Free Republic

Featured Term (selected at random:REVOLUTION A radical and generally violent effort to overthrow a civil government or constitution. Essential to a revolution is that the change of regime is not brought about by peaceful evolution or mutual agreement between the power that withdraws and the power that takes over the new government. Revolutions are caused either by the masses or by an act of high officials in the government. In the latter case it is called a coup d'état. In the twelfth century John of Salisbury (1115-80), followed by others, held that the murder of a tyrant was permissible even...

Featured Term (selected at random:JUS JURANDUM A sworn oath. Any one of the oaths that the Church at times requires of the faithful, and especially of her priests. Such was the Oath Against Modernism, required of those teaching in seminaries, prescribed by Pope St. Pius X. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

I begin with a piece, spotted by Fr Tim Finigan and reported in his indispensable blog The Hermeneutic of Continuity, which had been published in Sandro Magister’s blog—not his English one, Chiesa, but his Italian language blog for L’Espresso, Settimo Cielo.A few days ago, Magister told the story of a parish priest in the Italian diocese of Novara, Fr Tarcisio Vicario, who recently discussed the question of Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried. This is how he explained the Church’s teaching on the matter: “For the Church, which acts in the name of the Son of God, marriage...

I am a former Wahabbi Muslim who was born into a Muslim family and was raised as a Muslim in Saudi Arabia. All of my life in Saudi I grew up as a very devout Muslim follower who adhered and applied the teachings of Islam into every aspect of my life. These teaching included the belief that Islam is the final religion on earth; that it is the only acceptable religion to God; that it is the way to Heaven; that those who do not accept Islam as their faith are doomed to go to hell and their work and...

Featured Term (selected at random:DECRETALS A letter carrying authoritative decisions on matters of discipline, or the Pope's reply when he has been appealed to on a matter of discipline. The term is also applied to a collection of certain decretals such as Liber Sextus Decretalium, compiled by Pope Boniface VIII (1235-1303). (Etym. Latin decretale, a decree.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

How A ‘Mohawk Saint’ Can Inspire Us All Stephen Beale Recently canonized Saint Kateri Tekakwitha obviously has a special meaning for Native Americans, but she’s already being held up as a powerful inspiration for other faithful Christians in many other ways.One is reminded of St. Paul, who wrote in 1 Corinthians 9 that he had “become all things to all, to save at least some.” Much the same could be said about St. Kateri regarding the many ways she can inspire Christians at different points in their faith journeys—based on reactions to her canonization in the Catholic News Service and First...

To my Protestant brothers and sisters: It's time to come back to Mother Church. We want you, we need you, we love you. I've spent a lot of time in dialogue with activist atheists recently, and the direction we are going is not pretty. We are witnessing a rapid cultural decline into amorality. Satan seeks the ruin of souls through the destruction of marriage and family, and the quickest route to his goal is the profanation of sex. The truth and meaning of human sexuality is our era's cultural fault line, and unfortunately, Protestant denominations have been tumbling into its...

Featured Term (selected at random:TEN PLAGUES  The ten calamities sent by God on the Egyptians to make Pharaoh release the children of Israel (Exodus 7, 12). Seven of the plagues were done through Moses or Moses and Aaron' the fourth, fifth, and tenth were directly worked by God. They were, in sequence: water turned to blood, multitude of frogs, swarms of gnats, pest of flies, disease that killed all the cattle, epidemic of boils, torrential hailstorm, plague of locusts, darkness for three days, death of all the firstborn among the Egyptians. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John...

The third installment in Pope Francis’ series of interviews with atheist reporter Eugenio Scalfari took place on Thursday, July 10, 2014, and was published the following Sunday (07/13/14) in La Repubblica daily. Being that Scalfari doesn’t record these interviews on tape, but, rather, re-prints the dialogue based upon his memory of the interview, we can only say what the Pope Francis ‘allegedly’ said in them. One of the things that the Pope allegedly told Scalfari is that he wants to continue these interviews is because he “believes that an interview with a non-believer is mutually stimulating.” Typical of Scalfari’s interviews,...

In the Gospels, the most famous miracle associated with Jesus—other than the Resurrection—is the Feeding of the Five Thousand. It’s recorded in all four Gospels.But Matthew and Mark record an additional, similar miracle, known as the Feeding of the Four Thousand. The numbers connected with this miracle are a little different (four thousand people are fed, they use seven loaves and “a few small fish,” and they pick up seven baskets of leftovers), but it’s the same basic type of miracle.That may be why Luke and John chose not to record it: Given the space limitations on ancient books,...

Finding My Way Home The Eucharist drew me back. By: Johnnie BernhardI was baptized in the Catholic Church as an infant. My family later left the Church, and it took me fifty years to find my way home. Through all those years, I never forgot the peace I found in the Eucharist.Even as a practicing Protestant most of my adult life, I continued to search out Catholic churches wherever I lived, hiding in a pew in the back of the church, always a spectator, always longing to recapture the peace I found in the Eucharist. I could never really...

The Hermeneutic Of Cont...Oh I Give Up Some Papal Quotes that somehow and in some way beyond my meager intellect are in continuity with each other, or something. First Quote Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441. ex cathedra (infallibly defined): “The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they...

Featured Term (selected at random:CHAPTER HOUSE A building attached to a cathedral or monastery where certain meetings were held, business carried out, the martyrology read, and daily tasks assigned. the name arose from the practice of conducting the chapter of faults in this building. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

While I’m reasonably certain that most readers of this space remember the big dust-up that ensued when Pope Francis said in his interview with the atheist Eugenio Scalfari, “Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense,” please allow me to offer a painful recap. Traditionalists (otherwise known as Catholics) immediately bristled at these words of the pope, seeing in them a rejection of the mission that Christ gave to his Church. So-called “conservative” Catholic media types, by contrast, leapt into damage control mode. Their first response was to call into question the accuracy of the text, but Fr. Federico Lombardi...

Featured Term (selected at random:ILLUMINISM A form of Gnosticism, it appears in the history of Christian heresy as a belief in one's own divine enlightenment, with a sense of mission to enlighten others, contrary to the express teachings of the Church's magisterium. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Being raised in a Protestant home, the Scriptures were (and in many ways still are) the end-all-be-all of the faith for me. However, there is a reason I am no longer a Protestant. This reason has many branches but all points back to one thing, context. Given the necessity of context, I find the whole idea of “Scripture Alone” horrifying. What it is: Sola Scriptura is the idea that Christianity ought to be based off of “Scripture Alone” (which is the English translation of “Sola Scriptura”), that is to say, it should be without ritual, or the teaching authority of...

Featured Term (selected at random:FETICIDE The direct killing of an unborn child. It is always murder and therefore gravely sinful. (Etym. Latin fetus, the young in the womb + -cidium, a killing.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission. 

Patriotism is a great virtue. To be a patriot is to love one’s fatherland. This means that it is to love the land of the people that sired you. Patriotism is a natural overflow of the virtue of piety — that is, the virtue of the home. As piety would have us rendering what is due in justice to parents and other family members, patriotism would have us render the same to our nation, its government, and our fellow citizens. Both of these are a matter of justice, for the virtues of piety and patriotism are parts of that cardinal...

Featured Term (selected at random:TYCHISM A theory that chance is an objective fact in the universe and that it is not merly due to human ignorance. It is commonly associated with the idea that evolution takes place casually and without planned direction by some guiding intelligence. (Etym. Greek tyche, fortune, chance.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Featured Term (selected at random:MANTELLETTA A sleeveless outer garment fastened at the neck, reaching to the knees, open in front, worn by cardinals, bishops, abbots, and certain prelates of the papal court. (Etym. Latin dimin. of mantellum, cloak, veil.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.