Free Republic

Knight Moves University officials continue to demonstrate hostility towards Catholicism that borders on persecution. We have posted stories on the failure of college administrators to take action when student newspapers publish sacrilegious cartoons. Their declarations of support for freedom of the press would be more believable if they took the same approach towards sketches that offend Islamic and Gay Rights groups. Add to the mix the University of Wisconsin’s attempt to ban the Knights of Columbus. The Catholic fraternity is already invisible enough on cutting-edge campuses loosely affiliated with the Church, such as Georgetown’s. “Although the Knights have been a...

WASHINGTON, February 9, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The February edition of the Jewish bimonthly magazine, Moment, carries an excerpt from a book by Abigail Pogrebin, Stars of David; the book details conversations Pogrebin had with 62 famous Jews.  The excerpt features Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of Pogrebin's subjects.  What Ginsburg had to say about Christianity was noted by Catholic League president Bill Donohue:"In the January 30 edition of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger, Abigail Pogrebin was asked which Jewish persons have left a 'profound impression' on her.  She answered, 'I will never forget Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg saying,...

When a Homosexual Murders a Christian: Media Ignore Mary Stachowicz Vigil By Peter LaBarbera, IFI Executive Director Mary Stachowicz 1951-2002   Sikorsky Funeral Home where alleged murderer Nicholas Gutierrez stuffed Mary's body in a crawl space. Stachowicz and Gutierrez both worked at the funeral home.   Candlelight vigil for Mary, victim of hate. News database search: thousands of stories on Matthew Shepard; 25 on Mary Stachowicz No major "mainstream" media in Chicago or Illinois covered a candlelight vigil Sunday night (November 13) commemorating the three-year anniversary of the murder of Mary Stachowicz--a devout Chicago Catholic woman who was brutally killed...

DJAKOVICA -- Monday – A bus with forty Serbian people inside was pelted with stones while trying to visit a cemetery in Djakovica this weekend. The Serbian refugees from Djakovica visited the Orthodox cemetery located near the village. Many of the monuments that have been desecrated recently have been successfully restored and a fence has been put in place around the cemetery. A commemoration ceremony for the deceased was held in front of what remains of the Holy Prince Lazar church. While the Serbian refugees were visiting the grave sites, several cars drove around the cemetery grounds playing Albanian music...

There is no denying Christopher Hitchens’s skill as a public figure: he is seldom at a loss for words, sometimes entertaining, and occasionally even right. But he keeps getting important things wrong because, throughout his political wanderings, there persists a strange loyalty to an obscure bloodthirsty revolutionary and to the ideals of the Bolshevik Revolution. For Hitchens—now honored throughout the neoconservative Right—remains what he has been throughout his public life, a disciple of Leon Trotsky and a talented writer and polemicist—perhaps the most talented polemicist the Bolshevik tradition has produced in the West. Given Hitchens’s current role as a neocon...

ISRAEL - VATICAN An Israeli official is in Washington to repair the Israeli – Holy See crisis by Arieh Cohen Tel Aviv (AsiaNews) - AsiaNews has learnt from the Israeli Government sources that a Foreign Ministry official is being dispatched in haste to Washington DC, to try to repair some of the damage caused to Israel's image and relations with US Catholics by the Foreign Ministry's withdrawal from negotiations with the Holy See, and savage verbal attacks on Pope Benedict XVI and on the memory of Pope John Paul II. The official is, however, a certain Nimrod Barkan who had...

Thousands of girls and boys were raped and tortured, and many were murdered, in Canada's aboriginal boarding schools, most of which shut down in the 1970's. The unchecked criminal violence suffered by these girls and boys has become a major cause of rampant child prostitution and other serious social ills among several generations of Canada's First Nations (Native/indigenous) peoples. This violence is called genocide.

Modern communication technology has helped make the Pope’s death an unparalleled event. The entire world has literally come together to praise this one man. I find that many sense that there will be some important and climactic consequences to follow the death of this Pope. As I studied the many Bible prophecies of the Last Days, I found a most unusual extra-Biblical prophecy made by an Irish Catholic Bishop in the 12th Century. His name is St. Malachy. According to his biographer St. Bernard of Clairvaux, in his book Life of Saint Malachy, St. Malachy was known to have the...

Look at the pictures of Leonardo's "Last Supper" before and after restoration. Then think of the big to-do about Mary Magdalen's allegedly sitting next to Christ in this painting. Then prepare to laugh -- and get mad at the thought of so many souls torn away from Christ because of Dan Brown's lying book. http://www.kensmen.com/catholic/xdavincilastsupperphotos.html

During the February 22 episode of the NBC-TV sitcom, “Committed,” two non-Catholics are mistakenly given Holy Communion at a Catholic funeral Mass.  Nate, who is Jewish, and Bowie, a Protestant, don’t know what to do with the Eucharist, so they make several failed attempts to get rid of it.  For example, they try slipping it into the pocket of a priest, dropping it on a tray of cheese and crackers, etc.    At one point, the priest, who is portrayed as not knowing the difference between the Host and a cracker, goes to grab the “cracker” from a tray...

For Toledo police, it was a rare assignment: Search an abandoned house on the edge of a cornfield in western Lucas County where people reportedly took part in ritual abuse ceremonies. The detectives combed the bedrooms, kitchen, and even the dark basement for evidence of cult gatherings. The search of the decrepit, wood structure last year was a sign the investigation of the Rev. Gerald Robinson was moving beyond a murder case.

Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler gave one of his generals a direct order to kidnap Pope Pius XII during World War II, but the officer did not obey, Italy's leading Roman Catholic newspaper reported yesterday. Avvenire, owned by the Italian Conference of Roman Catholic bishops, said details of the plot had emerged in documents presented to the Vatican to support putting the wartime pontiff on the road to sainthood. Elements of alleged plots to abduct the pope during Germany's occupation of Italy have previously emerged from some historians, but Avvenire's full-page report said its details were new. Avvenire said Hitler feared...

Translated J.R. Orellana So it reveals the Catholic newspaper Avvenire according to statements made by former Nazi General Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff, who says that he personally received orders from the Führer to kidnap the Pope EFE El Universal online Roma, Italia Saturday 15 january 2005 13:24 Adolf Hitler had planned to kidnap Pope Pius XII 1944 due to his position against Nazism and his collaboration with the Jews, according to today's edition of the daily Avvenire, which is based on testimony from former Nazi General Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff. According to the paper, Wolff's information is found in a...

“Anti-Catholicism in the US is the predominant focus of the Catholic League. But we are not oblivious to what has been happening to Catholics in other parts of the world. Specifically, the rise of anti-Catholicism in Europe and the Arab nations is very disturbing. Moreover, it is not for nothing that these two regions continue to display an abiding hatred of Jews.

In 2003, the Catholic League celebrated its 30th anniversary. Founded in 1973 by Jesuit scholar Father Virgil Blum, the league is dedicated to defending individual Catholics and the institutional Church against discrimination and defamation. 

Spain's New Government to Legalize Gay Marriage Thu Apr 15, 2004 10:27 AM ET MADRID (Reuters) - Spain will legalize homosexual marriages and grant equal rights to gay couples, incoming Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Thursday. The move is likely to stir controversy in one of Europe's most Catholic countries as the Vatican condemns same-sex unions and homosexuality was banned under Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Spain's Catholic bishops have already spoken out strongly against the adoption of children by homosexual couples. "The moment has finally arrived to end once and for all the intolerable discrimination which many Spaniards...

As this letter from Bill Donohoe of the Catholic League, two years ago, noted, the Disney/Miramax sex movie, "40 days and 40 nights" not only mocked Lent (and, hence, Christianity), it heaped insult on injury by opening during Lent. Wasn't this an example of Christian bashing by Hollywood (and by two Jewish executives)? But WHERE WAS ABE FOXMAN TO DENOUNCE THIS SACRILIGE? Apparently he can only denounce Christian movies, like Mel's. I for one am tired of the Passion being labeled "controversial," when anti-christian crap is put out incessently by the Hollywood trash and hate merchants -- without a peep...

Three years ago, the Beck Center had a transvestite march in the town of Lakewood 4th of July Parade: "Bob Simon learned that firsthand when, in costume as the sweet transvestite from Transylvania Frank N Furter, he received a sour reaction for his role in Lakewood's Fourth of July parade." "Michael Gill, marketing director at the Beck Center, said the arts facility received 28 calls within two days after the parade that complained about the publicity appearance for the stage show, which opens Friday." Now the Beck Center is preparing to present the vile anti-Catholic play, "Agnes of God." April...

'There's a huge war raging," Mel Gibson says, "and it's over us!" The movie star and director has gone apoplectic about the criticism he's received for his forthcoming film The Passion, a provocative retelling of the crucifixion of Jesus.More incendiary than the film is Gibson with his mouth open.He decried his critics before anyone actually saw the multilingual cinematic portrayal of Jesus' final hours. He has threatened the life of a well-known critic, complained about "vehement anti-Christian sentiment out there," and claimed that certain Jews would kill him if he didn't cut out some incendiary footage.Gibson is rich enough to...

As a guy who's done a bit of chatting about the Catholic Faith with folks, one of the things that has struck me over the years is the sheer fecundity of the human mind in giving reasons not to be Catholic. When Life Serves Lemons, Make Lemonade! To a young Catholic or a new convert, such overwhelming fertility in repudiating the Faith can be rather daunting. A trip to an Internet list group, for example, can be a bit like drinking from a fire hose of anti-Catholic rhetoric. One can simply be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of it all....

People sometimes have vague fears about the Catholic Church, that we have a sinister plan to restrict their freedom. Since this is Fourth of July weekend (and it fits with our Scripture readings) I would like to address those fears. Once I had a conversation with a young woman concerned that the Catholic Church was trying to take away her “right to choose.” She described herself as “very pro-choice.” Fair enough, I told her, but I was curious how far she would take it. “Suppose,” I asked, “someone were mistreating their pet (not feeding it properly, allowing it to live...

Among the many troubling offshoots of the clergy sex abuse scandal, the erosion of confidence in the leaders of the Church is easily one of the worst.Tell a mixed audience of Catholics that not all bishops are responsible for the mess and that anti-Catholicism had something to do with the way the scandal was presented and perceived — you’re likely to get your head handed to you for your trouble.But, as Philip Jenkins shows in his important book "The New Anti-Catholicism" (Oxford University Press, $27), these things happen to be facts. People who think the abuse scandal was exclusively about...

Anti-Catholicism in the U.S.: A hate much loved and lied about By Michael Pakenham Sun Staff Originally published May 11, 2003 Is a need to hate essential to the human condition? No. But history and contemporary life insist that hating has beguiling charms. Denying them is a main job of civilization. That job's not being done very well these days. For the moment, put aside African-Americans, Jews, Latinos and other traditional hate targets and consider the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. The most elegant description of anti-Catholicism I have read is John Highham's: "the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition...

It's an exhilarating and strange thing for a chubby suburbanite like me to find I am a dangerous man. But somebody named Robert M. Zins, Th.M. has deduced that I am and has written an exciting expose of me called published in a journal called Theo~Logical, (a quarterly publication of A Christian Witness To Roman Catholicism). Wow! Talk About Yer Sinister Papist! As should be obvious from the name of his ministry, Mr. Zins is pretty certain Catholics are not Christian. He is also, judging from his article, certain that I am a Bad Person. I show "to what depth...