Free Republic

You know the conversations.“Catholicism is so out-dated and inflexible!” “You don’t really need to follow the Vatican’s teaching to be loyal to the faith.” “Catholic to Catholic Church: It’s Reality-Check Time.”There are all manner of arguments people make to assert that the Catholic Church should evolve with the times to stay modern, to gain proselytes lest followers depart and the cranky old religion ceases to exist. “Change or perish!” they say.And they’ve been saying it for 2,000 plus years.It’s sensible to reply, “Well, Truth does not change.” It’s easy to then launch into an explanation about the objectivity and immutability...

From: Man Alive! A survival manual for the human mind. by Greg Swann Chapter 9. The high cost of mindlessness. When you are not thinking carefully, you are not not-thinking. If you are not asleep and not unconscious, you are always thinking – always sustaining an uninterruptible mental “dialogue” with yourself in Fathertongue. But if you are not thinking carefully – thinking mindfully – then you are thinking carelessly – mindlessly. Most of the academic nonsense I have mocked in this book consists of a scrupulous cataloging of the processes and consequences of human mindlessness – which is misrepresented by...

Featured Term (selected at random):DOCTRINE Any truth taught by the Church as necessary for acceptance by the faithful. The truth may be either formally revealed (as the Real Presence), or a theological conclusion (as the canonization of a saint), or part of the natural law (as the sinfulness of contraception). In any case, what makes it doctrine is that the Church authority teaches that it is to be believed. this teaching may be done either solemnly in ex cathedra pronouncements or ordinarily in the perennial exercise of the Church's magisterium or teaching authority. Dogmas are those doctrines which the Church...

"....Wuerl and his surrogates have rebuked a visiting priest from the archdiocese of Moscow for denying Communion to a self-described practicing lesbian at a funeral mass. That's not our "policy," gasped Wuerl's horrified surrogates. But it is the policy of the Roman Catholic Church. If a person is not in communion with the teachings of the Church, said person should not receive Communion. Period. Canon law makes this explicitly clear. If you don't believe me, ask the head of the Vatican Supreme Court, Cardinal Raymond Burke. Though most of his colleagues seem to ignore his stance, he has said for...

How Old Is Your Church? If you are a Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex- monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517.If you belong to the Church of England, your religion was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a divorce with the right to remarry.If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560.If you are a Protestant Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England founded by Samuel Seabury in the...

A few weeks after the U.S. city of Detroit was ravaged by 1967 race riots in which 43 people died, I was shown around the wrecked areas by a black reporter named Joe Strickland.He said: ‘Don’t you believe all that stuff people here are giving media folk about how sorry they are about what happened. When they talk to each other, they say: “It was a great fire, man!” ’I am sure that is what many of the young rioters, black and white, who have burned and looted in England through the past few shocking nights think today.

Dogmas of the Catholic Church With Christ and the Apostles General Revelation concluded. (Sent. certa.) The Unity and Trinity of God The Existence of God The Natural Knowability of the Existence of God God, our Creator and Lord, can be known with certainty, by the natural light of reason from created things. (De fide.) The Existence of God can be proved by means of causality. (Sent. fidei proxima.) The Supernatural Knowability of the Existence of God God's existence is not merely an object of natural rational knowledge, but also an object of supernatural faith. (De fide.) The Nature of...

I grew up in the Catholic Church; however, it seemed like I was Catholic by inheritance only, as no one in my family prayed before meals, read from the Bible, or even discussed God. You went to church because you were supposed to go to church. I attended Catechism classes every Sunday until I turned 13 and received my Confirmation. My teachers were often frustrated with my perpetually raised hand to ask questions like: Why can’t women become priests? Why can’t priests get married? Why do I have to go to confession instead of talking to God directly? And why...

From Christianity’s beginnings, the Church has been attacked by those introducing false teachings, or heresies. The Bible warned us this would happen. Paul told his young protégé, Timothy, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths" (2 Tim. 4:3–4). What Is Heresy? Heresy is an emotionally loaded term that is often misused. It is not the same thing as incredulity, schism, apostasy, or other sins against faith. The...

Many cradle Catholics I know look at the moral conflicts tearing apart the mainline denominations with sadness, but as a convert from one of them (the Episcopal Church, the most notoriously divided one of them all), I think this is not quite the right response.We will feel sad at the sight of beloved Christian friends suffering as their churches divide, but we might be heartened to see that because these conflicts express flaws in the original design, they will encourage some to greater friendship, if not full reconciliation, with the Catholic Church.The sadness we feel will be like the sadness...

The lack of debate over and the speedy passage of the Obama stimulus package have put clashing political dogmas at the forefront of the American conversation. Central to that conversation is which party has the better solution for the economy. Clearly, the president considers this a crisis. You need look no further than his speech last Wednesday, in which he used the word "crisis" more than 25 times -- sometimes three times in one sentence. Had you been playing a "crisis" word-drinking game, you would have temporarily lost all brain function by the end of the 18-or-so-minute speech.

  Recently, Rod Dreher posed a question about what a Catholic is to do when he thinks a magisterial authority has made some error of fact concerning, say, science, politics, or economics. Dreher's post concerns the question of whether some bishops are mistaken to think morning-after pills are abortifacient, but it could just as easily pertain to some bishop holding forth on farm subsidies, water quality in the Columbia River, the violence in Gaza, or the output of Hollywood.   What concerns Dreher is how a Catholic walks the line between paying attention to what the bishops have to say...

Dogma [dawg’-muh] (Greek dogma, “decree or ordinance”) An established, settled, and often authoritative opinion concerning a matter. With respect to Christian belief, dogma expresses a statement of belief which carries with it the authority of a particular religious institution or tradition.

Label terminates contract before album releases and confuses everyone NEW YORK – As the hip-hop industry's tradition of wholesome, thought-provoking lyrics has slowly decayed since the 80's, one artist wants to buck the trend by adding a new level of linguistic complexity to his lyrics. Tru Dawgma, a self-proclaimed "exegetical elaborator," insists that his new style will help counteract hip-hop's recent reputation of promoting only superficiality, sex, drugs, and violence. But not everyone appreciates Dawgma's approach, as God's Fro Records recently terminated his contract and stated, "Most of our listeners don't have a GED, let alone an M. Div.!" God's...

Protestants as well as Catholics believe that the Body of Jesus Christ is now in heaven. This doctrine is called the Ascension and is explicitly revealed in the Bible. All Christians believe, too, that the bodies of the just will be united to their souls at the end of the world and be glorified in heaven after the manner of the Risen Body of Christ. This is also revealed explicitly in the New Testament. It follows, therefore, that the bodies and souls of the departed saints are now separated, that their souls are in heaven and their bodies in the...

All Saints Day, A Principal Feast Day Of The Catholic ChurchNovember 1, 2006 What makes this feast so important that the Catholic Church celebrates both the night before All Saints and the day after it? The church has always honored those early witnesses to the Christian faith who have died in the Lord. During the first three hundred years Christians were severly persecuted, often suffering torture and bloody death -- because they were faithful. They refused to deny Christ, even when this denial might have saved their own lives, or the lives of their children and families. Many of those...

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi Shiite residents of Baghdad's Sadr City have expressed anger on over a picture of a grinning Jesus they mistook for a Shiite holy figure that appeared in the area after a joint US-Iraqi operation. Residents found a picture of "Buddy Jesus" from the 1999 film "Dogma" posted in the streets, accompanied by a badly photocopied pamphlet bearing a crude approximation of a US military crest and outlining a US "plan" to subjugate the neighborhood. "That picture abuses our Imam Mahdi and his holy character, and mocks our sacred figures," said resident Abu Riyam Sunday, apparently mistaking...

GODLESS: The Church of Liberalism, Chapter One On the Seventh Day, God Rested and Liberal Schemed They exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator. . . . Therefore, God gave them up to passions of dishonor; for their females exchanged the natural use for that which is contrary to nature.—Romans 1:25–26 Liberals love to boast that they are not “religious,” which is what one would expect to hear from the state-sanctioned religion. Of course liberalism is a religion. It has its own cosmology, its own miracles, its own beliefs...

Has anyone seen the movie "Dogma" being shown continuously on Comedy Central today? Apparently when it was shown in the theaters in 2000 there were protests but now with poor memories, CC must think this blasphemy is acceptable.

1962 Sunday Missal Mass Readings/Propers for the Sixth Sunday After Pentecost   Colors:  Green   INTROIT  Psalms 27: 8,9 The Lord is the strength of His people, and the protector of the salvation of His anointed: save, O Lord, Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance, and rule them for ever. -- (Ps. 27. 1). Unto Thee will I cry, O Lord: O my God, be not Thou silent to me, lest if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. V.: Glory to the Father . . . -- The Lord is...