Free Republic

The differences between traditional baptism and the new rite matter: here’s whyAll of the new sacramental rites bear the mark of ecumenism, but one of the most striking is certainly the new rite of baptism.(LifeSiteNews) — Since Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum, released in 2007, many more Catholics and clergy have had the opportunity to discover the Traditional Latin Mass. Those who discover this rite are led, sooner or later, to compare it to the Novus Ordo Missae of Paul VI. The recent restrictions placed on the old rite by Pope Francis have perhaps intensified these comparisons. Any such comparative study...

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, (1 Tim. 2:5) There is no way to adequately explain priesthood without reference to mediation. A priest is a mediator between God and Man. From time to time over the years, I have had the verse from 1 Timothy pointed out to me with the argument that there cannot be any mediator other than Christ, and, thus, there cannot be any such thing as a “priest” within the Church. Sometimes the argument becomes even more pointed: I do not need to go to a...

[Catholic Caucus] A completely different outlook on confession? Pope Francis says sins are not ‘central’The Vatican editorial director wrote that Pope Francis is proposing a 'completely different outlook on confession,' in which not our sins, but God, is central. Mon Sep 20, 2021 - 3:38 pm EDT KOŠICE, Slovakia (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis suggested we should not approach Confession thinking about our sins, raising alarms among many faithful Catholics.“Are sins really the center of Confession? What does God want? That you approach him thinking about Him or about your sins? What is central, our sins or the Father who forgives...

In the fourth century, St. Ambrose of Milan spoke truth to power. U.S. bishops could learn something from him.On Saturday, New Mexico state Sen. Joe Cervantes, a Democrat from Las Cruces, tweeted that because he voted to repeal a state law that criminalized abortion, he was denied communion by Bishop Peter Baldacchino, apparently after several warnings (something the senator conveniently neglected to mention).I was denied communion last night by the Catholic bishop here in Las Cruces and based on my political office. My new parish priest has indicated he will do the same after the last was run off. Please...

The Priest of the TitanicThe sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic is regarded as one of the most tragic shipwrecks in history. Regarded as the engineering marvel of its time, the Titanic’s makers boasted that “God himself could not sink this ship.” Yet on the night of April 14, 1912, the ship was brought down by a solitary iceberg. Since then, the disaster has been remembered for the many stories that have made the shipwreck legendary: the band playing in order to calm the passengers, the distress calls that received no response from a nearby ship, and the insufficient number of...

Catholic parish bans Confession for unvaccinated, reverses course after bishop steps inThe diocese informed the priest that he cannot put such a condition for the reception of the Sacrament of Penance.MONMOUTH BEACH, New Jersey, March 29, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – A Catholic parish in New Jersey announced this week that it would only allow those who had been vaccinated to receive the sacrament of Confession. After LifeSiteNews began investigating the matter this morning, reaching out to the parish priest and the local bishop for comment, the parish suddenly altered course and will now allow confessions for everyone.The Church of the Precious...

[Catholic Caucus] Invalidly baptized Oklahoma priest baptized and ‘re-ordained’  Denver Newsroom, Sep 16, 2020 / 04:08 pm MT (CNA).-  In the second known instance in the United States, a man who believed himself to be a validly baptized Catholic and ordained priest had to “re-receive” all of his sacraments, including ordination, after discovering that his baptism was invalid.Fr. Zachary Boazman, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, thought he was validly ordained in 2019. But in August, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a doctrinal note, reminding Catholics that baptisms are not valid if the...

[Catholic Caucus] Invalid baptism leads to an avalanche of invalid sacraments A rogue "permanent deacon" in the Archdiocese of Detroit, Mark Springer, administered invalid baptisms for 13 years. One of them was to someone who would eventually be "ordained" a priest in 2017 -- only to learn he was never validly baptized himself. Post-Vatican II vernacular baptism book To his credit, the priest -- Father Matthew Hood -- watched a video of his baptism and heard the word "We" instead of "I" used in the vernacular formula, "I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son...

[Catholic Caucus] Lone Priest Administers Last Rites to Driver After Deadly Car Crash Father John Killackey came to the aid of several stranded on the road after a tragic six-car pileup in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Father John Killackey walking down Interstate 81 southbound on July 8, 2020. Father John Killackey came to the aid of several stranded on the road after a tragic six-car pileup in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. A picture of a lone priest walking along Highway 81 piqued the interest of thousands of Catholics this week. Drenched with so much rain, the image appears as a Norman Rockwell work of...

Last year, I wrote a column arguing that if priests and bishops refuse to stand up for the Sacrament of Matrimony, they will eventually grow reluctant to stand up for the other sacraments as well. ... [T]hat’s a prediction that has come true in ways far worse than I could have imagined. ... The end-of-life sacramental issues have been the most newsworthy. ... There have also been beginning-of-life sacramental issues, as infant baptisms have been postponed indefinitely. (Presumably, some Catholic parents have baptized their own babies during this time. But with catechetics as it is in America, many Catholic parents are unaware...

Bishops are keeping sacraments suspended indefinitely and allowing Washington churches to be treated differently than other establishments in terms of opening. Washington state Catholic leaders would rather stick it to the president than let him defend their right to celebrate Mass. Following President Donald TrumpÂ’s direction on Friday for states to allow houses of worship to reopened and to declare public worship as essential, Gov. Jay Inslee immediately thumbed his nose, and Washington bishops quickly follow suit.In a disappointing response, the bishops demonstrated that rather than stand up for their flock and acknowledge the presidentÂ’s commitment to religious freedom, they...

[Catholic Caucus] Cdl Burke decries ‘distortion’ of sacraments during pandemic, loss of sense of sacred First Communion at home, Hosts in plastic bags, and distribution of the Eucharist using plastic gloves are manipulations, the cardinal emphasized. Urgent appeal to the bishops of the world: Feed your flock! Sign the petition here. SAN DIEGO, California, May 27, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — “Distortions” of the sacraments that took place in churches during the coronavirus lockdown, and that are taking place as they open up again, could result in Catholics losing a sense of the sacred, says Cardinal Raymond Burke. “The sacred in the highest...

[Catholic Caucus] Cupich: How To Keep Churches Closed Whilst Pretending To Open Them Cardinal Cupich has, as we know, really been outdoing himself. I have read a very good rebuttal to his nonsense.The linked article is here.The mean quote is this one: With the stroke of a pen, Cardinal Cupich has blithely yielded the Authority of the Church and subjugated the primacy of her worship to laws of man which are being successfully challenged by other denominations. In doing so, he replaces what has been heroically defended for thousands of years with the absurd perception that the Mass and the Sacraments are less necessary...

Wake County, North Carolina continues to ban Christians from their central rite of communion while allowing hand-delivered food so long as it's served by restaurants instead of pastors. Like many other locales across the nation, in the name of reducing coronavirus transmission Wake County, North Carolina continues to ban Christians from their central rite of communion while allowing hand-delivered food so long as it’s served by restaurants instead of pastors. After I reported last week on threats against a local church for holding services within government social-distancing and hygiene guidelines while grocery, hardware, and other retail stores are allowed to...

‘It’s great that dog grooming, gin, guns, and garden supplies are essential,’ says Pastor Kevin Martin, chuckling at the irony, ‘but the body and blood of Christ are not.’ It was a parishioner who called local news and possibly the police on Rev. Kevin Martin for continuing to hold services during coronavirus shutdowns, even though he had explicit state permission to do so while taking extra health precautions.Members of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Raleigh, N.C. were filmed by local television as they walked with their spouses and children into the church to worship and receive critical spiritual care at...

[Catholic Caucus] German bishop criticizes Catholics asking for Sacraments as ‘whining, belligerent’ Bishop Feige of Magdeburg offered an almost purely secular response to COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences for Catholics. MAGDEBURG, Germany, April 21, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – German Bishop Gerhard Feige has offered an almost purely secular response to the coronavirus pandemic and the desire of Catholic faithful to attend Mass and receive the Eucharist. The bishop of Magdeburg asked, “And in the face of the hardships and suffering of those who have to fear for their own lives or the lives of relatives, who hardly see an economic perspective...

In the year AD 430, Roman north Africa was overrun by a warlike barbarian horde known to history as the Vandals. Under the leadership of their brutal king, Gaiseric, the Vandals were bent on plunder, ruin and conquest to such an extent that the name of their nation lives on as a common noun in the English language with negative connotations reverberating across 15 centuries. With Roman military resistance collapsing on every front before the overwhelming attack, Saint Augustine found himself trapped in his home city of Hippo Regius, deathly ill and under siege by a Vandalic host. More about...

Clergy Offer Clandestine Masses as Bishops Capitulate to Coronavirus Catholics slam opening of borders while closing churches ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - Catholics deprived of Mass are berating the bishops for "cowardice" in the face of the coronavirus crisis, while clergy afraid of being disciplined are celebrating the Eucharist "clandestinely" to small groups of the faithful in Northern Italy.    In an open letter to the archbishop of Turin, Catholic campaigner Angela Ciconte shames the bishops of "all the dioceses of Northern Italy" for "abandoning" and "betraying" the faithful and "submitting as cowards to political correctness" by shutting down churches in the region while "mosques and shopping...

[Catholic Caucus] Despite crowded stores and bars, N. Italian dioceses suspend sacraments, citing Coronavirus Not being available to hear confessions is really something incomprehensible,' said one local Catholic. THIENE, Vicenza, Italy, February 27, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) ― Catholics are being turned away from even the sacrament of penance in at least one Italian town. Several dioceses in Italy, including Bologna, Milan, and Padua, cancelled Ash Wednesday liturgies and have suspended all public Masses, thanks to the outbreak of coronavirus in the northern regions of Italy.  But the parish of the Madonna of Olmo in Thiene has gone even further, advising...

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, (1 Tim. 2:5) There is no way to adequately explain priesthood without reference to mediation. A priest is a mediator between God and Man. From time to time over the years, I have had the verse from 1 Timothy pointed out to me with the argument that there cannot be any mediator other than Christ, and, thus, there cannot be any such thing as a “priest” within the Church. Sometimes the argument becomes even more pointed: I do not need to go to a...