Archive for February, 2016

Natural Family Planning as Self Defense
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Natural Family Planning as Self Defense

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by on Feb 29, 2016 in Catholic Bioethics, Contraception & Abortion, Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Evangelization, Featured, Marriage, Men, The Feminine Genius, Women
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My comment was met with a blank stare, a look of confusion. Fortunately, it only lasted a few awkward seconds. I was visiting my nurse practitioner for a nagging abdominal pain. Having concluded that I should have a CT scan (a detailed, in-depth x-ray) she had asked me if there was any chance I might […]

Assisted Suicide: An American State of Mind
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Assisted Suicide: An American State of Mind

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by on Feb 25, 2016 in Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide, Featured
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Billy Joel’s delightful song “New York State of Mind” begins with the words “Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood.” The song reflects on being home, accepting reality, and getting over the desire to get away. That’s what I like the most about it because the “neighborhood” is our community, our […]

Movie Review: <em>The Revenant</em>
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Movie Review: The Revenant

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by on Feb 25, 2016 in Featured, On TV and Movies
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The 2016 Golden Globe Award for Best Picture was The Revenant — from a novel based on a true incident — starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a hunter-trapper who, mauled by a bear, is left to die by his companions. There’s a little more to it than that, but that’s the basic premise. I can’t really […]

Poem: "Hymn to Matins--Sunday"
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Poem: “Hymn to Matins–Sunday”

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by on Feb 25, 2016 in Poetry
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Hymn to Matins–Sunday TODAY the Blessed Three in One Began the earth and skies; Today a Conqueror, God the Son, Did from the grave arise; We too will wake, and, in despite Of sloth and languor, all unite, As Psalmists bid, through the dim night, Waiting with wistful eyes. So may He hear, and heed […]

Hey, Bernie, the Robots Are Coming!
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Hey, Bernie, the Robots Are Coming!

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by on Feb 24, 2016 in Featured, Government & Politics, Humor, The Economy
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Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders thinks he can wave a magic government wand, impose lots of new taxes and government programs and make the world grand. Reality has another notion. Take the minimum wage. Bernie says he’ll raise it to $15 an hour, more than doubling it. If I worked at a fast-food restaurant for […]

How to Have a Happy Marriage (Even When You're Busy with Kids)
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How to Have a Happy Marriage (Even When You’re Busy with Kids)

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by on Feb 24, 2016 in Featured, Marriage, Men, Parenting, Women
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Marital satisfaction tends to take a dip once that first baby comes home from the hospital (or out of the bathtub, birthing center, etc.). This shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. Let’s face it. Kids, particularly newborns, are difficult. Anyone who says otherwise is either lying, or a grandparent. But you can maintain a happy marriage […]

Book Review: <i>Divine Mercy for Moms</i>
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Book Review: Divine Mercy for Moms

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by on Feb 24, 2016 in Featured, Live in Christ, On Books
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In the Foreward to Divine Mercy for Moms: Sharing the Lessons of St. Faustina, Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC refers to St. Faustina’s “Prayer of Transformation from Within.” In that Prayer, “St. Faustina asks to be transformed into a living reflection of God’s mercy, specifically praying that her eyes, ears, tongue, hands, feet, and heart be […]

Fourteen Noteworthy CDs Every Catholic Should Hear
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Fourteen Noteworthy CDs Every Catholic Should Hear

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by on Feb 23, 2016 in Featured, Music
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Have you ever delighted in listening to an album with beautiful renditions of songs such as What Child Is This and Silent Night, only to be abruptly taken out of your delightful state by a tacky track such as Jingle Bell Rock? So many CDs have wildly varying songs, possibly because of a desire to […]

Secretary General Backdoors Abortion, LGBT Rights into UN Humanitarian Goals
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Secretary General Backdoors Abortion, LGBT Rights into UN Humanitarian Goals

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by on Feb 23, 2016 in Contraception & Abortion, Featured, The Homosexual Agenda
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s grand plan to tackle the global humanitarian crisis and achieve recently adopted new UN development goals includes abortion and LGBT rights. The Secretary General’s report “One Humanity: Shared Responsibility,” asks governments to include abortion and LGBT rights in their efforts to tackle the humanitarian objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals, […]

Antonin Gregory Scalia (1936-2016)
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Scalia and the Constitution

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by on Feb 22, 2016 in Featured, Government & Politics, Law & Justice
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The original Originalist.

God's Master Plan Of Love And Creation
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God’s Master Plan Of Love And Creation

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by on Feb 22, 2016 in Catechesis, Catholic Bioethics, Evangelization, Featured, Live in Christ
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A study published in 2012 in a publication called “Prenatal Diagnosis” said that as many as 90 percent of all pregnancies with a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome resulted in “pregnancy termination,” i.e. abortion. Other studies indicate that about 6 percent of all abortions occur because the baby will have birth defects. A Guttmacher Institute […]

Answering the Call - A Response
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Answering the Call – A Response

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by on Feb 22, 2016 in Evangelization, Featured
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Recently I published the article “Hello, Church? Anybody Home?” I shared some of my exasperation towards Catholic churches who fail to make returning calls and emails a priority. The response, as you might guess, opened the proverbial can of worms. Comments made by readers echoed their frustration across the country through both personal experiences and […]

Feast of the Chair of St. Peter
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Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

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by on Feb 22, 2016 in Saint of the Day - Ex Form
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THAT St. Peter, before he went to Rome, founded the see of Antioch is attested by many Saints. It was just that the Prince of the Apostles should take this city under his particular care and inspection, which was then the capital of the East, and in which the faith took so early and so […]

Memorial of St. Severianus
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Memorial of St. Severianus

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by on Feb 21, 2016 in Saint of the Day - Ex Form
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IN the reign of Marcian and St. Pulcheria, the Council of Chalcedon, which condemned the Eutychian heresy, was received by St. Euthymius and by a great part of the monks of Palestine. But Theodosius, an ignorant Eutychian monk, and a man of a most tyrannical temper, under the protection of the Empress Eudoxia, widow of […]

St. Eucherius, Bishop
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St. Eucherius, Bishop

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by on Feb 20, 2016 in Saint of the Day - Ex Form
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THIS Saint was born at Orleans, of a very illustrious family. At his birth his parents dedicated him to God, and set him to study when he was but seven years old, resolving to omit nothing that could be done toward cultivating his mind or forming his heart His improvement in virtue kept pace with […]

Pope in Mexico Tells Church Not to 'Rest on Its Laurels'
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Pope in Mexico Tells Church Not to ‘Rest on Its Laurels’

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by on Feb 19, 2016 in Featured, Those in Need
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By Julieta Appendini MEXICO CITY—During his visit to Mexico, Pope Francis has expressed his concern for people’s social problems, pain and suffering, and he has shared optimistic messages of hope and comfort. His smile graces all his language and his expressions of love permanently underscore his words. “The tears of those who suffer do not […]

Faith Without Hope
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Faith Without Hope

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by on Feb 19, 2016 in Catechesis, Featured, Live in Christ
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Ephemeral Hope I possess an intellectual spirituality that makes me shy away from an outward display of faith-filled emotions. I prefer internal intensity. I also fear how such emotions are temporary. Ephemeral feelings should not be the foundation of the spiritual life. Although, we certainly benefit from the good times, those windswept moments of conversion […]

Black History and Abortion: Genocide or Suicide?
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Black History and Abortion: Genocide or Suicide?

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by on Feb 19, 2016 in Contraception & Abortion, Featured, History
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Through the years I have done more than my fair share of writing about the abortion statistics in the Black community, of Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger and her Negro Project, and of New York City’s black abortion rate that has hovered at 55-60% of all black pregnancies. It is appalling that a population demographic representing […]

St. Barbatus, Bishop
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St. Barbatus, Bishop

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by on Feb 19, 2016 in Saint of the Day - Ex Form
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ST. BARBATUS was born in the territory of Benevento in Italy, toward the end of the pontificate of St. Gregory the Great, in the beginning of the seventh century. His parents gave him a Christian education, and Barbatus in his youth laid the foundation of that eminent sanctity which recommends him to our veneration. The […]

Book Review: <em>The Apostasy that Wasn't</em>
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Book Review: The Apostasy that Wasn’t

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by on Feb 18, 2016 in Apologetics, Featured, History, On Books
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We are supposed to love the Catholic Church. After all, Christ is in love with her.  She is his bride. St. Paul desired to present the Church to him as a pure bride (2 Cor. 11: 2) and St. John in mystical vision saw her, glorious and radiant, adorned as a bride ready to be […]

The Common Declaration
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The Common Declaration

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by on Feb 18, 2016 in Featured, Live in Christ, The Shepherd's Voice
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February 12, 2016, Friday — Common Declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill in Cuba The Middle East — “We call upon the international community to act urgently in order to prevent the further expulsion of Christians from the Middle East.”—Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, Common statement, issued today in Cuba, just a few minutes […]

St. Simeon, Bishop and Martyr
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St. Simeon, Bishop and Martyr

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by on Feb 18, 2016 in Saint of the Day - Ex Form
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ST. SIMEON was the son of Cleophas, otherwise called Alpheus, brother to St. Joseph, and of Mary, sister to the Blessed Virgin. He was therefore nephew both to St. Joseph and to the Blessed Virgin, and cousin to Our Saviour. We cannot doubt but that he was an early follower of Christ, and that he […]

Ferial Day
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Ferial Day

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by on Feb 18, 2016 in Saint of the Day
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Our Not-So Human Future
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Our Not-So Human Future

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by on Feb 17, 2016 in Featured, Health & Fitness, Science
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Robot soldiers, economic meltdowns, robot lovers, and autonomous drones and weapons—these are just a few of the items that make the list of Tech Republic’s “Ten Terrifying Uses of Artificial Intelligence.” But perhaps the scariest is the prospect of an increased reliance on artificial intelligence for medical treatment. Tech gurus are already pouring billions of dollars—not […]