To recommend any book, I should at least be able to say to you that it is a pleasure to read. This book is a pleasure indeed! But saying the least is not my problem with reviewing Chesterton’s America: A Distributist History of the United States. My problem is having the space to say all […]
I’m writing from Delhi, India, where I’ve spent the last week meeting with various experts and officials that work on the issue of surrogacy here. In short, it’s a booming enterprise, by some reports estimated to be worth $3 billion U.S. dollars. Medical tourism has been popular in India for over a decade now, but […]
You may have heard that the blogosphere (the community of Catholic bloggers) has been involved in a bit of controversy lately. If you haven’t, good for you. The rest of us lost a week or two of our lives we can never reclaim. I’m really not interested in rehashing the sordid details of what started […]
Planned Parenthood Federation of America is sharpening the arrows in its quiver once again as it takes aim directly at the heart of the Church—the souls of unsuspecting women and their babies. If you don’t believe this, take a look at its recent “Pastoral Letter to Patients” issued by the PPFA Clergy Advocacy Board. The letter tells readers […]
When we speak of Jesus’ prayer, it is legitimate to put “prayer” within quotation marks. (Benedict XVI did this in Volume I of his Jesus of Nazareth). It is done when we want to highlight the uniqueness of Jesus’ prayer. It was, after all, the human prayer of the Second Person of the Trinity. But […]
Service to God means to submit to Gods will for you at all times. That sounds easy enough you may be thinking, but is it? As a mother of seven children fulfilling Gods will is hard work and it is made more difficult if I am lacking the Gift of Piety. What does piety mean […]
New possibilities opened up for plaintiff lawyers last week when a U.N. committee told the Vatican that clergy sex abuse is torture. Whether an instance of clergy sex abuse is torture “is a factual determination to be made on a case by case basis,” said a member of the U.N. committee against torture on Friday. […]
As I sat down to type an entirely different article about my 45th birthday, I looked down and took notice of my aging hands. They tell their own story; that’s for sure. There is the scar from the time I wouldn’t listen to my mother and leave the stray cat, Tony, alone, and he scratched my right […]
The recent canonization of Saint John Paul II offers an impetus to reflect on both his life and his papacy. The Pope’s leadership of the Catholic Church was exemplified by his signature phrase “Be not afraid!” Yet, what exactly was he exhorting the faithful to face without fear? Pope John Paul II first uttered this […]
“Lifting His eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, ‘I pray for those who will believe in me’” (John 17.20) Comprehending God’s enormous love for us isn’t always easy. St. John helps us understand a good measure of it in today’s Gospel, where he presents us with the amazing prayer of Jesus to His Father. What tender words […]
“Life is Difficult.” With those three opening words of profound truth, M. Scott Peck began a self-help revolution in his classic, The Road Less Traveled. It is really a provocative opening line for a book, a statement of the incredibly obvious, and yet a revelation. As one of the central institutions of civilization marriage, too, […]
Back when I saw him regularly, Carl seemed like he never was going to age. Even well into his 60s, he was skinny with little gray in his brown hair and skin like that of a much younger man. He regularly played pickup basketball with men many years his junior. He was one of the […]
Following in the noble tradition of his immediate predecessors, Pope Francis encouraged married couples to have children and be open to life. In the homily at his daily Mass on Monday, the Pope said that the “culture of comfort” seeks to convince us: “It’s better not to have children! It’s better! You can go explore the […]
Most Americans have heard it reported from time to time that the city of Detroit is like a war zone. Shootings and burglaries are rampant. Fires burn out of control. According to Reuters, “With the city now teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, the futile struggle to contain arson is an insistent reminder of the depths of […]
In a powerful profile of his son Jamie, a young man with Down syndrome, Michael Be?rube? explores some of the key challenges that those with disabilities face when trying to enter the workforce: The first time I talked to Jamie about getting a job, he was only 13. But I thought it was a good idea to […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104:1,24,29-31,34; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13; John 20:19-23) Receiving the Gift of the Holy Spirit, The Power of God in Us They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:4) Today we celebrate that great day when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the […]
The opportunity was too good to pass up. On a trip to the Holy Land, our group included a visit to Cana. We were offered the chance to renew our wedding vows at the place where Jesus made marriage a sacrament, an efficacious sign of his presence. My wife and I were only too happy […]
Locke, starring Tom Hardy–and only Tom Hardy–is being dubbed “Hamlet of the Highway,” and it’s exactly that. The premise of this one-actor film is simple and brilliant. The execution is also brilliant. A husband/father/expert construction foreman strayed once and only once in his marriage and got a middle-aged woman pregnant in a drunken one-night stand […]
Is there anything so wicked as a man trying to silence his conscience? It is a willful act that happens in stages: Bit by bit, incident by incident, rationalization by rationalization, the voice of a man’s conscience can be stifled—that still small voice within him eventually becomes fainter, until his heart turns to stone and […]
A front cover photo for the new TIME magazine unintentionally sends as strong a pro-life message as we could ever want: “Saving Preemies: Emalyn was Due in June, She arrived in March.” Written by Jeffrey Kluger, the home base for the story is the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin […]
According to a local Catholic leader, the Catholic Church is growing steadily in Mongolia, despite all the obstacles it faces. The Apostolic Administrator of Ulaanbaatar, Bishop Wenceslao Selga Padilla, made his comments while visiting international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Bishop Wenceslao, originally from the Philippines, has headed the Apostolic […]
U.N. experts backtracked last week after taking heat for accusing the Pope of torture because of Church teaching on abortion. “It seems like we are being cross-examined!” exclaimed humorously the chair of the Committee, U.S. based law professor Claudio Grossman at the sight of swarms of reporters at a press briefing in Geneva on Friday […]
In the midst of this morning’s whirlwind of activities in preparation for a “normal” day, as Seth obsessed about his cars, delayed brushing his teeth, taking his inhaler, and eating “at least three grapes”, Clare went from sweet to sour in seconds over which coat to wear, finally screeching both “I can do it ma’SELF!!!!” […]
This Sunday, June 1, and Monday, June 2, a miracle of sorts takes place on mainstream TV as PBS affiliates broadcast a documentary about a heroic Catholic priest. Messenger of The Truth is about Blessed Father Jerzy Popieluszko, chaplain to the Solidarity labor union that nonviolently took down the communist regime in Poland. Some efforts to […]
