Archive for March, 2013

Being Faithful in Small Things
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Being Faithful in Small Things

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Yet if the impulse is noble, then that means there’s a hint of truth to this. So why the emphasis on the smallest bits of liturgical discipline? Why nitpick? In short, we are trying to be like the just servants in the parable of the talents.

An Inheritance Stolen
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An Inheritance Stolen

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On February 10, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI announced his intention to renounce the papacy due to his waning strength in the face of a world “subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith.” Many, including me, understood him to mean that navigating the obstacles (some […]

Reflections for Sunday, March 31, 2013
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Reflections for Sunday, March 31, 2013

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Easter Sunday Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Acts 10:34,37-43; Colossians 3:1-4; Psalm 118:1-2,16-17,22-23; John 20:1-9) Jesus is Alive, We Are New Creations in Him He saw and believed. (John 20:8) Alleluia! Christ is risen! Father, we exult in your glory! We rejoice, turning our thoughts to the One who lives, who is […]

Grocery Night
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Grocery Night

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Grocery Night Thursday night was grocery shopping night and the best night of the week. Right after dinner, my father and I would board our 1972 Plymouth Fury station wagon and head to the Del Farm grocery store. It was located in a small plaza one mile from our suburban home. Like all grocery stores […]

Working Women: Secular Jobs as Inconveniences or Callings?
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Working Women: Secular Jobs as Inconveniences or Callings?

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The day finally came when it was time to pack up the majority of my office suits. They used to be so important to my daily life that they had the privilege of living in their very own closet. But I recently resigned from my decade-long government career, am hugely pregnant, and focused on my […]

On the Rosa Mistica Apparitions
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On the Rosa Mistica Apparitions

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Recently, some friends queried me about the alleged apparitions known as “Rosa Mistica” (Mystical Rose). From their questions, it seemed to me that there is a growing interest in the English-speaking world in Rosa Mistica. I decided to devote myself to some research and to write an article summarizing the information. What follows is the […]

The Legal, Ethical, and Tactical Challenges of North Dakota’s Personhood Amendment
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The Legal, Ethical, and Tactical Challenges of North Dakota’s Personhood Amendment

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Last week North Dakota became the first state in the Union to pass a personhood ammendment that covers humans in their embryonic stages of development. Read it  here at HuffPo. For all the work involved in getting to this day, the easy part is over, and the real fight lies ahead. The lesislation, SCR4009, states: […]

Poem: "Thirteenth Station"
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Poem: “Thirteenth Station”

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Thirteenth Station Good Friday He’s dead? Already? I was sure he would remain, A living human stain, Hanging up there, he should have been good For another few hours of gory food. I cannot believe this news. You are sure? You saw it too? Really? Fine. Do what you will. Take him down. Let him […]

Book Review: Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious
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Book Review: Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious

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Our present culture does not value and esteem womanhood very much. Catholic writer, speaker, and podcaster Pat Gohn is working to change that. With Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious: Celebrating the Gift of Catholic Womanhood (Ave Maria Press, 2013) , Gohn “seeks to celebrate womanhood by exploring a woman’s dignity, gifts, and mission.” As one might […]

Man in Darkness - Earth Hour
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Night Falls on Civilization

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Like all environmental gimmicks, Earth Hour is perverse and hypocritical.

Francis and Benedict: Brothers in Humility
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Francis and Benedict: Brothers in Humility

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The present and former Pope met yesterday (March 24), in a moment without precedent. And the words which remain are the ones spoken by Pope Francis to Benedict: “We are brothers.” As Nicole Winfield put it in her comprehensive Associated Press dispatch article: “The two men in white embraced and showed one another the deference […]

We Must Live the Faith with a Young Heart
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We Must Live the Faith with a Young Heart

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Following is the whole text of Pope Francis’ homily during the Palm Sunday Mass that begins the Holy Week celebrations. The Holy Father commented on the World Youth Day that the entire Church celebrates today, asking that we live the faith “with a young heart”. The pontiff urged the youth to “tell the world that […]

Poem: "Twelfth Station"
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Poem: “Twelfth Station”

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Twelfth Station Good Friday Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. I’m not saying they aren’t culpable, But they don’t know better. They choose this evil, but they don’t know why. Working through them? Lord, I understand. So forgive them their part, Lord, if they are willing. Not my will, though, but Thine. […]

God in Moscow
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God in Moscow

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As a special time of prayer and fasting, 40 Days for Life “is the answer to a great problem in our country.” Those words could be said about each of the 19 countries where 40 Days for Life vigils have taken place. But it’s particularly humbling to know that these thoughts are coming from Russia. […]

Income Tax 101
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Income Tax 101

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Income Tax 101 Ah, the income tax preparation season is upon us. You’re probably wondering why you have to spend a couple of weekends barricaded in a room, sorting through receipts in the faint hope of complying with our confusing income tax laws. The income tax first came to America in 1861. Americans paid it […]

Marriage: Why I Never Bad-Mouth My Knight
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Marriage: Why I Never Bad-Mouth My Knight

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Last month, my knight and I were blessed to celebrate 20 years of marriage.  Call me crazy, call me just a hopeless romantic, but I LOVE my husband!  Yes, I refer to him as my knight because he is just that amazing in the way he treats me: holding doors for me, getting the car […]

<em>Screwtape</em> on Stage: An Interview with Max McLean
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Screwtape on Stage: An Interview with Max McLean

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As someone who has long appreciated the catechetical value of CS Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, it was a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity to interview Max McLean, director of the stage adaptation of The Screwtape Letters and its lead actor, portraying Screwtape. McLean originated the role of Screwtape in New York, Chicago, […]

Weekly Wits
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Weekly Wits 3/22/13

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Social Justice and Pope Francis: Choosing Freedom Over Serfdom
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Social Justice and Pope Francis: Choosing Freedom Over Serfdom

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Society ensures social justice when it respects the dignity and the rights of the person as the proper end of society itself.

March for Marriage Set for Next Week in Washington DC
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March for Marriage Set for Next Week in Washington DC

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Much of the world looks to the United States for guidance on issues of social policy. The fact of abortion on demand in the U.S. has been a powerful example that other countries have continued to follow. Marriage is the latest battleground social issue in the U.S. and in many parts of the world. So, […]

An Interview With St. Padre Pio’s Secretary
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An Interview With St. Padre Pio’s Secretary

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On August 31 in 2009, I – then a staff writer for the Tampa Bay Times – followed a Capuchin friar from the chapel at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Tampa to his desk in his office next door. Fr. John Aurilia, then Most Holy Redeemer’s pastor, agreed to let me interview him for the paper. I […]

‘Pro-Choice’ Slave Masters Losing War
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‘Pro-Choice’ Slave Masters Losing War

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The pro-aborts are losing. They know it, and they hate it. As LifeNews.com reported in January: “CNN released the results of a new poll showing a majority of Americans want all or most abortions prohibited – a clear pro-life majority.” Indeed, the winds of life are blowing free the foul stench of a pro-abortion culture of death. […]

They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love
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They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love

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If you’re of a certain age, you’ll recognize the title from an old folk hymn; we sang it repeatedly at Folk Mass in the 70’s and early 80’s.  While the song itself is no longer popular, the message behind it is timeless. I was contacted to see an inpatient at one of our busiest hospitals.  […]

Book Review: <i>Brilliant Souls</i>
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Book Review: Brilliant Souls

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Stephanie Wincik is a registered nurse who doesn’t consider herself pro-life, or subscribe to any particular religious belief, yet after 25 years of working with the medically fragile disabled patients, she stumbled upon an article which galvanized her into writing a pro-life book, Making the Case for Life, which has in its enhanced second edition, […]