Free Republic

CASH-strapped General Motors is auctioning off more than 200 of its historic and most unique cars, including a Cadillac made for Pope John Paul II and a presidential limousine replica used in several films. The auction will free up some space in GM's Heritage Centre, which currently displays about 200 of its collection of 1000 vehicles and is expected to raise around $5 million ($7 million). "We're trying to get the collection to the right size,'' said Heritage Centre manager Tom Freiman. "At the end of the day, I think we're going to end up with a better mix of...

While Catholics and Protestants both fall under the broad umbrella of Christianity, they practice their faith in different ways. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of regular churchgoers found that 25% of Evangelical Christians read the Bible on a daily basis along with 20% of other Protestants. Just seven percent (7%) of Catholics do the same. At the other extreme, 44% of Catholics rarely or never read the Bible along with only seven percent (7%) of Evangelical Christians and 13% of other Protestants. Consider the divergence among the faiths in other areas, too. (All the figures that follow are based...

If 2002 was Mormonism's debutante ball, 2008 may go down as its first semester of college. The Utah-based church made new friends, endured back-stabbing from would-be friends, joined some clubs, got a taste of fame and had a few wrenching exams. From the possibility of a Mormon in the White House to a stream of Latter-day Saints on reality television, from being attacked as belonging to a cult (or mistaken for a polygamous sect in Texas) to participating in California's bitter battle for traditional marriage, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would see their faith in...

THE world had subsisted about four thousand years, and all things were accomplished which, according to the ancient prophets, were to precede the coming of the Messias, when Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, having taken human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and being made man, was born of her for the redemption of mankind. The all-wise and all-merciful providence of God had, from the fall of our first parents, gradually disposed all things for the fulfilling of his promises, and the accomplishing the greatest of all his mysteries, the incarnation of his divine Son. Had...

On the night of August 26, the Hindu radicals entered the house, breaking down the door and destroying and burning everything. The family of Harihar Das and Namrata and her sisters hid in a little bathroom. Before they left, the Hindu fanatics left a bomb in a dresser. After the attackers had gone, the occupants came out of the house, but little Namrata was curious and stayed behind to look at the damage. The bomb exploded, burning her face, while some of the shrapnel wounded her face, hands, and back. Sudhamani continues the story: "The next day, I and my...

San Francisco's Roman Catholic archbishop says he invited leaders of the Mormon Church to get involved in the campaign to pass a gay marriage ban in California this year at the request of his fellow bishops. Archbishop George Niederauer wrote in a column to be published in a diocesan newspaper Friday that he wanted to address the "many misunderstandings and hard feelings" resulting from Proposition 8's adoption. It's the first time the archbishop has commented on how churches organized to help push through the initiative, which overturned the California Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex nuptials. Mormon leaders had given...

Vatican Rebukes Bishops Of Austria for Nazi Plea Announces They Advised Vote for Anschluss Without Its Knowledge or Consent – Papal Broadcast Scores Innitzer By ARNALDO CORTESIWireless to THE NEW YORK TIMES. VATICAN CITY, April 1. – The Holy See reaffirmed today that a war admitting no possibility of compromise exists between itself and the Nazis, by printing a notice in the Osservatore Romano, authoritative Vatican organ, announcing to the world that it was without its knowledge or consent that the Austrian Episcopacy had advised Catholic voters in Austria to declare themselves in favor of Anschluss in the plebiscite April...

VOIDS LAW FOR BUS TO CHURCH SCHOOLS Appeals Court in 4 to 3 Split Calls it ‘Repugnant’ to Legal Fundamentals Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES. ALBANY, May 24. – The “Catholic Bus Bill,” which was an issue in the 1936 Gubernatorial campaign because originally vetoed by Governor Lehman, was declared unconstitutional today by the Court of Appeals, voting four to three. The bill, which required boards of education to provide transportation for students in parochial schools when transportation was provided for public school students, was later passed by the Legislature in amended form. It came before the court on...

Four Catholics Are Slain in Mexican Clash As Police Rout Rally for Reopening Churches By FRANK L. KLUCKHOHNWireless to THE NEW YORK TIMES. MEXICO CITY, May 31. – Governor Victor Fernandez Manero of the State of Tabasco reported today that four Catholics had been killed and one Catholic and one policeman had been wounded when police dispersed a street demonstration by Catholics in favor or reopening the churches in Villahermosa, the State capital. The Catholics have sent messages of protest to the Bishop of Tabasco, the Most Rev. Vicente Camacho, who is now in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and to the Mexican...

ATROCITIES IN SPAIN CHARGED BY BISHOP Erie (Pa.) Prelate, Sailing to Investigate, Declares 16,000 Priests Slain ‘20,000 CHURCHES SACKED’ Xxx Rev. John M. Gannon Says Full Story Will Appall the Civilized World Bishop John Mark Gannon of Erie, Pa., chairman of the National Catholic Welfare Conference xxx department, sailed last night on the liner Queen Mary for Spain, where he said he expected to obtain first-hand information concerning the persecution of the Catholic clergy by the Barcelona government. He said that from information he had already received the ferocity of the ‘Loyalist’ government’s assault on the Catholic Church” was such...

EDITORIAL NEWS The following story is incomplete, obviously. When I was preparing the story about Palestine I noticed the Bluecher story attached to it. By that time I had recycled the part of the page with the beginning of the story. In this case I figure an incomplete story is better than none at all.

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This is in 2 parts. Suggestion for parishes Last night my parish's Senior Citizens group had their "Christmas party" (I know, "Christmas on December 1?"  Don't get me started).  They started the party with a cocktail hour at 6pm.  When I left at about 9:15, they were still going strong, with no signs of stopping. Why is it that they'll stay at this until the bitter end of the party, but duck out of Mass after Communion because of some sort of fear of avoiding the push of the crowd? Maybe if we put a DJ in the church hall...

"The Church in India condemns this attack in the strongest possible terms. Innocent and unconnected people have been killed. Very brave police officers have been killed. Mumbai in the target of different terrorist groups. The Church offers our deepest sympathy to the families of those who lost their dear ones, and the Church in Mumbai places all our medical services to those who have been injured. "We must fight together as a nation and as a united people to combat the terrorists. We must never give up hope because ultimately hope will prevail. It is Christian to always hope. Good...

Voter approval of a ballot initiative in California, Proposition 8, which rescinded the existing right of gay and lesbian families to marry, has sparked a massive, nation-wide resistance, with almost entirely peaceful demonstrations occurring in 300 cities around America, a new legal challenge to the amendment headed to the California Supreme Court, and a vow to fight, and repeal, the anti-gay measure unifying GLBT organizations. But the response of gay and lesbian Americans fighting for their families has given far-right wing figures an opportunity to promote neoconservative causes, even at the dawn of the Obama administration and a Democratic White...

The Feast we celebrate in the “secular” arena today reveals that there really is no separation between the secular and the spiritual. After all, God is the Creator of all and the Author of life. He is also the source of all that is good - whether He is acknowledged to be so or not. As the beloved disciple John said “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.” We will love today. We will reach out to one another and to the less fortunate. When we...

The Coming Secularist Storm By: Father Alfonso Aguilar, LC In the last few years, the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ has been celebrated as “winter holidays” with “holiday trees” and “season’s greetings.” December has become the month of the “Christmas wars”: In some schools and public squares, Nativity scenes and Christmas carols are forbidden or replaced by non-religious displays and songs. By now, we are used to seeing movies, TV shows, novels, papers, magazines, websites, works of modern art and stage plays mock religion, especially Christian symbols and practices. The Catholic Church authorities are often portrayed as criminals involved...

No-one with integrity has any doubt that the child in the womb is a human person; science has confirmed what our conscience has told us all along. Few even make the argument any longer. It has all come down to the dangerous idea that the choice to terminate a life should be left up to the child’s mother, under some notion of personal liberty which allows the killing. The positive law prohibits the killing of our neighbors in every other instance except self defense. It enforces what we all know is right, whether we are religious or not, because it...

Among the many new ''rights'' being conjured out of thin air, a new one seems to be a ''right'' to win. Americans have long had the right to put their candidates and their ideas to a vote. Now there seems to be a sense that your rights have been trampled on if you don't win. Hillary Clinton's supporters were not merely disappointed, but outraged, when she lost the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama. Some took it as a sign that, while racial barriers had come down, the ''glass ceiling'' holding down women was still in place. Apparently, if you don't...

Do you wonder why 2008 election data shows that the majority of Catholics voted for Barack Obama even though his record as Illinois state senator proves him the most pro-abortion candidate who ever ran for president? Perhaps one answer is that on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, millions of Catholics will again be putting in their church's collection plate their annual donation to what the pre-printed envelope calls "Campaign for Human Development: The Catholic Church working to end poverty and injustice in America; We'll turn your dollars into hope for the poor of our nation." The generous Catholics who respond to...

Pope Benedict XVI was the first to predict the global financial crisis in a "prophecy" contained in a paper he had written when he was a cardinal, according to Italian finance minister Giulio Tremonti. "The prediction that an undisciplined economy would collapse by its own rules can be found" in an article written by cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became pope in April 2005, Tremonti said yesterday at the Cattolica University in Milan. Ratzinger presented a paper called Market Economy and Ethics at an event in 1985 dedicated to the Church and the economy. The future pope said a decline in...

Catholic members of Congress who vote for the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) could face “automatic excommunication” if the act is determined to be “formal cooperation” in the evil of abortion.

One of the critical issues which currently divides our nation is abortion. As you have said, no one is for abortion, and you would agree to limit late-term abortions as long as any bill that comes your way allows for exceptions to those limits, such as when the health of the mother is in jeopardy. You have also said you would like to work on those social issues which cause women to feel as if they have a need for an abortion, so as to reduce the actual number of abortions being performed in the United States. Indeed, you said...

Perhaps the situation pro-life Americans currently face epitomizes what the Holy Father was telling us then. There are many reasons for believing that this confrontation has reached a critical point, but the most telling is that the vast majority of Christians have lost sight of the fact that, fundamentally, there is no respect for the dignity of the human person – born or preborn. I don't say this as a condemnatory judgment of the masses, but rather as a description of reality. If one honestly examines the attitudes and activities of political candidates who openly decry violence, one can see...

A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

We must pray like it all depends on the intervention of God, because it does. We must work as though He relies on us to do it, because He does. We must engage this age with the language of life, authentic freedom and true solidarity, developing a new apologetic which unmasks the insidious lies of the current culture of death and the libertine excess now masquerading as liberty. However, let’s be clear, there can be no compromise on the truth concerning the primacy of the human person and the inalienable right to life of every person at every age and...

Although a week has passed since California voters overturned that state's Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, the state has felt numerous aftershocks as gay rights activists have mounted large-scale protests directed at supporters of Prop 8, specifically the Mormon church. ... Demonstrations outside Mormon temples were reported over the weekend throughout California and more are anticipated nationwide. The Mormon church, however, is not the only Prop 8 supporter coming under criticism for its role in the controversial election, as Catholics and Evangelical churches have seen protests, as well. An estimated 10,000 gay-rights protesters gathered in San Diego, Calif. outside...

Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik said Thursday he will urge local Roman Catholics to fight any effort to expand abortion rights across the country. "That is part of the beauty of being citizens of the United States," Zubik said. "We can speak to our legislators and let them know, as Catholics, where we are coming from." Zubik returned from this week's U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore, where about 300 bishops adopted a formal blessing for a child in the womb and drafted a document asking President-elect Barack Obama not to erode gains made by right-to-life supporters.

With all due respect to Professor Kmiec, Holy Mother Church does not complain nor is Her teaching on the necessity for the legal protection of life a complaint. She teaches us how to live according to the will of Christ, our Lord. When her pastors tell us that “[t]he common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society when those waiting to be born can be legally killed at choice” or that “[a] person who supports permissive abortion laws, however, rejects the truth that innocent human life may never be destroyed. This profound moral failure runs deeper and is...

BALTIMORE (AP) - The nation's Roman Catholic bishops vowed Tuesday to forcefully confront the Obama administration over its support for abortion rights, saying the church and religious freedom could be under attack in the new presidential administration. In an impassioned discussion on Catholics in public life, several bishops said they would accept no compromise on abortion policy. Many condemned Catholics who had argued it was morally acceptable to back President-elect Obama because he pledged to reduce abortion rates. And several prelates promised to call out Catholic policy makers on their failures to follow church teaching. Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton,...

– A 33 yr old man from Connecticut named John Samuel Ricci is now in Police custody. His bond was set at $2,000 and he will stay in the Martin County Jail until he appears in Court on Dec. 11, 2008. He attempted to steal consecrated communion hosts from the priest while he was standing in line to receive the Eucharist on Saturday, November 8, 2008 at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Jensen Beach, Florida. Reports from the Martin County Sherriff’s Office indicate that he was cornered by six or seven parishioners who detained him until Police arrived...

In the last Congress, a Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) was introduced that would, if brought forward in the same form today, outlaw any "interference" in providing abortion at will. It would deprive the American people in all fifty states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry. FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortion with their tax dollars. It would counteract any and all sincere efforts by government and others of good will to reduce the number of abortions in our country. Parental notification and informed consent precautions...

ROME, November 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Believing Catholics are being pushed out of the medical professions, especially in areas like obstetrics, by the insistence of secularised medical services on “abortion rights,” contraception and, now, increasingly physician-assisted euthanasia, claims a prominent Catholic obstetrician.Dr. Walley, a Catholic obstetrician, emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Memorial University of Newfoundland and founder of Matercare International, made these remarks during an interview with LifeSiteNews at the 5th conference of Catholic Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Rome. “There’s a crisis in obstetrics,” said Walley. “People don’t want to go into it. When I started in obstetrics,...

"We are, perhaps, at a moment when, with the grace of God, all races are safely within the American consensus," the cardinal continued. "We are not at the point, however, when Catholics, especially in public life, can be considered full partners in the American experience unless they are willing to put aside some fundamental Catholic teachings on a just moral and political order."

A lively but peaceful crowd of about 150 gathered yesterday outside the tall white gates of the Mormon temple in University City to protest the passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage. The passage has been credited in part to a coalition of Mormons, Roman Catholics and evangelical Christians that poured tens of millions of dollars into the campaign. ... 'Isi Mataele, 33, a schoolteacher and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was there to clean up any trash left behind. There wasn't much, if any, and Mataele talked with protesters. Police watched as about...

So, with the stroke of a pen human embryos would become property, capable of being “manufactured” like a commodity, and available to be used as spare parts in experimentation which has produced no discernible scientific results. It is all even more troubling because adult stem cell research and fetal chord blood research have actually shown significant promise but have received little or no attention or research support. Most importantly, the use of these stem cells is never deadly. Every so called “extraction” of embryonic stem cells kills a living human embryo. I write as a Catholic Christian who warned of...

Here is a video response to the venomous video that the opponents of Proposition 8 created.

The election of Sen. Barack Obama as the first African American president of the United States will not mark the end of the religious right. Although many in the mainstream media will write and talk about the movement's imminent demise, that demise is not likely to occur in the near, or distant, future. More relevant questions are how the religious right will behave during an Obama administration, and what steps the movement will take to revivify its disappointed, dispirited and angry ground troops. While Obama's victory was a major defeat, several religious right-backed state initiatives passed, including ballot measures banning...

Washington DC, Nov 5, 2008 / 10:25 pm (CNA).- Prominent Catholics’ reactions to the election of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama as president have been cautionary, advising increased catechesis and cultural engagement while for Catholics warning that Obama’s use of the presidency to advance abortion rights must be opposed. Austin Ruse, President of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, told CNA Catholics should support Obama where they can and oppose him “with all of our being” on issues like abortion. He also emphasized a focus on catechesis. “If Catholics were really acting on a proper understanding of their faith, Barack...

Of course, as John Paul II taught in Veritatis Splendor, no democracy should set itself against the truth of the human person. When John McCain proclaimed himself to be “pro-life,” many thought we would hear from him a call for some effort to bring the Constitution in line with the protection of life. Ronald Reagan was a champion of this idea though he did not succeed in achieving it. The Reagan amendment would have included the unborn in the constitutional definition of “person” and it had the benefit of simplicity. Yet, given again the related criminal liability for mother and...

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on the role Catholics played in securing marriage and family rights in the election: “Were it not for Catholics, the institutions of marriage and the family would have taken a hit in places like Arizona, Florida and California. Indeed, in Florida and California, their vote proved to be decisive. “Arizonians rejected gay marriage by a vote of 56% to 49%, though the margin among Catholics was less—51% to 49%. In Florida, the Catholic vote proved to be controlling: overall, the ban on gay marriage won by 62% to 38%, but among Catholics it...

What is clear is that Barack Obama will now be my President as well as the President of all those who voted for him. I will pray for him and respect his office. I will also do all that I can to influence him and his administration concerning the truth of this fundamental human right to life. I will also do something else. I will join with others in building a new movement which recognizes the failures of both major political parties and seeks to build a new alliance of Americans. This alliance will insist upon the primacy of the...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Catholic Bishop warns Catholics not to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The Bishop believes your vote is tied to your eternal salvation. Inside St. Therese Catholic Church, hundreds of people kneeled and prayed to Mary for help on Election Day. Those praying included Bishop Robert Finn, leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese. His words raised eyebrows both in and outside his faith. On local talk radio, 710 KCMO, Bishop Finn warned Catholics planning to vote for democrat Barack Obama. Host Chris Stegall asked Finn, "There are some Catholics listening to me...

Senator Obama is the most active pro-abortion politician to run for the Presidency since Roe v. Wade," said the archbishop. "He has committed himself to do things the Church would resist." Regarding the defense of the Church's pro-life doctrine, Chaput said the U.S. bishops have realized that "a quieter approach to these things has not been effective ... we have to be clearer, more precise, stronger in what we say. We've just had it." He also said that the U.S. bishops' "Fatihful Citizenship" document is "not very clear" and, because it is able to support widely conflicting interpretations, should be...

"I don't personally believe that someone should do that but I don't think that the government should interfere; it's their choice . . .” I listened, but I didn't understand. "It may be a part of your religious belief, but it's not a part of mine. In fact, my religion permits it, and can justify it in the Scriptures. Don't try to force your religion on me." I heard what they were speaking but I couldn't believe what they were saying. On television, the news filled the screen with the sit-in demonstrators being hauled off to jail, as every case...

On Tuesday a choice will be made that will affect the United States for more than just the next four years. And, for some of the future children of America, the decision will be a matter of life and death. In their document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a joint declaration affirming life as the preeminent issue in any election. While some have tried to spin the meaning of the Catholic Bishops document on faithful citizenship, the essential teaching is clear; not every issue is of equal moral gravity. As the bishops...

God loves Our Lady so much, and would not refuse her, so please ask her to ask God to send us good leaders on Election Day!

After reading yesterday's Jersey Journal endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for president, the Rev. Alexander Santora, the Journal's religion columnist, sent this piece along, offering a different point of view: I am proud to reveal that I am voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin in Tuesday's election. And this comes from the former co-chair for McGovern for President campaign at St. Peter's College in 1972, my first vote for President. I am a lifelong Democrat who has voted Democrat in every primary and election from local to national since that time except when I voted for Bret Schundler in...