Some nights, when there are no clouds, I look up at the night sky hoping to see so many twinkling stars. But the lights of the city are bright where I live. They can obscure the lights of the heavens and thus make it difficult to notice anything more than the most brilliant of stars. […]
For a parent, there is nothing more humbling than understanding that God has entrusted us with the care of his precious little ones. Nothing in life makes us realize the enormity of our responsibility as well as the reality of our inability as when our newborn is first placed in our arms. It is the […]
On June 5th 2007 George Delury (74) committed suicide. For those readers who don’t remember him, Delury gained notoriety for the 1995 assisting the suicide of his wife, Myrna Lebov (52) at their Manhattan apartment. Although euthanasia advocates initially expressed confidence that Lebov had not been coerced, nothing could have been further from the truth. […]
This week the Supreme Court decided that it is not a violation of the 4th Amendment for law enforcement to take a DNA sample from people who are arrested. The Court said that a cheek swab was no different than mug shots or fingerprinting; its purpose is to identify the person in custody. From the […]
To: Marybeth From: Bracing myself for obnoxious relatives Summer is coming, and that means it’s time for our annual family reunion, a full week at the beach where I will once again spend several days surrounded by some of the worst parents I know. I say this lovingly — these terrible parents are my own […]
Three men, brave and determined men, took that final leap into a new life; complete with new titles, responsibilities, and new homes today….never to be the same again. But they prepared for this over a seven year-span, immersed in the spiritual, biblical, and examples of those around them. They definitely had the support from family […]
On the Friday that is the 19th day after the feast of Pentecost the Church celebrates the feast of the Sacred Heart. On that day, as just about every Friday of every week of the year, my pro life colleagues will be present in front of two local abortion facilities. They will offer the counsel […]
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! Today I want to focus on the issue of the environment, which I have already spoken of on several occasions. Today we also mark World Environment Day, sponsored by the United Nations, which sends a strong reminder of the need to eliminate the waste and disposal of food. When […]
My life changed forever at the age of 19, when I had an unplanned pregnancy. Growing up in a pro-life family, I never dreamed my beliefs would be tested. It was much less complicated to think of it as a pregnancy, rather than as a baby. I knew what I had to do: have an […]
“Mommy, why do we pray?” That seems like an easy question to answer, but I wanted to give her something to hang on to later in life. Satan tempts us not to pray. Someday she may feel she doesn’t have time to pray, she may be too hurt, angry, or afraid to pray, or she […]
When the Coalition for Life of Iowa applied to the IRS for tax-exempt status just as Barack Obama was about to take office, CFLI President Susan Martinek expected a rigorous process requiring full disclosure of all relevant information. But she told Congress yesterday morning there were a few things she had not anticipated: That the […]
We have frequently argued that one of the main reasons why we want to redefine the pro-life movement as the pro-human personhood movement is that it is a positive, upbeat way for us—in this age of iPhones, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter—to bring the humanity of the child, from his first instant of existence, right into […]
In a recent Washington Post article, “The New F-Word: Father,” Kathleen Parker discusses a recent study on household income dynamics by the Pew Research Center which shows that 40 percent of U.S. households with children under 18 are run by women who are either the primary or sole breadwinner. Parker recognizes that this data is […]
Being marooned, either on a desert island or in space, has a long literary and film history. There is something about the solitary individual (sometimes the small group) battling against his circumstances, knowing that no cavalry is going to arrive. When the stakes are “perform or die” you normally have captivating drama. The pairing of […]
The Malaysia conference highlights how to market a drug for one thing and use it for another, how euphemisms work and how it is up to government to create demand for contraception. It’s being billed as “the largest global event of the decade to focus on the health and empowerment of girls and women.” But […]
The forward of Kathleen Basi’s new book, This Little Light of Mine says, “No one can teach well what he or she doesn’t know well. The best way to ensure that religious formation “takes” is for parents to live their faith, to be seekers alongside their children. Then, children see that religion is not something […]
Through the judgment of Alda Gross v. Switzerland (No. 67810/10), given on May 14, 2013, the Second Section of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) completed the edification of an individual right to assisted suicide (that is to say, consenting euthanasia) in the name of the right to the respect of private life guaranteed […]
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Last Thursday we celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi, which in Italy and other countries is transferred to Sunday. It is the Feast of the Eucharist, the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Gospel tells the story of the miracle of the loaves (Luke 9:11-17). I want to […]
By the time this column is published, this author will have participated in the sacrament of marriage. While I do not know what the future has in store for me, I do believe that the experiences I had in the past 14 months (our time of engagement) have been God preparing me for the married […]
This article focuses on the meaning and uses of the term “tradition.” The next article will speak of the serious error of nostalgia as a motivation for design. I believe it was C.S. Lewis who coined the term “verbicide”. The meaning and significance of the words “tradition” and “nostalgia” have both suffered from this. Here […]
I was Protestant for a time. I sang modern Christian music and swayed and held up my hands and loved the other members of the church. I found it difficult when there were divisions in the congregation and when some of my “family” decided to “plant a church” of their own. The trust was broken […]
The Sacred Liturgy is rich in ritual and ceremony, and that is fitting. It is the meeting of heaven and earth. It is humanity’s encounter with God that happens in no other on earth. In the Mass earthly bonds are transcended, and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is re-presented. We are there by […]
Yesterday in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Pope Francis celebrated Mass for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. He then led, on foot, the Eucharistic procession that wound along Rome’s Via Merulana, until reaching the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. Following are ample extracts from the Holy Father’s homily, which focused on the Gospel story […]
