Free Republic

First the old liberal fat cats set an Anti-Catholic revolution loose. Then they complain that they have been lumped in with the revolution. [kreuz.net, Chur] Bishop Vitus Huonder (68) of Chur has been canonically, practically driven out of half of his diocese by non-designated community consultants. For the notorious church-hate journalist Michael Meier there is no reason to raise the hue and cry in the Zurich regional paper 'Tagesanzeiger'. Behind the decision there is a yearlong battle between the Zurich State-Church, which controls the Church-Tax, and the Bishop of Chur. The battle escalated, as the Church-Tax Board adopted an Anti-Catholic...

VATICAN CITY, 17 DEC 2009 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office released the following English-language communique at midday today: "For a number of years the Church has followed with great concern the difficulties caused by the regrettable conduct of Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo. Many attempts have been made to bring Archbishop Milingo back into communion with the Catholic Church, including the consideration of suitable ways to enable him to exercise the episcopal ministry. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI were directly involved in those efforts and both Popes personally followed the case of Archbishop Milingo in a spirit...

I want to talk a little bit about three different approaches to religious liberty: one in atheist countries such as France and two different approaches within the United States. Then I will conclude with a few words about Islam--a story not yet fully developed but of great importance to the rest of this century. Atheists in Europe have their own approach to religious liberty. In personal life, they take religion seriously, as a dangerous social reality that needs to be curbed. Politically, the atheist aim since the French Revolution of 1789 has been to expel religion from public life, and...

CINCINNATI -- The Vatican has removed from the priesthood a man accused of sexually abusing girls at a Catholic high school where he was chaplain.Thomas Brunner, who resigned in 2003 as pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Troy, is permanently stripped of all clerical functions and privileges, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said Wednesday. Brunner had been on administrative leave, barred from functioning as a priest, because of the abuse accusations stemming from his time at Mount Notre Dame High in the late 1970s and 1980s.Pope Benedict XVI approved Brunner's petition for what the church calls "laicization." Brunner signed documents...

ALBANY -- Three years after the clergy sex abuse scandal exploded into the public consciousness, dozens of priests have finally been stripped of their duties by the Vatican in recent months.Those defrocked, which means they cannot act as a priest or receive financial support from the church, include four clergy in Boston, six from the Rockville Center Diocese downstate and another nine in Philadelphia. But here in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, none of the 13 surviving priests of the 20 removed from ministry will have his case reviewed by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.Bishop...