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Preparing for Mass — A Real Necessity

Celebrating Mass together is the most important activity we do in our lives, and yet it is the most misunderstood and under-appreciated. From the moment we wake up we have a list of things that fill our calendars and day planners, leaving the Mass barely surviving on Sunday mornings. When we finally get there, we […]

The Eyeless “I” of Assisted Suicide

Nov 28 11 • Mark Davis Pickup • 0 comments

A Canadian court is considering a challenge to the nation’s law prohibiting assisted suicide and euthanasia. Consequently the topic is in the news. I received an email from a woman who doesn’t know what to think as the assisted suicide camp is pulling out all their compassionate sounding euphemisms to promote death. She wanted my […]

Deer Season a Half Century Ago

Nov 28 11 • Dr. Paul Kengor • 4 comments

This week hunters across America storm the woods loaded for deer. For yet another indication of how times have changed, consider this account of Deer Season a half century ago: My mother’s family lived in Emporium, Pennsylvania, as did dozens of their relatives. Emporium is a tiny town nestled in the mountains near the north/central […]

When Siblings Disagree With Your Choice of a Spouse

Nov 28 11 • Anthony Buono • 1 comment

Dear Anthony, I just got engaged to a great guy. I love him a lot, but my sisters both think I am making a mistake. It bothers me a lot that they don’t approve of him and I am afraid this is going to cause problems both now as well as after we are married. […]

Poem: “Permission”

Nov 28 11 • Pavel Chichikov • 0 comments

Permission The paper which I carried said that I Was qualified to board the plane and fly, But at the boarding station what I heard, Was: Monsieur would request of you a word: I tell you frankly, said and laughed Monsieur, I really don’t know what you’re doing here, You have not been so authorized […]

The New Roman Missal: A Fresh Encounter with the Liturgy

Nov 27 11 • Dr. Edward Sri • 0 comments

The experience of many Catholics at Mass reminds me of my cousin Stefano’s first time at an American football game. Coming from Italy, Stefano knew football very well—but his “football” is our soccer! So when he first visited the States, and our family took him to see the Chicago Bears, he failed to fully grasp […]

Poem: “The Thanking Day”

Nov 27 11 • Hilary McRee Flanery • 0 comments

The Thanking Day With prayer, I start the Thanking Day, At dawn, I kneel, Te Deum, pray. I dress for Mass then wake a son. He’ll serve the priest, a chosen one. A hushed low Mass right after Matins, Our Lord above all sons’ gold patens. He’ll lay upon my wicked tongue, I pray, forgive, […]

You Snooze, You Lose

Nov 26 11 • Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D. • 1 comment

Have you ever had one of those days when you just wish God would show up, snap his fingers 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 […]

Learning to Sing Like Saint Caedmon

Nov 26 11 • Jake Frost • 0 comments

Children have a way of reaching into your heart to find love you didn’t even know was there. I was working away in the kitchen, trying to cook dinner and get the dishes done at the same time, when my daughters came in looking for Daddy. “What are you doing, Daddy?” Liz, our older daughter […]

Poem: “All That’s True”

Nov 26 11 • Pavel Chichikov • 0 comments

All That’s True I saw two trees that grew entwined, The pine tree and the beech tree twinned, As night and day are of one mind Though separate they grew as kin Roots the arms around each other, The pine tree growing evergreen, Close as if the two were brothers, The beech tree fallen autumn […]

Catholic College Would Shut Down Before Submitting to Fed’s Contraceptive Mandate

Nov 25 11 • Patrick B. Craine • 0 comments

The president of Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina says they would rather close their doors than submit to a mandate by the Obama administration that threatens to force Catholic institutions to cover abortifacient drugs, sterilizations, and contraceptives in their health plans. “I believe we would go there,” said Dr. William Thierfelder, according to the […]

Muslim Persecution of Christians: October, 2011

Nov 25 11 • Raymond Ibrahim • 0 comments

Egypt’s Maspero massacre—where the military killed dozens of Christians protesting the destruction of their churches—dominates October’s persecution headlines. Facts and details concerning the military’s “crimes against humanity” are documented in this report, and include videos of armored-vehicles running over civilians, a catalog of lies and deceitful tactics employed by Egypt’s rulers and state media, and […]

Planned Parenthood: Agent of Destruction

Nov 25 11 • Ken Connor • 1 comment

According to its website, “for more than 90 years, Planned Parenthood has promoted a commonsense approach to women’s health and well-being, based on respect for each individual’s right to make informed, independent decisions about health, sex, and family planning.” There is in this glowing self-endorsement a subtle tribute to Planned Parenthood’s founder Margaret Sanger. An […]

Cardinal O’Malley, Resisting Gay Pressure, Stands by His Editor

Nov 25 11 • Jeff Mirus • 1 comment

Something is very wrong when priests join forces with gay activists in any cause whatsoever. The presumption must be that the priests in question are sympathetic to gay activism, and this constitutes scandal. That’s why I was glad to see Cardinal Sean O’Malley stand by the editor of his diocesan newspaper when some priests joined […]

Gratitude and Grace-Filled: The Balance We Seek

Nov 25 11 • Christine Capolino • 0 comments

As the mother of two lively boys, athletic boys, theater-loving boys, exploring boys, immersed-in-everything boys, I am forever seeking. Forever balancing. Forever juggling. Forever discerning. Activity versus stillness. Sound versus silence. Society versus solitude. I still, now for fleeting moments, still, have a measure of control over the feeling, the tenor, the rhythm of my […]

Poem: “Dilating Heart”

Nov 25 11 • Thomas A. Flynn, LC • 0 comments

Dilating Heart Your grace is overflowing Within my soul and showing A beam of light in tenebrae. My heart I feel is swelling With love, for you’re indwelling, Deep-rooted friend and Domine. Lead onward in this sailing Of white-capped years unveiling To reach the shores of iubilae. And with your strength instilling A tattered heart, […]

I’m Thankful for…That Conscience Thing

Nov 24 11 • Marge Fenelon • 2 comments

This year, as we gather to give thanks for all God’s goodness to us, I’ll be offering thanks for something for which I never thought to offer thanks before. Thanks to Nancy Pelosi, I’m thanking God for my conscience. Ms. Pelosi, it seems, would rather I don’t have a conscience, or “that conscience thing,” as she […]

America’s Gerontocracy

Nov 24 11 • Samuel Gregg • 3 comments

One fact that has become increasingly evident in the Great Recession’s wake is the disproportionate influence exerted upon economic policy by those aged 65 years or older. This group is far more economically secure than most other Americans — according to a recent Pew Research Center study, the gap between the average net worth of those […]

Pilgrims and Indians and the Burden of History

Nov 24 11 • Patrick O’Hannigan • 0 comments

The only Native American writer I know gave permission for a literary journal to republish thoughts about Thanksgiving that she had first corralled a few years ago, and reading them was an illuminating experience. Terra Trevor reminded me why American Indians are not necessarily as sanguine about Thanksgiving celebrations as I am. She also got […]

More Than 100 Reasons to Be Thankful, Even in Hard Times

Nov 24 11 • Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur • 1 comment

Two years ago, I asked many people, both young and old, what they were thankful for in order to compile a list of 100 reasons to be thankful, even in hard times. While some time has passed since I put together that list, times are definitely still hard and the list is definitely still relevant. […]

Same-sex “Marriage” v. Grandma

Nov 24 11 • Joseph Backholm • 2 comments

Over the next several months, you will likely be asked how same-sex “marriage” will affect you. This question is asked because those trying to redefine marriage would like you to believe that it will have no impact on anyone whose names do not appear on the same-sex “marriage” license. They argue that this is a […]

Thank God for Your Faith

Nov 24 11 • Ron Quinlan • 0 comments

As you give thanks this Thanksgiving be sure to thank God for your Catholic faith! I hope you realize how truly blessed we are — we have so much more than other Christians. Begin with the fact that we have the Mass available to us every day, (except Good Friday). Most Protestant congregations meet only twice […]

Poem: “That Well”

Nov 24 11 • Pavel Chichikov • 0 comments

That Well When I was a child of four Beneath the surgeon’s blazing light I walked along a burning road Sun upon me while I bled By the road I saw a pump, A handle to bring water up, Iron black in summer heat, I struggled near on my small feet Oh pump of iron, […]

Cardinal Burke: Attacks on Unborn are Rooted in ‘Contraceptive Mentality’

Nov 23 11 • Patrick B. Craine • 0 comments

Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of America’s highest ranking Catholic prelates, urged pro-life advocates last month to confront an “erroneous view of human sexuality” that robs the sexual act of its life-giving purpose. “The attack on the innocent and defenceless life of the unborn has its origin in an erroneous view of human sexuality, which attempts […]