Free Republic

Chuck the telly! At the Fullness of Faith, David has posted Throw away your Television, quoting a song by "Red Hot Chilli Peppers." He says "Not only is the telly full of mindless junk, not only does it eat into spare time that could be used for prayer, study, family and Blogging...it is also largely inimical to all that our Catholic Faith stands for. Why do we pay to watch it in the first place?" Well, I sold my presbytery's television in January 2003 and have not had one since. I thought this would be a sacrifice but actually, I...

Foundress and first superior of the Sisters of Charity in the United States, b. in New York City, 28 Aug., 1774, of non-Catholic parents of high position; d. at Emmitsburg, Maryland, 4 Jan., 1821. Her father, Dr. Richard Bayley (b. Connecticut and educated in England), was the first professor of anatomy at Columbia College and eminent for his work as health officer of the Port of New York. Her mother, Catherine Charlton, daughter of an Anglican minister of Staten Island, N.Y., died when Elizabeth was three years old, leaving two other young daughters. The father married again, and among the...

<p>Anyone who doubts that news media hostility to religious-based activism is often political at its core need only review the media's treatment of three Dominican nuns sentenced last week to federal prison in Denver for damaging government property at a missile silo. For months the three were regularly applauded in the Colorado press, the subject of tributes in columns and a number of one-sided news reports. One Rocky Mountain News writer started his commentary on the nuns' impending prison stint with the following warning: "We like to think of ourselves as a just nation. So if you want to hold onto that thought, you might want to stop reading here."</p>