Free Republic

Conservative Christian leaders unveiled a declaration Friday calling on Christians not to comply with rules and laws forcing them to accept abortion, same-sex marriage and other ideals that go against their religious doctrines. The declaration urges Christians to practice civil disobedience to defend their convictions, even though some signers of the document backed away from the strong language. The Catholic Archbishop of Washington, Donald W. Wuerl, was among the first signers of the Manhattan Declaration. He appeared at a news conference in the District on Friday to announce it, even as the Church was considering a city-proposed compromise on its...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Unprecedented coalition of religious leaders call Americans to stand for sanctity of life, marriage, and religious freedom Washington D.C., Nov 20, 2009 / 06:21 am (CNA).- An unprecedented coalition of prominent Christian clergy, ministry leaders, and scholars has crafted a 4,700-word declaration addressing the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty. The declaration issues “a clarion call” to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not “under any circumstance” abandon their Christian consciences. The statement,  called “the Manhattan Declaration,” has been signed by more than 125 Catholic, Evangelical Christian, and Orthodox...

More than 150 leaders across a spectrum of conservative Christianity on Friday released a 4,700-word document vowing civil disobedience if they are forced to take part in "anti-life acts" or bless gay marriages. Called the "Manhattan Declaration," the six-page, single-spaced document was drafted by Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson, an evangelical, and Princeton University professor Robert P. George, a Roman Catholic, and included a bevy of Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox bishops, archbishops and cardinals as signatories along with dozens of clergy and laity.

More than 150 leaders across a spectrum of conservative Christianity on Friday released a 4,700-word document vowing civil disobedience if they are forced to take part in "anti-life acts" or bless gay marriages. Called the "Manhattan Declaration," the six-page, single-spaced document was drafted by Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson, an evangelical, and Princeton University professor Robert P. George, a Roman Catholic, and included a bevy of Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox bishops, archbishops and cardinals as signatories along with dozens of clergy and laity. Archbishop of Washington Donald W. Wuerl is one of the signatories. "Throughout the centuries, Christianity has taught...

The Vatican has just completed a five day conference on astrobiology where scientists convened to discuss the detection and implications of extraterrestrial life. A major driving force behind the conference was the Director of the Vatican Observatory, the Jesuit priest Father Jose Gabriel Funes. In May 2008, Funes gave an interview to the Vatican’s L’Osservatore Romano newspaper saying that the existence of intelligent extraterrestrials posed no problems to Catholic theology. The conference itself was officially convened by the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences, chaired by its religious leader Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, and was held on private Vatican grounds from...

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Fallout continues from the spring controversy over the University of Notre Dame awarding an honorary degree to President Barack Obama, who supports abortion rights. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops went behind closed doors at their fall meeting Wednesday to discuss, among other issues, what action they should take to increase oversight of the nation's more than 200 Roman Catholic colleges and universities. Chicago Cardinal Francis George, president of the bishops' conference, revealed this week that he had formed a task force charged with reviewing the issue. Its research included a look at what church law says...

The D.C. Council is considering a law forbidding discrimination against those in gay marriages. The law would apply to all groups that have contracts with the District, including Catholic Charities, one of the city's largest social services providers. The Archdiocese of Washington says that because of the Church's opposition to same-sex marriage, it would have to suspend its social services to the poor, the homeless and others rather than provide employee benefits to same-sex married couples or allow them to adopt.

I began the Catholic Ping List to provide Catholics with news stories and articles of interest on topics that generally appeal to this group. Postings to the News/Activism forum include the following notice ... Catholic Ping Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list Over the years, as certain topics garnered more attention, freepers asked to be added to the list. The list grew through the sex abuse crisis and the failing health and ultimate death of our beloved Pope John Paul II. The list is now quite large. Freepers come and go and it's now time to trim...

Legislation purporting to reform health care in the United States has passed the House of Representatives. However, it did so only after it was amended by way of the “Stupak/Pitts Amendment” which was forced to a floor vote by the heroic perseverance of the US Bishops and the hard work of faithful Catholics in the Democratic Party like Bart Stupak and faithful Catholics in the Republican Party like Chris Smith. My purpose in this article is not to discuss whether that legislation will ever make it through the Senate, how it may be amended in the process or whether the...

In a blatant display of the partisan card stacking which routinely debases the intellectual and ethical currency of Congressional hearings on "immigration reform," Sen. Charles Schumer (D, NY) last month chaired a session of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security titled "Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Faith-Based Perspectives." Even a fig leaf of balance was missing; the minority wasn't allowed its fractional quotient of witnesses. Only supporters of "comprehensive immigration reform" were invited to testify. The hearing violated the spirit of open, oppositional discourse essential to the functioning and preservation of democratic institutions. The farce was also...

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan has condemned The New York Times -- blasting the Gray Lady and its columnist Maureen Dowd for what he says are examples of unfair, prejudicial and just downright mean anti-Catholicism. Dolan used his blog last Thursday on the Archdiocese of New York's Web site to rail against the Times a day after the paper refused to print his critique as an op-ed piece. He singled out Dowd -- a poison-penned, Pulitzer winner and former Catholic-school girl -- for "the most combustible," "intemperate and scurrilous" "diatribe" she wrote on Oct. 25, which "rightly never would have...

Catholic Online reports" Bishops Call for Unprecedented, Massive Catholic Opposition to Abortion in Current Health Care Reform" I have asked my friend Mark Wauck to explain the significance of this and he responds: 1. the national conference has a lot of prestige, and any bishop who doesn't want to be branded as a maverick (and few of them do) will feel pressure to act in solidarity with the conference on such a momentous matter; this would be especially true due to the rather unprecedented nature of the action the conference is undertaking.

Can Catholic Schools Uphold Catholic Doctrine? thelastcrusade.orgA complaint has been filed by a trans-gendered substitute teacher against a Catholic school board in Canada. Jan Buterman was a substitute teacher for St. Albert Catholic Schools in Edmonton, Alberta, before announcing that she was going through the process of becoming a man through aggressive hormone treatments. When Ms. Buterman began to appear as a male in the classroom, the school board officials opted to hand her a pink slip. Dave Quist, executive director of the Institute of Marriage and Family - Canada, explained St. Albert’s decision by stating: "The Catholic school...

Virginia Democrats are highlighting this video of GOP gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell from a rally-the-base speech earlier today at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in Lynchburg. McDonnell's promise to be a champion for traditional marriage and anti-abortion stalwart comes on the morning following the final debate of the governor's race Tuesday night -- a debate where the Republican said that, if elected, his focus would be on issues such as jobs, transportation and energy. Pressed about his opposition to abortion at the debate, McDonnell was far less expansive than in front of the evangelical students at Liberty. And, it should be...

The overwhelmingly Catholic country currently allows only abortion in the cases of rape, fetal abnormality, or when the mother’s physical or mental health is at risk. But the proposed law, introduced by socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, would allow abortion for any reason during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy...

The relativists of this age have managed to persuade many, including many Catholics, that there are no objective truths; there are only “my” truths and “your” truths. Further, they have relegated our position on the very existence of truths and rights to simply being “religious” positions in order to marginalize or dismiss them. In the midst of this confused age we must maintain that there are objective truths which can be known and that those truths are the only solid basis for building the foundation for a truly free, just and human society.... This position that marriage - and the...

The President stood confident at the podium when he addressed a crowd of nearly ecstatic fans Saturday night. He promised those assembled for the Banquet of the “Human Rights Campaign”, the leading homosexual activist organization in the Nation: “You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.” Lest anyone be confused concerning the meaning of his words here is another excerpt: “… I support ensuring that committed gay couples have the same rights and responsibilities...

September 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a recent interview with CNSNews.com, Cardinal Roger Mahoney declined to answer a question about whether or not he agreed with Cardinal Justin Rigali that the Obama health care bill should include language explicitly excluding any public funding of abortion. "This is way beyond my field," the cardinal responded."My field is immigration," said Mahoney, who is the archbishop of Los Angeles. "I really haven't kept up on that, and I spend all my time on this other. You have to get somebody who spends time on that."When asked whether he believed abortion should be funded under...

ORALANDO, September 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In addition to his announcement that he is considering a run for President in 2012, former US Senator Rick Santorum gave his assessment of the controversy around the Ted Kennedy funeral during his speech to the Catholic Leadership Conference last week. Santorum's talk focused on rejuvenating the Catholic Church in the United States.During his speech Santorum lamented "what the Church allowed to happen" with the Kennedy funeral, referring to it as a "deification" of Kennedy.  "The damage done" to the Church, he said, "is profound.""We have Catholic politicians who have led this country astray, have led...

Today The Cardinal Newman Society published a new, second edition of The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College, a free online resource for parents and students seeking a faithful Catholic education. This comprehensive Guide recommends 21 Catholic colleges and universities in the United States plus eight international, online and unique programs based on the strength of their Catholic identity. In addition, the Guide includes several essays to help families better understand the search for a strong Catholic college. The culmination of four years of research and hundreds of interviews, this edition of The Newman Guide builds substantially on the...

OWOSSO, Michigan, September 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Fr. John Fain, the pastor of St. Paul Catholic Church in Owosso Michigan has expressed his sadness at the murder of his parishioner James Pouillon who he described as "a good Christian and a faithful Catholic." In a message to LifeSiteNews.com, Fr. Fain said Pouillon "was deliberately targeted for his fervent pro-life beliefs." "This Friday, September 11, 2009, was a very tragic day for Owosso and for Shiawassee County, Michigan," said the priest. "On behalf of St. Paul Church, Owosso, I wish to convey my deepest sympathy and prayers to the family and...

When former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin introduced “death panels” to the health care overhaul debate vernacular via Facebook in early August, she showed herself to be a brilliant idiot. Technically, Palin’s claim of a panel of “downright evil” government bureaucrats rationing health care based on Americans’ “level of productivity” is obviously idiotic. There is not, and never will be, some mythical jack-booted panel of government pinheads, rubber stamps in hand, deciding who shall live and who shall die. As such, Palin was deservedly roasted. Tactically, however, Palin’s move was pure brilliance: in but a few keystrokes she synthesized the underlying...

And in a big way. A lot of you have seen the great ads produced by a group called Catholics Come Home. The ads, evidently, are working. And spreading. From the Los Angeles Times: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is home to nearly 1 million Catholics. On a typical Sunday, less than 137,000 can be found in church. Now, using a strategy straight from the secular playbook, its leaders hope to lure back those who have drifted. The diocese and nearly a dozen others across the country are preparing to air several thousand prime-time TV commercials in English and...

Vice President Joseph Biden listens as Sr. Carol Keehan announces an agreement to help finance health reform. Credit: CHA Washington D.C., Aug 31, 2009 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- In a statement released last Friday, the Catholic Health Association (CHA) clarified that it has not thrown its institutional support behind the current health care bill, while also reiterating its commitment to protect life from conception to natural death.The Catholic Health Association “has long been committed to a goal of health coverage for all people in the United States. CHA has not, however, endorsed any of the bills currently under consideration,”...

HORSERACE Bob McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia, is holding a conference call, discussing the Post's A1 story on his thesis, and other topics: "I never thought many people would ever read or care about my thesis. I think that until recently, only five people had read it, two of which were myself and my wife. I haven't thought about it in several decades." "I am disappointed but not surprised that my opponent wnats to make this a central issue in the campaign; he continues to backtrack from his pledge at first deabte that the focus of thecampaign...

Eager to draw attention Bob McDonnell's conservative roots, campaign advisers to Democrat Creigh Deeds on Monday called McDonnell's newly-discovered 1989 graduate thesis a "devastating" revelation that threatens to sink the Republican's campaign for the Virginia governor's mansion. The 93-page research paper — first revealed in Sunday's Washington Post — articulated a Christian conservative worldview that criticized "cohabitators, homosexuals and fornicators" and described working women and feminists "detrimental" to the family.

(WARNING: Extreme hypocrisy alert! If what you read below revolts you, don't say you weren't warned in advance).Did you know that there is a new religion out there? In addition to the Eastern Orthodox Catholics, Anglican Catholics, and Roman Catholics, there is now something called "Kennedy Catholics." At least according to the suddenly devout William Rivers Pitt in his DUmmie THREAD, "For any and all Kennedy Catholics on this page." Fasten your seatbelts because you will see the exact same folks who have no problem cursing out people who attend real (not Kennedy) Catholic churches suddenly become exceeding reverent,...

In pictures: Pilgrimage unites Sri Lankans The church sits on a site where there has been a shrine to the Virgin Mary for hundreds of years. Catholics, both Tamil and Sinhalese, and members of other faiths revere it.

On the eve before the Back of the Yards Council's founding convention, the Chicago Daily News announced that "something new in community organization is about to happen in the Back of the Yards. The council is the conception and individual project of Saul D. Alinsky. The residents of the district are almost completely stockyard workers and Catholics, and on this basis the sociologist Alinsky has enlisted churchmen and the CIO leaders to form the main pillars of the neighborhood council." At the CHD's 25th anniversary, Cardinal Bernardin would have been more historically precise if he had stated that the great...

...I have in front of me a letter I received from you in response to a letter I wrote to you regarding abortion in the U.S. You thanked me politely for taking the time to share my views on abortion and said, “This is a heart-wrenching issue.” I just haven’t been able to get one little question out of my mind since reading your letter. Why? Why is it heart-wrenching? Why would my heart be rent by making a perfectly legal and morally acceptable choice to have an abortion? Why should anyone’s heart be torn by this choice? The highest...

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has released a letter condemning the House Democrats' healthcare plan, alleging that the plan's purported prohibition on federal funds for abortion is a "legal fiction." Of course, the House healthcare bill may not be the last word on abortion coverage in the federal healthcare plan, should one pass. But it's unlikely that the Democrats, including President Obama, will heed the bishops' and other social conservatives' call for an outright ban on abortion coverage in health insurance plans that are subsidized with federal funds, including the public option. And that, along with mounting Democratic support...

CatholicsComeHome.org was the brainchild of Arizonan Tom Peterson, who, according to the group’s website “while on a Catholic retreat in 1997… had a profound reversion experience.” Now Peterson speaks at Catholic and pro-life events around the country. Among those serving on his Theological Advisory Board are Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs, Scott Hahn, and Peter Kreeft. Three award-winning videos which have a 2008 copyright have now been made into a CD to share with others. The first, called “Epic,” details the contributions of the Catholic Church over the ages:...

This spring in Massachusetts, a Catholic hospital system announced a joint venture with a secular company to provide insurance to the poor under the state's universal health-care program. The venture fulfilled one pillar of Catholic social teaching -- caring for the needy. But it violated another principle, because the state-run health plan for low- and moderate-income adults subsidizes abortion. The Catholic hospital didn't perform abortions but was required to refer patients to clinics that would, an act the church considers immoral. The tension between Catholicism's commitment to the poor and opposition to abortion touched off weeks of debate, prompting Cardinal...

I suggest to President Obama a new framework for a robust debate during these days of the Congressional August recess. I invite the current administration to include Children in the womb in any reform of Health Care. That’s right; expand the program to include our first neighbors. A child born as young as twenty one weeks old now survives outside of the first home of the womb. We intervene regularly in the womb with wondrous surgical procedures in order to help our young friends and neighbors. These procedures will probably be covered under any health care reform. We prosecute people...

Perspectives of an Indian Convert July 31, 1993 Bobby Jindal Editors’ note: On October 20 36-year-old Republican Bobby Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana. In the early 1990s, Mr. Jindal wrote two articles for America recounting his conversion from the Hindu faith of his parents to Catholicism. The following excerpt is taken from "Has Ecumenism Made Evangelism Irrelevant?" which was published on July 31, 1993: I was born in the United States immediately after my parents arrived here from India. I was raised in a strong Hindu culture, attended weekly pujas, or ceremonial rites, and read the Vedic scriptures. Though...

The news out of Vietnam demonstrates a reality which few acknowledge these days when we mistakenly think we have become so “enlightened”, the existence of evil. It demands immediate global responsive action. There is a new “Vietnam War” underway. The enemies of life, freedom and true liberation are killing Catholic priests in Vietnam! The leftover remnant of the discredited and inhuman ideology of Maoism is now turning its ire against what has always been its greatest enemy, the only true humanism, the Christian faith. The fullness of that Christian faith, with the only systematic social development of the implications of...

The Providence Journal’s coverage of the assault on traditional marriage advocates in Warwick, RI on July 28 has consistently downplayed how pepper spray was used on the conservative protesters, in favor of how food was thrown at them. ProJo.com’s Wednesday report on the attack ran with the headline, “Same-sex marriage protesters assaulted with food,” and didn’t mention the pepper spray until the second-to-last paragraph. The following morning, reporter Kate Branson used a more nuanced headline (“Update: 4 accused of hurling food at activists in Warwick”), but at least mentioned the pepper spray in the second paragraph.The American Society for the...

The interior of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Kathmandu Rome, Italy, Jul 16, 2009 / 12:37 pm (CNA).- Following the recent bomb attack on the Cathedral of the Assumption, which was attributed to the Hindu group Nepal Defense Army, extremists are now threatening priests and religious in Nepal with death if they do not leave the country “within one month.” The Apostolic Vicar of Nepal, Bishop Anthony Francis Sharma, said the threats were made to the associate vicar, Father Pius Perumana.  L’Osservatore Romano reported that the police have beefed up security at the diocesan chancery in Godavari, where Father...

Snip... Consider. In 45 years, no Democratic president has put a single white Protestant or Catholic man or woman on the court. Six nominees have been sent to Congress by Democrats since 1964: Thurgood Marshall, an African-American, four Jewish nominees -- Arthur Goldberg, Abe Fortas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer -- and one wise Latina woman. Not since JFK put All-American Byron "Whizzer" White on in 1962 have Democrats elevated a white Christian.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops web site recently posted recommendations for Catholics reading the Bible: 1. Bible reading is for Catholics. The Church encourages Catholics to make reading the Bible part of their daily prayer lives. Reading these inspired words, people grow deeper in their relationship with God and come to understand their place in the community God has called them to in himself. 2. Prayer is the beginning and the end. Reading the Bible is not like reading a novel or a history book. It should begin with a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to open our...

The morning sun has barely crept above the horizon when 13 beginning seminarians emerge from dormitory rooms and wander into the chapel of their religious compound. "God our Father . . . let not temptation ever quench the fire that your love has kindled within us," they recite from their liturgy books. Inside the Junipero Serra House of Formation, at the base of a rock-strewn mountain 60 miles east of Los Angeles, these men -- the youngest just 19 -- are getting their first taste of the priesthood, devoting themselves to prayer, obedience and celibacy. They are a precious commodity...

Some version of the Presidents’ plan will pass. For Catholics, other Christians, (that is at least Christians who still adhere to the unbroken teaching concerning the dignity of every human person at every age and stage and have not compromised the truth), other people of faith and all people of good will who recognize the preeminent Natural Law Right to Life and the foundational freedom to be born, there is a resulting looming emergency. This Health Care Bill is about much more than the economic implications and loss of local control. This has become a matter of life and death....

Catholic villagers in Thua Thien-Hue province say they have tried their best to follow Church teaching on the use of artificial birth control methods in the face of the government's two-child policy. Huong Toan villagers, just like Vietnamese elsewhere in the country, are required to have no more than two children per family since 1994, when village authorities launched a nationwide family planning program. Families with more than two children have to pay rice to the government as a fine. Many local Catholics say they have done their best to remain true to Church teaching but some have had to...

Peace. The word used by the biblical writers means so much more than simply the absence of conflict. The Hebrew shalom carries the idea of safety, prosperity, tranquility, friendship with others -- and especially friendship with God in a covenant relationship. The Greek eirene is similar, but carries an added meaning of the tranquil state of those who are assured of their salvation through Christ; therefore they ear nothing from God and are content with their earthly lot, whatever that might be. Sounds a lot like St. Therese of Liseiux’s comment noted in the last lesson, doesn't it?

New York City, N.Y., Jul 15, 2009 / 03:19 am (CNA).- A prominent commentator and a prominent law professor have questioned whether there is a “double standard” in the treatment of Catholic Supreme Court nominees, depending upon whether or not each nominee is faithful to Catholic teachings.William McGurn, political commentator and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, claimed in his Wall Street Journal column that Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s professed faith is being treated far differently than previous Catholic nominees to the high court.In the discussion surrounding Justice Alito’s January 2006 confirmation hearings, Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal complained...

White House: Like Obama, Surgeon General Nominee Benjamin Pro-Abortion Washington, DC -- White House officials have confirmed that President Barack Obama's nominee for Surgeon General may be a Catholic, but agrees with his pro-abortion position. Regina Benjamin is a well-regarded Alabama physician who has been honored by the Catholic Church for helping poor residents of her state. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5220.html

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops' Committee on Communications is backing a July 20 call-in day to support the licensing of more low-power FM stations across the country. The call-ins aren't to radio stations, but to members of the Senate. The Local Community Radio Act of 2009, co-sponsored by Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and John McCain, R-Ariz., would authorize the Federal Communications Commission to license hundreds of new low-power FM stations. A committee hearing was held in June on the House version of the bill, which has 72 co-sponsors. Archbishop George H. Niederauer of San Francisco, chairman of the bishops'...

Dr. Regina Benjamin poses for a portrait in the waiting room at her temporary clinic in Bayou La Batre, Ala., last September. (CNS/courtesy MacArthur Foundation) Dr. Regina Benjamin, a member of the board of trustees of the Catholic Health Association, is being nominated as surgeon general this morning.We had this story on Benjamin last fall, when she received a MacArthur fellowship for her work with medical clinics in poverty-stricken areas of Alabama.Benjamin did her undergraduate studies at Xavier University in New Orleans and in a 2005 speech she talked about the Catholic parish she grew up in, and how her...

President Barack Obama’s meeting with Pope Benedict didn’t go as well as he had expected. Despite the President’s offer of a compromise on the abortion issue, “the Pope appeared uninterested in cutting a deal,” Obama complained. “I agreed to take measures that would reduce the frequency with which abortions had to be performed,” Obama explained. “But he wouldn’t accept the idea that they should remain legal. This kind of inflexibility blocks any chance for brokering a compromise.” As “sweeteners” for a possible compromise, Obama said he offered to take steps designed to make birth control devices more widely available. “I...

Most encyclicals are so long, so dense and so reflective of the committee of theologians that prepares them that they wind up as the least-read of any papal pronouncements -- despite being the most authoritative document a pope can issue. That is especially true of encyclicals on social justice, like the one Pope Benedict XVI released today. One reason is that Catholic social-justice teaching covers so many complex issues -- trade, immigration, labor unions, business ethics and wage gaps, to name but a few -- that the eyes of the most ardent faithful can glaze over. Moreover, today's economy is...