelation.

As a Catholic, then, when I go to Mass I am experiencing something universal: Jesus’s death re-presented before my eyes.

A genuine tearing of the veil which allows us modern Catholics to reach back into the very time of the very Last Supper itself.

The Priest Acts as Jesus

In a similar way, I never understood the importance of the priest in Catholic theology. As a young Evangelical the priest, like Mary and the saints, seemed to stand in the way of my personal relationship with Jesus.

But I had it all wrong.

The priest, as understood by Catholic theology, acts as Christ. The priest is a stand-in, if you will.

In the Mass, the priests acts in the place of Jesus, as he consecrates the bread and the wine. In the blessing of people, in Baptism, in prayer, and in the healing of the sick the priest, based on the authority that Jesus gives His apostles in the New Testament, is acting in His place.

Where Jesus is not tangibly, physically with us, the priest is here in His place.

In confession, the priest, based on the direct charge from Jesus, “whoever’s sins you forgive they are forgiven,” represents Christ in forgiving our sins for us.

We don’t have to imagine God among us: there He is.

And His presence is an incredible blessing and grace.

God Gave Us a Real, Tangible Church

Perhaps the greatest, most incredible thing I’ve learned, and wish that I knew a long, long time ago, is that Jesus left us with a real, tangible Church.

As an Evangelical, I thought of the Church as a non-physical, spiritual union of Christians all over the world. But this isn’t how Jesus meant it, I’m convinced.

Because this isn’t the Church as conceived by the apostles, the fathers of the Church (who were taught by the apostles), and all Christians for more than fifteen hundred years.

As I become Catholic perhaps the greatest gift I’m to receive is union with a real, tangible Church founded by Christ.

A Church with bishops and priests who can trace their authority, historically, all the way back to the apostles. Authority that we see manifest in the New Testament as the ability to forgive sins, drive out demons, and define an understanding of doctrine. These authoritative charges, according to the Catholic Church, remain with today’s bishops and priests through Apostolic Succession.

That’s why when the priest says, “You’re forgiven,” he means it. Because Christ said he’d have that power.

Rather than having to “feel” or “know” it on our own, God gave us the beauty and the blessing of a physical, tangible Church to be His hands and feet on earth.

I don’t need to pray and ask for God to give me a sense of His grace, although I certainly could, and do. But in the Eucharist, in confession, and in the knowledge that God gave us the Church, we can be certain of His grace. This, in my experience, has been the most powerful aspect of the Catholic Church—and something I wish I knew years ago.

The most beautiful gift that Jesus gave us, beyond His sacrificial offering, was the establishment of a Church to proclaim, celebrate, and safeguard truth.

There’s a lot—a lot!—I wish I’d known about the Catholic Church a long time ago.

And one that fateful day which set the course of my faith life in an entirely new direction I could’ve never anticipated that a question about the Bible and tradition would’ve led me here.

But here we are, and there’s nowhere I’d rather be.

In the Catholic Church I’ve found an incredible, unimaginable home. It’s miles from anything I’d ever known before and, once I learned about what Catholics really believed there’s nothing I could’ve done to avoid becoming one myself!

This article was originally published on my personal blog before the Easter Vigil, 2015.

Allen Hunt: A Methodist Mega-Church Pastor Turned Catholic

Published by Win One for God at March 7, 2017

Allen is a former Methodist mega-church pastor and currently hosts a daily talk radio show (the Allen Hunt Show) which is heard on 150 mainstream stations around the country each week with a half million listeners. Allen is also a husband and father of two daughters.

I never saw it coming.

For fifteen years, my ministry as a Methodist pastor blossomed from one ministry to another, culminating in my dream job. I became the senior pastor of a mega-church, the most well-attended Methodist congregation in the South, and one of the largest in the country. Somewhere between four and five thousand people worshiped there each Sunday. Eight thousand gathered there for Christmas and Easter services. The church sponsored one of just two K-12 Methodist schools in the nation, had a full pregnancy resource center, a counseling center, a child care ministry, and maintained partnerships with vital missions on every continent around the globe.

How did my transition occur? Not in a single moment of great revelation, but slowly, through a series of experiences. More like a mosaic of God-encounters. Or better yet, like a journey on a boat that begins in the Atlantic Ocean, without a real plan or destination. One day you wake up, look around and realize that you’re somewhere in the Pacific. You’re not sure when you crossed from one ocean to the other, but you know you’re there, and there’s no going back.

Often, I was leading that wonderful mega-church, and deep inside I began to feel a longing to be a part of what I was convinced was God’s One Church. Over time that longing grew until I could deny it no more.

My journey culminated on Sunday, January 6, 2008, the feast of the Epiphany. On that day, I, the former pastor of a mega-church just twenty miles away, stood before the congregation at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Atlanta’s oldest Catholic church.

I was no longer the very public and well-respected Methodist minister. I would not welcome the congregation, deliver the homily, or stand outside and greet members as they left, but instead would be just like any other lay person there.

But then, finally, the moment came.

I walked to the front, and the priest gently placed the Body of Christ in the palm of my hand for the very first time.

And I began to weep.

Tears slowly streamed down my face as the years of journey climaxed in the enveloping presence of the Holy Spirit.

God’s Instrument

God used my friendship with a priest whom I met in graduate school to introduce me to the treasures of the Catholic Church. Through Father Steven, a Dominican friar, I came to see the six hidden treasures of the Catholic Church, treasures so powerful that they changed my life in ways I could never have imagined. I call them hidden treasures because they are so often over-looked or misunderstood or taken for granted.

At times, God uses friendships in remarkable ways. We listen to real friends. To strangers, we often turn a deaf ear or a cold shoulder. But to real friends, we will listen, even when listening stretches us in new ways. I do not think Fr. Steven intended to lead me home. Rather, he loved me and my family with abundance in a time when we desperately needed it. That friendship and love led to conversations about things of faith. Those conversations percolated and bounced around in my soul for years. I am constantly amazed at how God uses genuine friendships to shape our lives.

Meeting the Nuns

In our second year together, Fr. Steven arranged for the two of us to give Lenten lectures to a group of cloistered Dominican nuns in North Guilford, Connecticut. Of course, first, he had to explain what a cloistered monastery was. Talk about naive! I had no idea such places even existed.

A gathering of 50 nuns, located in a monastery whose grounds they vowed never to leave. A place of regular prayer, Mass, and simple, humble service. A group of nuns who supported their mutual life of prayer by making fudge (and it was great fudge!) and operating a book store. It was in their monastery that God planted the first seeds for my conversion, seeds which took sixteen years to come to fruition, and seeds which I did not even realize were being planted at the time.

Fr. Steven and I spent four wonderful afternoons giving talks to the nuns at the Monastery of Our Lady of Grace. I discovered later that I had been the first male who was not an ordained Catholic priest ever to instruct the sisters within their walls. It was a rare privilege and blessing, which I could not have fully appreciated at the moment. God had opened a door of grace into which I had stumbled.

Best of all, the experience proved eye-opening for me in more ways than one. This invitation into a cloistered monastery rocked my world.

A Graced Encounter

The holiness of these sisters stunned me. Keep in mind that these women would be the first to disagree at any suggestion that they are holy. They would be wrong.

Never before had I encountered persons so completely given over to God. Their faces shone with a grace and a light that unnerved me. The love of God revealed itself physically in their eyes, cheeks, and smiles. These were women whose entire lives were dedicated to the glory of God.

Remember this was totally new to me. I had no context or background to understand this place or these women. No such group exists in any Protestant tradition. Very simply, I was bumfuddled. It is not often that we have an experience that is so out of the ordinary and so out of place that we have no real way to process it at first.

This was all new territory to me. In some ways, it was scary because I was accustomed to teaching, speaking and being in charge of my setting. That control and leadership clearly did not apply here.

Fr. Steven and I shared lectures focused on the great Dominican doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas, and on John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement. We discussed sanctification and holiness, and the places where our beliefs intersected far more than we had anticipated. The common ground between us surprised the nuns, Fr. Steven, and me. We enjoyed great interaction and conversation together. After our last lecture, we reserved time for questions and answers. For many of the sisters, I was the first Methodist they had ever met.

A Probing Question

One sister, whom I call “Sr. Rose,” raised her hand and, as I bremember, said, “Allen, thank you for having come these past few weeks. We’ve enjoyed your teaching.” She paused and continued, “You sound so Catholic. After hearing you, I can’t help but wonder, ‘Why aren’t you a part of the Church?’”

The nuns giggled. The question startled me. “A part of the Church?” What did she mean?

As a Protestant I was taken aback by that. I thought to myself, “Well, I am a part of the Church. Don’t you understand that? I’m a Methodist pastor.” Then all of a sudden it dawned on me: she meant the Catholic Church is the one and only Church.

I laughed and gave a quick answer. I said something like, “Why am I Methodist as opposed to being Catholic? Well, you are some of the first Catholics I have ever met. The main reason revolves around communion. It seems very obvious to me that Jesus is using a metaphor when He talks about the cup and the loaf. The wine doesn’t literally become His blood; that seems kind of obvious to me as a Methodist. It’s still wine, or in the Methodist tradition, it’s grape juice. The loaf, He is saying, ‘It’s my body,’ just as He also says He is the door, He is the light, and He is the shepherd. It’s just bread and juice. I really do not understand why you all take it so literally. It’s a symbol.”

Believe it or not, I had never had that conversation in my brain before. As a Methodist and in my training in seminary, it was just something we assumed. I took it for granted.

Sr. Rose then came right back at me. Very kindly but very directly, she said, “Well, you are a New Testament scholar, right? So why does Jesus say…”

With that introduction, she then began to walk me through chapter 6 of the Gospel of John and Jesus’ teaching there on the Bread of Life. I thought I knew this passage, but Sr. Rose carefully paused on eight separate occasions to make the point: Jesus is serious about His body and His blood.

A Lifelong Journey

My transition into the Church stunned my family. I come from a long line of Methodist pastors, 8 generations I think my mother and in-laws are still processing my decision. My wife and children have been very supportive. One of my daughters (21 years old) has also entered the Church now. My decision cost me a number of friendships, primarily with some former colleagues. Of course, it put an end to all I had worked for in my career as a pastor. But it was impossible to avoid. It has been a wonderful journey, a hard journey, and a life-giving journey

CNS News: Acclaimed Atheist Poet Becomes Catholic: 'My Tears Just Stopped'

By Mark Judge | November 30, 2016
For CNS News

Poet Sally Read (Ignatius Press/
Used with permission)

“If you’re there, you have to help me.”

Those are the words that poet Sally Read said to an icon of Jesus in 2010. Read, a British poet and atheist, had stopped into a church in Santa Marinella, Italy. She felt burdened. Her young daughter was having health issues. Her husband Fabio was enduring some stress at work.

“There was this incredible experience where this presence almost came down, and my tears just stopped, just dried,” Read tells CNSNews.com. “I felt almost physically carried up. It was as if someone walked into the room. I knew this person. I knew that I was a Christian.”

Up to that point Read, now 46, had been an atheist. “I was brought up an atheist,” Read notes in her just-published memoir, “Night’s Bright Darkness: A Modern Conversion Story.” “At ten I could tell you that religion was the opiate of the masses; it was [driven] into me to never kneel before anyone or anything…As a young woman I could quote Christopher Hitchens and enough of the Bible to scoff at.”

Read was born in 1971 and raised in Suffolk, England. As a young woman she worked as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital and became a critically acclaimed poet, winning the Eric Gregory Award in 2001. A few years later Read married an Italian man, Fabio, and the couple, along with new daughter Florenzia, moved to Santa Marinella, a town 30 miles from Rome.

In her 30s and raising her daughter, Read began working on a book on women’s health and sexuality. Wanting to interview a wide swath of women for the book, Read contacted orthodox Catholic women. When the women declined to be interviewed, largely due to the graphic nature of Read’s subject matter, Read approached a Byzantine-Catholic priest, Fr. Gregory Hrynkiw, for advice. Fr. Gregory and Read became friends, with the priest answering questions the author had about faith.

Debate: Catholic vs Protestant - Justification/Salvation - Scott Hahn vs Robert M Bowman, Jr.

"The Catholic Church proclaims a Much Greater Quantity of Scripture than any other Christian body." -Scott Hahn Catholic Convert

Source: Catholic Bible Page

Catholic Church' Hidden Treasures - Allen R. Hunt (Former Protestant Pastor)

Photo Source: Roaming Catholics

Read Allen R. Hunt's Conversion Story from Methodist to Catholicism!

Former lesbian on why it’s ‘cruel’ for Church leaders to go soft on same-sex relationships

Pete Baklinski
Posted in Wed Nov 12, 2014
Source: LifeSiteNews

Robin Beck, 59

Robin Teresa Beck, 59, lived through 12 lesbian relationships over the course of 35 years before her dramatic conversion to the Catholic faith and healing from homosexuality, just five years ago.

Read LifeSiteNews’ coverage of Robin’s dramatic story here. Read the full interview here.

Beck spoke with LifeSiteNews over the phone from her home in Michigan in the Detroit area about everything from the impossibility of creating a healthy gay relationship, to why lesbian relationships can never fulfill the emotional needs of women, to how she believes God looks on people struggling with homosexuality, to how the Church should approach homosexuals.

Her experience with same-sex attraction and the gay lifestyle gives her insight into what is at the heart of homosexuality and why it is fundamentally incompatible with the human person and with Christianity.

“Our Creator said that a man leaves his mother and father and comes together with his wife and the two become one flesh. God’s creative design was for men and women, not for men with men or women with women,” she said.

Beck explained further: “It’s like if one day I think my car should become a boat and I plunge it into a river thinking this is totally passible. But General Motors begs to differ. If I toss aside GM’s plan for the car and drive into the river, the car will sink and I will drown. God created us. He knows and tells us the way he made us to be. You have to put your soul in alignment with Scripture. From my experience, it is impossible to have a healthy gay relationship because it goes against the way God made us to be.”

Beck called it “cruel” for any religious leader to look favorably on homosexual relationships, saying if they only knew about the suffering, darkness, and brokenness tied to the lifestyle, they would never even consider condoning it.

“[P]eople do not see homosexuality for what it is,” she said.

“I think because I was so broken and so totally sickened by my sin that for me it was like: ‘I’m never going back there. I don’t care if Pope Francis gets in the chair and proclaims homosexual behavior is no longer a sin — which of course he can’t do — but if he did, I would be like: ‘No, I’m sorry. It is a sin.’ I don’t care who tries to tell me otherwise. I am just resolute on that.”

People who love God and neighbor need to reach out to people struggling with homosexuality with truth and love, Beck said.

“The Church needs to lovingly say to this person: ‘This is not who you are. Acting on same-sex inclinations is never going to bring you to a place where you can have a right relationship with God. In fact, if you go this way, you are heading down a destructive path. The good news is we love you, we are going to be patient with you. If you fall a thousand times, we will still be there for you.’”

Religious leaders need to start confronting homosexuality head-on, Beck said, because it’s the only way to offer any real help to people struggling in this area.

“Priests need to stop people-pleasing. They need to speak the truth in love. If people pack-up and go away, well, so be it. When their lives get broken, they’ll be back. And they’ll be back at a place that truly is a hospital, where people can find true comfort and healing.”

Beck said religious leaders need to start leading the faithful in acts of repentance for all the ways in which humanity has strayed from God’s plan for sexuality.

“We Catholics are in big trouble. It’s as if we are just taking orders from the world instead of from God. People need to get on their knees and repent. The Pope needs to call us to get on our knees and repent. The Church is supposed to be the light. We are supposed to stand fast with Truth and not compromise with the world.”

To those struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction, Beck has words of hope and consolation.

“God can heal you of the struggle,” she said. “I know it’s not a very popular message, but I know it’s true because for 35 years I was in it and now, thanks to him, I am no longer. If God can heal me, God can heal anybody.”

“I am a Catholic priest and I am married.”

Who says Catholic Church do not have married priests?

Marysville church's Catholic priest brings along his wife

By Julie Muhlstein
Herald Writer
Published: Saturday, May 28, 2016

Karin McMicheal with her husband, the Rev. Tom McMichael, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Marysville. McMichael converted from the Lutheran Church and has served St. Mary's for a year.

MARYSVILLE — When the Rev. Tom McMichael arrived at St. Mary Catholic Church in January, he had already introduced himself in a “Pastor's Page” letter on the parish website. In his note, he wrote of looking forward “with joy and hope” to serving at the church. And he added a surprising detail: “I am a Catholic priest and I am married.”

In his office at the Marysville parish, the 55-year-old McMichael talked Thursday about his journey, from serving 17 years as a Lutheran pastor to a time of deep spiritual discernment. That led him, along with his Lutheran wife, Karin McMichael, to convert to Roman Catholicism. On Jan. 10, 2009, he was ordained as a Catholic priest at St. James Cathedral in Seattle.

“I attribute it to the Holy Spirit,” McMichael said. “I truly felt a call to the priesthood.”

Greg Magnoni is a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Seattle, which oversees all of Western Washington's Catholic parishes. He said it's not unprecedented for married men to serve as priests. In the past, Magnoni said, several widowers have been ordained.

The first married clergy to make the transition in the United States were Episcopalian priests who petitioned Pope John Paul II about 35 years ago. McMichael is now one of about 200 Latin rite married priests in the United States. Most are former Lutheran and Episcopal clergy.

He was appointed to serve at St. Mary's after the Archdiocese of Seattle reassigned the Rev. Dwight Lewis, a popular priest administrator at the Marysville parish. McMichael said his tenure in Marysville will last at least until June 30, 2017.

Just before coming to Marysville, McMichael served five Catholic churches in Skagit County, primarily St. Charles in Burlington and Sacred Heart in La Conner.

Catholic Online: Miracle in the Philippines: Tribe converted to Christianity after hearing Gospel and watching 'Passion of the Christ'

By Kenya Sinclair (Catholic Online)

April 27, 2016

Manobo tribe embraces Jesus (tikbo).

 LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to missionaries from Christian Aid Mission, nearly the entire village converted to Christianity after eight months of hearing the Gospel then finally watching "Passion of the Christ."

The ministry director, whose name has been concealed for security purposes, explained the villagers attended Bible classes for eight months before the fateful weekend they learned the powerful promise of Genesis 22:18, in which God tells Abraham, "All nations on earth will bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed my command."

The director explained, "The week before presenting the gospel lesson was a week of suspense. Everyone was in anticipation as to what would happen to Jesus after He was arrested by the Jewish leaders. To make the teaching of the gospel that night more vivid, the teacher inserted a brief video clip of the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus from the movie, 'The Passion of Christ.'"

Following the clip, the director said an old man "emotionally said, 'How I wish I could be by Jesus' side and help Him!' But after the truth had been explained concerning the death and resurrection of Christ as God's only provision for man's salvation, a feeling of awe and amazement was felt."

The sacrifice of Jesus touched the tribe, who expressed both understanding and faith that night.

"Finally, after consistently teaching over the past eight months from Genesis onward, we were able to present the gospel, and nearly the whole village responded and trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior," the director stated. "It was a great joy for us to see them understand the saving grace of Jesus for salvation; some cried as they shared their testimony of faith."

The next day, the Manobo adults shared their responses to the Gospel and of Jesus' resurrection.

The Manobo were converted after seeing "Passion of the Christ (Tweaktown).

One converted older man said Jesus "suffered so much for me. I'm glad He rose again from the dead."

Another elderly woman who came to Christ explained she was grateful to hear Jesus' story and, though she was not long for the world, knew heaven awaited her because of Christ's sacrifice.

The director explained, "Many more Manobo, both children and adult, expressed faith in Jesus. Truly, God is at work in the lives of these people, moving them from darkness to light, into His eternal kingdom."

CNS: For Catholic astronauts, flying to space doesn’t mean giving up the faith

By Dennis Sadowski

Catholic News Service

Posted in April 7, 2016

Astronaut Mike Hopkins became Catholic shortly before flying into space for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. (CNS/courtesy NASA)

WASHINGTON (CNS) — On the International Space Station there’s a place, while filled with robotic equipment, where astronauts like to hang out. Called the Cupola, the small module has seven large bay windows that give crew members a panoramic view of Earth.

On his first — and thus far only — mission into space in September 2013, astronaut Mike Hopkins was eager to find the Cupola. What he saw he found amazing.

“When you see the Earth from that vantage point and see all the natural beauty that exists, it’s hard not to sit there and realize there has to be a higher power that has made this,” said Hopkins, who is Catholic.

It was in the Cupola that Hopkins found himself praying and at times taking Communion.

Under a special arrangement with the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and with the help of Father James H. Kuczynski, pastor of Mary Queen Catholic Church in Friendswood, Texas, Hopkins’ parish, the rookie astronaut carried a pyx with six consecrated hosts broken into four pieces. It was enough so that he could take Communion once a week for the 24 weeks he was aboard the ISS.

“It was extremely, extremely important to me,” said Hopkins, now 47, who grew up on a farm outside of Richland, Missouri, in a United Methodist family but completed Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults classes and became Catholic just before going into space.

He said he wanted to become Catholic not just because his wife and two teenage sons were Catholic but because “I felt something was missing in my life.”

Former Lutheran Pastor: “Why I Am Becoming Catholic …” -Aleteia

Source: Aleteia
Russell E. Saltzman
March 18, 2016

Just in time for Holy Week, embracing the Church for its density: "There is a 'there' there."

For thirty years I labored away in parish ministry as a Lutheran pastor. Then for another four years, I was a district dean for the North American Lutheran Church (a supervisory work I enjoyed about as much as tooth decay).

Now, as I write this in the run-up to Holy Week, I am about to become a Roman Catholic, along with my wife; me for the first time and her for the second.

You may blame her for my conversion (though I think of it as a natural transition, as you’ll see). She was raised Roman Catholic and became Lutheran. Her father was raised Lutheran and became Catholic. Life is a darn strange thing at times. Her father died two years ago, and in the throes of watching that good man give up his life to ALS, she felt a tug back to her childhood faith.

To my surprise — hers too, I think — I said I’d tag along. Actually, it wasn’t much of a surprise to me. From seminary on as I became enmeshed in the Lutheran confessional documents from the sixteenth century, I progressively became more catholic in my thinking. What I sought for my faith was an ecclesial density; the feeling that there is a “there” there. The state of Lutheran church bodies in America simply does not approach it.

But it isn’t only out of disappointment as a Lutheran that I am becoming Roman Catholic. There is conviction behind this move. That rises along several avenues.

1) Some of my seminary class work, back in the late 1970s, was done at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio. I had classes in Sacramentology and Marian studies, taught by two old school Jesuits. I found myself in a classroom, the lone Lutheran surrounded by a horde of Salesian seminarians. It was exciting.

Journey Home - Former Prot. Minister - Marcus with Dcn Alex Jones

Why Princess Charlene of Monaco Converted to Catholicism and How She Finds 'Spiritual Balance' in Church

BY PETER MIKELBANK 01/15/2016 

Source: People.com

Princess Charlene of Monaco (PLS POOL/GETTY)

On Monday, Monaco's Prince Albert and Princess Charlene will travel to the Vatican for a visit, which will include an audience with Pope Francis.

The trip – a formal state visit between the world's two smallest countries – is actually no small matter.

Monaco's motto is "Deo Juvante" (With God's Help) and the historical alliance between Monaco (whose state religion is Catholicism) and the Vatican trace back centuries.

Considerable political, sociological and cultural ties exist between the two nations and these have become even more pronounced and important since the arrival of Princess Charlene.

And there's more than symbolism involved in the fact that Charlene's first state visit since the birth of her twins in December 2014 is to a nation even smaller than Monaco, which represents over one billion Roman Catholics.

Prince Albert and Princess Charlene with their twins, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, on May 10, 2015.
VALERY HACHE / AFP / GETTY

Shortly before her July 2011 wedding, Charlene, 37, who was born and raised Protestant, converted to Roman-Catholicism "of her own free will and choice" in April of that year. In part because it was a question of succession and Grimaldi tradition she said last summer, but more because she found strength in it.

"Catholicism is the state religion [in Monaco]. But for me, it represents much more. The values of this religion profoundly touch me and correspond perfectly to my spirit

"In January 2013, Prince Albert took me to the Vatican to present me to Pope Benedict XVI, just as Prince Rainier did with Grace Kelly and Pius XII," she recalled, adding, "that experience was extremely intense and moving for me."

Just weeks later, the royal couple cut short a March visit to Palau in the South Pacific to attend the inaugural mass of Pope Francis. They both took communion from His Holiness on this occasion.

Monaco's Prince Albert and Princess Charlene with their twins, Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques
PASCAL LE SEGRETAIN / GETTY

The birth of her children Jacques and Gabriella and her intense planning for their christening last May, deepened her faith, sources say.

Indeed, after her children's premature birth, her first authorized exit from the maternity ward at Princess Grace Hospital was to attend chapel mass. "I prayed, as always, for everyone," she told Paris-Match afterwards, "but I especially thanked the Lord. I have such luck, a happy husband, two children in good shape."

Charlene announced her devotion on several occasions in the months leading up to May's spectacular dual christening. On April 3, she was photographed on the palace balcony watching a religious procession, and she was instrumental in her brother Gareth Wittstock's conversion, which she and Prince Albert attended days later during Easter Mass.

And in a year of relatively few public appearances, she reemerged last November to speak at the Vatican on behalf of her foundation.

Charlene often attends mass discreetly with her husband (and recently with their children) at one of Monaco's five Roman Catholic churches. She also openly confides special appreciation for the peace of the country's Notre-Dame-Immaculate Cathedral, going there often privately to lay flowers for Prince Rainier, Albert's late father.

Charlene, a veteran Monaco observer says, "enjoys going to church. She likes it. In a sense, you feel that it provides a spiritual balance, that contrast to her life as a princess, which she seeks."

Albert, who has applauded Pope Francis' call for environmental responsibility, will be discussing and sharing some organic farming tips during next week's visit.

Sources tell PEOPLE that the prince will be bringing photographs and information concerning the techniques used at his 125-acre working farm, Roc Agel, which Francis is interested in implementing at the papal retreat, Castel Gandolfo.

Pope advances sainthood causes of Lutheran convert, U.S. missionary in Vietnam -Catholic Courier

By Junno Arocho Esteves (Catholic Courier)
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of a Lutheran convert who established a branch of the Bridgettine order in her country and a U.S. missionary who died while ministering to the wounded in Vietnam.

During a Dec. 14 meeting with Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, the pope signed a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad, who refounded the Order of the Most Holy Savior of St. Bridget, better known as the Bridgettines.

Born in Sweden in 1870 and baptized into the Reform Church, she immigrated to the United States in 1886 to earn money for her family back home.

After working as a nurse, she converted to Catholicism in 1902. Moving to Rome, she dedicated her life and her religious order to prayer and work for the attainment of Christian unity. St. John Paul II beatified her in Rome in 2000.

The pope also signed decrees recognizing the miracles needed for the beatifications of:

-- Father Ladislao Bukowinski, a Ukrainian priest who died in Kazakhstan in 1974.

-- Sister Maria Celeste Crostarosa, an Italian nun who founded the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer in the 18th century.

-- Sister Mary of Jesus Santocanale, an Italian nun born in 1852, who founded the Congregation of the Capuchin Sisters of the Immaculate of Lourdes.

-- Itala Mela, an Italian laywoman and Benedictine Oblate who died in 1957.

The pope also recognized the heroic virtues of four women and eight men, including New Hampshire native Brother William Gagnon -- a member of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God. Brother Gagnon tended to the sick and wounded during the Vietnam War, before falling ill and dying in Ho Chi Minh City in 1972.

The pope also recognized the heroic virtues of Teresio Olivelli, an Italian layman who spoke out against fascism and Nazism before being arrested and imprisoned. Olivelli died trying to protect a fellow prisoner in a German concentration camp in 1945.

Formerly atheist blogger Leah Libresco converted to the Catholic Faith

Her online announcement shocked the secular community. Atheist blogger Leah Libresco has announced on her Patheos blog that she has converted to Christianity. In her latest online post, "This is my last post for the Patheos Atheist Portal," she explained her conversion to Catholicism. Libresco said her conversion came from her struggles with the roots of the moral law. Libresco said she inevitably arrived at an understanding that aligns with a Christ-centered world-view.

Source: MySecretAtheist blog

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Libresco said her conversion came from her struggles with the roots of the moral law. Libresco said she inevitably arrived at an understanding that aligns with a Christ-centered world-view.

Libresco found herself constantly exploring this paradigm until she finally accepted the notion that truth and moral goodness come from God. "I believed that the Moral Law wasn't just a Platonic truth, abstract and distant. It turns out I actually believed it was some kind of Person, as well as Truth. And there was one religion that seemed like the most promising way to reach back to that living Truth.

"I asked my friend what he suggests we do now, and we prayed the night office of the Liturgy of the Hours together (I've kept up with that since). Then I suggested hugs and playing Mumford and Sons really, really loudly," she wrote.

"After I changed my mind, I decided to take a little time to make sure I really believed what I thought I believed, before telling my friends, family, and, now, all of you. That left me with the question of what to do about my atheism blog. My solution was to just not write anything I disagreed with. Enough of my friends had accused me of writing in a crypto-Catholic style that I figured no one would notice if I were actually crypto-Catholic for a month and a half (i.e. everything from "Upon this ROC." on).

Libresco admits she struggles with aspects of her newfound Catholic faith. Among them, the church's teaching about homosexuality, but she seems set on a path to explore these specified issues as diligently as she has the overarching existence of a higher power.

Libresco promises to further discuss her ongoing spiritual path in future blog posts.

"This post isn't the final word on my conversion. I'm sure there's a lot more explaining and arguing to do, so be a little charitable in your read of this post and try to give me a little time to expand my ideas over the next few weeks," she writes.

Many people in the secular community question Libresco's massive transition, but at least one prominent atheist has shown his support. On his "Friendly Atheist" blog, Hemant Mehta wrote the following about the conversion:

"It happens. Far less frequently than the other way around, but it happens . I won't pretend to understand whatever she's going through. But whenever you make a big announcement like that, it's like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders. It's even harder to do that when you talk about religion so publicly. Anyway, I wish Leah the best."

For the glory of God and His Church!

Former INC™ member now a convert to the Catholic Faith!

Originally posted at The Splendor of the Church blog of Fr. Abraham Arganiosa.

Hi Fr. Abe Argniosa, my name is Michael and was introduced to add you through Harold Blando. I am leaving the Iglesia ni Cristo and have been learning more about the Catholic faith and will start my RCIA education soon after my masters program is complete. I just wanted to introduce myself.

I have a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from California State University Long Beach and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from University of California Los Angeles. I am a Teaching Associate at Calif. State University Long Beach and a teacher at Blessed Junipero Serra High in Gardena.

I love the posts in SPLENDOR BLOG. The websites are so informative. I read one on baptism. I truly do. I watched Jesse Romero and Ventilacion debate and from there and investigating for a year into the Trinity how blind I was. I feel like the blind man in the Gospel if John ch. 9

Thirty years being a Deist and thinking the Christ was just a superman

Never truly understood what sitting in the right hand of God truly meant until I searched out the Holy Trinity.

Now I am so eager to become part of the Roman Catholic faith.

It has been tough though because my other side of my family is INC. I was teaching the Calculus at Calif State University. But finishing my masters comprehensive exams in the field of Applied Mathematics [now FINISHED]. I was a student at UCLA and was always inspired by St Francis prayer even when I was INC.