Free Republic

Tuesday, March 11, 2014Romeo Marquis promotes heretic Dr. Thomas Groome At a website run by Mr. Romeo Marquis, Associate Dean for Academic Technology and Distance Education at Framingham State University and Executive Director at The Learning Curve, are a series of Lenten meditations beginning with a Lenten video series with former priest and heretic Doctor Thomas Groome. The program begins with a piece entitled "What Keeps us Catholic" with Dr. Groome. What keeps us Catholic? Mr. Groome's theology is anything but Catholic. See here and here for example. The history of the Church testifies to the truth that men have...

When the disciples returned after Jesus had sent them out to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and the cast out devils. He asked them two significant questions. One was, “Who do men say that I the Son of man am?” The other, “Who do you say that I Am?” The first they immediately answered, that the people thought that Jesus was a prophet like Jeremiah, John the Baptist or even Elijah. This showed how folks viewed of Jesus. Their knowledge of Him was limited to that of Old Testament prophetic ministry, and of course Jesus Christ...

Rand Paul won the recent straw poll at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference followed by Ted Cruz in second place. 1World Online is wondering who you think has the most potential as the 2016 Republican Presidential candidate

Only trusting the Bible without the Church would be like loving "Romeo & Juliet" and hating Shakespeare's explanation of it. "Follow" me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/crucifixwearer"Like" Answering Protestants on Facebook: http://facebook.com/AnsweringProtestantsAdd Answering Protestants to your Circles on Google+: http://plus.google.com/106938988929282894016"Subscribe" to my YouTube videos: http://youtube.com/user/crucifixwearer

Q1: I’m Catholic and my fiancé is from a devout Lutheran family. They weren’t too pleased when I told them our wedding has to take place in a Catholic church…. Is it permissible for us under canon law to have a wedding ceremony in my parish church, and have his Lutheran minister “co-marry” us there, alongside the Catholic priest? I asked my pastor and he said no, but I couldn’t tell if he refused because that’s actually the law, or if he just didn’t like the idea. –Christina Q2: My Jewish girlfriend and I want to get married, and both...

These cases exhibit the lack of clear, convincing reasoning about sexuality—reasoning that respects the interlocutor as a person made in God’s image, while grounding the discussion in sound biblical theology.

Ronald Reagan once said that Americans spend too much of their time second guessing themselves and their values. Of course he was absolutely right, and a cursory look at the state of our culture underlines that fact. Most of the “second guessing” and criticism of traditional American values comes courtesy of the modern progressive (read “liberal”) movement, its politicians and its cheerleaders in the mainstream media. But does this give conservatives the right to wallow in negativity and act defeated? And just what exactly does it accomplish when they do? Whether it’s talk radio, Fox News or online, you don’t...

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls his disciples “the salt of the earth.” While the meaning of this expression is clear, its derivation may not be. Roman scholar Pliny the Elder would say: Nil utilius sole et sale–There’s nothing more useful than sunlight and salt. The habitual use of salt is intimately connected with the advance from nomadic to agricultural life. Traditionally, salt is identified with three special qualities… Purity–The Romans believed it to be the purest of substances, since its origin lay in the purity of the sun and sea Preservation–Until the recent advent of refrigeration, salt...

November will be here sooner than the Democrat and the Republican establishments would like to think. We must prepare for a battle to save America and the enemies of freedom know it. To focus ourselves and prepare we have to hold a number of their assaults on our freedoms up to the light and ask why they have been allowed to continue. Here are just a few questions we must ask and demand an answer to. Why are our children’s futures being drained away by elected officials of both parties? Why has it become acceptable to be forced to pay...

A sermon on Ecclesiastes by St Gregory of Nyssa We shall be blessed with clear vision if we keep our eyes fixed on Christ, for he, as Paul teaches, is our head, and there is in him no shadow of evil. Saint Paul himself and all who have reached the same heights of sanctity had their eyes fixed on Christ, and so have all who live and move and have their being in him. As no darkness can be seen by anyone surrounded by light, so no trivialities can capture the attention of anyone who has his eyes on Christ....

Q: What does canon law say about Catholics eloping? I understand the issue from the perspective of the sacramental theology of the Church, but was wondering if canon law had anything to say about it. –David A: When we speak of “elopement” today, we usually envision a young couple running away in the middle of the night to be married in secret, and without the consent of their parents—usually by a justice of the peace in a civil wedding ceremony. Is it ever possible for a Catholic couple (or a couple including only one Catholic) to marry under such circumstances?...

The commentary on Proverbs by Procopius of Gaza Wisdom has built herself a house. God the Father’s Power, himself a person, has fashioned as his dwelling-place the whole world, in which he lives by his activity; and has fashioned man also, who was created to resemble God’s own image and likeness and has a nature which is partly seen and partly hidden from our eyes. And she has set up seven pillars. To man, who was made in the image of Christ when the rest of creation was completed, Wisdom gave the seven gifts of the Spirit to enable him...

From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot Let us work for the food which does not perish – our salvation. Let us work in the vineyard of the Lord to earn our daily wage in the wisdom which says: Those who work in me will not sin. Christ tells us: The field is the world. Let us work in it and dig up wisdom, its hidden treasure, a treasure we all look for and want to obtain. If you are looking for it, really look. Be converted and come. Converted from what? From your own wilfulness. “But,” you may say,...

From a sermon by Blessed Isaac of Stella, abbot Why, my brethren, are we so little concerned with finding opportunities to advance each other’s salvation, responding to greater need with greater help and bearing each other’s burdens? This is what St Paul advised: Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ – or, again, forbearing each other in love. For that is most definitely the law of Christ. When I notice something wrong in my brother that cannot be corrected – either because it is inevitable or because it comes from some weakness of his in body...

Many groups—including Christians—take the phrase “Let go and let God” to heart. The idea of getting out of the way and letting God take over is appealing and has a spiritual sound to it. Those who seek to overcome compulsive behavior are often exposed to this thinking. For example, imbedded in the 12 steps in the form that most recovery groups follow are the powerful assertions that one who is overcome by sin is “powerless” and needs to “turn their will and lives” over to God. This letting go allows God to “restore their sanity” and “remove their defects in...

From an Old Slavonic Life of Constantine Constantine, already burdened by many hardships, became ill. At one point during his extended illness, he experienced a vision of God and began to sing this verse: “My spirit rejoiced and my heart exulted because they told me we shall go into the house of the Lord.” Afterward he remained dressed in the vestments that were to be venerated later, and rejoiced for an entire day, saying: “From now on, I am not the servant of the emperor or of any man on earth, but of almighty God alone. Before, I was dead,...

St Augustine's Exposition on Galatians St Paul says, Be like me – who, though I was born a Jew, have learnt through spiritual insight to look down on things of the body – as I have become like you – that is, I am a man. Next he very properly reminds them of his love for them, so that they should not think that he is their enemy. My brethren, hear me: you have never done me harm – implying, ‘do not therefore think that I mean to do you any harm’. My children, he adds – so that they...

Origen's homilies on Genesis Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, loaded it on Isaac, and carried in his own hands the fire and the knife. Then the two of them set out together. Isaac himself carries the wood for his own holocaust: this is a figure of Christ. For Christ carried the burden of the cross himself, and yet to carry the wood for the holocaust is really the duty of the priest. So Christ is then both victim and priest. This is the meaning of the expression: they set out together. For when Abraham, who was to...

Dr. David Jeremiah, senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California, in his book entitled "I Never Thought I'd See The Day," which is listed as a "# 1 New York Times Bestseller," engages in historical revisionism as he attempts to portray William Tyndale as a "martyr" for the Bible. On page 161 of his book, Dr. Jeremiah asserts that, "..because TYndale believed that every English-speaking person deserved to have access to the Bible in English, he labored to produce the first complete New Testament (and part of the Old Testament) in English translated directly from the...

From the books of Dialogues by Saint Gregory the Great, pope Scholastica, the sister of Saint Benedict, had been consecrated to God from her earliest years. She was accustomed to visiting her brother once a year. He would come down to meet her at a place on the monastery property, not far outside the gate. One day she came as usual and her saintly brother went with some of his disciples; they spent the whole day praising God and talking of sacred things. As night fell they had supper together. Their spiritual conversation went on and the hour grew late....