It’s St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, and everyone is Irish today — if not in fact, at least in spirit. Come on now, don’t be an old Druid! Regardless of your nationality, St. Patrick is a saint for everyone. It’s not just because I’m half Irish or that my parents named me after St. Patrick, […]
Created by God as rational and free creatures, human beings determine themselves and establish their identities as moral creatures through their free choices. We make ourselves the kinds of persons who we are in and through the actions we freely choose to do. As Pope John Paul II put it in his moral encyclical Veritatis […]
In January 1907, a German-born official in the British Foreign Office wrote a memorandum that since has been indelibly linked to his name for its incisive analysis and uncanny prescience. Eyre Crowe had good reason to scrutinize Germany’s foreign-policy initiatives. The Kaiser’s imperialist impulses had managed to alienate Russia, terrify France, antagonize Great Britain, and […]
As a long, hard winter comes to a close, four words can always elevate my spirits: ‘Pitchers and Catchers Report!’ This simple phrase indicates the boys of summer are heading to the sunny paradise of either Florida or Arizona to work out the kinks that settled in during the long winter months. Pitchers are stretching […]
Look up “Gregorian chant” in just about any current dictionary or encyclopedia and you will see a description that says it “is the liturgical chant of the Roman Catholic Church.” Notice that the tense of the verb “to be” is in its present form of “is.” What Should Customarily Be? The definition doesn’t place Gregorian […]
“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). That’s a truth to keep central as we enter this season of Lent. It’s possible to make a grandiose resolution and miss the reality at the […]
I fold my underwear. That is probably an overshare, so please forgive me. I also fold my socks, but I doubt that makes me unique, because folding socks makes sense, but underwear? What’s the point?! I have often had that discussion in my head and with my wife (especially when we were first married and […]
Imagine the crushing judicial power of a modern nation coming down upon you, trying you, sentencing you, and then planning your execution – all while the charges against you remain secret. You might recall that as the plot of Franz Kafka’s paranoiac novel, The Trial, the protagonist of which is a 30-year-old bank clerk. Under […]
My husband and I homeschool our children. This has changed in the last several years from Mom doing all the schooling with Dad’s support, to a true collaborative family effort. At this point, both Mom and Dad are working, so the structure of “school” has changed. Mom manages our middleschooler, who now does most of […]
The other night, I had the pleasure of watching You Again, a fun, lighthearted comedy that will appeal to anyone who ever found herself at the bottom of the social ladder in high school. Featuring such stars as Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Kristen Bell, and Betty White, it explores what happens when women are […]
Part One, Latin and the Catholic Church: Recently I obtained the Latin text of Cardinal Lambertini’s (Pope Benedict XIV) treatise De Servorum Dei Beatificatione Beatorum et Canonizatione (“De Servorum”). After going over a couple of passages of interest, I reflected upon the treatise itself. My thoughts revolved around the place of the treatise in Catholic […]
Our Lady of Akita, pray for us. St. Peter Baptist, martyr and patron of Japan, pray for us. St. Francis Xavier, patron of Japan, pray for us. St. Paul Miki, martyr, pray for us. St. Anthony Dainan, martyr, pray for us. St. Anthony Ishida, martyr, pray for us. St. Francis Nagasaki, martyr, pray for us. […]
As someone new to praying the liturgy of the hours, I never before fully understood the place of the psalms in the prayer of the Church. “In [Christ],” the Catechism says, “the psalms continue to teach us how to pray”, so much so that the Church calls the psalms a “school of prayer” (2587 and […]
Adam and Eve really did have it easy. They were so comfortable in their human skin. More to the point, they were comfortable in their human skin which had a spiritual soul. This did not seem odd or cause them any kind of dilemma, stress, or confusion. They were created to be perfectly at ease […]
If you will, you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live; he has set before you fire and water to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him. Immense is […]
I long to take just one little bite as I watch the melted cheese slowly ooze out of the golden, toasted bread. My children wait with eager anticipation for my famous grilled cheese sandwiches. The clock reads 12:30, and today is Friday. On my periodic fast days, I make it a priority to not eat […]
“The current Republican Party, particularly the Tea Party, is fanatically involved in people’s personal lives and very fundamental Christian,” said NPR’s Ron Schiller to two undercover reporters. “I wouldn’t even call it Christian; it’s this weird evangelical kind of [movement].” Not knowing he was being videoed, Schiller continued: “The current Republican Party is not really […]
Presented in cooperation with Greg Schlueter and JP2Journey.com: The JP2 Generation Tells Its Story, remembering World Youth Day 2002 and the impact of Pope John II. Part one, Fr. Rich Toohey It was September 2001. I was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Erie four days before the horror of 9/11. I was asked […]
Attorney General Eric Holder explained the Obama administration’s decision not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) against court challenges by claiming that “a growing consensus accepts that sexual orientation is a characteristic that is immutable.” Gay activists have for years forwarded the notion that same sex attraction (SSA) is immutable — people are […]
It’s true. I do not use Facebook. Now before you jump to any conclusions, I am not Amish and no, I did not grow up in a cave. I do not use Facebook because, quite frankly, I ‘m not sure I should be using it. Like so many things of this world, Facebook is just […]
A few years ago, I gave up Facebook for Lent. Sort of. I said I would limit myself to 15 minutes daily. I couldn’t leave for 40 days because Facebook was the means by which I communicated with teen members of 4-H (I’m a 4-H leader), and I wanted to keep an eye on my […]
My father taught me one of the most amazing lessons I’ve ever learned about forgiveness. It happened when I was a young girl, about eight years of age or so. I was at home with my mother and two sisters just doing things around the house. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed, and there was a flurry […]
“[F]or dust thou art, and to dust thou shall return” (Gen. 3:19). We are food for worms, and yet our culture, our modernist worldview, pretends that nature can somehow be betrayed. We worship the appearance of youth while we are alive, and when those around us give in to inevitability, we hide the reality of […]
As I’m sure you know, the now-famous case of Baby Joseph in Canada is becoming critical. He could die in the next couple of weeks if his breathing tube is removed as the hospital and the government intend. Baby Joseph is only 13 months old and often has difficulty breathing on his own. He needs […]
