As theaters are drowning in action movies and superheroes, a different kind of hero has made a second cinematic splash. Dolphin Tale 2 is a heart-warming, family friendly, and entertaining flick, featuring the unlikely protagonist, Winter; a dolphin without her tail. In case you missed the first Dolphin Tale, this based-on-a-true story movie focused on […]
“This is the first time I’ve had no need of tranquillizers ahead of a board meeting,” the head of the UN Population Fund joked. The executive board of the UN Population Fund met last week to oversee the activities of the $1 billion dollar population agency and approve new country programs. The head of the […]
Pope Francis continued his catechises on the Church as mother during this Wednesday’s general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Sept.10. Throughout the entire address, the pope reiterated that the concept of mercy is at the crux of both the Gospels and the teaching of the Church. He also challenged Christians to let go of […]
What does a dolphin without a tale, acclaimed writer/director/actor Charles Martin Smith, and a group of renowned stars like Harry Connick Jr. and Morgan Freeman mean for Hollywood? In the first Dolphin Tale movie, it meant a major $100 million, motion picture hit worldwide and now, it means a sequel Dolphin Tale 2. But more […]
Christians know that evil won’t win in the end, yet that knowledge sometimes seems small comfort when the end seems far from sight. Scripture tells us that Christ will come, angels will gather all humanity, and judgment will be final. Yet until that triumphant day, we carry the pilgrim’s palm, not the victor’s wreath, hoping […]
The British Parliament is currently considering the legalization of assisted suicide. The act under consideration was introduced by Lord Falconer and eschews the term “suicide,” preferring instead the euphemism “assisted dying.” Under current British law outlined in the 1961 Suicide Act, it is a crime to encourage or assist another in the act of suicide. […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 78:1-2,34-38; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17) What it Means to Exalt the Cross At the name of Jesus every knee should bend. (Philippians 2:10) In A.D. 326, St. Helena, the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, discovered the true cross of Jesus near the site […]
The Giver is yet another young adult dystopian novel turned into a movie, but it actually preceded many of the others. This engaging, perfect-for-our-times narrative by Lois Lowry was published in 1993, and is required reading in many schools. There is controversy surrounding the content, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out […]
On a hot summer day the kids and I were headed to the grocery store. Our house doesn’t have air conditioning and it gets hot—the thermometer in the living room read 85 yesterday—at 9 PM!—so when we’re in the car we try to make up for it. We had the air conditioner cranked up as […]
Abortion is nowhere near becoming a human right in international law. But you would not know that from what one UN committee tells governments. C-Fam has updated a list of abuses by the committee that monitors the UN women’s treaty. The list shows over 275 instances where committee members have told countries that abortion should […]
Whatever Mass we attend here in the Roman Rite is broken up into two parts: The Liturgy of the Word, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. There are endless debates in reform communities over which is more “important”, and that debate bores me. It really isn’t Catholic to say one part of Mass is more […]
In Pope Francis’ latest general audience he reminds us of how the Church is our Mother. To many people, “mother” can mean many different things, such as love, protector, defender, leader, guide, hope, trust, friend and faith. Hopefully, some of you can relate to your own mother and think of how she has and continues […]
For My Release I spoke to the troll Under the bridge That crosses my soul Demon of malice Troll of injustice Shameful and callous Where are you from Speak, are you dumb? You rise like the scum Scum on the sea Mold on the tree Torment of me Upward it leaped From the cavern it […]
These seemingly harmless well-intentioned words, can appear on the surface to be a wonderful wish for someone we love or care about. I submit to you however, that they are rather more platitude than love, and more harmful than good. The world is filled with people far more experienced than I in many areas of […]
GENERAL AUDIENCE St. Peter’s Square Wednesday, 3 September 2014 Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our catecheses, we have often noted that we do not become a Christian on our own, but by being born and nurtured in the faith in the midst of the People of God, that is the Church. She is a true […]
Fecundophobia has swept the nation by storm. Actually it has slowly dulled the senses of far too many people by demonizing any idea that a family is composed of a father, mother, and children. Here is how one enemy of the family defines fecundophobia. During the 2012 election cycle, Washington Post writer Lisa Miller wrote […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Ezekiel 33:7-9; Psalm 95:1-2,6-9; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20) Loving Others as God Has Loved You Love your neighbor as yourself. (Romans 13:9) Have you ever noticed how the commandments that we hear most often are the ones we have the hardest time fulfilling? Take today’s second reading […]
So Why is the Wife of Microsoft Founder Raising Billions to Inject Them with Depo-Provera? Surely, Mrs. Gates would not have chosen this course if she knew the serious risks of Depo-Provera and if anyone—her Catholic parents, her Catholic high school teachers at the Ursuline Academy in Dallas or her parish priests (she attends Mass […]
ST. SERAPHIA was born at Antioch, of Christian parents, who, flying from the persecutions of Adrian, went to Italy and settled there. Her parents dying, Seraphia was sought in marriage by many, but having resolved to consecrate herself to God alone, she sold all her possessions and distributed the proceeds to the poor; finally she […]
In the weeks that followed my father’s death, a phrase kept running through my head. All will be well, all will be well, and all manner of things will be well. Julian of Norwich said it, but here is the really odd thing. I had never read anything by Julian of Norwich. I had never […]
GREGORY was a Roman of noble birth, and while still young was governor of Rome. On his father’s death he gave his great wealth to the poor, turned his house on the Cœlian Hill into a monastery, which now bears his name, and for some years lived as a perfect monk. The Pope drew him […]
When the American Psychological Association (APA) issued a study in February 2007 on the sexualization of girls and the effects it has on them, there was hope that the report’s recommendations would lead to improvements in the culture. The study warned: “Girls learn about women’s expected roles in the world and strive to enact these […]
Our approximately 48-hour visit to the “top of the mountain” neared its end. I knew we soon would be leaving, with only mid-day prayer and a lunch of Vietnamese food ahead on the schedule. I wanted to savor that prayer experience, to let it satisfy my spiritual taste buds in a way no food ever […]
In his moving novel, Silence, Japanese-Catholic author Shusako Endo once described the continent of Asia as a “swamp” that choked the sapling of the Gospel and made it uninhabitable for Christianity. That image has always haunted me because a part of my own journey — as a convert to Christianity from Buddhism — has been to […]
