Free Republic

If the Supreme Court decides that there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, will that signal the end of social conservatism? People have long predicted the end of the religious right and, increasingly, even the demise of “white Christian America.” These obituaries typically prove premature. First, why assume a loss at the Supreme Court will end the religious right’s reason for existence? Organized social conservatism was built from such defeats, including high court rulings against school prayer and legalizing abortion. The school prayer decision will turn 53 in June. Roe v. Wade turned 42 in January. Neither of those...

Reflects on the Sacrament of Penance During General Audience Continuing his catechetical series on the Sacraments, Pope Francis reflected on the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which along with the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick form what he described the “Sacraments of Healing”. “The Sacraments of Penance and Reconciliation [...] flow directly from the Paschal mystery,” he told pilgrims attending his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square. "In fact, the same evening of Easter the Lord appeared to the disciples, closed in the Cenacle, and, after addressing to them the greeting ‘Peace be with you’, he breathed on them...

CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH CONCERNING SOME OBJECTIONS TO THE CHURCH'S TEACHING ON THE RECEPTION OF HOLY COMMUNION BY DIVORCED AND REMARRIED MEMBERS OF THE FAITHFUL [1]Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger The Letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of 14 September 1994 concerning the reception of Holy Communion by divorced and remarried members of the faithful was met with a very lively response across wide sections of the Church. Along with many positive reactions, more than a few critical voices were also heard. The fundamental objections against the teaching and practice of the Church are outlined...

Cardinal Dolan's handlers play rough.

Amendment Center showed that 55 percent of Americans believed it already was one. The confusion is understandable. For all our talk about separation of church and state, religious language has been written into our political culture in countless ways. It is inscribed in our pledge of patriotism, marked on our money, carved into the walls of our courts and our Capitol. Perhaps because it is everywhere, we assume it has been from the beginning. But the founding fathers didn’t create the ceremonies and slogans that come to mind when we consider whether this is a Christian nation. Our grandfathers did.

St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City on June 19, 2014. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA. Vatican City, Mar 16, 2015 / 05:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Vatican official says there will be no papal endorsement for an LGBT activist video whose backers want it to reach Pope Francis. Father Gil Martinez, C.S.P., a member of the development team for the video “LGBT Catholics: Owning our Faith,” intended to present the video to Pope Francis in a private audience after morning Mass on March 17, according to the website of the St. Philip Neri Parish and Northwest Paulist Center in the Portland, Ore....

The Newland family, owners of Hercules Industries, who won a permanent injunction against the HHS mandate March 16, 2015. Photo courtesy of Alliance Defending Freedom. Denver, Colo., Mar 17, 2015 / 02:51 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Catholic-owned company’s victory in its fight against a federal mandate to cover drugs and procedures that violate Catholic moral teaching shows the importance of putting God first, one of its co-owners has said.  “Oftentimes businesses can feel that their direction is dictated by market conditions, to which they must be reactive,” William Newland, a co-owner of Hercules Industries, told CNA March 17. “This final...

NEW YORK, March 17, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan led Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Day parade on Tuesday as grand marshal, despite backlash from faithful Catholics unhappy with the organizers’ decision to allow an openly homosexual activist group to march in the event.“I’m as radiant as the sun, so thanks be to God for the honor and the joy,” said Cardinal Dolan on Tuesday morning, as he led 250,000 marchers down Fifth Avenue – including a delegation from “Out @ NBC Universal,” a group of gay activists who work for NBC, the network that televises the parade.Catholic...

A couple of nice TLM photos.His Excellency Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison, celebrating Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form for seminarians at Mount St. Mary Seminary. The diocese has seminarians in formation there. Preparing future officers of the Church Militant.  Readying to continue the New Evangelization with a solid priestly identity.

[SNIP] The 12 steps are so deeply ingrained in the United States that many people, including doctors and therapists, believe attending meetings, earning one’s sobriety chips, and never taking another sip of alcohol is the only way to get better. Hospitals, outpatient clinics, and rehab centers use the 12 steps as the basis for treatment. But although few people seem to realize it, there are alternatives, including prescription drugs and therapies that aim to help patients learn to drink in moderation. Unlike Alcoholics Anonymous, these methods are based on modern science and have been proved, in randomized, controlled studies, to...

Cardinal Tagle was speaking at the Flame 2 Youth Congress earlier this monthThe Archbishop of Manila has said that there is no all encompassing answer to the question of Communion for the divorced and remarried. Speaking to the Catholic Herald at the Flame 2 Youth Congress earlier this month, Cardinal Luis Tagle, said it was not a question of simply saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but that every case should be judged individually. He said: “Every situation for those who are divorced and remarried is quite unique. To have a general rule might be counterproductive in the end. My position at...

The senior pastor and elders of City Church, the largest evangelical church in San Francisco will no longer require members to abstain from homosexual practice, so long as the homosexual activity occurs in the context of marriage. According to a letter written by senior pastor Fred Harrell on behalf of the Board of Elders, “We will no longer discriminate based on sexual orientation and demand lifelong celibacy as a precondition for joining. For all members, regardless of sexual orientation, we will continue to expect chastity in singleness until marriage.” “Our pastoral practice of demanding life-long ‘celibacy,' by which we meant...

Several months ago, your GetReligionistas created our "What is this?" logo to salute a question that we have found ourselves asking over and over during the past decade. Here's the deal. So you are reading something in a newspaper or online source that is supposed to be producing old-school hard news. Then you hit a passage or two that, simply stated, are wildly opinionated or built on what appears to be secret information, without a source that is shared with readers. In other words, you hit a patch of blatant opinion in the middle of a "news" article, like a...

Kaliningrad, March 16, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia speaks of a special role of the Kaliningrad Region in the dialogue between Russia and the West. "The region was organized not only as Russia's strategic outpost urged to prevent "attacks against the East," it should become Russia's spiritual outpost in Europe - not the region most subjected to western influence, but the region, which is ready for dialogue with the West more than others and introducing to this dialogue our spiritual values," the patriarch said on Saturday at the forum of the World Russian People's Council (WRPC)...

FERGUSON, Mo. (Reuters) Hours after two police officers were shot at a protest in Ferguson, Missouri, last week, a black Kenworth truck in North Carolina hauling a collapsible conference room began rolling down the highway toward the scene, intent on bringing peace and saving souls. The truck, one of Christian evangelist Billy Graham’s Rapid Response Team vehicles, sped toward the latest U.S. crisis armed with chaplains trained to help people cope with everything from tornadoes to mass shootings. “The police force needed chaplains after the shooting, and we’ve also been serving the protesters,” said Al New, manager of the team’s...

Four Blood Moons: Michael Savage Interviews Pastor John Hagee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfuUBKWRo_c

(CNN)You would have to be made of stone to not be moved by President Obama's address on the 50th anniversary of the march on Selma last Saturday. His tribute to the "plain and humble people...coming together to shape their country's course" was poetic and principled, timely and true -- a fitting way to honor those who marched in support of voting rights in 1965. But perhaps the most striking lines from this historic speech concerned the inherent patriotism of righteous protest: "What greater expression of faith in the American experiment than this, what greater form of patriotism is there than...

Clergy accuse vicar of holding ‘illegal’ Islamic prayer service in landmark London churchA Church of England vicar is facing a storm of protest from traditionalist Christians after allowing a Muslim prayer service to be held in his church. Dozens of Muslims took part in the “Inclusive Mosque” event at St John’s church, Waterloo in central London, in what is thought to have been the first time a full Islamic prayer service has been held within the Church of England. The vicar, the Rev Canon Giles Goddard, a prominent liberal cleric, joined in the event, reading a passage from the Bible...

Pope Francis prays with journalists on the papal flight en route to South Korea on Aug. 14, 2014. Credit: Alan Holdren/CNA. Rome, Italy, Mar 15, 2015 / 06:49 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his Sunday Angelus address Pope Francis lamented today’s terrorist attacks against two Christian churches – one of them Catholic – in Pakistan, and prayed that such violence will stop. “With suffering, with much suffering, I have learned of today's terrorist attacks against two churches in the city of Lahore, Pakistan, which have caused numerous deaths and injuries,” the Pope told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square March 15....

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Bombs outside two churches in the Pakistani city of Lahore killed 14 people and wounded nearly 80 during Sunday services, and witnesses said quick action by a security guard prevented many more deaths. A Pakistani Taliban splinter group claimed responsibility. Islamist militants in Pakistan have attacked Christians and other religious minorities often over the last decade or more. Many Christians, who make up less than two percent of Pakistan's population of more than 180 million, accuse the government of doing little to protect them, saying politicians are quick to offer condolences after an attack but slow...