Free Republic

A week before winter officially begins, and Southern California is having its first cold spell. Mid-day temperatures on this sunny Sunday are down in the mid-50s, with a breeze making it seem even colder here in Venice. Still, this being a SoCal beach community, young men and women are out riding bikes on 3rd Avenue, while teens glide down the gentle incline on skateboards. The street is a gentrification potpourri of two-story stucco apartments and spacious Spanish-style homes with tile roofs. At the top of the hill, however, is a brown brick three-story rectangular building that seems somewhat out of...

Perhaps Father Newman's statement could have been more nuanced. He could have clarified the matter by adding that, for it to be a serious sin, the Catholic needed to be fully knowledgeable about the Catholic Church's teaching on abortion and Senator Obama's voting record on the issue. However, this was not a pontifical statement written for the instruction of all Catholics in America; it was a bulletin column in a parish where there has been steady and consistent catechesis on the whole range of Catholic issues, including abortion.

But it seems to me that people do not realize that it is 50 million children that we have killed. We have campaigned to save the baby whales, and yet we vote in pro-abortion politicians - which doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I feel we need to be in an awareness-raising campaign to open our eyes to really see the destruction that we've brought about. There should be 50 more million Americans in our midst, and anyone under 35 can look around and say, 'Where are they?' And, 'I'm very lucky to be alive.' We are grateful for all the...

America has suffered greatly in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Roe and Doe. They had the effect of giving positive legal protection to the taking of innocent human life in the first home of the whole human race and then enforcing this violation of the Right to Life enshrined within the Natural Law through the Police Power of the State. This is what he was referring to when he noted that such “… scrupulous meanness has had catastrophic effects upon the unity and integrity of the American republic”. The real problem is that this is an increasingly...

After a presidential campaign in which it was widely perceived that the dominant message from the bishops was that Catholics were morally obliged not to vote for a candidate supporting abortion rights, exit polls show that Catholics voted 52 percent to 45 percent for Senator Barack Obama.

More Stories From the Parish Parking Lots in Ohio by Deal W. Hudson 11/02/08 Here is report from four more students from Franciscan University -- Natalie Brown, Emily Espinosa, Monica Brown, and Alice Sniffen -- who spent the morning handing out pro-life literature in parish parking lots, or, at least, they tried. It makes you wonder how young people stay in the Catholic Church when they are treated this way for defending the Church's own teaching. St. Rose Parish, 48 East Main St. Girard, OH 44420 We arrived for the 9 AM mass and Rev. Agostino, S.J., yelled over to...

Pro-Life Catholics Students Confronted in Parish Parking Lots by Deal W. Hudson 11/02/08 Here is a report on today's literature drops from Billy Valentine, a pro-life activist at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. As you can see, it was a fairly contentious day out on the campaign trail for Catholics attempting to take the pro-life message to Catholic parishes. 1. St. John the Baptist, 159 Reed Ave., Campbell, Ohio My team of four pro-life student activists from Franciscan University started to distribute literature on the cars at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Campbell, Ohio. A man who claimed...

Pro-Obama Catholics plan ‘stop the vote’ at parishes Denver, Oct 31, 2008 / 06:26 pm (CNA).- Priests for Life is warning that James Salt and Chris Korzen from the pro-Obama organization Catholics United sent a blast email on Thursday offering instructions on how to prevent pro-life Catholics from distributing electoral guides near Catholic parishes around the country. Fr. Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, has also pointed out that the Catholics United plan could have negative legal consequences. In a message sent from the email address parishprotection@catholics-united.org under the subject "Help Protect Catholic Churches from Political Manipulation," James Salt...

Dear Bishops, Now Is the Time by David G. Bonagura Jr. 9/16/08 The statements made by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Joseph Biden on Meet the Press have provided a wonderful, even providential, opportunity to present the Church's teaching on abortion and explain its foundational importance to Catholic moral and political teaching in general. Already many bishops have issued clear and courageous statements correcting Speaker Pelosi and Senator Biden's mistakes, and certainly more will do the same in the coming days. They have succinctly presented the core of the Church's teaching for the benefit of Catholics and...

26 US Bishops Have Rebuked Pelosi…So Far By Tim Waggoner WASHINGTON, September 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The barrage of criticism from US bishops aimed at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been deafening. Yesterday the popular American Papist blog compiled all of the statements, either written or verbal, made by bishops to date, revealing that an unprecedented total of 26 bishops have individually rebuked the Speaker of the House for her claims about Catholic teaching and abortion in addition to a general statement by the Conference of Bishops. On the August 24 episode of Meet the Press, self-proclaimed "ardent and practicing...

Thursday, September 04, 2008 The Speaker's Archbishop Speaks In response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent statements on the church's teaching on abortion, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco -- the top Rep.'s hometown ordinary -- prepared the following column for tomorrow's edition of the archdiocesan weekly, Catholic San Francisco. * * * Last month, in two televised interviews and a subsequent statement released through her office, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a Catholic residing in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, made remarks that are in serious conflict with the teachings of the Catholic Church...

A mid the cascade of words pouring out of Denver this week, none may have more long-term punch than the bubbly Mile High musings of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday's "Meet the Press." Tom Brokaw had asked about Barack Obama saying that deciding when life begins was "above my pay grade." Pelosi showcased the Peter Principle in action. It says that people rise to the level of their incompetence. Her answer showed that the principle has nothing to do with Saint Peter. "I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied...

WASHINGTON --Cardinal Justin F. Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop William E. Lori, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, have issued the following statement: [[Rigali082708.jpg]]In the course of a “Meet the Press” interview on abortion and other public issues on August 24, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi misrepresented the history and nature of the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church against abortion. In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, "Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains...

DELEWARE, August 26, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In an interview with Bob Krebs, the Communications Director for the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, to which Senator Joseph Biden belongs, Krebs confirmed that Biden's Bishop will not permit the Senator even if elected Vice President of the United States of America to speak at Catholic schools. When asked for the Bishop's take on Senator Biden and his stand in favor of abortion, Krebs directed LifeSiteNews.com to Bishop Michael Saltarelli's 2004 statement on 'Catholics in Political Life' which, said Krebs, "very plainly states Bishop's position in this matter." In that document Bishop Saltarelli notes...

WASHINGTON -- When Democrats decided they wouldn't let the GOP be "God's Only Party," they weren't kidding. Thanks to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, none other than St. Augustine has been summoned to Denver. He was resurrected as Pelosi was trying to respond to the question that refuses to die: When does human life begin? This time, it was Tom Brokaw asking on Sunday's "Meet the Press." Citing Barack Obama's recent pass on a similar question -- "At what point does a baby get human rights?" -- Brokaw asked Pelosi what she would say to Obama were he to ask her...

BEIJING — Security agents detained an elderly bishop of an underground Catholic church in northern China hours before the closing of the Olympic Games, a U.S.-based group said Monday. Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo, 73, of Zhengding, a city in northern Hebei province, was taken by six government officials from his cathedral on Sunday morning, the Cardinal Kung Foundation said in a statement. The independent foundation, which aims to promote the Roman Catholic Church in China, said it did not know where or why Jia was being detained. A woman who answered the phone at the city's public security bureau said...

Evangelicals converting to Catholicism has become something of a trend. Many conservative episcopalians caught between a rock and a hard place have opted for a return to Rome. And there are some big names in evangelical theology who have gone over, including the (until just recently) President of the Evangelical Theological Society. Scot MacKnight has just written a piece in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (JETS) trying to figure out why the Roman road has grown more and more popular these days. The Pontificator has written a series of posts on “Bad Reasons Not To Convert To Catholicism”....

The Speaker of the House in an attempt to demonstrate her omniscience fails miserably. Nancy Pelosi, in an attempt to justify abortion, ties Roe vs Wade with the Catholic Church’s tenet on abortion. This woman has no clue, should keep her mouth shut rather to further demonstrate her ignorance.

San Francisco calls the Catholic Church's teachings hateful, defamatory and insensitive.The liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether a scathing anti-Catholic resolution from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is unconstitutional. The resolution, passed unanimously in 2006, accused the Vatican of operating as a "foreign country" and called the Church's teachings "hateful," "defamatory," "insensitive," "ignorant" and "insulting to all San Franciscans." It was issued in response to the Church's requirement that adoptive children be brought up by families with a mom and dad. "They’re condemning the Catholic Church as 'hateful' and 'harmful,' and that is clearly a...

Mexico City archdiocesan spokesman criticizes pro-abortion campaign for using Bible quotes July 25 -- The spokesman for the Archdiocese of Mexico City, Father Hugo Valdemar, has criticized a campaign recently launched by “Catholics for Choice” for using quotes from the Bible out of context to justify the use of condoms. [[valdemarads.jpg]]The ad campaign launched by CFC in Mexico uses passages from the Song of Songs that have sexual connotations with the phrase, “Love neighbor as yourself. Use a condom,” below each Bible quote. “It’s clear to us that the members of this group are not Catholic, as they are going...

We are in a dark moment in our nation's history with regard to immigrants, refugees, and newcomers to our land,” said Cardinal Roger Mahony in an address he delivered July 28 at the National Migration Conference in Washington, D.C. “The failure of comprehensive immigration reform legislation just over a year ago emboldened some of our elected officials to pursue a punitive approach, using enforcement as both an immigration policy and a political tool,” said the cardinal.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, whose longtime support for homosexual rights and abortion has made her the darling of groups like Planned Parenthood, NARAL and the Human Rights Campaign, has once again made it a point to describe herself as “Catholic.” In a Sunday, Aug. 3, interview about her recently published book Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters for the C-SPAN network’s “Q&A” program, host Brian Lamb asked Pelosi, “The one word I read several times in your book is the word ‘faith.’ And you wrote, ‘Growing up Catholic had an enormous impact on me -- greater,...

Among the casualties of Oakland’s new Cathedral of Christ the Light is Old St. Mary’s Church, a 155 year-old parish that will close permanently in September. Oakland Bishop Emeritus John Cummins celebrated a special Mass of thanksgiving on July 26 at Old St. Mary’s Church to honor former parishioners, alumni of the old parish school, and all those who had ministered at the parish since its founding in 1858. St. Mary’s parish, however, goes back a few more years. "Oakland's first Catholic chapel was established on this site in 1853," parishioner Grant Ute told the Oakland Tribune. "In the early...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she, unlike other Catholic politicians who support abortion rights, has not clashed with her church about receiving communion. In an interview on C-SPAN that aired on Sunday, Pelosi was asked about how some church officials have raised objections about whether former presidential contenders -- such as Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) -- should receive communion. Pelosi, a Roman Catholic whose district includes most of San Francisco, said she has not encountered such difficulties in her church. “I think some of it is regional,” she said, “It...

LONDON (CNS) -- Catholic officials have applied for permission to exhume the body of a 19th-century cardinal whose cause for sainthood is expected to soon progress to beatification. They want to transfer the remains of Cardinal John Henry Newman from a grave in a small cemetery in the suburbs of Birmingham, England, to a marble sarcophagus in a church in the city where they can be venerated by pilgrims. A July 14 statement said that the Archdiocese of Birmingham was now in direct contact with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Sir Suma Chakrabarti, to obtain the necessary...

The first time I learned about the practice I was horrified. It was the mid-1990s. The source was Sharon Dunsmore, a nurse in a hospital NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) who wrote a small booklet about the experience. One day on the job she had been summoned “stat” to the delivery room to deal with an “oops abortion”—a failed abortion in which the baby unexpectedly survived, or, as Dunsmore quoted the pediatrician on the scene, “had the audacity to survive.” The team struggled as to whether to continue intubating the child—now a little boy, not a “fetus”—who clearly was not...

Another step toward the persecution. My emphases and comments.  FAITH UNDER FIREMajor U.S. city officially condemns Catholic ChurchInstructs members to defy ‘Holy Office of Inquisition’ Posted: July 15, 2008 San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge A San Francisco city and county board resolution that officially labeled the Catholic church’s moral teachings on homosexuality as "insulting to all San Franciscans," "hateful," "defamatory," "insensitive" and "ignorant" will be challenged tomorrow in court for violating the Constitution’s prohibition of government hostility toward religion.Resolution 168-08, passed unanimously by the City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors two years ago, also accused the Vatican...

SYDNEY, Australia -- Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Australia on Sunday, saying he wants to use his visit to raise awareness about global warming and address the crisis of clergy sexual abuse. Benedict suggested to reporters on the flight from the Vatican that he would express regret about abuse by priests, though victims' groups are demanding he go further and make a direct formal apology. The clergy abuse scandal is a serious note in the pope's 10-day visit to Australia, his first, during which he will join the World Youth Day festival that has attracted more than 200,000 people. Benedict,...

SYDNEY, Australia -- Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Australia on Sunday, saying he wants to use his visit to raise awareness about global warming and address the crisis of clergy sexual abuse. Benedict suggested to reporters on the flight from the Vatican that he would express regret about abuse by priests, though victims' groups are demanding he go further and make a direct formal apology. The clergy abuse scandal is a serious note in the pope's 10-day visit to Australia, his first, during which he will join the World Youth Day festival that has attracted more than 200,000 people. Benedict,...

Yesterday, Catholic League president Bill Donohue issued a news release calling attention to the plea that Paul Zachary Myers made on his blog: he solicited the Communion Host for the express purpose of desecrating it. Donohue now responds to the reaction he has received from the University of Minnesota Morris professor, as well as others: “Myers went on Houston radio station KPFT last night saying that Bill Donohue has ‘declared a fatwa’ against him. He should know better—I don’t need others to do the fighting for me. I’m quite good at it myself. But he’d better be careful what he...

Ben D. Kennedy of MaidOfHeaven.com sends letter to Minneapolis St. Joan of Arc Church rebuking them for dishonoring the name of Saint Joan of Arc. Issued By: MaidOfHeaven.com Jun 26, 2008 18:06:34 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRLog (Press Release) – Jun 26, 2008 – In a letter sent to St. Joan of Arc Church in Minneapolis author Ben D. Kennedy rebukes the church for dishonoring and disgracing the name of Saint Joan of Arc, the person for which the church is named. Joan of Arc is renowned in history as being one of the purest humans to ever live having dedicated...

 Church Authority In Scripture The source & nature of Church authority is one of the major issues that beginning Catholics have to examine and come to terms with. The Catholic Church makes an amazing claim: it teaches, governs, and sanctifies with the authority of Christ himself. Catholics believe that this gift of Church authority is one of the jewels that Christ has given to us as an aid to our salvation. Keep three things in mind: There is a large amount of evidence in Scripture to support the Catholic Church's claim to authority, as well as from early Church history....

“John and Mary Catholic have a right to have prayer texts that are clear and understandable,” Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Pennsylvania, said at this month’s meeting of the U.S. bishops. As he has done many times before, His Excellency was speaking out against a proposed English translation from Latin of the prayers of the Roman Mass. The translation would replace the current one in use in English-speaking parishes – a translation its defenders praise as clear, understandable, and “proclaimable.” Certainly, the current translation of the Mass is all these things, but it is much more besides. The translation is...

LONDON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI would like every Catholic parish in the world to celebrate a regular Tridentine-rite Mass, a Vatican cardinal has said. Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos also told a June 14 press conference in London that the Vatican was writing to all seminaries to ask that candidates to the priesthood are trained to celebrate Mass according to the extraordinary form of the Latin rite, also known as the Tridentine Mass, restricted from the 1970s until July 2007 when Pope Benedict lifted some of those limits. The cardinal, who was visiting London at the invitation of the Latin...

A movie adaptation of Dan Brown’s book, Angels and Demons, is now in production; it is the prequel to the film, “The Da Vinci Code.” There are reports today that the Vatican has banned those associated with “Angels and Demons” from shooting in Catholic churches in Rome or in the Vatican itself. This is important because there are scenes in the movie that are supposed to take place in the Vatican and in two churches in Rome. “Angels and Demons” stars Tom Hanks in his role as Robert Langdon, the symbologist. This time he is trying to unravel a plot...

As reported in the Santa Fe New Mexican, Archbishop Michael Sheehan ordained three priests at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi here in Santa Fe yesterday, and one of the three was Jeffrey Whorton, a married father of five.

Blessed with a nest egg of nearly $1.5 million, a Woodland Hills parish donated almost all of it, leaving just $1,000 in its savings account. An Encino church offered a $100,000 interest-free loan. And a Boyle Heights parish decided it could spare $500 after ruling out the idea of raising money with tamale sales. With gifts large and small, parishes across the sprawling Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles are answering an appeal from Cardinal Roger M. Mahony to help the archdiocese dig out of the financial hole resulting from its multimillion-dollar legal settlements with victims of clergy sexual abuse...

A rifleman angered by a custody dispute with his ex-girlfriend opened fire Saturday at a parish school festival in Granada Hills this morning, wounding the woman and two other fair-goers before being tackled by bystanders and arrested by an off-duty police officer, authorities said. Witnesses described scenes of terror and panic as the man nonchalantly brandished a .22-caliber rifle made to look like an M-16 assault rifle and fired into booths at the fair. The shooting took place shortly before the 11 a.m. start of the festival on a baseball field on the grounds of the St. John Baptist de...

PARIS (AP) — A Roman Catholic bishop said Sunday that the church has officially recognized that the Virgin Mary appeared to a 17th-century shepherd girl in the French Alps. Speaking at Mass in remarks broadcast nationally on France-2 television, Monsignor Jean-Michel di Falco Leandri said he recognized the "supernatural origin" of the apparitions to 17-year-old Benoite Rencurel from 1664 to 1718.

As my good friends know, I lost a daughter to the ravages of alcoholism and a life ruined in her childhood by a child molester. I spent much of my life trying to help, but basically watching helplessly as she suffered and moved from crisis to crisis. As I said at her funeral, a child molester is worse than a murderer; at least when you kill someone they are dead and can’t suffer anymore, and their families have a chance to mourn and then get on with their lives. My child was not molested by a priest, but, because of...

Before he was elected to succeed John Paul II, the modern era's most popular pope, the cardinal who would become Pope Benedict XVI earned the nickname "the Rottweiler" for his staunch enforcement of Roman Catholic orthodoxy. But for a pope so steeped in the infallibility of the church, Benedict's visit to America this week will be remembered for his historic reaching out to the victims of the very church he leads — those thousands of children sexually molested by priests in the past five decades. His decision to focus on their pain and the church's betrayal sent a powerful message...

YOU knew he had arrived by the cheer that welled up from the street. It was electric. Suddenly inside the cathedral, where 3,000 people were waiting, it turned quiet and everyone turned. And now the great huge doors of St. Patrick's opened and sunlight poured in, crashed down, and there was the pope, and the crowd - nuns and religious, deacons and priests, meaning a lot of people who actually deserved to be there - sent a wave of applause crashing against the old Gothic dome. He reacted the way we now know Benedict does. Modest, meek, surprised by love,...

Maher to Apologize for Calling Pope a 'Nazi' By Melanie Hunter-Omar CNSNews.com Senior Editor April 17, 2008 (CNSNews.com) - Liberal talk show host Bill Maher, whose controversial comments about the pope drew fire from the Catholic community, is planning to apologize Friday night for falsely accusing Pope Benedict XVI of being a Nazi, the Catholic League announced Thursday. Catholic League President Bill Donohue received a phone call Thursday from an HBO executive regarding comments Maher made last Friday on HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher." As Cybercast News Service previously reported, Donohue said Maher "lied when he said the Pope...

Hispanic immigrants delivered a letter to the Vatican embassy in D.C. asking Pope Benedict XVI to intercede in “mean-spirited” policies that they say have destroyed thousands of families. Ricardo Juarez of Mexicans Without Borders led about 30 immigrants, some of whom were here illegally, past the carefully manicured lawns along Embassy Row to the front door of the Apostolic Nunciature. The pleadings of the 30 Hispanic immigrants highlight a critical issue for the Vatican. Hispanic Catholics have been filling the pews in the D.C. area. In Arlington County, nearly half the diocese is Hispanic. “Our voice is not strong enough,”...

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico (Reuters) - At a Catholic-run shelter just across the border from Laredo, Texas, dozens of Latin American migrants say grace and tuck into a hearty meal of sausages, beans and rice, before trying to swim across the Rio Grande into the United States. Weary migrants on their journey north often recharge their batteries at a network of similar shelters run by the Roman Catholic Church -- a lifeline sanctioned by the Vatican, despite increased U.S. efforts to keep out illegal immigrants. "Migration is a human right and migrants are some of the world's most vulnerable people. It...

There is an interesting article on USA Today that discusses the Vatican donation of at least $20,000 to build a shelter for Central American immigrants traveling to the USA. This money comes from the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, which reports to the pope. I would like to know if our Catholic friends condone the use of Vatican money from a Pontif Commission for encouraging illegal immigrants. Is it right to use Church funds to support and encourage illegal activities? Your comments would be most enlightening.

Bill Maher, true to form on his "Real Time" program on HBO on Friday, went on a tirade against Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church, only days before the Pope’s visit to the U.S.. He stated that the Pope "used to be a Nazi" and compared him to a cult leader. He then went on to call the Church a "child-abusing religious cult" and "the Bear Stearns of organized pedophilia." "And that’s the Church’s attitude: 'We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it,' which is fine, far be it from me to criticize religion."Following a profanity-tinged one-liner concerning the...

(English-language translation) Archbishop of San Juan Roberto González Nieves confirmed to EL VOCERO that agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) interviewed him about two visits the religious leader made to the President of the Boricua Popular Army Los Macheteros, Filiberto Ojeda, while the latter was in hiding. González indicated that some four or five months after Ojeda's death, two FBI agents visited him at the Bishop's Residence in Old San Juan. During the September 23, 2005 [FBI] raid on the Machetero leader's residence in Hormigueros, the authorities confiscated a book the Archbishop gave him and which was dedicated...

Riyadh, Mar. 25, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The president of the Middle East Center for Strategic Studies, Anwatr al Oshqi, has reported that Saudi Arabia’s royal family has decided against building a Catholic church in the kingdom. Earlier this month Vatican Radio reported that the Saudi government was weighing a proposal for the construction of a Catholic church. That report came as a surprise, since the Saudi regime does not allow public worship by any faith other than Islam. In November 2007, when King Abdullah became the first reigning Saudi king ever to visit the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI urged...

Is your name on the list? This just in: If you're an obscenely wealthy drug-dealing pedophile stem-cell researcher who drives a Hummer and doesn't recycle, you are totally going to hell. Oh please, like you didn't already know. Hey, the Catholic Church wouldn't lie, mister. The Big Book o' Deadly Sins apparently has a whole new addendum and it looks like it ain't just gluttony and lust and murder and hot porn and witchcraft and coveting thy neighbor's way cool Flickr photo stream anymore. That stuff is for wimps. Serfs. Lutherans. The Vatican is trying to get serious. Modern. Hip,...