Free Republic

Douglas Kniec has always been a man who thinks a whole hell of a lot about himself. He has an ego a big as the sky. In 2008 he sold his Catholic faith out as a prominent supporter of Barack Obama a man he knew had sponsored a bill in the Illinois State Senate to murder miracle abortion survivors by leaving them on a stainless steel table to die of hunger and thirst. In his insulting rhetoric arguing for the election of Obama he maintained that, “Obama’s desire to “alleviate social conditions that correlate with abortion”, such as poverty, was...

I missed this until late yesterday, but the New York Times offered space on Thursday to Notre Dame philosophy professor Gary Gutting on the topic of abortion. Gutting, who also edits the Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews for the Catholic university in Indiana, argued that Pope Francis really should get with modern times and show love to women by allowing for abortion. According to Professor Gutting, the lack of “an all-out effort to prevent spontaneous abortions” and the “purely biological” humanity of the fetus means that the Catholic Church shouldn’t really care whether babies get aborted or not. Small wonder the...

January 26, 2014 Benghazi Ruining Liberals Deal With She-Devil Hillary John Ransom Ericynot1 wrote: So here's the deal. Despite Ransom's wishful thinking, barring some unforeseen event such as a serious illness in her family, Hillary will be the Dem candidate in 2016. And that should make you happy -- if she's as bad as you think she is, she ought to be easily defeated by the Republican candidate of your choice. Hillary Gets Knifed In Benghazi Drive By Dear Comrade Ericynot, Sounds like a deal with the devil. You apparently have a reading comprehension problem. That’s ok. It’s goes with...

USA Today has the announcement that President Obama will meet with Pope Francis next month, and hopes the Pontiff will prove useful to his political agenda: President Obama will meet with Pope Francis on March 27, capping a European trip that will take him to the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. "The president looks forward to discussing with Pope Francis their shared commitment to fighting poverty and growing inequality," said a statement from White House press secretary Jay Carney. Sounds like a swell afternoon! Maybe President Obama can show the Pope some photos from his luxury vacations, or his wife's protracted...

Pope Francis named his first batch of cardinals Sunday, choosing 19 men from around the world, including the developing nations of Haiti and Burkina Faso, in line with his belief the church must pay more attention to the poor. But advocates for victims of sex abuse by Catholic clergy said they felt let down that Francis didn't unequivocally embrace their calls that prelates who hadn't made a clean break with past practices of covering up pedophile behavior never be promoted. Francis read out the 19 names to a crowd of tens of thousands in St. Peter's Square....

I take no joy in being able to say “I told you so”, to Father John Jenkins the president of Notre Dame University. Father Jenkins was an original cheerleader for Barack Obama virtually from the first day of his first term. Notre Dame, its faculty and student body were absolutely beguiled by Obama. Jenkins invited him to speak at the university’s 2009 commencement ceremonies. At the time Father Jenkins and his faculty hid behind the fact that they have a tradition of inviting a newly elected president to be their graduation day speaker, but that just didn’t wash. Tradition aside...

It happened again. This time it was Phil Robertson, the patriarch of “Duck Dynasty,” who pulled back the shades on an immense body of TV viewers who had apparently escaped the notice of top execs at A+E Networks. But they should have known. It was this “mystery audience” that made History’s miniseries “The Bible” a smash hit not long ago. Yet A+E leaders Nancy Dubuc and Abbe Raven can be forgiven for failing to anticipate the nuclear backlash that benching the fuzzy-faced man from West Monroe, La., would stir after his condemnation of homosexual behavior in an interview with GQ...

ObamaCare: In bad news for a White House intent on shredding the First Amendment, a Supreme Court justice has exempted a group of nuns from the mandate to provide contraceptive coverage in health plans. Just hours before ObamaCare's birth-control mandate was to take effect, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday issued a last-minute stay in response to a case brought by the Denver-based Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged against the Department of Health and Human Services. The U.S. government is "temporarily enjoined from enforcing against applicants the contraceptive coverage requirements imposed by the Patient Protection...

On progressive news sites, Pope Francis is all the rage. Not only has he taken on the bishops, now he is taking on the ruling elites of the world. In his first major statement to the world, his “Evangelii Gaudium” (The Joy of the Gospel), the Pope addresses issues of trickle-down economics, runaway inequality, and the idolatry of money. His statements pull no punches. He says that for the rich not to share their wealth with the poor is nothing less than theft. The entire document is devoted to an effort to reverse the horrors brought on the world by...

BY SR. MARYANN WALSH, USCCBThe Amish are exempt from the entire health care reform law. So are members of Medi-Share, a program of Christian Care Ministry. Yet, when the Catholic Church asks for a religious exemption from just one regulation issued under the law – the mandate that all employers, including religious institutions, must pay for sterilization and contraceptives, including abortion-inducing drugs – the Administration balks.The government respects the First Amendment that guarantees the right to freely exercise one’s religious beliefs, but only to a point. In the health care law it picks and chooses which beliefs it respects. The...

Eighteen years ago, this fellowship of Evangelical and Catholic pastors, theologians, and educators was formed to deepen the dialogue among our communities on issues of common concern, to explore theological common ground, and to offer in public life a common witness born of Christian faith. Since our founding in 1994, we have addressed, together, such important public policy questions as the defense of life, even as we have proposed to our communities patterns of theological understanding on such long-disputed questions as the gift of salvation, the authority of Scripture, and the call to holiness in the communion of saints. We...

It is no surprise to learn that, as land values continue to rise, space for cemeteries gets scarce. I have seen more and more mausoleums be built at the local cemeteries, and they are getting taller as the years go on. But the picture to the right really takes the concept to new heights! The picture is The Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica III, a vertical cemetery in Santos, Brazil. It is the world’s tallest cemetery, with burial spaces on 32 floors. There’s also a restaurant, chapel, lagoon and peacock garden. It has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in...

According to recent demographic surveys, it seems there are presently 30 million people in the U.S. who identify themselves as “former Catholics.” That figure is both surprising, and, for Catholics, disheartening.Over the past 50 years or so, a profound change, other than that effected by Vatican II, has taken place in the Catholic Church. It might be described as the phenomenon of “vanishing Catholics.” The Canadian philosopher, Charles Taylor, has identified four major challenges facing the Church today. First on his list is the exodus of young adults from the Church. According to recent demographic surveys, it seems there are...

With all of the filth that can be seen on television and in movies these days, the mainstream media has made it increasingly clear that there is only one thing for which there is no place: Christianity and the Bible’s teachings on homosexuality. Phil Robertson, patriarch of the Robertson Family from A&E’s wildly popular show Duck Dynasty, is learning the hard way about the mainstream media’s sacred ground – homosexuality. Despite being a self-proclaimed “Bible-thumper” and a non-negotiable on the prominent role that faith and religion play in the Robertson Family’s life, Phil was recently “suspended indefinitely” from the show...

Health Reform: In yet another legal blow to the president's signature law, a federal judge rules that its contraceptive mandate does not trump Catholic groups' right to exercise their religious liberty and conscience. Religious liberty advocates and First Amendment defenders are cheering the stunning decision by U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in New York that promises to speed up the unraveling of ObamaCare. Cogan not only found that the Health and Human Services (HHS) regulation that requires health insurance to include contraceptive coverage was constitutionally questionable, he actually forbade HHS from enforcing it. As the New York Post details, in...

Karlo Broussard does a very good job of explaining the sacraments without the distortions or misrepresentations of Protestants who never even walked the earth until more than 14 centuries after Christ established the sacraments.

Horror! Pittsburgh youth beats and rapes a 70 year-old nun.Monster: Andrew Bullock, 18, admitted to beating and raping the nun after exposing himself to her. (Daily Mail) 18 year-old Andrew Bullock beat, choked, punched and raped a 70 year-old nun in the church parking lot.(VIDEO-AT-LINK) The nun suffered bruises, cuts and a broken jaw. The Daily Mail reported: Authorities near Pittsburgh have arrested an 18-year-old man who admitted to the brutal rape a nun in the parking lot behind the church where she serves Friday morning. The suspect, Andrew Bullock, faces at least 10 charges in the viscous attack. According...

Pope Francis said in the first peace message of his pontificate that huge salaries and bonuses are symptoms of an economy based on greed and inequality and called again for nations to narrow the wealth gap.He attacked the "widening gap between those who have more and those who must be content with the crumbs", calling on governments to implement "effective policies" to guarantee people's fundamental rights, including access to capital, services, educational resources, healthcare and technology.

In his latest book Tea Party Catholic, Dr. Samuel Gregg develops a Catholic case for the values and institutions associated with the free economy, limited government, and America’s experiment in ordered liberty.He underscores the moral and economic benefits of business and markets, addresses the welfare state’s problems, and deals with related issues that divide Catholics in America such as the demands of social justice, the role of unions, immigration, poverty, and the relationship between secularism and big government.Gregg concludes that as a creative minority, limited government Catholics can help transform the wider movement to reground the United States upon the...

You may have seen this video earlier — Ed Morrissey featured it at Hot Air — but I didn’t see it until it was tweeted to me by Covenant College student Keifer Wynn and, because it was in Spanish, at first I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at. “Abortistas atacan a católicos que defendían la Catedral de San Juan,” is the headline, and the description: “Estas son las hordas de lesbianas y abortistas del Encuentro Nacional de Mujeres.” So, translation via Google: “Abortionists attack Catholics defending the Cathedral of San Juan. These are the hordes of lesbians and...