Category: Featured

Reflections for Sunday, July 22, 2012

Reflections for Sunday, July 22, 2012

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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Being Open to the Promptings of the Holy Spirit His heart was moved.” (Mark 6:34) In today’s Gospel, Jesus was encouraged because the apostles had just returned from a very suc­cessful missionary trip. They had healed some people, delivered oth­ers from demons, and brought many to conversion. […]

Can "<i>Brave</i>-ry” be Over the Top?

Can “Brave-ry” be Over the Top?

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The “wee bairn” Merida, is a Scottish medieval princess who is irresistible as a tyke, romping with her parents, yet sadly morphs into a Disney-esque stubborn, roughneck runaway teen who wants to remake her queenly and gracious mother Elinor. Rejecting the ridiculous suitors, that according to clan tradition, she must choose from, Merida flees into […]

The Gift of Spiritual Motherhood

The Gift of Spiritual Motherhood

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I’ve been stumbling over a habit I have of referring to “my kids.”  I’m sure that’s confusing to those of you who don’t know me.  “Wait, didn’t I see something about consecrated virginity?  But she has kids?  Hang on, now….”So rather than footnote it every time, I thought I’d write you a good long explanation. […]

Thorns for Life

Thorns for Life

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The readings for the Sunday Liturgy recently included passages from Ezekiel, St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, and the Gospel of St. Mark. Ezekiel is sent by God to proclaim to the “impudent and stubborn” Israelites that he is their faithful God, and to repent and return to Him. Say to them God tells […]

San Diego Baseball Camp Has Christ at Its Center

San Diego Baseball Camp Has Christ at Its Center

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Mike Sweeney’s Catholic Baseball Camp, to be held July 24-26 at Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego, is not your average baseball camp. In addition to the customary fielding, hitting and base-running, this camp will include daily Mass, confession and praying the Rosary. Participants will learn not only how to become great baseball players, […]

Multi-Tools: What's in Your Pocket?

Multi-Tools: What’s in Your Pocket?

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I cannot remember why I came across EDC or Everyday Carry, but it kept me busy for a little while just trying to see what other men carry.  As you can see, these guys carry a mixture of things from the useful and small to compact and rare.  Common pocket dwellers include: keys, pen, wallet, pocket knife, […]

The Mark of Cain: Healing in the Fire, Part 4

The Mark of Cain: Healing in the Fire, Part 4

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Click for: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 In the initial few months after my father’s death I was in a haze of grief. The remainder of winter and early Spring were spent dazed, going through the motions of daily life on automatic pilot. It was the Catholic priest, Father Lynch, who consoled me. My father’s Protestant Church […]

The Marriage Debate is More Than Just a Word Game

The Marriage Debate is More Than Just a Word Game

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President Obama’s announcement this May that he supports same-sex marriage underlines the urgent need for the Church to launch a massive new program to educate Catholics on the nature of sacramental marriage and on the vast difference between a marriage like that and civil marriage. The Church should also continue to participate in the debate […]

Egypt's Real Ruler: Mohamed Tantawi

Egypt’s Real Ruler: Mohamed Tantawi

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What does it mean that Mohamed Morsi is president of Egypt? Speaking for the American consensus, Bret Stephens recently argued in the Wall Street Journal against the consolation that the Muslim Brotherhood’s victory “is merely symbolic, since the army still has the guns.” He concluded that “Egypt is lost.” We shall argue to the contrary: […]

A Divided Nation: Is America "Coming Apart?"

A Divided Nation: Is America “Coming Apart?”

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Best-selling author and controversial social scientist Charles Murray is back in the news. This time it’s because of his new book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010. In Coming Apart, Murray deftly wields both statistical data and anecdotal evidence to document the wholesale abandonment of the ideals that for two centuries defined the […]

The Gangs in Chicago Reflect Wrong Values

The Gangs in Chicago Reflect Wrong Values

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For a man known in political and media circles for his prodigious application of the “f-word” (as a noun, an adjective, a verb, an adverb — most likely all eight parts of speech), Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel sounds like the veritable schoolmarm when recently scolding that city’s murderous gangs. In an interview with CBS anchor […]

Saints Are Sinners, Too

Saints Are Sinners, Too

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VESSELS OF GRACE   In the 1970s Billy Joel wrote a hit song, “Only the Good Die Young.”  The lyrics go like this (but I won’t sing them): “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints;/ the sinners are much more fun.”   Sinners can be saints, and saints are sinners.  A […]

What is the Thorn in Your Flesh?

What is the Thorn in Your Flesh?

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That I, Paul, might not become too elated, because of the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to […]

Using the Gifts God Has Given You, Part 3

Using the Gifts God Has Given You, Part 3

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Please read Using the Gifts God Has Given You, Part 1 and Using the Gifts God Has Given You, Part 2. I remind you to stir [fan] into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. (2 Timothy 1:6) Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. […]

Feng Jianmei: The Unanticipated Impact of One Forced-Abortion

Feng Jianmei: The Unanticipated Impact of One Forced-Abortion

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One of the general sessions at this summer’s 2012 NRLC national convention was aglow with energy and alight with enthusiasm. You could feel a powerful swelling of emotions as pro-life champion Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, roused their audience at a session titled, “Where Are All the […]

How to Kill a Billion People -- Part 2: Indirect Effect of Greenhouse Gas Suppression

How to Kill a Billion People — Part 2: Indirect Effect of Greenhouse Gas Suppression

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Part I demonstrated that the production and use of synthetic nitrogen is a substantial contributor of atmospheric greenhouse gases. It was also shown that almost half of the world’s population is dependent on synthetic nitrogen, produced by the Haber-Bosch process, for survival. It was concluded that greenhouse gas suppression policy and the Green Revolution, which […]

Finding a Good, Catholic Restaurant

Finding a Good, Catholic Restaurant

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“I know a great little place where we can get some good, authentic Catholic cuisine.”  How would you react if your date made that statement?  If you’re being honest, wouldn’t you silently stare at that person with a blank look on your face, and think to yourself “Um…I think I’ll go home now”? I have […]

Architect of Reproductive Rights Dies as Her Legacy Unravels

Architect of Reproductive Rights Dies as Her Legacy Unravels

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Feminist Activist Joan Dunlop died last week at 78, just a week after her legacy of recasting international population control efforts as “reproductive rights” began to unravel. Dunlop was a protégé of John D. Rockefeller, III, who led the charge for international population control. His vision and large fortune established and set the agenda for institutions […]

An Excerpt from <i>The Summer of 43: R.A. Dickey’s Knuckleball and the Redemption of America’s Game</i>

An Excerpt from The Summer of 43: R.A. Dickey’s Knuckleball and the Redemption of America’s Game

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A fastball is a young man’s pitch. Arrogant and overpowering. An exercise in green strength and the flexibility of young bones and tendons. Oh, older pitchers can sometimes throw the high-velocity things, barreling toward the plate at more than 90 miles an hour. Even in his last seasons, a forty-year-old man playing in the early […]

Your Screaming Kids Are Distracting Me

Your Screaming Kids Are Distracting Me

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I was at a holy hour the other night, totally focused and immersed in my thoughts, when from the back of the church came the sound of a wailing toddler.  Just like that, I lost it.  I was completely distracted by some kid who was far too young to be stuck sitting in a church. […]

Helping Jehovah's Witnesses Get the Picture

Helping Jehovah’s Witnesses Get the Picture

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Jehovah’s Witnesses want you to live forever with them in paradise on earth. To entice you into accepting their offer of a “free home Bible study”, they will show you brightly colored pictures of idyllic garden scenes, beautiful lakeside homes and children romping with lions. The Jehovah’s Witness will ask: “Wouldn’t you like to live […]

NFP or Condoms: What's the difference?

NFP or Condoms: What’s the difference?

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I wrote my senior thesis for the Catholic University honors program nearly 10 years ago. In my youthful zeal and eager for my own upcoming marriage, I tackled the prompt of “Nature and Technology” with a 35 page analysis of Humanae Vitae, Paul VI’s vision of human nature, nature and morality, and contraception as “technology.” […]

Reflections for Sunday, July 15, 2012

Reflections for Sunday, July 15, 2012

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Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Opening Ourselves to Receiving God’s Divine Graces “In him we have redemption … in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.” (Ephesians 1:7-8) Imagine you have just arrived home after a long day and you fum­ble to unlock the door. When you […]

Movie Review: <i>Brave</i>

Movie Review: Brave

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WARNING! This is more of an analysis than a review, so there are LOTS of SPOILERS! I find Brave to be a subversive and kind of shocking movie. First, what I LIKE about the film: the artistry/special effects are, of course, amazing. I laughed my head off at ALL the Scotsmen fighting scenes (with mandatory […]