Category Archives: Religion
Furious husband says he will sue Church for wife’s fling with bishop
Bishop Kieran Conry leaving his home with Olivia Hodgkinson
A furious husband is threatening to sue the Catholic Church following a bishop’s ‘obsessive relationship’ with his wife.
High-flying City banker Simon Hodgkinson said, despite proof of Bishop Kieran Conry’s affair with his wife Olivia, the clergyman continues to deny it.
Bishop Conroy, 63, last week resigned from his post as Bishop of Arundel and Brighton after admitting breaking his vow of celibacy, following an affair with a woman six years ago.
But his fall from grace was not enough for father-of-two Mr Hodgkinson, who claims his marriage collapsed after his wife’s fling with the priest last year.
He told the Mail on Sunday: ‘The thought of losing my wife to someone who has behaved so irresponsibly is awful.
‘He has abused his authority to the extent that he has allowed a married woman and mother of two children to sleep in his house and he has been completely blind to the emotional impact.’
Love letters were exchanged between Mrs Hodgkinson, 43, and Bishop Conry, in which he wrote:
‘It’s all right to say that Simon did bad things, but you knew that he didn’t love you.
‘You know (I hope) that I did. And I did, and do.’
Mr Hodgkinson wants to take the Church to the High Court to find out how much it knew of the bishop’s sexual relationships.
Bishop Conry has denied the relationship was physical.
Ebola: Catholic Church suspends ‘sign of peace’, Anglican primate suspends handshake
As the fear of the spread of Ebola sweeps across Nigeria, Catholic churches in Lagos have suspended the ‘sign of peace’ where the congregation shake hands during mass. While some Anglican churches have suspended handshakes during communion.
The Archbishop of Lagos Adewale Martins released a statement yesterday saying that while the handshakes have been suspended, Catholic priests should continue the traditional hand to mouth method of given Holy Communion for now, but asked the priest to make sure their hands don’t touch the tongues of the recipient. He also said Holy Water bowls usually placed at the entrance of churches should be discontinued to contain the spread of the virus.
In the same vain, the Primate of the Church Of Nigeria Anglican Communion the Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh today suspended shaking of hands during the exchange of the peace. He also suspended the age long mouth method of administering communion. He said this is aimed at preventing the spread of the disease through physical contact.
Gunning for God: Troy, N.Y. pastor to hold church raffle draw for AR-15-type rifle
Grace Baptist Chuch Rev. John Koletas at his home in Melrose. Koletas is attracting gun lovers
Attendees @ Grace Baptist Church in Troy, N.Y., can win an assault rifle as advertised in this flies
an AR 15 riffle
An upstate pastor is planning to give away an unholy raffle prize at an upcoming service: an AR-15 assault rifle.
“We’re honoring gun owners and hunters,” the Rev. John Koletas, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Troy, told the Daily News. “And we’re being a blessing and a help to people who have been attacked, viciously attacked, by socialists and anti-Christian people — the politicians and the media.”
In a bid to lure as many gun lovers as possible to his church, Koletas even rolled out a provocative flier advertising the high-powered giveaway.
“My peace I give unto you . . . John 14:27,” blares the flier, which includes a photo of the deadly weapon under the headline: “Win a FREE AR-15. “
“Does the Bible defend my right to bear arms?” it adds.
Shocked pastors at nearby churches refused to lend their blessings to the bizarre event, which glamorizes the type of weapon used to slaughter 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012.
“I think it’s sending the wrong message entirely,” said the Rev. Willie Bacote, a pastor of Missing Link AME Zion Church in Troy and a prominent anti-gun advocate.
“We promulgate the gospel as peacemakers. We’re not people who give away guns,” he said. “Even the Bible teaches us to turn the other cheek.”
Koletas, 56, pointed out that the March 23 raffle is free and insisted he’s following God’s will in giving away a deadly weapon.
“It may be foreign to most city dwellers. It may seem controversial to people who don’t read their Bibles,” added Koletas, seated inside his two-story Melrose home with a chicken coop out back.
Koletas emphasized that the version he’s giving away will not include a pistol grip, which makes it legal to own in New York.
Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, who is slated to be a featured guest at the event, said he doesn’t understand the fuss.
McLaughlin noted that the lucky winner will have to go through the same background check to obtain the $700 weapon as someone who purchases it at a gun shop.
“It’s not like the winner’s going to walk out of the church with this firearm,” said McLaughlin (R-Schaghticoke).
“This is something Gov. Cuomo should applaud. These are law-abiding people, churchgoing people, and it complies with” his gun control legislation known as the SAFE Act.
The weapon, a Smith & Wesson M&P semiautomatic rifle, the gunmaker’s version of the AR-15, is being donated to the church by a local gun shop.
“The pastor is a customer of ours and we want to support and promote any kind of Second Amendment activity,” Brian Olesen, owner of Oakwood Trading Post, told the Times-Union of Albany.
The winner of the raffle must be at least 18, undergo an FBI background check and meet all state and federal laws before the gun is handed over, Olesen added.
This isn’t the first time Koletas has generated controversy.
The pastor was arrested seven times by Troy police in 1989 and 1990 on disorderly conduct charges for loud and incessant street-corner preaching.
But all charges against him were dropped or dismissed, according to the Times-Union. He sued the city of Troy for false arrest — seeking $485,000 — but lost, the paper reported.
The AR-15, which fires roughly 800 rounds per minute, was a weapon of choice for Newtown school shooter Adam Lanza and Colorado theater gunman James Holmes.
Church allows members to attend service nude, says ‘Jesus was crucified naked’ , Even the pastor preaches naked(PHOTOS)
The White Tail Chapel even hosts naked weddings.
A church in the US state of Virginia has taken the bizarre decision to allow its congregation to attend services in the nude.
Pastor Allen Parker, the leader of White Tail Chapel in the town of Southampton, said he came to the decision to allow naked worship after concluding the clothing requirements of other churches were overly ‘pretentious’, and decided his own flock should be free to forgo such materialism if they desire.
He believes he is in good company too, claiming many of the most important moments in the Bible happened while the protagonists were nude, including Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.
Speaking to CNN, Mr Parker said: ‘When he [Jesus] was born he was naked, when he was crucified he was naked and when he arose he left his clothes in the tomb and he was naked.’
‘If God made us that way, how can that be wrong?’ he added.
Mr Parker is believed to have drawn at least some of his opinions on nudity from the book of Genesis, in which Adam and Eve were originally described as ‘both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed’.
It was only after sinfully eating forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge that Adam and Even are said to have seen their nudity as shameful, at which point they sowed fig leaves into loincloths.
Although the church allows worshipers to attend services fully naked, many have decided they would rather continue to attend fully clothed, particuarly when in mid-winter, while others opt to just reveal their breasts or genitals.
The idea is that nudity is ‘the great equaliser’, reminding all those gathered in the church that they are simple human beings and that, beneath any personal wealth or glamorous outward appearance, they are all more of less the same beneath the clothing.
‘There’s not a feeling that you have to be better than one another, physically. We’re humans, we have scars, we have what we have. It’s learning to love and accept that,‘ Mr Parker says.
And the pastor leads the church by example, standing in his pulpit without a scrap of clothing as he reads stories from the Bible to the faithful gathered in his small rural church.
The nudity is not restricted purely to preaching, however.
Several couples have recently been married in fully nude services, in which all members of both families are encouraged to shed their clothing before the couple take their vows.
Robert and Katie Church were one couple to have a naked wedding at the White Tail Chapel, with Mr Church saying attendees were far more interested in ‘hearing the word of God and speaking the word of God’ than analysing the naked bodies on display.
Mrs Church wasn’t a nudist before the couple met, but says she has since come to love the experience of going to church in the nude and now considers her fellow worshipers ‘family’.
Vial of Pope John Paul II’s blood stolen from Italian church
A relic containing drops of late Pope John Paul II’s blood has been stolen, and Italian police speculate the thieves may want it for satanic rites.
The vial was stolen from the Church of San Pietro della Ienca in the mountainous Abruzzo region in central Italy on Saturday. Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, loved to go on skiing holidays in the area.
The theft sparked a major search operation involving sniffer dogs and dozens of police officers.
Italian authorities said they believe the theft was commissioned, as thieves stole only the relic and left many other valuables behind at the church.
Only three of John Paul II’s relics contain his blood and they are all considered of great religious value.
As the late pontiff’s blood would be difficult to sell, Italian police said it is possible the thieves may plan to use it for satanic rites.
Arguably one of the most popular popes in modern history, John Paul II is due to become a saint in April.
(PHOTOS) Orthodox ‘priests’ strip off for gay calendar they say will bring ‘hope, joy and comfort’
A new calendar created by Romanian Orthodox Christians featuring muscular male models in steamy poses has been unveiled.
The men behind the Romanian Orthodox 2014 calendar say it pays tribute to gay marriage, which, they say, ‘is in the news all around the world and very timely’.
One shot shows a half-naked model reading the bible, another shows a man posing in the buff on a bed clutching some rosary beads.
Checkout the rest of the pictures below…………
Rapture§quad 