Teach me, LORD, your way that I may walk in your truth. (Ps 86:11) Sounds simple, doesn’t it? I can’t imagine any Christian looking at the above verse and disagreeing with its content. Essentially, it is a summary of our mission as followers of Christ. But exactly how does the Lord teach us “His way” […]
It was inevitable. In the lead-up to John Paul II’s beatification, a number of publications decided it was time to opine about the direction of Benedict XVI’s pontificate. The Economist, for example, portrayed a pontificate adrift, “accident-prone,” and with a “less than stellar record” compared to Benedict’s dynamic predecessor (who, incidentally, didn’t meet with the Economist‘s approval […]
This week’s Gospel (Lk 24:13-35) features Jesus and two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus walks with them and talks with them and still, they do not realize who is in their midst until he breaks bread with them. One thing the Resurrection appearances of Jesus have in common is that those who first […]
The announcement that one is a monarchist is greeted with the same regard as the announcement that one has joined the Flat-Earth Society, or espouses geo-centrism, or has expressed a belief in a world only 6,000 years old, where God planted fossils in the ground just for fun. Politically, monarchism has a prestige just a […]
Many people today are very busy, sometimes wondering “who’s got time to read?” And yet, given the rapid and varied scientific breakthroughs which render contemporary research and healthcare contexts evermore complex and morally confusing, relevant reading is arguably imperative given our responsibility to the common good as voters, donors to charities, and investors in corporations […]
Nearly 800 years ago, Pope Gregory IX, responded to shouts of “Santo Subito” (“Sainthood Now”) when he left the Lateran Palace in Rome and made the 120-mile arduous journey to Assisi (shown at left) to canonize St. Francis. Francis just wanted to be a humble hermit yet died a very public death in 1226, bearing the […]
In last Sunday’s Gospel we were told that the disciples had locked themselves in a room for fear of retaliation by the Jews. “Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’” We are familiar with the story of Thomas and how he doubted his friends, so I do […]
Surprisingly, on net, last week was not a good one for the Free World. Despite the signal accomplishment of liquidating Osama bin Laden, Western civilization suffered serious reverses on several fronts. What these reverses all have in common is a deference to the doctrine our enemies’ call “shariah,” in a manner they perceive to be […]
Early in my work at Priests for Life a woman wrote, “I can’t help but think that if twenty years ago I heard a sermon in my Church against abortion, I would have found the strength to keep my baby instead of killing my baby.” Since then, countless women, as well as men, have said […]
When I was a young adult there was a wildly popular book about dressing for career success. It spawned many copycat books, all proclaiming the benefits of proper attire for everything from boardrooms to schoolrooms. The premise was that your clothes were the first impression others had of you, and consequently had a great impact […]
I was praying before the tomb of the great Cardinal Mindszenty in his cathedral at Esztergom, when I heard the news that his beloved Hungary had passed a new, pro-life constitution. The Cardinal, who took sanctuary in the U.S. Embassy for 16 years after Soviet troops crushed the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, would be proud. […]
The Italian crucifix case (Lautsi case) is the first case in the history of the Court which attracts so much attention and mobilizes so much people to act. With this case, the Court appeared publicly as an ideological battlefield where significant political decisions are passed in certain confidentiality. This case arose in the rather exceptional […]
As Americans increasingly feel the pinch of higher prices for food and fuel, the Federal Reserve’s QE2 policy of creating more money has been called into question. Asked if the Fed bore some responsibility for these vexing price increases, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke essentially replied, “It’s not our fault.” Instead, Bernanke blamed the price increases […]
It is not news that in the last 40 years the Sacred Liturgy has been treated with a banality that has gone from the sentimental to the silly to the irreverent to the heretical, and back again, a few million times. Now, of course, there is nothing silly or banal about the Eucharist and other […]
Prepared remarks for the Judiciary Committee of the Minnesota State Senate, hearings on same sex marriage Dr Jennifer Roback Morse, founder and president of the Ruth Institute, a project of the National Organization for Marriage April 29, 2011 St. Paul Minnesota www.ruthinstitute.org We are here to consider giving the citizens of the State of […]
About 23 years ago I packed all my belongings into my Dad’s Suburban and drove 1500 miles from my Rocky Mountain home to live in a place I had never seen and could barely pronounce. I had never planned to attend college – since there was no such thing as a faithful Catholic college, to […]
“So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments” (John 13:2b-3b). This came from the reading on Holy Thursday this year. Each year, in the attempt to emphasize the true […]
The guy sitting next to me in the optometrist’s office bugged me. I mean, he really bugged me. He bugged me like I wanted to actually step outside and stand on the sidewalk by the front door until it was time for my appointment; that’s how much he bugged me. Rather than commit an act […]
That is the question asked by the left-leaning Christian organization, Sojourners, in its campaign of the same name. It is a most appropriate question given the battle over the budget and given this time of year, not long after the most holy holiday of the year for Christians. Sojourners claims that, despite record budget deficits […]
Looking ahead to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) started a Luther Garden in Wittenberg and invited each of the Lutheran Churches worldwide and also their ecumenical dialogue partners to plant a tree “as a sign of reconciliation and mutual understanding”. In one of his […]
For a long time I supposed that social issues — abortion, same-sex marriage, and the rest — were the great dividing line in American politics, with the collapse of natural law thinking at the root of the problem. While I still see the culture war resulting from this as a large part of what ails […]
Pope Benedict XVI has aroused some opposition but also worldwide hope for dialogue and discovery of shared truths about our humanness, God, and moral and social crises of our times. He has focused much of his initiative on the core question of “human dignity” and, by implication, “the sanctity of life.” There is good reason […]
Charges Dropped Against Anti-Abortion Protesters At Notre Dame’s Commencement with President Obama Thomas More Society’s Relentless Legal Defense Wins Justice for Pro-Live Activists Today, Michael Dvorak, St. Joseph County, Indiana prosecutor, dismissed the criminal trespass charges that he has pressed over the last two years against almost all of the pro-life protesters, known as the […]
The Warrior River borders the University of Alabama campus, separating old Tuscaloosa from up-scale housing developments to the north. Tuscaloosans know a “north of the river” address connotes six-figure incomes. The schools, public and private, are excellent. It’s the country club set. The Warrior River forms a barrier separating Tuscaloosans by class and largely, although […]
