CVSTOS FIDEI MORNING EDITION Crystal Ball - Donald R. McClarey, American Catholic It Can Happen Here - John Zmirak, Inside Catholic Hook, Line, and Sinker - Patrick Archbold, Creative Minority Report USCCB Probe Aid Directed to ACORN - Julia Duin, Washington Times Abp Burke on Benedict's Reform of the Reform - Gregor Kollmorgen, NLM Vatican Unveils Nazi-era Exhibition in Defense of Pope Pius XII - Deutsche Welle Christians & Muslims Meet in Vatican Today - Robert Pigott, BBC World News Burmese Archbishop Says Pope Ready to Visit Burma - The Irrawaddy Affirmative Action and Gay Marriage - Thomas Sowell, Creators Syndicate Vatican Issues Swipe Cards to Staff In Efficiency Drive - Nick Squires, Telegraph Priest Says His 1st TLM: "it felt like tool that just fits the hand" - Fr. Z, WDTPRS? Bonus Commentary: Fr. Scorched Earth - Jeffrey Tucker, New Liturgical Movement A Prayer (for the Election) - Ryan Harkins, American Catholic Taking Everything On Blind Faith - Wesley Pruden, Washington Times Notable Commentary: Which “unjust war”? - Christopher Blosser, American Catholic Catholic Charities Head Gave $$$ for Same Sex Marriage - Cal Cthlc Daily Pop Quiz (Taxes) - Ryan Harkins, American Catholic It's All On You - Matthew Archbold, Creative Minority Report Topic A (Abortion) - DarwinCatholic, American Catholic Abp Chaput: USCCB Must Address Abortion, Election Issues - Steven Ertelt, LfNws American-born Imam Denounces Democracy - Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch Secular Commentary: Balkan Ghosts - James Lyon & Kurt Bassuener, Wall Street Journal Red China & Democratic Taiwan Sign Trade Deals - Richard Spencer, Telegraph Annoy Media: Go Vote & the 'Common Sense Effect' - Newt Gingrich, Hmn Evnts (Biretta Tips: PewSitter.com & Lucianne)

CVSTOS FIDEI MORNING EDITION Topic A (Abortion) - DarwinCatholic, American Catholic An Incident In Small Town Pennsylvania - Matthew Archbold, Crtv Mnrty Rprt Change! - Tim Kelleher, First Things The Culture of Death Under an Obama Presidency - Nancy Reyes, PewSitter.com Why I Will Vote For John McCain - Deal W. Hudson, Inside Catholic Brisbane: Heretic Fr. Dresser & Parish Ttold to Clean Up By 1 Dec - Fr. Z, WDTPRS Secret Questionnaire Rome Uses On Choosing Bishops - Damian Thompson, Hly Smk Online Catholic TV Offers Religion With Edge - Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press Card. Martini Would Never Have Written 'Humanae Vitae' - Sandro Magister, Chiesa Christians and Muslims: Resuming Dialogue - Samir Khalil Samir, AsiaNews Why I'm Going to Meet the Pope - Tariq Ramadan, The Guardian New Edition of Roman Breviary Ready to Order - Gregor Kollmorgen, NLM Bonus Commentary: Pop Quiz (Subsidiarity & Taxes) - Ryan Harkins, American Catholic The Only Thing We Have to Fear... - Patrick Archbold, Creative Minority Report Rumor: Pope Considering Lifting SSPX Excommunications - Fr. Z, WDTPRS Another 1908 Graduale Romanum - Jeffrey Tucker, New Liturgical Movement Church Moderator Backs China's 1-Child Policy - Damian Thompson, Holy Smoke Doctor Denied Immigration Due to Son's Down's Syndrome - Matthew Archbold, CMR Teens Who Watch 'Sex in the City' More Likely to Get Pregnant - R. Bennett, Times Notable Commentary: Catholics And Pro-Abortion Candidates - Eric Brown, American Catholic I Heart The Queen of Spain - Matthew Archbold, Creative Minority Report Catholic Vote: 51-38% For Senator McCain - Tito, American Catholic Obama Sees Justices Breyer & Souter as Judicial Models - Catholic News Agency Fr. Frank's Advice Before Election Day - Edward Koubek, American Catholic More Stories From the Parish Parking Lots in Ohio - Deal Hudson, The Inside Blog Remember FOCA on November 4th - Christopher Blosser, American Catholic Secular Commentary: Obama 'Lifted Himself Up From the Streets of Hawaii' - Mark Finkelstein, NwsBstrs (Biretta Tips: WDTPRS & PewSitter.com)

CVSTOS FIDEI MORNING EDITION On These Slippery Slopes - Ryan Harkins, American Catholic Pope's Preface to 1st Vol. of his Opera Omnia (on liturgy) - Fr. Z, WDTPRS? ...Fr. John Zuhlsdorf's critique of the critique... When Obama Came For Them - Matthew Archbold, Creative Minority Report Rehabilitating Pope Pius XII - Melik Kaylan, Forbes Getting Beyond the Literal Sense of Scripture - Mark P. Shea, Inside Catholic Get That Straw Out of My Face! - Amy Welborn, Charlotte Was Both Profits and Peace - Fr. Robert A. Sirico, First Things It's The Courts, Stupid - Larrey Anderson, American Thinker The End of the Catholic Vote? - Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times Will Values Voters Bring Another Election Day Surprise? - Michael Medved, Th Poland's Muslims Thrive in Tiny Community - Dominika Maslikowski, M & C Shameless Blog Plug of the Day: The American Catholic Bonus Commentary: Bishop Boyea Corrects Michigan's 'Catholic' Governor - Fr. Zuhlsdorf, WDTPRS? Yesterdays Commentary: Cocaine, Cardinal Ocampo, and the Drug Wars - Tito, American Catholic Culture of Secrecy & Evasion in the Church - Damian Thompson, Holy Smoke Did the US Commit 'Terrorism' in Syria? - Christopher Blosser, American Catholic Secular Commentary: The Man Behind 'Fair and Balanced' - Michael Calderone, Politico Vietnamese-Americans Feel Indebted to McCain - Lindsay Wise, Houston Chronicle Evidence Mounts: Ayers Co-Wrote Obama's Book - Jack Cashill, American Thinker (Biretta Tips: Pro Ecclesia & Lucianne)

CVSTOS FIDEI AFTERNOON EDITION St. Francis of Assisi: Converter of Muslims - Michael Baggot, LSN Feminine Blog Reacts to WDTPRS "Veil" Posting - Fr. Z, WDTPRS The American Pope - David Van Biema & Jeff Israely, Time Benedict's Baroque & Roll - Damian Thompson, Holy Smoke Pope Plans to Visit NY Synagogue - Laurie Goodstein, NY Times John Paul II and this Convert - Jonathan B, Per Christum Obama's "Punished with a Baby" Comment Sparks Rage - CNA New Books On the Mind & Heart of the Pope - Carl Olson, Scoop XM Radio & EWTN to Cover Pope's US Visit Live - PRNewswire King Abdullah Before Muslim Scholars - Sandro Magister, Chiesa Muslim Convert Turns Heads - Tom Heneghan, Reuters The Conversion Numbers Game - Sherry W, Intentional Disciples Secular News Item of the Day: Soul of the Democratic Party is Still Secular by Mark Stricherz of the National Catholic Register Last Three Catholic News Postings: For Wednesday Evening, April 2, click here. For Wednesday Afternoon, April 2, click here. For Wednesday Morning, April 2, click here. (Biretta Tips: National Catholic Register, PewSitter, & Kevin Knight)

CVSTOS FIDEI MORNING EDITION Allam Converts to Christianity, Why? - A Simple Sinner, Pr Chrstm Pope Proclaims that Baroque is Back - Anna Arco, Catholic Herald Scouting the Next Pro-Life Battlefield - Deborah Sturm, Inside Cth LA Archdiocese Promoting Heterox Synod - California Cthlc Daily How Religion Became a Wedge Issue - R.R. Reno, First Things Stats show Traditional Families Rebounding - Ed Thomas, ONN From Muslim (Allam) to Catholic - Damian Thompson, Holy Smoke Muslim (Allam) Turned Catholic's Letter to Editor - Rorate Cæli Tibetan Catholics Curtail Easter Activities - Robert J. Saiget, AFP Pope Baptizes Top Italian Muslim on Easter - John Allen, NC Rprtr Those Sophisticated Europeans - Sidney Raphael, Amrcn Thinker Pope's Easter Sermon: Orthodoxy Triumphant - Fr. Z, WDTPRS Last Three Catholic News Postings: For Good Friday, March 21, click here. For Maundy Thursday, March 20, click here. For Spy Wednesday Afternoon, March 19, click here. (Biretta Tips: Catholic Report & PewSitter)

CVSTOS FIDEI EVENING EDITION Girl Scheduled for Euthanasia, Will Testify - Th. Baklinski, LSN The Bitter Struggle for the Soul of Spain - Fiona Flores, Cth Hrld Why No US Outcry over Kidnapping of Abp - Dn. Fournier, CO Pope Not Rehabilitating Luther - Phil Lawler, Cth Wrld Nws Why Hong Kong Card. For Good Friday Stations? - Fr. Z, WDTPRS Obama's Grandmother is Christian or Muslim? - Tito, Csts Fd Head of Vatican Swiss Guard Resigns - John Phillips, Wash Tms Obama's Sermon on the Mount Citation Inaccurate - CNA Margaret Sanger Would Have Loved Obama - C. Childress, CN Dispatches from Post-Christian America - Mark Shea, Insd Cthlc Buckley's Catholic Legacy - Fr. Raymond De Souza, Natl Cth Reg World Youth Day an Economic Boon - CathNews Last Three Catholic News Postings: For Wednesday, March 5, click here. For Tuesday, March 4, click here. For Monday Afternoon, March 3, click here. (Birreta Tip: PewSitter)

Obama's grandma said she's Muslim exactly one year ago according to the New York Times. Now in the USA Today (Associated Press) she says she's a devoted Christian. Did the Obama camp give her a phone call and tell her what to say? Did the New York Times deceive? Did the Associated Press deceive? USA Today (Associated Press), March 5, 2008 AD:

Obama’s grandfather had converted to Islam from Roman Catholicism and taken the name Hussein, Sarah Obama said, but his children had inherited only the name, not the religion. Each person should be able to choose how they worshipped, she said.

“In the world of today, children have different religions from their parents,” she said. She, too, is a Christian.

New York Times, April 30, 2007 AD:

Sarah Hussein Obama, who is his stepgrandmother but whom Mr. Obama calls his grandmother, still rises at 5 a.m. to pray before tending to her crops and the three orphans she has taken in. “I am a strong believer of the Islamic faith,” Ms. Obama, 85, said in a recent interview in Kenya.

I wonder how the mainstream media is going to spin this now? For that matter the Barack campaign? It probably is a whopper of a mistake by the reporter for that matter. You would think the reporter would have checked and double-checked because of the rumors surrounding Barack Obama of being a closet Muslim and the use of his middle name as a pejorative during the campaign. (Biretta Tips: Greg & Little Green Footballs)

... it is being called a "hate crime". Let me see, the Bible has been thrown in paper waste bins by professors before where I attended undergraduate school, yet I don't recall the professor being arrested for this "hate crime"? I call this a double standard. Liberals bending to Muslim extremists. Politically correctness tyranny at it's most hypocritical is what I would in the end call this example. Liberals are intolerant to Christians, but will appease Muslims for the sake of political correctness. Even at the cost of making themselves look hypocritical. What next? Foot baths for both men & women Muslims at public universities as well as prayer rooms? Oh yeah, it's been done already. For the Koran desecration article click here. For the foot baths, prayer rooms, and prayer times for Muslims only at public universities article click here.

The headline in the Houston Chronicle - U.S. Muslims reject extremism, poll finds in USA Today- Poll: American Muslims reject extremes The reality: - 27% hold "no opinion" about Al-Queda, 5% view it favorably. Can you imagine if a large group of Americans held "no opinion" about Nazi Germany after they knew about the gas chambers? - 60% believe that 9/11 attacks were not carried out by Arab Mohammedan terrorists. - 22% of U.S. Mohammedans said the use of suicide bombings against civilian targets to defend Islam can be justified. The complete survey is here:Muslim-Americans This liberal attempt to hide the true facts of Islamic extremism does no service to America, or the Mohammedans themselves. In order to root out the extremists they need the light shined on them like the cockroaches they (the extremists) are. God Bless, Matt

While it's not on the level of, say, Sam Brownback getting elected President of the USA, in the wake of tragic election results in Mexico and Portugal for Catholics, well, I'll take some international electoral wins where I can get them. In this case, as I predicted about three years ago on my old blog, Nicholas Sarkozy has been elected the president of France. From a Catholic perspective, he is basically a Rudy Giuliani type. Still, for France, that is pretty darn good and there are some positives here. All-in-all though, this election is no major victory in the "Culture Wars," as we know them here in America. At least however, Mr. Sarkozy, will slow/stop the slide into moral oblivion in France. Sure a speed-bump is no bastion, but it's better than nothing, and who knows what good may come of it? Anyway, the good news... 1-Sarkozy is pro-American. This is very refreshing to see. With a strong man in power, France could be a valuable ally in the war on terror. 2-He stands for law and order. Since 1789, it seems, rioting is the preferred option in France, whether one is pushing for a Jihad or just a 30 hour work week. At least we can be confident that for the next few years, France will be led by man who won't let France turn into "Eurabia." 3-He opposes bringing Turkey in the EU. 4-He is not openly hostile to religion. Sarkozy In the he has even criticized France's draconian 1905 secularization laws, a real untouchable sacred cow in France, but one that needs to be delt with. Such hard-core secularism in France is actually creating major problems since rather than become part of society, France's Muslims feel pushed into a corner and fight back. Sarkozy took their side in a conflict over the right to wear their headscarves, this was a good move on his part. As the Pope says... "...we become capable of that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today. In the Western world it is widely held that only positivistic reason and the forms of philosophy based on it are universally valid. Yet the world’s profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions. A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures. At the same time, as I have attempted to show, modern scientific reason with its intrinsically Platonic element bears within itself a question which points beyond itself and beyond the possibilities of its methodology." 5-Sarkozy a Cafeteria Catholic himself, at least shows some respect for Catholics... -"In a country where politicians rarely mention faith, Sarkozy openly professes admiration for the late Pope John Paul, says he prefers lively African Sunday mass to French priests' boring sermons and name-drops about his talks with French cardinals... -"The message Nicolas Sarkozy has been sending to Catholics, throughout the campaign but especially in recent days, seems to have been well received," the Catholic daily La Croix wrote... -"Sarkozy said he would help Catholic schools overcome state limits and get more teachers. He also opposed gay marriage and said the state should not subsidize mosques, as Muslims want." Sure he is just throwing us a bone, so to speak, but it's better than the open hostility from the socialist camp. 5- Things could have been a lot worse had Ségolène Royal, who is living in sin, refusing to marry the father of her four children, rose to power. Consider her tendency to attack the Pope almost every chance she gets... "Royal broaches themes that are anathema to the Vatican...Royal saves her full broadside against Pope Benedict for a question about his remarks on Islam at the University of Regensburg in Germany last September...(She writes) 'Later, the Inquisition and the bonfires on which thousands of women accused of sorcery were burned did not testify especially well to the harmonious marriage between Christianism and Reason. The same goes for the Wars of Religion that bloodied Europe.'" Mr. Sarkozy may be far from the model of a practicing Catholic, but at least he ACKNOWLEDGES the existence and importance of Europe's Christian history, he doesn't deny it or attack it. 6-Unlike his opponent in the Socialist Party, Sarkozy will not legalize gay marriage, though with the civil unions and such in France, it is pretty much defacto legal already, at least the word marriage is preserved and the door is open to its sanctity someday being restored someday. 7-Sarkozy is not French. Well OK, he is French, but he is of Hungarian decent. France is always at its most powerful when NOT led by Frenchman, remember Joan of Arc (French-Woman), Napoleon (Corsican). 8-I cannot emphasize this enough, IT COULD HAVE BEEN A LOT WORSE! Please say a prayer for President Sarkozy, for I think, deep down, he is a good man who understands history, and the difference between good and evil. If he makes a conversion of heart on some issues he could even become an orthodox Catholic. He is in a position in which with a little faith and courage, he can do great things for France, Europe, and the world. For a Catholic counterpoint to all this, keep your eye on this blog, I have a feeling some pro-Socialist commentary is on the way.

... in Africa each year. While barely a few Christians convert to Islam. In Iran each day 50 children convert to Christianity secretly in the official Islamic state of Iran. According to the New Oxford Review article. Unlike the West where women are converting to Islam attracted to the traditional roles of women in Islam. Such as motherhood, conservative dress, and more emphasis on their nurturing nature. Of course if these same Western women would just look into Catholicism they would see these traditional virtues, but too many wayward priests and cowardly bishops have joined the zeitgeist of "I'm ok, you're ok, sing kumbaya" lets not make the-sign-of-the-cross before meals so as not to offend those lapse Catholics type of mentality. The Muslim immigrants into Spain lose their Islamic faith but do not convert to Catholicism. They fall prey to hedonism and materialism. If only those priests and bishops would get off those soft-issues of environmentalism and talk about life, love, sin, and hell we would be able to transform these United States into a Catholic nation! For the article click here. (Hat Tip: New Oxford Review)

Year in and year out our Catholic and non-Catholic Christian brothers in Bethlehem live in daily fear from their Muslim neighbors. Only 2% of all Palestinians are Christian. The Palestinian Authority, the de facto ruler of the West Bank and Gaza, offer limited protection to our suffering Christian brothers. This Advent and Christmas is no exception. Ask any Palestinian Christian if there is peace and harmony between them and their Palestinian Muslims and they hesitantly say 'yes'. As an Israeli Arab Christian and they say otherwise, safely from Israel where freedom of religion is actually practiced. This year let us pray for them in their time of suffering and need that they may find solice in our Lord and Savior. To read an article on Bethlehem's Christians click here.