Free Republic

As superb look at suffering by Dr. Peter Kreeft, courtesy of Prager University. I agree with his division of suffering into what Man causes through our actions, wars are a classic example, and suffering caused by nature, the type of suffering caused by the seizure that took the life of my son Larry on May 19, 2013. He is also correct that when we complain about such suffering afflicted by nature we are appealing to a standard that presupposes a God, since nature cares not a whit about human suffering or the lack whereof. It is only by belief in...

The girl’s Muslim parents forced her into the marriage when she was fourteen. Her mother tried to put a good face on a bad situation, enticing the girl with a picture of marriage as a never-ending party: her husband, she said, would treat the girl to ice cream and lollipops and take her to movies and amusement parks. Reality turned out to be a bit different: her husband imprisoned her inside their home and forced her to watch violent videos featuring jihad attacks against soldiers from Western countries. He also raped her and beat her frequently. The girl went to...

Genesis 25 - The First Wrestling Match in Recorded History In Biblical History, which is arguably the most accurate history in the world, a woman named Rebekah was pregnant with two boys; Jacob and Esau. While in the womb the two boys moved and kicked very often, almost seeming to wrestle with each other. Like many historical stories in the Bible, all of us are like one of these two little wrestlers. Rebekah prayed and asked God why this was happening. The Lord answered her and said that she was pregnant with two great nations. The older would serve the...

The Virgin of the Navigators is an alterpiece painted in 1536 by Alejo Fernandez for the chapel at the House of Trade in Seville. Under the protection of the Virgin are depicted King Ferdinand II of Aragon, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and, kneeling on the viewer’s right are Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci and one of the Pinzon Brothers. In the background are gathering the peoples of the New World. The painting was made five years after the appearance of Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico in 1531, and I wonder if word of this miracle had made...

Ever since the Protestant Revolt in the 16th century, the Catholic Church has been accused of ignoring, opposing, hiding and even destroying the Bible in order to keep it from the people. Allegedly, copies of the Bible were chained to the walls of churches during the Middle Ages so that people could not take them home to read. Supposedly the Church during the Middle Ages also refused to translate the Bible into the various tongues of the common people, the vernacular languages, in order to further hinder personal Bible reading. Furthermore it is claimed that the Church even went as...

<p>MADRID (AP) -- The Vatican on Sunday beatified 522 people - mostly priests and nuns - who were killed in the turmoil that led to Spain's civil war.</p>

“. . . life is an unending dialogue between a knight of the spirit who is ever striving to soar aloft, and a squire who clings to his master and strives with might and main to keep his feet firmly planted on the ground.” - Walter Starkie (1)Miguel de Cervantes, who would one day write the great novel, Don Quixote, was born in 1547 in Spain. His family had at one time held influence in society, but by the time Cervantes was born, his father was poor and often had to travel in search of work. After studying under the...

Anglican Episcopal Church 1269. I was taught by my parents that the Church of England has always been a distinct Church on its own right from the second century. Your parents apparently belonged to that school of Anglicans which refuses to admit that the Church of England originated only at the time of the Protestant Reformation. Those who belong to that school of thought persuade themselves that the present Anglican Church is one and the same as the Church which was established in England by the first Christian missionaries to that country. But this theory cannot stand the test...

The canonization ceremony should take place in 2015, a century after the massacre of 1,5 million Christians which was never recognised by the Turkish government “In a move that has surprised Turkey, the Armenian Church is going to proceed with the canonization of the victims of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Turkish State in 1915, using Kurdish labourers for the massacres. The scientifically perpetrated genocide by, is described by the Turkish historian Taner Akcam as "A shameful act" (the title of his book ) . But the Ankara government has never recognized it and rejects the definition of "genocide”,”...

The sacrament of holy orders is conferred in three ranks of clergy: bishops, priests, and deacons. Bishops (episcopoi) have the care of multiple congregations and appoint, ordain, and discipline priests and deacons. They sometimes appear to be called "evangelists" in the New Testament. Examples of first-century bishops include Timothy and Titus (1 Tim. 5:19–22; 2 Tim. 4:5; Titus 1:5). Priests (presbuteroi) are also known as "presbyters" or "elders." In fact, the English term "priest" is simply a contraction of the Greek word presbuteros. They have the responsibility of teaching, governing, and providing the sacraments in a given congregation (1 Tim....

The most common objection I get to Mary as Mother of God, especially from Fundamentalists, but not limited to them, is, “The words ‘Mother of God’ are nowhere to be found in the Bible. Therefore, I will not accept it as true.” This line of reasoning fails in dramatic fashion when carried to its logical conclusion when we consider the central mystery of the Christian Faith, the Trinity, is not found in Scripture verbatim as well. And we could go on. The Incarnation would fall by the wayside. Essential terms we use to do theology, like homoousios (Gr.—same nature, Jesus...

When it comes right down to it, President Obama is lawless in the majority of ALL his doings and is as base a man as one can find. This truth could not be seen anymore clearer than current dealings with the government shutdown crisis and his past Planned Parenthood speech in June in which he gave his full support; and "to boot" at the end of his speech asked Almighty God's blessings on the most barbaric organization in the world. The spirit of anti-Christ dominates this man and as time goes by we can see his darkened heart manifesting its...

Pope Francis met on October 11 with representatives of the Jewish community in Rome, led by Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, to mark the 70th anniversary of the date when Nazis rounded up the Jews of Rome for deportation to Auschwitz. Recalling the genocidal campaign, the Pope said: “We remember and pray for the many innocent victims of human barbarism, and for their families. It will also be an occasion to recall the importance of remaining vigilant in order that we do not regress, under any pretext, to any forms of intolerance and anti-Semitism, in Rome and in the rest...

On Oct. 19, self-professed Biblical scholar Joseph Atwill is planning to make public some very flammable allegations. At a day-long symposium called "Covert Messiah" in London, England, he's set to unveil purported evidence that Roman aristocrats manufactured Jesus Christ - a claim that, if substantiated, would devalue the core of the Christian faith. The only problem? Most Biblical experts disagree with the scholar's pronouncements. A press release announcing the purported new evidence claims that Atwill has discovered "ancient confessions" that purportedly prove that Romans invented Jesus Christ in the first century. He has long argued that the faith system was...

Featured Term (selected at random):EXARCHA title originally used by civil and ecclesiastical rulers. An ecclesiastical exarch was a metropolitan with jurisdiction beyond his own province, the most important of whom were those of Ephesus and Caesarea. "Vicar Apostolic" in the West has replaced the title "Exarch." The name today is given to the heads of the Russian and Greek Catholics of the Byzantine Rite, and to the Melkite patriarchal vicar of Jerusalem. Some Ukrainian bishops in North America today are called exarchs. (Etym. Latin exarchus; from Greek exarchein, to begin, take the lead.) All items in this dictionary are...

(ThyBlackMan.com) For several years now, every Tuesday evening I have had the great privilege of addressing the Christian and Mormon listeners of Worship FM 101.7 in Monrovia, the capital City of Liberia, West Africa. I have come to know several of the station managers and a number of the more frequent callers to the weekly program. Through their comments, questions and photographs, I have been genuinely moved to see the application of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Over the past few months the question of racist teachings in the Book of Mormon and from the past Leadership of...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morningIn the “Creed,� after having professed: “I believe in one Church,� we add the adjective “Holy�; that is, we affirm the sanctity of the Church, and this is a characteristic that has been present since the beginning in the consciousness of the first Christians, who called themselves simply “the saints� (cf. Acts 9:13.32.41; Romans 8:27; 1 Corinthians 6:1), because they had the certainty that it is the action of God, the Holy Spirit that sanctifies the Church.However, in what sense is the Church Holy if we see that the historical Church, in her long journey...

A new exhibition at Tate Britain highlights the scale of destruction to artworks in the Tudor period – a staggering amount of books and music were also destroyedThe slashed and broken medieval images displayed in the new Art Under Attack exhibition at the Tate are a reminder of what we lost in the hundred and fifty years after the Reformation. Even now there is denial about the scale of the erasing of our medieval past. The Tate estimates we lost 90% of our religious art. It was probably even more than that. The destruction was on a scale that far...

The year is 1147. Knights and soldiers from around Europe are gathered at the gates of the great city of Lisbon on the eve of a monumental battle with the Muslim occupants. They have erected a giant moveable engine to scale the gates (like the kind in Lord of the Rings). Their enemy is merciless, and they know full well they face the high likelihood of death. Their thoughts turn toward eternity and the judgment seat of Christ. A humble priest stands before these battle hardened men and delivers a sermon to give them courage and inspire them to repentance...

Guess the saint: This saint joined a Crusade to Egypt in the hopes of PROSELYTIZING as many musloids as he could before being killed. This saint was not killed, but was instead received into the court of a sultan. Our saint then offered to engage in a trial by fire – literal fire – with the sultan’s musloid “scholars”. Our saint offered to enter into a fire pit and if he emerged unscathed, the musloid scholars would then have to concede that the CATHOLIC GOD (the word “catholic” means “universal”, so of course God is Catholic, and of course His...

For vast numbers of people, Roman Catholicism is the religion of choice. Rome can be attractive for a wide variety of reasons. The most significant is familial, people born into and persevering in the Roman Church. But other attractions of various sorts can be readily found: theological, philosophical, liturgical, moral, psychological, and historical.Defenders of Protestantism over the centuries have entered the lists, confronting at great length all of Rome's attractions. Understandably, the discussions have often focused particularly on biblical and theological arguments. But historical arguments are of great importance as well. Rome often claims that it represents two thousand years...

Jesus Christ said the identifying sign of his followers would be that they would love one another.  "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."  (John 13:35) If that is the case, then I would suggest the many of those who run Catholic blogs and websites do some real soul searching because you are not displaying a whole lot of loving at the present moment, especially when it comes to our Holy Father, Pope Francis. The Catholic blogosphere has lit up with rants and raves against Pope Francis in...

One of the most overlooked facts of the American Civil War Era is the sympathy the South gained from Europe's most influential monarch - the pope of Rome. Pope Pius IX never actually signed any kind of alliance or 'statement of support' with the Confederate States of America, but to those who understand the nuance of papal protocol, what he did do was quite astonishing. He acknowledged President Jefferson Davis as the "Honorable President of the Confederate States of America." News of this reached the North, and the Whitehouse was considerably irate about it, prompting a response from the Vatican...

The title "The Devil" was given by Almighty God to Lucifer (the father of lies) because of his offensive slanderous tactics which he manufactured to deal with ETERNAL TRUTH and REALITY which He in FULL LIGHT and REVELATION rebelled against and rejected (John 8:44). The Greek word (devil) literally means to slander, to falsely accuse or to blaspheme one's character in the means of destroying one credibility or good status. As these days are coming to a grand climax called the Tribulation Period, a time of EXPONENTIAL lawlessness and the Day of Almighty God’s wrath, expect the slanderous activity of...

Theology in colors: Icon of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross In the Middle Ages there was no audio and video recordings, photographs, Internet. Historians worked on the basis of tradition and written documents, the lives of the saints were written according to the "literary decorum." Visual imprinting of historical events occurred sometimes many years later, and sometimes centuries, and was conducted in accordance with the canon. Studying the works of art, you can learn a lot about the events themselves, and on the attitudes of people in different eras. Illuminated gospel [Urbin. gr. 2] page 21. AD 1122. Apostolic...

President Obama is a subjective narcissist who adheres to lawlessness, moral relativism and is fully opposed to the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God. For a little more than four and a half years President Obama has displayed that he is the polar opposite of our Founding Fathers in every way and as we have seen, his chief trait is to display and parade his vindictive rage in all of his anti - constitutional policies. Just yesterday we saw President Obama's true disdain towards our WW2 Vets as he lashed out at Republicans and Tea Party patriots and sought...

Mormon is allegedly a prophet-historian who was the native American believed by Mormons to have written the Book of Mormon – the main religious text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormonism). Mormonism is a religion less than two centuries old, but in this short time it has managed to accrue a long list of embarrassments which the church leaders would prefer were kept silent. These embarrassments range from textual inaccuracies to scandals in the life of the founder, Joseph Smith. Of all religions, it’s difficult to believe this one has caught on given the long...

Calvinists get a bad rap, but how many of the critics really understand him? James R. Rogers points out how few of us read the Institutes or bother to think seriously about Calvin in today’s On the Square. Instead, we rely on easy stereotypes: Some of the answer certainly derives from misunderstandings of Calvinism. I recall in elementary school my teacher instructing the class that when the Puritans sailed to America on ships, if someone fell off the ship into the water, the others would not attempt to save him, because they believed that God had predestined that person to...

Featured Term (selected at random):CANTICLEIn the Divine Office a sacred chant from Scripture apart from the psalms. In the Roman Breviary there are many canticles from the Old Testament. The three evangelical canticles of the New Testament recited daily in the Divine Office are the Benedictus of Zechariah, Magnificat of the Blessed Virgin, and the Nunc Dimittis of Simeon. (Etym. Latin canticulum, a little song.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

The Great Apostasy For a time, the 12 Apostles led Jesus’ church (much of the New Testament shares their stories). But after a while, the people again rejected the Apostles, just as they had the prophets in the past, and the full truth of the gospel was lost and distorted. The authority to act in God’s name, which the Apostles held, was taken from the earth. This period of time lasted for centuries and is known as the Great Apostasy. While millions of good people lived and walked the earth during this time, Christ’s true church did not exist. No...

One of the Twelve Apostles in the New Testament, a son of Zebedee, and a brother of James. In his early life he was a fisherman (Mark 1:17–20). He is probably the unnamed disciple of John the Baptist mentioned in John 1:40. Later he received a call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ (Matt. 4:21–22; Luke 5:1–11). He wrote the Gospel of John, three epistles, and the book of Revelation. He was one of three who were with the Lord at the raising of Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:35–42), at the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1–9), and in Gethsemane (Matt....

In undertaking the noble task of writing a book about Jesus Christ, the popular Bill O'Reilly unfortunately ended up cutting Christ in half. He zeroed in on the historical Jesus, while completely missing the historical Christ. Bill stated in a CBS interview, "It's not a religious book. There's no religion in the book, nothing. It's all about history." But is that even possible? After all, we are talking here about Jesus Christ. Religion isn't just what you say about Him. It's also what you don't say about Him. Man has always had a tendency to spiritualize the historical Christ. And...

Featured Term (selected at random):FALL OF JERUSALEMDestruction of the sacred city in A.D. 70 after a siege of 143 days, in which, according to Tacitus (Histories, V, 13) 600,000 Jews perished, many by crucifixion. The Roman Emperor Titus razed its buildings and destroyed its temple. It is believed that the house that was the scene of Pentecost and the Last Supper was spared and became the first Christian church. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission. 

One of the most controversial issues in the study of the New Testament canon is the date when these books were regarded as Scripture. When were these books first used as an authoritative guide for the church? Critical scholars will argue that these books were not written to be Scripture and were not even used as Scripture until the end of the second century. But one of the most basic facts that Christians should know is that some New Testament writers actually quote other New Testament writers as Scripture. This demonstrates that the concept of a new corpus of biblical...

Featured Term (selected at random):SACRAMENT OF THE APOSTOLATE The sacrament of confirmation viewed as divinely established for enabling Christians not only to preserve their own faith but to share it with others. It effects are similar to what occurred on Pentecost Sunday, when the Holy Spirit came down on the Apostles and gave them the wisdom, zeal, and courage they needed to proclaim the Gospel and promote the Kingdom of Christ. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

"Saint Michael, Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And you, Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into Hell Satan and the other evil spirits who prowl the world for the ruin of souls. Amen."

The video below shows the span of one woman’s life, some seventy years in less than a minute. How swiftly she moves through the stages of her life, from infancy to her golden years.My mind drifted back to a photo album my father once assembled not long before his death. In the frontispiece he etched a quote, from Psalm 103:But as for man, his days are like the grass, or as the flower of the field. The Wind blows and he is gone, And his place never sees him, anymore.Indeed, our lives do pass swiftly. I often wonder of the...

Featured Term (selected at random):DEAD SEA SCROLLSA collection of manuscripts and numerous fragments excavated in 1947 at the site of the ancient Qumran community, located close tot he Dead Sea in Palestine. The principal texts include a set of rules for a monastic community, namely, The Manual of Discipline, A Zadokite Document (discovered earlier in Cairo), and a Formulary of Blessings; two collections of hymns; several commentaries on the Books of Micah, Nahum, and Habakuk; a long oration of Moses; and epic on The War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness; and a manual for...

Next week Washington DC will be treated to the arrival of a pro-life Catholic who is also a member of the British royal family. How is that possible? Nicholas Windsor gave up his place in line to the British throne when he converted to the Catholic Church in 2001. He became “the first male blood Royal to convert to Catholicism since Charles II on his deathbed in 1685.”Lord Nicholas—now 43—was married to his wife Paola Frankopan, who is descended from the noble line in Croatia, and became the first British royal ever married in the Vatican. His godfather is Prince...

  Abbess, Poet, Pharmacist, Mystic The Life of St. Hildegard of Bingen By: Hallie Riedel and Louise PerrottaWe’ve all heard about the typical “renaissance man�—someone who is talented in a wide variety of areas and who puts those talents to good use. We might think of the scholar-athletes we knew in high school, or the business manager who is also a concert pianist. Pope John Paul II himself was a poet, philosopher, skier, playwright, and diplomat. Even though she was born long before the Renaissance began, St. Hildegard of Bingen, is another figure who merits the title. Equipped with a...

The American Left rejoices greatly in its new "lawless revolution" under Barack H. Obama that has finally over thrown our Founding Father's vision of America. Today the Left celebrates the birth of a new nation to replace our old one which was founded on the Laws of Nature and of Natures God. Almighty God and His moral absolutes for this physical world have been finally ousted from our schools, public squares, lives and three branches of government. Godlessness, secularism, technological tyranny, lawlessness, moral relativism and Big Government are now the new gods of America and as we look back at...

This book is going to be big, a near-lock for the bestseller lists. First Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard teamed up to write a book about Killing Lincoln and it sold more than a million copies. They followed it up with Killing Kennedy and it sold briskly as well. And now they turn their attention to their greatest subject: Jesus of Nazareth. Killing Jesus: A History is a short biography of Jesus, focusing on the events leading to his death. From the outset, the authors make it clear that though they are Roman Catholics, they are not writing a religious...

Featured Term (selected at random):QUO VADIS?Latin words for the question that, according to legend, was asked of Christ by Peter as he was fleeing Rome during Nero's persecution. Christ is said to have answered, "I am coming to be crucified again." Peter took this as a rebuke, so he went back to be martyred. It is also the title of a famous Polish novel (1895) by Hendryk Sienkiewicz on the life of the early Christians in Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life....

Q - A few years ago, it was announced that the term "Yahweh" is no longer to be used (removed from all songs). It seemed like an odd decision and with all that is going on in the world, a huge waste of time to make a big deal about. Why did we do this? A - Thanks for the question! I know this is a point of confusion for many. I hope I can adequately explain the reasoning behind the decision, but let me first point out something else. Don't think the Church isn't doing those other more important...

Featured Term (selected at random):WASHING OF THE HANDSLiturgical washing of the fingers by a priest before Mass and after Mass, which is not prescribed; and washing the fingers at the Offertory, which is part of the Eucharistic liturgy. It symbolizes the purity of conscience expected of the celebrant at Mass and the respect due to the Eucharistic elements handled during Mass. The hands are also washed by a bishop after using chrism in confirmation and holy orders, and by a priest after using the holy oils at baptism and anointing of the sick. All items in this dictionary are...

In daily Mass for the past number of days we’ve been reading from the books of Nehemiah and Ezra. These books deal with the return of the Jewish people from the Babylonian captivity.Most modern-day Christians have only a passing knowledge of these aspects of ancient Jewish history and these events may seem to have little to say to us. But in fact, they speak quite powerfully of very important human struggles today. Thus, a review of these historical events seems in order, as well as an application of them to our life and struggles today.To begin, the Jewish people, as...

Navis Pictures Producer Jim Morlino was looking for a story for his next film when a friend gave him a book with a story about a little known war in an area of Western France known as the Vendee - a story that he believed would be especially compelling to modern day Catholics. "More than just compelling, the magnitude of the story of the French Revolutionary Government's war against the Catholic Church, and the fact that these events were virtually unknown to most of the world, I found shocking," said Morlino. "How could a war which lasted for years,...

Featured Term (selected at random):KOINONIACommunity, especially the community of the faithful, of whom St. Luke says they formed a fellowship (koinonia) of believers who worshipped together and held all their possessions in common (Acts 2:42-47). It was also the favorite term of St. Paul to identify the union of the faithful with Christ and among themselves, and it was the Church's term in the earliest creeds for the communion of saints, i.e., the believers on earth, the souls in purgatory, and the elect in glory. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, ©...

Inspiring Examples of Aged Faith September 7th, 2010 by Fr. Kyle Schnippel Last week, I had the opportunity to con-celebrate Mass with two priests who, together, have 120 years of priestly experience.  Only bringing 6 years to the Altar myself, I was somewhat in awe of the two aged servants who have toiled long in the vineyard of the Lord.As I reflect back on this Mass, and as I have continued to grow in friendship with these two men (who are both old enough to be my grandfather!), I continue to marvel at the great gift of the priesthood for...

Former Pope Benedict has denied that he tried to cover up sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests, in his first direct published comments since he stepped down. The comments—which a victims’ group rejected—were made in an 11-page letter to Italian author and mathematician Piergiorgio Odifreddi, who had written a book about the problems facing the Roman Catholic Church before the pope resigned in February. “As far as you mentioning the moral abuse of minors by priests, I can only, as you know, acknowledge it with profound consternation. But I never tried to cover up these things,” said Benedict,...