{"id":255042,"date":"2017-11-21T08:53:16","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T13:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aleteia.org\/?post_type=post&amp;p=255042"},"modified":"2017-11-21T08:53:16","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T13:53:16","slug":"wondering-what-to-preach-about-this-weekend-heres-an-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2017\/11\/wondering-what-to-preach-about-this-weekend-heres-an-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"Wondering what to preach about this weekend? Here&#8217;s an idea."},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>This is an excellent initiative and I\u2019m pleased that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnewa.org\/home.aspx?ID=26&amp;pagetypeID=12&amp;sitecode=HQ\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>CNEWA<\/strong><\/a> is a part of it: the bishops have declared this Sunday a day of prayer for persecuted Christians.<\/p>\n<p>From the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/issues-and-action\/human-life-and-dignity\/global-issues\/middle-east\/christians-in-the-middle-east\/index.cfm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">USCCB: <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The Christian presence in the Holy Lands traces its roots to the earliest days of Christianity. These small, diverse communities have historically contributed to the vibrant social fabric of their societies in the fields of science, medicine, and philosophy. Their fraternity with the diversity of Churches and other religious groups helps to foster greater interreligious dialogue, unity, and peace in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>In the midst of the turbulence in the Middle East, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops expresses solidarity with Christians and all those who suffer from the conflict and persecution in the region. The Church stands at the service of all people in the Middle East, both Christians and Muslims.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In addition to designating November 26 as a day of prayer for persecuted Christians, the USCCB has marked next week as a time to raise awareness about the plight of our brothers and sisters around the world facing persecution and even death.<\/p>\n<p>Check out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnewa.org\/blog.aspx?ID=3946&amp;pagetypeID=35&amp;sitecode=HQ\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>our blog at CNEWA<\/strong><\/a> for more details.<\/p>\n<p>And visit the USCCB <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/issues-and-action\/human-life-and-dignity\/global-issues\/middle-east\/christians-in-the-middle-east\/index.cfm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>website<\/strong><\/a> for additional resources and ideas. Spread the word. Please.<\/p>\n<p>The video below is a great starting point. Thank you!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Religious Freedom and Middle East Christians\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/poqs75X1cgg?start=4&amp;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is an excellent initiative and I\u2019m pleased that CNEWA is a part of it: the bishops have declared this Sunday a day of prayer for persecuted Christians. From the USCCB: The Christian presence in the Holy Lands traces its roots to the earliest days of Christianity. These small, diverse communities have historically contributed to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":164658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11252],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-255042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-open-mind"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Wondering what to preach about this weekend? 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