We older Americans have saddled our youth with a mind-boggling public debt—over $20 trillion already spent ($14.3 trillion of “official” national debt plus various off-budget expenditures, according to the U.S. Treasury); trillions more of projected deficit-spending over the coming decade; and tens of trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities. By the time today’s toddlers can […]
Last week witnessed popular Muslim preacher Abu Ishaq al-Huwaini boast about how Islam allows Muslims to buy and sell conquered infidel women, so that “When I want a sex-slave, I go to the market and pick whichever female I desire and buy her.” This week’s depraved anachronism comes from a Muslim woman—Salwa al-Mutairi, a political […]
It is rare to hear a UN discussion on youth that include a message of hope for their future. Often, UN agencies view youth as a problem or liability, whose large numbers in the developing world are a destabilizing force for society and the economy, and whose futures will be full of hardships. Last week, […]
At the base of all modern economics lies the assumption that people always act in their own self-interest and that in doing so, they unwittingly create an economic and social order that results in “the greatest good for the greatest number.” Demand curves, reflecting as they do each person’s self-interest, add up to the total […]
When I woke up today, I did not know I was going to hold a dying woman’s body in my arms. I did not know I would have to push through skin, muscle and fat tissue to tie a tourniquet around her leg, which was nearly severed from her body. I was heading to our […]
Short Comments on the ECHR Judgment R.R. v Poland On May 26th, 2011, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered a judgment in the case of R.R. v. Poland (application no. 27617/04). The court ruled that there had been a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) and a violation of Article […]
The wound comes from well-meaning people. “Well, it wasn’t that far along.” “You can always have another child.” “Lots of people go through this.” Miscarriage is a tragedy that so many people misunderstand. They are not quite sure how to console a friend or relative who has suffered this loss. While there are no magic […]
Talk is cheap. E-mail is even cheaper. Maybe that’s why we’re inundated with trash talk and junk mail (of both the snail variety and it’s fleeter “e” relation). Silence – now that’s precious. Silence is golden. It’s also rare. You don’t realize just how rare until your one-year-old falls asleep in the stroller and you’re […]
For the past couple of hundred years, Catholic apologists, along with other Christians, have found it necessary to oppose a thing that came to be called “modernism.” Many of us cut our apologetic teeth on its associated “isms.” Against humanism we have recalled man to a measure that goes beyond himself. Against scientific positivism we […]
It starts around age 35. For over a century is has threaded its way through the female side of my mother’s family. My grandmother had it, my mother and her sisters had it, and my two older sisters are still dealing with it… five years ago it was my turn. No, it is not finding […]
A “Woman Screams for Help After TSA Molestation,” and the “Texas Pat Down Ban May Be Back.” Those are just two of the headlines breaking around the nation this morning, as summer travel picks up—and so do concerns over excessive airport security. How much indignity are you willing to endure if told it’s for safety’s […]
Inevitably forced to descend from the sacramental rampart that stands between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man, the true believer finds himself beset with the indifference, isolation and ignorance born of the neo-pagan rejection of God and His Church. In understanding and anticipating what the true believer would need to survive in […]
By authorizing the use of a single drug, the World Health Organization has simultaneously raised hopes for saving thousands of mothers’ lives and raised fears that the drug will also be used to kill perhaps millions of unborn children. Misoprostol is used to help stop bleeding during delivery, the main cause of maternal deaths, but […]
When I was in my late teens/early twenties, my friends and I used to talk about what our live would be like when we got married and had kids. A couple of my friends swore that they would not let parenthood change their lifestyles at all. I remember thinking this was a little naïve, but […]
Plundering the possessions, lives, and dignity of Christians in the Islamic world: is this a random affair, a product of the West’s favorite offenders—poverty, ignorance, grievance—or is it systematic, complete with ideological backing? Consider the very latest from the Muslim world: Pakistan: Muslim landowners used tractors to plough over a Christian cemetery in order to […]
Monks living at an important biblical site will be leaving their earthquake-prone monastery for a new home – thanks to help from Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). ACN, which is helping with the building of a new monastery in Tabgha, Israel, received a progress update on the construction work from Fr. […]
When I was teaching high school, my final exam question was simple: ‘In your own words, with support from Scripture, Tradition, and material gleaned from class, answer the following: Who is Jesus Christ?’ The answers were always enlightening, and while some were certainly profound and showed a remarkable insight, many answers betrayed the current world-view […]
It was 24 years ago, in June 1987, that Ronald Reagan gave his famous speech calling on Mikhail Gorbachev to “Tear down this wall.” In 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when the foundations that had undergirded world politics for decades were likewise crumbling, John Mearsheimer penned his celebrated article: “Why […]
The new Constitution, passed by the Hungarian Parliament with a resounding majority and carried out by Viktor Orban’s government, has been signed on 25 April 2011 by Mr Pál Schmitt, the Hungarian President. Because this new Constitution has stirred much debate in Europe, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) has taken the initiative […]
Back in prehistoric times when my wife and I were busy doing our parenting, I paid very little attention to the many books that promised to tell me how to do the job really well. My loss, I suppose. Yet I can’t help thinking my omission may have reflected a healthy instinct. After all, if […]
I have been in Washington now for nearly forty years and, in all that time, I can’t recall seeing anything quite like Robert Gates’ ongoing farewell to arms. In a series of speeches over the past few days — at Notre Dame, at the American Enterprise Institute and at the Naval Academy — the outgoing Secretary of […]
After Jesus ascended to heaven at Mount Olivet, the Apostles returned to the Upper Room in Jerusalem and devoted themselves to prayer (Acts 1:12-14). A novena is nine days of prayer. The nine days of prayer between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday marked the first of all novenas. At different times in our lives, God […]
As the implementation date for the new English translation of the Roman Missal approaches (less than 180 days away at this point) now seems an appropriate time to address some of the more common misconceptions that are floating about. We’ll begin with the following three: 1. The new English translation of the Roman Missal isn’t […]
In recent years it has become commonplace to turn funerals into casual canonizations. “Bob is in a better place,” we’re told, which, if taken literally, can only mean Heaven, as neither Hell nor Purgatory are better places than earth. Never mind the fact that Bob wasn‘t very generous with his time or money, drank too […]
