The Congregational Christian Tradition-By Rev. T. S. Premarajah Source:Ceylontoday The Congregational churches trace their origins to sixteenth-century England, where they were one part of a large and diverse effort to reform the Church of England. After King Henry VIII parted ways with the Roman Catholic Church over his marriage problems, the Anglican Church, as it was also called, kept the forms of Catholicism — the celebration of the Mass, ceremonial ‘vestments’ for the clergy, and the hierarchy of Archbishops and Bishops — but under the authority of the English King rather than the Pope. What began as a political change, however, ended up forever changing the landscape of religion in Great Britain and the United States. The dissenters opposing the Church of England were known as ‘Puritans’, at the time a derogatory reference to their uncompromising zeal for simplicity in worship and church organisation. They preferred to call themselves ‘the ...
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Bahrain’s blessed Cathedral builds religious unity-By Dishan Joseph The new Catholic cathedral Source:Dailynews The Arabian Gulf’s largest Roman Catholic Church has been opened in Bahrain. Our Lady of Arabia Cathedral, which can seat 2,300 people, is located in a desert town about 20 kilometres south of the capital, Manama. The modernist Church with an octagonal dome, several tiers of seating, two chapels and an 800-capacity auditorium is set to become a focal point for Bahrain’s 80,000 Catholics and an architectural landmark. The Holy Bible says in Psalm 133: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity”. Today Bahrain has enriched these words by showing the world, how Muslims and Christians are able to live in peace. By the 1930s, Bahrain had become the commercial centre of the Arabian Gulf on the success of the oil boom. The Gulf’s first Roman Catholic Church – The Sacred Heart ...
AN INSPIRATIONAL MESSAGE FOR MAY 2020 LEST YOU DID NOT KNOW! THE HORRIFIC COST OF TRANSLATING THE BIBLE FROM GREEK TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE WILLIAM TYNDALE the man who translated the Bible into English and was burnt alive at the ridiculous young age of 42 years old, for his efforts. Nearly 500 years ago, this week, William Tyndale, fondly called ‘Father of the English Bible’ was strangled and burned at the stake after being tried and convicted of heresy and reason for translating the Bible into English. HIS OFFENSE! He translated the Greek Bible into English. That you have a Bible in a language you can read is largely due to his labours, and many of the very phrases you read in it retain the flavour of his understanding of the Greek and Hebrew. ...
“UNITED, WE STAND, DIVIDED, WE FALL” – By Des Kelly It is the first day of May, “MAYDAY”, as it is generally known. It was also a well known “Signal Of Distress”, an S.O.S. if you like, and after I read the Cardinal’s view of the recent happenings in Sri Lanka, I totally “second” everything he says. This is NOT THE TIME for infighting. Many lives have been lost, many more are still in hospital, some seriously ill, and the Government, who was RESPONSIBLE for it all, in the first place, because of utter complacency, are STILL not getting their PRIORITIES in order. As Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith puts it his way, on behalf of eLanka, in Australia, plus many thousands of other genuine Patriots, all over this Planet of ours, I send out one of the BIGGEST “Maydays” of my life, to the incumbent Government of Sri Lanka. Please STOP all this ...
