The death of Terri Schindler Schiavo in 2005 is a distant memory for most Americans. But for the family that spent seven years fighting Terri’s estranged husband and the court system to stop the starvation of their daughter and sister, recollections of the 13 days Terri lingered without food or water before finally succumbing to […]
How many times have you heard someone ask the question: “What am I supposed to be doing with my life?” “Why am I here?” Too many to count, right? It seems too, that it is not a simple answer they want, but a large, extravagantly specific answer. They want answers directly from the source; definitive […]
If you haven’t noticed, the traditional practice of Eucharistic Adoration is making a comeback. Many were given the impression in the seventies that adoration was passé, a relic of pre-Vatican II spirituality. But all the Popes since the Council have emphasized its importance, and in this year of the Eucharist we see more and more […]
Ours is not a God of desperation. The Almighty has no need to bless the terrorism perpetrated by Anders Breivik of Norway for the purpose of provoking a restoration of piety and Judeo-Christian civilization in Europe. However idealistic Mr. Breivik’s motives may have been, he adopted methods more akin to King Herod’s than to the […]
It is a Catholic tradition to acknowledge and honor the unselfish and holy life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. One way of doing that is for a family to plant, maintain and enjoy a Mary Garden. In the Middle Ages, missionaries and travelers spread stories across Europe about flowers named after Mary and various times of […]
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 […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion (Isaiah 55:1-3; Psalm 145:8-9,15-18; Romans 8:35,37-39; Matthew 14:13-21) Living Under God’s Economy They all ate and were satisfied (Matthew 14:20). We live under a tremendous economy — God’s economy, that is. Even as the world’s market systems soar and plummet, God’s economy remains stable because it is […]
I remember standing in my room in the Cosmos Hotel, sleep-deprived from airports and loaded down with equipment. The room may have once been handsome, but now its current condition is stale and threadbare — its blue carpet has thinned and its twin beds have sunken into visibly concave shapes. I turn the shower faucet, […]
Distributism would be of little practical use if it could not provide useful answers to practical problems of the type we face practically everyday. I believe distributism does indeed provide a useful set of tools to analyze these problems and to devise useful solutions. But the proof of this claim can only come in the analysis of […]
New York’s newly-enforced law recognizing same-sex “marriage” is being challenged by lawyers who say the state’s constitutional and legal procedures were “flagrantly” violated when lawmakers pushed the bill through last month. Liberty Counsel has filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court for declaratory and injunctive relief against the law that was signed on […]
There is beauty in the world. There is peace in the world. There is joy. In fact, there’s lots of it. Only, there’s lots of other stuff too. Sometimes trying to recognize the good things is like trying to find the right web-site. Your search returns 6 million hits. So where’s the one you want? […]
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 […]
Hypermiling is the way to drive now. I drive the “family car” which is an SUV and more than once I have been told that there is nothing you can do to get more gas mileage out of those things, alas! But believe me when I say this: I got another 93 miles out of my gas […]
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 […]
The field of bioethics, which is a fairly recent phenomenon in the history of mankind, has always been a slippery slope, as there is a huge difference between the natural law and the bioethical framework of committees or individuals making up the rules as they move along. In analyzing “Which Medical Ethics for the 21st […]
Debt and deficits seem to be on everyone’s minds these days. Whether it be worries about the American government’s fiscal woes, Europe’s fragile banking system, or the debt-as-a-way-of-life culture that disfigures so many lives, many people are seeking guidance about how to release ourselves from this mess with our souls intact. In this regard, Catholics […]
The chattering classes have focused fresh attention on what they perceive as that last definable sin: hypocrisy. They claim to have found it anew in Sarah Palin’s family, because her son — recently married — seems to have conceived his first child before exchanging vows. This has naturally led to heated discussions over the abstinence-based programs […]
You can learn a lot from watching American Idol year after year. That’s because American Idol offers real lessons about what makes a star. When the top 24 are selected, there are so many wonderful singers that I always wonder, “How will one person ever rise to the top?” But, inevitably, someone does. We, the […]
“Liberal” and “conservative.” The definitions of these terms are seldom stated. Usually they are just presumed. Often people call “conservative” those who like old-fashioned things and “liberal” those who favor the latest ideas, trends, and values. But for the Christian, the ultimate question is not personal preferences of style, or whether something is old or […]
Valley Park Middle School is in the news again. Some weeks ago, this Toronto, Canada, school was highlighted for allowing Muslim students to hold a 30-minute prayer service in the school cafeteria during class time each Friday afternoon. That brought an initial wave of uproar from both sides of the debate regarding the permitting of […]
The current deficit and debt ceiling negotiations happening in Washington represent politics at their worst – politics on steroids. Amidst the posturing and prevaricating, however, one conservative has emerged with a legitimate plan to liberate America from its bondage of debt. This week, Senator Tom Coburn released a 600-page plan that would reduce the deficit […]
Should a 13-year-old be able to purchase a school-shooting simulator without parents’ knowledge or consent? The Supreme Court says that freedom of speech requires that 13-year-olds have that opportunity. In a 7-2 decision, the court struck down a California law barring the sale of graphically violent video games to people under 18. I have not […]
Saint Paul wrote that he was “all things to all people.” Paul was a Jew, a Roman citizen, a Pharisee, an apostle, a preacher, a teacher, a tentmaker, and an evangelizer. And Paul was a writer. Thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament are attributed to him, making him a prolific composer. He […]
Move over, Sarah Palin. Michele Bachmann is the new bogeyman — er, woman — of the left. She opposes pornography and abortion. She’s stingy with the taxpayer money entrusted to her. There are even rumors that she gets headaches — really, really bad headaches. As for her family values, well, yes, Bachmann and her husband […]
