Our Lady of Guadalupe asked to touch Trump's 'hardened heart'

Mexico City, Mexico, Dec 14, 2016 / 03:37 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Norberto Rivera of Mexico City commended to Our Lady of Guadalupe the millions of migrants who have left behind their country for a better future in the U.S., asking her to help Americans welcome them – especially President-Elect Donald Trump.

In his prayer published by the weekly Desde la Fe in honor of her feast day Dec. 12, Cardinal Rivera asked the intercession of the Virgin of Tepeyac for Mexico, “which is sinking in the swamp of corruption and poverty, is sick with violence and wounded by injustices.”  

“Move the hearts of the violent and the sinners, protect families, preserve our Catholic faith, give those who govern us the vocation of service, satisfy our hunger and thirst for justice, because we are under your protection, Holy Mother of God,” he prayed.

President-Elect Trump has sparked controversy – notably among Catholic leaders – for his disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants, as well as his plan to build a wall along the Mexico-U.S. border, while making the former pay for it.

Below is the complete text of Cardinal Rivera's prayer:

We call upon you as the comforter of the afflicted, O Holy Mother of God, on this day of your blessed feast day, we have brought to you, as if it were an offering, the affliction of millions of your children who emigrated to the United States of America in search of bread for their families, of education to face the future, of the hospitality of those who also were one day strangers, and who knew how to form a great nation, diverse in its cultures.

Your children who emigrated, Merciful Mother, took with them the memory of their families and towns, but they also took you. And so, now there is no Catholic church in the United States that does not provide an inn as it were for your blessed image, because you are the patroness and empress of Mexico and of the entire continent.

Your loving Mantle crossed the oceans and also sheltered the Philippine Islands, but in reality you are the Mother of all Christians, because for your love there are no races, there are no borders, there are neither rich nor poor, neither saints nor sinners; you embrace everyone, you comfort all of us, you love like a true Mother, without distinctions, since you only seek the happiness of your children, and that happiness is not in this valley of tears, but in heaven, in the salvation your Son gives us, in the truth, beauty, and freedom that only God can give us.

O Most Clement Virgin! Repeat to your afflicted and threatened children those words full of tenderness and comfort that you revealed to humble Saint Juan Diego: “Am I not here who am your mother? What more have you to need?”

Strengthen the parents who are anxious over the possibility of losing their jobs; comfort the mothers who fear being separated from their families; give hope to the young people who don’t want to abandon their studies, encourage the families that are financially dependent on the money that their loved ones send them; give courage to the American bishops so they defend the sheep that God has sent them; and grant us Mexican bishops the courage and the grace to support them in adversity.

O Merciful Mother! Move the hearts of Americans so they make room for those who, with their hard work have given prosperity to their country, and touch the hardened heart of the new President-Elect who being a Christian – as he has declared – so he cannot see the poor and the immigrants as enemies but rather as brothers with whom he must be tolerant, generous and just.

But our supplication, O Mother, comes full of affliction for our Mexico, your beloved Mexico, which is sinking in the swamp of corruption and poverty, is sick with violence and wounded by injustices. Move the hearts of the violent and sinners, protect families, preserve our Catholic faith, give those who govern us the vocation of service, satisfy our hunger and thirst for justice, because we are under your protection, Holy Mother of God, despise not the supplications that we make in our necessities, but rather deliver us from all danger, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin!

Sweet Child of Tepeyec, dear mother of Mexicans, we come to you with roses; offer us, Holy Mary of Guadalupe, your blessed protection, your sweet consolation and that much desired peace. Amen.

Pope makes humanitarian appeal for Syria, as rebels lose Aleppo

Vatican City, Dec 12, 2016 / 02:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has sent a letter to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad appealing for peace and for humanitarian relief, as the Syrian government consolidates gains in Aleppo, where tens of thousands are beseiged.

A Dec. 12 communique from the Holy See press office noted that in recently naming the apostolic nuncio to Syria, Archbishop Mario Zenari, a cardinal, “the Holy Father sought to show a particular sign of affection for the beloved Syrian people, so sorely tried in recent years.”

The statement added that “in a letter sent through the new Cardinal, Pope Francis expressed again his appeal to President Bashar al-Assad and to the international community for an end to the violence, and the peaceful resolution of hostilities, condemning all forms of extremism and terrorism from whatever quarter they may come, and appealing to the President to ensure that international humanitarian law is fully respected with regard to the protection of the civilians and access to humanitarian aid.”

The Syrian civil war began in March 2011 with demonstrations against Assad. The war has claimed the lives of more than 300,000 people, and forced 4.8 million to become refugees. Another 8 million Syrians are believed to have been internally displaced by the violence.

What began as demonstrations against the nation's Ba'athist president, Bashar al-Assad, has become a complex fight among the Syrian regime (supported by Russia and Iran), moderate rebels, Kurds, and Islamists such as the Army of Conquest and the Islamic State.

The Syrian government launched an offensive a month ago to retake Aleppo, the nation's largest city before the war began. Rebel forces have lost more than 90 percent of the city's territory they once held, though many civilians remain in the besieged sector, and food and water have largely run out.

This weekend, the United States and Russia held talks over a deal to allow civilians and rebels to leave Aleppo, though no agreement was reached.

Our Lady of Guadalupe shows us how to treat immigrants, archbishop says

Detroit, Mich., Dec 12, 2016 / 07:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Our Lady of Guadalupe is a model for how Catholics should treat immigrants, said Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit. He called for family unity and a recognition of the good that migrants and refugees bring to society.

“As disciples of Jesus Christ and sons and daughters of Our Lady of Guadalupe, our local Church bears Our Lady’s message of hope to the needy and listens to the cry of the afraid. Under her protection, know that we stand with our immigrant brothers and sisters,” he said Dec. 9.

“In these days it is particularly right to turn our thoughts and prayers to the migrants and refugees, those who find themselves on the margins of our community,” the archbishop added.

U.S. immigration policy is entering a new phase with the election of President-elect Donald Trump after a contentious campaign. The U.S. bishops’ conference has long backed comprehensive immigration reform, but the Republican president-elect campaigned on a strong immigration restrictionist platform.

Many Catholic bishops have spoken out to reassure immigrants of the Church’s support for them. The Archbishop of Detroit was among them.

While public officials’ duty includes protecting national borders and enforcing laws, “it cannot end there,” the archbishop said. This duty must include ensuring the dignity of human persons, protecting families, and showing “a generosity commensurate with the blessings our nation has received.”

“Therefore, our immigration system must treat migrants and refugees with the same dignity as native-born citizens,” he continued. “It must recognize the fundamental wrong of separating families, particularly when children are involved. And it must not be blind to the rich contribution made – in the past and in the present – by men and women who have come to this country as migrants or refugees.”

Archbishop Vigneron said the Detroit metro community is “much richer” from the contributions of people from Mexico, El Salvador, India, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, China, Korea, Ukraine, Poland, Cameroon and Nigeria.

The archbishop’s statement aimed to mark the Dec. 12 Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as well as the Dec. 9 feast of St. Juan Diego, the indigenous Catholic convert who saw the famous Marian apparition in early colonial Mexico.

For Archbishop Vigneron, Our Lady of Guadalupe is a “powerful witness to the tender mercy of God.”

“Under the mantle of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we, the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Detroit, commit ourselves to bring compassion and companionship to those who struggle, who are afraid or desperate,” he said. “Having experienced God's love for us in giving us Mary as our Mother, how can we be deaf to their cries?”

For religious freedom advocates, a 'Muslim registry' is inconceivable 

By Matt Hadro

Washington D.C., Nov 24, 2016 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News) - The incoming Trump administration’s immigration policy must avoid a religious registry or any “stigmatizing” of religious groups, religious freedom advocates insist.

“It is  morally wrong, strategically unwise and, frankly, un-American  to attempt to identify potentially dangerous immigrants based solely on their religion,” Dr. Tom Farr, president of the Religious Freedom Institute, stated to CNA.

However, he added, “a vigorous vetting can and should be done by applying sensible criteria, such as a history of violence, expressions of violent intent, or intentional association with terrorists.”

It is still not certain what Trump’s exact policy would be on immigration and travel from certain countries.

Last year, he called for a halt on any Muslims trying to enter the United States, in the wake of November terror attacks in Paris and a shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. by a Muslim couple who had become radicalized.

This summer, Trump proposed a ban on travel from countries “compromised” by terrorism. His running mate Mike Pence later said that ban would include Christian and Jewish refugees from those states.

One of Trump’s advisors on immigration, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, said recently that several immigration proposals were being sent to Trump for consideration, including one that would reinstate a controversial program started after the 9/11 attacks and suspended in 2011.

That program was the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, started in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. It instituted tougher security checks on non-citizen males ages 16 and over from certain countries deemed high-risk for terror.

Among other requirements, the men had to register with the U.S. government, agree to background checks and fingerprinting, and were monitored by authorities even after they arrived in the U.S.

Of the 25 countries on this list, 24 were Muslim-majority countries, one reason why critics like the ACLU charged that the program discriminated against Muslims. Because of strict penalties for failure to comply with the program, many men were deported for violating the requirements whether they were aware of them or not, the ACLU said. The Obama administration suspended the program in 2011.

No matter what program the Trump administration decides to implement, it must never register people simply based on their religion, religious freedom advocates maintain.

“If we believe in religious freedom and basic civil liberty we must reject any proposal for government to register people based on religion,” Robert George, former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, tweeted last week.

The Trump transition team has insisted that any registry will not be based on religion, saying in a statement to CNN last week that “President-elect Trump has never advocated for any registry or system that tracks individuals based on their religion, and to imply otherwise is completely false.”

Yet, as the Washington Post documented, Trump either gave his assent to the idea of a Muslim registry or did not dismiss the idea on multiple occasions during the campaign.

When asked about the matter on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Reince Priebus, Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff, denied the administration would “have a registry based on a religion,” but added that there might be bans on immigration from some countries deemed high-risk for terror.

“Trump's position, is consistent with bills in the House and the Senate that say the following: If you want to come from a place or an area around the world that harbors and trains terrorists, we have to temporarily suspend that operation until a better vetting system is put in place,” Priebus explained.

Last year, after it was alleged that one of the perpetrators of the Paris terror attacks gained entry to the European Union by posing as a refugee, many, including members of Congress, Trump, and Pence, advocated that refugee resettlement from Syria be halted until the resettlement program was deemed secure.

Bills in the House and Senate were proposed that temporarily halted the Syrian resettlement program. Refugee resettlement experts, however, insisted that the system was secure and that the U.S. needed to continue and even increase its refugee intake given the record number of refugees around the globe.

Priebus acknowledged on Sunday that “Trump’s opinion is that there are some people within that particular religion [Islam] that we do fear.”

“But he has also made it very clear that we don’t believe in religious tests, and that we are not blanketly judging an entire religion, but in fact we will try to pinpoint the problems and temporarily suspend those areas from coming into the United States until a better vetting system is in place,” he continued.

Any policy cannot stigmatize Muslims, Farr said, noting that “stigmatizing an entire religion, and all its adherents,  sends the wrong message to loyal American Muslims, as well as to Muslims abroad whose cooperation will be vital in winning the ideological war against violent Islamist extremism.”

Other comments about Muslims from Trump’s transition team have invited controversy, like past tweets from his new national security adviser, Ret. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

“In next 24 hours, I dare Arab & Persian world 'leaders' to step up to the plate and declare their Islamic ideology sick and must B healed,” Flynn tweeted after a terror attack in Nice, France killed 86 people.

“Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL: please forward this to others: the truth fears no questions,” he tweeted of a video about Islam in February.

When asked by NBC’s Chuck Todd if Trump shared Flynn’s position that “fear of Muslims is rational,” Priebus said that “he [Flynn] believes that no faith in and of itself should be judged as a whole…but there are some that need to be prevented from coming into this country.”

In Syrian monastery, priest who escaped ISIS sees signs of hope 

By Andrea Gagliarducci

Homs, Syria, Nov 27, 2016 / 06:48 am (CNA/EWTN News) - The fourth-century saint Mar Elian’s relics survived the Islamic State’s destruction of the Syrian monastery that bears his name, and a priest who escaped captivity says these are among the signs of hope for Syria.

“In Mar Elian, we have always hoped to welcome everyone. Mar Elian was really a sign of hope for the Syrian people,” Fr. Jacques Mourad told CNA. “Everything changed when I was taken hostage. But we can still build something. We must, however, await the end of this war.”

Fr. Mourad was captured by the Islamic State group in May 2015, and escaped some five months later. He was prior of the monastery of Mar Elian, in the Syrian town of Al Qaryatayn, about 60 miles southeast of Homs.

The monastery had given refuge to hundreds of Syrians displaced from Al Quaryatayn, and partnered with Muslim donors to provide for their needs.

“Mar Elian was a hermit who lived in the fourth century, and his relics were kept in the monastery dedicated to him,” the priest said.

In August 2015, Islamic State militants captured and destroyed the monastery. Between 160 and 230 Christians and Muslims were abducted from the town. Several dozen are known to have escaped captivity.

Despite the horrors of war, the area’s Christians still looked to the monastery of Mar Elian.

“After the destruction of the monastery, we thought his relics were lost, but instead we were able to find them. This gave us great consolation,” Fr. Mourad said. The recovery of the relics represents “a great sign of hope for the coming days,” he added.

Christians in Syria are looking forward to “placing the bones of Mar Elian back in the places where they were kept, and to pray again around that relics.”
 
The town of Al Qaryatayn was re-taken by Russian-backed Syrian forces and their allies in April 2016.

The priest reflected on the motives of the Islamic State.
 
“When ISIS troops took the region, among the first things they attacked was Mar Elian’s tomb, with the aim to destroy only the ancient monastery,” he added.
 
For the militants, he explained, tombs, relics and saints are “a heresy.”

“They cannot accept that the cities they seize have places where tombs or relics of saints are kept. They believe that there is no need for a tomb, as once a person passes away, his existence is over on earth.”
 
Fr. Mourad said that Islamic State militants, in capturing him, “wanted to send a message to Christians in the region: you are not welcome here. It was a way to push Christians to flee.”
 
Despite signs of hope, the future of the monastery, like the future of the people in the region, is uncertain.

Reviewing the situation, Fr. Mourad lamented that “nothing has changed in Mar Elian, and everything is abandoned.” He stressed that there is only a small community of Muslims still living in the area, “perhaps because they have no more places where to live.”

“Large parts of the city were destroyed,” he said.
 
Over 280,000 people have died since the Syrian civil war began in March 2011. Another 12.8 million people have been forced from their homes.

Scientists play a key role in solving global problems, Pope Francis says 

by Elise Harris

Vatican City, Nov 28, 2016 / 04:30 am (CNA/EWTN News) - Pope Francis told a group of scientists Monday that their role in finding creative solutions to the world’s problems is more urgent than ever, and praised increasing collaboration between scientific and religious communities.

“It falls to scientists, who work free of political, economic or ideological interests, to develop a cultural model which can face the crisis of climatic change and its social consequences, so that the vast potential of productivity will not be reserved only for the few,” the Pope said Nov. 28.

Just as the scientific community has carried out research demonstrating the planet’s current crisis through interdisciplinary exchange, “so too today that same community is called to offer a leadership that provides general and specific solutions” to increasing issues such as water, renewable forms of energy and food security, he said.

Francis stressed that with the cooperation of scientists, the creation of “a normative system” that includes “inviolable limits and ensures the protection of ecosystems” is now necessary.  

This must be done, he said, “before the new forms of power deriving from the techno-economic model causes irreversible harm not only to the environment, but also to our societies, to democracy, to justice and freedom.”

With these things in mind, the Pope noted that so far, politics in the international sphere “has reacted weakly,” save for a few exceptions.

The “concrete will” to pursue the common good leaves something to be desired, while “well-founded scientific opinion” about the state of the planet is disregarded with “ease,” he said.

Evidence that politics has been submitted “to a technology and an economy which seek profit above all else,” he said, is made visible by the “distraction, or delay in implementing global agreements on the environment.”

Francis also pointed to “the continued wars of domination camouflaged by righteous claims,” which in the end “inflict ever greater harm on the environment and the moral and cultural richness of peoples.” However, he noted that despite the various challenges, progress has been made.

Pope Francis spoke to members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, headed by Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, gathered in Rome for their Nov. 25-29 plenary session titled “Science and Sustainability: Impacts of Scientific Knowledge and Technology on Human Society and its Environment.”

Members include scientists from around the world, regardless of their religious affiliation. Among those present at this week’s conference include renowned British scientist and self-proclaimed atheist Stephen Hawking.

Hawking, who has been a member of the Academy since 1986, spoke to the plenary Nov. 25 on “The Origin of the Universe.” In addition to Francis, he has also met Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, all of whom praised his invaluable contribution to science.

In his speech to the plenary, Pope Francis spoke on themes promoted throughout his 2015 environmental encyclical “Laudato Si,” insisting that never before has there been such a distinct need “for science to be at the service of a new global ecological equilibrium.”

At the same time, he noted how a renewed partnership is being seen between science and Christian communities, “who are witnessing the convergence of their distinct approaches to reality in the shared goal of protecting our common home, threatened as it is by ecological collapse and consequent increase of poverty and social exclusion.”

This joint commitment, he said, is all the more admirable when aimed at promoting justice, peace, human dignity, freedom and an integral human development.

Francis said that many in the modern world have grown up believing themselves to be “owners and masters of nature,” able to “plunder it” at will without considering the importance of development or the potential of creation.

By “subjecting inanimate matter to our whims,” we face consequences such as the “grave loss to biodiversity, among other ills.”

He stressed that as guardians of creation, “we are not custodians of a museum or of its major artifacts to be dusted each day,” but rather “co-operators in protecting and developing the life and biodiversity of the planet and of human life present there.”

Pope Francis pointed to the need for “an ecological conversion” that is capable of both “supporting and promoting sustainable development.” This conversion, he said, requires that we assume our full human responsibilities toward creation, and that we seek “social justice and the overcoming of an immoral system that produces misery, inequality and exclusion.”

Despite the many challenges that might impede these efforts, the Pope noted that there are also many “encouraging signs” that humanity “wants to respond, to choose the common good, and regenerate itself with responsibility and solidarity.”

“Combined with moral values, the plan for sustainable and integral development is well positioned to offer all scientists, in particular those who profess belief, a powerful impetus for research,” he said.

Francis closed his speech by extending his “best wishes” to those present for their work, and offered his blessing to them and their families, asking for prayers.

Australia's proposed refugee ban is 'deliberately cruel' 

Canberra, Australia, Nov 9, 2016 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News) - The Australian government's proposed permanent ban on visas for refugees and asylum seekers who have recently arrived by boat drew strong criticism from a bishop who is a former refugee himself. 

“Seeking asylum even by boat is not illegal. It is a basic human right. Yet not content with demeaning them, the Australian government now wants to introduce laws that will ban them from ever coming here,” Bishop Vincent Long of Parramatta said.

The bishop is the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Delegate for Migrants and Refugees. He fled Vietnam by boat at a young age.

He spoke against the ban in a Nov. 7 statement on the media blog of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

For Bishop Long, the motives for the measures are “questionable at best and sinister at worst.”

He cited the situations on Manus Island, located in northern Papua New Guinea, and the island Micronesian country of Nauru, where about 1,800 people have been indefinitely detained. Australian authorities typically remove refugees who arrive at the mainland to these islands, in the name of offshore processing.

“Domestic advocates and international agencies have been appalled by the conditions under which asylum seekers live and the effects on their health, spirits and self-respect,” the bishop said. “To single out and punish further a small number of people who came by boat, even if they are found to meet the refugee definition is deliberately cruel and un-Australian. It betrays the tradition, status and character of the country that we are proud of – a richly resourced country with a big heart for migrants and refugees.”

The ban would be in effect for a lifetime, even if a refugee were to establish himself in another country and try to revisit Australia decades later.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke about the proposal Oct. 31 “the door to Australia is closed to those who seek to come here by boat with a people smuggler.”

“That absolutely unflinching, unequivocal message has to be loud and clear,” he told media.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop cited the need to discourage dangerous boat trips.

“I will never forget 1,200 people that we know of drowned at sea coming to Australia under these people smuggling networks,” she said, according to news.com.au. “We cannot have situations where people are drowning at sea.”

Critics of the ban say it may violate the international refugee convention.

Bishop Long urged Australians to reject the “cruel and unnecessary measures” of banning the refugees from applying for visas. He asked political leaders to “resist this latest mean-spirited move against asylum seekers and to reclaim the reputation of a decent, humane and generous country.”

“It is the kind of country that refugees like myself are indebted to and proud to call home,” he said.

“We must find a more just, humane and effective way in dealing with the complex issues of seeking asylum and refugee protection.”

On Manus Island, asylum seekers appear to suffer medical neglect, wasting and severe ill health, the Australian Medical Association has told a Senate inquiry.

While the association said the medical accounts it received could not be independently verified, it accused Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection authorities of failing to respond to its inquiries in a timely and comprehensive way, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Health workers had until recently been under legal sanctions that barred them from speaking about conditions on Manus Island. The medical association’s president Dr. Michael Gannon said there was an “inappropriate degree of secrecy” about the department’s attitude to asylum seeker patients, as well as “hyperbole from refugee advocates.”

“It’s actually very hard to get accurate clinical information,” Dr. Gannon said.

There are presently negotiations underway to resettle the refugees, possibly in Canada and the United States.

Meet Church Curmudgeon: the grumpiest, funniest guy on Twitter 

Denver, Colo., Nov 10, 2016 / 12:02 am (CNA) - He hates the way things are done these days, and church sure ain’t what it used to be.

Church Curmudgeon may be one of the most cantankerous guys on Twitter, but he’s also one of the most hilarious. His complaints range from sinful dancing to boring homilies to music that’s too loud to shenanigans from the “youths” at church.

While the character himself is actually Southern Baptist, it turns out grumpy old men who complain about things in church are not just reserved to one denomination. His nearly 90 thousand followers on Twitter come from all walks of life - Catholic, Evangelical, and even some atheists.

First day of VBS, and I got 3 kids to rededicate themselves to staying off the lawn.

— Church Curmudgeon (@ChrchCurmudgeon) June 6, 2016

We tracked down the guy behind the wisecracking angry old man staring back at you from the Twitter handle @ChrchCurmudgeon. Here’s the story behind the sass:

What was the inspiration for Church Curmudgeon?

Back when I was first getting on Twitter, there were a few anonymous accounts that would be parody pastors or worship leaders. And I thought why shouldn’t there be somebody like the grumpy old guy at the back of the church who complains about everything? And so I decided to be that guy.

I am a music minister so I had a lot of experience with the older folks in the congregation and people who would...complain about the music and this that and the other thing, and how things used to be done, and how they aren’t done that way anymore. I thought I could add a humorous side to that.

What is the value of the Church Curmudgeon in the church community in real life?

Early on in my ministry, I was encouraged to get to know the seniors group at my church. I was encouraged to go to their potlucks and bible studies and get to know them as people, because they are people who have a lot more life experience and a lot more life wisdom than I did. They’ve been through wars, they’ve been through depression, children and grandchildren and building businesses and working their whole lives - they’ve had a lot of life experiences and they’ve been through much, and I can learn a lot from them.

So essentially with the Church Curmudgeon, what I wanted to do was humanize them.

#4picswhereiwasthehappiest pic.twitter.com/zNDo4pfdOU

— Church Curmudgeon (@ChrchCurmudgeon) August 14, 2016

What made you take to Twitter?

I’ve always had a wisecracking sense of humor where I like to put in my two cents. It’s gotten me in trouble in staff meetings and things, but I love to have a little wisecrack here and there, I love puns, I love wordplay and all of that, and Twitter was kind of just a really good way to scratch that itch.

I could say something useful or just something funny or that brought a different light to a situation, or just kind of crack wise, and I’d get a positive response from it.

What is the value of humor and satire?

I like to poke fun at myself a lot through the Church Curmudgeon, because the target of his ridicule is often the music guy, and that’s me. So I get to poke fun at the way I do things.

It's one thing to be at a loss for words in worship. It's another to write a song called "Jesus, I'm All, Like, Dude".

— Church Curmudgeon (@ChrchCurmudgeon) February 8, 2013

I am a Baptist and I like to poke fun at Baptists. A lot of people think I’m being mean spirited at times, especially on Facebook - some people take things so seriously.

But I’ve always believed that you do have to take yourself lightly. There are matters that we need to treat with a great deal of gravity, and I try to do that appropriately, but at the same time, I think that sometimes you laugh the hardest at a funeral, because you’re remembering what’s important, and you realize that there is so much joy and mirth and life that we do need to have that brought out to us, and it reminds us of great truths.

Church Curmudgeon is a Southern Baptist, but much of what he says applies to Christians across the board. Why is that?

I have been in lots of different evangelical churches, and so I have some broad church knowledge. I grew up Mennonite, I’ve been in Presbyterian churches, independent churches, non-denominational churches, megachurches, mini churches, I’ve experienced all kinds of church life here and there. And I’ve realized from my friendships but also from my church audience, there’s a lot of these things that apply very broadly, so it resonates.

The main reason he’s Southern Baptist is because as a character - he needed something that he really was, you know? It helps to settle your character a little bit. I don’t think that limits him to speaking only to Southern Baptists, I think it just helps him be a developed character.

What are some of the Curmudgeon music complaints that you hear as a music minister?

It’s too loud, too many new songs, they’re too repetitive, you played that too fast or you played that too slow. There have been days when I have gotten equal and opposite complaints.

But I really must say i’ve been blessed to have congregations that really love me as a person and who respond to what I do. I have had relatively little complaint in my life.

I know that sometimes among worship leaders there is a tendency not to listen to people and to think that they’re there for their own artistic expression, they think that they’re there to be a rock star, and that’s not it. Their goal is to assist people in the worship of God,

Is there a Church Curmudgeon complaint that you most identify with?

That the music reflects the reverence of God in the congregation. It’s not just self-expression when we worship together.

Worship leader's at a songwriting conference to learn how to rearrange the same seven words louder & with fewer chords.

— Church Curmudgeon (@ChrchCurmudgeon) August 16, 2016

Because I think a lot of the art has gone out of musical expression.

What posts have been the most popular with your followers?

There have been a couple that were specifically towards Baptists. Baptists are notoriously against dancing, at least in most people’s memories. If you were a Southern Baptist, you didn’t dance, it wasn’t allowed.

But probably the most popular post of all time was: “Do you know why God doesn’t let Baptists dance? Have you ever watched a Baptist dance?”

#NationalDanceDay pic.twitter.com/QQKliy3dJC

— Church Curmudgeon (@ChrchCurmudgeon) July 31, 2016

That and some things about how Baptists are generally very stoic in their worship, like: “The reason that Baptists have to hire a pentecostal to change the lightbulbs in the sanctuary is because otherwise they’d have to raise their hands in church.”

One of my first break-out popular tweets was in the fall, when we were changing the clocks back. I made a post saying it’s Benny Hinn day, everyone fall back. He’s a Pentecostal preacher who slays everybody in the spirit and everyone in the auditorium falls over when he moves his arms around. That was one of the big days when my inbox blew up from all of the responses. I had to turn off notifications after that.

Do you have a wide following across denominations?

It’s interesting because there are priests and nuns who follow me, I’ve been retweeted by Rick Warren and Andy Stanley and other big name pastors. I have Methodists and Pentecostals and Presbyterians, and there’s some atheists out there who think I’m genuinely anti-Church.

I’m always kind of mystified by that, because my hope is that people see that I have a genuine love for the body of Christ and for the people of the Church. I can count on two hands the number of Sundays that I have not been in church in my adult life, and I’m pushing 50, so it’s the fabric of who I am.  

You’re a one-man team - do you accept contributions?

I have some people who have sent me some ideas, but if they do I rewrite them in my own voice. That’s only happened a handful of times, I really have strived to do it on my own and to keep it original.

When you’re not running Church Curmudgeon, what do you do?

I’m a music minister, dad, and freelance musician.  

Are you willing to out yourself?

I’ve remained somewhat mysterious and that’s worked out well for me so far. But if people really want to do their research they can figure out who I am.

I’m also working on a book about the Church Curmudgeon, so my name will be on there.

Pope Francis: the Church's mercy is for everyone 

Vatican City, Nov 12, 2016 / 09:01 am (CNA/EWTN News) - Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims about how the mercy of God is for everyone, and how through the Church, we are all called to embrace and include everyone in the Body of Christ.

“The Gospel calls us to recognize in the history of humanity the design of a great work of inclusion, which fully respects the freedom of every person, every community, every people,” the Pope said Nov. 12.

And “calls everyone to form a family of brothers and sisters, in justice, solidarity and peace, and to be part of the Church, which is the body of Christ.”

Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square for the final special general audience for the Jubilee Year of Mercy. The extra audiences have been held once a month in addition to the Pope’s weekly audience for the duration of the Jubilee, which officially ends Nov. 20.

At the audience, the Pope’s catechesis centered on the “universal invitation” found in the words of Jesus in St. Matthew’s Gospel: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”

“No one is excluded from this call,” he said, “because the mission of Jesus is to reveal to everyone the Father’s love.” It is “up to us to open our hearts, trust in Jesus and accept this message of love, which makes us enter into the mystery of salvation.”

Reflecting on the Body of Christ as it is depicted on the crucifix, the Pope noted how Christ’s arms are “outstretched on the cross” showing that “no one is excluded from his love and his mercy.”

“How true are the words of Jesus who invites those who are tired and weary to come to Him to find rest!” he said.

How many weary and oppressed people we meet every day, in our neighborhood, at our school, at the doctor’s office, Francis continued. It is through our eyes that the gaze of Jesus “rests on each one of those faces.”

Pointing to the colonnades which surround St. Peter’s Square, The Pope explained how even the square was a visible representation of what the Church should be, an expression of Christ’s “embrace.”

Just as God includes and welcomes us through his forgiveness, we “all need to meet brothers and sisters to help us to go to Jesus, to open ourselves to the gift he has given us on the cross.”

“We do not exclude anyone!” he emphasized. “For God, in his plan of love, he does not want to exclude anyone, but wants to include everyone.”

It is through our Baptism that God makes us all his children in Christ and members of his body the Church, the Pope noted, “and we Christians are encouraged to use the same criteria.”

“Mercy is the way you act,” he said, it is the way in which we incorporate our lives with the lives of others, avoiding closing in on ourselves and our own “selfish securities.”

This aspect of mercy is manifested in the open arms of the Church, “open wide to welcome,” not exclude, he continued. The Church does not classify others “according to social status, language, race, culture, religion.”

“In front of us there is only one person to love as God loves.”

Let us all participate in this inclusion, being witnesses of the same mercy with which God “has accepted and welcomed all of us,” he said.

“In fact, with humility and simplicity let’s be instruments of inclusive mercy of the Father.” Just as our Holy Mother Church “prolongs in the world the great embrace of Christ dead and risen.”