Roman Catholic Info

patron saint barack obama

I don't mean any disrespect to the Catholic patron saints with this post.

This image gives us a preview of what President Barack Obama's icon will look like if he's declared a patron saint by the Catholic Church.

The Seal of the President of the United States of America in the background frames Obama's head it looks like the halo of a saint. Of course, Barack Obama could become the patron saint of Presidents, since we already have a patron saint for Kings.

Today, it looks like a long shot that President Obama will ever become a saint. But you never know. Augustine became a saint and so did Paul (formerly Saul the Pharisee). All it takes is for Obama to open his soul to the Holy Spirit to move him and he could become the most pro-life President of the United States yet.

Our God is a God of the impossible. Never give up and pray earnestly.

We pray and the Holy Spirit will do His job and hopefully we will have St. Barack Obama, the Patron Saint of Presidents.

Today is the day that millions of Americans have been waiting for with abated breath and restrained excitement for more than 2 months.

Surprisingly, today is also the day that billions of non-Americans have been pacing impatiently for since the November  2008 Presidential elections. I think no other US President's Inauguration has caused excitement as this. For years the Inauguration of the US President was watched with as much enthusiasm as a snail race, except for the diplomats and politicians throughout all corners of the earth.

Today, the common man in the street feels Barack Obama is his President - I'm talking about non-Americans. The irony is that they weren't even involved in the election process. Still he's their man for simply showing that a person from a denigrated part of society can rise above the prejudice and become the man in the Most Powerful Office in the World. He gives hope to all people, expecially the have-nots trampled by the haves.

Today, history was created. A descendant of the race of servants in the US has shattered the shackles of oppression and racism to take on the role of Top Servant.

If you want a memento of the Presidential Inauguration Ceremony, click on the image below.

God bless you, Mr. President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.

Yesterday, I highlighted a poll on George Bush that you could participate in.

Now's your chance to also give your opinion on how you think Barack Obama will perform as President.

Some of you may have voted for Obama and some for McCain. Whether you dislike or love the man, let your voice be heard and click on the image below to vote (once again?).

Pray for the 44th President of the US, that God will guide him to make the right choices that are aligned to God-given rights for all humans and their offspring (whether in or out of the womb, physical ability and age).

We are coming to the end of 8 years of President George W Bush's administration.

According to surveys, he has one of the lowest (if not lowest) rating of any President while in office.

But he had achieved some home runs as well, especially with regards to prolife issues.

If you want your opinion counted, participate in this survey (and get a reward as well).

Let's pray that the Good Lord will continue to protect President Bush even after he leaves office.

I reside in Malaysia. For those not familiar part of this country is in a peninsula sandwiched between Thailand and Singapore. The other portion is in Borneo.

Malaysia is a multiracial, multireligious country, although 60% of the population is Muslim. Since independence in 1957, the Federal Government has initiated affirmative action policies that favor the Muslims.

One result of such a policy is that there are thousands of miles of privatized tolled expressways. One of the major expressways (with the acronym PLUS) employs almost 99% Muslims.

Two days ago I went to the Customer Service department of PLUS to sort out some issues I had with my automatic toll pre-paid card reader. While there I noticed that they were conducting a campaign to attract more users to purchase the automatic card reader. As part of the promotion they were offering some free tickets to a movie.

I almost fell down laughing at the irony of the movie tickets they were giving away. It was tickets to The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian.

For Christians, we know that C.S. Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia as a Christian story with Christian messages. Aslan is the Christ-figure.

Imagine, you have Muslims promoting Christianity!

Last week while attending a training (you would notice that I've been doing this quite a lot lately) on Customer Retention Skills, the trainer mentioned the difference between quadrupeds and bipeds. Almost all mammals, including the apes, move around on all four limbs, hence they are known as quadrupeds. These animals move around such because by doing so they are protecting their sensitive and important organs that are located on their underside. The back of the animal is the tougher side that protects the underside.

Human beings on the other hand ambulate on their "hind limbs", i.e. legs. The human anatomy is such that we expose the important organs while moving around. Humans are not afraid to expose their sensitive parts while moving around. In fact what we realize is that humans deliberately draw attention to and accentuate their sexual anatomical parts, by dressing sexily or using ornaments.

I am a proponent of the theory of guided evolution, meaning that God played an active part in creating all creatures. Therefore, I don't believe that we are random results of a random evolutionary mechanism. My belief therefore is that when God infused a spirit into a primate, it became a human being. With a spirit in the human body, we are not afraid, like all other animals, of danger to our sensitive organs.

This is the difference between humans and animals. It's the spirit that segregates us from them. The spirit that God breathed into us created us as masters of the earth.

Tony Blair's conversion to Catholicism has raised the interest among the British about this religion. A recent survey revealed that Catholic churches in Britain have marginally higher weekly church attendance that Anglican churches, 862,000 v 852,000 respectively.
500 years after Catholicism was was banned by King Henry VIII, it has once again become the major religion in Britain. Recall that in the early 1500s, Britain was entirely Catholic, as Anglicanism or Protestantism didn't exist yet. Dare I say that the Holy Spirit is guiding this development, since there is no such thing as coincidence?

The interesting question is why Anglicanism is declining but Catholicism is increasing. The answer is not all that thrilling. The rise in Catholic church attendance is in large part played by the increased number of immigrants from Africa and Eastern Europe. The study revealed also that both churches face declining attendance but the Catholic church is buoyed by the presence of immigrants.

Hence we see that the native or non-immigrant population have shunned religion and become more secular than Americans, where church attednace stands close to 40% as opposed for the British at 6%.

There are some who are also concerned that Mr. Blair while in office took a very non-Catholic stance on several issues like embryonic stem cell research, gay unions and abortion. However the good news is that he did all this while not being a Catholic. That was a past life of his and Catholic theology teaches that the past is forgiven upon baptism or confirmation, which is what Tony Blair had to undergo to enter the Catholic faith as an adult.

There are many buildings and attractions in Spain that look as they did centuries ago, but there are few that still operate like they did in the generations that have past. The Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales is one such location. It is the monastery of the barefoot nun, and while that may sound like a funny name, it is a location of serious religion and serious art.
The convent was originally created in 1559 by Charles V’s daughter. She envisioned the location as a noblewoman’s retreat. At that time, it was a royal palace that allowed the noblewomen of Spain to retreat to silence. The next 200 years saw the location known as a completely practicing convent. Eventually outsiders were kept out, and the property became solely a convent.
In addition to an area to contemplate and grow in their religion, those inside the convent could also grow in their appreciation for art, as it houses a private art museum with a number of pieces of art as well as historical artifacts.
In recent years, the convent opened its doors to tourists, who are allowed to come inside the walls during scheduled tours.
The convent is an architectural spectacle in itself. The walls are made of vibrant orange stone with inviting archways, Renaissance doors and construction. Walking through the grounds and the carefully tended gardens you will feel as if you have gone back to the time of Charles V himself.
The art collection is varied and beautiful. Many of the items that are in the collection were brought to the convent by those who wished to reside within its walls. They would bring the pieces of art and artifacts as their dowry or offering to become a 'bride of Christ'. Now all those items are one of the attractions many want to see when visiting the area. Among the paintings in the gallery are those by Brueghel, Titian, and Zurbarán . There are also Rubens inspired hand-woven tapestries and sculptures by Crescenci and Mena.
Since the 1960’s the public has been able to take part in enjoying the grounds that the Franciscan nuns have so lovingly cared for all these years. They opened the convent to the public, and tourists are invited to see the area through tours that they conduct. While many wonder if they can just wander the grounds and take it all in by themselves, that is not allowed. The only way an outsider can visit the convent is by being a part of one of the tours guided by the nuns. On the tour, visitors will see both the convent grounds and the art collection on the site.
If you don’t speak Spanish, you will not understand much of what is said on the tour, since it is only given in the native language, but as you walk through, you may well find the tour fulfilling without even knowing what is being said by the tour guide. If you do have questions, English questions are allowed at the end of the tour and answers will be given to your questions.
Do remember to visit this and more places whenever you visit Spain and Costa Blanca.

Has Time Magazine done the unthinkable?

The editors of Time's 17 September issue have allowed the article by Michael Kinsley titled, "God as Their Running Mate" to allude that abortion is murder! The mainstream media actually even hinting that abrotion is killing a human being.

But then again Time Magazine is different from Newsweek which reeks of bigotry. I notice that Time is more balanced much more than Newsweek with regards to Christian themes.

Although some authors have criticized Time for their irreverent coverage of mother theresa's doubt during her mission, I found that the author was much more appreciative of Mother's faith to continue despite the doubts.

This is wonderful if more mainstream publications pick up on the courage of Time and call a spade, a spade.