Site Map

Site Feeds

Pages

Categories

Monthly Archives

Tags

All Articles

No Mere Book: The Revised Roman Missal and Renewal for the American Church

No Mere Book: The Revised Roman Missal and Renewal for the American Church

Oct 28 11 • 1 comment

The call came after vespers.  They had arrived.  UPS confirmed delivery with a “quantum email.”  Shouldn’t I go to the office and pick them up right now?  No, I decided.  Not tonight.  Wait until morning and relish the delicious anticipation, like a kid waiting until morning to see what Santa Claus left beneath the Christmas […]

Activist Claims Crosses at Catholic U. are Sign of ‘Malice’ Towards Muslims

Activist Claims Crosses at Catholic U. are Sign of ‘Malice’ Towards Muslims

Oct 28 11 • 2 comments

A DC-area legal activist has filed a federal human rights complaint against the Catholic University of America (CUA) for acting “probably with malice” against Muslim students for having Catholic imagery in all of its rooms that would hinder Muslim prayer – though the school says it has never heard a complaint from the students themselves. […]

Ark of Grace Ch.7, Mary's Sinless State

Ark of Grace Ch.7, Mary’s Sinless State

Chapter 7 Mary’s Sinless State When Adam and Eve disobeyed, condemning their descendants to sin and death, God revealed His plan to redeem mankind through the mystery of the Incarnation. In His divine wisdom God decided to be born of a woman. This extraordinary woman He had selected before all time to be His Mother […]

Teaching Through the Senses

Teaching Through the Senses

Oct 28 11 • 0 comments

[U]ntil we account for the knowledge which an infant has of his mother . . ., what reason have we to take exception at the doctrine, as strange and difficult, that in the dictate of conscience, without previous experiences or analogical reasoning, he is able gradually to perceive the voice, or the echoes of the […]

A Heavy Toll for Today's Young Women

A Heavy Toll for Today’s Young Women

In August, when HBO released a documentary about feminist icon Gloria Steinem, critics knew in advance what to expect. HBO executive Sheila Nevins made it clear that the finished product would be not biography but hagiography, “an inspirational film about St. Gloria,” as she put it in one interview. The film lived up to its billing, […]

CL69 - hbratton notxt web

Are you Interested in Spiritual Direction?

Oct 28 11 • 3 comments

Many, many years ago, people who wanted to live more fully for God — to know Him more intimately in their daily lives and see themselves in His more truthful light — would  often seek guidance from an Ascetic who was, more than likely, living in the desert.   I find Asceticism fascinating. It was almost as […]

Heat on Herman Cain for Abortion Position

Heat on Herman Cain for Abortion Position

Oct 28 11 • 1 comment

Herman Cain is surging ahead in the Republican presidential primary race – an October 20th Rassmusen poll in Iowa puts him in the lead at 28%, ahead of Mitt Romney at 21% – but facing increasing scrutiny from pro-life voters as a result of confusing and conflicting statements made during multiple media interviews. In an […]

The Big Bang Theory, Bus Stop Mommies Style

The Big Bang Theory, Bus Stop Mommies Style

Oct 28 11 • 0 comments

“Hey Ruth, your hair looks so cute!”   Fiddling with her headband, Ruth’s weak, “Thanks.” sounded more like an apology.  “I’m letting my bangs grow out so now this is about the only way I can wear it.” Five genuinely empathetic female heads turned towards Ruth to offer a combination of condolences, encouragement and hair taming […]

Poem: "The Day Before They Fall"

Poem: “The Day Before They Fall”

Oct 28 11 • 0 comments

The Day Before They Fall It is enough to follow The autumn of the trees To know the heart is shallow And heaven will not please Although a time of ruin Might seem to be a curse, The happiness of heaven Would cause the heart to burst Enough to see in glory The deepest gold […]

Book Review: <em>The Closing of the Muslim Mind</em>

Book Review: The Closing of the Muslim Mind

Oct 28 11 • 0 comments

Last week, “Saudi Arabia’s religious police arrested an Indonesian housemaid for casting a magic spell on a local family and ‘turning its life upside down.’” The maid “confessed” to using sorcery, and “commission experts took the magic items to their office and managed to dismantle and stop the spell.” Far from being absurd aberrations to […]

Benedict in Assisi: Paradox and Astonishment

Benedict in Assisi: Paradox and Astonishment

Pope Benedict’s talk in Assisi today, on the 25th anniversary of the Day of Prayer for Peace summoned in the same place in 1986 by Pope John Paul II, was paradoxical and in some ways astonishing. The paradox: Benedict was speaking to a group of religious leaders, men and women representing nearly all the major […]

The Arab Spring's Forgotten Freedom

The Arab Spring’s Forgotten Freedom

Oct 27 11 • 0 comments

For at least one group of Middle-Easterners, the Arab Spring is turning out to be a decidedly wintery affair. And if confirmation was ever needed, just consider the escalation of naked violence against Christians throughout the region. The recent instance of Egyptian army vehicles crushing and killing Coptic Christians protesting against a church burning was […]

This Is My Body

This Is My Body

Oct 27 11 • 0 comments

A few months ago, I was e-commiserating with a friend about the physical challenges of having children. We were neighbors in the hospital as she delivered her seventh on the same day my fifth was born. Obviously, neither of us were surprised with the toll childbirth, sleepless nights, and nursing took on us.  With the […]

What Happened to Our Health Freedom?

What Happened to Our Health Freedom?

Oct 27 11 • 2 comments

It was early in the morning in Venice, California. A multi-agency raid by police in full SWAT gear, automatic weapons drawn and tear gas at the ready, made some serious arrests. Contraband was destroyed and cash confiscated. A drug raid? A terrorist sleeper cell? More “illegal” gold and silver currency a-la Von Nothaus? No, the […]

If You Quit, You Can't Blame God

If You Quit, You Can’t Blame God

We all feel tempted to quit sometimes. Whether they are related to relationships, parenting, or work, there are moments in life when we simply want to throw up our arms in frustration and give up. And, sometimes, we want to blame God. After all, God allowed circumstances to be so hard. Obviously, God doesn’t want […]

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics:  Sheep Leading Themselves to the Slaughter

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics: Sheep Leading Themselves to the Slaughter

Recently I encountered the inane phrase “redistribution of wealth.”  We all know that it refers to the evil plan of the left-wingers.  But wait!  Are we unaware that the redistribution of wealth has already occurred, and continues today?  Don’t we know that the wealth in the United States is distributed more unevenly than ever before […]

Poem: "The Invitation"

Poem: “The Invitation”

Oct 27 11 • 1 comment

The Invitation When I see the blazing of the redbud tree, The tulips filled with ruby and with ivory, The sunlight poured with lavishness inside and out, A moment then suspended is our churlish doubt, The naming for the banquet given out by One Who sets the goblets for us and pours out the sun […]

Catholic Media: Right and Wrong Approaches to the Occupy Movement

Catholic Media: Right and Wrong Approaches to the Occupy Movement

Oct 26 11 • 9 comments

Call it an occupational hazard, but I can’t look at Marybeth Hicks’ article without wondering, “What is this piece doing on a Catholic website? To be fair, the article was written for the Washington Times where it possibly feels more at home in the larger context of her “conservative” political column.  Hicks has described that her […]

Shining the Light of Truth on Anti-Semitism

Shining the Light of Truth on Anti-Semitism

Oct 26 11 • 0 comments

Anti-Semitism must be exposed by the light of truth so it can be soundly defeated – the operative phrase here being the light of truth, and by this I mean whole and entire; with neither attenuation nor ambiguity. On this, surely all can agree. In practice, however, this appears to be a real challenge for […]

Obama's Misplaced Mideast Optimism

Obama’s Misplaced Mideast Optimism

Oct 26 11 • 1 comment

Confidently commenting on the execution of Libya’s long-time dictator, Barack Obama stated that “the death of Mu’ammar al-Qaddafi showed that our role in protecting the Libyan people, and helping them break free from a tyrant, was the right thing to do.” About his own decision to pull all U.S. troops from Iraq in two months’ […]

'Abortion' May Not Be What You Think

‘Abortion’ May Not Be What You Think

Oct 26 11 • 0 comments

The definitions of the terms used in a discussion can and do change the outcome. The political maxim, “He who frames the issue wins the debate” applies in many situations including how the public views what abortion is and why it is either legitimate or illicit. A chasm exists between those two positions, but what […]

Can’t We Battle Bullying Without Politics?

Can’t We Battle Bullying Without Politics?

Oct 26 11 • 5 comments

If there’s one thing virtually everyone can agree on, it’s that bullying is bad. In fact, a recent survey commissioned by Care.com, a caregiver referral company, revealed that bullying is the No. 1 concern of parents of school-aged children — even more so than the fear of kidnapping. We’re all more aware of, and alarmed […]

Poem: "Requiem for the Homeless Man"

Poem: “Requiem for the Homeless Man”

Oct 26 11 • 0 comments

Requiem for the Homeless Man He died of an overdose of neglect; who cares that he was one of the hidden people exiled from smiles. His sores were so heavy he had to lean them against a wall, a bench, or a gate, or let them fall into the gutter where he belonged who cares? […]

The Occupy Movement: A Report from Occupy Seattle,  Part 1

The Occupy Movement: A Report from Occupy Seattle, Part 1

The Occupy Wall Street movement has yet to define itself, and remains in a state of flux and complexity.  Commentators attempting to stereotype OWS, and reduce it to a simple formula, might consider Albert Einstein’s maxim that “politics is more complicated than physics.” Our local chapter of OWS is called Occupy Seattle.  Let me offer […]