Free Republic

Antichrists and Practical Heresies: Saint Augustine’s Warning Both the signs of the end and the signs of recognizing the antichrist have been left to us in the inspired texts with the purpose of warning us about the imminence of crucial historical events. Their purpose, however, is never to satisfy our human curiosity, but to urge us to repentance, to penance, to prayer – to a life of more intense and deep sanctity. From the numerous difficult and enigmatic passages contained within the sacred texts of the Bible, the most read are the prophecies concerning the end of the world. No...

[Catholic Caucus] Exclusive: Cardinals Cupich, McElroy say 'impossible to go back' to synods without lay voters Two U.S. cardinals said one of the immediate results of Pope Francis' major summit on the future of the Catholic Church is that it should now be "impossible" to return to an era where lay men and women are not given both a voice and vote in major Vatican meetings. "It would seem to me impossible to go back now," said San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy on Oct. 29. "It would be wrenching to go back if you just had bishops there or just...

Cardinal Cupich to appear at ecumenical conference coordinated by Wiccan priestessThe Parliament of the World’s Religions conference, first held in 1893, was condemned by Pope Leo XIII in 1895, at which time he also forbade Catholics from attending any of the organization's future events.Left-wing Cardinal Blasé Cupich is set to appear at a scandalous ecumenical event in Chicago this week. The conference is coordinated by a Wiccan priestess and features more than 6,000 representatives of various forms of pagan and non-Catholic sects. The 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions is being held at McCormack Place convention center from Tuesday, August...

A throng of interfaith leaders to focus on combating authoritarianism at global gathering in ChicagoMembers of the Cristo Rey Parish, Jain and Sikh community pose before the Parliament of World Religion Parade of Faiths, Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023, in Chicago.More than 6,000 people representing scores of religions and belief systems are expected to convene in Chicago starting August 14 for what organizers bill as the world’s largest gathering of interfaith leaders.For the Parliament of the World’s Religions, the week-long event marks a return to its roots – the organization was founded in Chicago in 1893. In the past 30 years,...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Blase Cupich Presides Over LGBTQ+ Mass In Lakeview: ‘God Brought Us Together Here As A Community’The cardinal held Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church as part of the Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach ministry's 35th anniversary.LAKEVIEW — Blocks away from the thumping bass, fishnet bodysuits and drag queens of Boystown’s Pride Fest, some gay Chicagoans celebrated queer identity in a different way Sunday: with an LGBTQ+ Catholic mass led by Cardinal Blase Cupich.As the bells rang at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and the first notes of the organ swelled, gay and lesbian churchgoers...

Cardinal Cupich on 10 years of Pope Francis: women, LGBT Catholics, sex abuse and what comes nextWhen Pope Francis named Blase Cupich as archbishop of Chicago in 2014, some interpreted the appointment as a signal that the pope sought to reorient the U.S. hierarchy. Francis, who was elected pope 10 years ago on Monday, has spent the last decade reforming the Vatican bureaucracy and trying to implement his vision of a church that acts as what he describes as a field hospital, responding with mercy to the needs of ordinary Catholics. In the United States, home to a vocal group...

[Catholic Caucus] A church called to love perfectlyAmong the many points of convergence between the late Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis is their emphasis on the power of grace, which is God’s love for his people. From different perspectives, both popes insist that this love is totally unconditional, mysterious, transformative and gratuitous. Pope Francis warns against the cold and hard gnostic logic that attempts to domesticate the mystery of God’s grace or even the mystery of our lives by pretending to have all the answers: “When somebody has an answer for every question, it is a sign that they...

[Catholic Caucus] Father Anthony Bus disciplined for inciting hatredAfter asking to say Mass facing altarA well-known Chicago priest has been sternly reprimanded by Cardinal Blase Cupich after he wrote a letter to the prelate criticizing the decision to prohibit saying Mass facing east and noting how faithful Catholics are “cruelly demoralized” by persecution from Church authorities.Father Anthony Buś, C.R, of Chicago’s St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, has been seemingly ordered into a 10-day private retreat after earning the rebuke of Cupich who suggested the priest was publicly inciting “animosities or hatred against the Apostolic See or an ordinary,” due to his...

Dan Davidson, whose venue ‘The Temple House’ has hosted a homoerotic, simulated orgy, confirmed to LifeSiteNews that he is preparing to buy St. Adalbert’s Catholic Church in Chicago, and inspections have begun.CHICAGO (LifeSiteNews) — The owner of a luxury event venue that has regularly hosted lewd performances, including a simulated homoerotic orgy and obscene, perverse music videos, is preparing to close on the purchase of the beloved, historic St. Adalbert’s Catholic Church in Chicago. Dan Davidson, who specializes in digital image projection for entertainment venues, told LifeSiteNews on January 17 regarding St. Adalbert’s, “I can confirm that engineers have just...

Cupich criticises Texas governor in migrants statement The Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich, has issued a strong statement of support for migrants and refugees who had been bussed to his city by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, with no provision made for their transfer or reception. In a rare move, Cupich criticised Abbott by name for his handling of the situation.“Wednesday night, Chicago received two busloads of migrants, including asylum seekers, sent from Texas on buses chartered by Governor Gregory Abbott. For weeks, the Texas governor has been sending migrant women, men, and children – including infants – to...

Although this has not yet been announced officially, the news has already been leaked: Tomorrow, July 17, the Archlayman of Chicago, ‘Cardinal’ Blase Cupich, will announce that the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) will be shut down in Chicago effective August 1. The ICKSP is a Traditional Latin Mass community founded in 1990 that uses only the Roman Missal of 1962. It is one of the so-called “Ecclesia Dei communities”, meaning they have always been in full communion with the Vatican II Church and are operating on the basis of the indult granted by “Pope” John Paul...

Lay 'reflection' raises doctrinal, liturgical questions in Chicago archdioceseAs the Archdiocese of Chicago calls for liturgical orthodoxy in its implementation of Traditiones custodes, at least one parish has permitted lay people to give a homiletic reflection, despite the Church's requirements that a homily be given at Sunday Mass, and that homilies can be preached only by ordained ministers.The Archdiocese of Chicago declined to comment on liturgical and doctrinal questions concerning a June 19 Mass at Chicago’s Old St. Patrick’s Church. ShareInstead of a homily after the Gospel, the celebrant invited two men to the ambo to offer a Father’s Day...

[Catholic Caucus] Campus ministry director at Chicago Catholic high school is in a lesbian ‘marriage’Mission and ministry director at Marist High School Kimberly Madonia is in a ‘marriage’ with a woman. CHICAGO (LifeSiteNews) – The campus minister for a Catholic high school in Chicago is in a same-sex “marriage.” Kimberly Madonia is the Director of Mission and Ministry for Marist High School. Marist hosted dissident, pro-LGBT priest Father James Martin earlier this month for a discussion on homosexuality and transgenderism. Madonia has been in the role for a year now after she left her previous job as a youth ministry...

[Catholic Caucus] Priests: Cardinal Cupich visited diocese before Pope removed Puerto Rican bishopBishop Emeritus Álvaro Corrada del Río, S.J., reportedly said that the Vatican ‘secretly’ dispatched Cardinal Cupich to investigate Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres. ARECIBO, Puerto Rico (LifeSiteNews) – Priests in the Puerto Rican Diocese of Arecibo say they were told that liberal Cardinal Blase Cupich made a secretive visit to their diocese last year and was involved in the recent dismissal of Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres.According to an investigation by Catholic news site ACI Prensa, the current apostolic administrator of the diocese informed clerics that Cupich, the scandal-plagued archbishop...

[Catholic Caucus] The Dirty 5 Dozen Ride Again!This should strike fear in all of the faithful Catholics in the United States: Cardinal Cupich and club just had an invitation-only event featuring the sixty bishops who voted against discussing Eucharistic Coherence, the liberals from Rome steering the “synodal process”, and the liberal Catholic media. They had to fess up because JD Flynn and The Pillar caught wind of it, but clearly, Cardinal “We should all get together as brother bishops and discuss” Cupich has now become Cardinal “It hasn’t been going too well so we need to spin the narrative” Cupich.https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/cardinals-theologians-gather-plan-how-us-church-can-support-pope-francisCHICAGO...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinals, theologians gather to plan how US church can support Pope FrancisCardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago celebrates Mass March 25 in Chicago. Cupich was among about 70 cardinals, bishops and theologians gathered privately March 25-26 for conversations focused on how the U.S. church can better support Pope Francis. (NCR screengrab)Chicago — A group of about 70 cardinals, bishops and theologians gathered privately for two days here from March 25-26 for conversations focused on how the U.S. Catholic Church can better support the agenda of Pope Francis.Through a series of keynote presentations and panel discussions centered on tracing the...

[Catholic Caucus] New of new cruelty in @archchicago from @CardinalBCupichA note from a reader…Since you have posted about Cardinal Cupich’s TLM restrictions, I thought you should know that permission for 3 parishes (St. Mary of Perpetual Help, St. John Vianney, and St. Odilo) have all been denied. The only other TLM that is offered in the archdiocese by a diocesan priest is the St James at Sag Bridge Mission. I do not know if they have been permitted to continue.This only leaves St John Cantius, St Peter’s (staffed by the Canons), and the Shrine of Christ the King.People are sad,...

[Catholic Caucus] Chicago's Cupich Stages Canon Law Charade Against One of His Best PriestsFather Anthony Buś, the pastor of St Stanislaus Kostka Parish, Chicago, who also wears the cassock, published a December 13 letter on his parish website informing that [rigid] Cardinal Cupich “forbade” to celebrate the Novus Ordo facing God although this is the norm established by Vatican II and the Novus Ordo rubrics.Strangely, Buś had asked Cupich for “permission” to celebrate Mass towards God although Cupich has no right to forbid this. Buś announced that he will comply. He explained to clueless Cupich that facing God has a...

[Catholic Caucus] Letter from Fr. Anthony Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Stanislaus Kostka,I write with a deep-felt sorrow that my letter to Bishop Lombardo dated January 13, 2022 was interpreted by social media as though I was being unjustly critical of, disrespectful to, or lambasting the Holy Father, the Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago or Bishop Lombardo.As was stated to me, the letter verges on a violation of Canon 1373: “A person who publicly incites among subjects, animosities or hatred against the Apostolic See or an ordinary because of some act of power or ecclesiastical ministry or provokes subjects...

Courageous Chicago Priest Challenges Cardinal Cupich’s Cancellation of Ad Orientem WorshipFr. Anthony Bus C.R., pastor of St. Stanislaus KostkaLetter to Bishop Robert Lombardo on “Ad Orientem” MassJanuary 13, 2022Dear Bishop Lombardo,Thank you for consulting the Archbishop regarding my request for permission to offer the Holy Sacrifice, “Ad Orientem.” I will comply with his directive that this is forbidden in his Archdiocese.Even so, the Archbishop does not provide evidence that “Ad Orientem” was abrogated at the Second Vatican Council. As I read Sacrosanctum Concilium and the Roman Missal the implication is “Ad Orientem” was not abolished or prohibited – on the...