Free Republic

January 22, 2015Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children    Reading 1 Heb 7:25—8:6 Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him,since he lives forever to make intercession for them. It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens.He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day,first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself.For the law appoints men subject to...

The establishment of a pro-life centre to assist pregnant women in crisis has resulted in the lives of more than 100 babies being saved in the past two years. That's according to the operators of the Holy Innocents Crisis Centre, which was set up after a heated national debate on abortion in 2009. At that time, pro-lifers - persons opposed to abortion - and pro-choice lobby groups sought to provide convincing arguments for their positions in Parliament. Among the pro-lifers was prominent philanthropist Father Richard Ho Lung, who decided to start the Holy Innocents Crisis Centre at National Heroes Circle...

Father Justin Wylie Father Justin Wylie is a priest from South Africa who is an Attaché of the Holy See to the United Nations. I have personally met him and attended Masses in which he has been the celebrant and listened to several of his talks. He is a good, holy priest, and tremendously loyal to the Catholic Church. He is also a great devotee of the Traditional Latin Mass, and celebrates it beautifully. Father Wylie recently celebrated Mass and gave a sermon at Holy Innocents Church in Manhattan. Holy Innocents, along with dozens of other churches in the...

Updates: I have been provided some background and additional info: Ever since the archdiocese learned of his homily remarks, he has been forbidden to offer public Masses in the NY archdiocese. A letter of complaint has been ldged with his home diocese of Johannesburg, S. Africa, as well as with his nuncio in Pretoria. Fr. Wylie has been in NYC as a visiting priest for three years. His term at the Holy See's Permanent Observer Mission to the UN was supposed to end in July. Once his remarks got out, he was sent packing immediately; he no longer works there.

“A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning…” Those are the words of Jeremias the Prophet. St. Matthew’s gospel tells us that they foreshadow King Herod’s murder of Bethlehem’s infant males following the birth of Christ, who Herod feared might usurp his ill-gotten earthly throne. Holy innocents die for different reasons. In every generation. In every place. A church — a very special church — by that name is scheduled to die in Manhattan’s Garment District.

“Rachel Weeping, and a Son Called out of Egypt” (Matthew 2:13-23) “To us a child is born, to us a son is given.” And his name is Jesus, of course. This child born in Bethlehem at Christmas. This son--Son of God, son of Mary--this son given to us to be our Savior. But what happens when Jesus is born? What happens when God gives his Son to the world? A whole bunch of bad stuff, apparently. A king goes crazy. A family has to flee to Egypt. Babies are killed. Mothers are weeping. And this is a gift?? Some kind...

Featured Term (selected at random):CHILDERMAS DAY An old English name for the feast of the Holy Innocents, December 28. It is a Catholic custom for parents to formally bless their children on this day. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

"The Slaughter of the Holy Innocents," by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 14th century, taken from Even before they learn to speak, they proclaim Christ The feast of the Holy Innocents, who died as martyrs for Christ at the hand of wicked King Herod's men [see Matthew 2: 16-18], fell on a Sunday this year, so they weren't commemorated during Mass this year. However, the memory of these blessed souls in Heaven came to mind as I listened to a favorite Christmas carol of mine, "Coventry Carol." An entry on the BBC's website about the carol related the following: The carol probably...

A voice is heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more. –Matt. 2:18 quoting Jer. 31:15 Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, 'Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted—and you yourself a sword will pierce—so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.' –Luke 2:34-35 In the Catholic Church, each day's liturgy brings a different celebration or commemoration, either from the life of Christ or...

“The One That Got Away” (Matthew 2:13-23)Christmas is a joyous, happy holiday. At this time of year we celebrate the “good news of great joy,” that to us is born a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. With the angels who give glory to God in the highest, with the shepherds who return glorifying and praising God, with the wise men who rejoice exceedingly with great joy, we too join in the joy of Christmas. Yes, Christmas is a joyous, happy holiday. That is true within the church. But perhaps even more so, it’s true in the culture around us....

The Innocents' Day. The Collect. O ALMIGHTY God, who out of the mouths of babes and sucklmgs hast ordained strength, and madest infants to glorify thee by their deaths: Mortify and kill all vices in us, and so strengthen us by thy grace, that by the innocency of our lives, and constancy of our faith even unto death, we may glorify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For the Epistle. Rev. xiv. 1. I LOOKED, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name...

LONDON, August 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The ancient quest of fashionable women to stave off the effects of age has always left them open to the claims of swindlers. The latest edition of the snake oil chronicles, according to the UK’s Daily Mail, has a more “scientific” cachet and involves injecting stem cells gleaned from aborted babies as well as umbilical cord blood directly into the skin. Scores of British women are opting for a procedure that stem cell experts are condemning as charlatanry. A private British clinic makes arrangements for well-to-do English women to travel to Rotterdam in the...

Dear Brothers and Sisters,As we celebrate the Octave of Christmas and the Feast of the Holy Innocents, we again focus our attention on Psalm 138. This hymn of praise proposes a theme that deeply resonates with the spirit of Christmas, when we commemorate the great mystery of the Son of God made man for our salvation. The second part of this psalm offers a meditation on God's all-encompassing loving gaze upon human beings. In order to describe the divine action within a mother's womb, the psalmist refers to classic biblical images. In particular, we see the Creator represented as a...

December 28, 2005Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs Psalm: Wednesday 3 Reading I1 Jn 1:5-2:2 Beloved:This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christand proclaim to you:God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.If we say, “We have fellowship with him,”while we continue to walk in darkness,we lie and do not act in truth.But if we walk in the light as he is in the light,then we have fellowship with one another,and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.If we say, “We are without sin,”we deceive ourselves, and the truth...

About a year ago, my husband and I traveled across the chilly cornfields of Indiana to have our younger son baptized...Babies, love, and family. Comfort, joy, and peace... But perhaps not so fast... What [we]forget, neglect or conveniently ignore is what we can not-too-dramatically call the Dark Side of Christmas. The really traditional Christian remembrance of the Nativity is not about sweetness. It is about awe, fear, and trembling, and it is shot through with hints of suffering to come. Mary, with a scandalous pregnancy. Joseph, courageous enough to take her on despite it. A birth among farm animals. The...

Pious Fantasy and the Liberty of the Believer 12/31/2003 Once upon a time, on the Internet, someone from an Eastern Orthodox background posted a little note concerning the Feast of the Holy Innocents. According to this post there is apparently an old Orthodox tradition that the number of those slain by Herod was 14,000 — a rather steep number for a tiny village like Bethlehem. In This Article... Pious Fantasy! Fuddled Critics Getting Past Cartoon Thinking The Church Rejoices in Storytellers The Balance of the Church Today's Holy Innocents Pious Fantasy! Someone else then wrote in and asked where the...

December 28, 2002Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs Psalm: Saturday Week 2 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Gospel Families Adults Reading I1 Jn 1:5—2:2 Beloved:This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christand proclaim to you:God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.If we say, "We have fellowship with him," while we continue to walk in darkness,we lie and do not act in truth.But if we walk in the light as he is in the light,then we have fellowship with one another,and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.If we say,...

The Feast of the Holy Innocents 113. Since the sixth century, on 28 December, the Church has celebrated the memory of those children killed because of Herod's rage against Christ (cf. Mt 2, 16-17). Liturgical tradition refers to them as the "Holy Innocents" and regards them as martyrs. Throughout the centuries Christian art, poetry and popular piety have enfolded the memory of the "tender flock of lambs"(125) with sentiments of tenderness and sympathy. These sentiments are also accompanied by a note of indignation against the violence with which they were taken from their mothers' arms and killed.In our own times,...