Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Amos 6:1,4-7; Psalm 146:7-10; 1 Timothy 6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31) What it Means to be Christ to Others Lazarus … would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the … table. (Luke 16:20, 21) There are two issues at the heart of today’s Gospel […]
Without a doubt, you know someone who is ready and just needs a little nudge. Chances are, you sit by him almost every week at Mass. Chances are, you work with her, and your conversations have turned to the topic of faith now and then. Maybe, you even kiss this person goodnight and call the […]
FDR, for the record, despised Andrew Mellon.
One of the modern zeitgeists that scares me the most is the growing love affair with eugenics among the elite. Whether the masses are aware of it or not, elite ideas trickle down and infect our subconscious. More and more dropping from Ivory Towers are notes that say, “Eugenics is good,” and “The problem last […]
Treason: A Catholic Novel of Elizabethan England by Dena Hunt Published by Sophia Institute Press (2013) “It is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls.” (Blessed Pope John Paull II, Salvifici Doloris) This quote by Blessed John Paul II could well be the theme of Dena […]
The term “reproductive health” seeped without fanfare into UN language in 1972 when it was adopted by Jose Barzelatto, the inaugural head of WHO’s program on human reproduction. Its first appearance in a UN document was a World Health Organization (WHO) report 20 years later by Barzelatto’s successor, Mahmoud Fathalla. His sprawling description of the […]
We do not really want a religion that is right where we are right. We want a religion that is right where we are wrong. We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world. –G.K. Chesterton With the start […]
Moral agency is individual. You can’t outsource it to a government.
In a recent New York Times editorial, Sarah Richards raised some provocative questions as to whether fertility treatment should be covered in divorce settlements. In her op-ed “Alimony for Eggs,” Richards profiles a New Jersey couple where the wife’s lawyer is arguing that the husband should pay $20,000 towards the wife’s egg freezing and storage […]
One Sunday a while back, a family of five filled a pew at church near where I was sitting during Mass. That family grabbed my attention. The pew was much larger than needed to accommodate a regular group of five. But this family, in addition to the two parents, included three young children. Three energetic, […]
In a meeting with Catholic gynaecologists this morning Pope Francis strongly condemned abortion as a manifestation of a “throwaway culture.” “Every unborn child, though unjustly condemned to be aborted, has the face of the Lord, who even before his birth, and then as soon as he was born, experienced the rejection of the world,” the […]
For generations, American girls have been exposed to unrealistic and even unhealthy images of painfully thin women, and subtly encouraged to fit within a very narrow definition of beauty. While it’s certainly nothing new, this pressure has risen to an unprecedented level in today’s technologically advanced, celebrity-saturated world. Kids spend more time in front of […]
For decades, powerful countries and wealthy foundations conducted a campaign to create a global standard for abortion rights. Despite their efforts, the phrase “reproductive health” has been adopted, but not an international norm of reproductive rights. Forty years after abortion advocates inserted the term “reproductive health” into the international population agenda, they are no closer […]
The hugely successful Small Steps for Catholic Moms: Your Daily Call to Think, Pray, and Act by Danielle Bean and Elizabeth Foss was originally published in 2010, but fell victim to a publisher closure and went out of print. Ave Maria Press has re-released this popular book as part of the CatholicMom.com series of books. […]
“The true protagonist of history is the beggar: Christ who begs for man’s heart, and man’s heart that begs for Christ.” – Fr. Luigi Giussani, founder of Communion & Liberation. On Catholic Lane we are running two articles on the topic of charity with the aim of provoking the kind of conversation about this very important […]
Summer is over and fall is here. One of the rites of fall: the county fair. I’ve always been ambivalent about the fair. I enjoy it, but I’m always struck by (i) how expensive it is, and (ii) how many people who apparently can’t afford basic things (like shampoo and dental care) are out there. […]
(“The mystery of poverty is that by sharing in it, making ourselves poor in giving to others, we increase our knowledge and belief in love.” –Dorothy Day) Most of the fine china had been cleared from the white linen-clad dining table. The delicate silver was soaking in a hot soda bath, and the candles had […]
Throughout this Year of Faith we have been looking primarily at what individuals and communities can do to spark a more sincere approach to the faith. We have written and talked a lot about helping ourselves and others commit to regular church attendance, catechetical growth, and finding ways to serve others in such a way […]
“I praised the dead rather than the living, and I judged him happier than both that is not yet born, who has not seen the evils done under the sun.” (Eccl 4:4) In this statement, the Qoheleth offers much wisdom for todays Catholics, especially traditionalists. While at face value his words are a lamentation of […]
Have you ever been on an “I’m not sure if this is a” date? We probably all are more sure than we say we are, but deny that we’re sure so if we discover that one of us isn’t getting what we want, it doesn’t hurt. It’s one of life’s little dramas. This is how […]
In the last 50 years or so, America has become a nation obsessed with rights. Elites in government, academia, the media, and entertainment take great pains to inculcate an attitude of tolerance, acceptance, multiculturalism, and diversity in the American people. The self-evident truths articulated by our Founding Fathers have been expanded upon and augmented in […]
Knowing God by name allows us to enter into a relationship with him in a very intimate, personal way. While many of us know Him as “God” or “Father,” there are a vast array of names to which he will answer—and each signifies yet another of his unique aspects. The Eternal One The name of […]
The American Humanist Association has renewed the efforts of some atheists to remove the words “under God” from our Pledge of Allegiance. The organization argued recently in the Massachusetts Supreme Court that the inclusion of these words is a violation of atheists’ religious liberty and equality. In A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway claimed that, […]
Our children are often the impetus that draws us closer to God. In between diapers, sleepless nights and planning for college, parents contemplate something more. For many poorly catechized Catholics, however, the “something more” is a bit intimidating. Our children have souls that need more than the ABC’s and a good college fund, but where […]
