As we approach this season of Grace, there are often a few questions and misconceptions about Lent which arise. Most people assume that the Lenten season is forty days in length, which isn’t exactly true. This idea comes from a time in which Lent was forty days long, but let’s look at the history of […]
After quitting my job as a school teacher in 2010 to become a full-time organic farmer, I was left with a dilemma. I was quite certain that I could grow high quality produce, but what was I going to do with it? I had heard about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs from various other small-scale […]
The only folks who might have missed the fallacious claim that 98 percent of Catholics use contraception are those who have no newspaper or television set around. Lucky folks! The rest of us must consider the stark reality that whatever the media reports, no matter how wrong it might be, it will grab hold, stick […]
I have some imaginative ideas for teaching our children the spiritual lessons of Lent and Easter, but they involve rocks instead of cute bunnies or painted eggs, so please put on your creativity cap before reading further. During Lent, church sanctuaries everywhere are xeriscaped with dusty, dull-colored sand and rocks among other dehydrated things. These […]
In 2007, while still a member of the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama said, “I am absolutely convinced that culture wars are just so ‘90s. Their days are growing dark.” Until recently, I’ve been inclined to agree with Mr. Obama. The culture wars are over. We lost. We’re no longer fighting to uphold traditional social values. […]
Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men Mara Hvistendahl Public Affairs, 2011; 314 pages, $26.99 This brave and timely book has many strengths and one glaring, but understandable, weakness. The strength of this book is the reporting. Mara Hvistendahl, a liberal, pro-choice feminist, painstakingly documents the catastrophic […]
Today, religious liberty gained a resounding victory. A federal court in Tacoma, Washington, struck down a Washington law that requires pharmacists to dispense the morning-after pill even when doing so would violate their religious beliefs. The court held that the law violates the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. “Today’s decision sends a […]
It is a well-founded observation: More Catholics come to Church on Ash Wednesday (and Palm Sunday) than they do on Christmas and Easter. Reality, or ‘ecclesiastical legend’? Although I wish it were different, I see this as a hopeful sign. It tells me that, as Catholics we want the world to know that we are […]
A little cramped for time this Ash Wednesday? No problem. An Ohio Methodist minister, Rev. Patricia Anderson Cook, has found the solution for busy Christians on this holy day: Drive-thru ashes and reflection. From 5-6pm EST on Ash Wednesday, Rev. Cook, pastor of Mt. Healthy United Methodist Church, will be out in her church parking […]
The secular world today trembles and shudders at the sight of Rick Santorum speaking on good and evil at Ave Maria University in Florida in 2008. Santorum’s statement came 25 years after another much-maligned social conservative, Ronald Reagan, delivered a similarly fiery speech in Florida in 1983. In both cases, the secular left recoiled in […]
It’s Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Church’s 40 days of inventory, reflection, and commitment, to Christ’s passion and sacrifice; it’s the path to redemption, the humiliation of the human God, and the glorious climax of the Divine Man, which we call Lent. We can “put out into the deep” during this time and find […]
This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1:15) Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, “The kingdom of God is at hand for you.” (Luke 10:9) […]
The poor remodeler, he was so uncomfortable that I thought he might break into a sweat. In fact, he might already have been sweating, but I dared not look too closely, lest my scrutiny escalate his discomfort. He’d come to bid on our kitchen reconstruction and walked into more than he’d bargained for. However, the […]
For some time now, I have been reading The Priest In Union With Christ written by the late Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., described by some as “probably the 20th century’s greatest theologian” and “one of the Church’s all-time greatest authorities on the spiritual life.” Given the on-going attack on the nature of the priesthood, our […]
Rich Donnelly has a baseball story that is out of this world. Donnelly’s daughter Amy had passed away four years before his trip to the World Series in 1997 with the Florida Marlins, but her presence was felt keenly at the end of the seventh game. The coach has recounted the story to thousands of […]
Why I do this? Last time I did, it took my husband two weeks to get me out of the laundry room corner. Why do I torture my fragile ego with magazine articles which ultimately make me feel domestically inadequate? The latest culprit? “Bedroom Design Don’ts: Ten typical mistakes people make when designing a bedroom”. […]
Tomorrow, the largest spring 40 Days for Life campaign in history kicks off in cities across America and around the world From Wednesday, February 22, through Sunday, April 1, 40-day campaigns of prayer and fasting, peaceful vigil and community outreach will be held in 258 cities all across the United States (44 states and the […]
The beginning of Mark’s gospel contains a revealing and prophetic encounter between Jesus and a leper. We are told: “And there came a leper to Him, beseeching Him, and kneeling down said to Him: If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. And Jesus having compassion on him, stretched forth His hand; and touching him, […]
If I had to name the most important topics in science during our time, they would probably be evolutionary biology, cosmology, particle physics, and psychology to understand the human person better. However, if I had to name the most important issue in science today, it would be something more over-arching. It would be the general issue of […]
Last summer my family began an unwanted journey: We learned that our son suffers from the disease of addiction. The realization shocked and panicked us, so we dove right into “fix-it” mode, quickly calling a couple of physicians and rehab facilities. We took him to the local hospital for a drug test, where doctors told […]
Resistance to the United States’ new foreign policy priority is emerging around the world for the same reasons it has been rejected within the U.S. Political leaders are holding the line against homosexual/transsexual demands when it comes to marriage and teaching children about homosexual/transsexual activity. Leaders from the United Nations, UK and European Union have […]
It is not often that one sees Ernest Hemingway cited in an article on the federal budget and fiscal situation. But that is what GOP House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), ranking member of the Senate Committee, did in a recentWashington Post op-ed on President Obama’s last budget of his first term. […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Genesis 9:8-15; Psalm 25:4-9; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15) Lent, A Time to Experience Victory in our Battle Against Temptation and Sin It is … an appeal to God for a clear conscience.” (1 Peter 3:21) While St. Peter is describing the Sacrament of Baptism here, he […]
What are we doing? Obstetricians, whose job it is to help usher new life into the world, display birth control advertisements on their waiting room end-tables the way one’s Aunt Matilda might once have displayed dear family photos. The secular news media, whose job it is to objectively report information, only last year exalted 50 […]
