Free Republic

I think one of the least utilized assets in all of America is the Clergy, how can you have a pool of College Educated, or Scripturally Wise men and granted, some Women, and shuttle them off to the side as if the knowledge accumulated is akin to those whom are expert at variations of color of sea snails? I also do believe in the concept of "whomsoever" as in a Sheepskin does not a wise man make, in that sense Christians who have served in Congregations worthily should also be included. A roll call perhaps? To the topic, even Lay...

Archbishop John Hepworth The Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion has announced that more than 150 of the group's clergy are actively seeking to reunite with the Catholic Church under Pope Benedict XVI's Anglican Ordinariate proposal.“This is a moment to reflect on the prophetic wisdom of Pope Benedict,” wrote Primate John Hepworth, who heads up a group of 15 traditional Anglican provinces around the world. “It is a moment to thank him for his daring trust that Anglicans would respond. It is a time to intensify our prayers for him.”In his pastoral statement, he noted some “exquisite difficulties” that...

Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev go to Church frequently, kiss precious icons of the Virgin Mary and seek political and moral counsel from the Russian Orthodox Clergy. Furthermore, to the surprise of many Americans, particularly Evangelical Christians, Vladimir Putin wears a Christian cross with him at all times. On ABC's Good Morning America Anchor George Stephanopoulos recently interviewed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev: STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask you, the American public doesn't know all that much about you personally. But I was fascinated to be-- in reading your biography to learn many of the details. You were brought up in Soviet...

The new generation of priests and young Catholics become independent of the decaying Old Liberal ideology. [kreuz.net, Herzogenrath] Beginning this December in the City of Herzogenrath -- by Aachen in west Germany -- a Conference on the Liturgy will take place. This has been organized by the website Liturgische-Tagung.de. They give detailed information about the program and the background of the Conference. The Congress will be carried by several Traditional Societies. Among them are the 'Initiativekreise' of Cologne and Hamburg as well as the Lay Society, 'Una Voce'.

Police say there is enough evidence to indict Religious-Zionist leader, half a year after religious forum charged with handling sexual harassment cases announces he violated agreement barring him from rabbinical activityThe police announced on Sunday that there is enough evidence against Rabbi Mordechai (Motty) Elon, who is suspected of committing indecent acts by force against two minors, to put him on trial. The investigation material was handed over to the Jerusalem District Prosecution, which is slated to hold a hearing prior to submitting an indictment against Elon. In February, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein asked that a police investigation be launched...

Arraignment today for teen in Yule killing Trial date scheduled in Salvation Army murder JOHN LYNCH ARDEMGAZ The teenager accused of gunning down a Salvation Army officer on Christmas Eve makes his first appearance today in Pulaski County Circuit Court to answer capital murder and aggravated robbery charges. Laquan Javaris Fitzpatrick, 19, who has addresses in Little Rock and Helena-West Helena, is to appear before Circuit Judge Barry Sims at 1:30 p.m. for arraignment on charges that carry the death penalty. The judge will also set trial dates for Fitzpatrick. Accused of killing Salvation Army Maj. Philip Wise on Dec....

When Tim Ryan was called to an urgent meeting last year to discuss his duties as children's minister at West Shore Evangelical Free Church, he knew something was amiss. "This is really hard. I don't know how I can do this," said executive pastor John Nesbitt, who helps lead the 2,500 attendee megachurch in Mechanicsburg, Pa. The church, part of the Evangelical Free Church of America, had been growing rapidly but giving was down and well below projections as the recession weighed on members. So Mr. Ryan was losing his job, as was another pastor. While the economy appears to...

PHOENIX (AP) -- A Latino clergy group says it will file the first lawsuit challenging Arizona's tough new law targeting illegal immigration. The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders plans to file the suit Thursday in federal court in Phoenix.

Two of the five sex abuse victims who met Pope Benedict XVI during his April 2008 visit to the United States, and who pledged at the time to "hold his feet to the fire," have announced plans to stage a "Day of Reformation" for the Catholic church in Rome on Oct. 31, amid a mushrooming crisis which threatens to engulf the pope himself. Bernie McDaid and Olan Horne, who met Benedict XVI on April 17, 2008 -- the first-ever meeting between a pope and survivors of sexual abuse -- said today that they intend to gather thousands of victims, along...

What must it feel like to have lost 50 years of your life? For that is what 61-year old Arthur Budzinski has endured. Five long decades of personal pain. And he has to rely on others to speak of his anguish. It is made worse by the fact that no-one has been held to account for the sexual abuse he says he suffered as a child while at the Roman Catholic St John's School for the Deaf in St Francis, Wisconsin. Arthur and around 200 other boys are said to have been sexually abused at the school by Father Lawrence...

The pope's entire career has the stench of evil about it. On March 10, the chief exorcist of the Vatican, the Rev. Gabriele Amorth (who has held this demanding post for 25 years), was quoted as saying that "the Devil is at work inside the Vatican," and that "when one speaks of 'the smoke of Satan' in the holy rooms, it is all true—including these latest stories of violence and pedophilia." This can perhaps be taken as confirmation that something horrible has indeed been going on in the holy precincts, though most inquiries show it to have a perfectly good...

LITTLE ROCK — Salvation Army Maj. Phillip Wise had Christmas plans. All he had to do was drop off the Christmas Eve donations at the Salvation Army headquarters in North Little Rock, pick up his wife, Cindy, who also is a Salvation Army major and was in the building waiting on him, and head home, to West Virginia, for the holidays. His three young children — 4, 6 and 8 — were with him. Then the unthinkable happened. Wise was robbed at gunpoint and as his children watched. He was then shot and bled to death in the parking lot...

‘Work is not done,’ widow says Wife of Salvation Army pastor speaks of prayer for his killer EVIN DEMIREL ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Leading a Sunday service in the building where her husband was shot and killed in a Christmas Eve robbery attempt, Salvation Army Major Cindy Wise said her mission to minister to the people in North Little Rock’s Baring Cross neighborhood has not changed. “I believe I have peace today because I know the work is not done here yet,” Wise told nearly 50 people on Sunday. Standing before the congregation in her navy blue uniform, she said she will...

Salvation Army major shot dead in front of 3 children By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette A Salvation Army major was fatally shot in front of his three children Thursday afternoon as he walked into the the organization's community center in North Little Rock, authorities said. Around 4 p.m., two black men dressed in black approached Philip Wise, 40, of Maumelle outside the community center at 1505 W. 18th St., Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper said. Wise’ children — ages 4, 6, and 8 — were walking with him when the men came up to them, police said. His wife, Cindy, also...

A Pastor, a Rabbi and an Imam - It May Sound Like a Joke Setup, but the "Interfaith Amigos" are Serious about their Mission (CBS) As more details of an attempted Christmas terror attack emerge, it's clear that achieving peace on earth remains elusive. But three clerics of different faiths have teamed up to chase it, by provoking laughter and thought, as CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reports.

Why We Are Going to Hell – Part 5,291 The Abomination in the Temple bythelastcrusade.org A Canadian Roman Catholic bishop has been charged with the distribution and selling of child pornography after a random search of his laptop at the Ottawa airport, a police source confirmed to the press. His Eminence Raymond Lahey, 69, was returning to Canada from the United States when Canadian Border Services Agency officials found images on his computer. Bishop Lahey resigned from governing the diocese of Antigonish, Nova Scotia last weekend. In his letter to his flock, the Bishop said that he needed time...

Findings from a nationwide study reveal that clergy sexual misconduct is more prevalent than many people believe.According to research by Baylor University, 3.1 percent of adult women who attend religious services at least once a month have been victims of clergy sexual misconduct since turning 18. In other words, seven women in every congregation of 400 adults have been victimized.Ninety-two percent of the sexual advances were made in secret and 67 percent of the offenders were married to someone else at the time of the advance."Because many people are familiar with some of the high-profile cases of sexual misconduct, most...

Many members of the clergy must be using the Bible like the old Sears catalogue – for toilet paper – because they obviously don't read it. Last week, another once-great church succumbed to the relentless, media-savvy campaign of determined homosexuality. "Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America voted to lift the ban that prohibited sexually active gay and lesbian people from serving as ministers," reported the Associated Press. In July, the Episcopal House of Bishops and laity approved liturgies for same-sex couples and endorsed the right to elect gay bishops. Lutherans and Episcopalians join other denominational giants, Unitarians and...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America passed a controversial vote late Friday afternoon to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy. Despite strong opposition, the ELCA passed the vote 559 to 451, marking a historic change, and repealing a ban on gay clergy. At 4.7 million members and about 10,000 congregations in the United States, the ELCA would be one of the largest U.S. Christian denominations yet to take a more gay-friendly stance on clergy. "We are today part of a church denomination that is changing, and it will make possible...

The President's Schedule yesterday included calls with two different clergy groups trying to enlist them in selling Obamacare to their "flocks," the first to 1,000 Rabbis from across the country, ...The second call was to 14,000 clergy of all faiths The President's religious arguments were a bit disingenuous. While the POTUS was correct that revising the health care system in America is a moral issue, the argument, is not as he claims whether we should reform health care, its how we should reform health care. His opponents don't like Obama's plan