Free Republic

The website ontheissues.org notes that: "Since an abortive run for Congress in 1992 while still a City Councilor, Menino has supported legal abortion and the public funding of abortion. In his first campaign for Mayor in 1993, he indicated that he would continue the practice of taxpayer finance abortions at Boston City Hospital." See here. As Mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino marched with homosexuals, promoted same-sex "marriage," and expressed his desire to keep the restaurant chain Chicj-fil-A out of Boston because of its adherence to Biblical values. See here.

"The Man who would one day be Pope Francis had come to hold a service far from the grandeur of the great cathedral of Buenos Aires. He had travelled – taking the subway train and then the bus – to arrive in one of the shanty-towns, which Argentines call villas miserias – misery villages. He had picked his way down crooked and chaotic alleyways, criss-crossed with water pipes and dangling electricity cables, along which open sewers ran as malodorous streams when the rain came. There, amid ramshackle houses of crudely- cemented terracotta breezeblock, he fell into conversation with the middle-aged...

A creepy crime in one Boston suburb has police unsettled: a burglar who breaks in while people inside are sleeping — and then waits for them to wake up. He’s a creepy burglar accused of breaking into homes in the middle of the night. Police say he ends up in peoples’ bedrooms — lurking and watching — until the person wakes up. Then, police say he apologizes before taking off.

There was to be a “Black Mass” performance at the Oklahoma City Civic Center on September 21, using a consecrated Host. But after Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley succeeded in getting a judge to issue a restraining order, on the grounds that the Host had been stolen, the attorney for the Satanic group returned the Host to a Catholic priest. The archbishop then dropped his lawsuit. Here is how the story played out over the summer. When we learned of this scheduled performance, we issued a news release on July 2 calling attention to what a “Black Mass” entails. We...

Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski was installed as the ninth spiritual shepherd of the Diocese of Springfield, Mass., during a solemn Aug. 12 Mass at the Cathedral of St. Michael. In his homily, he highlighted the responsibility of a shepherd to reach out and bring back lost sheep. Citing Pope Francis, Bishop Rozanski said all are called to welcome the alienated “by our compassion, joy and witness to the love of God at work in our world.” “As your bishop,” the 56-year-old Baltimore native said, “I am keenly aware of the need to reach out to those who have stopped practicing...

The sign of peace at Mass has not always led to serenity among liturgists or within the congregations gathered each Sunday in Catholic churches around the world. After nine years of study and consultation, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments has told Latin-rite bishops around the world that the sign of peace will stay where it is in the Mass. However, the congregation said, “if it is foreseen that it will not take place properly,” it can be omitted. But when it is used, it must be done with dignity and awareness that it is not a liturgical...

Vatican City, Jul 31, 2014 / 05:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Congregation for Divine Worship, in a recent circular letter, announced that the placement of the sign of peace within Mass will not change, though it suggested several ways the rite could be performed with greater dignity. “The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments … pronounced in favor of maintaining the 'rite' and 'sign' of peace in the place it has now in the Ordinary of the Mass,” Fr. Jose Maria Gil Tamayo, secretary general of the Spanish bishops' conference, related in a July 28 memo....

Photo gallery from the city's third 'Mass Mob' this summer. Nearly 2,000 people packed an historic Catholic Church for a regular Sunday Mass. It's the third time it's happened, with the crowds getting bigger each time. (Detroit Free Press had a great article on it here, but won't let folks post excerpts, so you'll have to read the article at the link: http://www.freep.com/article/20140713/NEWS05/307130141/Detroit-Mass-Mob-Sweetest-Heart )

Our altar boys practically fight for the honor of being the thurifer. That's the name for the server who carries the thurible — the censer — in the procession at Mass.  They like being thurifer because they get to wear the more ornate lace surplice, and they know thurifer is the most complicated job and is reserved for the older, more experienced boys. The use of incense is optional for most Masses.  It's used to purify the coffin at funerals and to bless statues and images.  However, many Catholic priests choose not to use incense at Mass, and the...

Making “black masses” open to the public exposes people to serious evil, an exorcist warned this week in the wake of news that a satanic church plans to stage the ritual in a public venue in Oklahoma City. “You cannot attend such an event—even if one does so merely out of curiosity, and not with any firm desire to worship Satan—without being adversely affected,” the exorcist cautioned, in an exclusive interview with Aleteia. “The mere fact that this black mass in Oklahoma City will be public lends it a certain legitimacy, and I suspect that some people will go...

The results of a recent survey by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate indicate that more than half the priests in the United States dislike the new Missal translation. A very large majority finds parts of it “awkward and distracting.” Many believe it urgently needs revision. Fr. Tony Cutcher, president of the Federation of Priests’ Councils, says it’s time to move forward with “constructive criticism” and changes. Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory said much the same thing recently at a conference in Florida. OK, I’m ready. Can we change “chalice” back to “cup” now? The new translation retired the...

History of Head Covering and ScriptureFor over 2000 years Christian women have covered their heads during Mass, sacred rites, as well as prayer and adoration. In most instances this was done by wearing a veil, as it tended to be the most convenient way. It was not until recently that many women stopped wearing the veil or any head covering for that manner. This is true especially during the post Vatican II epoch and during the women’s lib movement during the 1960s and 1970s.Old TestamentIn the book of Genesis 24 when Rebecca meats Isaac she veils herself. “Rebecca too looked...

In light of recent religious persecutions, Chris Stefanick’s latest video is bound to bring tears to your eyes. In a brief, two-and-a-half minute YouTube video entitled “Mass”, the well-known Catholic public speaker paints a powerful picture of what a privilege it is to attend Mass in freedom and how this can be so easily taken for granted.On one hand, Stefanick recalls a recent text from a friend of his in Iraq: “Please pray for our church, where all the people are held captive by terrorists.”A few hours later, another text followed: “Lord have mercy.” Shortly thereafter, everyone in that Catholic...

While announcing that they would not longer give killers the opportunity at glory that comes from having their names mentioned and their photographs aired on television, Sun News also address the extremely low rate of "mass shootings" in America compared to the excruciatingly high rate of murder in gun-controlled Chicago. According to the Sun News, mass shootings around the world--including the U.S.--are so rare that news agencies make a mistake by seizing on them. Focusing specifically on the U.S., Sun News reported: "And in the U.S., they account for less than one percent of all gun-related deaths. Far more people

Rampage shooters crave the spotlight, and we should do everything possible to deprive them of it. How might journalists and police change their practices to discourage mass shootings? First, they need to do more to deprive the killer of an audience: Never publish a shooter's propaganda. Hide their names and faces. Don't report on biography or speculate on motive. Minimize specifics and gory details. No photos or videos of the event. Talk about the victims but minimize images of grieving families. Decrease the saturation.

Die Welt [Summary: Pope Francis has excommunicated the Austrian president of the Catholic reform movement called We Are Church. A report in Tiroler Tageszeitung has confirmed that Martha Heizer and her husband can no longer participate in the sacraments. Excommunication is the most severe penalty the church can impose. The retired religious educator and her husband in their private home regularly celebrated with other believers but without ordained priests.] THE FOLLOWING TRANSLATION IS FROM GERMAN TO ENGLISH USING A TRANSLATION DEVISE, SO IT MIGHT NOT BE TOO GOOD FROM THE NEWS PAPER DIE WELT : Pope Francis, the Austrian...

The writer as a budding, young conservative, during his youth filled with happiness, in large part due to his liberal mother. Today is a day where sons and daughters throughout the world make up for the other 364 days where we either give our Moms sleepless nights of worry and indigestion for our recklessness and general ambivalence. It also gives us a chance to reflect on the impact our mothers have in our lives, our personalities and all that we are. On this Mothers Day I share the thoughts of a ultra-conservative son who is everything he is because...

Growing up in rural Georgia, Easter meant not only the resurrection of Jesus, but also a new Sunday dress, a hat, gloves and more chocolate than I could eat, at least at one time. My sister Kathy and I would wake up before dawn, rush to our Easter baskets, eat a few bites of chocolate, get dressed in our brand new Easter dresses and head out for the sunrise service, with candy stashed in our purses. It seemed as though the services were more bearable since we were able to unwrap the candy during the service and pop it...

Over the winter break, I spent several days shifting through the survey results in the diocese’s archive, located in St. Mary’s Seminary. The survey results could provide evidence for many articles, even books, but I was initially only interested in questions dealing with the liturgy. The simple answer to the laity’s reception of the liturgical changes can be found in question 19: “Changes in the Mass have harmed rather than helped me to worship” and 27% agreed and 68% disagreed. These results confirm the standard narrative that the majority of Catholics preferred the new Mass with its use of English...

Those who are bent on making their own unauthorized changes to the liturgy or who otherwise promote or tolerate various liturgical abuses often fail to appreciate how such an endeavor can constitute grave sin. I know this because some have accused me of making a mountain out of a molehill for my opposition to various liturgical abuses. Dr. Germain Grisez explains: "There are many reasons why it is wrong for priests intentionally to make unauthorized liturgical changes. Two are especially important. First, such changes sometimes embody or imply deviations from Catholic faith; even when they do not, they often omit...