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This Goes Beyond Abortion

As of press time, the U.S. House and Senate were still haggling over legislation to fund the federal government through the end of the current fiscal year. One of the leading disputes is over whether to allow the largest provider of abortions in the U.S. — Planned Parenthood —  access to federal funds. The House […]

Comic: Darwin

Youthful Joy

 “Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam.” I memorized those Latin words when I was in first grade. Yes, in first grade. I was 6 ½ years old. Those were the first words spoken by an altarboy in response to the priest’s opening words of the Mass. The priest would make the sign of the Cross […]

Which Came First: The Chicken or the Easter Egg? Consumer Awareness or Social Justice?

The season of Easter baskets and pastel blue and pink and green eggs is upon us, although many of us still have these in the behind-the-scenes preparation stage.  We have turned our face toward Jerusalem and the way is not so rosy. Not yet. Not until after Good Friday and Holy Saturday. But who knew […]

Free Speech Wins in Battle Over Anti-Jihad Bus Ads

A Michigan Federal Judge yesterday ordered a Detroit-area transportation authority to display an anti-Jihad advertisement on its buses. Judge Denise Page Hood granted an injunction request filed by the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) to reverse the bus authority’s refusal to display the ads, which state, “Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community […]

Will I Scar My Kids For Life?

“Thanks Mom,” said my daughter as I handed her a pile of clean laundry.  “You’re welcome.” I turned around to fold the Fruit of the Looms but she continued. “Thanks for bringing me into this world, for clean laundry and for helping me through hard times.” And then she was gone. I peered out around […]

Prayer, the Heart of a Vocation

I was raised in a very small town, roughly 1,000 people all together, even including the surrounding countryside.  To say everyone knew everyone would be an understatement!  Despite the small size, and the fact that only 50% of the town is Catholic (Lutherans and Methodists make up the rest), my home parish has sent five […]

The JP2 Generation Tells Its Story: Part Four, Statia (Sullivan) Brown

Presented in cooperation with Greg Schlueter and JP2Journey.com: The JP2 Generation Tells Its Story, remembering World Youth Day 2002 and the impact of Pope John II. Part Four, Statia (Sullivan) Brown Every morning the WYD participants attended Catechetical sessions with hundreds of others to learn more about our Catholic faith.  We heard from different cardinals, […]

Defending Traditional Marriage: Washington State vs. Maine — 2009

“As Maine goes, so goes the nation.” On election day, November 2009, the Pine Tree State harkened back to its old bellwether status — at least on the issue of same sex marriage. Defying the governor, the legislature, and the other powers-that-be (except the churches), stalwart citizens upheld the historical definition of marriage. By a […]

Spring Lenten Cleaning

“How do you do it all?” a friend asked me years ago about my schedule. “I’m a lousy housekeeper,” was my answer. This year for Lent, besides thinking of what we were giving up, I tried adding something for our family: a deep clean of our house, a room a week. We have our daily […]

Listen to My Voice

When we think about God’s voice, do the Old Testament images come to mind? Do we think only about the prophets of old who seemed able to perceive God’s voice directly? That was then; this is now. God doesn’t speak out loud to people anymore. Or does he? Perhaps he doesn’t come swooping down on […]

Santi Cosma e Damiano

Today we visit the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian. Cosmas and Damian excelled in medicine and offered their services for free. During the Diocletian persecutions, they were arrested. Because they would not renounce their faith, they were tortured. They suffered no injury during an attempted drowning or when they were burned. Crucifixion did not […]

Spiritual Dryness: “I Don’t Feel Anything!”

One of the most comforting feelings that we can experience is a sensation of peace, or even joy, when we pray.  For many of us, this feeling was most pronounced at the time when we first made a decision to commit our lives to the Lord.  Unfortunately, equally as common is the feeling of dryness […]

Death in Springtime: Recalling Terri Schindler Schiavo

It was the first day of spring in 2005. I was at the florist  in the seaside village where I grew up, assembling a basket of flowering spring plants for my sister who had just given birth. To have my hands immersed in budding greenery, inhaling earthy scents, replaced for a few moments the pall […]

No Compulsion in Religion

My Apologies to Shakespeare and to Jimmy Buffet (But we’re all dhimmis now) Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears: I come to bury Uncle Sam, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Uncle Sam And those […]

John Paul II, Family Size, and Christian Prudence

Years ago, after attending a natural family planning class my husband and I had taught, one of the students called me to tell me why she wasn’t coming to the next class.  After a brief span of conversation that let me know she felt very intimate with God, she proceeded to inform me that the […]

Thirty Years Ago: When President Reagan Was Shot

On March 30, 1981, Ronald Reagan, president for merely 10 weeks, stepped outside the Washington Hilton. What happened next was an image millions would soon witness on their TV screens: America’s 40th president raised his arm to ward off a question from a reporter and then, seconds later, bullets crackled the air. Chaos ensued. More […]

What’s a Baby Cost?

When my wife and I found out we were having our first baby, I was ecstatic.  The coming of the new baby filled all my thoughts.  I got to be a boring conversationalist, with only one topic to discuss.  It was uncanny the connections I now saw (which had never been apparent to me before) […]

San Sisto

Today we visit San Sisto Vecchio, Saint Sixtus the Old. Named ‘the old’ because it is the oldest monastery in Rome. Twice throughout our Lenten Station pilgrimage I’ve mentioned the story of Saint Lawrence meeting up with Pope Saint Sixtus II while the Holy Father was headed towards his martyrdom. This church is built over […]

Teenagers and “Mom Power”

“There’s no food in our house. There’s never any food in our house. Who ate all the brownies? I didn’t even get one. When is the next somebody is going to the store? There’s nothing to do today. I’m so bored. Why do I have to clean the kitchen again? I cleaned it yesterday morning. […]

Dealing with Distractions During Prayer

Perhaps somewhere out there are women who can completely empty their minds and focus totally on God. I’m sorry to say that I am not one of them — never have been. Just by way of example, there are times I have said an entire rosary and realized at the end of it that my mind […]

Supreme Court to Decide Groundbreaking Church Employment Case

[Yesterday] the Supreme Court said it would decide a groundbreaking First Amendment case concerning the right of churches and other religious employers to freely choose the people who will lead their congregations, instruct their faithful, and speak for the church. The lower courts agree that these employees cannot sue their employers when that would put […]

Four Middle Eastern Upheavals

After decades of stasis, the Middle East is in uproar. With too much going on to focus on a single place, here’s a review of developments in four key countries. Libya: With most Americans not quite realizing it, their government haphazardly went to war on Mar. 19 versus Mu’ammar al-Qaddafi’s Libya. Hostilities were barely acknowledged, […]

Durbin Launches the ‘Anti-Pete King’ Hearing

How curious.  At the very moment that the threat posed to U.S. interests by the toxic Islamist organization known as the Muslim Brotherhood is becoming ever more palpable, a top Senate Democrat seems determined to suppress Americans’ understanding of that menace. Even the New York Times is now acknowledging the obvious: the principal beneficiary of […]