Free Republic

The Catholic Church has been on the list for extinction in every totalitarian society in history. In most cases, it has been the number one target but under German National Socialism it was lower, communists & Jews were higher, although there can be no doubt the Church was on the hit list. It’s interesting to speculate why. Here is a version of the famous poem by Gerhard Niemöller. First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I...

Respected Vatican journalist John Allen reports today his speculation that Pope Francis just does not like America or Americans. One major clue lies in the Pope’s periodic condemnation of “doctors of the law” and “traditionalists.” But who are these vaguely-defined groups? After asking many people in and around the Vatican to identify those groups, “the answer I got most was ‘Conservative Americans,” Swiss-born Bishop Bernard Fellay of the renegade Society of St. Pius X, said in an interview with journalist Edward Pentin.

May 21, 2016 Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Jas 5:13-20 Beloved:Is anyone among you suffering?He should pray.Is anyone in good spirits?He should sing a song of praise. Is anyone among you sick?He should summon the presbyters of the Church,and they should pray over himand anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.The prayer of faith will save the sick person,and the Lord will raise him up.If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one anotherand pray for one another, that you may be healed.The fervent...

Forty-five years after he served as a U.S. Army chaplain in Vietnam, Redemptorist Father John Bauer continues to expand his admiration for the resourcefulness and resolve of the men and women who were under his pastoral care during wartime. Father Bauer, now on the staff of his childhood parish in Highlandtown, is among a half-dozen Catholics featured in "Maryland Vietnam War Stories," a 3-hour documentary airing over as many nights, May 24-26, on Maryland Public Television. Father Bauer was among the participants who attended a recent advance screening, where a fellow veteran noticed his clerical collar and approached him during...

Young protesters from the Baltimore uprising share their experience and hope to the Diocese of Maryland convention. Delegates began the work of what reparations for the sin of racism and slavery to determine what that might look like. At its recent convention, the Diocese of Maryland took the first of what could be many small steps to engage the issue of reparations and set aside money to help heal the centuries-old wounds of slavery. Though the resolution that anchored the conversation, known as “Reparations Investment,” was referred to Diocesan Council for further review, its appearance marked a beginning for the...

Can the Church change its doctrines? Full QuestionI was amazed to read recently where a Catholic priest theologian said that the Church is not infallible and that it has changed its doctrines. Apparently he felt Jesus' words in Matthew 18:18-19 ("Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted them by my heavenly Father") mean that the Church can change its doctrines as times...

I was raised Catholic, like 12 years Catholic school and currently attend a Catholic Church, but this Pope and the Church's lack of response has destroyed it now. And after brushing up on history I find the idea of papal infallibility ridiculous, insulting to God. What's a good way to understand the different doctrines so I can move on? I don't have an understanding of them. I'm leaning Protestant as it seems Martin Luther was right on. Just need productive civil information for my next step. Thanks.

Although few talk about it publicly, I continue to be astonished by the rotten fruit in the Christian book publishing industry. I feel almost forced to say this at the outset: There are still good publishers. There are still good authors. There is still some good material being produced. It’s just not mostly in the popular categories/circles (makers). Checking out Christian retailing online the other day was a real downer. Among the top-selling books/authors making their rounds through evangelical circles: "Jesus Calling," "The Power of I Am" (Joel Osteen), Thom Rainer, Rick Warren, Jen Hatmaker, Steven Furtick and "Half Truths"...

A Path Back to Liturgical Sanity Whether they realize it or not, the Mass with which most Catholics are familiar, the one said in almost all Catholic Churches in the Western Hemisphere, is called the Novus Ordo, or more colloquially, the "new Mass." Many older Catholics may remember the Tridentine Mass, sometimes referred to as "the old Latin Mass," or the "Traditional Latin Mass (TLM)." More and more, however, young people are discovering the beauty of the Mass as it was known for hundreds of years before the wreckovation that occurred after Vatican II. While the Novus Ordo is a...

A registered nurse who worked in ICU for years and later went into hospice work has logged fascinating deathbed accounts, including glimpses of hell and Heaven and a vision of Jesus that is among the most compelling we have read in this realm of alleged mystical encounters.The nurse, Kelley Jankowski, a mother of six who lives in Maryland, kept a journal and took meticulous notes after listening to what those dying were telling her and has recorded them in a splendidly written, vivid, and credible book, An Army in Heaven -- consoling indeed!There are stories of the simple process...

Pope Francis, in an interview with the French newspaper La Croix, suggested a likeness between ISIS and Jesus by explaining that while “the idea of conquest is inherent in the soul of Islam,” it was quite possible to interpret certain passages of the Gospels, particularly in Matthews, as a call for Christians to go forth with this “same idea of conquest” in their discipleship. He also faulted the free market for driving poverty, saying economies need “a state to monitor and balance them;” gun manufacturers for fueling wars; and the failures of Christians in Europe to properly assimilate with Muslims...

There "IS" movement in My rest, Though you are at peace you wear My Best, The fullness of My Spirit moving in you, Accomplishing The Father's will in all you say and do, Step by step each jot and tittle performed, For in "My rest" you are Re-born, Into My peace bearing the fruit of Tranquility, For each step you now take is an image of Me in the shape of My Kingdom and Majesty, So all others see is me in you , For no other shape has the ability of My will to say and do, The form...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Christian officials have launched historic restoration work at the Tomb of Jesus inside the Church of Holy Sepulcher, site where tradition holds Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.

Nine Brief Examples of the Power of Metaphor Msgr. Charles Pope • May 19, 2016 • Words, while an important part of our toolset, can also get in the way of reality. But how can we live without them? On some level we must allow a deep level of language to help us in sorting out reality; words are something that help us to form a mental picture. In particular, we sometimes turn to metaphors and extended metaphors (parables, allegories, stories, etc.).A metaphor is a figure of speech in which two different things are equated for rhetorical effect. It...

“In contrast to the United Methodist Church, RCRC dismisses the value of unborn human life” -UM Action Director John Lomperis Portland, OR—United Methodists have voted to require church boards and agencies to withdraw immediately from an organization that advocates for abortion on demand. Delegates from across the 12.1 million-member denomination adopted a proposal concluding affiliation with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) on a vote of 425 to 268 (61 percent to 39 percent) during their quadrennial General Conference meeting in Portland, Oregon. Two United Methodist agencies, the General Board on Church and Society (GBCS) and United Methodist Women...

Babylon Rises By Philip Cottraux I normally avoid controversial topics, preferring Bible teachings to divisive political issues. However, I have addressed gay marriage, church shootings and abortion, and now a particular firestorm has come against my state in recent weeks that I can no longer ignore. God is calling His people to take a stand. As homosexual fascism has swept America into embracing immorality under the phony guise of “civil rights,” ethical dilemmas have been created for local governments to deal with. North Carolina recently passed House Bill 2, which states that a transgendered person should use the restroom of...

William Friedkin, acclaimed director of “The Exorcist,” says he’s now seen the real thing — and filmed it. Talking to an audience at the Cannes Film Festival in France on Thursday, the 80-year-old filmmaker said that the Vatican invited him to film an exorcism earlier in May. The version he constructed for the 1973 supernatural horror film, Friedkin added, was not that far from the actual rite he recently documented. “I don’t think I will ever be the same having seen this astonishing thing,” he said, according to Agence France-Presse. “I am not talking about some cult, I am talking...

Cardinal Kurt Koch said the ‘Sunday culture in Christianity is very weak’, urging for a more home-orientated approachThe Vatican’s most senior official on relations with Jewish communities has insisted the Catholic Church must learn from the centrality of the home and Shabbat in Jewish life, saying the Sunday “culture in Christianity is very weak”. The frank comments from Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the pontifical commission for religious relations with the Jews, came during an exclusive interview as he joined leading theologians from both faiths for a two-day symposium on enhancing relations. “The most important thing we can learn from...

Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death: That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.(Psalm 9:13-14)Psalm 9 is an eschatological psalm. It describes the coming of the Lord to this earth to deliver a besieged people, Israel, surrounded by menacing enemies on the verge of destroying her. The Psalmist reveals that Israel’s enemies will be routed by the very presence of the Lord, the perousia spoken...

The Pope will receive the highest authority in Sunni Islam at the Vatican on MondayPope Francis will receive the highest authority in Sunni Islam in an unprecedented meeting at the Vatican on Monday. The meeting between Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, Cairo, and Pope Francis was revealed by Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi. Fr Lombardi said: “This audience is being prepared and has been scheduled for Monday. It will be a first.” Al-Tayeb suspended dialogue with the Holy See on behalf of Al-Azhar University in 2011. Benedict XVI had called for the protection of Christian minorities following a...