Free Republic

Washington, D.C., September 05, 2014 (Zenit.org) | 3257 hits Below is a statement released Thursday by the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, regarding the next legal battles facing the diocese regarding the state supreme court's attempt to mandate breaking the seal of confession. The diocese reports that now the "Louisiana Supreme Court has directed the trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing and then to take the unprecedented step of deciding whether or not a sacrament actually took place."It notes that "civil courts are entirely without jurisdiction to decide what constitutes a sacrament in the Catholic Church."A statement on the case from July...

I warmly recommend to the readership a column by Francis Card. George, Archbishop of Chicago. His Eminence knocks this one over the fence.We enter in medias res. You can find the whole thing HERE: [...]In recent years, society has brought social and legislative approval to all types of sexual relationships that used to be considered “sinful.” Since the biblical vision of what it means to be human tells us that not every friendship or love can be expressed in sexual relations, the church’s teaching on these issues is now evidence of intolerance for what the civil law upholds and even...

NEW YORK — Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s positive reaction to this week’s decision by organizers of New York’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade to allow gay groups to march under their own banners initially drew charitable responses in many Catholic Church circles. But it didn’t take long for conservative church critics to turn. After initially signaling his grudging acceptance, William Donohue of the Catholic League came back with a revised view when he realized that more than one gay group could be allowed to march in the future.

Many of you have expressed concern about a blog post I wrote on the St. Patrick’s Day Parade which was removed. I am grateful for your concern about this and all the issues we discuss here. I removed the post upon further reflection due to the strong nature of the language I had used in parts of it. I apologize if the language I used caused offense. I remain concerned about the central point of the article, namely, how we as Catholics can effectively engage a culture that increasingly requires us to affirm what we cannot reasonably affirm. There are...

Cardinal Raymond Burke, head of the Vatican’s highest court – the Apostolic Signatura – has given a lengthy televised interview in which he decisively rectifies the false notions about Pope Francis’ “Who am I to judge” quote that has been used frequently to suggest a change in Church teaching on the matter of homosexuality. Host Thomas McKenna of Catholic Action Insight questioned Cardinal Burke about instances where people must make judgments in light of Pope Francis’ “Who am I to judge” phrase.  “We have to judge acts, we have to,” Cardinal Burke replied. “All day long we make judgments with...

New York City, N.Y., Sep 5, 2014 / 11:48 am (CNA).- A spokesman for the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade said the inclusion of an LGBT activist group in the traditionally Catholic parade was a “gesture of goodwill,” though concerns have been raised that some outside groups aim to remove the event’s Catholic character. Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, a longtime supporter of the parade’s previous policy against political signs and advocacy, said that organizers initially formally assured him that both homosexual groups and pro-life groups prohibited under the old policy could now apply to march...

How did Cardinal Dolan ever acquire a reputation for seeming orthodoxy? He’s about as orthodox a Catholic as Katherine Jefferts Schori. And it seems if there is any crowd to be played to, any group to be appeased (save, of course, for faithful Catholics), Dolan is ever ready to surrender to the demands of the world, no matter how craven he appears, no matter how great the scandal he gives, in so doing. Of course, his short little Archie Bunker clone attack dog will always be there yipping at his heels a chorus of unwavering if incoherent support. Pathetic: The...

Painting the Catholic Church as "out of touch" is like shooting fish in a barrel, what with the funny hats and gilded churches. And nothing makes it easier than the Church's stance against contraception. Many people, (including our editor) are wondering why the Catholic Church doesn't just ditch this requirement. They note that most Catholics ignore it, and that most everyone else finds it divisive, or "out-dated." C'mon! It's the 21st century, they say! Don't they SEE that it's STUPID, they scream. Here's the thing, though: the Catholic Church is the world's biggest and oldest organization. It has buried all...

If reports are to be believed, a compromise is in the works that will amount to nothing less than an endorsement of the gay identity in the 2015 NYC St. Patrick's Day parade. The Irish Times reports that under pressure from NBC, not only will a group be allowed to march in the parade with a gay identity banner (something previously banned) but that none other than Timothy Cardinal Dolan will be Grand Marshal.A gay group of employees from NBC will march in next year’s New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade behind their own banner, a source with knowledge...

Why do Catholics who are aligned with Democrats on social welfare and Republicans on abortion usually vote Democrat? Recent political science research suggests an answer. Some Catholics who vote for Democratic candidates incorrectly assume those candidates are pro-life. Catholics are often used as an example of "cross-pressured voters" due to the political party positions on abortion and welfare. Laura Hussey, associate professor of American public policy and administration at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Geoffrey Layman, professor of political science at University of Notre Dame, however, found that a minority of Catholics were both pro-life and pro-welfare, and those...

NEW YORK (RNS) After years of strong resistance, organizers of New York’s St. Patrick’s Day parade on Wednesday (Sept. 3) said that gays and lesbians will be allowed to march under their own banner for the first time, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan — the parade’s grand marshal next March — has welcomed the move. The decision is another sign of how quickly changing public attitudes toward gay people have pushed changes in state laws, government policies and the practices of private entities. Dolan’s positive response may also point to a shifting dynamic within the Catholic Church on gays and lesbians...

If reports are to be believed, a compromise is in the works that will amount to nothing less than an endorsement of the gay identity in the 2015 NYC St. Patrick's Day parade. The Irish Times reports that under pressure from NBC, not only will a group be allowed to march in the parade with a gay identity banner (something previously banned) but that none other than Timothy Cardinal Dolan will be Grand Marshal. Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/pat-archbold/cardinal-dolan-and-the-nyc-st.-patricks-gay-parade#ixzz3CGn0Y6ia

This contradiction was laid bare recently when the Holy See, acting in secret, threw the protective cloak of diplomatic immunity over Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski — the papal nuncio in the Dominican Republic and an alleged serial abuser of minors. In a show of toughness, church officials defrocked Wesolowski and promised to try him according to the laws of Vatican City. In effect, though, church officials once again shielded a predator priest from civil jurisdiction.

(Vatican Radio) The atrocities committed by Islamic State (in Arabic: “Daesh”) militants in Iraq should be a wakeup call to the international community to take action. That’s according to Lebanese Patriarchal Vicar for the Maronite Church, Archbishop Paul Sayah who warns that if IS and other extremist Islamic groups are not stopped, they will threaten the security of other states within and without the Middle East. Tens of thousands of Christians, Yazidis and other minorities have fled to Northern Iraq to escape the death threats and brutality of the militants. “I think everybody should wake up, otherwise, I think this...

Catholic, Orthodox Patriarchs Call for Islamic State’s Destruction by John Rossomando Investigative Project on Terrorism Genocide against Christians across the Middle East prompted the region’s Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs to call for foreign intervention Wednesday during a meeting at the Maronite patriarchate in Lebanon. Islamic State forces, along with other jihadist groups, have systematically destroyed ancient Christian communities in both Syria and Iraq since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2012. “The international community cannot keep silent about the existence of the so-called,” the patriarchs said in a statement, referring to the Islamic State. “They should put an end...

Self-styled Catholic critics of the free market and “Americanism” have adopted the term “social Magisterium” to suggest that there is a coherent and morally binding body of papal teaching on politics and economics, from which we can derive specific policy initiatives and firmly condemn alternatives as “un-Catholic” or even (that dreaded word) “dissenting.” Hence defenders of market economics, or opponents of mass immigration, can be tarred with the same brush as those who favor women’s ordination or homosexuality. Indeed, if we accept the premise of a “social magisterium,” we are led to believe that we can actually build up a...

“How many divisions does the Pope have?” Joseph Stalin once ironically asked the official warning him of the Vatican's “power.” Decades later, totalitarian regimes have all but vanished, while the Catholic Church, founded strictly on an evangelical message of love, has continued to grow. “I’d like to buy your argument,” replied the professor, “but the facts are other than you assert. How is it that Catholic countries such as Spain and Portugal promoted the slave trade in America, if, as you claim, the Catholic Church actually brought the end of slavery? How do you explain certain bishops of the American...

Have you noticed that the word “lust” is being purged from the Bible? The Greek word for lust (epithemia) points to inner sin thirty-four times in the New Testament. In the vast majority of these places it has traditionally been properly translated as “lust” or the archaic and more precise word, “concupiscence.” Not Any More Unfortunately, modern translations, such as the New International Version (NIV) are abandoning the word lust....

A LINE IN THE SAND by Michael Farris The following article will appear in the Second Quarter 2014 Home School Court Report, due in mailboxes late August. Two prominent speakers on the homeschooling circuit have experienced dramatic falls from favor due to admitted sin. Bill Gothard and Doug Phillips have both been accused of serious sins involving young women. The accusations are sexual in nature. Both men have admitted to some form of sin with regard to these accusations, although each has disputed some of the details. Gothard disputes that his sins were sexual in nature. Phillips admits to an...

I have argued before that, in their fullest, libertarianism and Catholicism are incompatible -- but to what degree are they so? Leaders of the libertarian movement have certainly said silly, anti-Catholic things. Ludwig von Mises, for example, compared Christ to the Bolshevists and also said, "..[I]t is the resistance which the Church has offered to the spread of liberal ideas which has prepared the soil for the destructive resentment of modern socialist thought" (Socialism, Chapter 29). Translation: opposition to liberalism of one stripe must be blamed for inspiring liberalism of another. Huh? Much of the conflict between libertarians and the...