Free Republic

America did not become great by keeping people out. We are great because, throughout our history, we have held our doors wide open to those seeking a new start, economic opportunity, and a chance to raise their families in peace and freedom. Tragically, our outdated immigration laws no longer uphold this quintessentially American vision. The country founded and built by immigrants now erects unnecessary barriers that turn aspiring Americans away and tear families apart.

August 11, 2014Memorial of Saint Clare, Virgin    Reading 1 Ez 1:2-5, 24-28c On the fifth day of the fourth month of the fifth year,that is, of King Jehoiachin’s exile,The word of the LORD came to the priest Ezekiel,the son of Buzi,in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar.—There the hand of the LORD came upon me. As I looked, a stormwind came from the North,a huge cloud with flashing fire enveloped in brightness,from the midst of which (the midst of the fire)something gleamed like electrum.Within it were figures resembling four living creaturesthat looked like this: their...

Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, will be installed as the ninth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, on Aug. 12 at 2 p.m. at St. Michael's Cathedral, with a public reception at 5 p.m., at the Better Living Center on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield. During a recent wide-ranging interview, Springfield's Bishop Mitchell Rozanski, loyal to Orioles, Church doctrine and being a listener, the 56-year-old Baltimore native talked briefly about the need for immigration reform, as well as the need to look behind the issues that drive...

August 11, 2014LIBERIA - A Catholic humanitarian group based in Spain says a nun from the Congo who was working in Liberia has died of the Ebola virus.The San Juan de Dios hospital order says Saturday that Sister Chantal Pascaline died "from Ebola in the Hospital San Jose de Monrovia, despite the care she received from a volunteer nurse."Pascaline belonged to the same order as a Spanish missionary priest and nun evacuated to Madrid by jet this week. Both are in stable condition in a Madrid hospital.The latest Ebola outbreak is the largest and longest ever recorded for the...

August 10, 2014Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a At the mountain of God, Horeb,Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter. Then the LORD said to him,“Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD;the LORD will be passing by.” A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountainsand crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire—but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire...

St. John Vianney, Priests, and God’s Armor Kathleen Beckman “When people want to destroy religion they begin by attacking the priest; for when there is no priest, there is no sacrifice: and when there is no sacrifice, there is no religion.”— St. John VianneySt. John Vianney exemplifies a life of sacrificial love, holy boldness and courageous perseverance. His example is absolutely relevant to our day and age. Twenty years ago on pilgrimage to Catholic shrines in France, our group visited the famous village of Ars. Our priest celebrated holy Mass in the same crypt that St. John Vianney offered Mass...

Featured Term (selected at random:WINGED OX A symbol of St. Luke the Evangelist, anticipated by Ezekiel. The ox, recognized as the animal of sacrifice, was applied to St. Luke because his Gospel emphasizes the atonement made by Christ's sacrifice of himself on the Cross. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

August 9, 2014Saturday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Hb 1:12-2:4 Are you not from eternity, O LORD,my holy God, immortal?O LORD, you have marked him for judgment,O Rock, you have readied him punishment!Too pure are your eyes to look upon evil,and the sight of misery you cannot endure.Why, then, do you gaze on the faithless in silencewhile the wicked man devoursone more just than himself?You have made man like the fish of the sea,like creeping things without a ruler.He brings them all up with his hook,he hauls them away with his net,He gathers them...

A nun has taken down a black flag similar to those flown by jihadist fighters in Iraq and Syria after it was spotted flying at the gates of an east London housing estate. The controversial flag sparked outrage after it was pictured flying above the Will Crooks estate in Tower Hamlets, alongside a number of Palestinian flags and slogans in support of Gaza. But when council officers went to the site, in Poplar High Street, they were told the flag had been removed by Sister Christine Frost, a Roman Catholic nun who runs a charity supporting vulnerable residents in the...

Featured Term (selected at random:EUGENIC STERILIZATION Depriving people of their generative powers in order to eliminate offspring having allegedly undesirable traits and to develop an environment more advantageous for human beings having allegedly desirable traits. the Catholic Church forbids the procedure because "public magistrates have no direct power over the bodies of their subjects. therefore, where no crime has taken place and there is no cause for grave punishment, they can never directly harm or tamper with the integrity of the body, either for reasons of eugenics or for any other reason' (Pius XI, Casti Connubii, II, 68-70). All items...

August 8, 2014Memorial of Saint Dominic, Priest    Reading 1 Na 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7 See, upon the mountains there advancesthe bearer of good news, announcing peace!Celebrate your feasts, O Judah,fulfill your vows!For nevermore shall you be invadedby the scoundrel; he is completely destroyed.The LORD will restore the vine of Jacob,the pride of Israel,Though ravagers have ravaged them and ruined the tendrils. Woe to the bloody city, all lies,full of plunder, whose looting never stops!The crack of the whip, the rumbling sounds of wheels;horses a-gallop, chariots bounding, Cavalry charging, the flame of the sword, the flash of the spear,the...

Liturgical Vestments Fr. William Saunders The liturgical vestments worn at Mass have evolved over time. Nevertheless, since the earliest days of the Church, liturgical vestments have been worn by priests for the celebration of the Mass. Even though priests of the Old Testament wore vestments in their liturgical rites, the “Christian” vestments are not really adaptations of them.Rather, the vestments of the Christians developed from the dress of the Graeco-Roman world, including the religious culture.Nevertheless, the Old Testament idea of wearing a special kind of clothing in the performance of liturgical rites did influence the Church. St. Jerome asserted, “The...

Featured Term (selected at random:THEANDRIC  Literally "God human," referring to those actions of Christ in which he used the human nature as an instrument of his divinity. such as were the miracles of Christ. Other human activities of Christ, such as walking, eating, and speaking, are also theandric, but in a wider sense, inasmuch as they are human acts of a divine person. The purely divine acts, such as creation, are not called theandric. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

August 7, 2014Thursday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Jer 31:31-34 The days are coming, says the LORD,when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers:the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant, and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD.But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the...

It is tradition among the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity. The night before perpetual profession there’s a ‘Bride of Christ Shower’ (simple, yet festive reception) for the Sister(s) professing perpetual vows. Candles and lights helped create a warm atmosphere of joyful sharing on Sister Pamela Catherine’s August 1, 2014 party. Franciscan Bridal Shower BrideWho comes? The party is planned by those Sisters in Temporary Vows. Sisters on our General Administration are invited along with any Sisters who served as a support community for the Sister Pamela Catherine or for the Sisters in Temporary Profession that summer.

Featured Term (selected at random:NOSSA SENHORA APARECIDA Shrine of Our Lady, patroness of Brazil, at the Basilica of Aparecida, near the city of São Paulo. The statue venerated here was drawn out of the water by a group of fishermen in 1717. At first housed in a small chapel, the image became the source of so many favors that eventually it was placed in the present church, declared a basilica in 1929. More than a half million pilgrims come to the shrine annually. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used...

No, the Maryknoll Sandinista priest Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, 81, who had his suspension a divinis -- first decreed by Pope John Paul II -- removed by Pope Francis in the past few weeks did not leave his absurd statements and government positions in the past, as one might gather from various news reports of the past couple of days that repeated his statements from many years ago. He repeated such statements yesterday on Nicaraguan television, and now on a whole new unheard-of level. For those who are unaware of its real meaning in practice and behind the theological fog, this...

August 6, 2014Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord    Reading 1 Dn 7:9-10, 13-14 As I watched: Thrones were set upand the Ancient One took his throne.His clothing was bright as snow,and the hair on his head as white as wool;his throne was flames of fire,with wheels of burning fire.A surging stream of fireflowed out from where he sat;Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him,and myriads upon myriads attended him.The court was convened and the books were opened. As the visions during the night continued, I saw: One like a Son of man coming,on the clouds of heaven;When...

Featured Term (selected at random:ERASTIANISM The system of Church-State relations named after Thomas Erastus (1524-83), who was a follower of Huldreich Zwingli (1484-1531) and whose real name was Thomas Lieber. Its main thesis is the supremacy of civil rulers in matters of religion. The basis for this theory is the alleged analogy between the Jewish and the Christian dispensations. Erastianism became the theological justification for the established churches in England and elsewhere. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission. 

Colin Collette, former music director at Holy Family Catholic Church in Illinois, says his partner, William Nifong, asked to “marry” him while they stood in front of St. Peter’s Basilica on a recent trip to Rome. In Illinois and Chicago, thanks to Catholic Democrat politicians, same-sex marriage is legal, so the two men planned a wedding. When Colin returned to the Chicago area, Father Terry Keehan of Holy Family Catholic Church, asked Collette to resign. Colin refused, and was subsequently fired. According to Collette, someone sent Francis Cardinal George a Facebook picture of him and his husband to be. That...