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[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Danneels admits being part of clerical ‘Mafia’ that plotted Francis’ election September 25, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) - The authorized biography of Cardinal Godfried Danneels, out next week, is even more of a bombshell than expected. Not only do the two authors, Jürgen Mettepenningen and Karim Schelkens, reveal that the Cardinal was a regular member of a secret pressure group of Churchmen that met in the Swiss town of Sankt-Gallen, but the Cardinal himself has publicly and good-humoredly admitted the fact. Danneels even said that what was officially but discreetly labeled “the Sankt-Gallen group” was referred to by its...

Gross over-regulation of doctors in their prescription of opioid pain relievers is driving hundreds out of practice, deserting their patients to agony, disability and sometimes death by suicide. However, despite the protestations of many State and Federal regulators, “the opioid problem” isn’t from over-prescription. Rates of opioid related mortality from all sources are almost entirely unrelated to rates of physician prescribing. The contribution of medically managed opioids is so small that it gets lost in the noise of street drugs. Published data of the CDC prove this reality beyond any reasonable contradiction. In the relatively few deaths where a prescription-type...

A Mexican national who has been deported five times after illegally entering the United States was caught in his south Minneapolis home with a semi-automatic pistol, dozens of rounds of ammunition, several pounds of marijuana and other illicit drugs, according to charges filed Thursday.Joaquin Bravo Flores, 25, is charged in federal court with being an "illegal alien in possession of a firearm."Flores' deportations came in two instances of rapid succession: on Jan. 14 and 16 in 2000, and on Nov. 5, 7 and 8 of 2003, according to the indictment.In October 2005, nearly two years after his most recent deportation,...

SALEM - Police believe a Web site promoting Salem Willows Park as a meeting place for illicit gay activity has led to an increase in trespassing in the Fort Lee area. The Web site offers directions to the area, advice on where to park and suggests a "cruisy parking lot and nearby woods near Dead Horse Beach." After hearing complaints from neighbors, police have been targeting the area in recent weeks and have made several trespassing arrests over the summer. The wooded area, also known as Cannon Hills, is near the entrance to Salem Willows Park. "The people that frequent...

This is the first in a series that will ultimately publish and provide commentary for each chapter of the book of Proverbs. The inspiration for this is the new book entitled “The Richest Man who Ever Lived” by Steven K. Scott. It's the best book I have read in a long time and is already changing my life.Author Steven Scott has been through it all. He lost 9 jobs in his first 6 years out of college and was tagged as a hopeless corporate failure. On the advice of his friend Gary Smalley, who was also a nobody at the...

Et tu, Vindobona?A project called "Find-Fight-Follow" has been doing 'special' Masses in Austria for a couple of years (Why it has an English name, I don't know - to sound 'cooler', I assume). They are sponsored, aside from the Catholic Youth, by many and varied companies. They feature rock music (rejected by the Pope as unsuitable in church) and light shows, as well as people squatting on the floor, 'special' hosts - it's actual bread (I am not a baker, so I don't know if it's a licit recipe or not). Oh and 3-D glasses apparently. (H/T Kreuz.net) I...

UNITED NATIONS - More than 2,000 companies made about $1.8 billion in illicit payments to Saddam Hussein's government through extensive manipulation of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq, according to key findings of a U.N.-backed investigation. The report — to be released in full Thursday by the committee probing claims of wrongdoing in the $64 billion program — indicates that about half the 4,500 companies doing business with Iraq paid illegal surcharges on oil purchases or kickbacks on contracts to supply humanitarian goods. The investigators reported that companies and individuals from 66 countries paid illegal kickbacks through a variety of...

Ex-Contestant Says He Got Coaching From, Had Relationship With, Judge Paula AbdulMay 3, 2005 -- A former "American Idol" contestant told ABC News' "Primetime Live" that Paula Abdul, one of the judges for the hit reality television show, provided him with off-camera tips and assistance while he was a contestant, even helping him select some of the songs he would sing. "She was opening my eyes to like, 'Look, you sing this stuff. This is how you're going to get through,'" said Corey Clark, one of the 12 finalists during the Fox show's second season. Clark, then 22, said that...

The world just learned that "Catholic" actress Brooke Shields is the proud mother of a new baby girl. For a long time infertility problems made it impossible for her and her husband to conceive, and after many failed attempts to conceive naturally she resorted to the technological solution: in vitro fertilization (IVF). Now she is pictured on the covers of glamorous magazines with a smiling beautiful baby girl, but some have questioned her decision to use IVF. I am one of them. Was this star wrong to have a "test tube" baby? Yes. Dead wrong. While recognizing the pain of...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

A Curious Kind of Catholic A look inside John Kerry's preferred place of worship, the Paulist Center. It's where people who hate the Church go to church. by Jonathan V. Last 07/25/2004 2:55:00 PM Larger type view Increase Font Size Printer-Friendly Email a Friend Respond to this article Boston CATHOLICS ARE USED TO having people protest outside their churches. Because Catholics are one of the last socially acceptable objects of bigotry, it seems as though activist groups are always showing up at their churches. Gay and women's rights groups make up the usual crowd, although these days it's common to...

3. Levels of Abuse - Invalid and IllicitBefore getting into the specific abuses, it is important to understand the rules for celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. These rules are officially called rubrics. These rubrics are contained in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM)[1], and many clarifications have been made in more recent documents such as Instruction Concerning Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery (Inaestimabile Donum). The most serious type of abuse makes the Mass "invalid." For a Mass to be invalid, the Consecration of the Eucharist does not occur. Going to an invalid Mass is like not...