Columbus Day has been an official holiday in the United States since 1937, except in three states — Nevada, South Dakota, and Hawaii. The day was never much on my own radar screen since the second Monday of October was always Thanksgiving in my home country. Christopher Columbus has been vilified as well as defended … Read more
Popular Catholic blogger Jeff Miller of the Curt Jester thinks my notion of a Catholic Tea Party is a “bad idea.” It may, in fact, be a bad idea, but if so, not for the reasons he gives. There’s no need to rehearse the entire argument, because it comprises variations on a single theme: the … Read more
With less than a month to go before the mid-term elections, and with Catholic Democrats who voted for Obamacare in trouble, the Catholic Health Association is determined to do all it can to help remove the stigma. As everyone should know by now, Sr. Carol Keehan, CHA president, has been in the foreground of those … Read more
On the first day of the new year, in anticipation of his declaration of “Total War” twelve days later, Adolf Hitler had decided to make better use of manpower, weapons, and armor-plating by scrapping the High Seas Fleet. On January 3, Canadian troops landed in North Africa, one week before the Soviet Red Army entered … Read more
After following the Flash-driven interactive linked below, I feel like I actually understand why we have so much unemployment right now, even though we’re in recovery mode. The interactive can’t be imported, but you should follow this link and watch it yourself. I am so much better educated as a result of this series of … Read more
Heather King, whose memoir Redeemed Matthew Lickona reviewed for IC here, has a new blog at “Shirt of Flame” that’s well worth your time. Last Friday, she reflected on Simone Weil, the French philosopher whom King (affectionately) calls a “Catholic-in-spirit nutcase,” and the motivations behind Weil’s refusal to be baptized in the Church — in … Read more
You’ve probably seen stories about the collapse of the honey bee colonies in the United States over the past few years. Somewhere between 20 and 40 per cent have disappeared and scientists have been frantically trying to discover why since thriving bee colonies are vital to agriculture. Experts theorized about causes… pesticides, perhaps? But according … Read more
Sometimes a book puts down such deep roots in one’s soul that it seems always present, providing categories whereby one views the world, even when one has not read it in many years. Such a book for me has been The Culture of Narcissism, by Christopher Lasch, that renegade sociologist who should have been or … Read more
Here’s Part 4 of Catholics in Action, telling the lives of people who followed the Church’s social doctrine in their daily lives. This 1952 serial comes from Catholic University’s online archive of Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact. An amazing man! Glory to God!!
As one of the premier Catholic historians in this century, Christopher Dawson sought to rehabilitate both the history of salvation and religion in Europe. Strongly embraced by conservatives today, Dawson was considered an innovative scholar among his peers. Even after Dawson’s conversion in 1919, his interdisciplinary approach to history stirred controversy among Catholic scholars. Dawson … Read more
This just in from Tulsa: A former director of a Tulsa abortion clinic pleaded guilty Thursday to providing false information about a bomb at the facility. Linda Meek, 63, former executive director of Reproductive Services of Tulsa, said she called in a false bomb threat in August. … Meek, who is no longer employed at … Read more
“Be right back!” I said to my coworker as I ran to the ladies restroom in my office. Tearing open the Target shipping box, the bright red swimsuit I had ordered online fell into my hands. I slid the strapless, ruched one-piece on and swung open the bathroom stall door to look in the mirror. … Read more
The oldest Catholic University in the world — Belgium’s Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V — is commencing an internal debate over whether the institution should drop “Catholic” from its name: “It’s time for a different orientation,” says Leuven Rector Mark Waer. After the outbreak of the pedophilia scandal in the … Read more
Baltimore’s archdiocesan paper, The Catholic Review, ran a story of a local couple who’ve been married 75 years as of last month, and are still loving life together: Edwin Becker was 19 when he decided that he couldn’t live his life without Gertrude. At 17, Gertrude just knew she wanted to be with him. So, … Read more
Time for some Friday morning links: A woman has been arrested in Colorado for attacking a blasphemous piece of art with a crowbar, saying that it “desecrate[d] my lord.” The artist responded to the attack by saying, “I don’t expect people to agree with me but let’s have a civil discussion, you know.” Somehow I’m … Read more
Why do you let me see ruin;why must I look at misery?Destruction and violence are before me;there is strife, and clamorous discord.Then the LORD answered me and said:Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily.For the vision still has its time,presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint. … Read more
During four years of college and seven of graduate school, most of it in philosophy and theology, I heard only one lecture on virtue — the virtue of art. Thus I consider it miraculous that the language of virtue has returned to public discourse. But the virtues don’t tell the whole story about human life. … Read more
Last night, we witnessed something that has only happened one other time in the history of Major League Baseball: a post-season no-hitter. Roy “Doc” Halladay was as dominant as I have ever seen a pitcher be; he was throwing 5 or 6 “plus” pitches, and he was throwing them whenever and wherever he wanted. Only … Read more
(From PhysOrg.com): Researchers from Cambridge University in the UK have been able to communicate with brain-injured patients in “locked states” commonly referred to as persistent vegetative states (PVS). They predict such patients will soon be able to communicate and perhaps even move themselves around in motorized wheelchairs. This is huge. I can’t imagine the frustration … Read more
Following up on Wolfgang Grassl’s column this morning, where he argues that the picture of Christianity in Europe is not as bleak as it seems, comes this news story to remind me that it could be so, so much worse: Saudi police raided a secret Catholic mass in Riyadh last week and arrested a dozen … Read more