A couple of years ago, a well-known and highly regarded apologist sent his subscriber list an email article about finding a spouse. He began by explaining that when he was young, he made the mistake of thinking that liking and loving were basically the same thing, with the latter being just a more intense version […]
Probably no informed Catholic would dispute the fact that the period since the end of the Second Vatican Council in 1965 has been a notably tumultuous period in the life of the Church. Dissent and heresy have flourished and many Catholics have little troubled to base their thought on the doctrine of the Church. Although most people […]
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Dana Milbank’s column on abortion in today’s Washington Post: It’s an old tactic—attacking the advocates of both sides of a contentious issue. In doing so, the pundit attempts to seize the mantle of objectivity. But it often doesn’t work, and it certainly didn’t work for Dana Milbank. Milbank […]
Gabe Lyons has constructed a new vision for Christians, a vision that is sustained by the desire to restore God’s Kingdom on earth. However, as we have seen, his vision is not a complete vision, but rather it is a half-vision inflated and masquerading as a whole one. It is as if a man took a […]
The medieval times of 13th century Christendom present a world so different from our own, jam-packed with unique and intriguing characters whose stories are so little known, yet so well worth knowing. I’d recently written a biography of a man from that time called “great” in his own day, Albert the Great, a man who […]
Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. (Psalm 33:1) For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope. When you call me, and come and pray […]
An old adage tells us that theology is the queen of the sciences, philosophy her handmaid. This means not simply that heavenly wisdom is nobler or more edifying than earthly knowledge. It speaks also of the epistemological importance of the theistic conviction: objective reality depends upon the existence of the Supreme Subject. Philosophy, in the […]
Tension between free speech advocacy and efforts to curb “hate speech” has arisen over the past year as the result of recent initiatives at the United Nations (UN) and by the Obama administration. Freedom of opinion and expression have long been recognized as fundamental, and a recent UN Human Rights Committee “General Comment” affirmed these […]
I hate people, and it turns out that might be a registered trademark. Let me explain. My daughter Kerry talked us into driving down to Lafayette Square [one] Sunday [last month] to get brunch. Lafayette Square is a trendy St. Louis neighborhood where rehabbers live, surrounded by the ghetto on four sides. But once a year all […]
I am attempting to stay up-to-date with the latest advances in bathroom technology, but every time I use the ladies room it is a whole new learning curve. What do I mean exactly? Some places have automatic faucets that turn on when your hands line up within the precise perimeters and a warm spray douses […]
Political systems and popular representation are changing. Movements like the Spanish 15-M, or the American Tea Party are spontaneous movements which indicate that democracy — while a good system of government — is currently in crisis. What this means is that there are some citizens whose voices are not being heard — so they have […]
A little more than a year ago, I quit my job as a theology teacher at a Catholic high school to become a full-time organic farmer. I like to call myself a “Catholic farmer”, because I am striving to live out the Church’s teachings on marriage and the family, as well as Catholic social teaching, […]
It’s like peeling up the edge of tape. The instant a society places more value on some human lives than others, it’s only a matter of time until that edge has been picked, pried and yanked enough to leave unsuspecting people grieving and wondering what happened to their right to life, liberty and the pursuit […]
Between 1967 and 1993, just a few hundred Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza won the right to live in Israel by marrying Israeli Arabs (who constitute nearly one-fifth of Israel’s population) and acquiring Israeli citizenship. Then the Oslo Accords offered a little-noted family-reunification provision that turned this trickle into a river: 137,000 residents […]
St. Padre Pio is known to have said, “Pray, Hope, and Don’t Worry.” Like most axioms, this one is easy to say and not so easy to put into practice. Yet, it is definitely worth the effort. Especially among women, anxiety is impacting every aspect of our lives, even our ability to sleep. The New […]
I would like to wrap up this series with an examination of a few more types of taxation. Keep in mind, that this series is not intended to be exhaustive. It is intended to open the door to discussion by presenting ideas for consideration. (See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) I do not pretend […]
The recent decision by a federal judge relative to a prayer banner in Cranston High School West has generated, as the saying goes, more heat than light. On the one hand, people’s sensibilities are offended that a revered object that has been in place for decades now has to be removed due to one person’s […]
As my son enters the final lap of his grade school career, I’ve noticed a marked increase in anxiety. An increase in my own anxiety, of course, but also in those who remain unconvinced that homeschooling for high school is a healthy option for my son. I don’t mind discussing the pros and cons of […]
I have suffered from depression my whole adult life. Symptoms of depression and anxiety run in my family. So any story about new treatments for depression always catch my eye. But this one caught my eye for another reason. One of the indications of depression is a reduced hippocampus, a part of the brain that […]
In America, today commemorates the life of the great civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was one of those moral giants God raised up to guide a nation toward a new stage in its collective moral development. Like Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, and others, he played a pivotal role in opening […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Jonah 3:1-5,10; Psalm 25:4-9; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20) Hearing and Responding to God’s Call to Be His Disciples “They left their nets and followed him” (Mark 1:18). In his unending creativity, God calls us to know him and to serve him in a way that is […]
In Part 1 and Part 2, I mainly discussed the different schools of Capitalist thought (Keynesian and non-Keynesian) and how Distributism differs from them in regard to the role of government in stabilizing the economy and the use of taxation in doing so. Before I begin discussing the different methods of taxation, I should also […]
As we turn the page on another new calendar year, many of us have the desired goal of “getting in shape” for the New Year. This is definitely the case in my own life, but the more I ponder my motivations, the more I find that I’m not simply looking for physical changes in my […]
Another year, another long list of New Year’s resolutions waiting to be broken or fizzle out. I am not much of a New Year’s resolution person, but many are. God bless them! The spirit of wanting to make a change for the better is alive and well, especially in January. Most people fail at keeping […]
