Free Republic

Interesting timeline for 1972...I was 13. One slight adjustment, which in context of Baltimore 2015 is miniscule, but it’s worth a quick mention: The Moody Blues release of “Nights in White Satin” was actually the song’s re-release. It was originally released in the 1960’s but was too far ahead of its time for even that enlightened period. An extremely underrated band.

Sir, you made me weep. It’s OK, though, as we all need to weep this day—weep with sadness but also weep with pride. What they did for us must never be forgotten, not for a second. I live in a small town north of Pittsburgh, and I’ve gotten to know two veterans pretty well—Leonard and Howard. Leonard passed in 2014; he is easily the bravest man I’ve ever known. First wave, Omaha Beach (sorry, there’s something in my eye). He always wore a simple pin on his lapel: “Omaha Beach, Normandy, June 6, 1944.” Leonard came here from Brooklyn, where after the war he sold concessions at Ebbet’s Field for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Now there’s a man whose portrait belongs on the $20.00 bill! Howard lived through Pearl Harbor, having watched many friends die on the Arizona, with whom he had played a band concert the evening of December 6. That was all I could ever get out of him, still alive but quite feeble. They humble me.

I guess we’ll both be in hell, me for being a catholic and you for condemning me in your ignorance. I know Jesus died for me, it is central to RC Theo!ogy.

Thanks for the prayers—but don’t pray for me to give up my Roman Catholic faith, the beauty of its liturgy and its traditions, the priestly tradition, the beauty of Mary and her answer; the papacy. Pray for my arthritic hip; pray that my lung cancer does not return; pray for my son to find a job; pray for the millions of aborted babies. If I am in such a state of sin and apostasy, why should God answer my prayers and the prayers of any Catholic? Jesus died on that cross for me, and you, and all. It’s time for these condemnations to stop.

Just curious here...let’s assume that Mary and Joseph had children after the birth of Jesus, and I understand that Jesus perhaps had as many as four half-brothers and two half-sisters, right? All of these would have been younger than Jesus. Assuming that they didn’t all die before Jesus died on the cross, why should Jesus have John take Mary into his home? Again, just curious. I guess I’d sort of assume that at least one of these six other children would have written something about his or her life growing up in the house with the Messiah. To me, this question causes me some degree of confusion because some assumptions are being made without any scriptural evidence. How does one reconcile these two seeming contradictions?

I am 55 yeas old, a cradle Roman Catholic, relatively new to Free Republic, but no more. In just a few short months I have been condemned for my faith in these pages so many times it has made my head spin. Well, sir, I’ve had enough. I know that Jesus died on the cross for me, as all Catholics do—they are reminded by the crucifix that hangs above the altar. I believe that the Eucharist, or Communion, is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus. Every Sunday mass includes three scripture readings—we just heard the Passion yesterday and John 3:16 a week or two ago. There are several other instances in the mass that feature short scripture verses as well. I know that God answers the prayers of Catholics also. Though I never smoked, I was diagnosed with stage 3A lung cancer two years ago. After lots of treatments and a lot more prayer, I am cancer-free for 15 months. If we RC’s are so wrong, what is God doing by allowing my health restored? Finally, faith and works plus scripture and tradition have built in me a deep love for my faith; the Catholic mass is beautiful, its purpose righteous. Finally, what about the bit about not judging lest you be judged?
Don’t bother responding, please, for as I note at the beginning, I am tired of being condemned and you can’t possibly convert me. I will not read your or any responses. I am out of this forum for good.

Greetings, all. I have been following Free Republic for more than a decade but had never felt the need to interject or respond until now. Full disclosure: I am a rarity, a Pro-life, Conservative, Anti-gay marriage, pro traditional family, and Roman Catholic COLLEGE PROFESSOR. Yes, sometimes it is kind of lonely being the only one of my kind on campus. Anyway, over the past few days there have been many posts from both sides on the Sola Scriptura issue and other issues regarding the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian Churches, and I guess I begin with a request that this bickering stop—we conservatives have larger, much more dangerous problems to confront, like a president who is leading us down the slippery slope to oblivion who would (as Dr. Sowell has said) surrender if a major U.S. city was hit with a nuclear weapon; we also have an Islam problem—I am now 51% certain that Islam is NOT a religion at all. So I think, as Moff Tarkin says, “This bickering is pointless.” We have a mortal enemy and that enemy is not whether communion is the body and blood of Christ or whether congregational singing should be accompanied by musical instruments or not. That enemy is a force that would deny us the right to worship God as we see fit, and frankly, that is the scariest part of all.