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
Every All Souls Day at the Sanctus I leave it to the Just Judge to choreograph those assembling around the altar from the Church Expectant and Triumphant. On the list now is Dennis Clinton Graham Heiner (1927-2008), who crossed 38th Street daily for Mass. Outwardly, Dennis had a coddled childhood in New York City, and … Read more
The Sacrament of Penance is making a comeback as young people flock to confession. But repentance may not always look the way you expect. The confessor is not the master of God’s forgiveness, but its servant. The minister of this sacrament should unite himself to the intention and charity of Christ. He should have a … Read more
Daniel says many things these days, but his first word is still his favorite: Mama. To a toddling 17-month-old, “Mama” means many things: When he falls and hurts himself, “Mama” means, “Comfort me.” When he can’t quite reach his ball that has rolled under the couch, “Mama” means, “Help me get what I want.” When … Read more
Demonstrating the power of bad precedent, the United States is about to replicate its incompetent diplomacy in the Balkans from the 1990s by recognizing an imminent unilateral declaration of independence by the Serbian province of Kosovo. A similar act helped start the brutal civil war in Bosnia back in 1992. America encouraged, and then recognized, … Read more
Something is happening to the word “conservative” — it’s becoming, for lack of a better word, unfriendly. It started with the immigration debate back in 2005, when, for the first time in my adult life, I didn’t identify with the conservative movement. I couldn’t get on board with what I found to be mean-spirited hysteria … Read more
Catholic Charities workers often trace their roots to twelve French Ursuline nuns who, in 1727, began a ministry to children in New Orleans. The Ursulines offered medical care, ran an orphanage, and founded a girls’ school that the order still operates. In 1803, the United States bought the Louisiana Territory from France. In the decade … Read more
On Super Tuesday, exit polling on the Catholic vote was done in only 10 of the 22 GOP primary states. Senator John McCain won the Catholic vote in 8 out of 10 of those states. Gov. Mitt Romney won Catholics in Massachusetts and Georgia, while Gov. Mike Huckabee continued to attract little significant Catholic support. … Read more
Each January I appear as a pinch-catechist for my parish’s RCIA, delivering an afternoon’s worth of talks on Catholic moral teachings to a handful of catechumens and candidates. The timing coincides with the end of the “inquiry” phase — four months of Breakfast Club-style sharing of “What Jesus means to me” — and the beginning … Read more
Can the recent United Nation’s call for a world moratorium on the death penalty be used to end abortion as well? It may not be as unlikely as it sounds. Hot-button pro-life and pro-family issues have the power to define politicians and their campaigns. Yet the campaign debates on pro-life matters have centered largely on … Read more
Recently there has been a flurry of books from the “New Atheists.” Such figures as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens have been holding forth to state . . . well, not anything new. Â The reason there is nothing new to say is that there cannot, by the nature of the … Read more
Manny Miranda is recognized as the leading national activist for conservative judicial appointments. He surprised people by endorsing Sen. John McCain for president, in spite of criticism of the Arizona senator’s role in the “Gang of 14,” a bipartisan effort to deal with the Senate backlog of Bush’s judicial nominees. As a staffer in the … Read more
The mission of the Global Fund is to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis around the world. Since 2004, this Swiss organization has received over $3 billion, one third of its entire budget, from the United States. A study just released by the Gerard Health Foundation provides evidence that Global Fund grants are supporting abortion providers … Read more
For a time last fall, the press, and therefore to some extent the public, was briefly yet intensely occupied with the publication of some letters of Mother Teresa. Readers of this column will know of these letters, of course. The small Albanian nun had never supposed that they would be made public, since they had … Read more
I wasn’t much of a videogame player when I was a kid — more of a coveter of others’ videogames, really. It started in 1986 when the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was just beginning to hit its stride, and my parents wouldn’t get me one. (Adjusted for inflation, a fully tricked-out NES in 1986 cost … Read more
When the Christmas season concludes in mid-January with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the Church begins the season known as Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time is not so named because it is dull or lacking the flare of more exciting liturgical seasons; rather, it designates time that is ordered or numbered, first through … Read more
Remember Candlemas? The folks at Calvary Temple proclaiming “Keep Christ in Christmas” don’t either. The source of our present secularization isn’t the lack of Christ… it’s the lack of Mass. The highway billboards have come down: Keep Christ in Christmas. Or the more eye-catching: _____mas: It isn’t Christmas without Him. I have to hand it … Read more
Fewer films than expected sold this year at Sundance, but there were plenty of highlights in the ten-day festival. What’s likely coming to a theater near you? Fewer films than expected sold this year at Sundance, but there were plenty of highlights in a ten-day festival marked by picturesque snowfalls, strong documentaries, and unlikely sequels. … Read more
When Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed “maverick” Senator John McCain (R-AZ), many scratched their heads. But his endorsement, which bucked the conservative establishment trend toward Mitt Romney, has provided the winning edge for McCain. Brownback surprised people with his support of McCain after pulling out of the race, … Read more
It’s not that our Chattering Classes have no actual opportunities for courage. It’s that they assiduously avoid them wherever possible (after all, you could get hurt!). Case in point: this “No, I’m not making this up” blurb for atheist Sam Harris’s Letter to a Christian Nation: I can’t sign my name to this blurb. As … Read more