Free Republic

Dear Friends, One of the most remarkable observations in the study of history is the caution and warnings that are always given by Founders of great civilizations. It seems that those who lay foundations for great civilizations are quite aware of the seeds of pride, selfishness, and contention in human nature which over time usually begin to manifest themselves in society--even good societies. These Founders, realizing the tendency of human nature to degenerate, have always closed their public ministries with solemn warnings of the dire consequences of departing from the lofty ideals they established. Moses gave the children of Israel...

Blasphemy was committed on a Catholic university campus: An employee at the "Catholic" school stated her belief, rooted in Catholicism, that there are only two genders. An unnamed employee at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles has been suspended and is currently being investigated for a “hate crime” by the university’s Bias Incident Response Team and the LAPD for “denying transgenderism” when she stated that there are only two genders, reports The College Fix. On April 14, the employee engaged in a “dialogue” with three students who were hanging up posters for “Rainbow Week” on campus. Cosette Carleo, who identifies...

WARNING - UPSETTING CONTENT: The Pope was subjected to violent sexual imagery after writing of Jesus' "love for us" on Twitter Reuters Pope Francis arrives at the weekly audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican Pope Francis has been subjected to abusive tweets after writing about Jesus' love on Twitter The Pope has been targeted by Twitter trolls with sickening abuse after he posted a message about Jesus on the social networking site. Pope Francis was subjected to the vile abuse just seconds after writing on his Twitter page. He wrote: "Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God’s mercy, out...

President Bill Clinton will deliver the keynote address at Loyola Marymount University’s undergraduate commencement ceremony, LMU President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D., has announced. President Clinton’s nephew, an undergraduate student, is participating in the commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 7, 2016. “President Clinton is one of the great statesmen of our time, and he will address our students as they embark on the next stage of their lives,” Snyder said. “His commitment to improving the lives of other people, during and beyond his career in U.S. politics, embodies the ethos of becoming women and men with and for others. President Clinton...

Police and school investigating incident as a hate crimeLOS ANGELES (ChurchMilitant.com) - A Los Angeles Jesuit university has fired an employee for telling students there are only two genders — male and female. In April, Catholic Loyola Marymount University (LMU) allowed LGBT Student Services (LGBTSS) to hold LGBTQ+ Awareness Week, also known as Rainbow Week. Posters were put up throughout campus, but on April 14 three members of the club noted some were taken down and placed behind a garbage can. They retrieved the posters and put them back up, claiming an unnamed employee of the Alumni Relations office approached...

Psalm 104:1 My Soul, Praise thou the Lord; O Lord my God, thou art Exceedingly Great; Thou art Clothed with Glory and Honor.

Our Ambrosian correspondent Nicola de’ Grandi was recently in Paris, and took these photographs of some of the ancient Christian artworks kept at the Louvre Museum. A gilded piece of glass of the type frequent used as grave markers in ancient Christian burial sites; this was a fairly precious object both for its gold, but also because glass was difficult to make in antiquity, and considered a kind of jewel. The image is of the Prophet Jonah being thrown out of the boat, and swallowed by the “whale”, here a large sea monster. (The Hebrew word “bechamah” can also mean either. Jonah...

It is all too common to hear stories about fallen away Catholics, and how fewer are attending Mass and following their faith. Many blame theirs or others’ lukewarm faith or lack of catechesis on priests, their schools, bishops, Vatican II, popes, liturgical abuses, scandals, or any number of things. The problem of being lukewarm is mentioned in Revelation 3:16, where it states, rather indelicately but deliberately, “But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.”We hear regular criticism that the Church is failing Catholics and thus the world,...

Erbil, Iraq, May 1, 2016 / 04:02 pm (CNA).- Loai Behnam Toubia pulls up his shirt, uncovering a thick, dark scar – probably 10 inches long – that tears vertically down his large, round belly. With a cockeyed arm he points to three smaller scars that decorate the left side of his misshaped abdomen, marking the times he was shot when ISIS opened fire on his car last year. I stand in the dust surrounded by rows of boxy prefab trailers listening to his story. I focus on the scar marking where the bullet that landed just centimeters below his...

LONDON (Reuters) - Sadiq Khan of opposition Labour Party is the strong favourite to win London's mayoral election on Thursday after a contest marked by religious tensions and accusations of racism. Polls show Khan, the son of a bus driver, is as much as 20 percentage points ahead of rival Conservative Zac Goldsmith in the race to run one of the world's top financial centres. If he wins, he will succeed current Conservative mayor Boris Johnson to become the first Muslim to head a major Western capital. London's population of 8.6 million is among the most diverse in the world...

It’s a massive victory more than six months in the making. Sergeant First Class Charles Martland – a decorated war hero who faced expulsion from the Army for defending a child – has been exonerated and will be allowed to remain in the U.S. military. We have been aggressively advocating for SFC Martland for more than six months, and now we’ve helped achieve a significant victory for this Green Beret war hero. SFC Martland faced expulsion from the Army for defending a child from sexual abuse and confronting an admitted sexual predator in Afghanistan. The ACLJ argued that his actions...

He says, “I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket. In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. “Hear, O my people, and I will warn you— if you would but listen to me, O Israel! You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god. I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” (Psalm...

There's a new sound coming forth from the hills of southern West Virginia. It's a sound many prophets have foretold but haven't heard until now -- and some believe it could spark an end-times awakening...

Denver, Colo., Apr 29, 2016 / 12:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The lawyers of the bakery owner who made headlines for declining to make a wedding cake for a same-sex wedding is “evaluating all legal options” to preserve the man’s First Amendment rights after the state’s highest court declined to take the case. “We asked the Colorado Supreme Court to take this case to ensure that government understands that its duty is to protect the people’s freedom to follow their beliefs personally and professionally, not force them to violate those beliefs as the price of earning a living,” Alliance Defending Freedom...

MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The leader of the only South Asian Muslim community known to practice female genital mutilation (FGM) came under criticism on Friday by campaigners who accused him of urging followers to continue the centuries-old custom. Little is known about FGM in India, where it is carried out in great secrecy by the close-knit Dawoodi Bohra community, a Shi'ite Muslim sect thought to number over 1 million that considers the practice to be a religious obligation. An audio clip of Syedna Muffadal Saifuddin's speech at a mosque in Mumbai, has been authenticated by several members of the...

FULL TITLE: “Even if the Pope were Satan incarnate, we ought not to raise up our heads against him” – St. Catherine of Siena Today is the – in the post-Conciliar, modern, non-traditional – Ordinary Form – Novus Ordo Calendar – Feast of St. Catherine of Siena, Patroness of Europe and named by Paul VI as Doctor of the Church. Thus, her life and works reflect something of the Church’s own role as Teacher.  Her head may be venerated in Siena and the rest of her in Rome in the Church Santa Maria sopra Minerva (near the ecclesiastical tailor Gammarelli...

Italian police officers patrol St Peter's Square (AP) Authorities monitored conversations between the suspects via WhatsAppItalian authorities have arrested six suspects who allegedly received orders from ISIS to attack the Vatican and the Israeli embassy in Rome.The arrests made in Lombardy and Piedmont were the result of a joint operation coordinated by the district attorney of Milan and the Italian anti-terrorism agency.According to the Italian news agency ANSA, authorities arrested Abderrahim Moutaharrik and his wife, Salma Bencharki; Abderrahmane Khachia, and three people who have maintained contact with a couple that left Italy to join ISIS in Syria. All of the suspects...

My dear friend's, once America's restraint is totally and fully removed from this present evil world, what is to stop the global lawless march to doomsday and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse's ride (2 Thess. 2:2-8, Rev. 6-19)! My friends, a very sobering NOTHING! That is right, NOTHING! We are at the bottom of the super accelerating vortex in world's history, where there is no more time, room and remedies to fix our nation and world's horrific EXPONENTIAL ills. We are at the bottom of the super accelerating vortex in world's history, where there is no more time, room...

Moscow, April 29, Interfax - Most of Russians (75% in general and 72% of those who call themselves Orthodox believers) did not have any special diet during the Great Lent, which this year ends on April 30, the Lavada-Center told Interfax. During the poll held on April 22-25 among 1600 people in 137 cities and towns of Russia it cleared out that eight per cent of Russians in general and nine per cent of Orthodox believers were going to observe fast during the last week before Easter. Another 14% of respondents (16% of Orthodox believers) observe fast partially (for example...

You can have your opinion’ as long as it doesn’t ‘deny my existence’It’s uncommon at Jesuit universities these days for someone to openly share a traditional Catholic viewpoint. When it happened at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, the school was so spooked it called the Los Angeles Police Department. Both the police and the university’s Bias Incident Response Team are investigating the stated belief that only two genders exist, male and female, as a hate crime. A Loyola alumni office employee discussed her views on sexual orientation, which align with the Roman Catholic Church, with three students who were...