Some readers cringe at the fact that I flesh out the Deadly Sins with examples, instead of sticking to abstractions. Then again, some people winced when Dante published his Inferno, which was full of the names of real people whom he’d known personally, and included in hell the pope who was reigning when it … Read more
The Notre Dame commencement scandal was of such crucial significance to the Church and the renewal of Catholic higher education that it dominated much of the summer. But as students complete their first full month of studies and my colleagues at the Cardinal Newman Society wrap up the second edition of our Catholic college guide, … Read more
When asked why he had become a Catholic, G. K. Chesterton famously replied, “To get rid of my sins.” The forgiveness of sins is the awesome gift that Christ offers us, a gift so beautiful that words can scarcely express the glory of it. One of the most lovely things you can possibly experience is … Read more
I have had a subscription to the weekly English edition of L’Osservatore Romano ever since it began. It is a most valuable printed source: While many papal statements can now be found online at the Vatican Web site, having these at hand, in print, made the journal worthwhile. Â Pope Benedict XVI, a man of … Read more
“Put us head to head with any Planned Parenthood clinic, and people will choose us.” Dr. John Bruchalski, an OB/GYN in Fairfax, Virginia, told me how his Divine Mercy Care organization can transform national health care. DMC presently consists of an obstetrics and gynecology facility, the Tepeyac Family Center, and the DMC Pharmacy, opened almost … Read more
Like a sunbeam passing through a windowpane, the Eternal Light entered and exited His mother’s body without harming the seal of her virginity. In fact, nearly all patristic and medieval authorities taught that her delivery of Jesus was as quick and miraculous as her conception of Him. Â But if being born of a virgin … Read more
My mother-in-law once asked me disapprovingly, “Why are you so direct and confrontational with your husband? You should know by now he doesn’t like it. It’s no way to get what you want.” She added with a twinkle in her eye, “You know, dear, I have everything I always wanted in life — but I … Read more
Most law professors who have had the opportunity to teach criminal law agree that it is a fun course. There is much discussion of morality, intentionality, deterrence, and other intellectually stimulating topics. On the other hand, you also have to deal with rape, which is both difficult and uncomfortable. Â One rape case that we … Read more
Some years ago, my kids got a computer game called Myst. It‘s a very curious game — there are no instructions, no rules, and no commentary offered at the beginning. You find yourself plunked down into a strange environment on a mysterious island. You don‘t know where you are or why you‘re there. As you … Read more
I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth. . . . God will have to do my will in heaven, because I have never done my own will on earth. The 24-year-old Frenchwoman who spoke these oft-quoted words shortly before her death as a Carmelite nun on September 30, 1897, was Thérèse Martin, born … Read more
When we’re thinking about the Deadly Sins, it helps to use examples. It’s too easy for theological writers to sling around Abstractions with Capital Letters, as if with each stroke of the pen they’re tapping into Plato’s realm of changeless, ineffable Forms. Or at least that they’re writing in German, where all nouns start with … Read more
When public school began earlier this month, some parents were wary of the idea of President Barack Obama’s likeness appearing on Orwellian viewscreens in their children’s classrooms. While the presidential address might have captured the banality of Big Brother’s compulsory public health announcements, the speech itself contained little that was politically alarming. Â Of greater … Read more
“As an explanation of the world, materialism has a sort of insane simplicity. It has just the quality of the madman’s arguments; we have at once the sense of it covering everything and the sense of it leaving everything out.” G.K. Chesterton In the struggle to survive, the fit win, and so it is also … Read more
Sane people never ask, “Did Michaelangelo cause the statue of David, or was it his chisel? Did Shakespeare cause Hamlet, or was it his pen? Choose!” But for some reason, when the subject turns to evolution, many fundamentalists, both atheist and Christian, completely forget that a thing can have primary and secondary causes. Instead, they … Read more
In Jerusalem, on the Dome of the Rock — situated on top of what is almost certainly the Holy of Holies, within the ancient Temple precincts — is an inscription, in their earliest angular Kufic script, on what was also the earliest monument the Arabs caused to be erected in a conquered land. It reads, … Read more
When Newt Gingrich was received into the Church last March, the reactions were predictable. The former Speaker of the House was simultaneously welcomed, jeered, and cynically accused of positioning himself to run for president in 2012. Â When I spoke to him last Friday in his Washington, D.C., office, Gingrich was humble and soft-spoken about … Read more
It is clear that we are experiencing today a period of intense and critical struggle in the advancement of the culture of life in our nation. The administration of our federal government openly and aggressively follows a secularist agenda. While it may employ religious language and even invoke the name of God, in fact, … Read more
In September of every year, my inbox fills up with requests from fellow homeschooling moms who all want to know one thing: What does your daily routine look like? Â We all know the devil is in the details, but I like to think that God is in there, too. So today, I will swallow … Read more
The feminist challenge to the Catholic faith is based upon a deep misunderstanding. Feminists accuse Catholicism of being thoroughly patriarchal. They claim that women have been oppressed since the Church’s inception by a male power structure. In the Catholic Church, they charge, men and men alone are the rulers in a hierarchically-based system of pope, … Read more
At age 37 and married only a month, Kevin Calvey volunteered for deployment in Iraq. When he returned to his wife, Toni, in Oklahoma City a year later — 2008 — he restarted his private law practice but was soon alarmed by the “dire situation” of our nation. It was then that Calvey decided to … Read more