As a boy, I was excited to hear that the circus was coming to town. Full of anticipation, we were taken to see the elephants help the roustabouts put up the big top, and when the big day came the greatest show on earth fascinated me with its variety, talent, glamor, vulgarity, and grotesquerie. It … Read more
Fr. Philip Bloom of Washington state has a special mission to the people of Peru: He’s teaching them Natural Family Planning. The Mary Bloom Center, in the highlands city of Puno, near Peru’s Lake Titicaca, is named after Fr. Bloom’s mother. He began the center’s work during his years as a Maryknoll priest associate in … Read more
Last night our college celebrated the vigil of the Immaculate Conception in the exact same way as every other Catholic school in America — with mulled cider, makeshift medieval costumes, the performance of two Mystery plays depicting the Fall of Man and the Dream of St. Joseph, and chanted vespers. The usual. I’m sure that … Read more
Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception! Over at First Things, David Mills has an excellent column on just what this doctrine means, why we believe it, and why it so confuses our Protestant brothers and sisters: [Mary] is, [Pope Pius IX] wrote, “far above all the angels and all the saints so wondrously did God … Read more
A former student of mine, now teaching seniors in a public high school, told me that she briefly reads out loud each day. One book she read was C. S. Lewis’s saga of the devil’s mind, The Screwtape Letters. I knew that I had a copy, but I had only read parts of it, so … Read more
New York magazine has a surprisingly good article on the little-discussed consequences of the Pill that will have every Catholic woman wanting to yell “I TOLD YOU SO” at her computer. (Or was that just me?) After opening with a description of the Pill’s 50th anniversary gala earlier this year (and really, the details of … Read more
There are two more days left of Hanukkah and in honor of that, here’s a modern twist on the story of the Maccabees. Happy Hanukkah to all of our Jewish readers! [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSJCSR4MuhU&feature=player_embedded#! 635×355] (Ht: Coffeemom)
If there is a name that stands out bright in the history of American cinema, it is that of director John Ford (1894-1973). A complex and talented artist, working in a popular medium based on the collaborative efforts of writers, actors, craftsmen, and producers, Ford achieved in fifty years of filmmaking a unique stature in … Read more
If you’ve seen the recent hit documentary Waiting for Superman, or have been following the debates over school reform, you’ve heard of Michelle Rhee. The former firecracker chancellor of the D.C. school system is an absolute superstar in the field. In just three years, she — along with D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty — had begun … Read more
Truly Reformed™ Protestantism suits a particular personality type: the sort of person who likes diagrams, neat handwriting, little lists of facts, mathematical formulae, and a certain kind of precision. In its own limited sphere, Truly Reformed Christianity is handy because its love of diagrams, rigorous logic, and TRVTH tends to breed apologists who are fit … Read more
OpenCulture is fast becoming one of my favorite Internet hangouts. And this sort of post is a perfect example of why: In four minutes, Rosling visually traces the health of 200 countries over 200 years, using 120,000 data points, and we end up with a little reason for optimism. [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo&feature=player_embedded 635×355]
At long last, private-sector jobs are growing again. They rose 159,000 in October, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even more encouraging are the revisions to earlier surveys, indicating that the improvement in new jobs was not a one-time event. Job gains for August and September were revised up to 250,000 from 157,000. … Read more
In a recent column for Mercatornet, InsideCatholic contributor Bob Reilly argues that the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell would be a subversion of the very military virtues they claim to value: In his testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, poor Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, never seemed to … Read more
Belgium is certainly on the cutting edge of things! Not only are their doctors boldly euthanizing patients sans request, their lawyers have come up with a new basis upon which to sue: wrongful life. Similar to the already widely-accepted cause of action “wrongful death”, this new twist allows parents to sue a doctor on behalf … Read more
If this article doesn’t make you want to pull your kids out of school and go find an igloo in the Arctic tundra, I don’t know what will. Writer Jan Hoffman highlights a ninth grade boy whose schoolmates secretly created a Facebook identity for him, making him into a bully and causing classmates and friends … Read more
Since I joined crisis Magazine, now InsideCatholic.com, 15 years ago, I’ve been blessed to meet some very interesting people. They’re a diverse group, befitting a guy like me who spends a lot of time multitasking. As I was thinking about making some recommendations for Christmas gift giving, I thought I would challenge my friends by … Read more
Artist Lloyd Osterdorf has so far taken us through the lives of nine Catholics of the 20th century who lived out the social doctrine of the Catholic Church in their daily lives. Today, we have the final entry in the series “Catholics in Action,” serialized in 1952-53. As always, these pages come from Catholic University’s … Read more
The law protects children outside the family much as it protects adults. In addition, children, have special rights appropriate to their age: The state forbids their neglect and guarantees them education, medical care, and the like. The crucial right that society denies to children is that of autonomy — the right to decide for oneself. … Read more
CBS news reports that Hillary Clinton’s role as Secretary of State will be her “last public position”: At a town hall meeting appearance in Manama, Bahrain on Friday, Clinton denied intentions to run for either president or vice president on the ticket with President Obama, who defeated her in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. Some experts … Read more
I usually ignore commercials. In fact, I do more than that. We have a standing rule in our house that there must be “alternative programming” readily available during all viewing. Watching sports (with commercials advertising the sorts of things in which modern, secular, sports-loving young males are usually interested) does not mesh well with having a … Read more