Free Republic

Leftist media is politicizing the bishops’ meeting — not the other way around. And their almost every interpretation of the meeting is misguided and blatantly false.Last week, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to advance a document that will discuss “Eucharistic coherence,” which Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila called an “opportunity for me and all bishops to recommit ourselves to an unapologetic preaching of Jesus Christ.” In the aftermath, corporate media once again proved themselves to be arbiters of hypocrisy, with headline after headline criticizing the church for allegedly politicizing the Eucharist.Among others, NPR reported “Bishops Vote to Rethink...

Former Vice President Joe Biden was not allowed to participate in communion at the Saint Anthony Catholic Church in Florence, South Carolina on Sunday. Father Robert Morey told the Florence Morning News he denied Biden, a lifelong Catholic, from participating in the Holy Communion because of his stance on abortion.“Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden,” Morey told the Florence Morning News. “Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside...

Former Vice President Joe Biden was reportedly denied Holy Communion at a South Carolina church on Sunday because of his support for abortion. Father Robert E. Morey of Saint Anthony Catholic Church said Monday that he did not allow Biden, who attended the Catholic church’s 9 am mass, to receive communion. “Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden,” Morey told the Morning News in Florence, South Carolina. “Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for...

Bishop-elect John Dolan of San Diego is an LGBT supporter. WARNING: This article begins with a graphic clinical statement because all Catholics need to know the truth and not remain oblivious to it. June 22, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — When a man and a woman make love, the miracles of conception and birth are possible. When two men attempt the same, the most glorious result possible is an anal discharge of semen mixed with fecal matter.   Despite the striking contrast, high-profile Catholics in positions of power and influence in North America are no longer able to detect any important difference...

The 28 percent of Democrats who oppose abortion have no place in the Democratic party, according to two of the party’s leading figures. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin echoed party chair Tom Perez Sunday in saying that there is no room in the party for dissent on the abortion issue. “I am committed to women’s rights under the law, reproductive rights certainly, and our party is [committed],” Durbin said in an appearance on CNN. “We’ve made that part of our platform and position for a long, long time. I know within the ranks of the Democratic Party there are those who...

Senator Tim Kaine met with Pope Francis after attending a general audience with him on Wednesday. Kaine and the Pope discussed the Holy See’s work to address the global refugee and migrant crisis, according to the senator’s office. “As the Pope stated so clearly yesterday, it is a ‘moral imperative’ to protect and defend the ‘inalienable rights’ of refugees and respect their dignity, especially by adopting just laws that protect those fleeing dangerous or inhumane situations,” said Kaine in a statement. Kaine also participated in a discussion focused on Latin American issues with Vatican officials and members of other religious...

Abortion is not just another public policy issue: it is the foundational human rights issue. It is also not just another Catholic issue: it is regarded as “intrinsically evil.” It matters, then, when assessing the spike in Catholics in the Congress, whether they are faithful to Church teachings on abortion. The results are not encouraging (data on incumbents were taken from the National Right to Life ratings; data on newly elected members were taken from National Right to Life, Planned Parenthood and NARAL). Of the 168 Catholics in Congress, 80 are pro-life and 88 are pro-abortion. Party affiliation is largely...

[Trigger warning: statements that might qualify in some minds as offensive hate-speech will be quoted in this post. Heck, I might even throw in a few of my own!] You know Joe. He’s the VP whose favorability ratings go up every time he puts on Ray-Bans. And you know Nancy: the 76-year-old former (first female) Speaker of the House to whose face the years, and allegedly plastic surgeons, have been kind. Okay, then. You certainly don’t need the kind of three-paragraph, 344-word introduction for them that you might need for an article that one might write concerning, say, the married...

Liberal Catholic candidates for public office such as Democratic nominee for vice president Tim Kaine often proclaim their Catholic identity to curry favor with this constituency, but when it comes to practicing the doctrines of their faith often are what are called “cafeteria Catholics”. They pick and chooses from what they might call the “Ten Suggestions”, particularly when it comes to a woman’s “right to choose”. Unfortunately for Tim Kaine and fellow cafeteria devotees, there is no right to choose on what are called “doctrines of the church”, even if he seems to think so. On the issue of same-sex...

Putting convicted criminals to death is an issue Sen. Tim Kaine said he had to “grapple” with when he served as governor of Virginia. Kaine chose the death penalty, not abortion, as the issue that posed the biggest conflict with his Roman Catholic faith. “For me, the hardest struggle in my faith life was, the Catholic Church is against the death penalty and so am I,” Kaine said at Tuesday night’s debate. “But I was governor of a state, and the state law said that there was a death penalty for crimes if the jury determined them to be heinous....

Officials at a Jesuit-run high school in Phoenix have banned a school alumnus from commenting on their Facebook page after he dared criticize Tim Kaine’s public support for abortion. Brophy College Preparatory, a Jesuit high school in Phoenix, Arizona and part of the California Province of the Society of Jesus, posted a USA Today column on its Facebook page highlighting Tim Kaine’s Jesuit education.

Speaker John A. Boehner will resign from Congress and give up his House seat at the end of October, according to aides in his office.

“The Democratic Party is facing a Catholic apocalypse,” Patricia Miller warns at Salon.Her article does a good job of marshaling statistics, but when she assesses the reasons for the apocalypse she makes a critical error.“White Catholics are now identifying as Republicans by historic margins,” she says, and lists the evidence.• She cites Pew data showing that 53% of white Catholics favor the GOP, versus 39% who favor Democrats.• Catholics voted for John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008’s presidential race by 5 percentage points, she says — but chose Mitt Romney over Obama by 19 points four years later, she says.• The U.S....

NORFOLK, VA, March 10, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- A Virginia Knights of Columbus council is pressing forward with plans to honor pro-abortion, pro-homosexual “marriage” Gov. Terry McAuliffe by having him as grand marshal of its St. Patrick’s Day Parade. In response, the parish priest has strongly reproached the council and cut ties. Norfolk Knights of Columbus Council 3548, which has organized the Norfolk Saint Patrick’s Day Parade since 1967, had secured McAuliffe as grand marshal, apparently keeping the choice from the pastor of Holy Trinity Parish, where the council is based. When Father Dan Beeman took it up with the state...

Pope Francis will address Congress Catholic News Service Paul Haring | CNSPope Francis prays as he leads ecumenical vespers at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome Jan. 25. WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced Feb. 5 that Pope Francis will address a joint meeting of Congress Sept. 24.The pontiff's "historic visit" would make him the "first leader of the Holy See to address a joint meeting of Congress," Boehner said in a statement, adding that he was "truly grateful that Pope Francis has accepted our invitation."Boehner noted that "in a time of global...

Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan has pretended to be a pro-life Catholic for years but now he says that talking to women helped change his mind into becoming pro-choice. This, of course, is malarkey. I don't understand how talking to anyone could convince anyone that a baby is not a human being. I'm thinking he wanted to cash those fat checks from EMILY's List and Planned Parenthood. Hey, baby killers' checks don't bounce. He wrote in an op-ed, "These women gave me a better understanding of how complex and difficult certain situations can become. And while there are people of good...

People across the nation are mourning the death of Mario Cuomo, the passionate Italian-American Catholic who served as the governor of New York from 1983-1994. Cuomo’s political career was deeply formed by his Catholic faith. During his famous 1984 speech at the University of Notre Dame, he said as much: “The Catholic Church is my spiritual home. My heart is there, and my hope.” But Cuomo’s relationship with the Church in the United States, particularly its bishops, was at times strained, especially over the issue of legalized abortion. At Notre Dame and elsewhere, Cuomo maintained that -SNIP-

Vatican II, in its Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity (Apostolicam Actuositatem), explains that, "The hierarchy should promote the apostolate of the laity, provide it with spiritual principles and support, direct the conduct of this apostolate to the common good of the Church, and attend to the preservation of doctrine and order. Indeed, the lay apostolate admits of different types of relationships with the hierarchy in accordance with the various forms and objects of this apostolate. For in the Church there are many apostolic undertakings which are established by the free choice of the laity and regulated by their...

The Gospel of life must be proclaimed, and human life defended in all places and all times. The arena for moral responsibility includes not only the halls of government, but the voting booth as well. (American Bishops, “Living the Gospel of Life”)by Bishop Thomas Tobin: Prior to the recent primary election I received a heartfelt letter from a member of the Diocese who had just discovered that the candidate for whom she had intended to vote was “pro-choice and for same-sex marriage.” She wrote: “Dear Bishop Tobin, for whom do I vote? Do I vote at all?”I responded to my...

Just who the hell does Nancy Pelosi think she is?For decades she has said to her catholic critics that they should mind their own damn business.Now she’s telling her archbishop that their “shared love for [their] Catholic faith” dictates that he can’t march in support of real marriage this Thursday:“Pelosi, who is one of the country’s most powerful Catholic politicians, made a passionate appeal to the archbishop in a letter [link below] obtained by The Chronicle not to participate in the National Organization for Marriage’s June 19 march on the Supreme Court in Washington.[...] The San Francisco Democratic leader is...