The Western Church is Gaining members...

Olalla Oliveros, the 36-year-old Spanish model stunned Spanish society by becoming a nun of the semi-cloistered Order of Saint Michael [Photo Source: JesusCaritasEst]

IS SPAIN REGAINING ITS FAITH?

AND WHY ISN’T ANYONE ELSE?

by Filip Mazurczak from First Things

Like Quebec, Ireland, or Boston, Spain has epitomized the fading of Catholic faith. In the twentieth century, religious practice in Spain fell sharply, especially as the country transitioned to democracy and resentment of the Church’s support for Franco’s dictatorship surfaced.

Recently, however, the downward trend has stopped and is recovering. According to Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS), the proportion of Spaniards attending Mass has increased from 12.1 to 15 percent between 2011 and 2012. In absolute terms, the number of Spanish Catholics attending Mass weekly grew by an astonishing further 23 percent between 2012 and 2013, according to CIS. Meanwhile, between 2007 and 2013 the number of Spaniards contributing part of their taxes to the Church rose from eight to nine million.

Not only are Spaniards attending Mass more frequently, but also youths are rediscovering the priesthood and religious life. In 2013–2014, the number of Spanish diocesan seminarians increased for a third consecutive year to 1321, a steady growth from 1227 in 2010–2011. Active female religious orders are also vibrant—each year, about 400 Spanish girls become non-cloistered sisters, a slowly increasing number. The number of women at the Poor Clares Convent of the Ascension in Lerma has surged from 28 in 1994 to 134 in 2009. One of the Lerma nuns, Sister Verónica, created her own community, Jesu Communio. The Vatican approved the rapidly growing order, known as the “sisters in jeans” because they wear denim habits, in 2010.

Immigration cannot explain this growth in monastic and priestly vocations. Today, young Spaniards are leaving the country for the more prosperous parts of Latin America (especially Chile) and for Germany and Britain. Considering Spain’s massive youth emigration and the fact that the country has one of Europe’s lowest birth rates, Spain’s youth population is shrinking, so this vocations rebound is more impressive.

Perhaps no one puts a more attractive face on Spain’s return to Catholicism than Olalla Oliveros. Last month, the 36-year-old Spanish model stunned Spanish society by becoming a nun of the semi-cloistered Order of Saint Michael. Perhaps Oliveros did this out of frustration? On the contrary, she was at the height of her career and was recently offered a lead role in a big-budget film. Oliveros experienced a conversion several years back and made her decision after much thought.

Some would dismiss these recent developments as resulting from the economic crisis. Currently, unemployment in Spain is almost 27 percent; in the European Union, only Greece suffers from a worse jobless rate. Spain plunged into recession in 2008, with anemic GDP growth in recent quarters. Perhaps Spaniards are rediscovering the pews and seminaries because economic hardship is leading them to look for a last resort in religion?

The Rise of Catholicism in the Middle East where it was born! (Protestants and other non-Catholics should be thankful to the CATHOLIC CHURCH for paving the way to Religious Tolerance in the Persian Gulf)

The Proposed "Our Lady of Arabia Catholic Cathedral" in Bahrain [Photo Source: Hermit Brother Blog]

Religious Tolerance Surges in the Persian Gulf
Cathedral dedicated to Our Lady is being built.

BY VICTOR GAETAN, SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER

AWALI, Bahrain — Over the last six years, religious tolerance has increased in the cradle of Islam, the Persian Gulf, according to clerics who live there as well as academic observers.
On May 31, a brick from St. Peter’s Basilica, which is being used as the foundation stone for the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in Awali, Bahrain, was blessed by Bishop Camillo Ballin, apostolic vicar of northern Arabia.

The blessing ceremony marked the start of construction on a cathedral, pastoral center, guesthouse and car park — on land donated by King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa — to serve the faithful in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

King Hamad met Pope Francis May 19 at the Vatican and presented the Holy Father with a red box containing a scale model of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, which will be the largest Catholic church in the Persian Gulf.

Driving this positive trend are the increased numbers of guest workers who are Christian — primarily from the Philippines and India — and initiatives by wealthy rulers to open up the region to the world.

Foreign workers in the Persian Gulf are employed mainly in construction, domestic service, energy and health care. "Immigration started when the oil was discovered, around 40 years ago. It is always increasing, for the necessity of manpower," Bishop Ballin, 70, explained to the Register via email.

And the numbers are mindboggling: In Qatar, for example, more than 1.3 million foreign nationals work for a Qatari population of only 280,000 citizens. Kuwait has about the same number of visiting workers but a larger local population of 2.2 million.

Bishop Ballin said more than 350,000 expatriates in both Qatar and Kuwait are Catholic, about evenly divided between Indians and Filipinos.

Who says that the Catholic Church is dwindling in the West?

The Iglesia ni Cristo^® founded by a fake messenger with revived Arianism teachings is living in a dream. When a Catholic church (small letter 'c') would go bankrupt, they would conclude that the Catholic Church is "dying" in the West just as this one Minister had claimed before "Ang Iglesia Katolika ay Tuluyan nang Bumagsak sa Kanluran".

But here is the proof that it's not!

A Catholic Cathedral Rises Again in the South

Raleigh’s new cathedral is a testament to a diocese that has rapidly grown in 90 years through faithful evangelization.

by PETER JESSERER SMITH from National Catholic Register

A view of the exterior of the proposed
Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral

RALEIGH, N.C. — Few could have imagined back in 1924 that the newborn Diocese of Raleigh would take root in the soil of North Carolina and become a Catholic powerhouse in the nation’s South.

Ninety years later, and rapidly expanding, the diocese is home to the only Catholic cathedral currently under construction in the United States, a testament to the vibrancy of its people’s faith.

Bishop Michael Burbidge announced the construction of Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral at a press conference in May.

Noting the rapid growth of the diocese, the bishop said it is his “hope, dream and prayer to build a mother church, to build a cathedral” to replace the existing Sacred Heart Cathedral in downtown Raleigh.

Sacred Heart Cathedral has a capacity of 320 people and was originally completed in 1924, when the Catholic population of the state was just 6,000. Today, however, the cathedral has burst its seams, serving a parish base of 3,000 Catholics in a diocese that is home to almost half a million Catholics, or 4.8% of the state’s population.

“We have people literally out in the street,” the bishop said, pointing out that Christmas and Easter celebrations see typically 13-14 Masses, with overflow locations at the cathedral-school basement and local Clarion hotel unable to serve the influx of worshippers.

Bishop Burbidge told reporters that the cathedral helps the bishop “gather the faithful of the diocese to worship as one.”

WHY I BECAME CATHOLIC (AND NOT BUDDHIST)

by: Misty [Source: Catholic Sistas]

Misty converted to Catholicism from atheism 10 years ago, just a week after becoming a mother to her first child. Prior to becoming a stay-at-home mom, she worked full-time as a magazine writer and editor. She has been married to her best friend for nearly 15 years and looks forward to many more decades by his side. Her days are now spent cooking, doing laundry, freelance writing, and homeschooling her four children. After spending so much of her life in spiritual darkness, she revels in the joy of being Catholic. Without a doubt, the Lord’s greatest gift to her has been saving her from a life without Him.

One of the questions I get most often when people hear I’m a convert is, “Why did you choose to become Catholic?” I’ve been asked this question by Jews, Baptists, Mormons, atheists, and even Jehovah’s Witnesses. The person who asks the question never says the rest of it, which is, “Why did you choose to become a Catholic INSTEAD of what I am?” These are people of genuine faith, who believe they have found and are living by The Truth. So naturally they want to understand how someone educated and sane could believe so differently.

It’s always a hard question to answer, because I’m sensitive to that unspoken part. I don’t want to insinuate–even accidentally–that they are less intelligent, less holy, or inferior to me as a Catholic. I usually give the “safe” answer, and talk about how my husband and I were drawn continuously to Jesus in the Eucharist. But part of me always yearns to say what G.K. Chesterton said so beautifully:

The difficulty of explaining “why I am Catholic” is that there are 10,000 reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true.

I never wanted to be a Catholic. I never even wanted to be a Christian. When my husband convinced me to join him on a quest through major and minor religions nearly 15 years ago, I did it mostly to humor him. I had lived as an avowed atheist for more than a decade and couldn’t imagine that The Truth even existed, much less it could be found. Especially when I couldn’t even accept that God was real.

Finaly, NHCP rejects change of street name in Lucena City to the Founder of the Iglesia ni Cristo®

Previous News: A Catholic Bishop stands against Philippine Politicians Passing Ordinances renaming historical Streets and Avenues to the FOUNDER of a multi-million RELIGIOUS DYNASTY Corporation in the Philippines – the MANALOS!

GMANetwork News, LUCENA CITY -Stepping into the controversy involving the change in name of one of Lucena City’s longest streets, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) has officially objected to the city council’s decision, citing historical and practical reasons.

Ordinance No. 2517, which the city council approved in a special session on May 6, renamed a portion of Granja Street into Felix Y. Manalo Street after the founder of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), one of the country’s influential Christian denominations.

Letter to councilor

The street was originally named after Fr. Mariano Granja, OFM, the first Catholic parish priest of the city.

In a letter to Councilor Benito Brizuela, chair of the city council’s committee on tourism and cultural affairs, Maria Sereno Diokno, the NHCP head, said Granja Street was appropriately named after the priest based on an 1879 document titled “Guia de Forastero,” which made first reference to Lucena.

Diokno said the integrity of the street, which includes the portion proposed to be renamed, “has been sanctified by usage and therefore has attained a degree of historical association and importance in the community.”

The NHCP, which is the government agency responsible for the conservation and preservation of the country’s historical legacies, does not allow such renaming “if it would tend to disrupt the continuity of the street name,” she said.

Diokno noted that a pioneer English writer in the country, Paz Marquez Benitez, who was born in Lucena in 1894, also “makes special mention of Granja Street in her memoirs.”

A portion

The NCHP letter to Brizuela, dated May 12, was received by the city council on May 30, according to a staff of Councilor Rhaetia Marie Abcede-Llaga, who gave a copy to the Inquirer. Llaga, who was the lone opposition to Ordinance 2517 among 11 councilors was also furnished a copy.

Brizuela, one of the main authors of the ordinance, told the Inquirer that he and the other city officials would revise the measure to instead just “name” a portion of the street.

But this would be “the same thing,” Llaga said. “I will still oppose it. I will stick to my original stand that it is still renaming because there is already a name of the street and that is Granja Street,” she told the Inquirer.

Brizuela, 68, insisted that the 170-meter stretch of Granja from Lagos Street to the back gate of the INC chapel is just an “extension” and not part of the original Granja Street. “I should know because we used to live there when I was a small boy,” he said.

Longtime residents of the middle-class neighborhood, however, belied the claim.

“My parents were natives of this street, I was born in this place and this street had long been named and identified as Granja Street and not Granja Extension,” said a 70-year-old man, who introduced himself as a member of the Alzaga family, one of Lucena’s pioneer clans.

‘Pogi’ points

Diokno debunked Brizuela’s argument in his letter to the NHCP dated April 3 that the portion proposed to be renamed was opened only in the 1960s. “It still is considered as having been sanctified by usage,” she explained.

Lucena Bishop Emilio Marquez, one of the fiercest critics of Ordinance 2517, said by phone that he was happy with Diokno’s decision. He had earlier branded the proponents as “Judases” out to earn “pogi points” from the INC for their reelection.

Brizuela and another author, Councilor Rey Oliver Alejandrino, reacted by asking the bishop who between the two Judases in the Bible they had been likened to: “Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, or Judas Thaddeus, patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes?”

But Marquez said: “I will leave the interpretation to them.”

Brizuela stressed that despite the bitter exchange of words, he would continue to remain a Catholic and loyal to the bishop.

Diokno suggested to the councilor that Manalo could still be honored by naming a structure after the INC founder.

INC ® Founding Anniversary in July 27, 2014 - a Non-Working Holiday

2,000 Jubilee Year of the Catholic Church of Christ

Dubbed as the “largest independent Christian church in Asia” Eduardo Manalo and his apparent heir-to-the-throne enjoys a unique privilege of being the “Little Pope” to this ‘Revived-Arianism’ which had been condemned by the Catholic Church since 325 AD. Their ‘independence’ from mainstream Christianity REDUCED their teachings often criticized doctrines to be ‘unorthodox’ and ‘unbiblical’ considering that they do not have Ministers who are Bible scholars and RELIED heavily on Catholic and Protestant Bible versions which the INC^® founder, Feilx Manalo branded as “AGENTS OF SATAN.”

Among it’s many HYPOCRISIES, the INC^® of Felix Manalo strongly denies the “authority of the Pope” in relations to Catholic teachings yet the MANALOS are playing the ROLE of a pope by making themselves the FINAL ARBITER in many disputes between members in matters of moral teachings, denying the Divinity of Christ while raising Felix Manalo, their founder, into the likes of Angels, prophets such as Abraham, Moses, Isaiah and even John the Baptist.

Founded in July 27, 1914, the Iglesia of Manalo will celebrate its 100TH Centennial this July 27, 2014 held at the ‘World’s Largest Dome’ the ‘Philippine Arena owned and managed by the Iglesia ni Cristo^®, built at the “CIUDAD DE VICTORIA” (English: CITY OF VICTORS; Tagalog: LUNGSOD NG MGA MANALO).

GMANetwork News, MANILA - The Senate on Monday passed a resolution declaring July 27 this year as a non-working holiday to commemorate the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC)'s centennial. 

The INC, which practices bloc-voting during elections, has an estimated five to eight million votes out of the 52 million registered voters nationwide. The INC's support is much sought-after by politicians during elections. 

Eighteen senators voted to approve House Joint Resoultion No. 12 declaring INC's centennial year celebration next month as a holiday due to "the massive scale of the vent." 

The resolution was filed by House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales Jr., Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora and Bacolod City Rep. Evelio Leonardia.
The resolution described the INC as "the largest entirely indigenous Christian church in the Philippines" and as "the largest independent Christian church in Asia." -NB, GMA News

ULF EKMAN: He discovered the TRUE CHURCH, what's keeping you from converting?

"We have seen a great love for Jesus and a sound theology, founded on the Bible and classic dogma. We have experienced the richness of sacramental life. We have seen the logic in having a solid structure for priesthood, that keeps the faith of the church and passes it on from one generation to the next. We have met an ethical and moral strength and consistency that dare to face up to the general opinion, and a kindness towards the poor and the weak. And, last but not least, we have come in contact with representatives for millions of charismatic Catholics and we have seen their living faith.

"I discovered how little I really knew about [Catholics], their spirituality and their beliefs. Unconsciously I carried many prejudices and bad attitudes and have been quick to judge them without really knowing what they actually believed. It has been good to discover and to repent from nonchalant and shallow opinions, based not on their own sources but on their opponents, and to discover a very rich heritage, a strong theological foundation and a deep love for Jesus Christ among them. -Sweden's Pentecostal Megapastor Converts to Catholicism - Ulf Ekman stuns his Word of Life megachurch in Sunday sermon: He's crossing the Tiber.

Former Protestant Pastor Ulf Ekman's Facebook page

“It really challenged our Protestant prejudices, and we realized that we, in many cases, did not have any basis for our criticism of them. We needed to know the Catholic faith better. This led us to the realize that it was actually Jesus Christ who led us to unite with the Catholic Church.”

Episcopalian Blogger Converts to Catholicism

WAYPOINTS by Greg Griffith - A Conversion Story

Thanks to Creative Minority Report for introducing his blog to the world

After more than ten years on the front lines of the Anglican wars, I have made a major change. This past Easter vigil, my family and I were confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church.

It’s a measure of what a long and strange journey it’s been for me over this past decade that I’ve even had to entertain the question of what kind of reaction this might cause among people I’ve never even met, or the political ripples it might send out through the various quarters of my allies and opponents.

I was raised in a straight-from-central-casting, large Southern Baptist church: The building occupying an entire city block, the Sunday service televised, communion (as it were) once a year, consisting of saltine crackers and Welch’s grape juice.

After about a decade as a more or less unchurched young adult, I married a Catholic girl, in the Catholic church, but due to a dismal experience in pre-marriage counseling classes, we quickly drifted away from the church. Following her parents - who reconciled a Catholic/Methodist marriage by joining the Episcopal Church - within a few years we were also received into the Episcopal Church. Nearly a decade of quiet, uneventful participation was followed by another decade of, shall we say, intense participation, beginning with the fallout from the consecration of Gene Robinson in 2003 : Before that, I was sitting quietly in the back pews. Soon after, I was one of the most visible Anglican laymen on Planet Earth.

On Whose Authority? – Conversion Story of Father Raymond Ryland

Article from COMING HOME NETWORK INTERNATIONAL

Please share directly from the site.

“How can you go into that darkness, once you have known the light?” In deep anguish, my mother-in-law asked my wife and me this question when we told her we were going to enter the Catholic Church.

There was a time when the thought of becoming Catholics would have caused us even greater distress than our news caused her. Now, however, we were near the end of a sixteen-year pilgrimage. We could finally see the Tiber ahead, and we were eager to cross.

For many years, we had known ourselves as seekers. Now we realized we were pilgrims. The difference? Pilgrims know where they are going.

Whatever its hidden roots, the “seeking that was a pilgrimage” began not long after Ruth and I married. While the initiative was largely mine, all those years we traveled together: reading, praying, discussing, at times arguing — always just between ourselves.

Yet we never walked in lockstep. Sometimes one of us would go ahead, and the other would insist on a spiritual rest stop. (I did most of the darting ahead and the chastened retracing of steps.) But we were always together. For that, we are forever grateful.

During much of our pilgrimage, we knew that we were wrestling with the problem of authority. How does one know Christian truth with certainty? We saw with increasing clarity that this issue underlies all the divisions among the thousands of competing Christian traditions.

We also began to recognize that the issue of authority is at root a Christological question: What has God done in Christ to communicate His truth to the world?

How a Protestant spin machine hid the truth about the English Reformation

By Dominic Selwood
The Telegraph

if Catherine had borne Henry a son, everything would be different…

...May 23, is the anniversary of King Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon —­ the event which started the English Reformation.

In 2003, Charles Clarke, Tony Blair’s Secretary of State for Education and Skills, expressed strong views on the teaching of British history.

I don’t mind there being some medievalists around for ornamental purposes, but there is no reason for the state to pay for them.

In response, Michael Biddiss, professor of medieval history at Reading University, suggested that Mr Clarke’s view may have been informed by Khrushchev’s notion that historians are dangerous people, capable of upsetting everything.­­­­­

In many ways, Khrushchev was correct. Historians can be a distinct threat —­ both those who create “official” history, and those who work quietly to unpick it, filling in the irksome and unhelpful details.

Rulers in all ages have tried to control how history sees them, and have gone to great lengths to have events recorded the way they want. The process is as old as authority itself.

The result is that generations of people learn something at school, only to find out later that it was not so. For instance, children brought up in the communist countries of the 20th century have little idea of the indiscriminately murderous mechanics at the heart of their founding revolutions. More recently, in the United States, anyone young enough not to have lived through the two recent Iraq wars might, if they only read political memoirs, actually believe that the wars were fought to root out al Qaeda.

So what about England? Has our constitutional monarchy and ancient tradition of parliamentary democracy protected our history from political manipulation? Can we rely on what we are taught and told, or are there myths we, too, have swallowed hook, line, and sinker?

Where better to start than with that most quintessentially English of events ­— the break with Rome that signalled the birth of modern England?

For centuries, the English have been taught that the late medieval Church was superstitious, corrupt, exploitative, and alien. Above all, we were told that King Henry VIII and the people of England despised its popish flummery and primitive rites. England was fed up to the back teeth with the ignorant mumbo-jumbo magicians of the foreign Church, and up and down the country Tudor people preferred plain-speaking, rational men like Wycliffe, Luther, and Calvin. Henry VIII achieved what all sane English and Welsh people had long desired ­– an excuse to break away from an anachronistic subjugation to the ridiculous medieval strictures of the Church.

We are brought up to believe that Catholicism is, well, un-English

For many in England, the subject of whether or not this was true was not even up for debate. Even now, the historical English disdain for all things Catholic is often regarded as irrefutable and objective fact. Otherwise why would we have been taught it for four and a half centuries? And anyway, the English are quite clearly not an emotional race like some of our continental cousins. We like our churches bright and clean and practical and full of common sense. For this reason, we are brought up to believe that Catholicism is just fundamentally, well … un-English.

SCOTT HAHN: Why a Protestant Pastor became Catholic!

TIME: "Pope Francis is proving himself to be one of the most powerful leaders in the world."

Pope Francis praying before the 'Separation Wall' erected by the State of Israel (Photo Source: ABC News)

By Elizabeth Dias - TIME

Pope Francis is proving himself to be one of the most powerful leaders in the world.

On Sunday, he arrived in Bethlehem and made an unexpected stop that surprised everyone: en route to mass in Manger Square, he halted the popemobile and caused a chaotic flurry of press, security, and onlookers as he walked over to the wall that separates Israel from the West Bank. Beneath the graffiti scrawled “Bethlehem,” he reached out, placed his hand on the wall, and prayed.

Only a Holy Father like Francis could pull off this kind of stunt. One small gesture, and the Israeli military in the watchtower above and the Palestinian people below were all at his mercy. He rendered all sides powerless by drawing them into his service, the most counterintuitive service of prayer.

To top it all off, during his sermon at mass, Francis made a historic invitation: “In this place where the Prince of Peace was born, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, and President Shimon Peres, to raise together with me an intense prayer to God for the gift of peace. And I offer my house in the Vatican to host you in this encounter of prayer.”

Within an hour, both leaders had accepted his invitation. What were they going to say, no?

The brilliance in this move goes something like this:

“Hey Peres, I’m in Bethlehem, preaching not in Jerusalem but in Palestinian territory, which happens to be where Jesus who founded my church was born, and don’t forget, I’m about to come to Israel to lay a wreath on the founder of Zionism’s grave. Hey Abbas, I’m visiting Palestine first, before I’m visiting Israel, and I just prayed at the wall, so all eyes are on you right now. I’m going to take this opportunity to invite you both, via my sermon, to come pray with me in the Vatican. And because I just made this historic invitation public, you pretty much are going to have to show up. Also, because Peres’ term expires in two months, this needs to happen ASAP. See you soon!!”

Wink, smile, drop the mic.

This is a pope who understands the power of his position, and knows how to wield it with disarming humility. Buckle up, people. We’re only fourteen months in to his papacy. This is already fun.

MIDDLE EAST PAPAL TRIP to JORDAN

King of Bahrain Audience with Pope Francis

Rarely, an Arab Muslim King visits the world's 1.2 billion leader at the Eternal City of Rome, but yes, the generous and tolerant Muslim King of Bahrain, who donated a land for the Catholic community in Bahrain paid a visit to His Holiness Pope Francis in May 19, 2014. Here the story from Catholic News Agency:

Pope Francis received King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain in audience on May 19.

An estimated 10% of the people in the Persian Gulf island nation are Christians; most Christians there are Asian guest workers. Conversion from Islam to Christianity is forbidden, but the nation is permitting the construction of a cathedral for the apostolic vicar who ministers to Catholics there.

The Pope and the king, who has ruled Bahrain since 1999, discussed Middle East peace and stability. “Mention was then made of the Christian community’s positive contribution to the country, and appreciation was expressed for His Majesty’s personal interest in the needs of the local Catholic community,” according to the Holy See Press Office.

Following their discussion, the King met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States.

INC® Defender's Desperate move to hack my account

Conrad J. Obligacion, a zealous defender of Manalo and his INC^® Church-- "Currently on assignment and based in Munich, Germany!". The same filthy man is the owner of www.resbak.com (resbak is a Filipino street language for 'pay back' or 'revenge'.) He is also owner of several fake blogs that carries the names of those critical of the INC^® church of Manalo! 

He is a minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo^® founded by Felix Manalo in 1914.

An Iglesia ni Cristo® member rejoiced with the book of Malachi Martin but threatened the Philippines with the publication of the book of Rose Tipon

The HYPOCRISY of members of the INC^® of Manalo is despicable!

The owner of this blog [http://tunaynalingkod.blogspot.com/2014/02/edge-of-desperation-for-catholic-churc.html] rejoiced with the book of Malachi Martin, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Catholic Church' which the Catholic Church never sanctioned.

While the INC^® and its paid ministers through INC lawyers did their best to PREVENT and BAN the publication of Ms. ROSS TIPON's 'The Power and Glory: The Cult of Manalo' threatening the Court with "violence" if her book would be published.

HYPOCRITES!

Yes! We OWN the Bible! The CHURCH own it!

A 'MUST-READ' quotation of all members of Manalo's Church, the INC^{® before it's too late.}
The Bible Centenary and the Catholic Church

Amid the general jubilation over the three hundredth anniversary of the appearance of King James’s version of the Bible, I think it would be a pity if we did not make mention of that great Church to which, under God, we owe our possession of the sacred Scriptures—I mean of course, the Roman Catholic Church. Without striking one single jarring note, I hope, in the universal chorus, yet I feel it would be rather ungenerous, and indeed historically unjust, did we not turn our eyes at least in passing to that venerable figure standing in the background surveying our celebrations, and, as it were, saying, “Rejoice over it, but remember it was from me you got it.” As a Scotsman, who cannot forget that it is the Bible that has made Scotland largely what she is today, I yield to no one in veneration of the inspired Scriptures and in admiration of the incomparably beautiful Authorized Version. Still, honor to whom honor. We shall only be awarding a just meed of praise and gratitude if we frankly and thankfully recognize that it is to a council (or councils) of the R.C. Church that we owe the collection of the separate books into our present Canon of the New Testament, and that to the loving care and devoted labor of the monks and scholars of that Church all through the ages we are indebted, not only for the multiplication and distribution of the sacred volume among the faithful when as yet no printing press existed, but even for the preservation of the Book from corruption and destruction. It is, then, undoubtedly true to say that, in the present order of Providence, it is owing to the Roman Catholic Church that we have a Bible at all. And no one will be a bit the worse Christian and Bible-lover if he remembers, this notable year, that it is to the Mother Church of Christendom he must look if he would behold the real preserver, defender, and transmitter of the “Word that endureth for ever.” - HENRY GREY GRAHAM

Dwindling Iraqi Christians is a disaster!

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq — A car bomb outside Holy Family Syrian Catholic Church wounded 23 people Tuesday, August 2, 2011, as security forces found and disabled other vehicles packed with explosives outside two other churches in northern Iraq.  Photo: Emad Matti / AP

Iraq’s vanishing Christians
One church leader is pointing the finger at the West to explain the disappearance of Iraq’s Christians, writes Salah Nasrawi

Ahram.org - As the mass exodus of Iraq’s Christians continues, so does the call for ending the plight of those who have remained. Like Iraq’s ancient Jewish community before them, one of the world’s oldest Christian communities may soon cease to exist.

The disappearance of Iraq’s religious minorities has been a troubling trend since the US-led invasion in 2003, and it has threatened to end the cultural diversity of Iraq. As the violence in the country spikes and religious intolerance grows, many Christians, Yazidis, Mandaeans and other minority community members are leaving the country.

Last week, the head of the Iraqi Catholic Church sent a chilling warning that Iraq’s 2,000-year-old Christian community is on the brink of extinction as new waves of Christians take the journey of exodus.

The exodus is largely blamed on the worsening security since the US-led invasion that toppled former president Saddam Hussein’s regime. Christians have suffered abuses by Muslim extremists and militias, including brutal attacks, death threats and forcible seizure of property.

But Chaldean patriarch Louis Sako now believes that intervention by the West in the region has exacerbated the problem by producing more chaos and conflict in the war-ravaged country, and it is this that has been driving Christians to flee.

Ang IGLESIA KATOLIKA ay siya pa ring TUNAY na IGLESIA ni CRISTO hanggang sa kasalukuyan ayon sa INC®

Pope Francis sa kanyang Weekly Audience (Photo Source: UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office)

Alam niyo bang HINDI totoong "NATALIKOD na GANAP" (at hindi ito mangyayari) ang TUNAY na Iglesia ni Cristo-- ang Iglesia Katolika?

Ito ay PINAPATUNAYAN ng magasing "PASUGO" ng nagpapanggap na Iglesia ni Cristo^® inilathala ito noong Abril 1966, pahina 46:

“Ang totoo hanggang sa kasalukuyan ay patuloy na ginagawa ni Satanas ang pagpapasok ng mga maling aral sa Iglesia Katolika na sa pasimula'y siyang Iglesia ni Cristo. Sadyang matalino at tuso ang diablo. Hindi niya ginawang biglaan ang pagtalikod sa Iglesiang itinayo ni Cristo noong unang siglo." -Katotohanan Tungkol sa INK-1914

Sa kabuuan, ang pinapatunayan ng INC^® ay ganito:

• Hanggang sa kasaluluyan ay Iglesia Katolika pa rin ang tunay na Iglesia ni Cristo sapagkat HINDI pa ito NATALIKOD na ganap!
• Ang Iglesia Katolika ay siyang TUNAY na Iglesia ni Cristo mula pa sa PASIMULA hanggang sa KASALUKUYAN
• Ang Iglesia Katolika ay  TATAG ni CRISTO JESUS at hindi si Constantino ayon sa pinangangalat ng kanilang mga Ministro.
• Ang mga PANGAKO ni Cristo na HINDI MANANAIG ang KAPANGYARIHAN ng Hades ay mananatiling MATUTUPAD!
• Ang mga pangako ni Cristo na MANANATILI sa kanyang IGLESIA ay TUTUPARIN niya! Si Cristo ang NANGAKO!
• HINDI tunay ang Iglesia ni Cristo^® na tatag ni Felix Manalo noong 1914

Read more here at ANG IGLESIA NI CRISTO 33AD

Whose Bible do the Iglesia ni Cristo® paid Ministers use?

The third little pope: Pope "Tatay" Eduaro of the Iglesia ni Cristo^®.  Photo courtesy of http://inc.kabayankokapatidko.org

The Iglesia ni Cristo^® brags it's "biblical" teachings yet HAVE NO CONTRIBUTION to any of the existing Bible versions they are using in their "pamamahayag" ministry.

For the record, the Iglesia ni Cristo^® rejects Catholics and Protestants for their Theological position in the Deity of Christ.  He further branded them even "apostates" or enemies of the truth.

But IRONICALLY the INC^® are HELPLESS.  It's paid ministers, including their little pope Eduardo relies heavily on "apostates" Bible Versions!

Notice the common Bible verses they use listed below. The Tagalog versions aren't included here but NOTHING had been contributed by any of its paid ministers. As a MATTER OF FACT, NO INC^® MINISTER has been conferred with the degree of "BIBLE SCHOLAR".

In other words, these paid ministers of the Iglesia ni Cristo^® are called "BIBLE THIEVES" and "WOLVES" for taking things they didn't even sweat out! We Catholics DO the MISSION works and converted people to be Christians-- and then these wolves will come and confuse them and convert them to Manalo's Church- the Iglesia ni Cristo^®! The Scripture says it's better for these kind of fake ministers who caused others to stumble to be tied with stone on their necks and to be thrown into the sea (Mt. 18:6; Mk 9:42; Lk 17:2)

Mr. INC^® DECEIVER! Whose "HOLY SCRIPTURES" must we turn its pages? INC^®, have you ever thought of QUESTIONING your paid ministers 'HOW DID WE GET THE HOLY SCRIPTURES?' so you will know for a fact that your paid ministers are just Bible readers-- NOT teachers! (Photo Source: incmedia.org)

Revised Standard Version

(Oxford University Press, 1962). This translation is based upon a revision of the standard King James Version and is still a wonderful, very literal translation. It has also been republished in some new attractive editions and remains a standard for good Bible study because of its fidelity to the original text. —Yet it retains some antiquated expressions in English and makes no attempt to be inclusive in its language. This standard translation is found in many different editions, including various study Bibles. There is a Catholic edition, from Ignatius Press.

New Revised Standard Version

(Oxford University Press, 1989). This is a wholly redone translation in line with the Revised Standard Version but with sensitivity to inclusive language for human beings. It retains traditional language for God. Although it is fairly literal in its translation, the English expressions have been updated to reflect current American cultural preferences. It comes in several different study editions, which include introductory essays, extensive footnotes and brief commentary. —There is a Catholic edition.

New International Version

(International Bible Society, 1984). This version is intended to be ecumenical and to appeal to a broad range of English-speaking people. The translation is considered somewhat more conservative than the New Revised Standard Version. Its language is suitable for private study and for public reading. There is no Catholic edition.

New American Bible with revised New Testament and Psalms

(Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 1991). This has become the standard American Catholic edition of the Bible. It is the Bible Catholics hear during Sunday Mass readings, and thus a popular choice among Catholics. It is a revision of the New American Bible (1952-70) done with a sensitivity to accurate yet easily understood language that can be used in public worship. It is also sensitive to gender-inclusive language wherever references to human beings are concerned. The Old Testament section of this Bible underwent recent revision, and one can expect a new edition of the entire translation to be published soon.

New Jerusalem Bible

(Doubleday, 1985). —A translation from the new French edition of this famous Bible, La Sainte Bible (1966), the text is the most poetic of the translations we are considering. Its poetic character lends itself to prayer. This Catholic Bible is also justifiably praised for its extensive footnotes, filled with informative background material.

Revised English Bible

(Oxford University Press, 1989). This translation contains British English that may seem unusual. Yet it is readable and reliable for study. There is no Catholic edition.

Good News translation

(American Bible Society, 2004). This is a totally new edition of The Good News Bible, published by the American Bible Society. A major goal of this translation is sensitivity to the hearers of God's Word. It employs popular contemporary English that is more colloquial in nature. It might appeal to young people. There is a Catholic edition. The earlier Contemporary English Version (1991) has a Catholic-edition New Testament.

A Catholic Bishop stands against Philippine Politicians Passing Ordinances renaming historical Streets and Avenues to the FOUNDER of a multi-million RELIGIOUS DYNASTY Corporation in the Philippines – the MANALOS!

Areal map of the City of Manalo (Ciudad de Victoria) in Bulacan, Philippines

 Shameless and thick-faced Filipino politicians are losing their sense of history when they want to rename major streets and avenues to Felix Manalo, INC’s FOUNDER, in exchange for a small favor during election days. Two-thumbs up for Lucena Bishop Emilio Marquez for standing up on what these delusional politicians can stand for. It’s known in the Philippines that most of Filipino politicians were voted with any qualifications for being a politician. They’re leaders of gangsters, ex-rebels, relatives of political dynasties, crooks, hooligans, thieves, high-school drop-outs BUT with money, power and influence. So they expected to be outrageously lacking of the basic knowledge on legalities. They were voted not out of what they know but out of what they have—money, power and looks. Philippine election has been dubbed by international observers as one of the dirtiest in the world—and if I may add – voters are one of the dumbest.

In exchange for just a few thousand (unsure solid) votes, our politicians are ready to be Manalo’s “pets” or “mga alipin” under his mercy. The Manalos’ who are the legal owner of the Iglesia ni Cristo (Sole Corporation) were honored by its members almost equal to that honor given to Catholic saints. Their charity foundations was name after its FOUNDER Felix Manalo (Felix Manalo Foundation, Inc.), their university was named after Felix son New Era University (Era-Ño), and the location of the world’s biggest arena was named after the MANALO clan “Ciudad de Victoria”—Victoria in English is Victory; in Tagalog is ‘Tagumpay’ and ‘Tagumpay’ is synonymous to ‘Manalo’. That’s the reason why Felix Manalo chose  ‘MANALO’ over his father’s last name ‘YSAGUN’ because  ‘Manalo’ means 'Tagumpay’ and Tagumpay in English is Victory; in Spanish is Victoria! The Ciudad de Victoria is literally City of Manalo in English.

Now, to get favor from Iglesia ni Cristo’s reigning “Little Pope Eduardo” is to rename every street, avenues and hi-ways to their first ‘pope’ Felix Manalo.

I won’t be surprised if one day those INC^® politicians lobbying for the advancement of Manalo’s Church would propose a bill to rename the Philippines into “PAIS DE VICTORIA” and call its citizens “Manalistas” o ‘Manalos”? … but if happens, that time I already relinquished my ‘citizenship.

But no matter how powerful they are, the TRUTH remains—that the IGLESIA NI CRISTO^® was FOUNDED by FELIX MANALO, not by Christ!

LUCENA CITY, PDI Online—A furious Lucena Bishop Emilio Marquez assailed local officials for changing the name of a section of a major street here, originally named after the priest founder of the city, into Felix Manalo Street, after the founder of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC).

“They (local officials) were like Judas who conveniently forgot the revered role of Fr. Mariano Granja in the history of Lucena in exchange for a few thousand votes,” Marquez said in an interview on Wednesday. 

Granja Street stretches 1,329 meters across the city proper, from its northern tip in Barangay 1 to its end in Barangay 8.

Marquez said officials could have renamed other streets after Manalo and locals would not have minded.

“But renaming even just a part of Granja Street into Felix Manalo Street, just because it is where the back of the INC chapel is located, is a grave disrespect to the memory of Father Granja,” Marquez said. 

He said Granja, a Spanish Franciscan priest, was known among Lucena folk as the “father of Lucena.”

Wikipedia: Iglesia ni Cristo, founder Felix Manalo has 2.3% membership of the population in the Philippines.

Official Seal of the Iglesia ni Cristo

Iglesia ni Cristo pronounced [ɪˈgleʃɐ ni ˈkɾisto] (English: Church of Christ; abbreviated as INC) is a Christian denomination religion that originated in the Philippines in 1914 under founder Felix Manalo, who become the first executive minister. By the time of his death in 1963, the Iglesia ni Cristo had become a nation-wide church with 1,250 local chapels, and 35 large concrete cathedrals. His son Eraño Manalo became the next church leader and lead a campaign to grow and internationalize the church until his death on August 31, 2009, whereupon his son, Eduardo V. Manalo, succeeded him as executive minister. In 2000 the Philippine census by the National Statistics Office found that 2.3 percent of the population in the Philippines are affiliated with the Iglesia ni Cristo, making it the third largest religious denomination in the Philippines after the Roman Catholic Church (80.9%) and Islam (5.0%), respectively.

Source: Wikipedia
Classification	Nontrinitarianism, Unitarianism,Restorationism
Governance	Hierarchical/Monarchical
Leader	Eduardo V. Manalo (Executive Minister)
Region	102 countries and territories; 114 nationalities[1]
Headquarters	No. 1 Central Avenue, New Era,Quezon City, Philippines[2]
Founder	Felix Y. Manalo (as the registrant for the Philippine Government)
Origin	July 27, 1914 (registration inPhilippine Government) Punta, Santa Ana, Manila,Philippines
Congregations	5,545[3] as of March 2014
Members	No official count
Ministers	7,205[4]as of 2009
Aid organization	Felix Y. Manalo Foundation, Inc Unlad International, Inc
Tertiary institutions	New Era University College of Evangelical Ministry
Other name(s)	INC, Iglesia, English: Church of Christ, Spanish: Iglesia de Cristo,German: Kirche Christi, French:Eglise du Christ
Official website	www.incmedia.orginc.kabayankokapatidko.org

MORE COME TO THE LORD: Growth of Catholic Church outpacing world's general population

Anti-Catholics such as the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC^®) founded by Felix Manalo in the Philippines assertions that Catholics worldwide is dwindling now proven to be a LIE! -CD2000

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)

More people than ever before are now coming to the Lord. According to statistics published Statistical Yearbook of the Church, which reported worldwide Church figures as of December 31, 2012, the worldwide Catholic population had reached 1.228 billion. This represented an increase of 14 million, or 1.14 per cent. This slightly outpaces the global population growth rate, which, as of 2013, was estimated at 1.09 per cent.

It's estimated that there were about 4.8 million
Catholics that were not included in its
survey because they were in countries
that could not provide an accurate report
to the Vatican, mainly China and
North Korea.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Furthermore, the number of priests, permanent deacons and religious men all increased in 2012, while the number of women in religious orders continued to decline, according to Vatican statistics.

However, the number of candidates for the priesthood also showed its first global downturn in recent years.

Catholics as a percentage of the global population remained essentially unchanged from the previous year at around 17.5 per cent.

It's estimated that there were about 4.8 million Catholics that were not included in its survey because they were in countries that could not provide an accurate report to the Vatican, mainly China and North Korea.

The percentage of Catholics as part of the general population, according to the yearbook, is highest in the Americas where they make up 63.2 per cent of the continent's population. Asia has the lowest proportion, with 3.2 per cent.

There were 16.4 million baptisms of both infants and adults in 2012, according to the statistical yearbook. The number of bishops of the world stayed essentially the same at 5,133.

Both diocesan and religious priests internationally grew from 413,418 to 414,313, with a modest increase in Africa, a larger rise in Asia, and slight decreases in the Americas, Europe and Oceania. Asia saw a 13.7 per cent growth in the number of priests between 2007 and the end of 2012.

One area that showed growth was in the number of permanent deacons reported. The figure of 42,104 deacons was an increase of more than 1,100 over the previous year and a 17 per cent increase since 2007. More than 97 per cent of the world's permanent deacons live in the Americas or in Europe.

However, the number of women in religious orders continued its downward trend. The total of 702, 529 temporarily and permanently professed sisters and nuns in 2012 was a 1.5 per cent decrease from the previous year and a 5.9 per cent fall since 2007.

Philippine Postal Corporation Honors the Founder of the Iglesia ni Cristo® by issuing Commemorative Stamp on its 100th Year Celebration

PASUGO Enero 1964, p. 6:

“Sino ang tunay na nagtayo ng Iglesia ni Cristo na lumitaw sa Pilipinas noong 1914? Hindi ang kapatid na si Manalo kundi ang Dios at si Cristo."

PASUGO Nobyembre 1940, p. 23:

“Iisa lamang ang tanging makapagtatayo ng Iglesiang magiging dapat sa Dios. Kung sino? -- Ang ating Panginoong Jesu-Cristo lamang! Sinumang tao-- maging marunong o mangmang-- ay walang karapatang magtayo..."

PASUGO Mayo 1968, p. 7:

“Ang tunay na Iglesia ni Cristo ay iisa lamang, ito ang Iglesiang itinayo ni Cristo. Kung mayroon mang nagsisibangon ngayong mga Iglesia at sasabihing sila man ay INK rin ang mga ito ay hindi tunay kundi huwad lamang!"

MANILA, Philippines (PDI Online)—The Philippine Postal Corp. (Philpost) on Saturday launched the Iglesia ni Cristo Centennial Commemorative Stamp at the INC Central Office in Diliman, Quezon City, to mark the 100th anniversary of the church’s registration in the Philippines.

In ceremonies held at the INC’s Bulwagan, Postmaster General Ma. Josefina M. de la Cruz and Executive Minister Eduardo V. Manalo unveiled the stamp that features the INC Central Temple and the late Felix Y. Manalo, founder and first executive minister of the INC, in sepia. At the bottom of the stamp is the INC centennial logo in color. 

The launch coincided with the 128th birth anniversary of Felix Y. Manalo. 

The stamp, 50 millimeters by 35 mm, is bigger than the ordinary-sized 40 mm by 30 mm stamps, which De la Cruz said was “not an arbitrary decision.” 

Twice the number

“It passed through certification by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines,” she said. 

De la Cruz said Philpost will issue 1.2 million of the stamps, which is more than twice the number of stamps they usually issue for a single design. 

After the unveiling, Manalo, De la Cruz and Philpost chair Cesar Sarino participated in the ceremonial signing of the INC stamp’s “first day cover.” 

De la Cruz also presented a souvenir frame of the centennial stamp to the INC leader.

In his speech, Manalo noted the significance of the launch date of the centennial stamp in remembering the founder of the INC and his ministry.

Conrad J. Obligacion - a bonafide INC® Defender TRYING to hack my account again

According to Conrad J. Obligacion he is "Currently on assignment and based in Munich, Germany!"