Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - October 31, 2013

Talking About the Things That Matter Most on Oct. 31

4:00 – Kresta Comments

4:20 – Judges in OK and TX Strike Down Pro-Life Laws
The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday reaffirmed its earlier ruling that the state's 2011 Pro-life law is unconstitutional. The ruling comes one day after a federal judge found parts of Texas' abortion legislation unconstitutional. The Oklahoma law, which limits how medication can be used to induce abortions, was struck down in 2012 by an Oklahoma district court and later upheld by the State Supreme Court. Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt then sought to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, prompting the federal high court to pose several questions regarding the Oklahoma court's finding. We talk to pro-life attorney Clarke Forsythe about these cases and his recent book, Abuse of Discretion: The Inside Story of Roe v. Wade.

5:00 - The Charismatic Renewal, Pope Francis and the Catholic Church
When the newly elected Pope Francis appeared at the window before the cheering crowd in St Peter’s Square, and promptly bowed down asking the people to pray for him, most of the public at large was charmed, but puzzled. Pope Benedict too had asked the people to pray for him from the outset, but without the bowed head. To some spectators, however—including the members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and their counterparts in the Protestant and Orthodox worlds—the gesture came as something surprisingly familiar.  In the “charismatic” galaxy, prayer is offered and asked for in this way by people of all levels—specifically, prayer for a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We talk to Dr. Mary Healy, head of the Doctrinal Commission of the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services

 

A Diabolical, Nostalgic Plan

Current Issue: Controversies with Coren

October 24, 2013

"Division. We love it, we relish it, we eat and drink it, we splash around in the bath of it."

Michael Coren
Catholic World Report
 

Dear Wormwood,
Your uncle is, as you know, a little—how shall we say?—distracted right now, and as I am considered something of an expert when it comes to Christians of the Catholic variety, I’ve been asked to help out a little.

I’ve looked at the files on your man, and you need to be extremely careful here. The believers on what the humans call the “left” of their church are easy. We’ve managed to convince them that salvation is to be found in social programs, liberal politics, and making jokes about conservatives. We’ve done a wonderful job in making it all about politics for them—all about the good they think they can do—and the angrier they become at those they see as their earthly enemies, the further they move away from their god. It’s very successful, and such great fun too. The joke is that they hardly change anything anyway, but the better and more pompous they feel about themselves the less humble and more strident they are, and that makes our enemy even more upset and disappointed.

Anyway, more about that and them later. You see, your little man is of the other variety, the conservatives. They’re much more tricky. They’ve seen through our propaganda campaign—“everything in the past was wrong”, “we have to change with the times”, “intelligent people don’t believe that” and so on. We’ve tried using doubt, confusion, fear, and the truly delicious “apathy” but it doesn’t work on them. So, let me suggest another approach. It’s what I like to call nostalgia. Try to make them confuse Catholicism with history, and faith with living in the past. It’s quite funny actually, and at times some of their more conservative Masses look more like auditions for a BBC costume drama than gatherings of the flock about to be fed His body and His blood.

You have to be careful though. Some of them are the strongest and most fearless of the damnable tribe, and they are there precisely for the continuity and the tradition in the best sense, the real sense, in His sense. It makes me so mad! But not all of them—oh no, no, no. Some are there because they have cultivated a mock cynicism, looking down from some moralistic pedestal of their own creation so as to spit their contempt on the ordinary Catholics below, whom they tend to dislike even more than our good, fine friends the atheists.

Read the rest here: http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/2665/a_diabolical_nostalgic_plan.aspx#disqus_thread

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - October 30, 2013

Talking About the Things That Matter Most on Oct. 30

4:00 – Kresta Comments

5:00 – The Obamacare Debacle and How We Can Still Serve the Least Among Us
Kathleen Sebelius was on Capitol Hill today testifying about the horrendous roll-out of Obamacare, the health insurance marketplace, and the future of the legislation. Paul Propson, Executive Director of Covenant Community Care, knows these issues well and is here to answer questions like; wop is going to benefit from the changes in the health insurance marketplace?; How is employer sponsored coverage being affected?; Who currently is eligible for Medicaid and who will be eligible in the future?;Will Medicare recipients be affected by these changes

5:40 – “Marriage Isn’t Easy, But It’s Beautiful,” Says Pope Francis
Pope Francis addressed the meeting of the Pontifical Council of the Family this past weekend. In part, he said “The Catholic Church must help young people understand that marriage isn’t always easy, but it is so beautiful.” Dr Greg Popcak is here to look at the habits couples need to establish in the early years of marriage to create a firm foundation for lasting love.  We talk about what makes Catholic marriage unique and why God wants each couples marriage to be the greatest love story ever told. 

Boy Wanders Onto Stage To Hang Out With Pope Francis

Pope doesn’t seem to mind the company. This is super cute.

 

posted on October 29, 2013 at 4:21pm EDT

Ellie Hall BuzzFeed Staff posted about 7 hours ago

Buzzfeed

 

 

1. Thousands of Catholic families from around the world gathered at the Vatican over the weekend to celebrate the Year of Faith with Pope Francis.

View this image ›

AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino

2. On Saturday evening, a small group of children was invited to sit on the pope’s platform to listen to speakers from across the world speak about their faith and families.

View this image ›

Via youtube.com

3. While representatives from more than 80 countries addressed the pope, a little boy walked onto the stage to say hello.

View this image ›

Ellie Hall / BuzzFeed / Via youtube.com

View this image ›

Ellie Hall / BuzzFeed / Via youtube.com

5. Pope Francis was visibly amused when the child stayed on the stage instead of returning to his seat on the steps.

View this image ›

Ellie Hall / BuzzFeed / Via youtube.com

 

See what happened next here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/boy-wanders-onto-stage-to-hang-out-with-pope-francis

Top Dem Admits: ‘We Knew’

By Jonathan Strong

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer

October 29, 2013 11:56 AM
National Review

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer conceded to reporters today that Democrats knew people would not be able to keep their current health care plans under Obamacare and expressed qualified contrition for President Obama’s repeated vows to the contrary.

“We knew that there would be some policies that would not qualify and therefore people would be required to get more extensive coverage,” Hoyer said in response to a question from National Review.

Asked by another reporter how repeated statements by Obama to the contrary weren’t “misleading,” Hoyer said “I don’t think the message was wrong. I think the message was accurate. It was not precise enough…[it] should have been caveated with – ‘assuming you have a policy that in fact does do what the bill is designed to do.’”

Hoyer noted that people losing access to their current plans are mostly in the individual market, which is a small segment of the overall market. He also argued that requiring those plans to follow new mandates and regulations was important for ensuring those plans included “adequate coverage so the public would not have to be on the hook for serious illnesses or other illnesses.”

Read the rest here: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/362484/top-dem-admits-we-knew-jonathan-strong#!

Girl crawls out of grave after being raped, buried alive

By News.com.au

October 29, 2013 | 8:11am

New York Post

Photo: Shutterstock
 

A 13-year-old girl has dug herself out of a muddy grave after being raped by two men who then buried her alive in Pakistan.
The teen was abducted from her local village in the Punjab province while she was walking to Koran lessons.
Her father Siddique Mughal told police his daughter had been taken, but they refused to cooperate, Outlook India reported.
The men took the young girl to an isolated place and raped her and then buried her alive as they believed she died during the brutal attack.
But the girl managed to dig her way out the muddy grave and caught the attention of passers-by who helped her to a local medical center.

Food Bank CEO Suggests Welfare Cuts May Spark Riots

“Riots always begin typically the same way: when people cannot afford to eat food”

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
October 29, 2013

The CEO of the largest food bank in America has suggested that planned cuts in food stamp benefits set to take effect on Friday could spark riots.

 

Image: Margarette Purvis (YouTube).

Margarette Purvis, the president and CEO of the Food Bank for New York City, told Salon.com that the expiration of stimulus funds, which will see the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program reduced by $5 billion dollars, will have an “immediate impact” and represent a recipe for civil unrest.

 

“If you look across the world, riots always begin typically the same way: when people cannot afford to eat food,” said Purvis, adding that families face the “daunting” prospect of losing a whole week’s worth of food every month.

 

The nationwide cut will take 76 million meals off the table of poverty-stricken New Yorkers alone, equating to about 16 meals a month for a family of three. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has labeled the cut to the SNAP program “unprecedented” in “depth and breadth.”

 

As we previously highlighted, even the mainstream media is invoking the threat of riots that could ensue as a result of the food stamp cut, with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto linking the issue to the Department of Homeland Security’s recent $80 million dollar outlay on armed guards to protect government buildings in upstate New York.

 

Read the rest here: http://www.infowars.com/food-bank-ceo-suggests-welfare-cuts-may-spark-riots/

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - October 29, 2013

Talking About the Things That Matter Most on Oct. 29

4:00 – Kresta Comments: Should Abortion and Gay “Marriage” be Linked Politically? / An Examination of the Woman at the Well / Pope Francis and Smoke of Satan / Michelle Obama Opines on Religious Liberty

5:00 – Kresta Comments

5:40 – A Chat With Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit
In our monthly conversation with Archbishop Allen Vigneron we talk about a scripture series he is doing with Rabbi Joseph Krakoff… an interesting interfaith venture.  We talk about the dire situation of Christians in the Middle East and a special prayer service for peace.  And as All Souls Day is coming up on Saturday, we talk about the Church’s theology of praying for the deceased.

Georgetown Law Class Required to Work for Pro-Abortion Lobby

October 24, 2013, at 4:47 PM | By Matthew Archbold
Catholic Education Daily
 

A class at Georgetown University’s law school scheduled for next semester will have students working with a pro-abortion rights advocacy organization, taught by that organization’s senior counsel, Kelli Garcia. Garcia, a radical pro-abortion rights lawyer, wrote the poem titled, “Planned Parenthood, Why Do I Love Thee?” in 2011. The poem was part of a larger effort by Garcia and her group to halt the potential defunding of Planned Parenthood, which is the nation’s largest abortion provider.

The Georgetown law class, titled Regulatory Advocacy: Women and the Affordable Care Act, will have students working with the National Women's Law Center (NWLC), “to develop projects that will assist in the organization's regulatory advocacy efforts.” Students will also have the opportunity to participate in strategy meetings and conference calls between NWLC and partnering organizations.

Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society, views this latest scandal as the unfortunate culmination of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Reilly stated, “We have long warned about Georgetown scandals that undermine the Church's strong defense of innocent life. But here students are being required to work for a pro-abortion lobby, making America's oldest Catholic university an active agent of the culture of death. If allowed to continue, this puts Georgetown in direct opposition to the Church.”

NWLC’s advocacy efforts focus on “working to ensure that women have access to abortion care by protecting and advancing this fundamental right.” And according to NWLC’s website, Garcia specifically, “oversees the Center's efforts to address religious restrictions on women's access to reproductive health services, including its work on hospital mergers and crisis pregnancy centers.”

- See more at: http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CatholicEducationDaily/DetailsPage/tabid/102/ArticleID/2640/EXCLUSIVE-Georgetown-Law-Class-Required-to-Work-for-Pro-Abortion-Lobby.aspx#sthash.TCyiJu1m.dpuf

Jihad story of the day: Catholic patriarch fears extremist slant of Syrian rebel groups

 

Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III of Antioch. Credit: Weenson Oo/picture-u.net.

 

London, England, Oct 22, 2013 / 12:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III of Antioch has said that the success of Syrian rebels could worsen the plight of Christians because of the extreme Islamist elements among the rebel forces.

“The extremists are against even the normal rebel opposition,” he said Oct. 16, according to the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph. “This is an issue for Muslims as well as Christians. I am not afraid of Islam, I am just afraid of chaos, which will allow these groups to play a very destructive role.”

The Patriarch of Antioch discussed the Syrian situation in an address to more than 300 benefactors of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need at an event last week at London’s Westminster Cathedral.

On Oct. 15 Syrian extremists planted two bombs at the old Cathedral of Constantine and Helena in Yabroud, a city 50 miles north of Damascus.

“It was a church before Christianity, it was a temple of Jupiter and converted, an old beautiful church,” said Patriarch Gregorios.

One of the bombs had been planted in the confessional. Both were discovered and disarmed. The attempted attack is part of the continuing civil war that has afflicted Syria since March 2011.

The conflict has killed over 110,000 people and has forced millions to flee their homes. At least 450,000 Christians have left the country or are internally displaced, including the patriarch’s family on his father’s side.
Read the rest here: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/catholic-patriarch-fears-extremist-slant-of-syrian-rebel-groups/

The Smoke of Satan Returns

      

October 28, 2013

William Doino Jr.

First Things     

In 1972, on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Paul VI delivered a sermon that startled the world. Describing the chaos then consuming the post-conciliar Church, he lamented: “From some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God.”

Paul’s words were a warning to all who, taken with the “spirit of Vatican II”—rather than the Council’s actual teachings—had fallen under the sway of dark spirits. But Catholic dissidents didn’t want to be criticized, much less told they might be assisting the devil. So they struck back—with sarcasm, ridicule and contempt. One of Paul’s biographers describes their reaction:

Cartoonists refurbished their stock of clichés, producing cloven hoofs, long sinuous tails, ugly contorted faces and terrifying implements of torture. For the cartoonists Paul VI was definitely not a modern man.

Neither, as we’ve come to learn, is Pope Francis—if by “modern” we mean an abandonment of the supernatural, and a flight from Christianity’s most challenging teachings. Like his venerable predecessor, Francis has made it a point to draw the world’s attention to the wiles of the devil. But whereas Paul waited nearly ten years to speak so dramatically about Satan, Francis took only a day.

Within twenty-four hours of being elected, the new pope declared: “When one does not profess Jesus Christ—I recall the phrase of Leon Bloy—‘Whoever does not pray to God, prays to the devil.’” The following day, Francis continued: “Let us never give in to pessimism, to that bitterness that the devil tempts us with every day.” In his homily for Palm Sunday, he spoke of problems which appear insurmountable: “In this moment the enemy, the devil, comes, often disguised as an angel, and slyly speaks his word to us. Do not listen to him!”

In July, Francis consecrated Vatican City State to St. Michael, the Archangel, who “defends the People of God from their enemies, and above all from the arch-enemy par excellence, the devil.” And in early October, Francis powerfully rebuked those who deny the existence of Satan, warning against relativism, deceit, and “the seduction of evil.”

Striking as his words are, they are not surprising. During his formation as a Jesuit, Jorge Bergoglio adopted the intense spirituality of St. Ignatius, who always recognized the reality of spiritual warfare. In On Heaven and Earth, his 2010 book with his friend, Rabbi Abraham Skorka, the then Cardinal Bergoglio spoke of the devil in the starkest terms: “He is the tempter, the one that looks to destroy the work of God, he that brings us to self-sufficiency, to pride. Jesus defines him as the father of lies.”

Read the rest here: http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2013/10/the-smoke-of-satan-returns

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - October 28, 2013

Talking About the Things That Matter Most on Oct. 28

4:00 – Kresta Comments: Pope Francis and Smoke of Satan, Michelle Obama Opines on Religious Liberty, Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side With Jesus

4:40 – Is Georgetown Catholic?
Concluding that his alma mater “takes pride in insulting the Church and offending the faithful,” William Peter Blatty, author of the best-selling book, The Exorcist, filed a Canon Law petition with the Vatican earlier this month asking that Georgetown University be denied the right to call itself Catholic. Calling Georgetown a “Potemkin Village,” Blatty complained that “at alumni dinners, they will make sure there is a Jesuit in a collar at every table, like the floral arrangement.” For Blatty, Georgetown is the “leader of a pack of schools that are failing to live up to their Catholic identity.” Anne Hendershott, author of Status Envy: The Politics of Catholic Higher Education,” joins us to discuss the case. 

5:00 – Kresta Comments: Pope Francis and Smoke of Satan, Michelle Obama Opines on Religious Liberty, Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side With Jesus

5:20 – Now is the Time to Stop Three-Parent IVF
The UK rubber stamp Embryo Authority has approved the manufacture of three-parent human embryos. The process is done by removing the nucleus from the egg of one woman, putting it into the enucleated egg of another, and then fertilizing with sperm. Voila, three biological parents. Sometimes lines have to be drawn in the ethical sand. If we are going to stop three-parent IVF, it will have to be now. Bioethicist Wesley Smith is here.

5:40 – Resignation of America's Ambassador for Religious Freedom Offers 'Dramatic Opportunity'
Last week Suzan Johnson Cook resigned as ambassador-at-large for the Obama Administration’s office for international religious freedom less than two years into the job. Thomas Farr, a longtime diplomat who served as the first director of the State Department's religious freedom office from 1999 to 2003, said, "If the position remains vacant, or if it is filled with someone not qualified to move this issue into the mainstream of diplomacy, that will confirm the views of the critics—including me—that the administration does not see IRF policy as a priority." He joins us. 

Jihad Story of the Day: Coptic Christians dying in Egypt and no one notices

 

Photo: Uprising at Coptic funeral (copticworld.org)

Wednesday, October 23, 2013 - What in the World by Bob Taylor

Bob Taylor

CHARLOTTE, October 24, 2013 – Not that anybody is noticing, but Christians are being slaughtered in Egypt on a daily basis.

Last Sunday four Christians died and many others were wounded during a wedding at the Church of the Virgin Mary in Waraq near Cairo. Two of the dead were innocent young girls ages 12 and 8.
In July, a 10-year old girl was shot and killed while walking home from bible class.

Just isolated incidents? No, they happen every day somewhere in the Muslim world. No matter.

They’re only Christians. It is far worse to mention that a jihadist agenda is behind the death squads than to acknowledge that Christians and their churches are being attacked while the world barely notices.

Why is it happening? Because it can and without repercussions. To be sure it is easy to make Barack Obama a scapegoat. Surely, the “president-who-is-not-responsible-for-anything-that-happens-during-his-tenure” cannot be accountable for the militant actions of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

That might have been true in the America we once knew before the president with the Muslim name took office, but not any more. Barack Obama has had pro-Brotherhood leanings from the outset, which is a primary reason why Christian murders and church burnings in Egypt get nothing more than lip-service and why a failed foreign policy has virtually destroyed a 30-year treaty with a much needed ally in the Middle East.

Read more: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/what-world/2013/oct/23/christians-dying-egypt-are-largely-unnoticed/#ixzz2inG5ZZX0
Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter

Armed agents seize records of reporter, Washington Times prepares legal action

** FILE ** Associated Press

By Guy Taylor

-

The Washington Times

Friday, October 25, 2013    

 

Maryland state police and federal agents used a search warrant in an unrelated criminal investigation to seize the private reporting files of an award-winning former investigative journalist for The Washington Times who had exposed problems in the Homeland Security Department's Federal Air Marshal Service.

Reporter Audrey Hudson said the investigators, who included an agent for Homeland's Coast Guard service, took her private notes and government documents that she had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act during a predawn raid of her family home on Aug.6                                                                                            

The documents, some which chronicled her sources and her work at the Times about problems inside the Homeland Security Department, were seized under a warrant to search for unregistered firearms and a “potato gun” suspected of belonging to her husband, Paul Flanagan, a Coast Guard employee. Mr. Flanagan has not been charged with any wrongdoing since the raid.

The warrant, obtained by the Times, offered no specific permission to seize reporting notes or files.
The Washington Times said Friday it is preparing legal action to fight what it called an unwarranted intrusion on the First Amendment.

“While we appreciate law enforcement’s right to investigate legitimate concerns, there is no reason for agents to use an unrelated gun case to seize the First Amendment protected materials of a reporter,” Times Editor John Solomon said. “This violates the very premise of a free press, and it raises additional concerns when one of the seizing agencies was a frequent target of the reporter’s work.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/25/armed-agents-seize-records-reporter-washington-tim/#ixzz2inChMjSZ
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

Senator Proposes Law: 'If You Like Your Health Plan, You Can Keep It Act'

The Weekly Standard

12:11 PM, Oct 25, 2013
BY DANIEL HALPER

Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin will propose a new law next week called: "If You Like Your Health Plan, You Can Keep It Act."

 

“One of the most important promises made by President Obama and Democrat congressional leadership to promote the Affordable Care Act was that Americans who were satisfied with their health plans could keep them. That promise has been broken. More than a million Americans have been notified that the plans they like with the coverage they have chosen have been canceled. Millions more Americans will have the plans of their choice canceled in months to come,” says Senator Johnson in a statement.

 

"Americans want the freedom to choose their own plans and want to be in control of their own health care. They don’t want Obamacare destroying what they have and what they like. They don’t want their personal choices regarding their health plans and their families’ health plans canceled by Obamacare.

 

"The ‘If You Like Your Health Plan, You Can Keep It Act’ will amend the law to make Obamacare live up to the promises of the politicians who sold the plan to the American public. I will file the bill in the coming week and hope to garner support from fellow Senators of both parties who truly want to make sure President Obama honors his promise that every American has the freedom to keep his or her own health care plan."

 

For more on the need for a bill like this one, read James C. Capretta's piece in the most recent issue of the magazine.

Census Bureau: Means-Tested Gov't Benefit Recipients Outnumber Full-Time Year-Round Workers

October 24, 2013 - 11:32 PM

---

By Terence P. Jeffrey

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and

President Barack Obama get beer

on Aug. 13, 2012 at the Iowa State Fair.

 (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

(CNSNews.com) - Americans who were recipients of means-tested government benefits in 2011 outnumbered year-round full-time workers, according to data released this month by the Census Bureau. They also out-numbered the total population of the Philippines.

There were 108,592,000 people in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2011 who were recipients of one or more means-tested government benefit programs, the Census Bureau said in data released this week. Meanwhile, according to the Census Bureau, there were 101,716,000 people who worked full-time year round in 2011. That included both private-sector and government workers.
That means there were about 1.07 people getting some form of means-tested government benefit for every 1 person working full-time year round.

The Census Bureau counted as recipients of means-tested government programs “anyone residing in a household in which one or more people received benefits from the program.” Many of these people lived in households receiving more than one form of means-tested benefit at the same time.
 

Among the 108,592,000 people who fit the Census Bureau’s description of a means-tested benefit recipient in the fourth quarter of 2011 were 82,457,000 people in households receiving Medicaid, 49,073,000 beneficiaries of food stamps, 20,223,000 on Supplemental Security Income, 23,228,000 in the Women, Infants and Children program, 13,433,000 in public or subsidized rental housing, and 5,854,000 in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Also among the 108,592,000 means-tested benefit recipients counted by the Census Bureau were people getting free or reduced-price lunch or breakfast, state-administered supplemental security income and means-tested veterans pensions.

Read the rest here: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/census-bureau-means-tested-govt-benefit-recipients-outnumber-full

Favre Admits He Has Experienced Memory Loss

October 24, 2013 9:44 AM

(CBS) Whether the St. Louis Rams were seriously inquiring about Brett Favre or not, the former NFL quarterback is not making a return, partially because he is starting to feel the toll of 20 years in the league.

Brett Favre.
(Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for CMT)

In an interview with SportsTalk 570 in Washington D.C. Thursday morning, Favre said he never talked to the Rams, but they did reach out to his agent, Bus Cook. It’s worth pointing out, however, that Cook also represents quarterback Austin Davis, who the Rams did sign. Thus, any conversation with Cook about Favre may not have been all that serious.
Either way, Favre is not coming back, telling the radio station: “It’s flattering, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to do that.”

Favre went on to say that he has started to experience memory loss, which has frightened him.
“This was a little shocking to me that I couldn’t remember my daughter playing youth soccer,” he said. “It was just one summer, I think. I could remember her playing basketball, I could remember her playing volleyball, so I kind of think maybe (I thought) she only played a (soccer) game or two. Well, I think she played like eight. So that’s a little bit scary to me. So for the first time in 44 years, that kind of put a little fear in me.”

And given his perspective as a retired NFL quarterback, Favre said he’s in favor of the rule changes the the league has instituted to help protect players.
“I don’t see how you can’t change with the times and try to protect the players more because of the studies that have come out to what concussions can do,” Favre said. “The players, either retired or some of the few players who are either killing themselves or self-destructing, studies have proven that some of this is because of concussions.”

 

Read the full story here: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/10/24/favre-admits-he-has-experienced-memory-loss/

Bible Scholar Brent Landau Asks “Who Were the Magi”?

A lost Syriac manuscript, the Revelation of the Magi, recently translated into English by Bible scholar Brent Landau, may help answer that key question from the Christmas story: “Who were the magi?”

Revelation of the Magi text gives wise men’s view of the Christmas story

Bible History Daily
Biblical Archaeology Society Staff • 11/29/2011

Who were the magi, those gift-bearing wise men from the east who are so central to the traditional telling of the Christmas story? Bible scholar Brent Landau believes he has found at least one answer to this age-old question.
The Bible tells us very little about the magi.

Their story appears but once, in the Gospel of Matthew (2:1–12), where they are described as mysterious visitors “from the east” who come to Jerusalem looking for the child whose star they observed “at its rising.” After meeting with King Herod, who feigns an intention to worship the child but actually plans to destroy him, the magi follow the same star to Bethlehem. There, upon seeing the baby Jesus and his mother Mary, the magi kneel down and worship him, presenting him with their three famous gifts—gold, frankincense and myrrh. Then, without reporting to Herod, they depart for their homeland, never to be heard from again.

For early Christians, the seemingly pivotal yet unexplained background of the mysterious magi provided abundant room to shape new narratives around the question, “Who were the magi?” One of the most compelling, recently translated into English by Brent Landau, professor of religious studies at the University of Oklahoma, is the so-called Revelation of the Magi, an apocryphal account of the traditional Christmas story that purports to have been written by the magi themselves.

The account is preserved in an eighth-century C.E. Syriac manuscript held in the Vatican Library, although Brent Landau believes the earliest versions of the text may have been written as early as the mid-second century, less than a hundred years after Matthew’s gospel was composed. Written in the first person, the Revelation of the Magi narrates the mystical origins of the magi, their miraculous encounter with the luminous star and their equally miraculous journey to Bethlehem to worship the child. The magi then return home and preach the Christian faith to their brethren, ultimately being baptized by the apostle Thomas.

According to Brent Landau, this dramatic account not only answers the question “Who were the magi?” but also provides details about how many they were, where they came from and their mysterious encounter with the star that led them to Bethlehem. In the Revelation of the Magi, there are not just three magi, as often depicted in early Christian art (actually, Matthew does not tell us how many there were), nor are they Babylonian astrologers or Persian Zoroastrians, as other early traditions held. Rather from Brent Landau’s translation it is clear the magi (defined in this text as those who “pray in silence”) are a group—numbering as few as 12 and as many as several score—of monk-like mystics from a far-off, mythical land called Shir, possibly China. They are descendants of Seth, the righteous third son of Adam, and the guardians of an age-old prophecy that a star of indescribable brightness would someday appear “heralding the birth of God in human form.”

Read the rest here: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/bible-scholar-brent-landau-asks-%E2%80%9Cwho-were-the-magi%E2%80%9D/

More on Landau's work - or possibly a more accessible article - from USA Today.

Today on Kresta in the Afternoon - October 25, 2013

Talking About the Things That Matter Most on Oct. 25

4:00 – Walking with Mary: A Biblical Journey from Nazareth to the Cross
Mary appears only a few times in the Bible, but those few passages come at crucial moments. Catholics believe that Mary is the ever-virgin Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven and Earth. But she also was a human being--a woman who made a journey of faith through various trials and uncertainties and endured her share of suffering. Even with her unique graces and vocation, Mary remains a woman we can relate to and from whom we have much to learn. Edward Sri is here to look at the crucial passages in the Bible concerning Mary and offers insight about the Blessed Mother's faith and devotion that we can apply in our daily lives. We follow her step-by-step through the New Testament account of her life, reflecting on what the Scriptures tell us about how she responded to the dramatic events unfolding around her.

5:00 – God's Double Agent: The True Story of a Chinese Christian's Fight for Freedom
Tens of millions of Christians live in China today, many of them leading double lives or in hiding from a government that relentlessly persecutes them. Bob Fu, whom the Wall Street Journal called "The pastor of China's underground railroad," is fighting to protect his fellow believers from persecution, imprisonment, and even death. We hear h is his fascinating and riveting story.