Free Republic

Writing for TFP, Peter Miller reports: Officials at the University of Notre Dame revoke permission for pro-marriage table, tell young Catholics to “cease and desist” promoting natural marriage on campus. Sound Bend, Indiana: April 29, 2014 -- Young volunteers with Tradition Family Property Student Action were ordered to “cease and desist” promoting traditional marriage at the University of Notre Dame on Friday, April 25. “Permission to have a table had been granted through an officially recognized on-campus student group,” said TFP Student Action director John Ritchie. “But that permission was revoked for some odd reason. Police officers arrived soon after...

The Archdiocese of Baltimore’s head of child protection praised Baltimore’s “Ban the Box” bill for including provisions to protect children and vulnerable adults. The City Council passed the controversial bill April 28. “We are very pleased with how the City Council has amended the bill,” said Alison D’Alessandro, director of the archdiocese’s Office of Child and Youth Protection. “It’s important everyone works together to be advocates for our children,” she said. The bill prohibits employers from checking applicants’ criminal history prior to extending a conditional job offer, in an effort to curb discrimination against ex-convicts in hiring practices. The Archdiocese...

It’s been no secret for a while that Sarah Palin, erstwhile vice-president candidate, is no longer a serious political contender — for evidence of that transition, note that even among her faithful, at CPAC this year, she got just 2 percent of the vote in the straw poll, tied with Condoleezza Rice. But as her crowd-pleasing performance in the very final speech of that event — and her lucrative contract with Fox News and huge social-media following — indicate, she’s gone from being a potential political leader to something of a cultural totem. That means her speeches have gone from...

"Rare is the leader who makes us want to be better people." President Obama added his voice to Time's list of "The 100 Most Influential People" by penning a tribute to Pope Francis. By implication, Obama associated himself with the pontiff and ultimately to Jesus. Obama called the pope "a moral leader in word and deed," equating Francis's message of inclusion with Jesus's "essence." Sprinkled within this panegyric was Obama's own familiar refrain heard throughout his presidency: "alleviate poverty…reduce inequality…open new doors of opportunity and visions of possibility for everyone." Obama's social agenda is nothing he has kept secret. Nor...

With a crushing dominance shown in repeated polls, Democrat Hillary Clinton is on a path to do something her husband and two-term president never achieved: win a majority of more than 50 percent of the presidential vote in 2016. In the latest poll, Zogby Analytics confirmed the trend showing the former secretary of state, one-term New York senator and former first lady beating Sen. Rand Paul, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie by more than 50 percent. Seizing a majority would give her substantial bragging rights over her husband, who won in 1992 with just...

President Obama gave House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi rosary beads blessed by Pope Francis during lunch Tuesday at the White House, according to an NBC News reporter. Carrie Dann @CarrieNBCNews Pelosi says she received a rosary blessed by Pope Francis from Obama at lunch today 12:24 PM - 1 Apr 2014 Obama met Pope Francis at the Vatican for the first time last week. Pelosi, a Catholic, has been criticized for her support of abortion — a practice which she has called “sacred ground” — by other Catholics. Last year, a Vatican official in Rome said that the California lawmaker...

“The Last Hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews. The Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: ‘Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.” Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Fitan wa Ashrat as-Sa’ah, Book 41 of Koran, 6985 The Islamic group “Ask a Muslim” is running “Jesus is Muslim” billboards in Columbus, Ohio. Mohammad, the founder of Islam, was born 500 years after Jesus’s death. The Christian Post reported, via Free Republic:

A recent visit to a Catholic church in another state brought a reminder that somewhere around 40% of Catholics who regularly attend mass are devoted Democrat voters. The car in the next space had a bumper sticker supporting a self-described Catholic Democrat well known for supporting partial birth abortions. The overt act of placing a sign on one’s car begs a few questions. Is it reasonable that in this era of effective mass communication a potential voter could fail to know what a politician’s positions are? Could a Catholic voter be engaged enough to want to place a sign on...

During coverage of President's Obama meeting with Pope Francis on Thursday, both NBC's Today and CBS This Morning hoped the papal visit would boost the commander-in-chief's sinking poll numbers. Today co-host Matt Lauer wondered: "The Pope, enormously popular....Is there something in just rubbing elbows with the Pope for President Obama?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] Chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd observed: "I think that the President, particularly right now where his own approval ratings are not so hot, just being seen with the Pope, particularly in some places where there are a lot...

Parent and child rights, abortion, and baby-selling are among issues coloring the debate among Maryland legislators over a gestational surrogacy bill passed by the Senate March 20 and awaiting action by the House Rules Committee. The Maryland Catholic Conference supports the Maryland Collaborative Reproduction Act (S.B. 208) as amended, in order to protect the parties involved – intended parents, surrogate mothers and the children surrogacy arrangements produce. As the public policy arm of the state’s Catholic bishops, the MCC does not support surrogacy, and in past years has simply opposed similar legislation. “We would prefer a ban,” said Andrea Garvey,...

If one wants sober and careful analysis of legal issues, the last media outlet one would choose would be MSNBC — and Joy Reid demonstrates why. Taking a page from Jamie Stiehm and using a construct that would be called bigotry in any other context, Reid warns viewers that a Supreme Court full of Catholics are a threat to the progress toward a more secular nation, especially in the Hobby Lobby/Conestoga case being heard at the Supreme Court today. Can you really trust Catholics to interpret the law, Reid asks (via Truth Revolt and Jeff Dunetz):(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Now, the most famous...

Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, revealed in a recent interview that his family goes to a Catholic church and that religious morality inspires a lot of his charity work. He also shared his personal thoughts on God and the biggest issues facing the world today. "The moral systems of religion, I think, are super important. We've raised our kids in a religious way; they've gone to the Catholic church that Melinda goes to and I participate in. I've been very lucky, and therefore I owe it to try and reduce the inequity in the world. And that's...

In an article which may be found here, Dr. William Oddie notes that, "Pope Francis has now once again (though to judge by the so far sparse coverage, you’d think he’d never said or done anything before) expressed his abhorrence of clerical sex abuse. Previous popes—indeed most senior clergy—are normally too reticent, however, to do what he has now done as well, that is to say, he has defended the Catholic Church’s record on tackling the sexual abuse of children by priests, by declaring what is now the simple truth: that “no one else has done more” than the Church...

Ukrainian Catholics fear 'new oppression' after Russian takeover Jonathan Luxmoore Catholic News Service  |  Mar. 12, 2014 Oxford, England A Ukrainian Catholic priest in Crimea said church members are alarmed and frightened by the Russian military occupation and fear their communities might be outlawed again if Russian rule becomes permanent. Fr. Mykhailo Milchakovskyi, a pastor in Kerch, Ukraine, described the atmosphere as tense because many residents of the town located in the eastern part of Crimea were unsure of their future. "No one knows what will happen. Many people are trying to sell their homes and move to other parts...

Yesterday, the Archbishop of Lucca (Tuscany, Italy) received a group of religion journalists for his annual chat, and the talk was moderated by a famous Vaticanist in Italian public television and radio network RAI, Raffaele Luise. The evening concluded with a debate in depth on the matter of homosexuality. Both Luise and the archbishop praise, in substance, the opening of the Church regarding gays and de facto couples. Particularly for Luise, it is necessary on this theme, "a cultural revolution, that contemplates the fact that homosexuality is not a deviancy, but a human attitude, and not just that, considering that...

Pope Francis has brought American Catholics to their knees. As the pontiff wraps up his first year in the Vatican, a new poll has found that 40 percent of his U.S. flock says they are praying more often than they did a year ago. It could be one sign of what's being called the "Francis Effect" — the impact of a very popular pope with the common touch who isn't afraid to shake things up.

Rhythm is life giving. We function according to days, weeks, months and years. We celebrate anniversaries and birthdays, dread tax time and look forward to time off. The cycles we go through help us move forward and stay in sync with the people around us. They increase both our productivity and our enjoyment of life, and they are essential to the health of our society. We see this truth throughout the natural world as well. Our calendars and timetables are based on seasons and phases, the perfectly predictable movement of our planet and moon through space. Rhythm is a form...

Michael Hathaway, author of 10 books on psychic development, past lives, regression, hypnosis and spirituality, and a board certified Past Life Regression Therapist is one of the most respected hypnotists in the country. He published a book entitled, “It’s Time to Simplify Your Soul’s Code”, an easy how-to guide for discovering our unique special purpose and to enrich our life experience by delving into the aspects of higher self and soul contracts. In this book, Mr. Hathaway emphasizes the source energy of the loving universe as a means to connect to our divine purpose as incarnated souls. He brilliantly describes...

In the second installation of a three-part series on "gun violence in Mexico," the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) continues to blame the U.S. for gun violence in Mexico, while viewing Fast & Furious as a legitimate attempt at law enforcement which just happened to go wrong. According to NCR, Obama tried to reinstitute an "assault weapons" ban in the U.S. as a way to keep Mexico safer. He also pledged to "keep increasing the pressure on the gun traffickers." NCR claims part of the pressure on traffickers included Operation Fast & Furious, which turned out to be a "botched 2009...

Anti-Religion: Ignoring abhorrences such as China's one-child policy and atrocities condoned by Shariah law, a U.N. committee tells the Vatican to deal with abusive priests and change its teachings on abortion, contraception and homosexuality. That the report issued by the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child would mention the instances of abuse of children by priests in the United States is not surprising. What is surprising and unfortunate is that the U.N. would act as if the Catholic Church had done nothing about it and use the report as a springboard to attack the core doctrines of a...