Free Republic

[1]A crowd of naysayers that ranged from her cousin in the state of Washington, to Buddhist leaders in Boise, Colo., to a rabbi in Nevada has called on Idaho Sen. Sheryl “Sherry” Nuxoll (R) to apologize for calling Hinduism a “false faith with false gods.”While the self-described mother, housewife and co-manager of a farm/ranch in Cottonwood, Idaho, has admitted she could have turned a better phrase, she has refused to say the words many people want to hear: “I’m sorry.”Senators Not Happy with Decision to Open with Hindu Prayer Nuxoll and two other Republicans refused to attend the opening...

“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”  But how does one know such a danger exists unless one already possesses an interest in, and respect for, people who lived and thought and wrote in the past?  And in order to avoid this historical pitfall, the assumption must exist that people in the past actually have things to say to us that we need to know, an assumption that may not be as accepted as it once was.  C.S. Lewis talked about the threat of “presentism,” the idea that our current time is the most developed and that...

What Is Serenity and How Can We Grow in It? By: Msgr. Charles PopeDuring Lent, a gift to seek is greater serenity. The word comes from the Latin serenus, meaning clear or unclouded (skies). By extension it thus means calm, without storm.Serenity has become more used in modern times with the advent of many 12-Step programs, which use the Serenity Prayer as an important help to their work.Perhaps the closest Greek word to serenity is ãáëÞíç (galene=calm) and it is used most specifically to describe the incident when Jesus stood in the boat and rebuked the storm, bringing about a great calm,...

In his love for Mary and Jesus, St. Joseph’s faithfulness and purity are an example for all Christian fathersby Father Frederick J. Miller (Tyrolese Art Glass Co., Austria, 1899 / Courtesy Saint Joseph's University Collection, Philadelphia) In his 1989 apostolic letter, Guardian of the Redeemer, Blessed John Paul II held up St. Joseph as a model of the Christian life for all believers. He wrote, “St. Joseph’s example transcends all individual states of life and serves as a model for the entire Christian community, whatever the condition and duties of each of its members may be” (30). Precisely because...

His obedience of faith was manifested, as the Gospel tells us, after an angel of God revealed to him that it was through the Holy Spirit that the child had been conceived in Mary. When Joseph awoke, “he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took his wife into his home” without hesitation or objection.  (Matthew 1:20)  When Herod sought to kill the infant Jesus, Saint Joseph obediently took him and the Blessed Mother to safety. (Matthew 2:13-14) As Pope Saint John II pointed out in Redemptoris Custos, “already at the beginning of redemption, after Mary,...

The "interviews" by atheist and Freemason Eugenio Scalfari with Pope Francis have become as famous as infamous. On the 15th of March it was time again. Eugenio Scalfari has published in his house journal La Repubblica, an editorial about Pope Francis. He's cited actual or alleged statements which Pope Francis is said to have expressed in one of the conversations between the Catholic Church and head of the left, anti-clerical opinion makers. Scalfari would not be Scalfari, if he did not present himself in his editorial as the main interpreter of the Argentine Pope's thoughts and actions. This is only...

Toward the very end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, he enters Jerusalem—knowingly headed to the Lamb’s slaughter. With less than a week of his mortal life remaining, would-be kings or rulers would not have spent their time with the least influential in society.For example, what does a presidential candidate do in his final days before an election? He seeks to rally the troops. He presents his case and seeks to explain why he would be a better leader than the other candidate. He barnstorms and campaigns. He sprints to associate himself with the most powerful persons, teams, and symbols he...

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these things that You do unless God is with him.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s...

On planet earth there are about 70 million Orthodox Christians that are not in full communion with the Catholic Church (centered at Rome) or with the Eastern Orthodox (centered at Constantinople). These are the Oriental Orthodox Christians. They have all seven sacraments, revere the Mother of God and the saints, have a valid Eucharist, pray for the faithful departed, and have preserved a valid line of apostolic succession.Armenian Christians in the Miaphysite Tradition These Oriental Orthodox Christians do not accept the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451 which dogmatically defined that Christ is one divine Person with two natures (divine and human).Meet the...

In view of Obama’s intent to press for a “Two State” solution at the U.N. , as petulant revenge on Benjamin Natanyahu for winning the recent Israeli elections, in spite of Obama’s fervent(U.S. Tax payer funded) election interference, I decided to re-run an earlier article about the Divine view of the “Two State Solution”. There will never be an established and lasting Palestinian State, it is the “nation not desired”, and is doomed to disappointment and failure. In fact there are no Palestinian people. The name “Palestine” was imposed on the land of Israel, as a humiliation by the Romans....

There has been an less-than-productive discussion on this thread regarding the last words of Christ on the Cross. It could be because it started with the suggestion--right in the title--that Catholics don't understand Jesus. Not a great way to initiate dialogue and ecumenism. I would like to take a different approach here. I would like to hear my Protestant brethren explain these words of Christ from the Cross:My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? What does it mean? Why did He say it?

Purity of Heart is Needed to See God By: Msgr. Charles PopeI have mentioned here before that my mentor and teacher, Fr. Francis Martin, once asked, “Do you know what is the biggest obstacle for us in understanding the Word of God?” I was expecting him to answer his own question by saying something like, “We don’t know enough Greek,” or “We haven’t studied the historical critical method carefully enough.” But he looked around the room and then said, “The biggest obstacle we have to understanding the Word of God is our sin.”He went on to encourage us in the discipline of study...

The Polish Bishops Episcopal Conference at their Annual Plenary Meeting (368) formally rejected the "Kasper proposal" of giving Holy Communion to Catholics who were sacramentally married, but who had entered into illicit and sinful second "unions". In formally stating their position, the Polish Bishops reject utterly the Adulterist Party of the scandalous and heretical mid-term relatio from last October, 2014, and come down on the side of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His doctrine of the indissolubility of holy matrimony. In doing so, the Bishops remain faithful to Familiaris Consortio which merely reiterated the unchanging and unchangeable truth about Christian...

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!how unsearchable are his judgments,and his ways past finding out!For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.Romans 11:33-36Israel was chosen by God to bring into the world the Scriptures, the true worship, and the Messiah. She was created by a miracle birth, protected and preserved amidst...

Arthur Fitzmaurice criticized the Church’s 'poor and dangerous theology' on homosexuality. LOS ANGELES, March 17, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- A speaker at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles annual conference for religious educators on the weekend denounced the Church’s teaching on homosexuality, saying the Catechism’s language on the issue is “abusive” and “gravely evil.”Speaking at the conference of 800 catechists from the U.S. and Canada, Arthur Fitzmaurice, the resource director for the Oakland-based Catholic Association for Lesbian and Gay Ministry a former co-chair of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles' Catholic Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Persons, criticized what he called the...

Counsel the DoubtfulDoubt can be the emotional equivalent of anything from a brief spring rain to a Galveston-destroying hurricane. People can feel doubt over whether to place two bucks on the Mariners to win (don’t) or about whether or not the God in whom they have believed all their life is a sham, a fraud, and a delusion. Doubt can be a healthy exercise in which we learn to put aside our tribal prejudices and think critically, or it can be a soul-shattering crisis that radically remakes or destroys us.The difficult thing about living the spiritual work of mercy...

Featured Term selected at random:UBIQUITY The presence of a being in all places at once. Omnipresence of God. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Many years ago I was involved with an evangelistic ministry in New Jersey. A group of us would go out on the Boardwalk ask people if we could talk with them about the Gospel. In the course of our conversations, I would sometimes ask if they knew why they wore clothing. The humorous responses that we received were almost singularly worth the experience; however, the most common answer I would get was, "Because people would laugh at me if I didn't!" While it may seem like a trite question, it actually has profound importance regarding the Scriptural teaching about our...

Concerns about Cremation: Some Very Strange Practices Are Emerging By: Msgr. Charles PopeSome years ago, the Church gave wider permission for cremation and also lifted traditional restrictions on having cremated remains present in the church for funeral Masses. All of this is pastorally understandable. Very few if any people these days choose cremation for the reasons it had traditionally been forbidden, namely as a denial of the resurrection of the body. Generally the reasons chosen are economic, due to the increasingly high cost of traditional burial and the difficulty, especially in urban areas, of finding room for large cemeteries. The basic norms from the church...

1/14/2015 8:04:57 AM Three Words Catholics Do Not Understand  It Is Finished - Three Words Catholics Do Not Understand The perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ that satisfied divine justice for all believers was accomplished 2000 years ago. Jesus cried out in victory - "It is finished." The work of salvation is done. The eternal debt for sin has been paid in full. No more offerings, no more sacrifices, no more priests! The Lord Jesus willingly died for man’s sins to pay the debt that we could never pay. “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree,...