Free Republic

Just what is the Bernardin Legacy? Ask that simple question to any Catholic and the answers you receive will vary from one extreme to the other. One either loved him or despised him. But regardless of your personal opinion of the man there is one point, I believe, we can all agree on: He was a powerful and influential individual, both politically and spiritually. James Hitchcock wrote in an article published shortly after the Cardinal’s death that: “He [Bernardin] consistently used his influence to promote liberal causes, even attacks on Church teachings and traditions.” Hitchcock went on to say: “...he...

One of the many nefarious parts of the great facade that has been erected by the doctrinal and liturgical revolutionaries in the past four and one-half decades is episcopal collegiality. This very important cornerstone of the great facade introduced a novelty that masked real differences among the world's bishops in the quite mistaken belief that it is better to demonstrate to the faithful and to the world a united front of episcopal solidarity than for one bishop to criticize one of his brother bishops or to take policies that put other bishops in a bad light and/or force them to...

Twenty-two years after the body of God's Banker, Roberto Calvi, was found hanged under London's Blackfriars Bridge, his death remains a compelling mystery. But with four people facing a murder trial in Italy, his son is hoping for an answer at last. The death of your father is always going to be traumatic. But for Carlo Calvi the tragedy has been made worse by political intrigue, shady business practices and tales of mafia connections. An original inquest into the death of Roberto Calvi, who was found on the morning of 18 June 1982, returned a verdict of suicide. But his...

MARCH 11, 2004 THU Suicide blasts at Turkish Masonic lodge: 2 die ISTANBUL - Two people were killed and six wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a Masonic lodge in the Turkish commercial capital of Istanbul late on Tuesday. Blood lies smattered over one of the six people injured in the suicide attack. -- AP The two assailants shot their way into a restaurant on the ground floor of the lodge in the Kartal district on the Asian side of the city after wounding a security guard, Istanbul governor Muammer Guler told reporters. One of the assailants...

"Laus Deo" - A Poem The title of this poem, Laus Deo, comes from the old Latin Mass and means "Praise be to God!" That the poet saw a divine hand in Congress's passing of the amendment abolishing slavery on January 31, 1865 -- thus putting the capstone on what had been accomplished by four long and arduous years of war -- is evident from the rich biblical imagery used throughout these verses. "Laus Deo" By John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) It is done! Clang of bell and roar of gun Send the tidings up and down. How the belfries...

<p>TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - The New Jersey attorney general's office has opened an investigation into allegations that a secret society of rogue state troopers has harassed minorities and women among their ranks. First Assistant Attorney General Peter Harvey said investigators and prosecutors from his office and the state police will do everything possible to the determine the truth about the Lords of Discipline.</p>

Mystical Qabalah, Mystical Christianity, and the Christian CabalaMystical Christianity is an outgrowth of the same universal spirituality found in the Hebrew tradition as the Mystical Qabalah. Christianity began as a sect of Judaism that sprang from the messianic advent of Master Yeshuvah, who was born a Jew and lived in a Jewish culture. All of his apostles and early disciples were also Jews. Master Yeshuvah, as with every appearance of Messiah, brought a fresh transmission of universal mystical spirituality clothed in the context of the historical setting, cultural milieu, environment, language, characteristic worldview, and prevailing body of discourse among the...

A 2,300-mile trip on an airplane is a one-day foray, in a car it's a long trip that will take a few days, but on horseback, it is an epic journey that can last months. It is with the locomotive means of the epic journeyer that Bob Gacke of Port La Vaca, Texas, has chosen to undertake a 2,300-mile odyssey across the American interior to bring attention to, and raise money for, Shriner Hospitals. "I've been a Shriner for 25 years and I just have a real passion for the care of these kids in these hospitals," Gacke said Tuesday...

FEARING he would commit "a grave sin" in the eyes of the Catholic Church, Gov. Pataki has canceled his plan to join the Masons, The Post has learned. Pataki's induction into Freemasonry - the world's oldest and largest secret society, with members like George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and Gerald Ford - had been trumpeted as "historic" and was expected to occur at a formal and secret June ceremony at the historic Grand Lodge in Manhattan.

Extracts: all are loose translations from sections of the book, Opus Judei, José María Escriba, Orion Publications, Santa fé Bogotá, Columbia, 1994, 246pp.Distributor: Editorial Solar Ltda., Carrera 9a, No.19-59, Of.402, Santa fé Bogotá, D.C.,Colombia. This book is in Castellana Spanish. Author using pen name to focus attention on José María Escrivá de Balaguer & on Opus Dei, the organization he founded.The book contains several hundred Footnotes which needed to be reformatted as Endnotes. The author's recommended bibliography consists of 25 books.  The Prologue appears also to be by an anonymous person who uses the name of a member of a recent...

Dunblane secret documents contain letters by Tory and Labour ministers Investigation: By Neil Mackay, Home Affairs Editor LETTERS between Labour and Tory ministers and correspondence relating to Thomas Hamilton's alleged involvement with Freemasonry are part of a batch of more than 100 documents about the Dunblane mass murder which have been sealed from public sight for 100 years.The documents include a letter connected to Hamilton, which was sent by George Robertson, currently head of Nato, to Michael Forsyth, who was then Secretary of State for Scotland.Until now it was thought that a 100-year public secrecy order had only been placed...

ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICY STILL BASICALLY INTACT, SAY 2 U.S. BISHOPS Revised Proposal on Clergy Abuse Builds on Dallas Norms, They Contend WASHINGTON, D.C., NOV. 7, 2002 (Zenit.org).- The president of the U.S. bishops' conference contradicted widespread media reports alleging that the Holy See had rejected the policy suggested by the American bishops last June. "Contrary to many news reports," Bishop Wilton Gregory said in a statement, "the Holy See did not reject or even 'soften' this work. In fact, it [remains] the foundation for what will become particular law in the United States." In a letter dated Oct. 14 to Bishop...

The Knights Templar were a monastic military order formed at the end of the First Crusade with the mandate of protecting Christian pilgrims on route to the Holy Land. Never before had a group of secular knights banded together and took monastic vows. In this sense they were the first of the Warrior Monks. From humble beginnings of poverty when the order relied on alms from the traveling pilgrims, the order would go on to have the backing of the Holy See and the collective European monarchies. Within two centuries they had become powerful enough to defy all but...

Italian investigators have discovered a safety deposit box belonging to Roberto Calvi some 20 years after "God's banker" was found hanging from scaffolding under Blackfriars Bridge in London. The safety deposit box, held at a Milan branch of the Banco Ambrosiano of which Calvi was chairman, reportedly contained a builder's brick, newspaper articles dating from the summer of 1981 and documents which police hope will help them to solve the puzzle of the banker's death. One mystery they will seek to clarify is how the bank safe remained unnoticed for all these years. It was registered in the names of...

New look at 'God's banker' case 02.10.2002 LONDON - Italian magistrates are to reopen a murder investigation into the death of Roberto Calvi, the banker at the heart of a scandal involving the Vatican, freemasonry and the Mafia, who was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London in June 1982. The Calvi case was one of the great criminal mysteries of modern times. In the 20 years since his death, it has never been established whether he was murdered or committed suicide after his Banco Ambrosiano collapsed in a US$1.2 billion bankruptcy. The new investigation is the result of...