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Christmas is a Celebration of Human Dignity

Reflections on the miracle of Christmas abound during this final week of preparation for the arrival of the Baby Jesus—our King of King and Lord of Lords. But clearly not everyone is sincerely celebrating the miracle of life and the gift of the human being. We live in a time of heightened threats against those […]

Poem: “Stainless Steel”

Dec 21 11 • Hilary McRee Flanery • 0 comments

Stainless Steel There is a perception, That Jesus’ conception Is the Feast on December the eighth. But such, is deception, It’s about the reception, Of her soul, stainless steel of the Faith! Hilary M. Flanery

Where’s the Pizza?

Dec 20 11 • Mary Anne Moresco • 0 comments

There are times when I dream of a simple life on the prairie with a family, a horse, a dog, a fiddle and a house with a wood-burning stove. And this particular Friday night before Christmas was one of those times. Daughter #2 had an annual Christmas slumber party with some old homeschooling friends, and […]

Trashy Novels Move Over: An Interview with Ellen Gable

Dec 20 11 • Lisa Mladinich • 0 comments

Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So […]

The Salvation Army Loses Its Sight

Dec 20 11 • Wendy Wright • 0 comments

From the time of its founding by William Booth, the Salvation Army sought to help the poor, homeless, destitute and outcast. Booth endured beatings and humiliation for fearlessly proclaiming Christ, Who was born into the world through a poor, homeless, unwed teenager. The Salvation Army loves the unlovely. Which makes the latest news about the […]

Christmas, Christians, and Christ

Dec 20 11 • Fr. Frank Pavone • 0 comments

Some years ago, a class of students was asked to write about the meaning of Christmas. One student wrote, “Christmas is when Christians celebrate Christ.” The teacher liked the paper, but asked the student to change that one line to “Christmas is when people celebrate love.” What, some may wonder, is the difference? After all, […]

Poem: “Morning Star”

Dec 20 11 • Pavel Chichikov • 0 comments

Morning Star The silver medal which I wear Weighs not more than dragonflies, Or less, perhaps, the wings, a hair, The azure facets of their eyes Heavy weight there is in loss, The Virgin Mary and the Cross, Easy and as light as love Saint Joseph and the Spirit Dove Heavy as the wooden bar, […]

On Vaclav Havel—and Chris Hitchens

Dec 19 11 • Dr. Paul Kengor • 3 comments

Vaclav Havel is dead. Among other forces and powers, he is among the seven individuals most responsible for peacefully ending the Cold War; the great liberators who brought freedom and democracy. They are Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, Margaret Thatcher, Lech Walesa, and Havel. With Havel’s death, a majority of […]

Practical Distributism: Subsidiarity and Social Security

Dec 19 11 • David W. Cooney • 3 comments

Distributism includes the principal of subsidiarity, the idea that the family is the basic unit of society and higher levels of societal organization (city, county, state, federal) exist to support the lower levels without the authority to usurp their roles and rights. The higher the level of societal organization (government), the lower its scope of […]

Cinema’s Role in The Great Conversation: An Interview with Henry Russell, Ph.D.

Dec 19 11 • Stanley D. Williams, Ph.D • 0 comments

Henry Russell, Ph.D. is a classics educator, headmaster of St. Augustine’s Homeschool Enrichment Program (founded with his wife Crystal), and president of the SS Peter and Paul Educational Foundation. He is known particularly for The Catholic Shakespeare Audio Series. His writings have been published in various journals. ========= Stan Williams: What do you make of […]

Occupy as Cheer for Christmas: Occupy Seattle, Part 3

Dec 19 11 • Robert Struble, Jr. • 7 comments

Provocation does carry consequences: First the Seattle government sent its riot police to drive Occupy Seattle out of its campsite at a downtown park, Westlake Center, and subsequently from its campsite at Central Seattle Community College. Adapting imaginatively to the new situation, Occupy Seattle took the initiative. On December 12th, hundreds of marchers barricaded entrances […]

You Don’t Move to D.C. to Get Married?

Dec 19 11 • Amy Bonaccorso • 0 comments

“You don’t move to Washington, D.C., to get married, you move here for your career.” Huh? What? I spotted this line in a new Washington Post article about the supposed plunging popularity of marriage in the U.S. If you have not seen the piece – you can find it here. In general – I think […]

The Big, White Tablet

Dec 19 11 • Marge Fenelon • 0 comments

This morning began as any normally abnormal one around the Fenelon Clan abode – with me taking my handful of horse-pill vitamins, one agonizing swallow at a time. They say you can’t buy health in a bottle. Maybe so. But, I figure it’s like taking out an insurance policy: You go for years wasting your […]

Good Thing Baby Jesus Wasn’t Claustrophobic

Dec 19 11 • Julie Filby • 0 comments

One day last year around this time, my then-4-year-old daughter and I stopped by a local Catholic store to pick up a gift. As you can imagine in a Catholic store during Advent, there were several Nativities on display. While I was browsing the candles, Vaughn was enjoying the Nativity scenes. I noticed she was […]

Medical Journal Says Nuns Should Use <em>Oral Contraceptives</em> for Cancer Prevention

Medical Journal Says Nuns Should Use Oral Contraceptives for Cancer Prevention

Dec 19 11 • Denise J. Hunnell, M.D • 2 comments

On December 8, the Solemn Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the British medical journal, The Lancet, published a most puzzling commentary, in which a clarion call is issued for the Catholic Church to provide all nuns with oral contraceptives in order to prevent cancer. Australian researchers Kara Britt and Roger Short make their recommendation based on the […]

The Perfect Family’s Christmas Letter 2011, Part 2

Dec 19 11 • Karen J Rinehart • 0 comments

We flew straight from Sweet Briar to London for Kate and Will’s wedding. I’m so glad I saved my garter — it was perfect for her! Speaking of perfect, what a grand excuse to hold Johnny’s 12th birthday at the London Zoo! Camilla graciously offered us her estate for the party but Johnny thought that […]

Poem: “A Jubilee Year!”

Dec 19 11 • Stacy Peterson • 3 comments

A Jubilee Year! You asked: Is Jubilee Duggar’s funeral creepy? Perhaps it’s creepy depending on whether or not it’s your fetus. Is holding the hand of your child creepy? The fact that Jubilee had passed on from Time into Eternity, means she’s a Saint. Is holding the hand of a Saint creepy? But: In a […]

Poem: “Winter Morn”

Dec 18 11 • Hilary McRee Flanery • 0 comments

Winter Morn A very pale Blue slate-gray, A puff of Powdered cloud. Glassed-limbs crackle Stiff with age Then snap – And boom quite loud. Tree trunks black In shrouds of ice – Branches split And splinter. November sleeps December wakes To the eternal Advent of winter! Hilary M. Flanery

“His” Gospel: The Juggernaut of Paul in the Revised Missal

Dec 17 11 • Rev. Tucker Cordani • 1 comment

In college, I majored in American Literature but took acting classes because I enjoyed the immediacy of theater. On stage everything happens in the moment. On a recent Sunday I was celebrating Mass and began the ceremony with the sign of the cross and then extended my hands to deliver the greeting: Grace to you […]

The Revised Roman Missal: A Mass of Potential

Dec 17 11 • Louie Verrecchio • 2 comments

After years of discussion, preparation and anticipation, the new English translation of the Roman Missal – Third Edition was officially implemented in the United States on November 27th. The “reviews” are now starting to show up in newspapers, blogs and other media. As I read them, it seems as though most of the “people in […]

Light the Darkness Cannot Overcome

Dec 17 11 • Jennessa Durney • 0 comments

Every year I brace myself for winter. Knowing the air will turn crisp to cold, I whip out a cozy scarf, and as the sky dims and darkens, I store up on Vitamin D. The sun’s short stay and the often cloudy sky make afternoons feel more like early evenings. It’s dark, dark, dark! We […]

Fathers Landry, Pavone on the ‘Tebow Phenomenon’

Dec 17 11 • Matt C. Abbott • 0 comments

Tim Tebow has sure made the sports headlines as of late. The popular quarterback of the Denver Broncos, known for being unapologetic about his Christian faith (something I applaud, of course), has perplexed not a few sports commentators by his seemingly miraculous comeback-victories after struggling through three-and-a-half quarters of a game. I asked, via email, […]

Ready?

Dec 17 11 • Kate Daneluk • 0 comments

As I sat in Mass, exhausted, just happy that I got there on time I realized that three candles were lit. Yes, the pink one, too. This rosy candle is supposed to tell us “Rejoice! Gaudete! Our Savior is almost here!” Instead, what I heard was, “Oh no! It’s almost Christmas and I still have […]

The Mystery of the Incarnation

Dec 17 11 • Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D. • 0 comments

“Mystery,” he sneered. “That’s a good Catholic word.” My friend was a fundamentalist who had more than a bit of antipathy towards the Catholic Church, charging that it added to the simple faith of the Bible. But he didn’t read his bible very well. The word “mystery” is a Catholic word, only because it is […]