Free Republic

I find it quite frightening on how badly prepared the Church in England and Wales is to combat secularism and opposition to the Church's teaching. We give the impression that we don't really care. This weekend there will be a demonstration against the Papal visit outside Westminster Cathedral followed by a rally outside the Italian embassy, presumably in the hope of attracting the attention of the Italian media, amongst the speakers will be Peter Tatchell, it advertises itself as: We support: · Women's equality and reproductive rights · Equal rights for LGBT people · A secular Europe - immune to...

The anti-religion crusaders are at it again. This time they want the Post Office to cancel a planned new stamp honoring Mother Teresa. I am continually shocked by the persistence of these activist groups. They seem to never give up! Any mention or reference of God must be wiped out. The Pledge of Allegiance, In God We Trust, you name it… they want it boarded up, whitewashed, and banished from our public life. But not this time. Not Mother Teresa. Sign on to our group letter to the Postmaster General here – Stamp Out Bigotry A group called the Freedom...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A top Vatican official said religious orders today are in a "crisis" caused in part by the adoption of a secularist mentality and the abandonment of traditional practices. Cardinal Franc Rode, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said the problems go deeper than the drastic drop in the numbers of religious men and women. "The crisis experienced by certain religious communities, especially in Western Europe and North America, reflects the more profound crisis of European and American society. All this has dried up the sources that for centuries...

.....Joe Feuerherd’s scurrilous article did not respond to the issues raised by the claims of the Reform CCHD NOW Coalition concerning John Carr. It did not seek to refute the points raised in the articles in question. It did not even attempt to defend John Carr, at least beyond a brief reference to his skills and Feuerherd’s assertion that the claims in the articles are “calumnies”. These would have all been an entirely appropriate use of Feuerherd’s journalistic platform as the Editor in Chief of a Newspaper which bears the name “Catholic”. Instead, he used this newest controversy as another...

The cooperation between Rev. Franz Meurer and Iranian Navid Kermani illustrates how far Germany has gone in accepting its booming Muslim minority.The recent Swiss ban on minarets reflects a climate gone sour between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe. But here in Germany, two people have taken a stand to promote a dialogue that goes far beyond symbolics. Not long ago, the Rev. Franz Meurer, a Roman Catholic priest in a rough Cologne neighborhood, led his parish to raise funds for the construction of a controversial mosque there, slated to be Germany’s biggest in a city most famous for its Catholic...

Richard Williamson, the Catholic Bishop soon to face trial in Germany on charges of denying the Holocaust, is apparently unrepentant, allegedly telling colleagues recently it was a "huge lie" that six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis.The notorious English bishop also allegedly told colleagues from his ultraconservative brotherhood that "a completely new world order" had been built on the "fact" that Jews were systematically gassed in concentration camps such as Auschwitz, Treblinka and Sobibor. Jews, he added, had become "ersatz saviours thanks to the concentration camps," according to a report in German news magazine Der Spiegel. "The fact is...

Remember Doug Kmiec? He wasn’t very well accepted in Malta. He was nearly sycophantic in his support of Pres. Obama during the campaign and after, probably because he wanted to be the ambassador to the Holy See instead of just to Malta. He was the one who said Catholics could set the problem of a candidate’s aggressive support of abortion aside and vote for him anyway. Kmiec Catholics, and others who embrace the corrosive Kmiec Compromise hold that if the candidate’s stand on other social justice issues are acceptable, then his stand on those issues outweighs his unacceptable stand on...

Some commentators are amazed by the strength of Pope Benedict XVI’s attack on Labour’s “equality” legislation. In a speech to the English and Welsh bishops published today, the Pope said: Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of...

Catholic Charities to give syringes to drug users Church agency's needle exchange aims to cut disease risk By PAUL GRONDAHL, Staff writer First published in print: Friday, January 29, 2010 Editor's Note: To discuss this story, visit Read and React. ALBANY-- After 20 years of alleviating suffering for people touched by AIDS, Catholic Charities will take one of its boldest steps yet on Monday: passing out free syringes to IV drug users in two urban neighborhoods to prevent the spread of the disease. Anticipating criticism, the social services agency of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany spent five years planning...

n a strongly worded appeal that will test their political influence, especially with their pro-life and Republican allies, the Catholic bishops of the United States have told Congress to put politics aside and focus on the "moral imperative" of passing universal health care. "The health care debate, with all its political and ideological conflict, seems to have lost its central moral focus and policy priority, which is to ensure that affordable, quality, life-giving care is available to all," the three bishops who are leading the lobbying effort for the Catholic hierarchy write in a letter sent Tuesday to all 535...

In any human organization, the actions and attitudes of its leader color the image the organization has of itself and projects to those outside its membership. The stronger the leader, in his vested authority and in his person, the more firmly will this image be molded in his form. This truism is particularly applicable to the Roman Catholic Church. Men speak of "good" popes and "bad", and of "good" and "bad" ages in the history of the Church. The judgments used to define these nebulous value words vary according to the judge's own culture, standards, faith or lack of it,...

I have to say, I really don’t get it. It’s not okay for the University of Notre Dame to ask a pro-choice politician to give a commencement speech, and receive an honorary degree, because abortion is the new Holocaust. . . and we shouldn’t honor in any form those who who acquiesce in its legality, claiming that this is the best we can do realistically and pragmatically. But it is okay for the Roman Catholic Church to advocate the cause of sainthood for Pope Pius XII, who was at best lukewarm in his opposition to Nazism and the original Holocaust,...

The founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center voiced dismay and disappointment Monday at weekend Vatican moves to raise controversial wartime pope Pius XII to sainthood. The Vatican sparked anger in Jewish communities worldwide with moves to nudge Pius -- whose beatification process was launched in 1967 -- closer to sainthood, its ultimate honor. The Catholic Church argues that Pius saved many Jews who were hidden away in religious institutions, and that his silence during the Holocaust -- when millions of Jews were exterminated by Germany's Nazi regime -- was born out of a wish to avoid aggravating their situation. But...

It was a Vatican announcement guaranteed to spark controversy. "With this decree the Pope says that Pius XII is a person that we have to admire, recognize as a model of Christian virtues, and it is very, very important that the church gives officially this appreciation of this important pope that we know was guiding the church in very difficult times." said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi. The move by the sitting Pope, Benedict XVI, brings the controversial World War II pontiff, Pius XII, a step closer to sainthood, despite persistent allegations from historians and Jewish groups that he did...

At this time, as the possible canonization of Pope Pius XII moves forward, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum repeats its call for the opening of all wartime material from the Vatican archives, so that scholars can finally begin the important work of examining and evaluating this crucial aspect of history. The response of Eugenio Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) to the policies of the National Socialist regime - notably his failure to condemn publicly the genocide of the European Jews - has long been the topic of debate and controversy. At the time of the Holocaust, questions about Pius XII’s...