Free Republic

“‘And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock’” (Matthew 7:25). Faithfulness in discipleship will mean we are prepared for the worst possible adversity and trial. People are often unprepared for life’s unexpected upheavals. This was vividly illustrated by the once-in-500-year floods that struck the Northern Plains of the United States in the spring of 1997. One community on the Red River in North Dakota was especially devastated by the surprising events. After working diligently for days to...

Hat tip to Maudeen for finding this video Video is 19:24 in length

[Catholic Caucus] Catholic priest: Dignitas Infinita a ‘faithless’ document with little to say about salvationIf hell is empty, there is no need for a cross and redemption, no Church and no grace. Even human dignity is then just a man-made vehicle, and despite its beautiful title, 'Dignitas infinita' is a faithless text for a faithless world.This essay by Fr. Joachim Heimerl was originally written in German. It has been translated and published with the permission of Fr. Heimerl.(LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Robert Sarah recently caused a stir when he spoke of the “atheism” that is spreading in the Church. He was...

[Catholic Caucus] Fiducia Supplicans: Another Homosex-Blasphemy in a Church"Triggered by Francis' homosexual propaganda piece 'Fiducia supplicans', a homosexual [pseudo] blessing was staged in the Nuestra Señora de Belén Church in Miajadas, Diocese of Plasencia, Spain.One of the two homosexual concubines admitted on a social network that their complicity in sin was hardened and had lasted for 30 years."We were very happy to be able to do it in the Church, to be the first homosexual couple of many to come," he announced.It seems that the initiative for the sacrilege came from Don Enrique Gómez Rodríguez, the parish priest, as can...

[Catholic Caucus] Francis’s “Creative Fidelity to Tradition” and the Complete Impotence of the Vatican IIFor you know, venerable brothers, that these bitter enemies of the Christian name, are carried wretchedly along by some blind momentum of their mad impiety; they go so far in their rash imagining as to teach without blushing, openly and publicly, daring and unheard-of doctrines, thereby uttering blasphemies against God. They teach that the most holy mysteries of our religion are fictions of human invention, and that the teaching of the Catholic Church is opposed to the good and the prerogatives of human society.” (Blessed Pope...

David Jeremiah is interviewed by someone from 100 Huntley Street Video is 11:36 in length

“God has not given us a spirit of timidity [fear], but of power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). The true follower of Christ has no reason to fear potential sufferings and trials. Concerning frustration and fear at the 1992 Winter Olympics, speed skater Dan Jansen said, “What happened was I skated a race that I can only describe as tentative. I looked good. I didn’t slip. Yet something kept me from going flat out.” The favored Jansen, haunted by well-publicized failures to win medals in 1988 or 1992, finally overcame his fear and triumphed in 1994 in the...

“But let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position; and let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away” (James 1:9-10). God does not exempt any believer, rich or poor, from trials and suffering. There is a basic principle of life that we all know to be true—namely, that trials and sufferings do not exclude privileged people. This is a humbling truth that we don’t always like to acknowledge, yet it operates before us regularly in such things as natural disasters. No one can deny that large-scale floods, hurricanes, or...

Those of you fortunate enough to live in a diocese where the Ascension is observed on its proper Thursday will be able to hear proclaimed this Sunday the proper Readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter. Pre-empting this Sunday by the Solemnity of the Ascension is a bit unfortunate, because it damages the pattern of the Lectionary. During the later Sundays of Easter, we read from the Last Supper Discourse (John 13-17), culminating in the Seventh Sunday, on which we read the grande finale of the Last Supper Discourse, namely the High Priestly Prayer (John 17). Ironically, although John 17...

In most of the USA, Ascension Day is observed this Sunday. I wish the traditional observance on Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter was retained, but reality is what it is. Therefore, this weekend we will look at the powerful readings for Ascension Day. This is an unusual Lord’s Day, in which the “action” of the Feast Day actually takes place in the First Reading. We typically think of all the narratives of Jesus’ life as recorded in the Gospels, overlooking that Acts records at least two important narratives about the activity of the Resurrected Lord (Acts 1:1-11; also...

“‘But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living’” (Job 28:12-13). God’s wisdom is our source for understanding life and all its trials. The supernatural wisdom believers need in order to understand their trials is simply not available from our society. During Job’s ordeal he soon learned the utter inadequacy both of his reason and his friends’ misguided advice. That led him to the profound conclusion that the Lord’s wisdom is the only source for comprehending life and all its...

Bit of an older video which I'm going to use as a lead-in to a video from a woman shopping in China (6-month old video). In her video (which follows) she must have a phone app tied to a Chinese bank account and MUST have FACIAL RECOGNITION to authorize the spending from that account. Rich or Poor Free or Bond (slave, essentially) Great or Small (Famous or not famous) THIS is how various governments around the world will control their citizens. You don't have to believe it; but you can watch it continue to unfold.

[Catholic Caucus] Dissident priest tells pro-LGBT parishioners he hopes 2024 Synod will approve ‘women deacons’Fr. James Cassidy, a priest in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, expressed support for homosexuality, social justice and women's leadership roles in the church during a recent homily.A dissident priest at a pro-LGBT Catholic church in Minneapolis told laity this past weekend that he hopes a liberal parishioner attending the Synod on Synodality in October will vote to support women deacons.Father James Cassidy serves as the parochial vicar at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Community. The church falls under the jurisdiction of Archbishop Bernard...

Fifty plus years after Roe vs. Wade the most dangerous and deadliest place for an unborn child today is to be found in the womb of its own mother. The greatest enemy and threat of the new progressive Democratic Party and moderate Republicans today is the helpless unborn baby which abides IN its mother's womb. Nearly a little more than one third of every child conceived in its mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13-20) today has been violently terminated by this barbaric abomination called abortion. Abortion is the by-product of an immoral, decadent culture and society; selfish and narcissistic; void of ALL...

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). God entrusts comfort to us, often through trials, so that we may comfort others. The nation of Ireland is nicknamed the “Emerald Isle” for good reason—it contains some of the greenest countryside of any location on earth. In visiting there I have noticed that abundant...

[Catholic Caucus] Pro-LGBT Minneapolis parish hosts homosexual man’s ‘cabaret’ about his dead ‘husband’Notoriously heterodox St. Joan of Arc Catholic Community in Minneapolis hosted a musical written by a local homosexual about his relationship with his now-deceased ‘husband.’Fr. James Cassidy of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Community in Minneapolis gives homily after pro-homosexual talkA notoriously pro-LGBT parish in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis hosted an explicit musical written by a homosexual man about his relationship with his deceased “husband” this past weekend. On Sunday, May 5, Joseph St. James spoke to parishioners ahead of a “gym mass” held at...

[Catholic Caucus] Australian bishops approve new Aboriginal liturgyAmid the Catholic Church’s push under Pope Francis to increasingly engage with and welcome Indigenous peoples and cultures, Australia’s bishops have approved a new liturgy incorporating elements of Aboriginal language and culture.Called the “Mass of the Land of the Holy Spirit,” or Missa Terra Spiritus Sancti in Latin, the liturgy was formally approved for use in the Diocese of Broome in Western Australia on Tuesday during a plenary meeting of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference in Sydney.According to a May 7 statement from the Australian bishops, the motion to approve the Mass was...

“And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace . . . will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10). Successful endurance of present trials leads to greater focus on glorifying God in the future. Sufferings and trials teach us patience. However, in Heaven we won’t need to have patience, and therefore it is not the major long-term lesson God wants us to learn from trials. He is far more pleased if we grasp the truth that what we suffer now is directly related to our ability to glorify Him in eternity....

[Catholic Caucus] German bishop attacks Church teaching for upholding ‘only man and woman,’ demands changes to CatechismPro-LGBT Auxiliary Bishop Ludger Schepers of Essen insisted that ‘something has to change’ in the Church regarding sexuality and that the ‘Catechism must say different things than it does now,’ in the latest heterodox remarks from the German hierarchy.A German bishop criticized Catholic teaching for “assuming there is only man and only woman” and demanded that the Church change its infallible doctrine on sexuality in the latest heterodox comments from the German hierarchy.Bishop Ludger Schepers, an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Essen, who...

[Catholic Caucus] Synodal Cancellations - by Archbishop Héctor AgüerThe progressive official party installed in Rome for just over a decade goes on in its policy of “cancellation” of those who, with freedom of spirit, seek to serve Jesus Christ in orthodoxy and Tradition. By “cancellation” one means all forms of ignoring, conspiracy of silence, marginalization, prohibition of publishing in media and social media, and even the cessation of functions of those who do not adhere “synodally” to the current Vatican ideologies and discretions. Good bishops such as Daniel Fernández Torres, from Arecibo, Puerto Rico, were cancelled, as is known; and...