Tens of thousands have been forced from their homes by a tropical storm that battered the southern Philippines leaving at least 182 dead, police and aid agencies said Sunday. MORE

Brief :  (RNS) — A new film recounts the unlikely friendship between St. Francis of Assisi and the nephew of the great Muslim leader Saladin. MORE

The National LGBTQ Task Force tore into the Trump administration for reportedly banning the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from using terms like “transgender” in official documents. MORE

MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — Residents piled into cars and fled on Saturday, turning downtown Santa Barbara into “a ghost town” as surging winds drove one of the biggest fires in California’s history toward the city and the nearby wealthy enclave of Montecito. MORE

Gender-confirmation surgeries—the name given to procedures that change the physical appearance and function of sexual characteristics—increased by 20 percent from 2015 to 2016 in the U.S., with more than 3,000 such operations performed last year. Rates are also increasing worldwide. Now, at least one surgeon is reporting a trend of regret. MORE

Cooking, cleaning mums will be banned in advertisements across the UK from next year, following a study which claimed traditional gender roles are “harmful and outdated”.

The decision to tighten regulation was announced by the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) this week, after a report published in summer identified gender stereotypes in adverts as a driver of inequality between men and women. MORE

BREAKING: Trump to remove ‘climate change’ as a national security threat

Everything You Need to Know About the GOP Tax Bill

Tax cut bill goes public as GOP slashes rates

Vol 10 Issue 50 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
December 16, 2017 ~ Saint Eusebius, opn!

1. Is the Chair of Peter Vacant? An Argument for Sedevacantism
2. Gaudete Sunday
3. Saint Lazarus
4. Family and Marriage
5. Articles and notices

Dear Reader:
This next week there will be the ember days of winter kept. On these days the Church imposes upon her faithful the obligation to fast and to also abstain from meat except for the main meal of Wednesday and Saturday. Continue reading →

This is a good read even though it comes from the N.C. Register

Every mosque has a fountain in its yard, so that the worshiper can fulfill the requirements of ritual ablutions before entering Allah’s house. There is an order to the washing of hands, face, mouth, nose, neck and the feet. With every action of physical washing, there is an accompanying prayer. MORE

Sad news. R.C. Sproul was one of the few Protestant ministers who congratulated and thanked me for my “Day of the Lord,” booklet that I sent him. He even advertised on my face book page. RIP.

Theologian R.C. Sproul, who founded Florida-based Ligonier Ministries and authored dozens of books, has died at age 78.

Sproul died Thursday at an Altamonte Springs, Fla., hospital, his ministry announced. He was hospitalized with severe respiratory problems that were complicated by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the flu. MORE