Forum Asides

John B. Manos : On EWTN discussing Religious Liberty

Bellarmine Forum Board Member John B. Manos discussing religious liberty in the courts with Colin Donovan on EWTN theology round table. Focusing on what the near future holds for those who hold on to Catholic beliefs, we can see the media use court decisions to whip up angry mobs in what can be called “trial by…

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Dr. Art Hippler : Comparing classical Jesuit and Progressive views on Education

Bellarmine Forum Board Member Dr. Art Hippler speaking on classical education. An excellent lecture! Dr. Hippler, Chairman of Theology at Providence Academy, Minnesota, compares classical Jesuit and modern Progressive views of education.

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Eating Gyros on Good Friday? Kiril Sends Message to Francis on the Easter Date

Being half Greek and enjoying a gyro, while at the same time enjoying the meat-free Great Lent can cause some peculiar cravings once Easter season arrives each year. My Polish half cannot fathom  Easter Sunday without ham. Kielbasa is nice, but ham. Ham. Ham with horseradish. Ham with hard boiled egg. Ham slice on babka bread. There’s always a little tension, however,…

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A Different Take on Laudato Si: The Church Could Change a Lot Directly

It shouldn’t surprise Bellarmine Forum readers that I’ll have an opinion posted here regarding Pope Francis’s Laudato Si encyclical forthcoming. Readers may not be aware of my background as a chemical engineer, environmental work (even worked for the Army Corps of Engineers on water quality), and that I was an Assistant Attorney General in Michigan for…

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Calling Jesus a Liar: Anglican Style (which is twenty years behind AmChurch fashion trends)

It was over twenty years ago, at a daily Mass in Cincinnati (the head of the AmChurch hydra), when I first heard someone try to pray the “Our Mother” prayer. They also liked to say the Suscipe with the fantasy option, ending it with the “her Church.” [that was the older english form at the time, so naturally it…

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The Fix is in:  World Russian Council calls to remove abortions from the system of mandatory medical insurance

One of the earliest things the Bolsheviks did after destroying churches in an ISIS fashion was legalize abortion. In 1920, they cried that women were procuring back street illegal abortions and all they wanted to do was make it safe. They made a law permitting it to be performed in hospitals. Note the logic, the incremental approach. The initial…

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Four Year Old Lily Gets it, Do You?

There’s just some things that you come across and you know it’s something really special. I was glad that the Wold family let me share with you here a special story from their four year old daughter, Lily. Debra, Lily’s mom, shared on Facebook that last night after dinner, Lily got up from the table, walked…

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What this Russian Defense Minister did Shames American Catholics

I was tickled yesterday when someone sent me a link to this article and highlighted that us Catholics used to do this. In Russia, however, it seems that Catholic practices are proudly public again (unlike here). Reports Russian media:  Before beginning the Victory Day Parade in Moscow’s Red Square, Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoygu crossed himself. The journalists…

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Cremation Gets Funky

I don’t think people like to talk about their own funeral preparations. The Pope and most religious have to make theirs on the first day of their office. The rest of us are free to do whatever whenever, and some never even consider it leaving it to family to figure out. I know one thing:  I do not…

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Vatican smacks down Medjugorje Ivan talk in St. Louis

In case you missed it earlier this week, there is a bunch of ruffled feathers in the land of major googoo. St. Louis archdiocese sent a reminder to the faithful this week that we should not be promoting the story fantasies of this alleged vision.  Probably because they’ve read the lives of the visionaries as…

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