Free Republic

The purge of Christians from northern Iraq continues under the hands of the Sunni jihadist group, the Islamic State--formerly the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). ISIS militants seized the famous Mar Behnam or St. Behnam monastery this week, a fourth century Christian landmark, and forced monks to leave immediately. According to the Agence France-Presse, the monastery, a famous landmark of early Christianity, is now fully in the hands of ISIS jihadists ... The monastery itself is one of the oldest monuments in the history of Christianity

The St. Joseph Abbey monks will be able to legally sell handcrafted caskets from their St. Tammany Parish monastery near Covington after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request by Louisiana's board of funeral directors to overturn an appeals court ruling that allowed the monks to sell caskets without a funeral director's license."We're just happy to know that our economic liberty has been protected, and we're also happy to know that maybe we've helped secure the rights of others," Abbot Justin Brown said of the Supreme Court's decision. "It's a good feeling. It does...hopefully put this issue to rest."The Louisiana...

Mt. Athos Monks Battle Police Over Eviction By Andy Dabilis on July 29, 2013 in News  87  16    2  213 An earlier clash between the Mt. Athos monks and police Angry monks at the Esphigmenou Monastery in the monastic community of Mount Athos in northern Greece, refusing to obey an eviction order, tossed Molotov Cocktails and rocks at bailiffs attempting to serve them on July 29, chasing them off the premises of the famed peninsula.“The monks of Esphigmenou Monastery who are in the residential quarters and are in a defense position to defend it, threw some objects from inside...

‘969’: The three digits that are terrifying Muslims in Burma This photo shows the cover of two CDs with the '969' logo at the top. On the far right is the monk Wirathu, the leader of the '969' campaign. The CD is titled "Monks' teachings: How to protect our religion and nation." Photo courtesy of MMedia. Brightly-coloured posters and stickers bearing the number "969" are popping up in cities all over Burma. These look innocuous enough at first glance. However, “969” actually denotes an anti-Islam campaign led by hardliner Buddhist monks. Burmese Muslims say it has stirred up hatred and...

On a hill overlooking the Fraser Valley in Mission, British Columbia is a remarkable center of life, prayer, work, hope, and peace known as Westminster Abbey. Considered to be Mission's most famous landmark, with its striking bell tower and austere yet modern church, this renowned Benedictine monastery attracts thousands of visitors annually. Why do so many people make the journey up the hill in such great numbers? What are they seeking? Whom are they seeking?Monasticism, though still a curiosity, is more and more an attractive curiosity. Monasticism sinks its roots into the real world of God by seeking an...

Why is the Western part of the world enjoying wealth and growth, while other countries are left behind in poverty? A new PhD thesis seeks to find an answer to this question by digging deep into the underlying mechanisms of growth. One of the clues the thesis follows begins in France in 1098, when a breakaway group of monks formed a new monastic order. We’ll get back to that, but first we need to delve a little deeper into the underlying factors of wealth and growth. ......................................................... “We are cementing that the monks passed on their cultural values by showing...

Featured Term (selected at random):MONASTERY The place where religious dwell in seclusion. The term applies mainly to religious men or women who live a cloistered, contemplative life and recite the entire Divine Office in common. (Etym. Greek monast_rion, from monazein, live alone.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Six leaders from South Korea's biggest Buddhist order have quit after secret video footage showed some supposedly serene monks raising hell, playing high-stakes poker, drinking and smoking.The scandal erupted just days before Koreans observe a national holiday to celebrate the birth of Buddha, the holiest day of the religion's calendar. The head of the Jogye order, which has some 10 million followers, or about a fifth of the population, made a public apology on Friday, vowing "self-repentance". South Korean TV networks aired shots of monks playing poker, some smoking and drinking, after gathering at a luxury lakeside hotel in late...

Featured Term (selected at random):CELESTINES A branch of the Benedictines founded by Pope St. Celestine in 1250. It survived until 1785, when its last surviving house of Calavino near Trent was closed. First established on Monte Morrone, its spirit was one of great asceticism, favoring the solitary monastic life. At one time, it numbered one hundred fifty monasteries and exerted great influence even over the mother Benedictine community at Monte Cassino. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Featured Term (selected at random):MECHITARISTS or MEKHITARISTS A community of Catholic Armenian monks, founded at Constantinople in 1701 and living under a modified Benedictine Rule. Established by Mechitar of Sebaste, an Armenian priest who submitted to Rome, the community was driven from Constantinople and took refuge in Venetian territory, finally on the island of San Lazzaro. Another section later settled in Vienna. The Mechitarists are engaged in education and missionary work and have published many important Armenian writings. They use the Armenian Liturgy. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used...

Recently, there has been an uprising of protests by Tibetan monks over China’s occupation of Tibet and the exile of the Dalai Lama. The protests are not done with signs and chanting but with self-immolation or the act of burning oneself alive. Richard Gere has praised the actions of the Buddhists monks calling them “a pure act.” Gere, a long-time Buddhist, says, “It all really comes down to motivation. I mean none of these self-immolators have harmed anybody else. It is totally a self-sacrifice for their people, for others. So on that level it’s a pure act. But I think...

An extraordinary brawl between clergymen broke out yesterday at the very site where Jesus is said to have been born. The annual cleaning of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem descended into a battle between the rival Christian denominations that share it. Brooms, fists and vicious insults flew in all directions between 100 priests and monks dressed in their traditional robes. The fight ended only after Palestinian police, bending their heads to squeeze through the church’s low ‘door of humility’, rushed in with batons to restore order. The row is believed to have begun after a clergyman of one...

Featured Term (selected at random):CLERICAL COMMUNITY The living and sharing together that the Church has traditionally favored and encouraged for men in the clerical state. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

They were dubbed the Millionaire Monks, a small monastic community in rural Wisconsin feted around the world for its wildly successful Internet business selling laser printer inks and toners. As recently as 2009, the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank was projecting annual sales of $3.5 million for its for-profit business, LaserMonks Inc. And their prior and chief executive officer, Father Bernard McCoy, was talking expansion - of both the company and the abbey. Today, the monks' 15,000-square-foot home on 500 acres in Sparta, Wis., is all but empty. They sold off their belongings - everything from furniture...

The Kennedys fought with the likes of Franklin Roosevelt, Jimmy Hoffa, and Robert Bork over the duration of thirteen presidential administrations. Now that no Kennedy holds political office in Washington, they're fighting each other. The family feud involves two iconic landmarks: the Kennedy Cape Cod compound and the John F. Kennedy Library overlooking Dorchester Bay. In Hyannis Port, Ted Kennedy's heirs prepare to transform the waterfront mansion the family has owned for 85 years into a retreat for thinkers and politicians contemplating public policy. The compound where early movie-mogul Joe Kennedy screened films for starlet Gloria Swanson, where the brood...

The discovery of the decapitated heads of seven French Trappist monks in Algeria in May 1996 shocked France and provoked a great outpouring of public emotion. Over 10,000 people gathered in Paris’s Place du Trocadéro to show their solidarity with the murdered monks. Earlier that year, in March, the monks had been abducted from the Tibhirine monastery in the Atlas mountains by a group of 20 armed men. For many, their decapitation also marked the climax of Algeria’s civil war between Islamist rebel groups and the Algerian government. The monks’ bodies were never found, which raised questions about who had...

A 'PRAYERFUL protest' outside the family planning clinic in Limerick by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal has been severely criticised by women across the country who rang RTE's Liveline yesterday, to voice their anger. The Franciscan Friars, who are known in Limerick as the Moyross Monks, staged a protest outside the Family Planning Clinic on Mallow Street on Saturday in a campaign against promiscuity. Siobhan, a young Limerick woman, who attended the clinic at the weekend rang Joe Duffy on Tuesday and said she had felt intimidated by their presence. She said one of the friars stared at her...

Praised be Jesus Christ" said the joyful voice of a monk on the other end of the line. Within minutes I heard another joyful voice, Fr. Daniel Mary of Jesus Crucified, the Prior of this burgeoning monastic community in Wyoming formally called "Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary". I had another absolutely delightful conversation with this wonderful priest and spiritual father. ... The last time we spoke, Father shared the monk's hopes to build a new monastery to house their growing young community. The artist's rendering of the 144,000 square foot French Gothic style monastery alone can send one...

Featured Term (selected at random):OLIVETANS The Order or Our Lady of Mount Olivet, a branch of the Benedictines founded by St. Bernard Tolomei in 1313 at Mount Oliveto near Siena. They follow a strict interpretation of the Rule of St. benedict and for a time were total abstainers from wine. There are also Olivetan nuns, based in Switzerland. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

88 Monks, average age 47: "It is above all the Liturgy in the Gregorian Choir as well as our loyalty to the Pope and the Church's teachings", said P Karl Wallner. Vienna (kath.net/Cross Press) IN the Cistercian Monastery of Heiligenkreuz in the Vienna Wood, the number of Monks has risen to 88, which means a doubling in the last year, and the highest manpower in its almost 900 year history. The average age of the Monks is 47 years. "Such a wave of young people who want to participate in our life hasn't happened since the Middle Ages,' exclaimed P....