Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Leo’s Vatican quadruples down on support for the green agendaDuring his first five months in office, Pope Leo XIV has indeed continued the green legacy of his predecessor, Francis.The Vatican is quadrupling down on its support for the green agenda.Last month, the Holy See submitted to the United Nations its plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent over the next decade.Among other things, the plan, which is part of the Church’s obligation to the Paris Climate Accords – which the Trump administration withdrew from earlier this year – will include developing a 1,000-acre solar panel...

[Catholic Caucus] Heterodox priests condone immoral sexual behavior at annual retreat: leaked audio'The ideas and teachings floated in this conference are sure to lead souls to Hell,' remarked Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute.A leaked audio recording of a heretical clergy group’s annual meeting reveals that its retreat leader, a theology professor, downplayed or heretically denied the gravity of an array of serious sins, including masturbation, fornication, and receiving Holy Communion while in grave sin.The Lepanto Institute recently shared audio clips from the 2025 annual meeting of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests (AUSCP), a dissident group that was refused...

[Catholic Caucus] Kentucky bishop cites Francis in letter defending Mass for pro-LGBT groupBishop John Iffert's saying of the Mass for the dissident pro-LGBT group comes just a year after he made headlines for canceling two priests in his diocese who offer the Traditional Latin Mass.A Francis-appointed Kentucky bishop who canceled two Latin Mass priests last year is defending his decision to offer an “LGBT Mass” for a dissident organization backed by neighboring heterodox Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, who serves as its ecclesial adviser. On August 28 at St. Joseph’s Church in Cold Spring, Kentucky, Bishop John Iffert of Covington...

[Catholic Caucus] Kentucky prelate calls lack of election response from American Church ‘disappointing’In the month or so since former President Donald Trump was elected to occupy the White House for a second term, the majority of American bishops have either not commented on the election publicly, or issued a generic statement about the importance of civility, unity, and democracy.That extends to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, where – outside of responses to Trump’s stated plan for mass deportations – not much has been said. Bishop John Stowe, in a recent conversation with Crux, said that reality isn’t surprising...

(RNS) — Diocesan hermits by nature don’t get much attention. A small subset of religious persons, hermits mostly spend their lives engaged in quiet prayer. Brother Christian Matson, a Catholic diocesan hermit in Kentucky, has spent years doing just that. His monk’s habit might catch his neighbor’s eye, but he is known in the town where he lives primarily through his work with the local theater. But recently Matson decided that his faith compels him to make a little more noise than usual. “This Sunday, Pentecost 2024, I’m planning to come out publicly as transgender,” Matson told Religion News Service...

[Catholic Caucus] US bishops attend secretive pro-transgender conference organized by heretical New Ways MinistryMore than a dozen prelates, including heterodox Kentucky Bishop John Stowe, joined the New Ways Ministry event, though the bishop who oversaw the USCCB’s condemnation of transgender surgeries wasn’t invited.More than a dozen Catholic bishops met recently for a closed door pro-transgender conference at Jesuit-run St. Louis University, organized by the heretical, pro-LGBT New Ways Ministry.The move comes as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is working on formalizing a universal policy in line with the doctrinal note published by the doctrinal committee of the bishops’...

Bishop: Homosex "Blessing" Signifies "God’s Approval" [of Sin]Homosex activist John Stowe, "bishop" of Lexington, Kentucky, is applauding Francis' statement that priests can "bless" homosex concubinages at their whim.Speaking to Time.com (October 4), he said that homosex "blessings" can be of "great significance" to those who practise homosexuality because such "blessings" are like prayers for God's presence and help and "almost signify God's approval."Stowe openly rejects the biblical condemnation of homosexual sins and regards "sexual orientation [such as paedophilia or necrophilia?]" as "not being something that one freely chooses."The Catholic understanding of free will and responsibility has been rejected by many...

[Catholic Caucus] Pro-LGBT Kentucky bishop affirms support for ‘blessings’ of same-sex ‘couples’Bishop John Stowe, who has a long history of pro-LGBT activism within the Catholic Church, commented on Pope Francis' statement regarding priests using 'pastoral prudence' to offer blessings.Notoriously pro-LGBT Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv., of Lexington, Kentucky, has expressed his support for “blessings” of same-sex unions after Pope Francis statement that such blessings can be discerned by priests to be acceptable in certain circumstances according to “pastoral prudence.”Speaking to TIME about the Pope’s opening of the door to “blessings” of same-sex unions, Stowe said, “He’s not saying that we...

[Catholic Caucus] Lexington diocese hires gay married man as director of the Office of WorshipLexington's Bp. John Stowe — an adamant supporter of sodomy — recently named Aaron Bianco the diocese's new director of the Office of Worship.Faithful Catholics from the diocese are alarmed.In 2018, Bianco resigned from his position as pastoral associate at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church (SJE) in San Diego — a church with a so-called LGBTQ ministry, which, according to its web page, has a "weekly vibrant liturgical celebration for the LGBBT community and their allies."In an email regarding his resignation, Bianco wrote:As most of...

First in-person LGBTQ Catholic ministry conference held in the USSome 200 participants gathered for the first in-person Outreach LGBTQ Catholic Ministry Conference held in New York City on June 24-25.More than 200 people from all over the United States and Canada, as well as from the United Kingdom, Italy, Colombia and Uganda, gathered June 24-25 in New York City for the first in-person Outreach LGBTQ Catholic Ministry Conference."These were theologians and writers; high school teachers and college professors; pastors and parish lay leaders; mothers and fathers; gay, straight, bisexual, lesbian and transgender people -- all part of the same church,"...

Priests of the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 may not minister to the sick, elderly, and homebound, Bishop John Stowe has directed. The policy was announced during a Saturday vigil Mass Sept. 11 that Bishop Stowe celebrated at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Lexington. At the end of the liturgy, Deacon Tim Weinmann read a statement from the cathedral’s rector, Father John Moriarty, that both Fr. Moriarty and Father David Wheeler, the parochial vicar, have not been vaccinated. “The bishop has asked that Fr. David and I, Fr. John – I’m speaking...

Catholic Bishops’ Response to Biden’s Vaccine MandatePresident Biden has made clear his belief that everyone has a moral obligation to receive the Covid vaccine. The refusal of many citizens to act accordingly has, in his view, put the health of many Americans at risk. He therefore signed an executive order mandating that businesses with more than 100 employees ensure that all employees be either vaccinated or tested weekly for Covid. Any business that fails to comply could be penalized up to $14,000 per violation.Biden’s mandate has prompted a response from elected officials, the business community, and the media, but also...

Diocesan "Pride Month Conversation Resources" The month of June is reserved for the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Roman Catholic Church, while the secular and Jesuit world commemorates a month celebrating a deadly sin (pride) and a sin that cries to Heaven for vengeance (sodomy).Despite the Church's teachings on same-sex relations (still a mortal sin...), some bishops and dioceses continue to promote "pride month" activities. The Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, led by a notorious dissident, Bishop John Stowe, has sent a memo to diocesan parishes with "pride month conversation resources."We received the packet from a novus ordo diocesan...

Bishop apologizes to fired LGBT Catholic educator at theology gatheringAfter eight years serving as the director of religious education at a Catholic school in Pennsylvania, Margie Winters was fired in 2015 because of her marriage to a woman.Her story is similar to those of a number of other Catholic educators in the U.S., fired because their relationships violate the church's teaching against same-sex marriage. But on June 4 this year, Winters received something different: a clerical apology for the way she was treated.As part of a discussion during the annual gathering of the College Theology Society, held virtually, Bishop John...

NEW YORK ­– Bishop John Stowe of Lexington offered words of support and a blessing to LGBTQ Catholics alongside other advocates on a Zoom call Monday night, reminding them that “God desires a deep and intimate relationship with each of you.” “May God, the source of life and love fill you with the job of knowing your great dignity and worth as God’s child who is created with love and filled with blessings from the first moment of your existence,” said Stowe in a video message. The online prayer service hosted by DignityUSA – an organization that has advocated for...

Two US bishops back pro-LGBT campaign calling for acceptance of men who claim to be femaleBishops Wester and Stowe joined the Human Rights Campaign in calling for 'transgender individuals' to be 'treated with dignity and respect'April 9, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A U.S. Catholic archbishop along with a bishop and several priests joined up with the pro-LGBT Human Rights Campaign in releasing an April 1 letter affirming “transgender individuals” — men who claim they are women and women who claim they are men — while calling for an end to the “epidemic of violence” that they say such individuals face.“We, Bishops,...

Catholic bishops sign statement to LGBT youth: ‘God created you, God loves you.’A group of U.S. Catholic bishops, including a cardinal and an archbishop, have signed a statement of support for L.G.B.T. youth, telling them, “God created you, God loves you and God is on your side.”“As we see in the Gospels, Jesus Christ taught love, mercy and welcome for all people, especially for those who felt persecuted or marginalized in any way; and the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that LGBT people are to be treated with ‘respect, compassion and sensitivity,’” reads the statement, released by the Tyler...

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Paragon of Justice -- Catholic Bishop From the Bishop of Lexington, Kentucky:  The late Justice Ginsburg's own words:   Q: If you were a lawyer again, what would you want to accomplish as a future feminist legal agenda?  JUSTICE GINSBURG: Reproductive choice has to be straightened out. There will never be a woman of means without choice anymore. That just seems to me so obvious. The states that had changed their abortion laws before Roe [to make abortion legal] are not going to change back. So we have a policy that affects only poor women, and...

Pro-homosexual Bishop John Stowe justified his dissent from the USCCB by stating that 'without the environment to sustain human life, you can't have human life.'LEXINGTON, Kentucky, September 16, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Bishop John Stowe suggested last Thursday that the environment is the preeminent issues for Catholic voters to consider, not abortion. “They are both critical issues,” the pro-homosexual bishop of Lexington, Kentucky, admitted. “I think an argument could be made that … creation is the preeminent issue, because without the environment to sustain human life, you can’t have human life.” The bishop of Lexington, Kentucky, made his remarks during a...

[Catholic Caucus] "Our Lady of Pride": Lexington Bishop Lets It Happen Lexington St Paul Church, Kentucky, published an alleged prayer which ridicules Our Lady with the title “Our Mother of Pride.”Pride which the homosexual movement claims for itself, is the worst of the seven deadly sins. Lexington Bishop John Stowe is a notorious supporter of gay ideology and Pride events.StevenSperay.WordPress.com (August 9) points out that "Our Lady of Pride" equals saying “Our Mother of the Wicked,” “Our Mother of Abomination,” or “Our Mother of the Seven Cardinal Sins.”The mock prayer laments about those [gays] who have been “rejected” and wait...