Free Republic

The United Methodist Church General Conference has advanced a measure meant to allow different regions of the global denomination to determine their own standards on LGBT issues.At the Thursday plenary session of the General Conference, delegates voted 586-164 in favor of a petition for an amendment to the UMC’s constitution allowing for regionalization. The petition will now be sent to the annual conferences for possible ratification.The amendment will need to gain at least two-thirds support from the annual conference clergy and lay voters to be added to the UMC constitution, reports UM News.>At present, the UMC Book of Discipline, the...

Prominent Southern Baptist theologians have published a statement clarifying the meaning of the word "pastor" amid controversy within the United States' largest Protestant denomination stemming from Rick Warren's Saddleback Church ordaining female pastors last year. The document "A Statement Concerning the Baptist Faith & Message and the Word' Pastor'" was released last week by two Southern Baptist seminary presidents and the former head of the denomination's public policy arm. The signatories are Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Chuck Kelley, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; and Richard Land, who served as the president of the...

The Presbyterian Church in America has voted to change a rule in its governing document that would disqualify all gay men from serving in its ministry. The resolution to change the rule, “Overture 23,” was passed 1,400-400 at the denomination’s 48th annual convention in St. Louis, Missouri, last week. “Officers in the Presbyterian Church in America must be above reproach in their walk and Christlike in their character. Those who profess an identity (such as, but not limited to, ‘gay Christian,’ ‘same-sex attracted Christian,’ ‘homosexual Christian,’ or like terms) that undermines or contradicts their identity as new creations in Christ,...

Two Chinese Catholic bishops have been ordained with the blessing of both Pope Francis and the Chinese government under a controversial new deal between Beijing and the Vatican. On Monday, Monsignor Antonio Yao Shun, 54, received the papal mandate and was consecrated as the bishop of Jining, in Inner Mongolia, Vatican News reports. His ordination, which took place at Our Lady of Rosary Cathedral, marks the first since the Vatican and Beijing signed a "Provisional Agreement" in September over bishop nominations. “I can confirm that H.E. Mgr. Antonio Yao Shun, who has been consecrated Bishop of Jining/Wulanchabu, Inner Mongolia (China),...

Posted on June 24, 2019June 24, 2019 by Msgr. Charles Pope Thirty Years a Priest and Most Grateful Each year I concelebrate with hundreds of other priests in the ordination Mass of new priests. I find such Masses deeply spiritual. I have no role other than to quietly concelebrate, so the readings and the rites move me deeply. As I sit quietly, I ponder the mystery of my own priesthood.When I was growing up, there was little to indicate that I would become a priest. I wasn’t a particularly spiritual child (at least not after age 7). I didn’t...

HOUSTON — In a majestic Mass at Houston’s Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on Tuesday evening, history was made for the Anglican ordinariates established by Pope Benedict XVI: Their first bishop was ordained. “In a nutshell, it means we’re here to stay,” summarized Msgr. Harry Entwistle, the ordinary of Australia’s ordinariate, which is under the patroness of Our Lady of the Southern Cross. The new bishop, Stephen Joseph Lopes, 40, a native of California, was in fact instrumental in the creation of the ordinariate that he now leads — the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. The...

The South Carolina church that was founded by the Southern Baptist Convention's first president has adopted a new non-discrimination policy that will allow for the congregation to not only marry same-sex couples but also ordain openly gay, lesbian and transgender ministers. Dr. Jim Dant, senior minister of the 184-year-old First Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina, explained in a recent interview with Greenville Online that his church, which is no longer Southern Baptist, voted earlier this year to take up a new policy that does not allow the church to discriminate in any facet of its ministry on the basis...

HAT IS THE PURPOSE of sacred vestments, and what is their origin? These are questions that most ordinary Catholics probably could not answer. A very good (and very concise) explanation of liturgical vesture is given by Fr. Mauro Gagliardi, consultor to the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff (available from the Vatican webpage). His article is well worth a look. The Roman Rite could have developed in such a way that the Sacraments are celebrated by priests who dress in the clothes common to their culture, but it did not. Instead, a system of sacred vestments worn...

A longstanding and well-beloved member of this Forum (anonymous, so if you know the man, please do not reveal his name) tomorrow will be ordained as a priest of Jesus Christ. He has requested this thread so that prayers may be offered. Please join me in thanksgiving and petition that his vocation will be fruitful and joyous: Heavenly Father, grant these and other blessings unto thy servant, for thy glory and the salvation of souls. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Ad multos annos, gloriosque annos, vivas, vivas, vivas!

The Chinese government has allowed the ordination of Russian Orthodox priests, for the first time in 60 years, the AsiaNews service reports. Metropolitan Hilarion, who heads the external-affairs department of the Moscow patriarchate, announced the ordinations after his return from a visit to China. His trip came shortly after Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to Moscow, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. Metropolitan Hilarion reported “very constructive talks” with government officials in Beijing, adding that China is a society that properly values the “role of culture, traditions and the moral factor in shaping the lives of...

Holy Orders: The sacrament of ordained ministryThe Catholic Spirit | Father Michael Van Sloun for The Catholic Spirit | May 23, 2012 Holy orders is one of the seven sacraments. It, along with the sacrament of marriage, belongs to a special group of sacraments known as the Sacraments of Commitment. These two sacraments are “sacraments at the service of communion,” “directed toward the salvation of others,” and “serve to build up the people of God” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1534).Three degreesWhile all of the baptized share in the universal priesthood, holy orders is the sacrament of the...

Seminarians lead a procession for Mass during the dedication of a new building at the Pontifical North American College in Rome Jan. 6. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) Yesterday the USCCB released some information about men to be ordained priests this year. On average, the report states, the men were 17 years old when they first considered the vocation of priesthood, and 71% said they were encouraged in that regard by a parish priest, "as well as friends (46 percent), parishioners (45 percent), and mothers (40 percent)." And the number of men to be ordained is up 20% from last year:...

Days after America's largest Presbyterian denomination approved an amendment to its constitution changing its definition of marriage to include same-sex couples, a lesbian couple will be ordained as ministers Sunday at First & Central Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware. Kaci Clark-Porter and Holly, who married three years ago, will be the first-ever same-sex couple to be jointly ordained, according to USA Today, which says the denomination couldn't point to other examples. Last year, Presbyterian Church (USA) approved a vote on an amendment to change their official definition of marriage from "a man and a woman" to "two people, traditionally a...

Is an American Catholic renaissance possible in our lifetime?Nine years ago I started writing as the “American Papist” because I was, and remain, proud to be both Catholic and an American.We as Christians understand that hope is a necessity of being Catholic because there is no better foundation for hope than the promises of Christ.Newly ordained priests. Copyright: The Catholic Spirit But what signs of hope can be gleaned for the future of the Catholic Church in America?This year, interspersed with my other writing, I’m launching a series of essays around the theme “Signs of Hope” to share and explain...

Anglicans have held to the Roman account of the priesthood as an order originating with Jesus' Apostles. This idea was beautifully developed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict), who wrote: Of great importance for our question is the fact that Jesus gave His power to the Apostles in such a way that He made their ministry, as it were, a continuation of His own mission. "He who receives you receives me". He Himself says to the Twelve (Mt 10:40; cf. Lk 10:16; Jn 13:10). Many other texts in which Jesus gives His power to the disciples could here be...

On Saturday, January 3 in Kansas City, Georgia Walker attempted to do what no woman had done before:  She tried to become a Roman Catholic priest.And she’s got the pictures to prove it:  Georgia smiling, arms raised in triumph, vested in red and white, processing down the aisle at St. Mark Hope and Peace Lutheran Church.  Her friend, “Bishop” Bridget Mary Meehan, smiles proudly at her side.  Attending the ceremony were members of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, a group of similarly deluded women who imagine themselves to be ordained.Here’s the thing, though:  WOMEN CAN’T BE PRIESTS.No, really!  Women...

Those Catholics who are seeking and hoping to "ordain" women are working within a hermeneutic of revolution. Rose Marie Dunn Hudson and Elsie Hainz McGrath kneel before Patricia Fresen, center, during a ceremony in November 2007 "ordaining" them into a group called the Roman Catholic Womenpriests at a St. Louis synagogue called Central Reform Congregation. (CNS photo/Karen Elshout) Eleven years ago Christine Mayr Lumetzberger was excommunicated because she attempted to be ordained as a Catholic priest. A mischievous and misleading article by British journalist Peter Stanford entitled “Meet the Female Priest Defying Catholicism for her Faith" recounts her story.  Ms....

A Swedish priest has been fired after telling his congregation that people who support female priests would be rejected by God - despite the fact that his own church is led by a woman. The Church of Sweden priest in Halland, south-western Sweden, was defrocked after a sermon in which he claimed that Christian salvation was only available to people who rejected the ordination of women. The priest made the controversial comments after finding out that a reorganisation of the church in his area meant that he would soon be working with two female pastors. “The very idea that a...

In a historic vote, the Church of England today approved female bishops. The vote was far from even being close. Women will be bishops in the Church of England after a historic vote in the General Synod, ending 40 years of not being able to do so. An overwhelming 81 per cent of Synod members backed the change, during the sitting in York, and 75 per cent of the laity supported the move.There will no doubt be a great push of the Feminist movement to use this event to further their causes for whatever reasons they may be. There will...

As I’ve thought about the issues of asking questions, faithful agitation, and looking for a much-needed change regarding gender inequality in the Church, I have come to the conclusion that we as a church don’t know all there is to know about God. None of that has to take away from the truthfulness of the Gospel, but the suggestion that the Church is perfect makes the declaration of having a living prophet seem a bit confusing. If there are not things that we are waiting to open our eyes to (which means God is waiting on us to ask him)...