Free Republic

Barronelle Stutzman is facing death threats and million-dollar lawsuits for adhering to her Christian beliefs.NEW YORK CITY — When Barronelle Stutzman took a stand for her Christian beliefs four and a half years ago, she never imagined that she would eventually be appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend her decision. But that’s exactly what happened. “This was never on my bucket list,” Barronelle told CNA. The 72-year-old grandmother is the owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Washington, and is currently involved in a lawsuit involving a customer of nearly 10 years, Rob Ingersoll. Barronelle knew Rob was homosexual...

C.J. Doyle: "This collaborationist, Vichy Catholicism is unacceptable" A prominent pro-lifer is outlining the capitulation between pro-abortion politicians and the Catholic Church that's keeping abortion unchecked and free in the state of Massachusetts.Church Militant spoke with C.J. Doyle, executive director of Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, about the petition calling out Cdl. Sean O'Malley and the increasing numbers of scandals. Below follows the full interview.CM: How long has the leadership of the Catholic Church been on the side of pro-abortion politicians in Boston? CJD: Catholic colleges, universities and elite secondary schools in the archdiocese of Boston have been inviting, honoring,...

MADISON, Wisconsin, November 3, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino is defending his diocese's recent guidelines to priests about denying funerals for non-repentant homosexuals, saying it’s the "straightforward teaching of the Church." He clarified in the face of an ugly campaign to have him removed as bishop that such guidelines in no way indicate that "we don’t care about homosexual people" Morlino, the bishop of the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, has come under fire because his priests received a guidance reminding them of what the Code of Canon Law says about Catholic funerals for unrepentant “manifest public sinners,” such...

Devin Kelley, an atheist and Air Force reject, a man who had been court-martialed and dishonorably discharged for assaulting his wife and child, entered the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday in full combat gear and cut down 26 Christians in cold blood and put another 20 in the hospital. Victims include eight members of one family and the pastor’s own 14-year-old daughter. The fill-in pastor was shot in the back as he made his way up to the pulpit. Said Wilson County Sheriff Joe D. Tackitt, Jr, “He (Kelley) just walked down the center aisle, turned...

The Winter article to which I referred a few days ago, not only attacks Fr Weinanandy, but also berates Cardinal DiNardo and the USA Episcopal Conference. Winter thinks that their response to Weinandy was weak. Actually, on reflection, I can't help feeling there is a little something in this. DiNardo does talk about dialogue and does refrain from angry personal remarks about Weinandy. Moreover, being 'sacked' as a Consultor of the Doctrine Commission may be rather a sweet martyrdom. Father will be spared boring chores arising from an episcopal tendency to kick troublesome balls into long grass by referring them...

It All Started With the "Spirit of the Council." The "Correctio" Explained by Pietro De Marco THE HERETICAL BACKGROUND OF MUCH OF TODAY’S PASTORAL PRACTICE by Pietro De MarcoWhat convinced me to sign the "Correctio" is its doctrinal core, meaning the clarification of the “false and heretical propositions propagated in the Church” even by Pope Francis. The propositions under censure in fact have the value of going to the heart of intellectual opinions and attitudes of theological-dogmatic significance that for decades have been spread in the intellectual Catholic "koinè."Pope Jorge Mario Bergoglio participates spontaneously in this "koinè." It is a...

Two perceptive essays that appear on the First Things site, each offering a different sort of insight into the pastoral approach of Pope Francis, help the reader to understand this frequently puzzling papacy. In the “Public Square” section of the magazine’s December issue, editor R. R. Reno argues: “Pope Francis and his associates want to sign a peace treaty with the sexual revolution.” At the heart of his essay (which can be found under the subhead “Bourgeois religion,” Reno provides the background for this charge:Catholicism and other forms of establishment Christianity in the West tend to take the form of...

Italian police interrogated pro-life leaders today after they ran a campaign yesterday honouring Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, one of the dubia authors, outside the Vatican. The pro-life groups ProVita Onlus, Vita è, and Fede e Cultura drove a publicity truck through the streets of Rome around the Vatican on Monday, bearing billboard-sized images of the dubia cardinal and Pope John Paul II. The police had stopped them for questioning on the Via della Conciliazione, the central road leading to St. Peter’s Basilica. According to main organizer Toni Brandi, head of ProVita Onlus, at one point the police claimed Cardinal Caffarra...

Proverb 9 (NKJV)The Way of Wisdom Wisdom's Invitation01 Wisdom has built her house, 00 She has hewn out her seven pillars; 02 She has slaughtered her meat, 00 She has mixed her wine, 00 She has also furnished her table. 03 She has sent out her maidens, 00 She cries out from the highest places of the city, 04 "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" 00 As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, 05 "Come, eat of my bread 00 And drink of the wine I have mixed. 06 Forsake foolishness and live, 00...

U.S. Cardinal Blase Cupich praised Jesuit Fr. James Martin for being what he called the “foremost evangelizer” of young people in the Church today.  “He really is one of the, if not the foremost evangelizer in the Church today, especially for young people,” said the Pope Francis-appointed Cardinal, who is the Archbishop of Chicago, while speaking at The University of Chicago Institute of Politics on Monday.  Martin, a Vatican consultant and editor-at-large of the Jesuit-run America magazine, is one of the most recognized proponents of homosexuality within the Catholic Church today.  The Jesuit priest has called for the Church to...

Famed Italian author criticizes the Holy Father for mirroring modern society by turning the Church into a place where “everything is unstable and changeable.” Edward Pentin The prominent Italian Catholic writer Vittorio Messori has expressed concern that Pope Francis is turning the Catholic Church into a kind of “liquid society” in which uncertainty and change are the only certainties. Writing in the latest edition of the Italian Catholic magazine Il Timone, Messori took as a point of reference the Polish Jewish sociologist Zygmut Bauman who first introduced the idea of “liquid modernity.” Bauman observed that the general trait of individualistic modern...

Prominent Catholic writer criticises Pope for creating ‘liquid society’ Church by Nick Hallett posted Wednesday, 8 Nov 2017 (CNS photo/Paul Haring) Vittorio Messori said Pope Francis is in danger of undermining the 'stability and firmness' of Church doctrineA prominent Catholic writer has accused Pope Francis of turning the Church into a “liquid society” where uncertainty is the only certainty.Vittorio Messori, who came to prominence after interviewing Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 1984 for the book The Ratzinger Report, said the Pope is in danger of making the same mistake as Protestants by reinterpreting doctrine and undermining the “stability and firmness of...

Key words: Proverb 8 (NKJV) The Excellence of Wisdom Wisdom Is Everlasting01 Does not wisdom cry out, 00 And understanding lift up her voice? 02 She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, 00 Beside the way, where the paths meet. 03 She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, 00 At the entrance of the doors: 04 "To you, O men, I call, 00 And my voice is to the sons of men. 05 O you simple ones, understand prudence, 00 And you fools, be of an understanding heart. 06 Listen, for...

On Sunday, the day of the church massacre, cultural commentator David French tweeted, “The amount of anti-Christian hate on Twitter the same day Christians were massacred is stunning and chilling.” If ever there was a time when we might have expected sympathy for Christians, or at least restraint in attacking them, the opposite proved true far too many times. Why? On Fox News, Laura Ingraham noted that some of the reactions to the shooting pointed to “elite hostility to people of faith,” stating that “hostility to faith infects the popular culture.” She also spoke of a rising “militant secularism,” drawing...

As Professor Claudio Pierantoni recently stated, there is an ongoing debate between himself and Professor Josef Seifert on one side and Professor Rocco Buttiglione on the other as pertains to the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. Buttiglione, who is known as an early defender of the exhortation, has also publicly criticized the recent Filial Correction of Pope Francis. All three philosophers — each a man of standing in his own right — have known each other for years. Seifert and Buttiglione worked together for two decades at the International Academy of Philosophy (IAP) in Liechtenstein. For his part, Professor Pierantoni was a student at...

London, England, Nov 2, 2017 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Bishop of Portsmouth, England has called Catholics to pray for the conversion of 113 Members of the British Parliament who signed a letter urging the ban of prayer vigils outside of abortion clinics. “It’s folly that Jeremy Corbyn and MPs want to restrict freedom of speech/prayer outside abortion clinics,” said Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth on Twitter. “Let’s pray for their conversion,” he continued. The MPs’ letter requested that Home Secretary Amber Rudd ban prayer vigils outside of abortion clinics, making them illegal. Members of five political political parties...

<p>Reversing a decision made last week to end contraceptive coverage for staff and students, Notre Dame said on Tuesday that although it follows Catholic teaching against the use of birth control, the school won't interfere with the contraception coverage maintained by the insurance company because of the "plurality of religious and other convictions among its employees."</p>

Mega-church Pastor Carl Lentz responded Tuesday to criticism about his recent comments on abortion, saying he does believe abortion is a sin but he chose to emphasize grace instead of the sin. Lentz, who leads the influential Hillsong Church in New York City, faced a lot of criticism this week after he side-stepped a question about abortion during his appearance on “The View.” His answer disappointed a lot of pro-life Christians. Many want their clergy to speak boldly about the value of unborn babies, the atrocity of abortion and the love that should be shown to both mother and child....

Proverb 7 (NKJV) The Wiles of a Harlot 01 My son, keep my words, 00 And treasure my commands within you. 02 Keep my commands and live, 00 And my law as the apple of your eye. 03 Bind them on your fingers; 00 Write them on the tablet of your heart. 04 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister,"; 00 And call understanding your nearest kin, 05 That they may keep you from the immoral woman, 00 From the seductress who flatters with her words. The Crafty Harlot 06 For at the window of my house 00 I...

Jeffrey Sachs at the Vatican in November 2017. World-renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs yells at Vatican reporter: ‘You’re disgusting’ ROME, November 6, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – “You’re disgusting, you’re disgusting, disgusting,” yelled world-renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs in the hallowed halls of the Casina Pio IV in the heart of the Vatican Gardens. Sachs, the Columbia University professor whose monthly newspaper columns appear in more than 100 countries, was in a full rage, threateningly pointing his finger in the face of this reporter during his outburst. I sat there rather stunned but also, I must admit, somewhat intimidated since this man marches in echelons...