Free Republic

An accused teenage rapper pleaded not guilty today to making a bomb threat on Facebook he warned would eclipse the horror of the Boston Marathon tragedy and make him “famous.” Methuen High student Cameron D’Ambrosio, 18, who calls his rapping alter ego “Cammy Dee” in crude, profane YouTube videos, was ordered held without bail by Lawrence District Court Judge Lynn Rooney pending a May 9 dangerousness hearing after waiving his right to a bail argument. “I’m not in reality, So when u see me (expletive) go insane and make the news, the paper, and the (expletive) federal house of horror...

I recently got a harsh letter from a Baptist lady protesting that she could not find the word "Catholic" anywhere in the Bible.True, the earliest occurrence of the term is in a letter of St. Ignatius of Antioch, written 20 years after the last book of the New Testament.  But the idea that the Church is "catholic" pops up everywhere in the gospels and epistles.  The Greek word "catholic" comes from the word for "wholeness" or "fullness."  The "catholic" church is not just a regional sect for an exclusive little group.  Rather it must include the whole family of God...

The Assumption of Mary - August 15The Feast of Mary's Assumptionby: Marcellino D'Ambrosio To listen to the PodCast of The Assumption of Mary - Click here!  This discussion of the Catholic Doctrine of Mary's Assumption, defined by Pope Pius XII as a dogma of faith, originally appeared as an article on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary in Our Sunday Visitor. I once asked a college theology class if anyone could explain the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary.  A student replied, “yeah, that’s the teaching whereby the Catholic Church ‘assumes’ that Mary is in heaven.” There’s a bit more to the dogma...