Free Republic

By focusing on the issue of married clergy in the Catholic Church, the secular media has got the thin end of the story of last week's offer of reunion from the Vatican to "traditionalist" Anglicans. The more interesting story, says Fr. Philip Powell, a Dominican priest based in Rome and a former Episcopalian, is the "huge cultural shift" in the Anglican Church that it presages. Fr. Powell gave his analysis of the move in an interview with LSN, saying that despite accusations from the left and from some quarters of the Anglican Communion, it was not an opportunistic grab for...

Speaking for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has stated that a religious coalition, which recently petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to clamp down on "hate speech" by conservative talk-show hosts, has misrepresented the U.S. bishops' involvement in their initiative. The USCCB Office of Communications is listed as a member of the So We Might See Coalition, a group billing itself as a national interfaith coalition against hate speech in media led by the United Church of Christ's (UCC) Office of Communications' Executive Director, J. Bennett Guess. The USCCB drew fire from conservative...

Mormon Apostle Dallin Oaks chose a friendly audience deep within the Book-of-Mormon-belt for his now controversial October 13 speech in defense of the Mormons’ ongoing fight against same-sex civil marriage. Speaking to students at Brigham Young University-Idaho, Oaks decried the continuing erosion of religious freedom and the declining influence of religion in the public sphere, before mounting a strongly-worded defense of “the ancient order” of marriage against the “alleged ‘civil right’ of same-gender couples to enjoy the privileges of marriage.” Elder Oaks recalled expressions of outrage directed at Mormons and acts of vandalism against Mormon temples and wardhouses committed after...

CNA STAFF, Oct 25, 2009 / 03:47 pm (CNA).- On Thursday, Catholics will celebrate the feast day of Helen Kafka, better known as Blessed Maria Restituta.  Working as a nurse in the 1940s, she was ordered by the Gestapo to remove crucifixes she had placed in several hospital rooms and was sentenced to death.  Pope John Paul II beatified her on June 21, 1998. Helen Kafka was born in 1894 to a shoemaker and grew up in Vienna, Austria.  At the age of 20, she decided to join the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity and took the name Restituta...

Hal Lindsey talks about how the global warming hoax is being used to usher in the New World Order. The Bible predicts a one world government being in place in the last days.

John Satawa's family has displayed a nativity scene on a street median in Warren, Mich., virtually every Christmas season since 1945, but following an intimidating letter sent by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Satawa's county has put stop to the 63-year-old tradition. The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation proclaims its purpose in the letter to the Road Commission of Macomb County was to "protect the fundamental constitutional principle of separation of church and state." But Satawa contends there's nothing unconstitutional about his privately owned and maintained Christmas display. With the help of the Thomas More Law Center, Satawa has filed...

A petition to the Federal Communications Commissioner (FCC) to investigate popular conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh for purported "hate speech" has caused a stir among Catholic circles after it was revealed that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) communications office is backing the initiative. One conservative commentator has even cited evidence that the religious coalition behind the petition, of which the USCCB communications office is a part, may be affiliated with the federal government's recent campaign against conservative media. "So We Might See," a group billing itself as a national interfaith coalition against hate speech in media,...

I think it's rediculous that our Bishops caved into Jewish "concerns" about the U.S. Catholic document regarding conversion of the Jews. Another Jewish tap dance.

[ABOVE: Rifqa Bary] The Fate of Riqua Bary Seems Not to Matter to Authorities Does Riqua Bary's life matter? How the authorities stacked the deck against the runaway Muslim girl from Ohio who converted to Christianity.In virtually unprecedented breach of protocol, the State of Florida ridiculed Riqua Bary's belief that she would be in danger if she, as a Christian convert, were returned to her father and brother's household. Ms Bary is a 17-year-old minor. Being raised in a Muslim household, she was well aware that the crime for apostasy was death. With the help of a Christian missionary,...

At 12 years of age Jesus said to his parents. Luke 2:49 “And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? Jesus was in the temple of Jerusalem blowing the minds of all the learned elders. There are two businesses on earth. God's business and the devil's business. The devil offers something for nothing but he delivers you nothing for something. You lose your life and receive death. God is an equal opportunity employer with eternal life benefits, an Edenic setting, on the job training, creative...

Jeremiah 29:11 I Know the Plans I have for You, Says the Lord. They are Plans for Good and not for Evil, To Give you a Hope and a Future.

Washington » Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid keeps a copy of the Book of Mormon in his office just off the chamber floor. There's a second copy handy to give away to someone in need of spiritual guidance. "I've had more than that," says the Nevada Democrat, pulling the extra edition from his desk drawer. "I have one left." The Temple-recommend-carrying Reid is very active in his church, say fellow members in the Washington area. But that may come as a shock to some Mormon critics who contend that the Senate leader's political stands put him at odds with The...

More than one Christian friend has suggested to me, in all seriousness, that President Obama is the Antichrist. I haven’t taken such suggestions too seriously, but recently a video has shown up on Youtube that seems to claim that Jesus identified Obama as the Antichrist. Some Christians have been startled by this (and the video is wildly popular) and believe that the evidence is compelling. The video is found here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK_zh-X21f0 The anonymous narrator introduces his provocative four-minute video by asking if Jesus identified the name of the Antichrist, then says, “I will report the facts; you can decide” (reminiscent...

The Left, champions of strict separation of church and state, have come out in support of an American theocracy. How can this be? Could this possibly be the same political machine that ritualistically goes from town to town scanning courthouses for explicit references to God, or even worse, the Ten Commandments? Or the establishment telling little Susie she cannot pray at school? Or the organization forbidding the reading of scripture, even on a purely non-sectarian, academic basis? Surely we can't be talking about the same ideologues. But there is no mistake. The Left supports theocracy, as long as it is...

In Revelation 13:14-17 "Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by the sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bound, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; And that no man might...

"Why would we ever align ourselves with the constant drone of demeaning rhetoric coming from talk radio and television? We are not called to castigate sinners, we are called to be Jesus in their midst. The world around us hears our murmuring concerning the economy and liberal politicians and Hollywood activists, but do they hear that we stand by grace alone and that before Christ entered our lives we were every bit a sinner as were they? We sit high and aloof in the official press box and observe and critique the lost culture, basking in our situation as if...

Concerned evangelicals gathered last week to search the soul of their movement and find a new way forward. Among evangelicals, who account for a quarter of the U.S. population, the idea that they must focus their attention on shaping authentic disciples of Jesus has always had broad support. But how to do that in a consumerist society with little appetite for self-denial is fueling internal debate. About 500 people attended a conference at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary on "renewing the evangelical mission." Leading thinkers called fellow believers to repent for a host of sins, from reducing the Gospel to a right-wing...

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: – Revelation 22:18 I've seen some incredibly stupid and misguided initiatives by "conservatives" in my day, but this one takes the cake. Because the Bible has been rewritten to conform with the agenda of "liberals," a self-described "conservative" is spearheading an effort to rewrite it to his liking. If you think I'm joking, read on...

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today hailed the Senate's passage of a national hate crimes bill as a "landmark achievement." The House of Representatives approved the legislation on October 8, and President Obama has said he will sign the measure, which provides new authority for federal officials to more effectively address hate violence.

On April 7th there was a Homeland Security report dated which brought great alarm to all Conservatives entitled, "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment." WND {Article Link} This report seeks to legitimize the surveillance and demonizing of many conservative groups, values, leaders and core beliefs founded in our Judeo-Christian heritage. Make no mistake: this report is the spearhead of the current Radical Leftist Administration. Since the release of this report six months ago, the slander from the Left has greatly intensified. Obama and his Leftist goons are waging total war on America ’s...

Nearly 12 hours before the first of several clergy sexual abuse cases hit the courtroom floor, the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington announces a controversial Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. After attempting settlement negotiations on 13 sexual abuse cases Sunday night, the Diocese decided to file for bankruptcy protection. The filing automatically freezes any pending lawsuits against the Diocese, including the sexual abuse case against former Wilmington Diocese priest, Francis DeLuca, scheduled for trial on Monday morning. Bishop W. Francis Malooly says the decision was a painful one that he hoped he would never have to make. "We have a finite amount...

HONG KONG (UCAN) -- The whereabouts of three "underground" priests in northern China, detained by police months ago, are still unknown while another has apparently been persuaded to join the "open" Church, say sources.   Catholics at prayer in northern China (file photo) Fathers Liu Jianzhong, Zhang Cunhui and Zhong Mingchang of Xuanhua diocese were taken away by plainclothes police on June 8, June 14 and Sept. 16 respectively.Local Church sources said that when the priests' family members went to government departments to enquire about them, the authorities denied detaining them and refused family requests to help locate them.Meanwhile, Father Simon Zhang...

It really strikes me odd, yes really odd, when ordinary people of whom most are of fair intelligence scoff at the notion of other intelligent life existing somewhere beyond what we call home and the possibilities that these other life forms have already made numerous visits to our planet. What are the reasons behind such extreme denials? I have commented many times that I feel fear is the culprit to the actions in most instances, but perhaps there are other reasons as well. It is difficult to put an ´exact´ on such practices of denial however we are able to...

A sad reminder of what Catholics in public office still face: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito voiced frustration Tuesday over what he called persistent questions about the court's Roman Catholic majority. Alito aired the topic in a speech to an Italian-American law group in Philadelphia. "There has been so much talk lately about the number of Catholics serving on the Supreme Court," Alito said in a speech to the Justinian Society. "This is one of those questions that does not die." Alito complained about "respectable people who have seriously raised the questions in serious publications about whether these...

The Archdiocese of New Orleans and its charitable arm, Catholic Charities, said Tuesday they will pay $5.182 million to an undisclosed number of adults who claimed that years ago as children they were beaten, berated and sexually molested at two Catholic orphanages that were supposed to shelter them because their families were in disarray. The archdiocese announced a package settlement of 20 lawsuits, most of them filed by adults alleging that in the 1950s and 1960s they were abused at Madonna Manor and nearby Hope Haven on the West Bank. "I hope these mediations and negotiations will bring some peace...

Hal Lindsey answers how do you know if you are saved and explains what an EMP attack is. Is that a great combo or what?

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is voicing frustration over what he calls persistent questions about the court's Roman Catholic majority. Alito aired his concerns in a speech Tuesday to an Italian-American law group in Philadelphia. He said respectable people in serious publications have questioned whether the Catholic-raised judges could be trusted to do their jobs. He said he thought the Constitution settled the question long ago with its guarantee of religious freedom. Alito is one of six justices on the nine-member court who were raised Catholic, including new Justice Sonia Sotomayor. A dozen of the 111...

n recent years, Christians have interpreted Romans 13 as a command for unlimited submission to government by God. Many proponents of this belief have sat passively by, in the soft pews of their place of worship, while evil has triumphed in most areas of family and church life. In our pacifistic smugness, many have allowed government to become god without even knowing. Yet, when confronted with the true meaning of Romans 13, absurd accusations are shouted in religious rhetoric toward those who would dare to break an unjust law or even to question the almighty government. The opponents of unlimited...

The Polish embassy has described as "utterly misleading" and "slanderous" remarks made by Stephen Fry in which he linked Polish "Right-wing Catholicism" to the Holocaust. The actor made the comments on Channel 4 News in an interview about the Conservative Party's links with the Polish Law and Justice Party, which has been accused of homophobia and anti-Semitism. He said: "There has been a history, let's face it, in Poland of a Right-wing Catholicism which has been deeply disturbing for those of us who know a little history, and remember which side of the border Auschwitz was on, and know the...

Pope Benedict is promulgating an apostolic constitution that will permit Anglican communities whose members wish to be received into the Catholic Church to do so as communities. “In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates, which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony,” according to a note published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. “Under the terms of the Apostolic Constitution, pastoral oversight and guidance will be...

Both the family and the Church stand in the way of socialism's triumph, former US Senator Rick Santorum told Christians gathered for the 17th International Week of Prayer and Fasting last week. The pro-life champion warned attendees, however, that both institutions are under heavy attack from Obama-administration policies. "We are under a great assault with this President and this Congress on the issue of life. We are under a great assault, maybe even greater assault, on the foundational issue of the family," Santorum told those gathered for the October 11 dinner at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Santorum said that the...

Pope Benedict XVI has offered to establish “Personal Ordinariates” within which to care for Anglicans while enabling them to maintain the liturgical and spiritual unique distinctives of their tradition. That is correct, the Roman Catholic Church by way of an “Apostolic Constitution” will provide the process which will allow for Anglican Christians to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith said this in a statement just released: “In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates which...

After his disclaimer, JR Church talks about the NWO that is now a reality and our loss of national sovereignty. A communistic world government is the plan and Obama is dragging us into it. The prophecies of old are now coming to pass right here and now. Hit the "Mon" button.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Rev. John I. Jenkins, who came under fire for inviting President Barack Obama to the University of Notre Dame campus, has been re-elected to a second five-year term as president of the school. The trustees also approved a resolution Friday expressing their "respect and full confidence" in Jenkins, saying he has nurtured an environment where "the Catholic faith and intellectual tradition are celebrated and lived." Jenkins faced widespread criticism last spring from Catholic bishops and anti-abortion activists after inviting Obama to deliver Notre Dame's commencement address and receive an honorary degree.

A number of my friends have children with disabilities. Their problems range from cerebral palsy to Turner's syndrome to Trisomy 18, which is extremely serious. But I want to focus on one fairly common genetic disability to make my point. I'm referring to Trisomy 21, or Down syndrome.   You may already know that Down is not a disease. It's a genetic disorder with a variety of symptoms. Therapy can ease the burden of those symptoms, but Down syndrome is permanent. There's no cure. People with Down syndrome have mild to moderate developmental delays. They have low to middling...

The Alberta Human Rights Commission has accepted a complaint brought against an Edmonton-area Catholic school board by a substitute teacher who was let go after she announced she was 'becoming' a man. Janet Buterman, 39, had been employed by the Greater St. Albert Catholic School Board for about four months when, in June 2008, she informed deputy superintendent Steve Bayus that she was undergoing a 'sex change' and now wished to be treated as a man. The following October, Mr. Bayus responded with a letter indicating that Buterman had been removed from the substitute teacher list because the procedures she...

Psalm 70:4 Let those who Love Your Salvation Exclaim, "What a Wonderful God He is!"

This is the latest Hal Lindsey Report. Lindsey talks about what's happening to the American dollar by way of the Federal Reserve and the Obama Administration.

The overwhelmingly Catholic country currently allows only abortion in the cases of rape, fetal abnormality, or when the mother’s physical or mental health is at risk. But the proposed law, introduced by socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, would allow abortion for any reason during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy...

LONDON – The head of the World Council of Churches has called upon Christians to live out the core message in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan and treat others as their neighbors. The Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia was speaking at the opening of the WCC’s conference on the response of churches to racism and other forms of discrimination and exclusion. Pointing to the unprecedented gains of anti-immigration parties in the recent European Parliament election, Kobia warned that racism was “still alive” in the world. He urged some 50 church leaders and theologians convening in Utrecht, in the Netherlands, to...

Washington D.C., Oct 17, 2009 / 04:05 pm (CNA).- The University of Notre Dame’s Student Activities Office is facing criticism for allowing a group of five students to use student activities funds to travel to a national homosexual political demonstration that advocated for same-sex “marriage” and related issues.The Office approved Notre Dame’s Progressive Student Alliance (PSA) request to use PSA funding to travel to Washington, D.C. for the National Equality March on the weekend of Oct. 9-11, the Notre Dame Observer reports.The March, organized by the group Equality Across America, says on its website that the march was for ...

...How can we forget this? We who remember over three and a half thousand years of our personal history. Our Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Our Matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel. The twelve Tribes from whom we are descended. The Torah, our Code of Laws, which was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The Words of our Prophets more than 2500 years ago which still resonate today. The building and destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. Exile, persecution, expulsion, inquisition, settlement, temporary acceptance. All this we remember but an event of the magnitude of the Holocaust...

Two stories published in The Salt Lake Tribune this week, as a British friend of mine would say, put the cat among the pigeons. The first story reported that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints baptized a recently canonized Roman Catholic saint by proxy and sealed him to a wife for eternity. "Father Damien, the Roman Catholic priest who cared for lepers in Hawaii in the 19th century, apparently is a saint twice over," Kristen Moulton wrote. " ... There is no evidence Damien ever married, which would have been a violation of his vow of...

Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. How profoundly simple, how elegantly clear and understandable can you get? Our Founding Fathers labored and conferred and, yes, prayed, over this First Amendment to our hallowed Constitution. They honed and pared and polished it, until it still shines like a rare diamond. Which politically it is...

Psalm 127:1 "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that buld it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." The Lord is God, the Lord is One. He is the Rock of ages. That Rock is the firm foundation upon which the house of God is built on earth. We are joined in that Rock through the Christ spirit of love, truth and life. No one comes to the Father but through that Christ spirit, even the Way, the Truth and the Life. The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. The Kingdom,...

Rush Limbaugh, America’s Anchor man, The Doctor of Democracy, America’s Truth Detector, the Harmless Little Fuzz Ball has been of late the victim of a vicious barrage of slander and hate. This onslaught was perpetrated by the collective left in this country over his attempt to partner with a group seeking to buy the St. Louis Rams, an NFL franchise. These attacks have been fueled and fired by two race-card playing charlatans and apostate Christian leaders of the Left, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (see Matt. 7:16, 21-23; 12:33; 2 Tim. 3:1-6). The Liberal, State-Run Media has been working feverishly...

New York, NY, October 15, 2009 … A prominent Christian religious leader has apologized to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for comparing proposed healthcare reform measures to "what the Nazis did" and for bestowing a Josef Mengele Award on the president's chief healthcare advisor. In a letter to ADL, Dr. Richard Land, President of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said he deeply regretted his remarks. "I was using hyperbole for effect and never intended to actually equate anyone in the Obama administration with Dr. Mengele," he wrote. "I apologize to everyone who found such references hurtful," Dr. Land...

There's a new cross on display at the old Holy Trinity Church at Marylebone in the heart of London, but the figure dangling from it isn't Jesus; it's a gorilla. Actually, it's a wax sculpture; one of 60 pieces in an exhibit called The Age of the Marvelous. And the church isn't a church either; at least, not any more. Built in 1825, the former Holy Trinity Church is now One Marylebone, a conference center catering to meetings, events and exhibits, large and small.. The very life-like gorilla on a cross was created by artist Paul Fryer with the help...