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Green Fiascoes and Boondoggles

Green Fiascoes and Boondoggles

A barrage of news headlines on the Solyndra scandal continue to remind us that President Obama made green jobs one of his administration’s priorities. Those headlines also reveal this initiative to have been a costly mistake. The bankruptcy of Solyndra, the solar-panel manufacturer that has collapsed despite receiving half a billion dollars from the federal […]

I Can't Believe I Almost Missed This

I Can’t Believe I Almost Missed This

Nov 17 11 • 1 comment

I woke up this morning to the most glorious sound.  Well, first I woke up to someone throwing a laundry basket at my door before he went downstairs,  but after that I woke up to the squeals and giggles of an (almost) 12 week old baby girl – our tenth baby (on earth).  As I […]

Your Relationship Deserves a Good Home, Part II

Your Relationship Deserves a Good Home, Part II

Nov 17 11 • 0 comments

Home is the place where we feel safe, where we can shut out the world, enjoy the people we love and who love us, be accepted for who we are, and always go if something is wrong. Home is the place where we grow into the person we are called to be. Those whose home […]

Poem: "The Roast Beef Hour"

Poem: “The Roast Beef Hour”

The Roast Beef Hour Cloth of cream China plate Crystal vases Decorate. Blossoms orange Mums of yellow Autumn eve A Sunday mellow. Sterling silver Piney vapor Scents the air From brass held taper. Dad and mom Sipping wine Roasting beef Upon we’ll dine. Chilly children Crunch on leaves Runny noses Wiped on sleeves. Whipped potatoes […]

‘Vegetative’ Patients May Be Fully Conscious: Lancet Study

‘Vegetative’ Patients May Be Fully Conscious: Lancet Study

Nov 16 11 • 0 comments

A study published in one of the most respected medical journals in the world this month has found that many “vegetative” patients are in fact fully conscious and aware. Experts at the University of Western Ontario conducted the experiment by applying an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine, a common mechanism for measuring brain waves, to a large […]

Pakistan: Christians Suffer Discrimination in Prisons

Pakistan: Christians Suffer Discrimination in Prisons

Nov 16 11 • 0 comments

Christian prisoners in Pakistan’s jails are suffering severe discrimination, according to a local Catholic lawyer. Moazzam Aslam Bhatti reported his claims of anti-Christian prejudice to staff from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), who are currently visiting projects which the Catholic charity is supporting in the country. Mr. Bhatti said that Christians are marginalized […]

The Not-So-Pacific Pacific

The Not-So-Pacific Pacific

Suddenly, it seems, President Obama is all about the Pacific. As he put it at a weekend summit of the region’s leaders in Hawaii, “The United States is a Pacific power and we are here to stay.” Unfortunately, thus far in his presidency, Mr. Obama has caused many of his guests to see America as […]

The Risk of Creation

The Risk of Creation

Nov 16 11 • 0 comments

“I cannot tell how you came into my womb: for I neither gave you breath nor life, neither was it I that formed the members of every one of you; but doubtless the Creator of the world, Who formed the generation of man, and found out the beginning of all things, will also of His […]

Scandals... and Hope: An Interview with Rod Bennett

Scandals… and Hope: An Interview with Rod Bennett

Nov 16 11 • 0 comments

Another day, another Catholic scandal – or that is how it seems lately. If you are like me, you are just sick of it, yesterday already. I felt myself reeling a bit with the news about German bishops, and needing a little balancing support, I decided to run a few questions by my friend Rod […]

Reconciliation: Maintenance for the Soul

Reconciliation: Maintenance for the Soul

How do you think of the Sacrament of Reconciliation? If you are like most Catholics, you probably think of it as little as possible! Or, perhaps, you think of it as something good to have available in the event you do something really, really wrong, but not something you need to concern yourself with otherwise. […]

A Parent’s Deepest Pain

A Parent’s Deepest Pain

Yesterday, someone close to me shared the pain of his son’s incarceration due to drug abuse and brushes with the law.  Also this week, I received a letter from a prisoner sentenced to twenty years for meth. He was a graduate of St. Mary’s High school where my kids go.  After reading Amazing Grace for […]

Poem: "Flame"

Poem: “Flame”

Nov 16 11 • 0 comments

Flame I tell you the trees were on fire Refulgent but never a flame, Ruby intense and a sulfur Lit from within by a name Like the halls of a palace of columns They lead to a room with a throne, Each with its top in the heavens, The arch of the spread of them […]

We Are Penn State: Complicity in the Wake of Abuse

We Are Penn State: Complicity in the Wake of Abuse

Nov 15 11 • 4 comments

All three network morning news programs opened recently with the story of the phone call firing of legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno. Hardened newscasters expressed shock that men like Paterno, Penn State president Graham Spanier, and other university officials knew that children were being abused, yet turned their backs. “Who among us,” one […]

Pope Benedict: Science Must Never Compromise Human Dignity

Pope Benedict: Science Must Never Compromise Human Dignity

Nov 15 11 • 0 comments

On Nov. 12 at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, Pope Benedict XVI addressed participants of the Nov. 9-11 international conference Adult Stem Cells: Science and the Future of Man and Culture. The Holy Father opened his remarks with praise for the various institutions exploring and promoting research on adult stem cells. Adult stem cells hold great […]

Occupiers, Wayseers, and the Catholic Church

Occupiers, Wayseers, and the Catholic Church

Nov 15 11 • 1 comment

G.K. Chesterton, in his noble goal to make the life of a Catholic blogger unbearably easy, said that “the Catholic Church is the only thing that frees a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age.” You might think I cannot possibly add to such a perfectly rounded statement of truth. And in […]

Praying in the Spirit as Catholic Men

Praying in the Spirit as Catholic Men

Nov 15 11 • 0 comments

He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:17-18) With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit. To that end, be watchful with all perseverance and supplication […]

What is Socialism?

What is Socialism?

Nov 15 11 • 10 comments

Lately, there has been the labeling of government officials, and Obama in particular, as socialists, and decrying government interventions as socialist per se. Now, I will not deny that Obama is probably a socialist of some sort at heart, and that he has many of the aberrant moral ideas as the socialists. However, the characterization […]

Extraordinary Form Comes to the College of Saint Mary Magdalen

Extraordinary Form Comes to the College of Saint Mary Magdalen

Beginning November 2, on All Souls Day, the College of Saint Mary Magdalen is now offering its students the opportunity to experience Mass in both its ordinary and extraordinary forms.  On the Commemoration of All Souls, three Masses were celebrated: a Mass chanted in English according to the ordinary form at 7:00 AM, a Missa […]

Poem: "When I Confess"

Poem: “When I Confess”

When I Confess Amidst unwonted dregs of transgress Where in this fetid pool suppress Both glint and virtuous finesse You stoop, plunge, and convalesce. Fr. Thomas Flynn, LC

It's Time to Say Good-bye to the Girl Scouts

It’s Time to Say Good-bye to the Girl Scouts

Nov 14 11 • 3 comments

Who can turn away a sweet little girl, boxes of cookies in her wagon, smiling hopefully at your front door? And who can turn down the savory pleasures to be found in every box of Thin Mints and Samoas and Savannahs? Well, I can. You see, the proceeds from the sale of Girl Scout cookies […]

On the Wisdom of God

On the Wisdom of God

Nov 14 11 • 0 comments

We testify that Jesus of Nazareth is the Incarnate Word, the very Self-expression of the Deity. This Word is the Father’s all-encompassing Articulation, the Idea in which all ideas subsist. It is in and of the Father, yet somehow distinct. In the Old Testament, this Being typically bears the name Wisdom. Wisdom is described as […]

"So That . . ." Prayers

“So That . . .” Prayers

Nov 14 11 • 1 comment

When I taught religion in a parochial middle school, part of my weekly responsibilities included writing the Prayers of the Faithful that would be read by a middle school student in our weekly Mass. I loved this part of my job! Actually, I loved every part of my job. For the first few years—before the […]

The New Roman Missal: Focus on Christology

The New Roman Missal: Focus on Christology

Nov 14 11 • 0 comments

From “We believe” to “I believe” Can a one-letter word really make a great difference?  In the case of the revised translation of the Nicene Creed in the new Roman Missal, the answer is emphatically, “Yes!” Instead of starting the Creed by saying, “We believe in one God…” we will begin by saying, “I believe […]

Work, the Curse, and Common Grace

Work, the Curse, and Common Grace

Nov 14 11 • 0 comments

That human beings were created to be creators, to work, is undeniable. The anthropological concept of homo faber, man the tool-maker, attests to this basic aspect of what it means to be human. From a Christian perspective, we confess that human beings make things in a way that imitates their Maker. While God creates “out […]