Free Republic

Where is Tom Hanks when you need him? Something sinister is happening in the Catholic Church, at least according to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. And the way she writes about it, it reads like the beginning of a treatment for a Dan Brown extravaganza. Her plot, you see, is just that absurd. Dowd was convinced that Catholic religious sisters were unhappy when she was in the fifth grade, and she remains adamant. She writes: “Nuns were second-class citizens then and — 40 years after feminism utterly changed America — they still are.” I can’t speak for “the formidable...

Cardinal Francis George / Bishop Mark Hanson Washington D.C., Sep 30, 2009 / 02:49 am (CNA).- Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist church leaders will mark the tenth anniversary of a joint agreement on the Doctrine of Justification in a meeting in downtown Chicago on Thursday. A service including Evening Prayer and tributes to the joint declaration will be held at Old St. Patrick’s Church, a press release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reports.The Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation signed the Joint Declaration on October 31, 1999. It was the product of nearly 35 years of Lutheran-Catholic...

As observers continue to decipher the meaning of Benedict XVI’s latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, all appear to agree that the passage of note, the passage that may prove historic in its implications, is the one that is already becoming known as the “world political authority” paragraph: In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth....

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

I was looking at a Free Republic post Is There Salvation Outside The Catholic Church which incurred an astounding reaction among Freepers. You won't see that kind of post in Huffington or Kos. I am a former Catholic, now merely and simply a nondenominational "Christian" not bound, or aided by Protestantism or Catholicism. I received an excellent education in parochial grade and high schools, was an altar boy, and like most boys in the 1950's I was steered toward Catholic seminary. I did not go. Again, my parochial education, except for some of the doctrines, gave me an advantage in...

Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 7, 2009 / 04:13 pm (CNA).- Bishop Juan Ruben Martinez of Posadas in Argentina said celibacy cannot be reduced to a "mere imposition of the Church" and that "bad examples and even our own limitations do not invalidate the contribution of so many who, in the past and today, give their lives for others." Bishop Martinez said that a "materialistic vision" of man that is based solely on "instinct and the physiological" makes it difficult to see these values as a "gift of God" and an "instrument of service to humanity and to the common good."...

Tennessee-born beauty Cybill Shepherd definitely isn’t one to waste words -- and had she no qualms in speaking out about who she thought was to blame for the passing of Proposition 8 in California's last election, which led to gay and lesbian marriage rights being overturned.

Jack Smith of the Catholic Key (the KC Archdiocese newspaper which uses its blog to great effect, expanding and exploring stories), explains the source of the CDF's...issues with the *leadership* of the Leadership Conference for Women Religious. There are many issues, but they are summmarized at the keynote of the 2007 LCWR conference by Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Laurie Brink. In the talk, she outlines several ways in which religious communities are changing, different choices that are made. Some accept death and prepare for it. Others accede to what seems to be the current Catholic zeitgeist, which, she notes dismissively, is...

A majority of Roman Catholic adoption agencies have cut their ties with the Church rather than defy gay equality laws. Five agencies have declared themselves independent - and some have changed their names - to comply with laws that say they must allow homosexual couples to adopt children.The retreat ends decades in which the adoption charities have worked in the name of the Catholic Church with support from dioceses, clergy and congregations.The decision to end the formal connection with the Church follows a deadline set by the Government for charities to comply with the 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations. These...

A plan to put atheist slogans on buses in Italy has been shot down by the Roman Catholic Church. The campaign, which follows a similar one in Britain, had caused controversy in the deeply Catholic country. The ads read 'The bad news is that God doesn't exist. The good news is that you don't need him' and were to have made their first appearance today in the streets of Genoa. The city was targeted because it is home to the head of the Italian Catholic Bishops Conference Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, an outspoken opponent of artificial insemination and gay marriage.

Domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers To Speak At St. Mary's College Campus In California College Characterizes Him As Advocate Of "Social Justice"By WILLIAM MAYER January 12, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - On Jan 28th at 7:30PM Bill Ayers, an unapologetic domestic terrorist and founder of the Marxist revolutionary terrorist group, the Weather Underground, will be speaking at St. Mary's College located in Moraga, California. St. Mary's is a Catholic college and located approximately 30 miles east of San Francisco, in Contra Costa County. The college website contains the following information regarding the event. "Bill Ayers is a...

San Francisco Mayor Newsom and the Board of Supervisors have shown nothing but contempt for the First Amendment rights of Catholics. Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, in the heart of San Farncisco's gay Castro community, was vandalized over the weekend by opponents of Proposition 8, the California resolution passed by voters in November that rejected gay marriage. Swastikas were painted on the church and the names Ratzinger (referring to Pope Benedict XVI) and Niederauer (the San Francisco Archbishop) were scrawled besides the Nazi symbol. In the wake of Proposition 8, innocent persons have been assaulted, churches have been vandalized, a...

To All the Bishops Everywhere, Beloved in the Holy Ghost, Our Venerable, Most Dear Brethren; and to their Most Pious Clergy; and to All the Genuine Orthodox Sons of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church: Brotherly Salutation in the Holy Spirit, and Every Good From God, and Salvation. The holy, evangelical and divine Gospel of Salvation should be set forth by all in its original simplicity, and should evermore be believed in its unadulterated purity, even the same as it was revealed to His holy Apostles by our Savior, who for this very cause, descending from the bosom of...

Our DRE just quit, and it looks like my husband and I will be stepping in to teach the RCIA class. Any FReepers out there teaching RCIA? Do you have a curriculum you love? Suggestions? Can we chat?

“When you hear this message, I will no longer be there,” the voice, characteristically spirited, confident, just a little bit cheeky and familiar to all of France, said on a tape released this week. The words were those of Sister Emmanuelle, a nun revered for her work with the disenfranchised, especially among the garbage-scavengers of Cairo, and renowned for her television appearances in France as an advocate for the poor. She died Monday at a retirement home operated by her order, the Congregation of Notre-Dame de Sion, in Callian, in the south of France. She was immediately praised by the...

Men becoming priests at mid-life By Bob Holliday BLOOMINGTON -- In what he calls his past life, the Rev. Geoffrey Horton worked at a Bloomington-Normal insurance company, coached a women’s softball team, owned a home and invested in a 401K. Although life was good, Horton, 43, felt something was missing. In May, he found his calling as a newly ordained Roman Catholic priest. “I became a priest for the only reason anyone should ever become a priest, because I felt that’s what God was asking of me,” said Horton, currently assigned at a church in Peoria. The Rev. Michael Bies...

Question: Recently a Catholic friend of mine posed a question that had me perplexed and I was hoping you could explain. As you probably know, Catholics believe in Sacred Tradition. My friend told me that the Bible supports Sacred Tradition in 2 Thessalonians 3:15 when it states "Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours." Could you please explain this? Answer: Thank you for your question about 2 Thessalonians 2:15. When Paul uses the word traditions in this verse, he is referring to...

Full disclosure: I was raised Presbyterian, attended both Methodist and Episcopalian seminaries where I took Theology from both an Anglican and a Roman Catholic, OT exegetics from a Hebrew scholar, NT from an ancient Greek professor, and ethics from a Mennonite; served as an ordained minister in both “high” and “low” Episcopal parishes for almost a decade; married a Church of God pastor and two years ago was received into the Orthodox Church. If one can dine from the smorgasbord of Christianity, I certainly have eaten my fill. My choice of the Orthodox Church was a very thoughtful, deliberate one;...

Concerned Roman Catholics Call on Knights of Columbus to Expel Pro-Abortion Politicians by Staff August 5, 2008 MEDIA ADVISORY, (christiansunite.com) -- Concerned Roman Catholics of America, Inc. (CRCOA) condemn the Knights of Columbus for their continuing failure to expel pro- abortion and pro-homosexual politicians. The K of C meet in the Hilton Quebec Hotel and in the Quebec City Convention Centre from August 5-7 for their annual Supreme Convention. Ken Fisher, President of CRCOA, said: "With 50 million abortions since Roe v Wade in 1973, the Knights of Columbus has failed the unborn children miserably. The K of C, founded...

TORONTO, July 4, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Canadian Human Rights Commission has dropped a complaint by a homosexual activist against Catholic Insight a Toronto-based national Catholic news magazine. A year and a half - and many thousands of dollars in legal fees - after a nine-point human rights complaint was filed by Edmonton-based homosexual activist Rob Wells, Catholic Insight has been informed that the case has been dropped. However, a judicial review before the Federal Court is still possible should the complainant pursue that avenue. In a letter the Commission noted that it decided "to dismiss the complaint because the...

Some of you will remember my recent decision to become a Catholic. I suppose I should be surprised it ended getting derailed into a 'Catholic vs. Protestant' thread, but after going further into the Religion forum, I suppose it's par for the course. There seems to be a bit of big issue concerning Mary. I wanted to share an observation of sorts. Now...although I was formerly going by 'Sola Scriptura', my father was born and raised Catholic, so I do have some knowledge of Catholic doctrine (not enough, at any rate...so consider all observations thusly). Mary as a 'co-redeemer', Mary...

WASHINGTON - All five Roman Catholic justices on the Supreme Court were invited to Wednesday night's splashy White House dinner in honor of Pope Benedict XVI. Republican presidential contender John McCain will be there, too. But Democratic rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, who had a nationally broadcast debate scheduled Wednesday night, were not invited. About 250 guests were to attend the dinner. Benedict will not be there because he will be attending an evening prayer service with U.S. bishops. The guests include former Los Angeles Dodgers baseball manager Tommy Lasorda, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader John...

The Future Lies in the Past -- Why evangelicals are connecting with the early church as they move into the 21st century.Many 20- and 30-something evangelicals are uneasy and alienated in mall-like church environments; high-energy, entertainment-oriented worship; and boomer-era ministry strategies and structures modeled on the business world. Increasingly, they are asking just how these culturally camouflaged churches can help them rise above the values of the consumerist world around them. For younger evangelicals, traditional churches are too centered on words and propositions. And pragmatic churches are compromising authentic Christianity by tailoring their ministries to the marketplace and pop culture....

Prelates Consider It Key for Local Church SUBOTICA, Serbia, AUG. 20, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The foundation stone has been laid for the first Catholic seminary for Serbia. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, D.C., presided over the ceremony, calling it a historic moment. Archbishop Stanislaw Hocevar of Belgrade, the chairman of the bishops' conference of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, which covers Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, told the group Aid to the Church in Need that it is "of great importance that future priests be trained in their own country." After the war, Serbia was left without a seminary since the...

As a pastor I’m often asked, "What’s the real issue that divides Catholics and Evangelicals?" Many cite the adoration of Mary, prayers to the saints, and for some it’s papal authority. While these topics can be troublesome for Evangelicals, the fundamental difference lies in our understanding of the cross itself. In a recent series of documents, Pope Benedict XVI clearly brought this cross-centered difference to the forefront when he said, Protestant, Lutheran and other Christian denominations ... were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the “means of salvation.” The other communities “cannot be called...

There are many ways to sing the Rosary. This is just one of them. No single approach is authorized or mandated by the Church. Still, the method set forth below carries a certain weight of tradition, for it draws, wherever possible, on the most venerable customs and practices of our Catholic ancestors.Most of the prayers recited in the Rosary -- the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, the Salve Regina and so on -- have been sung for centuries in the form of Gregorian chants. I do not know if these chants were ever used for the specific...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The leader of the largest U.S. Roman Catholic archdiocese apologized on Sunday for what he called a "terrible sin and crime" as the church confirmed it would pay a record $660 million to people who were sexually abused by priests. Facing trial on Monday over abuse allegations dating as far back as the 1940s, the Archdiocese led by Cardinal Roger Mahony agreed to pay 508 victims the largest-ever group settlement. "I have come to understand far more deeply that I ever could the impact of this terrible sin and crime that has affected their lives," said...

The Vatican has described the Protestant and Orthodox faiths as “not proper Churches” in a document issued with the full authority of the Pope. Anglican leaders reacted with dismay, accusing the Roman Catholic Church of paradoxical behaviour. They said that the new 16-page document outling the “defects” of non-Catholic churches constituted a major obstacle to ecumenism. The document said that the Orthodox church suffered from a “wound” because it did not recognise the primacy of the Pope. The wound was “still more profound” in Protestant denominations, it added. It was “difficult to see how the title of ‘Church’ could possibly...

Pope Benedict XVI has signed a document that would allow more churches to adopt the old Latin Mass that largely faded from use during the 1960s, when the groundbreaking Second Vatican Council opened the door to worship in the local vernacular, Vatican officials say. The revival of what is known as the Tridentine Mass has long been promoted by Roman Catholic traditionalists, who say it is more moving, contemplative and historically authentic than the modern Mass. [...] In the Tridentine Mass, the priest faces away from the congregation and prays, sometimes in a whisper, in Latin, a language unfamiliar to...

The vice presidency, John Nance Garner is alleged to have told his fellow Texan Lyndon Johnson, isn't worth a bucket of warm spit. A lame-duck presidency isn't worth much more. While George W. Bush was traveling through Europe on what should have looked like a triumphal journey, back home, Republican senators were burying his immigration reform bill and the secretary of defense was confessing that he could not reappoint Bush's handpicked chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Does Bush comprehend that the public and Congress are repudiating him? His jaunty swagger on the shore of the...

If you are a Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex-monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517. If you belong to the Church of England, your religion was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a divorce with the right to re-marry. If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560. If you are a Congregationalist, your religion was originated by Robert Brown in Holland in 1582. If you are Protestant Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot...

The premiere of a work by the leading composer Sir John Taverner in Westminster Cathedral next week has provoked discord because it glorifies the Muslim deity Allah. Traditionalist Roman Catholics are planning to converge on the cathedral on Tuesday evening to protest over the work, which includes the singing of the 99 names of Allah. A number have written to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, expressing concern that the Church will be seen to be endorsing the Islamic idea of God. advertisementBut having failed to halt the concert, dozens are now...

A packed house welcomed Minister Louis Farrakhan to St. Sabina Catholic Church on Friday night with a standing ovation and cheers for his health. The 74-year-old provocative Nation of Islam leader, who has endured a series of health setbacks, didn't speak from the Quran but from the Bible. "Even though I am a Muslim -- I don't apologize for that -- I'm also a Christian," he told the crowd at 1210 W. 78th Pl. "Islam considers the Bible a sacred book." "A good Muslim is a Christian, and a good Christian is a Muslim," he added later, stressing the common...

The nation's first openly gay governor has become an Episcopalian and been accepted into a seminary, according to a published report. Former Gov. James E. McGreevey, who was raised as a Roman Catholic, was officially received into the Episcopal religion on Sunday at St. Bartholomew's Church in New York, said the Rev. Kevin Bean, vicar at the church. McGreevey has been accepted to study at the General Theological Seminary in New York, the oldest in the Episcopal Church, school spokesman Bruce Parker said Wednesday. Parker did not know whether the former governor wants to become a priest. ''Mr. McGreevey has...

Hello Brothers & Sisters -- We want to join a Catholic Church here in Michigan. I was raised Catholic, my wife was raised Lutheran - MS. We were not married at a Catholic or Lutheran church. She (as do I) have some questions. We would appreciate any answers or comments: -- Why is the RCIA program so long (September to Easter Vigil) for someone who is not a 'non-Christian' and with so much Christian schooling already (Lutheran MS School - K-8)? -- Why is she considered a 'convert'? She is still Christian, willing to accept a fuller understanding way of...

Apr. 15, 2007-Alveda King didn't mince words about where she stood. "Abortion," she said, "is not a civil right. How can the dream survive if you're killing babies." The niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. told a crowd of about 100 at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Springettsbury Township on Friday that she compares abortion to slavery. "The baby is like a slave in the mother's body," King said. "And the mother is like the master who decides who lives and who dies." King talked about her background and her opposition to abortion and showed several religious...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue in Round XI met March 15-18 at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C., for its fourth meeting to discuss "The Hope of Eternal Life." The Lutheran and Roman Catholic co-chairs described the meeting as constructive and precise, helpful to both Christian traditions as they search for greater mutual understanding through the dialogue. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops chose the topic at the end of Round X in 2004, to examine issues related to the Christian's life beyond death. The conversation stems from principles...

Radical proposals to reunite Anglicans with the Roman Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope are to be published this year, The Times has learnt. The proposals have been agreed by senior bishops of both churches. In a 42-page statement prepared by an international commission of both churches, Anglicans and Roman Catholics are urged to explore how they might reunite under the Pope. The statement, leaked to The Times, is being considered by the Vatican, where Catholic bishops are preparing a formal response. It comes as the archbishops who lead the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion meet in...

There is a cold hour just before dawn, when the light is the colour of lead, when the past seems a little closer and a lot more real than it does in the clearer light that comes later in the day. --SNIP-- On that day, IRA gunmen burst into a string of houses that lay along my route to the conference centre and shot dead 14 British officers and intelligence officials. The Ireland of those days was inured to brutality on all sides but there was something about these killings that shocked the Dublin public. Maybe it was the curiously...

A BRITISH schoolgirl has been barred from wearing a crucifix necklace in class, the Daily Mail reported today. Samantha Devine, a 13-year-old Roman Catholic, was told by teachers in Gillingham, south-east England, that it breached health and safety rules, the paper added. Her family reportedly said it will fight the decision and has accused the school of discriminating against Christians because Sikh and Muslim pupils can wear religious symbols.

2006 Haunted Labyrinth to Conclude Halloween Night (Cranston, R.I.)-The Diocese of Providence’s Office of Comprehensive Youth Ministry (CYO) today issued a reminder that announced the 2006 Haunted Labyrinth located at 804 Dyer Ave. in Cranston will close for the season on Halloween night. The labyrinth has been open since Friday, September 29 and runs Thursday through Sunday, 7-10:00 p.m.Office of Communications- 278-4600 (or email kdavis@dioceseofprovidence.org)10/26/06Bishop Tobin: "Halloween isn't so scary"

Traditional Mass Propers, CommemoratingSaint Birgitta of Sweden, Widow( Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost ) 01 October 2006 A.D. Missa Da Pacem "....My son thy sins are forgiven thee...." "Nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Mass forever, and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words; it is a great action. The greatest action that can be on earth. It is. . .the vocation of the Eternal." -- John Henry Cardinal Newman

Traditional Mass Propers, CommemoratingSaint Remigius, Bishop and Confessor ( Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost ) 01 October 2006 A.D. Missa Justus es, Dómine "....Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself...." "Nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Mass forever, and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words; it is a great action. The greatest action that can be on earth. It is. . .the vocation of the Eternal." -- John Henry Cardinal Newman

Traditional Mass Propers, CommemoratingThe Order of Our Lady of Ransom( Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost ) 24 September 2006 A.D. Missa Miserére Mihi ".... "He that hunbleth himself shall be exalted."...." "Nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Mass forever, and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words; it is a great action. The greatest action that can be on earth. It is. . .the vocation of the Eternal." -- John Henry Cardinal Newman

Traditional Mass Propers, Commemorating forthe Stigmata of Saint Francis of Assisi( Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost ) 17 September 2006 A.D. Missa Inclina, Dómine ".... Young man I say to thee, Arise...." "Nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Mass forever, and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words; it is a great action. The greatest action that can be on earth. It is. . .the vocation of the Eternal." -- John Henry Cardinal Newman

Traditional Mass Propers For The Feast Day ofSaint Nicholas of Tolentino, Confessor( Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost ) 10 September 2006 A.D. Missa Protéctor Noster "....No man can serve two masters...." "Nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Mass forever, and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words; it is a great action. The greatest action that can be on earth. It is. . .the vocation of the Eternal." -- John Henry Cardinal Newman

Traditional Mass Propers For The Feast Day ofPope Saint Pius X( Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost ) 3 September 2006 A.D. Missa Réspice, Dómine "....Go thy way for thy faith hath made thee whole...." "Nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Mass forever, and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words; it is a great action. The greatest action that can be on earth. It is. . .the vocation of the Eternal." -- John Henry Cardinal Newman

Traditional Mass Propers For The Feast Day ofSaint Joseph Calasanctius ( Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost ) 27 August 2006 A.D. Missa Deus, In Adjutórìum Meum "....Go and do thou in like manner...." "Nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Mass forever, and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words; it is a great action. The greatest action that can be on earth. It is. . .the vocation of the Eternal." -- John Henry Cardinal Newman

Traditional Mass Propers For The Feast Day ofSaint Bernard of Clairvaux( Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost ) 20 August 2006 A.D. Missa Deus In Loco Santo Suo "....Ephpheta, that is, Be thou opened...." "Nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Mass forever, and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words; it is a great action. The greatest action that can be on earth. It is. . .the vocation of the Eternal." -- John Henry Cardinal Newman

Traditional Mass Propers For The Feast Day ofHoly Martyrs Saint Hippolytus and Saint Cassian( Tenth Sunday After Pentecost ) 13 August 2006 A.D. Missa Cum Clamárem "....he that humbleth himself shall be exalted...." "Nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Mass forever, and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words; it is a great action. The greatest action that can be on earth. It is. . .the vocation of the Eternal." -- John Henry Cardinal Newman