Category: Society & Common Good

Politics and the Pulpit, Part Three: Churches are Automatically Tax Exempt by Law
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Politics and the Pulpit, Part Three: Churches are Automatically Tax Exempt by Law

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It’s an election year again, and unless we’re careful, we can easily be misled by vague assertions about “the dangers of losing our tax-exempt status.” Let me state categorically from the outset: it’s not going to happen, period. In this current series of columns, we are exploring and exploding some of the myths surrounding “tax […]

Kidnapped Nuns Set Free in Syria
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Kidnapped Nuns Set Free in Syria

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Twelve nuns kidnapped by jihadists in Syria last December were set free yesterday (Sunday, March 9th). Patriarch Gregorios III, head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, broke the news to a team from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), who had just arrived in Lebanon to visit projects supporting refugees from Syria. The Damascus-based […]

Ode to Feminine Genius: What is This Homemaker Stuff, Anyway?
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Ode to Feminine Genius: What is This Homemaker Stuff, Anyway?

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When we first started hammering out details for this series, I got really excited. Then, I saw the word homemaker used repeatedly. Not really knowing much about the word, I looked up the definition and found: HOME·MAK·ER [hohm-mey-ker] noun 1. a person who manages the household of his or her own family, especially as a principal occupation 2. a person employed to manage a household and do household chores for others, as for the sick or elderly. Origin: 1885–90; home + maker Can be confused: homemaker, housewife (see usage note at housewife). Usage note 1. See housewife. HOUSE·WIFE [hous-wahyf or, usually, huhz-if for 2] noun, plural house·wives [hous-wahyvz] 1. Sometimes Offensive. a married woman who manages her own household, […]

Ronald Reagan Lecture
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Obama Should Study the History of Reaganomics

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Obama’s and Reagan’s policies for economic recovery were completely different.

Stethoscope-Money
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The War Against Work and Wealth

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Our standard of living depends on the production of wealth.

Dollars and Cents
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Government Power is an Economic Inequality

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The real concentration of wealth is no longer among men, but among institutions.

Comfort Zone? Short Reflection on Two Beatitudes
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Comfort Zone? Short Reflection on Two Beatitudes

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God forbid that postmodern pressures inhibit us from promoting what is godly in the culture, nor deter us from opposing what is impious. Yes, going against the flow is proving stressful.  We live in tumultuous times, and some internal emotional turmoil (if not external persecution) will afflict any caring or sensitive Christian unwilling to remain […]

A Tea Party in Need of Context
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A Tea Party in Need of Context

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Since early 2009, the Tea Party as a movement has carved out a substantial place in electoral politics and the general political conversation. Yet for a movement that has garnered so much attention and notoriety, its actual effects have been a bit underwhelming. Tea Party Republicans in the House and Senate worked furiously first to […]

Politics and the Pulpit: Part Two: The IRS is Not the Law
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Politics and the Pulpit: Part Two: The IRS is Not the Law

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The American people are more fed up with the IRS than ever before, and want to see an investigation into the abuses that have been — and continue to be — perpetrated there. This frequent theme of news reports these days intersects perfectly with our ongoing series regarding the position of Churches regarding politics and […]

George Washington on Religion and Morality
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George Washington on Religion and Morality

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George Washington was born this day, February 22nd, in 1732.

Green Eye of Envy
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The Politics of Envy

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Wealth is fresh fruits and vegetables in January, indoor plumbing, and MRI machines.

Pres. Ronald Reagan
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Ronald Reagan on Religious Tolerance

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He would be horrified at what liberals are doing today, though not surprised.

Mount Rushmore with American Flag Background
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Presidents Day Mea Culpa to Two Great Leaders

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We began to shrink from the dangerous blessing of liberty.

Ode to Feminine Genius: Proverbs 31 Catholic Woman, Intro
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Ode to Feminine Genius: Proverbs 31 Catholic Woman, Intro

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Achieving perfection that is pleasing to God by imitating the Blessed Virgin Mary is the goal of this new series entitled Ode to Feminine Genius: The Proverbs 31 Catholic Woman.  In our quest for doing God’s will, intentional homemaking, and becoming a woman of inner beauty by focusing our study in this series of Proverbs 31: 10-31, […]

Winter Games in a Wintering Nation
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Winter Games in a Wintering Nation

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Reports of terrorist threats, human rights abuses, and general economic incompetency have already marred the opening of the 2014 winter Olympics. These failings in Russia represent the face of the greatest myth propagated this past half-century: that low-fertility creates a successful society. Population controllers lure countries into population control programs with the promise of nice […]

Abraham Lincoln on the Bible
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Abraham Lincoln on the Bible

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Not an atheist, he.

Critiquing Moderation: Does Centrism Befit Our Times?
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Critiquing Moderation: Does Centrism Befit Our Times?

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The postmodern revolution has been transmutating America since JFK’s assassination, with cultural precursors dating back to the Korean War or earlier.  Our responsibilities as Americans oblige us to respond.  As stewards invested with some power of citizenship, a civic response to the Gospel is among our religious duties as Christians. In the process of responding […]

Politics and Pulpit: "Uninhibited, Robust and Wide-Open!" Part One
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Politics and Pulpit: “Uninhibited, Robust and Wide-Open!” Part One

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It’s an election year, and it’s time to open our mouths, in the Church, about politics, candidates, and the right to life. Our fight for our unborn brothers and sisters is a fight for freedom and against tyranny; for people and against oppressive governments. Our Founding Fathers fought this fight, and so must we, with […]

Globe
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Climate Change Deliberation

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We are asked to ignore the simplest hypothesis that the earth’s climate is ever changing.

The Playgrounds of War II
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Sixteen Juveniles Rescued in Super Bowl-Related Sex Trafficking Stings

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Dozens of agencies and organizations, including the FBI, rescued 16 juveniles from sex trafficking rings in the two weeks prior to Super Bowl XLVIII. More than 50 adult women were rescued, and 45 pimps were arrested. Huffington Post reports the efforts took several months, and required “training for legions of law enforcement personnel, hospitality workers, […]

Faith at Work
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Faith at Work

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Last fall, the Supreme Court agreed to review two religious liberty cases surrounding the Obama Administration’s contraception mandate. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties maintain that the federal requirement is an unlawful infringement upon religious liberty, and this year we’ll find out if the highest court in the land concurs. In support of the cases, […]

College Sports Map
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Can You Read This Essay?

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A surprising number of college athletes must answer in the negative.

Building the Wall in the Holy Land
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Building the Wall in the Holy Land

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A local Catholic expressed his hopes and concerns regarding the proposed building of a wall in the Holy Land that could result in Christian families losing their homes. Speaking on Monday, Jan. 27, with international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem hopes […]