Vol 8 Issue 49 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
December 5, 2015 ~ Advent Feria

1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (45)
2. Second Sunday in Advent
3. Saint Nicholas
4. Christ in the Home (20)
5. Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

This month is always a busy month with the Novena (3-12) to Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron of the Americas which is then followed by the Las Posadas (16-24). So please excuse the absence of an introduction, but there are some articles and links below besides the regular commentaries. Continue reading →

Watch what you buy, things are getting a lot more strange and disturbing!

A creepy new trend in Thailand has people caring for supposedly haunted dolls, for good luck and prosperity.

The Look Thep (Child God) dolls are believed to be inhabited by children’s spirits, created through special rituals. They’re considered to be an updated version of the ancient kuman thong, the practice of worshiping human fetuses that died in the womb. Look Thep allows people to revere the spirits of children without having to actually obtain dead fetuses. MORE

PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) – Radiation from Japan’s 2011 nuclear disaster has spread off North American shores and contamination is increasing at previously identified sites, although levels are still too low to threaten human or ocean life, scientists said on Thursday.

Tests of hundreds of samples of Pacific Ocean water confirmed that Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant continues to leak radioactive isotopes more than four years after its meltdown, said Ken Buesseler, marine radiochemist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. MORE

Dr. Hamilton shows how to calm a crying baby. This technique has been utilized by Dr. Bob to quiet infants during office visits. Parents have learned it and have experienced great success at home. You can too. His Pacific Ocean Pediatrics is in Santa Monicahttp://pacificoceanpedriatics.com. He also leads Africa medical missions with Lighthouse Medical Missions

Pope Francis: Yes, He himself affirms it when He says in Isaiah that perhaps a mother can forget her child, a mother can also forget her child … “I, instead, will never forget you.” Here God’s maternal dimension is seen. Not everyone understands when there is talk of “God’s maternity,” it’s not a popular language – in the good sense of the word – it seems a language that is somewhat chosen. Therefore, I prefer to use <the word> tenderness, proper to a mother, the tenderness of God, tenderness born from the paternal insides. God is Father and Mother. MORE

“They know it’s going to happen…”

That same LA Times story quotes the woman’s husband:

Mark Vong said he told his wife to stay calm and not to panic.

“They train for this,” he said, standing outside a police barricade Wednesday afternoon. “They know it’s going to happen.”

Of course they know it’s going to happen! They’ve been drilling the scenario for months! MORE

It seems that for some unknown reason ice is melting in the middle of the Arctic.
At first i thought it might be an error or a glitch for that matter but the opening shows up on 3 different maps  MORE

SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA.com) — Fourteen people were confirmed killed and 14 more wounded in a mass shooting at a San Bernardino community social services building. MORE

The Rev. Edward Belczak was sentenced Tuesday to 27 months in prison for stealing $573,000 from the St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Troy, where he had served as pastor for almost 30 years.

U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow said a prison sentence was necessary to act as a deterrent to others because the Catholic priest was a community leader who was “stealing from the church and people who trusted you most.” MORE

More than 12 states are now involved in the FDA’s major supermarket recall amid fears of an E.coli breakout. MORE

A boy glances down at the bloodied corpse of a young woman – her high heels poking out from beneath the blue sheet covering her – seemingly unfazed by what he has seen. MORE