Free Republic

Arch Diocese Says Women Are 'Excommunicating Themselves' BOSTON -- Three Catholic women were ordained as priests in a Back Bay neighborhood church this weekend, despite the Vatican's admonition that the trio would be excommunicated if they did so.VIDEO: Women Priests Ordained In Boston“The women being ordained today have been called and they are following God’s guidance and direction for their lives,” said Dana Reynolds, a woman from California who became a Catholic bishop in a ceremony in Germany three months ago. “They have said ‘yes’ to God.”NewsCenter 5's Rondella Richardson reported that a congregation of Catholic worshippers, both male and...

Roman Catholic Womynpriests are up to their play-acting again. This time in Boston. Roman Catholic Womenpriests, who are neither Roman Catholic or Womanpriests, claim to be "ordaining" three additional women. In fact, it is actually an excommunication ceremony. [Boston] Three aspiring Catholic priests will be anointed and prayed over this weekend in an ordination liturgy that will resemble the traditional in most ways but one: The three being ordained are women. The ordination ceremony Sunday, at a historic Protestant church in the Back Bay, is the first such event to take place in Boston, one of the most Catholic cities...

One of nature's enduring enigmas is making an appearance once again, bringing a sibilant drone to the towns of Cape Cod, as it has every 17 years with startling regularity. Insects known as periodical cicadas are emerging from underground haunts for a final hurrah - a nearly monthlong orgy of come-hither songs, mating, and laying eggs - before dying and leaving their progeny behind to begin anew the curious and highly unusual 17-year growth period. Residents are bracing themselves. "We're thinking about moving to Boston to live with my daughter!" joked Jeanne Duchemin, of Mashpee, who recalls the inundation of...

DEDHAM – The haggard-looking former Hull High School principal who was set to do a stint this summer as a camp swim instructor was ordered held on $10,000 cash bail this morning after authorities say they found thousands of images of child pornography on his computer. Russell Goyette, 61, a longtime teacher who retired as Hull High principal in 2005, pleaded not guilty this morning to 16 counts of possession of child pornography. Prosecutors say a search of Goyette’s personal computer netted more than 4,500 images of children engaged in sex acts with adults and other children. He was indicted...

Having been occupied since 2005 by protesting parishioners, a closed suburban Boston parish is going bi-ritual, with a Syro-Malybar priest to offer one Sunday liturgy in the India-born rite (which celebrates its Eucharist ad orientem), and another in the Roman rite: The archdiocese is hailing the plan as a testament to improved relations between church officials and the protesters; the protesters are denouncing what they say was a lack of consultation with them about the plan, but say they are happy to share space with a group of Catholics in need and optimistic after an initial conversation with Vadana...

BOSTON—State Sen. James Marzilli has been arrested on multiple charges in Lowell, including lewd and lascivious behavior and resisting arrest. Lowell Police said the Arlington Democrat was arrested at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday on Middle Street in the city's downtown area and was also charged with disorderly conduct, attempting to commit a crime and obstruction of justice. He was being booked by police and was scheduled to be arraigned in Lowell District Court on Wednesday. A spokesman for Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said there was a female alleged victim, but offered few details. A call to Marzilli's home was not...

IT'S WELL KNOWN that innovation is the lifeblood of the Massachusetts economy. At every period of stagnation or decline over the past 400 years, someone's bright ideas have turned the tide. Too little valued, however, is the central role played by minorities and women in helping Massachusetts thrive. This morning, the state's political, business, and civic leaders will spotlight the contribution of a diverse workforce to the region's success, and challenge each other to do more. Much more. A 2006 report by the Boston History and Innovation Collaborative found that of 64 game-changing innovations in Massachusetts - from wiping out...

BOSTON — The leader of the Massachusetts House says he will support giving Gov. Deval Patrick the power to appoint an interim successor to U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy if that becomes necessary. The Democratic-controlled Legislature stripped Republican Gov. Mitt Romney of that authority in 2004 because of fears he would name a Republican to replace U.S. Sen. John Kerry if he had been elected president. Instead, state law now requires a special election for the seat no sooner than 145 days and no later than 160 days after the vacancy occurs. But House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi said yesterday if Kennedy...

Governor Deval Patrick has decided against taking action to allow illegal immigrants to pay resident tuition and fees at state colleges and universities this fall, an administration official said yesterday, crushing advocates who were counting on the governor to deliver on a pledge to support the students. Earlier this year, Patrick said he was considering ways to offer illegal immigrants in-state rates, such as issuing a regulation, adding that it would be "the right thing to do." The governor declined to comment yesterday, but an administration source who spoke on condition of anonymity said Patrick decided that there were "significant...

Doctors for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy say he has a malignant brain tumor. Tests conducted after Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend show a tumor in his left parietal lobe, the doctors said.

A group of antitax activists launched a campaign over the weekend to abolish the state income tax, setting the stage for a contentious public battle if the measure is added to the ballot this fall. After pushing a similar initiative that almost passed six years ago, a group called the Committee for Small Government is back for another round, asking voters to end the income tax and save the average taxpayer $3,600 a year. The group, led by libertarian Carla Howell, is almost certain to gather the 11,000 signatures needed to put a question on the November ballot. To say...

DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- A new gambling study shows some Massachusetts residents who have not supported casinos in the past may be changing their minds. "Fifty-seven percent of Massachusetts residents still favor two or more resort casinos in the state of Massachusetts. That number is actually four percent higher than when we last did this poll in September," said Dr. Clyde Barrow, a public policy analyst at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The study was funded by a real estate development firm with land interests in the proposed Palmer and New Bedford casino sites. The research showed that as the state's deficit...

Together, you and we cleared the first 4 hurdles to putting the END the Income Tax Initiative on the November 4th Ballot. First, we wrote the legal language for the Initiative - and got it legally certified by the Attorney General's Office. Second, we collected 76,085 certified petition signatures to qualify our END the Income Tax Initiative for legislative action - and move it toward the ballot. Third, we survived an under-the-radar, stealth campaign run by the Massachusetts Teachers Union to disqualify our ballot initiative. Fourth, although the Massachusetts Constitution requires the state legislature to take testimony on and vote...

Can a Republican presidential candidate win Massachusetts? In most years, because of the state's dark blue reputation, the answer clearly would be no. But if the race is between John McCain and Barack Obama, there is an opportunity for a Republican to claim Massachusetts's 12 electoral votes. This opportunity exists because of the respective appeal of McCain and Obama to the true dominant political "party" in Massachusetts - the independents.

What happens in a town when the privileged move in Town Meeting and elections have been held here in NH over the last couple of weeks (with more voting in some towns still to come).  I've been helping one group of people, the Moultonboro Citizens Alliance, with their site as they advocate for implementing SB2 style of voting and for keeping taxes lower.Well, while they did not achieve their goal of getting SB2 implemented, they came REAL CLOSE!  And they did defeat a contentious issue of a new edifice in town.During that time, lots of Letters to the Editors were...

NATICK - You could call them the Override Moms - politically powerful suburban women who lobby for property tax increases to pay for teachers, new schools, and better classroom gear for their school-aged children. Think soccer moms, with an activist bent. In one community after another, these mothers have banded together in common cause. They are nimble and they are quick, often performing with the agility and strategy of an expert strike force. With at least 40 Eastern Massachusetts cities and towns planning to ask voters for more than $50 million over the next few months, this is the make-or-break...

.S. News & World Report, which has made a name for itself by ranking and announcing the best colleges every year, is now ranking and listing the best careers for young people. A comparison of the latest lists shows a shocking disconnect and makes for dispiriting holiday reading. While the price of a college education has skyrocketed far faster than inflation, many careers for which colleges prepare their graduates are disappearing. U.S. News' Best Careers guide concludes, "college grads might want to consider blue-collar careers" because bachelor's degree holders "are having trouble finding jobs that require college-graduate skills." Incredibly, U.S....

Uninsured Mass. residents face monthly fines starting in January BOSTON—Come Jan. 1, Massachusetts residents who still haven't signed up for health insurance will start racking up fines on a monthly basis.

Fellow MA residents have your health insurance costs also gone up since Romney's socialist-light plan? I just noticed that my employer has dropped the less expensive option entirely starting 2008. My health insurance has gone up by $20 a month. My boss had his family coverage go up by $80. Apparently this is the first time anything like this has happened at my employer so I am wondering if anyone else has noticed the same.

Lottery winner wasn't supposed to gamble By MARK PRATT, Associated Press Writer Nov 28, 2007 BOSTON - The winner of a $1 million lottery scratch ticket may not be so lucky after all: He's a convicted bank robber who isn't supposed to gamble. Timothy Elliott faces a Dec. 7 court hearing over whether he violated his probation when he bought the $10 ticket for the $800 Million Spectacular game at a supermarket in Hyannis. Elliott was placed on five years' probation after pleading guilty in October 2006 to unarmed robbery for a January 2006 heist at a bank on Cape...

Enhanced resources for this story – press conference audio – are available at www.statehousenews.com STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, NOV. 28, 2007…..Former and current Republican leaders blasted one of their own on Wednesday afternoon, ripping the record of former Gov. Mitt Romney in front of the state capitol and touching off an intra-party scuffle that pitted former allies in the small Massachusetts GOP against one another. Tearing into the presidential contender’s fiscal handling of the state and touting former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as a more reliable candidate, former Gov. Paul Cellucci and former Treasurer Joe Malone, once rivals in the...

Associated Press BOSTON — Boston police will ask parents in high-crime areas to let detectives search their children's bedrooms for guns without warrants in a new anti-crime program. Police believe parents are so worried their teenagers will be caught up in gun violence that they'll be willing to allow police into their homes. If the parents say no, the police will leave. "They don't know what to do when faced with the problem of dealing with a teenage boy in possession of a firearm," police Commissioner Edward Davis said of parents. We're giving them an option in that case." Davis...

A Winchester principal who bowed to some parents’ objections and scrubbed a seventh-grade field trip to “Miracle on 34th Street” said the classic Christmas tale is too focused on Santa Claus and doesn’t tie into the school’s curriculum. McCall Middle School Principal Evander French Jr. has axed the trip to a Dec. 19 performance of the play at the Stoneham Theatre, a Scrooge-like move that has angered parents. “The people who complained were concerned about the very narrow focus on Santa Claus,” French said yesterday... On Friday, an e-mail was sent to parents telling them the trip was canceled. French...

Concord, N.H. (AP) _ Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd says his long tenure in Congress will be an asset if he's elected president. Dodd, campaigning today in New Hampshire for the Democratic nomination, says he'd be able to hit the ground running as president because he'd already know the members of Congress. He also says he's spent decades working with Republicans to accomplish important goals, and thinks more bipartisanship will help ease the partisan bickering that's turning off voters. Dodd campaigned at a New Hampshire nursing home, an outdoor rally calling attention to global warming, and other spots. He was joined...

bill that would establish a 35-foot no-protest zone around clinics where abortions are performed won the support of the state Senate yesterday and now proceeds to the House, where at least 75 lawmakers have endorsed it. The legislation would almost double the current 18-foot buffer zone and bar protesters from entering it. Currently, protesters may come within 6 feet of someone within the zone to provide counsel or share information, as long as the individual consents.

LOWELL, Mass. --The widow of 1992 presidential candidate Paul Tsongas defeated the brother of an American Airlines pilot slain in the Sept. 11 terror attacks Tuesday in the special election to replace Democrat Martin Meehan in the U.S. House. Democrat Niki Tsongas of Lowell edged Republican Jim Ogonowski of Dracut, whose brother John died when his plane was hijacked and flown in the World Trade Center. With 170 of 195 precincts reporting, she had 51 percent of the vote to 46 percent for Ogonowski.

A statement by Bishop McManus of Worcester [via Amy Welborn] A controversy has arisen at the College of the Holy Cross that has resulted from the College’s renting space for a conference sponsored by the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy. The conference involves workshops presented by members of Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts. Both organizations promote positions on artificial contraception and abortion that are contrary to the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. I have received numerous complaints from people who are shocked and outraged that a Catholic institution like Holy Cross would have anything to do with such...

NEW HAMPSHIRE, October 2, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - So far the leading Democratic presidential candidates seem to be in a mad race to outdo each other in a quest for the "gay" vote.  In the most recent Democrat debate held on September 27th in New Hampshire, Clinton, Obama and Edwards once again catered to homosexual activists in responding to a question regarding pro-homosexual curriculum being introduced in public schools as early as the second grade. The pivotal question focused on a homosexual "fairy-tale" that was read to a class of seven-year-olds in Massachusetts.  The story, selected as reading for a class...

To paraphrase Paul Revere, and with especially good reason: Yanks, the Pope is coming.... The Pope is COMING! Two weeks ago, preliminary plans for Benedict XVI's first US visit were disseminated among a handful of senior hierarchs at a DC meeting. In the days since, a rough sketch of the much-anticipated apostolic journey -- the first since 1999 -- has begun to emerge. Currently slated to take place from 15-20 April 2008, the Tuesday-to-Sunday visit's official centerpiece will be a papal speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York -- the prime cause for the US tour,...

SHREWSBURY, MA - The full weight of state and local bureaucracy is coming down on Helen Jarzobski and her buddies at Francis Gardens in Shrewsbury. “Why should I be expected to change now?” asked Ms. Jarzobski, a rather precise senior who cited her age at 92 and a half. “I’m going to be gone soon. If they keep pushing this, I’ll be gone even sooner.” Ms. Jarzobski sat with me Tuesday afternoon on her small backyard deck, which contains two comfy wicker chairs and a glass table. The grandmother of eight likes to relax there every morning with her coffee....

The decision to exclude the brother of a pilot killed in the Sept. 11 attacks from ceremonies marking its anniversary has set off a political firestorm in Massachusetts. Jim Ogonowski, who is a Republican candidate for Congress in the heavily-Democratic state, was not asked to speak, as he had for the past four years. Ogonowski?s brother John was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, one of two planes that was flown into the World Trade Center. While Jim Ogonowski was not invited, speaking will be ex-Congressman Martin Meehan, whose wife is chairing Democrat Niki Tsongas' campaign against Ogonowski. "I...

Each candidate in the 2008 Presidential race will undoubtedly offer a health care plan. Those plans will include initiatives ranging from a single payer system, to employer mandates, to tax incentives for the purchase of private health insurance. But only one candidate has actually done something, waded into the issue and emerged with a successful plan that does not resort to one-size-fits-all, government run "Hillary Care." That innovative candidate is former Governor Mitt Romney. On April 12, 2006, Governor Romney signed into law landmark legislation ensuring that every resident of Massachusetts would have access to affordable, portable, quality private health...

Gov. Deval Patrick is moving to expedite the deportation of hundreds of criminal aliens in state custody under a freshly inked deal that empowers correction officers to enforce federal immigration laws. The terms of the new deal took effect yesterday as 10 state correction officers began training that will allow them to initiate deportation proceedings against illegal immigrants who currently can only be removed by federal officers. “This helps the Department of Correction identify criminal aliens so that they won’t slip through the cracks and get back out on the street,” said Mary Beth Heffernan, an undersecretary of public safety...

NEW YORK — With his confident style and crowd-pleasing smile, Ames, Iowa, straw-poll winner Willard Mitt Romney looks like a formidable contender for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. If he's lucky, he can leave voters so dazzled that they ignore his record. Rather than see stars, Andrew Sum and Joseph McLaughlin of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Boston's Northeastern University placed Romney's rule as Massachusetts governor beneath their statistical microscope. Let's hope what they discovered is not contagious. "Our analysis reveals a weak comparative economic performance of the state over the Romney years, one of the worst in...

"We insist that everybody who drives a car has insurance. And cars are a lot less expensive than people." --Gov. Mitt Romney Massachusetts will likely soon become the first state in the nation to force everyone living within its borders to buy health insurance or pay a tax for walking around uninsured. Gov. Romney says by signing such a mass mandate into law, he will achieve the Democrats' goal of universal health coverage on Republican market-oriented principles. Uh-huh.

Home Parish: Boston. Where did you grow up? Radom, Poland and San Diego, Calif. Seminary: St. John’s Seminary. High School: UC High. College: University of California, San Diego; Jagiellonian University, Poland. Hobbies: Computers, miniatures, disk golf, role-playing, reading. When was the first time you thought of priesthood? The idea has been in the back of my mind since childhood. But then I began serious consideration during my master's program in Krakow. What were major Catholic activities you participated in prior to the seminary? A vocational retreat in San Diego. I was also present during the current pope's Mass in Krakow...

The four top Roman Catholic leaders in Massachusetts sent a letter to state legislators yesterday, urging them to vote in favor of a proposed ban on same-sex marriage at tomorrow's Constitutional Convention. The bishops say that by sanctioning same-sex weddings, the state has taken away the rights of children by "redefining marriage in a way that is indifferent to the absence of mother or father." The letter asks that lawmakers approve the proposed ban so that Massachusetts voters can decide the issue in November 2008."Marriage is a fundamental social institution," the letter says. "Its definition and meaning are critical concerns...

BOSTON - It’s a frustration many voters have felt over the years _ arriving at a polling location only to find out they’ve forgotten to register and can’t cast a ballot. Now lawmakers want Massachusetts to join eight other states that already allow same-day voter registration. Supporters - including Gov. Deval Patrick and Secretary of State William Galvin - say it’s one more way that the state can make voting easier for harried citizens. "The concept makes good sense," Galvin said. "It’s the administrative carrying-out of this concept that’s key." The bill’s authors say it includes protections against abuse or...

Several newspapers recently published opinion pieces on a law enacted last month by Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) that will require all uninsured state residents to purchase health insurance by July 1, 2007, and will require employers in the state with 11 or more employees to provide coverage for workers. Summaries appear below.

b class="Dateline">BOSTON -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston announced a $65 million dollar deal on Thursday to sell its administrative headquarters in Brighton to Boston College to complete a money-saving move to the suburbs. The sale of just under 20 acres to the Jesuit institution, which has already bought other nearby land from the archdiocese, is scheduled to close by Aug. 1. It is part of a long-range effort to recover from financial problems related to the clergy sex abuse scandal that erupted in 2002. "We have reached a significant milestone in announcing this agreement," Cardinal Sean O'Malley said...

A Special Report Concerning the Tragedy Caused by Gun Control in Massachusetts In 1998 the Massachusetts legislature passed into law what can only be described as the “Worst in the Nation” gun laws. These laws included many new restrictions on gun ownership including absurd new regulations and statutes on what lawful gun owners can own or buy. The proponents of these new laws passed off this legislation as a “reasonable” means to prevent violent gun crime. Many anti-civil rights groups and individuals are still celebrating the passage of these laws and the decrease in licensed gun owners as a result...

Remember the public debate last year over whether the state should raise the gasoline tax or tolls to pay for the rotten roads around here? Well, the debate’s over. There’s been a compromise. We’re going to raise both the tolls and the gasoline tax. Or so says the Mass. Transportation Finance Commission. They haven’t officially come out and said they want higher gas taxes and tolls. First they’re going to have the traditional “public hearings.” Of course it’s all a complete bag job. Just look at the tell-tale phrases in the news stories about the “shocking” conditions of the state’s...

BOSTON, March 6, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Boston's Cardinal Archbishop, Sean O'Malley has compared Canada's eroding legal protections for religious freedom with the case of a Lexington Massachusetts father who was denied by a school his right to opt his son out of state-prescribed sex-education classes.   Cardinal O'Malley compares the Massachusetts case to the situation in Canada. He wrote, "In Canada . . . They are already seeing the many different ways that people's religious rights are being trampled because of the redefinition of marriage."   In 2005, David Parker of Lexington filed suit when his son's school notified him...

Can Massachusetts’s newest conservative blog become a political sensation like liberal fave Blue Mass. Group? If shameless imitation has anything to do with it, absolutely! In terms of presentation, Red Mass Group — which debuted on February 17, with a post on the $72,000 scheduler recently hired for Governor Deval Patrick’s wife, Diane — does almost nothing original. Sure, omitting the period after “Mass” was a bold step, but the name is still completely derivative. So’s the iconography: BMG has a map of the state at the top of the page, and voila! so does RMG. (The conservatives get some...

Beloved “Big John,” the USS John F. Kennedy, is armed and ready for the thousands expected to flood the South Boston docks this weekend for a final salute to the Camelot-burnished carrier “I don’t think there could be a more fitting place for the JFK to make a final port than the city of Boston,” said Rear Adm. H. Denby Starling II. Starling, in charge of decommissioning the JFK, told the Herald the crew has planned hard for this pivotal weekend. They are expecting more than 60,000 visitors Saturday and Sunday. Crowds will see level-orange security complete with metal detectors...

Contrary to claims that Chiang Kai-shek (ÊY½éʯ) should be held accountable for the 228 Incident, a group of academics said yesterday that the Japanese colonial government's scheming was to blame for the violence. A recent official report concluded that Chiang should bear responsibility for the incident, and on Monday President Chen Shui-bian (ê�Ë®±â) called Chiang the "true killer" in the violence. But Academia Sinica fellows Chu Hung-yuan (Öì›ÄÔ´) and Huang Chang-chien (üSÕý¡) and four other academics called a press conference yesterday to challenge this portrayal of Chiang. "The incident took place when Taiwan had just been handed over by Japan...

EDINBURGH, Scotland, (LifeSiteNews.com) - Nurses and other health care professionals should avoid using the terms ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ to refer to family relationships since the terms could be offensive to homosexual couples with children, a new directive published by Scotland’s National Health Service recommends. Issued in conjunction with the country’s leading homosexual activist organization Stonewall Scotland, the publication is entitled Fair For All - The Wider Challenge: Good LGBT Practice in the NHS. Americans for Truth reported Feb.11 on the publication’s release. The booklet calls for a “zero-tolerance policy to discriminatory language” among Scotland’s health care system. Included in discriminatory...

She had gone to Target with her brother and sister-in-law to buy a DVD player for their new house, and had decided to go off on her own. She was looking over women's blouses when a young girl brushed past her. The girl angrily demanded an apology. The woman was taken aback and refused, according to her account, and tried to turn her attention back to the rack of clothes. [snip] Sanchez said some store employees were present when the fight began and didn't try to intervene. "They didn't do nothing, nothing whatsoever," Sanchez said. "The manager didn't respond when...

Bay State officials seeking to save a coveted congressional seat are turning for help to residents who can’t even vote: illegal immigrants. A census of the often-maligned underground residents - who face constant calls for their deportation - could be critical to reaching a population total that could preserve the seat. “We need to chase them,” Secretary of State William Galvin said yesterday, stressing the need for an “all local” hunt for everyone living here. Crucial to the census success: Convincing the estimated 150,000 to 200,000 illegal immigrants that they will simply be counted, not arrested. “This is for real....