Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In yet another step to establish gay stuff as the official state-sponsored religion in the United States, President Joe Biden has signed an executive order instituting the call to gay prayer, ordering it to take place five times every day, with everyone facing toward San Francisco. "The gay prayer is part of the bedrock of American life," Biden said in his proclamation. "Each and every American must now kneel down facing the direction of San Francisco and recite the gay prayer. You got that, folks? Just don't kneel down on a rainbow crosswalk — that would be...

“Final” is not a word you often hear in Christian teaching. Most Christians leave the final things until, well, the End. But this is not the language of the fathers nor of the Church. A good illustration can be found in the Orthodox service of Holy Baptism. During the blessing of the waters the priest prays: And grant to [this water] the grace of redemption, the blessing of Jordan. Make it the fountain of incorruption, the gift of sanctification, the remission of sins, the remedy of infirmities; the final destruction of demons, unassailable by hostile powers, filled with angelic might....

WASHINGTON, D.C.—In a stunning reveal, Dr. Fauci has appeared on camera in an ornate and funny hat, and is now declaring himself the "Pope of Science." "Look at my shiny hat! Woooo-ooo! I have been chosen by science to speak on behalf of science!" said Pope Fauci. "My very words are as infallible as the natural laws of the universe itself! If anyone doesn't like me, or disagrees with anything I say, or makes fun of my glasses, they will be excommunicated—banished to everlasting darkness." Fauci's eyes then rolled back in his head as he began uttering in a dead...

[Catholic Caucus] A completely different outlook on confession? Pope Francis says sins are not ‘central’The Vatican editorial director wrote that Pope Francis is proposing a 'completely different outlook on confession,' in which not our sins, but God, is central. Mon Sep 20, 2021 - 3:38 pm EDT KOŠICE, Slovakia (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis suggested we should not approach Confession thinking about our sins, raising alarms among many faithful Catholics.“Are sins really the center of Confession? What does God want? That you approach him thinking about Him or about your sins? What is central, our sins or the Father who forgives...

It was in the years following the Civil War, America was hard on the path to “becoming great.” The industrial revolution had moved into full swing, railroads criss-crossed the country, immigration was gaining speed, and wealth was accumulating at a rate never seen before. We were slowly moving from our original agrarian economy towards life as an industrial nation. The middle-class was growing, education was increasing, and the life of management was the aspiration of many. We were also getting sick in new ways. In 1868, the first article on the term neurasthenia was published. Though the word had been...

The Norwegian novelist, Sigrid Undset (1882-1949), baptized a Lutheran but raised by agnostic parents, and who emerged from a difficult seven-year marriage at age thirty-seven, converted to Catholicism in 1924. In 1928, she received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Shortly after, a priest in Oslo asked her why, even before her conversion, she had referred to marriage as a “sacrament” in her novels of medieval Norway, although for a Protestant marriage is only a contract. She replied that this would require a rather lengthy explanation, and she offered the explanation in an essay published in an Oslo Catholic magazine, Credo,...

Early Christians in the first through third century understood marriage to be a union between one man and one woman created by God as a consummated partnership described in Genesis 2. Early Christian leaders, such as the Apostle Paul, explained that marriage was more than just a union between two people. It was an act of worship that pointed to Christ’s sacrificial relationship with the church (Ephesians 5). Therefore, marriage was not about a contract or a financial engagement as had been the custom for centuries prior, but a sacred union that should reflect God’s love. Christ turned the accepted...

Staff photo by Wyatt Massey The Very Reverend J. David Carter, far right, of the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul holds a monstrance to bless a family on April 8 while Fr. Valentin Iurochkin shakes incense from a thurible. The priests made home visits the past week to bring encouragement to families who could not attend in-person worship services because of COVID-19 concerns. In an effort to encourage Chattanooga's faithful through the ongoing global pandemic and its economic fallout, the Very Rev. J. David Carter of the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul visited people at their homes...

De Mattei: Martyrs and Violators of the Confessional Seal Roberto de Mattei   Corrispondenza Romana December 29, 2018   The inviolability of the secrecy of the confessional is one of the pillars of Catholic morality. The new Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents' lives. This secret, which admits of no exceptions, is called the "sacramental seal," because what the penitent has...

An increasing number Catholic women are taking life-long chastity vows in order to “dedicate themselves” to God, according to the Vatican. Consecrated virgins are unmarried women who pledge to remain celibate for their entire lives, eschewing romantic or sexual relationships to devote themselves exclusively to being mystical “brides of Christ”. Unlike nuns, they take on no role within the church. Instead of joining a religious order, they continue to live in their own homes and work in conventional jobs. While rare and little-known even within the church, the lifestyle is considered to be Christianity’s oldest form of total devotion to...

“The Catechism in Six Parts: The Sacrament of Holy Baptism” So far in our series on the catechism, we’ve covered the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer. Tonight we come to the sacraments. We begin, fittingly enough, with the sacrament with which we begin the Christian life, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. What I want to say about Baptism I can summarize in two words: It works. It works! It is effective. It actually does something--quite a lot, really. Holy Baptism works, and it works in your life. Tonight we want to answer three questions about the Sacrament...

Churches will be crowded soon with more people heading to Mass who don’t regularly attend. We’ll all be seeing some unfamiliar faces in the pews. And I know I’ll be seeing people in the Communion line I’ve never seen before; some will be casual Christmas-and-Easter Catholics, some will be visitors from out of town. And inevitably, I know I’ll be seeing people receive the sacrament in some creative ways.(In my parish, we stopped distributing the Precious Blood a couple years ago, during one of our big flu outbreaks, and the practice was never restored.)People will debate this until the Second Coming, but the...

Answering a question about the Synod and annulment reform, Pontiff says the door to divorce is closed Those who fear that the Church is about to allow divorced Catholics to remarry can take heart by something Pope Francis said on his way back to Rome from the United States.The Pope’s words might also reassure those worried that his recent motu proprio Mitis Iudex reforming the annulment process will weaken the sanctity of the marriage bond.“Marriage is indissoluble when it is a sacrament. And this the Church cannot change. It’s doctrine. It’s an indissoluble sacrament,” the Pope told reporters during an...

On August 25, Katholisch.de, the official website of the German Bishops' Conference, published an interview with the German moral theologian Stephan Goertz concerning his new book, Who Am I to Judge? Homosexuality and the Catholic Church. In the interview, Goertz makes the claim that homosexuality should no longer be condemned because the times have changed. In biblical times, says the theologian, "procreation was the first God-given purpose of sexuality." At that time, "sexuality had as its first purpose to secure the survival of the people"; however, "that is obviously not any more our situation, and that is since the [Second...

Featured Term selected at random:SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR The Eucharist viewed as the body and blood of Christ, which are offered on the altar in the Sacrifice of the Mass. Also the Eucharist as reserved on the altar for adoration by the faithful. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission. 

Mercy! So Great a Gift – Why Many Parishes Need to Reconsider When They Offer the Sacrament of Confession By: Msgr. Charles PopeAt tonight’s Chrism Mass, the Cardinal chose to focus his remarks to the more than 300 priests in attendance on the beauty of the Sacrament of Confession and the power of mercy. What a magnificent gift the Lord gave His Church through the ministry of priests, that we can hear His blessed words, I absolve you from your sins … go in peace.My mind goes back to a beautiful story of St. John Paul II and a certain bishop (not of...

Reflects on the Sacrament of Penance During General Audience Continuing his catechetical series on the Sacraments, Pope Francis reflected on the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which along with the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick form what he described the “Sacraments of Healing”. “The Sacraments of Penance and Reconciliation [...] flow directly from the Paschal mystery,” he told pilgrims attending his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square. "In fact, the same evening of Easter the Lord appeared to the disciples, closed in the Cenacle, and, after addressing to them the greeting ‘Peace be with you’, he breathed on them...

In an article in Florida Today, abortionist Patricia Baird-Windle had some things to say about her work: I now consider abortion to be a major blessing, and to be a sacrament in the hands of women….At the very crucible of the sacrament of abortion work is the sentence in a letter written to me by a woman when I retired, and that is some women have an abortion out of love for the baby. She identifies herself as “pro-abortion.” So what exactly is this “sacrament” that is done out of “love”? A while ago I interviewed Catherine Anthony Adair, a...

Do you recall that, last year, Card. Burke consoled a little boy who was crying because he couldn’t yet receive Communion?  HEREThis is somewhat beyond the ken of most catholics, I believe.  They might console a Questioning-status minor not yet able to vote more than once in the same pro-same-sex “marriage” referendum.   But, I digress.  This shouldn’t be polemic and… there I went and did it.  Sorry!  I am under the weather.So, last year Card. Burke consoled a boy who couldn’t receive Communion.  At that time His Eminence said that his time would come soon enough.The day came!Here is a piece from...

Amman (Agenzia Fides) – About 1400 boys and girls from all over Jordan will receive the sacrament of communion for the first time during the Mass that Pope Francis will celbrate on Saturday, May 24 at the Amman International Stadium. This was confirmed to Fides Agency by Father Rifat Bader, director of the Catholic Center for Studies and Media and official spokesman for the papal visit. "Preparations for this rite include both the children and their parents, and started four months ago, adding that hour-long classes are held every Friday where religion teachers and nuns help the children understand and...