“I have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing […]
“Transhumanism is a desperate belief system that grasps at technological straws. But the raw desperation in that grasping has the potential–like all Utopian movements–to unleash violently destructive forces. Caveat emptor.” (Wesley J. Smith). There are a number of pressing issues in the broad realm of bioethics. Abortion may well be the biggest bone of contention […]
It would be hard to find a more dangerous posting in the Jesuit order today than ministering to the faithful of this city in the heart Syria’s “Valley of the Christians.” And Syrian Jesuit Father Ziad Hilal has been based here for half a dozen years, witnessing some of the worst horrors of the country’s […]
I am for our children born and unborn. That means giving love and nurture to them and providing environments where they can thrive and rise to their full potential. I believe we must call out the cultural bigotry that does not view unborn children as part of the human family deserving equal care and protection. […]
Envy, greed, selfishness, harsh words, sibling rivalry, infidelity, illness, tragedy, violence, abuse – the list sounds like much like the headlines on your average nightly news show or the subject of anguished conversations among distraught parents and grandparents lamenting the discord they witness daily in their own families. We listen to the stories, shake our […]
I’ve just watched an in depth report about a baby boy born via surrogacy in India on November 12, 2012, and left behind by his Australian parents. This tragic story highlights the dirty side of buying and selling and trafficking in children, the complicity of government officials, and the corrupt $500 million per year surrogacy […]
The 1857 Supreme Court Dred Scott decision said that Dred Scott, his wife, and their unborn child were not human beings, but were property to be bought and sold. Led by proslavery Chief Justice Roger Taney, the Court created a new national constitutional right to own slaves. Taney, a Democrat and a Roman Catholic, was […]
In the days when states were still “the colonies” and men wore powdered wigs, a new way of thinking captured the intelligentsia of the western world. “The miracle stories in the Bible and the lives of the saints may be quaint, entertaining, and even have symbolic meaning. But certainly we should not take them literally! […]
A Spoken Word Poem by Fr. Pontifex (God is Dead: This video is in response to the claims of the “New Atheism.”…Science and reason are not incompatible with faith in fact they complement each other very well because they come from the same source, God. )
Pope Francis’ new encyclical on the environment made an impact on UN negotiations this week. But in the rush to emphasize its input on climate change, his forceful condemnation of abortion and population control remain overlooked. At this week’s negotiations on sustainable development in the General Assembly, María Emma Mejía Vélez, ambassador of Colombia said […]
Inside Out, the new Pixar movie about Riley, an eleven-year-old girl whose world is turned upside down when her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco, is good, but not great. It’s very much a kid’s movie (with knowing asides to parents, as these films always have). When I first saw the trailer for the […]
It’s a Hallmark holiday, but Father’s Day can be a chance to reflect a bit on our children and their future. As a father of one son (and soon to be two), I am a member of a shrinking subset in modern America. Increasingly, many people like me aren’t getting married, some aren’t having children […]
The Supreme Court has upheld the Obama administration’s controversial implementation of the Affordable Care Act in a 6-3 decision yesterday morning. Americans are required to purchase an insurance program that follows federal guidelines, including no co-pay coverage of contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs. In some cases, this includes a $1 abortion surcharge. The federal government […]
There’s nothing like reading a good book before bedtime, especially for kids. Too often, the busyness of life leaves parents feeling that we have not done enough of one thing or another. Reading with our children rectifies much of that that. I found that reading the “Dear God Series” (Liguori Publications) by Patti Maguire Armstrong […]
Some things make you feel just a little more alive. Hearing a moving song. Helping someone in need. Reading words that make you cry. Seeing a sunset splash the sky with breath-taking colors. And the feeling is multiplied immeasurably if you are sharing those experiences with someone special. Indeed, love completes us as human beings. […]
Last week I went on a mission trip. I was able to travel with our youth group from Georgia to Cincinnati, OH to work with the Franciscans for the Poor. We stayed at the Tau House, a converted convent that is now used to house groups who wish to come and do mission work within […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24 2nd Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15 Responsorial: Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13 Gospel: Mark 5:21-43 Putting Our Faith in Jesus’ Healing Love, Mercy, and Compassion Please, come. (Mark 5:23) Imagine what Jairus must have felt as he approached Jesus—his impatience, […]
“The laws of nature are written by the hand of God in the language of mathematics.” Galileo Galilei “Certain it is that a conviction, akin to religious feeling, of the rationality or intelligibility of the world lies behind all scientific work of a higher order…This firm belief, a belief bound up with deep feeling, in […]
Over the past few weeks it has become abundantly clear that the tipping point for the radical abortion machine is upon us—and it’s a frightening image. Take for instance the clamoring in Ireland once it became clear that the “gay” rights movement had scored a victory for sin. No sooner had the Republic of Ireland […]
A sticky note on the bottom of my computer monitor at work features three simple words, but a powerful command: Be Jesus Today If I have a consistently whispered “mantra,” that’s it. I say it to myself every morning. The note reminds me of my personal desire throughout the workday. At night, as I reflect […]
There is some fear that the Vatican’s upcoming fall Synod on the Family will proclaim and promote heresy. The feared heresy would be in contradicting the explicit scriptural teaching of Jesus and of St. Paul regarding the prohibition of divorced-and-remarried Catholics receiving Holy Communion. Historically, the Church has dealt with heresy accepted, proclaimed, and promulgated […]
Everyone loves seeing the babies baptized early Sunday morning. Some squeal with delight while others cry their eyes out as the cold Holy Water runs across their heads. I’m always curious though about who the parents chose as godparents for their child. If physical similarities matter, many seem to have chosen a sibling or two […]
By Antonia von Alten NEW YORK—Five years after Haiti’s devastating earthquake, the local Church has suffered a series of brazen attacks on Church properties. Between November 2015 and February of this year there were more than 20 robberies of religious communities, a bishop reported. In an interview with international Catholic charity Aid to the Church […]
Abortion advocates are exploiting victims of sexual violence in conflict to advance their own narrow agenda – opening up a new funding stream to international abortion groups and changing abortion laws in countries where restricted. Global humanitarian groups receive hundreds of millions of dollars to help the most vulnerable – many in areas of conflict […]
