It’s amazing that the show was nearly not broadcast. I speak of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” — a show that, for reasons I don’t understand, holds more power over me with every passing year. The show has a very simple premise: Too much commercialization can take the meaning out of Christmas. As it goes, Charlie […]
What could be more American than hard work? We are a country of people who believe in meritocracy, in striving to achieve The American Dream. Hard work traces back to our roots – much of it comes from the felt moral heritage of the Protestant Work Ethic. Yet, sadly, today’s American “hard work” is a hollow echo of […]
A week ago I received a message from a distressed family writing about a loved one in the final stages of living. The members of this family were informed by hospice care that their dying relative, a 95-year-old father/grandfather with dementia who still recognizes the family and talks with them at times, had come down […]
We were made male and female.
Before reading Anne Costa’s book Embracing Edith Stein: Wisdom for Women from St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, I knew who Edith Stein was but did not really know a lot about her. She had figured into other things I have read and I had connected with some of the passages quoted from her writings. […]
When El Salvador’s turn came up to be assessed by fellow countries on its human rights record, twelve countries criticized its legal protections for unborn children and urged it to permit legal abortion. The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a process for countries to hold each other accountable for the promises they made by signing […]
One of the towering figures of the turbulent period which culminated in the creation of the Church of England was St. Thomas More. He was born in 1478, just before the Protestant schism began in Europe, and was a prominent British lawyer and statesman who became a trusted adviser to King Henry VIII. As a […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11; Psalm 85:9-14; 2 Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8) Advent, A Time to Prepare the Way for the Coming of the Lord He will prepare your way. (Mark 1:2) Clearly, John the Baptist was a mighty man of God. He was an ambassador called to prepare the […]
*Editors Note: Over the next few weeks William Bornhoft and myself will be in a dialogue over the role of traditionalists within the Church today.* Mr. Bornhoft, I read your article “The Latin Mass is Not the Key to the New Evangelization” with interest, and it must also be admitted, with a bit of bewilderment. […]
Something heard very often among people is that they will deal with their faith when they are older, when it is time to start a family or when they have more time. Church can wait, prayer can wait, and practicing virtues (especially charity!) can wait. When reading the audience of Pope Francis the Wednesday before […]
Farmers pause in their fields at midday and bow their heads in prayer. [i] Businessmen and women overhear the ringing bells during their lunch break in the downtown business district. And neighbors to Catholic Churches may hear the church bells toll at six, noon, and six as an invitation to pray the traditional devotion of […]
Have you ever had one of those days when you just wish God would show up, snap his figures and work miracles? The people of Israel had about 500 years’ worth of days like that, groaning under the oppression of one tyrant after another. The book of Isaiah gives voice to these sentiments: “O that […]
Chastity and love are two of the most misunderstood concepts in our culture today. In her new book Chastity Is For Lovers: Single, Happy, and (Still) a Virgin, Arleen Spenceley does a masterful job clearing up the confusion. About chastity and how it differs from abstinence, she says: Chastity neither pretends sexuality doesn’t exist nor […]
I love the holidays. What an awesome opportunity it presents to get our large family together. One Thanksgiving a few years back, we were especially blessed to be in full force with all twenty-nine of us. The two military boys and eight college students had graced us with their presence. Additionally, several of the teens […]
We and the Mayflower Pilgrims owe thanks to the Pope and some Catholic priests for the Thanksgiving of 1621 with Squanto and the Plymouth Colony. Growing up within sight of Boston, Massachusetts meant lots of grade school field trips to the earliest landmarks of America. We looked forward to those excursions because they meant a […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Isaiah 63:16-17,19; 64:2-7; Psalm 80:2-3,15-16,18-19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37) Advent, A Time of Watching, Waiting, and Expectation Be watchful! Be alert! (Mark 13:33) And so Advent begins with the call to be alert. There’s one group of people, however, who don’t need any reminding: children! They […]
There are more young people in the world now than ever before. According to the United Nations Population Fund’s latest report, this represents an unprecedented opportunity for progress, but only if future generations are smaller. UNFPA’s prescription to ensure a “demographic dividend” includes freely available abortion for adolescents, removing age of consent, drug and prostitution […]
Last week the New America Foundation hosted a conference on “The Future of Reproduction” in Washington, D.C. Despite a few exceptions, the event was pretty much one large cheerleading session in praise of reproductive technology. A few highlights: Dan Kois, co-Host of “Mom and Dad Are Fighting,” Slate’s parenting podcast, offered praise of preimplantation genetic […]
The third installment of The Hunger Games: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay–Part I does not disappoint. Director, Francis Lawrence, who also directed The Hunger Games: Catching Fire keeps the momentum going in a sleek, seamless film. As we all know, sequels are hardly ever as good as the original, but in serial films it seems, as […]
Even with all I have lost in this life I still believe in love. Even when love seems silent, I believe in love. Even if God seems silent, I believe in Him for He is divine love, manifested to us in His Son Jesus Christ.[1] He abides with me. So too, my experience with human […]
The Judgment of the Nations (Mt 25:31-46). Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Sunday, November 23, AD 2014 A disclaimer: this story was written in English but with some Italian and Spanish lingo thrown in. Subtitles are included. Pericle Cordani, my paternal grandfather, left his village in northern Italy and journeyed across the […]
On the final Sunday in the liturgical year, it is time to remember things that we’d prefer to forget. For starters, we recall that there is an infinite qualitative difference between us and God. He is immortal and infinite. We are not. Each one of us will come to our individual end. But so will […]
“I had an abortion. I was not in a libertine college-girl phase, although frankly it’s none of your business. I was already a mother of two, which puts me in the majority of American women who have abortions. Six out of 10 are mothers, which makes sense, because a mother could not fool herself into […]
Last August marked the anniversary of the 2008 massacre of more than 100 Christians at the hands of a Hindu mob in Kandhamal district in Orissa (Odisha) State, India—and the culprits, though most of them have been identified, have yet to be tried. Six years later, a Catholic priest who narrowly escaped a most gruesome […]
