A front cover photo for the new TIME magazine unintentionally sends as strong a pro-life message as we could ever want: “Saving Preemies: Emalyn was Due in June, She arrived in March.” Written by Jeffrey Kluger, the home base for the story is the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin […]
Somewhere along the expanse of rails from New Haven to New York, as I daydreamed during the two-hour train ride to visit my dad in the hospital and take my mom back to the apartment, I realized the accuracy of the term “sandwich generation.” This was my second weekend trip to New York in so […]
This letter is addressed to every physician, scientist, and genetic counselor who believes in a eugenic agenda that targets the unborn specifically because of diagnosed genetic anomalies. It asks a series of penetrating questions that invite thoughtful response, and are not meant to be rhetorical. The first question is: WHO? Who taught you in medical […]
I do not like this article at The Huffington Post titled, “7 Things You Shouldn’t Say To Someone With Anxiety.” Here’s the list for all you list-watchers: 1. “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” 2. “Calm down.” 3. “Just do it.” 4. “Everything is going to be fine.” 5. “I’m stressed out too.” 6. “Have a drink — it’ll take your […]
Biblical examples of meditation are focused on the content of our minds.
Colleen Scariano also contributed to this article. January is the month of new year’s resolutions. It’s a month that sees new gym memberships surge and bad habits wane (hopefully)! What’s really interesting, however, is how ‘resolved’ folks are come next month. Will your life remain changed next month? Will you still be a new person? […]
This week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its annual report,Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2012, to whining among journalists that the reason for the documented continued rise in syphilis (primarily affecting homosexuals) has more to do with homophobia than anything else. Consider the following from Bloomberg News: Gonorrhea and syphilis are on the […]
You work with me every day. You buy your gas from me. You see me every Sunday in church. You enjoy every holiday with me. You live next door to me. You know me pretty well. But not as well as you think. I have a mental illness. You never would guess that to be […]
This is a story about defeating autism, the practical attainment of hope for devastated parents, and a whole new way of approaching a scourge upon our beloved children. Our son, Joseph, happens to be its protagonist; but the joyful hope in this story resides in the certainty that it is a template into which parents […]
Google has launched a new company called Calico (California Life Company) whose focus is to “solve death.” CNN reports: Last month Google announced a new medical company called Calico, whose explicit aim is to take on aging itself. But what will Google’s approach be? And what other research into prolonging life already exists?… Calico — […]
There can be a fine line between loneliness and solitude. In solitude, there is a quiet joy — time spent by yourself in nature or at eucharistic adoration, an opportunity for contemplation and prayer and just basking in a peaceful presence. I love solitude. Like so many, however, I dread loneliness. And unfortunately, I have […]
According to Statistics Canada, the years between 2010 and 2031 will see an accelerated rate in the aging population since this is the period when all baby boomers will have turned sixty-five. By the year 2036, between twenty-three per cent and twenty-five percent of the population will comprise of seniors aged sixty-five and over. The […]
The notion at the heart of the Obama Health Law is that Americans spend too much money on health care, and if there were a way to reduce spending, there would be overall positive impact. However, two articles from the Washington Post out last week show that when Americans are forced to spend less money […]
“Running for Their Lives” (Columbia Magazine, December 2012), chronicles the founding and purpose of LIFE Runners, the largest international running group dedicated to Pro-Life causes. The founders of the group are both members of the Knights of Columbus and Lt. Colonels in the United States Air Force. They began praying together as they were training […]
I’ve always had some sort of exercise routine—even if it wasn’t much of a “routine,” per se. Eating well and staying fit has been part of my life more out of necessity than desire. It rises from chronic illness rather than vanity. The catalyst for me “working out” has been my calling to live out […]
Being father to five young boys and maintaining both a university teaching post and a busy clinical practice would seem to be a prescription for physical and emotional meltdown. Yet in addition to all this, Catholic psychiatrist Dr. Aaron Kheriaty found time to write a very practical and much-needed book on depression. The Catholic Guide […]
During Mother’s last few months, conversations were extremely difficult to follow because her mind seamlessly switched from one decade to another. Isaac Singer writes, “Sometimes she’d tangle one story with another and couldn’t find her way out” (In My Father’s Court). Within one statement, she would toggle between viewing me as a teenager in the […]
When I was 19 weeks pregnant, an ultrasound of my baby revealed markers for a condition called trisomy 18. We were offered amniocentesis, which we refused because we didn’t want to risk hurting our baby. We were told we would have more choices if we knew for sure. We said we would never abort our […]
Dr. Vincent Fortanasce knows the field of medicine as well as anyone. He has studied psychiatry at Yale, neurology at the University of Southern California and orthopedic rehabilitation at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital, one of the top rehab centers in the country. He has spent decades treating thousands of patients, including world-class athletes and celebrities. Many […]
I spent this morning at my OB/GYN’s office having that joyful annual experience — my gynecological exam. Oversharing? Perhaps. But I’m willing to risk personal embarrassment and immodesty if this post will help one of my fellow moms get off the dime and make the doctor’s appointment you’ve been procrastinating over for the past several months (or […]
This is a reflection I wrote after viewing Spiritual Growth in Tough Times which centers around the healing process. Sister Joyce Rupp discusses the process of healing with the analogy of the seasons. We all want to live in the spring and summers of our lives but we have to live through the difficulties of […]
The topic for discussion at my local Theology on Tap recently was evangelization and Christ’s instructions to His Apostles to go out and spread the Good News: Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in […]
The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:11–12). God’s ways are not naturally our ways. God calls us to be servants or slaves to others. Humility is truth, that is the truth of who we are, including the good and […]
