I’m in the midst of my annual “swing” through Florida visiting various supporters of InsideCatholic.com. Here I am hitting a 4-iron to the 200 yard 9th hole on the Hills Course at Jonathan’s Landing on Jupiter Island. The ball ended up in the trap on the front right of the green. I didn’t get up … Read more
I’ve always been a huge fan of Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes comics. There was something about the series’ tone — sarcastic, yet strangely innocent — that always attracted me to the little boy and his stuffed tiger. And now that I’ve got an entire household of my own “Calvins,” I can see that the man … Read more
How had I never heard the story of the Four Chaplains before? On February 3, 1943, a German submarine torpedoed the USAT Dorchester, which was serving as a transfer ship for Allied troops, off the coast of Newfoundland. Four chaplains on board — a Methodist, a Jewish rabbi, a Catholic priest, and a Reformed Church minister — … Read more
Over the course of many months thinking about the deadly sins and opposing virtues, I’ve ranged pretty widely. In dealing with Greed and Generosity, I have drawn (so far as I know) the only direct connections yet between Chinese Communism, elves, ostrich farms, and the mortgage crisis. But that’s what being Catholic (from katholikos, or … Read more
Michael Pollan’s new book, Food Rules, is number one on Amazon and was called “the best nutrition book in 40 years,” by New York Times personal health columnist, Jane E. Brody: “I suspect that this little book can do more than the most authoritative text to get you motivated to make some important, lasting, health-promoting and … Read more
Behold, the latest pitch to attract more men to church: In the back room of a theater on Beale Street, John Renken, 42, a pastor, recently led a group of young men in prayer. “Father, we thank you for tonight,” he said. “We pray that we will be a representation of you.” An hour later, a … Read more
Son #5, the youngest of the lot, had developed quite a little musical ear. Fairly regularly nowadays, he will request (mostly wordlessly) that I go to my laptop, head on over to Naxos Music Library, and put on some suitably peppy music. Toddler head-banging to classical music invariably ensues. Bugler’s Holiday, from Leroy Anderson, is a … Read more
Sally Jenkins, a Washington Post sports columnist who is openly pro-choice, is on a tear in her column today, explaining why she thinks the world needs more Tim Tebows — and fewer demands from groups like NOW who are offended by the very idea of his upcoming Super Bowl ad. On NOW’s protest: Tebow’s 30-second ad hasn’t … Read more
A new study of an abstinence-only sex-ed curriculum showed it to be more successful at delaying teen sex than a comparable “safe sex” program — and even one that combined abstinence and safe-sex messages: Only about a third of sixth- and seventh-graders who completed an abstinence-focused program started having sex within the next two years, researchers … Read more
Remember those white phosphorus shells that the Israeli government swore up and down were never used on the United Nations compound in Gaza last January? Well, they were wrong. Paul Wood of BBC News in Jerusalem reports: Buried in paragraph 108 of the Israeli report to the UN is the key fact of the document. Two … Read more
Barney Frank, former chief booster of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, now conveniently says they should be disbanded. “I believe the remedy is abolishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their present form and coming up with a whole new system of housing finance,” Frank said. Furthermore, he told Big Think that the poor … Read more
More startling evidence has been unearthed about the Catholic Campaign for Human development that shows a disturbing pattern of cooperation between the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and groups that advocate abortion and same-sex marriage. Two reports, released yesterday by the American Life League (ALL) and Bellarmine Veritas Ministry (BVM), reveal that the Center for … Read more
A friend passed along an article written by author Laurence M. Vance, about American Right to Life’s recent assault on Dr. Ron Paul’s pro-life position. Vance comes out swinging: The right-to-life movement is a failure. Although millions of dollars have been spent on lobbying, marches, and protests since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, millions of women … Read more
Over the weekend, a friend asked me to come up with a piece or two from Antonio Salieri that I felt was particularly representative of his music. I prudently kept to myself the fact that I know far less about Salieri than I would ever be willing to admit publicly, and headed out into YouTube … Read more
Paul Johnson’s biography of Winston Churchill is itself an event (Viking, 2009). Johnson unabashedly admires the British statesman, and his book tells why. It begins: “Of all the towering figures of the twentieth century, both good and evil, Winston Churchill was the most valuable to humanity, and also the most likable. It is a joy … Read more
Readers may remember that I wasn’t the biggest fan of The Catcher in the Rye when I read it in high school. But J. D. Salinger’s passing last week brought the book to mind for Father Dwight Longenecker, who says that its message may be even more important for adults than for teens: Holden’s problem is that he can’t learn how … Read more
Brian and I teach RCIA, and love it. Our parish is a historic downtown church — the oldest basilica in the country, actually — and most parishioners travel some distance to attend. In an attempt to get to know the candidates and catechumens better, we’ve been getting together with each of them over lunch or … Read more
Two new reports have been published today on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). Rob Gaspar at Bellarmine Veritas Ministry has dug more deeply into the CCHD relationship to the Center for Community Change (CCC). In “Sleeping with the Enemy,” Michael Hichborn at the American Life League has also uncovered more disturbing facts about … Read more
In the Old Testament, the standard protocol for angelic appearances is as follows: First, the angel appears. Then, the human to whom he appears either: a) Does not realize he is an angel and so behaves as he would toward a fellow human being (that is, he makes the angel a nice meal and is … Read more
Here’s part four of a 10-part comedy-mystery serial from 1960. As always, these pages come from Catholic University’s online archive of Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact. C’mon, where else are you going to see a litter of baby skunks this week?
