Free Republic

Gambling might join the list of Baltimore City's problems after Horseshoe Casino opens Aug. 26. As the city touts 1,700 new jobs, millions in education funding and an expected economic boost, new billboards advertise hotlines for gambling addiction, a dark side to Horseshoe’s shiny exterior. A moral gamble? With a median household income of $35,000, Park Heights is among Baltimore City’s poorest ZIP codes. In 2012, however, it led state lottery ticket sales, with a total of $34 million, according to a Capital News Service analysis. Father Zaborowski compares gambling spending to alcohol and drug addiction, which plague the neighborhood,...

Hunger and panic are spreading among people unable to work because of restrictions aimed at containing the spread of Ebola in Liberia and Sierra Leone, say church workers in West Africa. In Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, church groups “are trying to get food and distribute it to families who have asked us to help, but movement is heavily restricted and there is little we can do,” Salesian Father Jorge Crisafulli, provincial superior in West Africa, said in an Aug. 22 telephone interview from Accra, Ghana. Neighborhoods in Monrovia have been sealed off under terms of the government-imposed state of emergency. The...

A stolen consecrated host that was at the center of a lawsuit filed by Archbishop Paul S. Coakley and intended for use at a planned Satanic “black mass” in Oklahoma City has been returned. According to the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, an attorney representing the head of the satanic group presented the host to a Catholic priest the afternoon of Aug. 21. With the return of the host and an accompanying signed statement from the satanic group leader that the group no longer possesses a consecrated host, nor will they use a consecrated host in their rituals, the Oklahoma City...

Showing his support for those suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease, the superintendent of Catholic schools for the Cincinnati Archdiocese took part in the ice bucket challenge Aug. 21. Superintendent Jim Rigg was joined by Tom Otten, principal of Elder Catholic High School, on the school’s campus. The challenge has taken the nation by storm to raise money in support of research into the disease, which is formally known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease for which there is no cure and no proven treatments. In the challenge, people are asked to share videos through...

Pope Francis phoned the bereaved family of a U.S. journalist killed by Islamic State militants in Syria. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the pope phoned relatives of the late James Foley on Aug. 21 to console them for their loss and assure them of his prayers. The call to the Foley family in Rochester, New Hampshire, came in the afternoon New Hampshire time. Father Lombardi released no additional details. According to The Associated Press, U.S. officials confirmed a graphic video released Aug. 19 that showed Islamic State fighters beheading Foley, a 1996 graduate of Marquette University who had...

With the strife and violence continuing in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s shooting death by a police officer in Ferguson, more than 500 St. Louis Catholics gathered for a votive Mass for peace and justice Aug. 20 at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. Brown, 18, was black, and Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot him Aug. 9, is white. St. Louis Archbishop Robert J. Carlson celebrated the Mass with 27 priests and, in his homily, laid out five important steps to “dismantle systemic racism,” which has become evident in Ferguson: - “I am re-establishing today the Human Rights...

In April 2013, the parents of slain U.S. journalist James Foley attended a prayer vigil at Marquette University in Milwaukee to pray for their son, who at that time had disappeared in Syria. Before Diane and John Foley had confirmation that spring that their son was missing, Diane said she just felt it - he had missed one of his usual phone calls home - and once they knew for sure, the couple said they were relying on their Catholic faith to cope and leaning on prayer to bring him home. “Faith has been part of family life, but this...

Residents of Ferguson “are struggling to find peace in the chaos” that has followed the shooting death of an unarmed teen by a police officer and “as people of Christ, we are struggling to find direction in the unrest,” said Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis. “We are all aware of the turmoil and tragedy our St. Louis community is experiencing,” he said in an Aug. 18 letter to Catholics of the archdiocese. After visiting Ferguson, about 11 miles from downtown St. Louis, and offering prayers at a memorial there to 18-year-old Michael Brown, Archbishop Carlson said he has...

Pope Francis asked people to join him in prayer Aug. 19 after he learned that two of his little great nephews and their mother had died in a car crash in Argentina and his nephew was in critical condition. The dead were identified as the wife and two young sons of Pope Francis' nephew, Emanuel Horacio Bergoglio: Valeria Carmona, 39, Antonio Bergoglio, 8 months, and Joseph Bergoglio, 2 years.

Pope Francis formally asked U.N. agencies and the entire international community “to take action to end the humanitarian tragedy now underway” in northeastern Iraq. In a letter signed Aug. 9, but released by the Vatican only after it had been delivered, Pope Francis told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon immediate action was needed “to stop and to prevent further systematic violence against ethnic and religious minorities.” The papal letter was sent after militants of the Islamic State terrorist organization had captured Mosul in late July and Qaraqosh in early August, killing hundreds of people and forcing tens of thousands of Christians,...

The memory of that brutal June evening in his home near Mosul, Iraq, brought 48-year-old Joseph, now a refugee in Lebanon, to tears. “These people know no limits of humanity, decency, or respect for human life,” he said of the Islamic State fighters. Meeting with Catholic News Service Aug. 8 at the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center in Beirut, he and other Catholic Iraqi refugees asked that their real names not be used to protect their identities as they shared the traumatic experiences that led to their exodus. Joseph recalled how his wife and their teenage son, Bachar, were in their...

Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski was installed as the ninth spiritual shepherd of the Diocese of Springfield, Mass., during a solemn Aug. 12 Mass at the Cathedral of St. Michael. In his homily, he highlighted the responsibility of a shepherd to reach out and bring back lost sheep. Citing Pope Francis, Bishop Rozanski said all are called to welcome the alienated “by our compassion, joy and witness to the love of God at work in our world.” “As your bishop,” the 56-year-old Baltimore native said, “I am keenly aware of the need to reach out to those who have stopped practicing...

Dundalk resident Bernadette Gietka was a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service and aspiring playwright working four part-time jobs in June 2003 when she won the $183 million jackpot from the Mega Millions interstate lottery game. She chose the cash payout option of $112.8 million, taking home $76 million after taxes. Her win was the fourth largest in state history, a windfall both for Gietka and the charitable causes she championed. Gietka died Aug. 10 in Phoenix, Md., at age 65. A funeral Mass will be offered Aug. 15 at 10 a.m. at Holy Rosary in Fells Point. Shortly...

I have a brilliant idea. Let’s sell the White House to help pay off the debt. It’s valued at more than $300 million and that would make a significant contribution. The Obamas could move into a nice townhouse, probably in the $300,000 range, within commuting distance of Washington, D.C. I suppose some complications would arise from this plan. For security purposes, they would probably have to buy the surrounding houses or even the whole block. The president’s entourage would likely back up traffic as he is commuting downtown every day. They would also have to purchase new office space for...

Two lawmakers July 30 introduced a measure they say is needed to protect faith-based agencies that provide adoption and foster care services from discrimination based on their religious beliefs. U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, and U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pennsylvania, introduced companion bills titled the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act of 2014. “This bill is about fairness and inclusion. It is about ensuring that everyone who wants to help provide foster or adoptive care to children is able to have a seat at the table,” Kelly said in a statement. “Faith-based charities and organizations do an amazing job of administering...

The sign of peace at Mass has not always led to serenity among liturgists or within the congregations gathered each Sunday in Catholic churches around the world. After nine years of study and consultation, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments has told Latin-rite bishops around the world that the sign of peace will stay where it is in the Mass. However, the congregation said, “if it is foreseen that it will not take place properly,” it can be omitted. But when it is used, it must be done with dignity and awareness that it is not a liturgical...

Pope lifts suspension of Father D’Escoto, former Sandinista official August 04, 2014 By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has lifted the suspension of Maryknoll Father Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, who was ordered 29 years ago to stop exercising his priestly ministry because he refused to give up his political position in Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. The pope made his decision after Father D’Escoto, 81, formally requested permission to resume priestly duties, Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini, assistant director of the Vatican press office, said Aug. 4. Vatican Radio reported that Father D’Escoto had written that he wanted to...

James B. Sellinger, a former vice president for IBM’s North American operations, will serve as chancellor of education for the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Department of Catholic Schools and Frank Bramble Sr., a member of the Board of Directors for Bank of America Corp., will serve as chairman of the archdiocesan school board, the archdiocese announced July 28. In the newly created position, Sellinger will promote the enrollment and fiscal health of the archdiocese’s nearly 50 Catholic schools. Bramble previously served as interim president of Calvert Hall College High School in Towson and as chairman of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Blue...

In a widely praised move, the Church of England recently voted to allow for female bishops. It would seem to follow that the church’s shift toward popular opinion would result in an influx of new members. If one, however, looks at the American branch of the Anglican community, the Episcopalian Church, the predicated impact of the vote is quite the opposite. The Episcopalian Church is far more progressive than its sister church in England. The American church consecrated Barbara Harris as its first female bishop in 1989, and in 2006, Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected as the head of the...

The Obama administration has filed a brief with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver indicating it plans to develop an alternative for Catholic and other religious nonprofit employers to opt out of providing federally mandated contraceptives they object to including in their employee health care coverage. Several media outlets, including AP, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, reported July 23 that the administration said it would come up with a "work-around" that would be different than the accommodation it currently has available to such employers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as part...