Free Republic

"World Congress of Families" Ambassador Tells ZENIT Faithful Must Be Visible and in the Public Square to Defend Our CivilizationThe day may come when U.S. citizens actually have to resist the nation's radically-changing forces, set to limit religious freedom - just one of the views shared with ZENIT by an ambassador of the World Congress of Families, Fr. Marcel Guarnizio. An expert on the region and Russia having ministered there extensively, Fr. Guarnizio warns that hope disappears when populations don’t see a need to have families. He believes Russia now has a new vitality, needed to help Western Europe resist...

It was just another high school graduation in one more streamer-bedecked gym, with all the usual trappings, the procession, the band, the beach balls, the decorated caps, the parents, the dignitaries. Except it wasn’t ordinary at all: it was as powerful a statement of faith from both a student and from the crowd itself as you will ever see.

SINGAPORE – In a pastoral letter addressed to Catholics with same-sex orientation issued on July 3rd, the Archbishop of Singapore William Goh apologized if he had hurt anyone with the way he expressed himself in a previous pastoral letter on the family, which had also addressed homosexuality. However, he again strongly reaffirmed the Church's teachings on sexuality, and announced the formation of a new ministry dedicated to helping individuals with same-sex attraction to live a sexually chaste lifestyle. "I apologize if my initial statement conveyed insensitivity as, from your feedback, I have come to realize that there is much...

Modern times donÂ’t like the authority of tradition, any more than they like prejudice or deeply rooted social stereotypes. We know more today than people did in the past, so why should we view the unreflective habits and attitudes they happened to fall into as somehow binding?People today believe in science, which relies on observations that can be repeated and checked; expert bureaucracies, which base their decisions on the latest objective studies; and free markets, which determine prices by reference to current supply and demand. Those methods have been enormously successful in many important settings, and they donÂ’t care...

Eight state constitutions include restrictions on people who don’t believe in a supreme being. In Arkansas, denying the existence of God means you can’t hold civil office or testify in court, while in Tennessee there are also guidelines about belief in the hereafter. However, the Supreme Court ruled in a 1961 case that a Maryland man appointed as a notary public didn’t have to declare his belief in a supreme being to hold office, arguing it violated his rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Since then, these restrictions haven’t been enforced, said Dave Muscato, a spokesman for American Atheists....

(RNS) Arthur Caplan is the nation’s most quoted medical ethicist for a couple of reasons: He knows his stuff. And he’s unusually accessible. But even Homer nods.Arthur L. Caplan is the head of the Division of Bioethics at New York University Langone Medical Center. Creative Commons image by Pete Wright In an essay in the upcoming issue of Free Inquiry magazine about the contraception and abortion debate, Caplan makes what the philosophers call a “category error.” In it, he tries to bring science into the argument about personhood. As Caplan frames the issue:“When does human life begin? For those...

Margaret Atwood wrote a gripping novel back in 1985 called The Handmaid’s Tale. The main character, Offred, is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian and theocratic state that has replaced the United States of America. Handmaids are walking wombs, child bearers for elite couples. Offred services the Commander and his wife Serena Joy, who is a former gospel singer and advocate for “traditional values.” Every month in her fertile period, Offred is required to have impersonal, wordless sex with the Commander while Serena sits by, holding her hands. The Republic of Gilead is what America has...

Patriotism is a great virtue. To be a patriot is to love one’s fatherland. This means that it is to love the land of the people that sired you. Patriotism is a natural overflow of the virtue of piety — that is, the virtue of the home. As piety would have us rendering what is due in justice to parents and other family members, patriotism would have us render the same to our nation, its government, and our fellow citizens. Both of these are a matter of justice, for the virtues of piety and patriotism are parts of that cardinal...

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...

From shoebat.com: Muslims Rape Christian Women, 600 Christians Take Up Arms And Make One Final And Heroic Stand Against Muslim Jihadists After so much rape has been done against Christian women in Iraq, 600 Christians in Iraq have now taken up arms to make one final stand against Muslim Jihadists, members of the ISIS terrorist group, at the frontiers of the Christian settlement of Bartella on the outskirts of Mosul.These 600 Christians, “all mighty men of valour” (1 Chronicles 12:21), are led by Capt. Firaz Jacob, a Christian warrior who has himself declared with the utmost of apostolic zeal:I stand...

According to Chase Bank employees, it has added to an employee survey a question about whether or not they are LGBT supporters, as the put it. The survey isn't anonymous as each one is tied to individuals through a unique number. I heard of this in an email today from the American Family Association, and see that numerous sites are reporting it; however, I can't cut and paste from the phone I'm posting from, and it's hard to type in links, so sorry for no link, but it should be very easy to find stories on it.

Many observers misunderstood the Hobby Lobby dispute and others like it as a First Amendment case, but it wasn’t. It primarily related to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), with an indirect reference to the constitutional freedom of religious expression. A case in Louisiana may be the real McCoy, though. The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that a priest must testify in a case about what he heard in a confessional — an order that would result in automatic excommunication and damnation, according to the doctrine and canon law of the Catholic Church: The state high court’s decision, rendered...

Proverb 8 (NKJV) The Excellence of Wisdom Wisdom Is Everlasting01 Does not wisdom cry out, 00 And understanding lift up her voice? 02 She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, 00 Beside the way, where the paths meet. 03 She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, 00 At the entrance of the doors: 04 "To you, O men, I call, 00 And my voice is to the sons of men. 05 O you simple ones, understand prudence, 00 And you fools, be of an understanding heart. 06 Listen, for I...

The Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge has issued a statement decrying a decision by the Louisiana Supreme Court that could compel a local priest to testify in court about confessions he might have received. The alleged confessions, according to legal documents, were made to the priest by a minor girl regarding possible sexual abuse perpetrated by another church parishioner. The statement, published Monday (July 7) on the diocese's website, said forcing such testimony "attacks the seal of confession," a sacrament that "cuts to the core of the Catholic faith." The statement refers to a lawsuit naming the Rev. Jeff Bayhi...

 In a previous post concerning the topic of human trafficking and the political left’s seeming lack of interest in it, The Motley Monk observed: This iteration of the global war on human trafficking is doomed to failure. Fueled by their hearts and not by their minds, the very people who decry human trafficking can’t seem to figure out whose policies sent an open invitation for human traffickers to practice their trade in the left’s own front yard…at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. With that in mind, The Motley Monk overheard U.S. Representative Louis Gohmert (R-TX) state on Saturday’s “Fox and Firends”...

Father Paul Williams leads Wednesday Mass at the Saint Joseph's Catholic Church in Dalton. Photo by John Rawlston. DALTON, Ga. — Two separate car dealerships failed at a concrete-and-glass showroom built in 2001 in Chatsworth, Ga. Then Dalton’s St. Joseph’s Catholic Church bought the 22,000-square-foot building on U.S. Highway 76 in 2012 to establish a mission in Murray County, which had no Catholic church. “It had 600 people the very first day, which kind of got me in trouble with the fire marshal,” said the Rev. Paul Williams, the pastor who leads St. Joseph’s. “It’s full every Sunday.” When it...

As I’ve thought about the issues of asking questions, faithful agitation, and looking for a much-needed change regarding gender inequality in the Church, I have come to the conclusion that we as a church don’t know all there is to know about God. None of that has to take away from the truthfulness of the Gospel, but the suggestion that the Church is perfect makes the declaration of having a living prophet seem a bit confusing. If there are not things that we are waiting to open our eyes to (which means God is waiting on us to ask him)...

Toronto, Canada, Jul 2, 2014 / 12:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic teaching on divorce and remarriage is “not open to change” as it is faithful to Jesus but the Church can do better in helping those suffering in this area, says Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto. “Although it would not be right for them to receive the sacraments, we need to find better ways to reach out to people in this situation, to offer them loving assistance,” the cardinal said in an interview published on the Word on Fire blog June 25. He said one form of help would be...

A new biography is raising questions about the life and relationships of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an anti-Nazi dissident whose theological writings remain widely influential among Christians. Both left-leaning and right-leaning Christians herald the life and writings of Bonhoeffer, who was hanged for his involvement in the unsuccessful plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. Bonhoeffer was engaged to a woman at the time of his execution, observing that he had lived a full life even though he would die a virgin. The new biography, “Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” from University of Virginia religious studies professor Charles Marsh, implies...

The development of education was job one when Coadjutor Bishop John Joseph Hughes came to New York in 1837. As one expert explains:  eight makeshift parochial schools, meeting in church basements or rented halls, had on register about 5000 Catholic children. An additional 7000 either lacked accommodation or made no effort to go to school.  Public aid had been given to some of these basement schools by the Free School Society, but in 1825, when it became the Public School Society, funding for denominational schools (Catholic and Baptist) ceased. The Society wasn’t unwilling to educate Catholic children; it just intended...