Ang mga panloloko (daw) ng Catholic Defenders? Bintang ng tagong Ministro ng INC®

Nagkalat na naman ng PANLILINLANG itong tagong Ministro ng INCorporated ni Manalo-- ang Iglesia ni  Cristo^® 1914. Ang sabi niya "90% ng depensor katoliko sa Pilipinas ay matatawag na "manloloko"..." [Source: http://readmeiglesianicristo.blogspot.com/2014/06/ang-mga-panloloko-ng-catholic-defenders.html#more]

Saan statistika kaya niya nakuha ang 90% na 'yan? Samantalang ang kanyang mga quotations ay hango lamang sa tatlong sources niya at nakatutok lamang siya sa mga Catholic Defenders sa Pilipinas. Narito ang iba pang mga Catholic Defenders at iba pang mga Catholic Defenders na HINDING-HINDI kayang pasinungalingan nitong tagong ministro.

Hirit pa niya: "...karamihan kasi sa kanila kung ano-anong ginagawang maduduming taktika para lang makapangloko ng iba. Merong nagsisinungaling, nandadaya, nanloloko...lahat ng itoy ginagawa nila para siraan ang Iglesia ni Cristo."

Unang-una, HINDI po layunin ng mga Catholic Defenders ang MANLOKO at MANLINLANG sapagkat tayo po ay NAGNANAIS na LINAWIN ang mga BINTANG ng mga ministro ng INCorporateed Church of Manalo.

Sa katunayan, DEFENDERS nga po ang tawag-- samakatuwid ay WE DEFEND the CHURCH OF CHRIST against those who ATTACK her like the IGLESIA NI CRISTO^®, BORN-AGAIN, PROTESTANT churches around the world, non-Catholics like the MUSLIMS, AGNOSTICS, ATHEISTS, LEFTIST, COMMUNISTS, DISSENTERS etc. etc. They sing one common song and that is to TEAR DOWN the CHURCH OF CHRIST-- the ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC and APOSTOLIC CHURCH.

But of course the could not-- "the gates of hell shall not prevail" sabi nga ni  Cristo.  History has proven it.

READMEINC SAID:

Panloloko #1- Catechism of Christian Doctrine

Kung bakit PILIT nilang MINAMALI ang mga nakalimbag sa ating mga mumunting babasahin ay sapagkat NAGHAHANAP sila ng BUTAS laban sa Iglesia Katolika!

At para sa kanila ang "worship" nga raw ay "pagsamba" at iyon daw ang "translation" ng "worhip" sa tagalog.

Gusto lang nilang palabasin na ITINUTURO raw ng Iglesia Katolika ang PAGSAMBA sa mga rebulto o larawan. Gusto lang nilang patunayan na ang mga Katoliko ay SUMASAMBA sa mga bato.

At kung mapatunayan nga nilang "sumasamba" nga daw tayo sa bato ay saka nila i-quote ang Exodus at Deuteronomy laban sa atin upang MAKALINLANG at MAKAPANLOKO ng mga Katolikong kulang sa katekismo at magiging mga kaanib nila!

They want to PROVE that Catholics are wrong so that they will be RIGHT! Dahil LAHAT ng mga bayarang ministro ng INC ay walang talino upang patunayan ang kanilang aral through logical reasoning kundi through debasing other beliefs to make them appear theirs is the right teachings.

Sinasamba ba talaga ng mga Katoliko ang mga rebulto at larawan ng mga banal? Pinalalagay ba ng mga Katoliko na 'dios' ang mga rebulto at mga larawan?

Iyan po ang HINDI nila kayang patunayan. Kaya't SUMISIPI po sila ng mga articles na gawa ng mga Catholic Apologists upang siraan nila ang Iglesiang itinayo ni Cristo.

Sinong MANDARAYA at mga MANLILINLANG? Ang mga kaanib ng INCorporated Church of Manalo-- ang Iglesia ni Cristo^®-1914.

Makailang ulit na nating sinabi sa kanila na ang salitang "WORSHIP" sa English ay HINDI nangangahulugan ng "PAGSAMBA" lamang. Depende kung sino ang pinatutungkulang ng "paggalang"

• Kung sa mga banal at mga anghel, tawag natin ay DULIA.
• Kung patungkol naman sa Ina ng Dios na si Santa Mariang Birhen, tawag natin ay HYPERDULIA.
• At kung patungkol naman sa pagsamba sa DIOS na buhay, tawag natin ay LATRIA.

Kaya't kung ika'y isang Katoliko at nagbabasa ka ng article na sulat ng isang Katoliko, ay mauunawaan mo kung anong pakaibig sabihin ng "worship", kung patungkol sa mga banal ba o kay Inang  Birheng Maria o sa buhay na Dios.

One should take off his/her prejudices and LEARN the CATHOLIC way and UNDERSTAND the Catholic understanding-- then you will understand!

At kung TRANSLATIONS lang naman pala ang labanan, ano nga bang dahilan at CIUDAD DE VICTORIA ang pinili niyong pangalan kung saan nakatayo ang inyong dome?  Bakit sa salitang SPANISH at hindi tagalog?

Takot nga ba kayong ihayag na MASYADONG obvious kung ito ay itagalog 'LUNGSOD NG MANALO"?

READMEINC SAID:

Panloloko #2- Tula ni Ka Daniel Lapid Sr.

Ito ang ikinakalat ng mga CFD sa internet para palabasing sinasamba daw namin si "Kapatid na Manalo":

Ngunit nung hinanap namin ang orihinal na kopya, ganito pala ang nakalagay:

"Ang Iglesia Ni Cristo, sa Diyos ay nagpupuri,

Sa tulong N'yang iginawad sa Sugo N'yang bilang huli,
Siya ang nagpalakas, umalalay at kumandili,
Pangalan N'ya'y luwalhatiin at sambahin na parati"

Nasaan ang patunay na 'yan nga ay sipi mula sa Pasugo, May 1966?

Maaaring overly exagerated ang bintang na 'yan pero mula sa aming hanay ngunit  HINDI nga ba "pagsamba" ang katumbas ng MATINDING PAGSINTA niyo kay FELIX MANALO at sa kanyang angkan higit pa sa PAGSINTA niyo kay Cristo at sa mga alagad?

Sa inyong mga artikulo, PINAGTATANGGOL niyo ang katauhan ni FELIX MANALO kahit sa kamatayan samantalang hayagan niyong NIYUYURAKAN ang katauhan at pagka-Dios ni CRISTO JESUS? Mas nakakataas ba si FELIX MANALO kaysa kay CRISTO?

At sa inyong mga PASUGO articles ay halos IPINANTAY niyo na si Felix Manalo kay Cristo sa katayuan ng PAGSAMBA? (maaari niyong pasinungalingan ang mga quotes na ito).

PASUGO Hulyo 1965, p. 12:

“Parehong-pareho ang espiritu ni Cristo sa diwa ni Kapatid na Felix Manalo sa pamamaraan ng pagdadala ng tungkuling tinanggap sa Dios."

PASUGO Mayo 1964, p. 1:

“Inihandog ng Dios ang kanyang sarili sa kanyang huling sugo upang dumiyos sa kanya. Samakatuwid, ang tanging may Dios na huling araw na ito'y ang huling sugo -- si Kapatid na Felix Manalo."

 

Hindi ba't ang PANUKAT niyo sa aming mga Katoliko sa aming PAGSINTA sa mga SANTO ay "worship"? Bakit naman HINDI akma kay Felix Manalo ang "worship" sa SOBRANG binibigay niyong PAGSINTA sa kanya sa lahat ng larangan ng debate?

Panloloko #3- Pasugo March 1956, p.25
Ito ang madalas na ikowt ni Catholicdefender2000 sa kaniyang blog:

PANSININ: Ang mga ito ang Ministrong inaralan at inatasang magpahayag ng pagkatatag ng Iglesia Katolika Apostolika Romana:
Si Emiliano Magtuto--PASUGO Nob. 1956, p. 18: -- 44 B.C.
Si Benjamin Santiago -- PASUGO Peb. 1959, p. 1: -- 400 A.D.
Si Benjamin Santiago -- PASUGO Ago. 1962, p. 3: -- 1870 A.D.
Si Teofilo C. Ramos -- PASUGO Mar. 1956, p. 25: -- 1870 A.D.
Si Joaquin Balmores -- PASUGO Peb. 1952, p. 9: -- 400 A.D.

Halatang sinipi niya ito sa isang anti-INC na libro na may pamagat na "Ang Katotohanan Tungkol sa INK-1914"
Isa lamang ang Pasugo March 1956, p.25 sa napakadaming pasugo issues kung saan ginawan nila na kwento na diumanoy may ganitong nakasulat, etc...
Kung meron nga lang ako ng mga pasugong binabanggit sa aklat ay ii-scan ko ito para malaman ng lahat na pawang kasinungalingan lang ang nakasulat sa libro na iyon na madalas ikowt ng mga Catholic defenders.
Eto po ang orihinal na kopya, kahit kayo na mismo ang magbasa at maghanap kung meron ngang mababasa na sinabi ni Ka Teofilo Ramos na natatag ang Iglesia Katolika noong 1870 AD:

 Meron ba? 
WALA.....
Pati nga may akda hindi naman si Ka Teofilo Ramos kundi si Ka Lauro Dolorito!

Alam mo palang hindi si TEOFILO ang nagsulat, bakit tumigil ka sa Pasugo March 1959, p. 25? Maaari mo namang hanapin ang mga sinulat ni Teofilo patungkol sa PAGKAKATATAG ng Iglesia Katolika?

Pero ang topic po sa article na iyan ay ang SALU-SALUNGATANG TURO ng mga MINISTRO ng INC-1914.

TOTOO bang SALU-SALUNGATAN ang inyong turo kung KAILAN NAITATAG talaga ang IGLESIA KATOLIKA? Kaya mo bang PASINUNGALINGAN yan?!

At sigurado kong HINDI mo kayang patunayan ang bintang ng mga manunulat na na KONTRA-KONTRA ang mga katuruan ng inyong mga Ministro, aking uulitin na HINDI katotohanan ang pakay mo rito sa akusasyong ito kundi PANLILINLANG at PAGMAAMALI sa mga Katoliko upang kayo ang lalabas na tama.

Tutal inumpisahan mo na rin lang naman ang pagpapatunay na "90 PER CENT" sa mga Catholic Defenders ay mga "sinungalin", pwede bang PASINUNGALINGAN mo ang mga sumusunod?

PAKISAGOT!

1. Sabi ng yumaong Eraño Manalo, "halos lahat" daw ng mga Ministro niyo ay mga "mandaraya"? [Basahin dito]
2. Ayon sa mga journalist sa buong mundo, si Felix Manalo raw ang nagtatag ng INC at hindi si Cristo? [Basahin ang mga news articles dito]
3. Ayon sa iyong article, 'Tuluyan nang bumagsak ang Iglesia Katolika sa Kanluran"? Totoo ba ito? Bumagsak ba talaga?
4. Ayon sa Pasugo, hindi pa raw natalikod na ganap ang tunay na Iglesia ni  Cristo- ang Iglesia Katolika? Totoo ba ang pag-amin niyo sa PASUGO, Abril 1966, p. 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." Ibig sabihin ay ang Iglesia Katolika pa rin ang tunay na Iglesia ni Cristo sapagkat hindi pa ito tuluyang natalikod!?
5.  Totoo bang pag-aari ng mga Manalo ang Iglesia ni Cristo na itinatag ni Felix Manalo noong 1914? Kung hindi naman sa kanila, sino ang may-ari ng Iglesia ni Cristo?
6. Totoo bang walang Pasko sa INC-1914?  Sigurado ba kayong hindi nagdiriwang ng Pasko ang inyong mga kaanib sa tuwing sumapit ang Disyembre 25? [Basahin dito]
7. Totoo bang milyon-milyon ang inyong kaanib? May patunay ba kayo? May opisyal ba kayong istatistika tungkol dito?
8. Totoo bang mayaman ang mga Manalo? May patunay ba kayong namumuhay sila ng simple at nakatira sa simpleng tahanan? At ang kanilang mga tirahan ba ay pagmamay-ari din ba ng Iglesia ni  Cristo?
9. Totoo bang walang sapilitang abuluyan sa loob ng INC-1914?
10. Totoo bang 90% ng mga Catholic Defenders ay mga "sinungaling"? Maaari mo bang ilahad dito ang mga 90% na listahan ng mga Catholic  Defenders na "sinungaling"?
11. Totoo bang nilinlang niyo ang mga tao gamit ang Banal na Salita ng Dios? [Basahin dito]
12. Totoo bang 'Paring Katoliko" itong na-recruit niyo? Kung hindi, bakit sinasabi niyong 'paring Katoliko" samantalang alam niyong hindi siya paring Katoliko? [Basahin dito]

CATHOLIC TEACHINGS REGARDING SABBATH OR SUNDAY WORSHIP?

Photo Source: Bible Q&A (Warning: The answers given in that website wasn't based on existing historical accounts based on Tradition of the early Church.  Rather his explanations were mainly based on what verse he could get from the Scriptures, it's more on opinion than what's historically true-- typical of a Protestant Pastor with a Sola Scriptura doctrine.)

Should Christians worship on the Sabbath (Saturday) or on the Sunday?

Article Source: Catholic Doors Apologetics

In the Holy Bible, we read, “So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it because on it God rested from all the work that He had done in creation.” [Genesis 2:3] “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” [Exodus 20:8]

Because of this, some Christian religions, such as the Seventh-Day Adventists, condemn those who worship on Sunday instead of Saturday. They say that God has ordained that we worship on the last day of the week, Saturday, the day of rest and not on the first day of the week, Sunday.

So truly, why do Catholics worship on Sunday? If you were asked by someone, could you provide a valid reason for Sunday worship?

There are four main reasons as to why the Catholic Church worships on Sunday. These are:

1) Early Christians worshiped on Sundays.

In the Holy Bible, we read that the disciples of Jesus were plucking heads of grain and eating them on the Sabbath when such was forbidden under Jewish law. [Mt. 12:1-8; Mk. 2:24-26; Lk. 6:1-5] “Now that day was a Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.’ But he answered them, ‘The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your matt and walk.’” [John 5:10-11]

From the above passages, we see that Jesus did not set strict restrictions regarding the Sabbath. In fact, Jesus proclaimed Himself as the Lord of the Sabbath. “Then He (Jesus) said to them, ‘The Son of Man (Jesus) is lord of the Sabbath.” [Lk. 6:5] Therefore, it is up to Jesus to determine what can and what cannot be done on the Sabbath.

Elsewhere in the Holy Bible, we read that Saint Paul informed the Colossians that they should not be disturbed by those who condemn them for observing the Sabbath. “Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink, or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths.” [Colossians 2:16-17]

Why did he inform the Colossians not to be disturbed because of their worship on Sundays? It is because from the early days of the Church, Christian worship took place on Sundays, not on Saturday. This was implemented to recognize who the Christians were. The Jewish people worshiped on the Sabbath in the Synagogues. The Christians worshiped on Sundays in their homes, in the catacombs, any place that was convenient and safe.

2) The Catholic Church possesses the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus said to Peter, “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.” [Matthew 16:19] Jesus gave Peter the authority to change the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. And Peter, having been with Jesus during His ministry, and having seen the actions of Jesus on the Sabbath, did use that authority under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

3) The Resurrection was on a Sunday.

Jesus resurrected on the Sunday, not on the Saturday. Through the glorious Resurrection, Jesus elevated the Sunday as a day of importance, it having become “the Day of the Lord.” Jesus could have resurrected on the Saturday, but He chose the Sunday. Surely, this was a sign to the Apostles during the early days of the Church.

And so the early day Christians met on Sunday to worship. “On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them: since he intended to leave the next day...” [Acts 20:7]

Did you know that the origin of the Church collection on Sunday is in the Holy Bible? “Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come.” [1 Cor. 16:1-2]

4) Pentecost Sunday.

The Holy Spirit chose to come to the Catholic Church on the Sunday.

Therefore, those who worship on the Saturday, they do not recognize the tradition of the Church since its early days. They do not recognize Jesus’ gift to the Catholic Church of the Keys to the Kingdom of God. They do not consider the day of Jesus’ resurrection as an important day that should be remembered every week. Nor do they consider the Coming of the Holy Spirit to the Church on a Sunday as a worthy gift to be remembered every Sunday.

Now you know why Catholics worship on Sundays.

Pope picks Filipino as Vatican envoy to UN

Hailing from Bohol, Archbishop Bernardito Cleopas Auza becomes the first Filipino to represent the Vatican before the United Nations

MANILA, Philippines, Rapler – A Filipino will represent Vatican City in the United Nations (UN) after Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Bernardito Cleopas Auza as the city-state's new permanent representative to the organization.

Francis plucked Auza from his current post as the Vatican's apostolic nuncio (ambassador) to Haiti, Vatican Radio reported Tuesday, July 1.

A native of Talibon in Bohol, Auza becomes the first Filipino to represent the Vatican before the UN.

He replaces Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, an Indian-born prelate, who became the Vatican's permanent representative to the UN in 2010 under Pope Benedict XVI.

Auza's new job as permanent observer of the Holy See to the UN requires him to follow “attentively and with interest the work of the United Nations Organization.”

“In this forum, the Holy See Mission communicates the centuries’ experience of the Catholic Church to humanity, and places this experience at the disposal of the United Nations to assist it in its realization of peace, justice, human dignity, and humanitarian cooperation and assistance,” said the official website of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN.

Statistics on the Catholic Church in the Republic of Korea

Why the Iglesia ni Cristo^® of Manalo cannot publish it's official statistics? They are afraid of the TRUTH.  Because they always use DECEIT and LIES to win converts. They do not have the courage to show to its members and to the world how many members and institutions do they have. They wan to highlight that buying churches and building expensive domes will justify their billion dollar collections.  But one thing it's members DO NOT DARE to ask is HOW MUCH DO THE MANALOs have in their bank accounts?

Apostolic Journey Logo

(VIS/Vatican Radio) Looking ahead to Pope Francis’s Apostolic Journey to the Republic of Korea from 13 to 18 August, the Vatican Press Office has released statistics regarding the Catholic Church in the South Asian nation.

The statistics date from 31 December 2013 and are provided by the Central Office of Church Statistics.

The Republic of Korea has an area of 99,268 square kilometers and a population of 50,220,000, of whom 5,393,000 are Catholics, corresponding to 10.7% of the population. There are 16 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 1,673 parishes and 843 pastoral centers. The apostolate is carried out by 35 bishops, 4,261 priests, 516 male religious and 9,016 female religious, 123 lay missionaries and 14,195 catechists. There are 395 minor and 1,489 major seminarians.

There are 328 educational centers of all levels directed or owned by the Catholic Church throughout the Republic of Korea, in which there are 221,020 students, as well as 49 special centers. There are also 200 health and welfare centers belonging to or directed by the Church: 40 hospitals, 4 clinics, 9 leper colonies, 513 rest homes for the elderly and disabled, 277 orphanages and nurseries, and 83 centers for family counselling and the protection of life.

This is far more bigger than the Dome in the Philippines dubbed as the world's biggest. Truly, the Catholic Church promotes Christ and His Church while the fake INC^® promotes the REGISTERED TRADEMARK IGLESIA NI CRISTO^® and the MANALOS.

Is it Coincidence? The Iglesia ni Cristo® is in the 'Darkness'?

The Iglesia ni Cristo^® (INC) was founded by Felix Manalo in 1914.  But there are somethings that most of us may not notice. Here they are:

First temple was founded in SANTA ANA, Manila in 1914.

Santa Ana or Saint Anne is the mother of the BLESSED VIRGIN MOTHER!

Their INC Dome is located in SANTA MARIA, Bulacan

 Santa Maria or Saint Mary is the MOTHER OF JESUS, the Savior and Lord God!

But where is their Central Office located?

The INC's Central Office is located in DILIMAN, Quezon City.

"Dilim" in Tagalog is DARK so if you put the prefix 'KA' with 'diliman' (KADILIMAN) it means "DARKNESS".

Taxpayer sues PHLPost over Iglesia ni Cristo postage stamp

Again, the Philippine Inquirer nailed the facts that FELIX MANALO is the FOUNDER of the Iglesia ni Cristo^®

Centennial Commemorative Stamp from PhilPost featuring INC's Founder and First Executive Minister Felix Y. Manalo.

MANILA, Philippines—A taxpayer has taken legal action against the Philippine Postal Corp. or PHLPost for its issuance of postage stamps marking the 100th founding anniversary of Iglesia ni Cristo, saying that public funds should not be used to benefit a religious group.

Renato Peralta of Las Piñas City filed for injunction last week in the Manila Regional Trial Court to stop PHLPost, a government-owned corporation, from paying for the printing of the INC centennial postage stamps and to stop their distribution.

“Coming up with the commemorative stamp of the INC is tantamount to sponsorship of a religious activity” which is prohibited by the Constitution, Peralta said.

Reached by the Inquirer for comment, Peralta said he was a court employee and a member of a Christian group. He said the issue was the use of public funds when “there is no legitimate government activity.”

There will be a hearing on July 4 at Branch 33 of the Manila Regional Trial Court, he said.

The INC will mark its 100th year of registration in the Philippines on July 27. The postage stamp shows the INC Central Temple and a portrait of the late Felix Manalo, founder and first executive minister...

Read more: NewsInfo.Inquirer

AP issues massive correction on Ireland child burial story

The Irish flag. Credit: Michael Care Andersen (CC BY-NC 2.0)

By Matt Hadro
Dublin, Ireland, Jun 24, 2014 / 12:16 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Associated Press has retracted key claims from its reports of an Irish Catholic home for unwed mothers supposedly burying hundreds of unbaptized infants in a septic tank.

A correction issued June 20 explained that “the AP quoted a researcher who said she believed that most of the remains of children who died there were interred in a disused septic tank; the researcher has since clarified that without excavation and forensic analysis it is impossible to know how many sets of remains the [septic] tank contains, if any.”

In addition, the AP said that it had wrongly reported that many of the children were unbaptized according to Church teaching.

“The Associated Press incorrectly reported that the children had not received Roman Catholic baptisms; documents show that many children at the orphanage were baptized. The AP also incorrectly reported that Catholic teaching at the time was to deny baptism and Christian burial to the children of unwed mothers; although that may have occurred in practice at times it was not church teaching.”

The organization also acknowledged that it had incorrectly identified the year in which the orphanage in question had opened.

On June 3, the AP had broken a story claiming that a researcher had discovered the remains of hundreds of infants in a mass grave by a former home for single mothers near Tuam, Ireland that was run by Catholic nuns.

The story had provoked widespread anger, and the local archbishop said he was horrified by the reports and encouraged a government investigation into the matter.

However, critics of the report quickly began surfacing, claiming that the story was distorted and exaggerated.

AP’s own source for the story, researcher Catherine Corless, lamented to the Irish Times that her work “has taken on a life of its own,” and said she never used the word “dumped” to describe the bodies being buried.

In a June 22 opinion piece for the Washington Examiner, commentary writer T. Becket Adams slammed the AP, saying that it “did the public and the Catholic Church in Ireland a major disservice.”

“The AP undoubtedly duped thousands of readers – readers who likely won’t notice the little-publicized correction – into thinking that a handful of Irish nuns behaved like monsters,” Adams stated.

Muhammad in the Bible? Oh come on...

East Tennesseans converting to Catholicism on the rise

By: Melissa Lee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- When you think about religion in East Tennessee, Catholicism probably isn't the first that pops into your mind. That could soon be changing with the Diocese of Knoxville ranked among the top in the nation for conversions.

Georgetown University actually ranked Knoxville 10th in the nation for conversions.

Father David Boettner at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Knoxville says, “When someone converts in the Catholic church, they're not just joining this church or that community, they're joining the universal church throughout the entire world.”

That's part of the reason Father David says more people are becoming attracted to the Catholic faith.

“People realize they're joining something much larger than themselves."

Pope Francis may be another reason. He captured the attention of most of the world, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but doing it in a way some have never heard before.

“He's very approachable and it's easy for people to identify with him, almost like a grandfather that they feel very close to him and he really loves them,” says Father David.

For Dave Wells, it wasn't Pope Francis who impacted his decision to convert.

"I did a lot of reading, I was a History major, I read a lot of church history, a lot of theology, that's kind of what led me to come into the Catholic church,” says Wells.

Wells grew up, like a majority of East Tennesseans in a Protestant church, and says as he got older, was looking for something deeper. In 1996, he was called to the faith.

"It's not something you can do automatically overnight, there's a lot that you have to learn"

In Tennessee where less than 10 percent of people are Catholic and 75 percent are Protestant he says he didn't give anything up.

"I just grew in my understanding of faith."

It's understanding he says he gained through the Catholic church teachings.

Father David says non-Catholics marrying Catholic spouses also has something to do with the increase in people converting to the Catholic faith. Sacred Heart Cathedral opens its doors to the public. They have mass available in Korean, Spanish and Tagalog.

A Former "Heretic" on Trinity Sunday by Rachel Lu

A former Mormon explains what being Catholic means to her.

By Rachel Lu; Article from Aleteia.com

Last week the Mormon missionaries stopped by looking for me. This hadn’t happened in awhile, but it’s not an unfamiliar experience. Five years ago I formally petitioned to have my name removed from the LDS Church’s membership records, and after that I didn’t hear from them for a while. But eventually the mail started coming again. And now there were these white-shirted 20-year-olds on my doorstep asking for me.

I invited them in. They declined, citing the “three man rule”. (They’re not supposed to be alone with women unless another man is on the premises.) So we stood awkwardly in the doorway while I explained that the reason they never saw me at church was that I had apostatized from the Mormon faith some years before, and was now a practicing Catholic.

They asked why and I briefly explained. (I believe that Rome, not Salt Lake, is rock on which Christ’s Church is resting.) They challenged me to read the Book of Mormon and I cheerfully declined. (I’ve read it twice before, but now I have other reading priorities.) In their final go-for-broke play, they read me a three-verse passage from the Book of Mormon, and urged me to ask God directly about the truth of the Mormon faith. I gently explained that this would not be appropriate, because it isn’t a question that I have anymore. When God has already answered the deepest question of your heart, the correct response is to embrace the truth gratefully. It would just be churlish to keep pestering him about it.

After that I stood patiently and let them have the final word, accepted their phone number (on condition that they wouldn’t return unless I called it), and wished them a pleasant day.

How A ‘Pagan Feminist’ Became Catholic

Regina Interviewer Christine Niles interviews Catherine Quinn, a self-professed former ‘man-hating, radical feminist’ who discovered the beauty of the Catholic faith and was forever transformed.

Listen to her story of abuse from an early age, how she fell in with the ‘wrong crowd,’ and how God’s grace rescued her.

“I was a pagan, hedonistic, man-hating feminist, but now I’m Catholic; this is my story”

I Was a Pagan, Hedonistic, Man-Hating Feminist. But Now I’m Catholic. This Is My Story.

Story of Catherine from ALETEIA: Christine Niles hosts ‘Forward Boldly,’ an online radio show where she interviews some of the most fascinating people in Catholicism today.

Growing up, I wasn't exposed to God, or the Catholic Church. I knew that my grandparents were Catholic, but no one talked about this, and I didn't know what "Catholic" even was.

Due to terrible abuse, I was removed from my home at nine. I lived in an asylum for a weekend, an orphanage for eight months, and then once a space became available in a foster home, there until I was twelve.

The courts ordered my mother to take me, and this was how we met. After moving in with her, I came across a group of Christians in the park one day. They said nothing, but simply invited me to Church. Curious, I went. I met the pastor's wife, and she told me about Jesus. At this time, I didn't even know what a Protestant was. I didn't know what an atheist was, but when I came home and told my mother about Jesus, I found out right away that she did not approve of God - at all.

Despite continual ridicule, I continued to go to church. I was mesmerized, and so happy in God and had hope I would be able to press past my bad experiences at home. I wanted to hear more no matter what.

Catholic converts on the rise: East Tennessee among nation's top 10 growth areas

Faithfuls gather in St. Peter's Basilica during Pope Francis' mass of Pentecost, at the Vatican on June 8, 2014.
Photo by Associated Press /Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Times Free Press - There was the man inspired by the written words of Pope Francis. There was the agnostic professor. And there was the widow of a Baptist preacher.

All of them Tennesseans, and all of them recent converts to one of the world's oldest Christian faiths.

In the South, Catholicism is growing. The Diocese of Knoxville was recently ranked among the top 10 in the nation for its rate of adult conversions.

All Southeast Tennessee Catholic parishes, including Chattanooga's, fall under the umbrella of Knoxville's diocese, one of 195 in the United States. A diocese is a geographic collection of parishes grouped together under the governance of a bishop. And many of the dioceses producing the most converts to the church are right here in the South, according to a recent study by Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

Rates of Catholicism have always been strong in the Northeast and Midwest. But not in the protestant-heavy South.

So it's no wonder that Catholicism is growing faster here.

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.