Free Republic

Presidential Address of the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev Barry Morgan to he Governing Body meeting at the University of Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, on 14 Sept 2016I have to confess that over the last 13 years, I have never re-read a presidential address that I have given to this Governing Body. Good job too, some of you may be thinking, once is more than enough for anyone!! Before writing this one however, I decided to re-read the first one I ever gave as the new Archbishop and was amazed to discover that I had spoken about the authority...

September 16, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The Catholic bishop of Cuernavaca, Mexico, is being investigated in response to his opposition to the gay agenda, according to national and local media sources, but he says if he goes to prison he’ll take advantage of the opportunity to bring the Gospel of Christ to the inmates there. Bishop Ramón Castro has been informed that he’s being investigated in response to a complaint by the socialist governor of the state of Morelos, Graco Ramírez, for speaking out against the creation of homosexual “marriage,” which was recently passed by the state legislature and signed into...

EDMONTON, Alberta, September 15, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — The Catholic Church has not changed her practice towards divorced and civilly remarried Catholics — despite what the faithful may have been led to believe through the media or other sources, the Alberta and Northwest Territory bishops stated in pastoral guidelines released Wednesday. It is “erroneous” to conclude that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics can receive Holy Communion “if they simply have a conversation with a priest,” stated the guidelines, signed by the six bishops responsible for over 1,000,000 Catholics in five dioceses. The 10-page document is intended to “answer the call of...

Aleteia: You were ordained a priest in Mongolia on August 28, 2016, which makes you the first indigenous priest for almost 1000 years! How do you feel about the historical significance of this?  Joseph Enkhee-Baatar: I am just glad and honored to have been chosen to be ordained here in Mongolia, and to be a small part of the mission. The first missionaries who came to the Mongol Empire were Nestorians. They came as early as the 7th and 8th century. Consequently, several Mongol tribes converted to Christianity. Then, in the thirteenth century under the Yuan dynasty, the first Catholic missionaries arrived. According to some historical...

VATICAN CITY — In a change to church law, Latin-rite Catholic deacons may not preside at a wedding when one or both of the new spouses are members of an Eastern Catholic church.The new rule is one of the changes to 11 canons in the Latin-rite Code of Canon law that Pope Francis approved in order to harmonize the laws of the Latin and Eastern Catholic churches on several issues involving the sacraments of baptism and marriage.After more than 15 years of study and worldwide consultation, the conflicting rules were resolved by adopting the Eastern code’s formulations for the Latin...

This is how retired radical Vancouver Island Bishop Remi De Roo, 92, is being described by St. Mark’s College on the UBC campus, which is hosting his talk Thursday evening: Bishop Remi J. De Roo is the last surviving bishop to have participated in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council, which spanned 1962 to 1965.”“A self-described “pilgrim” of the Council in the years since its closing, he has kept alive its goal of aggiornamento – the renewal of the Church as it relates with the world.”This is to say the least. Well-travelled De Roo has taken his lumps...

FEARS are growing for a bishop who has been arrested by Chinese authorities during the regime’s latest crackdown in religion.Bishop Peter Shao Zhu Min was detained by officials who reportedly took him “on a trip” sparking concern he has been transported to a labour camp. The Bishop had recently taken over as the Bishop of Wenzhou following the death of his 89-year-old predecessor. Despite Bishop Shao being recognised by the Vatican, Chinese authorities say he was not approved by the government. The 53-year-old was preparing for his predecessor Bishop Vincent Zhu Weifang’s funeral, which was attended by more than 5,000...

Cardinal Angelo Amato said Blessed Wladyslaw Bukowinski 'showed how faith can bring down walls'A Vatican official beatified a Polish-born priest deported to Soviet-ruled Central Asia who volunteered to stay on and minister to Catholics. Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes, said Fr Wladyslaw Bukowinski, who died in 1974, prayed to overcome “fear, hunger and violence, continuing his service at risk of being arrested and sent back to the gulag.” “His trials before Soviet courts and his time in labour camps gave him a pulpit for witness and evangelisation, from which he taught love of God...

The Pope and the Council continue to discuss the process of identifying candidates for bishop rolesPope Francis and members of the international Council of Cardinals advising him on Church governance once again discussed ways to improve the process of identifying the best priests to become bishops. “The cardinals reflected broadly on the spiritual and pastoral profile necessary for a bishop today,” said Greg Burke, director of the Vatican press office. Meeting with Pope Francis between September 12-14, they also discussed “the theme of the Holy See’s diplomatic service and the formation and tasks of apostolic nuncios with particular attention to...

What is repentance?  Is it turning from sin?  Is it not sinning?   Is it reforming one's life?  Is it getting cleaned up first, before coming to Christ? No word causes greater trepidation and uncertainty among those considering a decision of faith and no word causes greater fear and confusion among those already in the Church. This word has caused me some of the greatest angst in my life, largely because of how I've understood it: turning from sin, reforming my ways, being perfect.  Yet I continue to fail.  Daily.  This incredible dichotomy exists in my mind between the biblical...

Richmond, Va., Sep 13, 2016 / 04:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Soon after Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine suggested the Catholic Church would change on same-sex marriage, the Bishop of Richmond has said Catholic teaching on marriage is constant. “More than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage, and despite recent statements from the campaign trail, the Catholic Church’s 2000-year-old teaching to the truth about what constitutes marriage remains unchanged and resolute,” Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond said Sept. 13. “As Catholics, we believe all humans warrant dignity and deserve love and respect, and unjust discrimination is...

Munich, Germany, Sep 12, 2016 / 04:23 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has said he is satisfied with the papacy of Pope Francis and sees “no contradictions” between their pontificates. “Yes, there is suddenly a new freshness in the Church, a new joy, a new charisma that addresses the people, which is something beautiful. Many are thankful that the new Pope now approaches them in a new style. The Pope is the Pope, it doesn’t matter who it is,” Benedict said in his newly published collection of interviews. The collection, published as Last Testament, consists of his interviews...

Last month, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, until now president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, as the new grand chancellor of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family. The Institute, established in 1981, is devoted to the study of the truth about the human person in all its dimensions with the aim of generating a “culture of life”. Headquartered in Rome, it has centers in Washington D.C. and around the world. Archbishop Paglia has often spoken out in defense of the Church’s teaching on family, marriage and human sexuality, but he...

`There are around 1.2 billion Catholics in the world today; by 2050 it may be 1.6 billion (CNS) `Critics keep announcing the Church's imminent demise. If only they realised that numbers have doubled since 1970 – and are still rising In many parts of the world, it’s difficult to feel optimistic about the future of the Catholic Church. Some years ago, the American Physical Society heard an alarming paper that predicted the countries in the world that would have no religion whatever by 2100, and high on the list were such former Catholic heartlands as Austria and Ireland – Ireland!...

Andy Stanley and the “NEW Hermeneutic” Stanley has not dealt persuasively with the so-called obstacle of “The Bible says.” He has only moved the authority for belief to autonomous reason. One wonders, then, what kind of belief Stanley is advocating. There is natural belief in “every drop of rain that falls.” But then there is saving faith, which is the gift of God. This “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Minus the Word of God, Stanley re-presents Thomistic dualism for modern evangelical use: belief is the product of rational process beginning in disbelief.

TORONTO -- An unabashedly atheist minister who does not believe in the Bible should be defrocked for her beliefs, a United Church committee has recommended in a split decision that seems likely to stir further dissent in the church. In its unprecedented report, the reviewing panel said Gretta Vosper would not be ordained were she applying today given her extreme beliefs. "She is not suitable to continue in ordained ministry because she does not believe in God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit," the report by the Toronto Conference interview committee states. "Ms. Vosper does not recognize the primacy...

The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has published excerpts of Peter Seewald’s book-length interview with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Last Testament: In His Own Words will be published in Italy on September 9 and in the United States in November. “A weak point of mine was maybe little resolve in governing and making decisions,” said Pope Benedict. “In reality I am more a professor, one who reflects and meditates on spiritual questions," “Practical governance is not my strong point and this is certainly a weakness,” he added. “But I do not see myself as a failure.” The Pope Emeritus said...

NORTHBROOK, Illinois (RNS) Her whole life, Susan Vaickauski felt an internal struggle. But earlier this summer, as Vaickauski lay prostrate at the foot of the altar of a church in the Chicago suburbs, while friends, family and supporters sang the litany of the saints over her, that struggle disappeared. In its place, she said, she felt “this overwhelming sense of peace and just God saying, ‘Yes, this is exactly what I was asking of you. This is where I want you to be. This is what I want you to do.’ It’s this feeling of knowing you did what’s being...

With the mandolin, I play two hymns,“Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior”, written by William H. Doane, and accompanied with scenic star lighted night sky views, then a display of biblical scriptures, with a instrumental end, with the hymns, “God Be With You Till We Meet Again”, written by William G. Tomer. The two instrumental hymns are accompanied with sing-along lyrics. (New, I'm not singing) :))

Two ordinations will take place at St Mary's Shrine Church in Warrington in JuneOrdinations in the Extraordinary Form will take place in England and Wales possibly for the first time in decades next year. At the request of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP) and with the permission of Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool, two deacons will be ordained to the priesthood on June 17. The ordinations will take place at St Mary’s Shrine Church in Warrington, North West England. Writing in the Catholic Herald this week, Fr Armand de Malleray, superior of FSSP in England and Wales, said:...