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Where Angels Fear to Tread: A Response to Andrea Tornielli on Medjugorje

I read with interest Andrea Tornielli’s article on Medjugorje dated February 28, 2012.[i] At the end, I was shocked to find that Tornielli provided a Latin-Italian translation of the Vatican document “Normae S. Congregationis.” My shock was rooted in the fact that the Latin text of this document has escaped the public eye for 34 […]

Mamma Theologica

Mar 7 12 • Stacy Trasancos • 0 comments

I’ve been reading the Summa Theologica so much I’ve started arguing with myself in the way of St. Thomas Aquinas, a rough and desperate version running through my head amidst the daily quagmire. For instance the other day, in the Third Part of the day, I asked myself a Question. “Whether it is fitting that […]

Marketing Infanticide

Mar 6 12 • Mark Davis Pickup • 4 comments

Recently, I addressed the idea of Christian perinatal hospice, a concept whereby parents facing a pregnancy involving a terminally ill unborn child are supported to carry their baby to term and prepare for their child’s death. It is a ministry of loving care for the entire family while honoring the humanity of their baby. No […]

As an Athlete Running the Race

Mar 6 12 • Msgr. Richard Soseman • 1 comment

Jesse Owens was one of the fastest human beings who ever lived. Known as the Buckeye Bullet, he became famous at Ohio State in 1935 when, in the span of just 45 minutes at a Big 10 track meet, he broke three world records and tied a fourth. As a member of the U.S. Olympics […]

Attachment in Human Love

Mar 6 12 • Anthony Buono • 0 comments

Love between a man and a woman is one of the most beautiful things in the world. But what happens when the love you share with that person becomes the most important thing in your life? There is nothing more natural than wanting to be loved. We need it. We need it from our parents […]

Super Tuesday and Being Human

Mar 6 12 • Fr. Frank Pavone • 0 comments

I write on Super Tuesday, but my reflections here pertain to the entire election season of 2012, and in fact, of every election cycle. If you look at the writings of the Catholic Church regarding political responsibility, you often see reference to what is important to “Catholic social teaching” and a “Catholic conscience.” And, of […]

Poem: “Agony”

Mar 6 12 • Marcelo Ortiz • 0 comments

Agony Praying in a garden, Leaning on a rock I know that Pilate’s soldiers Are going to torture and mock. I’m sweating and I’m weeping I’m losing blood and tears My people shall shout “Crucify!” It’s almost too much too hear. Yet My Father up in Heaven This is His will for Me So I […]

19-Year-Old’s Dream Continued by Dominican Sisters

Mar 5 12 • Kevin Banet • 0 comments

As the sun sends red and blue hues through the stained-glass windows into a convent chapel in the Chicago area, a dozen Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception enter the rooom for their morning prayers. Their voices blend into invocations of praise as they chant the Liturgy of the Hours. Their white habits with black […]

The Meaning of Mercy (Part I)

Mar 5 12 • Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D. • 0 comments

The Second Vatican Council taught us that the Eucharist is the “source and summit” of the Christian life. Yet we must keep in mind that the same council makes clear that the Eucharist is not the sum total of the Christian life. Indeed the Eucharist, and all the sacraments, are memorials of a dramatic act […]

The Nature Of Marriage Is Not Defined By Popular Whim

Mar 5 12 • Fr. Shenan J. Boquet • 2 comments

The debate over “social issues” in the United States recently brought many important topics, those typically reserved for the backburner in American politics, to the national stage for the first time in a long time. With the focus of the media shifting towards these issues, however, we have seen vicious attacks from political pundits, and […]

Overcoming the Merely Therapeutic: Human Excellence and the Moral Life

Mar 5 12 • Rev. Gregory Jensen • 0 comments

In Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (2005), researchers Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton argue that for many young adults in America, the spiritual life is understood in moralistic terms. But where orthodox (and Orthodox) Christianity focus on the necessity of “repentance from sin, of keeping the Sabbath, of living as a servant of a sovereign divine, […]

How She Does It

Mar 5 12 • Theresa A. Thomas • 0 comments

“How do you do it?” Busy mothers hear this all the time. Time management is an important yet elusive goal. Everyone wants to know “the secret.” I’ve been blessed to know some very holy and efficient mothers. Let me introduce a couple to you and then we’ll talk strategy. My mother had 13 children, yet always […]

The Catholic Church is No Enemy of Science or the Infertile

Mar 5 12 • Chelsea Zimmerman • 2 comments

Because of her opposition to third party reproduction, the Catholic Church is often accused of being anti-science and insensitive to those who suffer the pain of infertility. Last year’s CNN Belief Blog op-ed from Sean Savage calling on the Catholic Church to reverse her opposition to IVF is a good example of the anger that […]

Contraception and Contradiction

Mar 5 12 • Michael Baruzzini • 0 comments

The Church is a sign of contradiction. On the issue of contraception, in which the Catholic Church is seen as the most inveterate of socially conservative reactionaries, the Church loses not only libertine opponents, but also many conservative friends. In the present debate about the government’s attempt to compel religious institutions to fund the use […]

Getting Senator Rick Santorum into the White House

Mar 4 12 • Amanda Magdalene Evinger • 2 comments

If we want a new president, it isn’t going to happen without some blood, sweat and tears. And divine grace—plenty of divine grace. So, this being said, just where do you and I come in? It’s going to have to be our blood, sweat and tears. We can’t lay this one on somebody else. Not […]

3-Minute Retreat: Called to Greater Freedom

Mar 4 12 • Nancy Jo Sullivan • 0 comments

The brief reflection below is based on a 3-Minute Lenten retreat brought to you by Loyola Press. At the bottom of this reflection is a link for you to access the retreat. In today’s reflection, Jesus invites a rich man to invest in eternity. Give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven… […]

Poem: “Lovers’ Hope!”

Mar 4 12 • Stacy Peterson • 0 comments

Lovers’ Hope! Early spring frost glazes budding Yoshino cherry blossoms. Glittering, glittering in late morning, under a chilly sun. Lovers pause. Mid-afternoon warmth destroys the illusion. Crackling ice tinkles to the ground. Melting, dissolving into the dirt of death. ………….Or life……….. A violent protrusion of crocus greens extrude Soil particles still damp with melted frost. […]

City of Blood: St. Paul in Arabia — A Lenten/Desert Journey, Part 2

Mar 3 12 • Rev. Tucker Cordani • 0 comments

For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia —Galatians 4:25. In the Scriptures, the desert is the setting for purification, and the mountain is the site of revelation. Moses led the Israelites through the desert to prepare them to receive the Law, which God handed down on Mount Sinai (Ex 20:1-17) amid peals of thunder and […]

The Historical Reality of the Muslim Conquests

Mar 3 12 • Raymond Ibrahim • 0 comments

Because it is now almost axiomatic for American school textbooks to whitewash all things Islamic (see here for example), it may be useful to examine one of those aspects that are regularly distorted: the Muslim conquests. Few events of history are so well documented and attested to as are these conquests, which commenced soon after […]

Pharaoh and the Midwives

Mar 3 12 • Genevieve Kineke • 0 comments

Watching how Great Britain deals with the ethical issues surrounding health care is instructive for a few important reasons. First, we both have a Judeo-Christian foundation to our cultures; we have inherited much of our legal system from theirs; they introduced socialized medicine over sixty years ago, and finally, they legalized abortion six years before […]

How to Homeschool Your Preschool Child

Mar 3 12 • Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur • 2 comments

A new homeschooler recently asked me, “How do you homeschool a preschooler?” Time was, keeping a child home for his or her preschool years was a perfectly normal thing to do. Children went to school when they were five (or even six!) and somehow still managed to learn to read and write and maintain friendships. […]

UN Security Guards Confiscate Pro-Life Literature from Students

Mar 3 12 • Wendy Wright • 0 comments

Youth attending a UN conference on women’s issues this week say UN security officers confiscated their backpacks after discovering pro-life literature. The confiscated materials were petitions to “Stop Sexualizing Children,” and were connected to a UN approved workshop led this week by Dr. Miriam Grossman, a child psychiatrist and author of “You’re Teaching My Child […]

Consolations

Mar 3 12 • Jann FritzHuspen • 1 comment

Do you know what it means to receive a consolation from the Lord? In the work of prayer for example, it is when you feel a deep sense of His presence. But even in our day-to-day lives we can receive consolations from the Lord. These come in the form of a perk, or a little […]

We are the 40%: Why I’ll Not Vote in the GOP Caucus

Mar 2 12 • Robert Struble, Jr. • 0 comments

By reason of ineligibility, I had to decline a friend’s well meaning invitation to vote. I cannot participate in the GOP caucus this weekend because I’m not a Republican. In 2007 I left the GOP over the issue of torture and have been an independent ever since. At the time, I made a public resignation […]