Free Republic

The priest who serves as Franciscan superior in the Holy Land and several Middle Eastern nations told an Italian audience that the Arab Spring has brought radical change to the region. “The Middle East that we have known since the [1900s], one which was born from the ruins of the old Ottoman Empire, from the end of various colonialisms and the birth of nation states, is ended,” said Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa. “Now begins a new period, the direction of which, however, we are not yet able to comprehend.” “The main concern at this moment lies in the fear of the...

A priest and close friend of Pope Francis says the pontiff's idea for an upcoming inter-religious soccer match for peace shows his keen interest in promoting the topic on all levels of society. “The hope is that after this football match, this sports event, there will be an impact that raises awareness for peace,” Father Guillermo Karcher told CNA Aug. 25, explaining to other journalists that “the Pope's concern for peace is very great.” “He sees in this event, this punctual message of the match for peace, a very positive element that gives a contribution, because it's necessary to try...

Pray For Our American Heroes and Our Nation John 14:6 Stand Firm New International Version (NIV) It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who will condemn me?They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.(Isaiah 50:9) For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.”(Isaiah51:8) “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal(Matthew6:19)

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Animals In The Bible Quail New International Version (NIV) 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” 8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the...

August 28, 2014Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church    Reading 1 1 Cor 1:1-9 Paul, called to be an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,and Sosthenes our brother,to the Church of God that is in Corinth,to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy,with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.Grace to you and peace from God our Fatherand the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always on your accountfor the grace of God bestowed...

Wisconsin Congressman James Sensenbrenner (R-Menomonee Falls) converted to Catholicism in a quiet ceremony at Milwaukee's St. Francis de Sales Seminary on Monday — a private affair reportedly attended by at least two Wisconsin bishops and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. Sensenbrenner's office confirmed the conversion in an e-mail. But it turned down an interview request, saying the congressman "sees this as a private matter." The ceremony was first noted by Mark Silk, professor and director of the Greenberg Center for the study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College in Connecticutt, on his blog, Spiritual Politics. In addition...

The Way You Should Go Today's Scripture “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” (Psalm 32:8, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Do you need direction in your life today? Maybe you are facing an important decision in your job, at home or in your relationships. Know this: God Himself will teach you what you should do. He promises to show you the path you should take. He’s watching over you and giving you advice every step of the way! Understand that...

Living Your Theology " Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you . . . —John 12:35 " Beware of not acting upon what you see in your moments on the mountaintop with God. If you do not obey the light, it will turn into darkness. “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23). The moment you forsake the matter of sanctification or neglect anything else on which God has given you His light, your spiritual life begins to disintegrate within you. Continually bring the truth out into...

One day fifteen years ago, I happened to be channel surfing past the Eternal Word Television Network when I was greeted by a momentary flash of heavenly beauty across the screen. Quickly flipping back, I realized that it was a Mass being celebrated in an unusually majestic church with an extensively gilded and marbled interior.Having never seen this church before, I distinctly remember asking myself why today’s churches can’t still be built to glorify God the way this beautiful “old” work of art had been. Within minutes, however, I felt as though a joke too good to be true...

Planned Parenthood abortion business officials in Ohio are looking for volunteers to pray at a pryer event. No, Planned Parenthood is not asking people to pray for an end to abortion in the way pro-life advocates pray at prayer events like 40 Days for Life. Instead the abortion giant is hoping Buckeye State residents will pray for more abortions. plannedparenthood118As this Planned Parenthood announcement indicates, the abortion corporation wants people to join an abortion activist who is calling for prayer in response to the state’s refusal to expand Obamacare, which funds abortion and sends taxapayer dollars to the abortion giant....

George Tate George Tate was in the US Army in World War II. He served in a unit that was establishing communication lines across the Himalayas.George’s son, Sid is a parishioner, he said about his Dad, “His plane was riddled with enemy gunfire going in, and as I understand it his job was conducted in an active combat zone. He received the Bronze Star, which was the military’s 4th highest award: Awarded to ‘any person whom while serving in with the United States military after 6 December 1941, that distinguished himself or herself apart from his or her comrades...

It is a curious conceit of an obtuse generation that it believes itself to be committed to modernity, embodied by devotion to science and reason, and yet is so irrevocably immutable to evidence.The spiritual (but not religious) Mecca of modernity in the Catholic Church is the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the headquarters of which would likely be a smoking ruin if we had a God quick to anger rather than slow.The absurdity of this very modern institution is embodied perfectly in their recent USCCB statement on their “Commitment To Dialogue With Muslims.”What is the bottom line? They are...

Christian holy site in Iraq -Deir Mar Mattai on Maqloub Mountain News / Kurdistan Kurdish Peshmerga Steps in to Protect the Oldest Monastery in Iraq 27.08.2014 Shahab BotaniBasNews, Maqloub Mountain    After Islamic State (IS) militants took control of the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, various religious minorities that pepper the region came under attack as well in the wake of IS’ spread of terror. Many holy sights revered by the religious minorities have been destroyed in order to wipe their existence from history.   One of the most important Christian holy sites in Iraq is Deir Mar...

From the moment news broke that U.S. journalist James Foley had been beheaded by Islamic State extremists in the Middle East, many Christians, especially Foley’s fellow Catholics, began calling him a martyr, with some even saying he should be considered a saint. Yet that characterization has left others uneasy, and the discussion is raising larger questions about what constitutes martyrdom. Foley’s parents seemed to validate the martyrdom label when his father, John, spoke at an emotional news conference outside the family’s New Hampshire home and said he and his wife “believe he was a martyr.” Foley’s mother, Diane, added that...

The King of Bahrain, Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, has said he is willing to help 200 Christian families forced from the homes in Mosul, according to a senior Church official in the region. Bishop Camillo Ballin, Vicar Apostolic of Northern Arabia (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia) said in a recent interview with Vatican Radio that the monarch was not only willing to assist the families but also receive them in Bahrain. “This shows his generosity towards Christians,” the Bahrain-based bishop said. The monarch visited Pope Francis earlier this year, during which he presented plans for a new Marian...

A Florida Catholic parish's 45-year tradition of serving as a polling place for elections came to an end after Tuesday's primary after ongoing complaints by a handful of pro-abortion and pro-homosexual activists led church leaders to end their partnership with the Brevard County Board of Elections. Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in Indialantic, FL, has hosted about 5,000 voters from three precincts in a multi-use area of the building that is separate from the main church. Florida Today reported that the trouble began in 2008, when the church displayed a message on its marquee urging parishioners to vote for...

Prayers are urgently needed for my friend's foster son Sebastian. He is a very fragile child with multiple disabilities. He has had a couple of succesful surgeries to correct some of his problems but unfortunately, after coming home from hospital, he has had severe complications. They will be testing him today to see how responsive he is. The doctors are not sure why he is having so many problems and don't know what else they can do. Please also pray for comfort for his family . Thank you so much for your prayers.

DAHUK, Iraq—Of all the many ancient peoples who once lived in the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates, Iraq's Assyrian Christians pride themselves on having persisted in their traditional homeland for millennia, even as other civilizations thrived then disappeared, as languages and cultures died out, as ethnic groups melted into the ways and genetic pools of their conquerors. But today Iraq's Assyrians, and its Christians in general, fear that their place in this multiethnic, multisectarian mosaic society is shrinking, under severe threat from the ultraconservative Islamist group the Islamic State (IS). It isn't the first time that Iraq's Christians...

I truncated the title; full title: Antichrist Nation of Turkey and it’s Initial Plans to Invade Libya, Sudan and EgyptThe entanglement between the “World Federation of Muslim Scholars” and the “International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood” in Istanbul Turkey is a master plan designed by the devil. It brings together an assortment of Muslim demons to spark a Turkish campaign to create some serious trouble in Libya, Sudan and Egypt and few are paying attention how significant this is prophetically.Before the red dragon goes after Israel and the Church, and before it’s crescent is stomped on by the woman (Revelation...

Featured Term (selected at random:DEGRADATION A penalty by which a cleric is reduced to the lay state; a deprivation, an abasement. Its effects may be deposition and privation of a religious habit. It is permanent unless remitted by a superior after completion of conditions required as penance. It can only be imposed for things labeled criminal by law or if one continues giving scandal after deposition. It is real if accompanied by formalities prescribed by the Roman Pontifical, and verbal when inflicted by a person authorized to sentence. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic...