Free Republic

TOULON, France (Reuters) - The French law meant to banish Muslim headscarves from state schools is finding unexpected targets in southern France, where some principals have begun turning away Roman Catholic chaplains. Five priests have been barred from state schools in the Var region despite the fact that French law has long allowed them entry to meet Catholic pupils there, according to the local diocesan spokesman Father Charles Mallard. One school in this Mediterranean port city barred a priest this week because he was wearing a cassock, the traditional black robe he wore last year without problem before the new...

BILOXI, Miss. - A California investor has paid $820,000 at auction for a Biloxi home named for Civil War chaplain Abram J. Ryan, who was known as the poet laureate of the Confederacy. The previous owners, Dr. Jefferson McKenney and Rosanne McKenney, are missionaries in Honduras. Funds raised from the sale were to be invested in Hospital Loma de Luz, which the McKenneys founded in that country. "I don't have a plan," said investor Henry Lee, who recently returned to Biloxi and learned of Tuesday's auction "kind of by accident." Lee represented Golden Bay Investments, a company owned by his...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!                                 A HUMBLE SPIRIT It's always surprising to me when someone, in an honest and unguarded moment, confides that God could never use THEM. They may keep up appearances most of the time, but, down deep, they just don't feel worthy. Have you ever felt that way? If so, you're in...

Father Tim Vakoc was severely injured in Iraq on May 29, when the Humvee he was driving back to his base at Mosul Airfield in Iraq detonated an explosive device. He continues to recover at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Vakoc is believed to be the first military chaplain wounded in Iraq. Vakoc suffered a severe brain injury and lost his right eye. He will most likely be permanantly paralyzed on the right side of his body. As of 9/22/04 he was in critical but stable condition.

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!                                 AN ODD WAY TO PRAY Over the years I have heard a multitude of spoken prayers. Some flowed poetically from the speaker's tongue, some had the overtones of a sermon, and others resembled conversation. I have also heard another type of prayer, though never in a church or chapel. Its...

A prison chaplain in upstate New York's Albion Correctional Facility has been put on paid administrative leave after telling inmates that Osama bin Laden should be "a hero to all Muslims." "This afternoon, we put on administrative leave Chaplain Aminah Akbar, who is a Muslim chaplain, pending an investigation into her conduct," said James Flateau, spokesman for the state Department of Correctional Services, in an interview with the Buffalo News on Thursday. Akbar spoke to a group of about 120 inmates and a half-dozen corrections officers at the prison Saturday during an event billed as "American Solidarity Day," the paper ...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!                                 9 October 1998Chaplain Says Religious Corps Crucial In Military A leading U.S. military chaplain says it is exciting and encouraging to see many of the ex-communist countries forming corps of chaplains within their armed forces. Rear Admiral Byron Holderby, chief of chaplains for the U.S. Navy, made the comment during...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!                                 RIGHT THINKING Most of us wouldn't want to have our thoughts displayed in an art gallery. Yet someone more important than our mother knows our mind. It is possible to have life together on the outside, wear the right clothes and be a social success, but not be together on...

OBITUARY OF REVEREND DAN L. CLOUD December 26, 1949 – August 31, 2004 Rev. Dan L. Cloud of Elkhart, Indiana went home to be with his Lord on Tuesday, August 31, 2004. Born, December 26, 1949, to Wilma (Ball) Cloud-Hieston and Richard Henry Cloud in Indianapolis Indiana Dan is survived by his wife of 32 years, Rhonda (Fell) Cloud, Elkhart, Indiana; his two sons, LT Rob (Janet) Cloud of Washington, D.C. and Brian (Stacy) Cloud, of Bloomington, Indiana; two brothers, Rick Cloud of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Senior Chief Michael (Dawna) Hieston, (Ret. US Navy) of Annapolis; Maryland; two sisters, Arlene...

SPOKANE - Aug. 21 was to be a special day for the Rev. Tim Vakoc, as the Catholic priest was to participate in the wedding of his niece. Instead, Vakoc is clinging to life at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., after he was wounded while serving as a chaplain in Iraq. Vakoc, 44, is a Minnesota native who since 2002 has been assigned to Fort Lewis. On May 30, the Humvee he was driving struck a roadside bomb near Mosul. He lost his left eye and suffered a penetrating head wound that damaged multiple lobes of his...

Biloxi home named for Civil War chaplain Abram J. Ryan, who was known as the Poet Laureate of the Confederacy, will be sold at auction on Oct. 5. The owners, Dr. Jefferson McKenney and Rosanne McKenney, are missionaries in Honduras. Money raised from the sale will be invested in Hospital Loma de Luz, which the McKenneys founded. "It's quite an opportunity," said William Bone, president of the National Auction Group. "It sells, no matter what. Regardless of price, it sells. "These people don't owe any money on it and don't care what it brings," Bone said. "They just want money...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!                                 FACING FAILURE Near the end of World War II the cruiser Indianapolis was sunk in the Pacific by a Japanese submarine at a great loss of American lives. The commanding officer survived and was court-martialed. Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, in discussing the affair with then Chief of Naval...

New York, NY, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The New York City Police Department's first Muslim chaplain will give the invocation at the Republican National Convention's Monday evening session. Imam Izak-El Mu'eed Pasha is the imam, or spiritual leader, of Harlem's Malcolm Shabazz Masjid. In June 1999, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani appointed Pasha as the city's Muslim police chaplain.

Imam Izak-El Mu'eed Pasha, New York Police Department chaplain, delivered the Invocation tonight at the GOP Convention and started it off in Arabic and had blessings from the prophet Mohammad.

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!                                 Jumping to Conclusions A newspaper article told of a man who was walking toward an open New York subway car when he felt a body brush by him. Instinctively, he reached for his pocket and discovered he didn't have his wallet. Shouting and running, he grabbed the person who had...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!                                 World's fastest Beagle Deacon may have been the world's fastest Beagle. While lightly tugging at the leash one would never guess the amount of stored energy in one dog. He was faster than a rabbit. Bright brown eyes, angelic upward gaze, slight quiver in his flanks, all silently pleading to...

U.S. ArmyCapt. Dave Bottoms    Combat Chaplain By Capt. Ryan M. Rooney, Task Force 1-7 Field Artillery FORWARD OPERATING BASE SUMMERALL, Bayji, Iraq, Aug. 19, 2004 – Perhaps one of the most critical members to the military task force, though he does not carry a weapon, is the chaplain.  The need for spiritual support and guidance only increases when the unit is deployed on a mission like Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the Army Chaplain Corps is there to care for our soldiers. As the head of the Task Force's Unit Ministry Team, Chaplain (Capt.) Dave Bottoms ministers to the...

Secret Service Presidential Detail Opinions of Presidents This is something not about missiles or planes, but interesting nonetheless. These comments are from Dick Sprowl, Wesleyan AF Chaplain and teacher of Tuesday morning Bible study in Sun City. We had a neighbor when I lived in DC who was part of the Secret Service Presidential Detail for many years. His stories of Kennedy and Johnson were the same as those I heard from the guys who flew the presidents' plane--- [yes, Kennedy did have Marilyn Monroe flown in for secret "dates", and LBJ was a typical Texas "good 'ole boy" womanizer....

Orioles' chaplain goes to bat for God By George P. Matysek Jr. Staff correspondent Father John Bauer was looking for a cold drink on a hot day at the ballpark when God threw him a curveball. It happened when the Baltimore Orioles’ season ticket holder stepped up to a booth where designated drivers receive free soft drinks in exchange for not drinking alcohol at the game and giving a safe ride home to their friends. The concession stand workers discovered this particular O’s fan was a priest when they saw his driver’s license showing a portly Redemptorist cleric in a...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!                                 The Wise Oyster A shipmate laughingly suggested that one of his co-workers had an IQ several points below the intelligence of an oyster. We don't think of the oyster as one of the smartest in God's creation. Yet, when it come to handling problems, the oyster is wiser than many...