Free Republic

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI lamented the serious lack of public programs and measures to address the needs of deaf people and a lack of even basic health care, which often can prevent hearing impairment. He spoke Nov. 20 to some 400 people attending a Vatican conference addressing the role of the deaf in the church. A handful of interpreters signed the pope's words to deaf participants during the audience in the Clementine Hall of the papal palace. The Nov. 19-21conference was organized by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry and was dedicated to "The Deaf Person...

Minneapolis, Minn., Nov 20, 2009 / 03:54 am (CNA).- Following the decision of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to allow sexually active homosexual clergy, an objecting Lutheran group has begun to form a new church body for those Lutherans who want to “remain faithful to the Orthodox Christianity of the last 2,000 years.”Lutheran CORE leaders on Wednesday said their working group would immediately begin drafting a constitution and taking other steps to form the new denomination. They hope to launch the denomination by next August.Rev. Paull Spring, a retired Pennsylvania ELCA bishop and chairman of Lutheran CORE said...

The Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday made his most outspoken challenge to the Roman Catholic Church since the Pope invited disaffected Anglicans to switch to Rome. Speaking before he meets Benedict XVI tomorrow, Dr Rowan Williams told a conference in Rome that the Catholic Church’s refusal to ordain women was a bar to Christian unity. “For many Anglicans, not ordaining women has a possible unwelcome implication about the difference between baptised men and baptised women,” he said. The Anglican provinces that ordain women had retained rather than lost their Catholic holiness and sacramentalism, he said. Addressing an ecumenical conference at the...

Lutherans Concerned / North America (LC/NA) responded with sadness to yesterday's announcement proposing a new church body to be formed by and for former ELCA members and congregations opposing the full inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the church. In August 2009, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, by a 2/3 majority, passed a social statement on sexuality. The statement, "Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust" described as faithful four positions on beliefs within the denomination on the inclusion of people in same-gender relationships. The four positions ranged from the view that same-gender...

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand. -- Romans 5:1-2a November 19, 2009 Sisters and brothers in Christ of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, I greet you with the words of the apostle Paul to the Romans: "Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand" (Romans 5:1-2a). Where does the Evangelical Lutheran Church in...

Printer Friendly Format Nation Monks’ thriving coffee business helps attract young men to monastery By Sheila Archambault Posted: 11/16/2009 WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A small Carmelite monastery in Clark, Wyo., has seen its coffee sales take off in the last couple of years, and the growing awareness of its coffee business has brought an added benefit to the community -- more members. "In the past two years, the monks themselves have grown from six to 15 monks and all the new monks are under 25, some right out of high school," said Susie George, a neighbor of the monks who...

ELCA Council Approves Charter, Hears Secretary's Report, Elects Leaders 09-263-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) approved a charter for a comprehensive study of the ELCA and its future mission. A task force will conduct the study with the goal of bringing a report with recommendations to the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Orlando. The council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. It met here Nov. 13-15. The project, "Living into the Future Together: Renewing the Ecology of the Evangelical...

Setting the Record Straight on Rapture By Holly Deyo The purpose of the following material is not to debate the existence of Rapture or when that event would occur, as it is to establish that this is a doctrine of long-standing. A well-circulated notion says that John Darby was the first to begin teaching Rapture in 1828. This may be an effort to discredit Rapture, to remove people's hope and dispirit them, or it may be perpetuated through ignorance. Whatever is the case, it is simply incorrect. Consider that while the word "rapture" was not used until Jerome in 400...

With its annual collection coming up this Sunday, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development is fighting back against the organized effort encouraging Catholics to ignore the collection.   CCHD's woes began last year, when its grants to ACORN were terminated following the allegations of voter fraud and embezzlement brought against them during the 2008 election. Since then, a growing number of other CCHD grantees have been found to advocate either abortion or same-sex marriage -- or both. Rob Gaspar of Bellarmine Veritas Ministry, Stephanie Block of the Catholic Media Coalition, American Life League, and Human Life International have published...

Last Sunday, as part of my commentator duties at the close of Mass, I read an announcement reminding parishioners of this SundayÂ’s collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). Moments later, I left church with a copy of Our Sunday Visitor in hand. This Catholic weekly newspaper carried an article warning that a number of CCHD grants funded organizations that act against Catholic teaching. The CCHD have given millions of dollars to groups that participate in such things as abortions, promotion of homosexual marriages and some recipients were involved in cases of alleged embezzlement and voter registration fraud.What...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq – The acting bishop of Basra held Catholic Mass here Nov. 7 in honor of the service members and civilians working toward a safer, more secure Iraq. Bishop Imad Al Banna, a Chaldean priest, spoke Aramaic, an ancient language spoken in Palestine 2,000 years ago and still spoken in parts of Iraq to this day. Al Banna began his sermon with a message of peaceful coexistence. “Peace can be achieved only by respecting other people’s opinions,” said Al Banna. “All nations who respect themselves take care of all of their citizens. National must also learn...

At Medfield’s Montrose School, in BC grad’s book, women cite positive role served by Catholic group"Opus Dei" means work of God in Latin. At the Montrose School in Medfield, it means educating girls to be leaders with “faith, character, and vision,’’ said the independent Catholic institution’s head, Karen E. Bohlin. For Mary Brennan, a Franklin mother of six, it is a search for divinity in everyday life as she cares for her children and works part time. “It’s faith in practice,’’ said Brennan, who prays several times a day, using a rosary, Latin readings, and the New Testament. “As Catholics,...

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Despite the concern voiced by some bishops about the document's pastoral tone and content, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a pastoral letter on marriage Nov. 17. Nearly 100 changes in two rounds of amendments preceded the 180-45 vote in favor of "Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan" during the bishops' fall general assembly in Baltimore. Two-thirds of the USCCB membership, or 175 votes, was required for passage. There were three abstentions. An effort by retired Archbishop Francis T. Hurley of Anchorage, Alaska, to remand the document to the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family...

Baltimore, Md., Nov 18, 2009 / 06:15 pm (CNA).- By a simple majority vote at their fall assembly in Baltimore, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has elected the new chairmen-elect of five committees.By a 118-114 vote, Archbishop of St. Louis Robert J. Carlson was chosen over Bishop of Raleigh, N. Carolina Michael F. Burbidge to become chairman-elect of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.Archbishop of New Orleans Gregory M. Aymond was elected as future leader of the Committee on Divine Worship by a 126-110 vote over Archbishop of Detroit Allen H. Vigneron.Bishop Stephen E. Blaire...

This in depth Bible study will fortify and lock in the unchangeable teachings of the absolute security of the one who has put their trust in Jesus Christ, Almighty God's Savior to all men. Bring your Bible and dig in!

Baltimore, Md., Nov 18, 2009 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- On the final day of their annual meeting, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published a  pastoral letter on marriage titled “Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan,” which restates and clarifies the Church's teachings to empower those seeking to defend marriage against the cultural currents of cohabitation, contraception, divorce and same sex unions. “Thank goodness this is out there, clearly stated, with ample documentation and very reasonably put forward,” Baltimore's Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien told the Baltimore Sun. “I think it's going to be a very positive...

font size="2" color="black">Geneva (ENI). Church of Sweden Archbishop Anders Wejryd triggered outrage from a Lutheran church in Africa when he ordained an openly lesbian woman as bishop of Stockholm on 8 November. The archbishop asserts, however, that neither his church nor his country supports promiscuity, but that Sweden is a "surprisingly moral society". He said the Swedish church encourages faithful and stable relationships between people whatever their sexual orientation may be.The Church of Sweden issued a press statement when 55-year-old Eva Brunne was consecrated as the bishop of Stockholm in a ceremony at Uppsala cathedral, the mother church of the...

AN EXPLOSIVE internal report has exposed widespread racism in the Catholic Church in South Africa. The Sunday Times has obtained a copy of the 31-page report called Racism and the Catholic Church, produced by the church's Justice and Peace Department after a two-year investigation into race relations among the church's leadership and its three-million-strong congregation. The hard-hitting report found that the dominance of bishops who "come from the European cultural perspective" in the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference ensured that "white European perspectives and interests always set the agenda of the church". The report says that Catholics "come into the...

Leaving aside the popes, the person who has served as the public face of the Church in the United States for the past two decades is a little, crippled, chronically ill, old Italian-American lady who chats with Jesus daily, used to speak in tongues, and leaps before she looks. As I write this, she is quite ill, and we can't predict how long she will be with us. But the global media empire planted by this contemplative Poor Clare has put down mighty roots, with millions of viewers who love its dogged loyalty to the teachings of the Church....

Speaking at the recent meeting of the Pontifical Council of Social Communication, Benedict XVI commended the work of Catholics on the Internet: A genuine revolution is taking place in the realm of social communications of which the Church is ever more responsibly conscious. . . . . These technologies make speech and penetrating communications possible, with a capacity to share ideas and opinions; to facilitate acquiring information and news in a personal way that is accessible to all. During his short remarks to the Council, Benedict XVI stressed promoting a "culture of respect for the dignity and value of the...

London, England, Nov 18, 2009 / 03:44 am (CNA).- Invoking the example of St. Monica, a British bishop and a woman leading a mother’s prayer group program have invited all Catholics and especially Catholic mothers to pray for those who are removed from parish life.Bishop Kieran Conry, who is responsible for evangelization in England and Wales, made his remarks to coincide with the launch of the annual “Come Home for Christmas” campaign.He described St. Monica as the patron saint of inactive Catholics. “She was a faithful wife and mother who prayed for years for her son to embrace the Christian...

Erie Catholic Bishop Donald W. Trautman enunciated each word he spoke about the blood of Christ. "It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven," the bishop said, his voice carrying to the back of Gate of Heaven Cemetery's chapel, where he was celebrating a Mass on Nov. 2. By the time the annual service for All Souls' Day comes around in 2010, Trautman will likely be saying some different words. "For all" is due to be replaced with "for many" in a New English translation of the Roman Missal. U.S. Catholic bishops will...

The Southern Province of the North American Old Catholic Church calls on bishops of the Roman sect to abandon their devisive and hate-filled attitude toward lesbian and gay people. The Roman bishops began a meeting on Monday (11/16/2009) in Baltimore, MD, and are expected to issue a major "pastoral letter" against equal rights for gay people. "It is like they are telling their brothers and sisters: Thou Shalt Not Love," says Archbishop Wynn Wagner, the Regionary Bishop of the Southern Province USA of the North American Old Catholic Church (NAOCC). "They have forgotten the message of love, in their rush...

  You may want to sit down for this, but flamboyantly apostate Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong actually thrilled me with a prescient bit of insight into Scripture! How is this possible?   Well, there is a basic principle at work in the universe called the Gomer Pyle Axiom of High and Low Expectations. It works this way: When you expect great things from somebody, then merely above-average performances are often denounced as disappointing failures. So when PIXAR --whose worst movies still tower over the junk Hollywood emits -- makes Cars, people groan at what a weak effort it...

A Vatican/SSPX Discussion Can Vatican II's Teaching on Religious Liberty Be Reconciled with Tradition? John Salza, J.D. REMNANT GUEST COLUMNIST   Pope Benedict, Cardinal Hoyos, Bishop Fellay (Aug. 2005)(POSTED 11/17/09 www.RemnantNewspaper.com) As the long-awaited dialogue between the Vatican and the Society of Saint Pius X gets underway, one of the more contentious issues that will be on the table is the Second Vatican Council's teaching on religious liberty found in Dignatius Humane (DH).  Following is a brief critique of DH in light of the traditional teachings of the Church. The fact that volumes have been written evaluating whether DH is compatible with tradition demonstrates that...

Reinstatement Process Revision Adopted by ELCA Church Council 09-261-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a revision to the reinstatement process for former clergy and other professional leaders who were removed from the church's official rosters for disciplinary reasons or resigned in lieu of discipline -- solely because they were in a lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationship. The change, adopted Nov. 15, applies to former ELCA associates in ministry, deaconesses, diaconal ministers and ordained ministers. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the...

ELCA Churchwide Budget Reduced, Staff Positions Eliminated 09-258-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) acted Nov. 15 to reduce the 2010 churchwide current fund spending authorization by nearly $7.7 million, 10 percent less than the budget authorized by the 2009 Churchwide Assembly. The council's action eliminated 40.75 full-time equivalent positions, of which six were vacant. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. It met here Nov. 13-15. The action reduced the current fund spending authorization for 2010 to...

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Considering what the church would be like without the sacrament of holy orders, Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called on his fellow bishops to reflect on their relationships with their priests and help them grow in holiness and unite with them around Jesus. In his Nov. 16 speech opening the bishops' fall general assembly in Baltimore, Cardinal George also addressed ways of strengthening church unity, particularly with regard to Catholic universities, "to media claiming the right to be a voice for the church" and to organizations that...

EATON TWP. — Holy Love Ministries, the Eaton Township site where Maureen Sweeney Kyle and her husband, Don Kyle, operate an ecumenical ministry and pilgrimage site, has received a harsh rebuke from the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. Bishop Richard Lennon, in a letter and decree released Nov. 11, declared Sweeney Kyle’s visions to be “not supernatural,” banned clergy from performing sacraments at the 83-acre site, banned Holy Love Ministries from using the name “Catholic” or declaring itself a Catholic group, and discouraged practicing Catholics from going to the site. In a statement Sunday, Don Kyle said, “We at Holy Love...

SERMON IN THE OPENING EUCHARIST OF THE GENERAL RETREAT OF THE SOCIETY OF THE HOLY TRINITY, St. Mary of the Lake University and Conference Center, St. Michael and All Angels, September 29, 2009. Frank C. Senn, STS, Senior Text: Luke 10:17-20 Our Society gathers together once again in retreat. After a year of doing ministry in the places to which we are called, we gather again at St. Mary's to be refreshed by common prayer, Word and Eucharist, and strengthened by mutual conversation and consolation. As we return to this place can it be said of us, as it was...

Freedom of speech is a great thing. Unfortunately, it comes at an unavoidable price: When citizens are free to say what they want, they’ll sometimes use that freedom to say some pretty silly things. And that’s the case with the 12 claims we’re about to cover. Some of them are made over and over, others are rare. Either way, while the proponents of these errors are free to promote them, we as Catholics have a duty to respond.1. “There’s no such thing as absolute truth. What’s true for you may not be true for me.” People use this argument a...

Christians need to realize that being a true Christian does not mean you are to be proud and boastful. It does not mean that you will be blessed with money and riches as the prosperity pimps like T.D. Jakes, Kenneth Hagin, Joyce Meyer, Paul Crouch and others preach. No, true Christianity is a call to be imitators of Christ, not seekers of worldly goods. After all, what did Christ do? Did he go around town riding in style? No. Did he have tons of money? No. What did He do? He gave his own life to Save ours. Yet...

Campaigns The heart and purpose of this ministry is to provide Catholics with concrete means of dealing with spiritual and temporal problems facing us as individuals and the Church as a whole.Our goal is to provide plans of action to address these issues in a humble, obedient and effective manner. National Campaigns: Addressing the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) – Catholics contribute to this national collection every November. A number of the groups funded by the CCHD openly support abortion, same-sex marriage and contraception. Our goal is to have the troublesome groups removed from the grant list and encourage...

The already sordid tale of the Rev. David Dueppen and his baby's mother, former stripper Beatrice Hernandez, turned even tawdrier Tuesday as the two traded intimate and bizarre allegations in a Miami-Dade courtroom. Dueppen said he'd been abused as a child, making him unable to resist Hernandez's demands for sex. Hernandez said Dueppen threatened to "disappear her'' by sending monks in brown robes to "shoot'' her if she revealed the baby's existence to the church. The priest met Hernandez, 41, seven years ago at Porky's, a now-defunct Miami strip club where she worked. Their stormy relationship was well-known to the...

STEELE, Mo. — At the beginning of an evening worship service at First Assembly of God Church, the Rev. Ryan Harris pitted teens against adults in a trivia game called Battle of the Generations. Multimedia Photoview all photos Wednesday Night Alive is the church’s outreach service to the city’s troubled teenagers in the southernmost tip of Missouri’s bootheel. After a few more games, worship began in a style typical of evangelical churches. Harris, 26, wearing a sweater, untucked shirt and baggy jeans, led 20 teenagers and 20 adults in a few upbeat, contemporary praise songs, and then delivered the message....

FORT WAYNE — Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, bishop of Harrisburg, Pa., has been appointed the bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. He was introduced by Bishop John M. D’Arcy and greeted those gathered for the 8 a.m. Mass at the St. Mother Theodore Guérin Chapel. A news conference is scheduled at 10:15 a.m. at the diocesan offices in Fort Wayne. The conference can be accessed live on the Web by clicking here.

'The Catholic university is called to act...with fidelity to the Christian message exactly as it is presented by the Church'. VATICAN CITY (Zenit.org) - University communities cannot be satisfied with merely imparting knowledge; they must also teach students values and profound motivations, says Benedict XVI. The Pope spoke of the role of universities today, taking up the theme of the "educational crisis," about which he has often expressed concern. The Holy Father was addressing staff and students from the Libera Universita Maria Santissima Assunta (LUMSA), which is celebrating its 70th year. LUMSA was founded in 1939 by Servant of God...

Broadcast by Telecare TV in Conjunction with USCCBWill Air Public Portions of Meeting November 16-18USCCB Will Post Updates on Blog, Twitter, Facebook Coverage of Bishops' Meeting Available Via Satellite, Internet WASHINGTON—The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will work in conjunction with Telecare, the television station of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, NY, to provide live coverage of the U.S. Bishops’ Fall General Assembly, November 16-19, in Baltimore. This coverage will be “free to air” via satellite. Telecare will cover the public sessions of the U.S. Bishops’ meeting, airing coverage Monday, November 16, from 1-6 p.m., Tuesday, November 17,...

At the risk of crying "bishop!" one too many times, I'm being told this afternoon that Bishop John D'Arcy of the diocese of Fort Wayne - South Bend, Indiana has summoned the priests of his diocese for a "once in a generation" announcement tomorrow. At a local Mass in the diocese celebrated today, the celebrant mentioned the rising rumors that the new appointment would be announced soon. Bishop D'Arcy himself admitted in a statement posted to the diocesan website this Wedesday that his successor "cannot be too far away." He spoke in a way that could suggest he already...

Seminarians cheer as Pope Benedict XVI arrives for a youth rally at St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., last year. Vatican officials often have upheld celibacy as "a sign and a stimulus for pastoral charity." (CNS/Nancy Wiechec) By John ThavisCatholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The question of priestly celibacy is one that keeps bubbling to the surface at the Vatican, most often in the theoretical discussions of synods of bishops but more concretely in a new papal document on Anglicans coming into the Catholic Church. The fact that married former Anglican priests may be ordained as Catholic...

Vatican City, Nov 13, 2009 / 05:28 pm (CNA).- The Vatican announced today that the Pontifical Gregorian University will host an upcoming event to discuss the responsibilities of Catholic universities.The event, titled “The Catholic University in post-modern societies” will be held at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University from Nov. 16-20, and is presented by the International Federation of Catholic Universities (FIUC).The Federation is known for it's contribution to the Apostolic Constitution “Ex corde Ecclesiae,” which was approved by the late Pope John Paul II in 1990. The document outlines the essentials that a Catholic university must have in order to “guarantee...

Vatican City, Nov 13, 2009 / 01:44 pm (CNA).- Catholics in the war-torn Archdiocese of Mosul, Iraq received good news on Friday when Pope Benedict approved Fr. Emil Shimoun Nona as the new Archbishop of Mosul. The archbishop-elect will replace Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, who was kidnapped by militants last February and found dead two weeks later.The Vatican's press office announced today that the Holy Father “gave his assent to the canonical election by the Synod of Bishops of the Chaldean Church of Fr. Emil Shimoun Nona.” Archbishop-elect Nona, 42, was born in Alqosh, Iraq on November 1, 1967. He...

Hidden away in the Yokayo Valley of northern California, St. Peter Eastern Catholic Mission offers nothing to attract the worldly eye. There’s a small parking lot, a field of weeds, and a nondescript white-stucco building that could use a fresh coat of paint. The only outward sign to mark the latter as a church is a small golden rooftop Byzantine cross. And yet, inside this little church, the feeling is always of having stepped into another dimension. Sunlight streams through the east window. Joyful psalmody fills the air. Breathtakingly beautiful liturgy can last three to four hours. And at the...

from Christianity Today, 1 October 2009 A Lost Generation Mainline churches in East Germany rediscover a sense of mission. Susan Wunderink | posted 10/01/2009 10:02AM http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/october/12.11.html Twenty years after.... But some formerly liberal church leaders have a newfound interest in evangelism.... .... Uwe Siemon-Netto, director of the Center for Lutheran Theology and Public Life, says the German Protestant church recognized the fall of the Berlin Wall as a miracle. "Then," he said, "it flipped back and returned to its goofy liberal ways." To many East Germans, the social gospel preached from many Protestant pulpits sounded very much like a successor...

Maine released its campaign finance filings, showing contributors to the Diocese of Portland’s successful effort to prevent the legalization of same-sex “marriage.� According to the campaign finance records, nearly five dozen dioceses and bishops made financial contributions to the effort. Among the largest donations were $50,000 donations from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Diocese of Phoenix. Here’s the list of the Top 12. The Top 12 Dioceses That Contributed to Support Marriage Phoenix         $50,000 Philadelphia     $50,000 St. Louis         $10,000 Kansas City, Kan.  $10,000 Newark        ...

Welcoming the Anglicans: A Conversation with Monsignor William Stetson by Rev. Dwight Longenecker    11/13/09 Msgr. William Stetson is the secretary of the pastoral provision, the structure provided by Pope John Paul II in 1980 to enable married former Episcopal priests to be ordained as Catholic priests. The pastoral provision also empowers the establishment of "personal parishes" -- groups to which the Church grants special pastoral care (in this case, non-Catholic Christians from the Episcopal Church) -- that follow the Anglican Use liturgy. The pastoral provision is overseen by an ecclesiastical delegate -- at the time of its institution,...

Children’s Christian song, Dig A Little Hole and Put The Devil IN! Song sung by Granddaughter.

Mixed Marriages 1266. I am interested in your moral theology concerning those who contract marriage. Why does the Catholic Church forbid mixed marriages? For many reasons. Marriage is a Sacrament, and those who desire to receive that Sacrament should be duly and validly baptized Christians. The Church, however, has no certainty that any non-Catholic has ever been validly baptized at all. Again, it is a sacrilege to receive a Sacrament while one is in a state of grave sin. The Catholic party prepares by a good confession, while the non-Catholic more often than not gives no thought whatever to the...

... can expose the horrible fact that marriage has specific boundaries and criteria based on traditional, commonsense beliefs about what is best for men, women, children, and families:A HETEROSEXUAL Islington couple want to become the first in Britain to have a "gay" civil partnership – because they do not believe in marriage. Civil servants Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle, both 25, of North Road, Holloway, do not agree with marriage because they say it is "an apartheid" that segregates straight and gay people. The couple, who have been together for nearly four years, want the same legal rights as a...

It is God, the unseen partner of prayer warriors. Those who intercede on behalf of the Republic are not in need of a mortal leader at the moment. We are bereft of a mighty party spokesperson.