Free Republic

Catholic churches in France have a bad landlord: the French governmentA notable and unsettling trait of most French churches is the number of statues with their heads lobbed off. Admittedly, upon reflection, it’s not surprising those statues came out of the French Revolution badly, notes an article today in Spectator Life. The Church and its clerics weren’t popular. But it was nearly 250 years ago. How come the heads haven’t been put back on? It seems lax of the Church authorities, to say the least. After all, the Church in France, whose roots go back to the Apostolic Age when...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Cordileone: "Church Has Lost Sense of Continuity in Liturgy"Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, USA, spoke with Rev. Javier Olivera Ravasi on YouTube about the crisis of the Church and liturgy. Main points.- A sin is a sin because it goes against our human good, not because God or clergymen have made a list of acts.- The problem with the 'new Mass' is that if it is new today, it will be old tomorrow, and thus become a thing of the past.- Young people today see how the Novus Ordo is celebrated in many parishes and view...

[Catholic Caucus] Italian Bishop: Every Homosexual Has Right To Receive EucharistBishop Francesco Savino of Cassano all’Jonio, the vice president of the Italian Bishops' Conference, will preside over the Eucharist in the Jesuits’ church Il Gesù in Rome for the homosexual pilgrimage to St Peter’s basilica on September 6.Saint Ignatius of Loyola is buried in this church. When asked about this event, Savino told Gionata.org on August 15 that no one is excluded from the Eucharist: "The bread broken on the altar knows no barriers of birth, language, social condition, or life path."And: "The Eucharist is a welcoming womb, not a...

It may be appropriate to mention that something like rugged individualism is said to have been at the root of the brutal anarchy, characterized by rape, murder, civil war, genocide, and the nearly total disintegration of what had been the emerging nation of Israel that obtained during the latter part of the Period of the Judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.”[3] Several biblical texts emphasize the importance of caring for widows and other vulnerable persons in the community. Laws intended to assist such persons can be...

31 August 2025 22nd Sunday in Ordinary TimeLindisfarne Priory, Holy Island, England Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingEcclesiasticus 3:19-21,30-31Behave humbly, and you will find favour with the LordMy son, be gentle in carrying out your business, and you will be better loved than a lavish giver.The greater you are, the more you should behave humbly, and then you will find favour with the Lord;for great though the power of the Lord is, he accepts the homage of the humble.There is no cure for the proud man’s malady, since an evil growth has taken root in him.The heart of...

30 August 2025 Saturday of week 21 in Ordinary Time Sanctuary of Narcisa de Jesús Martillo Morán. Nobol - Guayaquil, EquadorReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First reading1 Thessalonians 4:9-11You have learnt from God how to love one anotherAs for loving our brothers, there is no need for anyone to write to you about that, since you have learnt from God yourselves to love one another, and in fact this is what you are doing with all the brothers throughout the whole of Macedonia. However, we do urge you, brothers, to go on making even greater progress and to make...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Luke 14:12–14This Gospel passage goes to the heart of our motivations in life. Because of our fallen human nature, we can easily do what...

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(8/31/25)[Prayer]Water, Rivers, and Streams in the BibleJoshua 24:14-1514 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®...

“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them” (Matthew 9:36). Examples in the gospels of Jesus’ compassion are notable. When He saw Mary and others weeping for the deceased Lazarus, “He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled” (John 11:33) and wept with them (v. 35). The phrase “deeply moved in spirit” connotes physical as well as emotional and spiritual anguish. As He saw Lazarus’s friends and family grieving, He entered into real crying with them. When arrested in the garden, Christ was more concerned about the disciples than Himself: “If you [soldiers] seek Me, let these go their...

The Rev. Hunt Priest, founder of the ‘Christian Psychedelic Society’ Ligare, was deposed from the Episcopal Church’s ministry by Bishop Frank Logue of Georgia earlier this week, concluding a 13-month Title IV disciplinary process. The action followed a complaint by the Rev. Joe Welker, a Presbyterian pastor and former Ligare intern, who accused Priest of endorsing illegal psychedelics, particularly psilocybin, and leveraging his priestly authority to promote Ligare’s mission, which the diocese deemed outside sacramental ministry. In 2015, Priest was reading the progressive Christian magazine The Christian Century when he came across an advertisement for a study by researchers at...

Praying daily since 2015:And this is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His Will, He hears us. —1 John 5:14 Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate...

Is Pope Leo XIV Committed to the False Irenism Condemned by Pope Pius XII?If serious Catholics remain unwilling to condemn the “benign heresies” promoted by Vatican II and John Paul II, then perhaps it is better for Leo XIV to sustain the most visible aspects of the crisis. In that way, we might not be deceived into thinking the cancer is cured merely because the most painful symptoms have temporarily subsided. But the far better course would be for all sincere Catholics to finally renounce the errors condemned by Pius XII that have become so prevalent today.When Robert Francis Prevost...

One of the most frequently cited texts by cessationists — those who believe the gifts of the Spirit, such as prophecy, tongues, and healing, ceased after the apostolic era — is found in 1 Corinthians 13:8-12: “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When...

[Catholic Caucus] The Tenebrae of Maximilian KolbeSeize the opportunity to bring a brilliant new look into the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe to your city.During hours of darkness in Holy Week, the Church observes the peculiar liturgy of Tenebrae. As the Office progresses, the candles on the lampstand are extinguished one by one, until darkness is total. It’s a mournful liturgy, to express the desolation of the Church as the Light of the World is about to be eclipsed. So goes the Passion of St. Maximilian Kolbe in the new movie Triumph of the Heart. It begins in the darkest...

By Dr. John BergsmaIn 2005, a quasi-remake of the famous 1967 movie “Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner” was released. Entitled “Guess Who?” it starred Bernie Mac as an African-American father who struggled to deal with his daughter’s Caucasian fiancé (played by Ashton Kutcher). Much of the comedy of the film revolved around the clash of cultures at the dinner table. Usually we only share meals with people like us, family members or friends from our own “circle.” When someone from “outside” comes in, it upsets the balance. If anything, Jews of Jesus day were even more careful than contemporary Americans...

Minnesota Democrats are fundraising on the recent homicidal assault on a church by one of the transgender maniacs they have gone out of their way to foster. According to liberal ideology, the children were not murdered by Robert/Robin Westman, but by the guns he used. Therefore, the bloodbath is an opportunity to raise money to fight the Second Amendment: (X image on link) Our right to bear arms helps us defend the innocent from maniacs like Westman, who are outside the law and therefore will never have much difficulty obtaining firearms, just as they easily obtain illegal drugs. Democrats have...

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(8/30/25)[Prayer]Water, Rivers, and Streams in the BibleJoshua 24:5-75 “‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. 6 When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen[a] as far as the Red Sea.[b] 7 But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities.’” Matthew 25:20–21Oftentimes, when we are presented with a story of success versus tragedy, our attention goes to the tragedy first. The parable we are given today, the Parable of the Talents, presents us with three persons. Two of the people display stories of great...

“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). Jesus felt compassion for the crowds as only the Son of God could feel. It is among God’s attributes to love and care because “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The term for “felt compassion” literally refers to the intestines, and most often occurs in Scripture with the figurative reference to the emotions, the way we use “heart” today. But Jesus’ concern was not just symbolic. He no doubt physically felt the symptoms of genuine caring—ones such as aching...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Agri-Business; End to Sex Slavery; Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14) I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to...