Free Republic

Thanks to current media coverage, every political junkie probably knows about ACORN’s voter fraud (one wag suggested half of Chicago’s tombstones should sport “I voted” stickers), its embezzlement scandal, and that millions of public dollars will be going to hire ACORN to run the next US census. Some of the more conservative media sources have fleshed out the picture by describing the influential work of community organizer Saul Alinsky, about whom Hillary Clinton wrote her college thesis, in whose organizations President Obama garnered his work history, and from whose training ACORN sprang. Alinsky’s thought, capsulated in two books, Reveille for...

A Sabbath Resurrectionand Wednesday Crucifixionof Yeshua the MessiahDaniel Gregg     This article begins with concessions to the traditional Friday afternoon crucifixion and Sunday morning resurrection point of view.   Why concede points to the Sunday resurrection?  Because whatever you heard or studied about this before, you've most likely studied an incomplete version of the Wednesday crucifixion and Sabbath resurrection that neglects these points.   These neglected points may serve as reason to reject the Sabbath resurrection.   On the other hand, the Wednesday scenario was always viable in spite of these difficulties, because the Friday arguments has problems of its own.   What is needed...

A Vital Necessity Today's Scripture "Set your mind and heart to seek (inquire of and require as your vital necessity) the Lord your God." (I Chronicles 22:19 AMP) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria What things do you consider a vital necessity in your life? In other words, what can't you live without? Most people would immediately think of food, water, and shelter; but in reality, we can't really live unless our minds and hearts are set on seeking the Lord. Sure, you can exist without seeking Him, but you are called to more than just existence. You are...

Justification by Faith "If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" —Romans 5:10 I am not saved by believing— I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me— repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It...

October 28, 2009                                 Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Eph 2:19-22 Brothers and sisters:You are no longer strangers and sojourners,but you are fellow citizens with the holy onesand members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.Through him the whole structure is held togetherand grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;in him you also are being built togetherinto a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Responsorial PsalmPs 19:2-3, 4-5 R. (5a) Their message goes...

Interview With Msgr. Stetson of the Pastoral Provision By Karna Swanson HOUSTON, Texas, OCT. 26, 2009 (Zenit.org).- News broke last week that Benedict XVI will allow groups of Anglicans wishing to enter full communion with the Catholic Church to do so through personal ordinariates, while preserving elements of the Anglican spiritual and liturgical tradition.The provision for the ordinariates is the Vatican's response to Anglicans who have expressed wishes to become Catholic. It is estimated that between 20 and 30 Anglican bishops have made such a request. To understand how the personal ordinariates work and the significance of this move, ZENIT...

Who Will See God? Today's Scripture "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart…" (Psalm 24:3-4, NKJV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Do you want to see more of God in your life? As believers in Jesus, the Bible says that He makes His home in us, but we have to do our part to develop our relationship with Him. We have to choose to submit our hearts to Him and allow Him to purify us on the inside. We...

The Method of Missions "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . ." —Matthew 28:19 Jesus Christ did not say, "Go and save souls" (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, "Go . . . make disciples of all the nations . . . ." Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, "Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret...

October 27, 2009                                     Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week                                in Ordinary Time Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 8:18-25 Brothers and sisters:I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothingcompared with the glory to be revealed for us.For creation awaits with eager expectationthe revelation of the children of God;for creation was made subject to futility,not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it,in hope that creation itselfwould be set free from slavery to corruptionand share in the glorious freedom...

The Vatican has now released a statement concerning the meeting this morning between Church officials and the SSPX. It reads: “On Monday, Oct. 26, 2009, in the Palazzo del Sant’Uffizio, headquarters of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and of the Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei,’ the study commission made up of experts from ‘Ecclesia Dei’ and from the Society of St. Pius X held its first meeting, with the aim of examining the doctrinal differences still outstanding between the society and the Apostolic See.“In a cordial, respectful and constructive climate, the main doctrinal questions were identified. These will...

THE MOST illuminating aspect of last weekend’s Knock “apparition� was what wasn’t seen. A so-called clairvoyant had predicted that at 3pm on Sunday the Virgin Mary would make an appearance. The crowd gathered. The clock ticked down. And, sure enough, at 3pm . . . she didn’t turn up.Instead, a few minutes after that, some of those present say they saw the sun either spin, or shoot out rays, or that they did indeed see the Virgin Mary.A Mayo News reporter wrote: “Standing beside some people from the parish of Knock, we witnessed something that we had never seen before. Whatever...

In Due Season Today's Scripture "I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase and the trees of the field yield their fruit" (Leviticus 26:4, AMP) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria God has set up seasons in our lives. It's easy to get frustrated when our dreams aren't coming to pass on our timetable, but every season is not harvest season. There are plowing seasons. There are planting seasons. There are watering seasons. Sure, we would love for every season to be a time of increase left and right, good breaks here...

What is a Missionary? "Jesus said to them again, ’. . . As the Father has sent Me, I also send you’ " —John 20:21 A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of...

Traditional Holy Mass Propers † Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost † † Feast of Christ the King † The Blessing of Christ by Fernando Gallego, 1492 Missa Dignus est Agnus qui occísus est, accípere virtútem, et divinitátem et sapiéntiam, et fortitúdinen, et honórem ( "The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive the power and divinity and wisdom and strength and honor" ) 25 October 2009 Anno Dómini "....our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers,against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places...." "Nothing...

October 26, 2009                                     Monday of the Thirtieth Week                                       in Ordinary Time Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 8:12-17 Brothers and sisters,we are not debtors to the flesh,to live according to the flesh.For if you live according to the flesh, you will die,but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,but you received a spirit of adoption,through which...

For the servant (slave) of Christ (His soldier); all that he/she possesses is at the total disposal of Almighty God, to be used for His honor and glory here in time (Romans 12:1-5). Be not offended in what God wills, allows or uses in your life to further the Gospel message to a lost and dying world (Matt 11:6, Rom 8:28). Endure hardness as a good soldier (2 Tim 2:3-4). Some times the very thing in which we are seeking to preserve or save is to be on the chopping block and removed. Fret not my beloved, Almighty God is...

THE Anglican Archbishop of Perth has cautioned disgruntled Anglicans not to join the Catholic Church in anger and haste. Rogert Herft said the Vatican's offer to receive Anglicans would provide a "helpful way for those who wished to join the Roman Catholic Church to do so on similar terms to many Roman Catholics".

One caution: Many of the details remain up in the air This week's big Vatican story is obviously the decision to create special structures, called "personal ordinariates", to welcome Anglicans seeking to join the Catholic church. In some reports, the move was touted as a bold gambit to end the schism that began with the English Reformation in the 16th century -- a dubious bit of spin, given that the actual number of Anglicans likely to sign up for one of these ordinariates will almost certainly be quite small.When the dust settles, the centuries-long breach between Rome and Canterbury will...

Submitting to God’s Purpose "I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" —1 Corinthians 9:22 A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things. Never protest by saying, "If only I were somewhere else!" All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very...

October 25, 2009                                         Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1Responsorial PsalmReading 2Gospel Reading 1Jer 31:7-9 Thus says the LORD:Shout with joy for Jacob,exult at the head of the nations;proclaim your praise and say:The LORD has delivered his people,the remnant of Israel.Behold, I will bring them backfrom the land of the north;I will gather them from the ends of the world,with the blind and the lame in their midst,the mothers and those with child;they shall return as an immense throng.They departed in tears,but I will console them and guide them;I will...

WASHINGTON – Bishop Donald W. Trautman of Erie, Pa., former chairman of the U.S. bishops’ liturgy committee, sharply criticized what he called the “slavishly literal” translation into English of the new Roman Missal from the original Latin. He said the “sacred language” used by translators “tends to be elitist and remote from everyday speech and frequently not understandable” and could lead to a “pastoral disaster.” “The vast majority of God’s people in the assembly are not familiar with words of the new missal like ‘ineffable,’ ‘consubstantial,’ ‘incarnate,’ ‘inviolate,’ ‘oblation,’ ‘ignominy,’ ‘precursor,’ ‘suffused’ and ‘unvanquished.’ The vocabulary is not readily understandable...

Monday and Thrsday morning, 10/26 and 29Kohen--Genesis 12:1-3Levi--vs. 4-9Yisra'el--vs. 10-13 Strday 10/31--Shabbat Parashat Lekh-LekhaMORNING Kohen--Genesis 12:1-13Levi--12:14-13:4Shelishi--13:5-18Revi`i--14:1-20Chamishi--14:21-15:6Shishi--15:7-17:6Shevi`i--17:7-27Maftir--17:24-27Haftarah--Isaiah 40:27-41:16 EVENING Kohen--Genesis 18:1-5Levi--vs. 6-8Yisra'el--vs. 9-14

"Why do we have to go to Mass?" is one of the most frequently asked questions that students address to their religion teachers, and recently I received an email from a former student asking for an article that he could share with his friends that answers that very question. There is obviously a scriptural basis for going to Mass, but there is also a basis in human reason. The human person is the subject of a host of duties. It is the virtue of justice that dictates how he ought to respond to those duties. Firstly, he has a duty...

There aren’t many churches in Christendom where the person sitting next to you is likely a star of stage, screen or television. St. Malachy’s Church, located on 49th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, founded in 1902, is a little jewel box of a church and an essential and important aspect of New York City’s theatrical community.Because of its location in the midst of the Theatre District — and the number of actors who have graced its precincts — it has come to be known as the Actors’ Chapel. Prior to 1920, St. Malachy’s was a working-class Irish-Italian parish....

The Proper Perspective "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ . . ." —2 Corinthians 2:14 The proper perspective of a servant of God must not simply be as near to the highest as he can get, but it must be the highest. Be careful that you vigorously maintain God’s perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little. Don’t think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper perspective.The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching...

October 24, 2009                                 Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week                                 in Ordinary Time Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 8:1-11 Brothers and sisters:Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesushas freed you from the law of sin and death. For what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do,this God has done:by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful fleshand for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in...

Daily Telegraph religion journalist Damien Thompson is sometimes a bit gossipy for my liking, but in this article he does an inside analysis on some of the other major things happening in and behind this week's stunning announcement of Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans.For ten years I was an Anglican priest, and for ten years I was a Catholic layman in England. I worked for the St Barnabas Society--a charity that quietly assists convert clergy as they convert to the Catholic Church. At the same time I was on a long road to ordination myself. I therefore got to meet and...

Guest blogger Mantilla Amontillado, Ecclesiastical fashionista comments on the Anglican Ordinariate.Let me tell you something hon, I went to England one summer for to study the English you know? I was maybe seventeen and I go to this English Language School in Kent. It was really nice, and on Sunday I go into town to go to Mass with my friend Anna. So we find this nice old church and go to Mass and it is beautiful. The priest is very nice. He's wearing an old lace alb and fiddleback chasuble, maniple, the works. The deacon has on this beautiful...

Visits from God Today's Scripture "…And God has visited His people [in order to help and care for and provide for them]!" (Luke 7:16, AMP) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Every person has times of visitation from the Lord. These are the times when God distinctly intervenes in our lives to bring us help, direction, care, and provision. He's ordained special times to pour out His love, favor, and blessing. It may be through a person we meet, an unexpected promotion, or supernatural favor so that in a split second we are thrust years ahead. These marked moments...

Nothing of the Old Life! "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" —2 Corinthians 5:17 Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, "God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He...

October 23, 2009                                     Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week                                         in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 7:18-25a Brothers and sisters:I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh.The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not.For I do not do the good I want,but I do the evil I do not want.Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it,but sin that dwells in...

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Parishioners at Our Lady of the Atonement in San Antonio, the largest Anglican-use Catholic parish in the U.S., have plenty to talk about these days. "Everyone is excited, but they have lots of questions," said the pastor, Father Christopher Phillips, about the Vatican's Oct. 20 announcement of a special structure for Anglicans who want to be in full communion with the Catholic Church. Father Phillips -- once an Episcopal priest and now a Catholic priest who founded Our Lady of the Atonement 26 years ago -- doesn't have detailed answers yet for the parish's 500 families. He...

Santiago, Chile, Oct 22, 2009 / 01:03 pm (CNA).- In an interview with the Chilean daily, “El Mercurio,” the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, Bernard Fellay, acknowledged that the Vatican is considering the possibility of converting the Lefebvrist group into a personal prelature as part of the discussions aimed at bringing about reconciliation. Fellay, who visited members of the SSPX movement in Chile, is one of four bishops whose excommunication was lifted by Pope Benedict XVI last January. Asked about the speculation that the Society of Pius X could be made into a personal prelature similar...

The welcoming of Anglican clergy into the Catholic Church highlights the differences, and difficulties, of approach Attack is the best form of defence. On the eve of another damning report on clerical abuse and cover-up in Ireland, that seems to be Pope Benedict’s tactic. His sudden invitation to Anglican defectors will certainly take the spotlight off a continuing child abuse scandal fed, for decades, by the masculine and intimidating structures of authority in the Catholic hierarchy. Words like “poaching” may seem harsh, but there is more than a whiff of power politics in this move. A “rush to Rome” would...

Marked Moments Today's Scripture "…time and chance happen to them all" (Ecclesiastes 9:11, AMP) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria God created every one of us to be successful. Before the foundation of the world, He laid out an exact plan for our lives. In this plan, He has marked moments that are going to come across your path. These moments are not ordinary. They are destiny-altering moments. They are designed to thrust you years ahead. Today's verse says that time and chance comes together for every person. That means you'll have opportunities to meet the right people, opportunities...

The Witness of the Spirit "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit . . ." —Romans 8:16 We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him— we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself— He cannot...

October 22, 2009                             Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week                             in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 6:19-23 Brothers and sisters:I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature.For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurityand to lawlessness for lawlessness,so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.But what profit did you get thenfrom the things of which you are now ashamed? For the...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The relative ease with which groups of Anglicans can be welcomed into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church owes much to the unique history of the Anglican Communion. Even before the formal Anglican-Roman Catholic theological dialogue began working on ways to restore unity, the Second Vatican Council singled out the Anglicans when talking about the Christian communities born in the 16th century. "Among those in which Catholic traditions and institutions in part continue to exist, the Anglican Communion occupies a special place," the council said in its Decree on Ecumenism. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect...

As I caught up on the day-after coverage of the pope’s welcome mat/hostile takeover (take your pick) of the Anglican Communion, what remained in my brain were the U.S.-based elements Laurie Goodstein had in the NYT story (with Rachel Donadio): Bishop Martyn Minns, a leader of that group [the new breakaway Anglican Church in North America], welcomed the pope’s decision. “It demonstrates his conviction that the divisions in the Anglican Communion are very serious and these are not things that are going to get papered over,” he said.However, both Bishop Minns and Archbishop Robert Duncan, primate of the Anglican Church...

An armed robber in America turned to God mid-robbery in what investigators are calling the strangest case they have ever seen.Gregory Smith, 23, walked into a store in an Indianapolis shopping centre brandishing a gun. But instead of raiding the place, he started hugging his tearful victim, Angela Montez, telling her he hated what he was doing but had no choice. The pair began discussing God and before long Smith was on his knees in tears, praying and being hugged by her.

Out of the Pit Today's Scripture "He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on the solid ground and steadied me as I walked along" (Psalm 40:2, NLT) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Do you feel like you are in a pit today? That pit can be frustration or disappointment or a feeling of discouragement, despair, or hopelessness. And maybe you can’t see a way out, but you’ve got to know that God is still with you, and He will make a way where there seems to...

Impulsiveness or Discipleship? "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith . . ." —Jude 20 There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of...

October 21, 2009                                 Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week                                 in Ordinary Time   Reading 1Responsorial PsalmGospel Reading 1Rom 6:12-18 Brothers and sisters:Sin must not reign over your mortal bodiesso that you obey their desires.And do not present the parts of your bodies to sinas weapons for wickedness,but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to lifeand the parts of your bodies to Godas weapons for righteousness. For sin is not to have any power over you,since you are not under the law but...

(Oct. 20) -- The number of married Catholic priests could grow sharply as the result of the Vatican's epochal decision to welcome thousands of disaffected Anglicans and Episcopalians into the Catholic Church. At press conferences in Rome and London on Tuesday, Vatican officials announced that the Church would set up a special canonical structure that will ease the conversion of members of the Anglican Communion without them having to give up what the Vatican called "the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony." That means not only a body of prayers and hymns, but also a tradition of married priests and...

God keeps us in the environment which is the most fertile and productive for our spiritual growth. Either we will take advantage of the learning process or we will not. It is our choice. May our desire be to learn, grow, endure, have faith in Almighty, be thankful and rejoice for His great love and out working in our lives through the Holy Spirit. To God be the glory!

What is your first response when you hear someone refer to the mother of Jesus Christ as the “Co-redemptrix�? Extreme? Excessive pietism, even if well-intended? Heresy? Only Jesus is the Redeemer. If not directly heresy, then extremely dangerous? At least anti-ecumenical? At best confusing?Witness of the Saints Now let’s look at some people who have in fact called the Virgin Mary the Co-redemptrix: John Paul II (on six different occasions); Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta; St. Padre Pio, stigmatic wonder worker of the 20th century; Sr. Lucia, the Fatima visionary; St. Francis Cabrini, the first American citizen to be canonized;...

Begin Again Today's Scripture "He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!…" (Revelation 21:5, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Can you remember the time when you first discovered a big dream in your heart? Maybe you were determined to excel in your career, or excel as a parent; or even excel in your walk with the Lord. You probably started out strong, but maybe things got a little difficult and didn't happen as quickly as you would have liked. At that point many people decide, "Let's just settle here. It's not exactly...

Is God’s Will My Will? "This is the will of God, your sanctification . . ." —1 Thessalonians 4:3 Sanctification is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me— is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me everything that has been made possible through the atonement of the Cross of Christ? Am I willing to let Jesus become sanctification to me, and to let His life be exhibited in my human flesh? (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). Beware of saying, "Oh, I am longing to be sanctified." No, you are not. Recognize...

Having a loved one laid to rest to the blaring strains of Simply The Best might seem a fitting tribute to assembled mourners. But whenever the Tina Turner hit - or any other pop song now popular at funerals - booms out, it leaves one vicar feeling 'like a lemon'. Father Ed Tomlinson, 35, said he wonders what a clergyman's role is at such services as he feels 'spiritually unwanted'. Writing on his internet blog, the vicar from Kent lamented the decline of Christian farewells centred on a 'beautiful requiem mass'. He said: 'The best our secularist friends can hope...

Archbishop Raymond Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, has offered the first solemn High Mass in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite in St. Peter’s Basilica since the promulgation of the ordinary form four decades ago. The Pontifical Mass took place in the Chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament. Ordained to the priesthood in 1975, the 61-year-old prelate was ordained Bishop of La Crosse (Wisconsin) in 1995 and installed as Archbishop of St. Louis in 2004. Pope Benedict appointed him to his present position in June 2008.