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SHAMELESS sponger Josie Cunningham has admitted she smoked through her pregnancy because her unborn baby isn't the gender that she'd prefer.The glamour model, who had her boob op funded by the taxpayer, said she lit up a ciggie after learning her child was a boy. Despite being fully aware of the harmful side effects that nicotine can have on a vulnerable foetus, Josie has been puffing on 20 fags a day. Ms Cunningham became notorious after publicly announcing she'd have an abortion if it granted her access to the Big Brother house. After an angry outcry from critics, the 23-year-old...

The 2013 Maryland General Assembly session ends midnight April 8, and the Maryland Catholic Conference expects to work up to the legislature’s final hours on policy issues ranging from stem-cell research funding transparency to nonpublic school textbook funding. Among the legislation getting a final push from the MCC is the Maryland Highway Safety Act, which would allow the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration to issue driver’s licenses or identification cards to people without a Social Security number. “Expanding the eligibility for a driver’s license would protect all drivers in the state and make our roads and highways safer,” the MCC said...

The Eucharist conforms Catholics to “the pattern of Christ’s self-giving love” and compels them to see the dignity of the poor and perform acts of mercy, Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori said at the June 21 opening Mass for this year’s Fortnight for Freedom. The Mass coincided with the feast of Corpus Christi. “By entering the dynamic of Christ’s self-giving eucharistic love, we are impelled ... to work for a loving and just society where the dignity of human life is respected from conception until natural death and all the stages in between,” he said in his homily. More than...

Q: My daughter stopped practicing her faith and was married to a protestant in his church. Now she has come back, and her protestant husband is preparing to become a Catholic too, next Easter. They understand that their marriage isn’t valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church, but the parish priest told them he can just “bless their marriage” and it will be all right. Can that possibly be true? –Eamon

Controversial billionaire Chen Guangbiao placed a full-page advertisement in Monday’s New York Times and a half-page advertisement in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, inviting 1,000 underprivileged Americans to dine with him. “I want to spread the message in the US that there are good philanthropists in China and not all are crazy spenders on luxury goods”. Chen said he was “teaming up with a famous American charity to host a charity luncheon for 1,000 poor and destitute Americans, who each will receive 300 dollars”. The underprivileged will be invited to the Boat House restaurant in New York’s Central Park, where Chen...

After nearly nine hours of chanting and tears from seas of opponents and supporters in color-coded T-shirts, Houston City Council passed an ordinance on Wednesday extending equal rights protections to gay and transgender residents.

Former “Baywatch” beauty Pamela Anderson said she was gang-raped by seven boys in high school — including her then-boyfriend — and was also subjected to sexual molestation by a babysitter between the ages of 6 and 10. Ms. Anderson, speaking during the launch of her Pamela Anderson Foundation, said she was raped, too, at the age of 12 by a 25-year-old, NBC News reported. “My first boyfriend in grade nine decided it would be funny to gang-rape me, with six of his friends,” she said, NBC reported, citing a transcript of her speech that was posted on her foundation’s website....

Q: I have a question about preaching: what happens in times and places where there is no priest or deacon available to hold Mass, and a communion service or another form of liturgical prayer is held? –Mark A: While the scenario that Mark describes is not the norm, there’s no denying that in some parts of the world it’s unfortunately becoming increasingly common. Let’s see first what the code says about preaching in general, and then look at what the Church has to say about preaching in those particular situations where, due to a shortage of clergy, no priest or...

Some folks involved with the annual Burning Man festival plan on staging a counter-standoff to the one currently taken up by Bundy in his ongoing challenge to the feds over grazing rights. The video below posted by progressive activist Sean Shealy details the plan for a month-long shindig to be held after the official Burning Man proceedings that will take place directly across from Bundy Ranch. The "anything goes" action promises hundreds of bands, as many as 50,000 revelers, "total freedom," and of course full nudity. "You're free to let it all hang out right there, just like Bundy's cattle,"...

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Lena Dunham feels a very strong connection to the gay community. So strong, in fact, that when she realized she was attracted to men it came as a "huge disappointment." Dunham shared her views on her lesbian sister and sexual attraction during an appearance at the Point Honors Gala at the New York Public Library Monday....

Blame it on a drunken stupor. That's what Toronto Mayor Rob Ford did. If you pick up the new issue of Rolling Stone, you'll get to see in Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the buff. The 53-year-old "Veep" actress unveiled the magazine's cover photo on Twitter: She tweeted that she's about to get more Twitter followers -- and she's right. We just started following her. Her butt-naked appearance coincides with the third season of "Veep," which premiered on Sunday. In the issue, which hits newsstands on Friday, Louis-Dreyfus dishes on the upcoming season (she's thrilled her character gets to curse a lot),...

Q: Recently, a Catholic priest in our area left to become “pastor” of an Episcopal church. If we assume for a moment that the Episcopal liturgy contains the valid words of Institution, and if we assume that valid matter was used, does he confect the Eucharist? –Patrick A: Sad to say, the case cited by Patrick is far from unique. In certain countries with a sizeable Episcopal community, one far too frequently encounters priests who have left the Catholic Church to join the Church of England—often in order to get married while still remaining in some sort of ministry—and who...

Q: My fiancée and I attended a marriage-prep class in our diocese, and one of the speakers said something we didn’t fully understand. First he urged us to be open and honest with each other about our past lives, not hiding anything from one another, which made basic sense to us. But then he mentioned that we need to do this because otherwise our marriage could be null. We’ve known each other since childhood anyway, so it’s a moot point for us. Later on, though, we were wondering if telling your future spouse every single little thing about you is...

The U.S. branch of the evangelical humanitarian aid organization World Vision announced this week that it will no longer bar its employees from being in same-sex marriages. Employees are still barred from having sex outside of marriage, but “marriage” will now include marriages between people of the same sex. World Vision U.S. president Richard Stearns tells Christianity Today the change is “not an endorsement of same-sex marriage,” but it’s hard to read it any other way. It’s certainly a disappointing loss for supporters of traditional marriage, but I’m not surprised, and here’s why. "I think you have to be neutral...

What Pop Star Lady Gaga Did on Stage Thursday Night Has Some Calling It Downright ‘Sick’ (GRAPHIC) Pop star Lady Gaga is known for her shocking outfits and antics. But what she did on stage Thursday night at the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, has left even some of the most desensitized critics calling it “ridiculous” and “sick.” While performing her song “Swine,” the singer was joined by someone named Millie Brown. Brown is an artist of sorts who specializes in painting with…vomit. That’s right, she ingests colored liquid and then sticks her fingers down her throat and...

CUSCO, Peru, Security at the Peruvian historical site of Machu Picchu has been increased after a recent string of streakers invading the centuries-old Inca citadel. Late last year, guards arrested two male tourists who were caught streaking at the site. More recently, a video of a couple streaking at Machu Picchu went viral on YouTube, prompting others to follow suit, The Guardian newspaper in London reported Friday. Ricardo Ruiz Caro, Peru's new regional director of culture, announced recently that park guards will increase surveillance to "avoid these unfortunate events that threaten cultural heritage."

Q1: I’m Catholic and my fiancé is from a devout Lutheran family. They weren’t too pleased when I told them our wedding has to take place in a Catholic church…. Is it permissible for us under canon law to have a wedding ceremony in my parish church, and have his Lutheran minister “co-marry” us there, alongside the Catholic priest? I asked my pastor and he said no, but I couldn’t tell if he refused because that’s actually the law, or if he just didn’t like the idea. –Christina Q2: My Jewish girlfriend and I want to get married, and both...

Q: What does canon law say about Catholics eloping? I understand the issue from the perspective of the sacramental theology of the Church, but was wondering if canon law had anything to say about it. –David A: When we speak of “elopement” today, we usually envision a young couple running away in the middle of the night to be married in secret, and without the consent of their parents—usually by a justice of the peace in a civil wedding ceremony. Is it ever possible for a Catholic couple (or a couple including only one Catholic) to marry under such circumstances?...

So, I lurk on Free Republic quite a bit. Usually it's to read some of the outrageous comments some post here and some of it is to see what your opinions are on certain articles that also get posted elsewhere. So, a little bit about myself. I'm in my 20s and of Hispanic origin. I was born in New York but moved to Florida when I was three years old. I'm what you guys would consider a "socialist". I don't consider myself a socialist, I'm a supporter of the free market economy except I favor strong government regulations. While on...