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Enough is Enough

Human beings have always had an extraordinary capacity for self-delusion. We justify horrible things by telling ourselves that we are acting in the service of a noble cause, or by dehumanizing the victims of our unjust actions. History is littered with the corpses of innocent men and women who died in the name of their […]

On Manliness: Perseverance

Aug 25 15 • Michael Lane • 8 comments

Manliness. Thanks to websites like the Art of Manliness, Catholic Gentlemen, Whiskey Catholic and many others, the internet is a buzz with discussion of what makes a man a man. What traits, virtues, and abilities must a man exhibit to be considered a true man, and not an adolescent adult? Is he judged by his […]

Planned Parenthood Skirts Laws Around the Globe

Aug 24 15 • Rebecca Oas Ph.D. • 0 comments

For over two decades, the UN has maintained a compromise: abortion is not a human right, but where it is legal, it should be safe – at least, for the mother. Planned Parenthood has long fought to erode legal protections for the unborn, but recent events reveal that the global abortion provider has little regard […]

Adulterers, ‘Your Sin Will Find You Out’

Aug 24 15 • J. Matt Barber • 2 comments

“Judge not, lest ye be judged” is among the most frequently-uttered passages in the Bible, particularly by those who wish to shut down any discussion on some objectively immoral behavior. Even so, this opening verse from Matthew 7:1-3 is also among the Scriptures’ most misrepresented and, consequently, misunderstood passages. As verses 2 and 3 conclude, […]

American Churches 20 Years from Now

Aug 24 15 • Zachary Gappa • 0 comments

For generations it’s been easy to live as a Christian in America. We have lived in a culture that largely assumed and supported Christianity or at least Christian moral principles. Even the Deists among our Founding Fathers operated within the structural framework and assumptions that undergird Christianity. Over the past few decades, we have seen […]

Poem: “Daddy”

Aug 23 15 • Guy McClung • 1 comment

Daddy By ten, I thought “paranoid schizophrenic” meant “father”. And “son” came to mean surviving. But as I got older, there was power in saying words That made the scar on your forehead flame red. But sometimes I felt moments of goodness. I was your son. You demanded I look at you and not cry […]

Heart Speaks to Heart

Aug 22 15 • Rev. Tucker Cordani • 0 comments

SHE DIED ANYWAY. Decay in the marrow. Radiation robbed her radiance. Fragile peals of thunder protected summer showers that watered her flowers. If the thunder don’t get you then the lightning will. Life submits to death. My parents, Moose and Sylvia, made an odd couple, like an elephant and a tickbird. He was Oscar. She […]

No, Son, You CAN’T Be Whatever You Want

Aug 20 15 • Misty • 4 comments

One thing most loving parents say to their kids at one time or another is, “Honey, you can be anything you want to be when you grow up!” I used to think this was a wonderfully affirming statement—until I became Catholic. Reprinted with permission from CatholicSistas.com. I was married and pregnant with my first child […]

We All Need Our Daily Bread

Aug 19 15 • Mike Eisenbath • 0 comments

What are the staples of your diet? What is essential? A well-balanced, nutritional diet is important to a healthy physical, mental, emotional and spiritual life. And I don’t mean only the food we eat. Food is important, of course. For me, there’s fruit such as pineapple, cantaloupe, grapes, bananas – I love to eat those […]

Poem: “Wisdom, Come”

Aug 19 15 • Joann Nelander • 0 comments

Wisdom, Come Wisdom, come sit beside me. Come, quiet my soul with Your whisper of peace. Come, with heavenly companionship. Come and remain, all my life long. Wisdom, come here beside me. Copyright 2015 Joann Nelander

Movie Review: The Gift

Aug 19 15 • Sr. Helena Burns, fsp • 0 comments

Looking for a tight suspense thriller? Look no further than The Gift, the weak-titled, but strongly-executed directorial debut of the ever-fascinating Joel Edgerton (who also wrote and stars ). The trailer is not a trailer, but a spoiler, so don’t even watch it. You’ll know far too much at the outset. The one thing I […]

No Life. No Peace.

Aug 19 15 • Robert J. Gieb • 0 comments

There are few people who would deny that they want peace in our violent world. Catholics pray for it at every Mass: Dona nobis pacem. Some have bumper stickers with Pope Paul VI’s much quoted statement for his 1972 Message for that year’s Day of World Peace: “If you want peace, work for justice.” St […]

Amnesty Credits UN for Pro-Prostitution Policy

Aug 19 15 • Rebecca Oas Ph.D. • 0 comments

Amnesty International voted Tuesday to urge the decriminalization of all aspect of the sex trade, and said the new policy was based on input from the World Health Organization and UN Women. The vote follows weeks of intense debate on an issue that has split feminists, celebrities, and experts who warn that prostitution is fueling […]

The Primordial Nature of Joy

Aug 19 15 • Mark Davis Pickup • 0 comments

The most infuriatingly sublime aspect about Joy is that it can not be controlled or harnessed. It can not be summoned by an act of will. True Joy simply occurs at the most unexpected moments; then it vanishes, like a wisp of smoke. It is more fleeting than infancy. I do not think God originally intended […]

The Birds and the Bees and Children’s Literature

Aug 19 15 • Jennifer Lahl • 1 comment

When my children were younger we spent a lot of time at our local public library. We went to the weekly story time and the annual fairs, joined the summer reading programs to win prizes for books read, and spent a lot of time sitting on rugs and tiny chairs reading, reading, and reading. It’s […]

Traditionalism and Being “Pastoral”

Aug 18 15 • Kevin M. Tierney • 1 comment

Hello William, In your previous letter, you outlined your concern about in whether traditionally minded priests can actually govern in the American Church. I have delayed in responding (and still respond reluctantly) because I’m not really sure what exactly you are looking for. For every case of a “traditional” priest behaving autocratically, can we not […]

Are the Divorced and Remarried Excommunicated? What Francis Meant

Aug 17 15 • Karee Santos • 5 comments

Untangling one of Pope Francis’ public statements often resembles taking a final exam. “How many inaccurate implications can be drawn from Pope Francis’ statement? Explain why they are inaccurate, referencing canon law, Church history, and prevailing cultural trends.” For example, take his recent statement that divorced persons who remarry outside the Church are “by no […]

Poem: “The Gardener”

Aug 16 15 • Michele Marie • 0 comments

The Gardener Never covered in winter Never watered But for the whims of chance clouds Never fed But by the searching’s of desperate roots No cultured rose is this And yet And yes This one is exquisite Let us bring it To our gardens Giving color Where before was only cultured foliage We will find […]

The Banality of Evil, Redux: Do Planned Parenthood Officials Sin?

Aug 14 15 • Bob Kurland • 2 comments

“The net effect of this language system was not to keep these people ignorant of what they were doing, but to prevent them from equating it with their old, “normal” knowledge of murder and lies. Eichmann’s great susceptibility to catch words and stock phrases, combined with his incapacity for ordinary speech, made him, of course, […]

Are You Spiritually Neglecting Your Children?

Aug 13 15 • Marlon De La Torre • 0 comments

Blessed Cardinal Newman once said that “Faith is illuminative, not operative; it does not force obedience, though it increases responsibility; it heightens guilt, but it does not prevent sin. The will is the source of action.” When you take a moment to analyze Blessed Newman’s words, they can easily be directed toward the spiritual relationship […]

The Bread That Satisfies

Aug 12 15 • Mike Eisenbath • 0 comments

What do you want from God? Wait, are you saying you don’t believe in God? Or you aren’t sure? Are you feeling like you will get to the “God stuff” some time later in life? Or that you’ve tried the whole faith thing before – maybe even felt you gave it a really good shot […]

Pilsen Snow: Poems

Aug 10 15 • Philip Kolin • 0 comments

In Pilsen Snow, Philip C. Kolin has written a collection of poems that share his stories of growing up as one of many Czeck immigrants in Pilsen: a neighborhood located on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. I have had the privilege of reading Kolin’s poems over the years. His are of a standard that many, including myself, aim to achieve. It […]

Grand Procession of Vatican II Council Fathers, 11 October 1962

Synods Are Not Councils

Aug 10 15 • Guy McClung, J.D., Ph.D. • 4 comments

Last week when the “presider” at the “meal” at the local protestant-Catholic community preached that a “synod”” is a “council” and that throughout Church history “synod” and “council” have meant the same thing, it should have come as no surprise. But I was stunned. Of course, his words are utterly false. When the shock wore […]

When Things Fall Apart Inside

Aug 9 15 • Mary Kochan • 5 comments

Depression. A dictionary or thesaurus gives us some striking synonyms: a hollow, a cavity, a sinkhole. It is where something inside has given way causing the surface to fall in. The person experiencing depression has had that experience — the experience of something inside giving way, the loss of some internal structure or support. Elijah […]