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A religious icon depicting Moses holding stone tablets with text in an ancient script and a burning bush, featuring gold background. Text reads: "АЗЪ ЕСМЬ СУЩИЙ МОИСЕЙ" and "МОНЕЙ"."

Lent Preparation: Earn an eternal merit badge this year

I’ve written before on the notion of lent being a time to fast and on the power of fasting to cast demons away. Today, people have totally shifted their concept and consider a fast “too much.”  Those who say that have that luxury only today because the Church has mitigated the impact of the second law. Consider…

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Bellarmine Forum Podcasts titled "Footnote" by Dr. Christopher Manion. Features a stylized illustration of St. Peter's Basilica with red lightning bolts above it, on a beige background."

Footnote 63: Easy Liberalism

https://media.blubrry.com/bellarmineforumfootnote/bellarmineforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/BF-Footnote-Podcast-Easy-liberalism-010514-df.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadWhy is the media so predictably liberal and anti-Catholic? And why do media “conservatives” and media “Catholics” sound so dumb?

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A screenshot of a Catholic website with text from the Gospel of Mark 9:14-29. The text discusses Jesus healing a boy possessed by an evil spirit, with the question "WHERE'S THE FASTING??" highlighted in red. The background includes a map and website elements, with green and white colors prominent."

Do the American Bishops hate fasting?

I was shell shocked today by an omission I can hardly believe. At Mass, I heard the Gospel about the possessed boy out of whom the Apostles could not drive the demon. We all know the tale:  Our Lord drives the demon out, and the Apostles ask, “Why could we not drive out the demon?”  And Our…

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Text "From Under the Rubble" over a background of rough, gray and brown stones with some green moss."

From Under the Rubble…Whistling Past the Graveyard of Empires

“1, 2, 3, 4, what’re we fightin’ for?” Old antiwar song. Afghanistan is an old war. Does anyone remember why we’re there? Hamid Karzai knows: we’re there to make him rich, powerful, and – oh yes, we forgot: the leader of a robust, American-imposed Afghan democracy. Are we there yet? Well, it’s a long, hard…

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The Catholic Thing: Five Years of a Singular Website book cover featuring an orange and yellow sky over old European buildings with domes, including St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Edited by Robert Royal, preface by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput.

“A Steady and Invigorating Catholic Light”

by Guest Author, Daniel J. Kelly The Catholic Thing:  Five Years of a Singular Website Robert Royal, Editor St. Augustine’s Press Paperback, $20 The blogging age has unwittingly renewed an old thing: book writing by serial installments. The website known as The Catholic Thing has raised the bar in both blogging and books by publishing…

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“The Interests of a Few”

                    The theories of the social contract…were elaborated at the end of the 17th century (cf. Hobbes): that which would bring harmony among men was a law recognized by reason and commanding respect by an enlightened prince who incarnates the general will. Here, too, when the common…

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The Bellarminf Forum: Stephanie Block reviews "A Match on Dry Grass" by Mark R. Warren, Karen L. Mapp, and the Community Organizing and School Reform Project. The cover features a black-and-white photo of people gathered together, with the title and author names prominently displayed in white text against a blue background."

Controlled Burn, Alinskyian organizing, and Common Core (Book Review)

Controlled Burn Alinskyian organizing and Common Core: A Book Review of A Match on Dry Grass: Community Organizing as a Catalyst for School Reform By Mark R. Warren, Karen L. Mapp, and the Community Organizing and School Reform Project, Oxford University Press (2011) The title of this book, A Match on Dry Grass, is a…

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Bellarmine Forum Podcasts titled "Footnote" by Dr. Christopher Manion. Features a stylized illustration of St. Peter's Basilica with red lightning bolts above it, on a beige background."

Footnote 62: Fatherhood

https://media.blubrry.com/bellarmineforumfootnote/bellarmineforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/BF-Footnote-Podcast-Fatherhood-010514-df.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadDo fathers make a difference? Two distinguished observers of the American scene think so. Professor Walter Williams and Dr. Patrick Fagan offer findings that don’t fit in to the politically correct view of our society and culture.

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Medjugorje

For decades now, I’ve been assaulted by people who insist that Medjugorje is worth attention. They would send messages, daily messages, and talk of it endlessly. Some are still that way. I’ve never been convinced. I’ll talk about Fatima all day long. The alleged events at Medjugorje have always struck me as “off.” Since I’m on a roll of…

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Black and white illustration of a devilish figure with text: "Fr. Hardon: Three reasons why the devil is so strong today by John B. Manos." Catholic-themed discussion on demonic influence."

Fr. Hardon: Three reasons why the devil is so strong today.

Fr. Hardon gives the 3 reasons causing “the rise of heresy and the participation of priests & religious in the acceptance of homosexuality … why is the devil so strong today.

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