Regular Contributions
A Dehumanized Form of Development
The presumed frontrunner to serve as the next President of the United States recently delivered the keynote address to the UN where she characterized abortion as essential to “human development.” Per CNN: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a Friday speech at the United Nations to tie women’s reproductive rights with the broader goal…
Ash Wednesday–Station at S. Sabina
The traditional devotion of the Roman Lenten Stations (or the Stational Churches of Rome), allows us to unite our hearts and minds in our Lenten devotions with the Church of Rome as we spiritually visit the ancient churches and basilicas of the City (Stationalium Ecclesiarum Urbis visitatio). For your devotional life this Lent, consider making…
Lent Preparation: Mite Boxes and Almsgiving
Yesterday, I received in the mail a very simple little device: a mite box. Meant to be like a little donations box in the church, the mite box is perfect to be placed in the home during lent in an area where it will be seen as a way to remind us during lent that we…
Pope Francis to Bishops: “we do not need a manager, a CEO of a company”
Just today, Pope Francis spoke to the Congregation of Bishops (reported in Italian here). Yesterday, I asked “if the pope will take care of the Vatican, and I will take care of cleaning myself up, who takes care of the middle?” It appears Pope Francis answered that question today! Speaking to the Bishops, he declared:…
PBS Frontline: Secrets of the Vatican – a secular review of the symptoms of error
Yesterday, PBS Frontline ran a show titled, “Secrets of the Vatican” – an hour and a half show. PBS’s own description of the show is as follows: In Secrets of the Vatican, FRONTLINE tells the epic, inside story of the collapse of the Benedict papacy and illuminates the extraordinary challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries…
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…
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…
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…
Catholic Dictionary: Menticide?
I was looking for something recently in my copy of Fr. John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary when I noticed an entry that caught my eye: Menticide. Mind killing. “The systematic effort to break down the beliefs and allegiances of a person by physical or psychological means, in order to substitute one’s own. Also called brain-washing, it…
A New Roman Question
Being a Latin teacher and an attorney (a deadly cocktail if ever there was one), I read with great interest the reports of Justice Antonin Scalia’s comments this past week of the possibility of the reappearance of internment camps here in the United States. The reason for such reappearance was left vague, other than to mention…
