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Living Together . . . Why It is Not a Good Thing

Living Together . . . Why It is Not a Good Thing

Mar 8 12 • 0 comments

Even if you aren’t a Christian, even if you are an atheist, living together is NOT a good idea.  Yeah, everybody is doing it now. It’s the norm.  Who needs to get married when you have people ready and willing to move in with you?  But, here’s why it’s not a good situation. First of […]

Poem: "Full Circle"

Poem: “Full Circle”

Full Circle The waves seem to beckon to me                   as I lie in the glistening sand                   and ponder the Immortal Hand                   that created all I see. I am drawn, deeply, to the easy                   rhythm of the waves striking land                   and pulling back from where I stand                   looking longingly out […]

Ethics of Genetic Testing, Part II

Ethics of Genetic Testing, Part II

Mar 7 12 • 0 comments

Previously, I wrote about the morally acceptable aspects of genetic testing. There are many.  Now I want to talk about the unethical uses of genetic testing. Most of genetic testing is like money.  That is, it is neither moral nor immoral.  Money can be used for good or evil, but it in and of itself it […]

George Weigel’s Mission Impossible

George Weigel’s Mission Impossible

Mar 7 12 • 7 comments

Even if you don’t agree with him, you have to admire George Weigel’s moxie. It can’t be easy serving as the spokesperson for a “conservative” Catholic movement that labors so mightily against the preponderance of evidence to reconcile every last scintilla of conciliar innovation with the Faith handed down from the Apostles. Yet, he does […]

Corn Subsidies at Root of U.S.-Mexico Immigration Problems

Corn Subsidies at Root of U.S.-Mexico Immigration Problems

America’s immigration debate will never be adequately addressed until we think clearly about the economic incentives that encourage Mexican citizens to risk their lives to cross the border. In fact, if we care about human dignity we must think comprehensively about the conditions for human flourishing so that the effective policies promote the common good. […]

Where Angels Fear to Tread: A Response to Andrea Tornielli on Medjugorje

Where Angels Fear to Tread: A Response to Andrea Tornielli on Medjugorje

Mar 7 12 • 23 comments

I read with interest Andrea Tornielli’s article on Medjugorje dated February 28, 2012.[i]  At the end, I was shocked to find that Tornielli provided a Latin-Italian translation of the Vatican document “Normae S. Congregationis.”  My shock was rooted in the fact that the Latin text of this document has escaped the public eye for 34 […]

Mamma Theologica

Mamma Theologica

Mar 7 12 • 0 comments

I’ve been reading the Summa Theologica so much I’ve started arguing with myself in the way of St. Thomas Aquinas, a rough and desperate version running through my head amidst the daily quagmire. For instance the other day, in the Third Part of the day, I asked myself a Question. “Whether it is fitting that […]

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Marketing Infanticide

Mar 6 12 • 4 comments

Recently, I addressed the idea of Christian perinatal hospice, a concept whereby parents facing a pregnancy involving a terminally ill unborn child are supported to carry their baby to term and prepare for their child’s death. It is a ministry of loving care for the entire family while honoring the humanity of their baby. No […]

As an Athlete Running the Race

As an Athlete Running the Race

Jesse Owens was one of the fastest human beings who ever lived. Known as the Buckeye Bullet, he became famous at Ohio State in 1935 when, in the span of just 45 minutes at a Big 10 track meet, he broke three world records and tied a fourth. As a member of the U.S. Olympics […]

Attachment in Human Love

Attachment in Human Love

Mar 6 12 • 0 comments

Love between a man and a woman is one of the most beautiful things in the world. But what happens when the love you share with that person becomes the most important thing in your life? There is nothing more natural than wanting to be loved. We need it. We need it from our parents […]

Super Tuesday and Being Human

Super Tuesday and Being Human

Mar 6 12 • 0 comments

I write on Super Tuesday, but my reflections here pertain to the entire election season of 2012, and in fact, of every election cycle. If you look at the writings of the Catholic Church regarding political responsibility, you often see reference to what is important to “Catholic social teaching” and a “Catholic conscience.” And, of […]

Poem: "Agony"

Poem: “Agony”

Mar 6 12 • 0 comments

Agony Praying in a garden, Leaning on a rock I know that Pilate’s soldiers Are going to torture and mock. I’m sweating and I’m weeping I’m losing blood and tears My people shall shout “Crucify!” It’s almost too much too hear. Yet My Father up in Heaven This is His will for Me So I […]

19-Year-Old's Dream Continued by Dominican Sisters

19-Year-Old’s Dream Continued by Dominican Sisters

Mar 5 12 • 0 comments

As the sun sends red and blue hues through the stained-glass windows into a convent chapel in the Chicago area, a dozen Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception enter the rooom for their morning prayers. Their voices blend into invocations of praise as they chant the Liturgy of the Hours. Their white habits with black […]

The Meaning of Mercy (Part I)

The Meaning of Mercy (Part I)

The Second Vatican Council taught us that the Eucharist is the “source and summit” of the Christian life.  Yet we must keep in mind that the same council makes clear that the Eucharist is not the sum total of the Christian life. Indeed the Eucharist, and all the sacraments, are memorials of a dramatic act […]

The Nature Of Marriage Is Not Defined By Popular Whim

The Nature Of Marriage Is Not Defined By Popular Whim

The debate over “social issues” in the United States recently brought many important topics, those typically reserved for the backburner in American politics, to the national stage for the first time in a long time. With the focus of the media shifting towards these issues, however, we have seen vicious attacks from political pundits, and […]

Overcoming the Merely Therapeutic: Human Excellence and the Moral Life

Overcoming the Merely Therapeutic: Human Excellence and the Moral Life

In Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (2005), researchers Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton argue that for many young adults in America, the spiritual life is understood in moralistic terms. But where orthodox (and Orthodox) Christianity focus on the necessity of “repentance from sin, of keeping the Sabbath, of living as a servant of a sovereign divine, […]

How She Does It

How She Does It

Mar 5 12 • 0 comments

“How do you do it?” Busy mothers hear this all the time. Time management is an important yet elusive goal. Everyone wants to know “the secret.” I’ve been blessed to know some very holy and efficient mothers. Let me introduce a couple to you and then we’ll talk strategy. My mother had 13 children, yet always […]

The Catholic Church is No Enemy of Science or the Infertile

The Catholic Church is No Enemy of Science or the Infertile

Mar 5 12 • 2 comments

Because of her opposition to third party reproduction, the Catholic Church is often accused of being anti-science and insensitive to those who suffer the pain of infertility. Last year’s CNN Belief Blog op-ed from  Sean Savage calling on the Catholic Church to reverse her opposition to IVF is a good example of the anger that […]

Contraception and Contradiction

Contraception and Contradiction

Mar 5 12 • 0 comments

The Church is a sign of contradiction. On the issue of contraception, in which the Catholic Church is seen as the most inveterate of socially conservative reactionaries, the Church loses not only libertine opponents, but also many conservative friends. In the present debate about the government’s attempt to compel religious institutions to fund the use […]

Getting Senator Rick Santorum into the White House

Getting Senator Rick Santorum into the White House

If we want a new president, it isn’t going to happen without some blood, sweat and tears. And divine grace—plenty of divine grace. So, this being said, just where do you and I come in? It’s going to have to be our blood, sweat and tears. We can’t lay this one on somebody else. Not […]

3-Minute Retreat: Called to Greater Freedom

3-Minute Retreat: Called to Greater Freedom

Mar 4 12 • 0 comments

The brief reflection below is based on a 3-Minute Lenten retreat brought to you by Loyola Press. At the bottom of this reflection is a link for you to access the retreat. In today’s reflection, Jesus invites a rich man to invest in eternity. Give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven… […]

Poem: "Lovers' Hope!"

Poem: “Lovers’ Hope!”

Mar 4 12 • 0 comments

Lovers’ Hope! Early spring frost glazes budding Yoshino cherry blossoms. Glittering, glittering in late morning, under a chilly sun. Lovers pause. Mid-afternoon warmth destroys the illusion. Crackling ice tinkles to the ground. Melting, dissolving into the dirt of death. ………….Or life……….. A violent protrusion of crocus greens extrude Soil particles still damp with melted frost. […]

City of Blood: St. Paul in Arabia — A Lenten/Desert Journey, Part 2

City of Blood: St. Paul in Arabia — A Lenten/Desert Journey, Part 2

For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia —Galatians 4:25.   In the Scriptures, the desert is the setting for purification, and the mountain is the site of revelation.  Moses led the Israelites through the desert to prepare them to receive the Law, which God handed down on Mount Sinai (Ex 20:1-17) amid peals of thunder and […]

The Historical Reality of the Muslim Conquests

The Historical Reality of the Muslim Conquests

Mar 3 12 • 0 comments

Because it is now almost axiomatic for American school textbooks to whitewash all things Islamic (see here for example), it may be useful to examine one of those aspects that are regularly distorted: the Muslim conquests. Few events of history are so well documented and attested to as are these conquests, which commenced soon after […]