Free Republic

As the families of U.S. hostages currently held in Iran have struggled for years to rally the determination to bring their loved ones home, newly released emails from the former secretary of State reveal the infuriating truth that those with connections get their case raised to the top. In 2009, Iason Athanasiadis was covering the protests of the disputed election win of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over Mir-Hossein Mousavi for the Washington Times. The Greek citizen was detained by Iranian authorities on June 17, 2009, as he tried to fly out of the country. Athanasiadis was thrown in Evin prison and released...

The scenes of Lisa Ling and Euna Lee being reunited with their families are heartwarming. It is hard not to be moved seeing these women return to American soil, knowing that they faced what may have been a death sentence, considering the harsh conditions in North Korean work camps.It was clearly not an easy diplomatic decision. More harm than good may have been done in the bigger picture by giving a crazy despot an air of legitimacy. But seeing the images of Lee hugging her 4-year-old, it seems the right course was taken.And who knows? Now that Kim has rubbed elbows, maybe he'll...

My guess is "less than 36 hours."

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea wants the U.S. to show remorse for the actions of two American journalists convicted of illegally entering the country, and it might free the women if Washington does so, a scholar who visited Pyongyang said Saturday. The comments by North Korean officials to University of Georgia political scientist Han S. Park came as analysts say the isolated communist regime intends to use the detention of Laura Ling and Euna Lee as bargaining chips in its ongoing standoff with Washington over the country's nuclear and missile threats. The journalists were detained in March near the...

This link is just to the Japanese report, but it is emerging that since March a) Kim Jong Un, the 26-year-old heir apparant/son of Kim Jong il, has essentially been given administrative control of the North Korean Secret Police (국가안전보위부); b) that this also soon puts him in de-facto control of the 10,000 man strong border forces which will be put under control of the DPRK Secret Police next month. Further, Dong-A Ilbo daily newspaper in South Korea (from which the JIJI Japanese report (link) is based) says for all intents and purposes, c) the fates and current handling...

PARIS (Herald de Paris et Cie.) - Before Laura Ling and Euna Lee became household names for entirely the wrong reason; before North Korean missile tests; before UN resolutions for violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Laura’s sister, investigative reporter Lisa Ling, sneaked into North Korea for The National Geographic Channel’s EXPLORER series, in 2006, posing as a member of a humanitarian eye surgery team. The end result was a documentary titled, “Undercover in North Korea.” Lisa’s hour-long Undercover in North Korea defied Kim Jong Il’s ban on outside journalists, and offered a glimpse of life above the 38th parallel...

As a lifelong Catholic -- and a practicing one at that -- I have often been embarrassed by the leftist orientation of the church's lobbying team in Washington. But my embarrassment turned to jaw-clenching rage when I turned on C-SPAN recently and saw that among the usual left-wing activists assembled at the Brookings Institute to rail against Social Security privatization was a representative from Catholic Charities, USA. Yes, there was Catholic Charities spokeswoman Sharon Daly seated alongside Kweisi Mfume of the NAACP, Jesse Jackson from the Rainbow Coalition, John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO, and, get this, Patricia Ireland of the...

Lovest Thou Peter? by Michael J. Matt One of the saddest consequences of being abandoned by one's father has to be the understandable tendency to allow the hurt of rejection to turn to bitterness and hatred for the one we should love. We sometimes see this even in the Church. Oftentimes, Traditional Catholics give the impression of being disposed to take delight in seeing Modernism's triumph manifest itself in the thinking and actions of the highest-ranking members of the Catholic hierarchy. Some almost seem to be waiting with bated breath and anticipation for Pope John Paul, for example, to fall...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In their relations with Jews, Christians cannot conceal the strong missionary dimension of their faith, but also must recognize that Jews do not have to convert in order to be saved, a top Vatican official said. Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, said Nov. 6 that Christians take a different missionary approach toward Jews than toward followers of other non-Christian religions. That's because Christians and Jews share a long biblical and religious tradition, a belief in the same God and a conviction that God will complete human history,...

.tenblack { font-size: 10px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000; } .tenblack:Hover { font-size: 10px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #800000; text-decoration: none; } .tenblackbold { font-size: 11px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; } .amdg { cursor: default; } .twelveRed { font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #800000; text-decoration: none; } .twelveRed:Hover { font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000; text-decoration: underline; } .twelveBlack { font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000; text-decoration: none; } Summer 2001 IssuePresent at the Demolition An interview with Dr. Alice von Hildebrand A Philosopher Remembers...

The Pope, the Mass and the Society of St. Pius X Father Pierre Blet, SJ, Professor of Church History at the Gregorian University, celebrated for his defence of Pope Pius XII against the charge of anti-semitism, has given an interview in which he made some interesting comments apropos relations between Rome and the Society of Saint Pius X and the attitude of Rome to the Traditional Mass. This interview was published in the July-August 2002 issue of the journal of Una Voce France. Father Blet considers that there are at present indications that an entente may be reached. Father Blet...

Altar Shape The square design best expresses the theology that all are gathered around the table. There is no front or back no head or foot of the table. All places are of equal importance. (A round altar can also express the concept.) Presider's Chair While certainly not a throne, the chair's central position serves to remind us that the community does gather around someone who presides at the celebration. The presider is central to both the celebration of the liturgy of the Word as well as the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The absence of kneelers is another notable feature,...

<p>St. Francis DeSales Catholic Church was packed Sunday -- both with people and with rainbows -- a symbol of unity in the gay community.</p> <p>The event went off following a week of controversy that included criticism from the local Right to Life Committee and the removal of the Mass's organizer from a Sept. 11 public speaking role.</p>

Cathedral reflects a new vision of church Roman Catholic cathedral joins other churches in trying to bridge sectarian divides and unite sprawling cities. By Daniel B. Wood | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor LOS ANGELES – After eight years of construction, the first major American cathedral to be built in three decades Monday begins to address the question marks hanging over its $189 million creation. Like a number of newer Protestant mega-churches, the massive Roman Catholic structure – positioned atop the highest hill of downtown Los Angeles and next to one of the nation's busiest freeways – is...

No Room for Christ at Saint Patrick's Cathedral by Thomas A. Droleskey September 11, 2002, will be remembered for a long time as a day of outrage. Outrage, that is, on the part of Catholics who still cling to the old-fashioned notion that the entirety of human history revolves around the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity made Man, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the Church He created upon the Rock of Peter, the Pope. For the Archbishop of New York, Edward Cardinal Egan, did not let pass from his lips even once the Holy Name of the...

ONLY ON 7 TONIGHT, SHOCKING NEW ALLEGATIONS AGAINST PRIESTS IN THE CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF ARLINGTON. AN UNSEALED COURT DOCUMENT REVEALS CONFISCATED PORNOGRAPHIC MATERIAL, IN THE RECTORIES OF MORE THAN ONE CHURCH. ABC SEVEN NEWS REPORTER GRETA KREUZ HAS DETAILS. Story: A SCATHING SIDEBAR HAS EMERGED FROM THE RECENT DISMISSAL OF A 5-MILLION-DOLLAR LAWSUIT AGAINST THE ARLINGTON DIOCESE -- A SUIT BROUGHT BY A MAN WHOSE PASTOR HAD AN AFFAIR WITH HIS WIFE. A DEPOSITION TAKEN IN THAT CASE OF FATHER JAMES HALEY REVEALS EXPLOSIVE ALLEGATIONS, NOT ONLY OF WIDESPREAD SEXUAL ACTIVITY AMONG GAY PRIESTS, BUT ALSO OF EXTENSIVE PORNOGRAPHIC MATERIALS...

Seattle Catholic is not affiliated with the Archdiocese of Seattle A Journal of Catholic News and Views 23 Aug 2002 Home Articles Letters to the Editor Assistance Needed Further Reading Links & Resources St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle... "By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them." (Matt 7:16) The Real Crux of the Church's Crisis IT STARTS AT THE TOPPerverts Do Not Proliferate Without The Prelate Making It Possible! It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb.10: 31) It should be noted here that in our addressing the great turmoil...

In most dioceses across the country, Catholics have been led to believe that the current "shortage of priests" has been a wholly unexpected and rather unexplainable curse. They have been asked to pray for an increase in vocations which have mysteriously dried up in these modern times. Rather then objectively evaluating the possible causes of this "shortage" 1 and coming up with solutions, many bishops are focusing on accommodations of how to function with less (or possibly no) priests. Certain measures which would otherwise be cause for outrage are accepted as appropriate measures in the current "vocations crisis". This is...

Intro By Fr. James McLucas: The great encyclical of Pope Paul VI, many would argue, was the catalyst that brought the Modernist Revolt within the Church out into the open. Catholics presently are living amidst this insurgency within the Church. It is, therefore, impossible to write a competent and dispassionate history at present. However, not a few have already asked, and are investigating, how the Modernists breached the bulwark of the Church's defenses with such effortless rapidity. It is becoming apparent that the present agony was long in the making. Little embraces of a "new theology" led, step by step,...

A Tale of Two Schisms part one of two by Christopher A. Ferrara One schism is illusory, and harms no one, while the other is quite real and deadly. Guess which one the neo-Catholics condemn? "There are people who in the face of the difficulties or because they consider that the first ecumenical endeavors have brought negative results would have liked to turn back. Some even express the opinion that these efforts are harmful to the cause of the Gospel, are leading to a further rupture in the Church, are causing confusion of ideas in questions of faith and morals...