Free Republic

Sr. Simone Campbell A Catholic social justice activist who promoted a bus tour to encourage income equality is this year's recipient of the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award, it was announced Wednesday.Sister Simone Campbell is the executive director of NETWORK, a nonprofit Catholic social justice lobby based in Washington, D.C. She will receive the award at 3 p.m. Sept. 21 at Christ the King Chapel on the campus of St. Ambrose University in Davenport.Campbell and the "Nuns on the Bus" tour for social and economic justice drew national attention. In Iowa, the tour was active during 2012...

As a Crusade historian, I found the tranquil solitude of the ivory tower shattered by journalists, editors, and talk-show hosts on tight deadlines eager to get the real scoop. What were the Crusades?, they asked. When were they? Just how insensitive was President George W. Bush for using the word "crusade" in his remarks? With a few of my callers I had the distinct impression that they already knew the answers to their questions, or at least thought they did. What they really wanted was an expert to say it all back to them. For example, I was frequently asked...

At the tender age of seven, Brian Vanderpool experienced a life changing moment when he watched the movie, Saving Private Ryan. It left such a deep impression on him that he decided to become a Marine. He found out later the movie actually depicted Army personnel, but he had his mind made up.Recently, Lance Corporal Vanderpool, now 20, returned home on leave from an 8 month tour of Afghanistan. He was not expecting to be greeted by a cheering crowd at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, which, in his words, “left a big grin on my face.”Early on,...

First, I am convinced that what is going on in Iraq is going to have dangerous consequences for us here in these USA and for Western Europe.  Prepare your minds and gird yourselves.Pres. Obama flippantly called these heavily-armed and successfully murdering savages the “JV team”.  JV TEAM?I have followed quite a few stories about the horrific actions of ISIS or whatever its called this week.  Islamic terrorists killing people.   Pewsitter has been a good source for links about the plight of Christians.  I also give props to Rorate for a few important items.Tonight a priest friend sent this, which I hadn’t...

Flag flown outside housing estate on Poplar High StreetA black flag with white Arabic writing, similar to those flown by jihadist groups, was flying at the entrance of an east London housing state near Canary Wharf. In a highly provocative gesture, the emblem was planted on top of the gates of the Will Crooks estate on Poplar High Street, and is surrounded by flags of Palestine and slogans. The flag bears similar writing to the jihadi flags that have been flown by the extremist group in Iraq and other jihadi groups since the 1990s. When the estate was approached last...

(©AFP) FLEEING TO KURDISTAN Fr. Paolo Thabit Mekko’s dramatic testimony on how “fanatic criminals forced us to flee our homes and live on the streets like beggars” Gianni Valente Fr. Paolo Thabit Mekko, the Iraqi Chaldean priest of Qaraqosh, had spent the past few months reopening wells and getting electricity generators going for refugees that fled Mosul after Iraq’s second major city fell into the hands of ISIS jihadists. Now, he too finds himself living the life of a refugee, along with the thousands of fugitives who were expelled from the Nineveh Plain and scattered in streets, churches and...

It is likely Nuncios will be meeting in Rome in September. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, was the Pope’s ambassador in the country during the US invasion of Iraq. Today Francis tweeted “I ask all men and women of goodwill to join me in praying for Iraqi Christians and all vulnerable populations” iacopo scaramuzzicittà del vaticano Pope Francis has decided to send Cardinal Fernando Filoni to Iraq – where the self-proclaimed Caliphate is driving Christians out of their cities in the Nineveh Plain “in the next few days”. Apostolic Nuncios in the...

Seriously. . . all of us need to get mobilized and do what we can NOW.  At least take the time to read this post (or something like it), and learn what is going on in Iraq. I've tried to assemble some of the most powerful stories I've run across in the last couple of weeks. Post on this. Share this. Talk about it. It's time for prayer and fasting. Of course, normally we don't do "current events" on TheSacredPage.com. But this. . . something has to be done about this! Catholic bloggers such as Elizabeth Scalia have been doing a fine...

EGYPT – After three years of hard times consequence of political turmoil born at Tahrir Square in Cairo, the Coptic community seems to raise its head. Following an uneasy coexistence with the Moslem Brotherhood, the handing of power to General Al Sissi brings about hope. It seems that many have converted to Christianity, the figures however remaining unknown.Among the Irakis compelled to quit Mossul under pressure by blood-thirsty djihadists of Islamic Caliphates, it is likely that some of them may dream of the Coptic Church, still on its feet despite all the dark years. They hope may be, deep in...

Pope Francis has renewed his appeal to the Church to intercede for the persecuted Christians of Iraq. “The Holy Father is following with deep concern the dramatic news reports coming from northern Iraq, which involve defenseless populations,” Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Holy See Press Office, said in a statement issued August 7. “Christian communities are particularly affected: a people fleeing from their villages because of the violence that rages in these days, wreaking havoc on the entire region.” “At the Angelus prayer on July 20th,” Father Lombardi recalled, “Pope Francis cried with pain: ‘[O]ur brothers and sisters...

LONDON (Reuters) - British police raided an English country pub this week in search of a stolen wooden relic believed by some to be the Holy Grail - a cup from which, according to the Bible, Jesus is said to have drunk at his final meal before crucifixion.

Two churches in Thonon-les-Bains, a city of 30,000 in eastern France, were desecrated on August 5, according to Le Messager, a newspaper based in Chablais. A man in his thirties entered St. Hippolytus Church and the Basilica of St. Francis de Sales and destroyed or damaged altars, stained glass, statues, candelabras, and a bronze cross. He also tore open a tabernacle and trampled on the Eucharist. The man suspected in the desecration is a “young Muslim,” a local priest said. Additional sources for this storySome links will take you to other sites, in a new window. Thonon-les-Bains: crise de vandalisme...

FULL TITLE: Iraqi Christian Refugees call upon the Vatican and the West "Come, Pope in the Vatican!" "America, you broke it." "Where are you?" There's really nothing left for us to say, other than our words in the editorial and our surprise at the Pope's silence  (except for a written statement by his spokesman) and absence from the cameras in this, one of the most dramatic days for any mostly Catholic population in decades. The mostly Catholic refugees can't understand either, and call upon the "Pope of the Vatican" to help them. But from Rome and from the United Nations Security Council...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A chapter of a nationally-recognized Christian group that seeks to reach children with the gospel of Jesus Christ is under fire for teaching kids the biblical doctrine of sin and eternal judgment, in addition to sharing about the love and mercy of God. The Portland chapter of Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) is facing resistance from some area residents as they conduct voluntary summer camps in the area and plan on hosting after-school Bible studies in local public schools. The problem? CEF teaches children that each person is a sinner in need of the Savior. Those who oppose...

...The Oklahoma Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City is planning on hosting a “black Mass” on September 21st. His Grace Paul Coakley, the Archbishop of Oklahoma City, has called upon all of the Catholics of his diocese to join in prayer against this event. The full text of the letter can be read here: "In spite of repeated requests, there has been no indication that the City intends to prevent this event from taking place. ... Since it seems this event will not be cancelled, I am calling on all Catholics of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to counteract...

Iraq Archbishop Louis Sako. Credit: Aid to the Church in Need UK. Baghdad, Iraq, Aug 7, 2014 / 10:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The seizure of Iraq’s largest Christian town has prompted a mass exodus of refugees, which a leading Catholic bishop described as a Way of the Cross that could become a genocide unless the global community intervenes.   “They are facing a human catastrophe and risk a real genocide. They need water, food, shelter,” Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Babylon said in an Aug. 7 open letter. “We appeal with sadness and pain to the conscience...

A priest prays at St. Bahnam Church at the town of Qaraqush in the northern province of Nineveh, Iraq, in May. Pope Benedict XVI has urged Iraqi leadership to work for the swift formation of a stable government and for protection of the Christian minority in the country. (CNS photo/Thaier al-Sudani, Reuters) VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis asked Catholics around the world to pray for tens of thousands of Christians from villages in northeastern Iraq who were forced from their homes in the middle of the night by Islamic State militants.The pope also made a “pressing appeal to the...

Islamic State jihadists who took over large areas of northern Iraq overnight have forced thousands of Christians to flee and occupied churches, removing crosses and destroying manuscripts, Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako has said. “(The Christians) have fled with nothing but their clothes, some of them on foot, to reach the Kurdistan region,” Patriarch Sako told AFP.

A recent post from Sandro Magister introduces his report on a book-length interview with Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller by asking a question. This is how he poses it: “The prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith refutes the ideas of those who want to permit second marriages with the first spouse still alive. He is backed up by Cardinal Sebastián, who also disagrees with Cardinal Kasper. But whose side is Pope Francis on?” What we don’t get from Magister is an answer to his own question, so you can have one from me. Whose side is Pope...

Thousands of Iraqi Christians are fleeing after Islamic State militants seized the minority’s biggest town in Iraq, according to reports. The Islamic State, formerly ISIS, captured Qaraqosh in Nineveh province overnight after Kurdish forces withdrew from the town. The French Christian organisation Fraternite en Irak said in a post on Facebook that a majority of those living in Nineveh left after militants took over Qaraqosh, known as the Christian capital of northern Iraq, and surrounding towns. “It’s a catastrophe, a tragic situation: tens of thousands of terrified people are being displaced as we speak,” said Joseph Thomas, the Chaldean archbishop...