To the 498 Spanish martyrs of the 1930s and all those who suffered religious persecution during the 20th century. The militia men shoved him out of his house, ready to make him the 499th martyr for some future beatification. Don Bartolomé let himself be pushed along, knowing that he had few hopes. Just the same […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:3-4,12-15; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33) Bearing Much Fruit for the Kingdom of God “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (John 12:24) Have you ever […]
Scandal is developing around an American woman living in Ireland who claims to be a Catholic mystic but hides her true identity, misleads people, takes in millions of dollars and is protected by influential people. For the past several years, Kathryn Ann Clarke, going under the name of “Anne a lay apostle” has been travelling […]
It was a month before she had to decide her specialty in medical school, and Brooke Jemelka found herself at a crossroads. She had been concentrating on pediatrics during her studies at Texas A&M University, but by the end of her third year, she was starting to question what she wanted to do with her […]
The masculine and feminine. A two-hour survey of evening activities: 1. The newscasts (“HHS Saves Women’s Health!” “Same-Sex Marriage Approved in ______!“), 2. Channel-surfing (have you seen “How I Met Your Mother”? “The Bachelor”? even “The Voice”), 3. And even giving up and going for a walk (bumper sticker: “Abortion is Healthcare. Healthcare is Good.“). […]
UN delegates decided they had enough of “sexual orientation and gender identity” and staged a walk-out at UN headquarters in Geneva last week. It was to protest a panel discussion on the topic that delegates fear will lead to special human rights for homosexuals. Last summer the Human Rights Commission in Geneva agreed to prepare […]
It is the topic no Hollywood film maker would touch with a ten foot pole. It is the topic no abortion advocate will discuss let alone admit. It is the topic many pro-lifers do not even know exists: survivors of failed abortions. It is the topic that Jon and Andy Erwin chose for their first […]
The response to the HHS mandate concerning insurance and contraception has been shocking to many, as they realize that there is a yawning rift in the American population between those who understand the Constitution and those who don’t, and between those who consider sexual morality an important element of our cultural fabric and those who […]
Rejoice Jerusalem and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in morning and be satisfied at her consoling breast — Isa 66:10-11. “My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. … I was taken prisoner … I […]
When Josephine Bakhita died in 1947, thousands of Italians passed her funeral bier to pay respects to a simple woman who had achieved great renown for her kindness. To this day, the people of Schio, Italy, honor now-Saint Josephine, a former African slave, with the title “Nostra Madre Moretta,” which means “Our Black Mother.” In […]
When I was asked to share my perspective on the HHS mandate, I thought there must be a mistake. Surely folks would rather hear from a good Catholic. A perfectly NFP-practicing, saved herself for marriage—five, six, seven-kid-having Catholic woman. That hasn’t exactly been my path. Not to mention, what could I possibly add to the […]
This is about RH Reality Check’s article decrying the Texas ultrasound law and the rejection of the Doonesbury cartoon in reference to it, but I need to work up to it first. For years I (and many other life-lovers) have warned abortion advocates that when they promote the dehumanization of a group of human beings (the unborn […]
At some point in the lives of far too many people, they no longer recognize or believe in the existence of sin. They look right at it, desire it, engage in it, but don’t see it for what it actually is — a grave offense and injustice to God, an act of immense ingratitude to […]
The question for Republicans right now seems obvious: Would you prefer Rick Santorum or Mitt Romney to run against Barack Obama? Well, it depends on whether you prefer to engage President Obama on cultural grounds or on terms of class warfare. Obama and his chief political strategist, David Axelrod, are going to give us one […]
It’s a provocative question abortion opponents have been asking for years: If it is ethical to kill an unwanted child before birth, why not kill her afterward? Pro-lifers pose that question rhetorically, as a means of exposing the weakness of pro-choice arguments that devalue the human fetus until the moment she clears the birth canal. […]
Some years back, Mark and I visited with friends of ours, an older couple for whom we had great admiration. Dick and Pat showed near perfect complementarity, worked like a team, and had a way of disagreeing without actually disagreeing. This couple had a way of filling the room with peace and joyful energy at […]
The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin has been in the news for over a year after the local Bishop, David L. Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay, approved as supernatural the apparitions to a Belgian immigrant woman named Adele Brise (“Breece”) in the 1850s.[i] These apparitions went unnoticed by […]
The Obama Administration has taken another step in what amounts to a four-year plan to make abortion-covering health insurance, subsidized by the federal government, commonly available in the United States. The latest action came on March 12, when the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a lengthy regulation that spells out how some […]
“Never, ever, ever give up.” Thus said Winston Churchill in October 1941, in the shortest of his speeches. As the WW II statesman applied this maxim famously to political life, so too might we apply the principle of perseverance to our personal lives when the warfare is spiritual in form. Perseverance works in tandem […]
I read once that when a neurosurgeon touches a spot on the human brain with a probe, he elicits memories. All kinds of memories: a moment in childhood, a school day, a family vacation from years past. Sights, sounds, tastes, smells, feelings. Pain and pleasure, fear and fury and fun. Whatever is stored on that particular […]
Every time the subject of human personhood is raised, somebody immediately argues that legal recognition of personhood would mean an end to in vitro fertilization (IVF). It is true that any procedure that has as a byproduct the killing of human beings prior to birth would be outlawed—and that includes IVF. But few want to […]
A Statement of the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops March 14, 2012 The Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, gathered for its March 2012 meeting, is strongly unified and intensely focused in its opposition to the various threats to religious freedom in our day. In our […]
Many of the most violent attacks on morality taking place today seem to be centered around questions of sexual morality. The controversies surrounding sex education in schools, acceptance of homosexual conduct, pornography, divorce, and, of course, the paramount matter of abortion—all these would seem to have sex as their common theme. But though all these […]
To say that our public discourse today stands in need of some improvement is undoubtedly an understatement, but perhaps no area of our common life requires more careful consideration than our political speech. All too often we find public discussions of political economy cast in stark terms, such as “socialism” versus “capitalism.” Very often these […]
