Free Republic

The Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges on Friday raises troubling questions about the future of religious freedom in the United States. Most ominously, Justice Kennedy writing for the court seemed to circumscribe the freedom of religion as no longer the exercise of one’s faith, but merely the profession of it. All four of the dissenting justices wrote vehemently about the danger that this decision presents to the entire project of ordered liberty. Meanwhile, progressive organizations have made it clear that religious freedom is their next target now that same-sex marriage is the law of the land.Still, as we...

In Times Like These – A Scriptural Guide for Troubled and Confused Times Msgr. Charles Pope • June 29, 2015 • There’s an old hymn that says, “In times like these, you need a Savior, in times like these, you need an anchor. Be very sure, be very sure, Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.” And indeed, there are very few faithful Catholics who are not astonished and dismayed at the rapidity of decline into confusion (sexual and otherwise) of a culture we once described as Judeo-Christian. Whatever our sectarian differences of the past (and honestly they were significant and...

When it comes to tomorrow, Christians need to think while watching the Star of Bethlehem which will appear after an absence of roughly 2000 years. Tomorrow (June 30th, 2015) the Star of Bethlehem will be making a return. Will this mean that the signs of the end is beginning to unfold? And what did this sign mean? Is it a time of joy or suffering or both? How could King Herod's own advisors have been unaware of a star so bright that it could have led the wise men to Jerusalem? According to Professor David Weintraub, this may be because...

We have been saying for the last two years that Turkey will invade Syria and now the media is all over the issue of a serious possible invasion by the second most powerful army in NATO: Turkey. The spark and excuse for this invasion is simple. As Kurdish rebels in northern Syria rack up wins against ISIS, Turkish media is abuzz with talk of military intervention guised under the claim to push ISIS back from the Turkish border. Erdogan vowed that Turkey would not accept a move by Syrian Kurds to set up their own state in Syria following gains...

There aren’t enough homosexuals to wage war on religious institutions—they comprise only 1.6 percent of the population—but they have plenty of support among elites. From Wall Street to Wal-Mart, the corporate elite has gone lavender, embracing the gay-rights movement with as much gusto as exercised by elites in education, the arts, the entertainment industry, and the media. Will they now take the next step and attempt to shut down the churches? Anyone who thinks that radical activists will stop with gay marriage is ignorant: The big prize has always been to force the churches to fall in line. Consider Mark...

APOLOGIA WHY I'M CATHOLIC: SOLA SCRIPTURA ISN'T LOGICAL, PART III 6/28/2015 3 Comments Even though I've been writing for thirteen weeks now about an obscure Latin phrase (sola scriptura) and using some terms that are so out of vogue in our modern "what I feel is all that's real" world (for instance, "logical") I can't stress enough that I'm talking about something I experienced to the depths of my being. Something existential. It was like the Northridge Earthquake. But this time it wasn't the foundation of my house moving and shifting and beginning to crumble; it was the foundation of...

Fix Me, Jesus; Fix Me – Three Reasons Why Even Our Spiritual Life Needs Fixing Msgr. Charles Pope • June 28, 2015 • When I was a good bit younger, in college actually, I had to take a few economics and marketing courses. At that time I thought to myself, “God has a bad marketing department,” since things like Scripture and prayer were often so difficult to understand and do. God seemed to insist that we pray, but everyone I ever asked admitted that prayer was difficult. And while many had reasons they offered as to why prayer was difficult, I still wondered...

From Despair to Deliverance: The Journey of Jairus – A Homily for the 13th Sunday of the Year Msgr. Charles Pope • June 27, 2015 • The gospel today focuses on a man named Jairus and a journey he makes from despair to deliverance, with the help of Jesus. Of course Jairus is not merely a synagogue official who lived two thousand years ago. You are Jairus and his journey is your journey. We also meet in this gospel a woman of great faith, to whom the Lord points as an exemplar. If you are ready to accept it, she also...

Biblical slavery Question: A person I know, hostile to Church teaching, dismisses the Bible as a moral source because it approved of slavery. How can this be answered? M Taylor, via email Answer: Slavery in biblical times tended to be an alternative to the more modern tendency of incarcerating people for long periods in prisons. People were generally enslaved for three reasons: They had debts they could not pay, they were guilty of certain crimes, or they had been soldiers who had waged war against the Roman Empire. Slavery was sometimes for the duration of one’s life, but might not...

How Christianity invented children Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry We have forgotten just how deep a cultural revolution Christianity wrought. In fact, we forget about it precisely because of how deep it was: There are many ideas that we simply take for granted as natural and obvious, when in fact they didn't exist until the arrival of Christianity changed things completely. Take, for instance, the idea of children.Today, it is simply taken for granted that the innocence and vulnerability of children makes them beings of particular value, and entitled to particular care. We also romanticize children — their beauty, their joy, their...

Marsyas, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons / ChurchPOP The Church is the mystical body of Christ. In Scripture, Jesus says “where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Mt 18.20)So the Church doesn’t strictly need special buildings, because the Church is the people. Nonetheless, from early on, Christians dedicated buildings for their communal worship to God. Most of these early churches are long lost to history, yet a few from the first few centuries still remain, at least in some condition. Here is a picture of the oldest known church that’s still standing (at least partially): Wikimedia...

It’s time to kneel down and pray for our nation Posted on 26 June 2015 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf The Supreme Court came down in favor of same-sex marriage today.  The Slip opinions are HERE. Held: The Fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-State. Pp. 3–28. […] KENNEDY, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which GINSBURG, BREYER, SOTOMAYOR, and KAGAN, JJ., joined. ROBERTS, C. J., filed a dissenting...

What Does It Mean to Preach With Authority? A Consideration of the Concluding Line of the Sermon on the Mount Msgr. Charles Pope • June 25, 2015 • On Thursday in daily Mass we finished reading the Sermon on the Mount (Mat 7-9). In it, there is a line describing the reaction of the crowd that day on the slopes of the Mount of Beatitudes: And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes (Mat 7:28-29). What does it mean that Jesus spoke “with authority”?...

Last week marked the passing of a woman whose missionary work and writings inspired hundreds of thousands of Christians to live lives of faith and obedience to God, and led thousands to bring the gospel to people in countries around the world. Elisabeth Elliot died June 15 at age 88, but her legacy will continue through the lives transformed by her example. I knew her simply as “Aunt Betty,” as she was my father’s sister. Elliot first entered the news in 1956, when her husband, Jim Elliot, and four other missionaries were killed by a group of Auca Indians, today...

Why Is the Road to Destruction Wide and the Road to Salvation Narrow? A Meditation on a Teaching by Jesus Msgr. Charles Pope • June 24, 2015 • In the gospel earlier this week, we read a warning from Jesus that too many people just brush aside: Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few (Matt 6:12-13). I have commented on this blog...

Much has been said about this coming fall, the highest watch season we have ever seen.  JD Farag refuses to set dates (as he should), but admits September will see a convergence of events unlike anything that has come before.  The danger in getting hyped-up is that should the LORD tarry, many will be discouraged and could lose faith, but on the other hand we are told to watch for His coming and to know the season.  As JD explains, better to blow the trumpet than not.  Better to be ready, than have your head in the sand, focused on...

The Mystery of Being a Priest Msgr. Charles Pope • June 23, 2015 • Each year I concelebrate with hundreds of other priests in the ordination Mass of new priests. I find such Masses deeply spiritual. I have no role other than to quietly concelebrate, so the readings and the rites move me deeply. As I sit quietly, I ponder the mystery of my own priesthood. When I was growing up, there was little to indicate that I would ever become a priest. I was not a particularly spiritual child (at least not after age 7). I did not “play Mass.” In...

A tech-savvy art historian uses lasers to understand how medieval builders constructed their architectural masterpieces.Thirteen million people visit the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris every year, entering through massive wooden doors at the base of towers as solidly planted as mountains. They stand in front of walls filigreed with stained glass and gaze at a ceiling supported by delicate ribs of stone. If its beauty and magnificence is instantly apparent, so much about Notre Dame is not. To begin with, we don't know who built this cathedral—or how. The bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully, commissioned the massive church complex...

Four Common Tactics of the Devil Msgr. Charles Pope • June 22, 2015 • In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in demonic possession. Movies and books, along with human fears and fascinations, are largely the cause. Although actual demonic possession is somewhat rare, it does occur. Each diocese ought to have an appointed exorcist to assess possession. This exorcist, with the permission of the bishop, should use the Rite of Major Exorcism when true and morally certain possession has been determined. But because actual possession is quite rare, most of us should be looking out for...

A Powerful Parable Against the Premises of Unbelief Msgr. Charles Pope • June 21, 2015 • There are many reasons for the unbelief rampant in our times. Among them is the claim by some that because they do not see or hear evidence of God or an afterlife, our belief in these is just wishful thinking on our part so as to avoid the conclusion that everything ends with our death, that this world is all there is. A parable currently circulating on the Internet addresses this sort of unbelief. A Facebook friend (Vicki) called it to my attention. I...