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April 24 - 30, 2006

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The following articles were posted at www.understandthetimes.org this past week:

Bleeding Host - A Eucharistic Miracle?
Catholics, Protestants join to disprove claims of Da Vinci Code
Benedict XVI Grateful for Rome's Embrace
Russia and China warn UN not to antagonise Iran
Climate change: 20th century the wettest in Pakistan for 1,000 years
The Play's the Thing At Pittsburgh Church Targeting New Crowd
Kadima and Labor: Signed and Sealed
IMF wins new powers to police global economy
Olmert says Iran president "psychopath"

Article: Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days

April 21 - Bleeding Host - A Eucharistic Miracle?
The vice chancellor, Monsignor William H. Duncan, says the Bishop is "exercising caution" and that there is no approval at this point for public exposition or Adoration, nor are any tests planned. The diocese released the following statement to Spirit Daily:

Most Reverend Hurley states caution needs to be taken before identifying any event or circumstance as miraculous:

"Without precluding the possibility of an extraordinary manifestation of the Lord's real presence, great caution needs to be exercised in identifying specific situations as miraculous," he says. "We must always be mindful of the real presence of the Lord in every Eucharist.

 
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Article: Ecumenical Movement - Protestants Uniting with Roman Catholics

April 24, 2006 - Catholics, Protestants join to disprove claims of Da Vinci Code

Denver, Apr. 24, 2006 (CNA) - Catholic and Protestant churches in Colorado are joining forces to rebut the claims made about Christianity in the The Da Vinci Code before it hits movie theaters May 19, reported the Denver Rocky Mountain News. They say they want to counter the story's fabrications, not boycott the book or movie.

Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs is encouraging viewers to also look at resources by Christian scholars at www.go.family.org/davinci.

The Catholic Church wouldn't be responsible if it ignored the questions generated by Da Vinci, said Jeanette DeMelo, communications director for the Archdiocese of Denver.

..."Evangelicals place a high, high, high value on the role of Jesus Christ; that's our focus," Fisk told the newspaper. "We certainly have theological differences [with Catholics] but there's a lot of unity in the body of Christ right now and we recognize we have some common world views, and we can work together."
 
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Article: Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days

April 25, 2006 - Benedict XVI Grateful for Rome's Embrace - City Honors Its Bishop With a Concert

ROME, APRIL 25, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Rome's vocation, Benedict XVI reminded the city, is to be a "beacon of civilization and spirituality for the entire world."
 
The Pope addressed the citizenry of Rome last Friday afternoon at an event that recalled the city's foundation as well as Benedict XVI's first anniversary in the papacy.

The municipality of Rome honored the Holy Father with a concert in the local Auditorium, on the 2,759th anniversary of the city's birth.

Among those who received the Pope were the president of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi; the vicar general for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini; and Mayor Walter Veltroni.
At the end of the concert, which was broadcast on radio and television, Benedict XVI said, in an address published by the Holy See, that the memory of the city's foundation "is a propitious occasion to understand better Rome's vocation to be a beacon of civilization and spirituality for the entire world."

"Thanks to the meeting between its traditions and Christianity, in the course of the centuries Rome developed a peculiar mission and continues to be at present an important incentive for many visitors attracted by such a rich artistic patrimony, to a large extent linked to the city's Christian history," the Pope added.

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Article: Wars and Rumors of Wars

April 27, 2006 - Russia and China warn UN not to antagonise Iran

Russia and China on Thursday warned against escalating the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme. The call came on the eve of an eagerly awaited report on whether the country has met United Nations demands.

The US and the European Union believe Friday's report by Mohamed El Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will set the stage for a UN Security Council resolution, since there is little chance that Tehran will meet the council's demand for "full and sustained suspension" of uranium enrichment, which can produce weapons-grade material.

But on Thursday Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, warned against too great an intervention by the Security Council - a path Moscow feels could lead to confrontation.
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Article: Signs of the Times

April 28, 2006 - Climate change: 20th century the wettest in Pakistan for 1,000 years
Since the beginning of industrialisation the amount of precipitation in Pakistan has increased considerably. This is shown by what is the first evaluation worldwide of isotopes in the annual rings of juniper trees which are more than 1,000 years old.

In the forthcoming issue of the journal Nature on 27 April, scientists from the Swiss Research Institute WSL, the Potsdam Geo Research Centre, the Jülich Research Centre and the University of Bonn report that these show that the 20th century was the wettest century in the past millennium in northern Pakistan. The reason could be global warming: when the temperature rises, the atmosphere can store more humidity, which in turn results in more snow and rain falling. The increase in precipitation is unprecedented, at least for the last 1,000 years. The researchers therefore conclude that human influence is not unlikely.

Annual rings are sensitive indicators of the climatic and environmental conditions in which they grow. 'If trees become stressed - for example in particularly dry years - their trunk growth is less than in good times,' Professor Matthias Winiger, of Bonn's Geographical Institute, says.

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Article: Bridges to Rome

April 13, 2006 - The Play's the Thing At Pittsburgh Church Targeting New Crowd - Drama Relates Bible Stories In a Gritty Urban Setting; Even Pastors Have Tattoos

...No one preaches at Hot Metal Bridge. Plays are its liturgy. Mr. Walker, a soon-to-be ordained United Methodist minister, leads the church with his friend Jeff Eddings, a Presbyterian seminarian. "Instead of coming to our church and listening to a sermon, you can be part of the sermon," Mr. Walker says. On Sunday when many ministers all over the country will be complaining about church attendance the rest of the year, Hot Metal will be grappling with where to put the 300 people who pack the Goodwill Industries cafeteria every Sunday, not just Easter and Christmas.

Hot Metal Bridge is part of the emergent church movement that rejects rigid orthodoxy and strives to use hip language and culture to draw in young Americans who stopped, or never started, attending church.

Some ministries have sprung up around a central interest, such as yoga. One Mineapolis group attracts drummers. A Los Angeles group favors dance. In New York, the Communion of the Arts hopes artists will flock to its first Sunday service on Easter in Times Square. Leadership Network, a Dallas-based church consulting firm, says about 1,000 congregations define themselves as part of the movement.
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Article: Israel and the Last Days

April 28, 2006 - Kadima and Labor: Signed and Sealed
The two largest parties in the 17th Knesset, Kadima and Labor, signed a coalition agreement Thursday evening, giving the Labor Party seven ministers in the government.

...The agreement also outlines the negotiation process on permanent borders to be carried out with the Palestinian Authority, specifying it must be carried out on the basis of the previously agreed-upon Road Map plan. It also states, "If the Palestinians do not act in accordance with these conditions in the near term, the government will also take action in the absence of negotiations and an agreement with them, on the basis of a broad national agreement within Israel and a deep understanding with Israel's friends abroad, chief among them the United States and President George W. Bush."

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Article: One World Government

April 23, 2006 - IMF wins new powers to police global economy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund won new powers to police the world economy after its 184 member countries endorsed a new framework to monitor how the economic policies of one country affects others.

The countries, represented by finance ministers or central bank governors, also agreed that some emerging economies needed more say in IMF decision-making that could lead to a proposal for ad hoc increases in their voting shares by the next IMF gathering in September.

"We resolve to make the IMF more fit for purpose in a global economy and more able to address challenges that are quite different from those of 1945, when the IMF was created," Chancellor Gordon Brown, who also chairs the IMF's policy-setting committee, told a news conference.

"The IMF should be more able to address global questions with multilateral surveillance," Brown said.
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Article: Israel and Last Days

April 29, 2006 - Olmert says Iran president "psychopath"
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a psychopath and anti-Semite whose declarations resemble those of Adolf Hitler, Israeli acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a newspaper interview on Saturday.

"Ahmadinejad speaks today like Hitler before taking power," Olmert told Germany's Bild newspaper. "He speaks of the complete destruction and annihilation of the Jewish people."

Ahmadinejad has questioned the Holocaust and called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." He has also suggested the Jewish state should be moved to Europe or North America.

"So you see, we are dealing with a psychopath of the worst kind, with an anti-Semite," Olmert said. "God forbid that this man ever gets his hands on nuclear weapons, to carry out his threats."

 

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