Some discouraging news: After more than 20 years of a slow but steady decline in both the rate and number of abortions performed in the U.S., the Guttmacher Institute is reporting a slight increase in its latest survey. The increase was just 1%, to 19.6 abortions per 1,000 women of child-bearing age in 2008, from … Read more
Pope Benedict addressed a gathering of diplomats to the Holy See yesterday, urging them to encourage religious freedom in their home countries: The Pope asked the representatives of 178 countries, as well as of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the European Community and the Knights of Malta, to examine how well their own countries respected the … Read more
The shooting in Tucson over the weekend that has left six people dead, including a small child, and several others fighting for their lives is the kind of thing that can make you lose faith in humanity. Almost as discouraging has been the rush in some quarters to assign blame to various political groups for … Read more
Happy Friday! Just a few links to get the morning rolling — feel free to add your own in the comments: In the wake of the horrible attack on the Orthodox church in Egypt on New Year’s Day, this sort of thing gives me hope. A Twain scholar announced this week that he will be … Read more
Last month, I blogged about a New York magazine article on the “little-discussed consequences of the Pill”: namely, that after years on birth control to avoid pregnancy, many women were finding it difficult to become pregnant later in life. In his most recent New York Times column, Ross Douthat says that the tension “between the … Read more
John Allen has the scoop: According to a report by veteran Italian Vatican writer Andrea Tornielli, a miracle attributed to the late Pope John Paul II has been approved by both the medical and theological consulters of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. In effect, that clears the path for the beatification of John … Read more
In the wake of the suicide bombing at a Coptic Christian Church in Egypt on New Year’s Day, which killed 21 people and wounded almost a hundred more, Pope Benedict has called for a second gathering of world religious leaders in Assisi this October to mark the 25th anniversary of the first “World Day of … Read more
For Catholic convert Amy Bonaccorso, the path to marriage wasn’t an easy one. After running the gauntlet of the modern dating scene, she finally found her husband… but not before having several preconceptions about dating and marriage shattered along the way. Noticing that there was little in the way of practical guidance for modern, devout … Read more
Happy New Year, IC readers! We’ve been taking it slow here over the holidays, and today will be no different — but we’ll be back with a vengeance in 2011. Below are a few last links from Oh-Ten, and feel free to add more in the comments — along with any resolutions, reflections, or hopes … Read more
Over at America magazine, William Byron considers the idea of conducting “exit interviews” with Catholics who have left the Church: The church in America must face the fact that it has failed to communicate the Good News cheerfully and effectively to a population adrift on a sea of materialism and under constant attack from the … Read more
I’d already been planning to catch True Grit in the theaters, and now this review from Stanley Fish in the New York Times, who calls it “a truly religious movie,” makes me even more curious: [In the original True Grit], we are told something about the nature of heroism and virtue and the relationship between … Read more
Happy Christmas Eve! Things might be a little quiet around here today, as the InsideCatholic staff goes about its last-minute preparations for tomorrow (please tell me I’m not the only one who still has presents left to buy?…). In the meantime, below are a few quick holiday links to tide you over. And from all … Read more
First it was the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, on Oprah; now, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville are taking over NPR. Or, at least, “All Things Considered”: A segment on last night’s program profiled the Dominican sisters who, like their counterparts in Ann Arbor, are theologically orthodox, live in … Read more
I know next to nothing about Roald Dahl outside of his children’s books, but apparently his daughter Tessa is better known in England as a novelist, socialite, and drug addict with a checkered history. These days, though, she’s making headlines for a different kind of rebellion: as she puts it, “leaving the life of addiction … Read more
Anyone looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for those notoriously hard-to-shop-for friends and family members should consider picking up a copy of Anthony Esolen’s latest book, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child. Tony, a regular contributor at IC, has written many beautiful reflections here that comment thoughtfully on the sorry state of … Read more
Morning! Time for your Friday link round-up: Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” has been announced: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. One of the runners up: Julian Assange. (How do the winners of these things always end up being people that I would never want to meet in real life?) Pope Benedict is named a “person … Read more
This is heartbreaking. While we decorate our churches this time of year with garlands and poinsettias, Iraqi Christians are having to surround theirs with concrete walls: Concrete walls up to 10 feet high are being built around churches in Baghdad and Mosul to protect Christmas churchgoers from violence. The barriers are the Iraqi government’s response … Read more
…how would the Nativity story have unfolded? A sweet little video — and given the Tweets and status updates I get from friends in the delivery room, probably pretty accurate. Hat tip to the Deacon’s Bench, which has just relocated to Patheos! Be sure to check out Deacon Greg at his new digs. [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkHNNPM7pJA 635×355] … Read more
There’s not a whole lot to say about this Wall Street Journal article on the rise of “global surrogacy” — a new industry that uses “an international network of surrogate mothers and egg and sperm donors . . . to produce children on the cheap and outside the reach of restrictive laws.” Or, rather, there … Read more
Good morning! Just a quick round-up today; feel free to add your own links in the comments: A Wisconsin shrine has been approved as the first Marian apparition worthy of belief in the United States. Carl Olson parses the reports about a recent study claiming that “religion makes you happy because of its social rather … Read more