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Seeking a Relationship with God

Feb 3 16 • Fr. Edward Looney • 1 comment

When I meet with the Confirmation students in my parish one on one, I always ask them to describe their relationship with God. Some answer the question rather quickly without any assistance, while for others I sometimes guide their answer by qualifying, “Does your relationship seem really close or distant?” Some do answer distant, and […]

How to Defeat the Enemies of Natural Marriage

Feb 3 16 • Steven W. Mosher • 4 comments

One of the best talks at our Australia conference was given by Vice Vincent Batarelo (pronounced Vee-che), who led the fight in Croatia to defend natural marriage. Dr. Batarelo was also a natural to invite to our conference, since he was born in Sydney to Croatian immigrants and grew up Down Under. After he completed […]

Three New Lenten Resources

Feb 3 16 • Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur • 0 comments

Bringing Lent Home with Pope Francis: Prayers, Reflections, and Activities for Families by Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle Ave Maria Press, 2015 Bringing Lent Home with Pope Francis is designed to “provide and encourage a daily occurrence of family prayer and communication as you move through this holy season together. By following the suggestions regarding how your […]

Planned Parenthood at the Nexus of Evil and Ignorance

Feb 2 16 • Judie Brown • 0 comments

Events of the past week seem to intersect at the corner of morally bankrupt and socially corrupt. Let me explain. We learned recently of something called the National Sexuality Education Standards. An entire document explains these “standards” in 44 pages, while its introduction tells us that the goal “is to provide clear, consistent and straightforward […]

ISIS Erases ‘Symbol of Christian Presence in Iraq’

Feb 2 16 • ACN-USA News • 1 comment

By Oliver Maksan Confirmation that Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery has been completely destroyed by ISIS has caused widespread distress in Iraq. “St. Elijah’s monastery in Mosul was a symbol of the Christian presence in Iraq. The fact that it has been destroyed is terrible,” Father Dankha Issa told international Catholic charity Aid to the Church. […]

UN Report: “There Is No Definition of the Family”

Feb 2 16 • Stefano Gennarini, J.D. • 2 comments

A draft UN report says the family should be understood “in a wide sense” and tries to open the door to recognize same-sex couples in international law and policy. “There is no definition of the family under international human rights law,” according to a report on “protection of the family” prepared by the UN staff […]

A Case for Catholic Education

Feb 1 16 • Randal Agostini • 7 comments

The National Catholic Educational Association paints a bleak picture for Catholic education in America. There are currently only 6,568 Catholic schools remaining in the USA. During 2014 an additional 88 schools closed or consolidated, while only 27 new schools opened. About 2 million students attend Catholic schools, of which 328,000 plus are non-Catholic. This is […]

Book Review: Rediscover Jesus

Feb 1 16 • Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur • 0 comments

As Catholics, we often think that we know Jesus. After all, most of us have been hearing the stories of his life since we were small children. They are part of who we are, and that is good. But sometimes, we can feel too familiar with the stories and we start to tune them out […]

Rejecting Abortion, Affirming Life

Jan 28 16 • Russell Brewer • 0 comments

Thousands braved severe weather last week to attend the March for Life in Washington, D.C., giving a vital public witness to the sanctity of life. In this column, however, I will reflect on a very personal situation with my wife’s first pregnancy six years ago, when abortion was presented to us as an option. Our […]

Eliminating Poverty or Eliminating Children?

Jan 27 16 • Steven W. Mosher • 2 comments

We are not alone in being suspicious of the United Nations when it comes to the life issues. Beginning with the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994, abortion advocates have been attempting to use the language of U.N. documents, as well as the statements of certain U.N. committees themselves–think the Convention […]

A Matter Of Penance or Radical Permission

Jan 27 16 • Mike Eisenbath • 1 comment

This past Advent as I attended Sacrament of Reconciliation, the priest mercifully imposed a seemingly unchallenging penance: say one “Our Father.” The 10-year-old Mike would have loved that penance a whole lot more than what the priest typically prescribed at the time. I’ll never forget the day he prescribed young Mike an entire Rosary as […]

The Seductive Siren Song of Genetic Enhancement

Jan 26 16 • Rebecca Taylor • 0 comments

Two recent magazine covers together give us a glimpse of the possible future of humanity. They seem completely unrelated. Next to each other on a coffee table, most people would never make the connection. Yet they are inextricably linked, jointly warning us to take action before it’s too late. The first, which appeared on the […]

Your 2016 Handy-Dandy List of Lenten Resources

Jan 26 16 • Misty • 0 comments

Lent comes early this year. February 10th is Ash Wednesday! That’s just three weeks away, folks. So instead of waiting until the last minute and grasping at your old standbys (giving up chocolate or God forbid, coffee), why not plan ahead using our convenient list of resources below? Make this your most spiritually fruitful Lent ever! Reprinted with […]

Broken (Liturgical) Windows

Jan 25 16 • Robert J. Gieb • 0 comments

In a large urban parish which I attended some years ago I have noticed that the liturgical life seems to be shrinking in both action and attitude. The priests no longer hear confessions before Sunday Mass. On minor federal holidays the two regular daily Masses are reduced to only one mid-morning when most working people […]

The Great Value of the March for Life

Jan 22 16 • Fr. Shenan J. Boquet • 0 comments

Is the March for Life a waste of time? It seems like every year some people ask the question, even as around half a million folks take over the National Mall of Washington, D.C., and dozens of other marches challenge the complacency of state capitals around the country. The answer, by the way, is “no.” […]

Mercy Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry?

Jan 21 16 • Karee Santos • 1 comment

“Why do they only have 45 minutes for confession?” asked my Protestant dad when I was home over the holidays. “Well,” I tried to explain, “Most church-goers don’t go to confession that often. They don’t really think they’re doing anything wrong.” A senior deacon from one of the first classes of people trained in the […]

Racial Discrimination Escalating

Jan 21 16 • Judie Brown • 3 comments

Cultural silence on the subject of Racial Eugenic Targeted Abortion is deafening and yet RETA is not only a fact, but also a very good example of racism. Let’s revisit the year 1982 and the gruesome discovery of the bodies of nearly 17,000 aborted babies in Woodland Hills, California. As Erma Clardy Craven—a pro-life black […]

Little Lies, Big Lies, and Narratives

Jan 19 16 • Robert J. Gieb • 2 comments

Recently I read a collection of essays by various Catholic historians published in a book entitled Catholicism and Historical Narrative, edited by Kevin Schmiesing. As Schmiesing says in his introduction to the book, the fundamental job of historians is to “uncover the truth about the past.” “Yet,” he reminds us, “most historical debate occurs not […]

Seize Eternal Life in the Here and Now

Jan 19 16 • Mark Davis Pickup • 0 comments

Jesus’ prayer in the 17th Chapter of John is often referred to as the High Priestly Prayer. In verse three we read “Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.” In the past, I have plowed through this verse without giving […]

Family Ties that Lift Us Up

Jan 18 16 • Russell Brewer • 0 comments

Jesus’ invitation to discipleship comes with a warning: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mk 8:34). He made this statement shortly after Peter confessed him to be the Messiah, and he told his disciples what that role entails. The suffering involved in denying oneself and […]

The New Way to be Pro-Choice

Jan 15 16 • Zachary Gappa • 0 comments

There is a new theme emerging in the media: an explicit attempt to normalize abortion to a degree we haven’t seen before. Pro-choice advocates were once content to refer to abortion as an unfortunate necessity, but in the face of pro-life gains in legal and cultural fronts, pro-choicers are going for broke on a new […]

In Syria, Food is ‘The Most Deadly Weapon of War’

Jan 15 16 • ACN-USA News • 0 comments

By John Pontifex NEW YORK—Food has become “the most deadly weapon of war” in Syria, according to a leading Catholic charity’s Middle East expert, who charged that both government and rebel forces are blocking humanitarian aid to force entire communities—already on the brink of starvation—to submit to their rule. He added that rebels have confiscated […]

Five Biggest Pro-Life and Pro-Family Losses of 2015

Jan 12 16 • Stefano Gennarini, J.D. • 0 comments

Despite many positive events, there is always bad news coming out of the UN. 2015 was no exception. These are the worst moments of 2015. UN Bureaucrats Create New Avenues for Abortion and LGBT Rights The new UN Sustainable Development Goals were an overall loss for abortion groups that spent billions of dollars trying to […]

Poem: “Going Home”

Jan 12 16 • Wislawa Szymborska • 0 comments

Going Home He came home. Said nothing. It was clear, though, that something had gone wrong. He lay down fully dressed. Pulled the blanket over his head. Tucked up his knees. He’s nearly forty, but not at the moment. He exists just as he did inside his mother’s womb, clad in seven walls of skin, […]