In March of this year my father sent out an email to his family marking an important date in his life. It was the anniversary of the day, at thirty years old, he woke up paralyzed. Forty-eight years had passed. I was only eight years old, and the oldest of five children. I cannot remember […]
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. […]
What is happening in our country when killing is preferable—and acceptable—to selfless love for the suffering? Too many instances lately shine a light on the depravity of this behavior and on our ever-declining treatment of our fellow human beings whom we call “expendable.” For example, a 7-year-old Massachusetts child is nearly killed and her dad, […]
Fr. Peter West also contributed to this article. The month of May is traditionally a time to honor Mary, the Mother of God. This is a fitting time to reflect on the essential role she plays in our salvation and in our missionary apostolate promoting life and family. During this month we should strive to […]
There are dark days ahead for sick, disabled and depressed people in Canada. The Supreme Court recently struck down the nation’s laws against assisted suicide. The high court’s judges unanimously supported this terrible decision. What sort of society helps suicidal people kill themselves?! The high court defined the scope of assisted suicide to include an […]
Sometimes reports impacting respect for the dignity of the human person appear to have been written by Rod Serling, creator of the 1950’s television series The Twilight Zone. For example, in China it is reported that scientists are editing the genomes of human embryos. The research has been roundly criticized by Marcy Darnovsky of the […]
If Granny were living in a civilized country rather than one that is hell-bent on ending lives and calling it a “choice,” there would be no need for such a provocative title. But this is America, friends, and many in our midst see things differently. Or maybe they just don’t see at all. It becomes […]
Is there anything so wicked as a man trying to silence his conscience? It is a willful act that happens in stages: Bit by bit, incident by incident, rationalization by rationalization, the voice of a man’s conscience can be stifled—that still small voice within him eventually becomes fainter, until his heart turns to stone and […]
We are in Holy Week 2015, so it is most appropriate to consider the problem of evil and sin. The sacrificial Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ was to settle with God the problem of human sin and evil. I have often heard the question, “If there is a God, why does he permit […]
“Having turned away from the knowledge given by God, the Christian influence on the whole of culture has been lost. In Europe, including England, it took many years ? in the United States only a few decades. In the United States, in the short span from the twenties to the sixties, we have seen a […]
The Dutch are killing themselves more than ever, but they feel OK about it. In the latest Newsweek cover story, Winston Ross pens a fairly balanced report on the current facts and rhetoric on euthanasia, both in the Netherlands and the rest of the world. The facts reported in the piece are startling: In 2013, […]
As news of the untimely death of Brother Paul O’Donnell spreads, there will be many remembrances by those who knew him well. Perhaps none more than Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo. Brother Paul distinguished himself, and the Church, by being the constant companion and supporter of the Schindler family as their severely brain damaged daughter, Terri, […]
There ring in my childhood memory the songs of Hank Williams—songs my dad loved to listen to as he strummed his guitar. One in particular was a classic called “Cold, Cold Heart.” As I sit and think about it, I realize that those three words truly define the cultural attitudes of our day toward those […]
“I am not suffering; I am struggling.” These words are part of a beautiful speech delivered by Julianne Moore in her Oscar-nominated performance as Dr. Alice Howland in the film Still Alice. The film is a powerful testimony of how a woman who has made her career out of words loses her words because of […]
In his book The Nazi Doctors, author Jay Lifton wrote about the Nazi euthanasia program. He pointed out that it was important to blur and ultimately destroy the boundary between healing and killing to convince German doctors to participate. The imagery of killing in the name of healing was an effective tool in achieving this […]
People with disabilities must be killed when they consent under a February 6, 2015, decision by Canada’s highest court striking the Canadian law protecting against assisting suicide. Unlike doctor-prescribed suicide laws in Oregon, Washington and Vermont that theoretically are limited to those with terminal illness, the sweeping ruling allows killing any Canadian who “has a […]
I recently read the story of a daughter’s anguished eyewitness account of her mother’s death. It was a death chosen for the mother by her son and oldest daughter, who decided that starvation was the best thing for a beloved mother who had suffered a stroke. It was painful to read this account, and as the writer […]
The history of human knowledge as it relates to the human body is a fascinating and terrible thing. In every age, the ability for physicians and other medical practitioners to effectively treat wounds or combat disease has been constrained by the technology – or lack thereof – available at the time. In the past, people […]
Words can be so cruel and degrading. There was a time in the 19th Century when North American natives were commonly called “savages”. The term was used to dehumanize first nations people in order to take their land. I remember a time when people with a mix of Aboriginal-European descent were called “half-breeds”. Somebody at […]
Commentators, politicians, and world leaders often bandy about the word “peace.” But I wonder if there are many in our midst who actually comprehend the true meaning of the word, not to mention how to find it. Webster defines peace as “a state in which there is no war or fighting.” That sounds simple enough, […]
New Year’s Resolutions tend towards the personal: lose weight, take up a hobby, spend more time with the family, get up earlier, read great books, etc. But this new year I beg people to take some time to learn more about bioethics. The stakes are high. Our definitions of life, death, and human dignity are […]
A week ago I received a message from a distressed family writing about a loved one in the final stages of living. The members of this family were informed by hospice care that their dying relative, a 95-year-old father/grandfather with dementia who still recognizes the family and talks with them at times, had come down […]
While it’s great news that substantial political pro-life victories were won in the mid-term elections, we must now ask ourselves, “What do these victories mean for the protection of human life and family?” Pope Saint John Paul II inspires and instructs us in this opportune and pivotal moment to rally in defense of life: “What […]
Dear Brittany Maynard, You don’t know me, and sadly, I don’t know you. I have something to tell you. Why should you care what another voice among millions is saying? Because I have good news. Like so many, your story has crashed into my world, just as cancer crashed into yours. As expected by your […]
