Free Republic

The Battle Theme of Lent Msgr. Charles Pope • March 2, 2017 • A brief observation of the first two days in Lent reveals militaristic, even violent imagery in the battle against sin and the unruly passions of the flesh. The Collect (opening prayer) of Ash Wednesday provides an image of troops mustering for battle:Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with...

Ignoring the Poor Is a Damnable Sin – A Homily for the 26th Sunday Msgr. Charles Pope • September 24, 2016 • The Rich Man and the Poor Lazarus by Hendrick ter BrugghenIn the Gospel for today about the rich man and Lazarus the Lord gives us some important teachings on judgment and Hell. We live in times in which many consider the teachings on Hell to be untenable. They struggle to understand how a God described as loving, merciful, and forgiving can assign certain souls to Hell forever. Despite the fact that the Doctrine of Hell is taught...

Jeddah’s anti-begging unit is fully equipped to deal with the large number of beggars that appear on the city’s streets during Ramadan, said Saad Al-Shahrani, unit director. “The fasting month of Ramadan and the Eid holiday are two of the highest seasons for begging, not only in Saudi Arabia, but throughout the Islamic world,” he told Arab News. “We will deploy 500 undercover volunteers to arrest beggars during the holy month in coordination with the Social Affairs Ministry and the Jeddah Police Department,” he said. A committee will be formed and more than 300 vehicles will be deployed across several...

One of the struggles that many Christians experience is that the needs around us are so great, and yet we are limited, both in personal strength, and in resources. And, lurking in the back of our mind, is a notion that whatever the problem, Jesus would always help and so should we. But, then, is it always wrong to say no when there is need?It is a true fact, Jesus was quite generous with his time, attention, and resources. We too are counseled to be rich in mercy and kindness, expansive in our charity and to be willing to forsake...

COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) - A police survey says panhandlers outside a Wal-Mart here can make $300 a day. Inside, it takes a clerk a week to make that much. Police say people who have a problem with that needn't look to the law--asking for money is considered protected free speech. "We are not going to target panhandlers," said Coos Bay Police Capt. Rodger Craddock, who spoke a recent gathering of business owners about panhandling. "We can't do that. But if they aren't getting money from us, they aren't going to stand on that corner." He said most panhandlers are...

Roots of Care: Investigation of family tree, finds that ancestor lived in 'alms house'By Sherry Youngquist JOURNAL REPORTER Saturday, October 20, 2007 Kim Quintal stands inside a building in Yadkin County that was once known as "the crazy house." It was part of the poorhouse system in North Carolina. (Journal Photo by David Rolfe) YADKINVILLE - Off a dirt road, not far from the county seat, there is a small frame building in a field. Walk closer and you see the bars over the windows. Inside, handmade, crudely cut lattice separates stalls where people were once shut away. People in...

Soon after the tsunamis struck South and South-East Asia in December 2004, a Bengali newspaper published from New York prominently carried a report on how Bangladesh escaped the disaster. The report, by Bangladeshi geologists, concluded that the shallow continental shelf of the Bangladesh mainland acted as a kind of buffer. A few days later, an angry reader left this message on the editor's answering machine: "How, could you, a Muslim, publish such a report? It was Almighty Allah who saved Bangladesh." The proposition that God saved Bangladesh from the destructions of the tsunamis is of course a matter of faith,...