After receiving a threat from al Qaeda for making fun of Muslim terrorists on the “Late Show,” David Letterman has gone mum. Catholic League president Bill Donohue recommends he issue the following statement immediately: Though I never mentioned Muslims or Islam in my June 8 monologue, I received a serious death threat from al […]
I’m an animal lover. At this time, two dogs, a cat, and a hamster are part of our family. For ten years, I’ve uplifted the spirits of nursing home residents and staff by bringing dogs in to visit. My kids and I regularly witness the power of our furry friends. At one nursing home, there […]
This summer brought with it the recurrence of America’s fascination with all things Parisian. Actually, it is more than fascination and more like a deep romance which persists over time, only slightly diminished by the ebb and flow of diplomatic relations between the two great but, really, not so different U.S. and French republics. In […]
There’s an art to the way one lives one’s life. Perspective, serenity, openness to beauty, the ability to see goodness in things – these qualities are only possible when one is in balance. And right now film director Gavin O’Connor is in balance, though perhaps a precarious one, pulled as he is in so many […]
For those of us decrepit enough to remember the original* made-for-TV Planet of the Apes with Charlton Heston (human) and Roddy McDowell** (ape), Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a high-tech, far cry from the DISCOUNT HALLOWEEN COSTUME STORE RUBBER-MASKED primate sci-fi drama. Rise is about Big Pharma and Big Research and Big […]
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows: Tomorrow there will be a day-long symposium in Baltimore held by practitioners in the field of mental health who will make the case that society unfairly stigmatizes “Minor-Attracted Persons,” a.k.a. adults who are sexually attracted to kids. Run by a non-profit group, B4U-ACT, psychiatrists and others […]
Among last week’s troubling headlines: ” ‘Jersey Shore’ scores most-watched season premiere ever: Opener drew 8.8 million total viewers.” Apparently, last Thursday night, overcome with news of our economic woes, millions of us sank into the sofa to escape to Italy with Snooki, the Situation, D.J. Paulie D and the rest of the gang from […]
Lest the dreamy title throw you, this is not a dreamy film. The title means, quite literally, that in this film there is another Earth dangling above us, quite visibly. But the film is not really sci-fi. It’s a drama. A tad existential, but for those of you who did NOT appreciate Tree of Life, […]
My first exposure to Procter and Gambles’ and Wal-Mart’s Family Movie Night program was Secrets of the Mountain a Nancy Drew-type story, billed as an action/adventure film, with the protagonists a divorced mother and her three children instead of a teenaged detective and her friends. The basic theme was of a family drawn together by […]
Many people have commented on this picture through a variety of lenses. While the story was originally broken on this blog, the Toronto Star, picked it up and published it with the caption: “At Valley Park Middle School, Muslim students participate in the Friday prayer service. Menstruating girls, at the very back, do not take part.” (Perhaps […]
“Home-grown.” “Hand Picked.” “‘Native Produce.” Signs like this are beginning to dot the roadside as sticky hot August rolls into cool crisp September. Ask anyone in my family and they’ll tell you that it is my favorite season of year. Why? Because I absolutely love farmer’s markets, roadside stands, and U-Pick produce! In an age […]
In light of the Norway terrorist attack, and as expected, the hail of religious relativism has begun—the idea that, if a “Christian,” such as Breivik, commits terrorism, then it is folly to assert that certain Muslim doctrines inspire violence and terror: all becomes relative. A recent AP report titled “‘Christian terrorist’? Norway case strikes debate,” […]
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a news article in [Sunday’s] New York Times on the Catholic Church: A priest, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, decides to break with the Catholic Church’s teachings on ordination and “ordains” a woman in an illicit ceremony. He is given three years to recant, but he refuses, and is now […]
What does a man do after reading powerful, potentially life-changing words from a saint? Hopefully he actually changes his life. Additionally, he could slice and dice the words up, put them in a book, and try to get as many other people as possible to read them. That’s what I did after reading the works […]
I recently had the pleasure of reading Difficulties in Mental Prayer by M. Eugene Boylan, O.C.R. Ave Maria Press has issued a new edition of this work which was first published in 1943. Obviously the world has changed a great deal in nearly seventy years. The Church has changed a lot as well, as has […]
American Catholics of a certain age can remember The Baltimore Catechism, a concise, systematic presentation of the faith in questions and answers, which was published in carefully graded editions for parochial schoolchildren. In the postconciliar years, when “experiential” methods of religious education were in vogue, textbooks came to resemble magazines with more color photography than […]
Almost lost in official Washington’s preoccupation with the partisan slug-fest over raising the debt ceiling and reducing the deficit was the despicable, murderous attack in Norway on Friday. Unfortunately, such inattention increases the likelihood that the wrong lessons will be learned from the mayhem – and a proper response to the mayhem inflicted upon that […]
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on new survey data profiling Catholicism: All we ever hear from the wild-eyed critics of the Catholic Church, including the dissidents within, is that the Church had better “get with it” and change its teachings on abortion, homosexuality and women’s ordination. Yet it is precisely those religious institutions that […]
Spoiler alert: Please do not read this article if you have not read the books and plan to see the last movie. I came to the Harry Potter books late. I didn’t read them until my children wanted to read them. As a result, unlike those who had to wait patiently or not so patiently […]
When I decided my daughter’s first birthday cake would be a carrot cake made with whole wheat flour, I should have known God’s humor would one day smack me. Though I have relaxed, when my children were babies, I was a nutrition Nazi. Processed foods didn’t touch our table. When my daughter was three and ate […]
Cardinal Justin Rigali announced at a news conference this morning [July 19, 2011,] that Pope Benedict XVI has named Archbishop Charles J. Chaput O.F.M. Cap. as the 13th Bishop and 9th Archbishop of Philadelphia. Archbishop Chaput [currently of the Archdiocese of Denver] will be Installed on Thursday, September 8, 2011, the feast of the birth […]
There are many programs currently on cable dedicated to the issue of hoarding. For those of you who are unaware of what hoarding is, let me try and explain. Hoarding is the collecting and or keeping of possessions. The common word would be “stuff”. The “stuff” that hoarders keep is piled up so high that, […]
In a world paralyzed by political correctness and warped philosophies, attention is proving to be one of the greatest enemies of Islamist encroachment. Consider the difference between pre- and post-September 11: A decade after the 9/11 jihad got the West’s attention, many people — perhaps not unlike yourself — have become aware of Islam and […]
Great new DVD from the makers of The 13th Day, Finding Fatima is shot in the same Bresson-esque and super-stylized way as The 13th Day. While hearkening to and honoring filmmaking’s past, the Brothers Higgins are simultaneously bringing the story and message of Fatima to a new generation. As much as I love watching documentaries, I was […]
