Free Republic

Winning into Freedom " If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. —John 8:36 " If there is even a trace of individual self-satisfaction left in us, it always says, “I can’t surrender,” or “I can’t be free.” But the spiritual part of our being never says “I can’t”; it simply soaks up everything around it. Our spirit hungers for more and more. It is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin, our own individuality, and wrong thinking keep us from getting to Him. God delivers us...

A colleague offers the following capsule summary of Associated Press reporter Nicole Winfield's latest report on Pope Francis, in which the pontiff's defense of traditional church teaching seems to baffle the Vatican correspondent: Francis is a RADICAL – no, no, sorry about that–he is now a conservative who sounds just like Benedict -- NO, WAIT -- he really is a liberal at heart, but he is being FORCED by those evil, evil right-wing conservatives to cave--he is at WAR with his own CDF chief (you know, the one he re-confirmed -- but never mind) -- AT WAR, I TELL YOU!...

Reza Aslan—no relation to CS Lewis’ lion of the same name—has made a career out of reinterpreting and often trying to debunk Christian beliefs. Now Salon reports that Aslan has taken to attacking the New Testament, notably the historicity of the four gospels.

A film presented by EXIT highlights the importance of offering solace to those who have lost the will to liveAnyone involved in the euthanasia debate in this country should watch a recently released YouTube film about the work of EXIT ADMD, a Swiss association which helps French-speaking Swiss residents to die. As Michael Cook describes it in his article on Saturday, it is about the “mysticism” of Swiss-assisted suicide and it is all the more powerful and persuasive because of it. Unlike films about euthanasia made by the BBC in this country, there is nothing overtly strident or polemical about...

Catalog of Sin – All Items are in Stock, Free Shipping and Handling from the Supplier By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe video at the bottom of the page is something of a spoof on drug commercials, treating sin like a drug. Wait till you hear the side-effects disclaimer at the end. I also thought today of doing a little post on the sins that cry to heaven for vengeance since I was talking to a parishioner today, who is suffering because his employer has not paid him for three weeks. The employer, a shipping agency says this is  due to “administrative...

Featured Term (selected at random:QUARANTINE According to the ancient Church, a rigorous fast of forty days. It was an ecclesiastical penalty imposed by a confessor. Later on it came to be applied to partial indulgences and meant that the amount of temporal punishment removed was equivalent to that remitted by the ancient canonical penalty. However, the term is no longer applied to indulgences. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Polish Bishops' Conference President: communion for "remarried" divorcees attacks indissolubility of marriage. Curiously enough, Archbishop Gadecki, of Poznan, President of the Polish Episcopal Conference, whose presence and firmness were so important in the October Synod, repeats the same line mentioned by Cardinal George in his interview to John Allen: the differences are becoming so wide within the Church, the division so stark, we are not talking anymore about "liberals" or "conservatives" or left and right, but about what is true and what is false, about those who are faithful or unfaithful to the Magisterium. In the Church, this is the line...

The Incarnational Drama of the Our Father Stephen BealeThere once was an Eastern Church spiritual adviser who suggested beginning the Our Father backwards.We should begin with the last petition so that we end with Our Father, he said. Such is the pathway to Easter: from temptation in the desert to forgiveness and manna in the desert to our arrival in the promised land—so goes the thinking in an anecdote Pope Benedict XVI recounts in Jesus of Nazareth.There is some sense to this: we often approach God in prayer in times of temptation, to seek deliverance, to ask for a...

Archbishop of Canterbury hails a “completely new phase” of its existence after enabing women to become bishops The Church of England has entered what the Archbishop of Canterbury hailed as a “completely new phase” of its existence as legislation enabling women to become bishops came into force. Forty years of debate and campaigning over the role of women in leadership in the Established Church was brought to an end in just 10 minutes as the Church’s General Synod symbolically showed its approval for the change through a simple show of hands and a few signatures on a piece of paper....

Each Day is a Gift Today's Scripture “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Have you stopped to consider that today is a special gift from God? Sometimes, our days can be so full and busy that we forget how fragile life really is. The little things try to creep in and steal our peace and joy. Maybe something doesn’t go your way, or someone says something upsetting. Even traffic can cause you to lose focus if you let it. We have to...

The Eternal Goal " By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing…I will bless you… —Genesis 22:16-17 " Abraham, at this point, has reached where he is in touch with the very nature of God. He now understands the reality of God.My goal is God Himself… At any cost, dear Lord, by any road.“At any cost…by any road” means submitting to God’s way of bringing us to the goal.There is no possibility of questioning God when He speaks, if He speaks to His own nature in me. Prompt obedience is the only result....

If you are a free and bold Christian, you will face all kinds of pressure. You will be criticized. You will be looked down on as less of a Christian. You will find yourself thinking of the days when you didn’t make waves, when you were a phony, when you were dishonest…and when you were liked by everyone… We can “slip back into the darkness” quite easily. And it’s serious business: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8)....

What is “The Art of Accompaniment”? Some Concerns About Another Phrase Emerging From the Synod By: Msgr. Charles PopeOne of the events at last week’s meeting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was a first-hand summary of the Roman (extraordinary) Synod on the family by several bishops who attended. It would appear, as related by Archbishop Kurtz,  that a certain expression emerged at the Synod that is meant to convey a kind of pastoral strategy. That phrase is the “art of accompaniment.” Of itself, the phrase both makes sense and has value. In life, we must all learn, individually and collectively,...

The Pope is confusing many bishopsSandro Magister, interviewed by Goffredo Pistelli Italia Oggi November 13, 2014 This year Sandro Magister celebrates 40 years as a Vatican journalist. His first articles in L’Espresso in fact, date back to 1974. And today, from those columns and also from the site of the weekly magazine, he still continues to report Vatican and Church news, everything very well-documented without bowing down to anyone. Born in 1943, a native of Busto Arsizio, with degrees in Philosophy and Theology from the “Cattolica”, Magister has followed many Roman pontiffs. His articles regarding the present Pontiff, Pope Francis,...

Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston has said that were he to start a church he would “love to have women priests”. The outspoken remarks came during an interview with 60 Minutes on American television network CBS. Asked by reporter Norah O’Donnell whether excluding women from the Church hierarchy was immoral, Cardinal O’Malley said, “Christ would never ask us to do something immoral. It’s a matter of vocation and what God has given to us.” He said: “Not everyone needs to be ordained to have an important role in the life of the Church. Women run Catholic charities, Catholic schools …...

Still Human! " …whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. —1 Corinthians 10:31 " In the Scriptures, the great miracle of the incarnation slips into the ordinary life of a child; the great miracle of the transfiguration fades into the demon-possessed valley below; the glory of the resurrection descends into a breakfast on the seashore. This is not an anticlimax, but a great revelation of God.We have a tendency to look for wonder in our experience, and we mistake heroic actions for real heroes. It’s one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another...

“Return of the Prodigal Son” (detail) by Murillo Have You Been Saved? In Acts 4, St. Peter delivers a powerful sermon. He concludes by saying, “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”I have written before in these pages of the time when I was growing up in the southern part of the United States and how I would from time to time encounter young, protestant teens and adults who would excitedly take to the streets to witness for Christ.Now...

In the memorable Olivet Discourse, our Lord Jesus Christ answered the searching question of His disciples, “What shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?” (Matt 24:3). The major event predicted by the Lord as a sign of the second advent was the great tribulation. He urged those living in Palestine in that day “to flee unto the mountains” (Matt 24:16). He exhorted them, “Let him that is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house: and let him that is in the field not return...

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago will turn over the reins to his successor, Archbishop Blase Cupich, on Tuesday. George has long been seen as a leading intellectual light among America’s Catholic bishops, and even now, as he fights for his life, his mind remains remarkably nimble. As it turns out, one thing occupying his mind these days is Pope Francis. Now 77, George is currently undergoing experimental treatment intended to stimulate his immune system to fight off the cancer spreading from his bladder, liver, and kidneys through the rest of his body. If it fails, he’ll likely be looking at...

Growing in the Fear of the Lord – A Homily for the 33rd Sunday of the Year By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe past two Sundays have featured feasts (All Souls, and the Feast of St John Lateran) that stepped out of the usual Sunday cycle, and thus, especially last week, we missed the  November theme of the the Last things: Death, judgment, Heaven and Hell. Nevertheless, here on the 33rd Sunday we are back to the last things and reminded that we will one day account for our use of the gifts and resources God has given us.But today’s readings...