Two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey, they had an argument and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who had been slapped was hurt but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: Today my best friend slapped me in the face. They kept on […]
Washington On the 22nd of February In 1732 The father of our life was born With traits that were noble and true He would not say an unkind word Or treat a creature cruel He loved the simple things of life And cherished the “golden rule.” And though the years have passed and gone His […]
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued the following statement, October 12. Full text follows: Last night, the following statement was made during the Vice Presidential debate regarding the decision of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to force virtually all employers to include sterilization and contraception, including drugs that may cause […]
The last few weeks have produced many intriguing political moments, but none as shocking as the revelation that President Obama has been absent from the vast majority of his daily intelligence briefings. According to a study by the Government Accountability Institute, Obama failed to attend a single Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) in the week leading up […]
While following political developments, I became nonplussed but could not name why. As I was puzzling-out my thoughts, I unexpectedly received assistance from the Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. I would like to share my observations and reflect for a moment on the place of politics in society. Sheen said the following back […]
There has been a lot of talk about Dr. Yamanaka and his work on induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) since he won the Nobel Prize earlier this week. There have even been some rumblings that pro-lifers should not be so happy about iPSCs since they are not “100% pro-life.” Before I list the objections that […]
Dear Anthony, My pastor is skeptical that long distance relationships can have the personal and practical growth to move toward marriage. My fiance lives in California, and I’m in Canada. He first wrote me on AMS nine months ago. We met the first time two months ago. A month ago I flew to California for […]
A lot of people, conservatives in particular, tend to idealize the past. We like to wax lyrical about simpler times, the “good old days.” Of course, if we are honest we have to admit that those good old days weren’t always so great. The passage of time and progress of society have brought many blessings […]
Most of the country has heard of the decision by one public school system in Rhode Island to amend its policy towards “gendered” activities for its students. Cranston hosts the typical middle school events — father-daughter dances and mother-son sports outings — which facilitate family and community bonding. Such light-hearted group activities provide memories and […]
“About this we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of God’s Word. You need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk is […]
When my wife and I were dating, she would travel quite a bit as a part of her job. On one occasion, we had a conversation about whether she would be able to attend Mass on Ash Wednesday during her travels. She explained that where they stayed in the city she was going to, there […]
1927 Revolution virgin-pure Covered now in filthy sores, I wonder what he’d think of this: The paradox of class and war Between the lowly and the state – No servant of the Comintern Foretold which class the Party ate: I knew him at one hundred one Channeled Chinese generals For the International, Tangled with the […]
This month is a momentous one for saints in the Catholic Church. After naming two new doctors of the church this past Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI will canonize seven new saints on Oct. 21. Among them are Marianne Cope, a Franciscan sister who founded hospitals in New York before nursing lepers in Hawaii, and Kateri […]
Today begins the Year of Faith 2012-2013, on the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the 50th anniversary (“quinquagenary”) of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. In Gaudet Mater Ecclesia, his address on the first day of the Council, Bl. John XXIII proclaimed the heart of […]
In 1958, a congenial old man, Angelo Roncalli, was elected to the chair of Peter. He was to be a caretaker pope, someone to keep the ship steady while the cardinals identified a more long-term leader. That smiling old man soon stunned the world by calling the first ecumenical council in nearly a hundred years. […]
In a recent article in The National Catholic Reporter Michael Sean Winters criticized vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan for failing to present a plan to help the poor, and purported to criticize Vice President Joe Biden for not presenting a way to protect the unborn. I found the usual obfuscation of Catholic moral teaching that […]
Sometimes I wonder if anyone really thinks through what it means to be a human being anymore. There are so many signals being transmitted hither and yon these days that it makes the mind spin—and very few of these signals are grounded in natural law or even common sense. For example, I read a headline asking, “Is […]
History offers insightful comparisons and contrasts between past and present. A generation or so before the birth of Christ, Rome lost her republic to political and cultural decadence. Although reformers emerged in the political and literary spheres, their efforts failed and ancient democracy faded into oblivion. Whereas in America, the game is not quite up. […]
Four was our magic number. Before my husband and I got married, we’d both agreed we wanted four children, and since gender couldn’t be planned, we didn’t care what kind we’d have. For the first two years of our marriage, I was busy preparing for the bar exam so we’d held off on kids until […]
This week Joel Osteen’s message, “Trust God’s Timing,” was focused on the attitude that we display while we are waiting for God to answer a prayer. Joel used the examples of someone praying for healing, praying to find a spouse, praying for the return of a wayward child, or praying for promotion at work. Joel said […]
Team Obama insists that next month’s presidential election is “a choice, not a referendum.” It sure seems to be with respect to the two candidates very different views on the Constitution. Mitt Romney makes plain at every turn his commitment to that document, while Barack Obama’s conduct in office has marked him as the post-constitutional […]
Delegations from European Countries and the United States suffered a setback last week when the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution affirming a positive link between traditional values and human rights. The European and U.S. delegations view traditional values as threats to women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual persons. This is the third resolution […]
The mission statement of Philadelphia’s Charles Carroll High School, displayed prominently on its website, offers a hopeful vision of an educational institution: “Providing all students with the academic, technological & social skills needed to be productive & contributing citizens in our society.” This week, the specific mention of “social skills” and citizenship likely sounds like […]
