2. Veneration of relics - In the fourth century Saint Helena, mother of Constantine and empress of the Roman Empire, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where she is supposed to have found fragments of the true cross on which Christ was crucified. By the sixth century the belief in relics and their power to work miracles was widespread.

3. Rosary - The Brahmins of Hindustan have long employed the rosary. It is a common thing among the adherents of the Buddhist faith.

4. Purgatory - The Roman poet Virgil (70 B. C. – 19 B. C.) wrote of purgatory showing the pagans believed in it long before the Catholic Church taught it.

5. Transubstantiation – become a doctrine of the Catholic Church until the 13th century, is pagan. This Romish doctrine means that the bread and wine when blessed by the priest becomes the actual flesh and blood of Christ.

Catholic church dragged into public works scandal that has sent shockwaves through Italian government

* Tom Kington in Rome
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 20 June 2010 22.24 BST

Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe The archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, delivered a fiery sermon after hearing of the investigation. Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

A senior Vatican cardinal is under investigation for corruption, dragging the Catholic church into a public works scandal that has sent shockwaves through the Italian government.

Italian media reported today that Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the archbishop of Naples, was suspected of striking cosy deals while head of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, the Vatican congregation that uses proceeds from a property empire including 2,000 Rome apartments to fund missionary efforts.

Sepe allegedly oversaw the sale in 2004 of a building in Rome to the then transport minister, Pietro Lunardi, for the suspiciously low price of €4.16m, newspapers reported, adding that magistrates wanted to know why Lunardi then freed up €2.5m in state funding the following year for the congregation to create a museum in its headquarters, and why that museum never opened.

Magistrates are reportedly looking into Sepe’s links to builder Diego Anemone and former public works official Angelo Balducci, both suspected of being at the centre of a web of alleged kickbacks and corrupt state construction contracting.

Italy’s industry minister, Claudio Scajola, has already resigned after claims that Anemone paid €900,000 to subsidise the purchase of his luxury Rome flat.

Newspapers said magistrates suspected Sepe and Anemone were involved in furnishing accommodation on Rome’s Via Giulia to Guido Bertolaso, Italy’s powerful civil protection chief.

The case has shed light on the links between Roman politics and the Vatican.

Balducci was a papal usher but was dismissed when the corruption inquiry brought to light his suspected involvement with a Vatican chorister in a male prostitution ring. The Vatican said it hoped the investigation could be wrapped up fast “to eliminate any shadows, be they on the person [Sepe] or church institutions”.

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One of the most infamous of all cross for obvious reasons is the crux gammata.

swastika, equilateral cross with arms bent at right angles, all in the same rotary direction, usually clockwise. The swastika as a symbol of prosperity and good fortune is widely distributed throughout the ancient and modern world. The word is derived from the Sanskrit svastika, meaning “conducive to well-being.” It was a favourite symbol on ancient Mesopotamian coinage. In Scandinavia the left-hand swastika was the sign for the god Thor’s hammer. The swastika also appeared in early Christian and Byzantine art (where it became known as the gammadion cross, or crux gammata

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/576371/swastika

What about its use in Christianity?

The sign of the cross, represented in its simplest form by a crossing of two lines at right angles, greatly antedates, in both the East and the West, the introduction of Christianity. It goes back to a very remote period of human civilization. In fact, some have sought to attach to the widespread use of this sign, a real ethnographic importance. It is true that in the sign of the cross the decorative and geometrical concept, obtained by a juxtaposition of lines pleasing to the sight, is remarkably prominent; nevertheless, the cross was originally not a mere means or object of ornament, and from the earliest times had certainly another — i.e. symbolico-religious — significance. The primitive form of the cross seems to have been that of the so-called “gamma” cross (crux gammata), better known to Orientalists and students of prehistoric archæology by its Sanskrit name, swastika.

At successive periods this was modified, becoming curved at the extremities, or adding to them more complex lines or ornamental points, which latter also meet at the central intersection. The swastika is asacred sign in India, and is very ancient and widespread throughout the East. It has a solemn meaning among both Brahmins and Buddhists, though the elder Burnouf (“Le lotus de la bonne loi, traduit du sanscrit”, p. 625; Journ. Asiatic Soc. of Great Britain, VI, 454) believes it more common among the latter than among the former. It seems to have represented the apparatus used at one time by the fathers of the human race in kindling fire; and for this reason it was the symbol of living flame, of sacred fire, whose mother is Maia, the personification of productive power (Burnouf, La science des religions). It is also, according to Milani, a symbol of the sun (Bertrand, La religion des Gaulois, p. 159), and seems to denote its daily rotation. Others have seen in it the mystic representation of lightning or of the god of the tempest, and even the emblem of the Aryan pantheon and the primitive Aryan civilization. Emile Burnouf (op. cit., p. 625), taking the Sanskrit word literally, divided it into the particles su-asti-ka, equivalents of the Greek eu-estike. In this way, especially through the adverbial particle, it would mean “sign of benediction”, or “of good omen” (svasti), also “of health” or “life”. The particle ka seems to have been used in a causative sense (Burnouf, Dictionnaire sanscrit-français, 1866). The swastika sign was very widespread throughout the Orient, the seat of the oldest civilizations. The Buddhist inscriptions carved in certain caves of Western India are usually preceded or closed by this sacred sign (Thomas Edward, “The Indian Swastika”, 1880; Philip Greg, “On the Meaning and Origin of the Fylfot and Swastika”). The celebrated excavations of Schliemann at Hissarlik on the site of ancient Troy brought to light numerous examples of the swastika: on spindle-racks, on a cube, sometimes attached to an animal, and even cut upon the womb of a female idol, a detail also noticeable on a small statue of the goddess Athis. The swastika sign is seen on Hittite monuments, e.g. on a cylinder (“The monuments of the Hittites” in “Transactions of the Soc. of Bibl. Archæology”, VII, 2, p. 259. read more here.

When was it adapted by the Roman Catholic Church? In the second century! Long after the Apostles died and the books of the bible were written. Therefore, the cross as a Christian symbol is another one of those Catholic inventions.

The cross as a Christian symbol or “seal” came into use at least as early as the second century (see “Apost. Const.” iii. 17; Epistle of Barnabas, xi.-xii.; Justin, “Apologia,” i. 55-60; “Dial. cum Tryph.” 85-97); and the marking of a cross upon the forehead and the chest was regarded as a talisman against the powers of demons (Tertullian, “De Corona,” iii.; Cyprian, “Testimonies,” xi. 21-22; Lactantius, “Divinæ Institutiones,” iv. 27, and elsewhere). Accordingly the Christian Fathers had to defend themselves, as early as the second century, against the charge of being worshipers of the cross, as may be learned from Tertullian, “Apologia,” xii., xvii., and Minucius Felix, “Octavius,” xxix. Christians used to swear by the power of the cross (see Apocalypse of Mary, viii., in James, “Texts and Studies,” iii. 118). Nevertheless Jewish teachers in the Middle Ages declared that Christians must be believed when swearing by the cross, as, in reality, they swear by the true God (Isaac of Corbeil, in “Sefer Miẓwot Ḳaṭan,” 119, quoted by Güdemann, “Gesch. d. Erz. u. Cultur in Italien,” 1880, i. 90). The fact, however, that the cross was worshiped as an idol during the Middle Ages caused the Jews to avoid (compare Ex. xxiii. 13) the very word “Cross,” as well as all derivatives of it; for instance, “kreuzer” they called “ẓelem” or, abbreviated, “ẓal”; and the town “Kreuznach” they called “Ẓelem-Maḳom.”

He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead,

The Beast of the Sea, in a medieval tapestry

Revelations – the book in the bible which narrated in part the mark of the anti-Christ. When people hear the word “anti-Christ” images of a 7-headed supernatural super beast of the scariest kind come to mind. Others erroneously believe he is the leader of the most powerful nation (U.S) or group of nations (E.U.). These are all untrue of course. If one really think about the anti-Christ in terms of the spiritual and religious and guided by what was taught by the Messenger of God in these last days,  I’m sure one would come to a pretty accurate understanding of the anti-Christ.

What does “anti” mean anyway? From webster.com comes this definition:

anti Function: preposition
Date: 1953
: opposed to : against

Taking this definition then the anti-Christ is just that, anti/ante of Christ our Lord. The anti Christ  is against, opposite, instead of,  Christ. He would be exactly opposite of what Christ was, against what Christ stood for and opposite of what teached and preached . Christ is the Savior who brings people to God. The ante-Christ is the usurper who leads people away from God. And since no man can live through the ages and continuously go against the Lord Jesus Christ, and that this is more so of the spiritual realm, this anti-Christ has to be a position of a religious power and not the person who holds the position.

One teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ is enough for anyone with understanding to see that indeed the position of the pope is the anti-Christ. Examine this:

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the ONLY true God

Compare this to Catholic teaching as is posted on the website vatican.va describing the pope:

THE HOLY FATHER

The Roman Pontiff, as the successor of Peter, is the perpetual and visible principle and foundation of unity of both the bishops and of the faithful.
LUMEN GENTIUM, 23

Going back to the sign of the cross, the book of Revelations states that the ante-Christ will force everyone to receive a mark on his right hand or the forehead? Which religious entity makes its member possess and practice this mark to identify them as his followers?

Chrysostom therefore recommended: “From the tenderest age, arm children with spiritual weapons and teach them to make the Sign of the Cross on their forehead with their hand” (Homily, 12, 7 on First Corinthians).

BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter’s Square
Wednesday, 19 September 2007

The Sign of the Cross

The pope of the Catholic church quotes a certain Chrysostom as the authority in instruction on how to perform such a practice. “St.” John Chrysostom is not an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is one of the so-called “church fathers/apostolic fathers” of the Catholic church. He was born in 347 AD more that two hundred years after the Apostles.

Who else preached and practiced this “symbol”? Tertulian, another “church father” of the Catholic church.

“This sign is a very ancient one, mentioned by the early Fathers of the Church as being a habitual practice by the second century. Tertullian recounts that “in all our travels in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross.”

Aside from the Catholic church, the religions today that has this mark are Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican/Episcopalian, maybe some Lutherans.

But what was the basis for such a sign if it wasn’t practiced and preached by the Apostles? Did they just invent this out of the blue? Or was there a such a practice prior to the Roman Catholics? A Catholic website, newadvent.org provides the answer:

Primitive cruciform signs

The sign of the cross, represented in its simplest form by a crossing of two lines at right angles, greatly antedates, in both the East and the West, the introduction of Christianity. … the cross was originally not a mere means or object of ornament, and from the earliest times had certainly another — i.e. symbolico-religious — significance. The primitive form of the cross seems to have been that of the so-called “gamma” cross (crux gammata), better known to Orientalists and students of prehistoric archæology by its Sanskrit name, swastika.

So it’s clear that the Catholic church not only adopted a sign marking it the church of the anti-Christ, it also violated a commandment of God not to add teachings to what was preached by the Lord Jesus and the Apostles. Which such overwhelming evidence would  you still want to belong to the church of the Anti-Christ?

I was going to write a blog about Easter using the research I did on it for a couple of months. While writing it I thought of the many people who practices it and for sure they will not be receptive of what I will be writing. And so I thought, instead of putting my own thoughts into what Easter is, why don’t I just directly quote a couple of the sources I gathered and let my readers decide what Easter is?

Let me just make it clear, full credit goes to the sources I quoted.

So here goes:

Easter

The English term, according to the Ven. Bede (De temporum ratione, I, v), relates to Estre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring, which deity, however, is otherwise unknown, even in the Edda (Simrock, Mythol., 362); Anglo-Saxon, eâster, eâstron; Old High German, ôstra, ôstrara, ôstrarûn; German, Ostern. April was called easter-monadh. The plural eâstron is used, because the feast lasts seven days.

Peculiar customs of Easter time
Risus Paschalis

This strange custom originated in Bavaria in the fifteenth century. The priest inserted in his sermon funny stories which would cause his hearers to laugh (Ostermärlein), e.g. a description of how the devil tries to keep the doors of hell locked against the descending Christ. Then the speaker would draw the moral from the story. This Easter laughter, giving rise to grave abuses of the word of God, was prohibited by Clement X (1670-1676) and in the eighteenth century by Maximilian III and the bishops of Bavaria (Wagner, De Risu Paschali, Königsberg, 1705; Linsemeier, Predigt in Deutschland, Munich, 1886).

Easter eggs

Because the use of eggs was forbidden during Lent, they were brought to the table on Easter Day, coloured red to symbolize the Easter joy. This custom is found not only in the Latin but also in the Oriental Churches. The symbolic meaning of a new creation of mankind by Jesus risen from the dead was probably an invention of later times. The custom may have its origin in paganism, for a great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring. Easter eggs, the children are told, come from Rome with the bells which on Thursday go to Rome and return Saturday morning. The sponsors in some countries give Easter eggs to their god-children. Coloured eggs are used by children at Easter in a sort of game which consists in testing the strength of the shells (Kraus, Real-Encyklopædie, s.v. Ei). Both coloured and uncoloured eggs are used in some parts of the United States for this game, known as “egg-picking”. Another practice is the “egg-rolling” by children on Easter Monday on the lawn of the White House in Washington.

The Easter rabbit

The Easter Rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in the garden. The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility (Simrock, Mythologie, 551).

source:newadvent.org

The incredible, spiritual egg

Fragile, shelled icon holds importance for many faith groups

By MELISSA NANN BURKE (text) and SAMANTHA DELLINGER (graphics)
Daily Record/Sunday News

Updated: 04/12/2009 11:20:41 AM EDT

Eggs carry significance in many spiritual traditions. They represent everything from the arrival of spring to the Resurrection of Jesus.Perhaps it’s the delicate wonder of new life contained within the egg’s thin, grainy shell. Or its shape evoking the circle of life.

Whatever the case, cultures ’round the world revere this strange little icon of renewal.

PAGAN

Before eggs became associated with Easter, they represented the earth’s rebirth. With spring’s arrival, winter comes to a close, and the earth bursts forth with life – as eggs do.

Eggs have been associated with ancient pagan festivals marking the spring equinox, although scholars debate that. It’s thought that eggs were originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring.

Those who observe the Wiccan and Neopagan festival Ostara, which occurs in March, often use eggs.

“They are the sign of life and rebirth,” said Jess Morehead, a member of the Nature Church in York Township.

“For Ostara, we planted seedlings with a manifested hope for the new season. One member brought painted eggs to lay on the altar as offerings to the elements and deity.”

ZOROASTRIAN

Zoroastrianism was once the state religion of the ancient Persian empires, an area that includes modern-day Iran. In Persian culture, egg painting with one’s family is popular at Nowruz, or Nawruz, a New Year celebration that coincides with the spring equinox.

Eggs, representing fertility, are often placed on a ceremonial table for the New Year ritual of Haft Seen. Dishes on the table symbolize rebirth, health, happiness, prosperity, joy, patience and beauty, among other hopes for the new year.

During a Zoroastrian wedding, an egg is sometimes rotated around the groom’s head and broken to ward off evil.

JEWISH

At Passover, an egg is placed on the seder plate as a symbol of the traditional festival sacrifice (korban chagigah) offered during the days of the Temple in Jerusalem. It also represents the new life of freedom the Israelites experienced after 210 years of slavery in Egypt. The egg has significance in other areas of Jewish culture as well.

“Typically, an egg is served alongside other ’round’ foods (i.e., bagels, onions, tomatoes, etc.) at the Meal of Condolence following a funeral service, as well as at proscribed times in the Jewish calendar when community-wide mourning is observed for various historical events,” said Rabbi Jeffrey R. Astrachan of Temple Beth Israel in York Township.

“By seeing and consuming such foods we are reminded of the circle of life. Even in the face of death, danger and destruction, we are to be hopeful of all the promise that a new life can bring.”

There you go. Let me just say that Easter, the celebration of it not the concept of Easter is never found in the bible not it’s practice described and performed by the servants of God. It is therefore evident that this holiday is not of Christian origin. It was never practiced by Jesus Christ nor his Apostles. Knowing all these, would a Christian practice such an un-Christian holiday?e

Empty pews: Catholics are fleeing the Church in record numbers - particularly Irish American Catholics

Steady Decline

Parishioners ‘hurting’ over transition to one church

By David Robinson
The Evening Telegram
New! Mon Jan 04, 2010, 10:09 AM EST

St. Johnsville, N.Y. -

St. Patrick’s Church in St. Johnsville and St. Peter’s and Paul’s Church in Canajoharie will both close Feb. 14 and their congregations are being asked to begin worshiping at St. James Church in Fort Plain.
But at least one parishioner said she does not intend to follow the plan, which is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany closure over the last year of 17 percent, or 33 of 109, of its churches.
Grace Archambault, 80, of St. Johnsville, said she is planning to begin attending services at Holy Family Parish in Little Falls. And when she can not make it there, Archambault said she is considering worshipping at St. Paul Lutheran Church in St. Johnsville.
Archambault explained her intentions in a letter to the diocese, citing a mishandling of the closure as part of the motivation for her choice.
“I didn’t desert my church, my church deserted me,” she said in a telephone interview.
The three parishes in October merged financially, forming a single parish named Our Lady of Hope, and began the process of deciding which church would remain open. A pastoral council, consisting of representatives from the three congregations, met to discuss the closures.
But Archambault said the process was insensitive, especially to long-time members of the churches.
“People have spent their whole lives in their churches,” she said, referencing many having been baptized and married under the same roof. “This is like their second home.”
Margaret DiGiacomo, 64, said she has been with St. Patrick’s for all 64 years of life, and the closures have impacted a lot of her friends, family and fellow parishioners. “The people here are really upset over the way this was handled,” she said, “it’s been very discouraging.”

Laity-led church

Tuesday December 29 2009
The slow drip of clerical scandals and its final conclusion with the Murphy report has led me to the inevitable conclusion that the Catholic Church, as we know it, is dead.
This, I feel, is a very good and necessary development.
If Christ the man were to come back today and walk into the Vatican he would immediately turn around and walk the other way. He would have been confronted with big, gaudy buildings with all the pagan trappings of gold and wealth.
He would have sensed power, pomp, inequality and secrecy.
He would have seen his church controlled by an exclusive, elderly gentleman’s club with an 82-year-old as its leader and the total exclusion of half of its members — females.

source:independent.ie

Irish Catholic Cardinal Daly brought Pope to Ireland but utterly failed on pedophiles
By
PATRICK ROBERTS
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Saturday, January 2, 2010, 9:26 AM
Updated Saturday, January 2, 2010, 8:28

Cardinal Cahal Daly, who has died aged 92, will also be remembered as the man who oversaw the most rapid decline in the history of the Catholic Church in Ireland because of the pedophile crisis.

Posted 11/7/2004 10:49 PM Updated 11/8/2004 5:28 PM

Church struggles with change
By Cathy Lynn Grossman and Anthony DeBarros, USA TODAY

Today there are fewer parishes and fewer priests than in 1990 and fewer of the nation’s 65 million Catholics in those pews. And there’s no sign of return.”

Nine-Year-Old’s Abortion Outrages Brazil’s Catholic Church
By Andrew Downie / São Paulo Friday, Mar. 06, 2009

Time/CNN

Brazilian devotion to the Catholic Church has declined over the past several years. Whereas Brazil was once an almost entirely Catholic nation, only 74% of Brazilians today admit allegiance to Rome, with large numbers, especially the urban poor, having defected to Protestant Evangelical sects. Many more water down their Catholicism with dashes of African religions such as Candomble or spiritist beliefs such as Kardecism.

December 24, 2009
This Christmas, 78% of Americans Identify as Christian
Over time, fewer Americans identify as Christian; more have no religious identity
by Frank Newport
Gallup.com

The trend results are based on annual averages of Gallup’s religious identity data in America that stretch back over 60 years. One of the most significant trends documented during this period is the substantial increase in the percentage of American adults who don’t identify with any specific religion. In 1948, only 2% of Americans did not identify with a religion. That percentage began to rise in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Eleven years ago, in 1998, 6% of Americans did not identify with a religion, a number that rose to 10% by 2002. This year’s average of 13% of Americans who claim no religious identity is the highest in Gallup records.

The percentage of Americans who identify as Catholic, Protestant, or some other non-Catholic Christian faith has been concomitantly decreasing over the years. This suggests that one of the major patterns of religious transition in America in recent decades has been the shift from identification as Christian to the status of having no specific religious identification.

In 1948, 91% of Americans identified with a Christian faith. Twenty years ago, in 1989, 82% of Americans identified as Christian. Ten years ago, it was 84%. This year, as noted, 78% of all American adults identify with a Christian faith.

There has also been a slight increase in the percentage of Americans who identify with a religion that is not specifically classified as Christian. Sixty years ago, for example, 4% of Americans identified with a non-Christian religion. By 1989, 9% of Americans were in this non-Christian religion category, the same percentage as today.

And there you go. News items in the last 5 years indicating the Catholic Church’s steady decline which by projection will result in the eventual and complete disappearance of the once mighty Roman Church, the same way it’s previous incarnation, the Roman Empire.

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Mr Abe Arganiosa

Mr Abe Arganiosa, a Catholic priest and blogger recently published a blog entitled “Katanungan tungkol sa pananalapi ng Vatican (Question about the finances of the Vatican)”.  He was supposed to be responding to a comment by an anonymous poster but  curiously,  instead of answering the questions with facts Mr Arganiosa started attacking the Iglesia Ni Cristo.  This really doesn’t surprise me as Mr Arganiosa is one of many Catholic bloggers on a smear campaign against the Iglesia. Sadly though that’s all they’re capable of and none of these so called  Catholic defenders will ever face an Iglesia Ni Cristo minister in a face to face debate. I can’t blame them since they can’t even defend their doctrines in forum debates.

Anyway, Mr Arganiosa started out his blog with a photo of what he wrote was the Vatican Museum. It was really impressive, very neon like  and honestly looked like something you see in Las Vegas. Curious also the caption “Meron ba ang mga (derogatory remark) nyan? Ha, ha, ha…Mamatay sila sa inggit!”.  Roughly in English this translate to “Do the (derogatory remark)? Ha, ha, ha…Let them die of jealousy!”.  Shocked? Surprised? I was. You wouldn’t expect this kind of speech from a so-called  “man of the cloth“. But Mr Arganiosa is not you regular “spiritual leader“. Nope. He’s of the Eli Soriano kind that is, they don’t guard their mouth. The same mouth they used to supposedly speak the words of God is the same mouth they use to slander, malign and derogate whom they perceive as their enemy. So much for loving you enemy. Anyway, as we try to ignore his abusive behaviour let’s see what Mr Abe has to say about the Catholic finances.

Vatican wealth? Investments

He said the Vatican is not the wealthiest of countries. While this may be true the Vatican is not poor either. And unlike purely religious organization such as the Iglesia Ni Cristo, the Catholic church is an investment machine! Very true. The Catholic church invest just like any corporation. In 1965, Time published the following:

Bankers’ best guesses about the Vatican’s wealth put it at $10 billion to $15 billion. Of this wealth, Italian stockholdings alone run to $1.6 billion, 15% of the value of listed shares on the Italian market. The Vatican has big investments in banking, insurance, chemicals, steel, construction, real estate. Dividends help pay for Vatican expenses and charities such as assisting 1,500,000 children and providing some measure of food and clothing to 7,000,000 needy Italians. Unlike ordinary stockholders, the Vatican pays no taxes on this income, which led the leftist Rome weekly L’Espresso last week to call it “the biggest tax evader in Italy.”

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,833509,00.html#ixzz0aszryQKU

Vatican Museum

Impressive! And that is in 1965. For a country with a population of less than a thousand that’s a lot of money! Aside from the investments the Vatican also makes money by charging admission to that museum Mr Arganiosa talked about not to mention tourist dollars and sale of postage stamps and mementos. One could say it has self generating income much like any other tourist destination. Admission to the Vatican Museum is € 14,00 about the same as the Hollywood Wax Museum.

One would think that with all these wealth the Catholic church would be able to help it’s needy members for something as essential in the practice of religion as a chapel. After all, Diocese do indeed send money to the Vatican however small that money is it still adds up over the years. But does the Vatican help out small Catholic congregations for such essential need as financing the building of a chapel where the faithful can practice their faith?

Drug money funds chapel renovation

Drug addiction ruins lives

In October 1995 a series of news articles rock the religious world when a Mexican bishop of the Catholic Church admitted to receiving money from drug traffickers. And he wasn’t shy admitting to it but was actually proud. He argued that the money is “purified” once it passes through the parish doors! Catholics can rationalize anything and had done it all throughout history. From burning innocents during the Inquisition to in action in World War II and now by accepting money tainted by the blood and wasted lives of souls who fell victim to drugs sold to them by the very benefactor of the Catholic church. The newspaper account goes like this

Tainted Church cash rocks Mexico
AP, MEXICO CITY
Thursday, Oct 06, 2005, Page 7

When a Mexican bishop told reporters recently that drug traffickers often donate to the Catholic Church, shock waves ran through this predominantly Catholic nation, not because the news was a surprise, but because admitting it was tantamount to confessing that nothing is sacred — not even God — when it comes to organized crime in Mexico.

Provoking the uproar were declarations by Bishop Ramon Godinez of the central state of Aguascalientes, who remarked earlier this month that donations from drug traffickers are not unusual, but that it was not the Church’s responsibility to investigate. He argued that the money is “purified” once it passes through the parish doors.

“Just because the origin of the money is bad doesn’t mean you have to burn it,” Godinez said. “Instead, you have to transform it … We live on this, on the offerings of the faithful.”

Then again in 1997, another report came out concerning the same issue that is the Catholic church taking money from drug traffickers.

October 21, 1997

DRUG LORDS BUY WAY INTO CHURCH’S HEART
MEXICO: PRIEST’S PRAISE FOR TRAFFICKERS BRINGS ‘NARCO-CHARITY’ INTO OPEN. BISHOPS DENY TAKING FUNDS BUT SAY THEY WON’T POLICE COLLECTION PLATE.

MARY BETH SHERIDAN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BAMOPA, Mexico

Abelino Ortiz needed a miracle. The farmer, a devout Catholic, had rallied the peasants in this mountain village to build a chapel, but the project was short of cash–until the local drug lord happened by, briefcase in hand.

“He threw out 100,000 pesos,” then about $ 3,500, recalled Ortiz, sitting on his porch overlooking the tiny red-brick church he built 15 years ago. Because of Rafael Caro Quintero, a local boy who had become Mexico’s marijuana king, the people of Bamopa could now praise God.

Caro Quintero is now in a Mexican prison, convicted of drug trafficking and the murder of Enrique Camarena, a U.S. drug agent. But in Bamopa, he enjoys a saintly status. “The good memories he left will not be erased,” Ortiz said.

And there you go. I’m sure Mr Arganiosa would be able to come up with a rationalization of this shameful acts. He might even disown his Catholic brethren and of course he would again aim his diatribe at the Iglesia Ni Cristo complete with slander about the Iglesia’s leaders. Nothing new as he has always done the same in the past. But one thing is also sure: The Vatican where the Catholic hierarchy lives has enought money to fund a small chapel in Mexico but elected not to, forcing a poor constituent to take money from a criminal.  So much for a shepherd taking care of its flock.

The parol bears a striking resemblance to the Pentacle, a pagan symbol

San Fernando Giant Lantern Festival/Fiesta ng Parol – celebrated the whole month of December in San Fernando, Pampanga. The festival culminates in a judging contest of the best, biggest and most beautiful Christmas lantern made by the local craftsmen in San Fernando.

There is always a fiesta (festival) going on somewhere in the Philippines as every city and barrio holds at least one each year. The fiesta is usually to honor the local Roman Catholic patron saint and pay homage to the barrio’s namesake for good harvest and health. It is a mixture of both pagan and Catholic beliefs. These fiestas are marked by feasting and celebration of holy mass, music, dance and song.

Christmas is one of the most widely celebrated holidays in the Philippines. Filipinos take pride in having the longest Christmas celebration in the world … as soon as the month ending with “ber” rolls around, preparations for Christmas begins. September signals the start of the Christmas season and you begin to hear Christmas carols everywhere and Christmas lanterns of all shapes and sizes light up the streets of Metro Manila. Filipinos buy star-shaped lanterns called “parol” (pronounced pah-role) to hang outside their homes. The “parol” represents the Star of Bethlehem that led the three Wise Men to the infant Jesus more than two thousand years ago.

The PENTACLE

Other names:

Five-pointed star. Star of the Microcosm. Witch’s Foot. The Morning Star. The Evening Star. Endless knot.

History:

Pentacle - a pagan symbol

The five-pointed star is the result of astrological research done over 6,000 years ago resulting in no connection whatsoever to Satanism or Christianity. Pythagoras utilized the Pentacle to represent the human being with the points of the star representing the head, arms and legs, adding the circle unifies and creates Spirit. On a side note, the Pentacle or Pentagram represents phi: 1.618, the perfect number. This number symbolizes perfection in all things that exist on this plane, for one instance, the human face, broken down in shape has the basic core and structure of a Pentagram. How’s that for perfection?

The Elements:

The Pentacle represents the five elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit.

Magical Uses:

As a protective device: Wear a pentacle around your neck to protect yourself.

Ritual Use:

A Pentacle is synonymous with Wiccan Rituals. It represents Spirit and Protection. A Pentacle is one of the most important devices in your Ritual Circle and can be simply represented by drawing a Pentacle in the air above your working space, in the dirt if working outside, or on a piece of paper to be discarded later.

sources:

www.goldentreewands.com – Wiccan Symbols

www.vtaide.com – Philippine Celebrations.

www.philsite.net – Philippine Fiesta

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Christmas Revelry

Saturnalia

Millions of people from virtually every country of the world celebrate the holiday season during the Winter Solstice, and this has been true even before Christmas as we now know it existed. Pagans , farmers and common folk celebrated the coming of spring during ancient times with festivals such as the Roman Saturnalia or rituals such as the Scandinavian Yule Log. These celebrations formed the backbone of holiday traditions that we all follow to this day. 

source:www.christmasrevelry.com

Hard as it may be to believe, I’m not a complete curmudgeon. I sort of like Christmas. The eating, the drinking

source: Tim Hayward, guardian.co.uk

Christmas Party

We all know that the origin of Christmas is pagan. Is this against teachings of the bible? Here’s the verse:

Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.”

There you go. plain and clear.

Christmas tree at St Peter's Square

The Catholic tradition of decorated trees did not come from Christianity as laid out in scriptures but from Norse mythology similar to the eggs and bunny of Easter.

The world tree is an enormous ash that grew in the middle of the world and was sacred to Odin the chief God in Norse paganism. The mythical embodiment of the universe, its survival was necessary for the survival of the Aesir world or the Norse Pantheon. Three Norns (trinity!) lived at the foot of this tree who decided the fate of every human being, they were all knowing.

The Christmas tree descends from the world tree, and many of its traditional decorations were adapted from Norse mythology. Candles, and in the age of electricity, Christmas lights symbolizes Thor’s flashing lightnings. Garlands and ribbons are symbols for the rainbow bridge to Asgard. At the top instead of the pagan eagle, the Christmas angel keeps watch; and at the bottom, the Christ child in his crib replaces the Norns as the Christian ‘s arbiter of human destiny. The pagan eagle at the top of the tree fanned the air with his wings which causes winds to blow.

Yggdrail - the World tree

Some writers think the Christmas tree was adopted by Catholics of German descent such as Martin Luther. Legends say that Luther on his way home from a midnight mass saw light reflecting from icicles on a small evergreen tree. He cut down the tree brought it home and decorated it with candles, ribbons and sweets. In the morning, he read religious stories under it. The Christmas tree was first mentioned in 1605 at Strasburg and introduced to France and Englad in 1840.

Even the Catholic Pope John Paul II found it necessary to explain the Catholics’ use of the pagan symbol. Quite supprisingly, his explanation bore a striking similarity to the pagan symbolism. He said the Christmas tree is a symbol of “the tree of life, a figure of Christ, God’s greatest gift to all men.”

Asherah Pole

Tree worship is not unique to Norse mythology nor Catholic tradition, and is one of the oldest form of animism and paganism. It was among the most common form of idolatrous veneration in Ancient Assyria and is a true form of Tree Worship. It would not be hard to believe that this was the same Asherah poles or Grove mentioned frequently in the Bible.

“Be very careful never to make a treaty with the people who live in the land where you are going.
If you do, you will follow their evil ways and be trapped.

Instead, you must break down their pagan altars, smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles”

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source:
D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths
Ingri D’Aulaire

Legend of the Christmas Tree
Matuszak, Pat

newadvent.org

Tree and serpent worship
James Ferguson