Free Republic

Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, said at a massive rally that Europe and Hungary are in the middle of a civilisational struggle. The rally marked the 170th anniversary of anti-Habsburg Revolution of 1848 and was preceded by a large ‘Peace March’. “We are expected to willingly hand over [our country] within a few decades…to foreigners from other continents who don’t speak our language, respect our culture, our laws or way of life, Orban said. According to the Prime Minister, “Hungary and Europe face a mass migration wave which endangers the way of life of their peoples, Europe is under invasion....

Less than a year after Theresa F. Latini was hired as the first president of United Lutheran Seminary in Pennsylvania last April, she was unceremoniously ousted from the institution of higher learning after news broke that she once led a Christian ministry helping believers overcome same-sex attraction. She left that organization in 2001 and has since sworn off the idea that LGBT people can reject their identities, but that did not save her from ideological cleansing.United Lutheran Seminary (ULS) was formed in 2017, as a merger between two seminaries in Gettysburg and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Latini was named its first...

Proverb 18 (NKJV) The Name of the LORD Is a Strong Tower 01 A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; 00 He rages against all wise judgment. 02 A fool has no delight in understanding, 00 But in expressing his own heart. 03 When the wicked comes, contempt comes also; 00 And with dishonor comes reproach. 04 The words of a man's mouth are deep waters; 00 The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook. 05 It is not good to show partiality to the wicked, 00 Or to overthrow the righteous in judgment. 06 A fool's...

Steve Mosher, one of the America’s most prominent China experts, was kicked out of China — and Stanford University — in the early 1980s for breaking the “gentlemen’s rule of silence” regarding Communist China: he tore back the curtain on the country’s “one-child” policy, a draconian campaign that resulted in forced abortions performed in barbaric conditions on millions of Chinese women every year. I was working for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time, and was surprised that the State Department showed little interest in Mosher’s exposure of what was clearly one of the most egregious violation of human...

“All true philosophy must opt between these two hypotheses: either a new religion is going to come into existence or Christianity will be rejuvenated in some extraordinary way,” wrote Joseph de Maistre. But this speaks less to individuals (who may be theists or atheists) than it does to society, which is theistic by nature. “If the religious spirit is not reinforced in this part of the world, the social bond will dissolve,” Maistre warned. Maybe that’s why both North Korea and the Soviet Union became more cultish as their regimes wore on. Maybe at the start they earnestly thought they...

(Photo: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)A wedding cake is seen at a reception for same-sex couples at The Abbey in West Hollywood, California, July 1, 2013.An evangelical judge who has refused to marry same-sex couples was handed down a three-year suspension without pay Thursday by the Oregon Supreme Court, the longest suspension in the court's history.Judge Vance Day, who was found to have broken several gun laws, and in 2014 refused to marry same-sex couples, will have 14 days to file a petition for the state Supreme Court to reconsider its decision.One of the main charges that Day was found guilty of concerned...

Proverb 17 (NKJV) The LORD Tests Hearts 01 Better is a dry morsel with quietness, 00 Than a house full of feasting with strife. 02 A wise servant will rule over a son who causes shame, 00 And will share an inheritance among the brothers. 03 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, 00 But the LORD tests the hearts. 04 An evildoer gives heed to false lips; 00 A liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue. 05 He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker; 00 He who is glad at calamity will not...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday handed down the longest suspension in its history to a judge who refused to marry gay couples in the state, but stopped short of removing him from office. Marion County Circuit Court Judge Vance Day had come to the attention of authorities after allegations he had refused to marry gay couples and had broken gun laws. In 2016, an ethics commission recommended that Day be removed from office. Instead, the court ordered Day suspended for three years. Despite public attention garnered by Day's actions toward gay people following same-sex marriage...

“For some reason, such regulations are being adopted by Western parliaments for groups of people with certain sexual orientation, but we have problems with granting special status to multi-child families,”A law protecting large families would have “a tremendous symbolic significance and show the whole world that… Russia cares about the future,” he addedRussian Orthodox Church head Patriarch Kirill has urged senators to provide special status for multi-child families in Russia, questioning why this can’t be done when preferences are being given to sexual minorities in the West. "The Church has supported and will support any positive changes in legislation aimed...

HER NIGHTMARE was triggered by false rumors of an affair between her married son and a married Muslim woman. After 50 years of living quietly in the Egyptian village of Kom Lofi—some 180 miles south of Cairo—Souad Thabet, a 70-year-old Coptic woman, became the victim of an angry mob of Muslims out to punish her for her son’s alleged transgression of conservative Muslim mores. Her life would be changed forever. Still trembling with fear and sorrow over the tragedy that befell her and her family, Mrs. Thabet tells her story:“It was Friday, May 20, 2016. After we learned from people...

The Philippines is pushing divorce through the House of Representatives after receiving enough preliminary votes.  The House approved the Absolute Divorce Act 2018 on Wednesday and will hold a final vote on the bill next Friday. On February 21, the bill was approved at the committee level — the committee on population and family relations.   The Senate is slated to vote on their version of the bill. If both chambers of Congress pass their own version, a bicameral conference will reconcile any differences. The bill is designed to allow spouses to divorce under certain conditions and defined judicial procedures to protect children from the...

Proverb 16 (NKJV) Wisdom Is Better Than Gold 01 The preparations of the heart belong to man, 00 But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. 02 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, 00 But the LORD weighs the spirits. 03 Commit your works to the LORD, 00 And your thoughts will be established. 04 The LORD has made all for Himself, 00 Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom. 05 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; 00 Though they join forces, none will go...

Manila (Agenzia Fides) - The Government of the Philippines led by President Rodrigo Duterte intends to approve the bill of divorce in Parliament before Easter. As confirmed by Senate spokesperson Pantaleon Alvarez, a final version of the bill will be in parliament for the third and last reading on March 23. The bill has the title "Act on the divorce and dissolution of marriage" and would complement the proposals presented in past months by several legislators in the lower House.The law aims to provide couples in crisis with a legal way to end marriage. As Fides learns, parlamentarians Edcel Lagman,...

While Vatican compromises with the government, crosses and statues are removed by forceYINING, China (ChurchMilitant.com) - As the Vatican is negotiating with China's Communist government, the same government has removed crosses and statues from Catholic parishes. Reports say that two Catholic churches in China have recently had their crosses, statues and domes removed at the command of governmental authorities. In Henan Province, authorities removed numerous crosses from the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on March 9. They removed a total of 10 crosses from three structures: the cathedral itself, a gate tower and a smaller old church. After...

March 15, 2018What “Accompaniment” Really MeansRev. James V. Schall, S.J. These reflections are written against the background of the way in which many activities, once treated under the natural law, came to be considered human “rights” under civil law. A couple of decade ago, it became clear that the subversion of natural law would be carried out under the aegis of “human rights” as understood in particular by Hobbes. Thus, we have today, in many political societies, abortion, single-sex “marriage,” homosexual living, and fetal experimentation, and euthanasia, things all logically connected with each other, called and enforced as positive “human...

Proverb 15 (NKJV) A Soft Answer Turns Away Wrath 01 A soft answer turns away wrath, 00 But a harsh word stirs up anger. 02 The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, 00 But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness. 03 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, 00 Keeping watch on the evil and the good. 04 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, 00 But perverseness in it breaks the spirit. 05 A fool despises his father's instruction, 00 But he who receives correction is prudent. 06 In the house of the...

GLENCOE, Illinois, March 12, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Quoting Pope Francis, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich said “proselytism” is a “sin” that the Catholic Church has “not always avoided.” Cupich said this during a speech on Catholic-Jewish relations at the North Shore Congregation Israel synagogue on January 29, 2018. The synagogue advertises on its website, “We are interfaith. We are LGBTQ.”Cupich discussed the Jewish and Catholic importance of maintaining “tradition” while simultaneously criticizing the Church’s previous “ridiculous” tradition of limiting mixed-religion marriages, invoked the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s “consistent ethic of life” that equates intrinsic evils with societal ills, and warned against...

The Vatican is looking to change people’s perspective on mass migration by highlighting positive stories to replace the negative accounts that dominate the media. Jesuit Father Michael Czerny, the co-secretary of the Vatican’s department for migrants and refugees, said that the Church needs to “change the narrative” on immigration, because “the public view is negative” in an address to members of the International Catholic Migration Commission on March 7. “We need positive stories,” Czerny said, in order to help people appreciate the benefits of migration instead of always focusing on its problems. As Breitbart News has reported, “Migrant” was the...

Guest Op-Ed - Musings from the Chinese Underground: "The Vatican is forcing us to obey perverted bishops!" By Guest-contributor 小鱼儿 I recently read Msgr. Anthony Figueiredo's interview in the National Catholic Register. I initially wanted to ignore his statements, like I did with other Chinese "experts". However, these past few months, the Church in China received "seismic tremors" too strong to ignore. Considering the gravity of the matter, I thought I would share my humble musings with Rorate Caeli readers. Surprise surprise! We have another Chinese "expert" talking about the Church in China. Mind you, an "expert" who doesn't speak...

Proverb 14 (NKJV) The Ways of Life and Death 01 The wise woman builds her house, 00 But the foolish pulls it down with her hands. 02 He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, 00 But he who is perverse in his ways despises Him. 03 In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride, 00 But the lips of the wise will preserve them. 04 Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; 00 But much increase comes by the strength of an ox. 05 A faithful witness does not lie, 00 But a...