Free Republic

Following the passage of the Dying with Dignity Bill in the lower house of the Irish legislature last year, the Irish Parliament Justice Committee recommended the formation of a special committee on assisted suicide. The committee is expected to meet in October to review the possibility of legalizing assisted death, according to The Journal. People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny said he hopes the committee will be the “beginning of a serious conversation in eventually changing the law around this issue in the lifetime of this government.” The Dying with Dignity Bill would allow people diagnosed with terminally health conditions...

The decrease in donations makes it harder to help students with annual school-supply drives Each year at back-to-school-time, many parents are in sticker shock about school-supply costs. This year, with inflation, is no exception as parents pay more for everything from notebooks to backpacks and calculators. Never mind shoes and clothes, and for some, laptops. The National Retail Federation reported in June that school-supply prices were expected to increase by 40% and one loan company said 37% of parents with school-age children said they are unable to afford back-to-school shopping. Last year, many families had help with these purchases through...

[Catholic Caucus] Finishing Off Traditionalists As time passes, we understand more and more clearly how the civil war unleashed by the Church leadership against the “traditionalists” has developed and toward what goals it tends.We properly speak of a civil war because it is really an internal struggle, albeit one that began in terms opposite to the prevailing dynamic of such a phenomenon: it is not a portion of the people that rises up against those in power and seeks to undermine them, but rather those in power who seek to crush a portion of the people. All this is...

"Few things are as deafening as silence" Bianca Jagger, Mexico's ex-President Felipe Calderon and Pulitzer Prize winner, Andres Oppenheimer criticise Pope Francis for not commenting on recent events in Nicaragua. There, dictator Daniel Ortega has closed down Catholic radio stations and placed a bishop under house arrest.

Dare more synodality - and no discrimination against women, divorcees and queer people: This is the message the Swiss Church is sending to Rome. Anyone expecting tough demands is likely to be disappointed when reading the Swiss final report. The tone is matter-of-fact, the wishes are well measured. This suits the Swiss tone, where people communicate less briskly than in the large canton of Germany. Lay people may lead congregations, baptise children, marry couples In the run-up to the conference, Felix Gmür, President of the Swiss Bishops' Conference, had already asked that the word "demands" be avoided - because Rome...

TWENTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME MATTHEW 19:23–30 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples: “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven.” When the disciples express their astonishment at this— “Who then can be saved?”—Jesus replies, “For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” When we fail on the spiritual path, we must become, like Bartimaeus, beggars. When we stumble in our attempts to follow the law or to set out on the high adventure of discipleship, we must not fall into...

16 August 2022Tuesday of week 20 in Ordinary Time St. Stephen's Basilica, Budapest Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(II).First readingEzekiel 28:1-10 ©Against the arrogance of the king of TyreThe word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre, “The Lord says this:Being swollen with pride,you have said: I am a god;I am sitting on the throne of God,surrounded by the seas.Though you are a man and not a god,you consider yourself the equal of God.You are wiser now than Danel;there is no sage as wise as you.By your wisdom and...

The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development reiterated the Pope's call to the faithful that taking an abortion-tainted COVID shot is 'an act of love' in new promotional material.VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) – As worldwide public health agencies announce a slowing down on national COVID-19 shot drives, even treating the virus like seasonal influenza, the Vatican has released a new video renewing calls for vaccine development and distribution for the novel coronavirus as an “act of love.” “The Pandemic and the Magisterium of Pope Francis” is the third part in a series of materials created by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting...

Madrid, Spain, Aug 12, 2022 / 01:32 am In a move that could destroy the largest cross in the world, Spain’s government wants to turn the world’s longest basilica into a “museum of the horrors of Franco.” The Basilica of the Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen lies at the center of a memorial site, about 45 km (28 miles) northwest of Madrid. The landmark under the towering cross includes an abbey and the basilica. The Spanish dictator Francisco Franco ordered its construction to honor the fallen of both sides during the Spanish Civil War. The bodies of...

Secularists in France have expressed their outrage on social media after a viral video from a priest at Saint Nicholas du Chardonnet in Paris. In the video, Father Chautard of the Society of Saint Pius X questions the nature of modern secularism, which has become in many ways about opposing God rather than simply dealing with worldly concerns. You can read an English translation of his remarks below, provided by French website Fide Post: "In our current society, what is that cult of secularism ? This is the rejection of God. This is a republican religion, the religion of the...

[Catholic Caucus] Novena for Our NationA Battle for the Catholic Church, the Family and Our NationAugust 15th to October 7th, 2022 The Novena will begin on August 15th, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and will end on October 7th, the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. The intention for which we are praying together is: For the Strength and Unity of Our Church; and for the Protection of the Family and Our Nation. Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us! We, the Church Militant on earth, are engaged in a spiritual battle of historic...

(Translation) [Dominican] President Luis Abinader asked the Virgin of Altagracia to keep protecting the Dominican people and "to God to bless us always". The leader pointed out that veneration of the Virgin, which began with a promise from lancers from El Seibo and Higüey to help them survive a battle where the Spaniards defeated the French in 1691, is the same Dominicans have today of the virgin who "will keep being our protector". "She is our mother and, as such, she intercedes with God to favor her children," President Abinader stressed. He said that "there is not a single corner...

SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY LUKE 1:39–56 Friends, today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The dogma of the Assumption of Mary describes the full salvation of this prime disciple of Jesus. In the Apostles’ Creed, we speak of our hope for "the resurrection of the body." Mary, assumed body and soul into heaven, has experienced precisely this resurrection and hence becomes a sign of hope for the rest of the human race. When we speak of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother’s body, we are not envisioning a journey...

Monday 15 August 2022The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Solemnity Church of the Assumption Saint Paul, Minnesota Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(II).These readings are for the Vigil Mass on the evening before the feastThese readings are for the day of the feast itselfThese readings are for the Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast:First reading1 Chronicles 15:3-4,15-16,16:1-2 ©They brought in the ark of God and put it inside the tent that David had pitched for itDavid gathered all Israel together to bring the ark of God up to the place he had prepared for it. David...

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, student activists at Georgetown University are threatening to withhold donations if the school doesn’t change its policies regarding “reproductive and family freedom.” According to The Hoya, the law student chapter of the “reproductive justice-focused group” If/When/How and H*yas for Choice began a “No Donation Pledge” which requests that students and others “withhold donations towards the university endowment and unrestricted items” until certain “action items” are addressed. “In short,” the pledge reads, “no choice at Georgetown – no donations for Georgetown.” It concludes: “Choice is fundamental to personal liberty...

[Catholic Caucus] The Ministry of Truth in the Diocese of Arlington The Arlington Catholic Herald, our diocesan newspaper, came yesterday. I generally check the priest's moves and the bishop's schedule and do a quick page-through to see if I want to read anything. It used to be a joke among some of my confreres, when Bishop Paul Loverde was our ordinary to count how many photos of him graced the pages of the paper. Bishop Burbidge can't compete. His only photo in this issues was the stamp-sized mini attached to his column.At any rate, one headline caught my eye...

The Death of Catholic IrelandIts secularist pols move to ban prayer vigils at abortion facilities.Ireland was once famous for dispatching Catholic missionaries to pagan lands. But now an increasingly secularized Ireland needs missionaries sent to it. The once-pious island has gone from saving civilization to losing it, plunging into a hedonistic culture that promotes “abortion rights” and the sexual revolution.The repulsive New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd recently chortled that “Ireland and the United States have traded places.” In the past, she said, the Irish went to America for abortions. Now Americans after the collapse of Roe v. Wade will...

The Community of the Word of Life will be dissolved The Charismatic Community of the Word of Life, founded in 1986, will be dissolved as of 1 July 2023. Gathered at the Abbey of Andecy, in the Marne region of France, its members learned of Cardinal Jozef de Kesel's decision on 25 June 2022. The Community of the Word of Life brings together men and women of all states of life - lay people, consecrated persons and clerics - in two possible ways of belonging: community of life and community of covenant. The Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, guarantor of the community,...

German Catholics rebuke senior bishop for employing pro-abortion activist in key church role(LifeSiteNews) — Maria 1.0, a German lay group of Catholic women, published on August 11 a letter to Bishop Georg Bätzing – the head of the German bishops’ conference – that they had sent to him on August 3. In that letter, they pointed out to him the scandalous fact that a prominent lay woman, Dr. Irme Stetter-Karp, had recently demanded “that the medical intervention of an abortion should be made possible across the board.” Dr. Stetter-Karp is chairwoman of the ZdK (Central Committee of German Catholics), and...

Today's readings concern with sharing God's Word. Whether getting stick in mud, stoned with rocks or being Crucified- The cost of spreading The Gospel, always comes with risk and often pain. 14 min. YouTube Link below:Let Christ Light A Fire In You