Page 6 - Third Commandment News Today

Courtesy of Robert F. Cochran Jr. I am often asked whether I would identify the United States as a “Christian nation.”  I suspect that was the underlying concern when a friend, a 95-year-old World War II veteran, asked if I thought our church should place an American flag along with the Christian flag in our sanctuary.  (He wears an American flag in his lapel; I have one on my license plate.)  I answered his question with stories from teaching law in Vietnam and Chin...

Pilot Photo/Gregory L. Tracy Help us expand our reach! Please share this article Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley issued the following letter June 9 on his decision to reinstate the Sunday Mass obligation for most parishioners on Father’s Day weekend, June 19-20. The local dioceses of Fall River, Springfield, Manchester, New Hampshire and Portland, Maine will also join Boston in reinstating the Sunday obligation on that weekend. Brothers and Sisters, “Without the Lord’s day, we cannot live!�...

THERE is a thin line between religion and politics and this is so simply because of the numbers of people that both deal with. Politics is a game of numbers and a politician who gets more numbers gets to rule and it is no wonder politicians run to churches especially when heading into an election. The numbers of people that churches have is a perfect ground for campaigns. Church gatherings providing a rich platform to campaign and politicians are unfortunately using this trick with the guise of...

To the editor: The Trumpublicans, aka the Republican Party, at one time told us Sarah Palin was presidential material. To them she was known as one of true faith and conviction, a darling of the conservative Christian movement. Apparently her “faith” wasn’t strong enough to protect her or her son, and both got COVID-19. “My case is perhaps one of those that proves anyone can catch this.” She urged Americans to wear masks. “It’s better than doing nothing to slow the spread.�...

Bahamian false prophets are running amok on Facebook Dear Editor, The legendary Dr. Myles Munroe was a trailblazer in Christian broadcasting in The Bahamas, having learned at the feet of American Pentecostal faith healer and televangelist Oral Roberts. Munroe attended ORU in Oklahoma in the 1970s. Many of the contemporary features we often take for granted in today’s charismatic churches were first introduced by Munroe, when he founded Bahamas Faith Ministries (BFM) in the early 1980s. Bahami...

Daring ‘rescue’ mission results in Dead Sea Scroll finds, other rare discoveries Biblical texts found during a multi-year Israeli expedition make headlines, but archaeologists are buzzing over an intact Stone-Age basket. ByKristin Romey Email The first Dead Sea Scroll fragments found in more than a half-century, and what is possibly the world’s oldest intact basket, were among the discoveries made during a multi-year effort to thwart looting in remote caves across the Judean Desert, the I...

John 2:13-25 Ironically, the clericalism of non-clerics can also include the insidious expectation that while "religious" people are expected to meet the high demands of the Gospel, ordinary people can be excused for capitulating to the demands of a dog-eat-dog, consumerist world. Such religious compartmentalization provoked Jesus disgust with the temple of his day. Picturing the purification of the temple, we tend to concentrate on the whip, the animals and the frightened, fleeing money change...

Rediscovering Sunday as ‘the day of joy’ Share Sometimes, the joy busters of life get the better of me. When I feel that way, the Catholic Church beckons me to turn my attention toward Sunday. This is much more than the modern notion of “living” for the weekend. Tucked inside the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in the middle of a summary about the “Lord’s Day,” there is this tiny, yet powerful phrase describing Sundays as the day of joy. Sunday, the “Lord’s Day,” is the pr...

Bishop Paprocki Reflects on the Recent Violent Capitol Lockdown 01/12/2021 at 11:51 AM Posted by Kevin Edward White The bishop of Springfield, Ill. considers the recent riots at the US Capitol posing critical questions that every Catholic should reflect upon during this crucial time. January 12, 2021 Editor’s Note: Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill. offered this homily for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Jan. 10. It is reprinted here with permission. My dear brothers an...

Our Lady of Grace Church You may have had one or more Covid tests and maybe even a rapid test. But all of us have been undergoing spiritual Covid testing whether we want it or not. For us who are Catholics, for the most part, we in this country have been dispensed from obligatory Sunday Mass attendance. What this means is that as Catholics we are required by church law to participate at Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days unless we are sick or are prevented from attending by other extenuating cir...