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Hilarion Visits USA: Russia and Her Mission, Part Three

Hilarion Visits USA: Russia and Her Mission, Part Three

Feb 25 11 • 1 comment

Just as all this was about to happen in Rome (see part one, part two), the head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department of External Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, was engaged in an unprecedented week-long trip to the USA in early February Unprecedented because it involved meeting not only with other Russian Orthodox living in America, […]

A Ray of Hope

A Ray of Hope

Feb 25 11 • 0 comments

There was good news in the Minneapolis paper, the StarTribune on Wednesday, February 16, 2011. The headline read Americans are working to pare their debt and rebuild their savings. The sub-headline was “Credit card debt is down 15 percent from mid 2008, the savings rate has tripled.” Embedded in the article by Neil Irwin of […]

Gaddafi's Fin de Régime

Gaddafi’s Fin de Régime

Feb 25 11 • 1 comment

The violent demise of the Middle East’s longest-ruling leader – who came to office in September 1969, just a few months after Richard Nixon – stands well outside the mainstream of the region’s politics, but then Moammer Gaddafi always did. Gaddafi (for the record, the correct spelling of his name is Mu’ammar al-Qadhdhfi) began his […]

Book Review: <em>A Guide to Christian Meditation</em>

Book Review: A Guide to Christian Meditation

Feb 25 11 • 0 comments

Prayer is important, so critical to the believer’s daily regimen that there are books out there to guide him/her through the process if need be. Meditation is one of the most misinterpreted and under utilized form of prayer. Probably due to the busyness of daily life, it would bring such peace in the same amount […]

Rebuilding the Church in Haiti

Rebuilding the Church in Haiti

Feb 25 11 • 0 comments

A Haitian bishop has spoken about his plans to rebuild both his earthquake-shattered cathedral and the broken lives of the people in his diocese. Speaking during a visit to the international headquarters of Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Bishop Launay Saturné of Jacmel described his calling to bring the love of […]

<em>Burst</em> by Kevin Wells -- A Beautifully Written Catholic Memoir

Burst by Kevin Wells — A Beautifully Written Catholic Memoir

Feb 24 11 • 0 comments

Burst: A Story of God’s Grace When Life Falls Apart  is the Catholic memoir to read when you want a well-written, inspirational story that won’t take weeks to complete.  It’s a small book with a big message and one-of-a-kind stories I met Kevin Wells through our editor.  We both went through the same publishing house, Servant […]

Revolutionary Chickens

Revolutionary Chickens

When I look out my kitchen window, I see seven girls dressed in plain black and white with just a touch of red on their bonnets. They chatter all day long and love to sunbathe. They pick at each other, they eat non-stop and don’t gain weight.  These girls are industrious if querulous farmhands. They […]

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My Story of Becoming a Mom, Part Three: Having It All

Feb 24 11 • 0 comments

I feel that for the most part it is a myth that women can have it all — at least at the same time. I have been the primary breadwinner in my household since my marriage 5+ years ago, working as an RN Case Manager at a health insurance company. My earning potential is more […]

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Rooms in My Father’s House

Feb 24 11 • 2 comments

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. ~ John 14:2a When I was a young parent (well not so young but let’s say a new parent) I scoured books searching for parenting tips and techniques. I can remember once reading something to the effect that “by now you should recognize your baby’s cry” and […]

Benedict Receives Medvedev: Russia and Her Mission, Part Two

Benedict Receives Medvedev: Russia and Her Mission, Part Two

Pope Benedict XVI and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met for 35 minutes on Thursday, February 17, in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican. This meeting was rather long — sometimes such meetings with national leaders only last 20 or 25 minutes. You can watch the public parts of the visit on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7z6kK3XfdU  The two […]

Just the Facts. Not!

Just the Facts. Not!

Feb 24 11 • 1 comment

It was a slow Saturday afternoon in the newsroom of the Washington Daily News. This was the fall of 1956, and the News, a Scripps Howard tabloid, published six days a week but not Sunday. When the last Saturday edition was off our hands, the rest of the day could be mighty quiet. A sub-editor […]

Mainstreaming Radical Islam

Mainstreaming Radical Islam

Feb 24 11 • 1 comment

The term “useful idiot” is believed to have been coined by Vladimir Lenin. It originally described liberal Communist sympathizers in Western nations who, as the Soviet leader explained, would “sell us (Soviet Russia) the rope with which we will hang them (the West).”   Today’s useful idiots are a swath from that same politically correct cloth. […]

Teaching Teens the Truth about Sin

Teaching Teens the Truth about Sin

Feb 24 11 • 4 comments

I never cease to be amazed by what can be included in a high school “health” curriculum these days. I was recently looking at a health course for ninth graders, which included such topics as “contraception,” “decision-making” skills, “sexual orientations,” as well as “what to know about health care facilities, costs and sources of payment.” […]

Scandalous Air Tanker Decision: Despite Corruption, EADS Favored Over U.S.-Based Boeing

Scandalous Air Tanker Decision: Despite Corruption, EADS Favored Over U.S.-Based Boeing

Within days, the Obama Pentagon is expected to decide which supplier to rely upon for what is, arguably, the cornerstone of America’s ability to project power for the next forty years: the next generation aerial refueling tanker known as the KC-X.  The choice for this role – which is worth conservatively $40 billion – would […]

Dearborn, MI Officials Sued to End Their Imposition of Sharia Law

Dearborn, MI Officials Sued to End Their Imposition of Sharia Law

The Thomas More Law Center announced today that the City of Dearborn, its Mayor, John B. O’Reilly, its Chief of Police, Ronald Haddad, 17 City police officers, and two executives of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce were named as defendants in a ninety-six page federal civil rights lawsuit filed in the Federal District Court […]

Wisconsin Unions vs. Governor Walker: A Battle for the Soul of America

Wisconsin Unions vs. Governor Walker: A Battle for the Soul of America

It is hard to overstate what is at stake in the dramatic showdown between Wisconsin’s teachers and their Republican governor and legislature. The political and economic course of our country hinges on how the issue of public-sector unions is resolved, in Wisconsin and elsewhere. For the sake of our country’s political and economic future, Gov. […]

Migrants, in a spiritual sense

Migrants, in a spiritual sense

The town of Princeville, where I was proud to serve for 10 years, has had migrant workers from Texas since the 1930’s, mostly to harvest and process pumpkins.  I quickly learned, upon arrival, that these good people and their children were often neglected when they returned home for Winter.  I would make the point, at […]

Did You Just Turn Your Website Into A Video Commercial?

Did You Just Turn Your Website Into A Video Commercial?

Feb 23 11 • 0 comments

“Video requires your visitor to switch from an active mode to a passive mode, which may not be the best thing to get a lead or sale.” I’ve noticed a recent trend with respect to video being used on websites. Often I will visit a home page and almost as soon as the page opens, […]

The Fuller Brush Man

The Fuller Brush Man

Feb 22 11 • 2 comments

I admit there were times growing up when us kids rolled our eyes at the strange ways of Mom and Dad.  The Old Coots (as they are sometimes known) could just be so out-of-step with the times.  Granted, this was partly due to circumstances.  My folks raised eight kids in the seventies, which were decidedly […]

Satan’s Attack On The Church – What You Can Do!

Satan’s Attack On The Church – What You Can Do!

Feb 22 11 • 8 comments

“The Catholic Church —  and I am a life-long member — has disgraced itself beyond belief. If evidence should be revealed that a Cardinal was implicit in this cover-up, he should be indicted. I’m having trepidation as I prepare to attend Mass this morning. I’m afraid that if my pastor reads The Cardinal’s BS letter, […]

Cut Deeply

Cut Deeply

Feb 22 11 • 1 comment

I cut our dog this past weekend. I mean, I literally cut her! I was grooming her and intended to cut her hair but caught her skin instead, making a painful gash in her back leg. She yelped and jumped, whirling her head around and looking back at me in complete bewilderment. The tears came […]

"A Fourth Rome There Will Not Be" -- Russia and Her Mission, Part One

“A Fourth Rome There Will Not Be” — Russia and Her Mission, Part One

“Two Romes have fallen, but the third stands, and a fourth there will not be.” —The Russian Monk Philotheus, c. 1520, referring to Rome, Constantinople (“New Rome”) and Moscow “In the afternoon Tatiana stayed indoors and read from the prophets Amos and Obadiah… “Commandant Yurovsky got up from his chair, went out on to the […]

Welcome Baby Seven Billion!

Welcome Baby Seven Billion!

Feb 22 11 • 1 comment

Sometime late this year a baby will emerge from the womb of its mother, draw its first breath, and announce its arrival into the world with a tiny cry. Thus will Baby Seven Billion be born. Everyone agrees that Baby Seven Billion’s birthday—the day that our planet becomes home to seven billion human beings—marks an […]

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My Story of Becoming a Mom, Part Two: Adoption, a Second Choice, not Second Best

Feb 22 11 • 0 comments

For birthparents, adoptive parents and adoptees, adoption is almost never first choice. The choice of most birthparents would obviously be to avoid an unplanned/unwanted pregnancy. The first choice of most adoptive parents would be to achieve parenthood through the more traditional route, rather than to become parents after a long journey of scrutiny, paperwork, financial […]