Friday, March 29, AD 2024 3:05am

The Francis Effect and the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Surrender

 

Parade spokesman Bill O’Reilly explains why the parade organizers caved after decades of resistance and legal battles and are allowing a gay group to march in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade:

O’Reilly told CNA said the parade policy was changed due to Catholic teaching “about showing compassion and understanding to groups that don’t agree with all the Church’s teachings.”

“I think, in part, the tone is changing within the Church, and I think Pope Francis has spoken about this, and Cardinal Dolan did last night,” O’Reilly said. “There is a sense among many Catholic leaders [for] showing that compassion and that brotherly love, regardless of whether or not one agrees with Church teachings. It may be the best foot forward for the Church at this point. We hope people will see it in that light.”

At the same time, he said that parade committee statements about anyone being able to apply to participate in the parade were spoken “neutrally,” and applications would still need to be approved by committee.

“Anyone is free to apply, any group can be free to apply, but for an abortion group to apply to march in a Catholic parade would be a great anomaly, to say the least.”

O’Reilly said the committee’s reaction to the application “can probably be imagined.”

Go here to read the rest. In regard to the last sentence, I think we will see not only abortionists but Satanists shuffling along in a parade purportedly honoring Saint Patrick.  When groups start caving, they tend to get their future exercise by running up white flags to all and sundry.

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bill bannon
bill bannon
Saturday, September 6, AD 2014 7:01pm

This does seem to flow out of “who am I to judge?”…which is a good phrase but an incomplete one and Popes should not be the source of incomplete mini sermons on what are mortal sins in the material sense though Francis was alluding to our inability to judge such sins as to subjective guilt on the formal level on which God only sees clearly.
There is also an abomination issue at hand…and yes I know the word for abomination in the OT covered not only gay acts but ritual sins that are no longer sins as e.g. what seafood we have…eating lobster was an abomination for the Jews in the OT since it was a creeping thing. I had one at the Chart House in Weehauken N.J. looking out on night time Manhattan across the river and it was so non tender, I felt that indeed it was an abomination that I paid $30 for it.
But that’s why Romans 1:26-28 is important. It maintains the toughest words against gay acts during this New Covenant dispensation when we all can eat creeping things like lobster and shrimp which were once abominations ritualistically only…not morally.

Karl
Karl
Saturday, September 6, AD 2014 7:24pm

This is why those who see the upcoming synod as anything other than a stage for Francis, the heretic, to flex his girly muscles are sadly mistaken. He will “spin” it like the thug, activist he has always been.

Why do you think our Cardinals chose him? They are long time thugs! They do not care a thing about our souls. Those days are long gone.

There is no need to change teachings when they have, purposefully, long been ignored. Anyone who cannot see this has occurred, albeit gradually, is seriously challenged or sleepy. Marriage means nothing BECAUSE the teachings have been, long usurped, pastorally and through the corrupted annulment process.

Wake up and smell the darn espresso!

I finally smelled it at our son’s wedding, in May, at communion and I walked out of that wedding, fighting the tears, but knowing the Catholic Church has pulled the doormat and changed the locks for the likes of me.

God bless those of you who are faithful to your vows. I will try to remain faithful to be in solidarity with you. But, being separated from the Church makes things very dicey.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Saturday, September 6, AD 2014 7:30pm

St. John Chrysostom, once said ”The road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops.”
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Here’s proof that he was right.
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Also, this heinous travesty proves that your (not mine: I’ve been on to them for decades) so-called princes of the church assign higher priorities to chimeras (inclusiveness, misplaced mercy, socialist justice, Al Smith dinners) than they place on the salvation of the souls.
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Re: this abomination: sodomy (a mortal sin). It flies in the face of God’s Will and the first (far earlier than Moses at Sinai) command given numerous times during His Creation and throughout Genesis. “Be fruitful. . . .go forth and multiply.”
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Finally (at last!), the Jerusalem Council only required gentile converts to follow the relatively small number of Jewish laws that “defile the nation,” including eating meat ritually sacrificed and all forms of sexual licentiousness/perversion, and that includes adultery and sodomy.

Karl
Karl
Saturday, September 6, AD 2014 7:48pm

As an afterthought, I wonder if Cardinal Dolan will walk with those “poor Catholics who find themselves in irregular marriages” and give them communion at Saint Patrick’s, like the good heretic that he is!

He wrote to me and indicated his support for that, so it would be the rational thing to do. Maybe he could walk along the parade route holding hands with Cardinal Kasper, maybe even Francis the heretic? Wouldn’t that be a sight for sore eyes?

R. Patterson
R. Patterson
Saturday, September 6, AD 2014 7:49pm

This is a scandal. Christ’s Church teaches we are an accessory to Another’s Sin: By counsel, By command, By consent, By provocation, By praise or flattery, By concealment, By partaking, By silence, By defense of the ill done. I count five in +Dolan’s stance. Additionally, perhaps he should ponder the first reading in this Sunday’s mass.

bill bannon
bill bannon
Saturday, September 6, AD 2014 8:16pm

Karl,
Your cross is huge but scripture says that Love…” Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”…I Cor.13:7.
I think you should win back your wife slowly, prayerfully…believing all things and hoping all things. You’re not doing that but rather satan is twisting the knife inside of you and you’ve just judged a Pope and read the hearts of all Cardinals….all of which comes from the annullment. Look at Acts 5:39. If you are correct that your annullment was incorrect, you can win back your wife because what she is in …is not from God. But if the judgement was correct, you cannot fight against God and win. Let’s presume in your favor…that it was incorrect. That means you should be praying like all get out but also hoping brightly and also believing brightly….and bearing the interim.
If you don’t use spiritual weapons to get her back in hope and trusting in God’s help…then you will sour and take down the faith of perhaps your children in God. You don’t have a third option. I think you have to fight for her in prayer especially….or sour.
James 5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Saturday, September 6, AD 2014 9:21pm

You never can tell. You may go to Heaven. Or, you may go to Hell.
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These people persistently pedal subversions of St. Matthew’s “final judgment” verses and the Corporal Works of Mercy: social justice, misdirected charity/mercy, etc.
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They never speak about the Spiritual Works of Mercy and the salvation of souls.
Admonish the sinner.
Bear all wrongs patiently. See the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery: the Carrying of the Cross. Desire the virtue of patience. Think of the heavy cross Christ so willingly carried. And, pray that you may carry your crosses without complaining.
Counsel the doubtful.
Forgive all injuries.
Instruct the ignorant.
Pray for the living and the dead.
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By His life, death, and resurrection, Christ has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life; not perverse carnal lust.

Karl
Karl
Saturday, September 6, AD 2014 10:10pm

Bill,

There is no annulment. I am forced, a second time to go through the process, now twenty-three years after the first time, which upheld our marriage after a twelve year case, which ended in Rome.
I participated in this round’s first instance, which ruled against nullity. I tried to participate in the appeal but the tribunal would not make it more practical for me to communicate with them, so I withdrew from the process. They will not compromise, so they have effectively blocked my defense.
This was NOT how the first instance court behaved. It is a chosen behavior. The bishop should have intervened and demanded compromise. Now, it is too late. My tolerance has been exceeded. I will simply no longer cooperate at all with any part of this process. Period.

I do not judge the mentioned bishops. They are guilty as charged. The disposition of their souls is God’s call, unless he consults me, which is doubtful. If he did, they should tremble. I would likely show the same mercy to them they have shown to marriages, especially to this one.

I have not, ever, closed the door to a reconciliation. My wife, her lover and the Catholic Church have.

You cannot support marriage and welcome unrepentant adulterers. It is like raping someone with soft music, luxurious surroundings and tea afterwards. You are still a rapist. Adultery is rape. The two are one. One of those two did not invite the third. It is that simple. Tolerating rapists is tolerating rape is destroying marriages is destroying children is destroying faith is destroying the Catholic Church is destroying society! Period!

It is very simple and very straight forward. The Catholic Church has jettisoned repentance and restitution in favor of inclusiveness. This is severe injustice. It is outrageously wrong and dysfunctional. It should be criminal. It is False Charity of a scandalous nature. It is as plain as the nose on the face. It is self-evident.

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Saturday, September 6, AD 2014 11:48pm

It is ultimately cruel to give the lgbt groups the false flattery of shallow acceptance that wiil evaporate when these lost souls are suffering the natural and spiritual consequences of this suddenly popular behavior.
We know this behavior kills them body and soul. This is not understanding or compassion- this is unloving irresponsible incoherent lazy thinking. This is not brought about by a change in Catholic teaching, but by a Perceived change. And while I think the Vatican and the pope are accountable for this kind of misdirection, smart Catholic-educated Harvard graduates like O’R and Donahue should be ashamed of themselves.

Susan Varenne
Susan Varenne
Sunday, September 7, AD 2014 4:51am

If people don’t want to be Catholic, they don’t have to be. But we can’t see a ruined product.

“Who am I to judge?” is ruining the teachings of the Church.

Michael Paterson-Seymour
Michael Paterson-Seymour
Sunday, September 7, AD 2014 4:51am

T Shaw wrote, “Finally (at last!), the Jerusalem Council only required gentile converts to follow the relatively small number of Jewish laws that “defile the nation,” including eating meat ritually sacrificed and all forms of sexual licentiousness/perversion, and that includes adultery and sodomy”
Most exegetes, on the basis of Hellenic Jewish texts, believe that, in the first century, πορνεία had acquired a specialised meaning, and referred to the prohibited degrees of marriage.
This makes sense, if one considers that the purpose of the Council’s prohibitions was to facilitate social intercourse between Jewish and gentile converts.
Of course, the Council did not mean that gentiles were not bound by the moral precepts of the law, such as those against murder, adultery and theft. Its focus, however, was, as you rightly say, on the common observance of certain ritual or positive laws, of which the Levitical degrees are one for, as the Council of Trent affirmed (against the Protestant Reformers), some of them are dispensable (Sess XXIV C 3)

Susan Varenne
Susan Varenne
Sunday, September 7, AD 2014 4:52am

But we can’t sell a ruined product. Sorry about the typo.

Karl
Karl
Sunday, September 7, AD 2014 5:23am

Amen, Susan Varenne; nor am I obligated to faithfulness to a ruined product or to a willingness to die for that products author.

Where is Christ’s much needed wrath against His successors? Or, as I
believe, is Francis His wrath?

Paul W Primavera
Sunday, September 7, AD 2014 5:55am

Are Nazis going to be permitted to march in the parade? Or white supremacists? Or members of the Man Boy Love Association? If homosexuals may march, then why not these other groups? What is the moral standard and who sets that standard? Or is every perversion and act of disobedience not only permitted but extolled as beautiful in diversity?
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Liberals have no moral standard.

Mary De Voe
Sunday, September 7, AD 2014 6:54am

Jesus taught people who wanted to learn from Him. Judas, Christ drove out of the Last Supper: “Go do what you have a mind to do”. Judas was never invited back, nor was Judas counted among the apostles.
Again, Cardl. Dolan ought to have a Eucharistic procession at the head of the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. He has the means at hand and every Catholic’s support for Jesus Christ.

Paul W Primavera
Sunday, September 7, AD 2014 8:51am

Cardinal Dolan should note today’s Old Testament reading from Ezekiel 33:7-9
.
Thus says the LORD:
You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel;
when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me.
If I tell the wicked, “O wicked one, you shall surely die, ”
and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way,
the wicked shall die for his guilt,
but I will hold you responsible for his death.
But if you warn the wicked,
trying to turn him from his way,
and he refuses to turn from his way,
he shall die for his guilt,
but you shall save yourself.

Botolph
Botolph
Sunday, September 7, AD 2014 2:41pm

The problem here is the separation to the point of divorce between mercy (love) and the teaching of the Church (truth). The Church, as Sacrament of Salvation for the world, has a dual mission of Mater and Magister, Mother and Teacher. No matter what side of the fence one comes down on, one cannot choose mercy over truth, mother over teacher any more than one can choose truth over mercy and teacher over mother. This is the Catholic “both/and” manifesting itself once more.

Pope Francis has been emphasizing mercy and the motherhood of the Church with the well established Church teaching the truth as a foundation. He is not jettisoning it, although people from all sides of the spectrum believe he is. First of call he simply cannot, however he himself gives evidence of this all the time
—remember how people thought he was jettisoning Church’s pro-life stand? Now we know he is not and has no intention of it. He is just as pro-life as St John Paul and Pope Benedict.
—people believe he will or wants to jettison truth on marriage given us by Christ. We hear dire predictions of the coming Synod in October—–the predictions are wrong. The teaching of the truth will be maintained. Existentially he/we can do no other thing. How to envision the family and marriage within the New Evangelization and to further marriage and family in the process is what we will see.
–people believe Pope Francis is ‘week on gay issues’ yet he held the teaching of Humanae Vitae as prophetic [BTW Humanae Vitae makes it impossible for the Church to see gay marriage or gay sex as moral. Marital love is unitive and creative [remember that?] It is those within the Church on all sides who have forgotten that teaching who either are promoting gay sex and marriage or wringing their hands about the Church caving in on the issue.

I have stated already that this decision on the Parade is wrong and stunning. I do not believe or hold (even if Cardinal Dolan does-if he indeed does) that this decision can be based on Pope Francis, People point to his statement about “who am I to judge?” However, it is taken out of context. It was an answer to a question concerning one person who had some accusations made about him, was looked into by the Vatican and the accusations found to be baseless. Further he is seeking to live the Christian life now. So Pope Francis said, “If he is seeking Christ, who am I to judge?”

Can we presume that ‘gays marching as gays” in a parade, even if it is a St Patrick’s Parade are ‘seeking Christ”? For that matter can we assume any group of people in that parade are? Hasn’t it already become secularized long before this year? That is the real issue. It has been years since those marching (for the most part) have been honoring a Saint or ‘seeking Christ’. Time to cut any and all ties to this charade, never mind not be the honored ‘head’ of the parade.

Mary De Voe
Sunday, September 7, AD 2014 3:06pm

A great Eucharistic procession with canopy and flowers and all the priests and bishops who can be spared will lead the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. Next, will follow, a float of Our Lady of Guadeloupe with her angels. And third will be a float shaped like the Emerald Isle, Ireland, green and covered with snakes with the largest statue of Saint Patrick that can be got. Time to take back the Catholic Faith in the public square. Satan has had it long enough.
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If the tail end of the parade is made up of dissenters and heretics, then that is where they belong, at the tail end. (Comment censored)
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Once the people are enthralled by the reality of Our Lord, Our Lady and Saint Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland, there is little impact heretics and malefactors will have on the innocent hearts and minds of our constitutional posterity. Bishop Dolan is required to shepherd the souls of our constitutional posterity.

Botolph
Botolph
Sunday, September 7, AD 2014 3:18pm

That’s the way Saint Patrick should be honored Mary! Not with green beer and green plastic hats etc etc.

Tamsin
Tamsin
Sunday, September 7, AD 2014 4:01pm

Hi Mary, yes, well, let’s put all the “snakes” in the front of the parade, and a big St. Patrick’s statue at the back. 😀

Mary De Voe
Sunday, September 7, AD 2014 7:00pm

Tamsin: Get St. Patrick there.

William P. Walsh
William P. Walsh
Sunday, September 7, AD 2014 9:22pm

Our Lord tells us “Do not judge, that you may not be judged..” Yet shortly after warns, “Beware of false prophets, who may come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them”. So we should not judge the state of another’s soul, whether they are in grace. Yet we must discern who is a false prophet by judging the fruit they bear. It seems a dichotomy and I admit having no small trouble with it. However the state of someone’s soul, I don’t have to buy what they’re selling nor allow them to sell it in my parade.

Micha Elyi
Micha Elyi
Monday, September 8, AD 2014 4:01am

This Sunday’s gospel was about fraternal correction. Pray for bishop Dolan.

Philip
Philip
Monday, September 8, AD 2014 5:10am

Mary De Voe.

Your painting reveals truths. The hidden strength and power to change hearts is found in your suggestion.

If you had absolute knowledge that this procession you described would help in the conversions of 300 souls would you pursue it into a reality? Would you write and speak to the powers that be, to plead for this Holy return to the truth of the prisoner of Ireland, the Patrick that has unshakable faith. That by your faith and Gods grace a bishop hears your plea, and is moved to pursue this timely addition to next years parade.

What if it was only 100 souls converted?
What if it was only 25?
What if it was 3 souls?

All of heaven would rejoice greatly at the return of ONE sinner.

Mary I ask you, no. I plead for you to try with Gods help to convey your painting to bishops in the greater New York state.

Let me know if I can assist you.

c matt
c matt
Monday, September 8, AD 2014 1:59pm

People point to his statement about “who am I to judge?” However, it is taken out of context. It was an answer to a question concerning one person who had some accusations made about him, was looked into by the Vatican and the accusations found to be baseless. Further he is seeking to live the Christian life now. So Pope Francis said, “If he is seeking Christ, who am I to judge?”

IIRC, he stated if someone is gay [present tense], and he is seeking Christ, etc. Putting the person’s orientation in present tense, I don’t think it is taken that far out of context as you seem to believe. Regardless, PF hasn’t issued much clarification in light of the widespread “out of context” use of this statement, despite ample opportunity to do so. That does lead to the conclusion he does not believe his words are being used out of context.

Botolph
Botolph
Monday, September 8, AD 2014 2:05pm

c. matt

A person’s sexual orientation is not the same as their sexual acts/habits etc. So, yes, his Francis implied a present sexual orientation, but since the accusations were investigated and found to be groundless, “if he is seeking Christ, who am I to judge?”

Did Jesus throw out the whole teaching on adultery by saying the to the crowd, :Let the first one without sin cast the first stone”. And then to the adulteress, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more” ?????

CAM
CAM
Monday, September 8, AD 2014 2:06pm

Why not have a second or alternative parade on the 17th or even better on the afternoon of Sunday the 15th as Mary de Voe pictured it? Yes, floats (who cares if they aren’t professionally made) and marching bands from Catholic schools, Catholic clubs and associations. Also marching or riding on floats representatives from the different societies: Catholic Charities with Adoption Is An Option bumper stickers, Knights of Malta, of Columbus, Holy Name Society, Legion of Mary, Prolife, etc. Children from Catholic grade and high schools marching in their uniforms and singning hymns and Irish folk songs. Seminarians marching behind and in front of the Eucharist procession. If not in Manhattan passing St. Patrick’s Cathedral, then Albany in front of the State House. It’s only early September, the students can start now earning money with car washes and bake sales for the charter buses. No corporate sponsorships! That’s where the 30 pieces of silver come in. When I was in high school in Mobile many years ago, there was a Christ The King parade and the student bodies from the four Catholic H.S. and maybe grade schools marched behind their bands. It was a celebration of our faith, about Him. A St. Patrick’s Day parade should be a positive celebration of the sainted man who brought the Christian Faith to Ireland.

Michael Paterson-Seymour
Michael Paterson-Seymour
Monday, September 8, AD 2014 2:18pm

I suggest Cardinal Dolan has made his position quite clear in his recent interview with John Allen

“Look, as a local bishop, I’m pretty pragmatic. My question remains, is the pope helping me or hurting me? This pope is helping me immensely. At this stage, it’s not about specific programs, but it’s a matter of persona, of tone, of personality. There’s something in the last 18 months that’s refreshing, which is that people on the street are interested in the Church. This is a Church that used to have a public face of being old, craggy, and nay-saying, and now it’s thought of as young, exciting, daring.

You’ve got people who ordinarily wouldn’t even speak about the Church, or faith, or God, who will say to me, ‘We really like this new pope. We’re listening to what he’s saying.’ For a guy like me who’s pretty nuts and bolts about things, I’d send the pope a dozen roses because he’s helping me do my job better. He has succeeded in giving the Church a facelift.”

CAM
CAM
Monday, September 8, AD 2014 2:20pm

Many good posts here re love they neighbor and fraternal correction, at our small mission church the priest’s homily on Sunday’s readings was excellent. Sometimes it takes courage and a careful choice of words even with immediate family to point out the errors.
I really enjoyed the Lutherans’ satire, although I couldn’t make out the last question. It was right on target without meaness.

Botolph
Botolph
Tuesday, September 9, AD 2014 11:04am

CAM

The last question concerned in so many words whether Lutherans were going to hell. Our Lutheran brethren quoted the Council of Trent which spoke in the affirmative. On one level, it was a tweek at us certainly. They know Vatican II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, obviously (since they quote it very well) but they are stating that that condemnation of Trent still is there [the Church would have a much fuller answer to how to approach this ‘statement’]
However, it sadly also reveals a wound, which they still feel [They don’t speak of the wound that Martin Luther or their continued separation causes to us].

These little ‘cartoons’ from the Lutherans reveal to me just how close they really are to us in the substance of the Faith, yet they also reveal the mutual wounds we have inflicted on the Body of Christ

And I would expand this to any and all of the divisions within the Church

“Father, that they may be one, even as You and I are one”

CAM
CAM
Tuesday, September 9, AD 2014 3:34pm

Botolph, Thank you for the explanation. I’ve heard from American Catholics who have lived in Germany that there are areas where there is still a 30 War Year mentality between the Lutherans and Catholics.

Botolph
Botolph
Tuesday, September 9, AD 2014 3:55pm

Sadly, that does not surprise me—on either side of the divide

Pat
Pat
Wednesday, September 10, AD 2014 12:29am

“suggest Cardinal Dolan has made his position quite clear in his recent interview with John Allen”
Agreed. The enthusiasm for something such as eliminating ” a public face of being old, craggy, and nay-saying, and now it’s thought of as young, exciting, daring.” is disturbing. Such far reaching machinations to the natural beauty of the Catholic faith and its places of worship being summed up as a mundane “facelift” for “old, craggy, and nay-saying” seems to lack both gratitude for having been divinely given the Ten Commandments (the Sixth concerning adultery) and the Lord’s Prayer, and mercy for sincere inquirers and those hopeful for Heaven.
If that’s what you meant by clarifying of position …

@FMShyanguya
Wednesday, September 10, AD 2014 1:25am

What positives can we take from all these happenings?
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Even the princes of the Church are now being known truly; by their fruits.
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True shepherds are now being differentiated from ravenous wolves (feeding on and scattering the flock), who have now discarded their sheep clothing. We now know them for who they truly are.

Mary De Voe
Wednesday, September 10, AD 2014 11:08am

Philip: Only 300 souls? Our Constitutional posterity is relying on it. Only the Soul of Christ is important and necessary and Christ will be there, with or without Cardl. Dolan.

Philip
Philip
Thursday, September 11, AD 2014 8:52am

Mary De Voe wrote; “Only 300 souls?”

Conversions are Christ’s business and as disciples of Christ our feeble attempts to help Him, (which He is in no need of) is considered a part of the corporal acts of mercy. I love your idea because the King of all Nations deserves to be honored. Yes this is not a ecclesiastical procession, but so what! This age of ours is in desperate need of Christ the Kings presence in The Public Square!
Conversions I hope and believe, would be the fruit from this exercise in love and trust. 300? Who knows?

Mary De Voe
Thursday, September 11, AD 2014 11:57am

Philip: “This age of ours is in desperate need of Christ the Kings presence in The Public Square!”
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Amen.

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