Last year, Georgia Right to Life introduced a Human Life Amendment (HR 536) in the state legislature that would amend the Georgia constitution to define the human person and protect unborn life from the threat of abortion. Hearings were held last week by the Georgia Judiciary Committee in the midst of swirling controversy over the … Read more
Four-year-old Gabrielle is teaching herself to read. Her eager little eyes peer over my shoulder as I sound out words with her older brother Stephen. I catch her later, mouthing the stories as she works her way through a stack of early readers. She is teaching herself to write, too. She sneaks bits of lined … Read more
Vatican watchers have noticed that Pope Benedict XVI is wearing fancier vestments than his predecessor. When he came out to bless the crowds after Christmas, he was wearing an ornate cope embroidered with gold and silver thread. On his head was an old-fashioned miter encrusted with gold and jewels. For Christmas vespers, and again on … Read more
After he addressed the cheering crowd and television cameras, Bobby Kennedy was told that there had been a change in plans. Originally, he was supposed to wade through the crowd and walk to another room below, where he would speak on closed-circuit television. But Fred Dutton, his de facto campaign chairman, thought that the packed … Read more
In a “Window” from last week, I addressed Catholic law professor Doug Kmiec, who had written an article in Slate titled “Reaganites for Obama?” In that piece, Kmiec made an argument encapsulated in the following sentence:”Beyond life issues, an audaciously hope-filled Democrat like Obama is a Catholic natural.” I criticized him for exemplifying the kind … Read more
One of the curious side effects of my line of work as a Catholic writer is that people will sometimes confess very odd phenomena they normally wouldn’t discuss with people who aren’t known for believing in miracles. Some years ago, a woman I know cleared her throat awkwardly, looked very sheepish, and asked me: “If … Read more
The Mitchell Report, Major League Baseball’s report on performance-enhancing drugs, makes clear that steroids and other banned substances (primarily human growth hormone, or HGH) have been widely used in the sport over the past decade. MLB and the Players’ Association have shamefully turned a blind eye to this developing problem that every serious fan long … Read more
During Lent, you will hear some version of the following from the pulpit: “This is the season to volunteer in charitable causes, to give back in service to the community, in a labor of love.” One cannot argue with the instruction here, or the sentiment behind it. Lent is indeed a time for giving and … Read more
A term paper on Aristotle ended with the following sentence, not in quotation marks: “After all, a good man can only be truly good in the company of other good men.” The sentence struck me. Was it a citation from some place? I checked Google. The references it gave were no help. Many passages used … Read more
Pro-life activist John Jakubczyk writes about Barack Obama, “He is an attractive, articulate voice for secular liberalism.” Yes, the message is secular liberalism, but the voice is that of a preacher. Senator Obama sounds more like a minister than the real minister in the race, Gov. Mike Huckabee. When you listen to the phrasing and … Read more
When Pope Benedict XVI addresses Catholic college presidents and diocesan superintendents in Washington, D.C., on April 17, his topic will be the importance of Catholic education. He is likely to urge universities to remain faithful to Catholic teaching, preserve the unity of faith and reason, and prepare young people for the challenges and the suffering … Read more
There must be something about February that brings out the weird, the unusual, and the strange in politics. That was my reaction when I read Douglas Kmiec’s article in Slate, claiming that Barack Obama is a “natural for the Catholic vote.” Now, I know and respect Doug as a brilliant legal mind and a good … Read more
It’s February again. I’ve suffered three weeks of cold, steady rain here in San Francisco, rain that creeps under my collar like slimy earthworms, rain that squeezes out of the fog like suds. Perennially happy people smirk and say, “Yes, but it makes snow in the mountains.” I want to bonk them with their ski … Read more
He took all the orthodox positions. He had the deep pockets, the executive experience, and the disciplined organization. He had endorsements from the likes of Rick Santorum, Paul Weyrich, Bob Jones, and Michael Novak (plus a nice plug from a certain Catholic hack). He had far and away the best hair. But today Mitt Romney … Read more
Belmont Abbey College is one of the few Catholic colleges in the southeastern United States, located about ten miles west of Charlotte, North Carolina. Unfortunately, its president and chancellor are currently embroiled in a defense of the college’s Catholic identity against eight faculty members who insist on insurance coverage for voluntary sterilization, abortion, and contraception. … Read more
Tom Rooney is Catholic and pro-life, and he is running for the Republican nomination in Florida’s 16th Congressional District. Rooney comes from a football family; his grandfather, Art Rooney Sr., founded the Pittsburg Steelers in 1933. Former Army captain and JAG (Judge Advocate General), Rooney will need all his experience — football, military, and legal … Read more
If David lived today, I have a feeling not a few modern-day Perfecti in the blogosphere would respond to Psalm 51 with something like the following . . . Â If David lived today, I have a feeling not a few modern-day Perfecti in the blogosphere would respond to Psalm 51 with something like the … Read more
The Monday before last, Canada’s National Post published a speech by abortion doctor Garson Romalis on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of R. vs. Morgentaler. Before I get to the disturbing details, let me offer a little background for the non-Canadian reader. Dr. Henry Morgentaler, of the infamous case, is a Polish-born Holocaust survivor … Read more
Someone else asked me, “Do you believe in anything?” I said to him, “I believe in Allah.” So he said, “But I believe in torture and I will torture you.” — sworn statement of Amin Sa’id al-Sheikh on his experiences in Abu Ghraib Elaine Scarry’s 1987 study The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking … Read more
At the turn of the last century, Mark Twain loved poking fun at the tidy religious stories that were told in his day, even as he produced his own versions. The stories led to a payoff that dealt a death-blow to wickedness and a cheery boost to saintliness, all neatly summed up in a secondary … Read more
