A college friend of mine once jokingly explained that Catholics propagate our faith a little differently from, say, the Jehovah’s Witnesses: “We don’t have to proselytize — we just knock boots!” Of course, looking at things seriously, the first part isn’t true. Catholics have to do the hard work of evangelization. And unfortunately, the … Read more
Burqas are fast becoming a heated subject in parts of Europe, notably France and Belgium. The UK Telegraph reported an incident over the weekend where two women came to blows over the burqa: [A] 26-year-old Muslim convert was walking through the store in Trignac, near Nantes, in the western Loire-Atlantique region, when she overhead the woman lawyer … Read more
Are the liberal arts and sexual morality connected? There is strong evidence that they are, for if we graph their development over the last half-century, we will see an almost identical curve of accelerating decline. Although this proves nothing, it certainly suggests something worth exploring more deeply. Spectacular proof of the decline of the liberal … Read more
Normally, when seeing author James Carroll write things like, “Celibacy cuts to the heart of what is wrong in the Catholic Church today,” I would roll my eyes and move on. But over at America Magazine, Father Jim Martin isn’t taking the insult lying down. Father Martin first quotes from Carroll’s article: No, celibacy does … Read more
Despite protests from human rights groups, Sani Ahmed Yerima, a 49-year-old senator in the Nigerian government, has just married a 13-year-old girl. This will be his fourth wife, and he bought her for… er… paid her Egyptian parents a dowry of $100,000. Of course, Senator Yerima doesn’t much care what the critics say. He has … Read more
Over at Catholic Advocate I’ve described the sad situation, once again. The USCCB is a member of the Leadership Counsel for Civil and Human Rights, and one of its projects, The Coalition for Constitutional Values, has just published a video endorsing pro-abortion nominee for the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan. How can it be that the … Read more
“Nake” is an extinct English word meaning to strip clothes off. To be “naked,” therefore, is to be in a state of having had your clothes stripped off. Why does this bit of pedantry matter? Because it speaks volumes about what our ancestors regarded as the “natural state of man.” It is not until after … Read more
The series I have been writing on the Church in the Second World War has taught me the power of the maxim, “The best way to learn a thing is to teach it.” What I have learned from writing about events in 1942, reported in diaries and journals on crumbling war-rationed paper, has opened my … Read more
I missed this article in the Washington Post when it appeared last week, but it deserves a mention now. William Wan talks with seminarians graduating from Mount Saint Mary’s this year about studying for the priesthood under the shadow of the sex-abuse scandal: “In the last six years alone, I’ve been fingerprinted four times,” said … Read more
Yesterday, 150,000 people (give or take) packed St. Peter’s Square for Pope Benedict’s noon address. My view was literally a sea of people. In fact, that was my view from all sides. Normally, I hate crowds, but this was really inspiring. It always is when thousands of people are quiet, listening to the pope, and … Read more
News channels and parenting blogs have been on fire the past few days over a video of 8-year-old girls dancing to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” during a dance competition. The girls do a lot of gyrating and are dressed in bikini-like dance costumes. ABC interviewed one set of parents who justified the dance by saying the … Read more
On the heels of the health-care debate comes a potentially more contentious furor over proposed immigration legislation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who helped secure abortion funding in the health-care bill, is now telling us the bishops came to her and said, “We want you to pass immigration reform.” But Pelosi wants help from the bishops: … Read more
Today the Vatican released details of its upcoming sex abuse defense. The AP has learned the Vatican will argue that bishops are not its employees and were not required to remain silent by a 1962 document, “Crimen Sollicitationes,” meaning “crimes of solicitation.” The Vatican attorney in the U.S., Jeffrey Lena, will argue not only that … Read more
Today the Vatican released details of its upcoming sex abuse defense. The AP has learned the Vatican will argue that bishops are not its employees and were not required to remain silent by a 1962 document, “Crimen Sollicitationes,” meaning “crimes of solicitation.” The Vatican attorney in the U.S., Jeffrey Lena, will argue not only that … Read more
A “bad guy” has dressed up as a gorilla to cause a panic in the amusement park owned by Uncle Harry. However, Harry’s friend Fud is also dressed up as a gorilla, taking care of the baby gorilla inside the cage. Insanity ensues, as only Frank Borth can depict it. This week’s sequence, as always, … Read more
So, this guy Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser has been taking his mad yo yo skillz* on a moderately-sized whirlwind tour of TV stations around the midwest. The only problem with his act is that it goes like this: “I . . . I don’t have the muscle memory.” Nice job by the host, though. He really … Read more
So, this guy Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser has been taking his mad yo yo skillz* on a moderately-sized whirlwind tour of TV stations around the midwest. The only problem with his act is that it goes like this: “I . . . I don’t have the muscle memory.” Nice job by the host, though. He really … Read more
Well, you don’t often get pro-life pieces at the Huffington Post. Though to be honest, the piece I found isn’t explicitly pro-life. In fact, it doesn’t mention abortion or euthanasia at all. But the ideas he expressed are thoroughly pro-life (though I’d predict the author would deny the connection). Writer Bryan Young, nominally Catholic, recently … Read more
I felt the question coming like a dog feels the pulse of the earth before a quake. I had tracked Monsignor’s comments from, “How quickly they grow,” to, “What grade are you in this year, Ann?” and I knew what came next. So did Ann. Exactly one beat before the question came, we exchanged a … Read more
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is becoming quite a political star, and for good reason: He’s facing down a terrible state financial crisis and he’s doing it with courage and principle. Happily, some in the mainstream press are noticing: Christie is tackling the nation’s worst state deficit — $10.7 billion of a $29.3 billion budget. … Read more