But America is more than just a place…it’s an idea. It’s the only country founded on an idea. Our rights come from nature and God, not government. We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. — Congressman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) at Norfolk,VA on Saturday With the USS Wisconsin as a backdrop, Mitt Romney presented Janesville Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) as […]
I’ve been a parent for a long time now, and I have heard many, many parents — in real life, in print, and on television — talk about their ultimate hopes for their children: “I just want my child to be happy.” “I want my child to be successful.” “I want my child to have […]
Even before Gov. Mitt Romney made his vice presidential selection last week, Catholic voters were at the center of this year’s presidential election. President Barack Obama’s controversial contraceptive mandate — and his refusal to brook any meaningful compromise for religious institutions that object to it — had sparked a fierce backlash among many Catholics and […]
A report from The Witherspoon Council, a newly-formed bioethics body, argues that even the noblest aspirations of the scientific enterprise must be guided by ethics and governed under political authority. The stem cell debates of the past decade and a half were among the most heated controversies about science and politics in recent memory, raising […]
Students at Boston College who learn solid proofs for the existence of God have an atheist professor to thank. A little over 20 years ago, a history professor at the Jesuit college was advocating atheism in one of his classes. When Jesuit Father Ronald Tacelli, a professor of philosophy, learned of the class, he thought […]
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 Prose Introduction to My Poem, Constantine’s Flight to Constantius Diocletian had been governing the Roman Empire since 284, eventually establishing his headquarters at Nicomedia in western Asia Minor. Nine years into his reign, Diocletian set up the First Tetrarchy (293-305), dividing the Empire into four huge […]
News reached our prolife movement this week that Nellie Gray, who founded and led the annual March for Life, has died. What motivated Nellie Gray to be so passionate, so focused, about ending abortion? Nellie served as a corporal in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. As she did her desk job […]
We’ve all had that “ah-ha” moment, right, men? The one where you’re baking a meringue, blaring J-Lo, and you suddenly ask yourself, “Does love really not cost a thing?”. Or, ladies, when you’re working out to The Beatles and, right as you reach your personal chin-up record, it hits you that indeed, money CAN’T buy […]
Children have no voice setting public policy. They are legally, physically and emotionally dependent. They cannot vote. They cannot form non-profits, produce surveys or express their preferences. Their rights are severely limited, by the law of the land and by the intimacy of family operations. They live and die as charges of adults they did […]
“Mom, can I count your grey hairs?” my nine-year-old asked me the other day as he started to poke at my head. He eventually abandoned the task, deciding that there were too many. Last week, I walked into my parents’ house and my mom declared, “Wow! I love your new haircut. It makes you look […]
Astounded, I had to take a seat when I read the latest from Rebecca Taylor. Taylor, a clinical laboratory technologist in molecular biology—and a Catholic—wrote about the horrendous results of man’s unbridled lust for controlling the human being and his ability to either live or die. Discussing Great Britain’s statistics, she reports, The United Kingdom’s Human […]
Dengue Fever afflicts millions of people around the world. It is a virus that is spread by a specific mosquito, the Aedes aegypti. Dengue fever can develop into a more serious disease Dengue hemorrhagic fever which can be fatal. Aedes aegyptiis native to Africa, but has spread to other areas including the southern United States. […]
It must be said: What NBC newswoman Andrea Mitchell knows about suburban moms would fit on the back of a postage stamp. Ms. Mitchell, reporting from Virginia at the Saturday rally where Mitt Romney introduced Rep. Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential running mate, announced with authority that Mr. Ryan was “not a pick for suburban […]
The secular left has mastered use of the Internet to further its extremist goals. In fact, President Obama’s web-based “Organizing for America” propaganda machine may have given him the 2008 election. Let’s beat them at their own game. To that end, I have a strange request. I’m asking each God-fearing, freedom-loving American who reads this […]
The Catholic Press Association’s June convention handed out lots of awards, but none was for covering the story of Catholic priests falsely accused. This is Part II of a post I wrote [on my blog] at this time last year entitled “The High Cost of Father Marcial Maciel and Why I Resent Paying It.” To […]
Long ago, our first house had a growth chart on the inside of a bedroom door. Now and again, we’d line up our three little children and place a ruler atop their heads. Then we’d pencil a line alongside their respective heights, along with the date, and their initials – marking growth over time. Something […]
The first written catechism of the Catholic Church, known as the Didache, and dated somewhere in the first century A.D., begins with a sentence of great clarity. It should be memorized: “There are two ways, one of life and one of death, but a great difference between the two ways.” Discussions of the recent mass murders, […]
My most recent column, “In Defense of Cardinal Dolan,” generated quite a bit of feedback. Some readers were convinced that it reflected a sense of false hope born of naiveté; others thought they detected a rather large dose of satire. For the record, one of these assessments is correct, but I’ll leave it to you […]
The Washington Times reported the Obama administration waived sanctions that would prevent countries from receiving foreign aid for violating the Child-Soldier Prevention Act. Obama, who co-sponsored the legislation in 2008 as an Illinois senator, has now permitted aid to countries that have used children as young as 11 to fight under a “national interest” exclusion within […]
One of the leading lights of the pro-life movement in the United States has gone out. Nellie Gray, the charismatic octogenarian founder of the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., the largest annual pro-life event in the country, passed away over the weekend, and was discovered in her apartment yesterday. Gray, who was once […]
This is the first of six articles relating the writer’s journey into the bosom of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Having succumbed to spiritual desolation following the rejection of his Adventist heritage, the young seeker investigates various Christian traditions, hoping to discover the Truth. In my first steps back towards Christ, with the […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Proverbs 9:1-6; Psalm 34:2-7; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58) Opening Ourselves to God’s Heavenly Food Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.” (Psalm 34:9) We can all relate to eating. We all know what hunger feels like. We all need to eat in order to survive. But […]
As you’ve likely heard by now, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney announced this weekend that Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin would be his running mate. Ryan, a practicing Catholic, is best known for his work as chairman of the House Budget Committee; his proposals have made him a favorite of conservatives and a despised enemy […]
The world of academia during the Seventies opened our minds so wide that our brains seemed to fall out. False teachings often undermined faith and morals. Yet, we came away believing we were more highly evolved than when we went in. I recall one professor warning a class of seniors: “You will be surprised that […]
