Free Republic

Within the past quarter-century, sexual abuse by clergy has been a high profile scandal within the Catholic Church. Most recently, the detestable accusations against Cardinal Theodore “Uncle Ted” McCarrick have rocked the Church and re-opened the discussion on how to handle cases of clerical abuse. Cardinal McCarrick posing with one of the young men who has accused him of sexual abuse While it may be tempting to encapsulate clerical abuse as a modern phenomenon, fallen human nature and sin have existed since the Garden of Eden, along with it those who would use their position within the Church to...

Today was the 1st of Elul, the month when the King is in the field. The Jewish Heart - The Secret of Elul>>>How is the image of the heart, as we most commonly know it, the symbol for this passionate experience of love? The month that we are now in, Elul, is the key to unlocking the inner and most potent meaning of the heart. As is well known, the Hebrew letters that make the word “Elul,” aleph, lamed, vav and lamed, are an acronym for the phrase (from the biblical Song of Songs) ani l’dodi v’dodi li, which means...

WHEN Pastor Jimmy Parade took over at Indonesian Reformed Evangelical Church in Bandung, on the island of Java, five years ago, around 180 people came to services each week. Now the church—in a nondescript building in an outdoor shopping complex—is packed with around 450 each Sunday. “People keep coming,” Mr Parade shrugs. Some 1,000 miles away, up several sets of escalators at a shopping mall in Singapore, thousands of people take part in a two-hour service on a Saturday evening at the City Harvest Church, which has a weekly attendance of just under 16,000. The service involves a rock...

“I realized coming here,”....“that it’s not that Hollywood was persecuting the Church as much as it was the Church was committing suicide in Hollywood. Big difference. I discovered Hollywood isn’t anti-Christian as much as it is anti-bad art. The problem is that we’re giving Hollywood schlock.” Barbara Nicolosi has worked in Hollywood since 1996 as a writer, producer, and production company executive. "We have a misconception now that we need to make propaganda for God as a response to the secular world. It’s triumphalistic, rah-rah, our side is the winning team. It doesn’t bring anyone over at all. The response...

The last couple of I have seen this hashish, #NotMyPope. Even I have used it often in just anger when Pope Francis comes out with a new position teaching for the Church. Most recent is death penalty issue. Is that hashtag a good way to protest or not as a Catholic? Thank you and God Bless.

The Turkish government made an announcement on August 2 that is likely to increase tensions between the state and its Orthodox Christians. While the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s seminary on the island of Halki has remained closed since 1971, Turkey has announced that it intends to open an Islamic studies center on the same island. Moreover, building plans have the Global Center for Islamic Studies situated right in front of the Orthodox seminary building, reports Sedmitza. According to experts, the opening of the Islamic studies center would completely rule out the possibility of reopening the seminary, which the Ecumenical Patriarchate has been...

Cross and inscription "Catholic Church" removed from church facade. The ban on holding summer youth camps for catechism. Meanwhile, the vaccine scandal breaks out, a sign of a lack of moral values in Chinese society. Vaccinating young people in the spirit, helping them discover their faith, would help Chinese society. The considerations of a priest blogger.Beijing (AsiaNews) - The Chinese authorities have been eliminating visible Christian signs, crosses and engravings for several months due to a campaign of "synicization". This adds to the ban on meetings even in summer, with young people under the age of 18, who are also...

SOMERSET, England, August 7, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Left-wing vandals targeted Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg’s home and his wife’s car last week, as detailed in photos compiled by The Sun. The incident took place while the pro-family, Catholic lawmaker’s family was taking a vacation in New York City. As first discovered by his maid, the messages spray-painted on the family’s garage, patio window, bench, and garden umbrella included “shut up and die,” “posh scum,” “politics death,” anarchist symbols, and some obscenities. The vandals had also scattered condoms on their lawn and driveway, and hung condoms from a small cross in the...

In my last piece for Crisis, I emphasized the importance of casting doubts on Islamic beliefs just as we cast doubts on Soviet Communist ideology during the Cold War. With that in mind, let’s talk about the Koran. It’s the fountain from which the ideology flows. It is quoted incessantly by terrorist leaders and imams alike, and it provides the motivation for both armed jihadists in combat fatigues, and cultural jihadists in business suits.So it would seem logical for those threatened by Islam to cast doubts on the Koran. If the Koran came to be seem as a man-made fabrication...

Bible Verses About Confusion Being confused can be one of the worst feelings. Are you struggling with confusion? If you are, don’t worry, because you are not alone. I have struggled with this as well. The things that happen every day in our lives can be confusing. We all need direction, but as Christians we can rest assure that the Holy Spirit is living inside of us and He is able to guide us and keep our mind at ease. 25 Important Bible Verses About Confusion Quotes “Confusion and impotence are the inevitable results when the wisdom and resources of...

SYDNEY, Australia - A group of trade unions in Australia last month passed a motion saying that they will lobby to restrict the right of religious organizations to make hiring decisions based on adherence to Church teaching on sexuality. Wil Stracke, a member of the Victorian Trades Hall Council which proposed the new motion, said that union members hoped the religious exemptions to discrimination laws would be “narrowed significantly so that they can only apply when it’s an inherent requirement of the job.” “We recognise there are roles in some places where it’s appropriate, [such as] religious education at a...

Baltimore, Md., Aug 9, 2018 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- Four years of fighting in eastern Ukraine have led to “the biggest humanitarian crisis on the European continent since the end of the Second World War,” according to the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv called on the international community and the Catholic Church not to neglect the crisis in Ukraine. He made the plea during his keynote address at the Knights of Columbus convention in Baltimore on August 7.Since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, the Ukrainian conflict has taken the lives of more than...

Pope Francis has a problem: Italian Catholics. In the home of the Vatican, believers are increasingly attracted by the hard-line stance of Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. Francis and Salvini espouse radically different approaches to migration. Where the pope has called on countries to take care of the less fortunate, Salvini has turned his close-the-borders approach to immigration into an electoral warhorse. The trouble for Francis is that Salvini seems to be winning — even among Catholic voters.

Groups reputedly founded for a “Catholic Spring” revolt within the Church have a history of criticizing Catholic bishops on LGBT issues and other topics, while taking money from wealthy, strategically minded LGBT activists who have helped reshape American religion, politics and the definition of marriage. Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good came to prominence in mid-October when WikiLeaks published a 2012 email exchange apparently involving John Podesta, President Bill Clinton’s former chief-of-staff and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager. Podesta appeared to suggest he and his allies had founded the groups to sow religious revolution. Today,...

The IRS has reportedly recognized the Pussy Church of Modern Witchcraft as a legitimate church. The Maryland-based group is dedicated exclusively to lesbian feminists. Peter Reilly, a CPA for over 30 years focusing on taxation, first reported the new designation in a blog post for Forbes. "The IRS recognized it as a 501(c)(3) organization and went the extra step of recognizing PCMW as a church, the most enviable of all tax statuses exempt not only from income tax but also from the transparency that filing Form 990 creates," Reilly wrote. "A church does not have to apply for exempt status,...

Proverb 10 (NKJV) A Wise Son and a Foolish Son01 The proverbs of Solomon: 00 A wise son makes a glad father, 00 But a foolish son is the grief of his mother. 02 Treasures of wickedness profit nothing 00 But righteousness delivers from death. 03 The LORD will not allow the righteous soul to famish, 00 But He casts away the desire of the wicked. 04 He who has a slack hand becomes poor, 00 But the hand of the diligent makes rich. 05 He who gathers in summer is a wise son; 00 He who sleeps in...

Catholics question whether Sinicization move is mixing politics with religionChina's nine major religious organizations want all religious sites across the country to raise the national flag on special days to reflect patriotism and Sinicization. But some Catholics claim the initiative aims to force religious people to be patriotic. "Is it necessary to train believers to hold the ritual of raising the national flag and to play the national anthem before they can hold religious activities?" one priest asked. The official Catholic Church in China website quoted a report from the website of the Central United Front Work Department saying that...

The Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality has been described as "evil" by a former Irish president. Mary McAleese said she was hopeful the Pope would change the church's position on the issue. Pope Francis is due to visit the Republic of Ireland this month for the World Meeting of Families, a major event for the Church. Mrs McAleese, who was president from 1997 to 2011, said she hoped it would be free of "homophobic messages". The Pope's two-day tour will be the first papal visit to Ireland for almost 40 years. 'Exploded that myth'Mrs McAleese made her comments about the...

Proverb 9 (NKJV)The Way of Wisdom Wisdom's Invitation01 Wisdom has built her house, 00 She has hewn out her seven pillars; 02 She has slaughtered her meat, 00 She has mixed her wine, 00 She has also furnished her table. 03 She has sent out her maidens, 00 She cries out from the highest places of the city, 04 "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" 00 As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, 05 "Come, eat of my bread 00 And drink of the wine I have mixed. 06 Forsake foolishness and live, 00...

In the summer of 2008, Bill Hybels stood in front of thousands of pastors and other church leaders gathered at Willow Creek Community Church and admitted his megachurch had failed. “We made a mistake,” he told the crowd gathered for the 2008 Global Leadership Summit (GLS). A detailed Willow study had found that the church had helped many people find new faith in Jesus, but had failed to teach them how to practice the spiritual disciplines needed to grow their faith. He vowed the megachurch would do be better in the future. Ten years later, Willow Creek’s leaders confessed even...