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A Market for Disability: Down Syndrome and the Economic Imagination

A Market for Disability: Down Syndrome and the Economic Imagination

Jun 4 14 • 1 comment

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 […]

Reflections for Pentecost Sunday

Reflections for Pentecost Sunday

Jun 4 14 • 0 comments

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 […]

Cana Vows

Cana Vows

Jun 4 14 • 0 comments

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 […]

Movie Review: <em>Locke</em>

Movie Review: Locke

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 […]

Natural Law and the Heart of Man

Natural Law and the Heart of Man

Jun 3 14 • 1 comment

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 […]

TIME’s “Preemie Revolution”: These Babies are Surviving and Thriving

TIME’s “Preemie Revolution”: These Babies are Surviving and Thriving

Jun 3 14 • 1 comment

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 […]

Catholics in Mongolia: Steady Growth in Difficult Territory

Catholics in Mongolia: Steady Growth in Difficult Territory

Jun 2 14 • 0 comments

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 […]

Abortion is Torture: What the Mainstream Media Missed

Abortion is Torture: What the Mainstream Media Missed

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 […]

Holy Parenthood!

Holy Parenthood!

Jun 2 14 • 0 comments

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!!!!” […]

June 1-2: Triumph with <em>Messenger of The Truth</em> on PBS

June 1-2: Triumph with Messenger of The Truth on PBS

May 31 14 • 1 comment

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 […]

Poem: "The Ones Who Went Before"

Poem: “The Ones Who Went Before”

May 31 14 • 0 comments

The Ones Who Went Before Past vales deep and mountains steep Where wild rivers run Where secrets keep and dragons sleep Hidden from the sun There tall stones stand upon the land Raised in days of yore A lasting brand and mark for man From the ones who went before The ones who made the […]

Message to Governor Bobby Jindal: Women are Mothers Not Breeders

Message to Governor Bobby Jindal: Women are Mothers Not Breeders

May 30 14 • 0 comments

On April 1 the Louisiana House passed H.B. 187, a gestational surrogacy bill that would provide a legal framework for women to enter into a contract in order to carry, deliver, and surrender a child at birth to an infertile couple. The bill has now passed the Senate and is headed to Governor Bobby Jindal’s […]

Book Review: <em>The Heart of Catholicism</em>

Book Review: The Heart of Catholicism

Dr. Bert Ghezzi, well-known Catholic author of several books on the saints and the sacraments, has now written a book about how Catholics live. The Heart of Catholicism: Practicing the Everyday Habits that Shape Us (Ave Maria Press, 2014) “is a book about what Catholics do and why they do it. It describes the practices […]

Five Things Pope Francis Wouldn’t Do Online

Five Things Pope Francis Wouldn’t Do Online

We all probably wish we could take back some things we have said and done online, not only for our own sake but for the sake of other people we were called to bring closer to God and instead pushed further away. I often read some of the comments on Catholic blogs, (and sometimes the […]

If You Can't Make Daily Mass

If You Can’t Make Daily Mass

May 29 14 • 0 comments

Our spiritual lives are centered upon Jesus’ sacrifice, made present in the Eucharist. Probably the majority of us however, have schedules that keep us from attending Mass on a daily basis. It may come as a surprise to learn that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph – and the majority of Jews at the time – found […]

Children Not Owned by the State, Says Vatican Rep to UN

Children Not Owned by the State, Says Vatican Rep to UN

May 29 14 • 0 comments

The Vatican Ambassador to the UN told UN leaders last week that “children do not belong to the state.” Archbishop Francis Chullikatt told a gathering of UN delegates and NGO representatives celebrating the International Day of Families that children also do not belong “to any special interest group whose agendas are actually inimical to the […]

Mary Helps Me Mother

Mary Helps Me Mother

May 29 14 • 0 comments

It’s Mary’s month of May! She helps me be a better mother by her example and prayers. In the beginning, I had a hard time connecting with Mary. I simply believed Church teaching regarding her; that was it. Over the years, however, as I read and noticed and prayed, I’ve grown to see her as […]

 The UNFPA Exaggerates the Demand for its Products

The UNFPA Exaggerates the Demand for its Products

May 28 14 • 1 comment

How many children do the urban poor women in the West African country of Burkina Faso really want? A recent study presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America addressed the fertility preferences of poor women living in the city of Ouagadougou. It found that they wanted large families, but that they […]

Dear Engaged Couples

Dear Engaged Couples

May 28 14 • 0 comments

One of the things I hear the most from engaged couples is that they do not pray together. This is crucial for a successful marriage. Remember that marriage is a covenant relationship. It takes three- bride, groom and God. No more than we can imagine a day going by without speaking to one another, just […]

Closing the Cafeteria: The Importance of Orthodoxy in Lay Life

Closing the Cafeteria: The Importance of Orthodoxy in Lay Life

May 27 14 • 0 comments

One of my fondest memories at Baylor was when I first walked downstairs and into the wonder that was my dorm’s cafeteria. Far away from home, I reveled in the sheer number of choices before me with no one to tell me which foods were appropriate to eat or laugh at odd combos. From breakfast […]

Maternal Mortality and Abortion Advocacy

Maternal Mortality and Abortion Advocacy

May 27 14 • 0 comments

Ever since reducing maternal mortality was established as one of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), abortion advocacy groups have been working hard to affix their own goals inextricably to the global effort to reduce the incidence of death of mothers in childbirth. As the MDGs near their expiration, some the most outspoken activists in […]

How I Accepted the Challenge of Christian Fatherhood

How I Accepted the Challenge of Christian Fatherhood

May 27 14 • 2 comments

Emily and I drove home from the hospital in complete silence. The gravity of the moment eleven years ago hit me: we were responsible for someone else’s life. Gulp. At this time, I had been a Catholic for only three years. Through conversion, I fell in love with the theology and the sacraments. Yet, I […]

Stubborn Donna

Stubborn Donna

May 26 14 • 0 comments

Donna Russell just sat there on the bench being what she was: a twelve-year-old child and as stubborn as a mule. Helen, her sister, sat beside her. They both refused to look at me. I was furious. It was late in the game and we were down ten points. This was my first year coaching […]

Remember

Remember

May 26 14 • 4 comments

One of the challenges we face in modern society is preserving the meaning of holidays for our children. This is true of Christmas and Easter, but even the National Holidays like President’s Day, Labor Day, and Memorial Day have lost their soul for many Americans. These have become bonus vacation days, rather than a day […]