Free Republic

WASHINGTON - A large national study on faith and political views released Oct. 23 highlighted Catholics' interest in having social justice take a bigger role in the church's policy priorities. The American Values Survey by Public Religion Research Institute queried a cross section of all Americans but zeroed in on the opinions of Catholics, in particular, on topics including contraceptive coverage in insurance and the death penalty as well as on the pending presidential election. In interviews during September, a majority of Catholics told pollsters that they would prefer it if the church would focus its public policy statements "more...

Fr. John Hollowell’s truly amazing monologue needs to be spread far and wide. It’s a wake up call, and one of the most encouraging statements I’ve heard in a long time. It’s a Divine battle cry! The talk heats up after minute 2 where he notes in this talk addressed to Planned Parenthood Pres. Cecile Richards that “we have not doubt” that in the future Planned Parenthood will be seen as the “slave traders, the Nazis, the Communists and all those groups that seek to oppress people.” He then warns PP and President Obama: “You better knock us out now....

DENVER, March 2, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Just after speaking about society’s slow descent into adversity against religious freedom, the bishop administering the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver found himself in a closer encounter with the subject than he’d anticipated. Bishop James Conley was speaking to a Theology on Tap group on Jan. 26 about how America is turning into an “atheocracy” at Stoney’s Bar and Grill of Denver when trouble began brewing. “America today is becoming what I would call an atheocracy—a society that is actively hostile to religious faith and religious believers. And I might add, the faith that our...

Have you ever attended a Mass where people who seemed unaware of what the Mass was about walked up to receive Communion?  A while ago my husband Tom and I attended a Mass for a wedding like that.  One couldn’t help but notice, by the lack of responses and the chatting away, that most of the folks at the Mass were either not Catholic or had fallen away from regularly going to Mass.  They seemed to have no way of knowing when to pray, to sit, to stand or to kneel.I was thus flabbergasted at this wedding Mass when many of...

Milwaukee priests quoted in a local newspaper article on the third edition of the Roman Missal are lamenting the revised translations, which more closely reflect the content and majesty of the original Latin. “The bottom line for me is why,” said Father Alan Jurkus. “Why, with everything else that's going on in the Church, do we have to rub salt in the wounds?” “For some people this will be very unsettling,” added Father Ken Smits. “The real concern is among the parish priests, who will have to explain something many of them are not in favor of.” “You can call...

I used to wonder why the church, in her venerable wisdom, had a memorial feast day for the dedication of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. What's the big deal? It's just a church building right? OK, it's bigger and older and more beautiful than most churches, but so what. The church is really the people right? Well, yes and no. Certainly St Paul talks about us being 'living stones' being built up into the 'temple', but that image only makes sense if there is such a thing as a physical temple made up of real stones. So why should Catholics build...

Police officers stand outside the residence of the archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels in Mechelen, Belgium, June 24. Belgian investigators searched Church headquarters in Belgium, the archbishop's residence as well as the home of Cardinal Godfried Danneels as part of an investigation into alleged priestly sexual abuse. VATICAN CITY — The Holy Father was quick to deplore it, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone described it as something even communist regimes wouldn’t do, and Belgium’s bishops denounced it as violating their constitutional rights. The police raid of Church offices in Belgium June 24 to search for evidence of clerical sex abuse has caused such an...

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2009 Near Death Experience of a Catholic Priest Brief Background of Fr Jose I was born on July 16, 1949 in Kerala, India to my parents, Joseph and Theresa Maniyangat. I am the eldest of seven children: Jose, Mary, Theresa, Lissama, Zachariah, Valsa and Tom. At the age of fourteen, I entered St. Mary’s minor seminary in Thiruvalla to begin my studies for the priesthood. Four years later I went to St. Joseph’s Pontifical Major Seminary in Alwaye, Kerala to continue my priestly formation. After completing the seven years of Philosophy and Theology I was ordained a...

When my husband and I went to Mass last evening, unfortunately our parish priest was ill, so a guest priest said Mass. When he read the Gospel, he changed He to she. Later the substitute priest said we really don't know if the Holy Spirit is a he or a she. Later he said, wouldn't the altar girl make a good priest some day, even though the Vatican said women priests is a closed issue. It won't happen. There were a few other things, but those were the things that bothered me the most. Here is the gospel, where he...

CHURCH MUST HEAD BACK TO EARLY SPIRITUALITY IN WAGING WAR AGAINST 'RULER OF THIS WORLD' On the way to Fatima last week, Pope Benedict XVI boldly clarified that the crisis in Catholicism is not so much a persecution from the outside (although certainly our enemies have lavished in the scandals) but due to evil from within. Moreover, he said it was "truly terrifying." Finally, we can say -- with the Pope's words as our backdrop -- that the crisis was caused more than anything by the demonic. It is evil -- not a personality quirk -- that terrifies. At the...

Pope John Paul II regularly whipped himself in a sign of "remorse for his sins", a nun has claimed. The Pope, who died five years ago, is being considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church. As part of the Vatican's investigation thousands of documents have been collected and examined by officials from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Among them is the testimony of Tobiana Sobodka, a Polish nun of the Sacred Heart of Jesus order, who worked for Pope John Paul in his private Vatican apartments and at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo near Rome. Sister Sobodka...

Scandal: 96 Catholic Universities Have Pro-Homosexual ClubsHelp stop this scandal by signing the TFP’s urgent appeal to the presidents of Catholic universities Here is a list Catholic universities with pro-homosexual clubs Historically, Catholic universities have been beacons of truth. They have set a standard of intellectual progress and moral excellence. They have elevated culture, formed the minds of great men, and paved the way for abundant scientific breakthroughs. However, these beacons of truth are now failing. Moral values are being undermined on many Catholic campuses and the principles that once guided souls in the noble task of higher learning are...

The earliest text concerning the Real Presence is found in Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, written probably about A.D. 57, or 27 years after Christ's death. Modern scholars believe Jesus died in the year 30 and that Saul was converted early in 37. Some are convinced his conversion was as early as 34. It seems certain that 1 Corinthians was written after the Passover of 57. This means the newly converted Saul, now Paul, was plunged into the infant Church as early as four and not later than seven years after the death of Christ. He was an...

The Pieta Book very clearly states the conditions for gaining the indulgences of performing the Via Crucis or Stations of the Cross. It is important to note that the Lamb of God was slain upon the cross. The cross of wood became the sacrificial altar on which Jesus gave up His life for us sinners. When Jesus traveled to Calvary carrying His heavy wooden cross, one might speculate that splinters from the cross embedded in his back -- raw from the scourging at the pillar. The Pieta Book mentions about the wound in Jesus' shoulder that the cross dug into...

The following text is adapted from a lecture Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira gave on June 15, 1973.  It has been translated and edited for publication without his revision.  Note, in this text, he uses the words Revolution and Counter-Revolution as he defined them in his book Revolution and Counter-Revolution.  In this sense, the Revolution is a centuries-old process, motivated by pride and sensuality, and therefore egalitarianism and liberalism, that dominates the modern world and seeks to destroy Christian civilization.  Counter-Revolutionaries are those dedicated to defeating this process and defending the rights of God. –Ed.…One of the truly Counter-Revolutionary acts...

As he stood facing the busy street in front of the Red River Women's Clinic, the dozen or so men and women who joined him drew close to hear his words above the sounds of the traffic and occasional nearby trains. The campaign, which began Sept. 26, includes prayer and fasting, community outreach and a 40-day, 24-hours-a-day prayer vigil in front of the clinic. According to a diocesan release, "40 Days for Life" is a nationwide, ecumenical effort to increase awareness about abortion, "save the lives of unborn children and bring healing to those who have had abortions, those who...

For more than four decades, The Rev. Robert Patterson ministered to Catholic parishes throughout North Jersey. Now, the resident of the Allendale Community for Mature Living finds that retirement has not put an end to his calling. "When people know you're a priest and that you're a good listener, they feel free to unburden themselves and seek direction," said Patterson, who was born in Jersey City in 1932. "It doesn't matter if they're Catholic or not. It's a wonderful experience because your ministry continues." There currently are 10 retired priests living at the 12-acre community, which encompasses a senior residence,...

The thin stream of blood extended the length of the sidewalk running by the Catholic monastery's front door, trickled around the corner and ended midway down the block. The friars who live inside assumed a gunshot victim had collapsed. There, the monks gathered one night last summer and prayed, as residents of 13th Avenue in Newark's West Ward looked on. Two months later, the friars showed up in religious garb at a fu neral for another young area gunshot victim, and they again drew stares. Last autumn, the friars learned that people liked having them in the neighborhood. A man...

The official statue of Our Lady of America stands in the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France (Old Cathedral) ST. LOUIS (CNS) A new official image of Our Lady of America, which stems from apparitions of Mary received by an Ohio woman religious, will be on display at the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France (Old Cathedral) through Sept. 8.  The 9-foot statue of Our Lady of America, which includes its base, was first publicly displayed last November at the U.S. bishops' meeting in Baltimore, where St. Louis Archbishop Raymond L. Burke blessed it. The statue was...

Playing God by Manipulating Man: The Facts and Frauds of Human Cloning1 "Human life is thus given a sacred and inviolable character, which reflects the inviolability of the Creator himself. Precisely for this reason God will severely judge every violation of the commandment 'You shall not kill,' the commandment which is at the basis of all life together in society. ... Only Satan can delight therein: for through his envy death entered the world (Wis 2:24). He who is 'a murderer from the beginning,' is also 'a liar and the father of lies' (Jn 8:44). By deceiving man he...