Archive for February, 2008
« Previous EntriesThe Barack-ing Point?
Friday, February 29th, 2008The other day Tim Staples emailed me an article regarding Barack Obama’s address this past summer to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. In his speech, Senator Obama attacked the Supreme Court decision that upheld the federal partial-birth abortion law, as well as the nomination of Supreme Court justices who favor overturning Roe v. Wade. In the […]
Recent Survey on U.S. Religious Behavior
Thursday, February 28th, 2008I have been reading with interest some of the results of the recent “Religious Landscape Survey” conducted by the Pew Forum. Some of the reported statistics concerning Catholicism are especially disturbing. For example, approximately 1 in 10 Americans is a fallen-away Catholic; approximately one third of children who are raised Catholic eventually leave the Church. In selecting a church, Americans are […]
Thanks for Everything
Thursday, February 28th, 2008Gratitude is the appropriate response when receiving a gift. Too often we take our lives for granted and don’t adequately acknowledge our abundant blessings. Sometimes, however, we may recognize the gift but not recognize the Giver. Instead, we take the credit ourselves. We “make our own breaks” and when things go our way, we are […]
The Glory of These Forty Days
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008My favorite Lenten hymn is “The Glory of These Forty Days.” What I like so much about it is its simple melody coupled with lyrics attributed to St. Gregory the Great that clearly teach us–or at least remind us–what Lent is all about.
The glory of these forty days
We celebrate with songs of praise;
For Christ, […]
New Statement Responds to Campaign Events at Catholic Colleges
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008Following a series of campaign events by pro-abortion presidential candidates on Catholic college campuses, a coalition of influential Catholic organizations today released a statement urging all Catholic institutions to refuse to host politicians who oppose Catholic teaching on serious moral issues.
The statement was organized by The Cardinal Newman Society, a group that works to renew […]
Will Shields and the Objective Superiority of Consecrated Life
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008As Pope John Paul II affirmed in his 1996 apostolic exhortation Vita Consecrata (Consecrated Life), “Christian tradition has always spoken of the objective superiority of the consecrated life” (no. 18).
In today’s “tyranny of relativism,” there is a built-in suspicion of any and all claims to objective truth. But in this particular case, even some faithful Catholics […]
Contraception and the Sexual Revolution
Monday, February 25th, 2008There is less talk today about the Sexual Revolution than there was in the eighties, and that’s because the revolution has become institutionalized. What seemed revolutionary in the 1960s became commonplace by the end of the 20th century.
Back in the 1950s, contraception, though widely practiced by non-Catholics, was still a taboo subject; people didn’t talk […]
Bishop Rhoades, Sungenis, and the Jews
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008In recent months, Catholic apologist Robert Sungenis has made defamatory statements concerning his bishop, Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades of Harrisburg. These statements have arisen in the context of Sungenis’ writings concerning Judaism and the Jewish people, which many, including Bishop Rhoades, have found to be hostile, uncharitable, and un-Christian in their tone and erroneous in their […]
Dare to Discipline
Thursday, February 21st, 2008I used to listen to a talk radio host who would say, “In the department store of life, sports is, after all, the toy department.” Surely that’s a useful message for us “weekend warriors.”
But let’s take that comment a step further. In the department store of life, is our faith merely a department–and a “boring” […]
The Substance of Hope
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008In his new encyclical Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI notes that “in the eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews (v. 1) we find a kind of definition of faith which closely links this virtue with hope.” He carefully explains that the most precise translation of that verse is “faith is the substance of things hoped […]
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