Free Republic

595 men are expected to be ordained to the priesthood in the United States in 2015, an increase of 24.7% over last year’s figure of 477, according to data released by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The number of men ordained to the priesthood in the US fell steadily from 994 in 1965, to 771 in 1975, 533 in 1985, 511 in 1995, and 454 in 2005, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

A young Syrian child raises her arms in a gesture of surrender. Credit: Osman Sagirli. Beirut, Lebanon, Apr 4, 2015 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A photo that went viral last week depicting a young Syrian child “surrendering” in front of a camera she thought to be a gun is but a mere hint at the trauma which displaced and refugee children face across the Middle East, an aid worker says. “In regards to the children, it’s a very bleak and complex (situation). Circumstances are not good at all,” Zerene Haddad told CNA during a March 31 phone call from...

“Father, when does Easter end?” I am often asked that question about this time of year. I suspect that what folks really mean is, “When does the Easter Season end?” I suppose it would be fair to say that Easter Sunday lasts as long as any other Sunday, and that the Easter Season lasts a span of a few weeks. That would be accurate—but misleading. Easter is a fact that spans across the centuries and gives meaning to past, present and future; the Easter Season is a daily fact that reaches into eternity. I learned those truths at the...

Miao, India, Apr 3, 2015 / 04:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In the Diocese of Miao, located in India's northeasternmost state of Arunachal Pradesh, Bishop George Pallipparambil is not staying quietly in his cathedral for Holy Week, but is rather holding services across the diocese in an effort to better serve his people. “What we're trying to do is to reach to as many places as possible. I'm not confining myself to the main church in Miao,” the bishop told CNA April 1. “I'll be there only for the Easter Sunday Mass.” “I finished today in one place, tomorrow I'll be...

In coastal Maine, a youthful priest from Nigeria now tends to parishes long comprising millworker and fishing families, a stark reflection of how the Catholic Church is changing both here and across the globe.

Is the Book of Mormon too violent for children? Graphic Murder and TortureMoroni 9:8 8 And the husbands and fathers of those women and children they have slain; and they feed the women upon the flesh of their husbands, and the children upon the flesh of their fathers; and no water, save a little, do they give unto them. Bodily Mutilation and Killing by Jesus's Hero, AmmonAlma 17: 38 Now six of them had fallen by the sling, but he slew none save it were their leader with his sword; and he smote off as many of their arms as...

Sermon1. Tonight we remember the death of our Lord and Saviour. Death is often a horrible experience. What makes our Lord’s death even more horrible is that He was killed, murder by the brutal act of crucufixion. 2. This evening, we ask - who could have done such a thing? Who killed Jesus? There are many we might blame. 3. Perhaps we would blame the Pharisees and the religious leaders. Jesus had denounced their false worship and religion and had become a threat to them Mat 12:14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. After...

A devout Mormon and an evangelical street preacher exchange words near Temple Square. Next thing you know, they're dining together on roadkill In 2007, Bryan Hall was almost finished filming his documentary, Us and Them: Religious Rivalry in America. He still didn't know how to end the film. A devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the now-42-year-old from Orem, thought about the protesters on Temple Square. He finally said, "Let's go talk to those crazy street preachers." There he met the outspoken leader of the street preachers, Ruben Israel, a 53-year-old Whittier, Calif., native who...

IntroductionStatue of Christ on the cross Christ on the cross © The Passion of Christ is the story of Jesus Christ's arrest, trial and suffering. It ends with his execution by crucifixion. The Passion is an episode in a longer story and cannot be properly understood without the story of the Resurrection. The word Passion comes from the Latin word for suffering. The crucifixion of Jesus is accepted by many scholars as an actual historical event. It is recorded in the writings of Paul, the Gospels, Josephus, and the Roman historian Tacitus. Scholars differ about the historical accuracy of the...

Pope John Paul II prays at the Hill of Crosses in Siauliai, Lithuania, in 1993. (CNS photo/Arturo Mari, L'Osserv atore Romano) (March 23, 2014) The first time I really thought about Pope John Paul II was when I watched him being ripped to shreds. Not literally, thankfully, although there was actual ripping involved. I was an Evangelical at the time, a year removed from Bible college and living in Portland, Oregon. One evening, in October 1992, my housemates and I tuned into “Saturday Night Live”, which was notable since I rarely watched television and I had little interest in...

I take this occasion to write to you in honor of the birthday on 11 Nissan of the spiritual leader of the generation, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who made our generation aware of the possibility and ability, and the great obligation, to spread to the Children of Noah the teachings of G-d’s Torah that was given through Moses: they should all accept upon themselves the Universal Commandments that were commanded to Adam and Noah and all humanity after them, and accept the yoke of the Kingship of Heaven completely. As his students, we call upon all people to believe in...

It would be hard to live closer to the belly of the high-tech beast than Menlo Park in Northern California's Silicon Valley. Close to Stanford University? Check. A highway exchange or two from the Apple mother ship? Check. Not that far from Googleplex? Check. It's the kind of home base from which an Opus Dei (Latin for "Work of God") priest – with the organization's emphasis on leadership among laypeople as well as clergy – can lecture, as Father C. John McCloskey recently quipped, to "300 actual and would-be Techies and Masters of the Universe." It's also an interesting place...

ROME — American Cardinal Raymond Burke, popularly seen as a leader of conservative backlash against Pope Francis, insists in a new interview that he’s not opposed to the pontiff because he “hasn’t done anything that contradicts [Church] teaching.” Burke also warns that unnamed individuals are “pushing a gay agenda” ahead of the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the family, a Vatican summit set for Oct. 4-25. Speaking to the online Italian publication La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, Burke said it is “evident that there are forces pushing” the Church toward finding positive elements in sexual relations outside of marriage, including gay...

Introduction: On December 2, 1981 Saint Pope John Paul -2 began Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration with the Blessed Sacrament exposed in a Chapel at Saint Peter's in Rome and appealed to all Parishes to do the same. He exhorted us to fill our Churches outside the timetable of Masses with hours of adoration and prolonged periods of Exposition as an expression of our personal commitment to our Eucharistic Lord and Saviour. Jesus Christ himself points to the ways, the means, and the source of renewal when he says "Come to Me" for "I will refresh you" (Matthew 11:28). And again, "See...

Don and Carol Richardson and their seven-month-old son Steven left their home in Canada and moved to the jungles on Papua New Guinea to live among the Sawi tribe in 1962. The Sawi, cannibals, considered killing and treachery to be virtues. It was the Richardsons' earnest desire to share the love of God with these people, but it seemed an impossible task. They asked the Lord to make a way for them to help the people grasp it. When another tribe attacked the Sawi, the killing went on for weeks. Finally Don told the people that they would leave if...

Archbishop of Westminster says family synod is 'a time of prayerful discernment' in Chrism Mass homilyCardinal Vincent Nichols has said October’s synod on the family should not be viewed as “a battle between contesting sides”. Cardinal Nichols made the comment in his homily during Chrism Mass for the Diocese of Westminster at Westminster Cathedral earlier today. He told the congregation that their prayers were needed as “the Church prepares for the next Synod of Bishops”. “It is wrong, in my view, to think or speak of this Synod as a battle, a battle between contesting sides. Battles have winners and...

Mercy! So Great a Gift – Why Many Parishes Need to Reconsider When They Offer the Sacrament of Confession By: Msgr. Charles PopeAt tonight’s Chrism Mass, the Cardinal chose to focus his remarks to the more than 300 priests in attendance on the beauty of the Sacrament of Confession and the power of mercy. What a magnificent gift the Lord gave His Church through the ministry of priests, that we can hear His blessed words, I absolve you from your sins … go in peace.My mind goes back to a beautiful story of St. John Paul II and a certain bishop (not of...

Carrying signs reading “Who Am I to Judge?” and “Love One Another,” hundreds of students, teachers and supporters marched Monday evening from the Mission Dolores Basilica to the Cathedral of St. Mary in San Francisco, where they delivered petitions opposing the archbishop’s “morality clauses” at four Catholic high schools. San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has come under fire for calling on teachers and staff members at high schools within the archdiocese — Sacred Heart Cathedral, Archbishop Riordan, Serra and Marin Catholic — to accept contract and handbook language against homosexuality, same-sex marriage, abortion, contraceptives and artificial insemination. Many of the...

Luca Toni reportedly failed to pay church taxes while playing for Bayern Munich in GermanyItalian footballer Luca Toni could be taken to court by the Catholic Church in Germany over unpaid church taxes, according to reports. According to Sport Mediaset, Toni did not pay the Kirchensteuer (church tax) while playing for Bayern Munich from 2007 to 2010 and a trial is now possible as the German Church attempts to claw back around €1.7m. It has has been reported that Toni, who currently play for Hellas Verona in Serie A, was initially registered by his accountant as an atheist, but later...

In Interview with La Nacion's Elisabetta Pique, Prefect of the Pontifical Household Says Benedict XVI "Impressed" By SuccessorArchbishop Georg Gänswein says Pope Benedict “follows his successor with great attention and sympathy.” The prefect of the Pontifical Household gave an interview to La Nacion's Elisabetta Piqué, which was published on March 21st. The German prelate, who serves as personal secretary to both Pontiffs, said that in a number of ways he and Benedict have been “impressed” by Pope Francis, both as a human being and as a spiritual leader. While acknowledging that the first Jesuit Pope to hail from the Americas...