Free Republic

Amid continuing concerns that the upcoming synod on the family in October will modify Church teaching on marriage, the family and human sexuality, clergy, lay individuals and groups are increasingly trying to make their voices heard through public statements and sending open letters and petitions to Pope Francis. One of the most vocal has been Cardinal Raymond Burke, patron of the Sovereign Order of Malta. Asked in a Feb. 8 television interview with the French channel France 2 what he would do if Pope Francis insisted on allowing holy Communion for remarried divorcees, the cardinal replied: “I will resist. I...

DIANAPOLIS, IN, May 8, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- Pro-family and religious groups showed their clout in Indiana politics Tuesday, ousting two Republicans who opposed a marriage amendment earlier this year and successfully defending several vulnerable allies. Two Republican members of the state House, Kathy Heuer and Rebecca Kubacki, lost their races after opposing a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex “marriage” in the state. In addition to ousting Heuer and Kubacki in favor of Christopher Judy and Curt Nisly, respectively, family groups made sure Rep. Eric Turner won against a challenger despite an ethics controversy.

In Hungary, Croatia, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, a pro-family, pro-life revolution and a rediscovery of Christian roots is occurring. While few in the American media have noticed, this trend should challenge those who simply lament Europe’s moral malaise. Unnoticed in the shadow of a secularized west, religion’s public role has been growing in the east since the collapse of communism. Since taking power in 2010, Prime Minister Viktor Orban—a charismatic veteran of Hungary’s anti-Communist underground—has victoriously stood at the forefront of what Americans call the culture wars. In 2011, Orban’s government ratified a new constitution that defines marriage as...

A national group that has spent millions to defend the traditional definition of marriage has pledged to spend $500,000 against any Republicans who vote to legalize same-sex marriage. The move comes less than a week after Republican state Sen. Branden Petersen of Andover said he was considering becoming a co-author of a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage in Minnesota. “Republicans like Branden Petersen don’t realize that not only is voting to redefine marriage a terrible policy, it is also a career-ending vote for a Republican,” said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage. “NOM will do everything in...

Fatima and the Theology of the Body: Part II May 22nd, 2009 by Christopher West In honor of Mary, I’ve chosen to focus my columns this month on what I consider an intriguing connection between the messages of Fatima and John Paul II’s Theology of the Body (TOB). In the previous column, I explained how the assassination attempt on John Paul II was a fulfillment of the "third secret" of Fatima. Coincidentally, the day he was shot – May 13, 1981 – was not only the annual memorial of Fatima, it was also the day he had planned to establish...

CALIFORNIA, October 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two of the world's largest computer tech companies, Apple and Google, have taken the unusual corporate action of opposing a California ballot measure, Proposition 8, which would insert the traditional definition of marriage in the state consistution. Proposition 8 would undo the May 15 California Supreme Court's judicial activist decision that invented a right to homosexual "marriage". The court decision ignored the 2000 vote by Californians approving Proposition 22 which maintained the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman, and expressly prohibited the state from recognizing same-sex marriages. Apple...

Rick Casey Oct. 19, 2006, 10:04PM We refuse to work for homosexuals By RICK CASEY It's hard to imagine that when Sabrina Farber sent out an e-mail Wednesday she had any idea what kind of firestorm it would set off. At 9:08 a.m. Farber, who together with her husband, Todd, owns Garden Guy Inc., a landscaping company on Hillcroft, hit "send" on a message that delivered a painful blow with the verbal equivalent of a smiley face. "Subject: Cancel Appt - Garden Guy "Dear Mr. Lord, "I am appreciative of your time on the phone today and glad you contacted...

Local Police Attempt to Block Collection of Pro-Marriage Petitions Agape Press - June 7 ,2006 A pro-family group in Florida is outraged over the behavior of some police officers last weekend who tried to stop a petition drive aimed at protecting traditional marriage. Last weekend members of the Florida Family Policy Council were at a Promise Keepers conference in Broward County where they were collecting petitions for the Florida4Marriage campaign, an effort to get onto the November 2008 ballot an amendment protecting traditional marriage. The pro-family group had paid a fee to have a booth at the PK event at...

Bishops’ President Urges Support for a Federal Constitutional Marriage Amendment; Knights of Columbus Plan National Postcard CampaignWASHINGTON (April 3, 2006)—Bishop William S. Skylstad, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has written to all Catholic Bishops asking that the bishops and the people in their dioceses become involved in the effort to support a federal constitutional marriage amendment. In the letter, Bishop Skylstad also informed the Bishops that the Knights of Columbus have initiated a national postcard campaign with respect to public advocacy for the Protection of Marriage Amendment. “Today there is a growing sense shared by...

Pro-Marriage Advocates Victims of Systematic Harassment, Says Mass. Group By Allie Martin December 2, 2005 (AgapePress) - A volunteer for a Christian activist group in Massachusetts is accusing militant homosexuals of breaking into her house and stealing and then using her credit cards. Article 8 Alliance is a pro-family group which promotes the biblical view of marriage. Recently a long-time female volunteer for Article 8 whose name is Amy was featured in a derogatory article in a local homosexual newspaper. After the article was published, she arrived home one day to find her house had been broken into and her...

OTTAWA, November 22, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pat O'Brien, M.P., (Independent) for London-Fanshawe, and the Hon. Dr. Grant Hill, P.C., former M.P. and former Interim Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, announced today a national campaign to elect a pro-traditional marriage Parliament at the next election. Mr. O'Brien and Dr. Hill are the national co-chairs of this co-operative grassroots campaign called "Defend Marriage Canada". Grant Hill and Pat O'Brien were on opposite sides of the House for 11 years. This non-partisan approach is evident in their working together. Mr. O'Brien said "working with a former political opponent on this issue...

Two recent developments have returned same-sex marriages to center stage. At one pole lies the conservative effort to steer a Family Marriage Amendment, banning same-sex marriages, through Congress; and at the other, the implementation of the Massachusetts decision in Goodridge v. Department of Health, which requires equal treatment for same-sex marriages. These two parallel episodes offer powerful evidence of an unhappy wedge between the majoritarian and libertarian wings of conservative legal thought. Generally -- and here the illiberal FMA is a jarring exception -- conservatives insist that most important structural questions in the U.S. should be decided through the democratic...

The Beginning of a Persecution Against Catholics is also the Beginning of a new Missionary Age. By Rev. Mr. Keith A. Fournier © Third Millennium, LLC On the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord I read an article in my local newspaper, the Virginian Pilot, entitled “Catholic Church officials should Not Use the Altar as a Battlefield.” The article was written by a Catholic attorney who did not understand the theological teaching of her own Church concerning the reception of the Sacrament we call the Eucharist. Oh, the article read as though she did, citing sources from the rich...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)--A state judge on Friday barred the mayor of a college town from performing more same-sex marriages for a month, saying Jason West was ignoring his oath of office. State Supreme Court Justice Vincent Bradley issued a temporary restraining order against the 26-year-old New Paltz mayor at the request of the Florida-based Liberty Council, which acted on behalf of a local resident. ``The mayor in substance ignores the oath of office that he took to uphold the law,'' Bradley said. West performed his first spate of 25 same-sex marriages last Friday, drawing his village 75 miles north of...

Republican Scott Brown, whose opponent labeled him a “right-wing extremist,” won a special state senate election in Massachusetts on Tuesday. Brown beat Angus McQuilken, who was chief of staff to former state Senator Cheryl Jacques, who now heads the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest homosexual pressure group.