Free Republic

Robert Ellsberg speaks on whistleblowing, truth-telling and the Pentagon Papers Oct 2, 2019 by Heidi Schlumpf JusticePolitics The autumn of 1969 has been on Robert Ellsberg's mind lately, as the 50th anniversary of a life-changing request from his father approaches. A half century ago, as a 13-year-old, Ellsberg agreed to help his dad photocopy documents from a government report he had worked on. Those documents, which came to be known as the Pentagon Papers, revealed the United States' role in the build-up to the Vietnam War and the lies told to the American public and to Congress about U.S. actions...

[Catholic Caucus] Catholic women urged to 'strike' over inequality in the churchWhat would the Catholic Church do without women? If some activists have their way, we're about to find out.A new project is urging women to strike by withholding time, labor and financial resources from the church during Lent, which begins March 5. The planned action is in response to the Vatican's synod on synodality, which concluded in October without action on women's leadership, including the opening of ordination to the diaconate or priesthood."The strike is for Catholics who are looking for a way to express their disappointment, frustration or...

The inauguration of Joe Biden, the nation's second Catholic president and a regular churchgoer, not surprisingly resulted in a slew of secular media coverage of the president's faith, as religion reporters seem to breathe a sigh of relief that the new commander in chief actually practices religion, rather than crassly abuses it. Biden's invitation of Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory to pray at an Inauguration Day eve memorial to honor those who have died of COVID-19, combined with his decision to start Jan. 20 with morning Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, set the tone for what portends...

The progressive National Catholic Reporter (NCR) has declared Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to be “the future of the Catholic Church” noting her frequent references to “Catholic values” and her “passion for justice.” In an op-ed Monday, NCR’s executive editor Heidi Schlumpf praised Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) as a “rock-star millennial leader of the left” who “grew up Catholic and even wrote about how her faith influences her views on public policies such as mass incarceration, for a Catholic magazine.” As I listened to her “stunning speech” on the House floor last week, “I was struck by how often it referenced Catholic values,” Ms....