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Super Parents and the Rest of Us

Super Parents and the Rest of Us

Jun 2 11 • 4 comments

Back in prehistoric times when my wife and I were busy doing our parenting, I paid very little attention to the many books that promised to tell me how to do the job really well. My loss, I suppose. Yet I can’t help thinking my omission may have reflected a healthy instinct. After all, if […]

Poem: "Olivet"

Poem: “Olivet”

Jun 2 11 • 1 comment

Olivet To Olivet, where psalms were sung before the kiss of death had stung, where he had healed with but a touch the servant’s ear that Peter cut, the risen Lord returned that day, gave friends the charge to preach and pray, then to heaven was lifted up to set the place where we shall […]

Gates Turns off the Lights

Gates Turns off the Lights

I have been in Washington now for nearly forty years and, in all that time, I can’t recall seeing anything quite like Robert Gates’ ongoing farewell to arms. In a series of speeches over the past few days — at Notre Dame, at the American Enterprise Institute and at the Naval Academy — the outgoing Secretary of […]

Called to the Upper Room

Called to the Upper Room

Jun 2 11 • 1 comment

After Jesus ascended to heaven at Mount Olivet, the Apostles returned to the Upper Room in Jerusalem and devoted themselves to prayer (Acts 1:12-14). A novena is nine days of prayer. The nine days of prayer between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday marked the first of all novenas. At different times in our lives, God […]

The Roman Missal: Three Misconceptions

The Roman Missal: Three Misconceptions

Jun 1 11 • 1 comment

As the implementation date for the new English translation of the Roman Missal approaches (less than 180 days away at this point) now seems an appropriate time to address some of the more common misconceptions that are floating about. We’ll begin with the following three: 1. The new English translation of the Roman Missal isn’t […]

POPE'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR NOVEMBER 2013

POPE’S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR NOVEMBER 2013

GENERAL: That Priests who experience difficulties may find comfort in their suffering, support in their doubts, and confirmation in their fidelity. MISSIONARY: That as fruit of the continental mission, Latin American Churches may send missionaries to other Churches.                      

The Cruelty of Casual Canonizations

The Cruelty of Casual Canonizations

Jun 1 11 • 24 comments

In recent years it has become commonplace to turn funerals into casual canonizations. “Bob is in a better place,” we’re told, which, if taken literally, can only mean Heaven, as neither Hell nor Purgatory are better places than earth. Never mind the fact that Bob wasn‘t very generous with his time or money, drank too […]

45 Seconds: Memoirs of an ER Doctor from May 22, 2011

45 Seconds: Memoirs of an ER Doctor from May 22, 2011

My name is Dr. Kevin Kikta, and I was one of two emergency room doctors who were on duty at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, MO on Sunday, May 22, 2011.  You never know that it will be the most important day of your life until the day is over.  The day started […]

Like a Mighty Wind

Like a Mighty Wind

Jun 1 11 • 0 comments

As we approach the celebration of Pentecost we pause to consider the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit.  The first person of the Trinity is God the Father.  Known as the Creator of the universe, he is awesome.  And then there is Jesus the Son, the second person of the Trinity.  Jesus, […]

The Economics of Abundance

The Economics of Abundance

Jun 1 11 • 3 comments

The end of the world is coming soon. Not the eschaton, that final end of all things and the return to their Maker of all that is. That may come tomorrow or in 10,000 years, but in either case I don’t find the subject interesting; there is nothing much I can do about it one […]

The High-Stakes Showdown Over Medicare Reform

The High-Stakes Showdown Over Medicare Reform

The trustees of the Medicare system recently reported that the program will go broke in the year 2024—five years sooner than was projected just last year. The millions of Americans who have been counting on Medicare to be a reliable, stable guarantor of affordable healthcare in their senior years should be asking themselves, “Who is […]

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Bl. Peter To Rot – Defender of Matrimony

May 31 11 • 1 comment

One of the patron saints of World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia, was Blessed Peter To Rot, a native son of Papua New Guinea.  A second-generation Catholic during the evangelization of his Southern Pacific island in the early twentieth century, he was an exemplary husband, father and catechist.  In 1945 he suffered martyrdom at […]

Mommy Hindsight: Field Trips

Mommy Hindsight: Field Trips

May 31 11 • 0 comments

I was watching a conversation unfold on a friend’s Facebook wall about the typical daily details of having kids in elementary school. Wait wait, let me think….oh right! THOSE days! I remember them. Which makes me exhausted. It also makes me realize, with apologies to my age-bracket friends who still have little ones, I don’t […]

What We’ve Got

What We’ve Got

May 31 11 • 1 comment

Sometimes I marvel at the creative power of the human mind.  Like whoever first thought of grabbing the wind out of the sky and putting it to work for us.  Someone, somewhere long ago, needed more grain milled.  What to do?  Get more serfs, hire more hands, harness more horses.  But what if you don’t […]

Little Plots of Liberty: From Garden to City and Back Again

Little Plots of Liberty: From Garden to City and Back Again

May 30 11 • 0 comments

The economic, political, and cultural challenges facing the city of Detroit are well-known, and have received international coverage in recent months. And while hope springs eternal, there are still signs that the city’s culture of stifling bureaucracy and corruption will be difficult to reform. Nowhere is this simultaneous promise and peril of Detroit’s future more […]

Pray as Though You Were the Image and Likeness of God -- Because You Are!

Pray as Though You Were the Image and Likeness of God — Because You Are!

Far too often man seeks God in prayer merely to improve his future standing with the kingdom of heaven or in the present kingdom of man.  Recognizing his own sins, man seeks forgiveness from God in order to regain God’s favor.  Continually afflicted as he is by the wretchedness in others, man seeks God’s help […]

Web Site Review Image

Website Review: A Roadmap for Improving Your Site

May 29 11 • 0 comments

There are times when a web site review or site audit is a great resource for diagnosing whether or not your website is under performing. The truth of the matter is that all websites can be improved, including mine. But if you have major problems, they should be attended to as soon as possible. And […]

Fin de Régime in Syria?

Fin de Régime in Syria?

May 29 11 • 0 comments

The revolt in Syria offers great opportunities, humanitarian and geo-political. Western states should quickly and robustly seize the moment to dispatch strongman Bashar al-Assad and his accomplice. Many benefits will follow when they reach their appointed dustbin of history. Foreign: The malign but tactically brilliant Hafez al-Assad blighted the Middle East with disproportionate Syrian influence […]

Poem: "All In All"

Poem: “All In All”

All in All Everywhere I look, I see You suffering,                         drowning in bays and waterways as winds pass over New Orleans like an Angel of Death. I see You starving in the Serengeti, homeless in Haiti, shaken in Japan, forgotten in prison, and orphaned everywhere. Oh, do not leave us, Lord! I nail Your […]

Raising a Culture of Life

Raising a Culture of Life

May 28 11 • 1 comment

As I pulled the minivan into our garage late one night my 14-year-old son came out to help me carry in the bins and boxes of materials I had used at a talk I gave that evening at church.  I knew the real reason he was being so helpful:  I had promised to bring home […]

My Favorite Software Freebies

My Favorite Software Freebies

May 28 11 • 0 comments

We have an abundance of free software options that can help us make better use of our PC’s and Mac’s. Several of them are based in the “cloud” which means our information stays static while we are portable – we can access it wherever we have Internet access.  My favorites can make your digital life […]

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The Paraclete is On Your Side

He wore steel rimmed glasses and had hair to the middle of his back. The fringe on his buck-skinned jacket bounced as he walked. At least that was the way I was accustomed to seeing Mike as he bopped around town.  It was just a few years after Woodstock, and we were all taken with […]

<i>Heaven in the American Imagination</i>: An Interview with Dr. Gary Scott Smith

Heaven in the American Imagination: An Interview with Dr. Gary Scott Smith

May 27 11 • 2 comments

Dr. Paul Kengor: Dr. Gary Smith, describe the thesis of your new book. Dr. Gary Scott Smith: My book examines two primary questions: how have Americans conceived of heaven, and on what basis do people gain admission to heaven? My thesis is that while Americans’ beliefs about the grounds for entry to heaven have remained […]

Turkey's Christians under Siege

Turkey’s Christians under Siege

May 27 11 • 1 comment

The brutal murder of the head of Turkey’s Catholic Church, Bishop Luigi Padovese, on June 3, 2010, has rattled the country’s small, diverse, and hard-pressed Christian community.[1] The 62-year-old bishop, who spearheaded the Vatican’s efforts to improve Muslim-Christian relations in Turkey, was stabbed repeatedly at his Iskenderun home by his driver and bodyguard Murat Altun, […]