Free Republic

Pope Benedict XVI - Credit: Mazur Vatican City, Apr 22, 2012 / 10:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During his April 22 Regina Coeli address, Pope Benedict XVI said adults should bring reverence and love to the task of preparing children to receive their first Holy Communion “Dear friends, the Church at Easter time usually administers First Communion to children,” he noted in the midday address. “I therefore urge the pastors, parents and catechists to prepare this feast of faith well, with great fervor, but also with sobriety.”Among the large crowd gathered in the sunshine of St. Peter's Square were thousands...

"....Wuerl and his surrogates have rebuked a visiting priest from the archdiocese of Moscow for denying Communion to a self-described practicing lesbian at a funeral mass. That's not our "policy," gasped Wuerl's horrified surrogates. But it is the policy of the Roman Catholic Church. If a person is not in communion with the teachings of the Church, said person should not receive Communion. Period. Canon law makes this explicitly clear. If you don't believe me, ask the head of the Vatican Supreme Court, Cardinal Raymond Burke. Though most of his colleagues seem to ignore his stance, he has said for...

Many Crisis readers are concerned at the reports that have begun to emerge regarding Fr. Marcel Guarnizo's denial of Communion to the alleged lesbian Barbara Johnson and the subsequent loss of his priestly faculties upon the authority of Cardinal Wuerl and communicated through a letter by Bishop Knestout, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.. Crisis has been granted permission by Fr. Marcel Guarnizo to publish his account of the event in the hopes that this may help Catholics discern with charity what has happened. Fr. Marcel Guarnizo's Statement of March 14, 2012:I would like to begin by...

I would like to begin by once again sending my condolences to the Johnson family on the death of Mrs. Loetta Johnson. I also feel obliged to answer questions from my parishioners, as well as from the public, about the incident on February 25th. Here are the facts: On Saturday, February 25th I showed up to officiate at a funeral Mass for Mrs. Loetta Johnson. The arrangements for the Mass were also not my own. I wish to clarify that Ms. Barbara Johnson (the woman who has since complained to the press), has never been a parishioner of mine. In...

The Maryland priest who denied communion to a lesbian at her mother’s funeral is being stripped of his priestly faculties and “placed on administrative leave,” according to a letter from the Archdiocese signed by auxiliary Bishop Barry Knestout... According to a source close to the incident who spoke with LifeSiteNews, Johnson’s lesbian lover physically blocked Fr. Guarnizo from speaking further with Johnson when she abruptly left the sacristy following this introduction. When Johnson presented herself for Communion, the priest refused to give it to her, although she ended up receiving from an extraordinary minister. It was later revealed that Johnson...

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 8, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After pro-abortion House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi defied America’s bishops last week by proclaiming she would stand with her “fellow Catholics” in support of President Obama’s contraception mandate, one of the web’s most prominent priest-bloggers has issued an impassioned plea for her bishops to deny her Holy Communion in accord with canon law. “For the good of souls, Nancy Pelosi must be denied Holy Communion and the Catholic people should be informed that she is being denied Holy Communion,” wrote Fr. John Zuhlsdorf (aka Fr. Z) on his blog Tuesday. Fr. Zuhlsdorf is...

Hator 18, 1728 Monday, Nov 28th, 2011 Home Introduction Videos & Live Webcast Lives of Saints Theology Patrology Coptic Calendar Hymns Liturgy Sermons H. H. Pope Shenouda Arabic/English Bible Coptic Fonts Today's Readings Mobile Verse of the Day Locate a Church Share | Contact Information Church Web Site: http://saintmark.com E-mail: General Information Postal Address: 427 West Side Ave Jersey City, NJ 07304 U.S.A. Directions SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST Known as : Sacrament of Holy Communion Sacrament of Thanksgiving The Lord’s Supper The Mysterious Supper Sacrament of Community The Meaning of the Eucharist The Sacrament of Communion is a Holy Sacrament...

Auxiliary Bishop Says Communion In the Hand is a Calvinist Novelty Not Even Martin Luther Would Have Done ItIn the last century the Old Liberal Bishops promoted hand Communion. They used a historical lie toward this end.(kreuz.net)Present day Communion in the Hand has no roots in the early Church. This was stressed by Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider (50) of Astana in Kazakhstan on the 19th on the radio station 'Radio Maria Südtirol' Msgr Schneider is a Patristic expert. Hand Communion was contrived "all new" from the Second Vatican Council -- the Auxiliary Bishop firmly said. The antique Church had practiced...

Such a small but highly significant thing, the chin paten. Its use is to catch a host that might drop or a particle from a host. As such it is another reminder of the real, true and substantial presence of Christ in even the smallest particle of the host. The chin paten helps ensure that not even a small particle drop.Today the communion, or “chin� paten is also symbolic. When one sees them today it is a pretty clear signal that “this is a more traditional parish.� Their use had declined, especially when communion in the hand became widespread, during...

Should you pass on communion at a Lutheran church or participate fully? You are at the wedding of a beloved family member or friend, which is taking place at a Lutheran church. You gladly accepted the invitation to celebrate this happy day with the bride and groom. But then there is a call to come to the table of the Lord’s Supper, to receive communion. This is the awkward moment you knew was coming. Can you, and should you, a practicing Catholic, accept the invitation? According to the Code of Canon Law, receiving communion in a Protestant church is generally...

By J.D. Long-García | Sept. 23, 2011 | The Catholic Sun Plans are underway in the Diocese of Phoenix to implement new local norms for the distribution of Holy Communion that will bring the local Church in line with universal Church guidelines.As a result, the Precious Blood will not be offered at every Sunday Mass, but instead be reserved for special occasions, left to the determination of each parish pastor. The change will bring local Catholic celebration of the Eucharist into union with the practice of the faithful around the world. Receiving Communion under both kinds is uncommon in most...

The Diocese of Phoenix has announced that it will issue norms specifying the conditions under which Holy Communion may be distributed under both species. “The new norms will promote unity in the celebration of the Eucharist all around the world, and come from the revised General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 3rd Edition, together with the final edition of The Norms for the Distribution and Reception of Holy Communion Under Both Kinds for the Dioceses of the United States of America,” the diocese stated in a press release. “In the Roman Missal (1975), 14 instances were provided when the chalice...

From a reader: Fr. Z I’m struggling to wrap my head around what the point of going to Mass if we’re not in the state of sanctifying grace.My understanding is when we fall from grace, any good works we do merit us nothing. Also, it only takes one mortal sin to sever our relationship with God, so committing another one by not fulfilling my Sunday obligation wouldn’t really make a difference in regards of the state of my soul. And finally, I can’t receive communion, so I don’t receive any graces from that.So in summation, I wouldn’t sever my relationship...

The story of a Eucharistic Miracle that happened in Kumasi a city in Ghana in the 1990s. A Protestant man took the picture of the Monstrance during the Corpus Christi procession and after the image was processed, an image of Jesus Christ was the result. Find the article over here Eucharistic Miracle: Face of Jesus captured by a Skeptic

Hardly a generation ago, a canon lawyer’s remarks that a divorced man openly cohabiting with a divorced woman was ineligible to receive Holy Communion would have been greeted with a polite yawn, as if to say, “Of course he can’t be given Communion. Tell us something we don’t already know.� But then, a generation ago, most Catholics were generally aware of the fundamentals of sacramental discipline, or, at the least, of those aspects of sacramental discipline that went back to the Apostolic Age. Earlier this year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a divorced Catholic man who lives with television celebrity...

Dr. Brant Pitre and his new book "Jesus and The Jewish Roots of the Eucharist" New Orleans, La., Mar 12, 2011 / 05:43 pm (CNA).- Dr. Brant Pitre hopes his new book on the Jewish roots of the Eucharist will help Catholics understand the “great gift” of the sacrament, as well as their privileged role in the “divine drama” of salvation history.  In a recent interview with CNA, Dr. Pitre – a professor of Sacred Scripture at Louisiana's Notre Dame Seminary  – discussed his latest book, “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the...

1. Where does the Bible say that the Mass is a sacrifice? During the Last Supper, the Lord said to his disciples, "Do this in memory of me." In Greek, this statement reads, "Touto poieite eis tan eman anamnesin." There are two.aspects of this phrase that deserve consideration. For one, the phrase touto poieite can be translated as do this or as offer this. In the Old Testament, God commands the Israelites "you shall offer (poieseis) upon the altar two lambs" (Ex. 29:38). This use of poiein is translated as offer this or sacrifice this over seventy times in...

The doctrine of the Real Presence asserts that in the Holy Eucharist, Jesus is literally and wholly present—body and blood, soul and divinity—under the appearances of bread and wine. The Bible is forthright in declaring it (cf. 1 Cor. 10:16–17, 11:23–29; and, most forcefully, John 6:32–71). The early Church Fathers interpreted these passages literally. Renowned historian of the early Church J. N. D. Kelly, writes: "Eucharistic teaching, it should be understood at the outset, was in general unquestioningly realist, i.e., the consecrated bread and wine were taken to be, and were treated and designated as, the Savior’s body and blood"...

"I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.

Pope Names as Cardinal Archbishop Opposing Communion for Pro-Abortion Pols The Vatican -- Pope Benedict XVI named Raymond Burke, the former Archbishop of St. Louis as one of two Americans who will become cardinals in the Catholic Church. The pontiff said yes to the pro-life leader who has repeatedly said no to pro-abortion politicians receiving the sacrament of communion. http://LifeNews.com/nat6780.html

Featured Term (selected at random):ALTAR BREAD Round wafers of wheaten bread, unleavened in the Latin, Maronite, and Armenian Rites, used at Mass for consecration. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

At his General Audience on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 Pope Benedict asked for prayer for the success of the current meetings being held by the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic and the Orthodox Church in Vienna. The Vatican Information Service released the following statement: " (T)he Holy Father invited people to pray for the success of the work of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which is currently meeting in plenary session in the Austrian capital, Vienna. "The theme of the current phase", he said, "is the...

02 June 2010 Here is Christ! Part of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s spiritual life was a daily Holy Hour. It was the story of a little Chinese girl which inspired Archbishop Sheen to make a daily Holy Hour. As the story goes, she was an eleven year old Chinese girl who went unnoticed in the back of a church at prayer when the Communists came and arrested the priest and held him captive in his own rectory. In the church building the Communists entered the sanctuary, broke the Tabernacle, took the ciborium and threw it on the floor causing...

Anglican leaders in the Global South have been encouraged to reconsider their relationships with The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada "until it becomes clear that there is genuine repentance." Some of our Provinces are already in a state of broken and impaired Communion with The Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada. Their continued refusal to honor the many requests made of them ... have brought discredit to our witness," said some 130 Anglicans from 20 provinces at the conclusion of the Fourth Global South to South Encounter in Singapore. They condemned the two...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Catholic Democrats pushed through a government takeover of health care that forces all taxpayers to fund abortion on demand. This rejected the instruction of the U.S. Catholic bishops. Why, then, can these public dissenters against Catholic teaching receive Communion at churches in the nation's capital? In the last year, my colleagues and I have taken two trips to Rome to meet with Vatican officials concerning the scandal caused by Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl, who permits Catholics who promote abortion to receive Holy Communion in his archdiocese, which includes the U.S. capital. On our first...

Hundreds of Dutch activists have walked out of a Mass in protest at a Roman Catholic policy of denying communion to practising homosexuals. On this occasion, the church, in 's-Hertogenbosch, had already decided not to serve communion, so the protesters left, shouting and singing. The dispute began earlier this month when a priest in a nearby town refused communion to an openly gay man. The Netherlands was the first country to introduce gay marriage in 2001. Most Dutch people support gay rights, but the Roman Catholic Church teaches that homosexual activity is sinful. This dispute began during Dutch carnival celebrations...

As an Evangelical Lutheran, I thought I knew Jesus Christ because I was familiar with his word. One of Martin Luther’s rallying cries had been sola scriptura, and Scripture had been the primary focus of the Lutheran churches I had attended as a child and teen. The Liturgy of the Word consisted of Scripture readings and a homily. Three Sundays out of four, that was the service in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America—the church in which I had been baptized and raised. But it’s what happened every fourth Sunday that eventually led me into the Catholic Church: a Communion...

MOUNT CLEMENS – Some people still take off right after Communion at St. Peter Church, but not as many now that they have to walk under signs that read "Judas left early too." Fr. Cooney says putting the signs up at each of the three exits was "a bit of Irish diplomacy" aimed at addressing a long-standing source of frustration for many Catholic priests: people who leave Mass early, rather than staying for the dismissal. Perhaps one of the reasons the signs had a positive effect is that he introduced them with humor, rather than scolding the congregation, he believes....

KEVIN Rudd's decision to take holy communion at the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel in Sydney has sparked debate within the Catholic Church because he is a practising Anglican. The controversy mirrors a debate nearly a decade ago when Jeff Kennett complained he was sent a letter by Cardinal George Pell instructing him not to take communion at the state funeral of prominent Catholic B.A. Santamaria, despite the then Victorian premier's own shift to Catholicism. The Australian has confirmed that the chaplain and sisters at the chapel were caught unawares by the Prime Minister's visit on Sunday. They were concerned that...

The Bishop of Calgary, Alberta, has just suspended all activities of the Latin Mass communities in Calgary and Medicine Hat due to a pseudo-scientific and anti-Canonical order mandating the non-reception of the Eucharist on the tongue due to concerns related to the transmission of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus. We had known about the matter for days, but had waited for some official words from the FSSP priests who serve those communities. However, since the entire matter has now been made public, we post the contents of the e-mail messages related to the affair. (A reader sent the e-mail exchange...

Bill O'Reilly Interviews Rhode Island Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, who told Patrick Kennedy, son of the late Ted Kennedy, that he may not receive communion - 11/24/09

The Spanish Catholic Church will deny communion to members of parliament who have voted in favour of a bill to make abortion more readily available, the spokesman of Spain’s Bishops’ Conference said on Friday. “This is a warning to Catholics, that they can’t vote in favour of this and that they won’t be able to receive communion unless they ask forgiveness,” Rev. Juan Antonio Martinez Camino told a news conference in Madrid. “They are in an objective state of sin.”

News broke this week that Thomas Tobin, the Catho lic bishop of Providence, RI, had in 2007 asked Rep. Patrick Kennedy to refrain from receiving Communion because of the congressman's support for legalized abortion. The ensuing howls of protest almost universally missed the point. Some Catholic writers charged that Tobin was sowing division within the church and "politicizing" the sacrament. On the pro-choice left, Tobin was flayed for everything from "religious blackmail" to -- inexplicably -- violating the separation of church and state. Perhaps the strangest comment came from former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, who predicted that if pols...

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A bitter dispute over abortion that prompted Rhode Island's Roman Catholic bishop to ask Rep. Patrick Kennedy not to receive Holy Communion has revealed the depth of the divide among Catholics over how politicians should reconcile their faith with their public duties.

Think about it: Did Savior Christ suffer severe mistreatment on the cross in order to share His body and blood with persons who slay children? I don’t think so.

Rhode Island's top Roman Catholic leader has asked Rep. Patrick Kennedy to stop taking Communion over his support for abortion rights, the diocese said Sunday. In a statement issued Sunday, Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin said he told Kennedy in February 2007 that it would be "inappropriate" for him to continue receiving the fundamental Catholic sacrament, "and I now ask respectfully that you refrain from doing so." Kennedy is the son of the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy and a scion of the most prominent Catholic family in modern U.S. politics. The Roman Catholic Church strongly opposes abortion, which has been...

Congressman Patrick Kennedy has been barred from receiving Communion by his Bishop in Rhode Island. Bishop Thomas Tobin has barred Patrick, the son of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, because of his position on abortion rights.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, in Rhode Island because of the congressman's support for abortion rights, Kennedy said in a newspaper interview published Sunday. The decision by the outspoken prelate, reported on The Providence Journal's Web site, significantly escalates a bitter dispute between Tobin, an ultra orthodox bishop, and Kennedy, a son of the nation's most famous Roman Catholic family. "The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion," Kennedy...

Bishop Tobin has released a response to Congessman Kennedy's earlier statements on not being allowed communion because of his position on abortion. Statement of Bishop Thomas Tobin in Response to Congressman Patrick Kennedy's Published Interview of November 22, 2009 Bishop Tobin says: I am disappointed and really surprised that Congressman Patrick Kennedy has chosen to reopen the public discussion about his practice of the faith and his reception of Holy Communion. This comes almost two weeks after the Congressman indicated to local media that he would no longer comment publicly on his faith or his relationship with the Catholic Church....

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (CNS/Reuters) Wondering how pro-abortion Catholic politicians like Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius justify their public dissent from Church teachings on this most fundamental issue concerning the sanctity of human life? This blog will answer that question with SebeliusÂ’s own words, in an interview published yesterday by The Washington Post. Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas requested in May 2008 that Sebelius not present herself for reception of Communion because of the public scandal caused by her support for legal abortion as governor of Kansas. HereÂ’s what Sebelius said about the matter,...

The Washington Post the other day posted a lengthy interview with Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Catholic. A pertinent excerpt: MS. ROMANO: You are also a pro-choice Catholic, and I was reading some stories out of your home state recently where one of the bishops took an action. Can you tell us a little bit about that? SECRETARY SEBELIUS: Well, the Archbishop in the Kansas City area did not approve of my conduct as a public official and asked that I not present myself for communion. MS. ROMANO: What did you think about that? SECRETARY SEBELIUS:...

I read on facebook a woman who watched Senator Kennedy's funeral mass, stated that President Obama received Holy Communion. Is this true? Did anyone watch the Mass?

A public wake will be held for Eunice Kennedy Shriver from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday at Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville on Cape Cod, according to a person familiar with the arrangements. A private funeral will follow on Friday at St. Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis, according to the person, who requested anonymity because they had not been authorized by the Kennedy family to speak about the arrangements. The funeral will be by invitation only and has been tentatively scheduled for 10 a.m., the person said.

"Whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and of the Blood of the Lord... For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord" - 1 Corinthians 11:27,28 Pope Benedict to Catholics: Kneel and Receive on the Tongue Only Pope Benedict XVI does not want the faithful receiving Communion in their hand nor does he want them standing to receive Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. According to Vatican liturgist, Monsignor Guido Marini, the pope is trying to set...

A New Brunswick newspaper that ran a front-page apology Tuesday for a story that claimed Prime Minister Stephen Harper had pocketed a communion wafer has also announced that its publisher and editor-in-chief are no longer with the paper. Saint John Telegraph-Journal publisher Jamie Irving and editor Shawna Richer were no longer at their posts, effective immediately, said Annie Smith, a spokeswoman for the New Brunswick News Inc., the company that owns the daily paper. "She is no longer editor, and (he) is no longer the publisher," she said. "I don't have any information other than that." Ms. Smith would not...

Today I saw Angela Logan from Teaneck, New Jersey, on a newscast. I was as impressed with her story. Angela is a 55-year-old mother who faced hard times. She is an actress, a former dancer, a substitute teacher and currently attends a community College studying to be a Nurse. She was doing everything she could do to pay her mortgage, care for herself and her family and move forward in life. Sadly, a number of misfortunes placed her family in peril of losing their home in these economically troubling times. That is when her story really began. She tells it...

Thursday July 23, 2009 Interview: Head of Vatican's Liturgical Office says Principle of Refusing Communion is "Charity in Truth" By Hilary White, Rome correspondent   ROME, July 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A high level Vatican official has reminded US bishops of their responsibilities to pro-abortion Catholic politicians, including the possibility of withholding Communion. Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, the head of the Vatican's liturgical office, told LifeSiteNews.com in an interview today that the guiding principle for bishops considering withholding Communion from pro-abortion politicians in their dioceses should be "caritas in veritate" or "charity in truth."     Canizares explained that according...

On Sunday July 20, 1969 the first people landed on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were in the lunar lander which touched down at 3:17 Eastern Standard Time. Buzz Aldrin had with him the Reserved Sacrament. He radioed: “Houston, this is Eagle. This is the LM pilot speaking. I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to invite each person listening in, whoever or wherever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the last few hours, and to give thanks in his own individual way.”

Swine flu has spurred the Church of England to revive a rule drawn up more than 450 years ago when bubonic plague swept the land. As concern mounts about the spread of the virus, which has killed at least 29 people in the UK, some Anglican churches have begun to allow “intinction” or dipping bread in communion wine rather than sharing the chalice, while others have stopped offering wine altogether. The practices are permitted under the 1547 Sacrament Act, introduced after the plague, which requires both bread and wine to be given “except necessity otherwise require”. In London’s Southwark diocese...

SAN DIEGO — Catholic Answers is challenging a 2008 Internal Revenue Service ruling that it interfered in the 2004 presidential election by recommending Catholic presidential candidate John Kerry be denied Communion. But one expert on free speech at the University of Notre Dame, Lloyd Mayer, associate professor of law, is worried that this may be “the right principle but the wrong case.”The IRS at first levied an income tax of $102.23 on the San Diego apologetics organization, but returned the money, without reversing its ruling, after Catholic Answers appealed it. Said Catholic Answers’ founder and president, Karl Keating: “It’s the...