Free Republic

IntroductionIn some places in the English-speaking world, under the influence of a false feminism, a new and unauthorized practice has been introduced into the celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism. The practice consists in substituting for the names of the three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity, in the formula for Baptism, the names of three functions. In one formula, the three functions named are: Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. In another formula, they are: Creator, Liberator, and Sustainer.Recently, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office of our Holy Father with responsibility “to promote and safeguard the doctrine...

One of the first things Roman Catholics do when they enter the confessional is utter how long it has been since their last confession. But Franca Gargiulo can't remember the last time. Gargiulo is a spiritually thoughtful woman who went to Catholic school as a girl and at 44 still attends Mass at St. Dominic Catholic Church in San Francisco. Confession--telling your sins to a priest and receiving absolution--is one of her faith's seven sacraments, but for Gargiulo it now seems as anachronistic as prayer veils and meatless Fridays. "It lost its efficacy for me," says Gargiulo. "It was too...

    Learning to Confess    FR. WILLIAM SAUNDERS I have heard the priests of my parish encouraging us to go to confession during Lent. I admit I have not been to confession in years because I am not sure I know how to go to confession. With all the changes that occurred in the '60s, would you please review how to go to confession?  The Second Vatican Council did decree that “the rite and formulas of penance are to be revised in such a way that they may more clearly express the nature and effects of this sacrament”...

"Bless me Father, for I have sinned."The words which usually serve as the opening to confession, a sacrament in the Catholic Church, are being heard more by local priests these days. The reason - confession seems to be making a comeback.Although fewer people sought absolution in the post-Vatican II era, it appears as though confession, also known as the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation, is on the rise in the Diocese of San Bernardino. The Sacrament of Penance allows Catholics to confess their sins to a priest through a screen in a small closed confessional, under cover of darkness. They...

Fr. Kyle Schnippel  Other Articles by Fr. Kyle Schnippel Printer Friendly Version   Why Does the Catholic Church Ordain Only Men to the Priesthood? Part Three March 4, 2007 Marital Imagery of the Priesthood[Part One, Part Two]Michael Novak, writing in the Journal First Things, comments on the meeting between Pope John Paul II and Dr. George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in May 1992.  In the interim period between Inter Insigniores and this meeting, the Anglican Communion had progressed on its movement towards the acceptance of women into the sacramental priesthood.  In response, he noted an unnamed Vatican official...

Fr. Kyle Schnippel  Other Articles by Fr. Kyle Schnippel Printer Friendly Version   Why Does the Catholic Church Ordain Only Men to the Priesthood? Part One February 25, 2007 With the recent illicit ordination by dissident Archbishop Milingo in New Jersey of two married men to the priesthood, and the repeated attempts by several women's groups to ordain women, most recently upon a boat on a river in Pittsburgh, the question of who has a 'right' to the Sacrament of Orders has been a heated topic of late.According to Catholic Church theology, however, no one has a 'right' to...

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 19, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The baptized need to rediscover the sacrament of reconciliation so that they can experience "the boundless renewing power of divine love," says Benedict XVI. The Pope said this today when receiving in audience Cardinal James Stafford, major penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary, with the prelates and officials of that tribunal, as well as the penitentiary fathers of the patriarchal basilicas of Rome. "In the gesture of absolution, uttered in the name and on account of the Church, the confessor becomes the conscious means of a wonderful event of grace," the Holy Father said in...

The Early Church Fathers taught that Christ passed on His authority to forgive sins to His priests.The Didache Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . , On the Lord's Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure (Didache 4:14,14:1 [A.D.70]).The Letter of BarnabasYou shall judge righteously. You shall not make a schism, but you shall pacify those that contend by bringing them together. You shall confess your sins. You shall not...

SAN ANTONIO, Texas. (National Catholic Reporter) – Lyn Woods, a middle-aged Catholic woman who teaches ceramics at the Southwest School of Art & Craft in San Antonio, said that, although she goes to church, she hasn’t been to confession in many years. She says her childhood experience of the sacrament of reconciliation explains much of her adult attitude toward it today. “When I was 7, 8 or 9 years old,” she said, “I found myself repeating the same sins over and over to the priest. It seemed to me they weren’t really sins but simply human nature. On the other...

Protestants don’t see why Catholics who come to disagree with essential teachings of the Church don’t just leave. The answer is symbolized by the sanctuary lamp. They do not leave the Church because they know that the sacramental fire burns there on the ecclesiastical hearth. Even if they do not see by its light, they want to be warmed by its fire. The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a magnet drawing lost sheep home and keeping would-be strays from the deathly snows outside. The Church’s biggest drawing card is not what she teaches, crucial as that...

by Fr. Jerome Magat Other Articles by Fr. Jerome Magat Marriage, in the Beginning 10/07/06 Of all the moral teachings that our Lord gave us during His time on earth, He was never more specific in His instruction than when He discussed marriage. The Pharisees tested Jesus on this particular teaching by referencing the law that permitted divorce which had been given to them through Moses. In order to fulfill the law, our blessed Lord both explains the rationale behind the concession that Moses made in regards to divorce and elevates our understanding of marriage by returning us to an original...

St. Padre Pio during the Offertory of the Latin rite Mass according to the Traditional Missal.

IS THIS GOD? How could I have had an insufficient understanding of the Holy Eucharist: the central focus of Christian worship? Photography by Robert Nease I held aloft a golden chalice, gazing upwards at it, performing one of the central liturgical rituals of the Mass, in which the consecration of the wine takes place. But my attitude was not one of reverence or solemnity. I possessed neither the eyes of faith, nor the traditional Christian understanding of the Blessed Eucharist. I was not standing at an altar, let alone in a church. Nearby, my friend and frequent evangelistic partner was...

by Mickey Addison Other Articles by Mickey Addison Ordinatio Sacerdotalis 08/10/06 It was one of the few days I was really not looking forward to leading my Scripture study. I had a terrible cold and the thought of conducting a lesson on Revelation did not sound appealing. Though I was trying to put a good face on it, my priest noticed that I was not my usually boisterous self, and he asked me if I wanted a blessing. "Father, that sounds good... Thanks!" I replied. And then he laid his hands on me and prayed healing over me. Needless to say,...

by Theresa A. Thomas Other Articles by Theresa A. Thomas Sacramental Grace is the Difference 07/11/06 At 10:00AM on a warm August day in 1962, Irvin and Bonnie Kloska, both 21 and full of hope, married in St. Adalbert’s Church, in their home town Grand Rapids, Michigan. “I believe it was the first time I ever wore a tux,” says Irv, who currently lives in Elkhart, Indiana. “I know it was the first time I ever wore a bow tie.” In This Article...Wired to Mate?When Marriage Is a CovenantHow to Have a Grace-Filled Marriage Wired to Mate?After their Polish dinner reception...

More than 50 gay rights activists wearing rainbow-colored sashes were denied Holy Communion at a Pentecost service yesterday at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in St. Paul, Minn., parishioners and church officials said. In an act that some witnesses called a "sacrilege" and others called a sign of "solidarity," a man who was not wearing a sash received a Communion wafer from a priest, broke it into pieces and handed it to some of the sash wearers, who consumed it on the spot. Ushers threatened to call the police, and a church employee burst into tears when the unidentified man re-distributed...

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a five-hour retreat with Josh, “my young man,” whom I am sponsoring for Confirmation. It was quite a surprise, and an honor, to be asked to be his sponsor as I had spoken to Josh and his father only in brief encounters after Mass or by happenstance meetings in a grocery store parking lot. Josh wants to be a highway patrol officer and so he picked their patron saint, Michael, as his Confirmation name. St. Michael is a favorite with me, too, on account of his military aspect and my increasing (especially in...

by Br. James Brent, O.P. Other Articles by Br. James Brent, O.P. Reasons for Confession 04/12/06 Lent is an especially good season for Confession. It is also a good time to review the reasons why Catholics go to Confession. In This Article...The Divine MercyThe Chosen InstrumentMeeting Christ The Divine Mercy On the evening of Easter, Jesus appeared to His Apostles and said, “‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of...

The prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments -- who was recently accused of "attack[ing] the Mass" by the excommunicated head of the Lefebvrist movement -- gave a talk in London last week.... During a talk in Westminster Cathedral April 1, Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze called on priests to restore tabernacles to central positions in churches and for Catholics to rediscover the tradition of reverent genuflection in the presence of the Eucharist. He also called for an end to adding details to and subtracting them from the approved rites of the Mass and...

A bill under consideration by New Hampshire legislators would require Catholic priests and other religious figures to divulge any information they hear regarding child abuse, even if told to them by parishioners in the private act of "confession." According to the Concord Monitor newspaper, the Granite State currently has a statute requiring anyone in the state who suspects child abuse to report it to authorities. The Child Protection Act, enacted in 1979, also places a mandatory reporting requirement on clergy. However, the paper said, a separate statute exempts clergymen and women from having to provide court testimony regarding anything told...

 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” - Matthew 16:19What Is Confession?Confession is a sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ in His love and mercy to offer sinners forgiveness for offenses committed against God. At the same time, sinners reconcile with the Church, because it also is wounded by our sins. We know this sacrament by various names: the Sacrament of Penance, Confession, or Reconciliation.Many Catholics avoid the Sacrament of Reconciliation simply because we don't...

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 24, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican has reiterated that that only a priest -- that is, bishops and presbyters -- may administer the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. The Congregation on the Doctrine of the Faith emphasized that point in a Note published in response to several questions it had received in recent years. "Neither deacons nor lay persons therefore may exercise such ministry and any action in this connection is a simulation of the sacrament" and would be "invalid," said the dicastery. Canon law provides sanctions for such an action, it added. The congregation's "Note...

Apostolic Nuncio Recounts Story of Clandestine Community BAKU, Azerbaijan, MAY 20, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Catholics of Azerbaijan received the sacrament of confirmation on Pentecost, a grace some of them had to wait seven decades for. Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, the apostolic nuncio to Azerbaijan, visited the former Soviet Republic -- where Catholicism was swept away by Stalin's persecutions -- and found a group of elderly believers who had kept the faith alive for more than 70 years without the sacraments. "It was an indescribable emotion," said the archbishop to the Italian newspaper Avvenire, "to see the elderly ladies, with the traditional veil...

The following study of the Sacrament of Confirmation is the result of much research into the Church's continued teaching on the Sacrament over the past 2000 years, as well as my experience as a Confirmation Coordinator at St. Cyprian Parish in the Diocese of Los Angeles. It is in no way an exhaustive explanation nor is it a complex theological thesis. It is simply a summary of the many hundreds of hours of research and study in my own journey to discover the meaning of the Sacrament of Confirmation. It is written in laymen terms for the understanding of lay...

Once again, protests have been proven effective. After receiving an avalanche of protest emails, petitions and calls eBay has changed its policy and will now refuse to sell consecrated Hosts and other sacred objects. In an email sent to protestors, Kaelee of eBay’s Community Watch Team writes: “we have concluded that sales of the Eucharist, and similar highly sacred items, are not appropriate on eBay. We have, therefore, broadened our policies and will remove those types of listings should they appear on the site in the future.” The controversy began in mid April, when someone seeking to capitalize on the...

by Fr. Paul Scalia Other Articles by Fr. Paul Scalia When Death Does Us Part 11/06/04 "Until death do us part." Most of us recognize these words from weddings we have attended or just seen on TV. Even our culture, which displays a tragic inability to heed them, still understands the truth they convey: marriage is for life. As the author of marriage, our Lord established this truth. During His earthly life He explicitly confirmed it (cf. Mt 19:6). He also taught clearly an implication we rarely consider: there is no marriage in heaven. "The children of this age marry and...

Home Bread and Wine    FR. WILLIAM SAUNDERS I recently saw a story on the news about a little girl in New Jersey whose first Holy Communion was invalidated by the bishop. Apparently she is allergic to wheat, and a priest gave her Communion with a host made of rice. Why can’t she receive a rice host instead of a wheat host since she is allergic? What can be done? Remember the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s definition of a sacrament: A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace. Our Lord instituted the sacraments, and...

Why do priests use incense at Mass? — A reader in AlexandriaIncense is an aromatic substance which is the resin from certain trees. When burned over charcoal, the incense produces a sweet smelling aroma. To make the smoke thicker and to enhance the fragrance, sometimes other perfumes are blended with the incense.The use of incense in the ancient world was common, especially in religious rites where it was used to keep demons away. Herodotus, the Greek historian, recorded that it was popular among the Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians. In Judaism, incense was included in the thanksgiving offerings of oil, grain,...

Author: Roger Landry Description:This homily by Fr. Landry puts the debate over same-sex "marriage" in pastoral perspective. "We are now in the midst of a heated debate about what marriage is. For God, it is very clear what marriage is. When Christ was asked by a lawyer about whether divorce was possible, Jesus gave a clear teaching about the real meaning of marriage that is as relevant to the debate about whether homosexuals can marry as it was to the subject of divorce-and-remarriage." Categories: Institutions > Marriage & Family Publisher & Date: ZENIT, January 25, 2004 Item Tools  ...

Marriage and the Natural Law Father Trigilio began his discourse explaining how marriage is founded upon natural law, which defines it. Thus, to try and fit any union other than that of one man and one woman into a marriage defies its essence. "[To call anything other than the union of one man and one woman marriage] would be the same as if someone tried to tell you that two plus two was now going to equal five," Father Trigilio said. "In science and mathematics, we would not tolerate someone not telling the truth, but when it comes to theology...

Former priest and convicted pedophile James Porter, who once lived in Minnesota, has married a former nun. Porter first met Anne Milner more than 40 years ago while he was a young seminarian. The two met again three years ago after Milner wrote him a letter in prison. The two were married by a justice of the peace Monday at the Massachusetts Treatment Center for sexual offenders in Bridgewater. Porter is being held there while he awaits a trial on the state's bid to keep him locked up indefinitely as a sexually dangerous person. Porter completed his prison sentence in...

ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome Code: ZE03121222Date: 2003-12-12Talking to Teens About God's Plan for Sex and Their LivesJason and Crystalina Evert Share Testimonies Regarding ChastitySAN DIEGO, California, DEC. 12, 2003 (Zenit.org).- More than 100,000 teens each year hear God's plan for life and love, thanks to the efforts of Jason and Crystalina Evert. The Everts are a newlywed couple and chastity speakers who work for Catholic Answers and visit high schools -- public, Christian and Catholic -- around the country. Jason Evert, author of "If You Really Loved Me" (Catholic Answers), shared with ZENIT how their young...

A family that's grieving is very angry over their loved one's final hours. A priest came in to administer last rites, but the family says when he got into an argument with the dying man he refused to perform the sacrament.Lauren DeFranco reports from Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola. Charles Miller died of leukemia here on his 67th birthday, and in the end it was his parish priest who rushed to his bedside to administer the last rites just in the nick of time. But according to Miller's family, he suffered more than any dying man should, because the...

I Will Give You Shepherds: Addressing the Priest Shortage    FAITH FACTS Issue: Is there a priest shortage? What is being done to address shortages where they occur? What can be done to increase the number of candidates for ordination? Response: There is some debate as to what constitutes a priest shortage. Some compare current ratios of priests to faithful with ratios from other eras, though some say that demand for priests has diminished to the point that the ratios are not comparable. Others contend that "priest shortage" is a slogan used by those who seek structural change in...

(PAUL HENRY WOOD (AMERICAN, 1871-92), “ABSOLUTION UNDER FIRE,” 1891 OIL ON CANVAS, 72 X 102 IN. UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME COLLECTION OF THE SNITE MUSEUM OF ART, UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME, AA.76.57)Editor’s Note: The following address was given at the first Knights of Columbus Eucharistic Congress in Washington, D.C., June 22, 2002. In the beautiful rolling hills of western Maryland lies the historic battlefield of Antietam. There on Sept. 17, 1862 (“the Glorious 17th”) was fought the bloodiest battle of any American war. More than 20,000 soldiers from both sides of the Civil War lay dead or wounded. The battle...

VATICAN CITY, JAN 30, 2003 (VIS) - To start the juridical year the dean, judges, promoters of justice, defenders of the bond, officials and lawyers of the Roman Rota celebrate Mass in the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican, after which the Holy Father receives and addresses them, as Canon 1442 states, as "the supreme judge for the entire Catholic world." In his talk today to the Rota, Pope John Paul noted that requests for marriage annulments comprise the greatest number of cases that this tribunal receives and he acknowledged the "profound crisis currently buffeting matrimony and the family," alluded to...

This web page John Paul Speaks contains a PDF file for June's edition of John Paul Speaks. It's meant as a bulletin insert.

ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome Code: ZE02052905 Date: 2002-05-29 Encyclical on Eucharist to Recapitulate Key Topics of Pontificate Work on New Document Is in Initial Stages VATICAN CITY, MAY 29, 2002 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II is planning to write an encyclical on the Eucharist, a topic that Vatican sources say profoundly links his other papal writings. ZENIT confirmed with the Vatican that the writing of the encyclical, announced on Italian public television RAI 2, is still in its initial phases. The Holy Father sees in Christ´s real presence in the Eucharist a profound link with all the...

    In face of the general furor against child abuse by Catholic priests and even by Bishops, some of the principle American Catholic leaders are trying to deviate public indignation to an issue useful for the progressivist cause. Strange Marriage    Applying this strategy, the Jesuit magazine America blamed priesthood celibacy for the scandals. It reported: "A nun said she feels great shame, pain and powerlessness and called for a new model of Church. 'The male celibate hierarchical structure is falling apart,' she said" (April 1, 2002, p. 5). Commenting on the March 15 editorial of The Pilot, the Boston...