Dr. Morse gave this speech April 23, 2011, at Hong Kong Baptist University, at a conference of Western and Chinese scholars, entitled “The Family and Sexual Ethics: Christian Foundations and Public Values.” China is experiencing numerous problems due to family breakdown, including the one child policy, high divorce rates, and an imbalanced sex ratio. This […]
What if our children could be given the gift that Solomon received? During his audience with those gathered at the papal summer residence in Castel Gondolfo recently, Pope Benedict XVI spoke in reference first Mass reading of Sunday July 24, which described Solomon’s request to God for a “docile heart” so that he would know […]
Never can fast be the same as slow, Nor is an ebb tide at all like flow. Though both of these pairs come from ….motion, Although each might share common ocean. Freedom likewise has opposing poles, One dreadful with bergs and many shoals. Liberty, though, is hopeful and clear, And, under God, gives our souls […]
Catholic League president Bill Donohue addresses the dilemma that the Obama administration has created for religious employers: [On Monday], the Obama administration mandated that all health insurance plans cover contraceptives and sterilization for women, though it made an exception for religious employers. But did it? Not really. To wit: a religious employer is defined, in […]
Checklists have been with us for many years, especially in critical industries where a mistake could make the difference between life and death. We’ve all seen footage of pilots in the cockpit doing a careful checklist before takeoff. And we know the ground crew does similar check listing before each takeoff. I suspect commercial aircraft […]
A leading Catholic bishop in Iraq has spoken of his people’s shock and courage after a car bomb outside a church left 13 people injured. Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk said he and his faithful “will never stop witnessing to Christ” in spite of the bomb which went off directly outside the Holy Family Syrian […]
The last thing in the world same-sex “marriage” advocates want to talk about is polygamy. If you ever tell them marriage recognition for same-sex relationships requires recognition of polygamy as well, the usual response is, “we’re not talking about polygamy.” Nor will they, even if you want them to. Polygamy exposes the weakness of the […]
The foreign assistance appropriations bill proposed by a House subcommittee “makes morally unacceptable, even deadly cuts to poverty-focused humanitarian and development assistance,” said Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace, and Ken Hackett, President of Catholic Relief Services, in a […]
What you put in the collection basket says a lot about you and where you are at in your journey. Some of us put in our 10% tithing without a second thought. Some of us put in the few “extra” dollars we may have. Some of us struggle with the need to “give” to the […]
It should be clear that the vast majority of current thinking about the problem does little to address the underlying causes of our dilemma [see Part 1]. And this is odd because the mechanics of prices are well known and have been since the time of Aristotle. No competent economist of whatever school disputes these […]
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sharply criticized a new HHS “preventive services” mandate requiring private health plans to cover sterilization and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including drugs which can abort a child before and after implantation in the womb, with no co-pay. “Although this new rule gives the agency the discretion to authorize a […]
The enthusiastic voices of pro-life youth from around the world dominated the events of [last] week’s High Level Meeting on Youth at the United Nations, drawing the attention of UN bureaucrats and delegates alike. “I keep running into all these pro-lifers, they’re everywhere…in fact most of the people I’ve interviewed are pro-life,” a young woman working […]
Love as Mongrel We will be forgotten Here and on this world As worlds themselves go rotten Dispersed into the void Paul the last disciple Said wisdom, strength of will Loveless be and futile As empty broken shells But even love as mongrel Deformed with grief and rage And savaged by the devil Will long […]
New York is now the fifth state in which activist judges have imposed legalized homosexual marriage. Conservatives are once again lamenting this historic “redefinition of marriage.” But they’re wrong. The historic redefinition of marriage took place at the seventh Lambeth conference in 1930 when the Anglican Church made it licit for its members intentionally to […]
Author’s Note: I read with interest Mary Kochan’s article on the Catholic Lane website, “Catholics, Please Say Something about Jesus!” I was somewhat surprised by the passionate responses, both pro and con, to her article. As I said in my own response to Mary’s article: “I think the argument should not be over what you […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (1 Kings 19:9,11-13; Psalm 85:9-14; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-23) Hearing God’s Still Small Voice There was a tiny whispering sound (1 Kings 19:12). Have you noticed how noisy our world is? We celebrate holidays with ear-shattering fireworks. Young people listen to music so loud that you can’t […]
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a news article in [Sunday’s] New York Times on the Catholic Church: A priest, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, decides to break with the Catholic Church’s teachings on ordination and “ordains” a woman in an illicit ceremony. He is given three years to recant, but he refuses, and is now […]
I recently heard the first radio ad of the season for school supplies, so it won’t be long before the bell rings and America’s children file back into the classroom for another year. Perfect timing for a pop quiz. Everyone grab a No. 2 lead pencil and join in. Question 1: At the end of […]
U.S. Army Private First Class Nasser Jason Abdo, 21, first made the news last August when, arguing that his Islamic faith contradicts serving in the American military, he filed for conscientious objector (C.O.) status. Referring to current American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Abdo asserted that a Muslim “is not allowed to participate in an […]
with Jennifer I Kimball, Be.L. Thirty years after the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported the first US case of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the disease continues to stretch its shroud of death across the world. This, despite the billions of dollars that have been invested in the development of vaccines, spent on anti-retroviral […]
My brother John has a great photo from the birth of his first child. It’s a picture of his daughter’s unbelievably tiny baby-hand gripping his finger. His daughter’s whole hand, so perfectly formed and so amazingly small, can only just wrap around John’s bony knuckle. You just can’t conceive how they were ever that little. […]
Speaking Other Language What do we know of the cool brook’s rising slowly from its rock-source: trickling, winding, fading among the lilied grasses then suddenly splitting the tomb of another field where cows laze in live-oak shade, waiting good-naturedly for just such a miracle to happen? Mary Harwell Sayler
Presidential scholars write on all sorts of aspects of the American presidency. Among the most interesting have been several important works on so-called presidential character and temperament. And when it comes to the temperament of our current president, we’ve learned quite a bit during the recent debate over the debt ceiling. The most illuminating report […]
What does a man do after reading powerful, potentially life-changing words from a saint? Hopefully he actually changes his life. Additionally, he could slice and dice the words up, put them in a book, and try to get as many other people as possible to read them. That’s what I did after reading the works […]
