Free Republic

On Friday, the Obama administration revised the HHS mandate rules — the first revision since losing to Hobby Lobby at the Supreme Court. The revisions provide no relief from the mandate and essentially restate how pro-life groups, like the Little Sisters, will have to pay huge fines if the violate the mandate. The upshot of the new rules? As Arina Grossu, Director for the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council, tells LifeNews, it’s “the threat of crippling fines on non-profits who stand up for their freedom of conscience.” littlesisters2Congressman Chris Smith, the top pro-life advocate in the...

When I entered I saw what I had written. I wanted to say a word to you and the word is “joy”. Wherever there are consecrated people, seminarians, men and women religious, young people, there is joy, there is always joy! It is the joy of freshness, the joy of following Jesus; the joy that the Holy Spirit gives us, not the joy of the world. There is joy! but — where is joy born? Joy is born from the gratuitousness of an encounter! It is hearing someone say, but not necessarily with words: “You are important to me”. This...

Dear Sisters, Brothers and Friends, You might be surprised that we are writing this letter so soon since you received the last one. But events are happening so quickly here shocking everybody because of its brutality and cruelty. On the night of the Feast of Transfiguration shooting started after mid-night, and continued until noon of the next day. On the morning of the sixth of June many shells fell on Karakosh. Between 8:30 and 9:00 a shell fell on a house and it killed two boys (nine and five years old) who were playing in the garden; and it also...

Today, in cloisters and schools around America, the sound of young voices is ringing out. These sisters’ voices resound in classrooms, lift in chant, laugh on the playing field — and bring their fresh, healthy orthodox Catholicism into the spiritual desert. In September 1971, Sister Imelda Marie, O.P. stepped into our eighth grade classroom. She was greeted by a stunned silence. Sister smiled awkwardly, and then turned on her heel to write pre-algebra equations on the chalkboard. From the back of the classroom came a stifled giggle, then a raised hand. “Sister, where’s your habit?” Sister Imelda was a formal...

It is tradition among the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity. The night before perpetual profession there’s a ‘Bride of Christ Shower’ (simple, yet festive reception) for the Sister(s) professing perpetual vows. Candles and lights helped create a warm atmosphere of joyful sharing on Sister Pamela Catherine’s August 1, 2014 party. Franciscan Bridal Shower BrideWho comes? The party is planned by those Sisters in Temporary Vows. Sisters on our General Administration are invited along with any Sisters who served as a support community for the Sister Pamela Catherine or for the Sisters in Temporary Profession that summer.

Along with Mass and adoration, the Dominican sisters at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, N.J., gather for prayer seven times a day. Courtesy photo Within the walls of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, New Jersey, rows of simple crosses mark the graves of sisters who have gone before. It’s a potent symbol of life in the monastery, where women enter cloistered life intending never to leave, even in death.These Dominican nuns have been in this place of peace for almost 100 years, sustaining the Church every day through their prayer...

Yesterday, Senate Democrats their bid to approve legislation to “overturn” the Supreme Court’s decision protecting Hobby Lobby and other companies from being forced to comply with the HHS mandate that compels them to pay for abortion-causing drugs for their employees. Republicans were able to sustain their filibuster against the bill atedcruz7nd prevailed on a 56-43 vote, with Democrats voting to move to a vote on the pro-abortion bill and almost all Republicans uniting to vote against it. During the debate, pro-life Texas Senator Ted Cruz let Democrats have it. “If you’re litigating against nuns, you have probably done something wrong,”...

Over the past month, the public has been treated to a series of news stories alleging that Irish nuns threw almost 800 babies into a septic tank outside a home for “fallen women” and children in the 20th century. As it turns out, the “mass grave” story is a hoax. To read Bill Donohue’s article, “Ireland’s ‘Mass Grave’ Hysteria,” click at link. It is being widely distributed in Ireland, England, and the United States.

Sister Donna Quinn, a Palos Hills resident, attended the last two and is flying to this one with four other nuns. Rev. Nan Conser, a retired United Church of Christ minister in Golf, never went before but is going with a group of 10 clergy and lay people. Rev. Larry Greenfield, an American Baptist minister who leads Hyde Park Union Church, couldn't make it last time, but said he wouldn't miss this one for anything.

1.) Fight for the rights of the unborn. 2.) Think no less of a baby/infant/child brought to you without any parent, without any Godparents, as you do not know the future. Which to you is better: baptizing a baby brought to you by good RC parents,that God knows will grow up to deny your faith and be a hell-raiser, or one that asas no one there with him/her or born out ofof wedlock to lapsed parents that God knows will turn out to be righteous?. Who cares about then and there? God told Samuel that He can see what no...

1.) An infant is baptized, is raised by believing parents and later when older turns from the faith. 2.) An infant is baptized, has no believing parents to be raised by, and when older doesn't turn from the faith. Given that the antithesis exists for 1 & 2, wouldn't it be prudent for the priest to baptize the fortunate infant as well as the unfortunate, as either could remain faithful when older, show perseverance against high odds, and no priest knows the future - only God Almighty? Given that only God knows the future, perhaps withholding baptism isn't an option...

Few of us are inclined to look a gift horse in the mouth, and that applies in spades to journalists running with a sensational news story. But even by normal media standards, recent reports about the bones of 796 babies being found in the septic tank of an Irish orphanage betray a degree of cynicism and irresponsibility rarely surpassed by allegedly reputable news organizations. Although the media attributed the “dumped in a septic tank” allegation to Catherine Corless, a local amateur historian, she denies making it. Her attempt to correct the record was reported by the Irish Times newspaper on...

I haven't seen the [AP Stylebook's] new religion chapter, but I have seen how the press generally reports on Catholicism -- and it seems like there are already some agreed-upon guidelines. For instance: Catholics in the news. If an actor, a football player, a CEO, or any other reasonably decent, successful or attractive person is a practicing Catholic, that is never relevant, and any reference to receiving the sacraments or belief in God must be edited out for clarity and brevity. However, if the story is about a transvestite stripper, a comedian who draws heavily on the comedic value of...

On May 8, the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR) issued a statement on their April 30 meeting with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.The statement is significant in that it’s a hopeful sign that the organization has heard the concerns expressed by Rome and may, in fact, be ready to listen–valuing its canonical status which has been conferred by the Holy See more than it values its autonomy.Because it’s so important a document, I’m permitting the Sisters to represent themselves, reprinting it below in its entirety.* * * * *First, the background. I outlined the problem in...

For half a century, they’ve run a gratis guesthouse for Holocaust victims. Now an era is ending, and the nuns themselves are at something of a loss ...The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary is a Lutheran-based order, but operates independently. It began as a Christian organization founded in 1947 by German theologian and intellectual Dr. Klara Schlink, along with Erika Madauss. As president of the Women’s Division of the German Student Christian Movement from 1933 to 1935, Schlink refused to comply with Nazi policy barring Jewish-born students from meetings. During WWII, Schlink was summoned twice by the Gestapo because of her...

Eight times a day, a group of nuns files into a chapel in their rural northwest Missouri monastery to chant and worship. Quite unexpectedly, this private, prayerful pursuit has made the Benedictines of Mary a chart-topping recording industry curiosity. After being named Billboard's No. 1 Classical Traditional Artist of 2012 and 2013, the nuns released their third album, called "Lent At Ephesus," Feb. 11 on the De Montfort Music/Decca/Universal Classics label.

A $4 million ransom was reportedly paid to the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front for the release of 13 Greek Orthodox nuns that were held by the rebel group for four months, Lebanese media reported on Monday In addition to that, some 150 imprisoned Syrian women were to be released in exchange for the nuns from Syrian government jails, along with three other women were taken from their convent in the Christian-dominated town of Maaloula during clashes in December.

Why aren't more people outraged over the Obama administration's war on religious liberty? The administration insists on coercing full compliance with the Obamacare mandates, even when 99.9 percent compliance would fully serve its purposes, and chooses to impose its iron will even against American citizens' God-given and constitutionally and statutorily protected religious freedoms. Despite straight-facedly promising that he would protect the religious liberties of people and groups and would not violate their conscience rights by forcing them to provide or support contraceptive or abortion services, President Obama has vigorously engaged in a scorched-earth campaign to do just the opposite. It's...

From Politico: The Obama administration cannot enforce the Affordable Care Act’s contraception coverage requirements against a Catholic nuns’ order for the time being, if the nuns tell the government they object to providing that coverage, the Supreme Court ruled Friday afternoon. The Supreme Court’s action could defuse for the time being a showdown between religious employers and the federal government over the procedures for providing contraceptive coverage to employees of hospitals, nursing homes and other entities run by religious groups.

The Supreme Court has ruled a group of Catholic nuns will not have to comply with the contraception mandate in ObamaCare while their lawsuit plays out in court, if they declare their objections in writing. .... [SNIP]