Free Republic

Ireland has gone further than paganism and “defied God” by legalising gay marriage, one of the Church’s most senior cardinals has said. Cardinal Raymond Burke, who was recently moved from a senior role in the Vatican to be patron of the Order of Malta, told the Newman Society, Oxford University’s Catholic Society, last night that he struggled to understand “any nation redefining marriage”. Visibly moved, he went on: “I mean, this is a defiance of God. It’s just incredible. Pagans may have tolerated homosexual behaviours, they never dared to say this was marriage.” A total of 1.2 million people voted...

A new Gallup poll finds that since 2001, American opinion has shifted markedly toward acceptance of extra-marital sexual behavior. The poll found that between 2001 and 2015 there have been sharp increases in the number of Americans who say that it is “acceptable” to engage in homosexual relations or to give birth to a child outside wedlock, or obtain a divorce. The poll also found substantially more support for assisted suicide, the cloning of human beings, and polygamy. Remarkably, the survey showed only a slight increase in acceptance of abortion. According to the Gallup findings, the overwhelming majority of Americans...

Most Americans hold either liberal or conservative positions on most matters. In many instances, however, they would be hard pressed to explain their position or the position they oppose. But if you can't explain both sides, how do you know you're right? At the very least, you need to understand both the liberal and conservative positions in order to effectively understand your own. I grew up in a liberal world -- New York, Jewish and Ivy League graduate school. I was an 8-year-old when President Dwight Eisenhower ran for re-election against the Democratic nominee, Adlai Stevenson. I knew nothing about...

Among the papers found in Osama bin Laden's compound is a 15-page document that urges bomb-makers to join al Qaeda to kill "drunkard, sinful" American voters who permit "alien satanic practices" such as same-sex marriage and abortion. Written by Abu-Salih Al Somali, a senior al Qaeda operative, the attempt to recruit explosives experts and other Muslim scientists explains who they will be killing: "It is the VOTERS, who choose their leaders who deploy their armies against Muslims, and pay billions of (their produced tax money) to Israel to massacre our brothers and sister(s). It is the voters who vote on...

The United Methodist Church has been a subject of controversy for years as it supports legalized abortion within the context of supposedly being a Christian denomination. Now, one pro-life advocate has uncovered a quote from a Methodist pastor who says that caring about unborn babies who die in abortions is “idolatry.” Sarah Terzo, who has a knack for documenting the history of the abortion debate and the abortion advocacy movement by posting quotes from pro-abortion activists through the years, posted a new quote today that features Minister John M Swomley. Swomley is an ordained United Methodist minister, Terzo explains and,...

Many supposed "theological differences" between Catholics and Evangelicals are, I think, founded in semantics rather than in substantial disagreement. For example, when I was an Evangelical one of the periodic arguments I ran across against Catholic moral theology was that the concept of mortal and venial sin is unbiblical. Sin is sin, say Evangelicals, and there's no good in trying to make out some sins as "minor." To us Evangelicals such nice distinctions smelled a great deal like rationalization and looked like an escape clause from the commandment "Be holy, for I, the Lord, am Holy." After all, James wrote,...

On Praying for a Deep Hatred and Fear of Sin and Its Darkness By: Msgr. Charles PopeWe ought to ask the Lord to inspire us with a holy hatred of sin. There is a kind of inverse relationship that we ought to seek: if we love the truth staunchly we will detest sin and lies more fully. It is impossible to love the truth vigorously without also detesting error. Similarly, as we grow in the love of God, we grow in the love of holiness, for God is holy.As our love for Him deepens, we become increasingly averse to all that...

A Meditation on the Sins of the Intellect By: Msgr. Charles PopeWhen I was in the seminary, my Moral Theology Professor, Fr. Robert Zylla (R.I.P.), encouraged us to meditate on the sins of the intellect during the third sorrowful mystery (The Crowning with Thorns). In his years of teaching he had surely witnessed the intellectual pride that could beset theologians and seminary students who figured they knew a few things. And added to this human tendency to intellectual pride was the rather prideful sense of the 20th century that we had somehow “come of age.” Dissent from church teaching was rampant and...

Spy Wednesday and a Reflection on the Sins of the Clergy By: Msgr. Charles PopeWednesday of Holy Week is traditionally called “Spy Wednesday,” since it was on this day that Judas conspired with the Temple leadership to hand Jesus over. He would not accomplish his task until the evening of the next day, but this day he made the arrangements and was paid.One way to reflect on this terrible sin is to consider that Judas was among the first priests called by Jesus. We see in the call of the Apostles the establishment of the ministerial priesthood. Jesus called these men to...

Some Strategies for Overcoming Temptation By: Msgr. Charles PopeThis is part two of an article on temptation. See yesterday’s post for part one.How can we overcome temptation?Remote Battles are Essential! When people ask about overcoming temptation they most often have in mind what to do “in the moment” of temptation. But if we focus merely on the moment of temptation we are missing the bulk of the work that needs to be done. For in order to become more successful in withstanding temptation, a strong foundation needs to be established. There is much “remote” work to be done such...

The Gift of Sorrow for Sin – A Meditation on the “Mass for the Gift of Tears” in the Missal By: Msgr. Charles PopeMost pastors and confessors are aware that in any parish there are going to be a few who are scrupulous, even in times like these. Some have a kind of scrupulosity that is mild and almost admirable.  A sensitive conscience is a beautiful thing and bespeaks a kind of innocence that is rare today.Some others have a more unhealthy form of scrupulosity, rooted too much in cringing fear of a God who is seen more as a...

The first mention of shame in Scripture actually celebrates the absence of it: Adam and Eve were naked and felt no shame (Gen. 2:25). The final destination of Scripture is the New Jerusalem, where nothing shameful will ever enter (Rev. 21:27), a place where the redeemed from every nation will celebrate their eternal cleansing from shame by the blood of Christ. In between, however, a tragic and sordid history unfolds in which the descendants of Adam probe with ever-increasing boldness the depths of the shame to which our race can plunge. Here we will highlight three ways that our...

You know, the Ten Commandments, it says you can’t commit adultery; it says you need to honor your father and mother. If someone didn’t honor their parents or commit adultery, would you serve them?” This question was posed by CNN reporter Gary Tuchman to Georgia florist Melissa Jeffcoat, who had previously said she’d refuse to service a homosexual commitment ceremony. When she answered affirmatively and was pressed on why (supposedly) she’d serve adulterers and those dishonoring their parents but not homosexuals, she replied, “It’s just a different kind of sin to me. I just don’t believe in it.” Tuchman surely...

In one of the numerous interviews he has given over the past few weeks focusing on the next Synod, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke about a new task for his dicastery. It is a task that is never been mentioned in the documents outlining the precise competencies of the former Holy Office. In an interview with French Catholic newspaper La Croix, the German cardinal stated: “The arrival of a theologian like Benedict XVI in the Chair of St. Peter was no doubt an exception. But John XXIII was not a...

Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Despite more than nine out of 10 Americans agreeing Jesus was a historical figure, what they believe about Him diverges widely, according to a newly released survey from the Barna Research Group, a nonprofit organization that has been analyzing cultural trends related to religious belief since 1984. The survey of more than 4,000 U.S. adults online and by phone suggests Americans are conflicted about the central figure of...

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...

When Pope Francis last year effectively demoted U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke by moving him out of a senior post in the Vatican to a largely ceremonial role as head of a Rome-based Catholic charity, it was viewed as a way to sideline one of the pontiff’s most outspoken critics on the right ... Now the American churchman has spoken out again, telling an interviewer that gay couples and divorced and remarried Catholics who are trying to live good and faithful lives are still like “the person who murders someone and yet is kind to other people.” ...

Why Rome Can Only Appreciate, Rather than Prove the Immaculate Conception Should we believe something because we think it is true, or should we think something is true because we first believe?  For example, if you believe that extra-terrestrials have visited the earth, then you are likely to believe in UFO sightings and  alien abduction stories, and conspiracy theories about government coverups as confirmation of what you already believe.  This doesn’t mean that you believe that every UFO sighting or abduction story is real.  Nor does this mean that you buy into every conspiracy theory out there.  But if you...

What Is Temptation, Why Does God Permit It, and What Are Its Sources? By: Msgr. Charles PopeI will be on the Catholic Answers radio show today (Monday, March 23) at 6:00 PM Eastern Time. The topic will be temptation: what it is and how to avoid and overcome it.  I’ve assembled some notes in preparation and I’ll present them (in two parts) in the blog. Today’s post focuses on what temptation is, why God allows it, and what its sources are. Tomorrow I’ll present the second half of the notes, which center on how to avoid and overcome temptation.What is Temptation? A seminary teacher of mine once defined...

<p>Bored after 18 years with her husband, Robin Rinaldi placed an ad seeking casual encounters with new men and women. She tells what happened on her yearlong sex odyssey in her memoir "The Wild Oats Project."</p> <p>I broke the news to Scott that I wanted an open marriage in early 2008, a few months after his vasectomy. “I won’t go to my grave with no children and four lovers,” I told him repeatedly. “I refuse.”</p>