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DC Archbishop: Joe Biden Is a ‘Cafeteria Catholic’


By: Mary Margaret Olohan / @MaryMargOlohan / April 02, 2024

Read more at https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/04/02/d-c-archbishop-joe-biden-is-cafeteria-catholic/

With a cross of ash on his forehead, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, leads the recession of the Mass on Ash Wednesday at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on February 22, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
With a cross of ash on his forehead, Catholic Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, leads the recession of the Mass on Ash Wednesday at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on Feb. 22, 2023. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., said in an interview over the weekend that President Joe Biden is a “cafeteria Catholic” who “picks and chooses” which parts of Catholicism he will adhere to. Gregory appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday with the female Episcopal bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde, where he discussed the Catholic president’s open support for issues such as abortion that are in direct contradiction with Catholic Church teaching.

Biden, who describes himself—and has been described by establishment media—as a “devout Catholic,” is open about frequently attending weekly Mass. But the president heads the most pro-abortion administration in United States history; promotes transgender surgeries, hormones, and puberty blockers, even for children; and celebrates transgender ideology.

The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is a crime against human life, that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and that homosexual acts are “contrary to the natural law” and “close the sexual act to the gift of life.”

Although Gregory said that Biden is “very sincere about his faith,” the cardinal added that Biden “picks and chooses dimensions of the faith to highlight while ignoring or even contradicting other parts.”

“There is a phrase that we have used in the past, a ‘cafeteria Catholic,’ [in which] you choose that which is attractive and dismiss that which is challenging,” Gregory explained.

Gregory continued: “I would say there are things, especially in terms of the life issues, there are things that he chooses to ignore.”

“The issues of life begin at the very beginning. And they conclude at natural death,” the cardinal said. “And you can’t pick and choose. You’re either one who respects life in all of its dimensions, or you have to step aside and say, ‘I’m not pro-life.’”

The Archdiocese of Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Signal. But the cardinal’s remarks drew praise from Catholics on social media, among them The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles, who described Gregory’s comments as “marvelous.”

Gregory sparked a backlash in November 2020 when he said in an interview with a leftist Jesuit outlet, America Magazine, that he would not deny Communion to Biden at Mass.

“The kind of relationship that I hope we will have is a conversational relationship, where we can discover areas where we can cooperate that reflect the social teachings of the church, knowing full well that there are some areas where we won’t agree,” Gregory told America Magazine at the time.

His stance drew criticism from traditional Catholics, who argued that Biden’s open embrace of unrestricted abortion constituted a grave scandal.

In September 2021, however, the cardinal offered a rare rebuke of Biden’s denial that life begins at conception, telling the president: “The Catholic Church teaches, and has taught, that human life begins at conception, so the president is not demonstrating Catholic teaching.”

He added: “Our church has not changed its position on the immorality of abortion. I don’t see how we could, because we believe that every human life is sacred.”

The White House would not address Gregory’s most recent remarks. Instead, White House deputy press Secretary Andrew Bates mocked The Daily Signal, the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation, saying, “We refer The Heritage Foundation to the Office of Public Engagement. You have reached the press office.”

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Holy Week and Easter Sunday offer a message like no other. And it can change your life


The Rev. Dr. Russell Levenson, Jr.  By The Rev. Dr. Russell Levenson, Jr. Fox News | Published March 28, 2024 2:00am EDT

Read more at https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/holy-week-easter-sunday-offer-message-change-life

What does Easter offer us in the year 2024? The same thing it has offered since the first Easter. A name as synonymous with the Christian faith as any other ancient teacher, Augustine of Hippo, (d. 430 A.D.) wrote, “”There is an insatiable hunger in each of us, that God alone can satisfy.”

Fast forward to our own day, and we are given wise words from author Douglas Coupland who coined the phrase, “Gen X,” — “Now – here is my secret:
I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God—that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love.”

What do these two men separated by nearly 2,000 years have in common that may speak to this present moment in history? Put simply, we need God.

EASTER REMINDS CHRISTIANS HOW RESURRECTION RESONATES IN OUR PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

This week, Holy Week and Easter Sunday offer a message like no other. No amount of power, wealth, notoriety or success will keep any of us from facing a final day.  We will all – all of us, breathe our last.  At face value, that could be at the very least daunting, at its worst terrifying. But the days around this week’s Holy season for those who seek to have that insatiable hunger filled, and who know deep down, they need God – are a potent reminder that in God’s great economy, He has the final word.

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If you are a believer, take a moment in these Holy Days to thank God for the faith He has bestowed on you to believe.  (iStockphoto)

Why? How? The most ancient and perhaps some of the most amazing words ever spoken, shed light on the fact that, “He is not here, He is risen,” These are the words spoken by an angel to the two Marys who had gone to visit the grave of their dead Rabbi, (Matthew 28:6). And these words changed history – the door that opened between B.C. and A.D. was confirmed by the realized promise of resurrection.

Here is what Christians believe in – not a resuscitated Jesus, not a reincarnated Jesus, but a resurrected Jesus.  No zombie here – a reminder, from the God who feeds our hunger and meets our needs, that in the hands of the Resurrected One, there are no dead ends.

Here is what Christians believe in – not a resuscitated Jesus, not a reincarnated Jesus, but a resurrected Jesus.  

A troubled marriage does not have to end in divorce.  A divorce does not mean the end of love.  Job loss does not mean one has no purpose and no future.  A wayward child does not mean a child lost forever. Cancer does not have to mean death and even death, when it comes, does not mean the end.

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This is why so many are not just drawn to the Christian faith and its resurrection hope, but also why their lives have been transformed by it.  In the last few years, studies consistently show a growing number of Easter-believers.  This Sunday more than 2.3 billion people on planet earth with gather to worship this risen Jesus not in fumbling and hesitant hope, but in expectation and faith – that is, by the way, more than tuned into the Super Bowl, the Oscars or the most watched news story of the year.

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In the hands of the Resurrected One, there are no dead ends. (iStock)

If you are a believer – take a moment in these Holy Days to thank God for the faith He has bestowed on you to believe. 

If you are not… bear with me, bear with this pastor – even historians find a hard time denying this central truth of the Christian faith. Jesus’s resurrection did not happen in secret. The whole of ancient Palestine knew it, and in time — whole of the Roman Empire. There are at least a dozen historical references to Jesus meeting people, touching people, talking with people.  

At one point, the Risen Jesus spoke to some 500 people, and He even cooked breakfast for a few of them! After His resurrection, the Apostles who had scattered to the wind, when Jesus was brought to trial and crucified – re-engaged and they were re-commissioned, such that all but two of His original Apostles, gave their lives as martyrs not for his moral or ethical insights, but because when He rose from the grave – it validated the incomparable truth that everything else he said – was, true.

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At one point, the Risen Jesus spoke to some 500 people, and He even cooked breakfast for a few of them! (iStock)

So if you doubt – this day… let me ask you to do just one thing. Turn over your hand, and look at your fingerprints – the only set like them that has ever existed on planet Earth.  Those lines on the tips of your fingers tell a story – that there is no one like you in all of history, in all of the universe – they tell you that you were uniquely created.  And if you were uniquely created, surely that was done by a loving Creator. 

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I could go on, but you get the point – even your fingers testify to what Augustine, and Coupland – and the Angels tell us – in the hands of the One Who lovingly created you, all the things that you think could be dead and lost, can, in fact, be raised to new life. 

If you are holding onto that – be grateful.  If you are not – give it a try.  In the end, my hunch is you will find out why we Christian folk call our great story “The Good News.”

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The Rev. Dr. Russell J. Levenson Jr. is the rector of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, in Houston, Texas, the largest Episcopal Church in the United States. He is the author of “Witness to Dignity: The Life and Faith of George H.W. and Barbara Bush” (Hachette, 2022) and the recently released “In God’s Grip: What Golf Can Teach Us About The Gospel,” (Insight Press, 2023).

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The Most Important Single Word Ever Spoken


waving flagBy Dave Jolly March 27, 2016

URL of the original posting site: http://constitution.com/important-single-word-ever-spoken
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Centuries ago, it was customary for a person to become the bond servant of another if they had wronged that person or owed them a debt for some reason. The person would literally work off their debt or punishment until it was paid in full. When the debt had been paid in full, the former bond servant was freed. To let everyone in the community know that they had paid their debt in full and that they were now free, they would carry a receipt or wear a wooden plaque around their neck with the Greek word ‘tetelestai’ written on it. Everyone knew what the word meant.

John 19:30 tell us:

“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

The key word in the Greek text is ‘tetelestai’, which in most English Bibles is translated ‘it is finished.’ One of the implications of the word is that everyone present knew that Jesus meant a debt had been paid in full and the debtor was now free.

But who was the debtor Jesus was referring to?

Jesus was sinless. He had no debts to pay.

But every one of us has more debts to pay than we can count or care to think about. We are all born sinners and no matter how good of a life we think we’ve lived, we all fall short of perfection and commit a multitude of sins, whether we want to admit it or not.

Our sins separate us from God. Just one sin is enough to prevent us from spending eternity with Him. There is absolutely nothing we could have done under our own accord to pay for our sin(s) and open the pathway to heaven. Instead, as sinful humans we are all condemned to spend eternity in Hell, separated from God.

God took it upon Himself to make the ultimate sacrifice to pay for all of our sins. His Son, Jesus Christ, Creator of the heavens and earth, humiliated Himself by coming to earth as a mortal human for the single purpose of living a sinless life and then taking the role of the unblemished lamb to be sacrificed for our sins. His shed blood paid the price for our redemption.

When Jesus spoke His last words on the Cross, He was telling not only those present but all of us that He paid the debt for our sins in full and that through His redemptive blood we are now free from the bondage of sin. Paul describes the sacrificial gift that Christ made on our behalf in his letter to the Ephesians where he wrote: 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:8-10)

As you celebrate Christ’s crucifixion this weekend, I pray you think of what Jesus said just before giving up His spirit. He said ‘tetelestai;’ telling all who believe in Him that our debts have been paid in full and His work here on earth was complete. Through our belief in Him, we have the assurance that when we leave this earth that we will stand before our Holy and Righteous God and be declared welcome.

Dave JollyDave Jolly

R.L. David Jolly holds a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and an M.S. in Biology – Population Genetics. He has worked in a number of fields, giving him a broad perspective on life, business, economics and politics. He is a very conservative Christian, husband, father and grandfather who cares deeply for his Savior, family and the future of our troubled nation.

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