Earlier this week, I had the chance to preview a soon-to-be released movie, the latest production of Christian Hollywood. Letters to God, directed by David Nixon, is the story of an eight-year-old boy, Tyler Doherty, whose confidante in his daily struggle against cancer is God. Tyler’s prayers take the form of letters, which he writes and … Read more
Having grown up in some of the most liberal dioceses in California, there were many times when I had to endure some questionable thinking from some pretty high places. During my confirmation classes, I was subjected to a sermon by the then pastor (who later left the priesthood) about how Catholic couples should get married … Read more
The news of the Catholic school in Boulder that will not allow the children of a lesbian couple to re-enroll next year has been making national headlines (and most of them not pretty). The pastor in charge of the school says he was merely complying with archdiocesan regulations; and yesterday, Archbishop Charles Chaput came to … Read more
IC readers likely will agree with the above statement. But hey, the argument is gaining traction, or it is if Luke Timothy Johnson , Ross Douthat , and Rod Dreher are an indication. Over at my blog at True Slant, I argue that Christianity’s materialistic turn has had positive and negative effects: To be fair, … Read more
No, really. All kidding aside. I mean it. I know it may be hard for some of you to accept. (For others, it might seem too good to be true.) But, barring the Second Coming, it’s absolutely certain: Someday, the Zmirak supply will simply run out. Sure, it will be for some the end of … Read more
A few weeks ago, a young man I’ll call David dropped in to see me. David has been working with me discerning a vocation to the priesthood, so it was with some interest that I heard him announce that he had acquired a girlfriend. We discussed the possibilities and prospects for the future, and … Read more
All utopias are alike; but every utopian is unhappy in his own way. A new movie, Michael Hoffman’s The Last Station, attempts to portray the last days of Leo Tolstoy, when the great writer had turned from delving into the complexities of individuals’ loves and sorrows to the more streamlined task of issuing treatises … Read more
Crunchy Con blogger Rod Dreher was crushed last week when his 41-year-old sister Ruthie was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. While the news has been devastating to his family, it has also drawn them closer in love, prompting Rod to wonder why, when life is so fragile, we insist on holding on to … Read more
The original title of this New York Times piece was too awesome not to keep. The article marks the passing of Yitta Schwartz, a 93-year-old Jewish matriarch — in the fullest sense of the word: When Yitta Schwartz died last month at 93, she left behind 15 children, more than 200 grandchildren and so many great- … Read more
“Religion is divisive,” we Christians hear from our secularist critics, and have heard from them since that night of totalitarian cravings called the Enlightenment descended upon Europe from Paris to Prussia. “It needs to be kept in check, relegated to the closet, for the sake of a decent and civil society.” Yet exactly … Read more
Now here’s a fascinating story. Catholic man meets Jewish girl. They marry. He converts to please her family. They have a daughter. They divorce. She gets custody. He returns to the practice of Catholicism, and takes the three-year-old daughter to be baptized without his ex-wife’s knowledge. Then a Chicago judge issues a restraining order forbidding … Read more
It stands overlooking the Thames, across an exceptionally glorious view of a beautiful part of England. White and austere, it has the solemn feeling of a temple, and you instinctively — and correctly — lower your voice as you draw near. This is Runnymede. The name echoes at once in the mind of anyone with … 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
Radley Balko links to an incredible Flickr set of images where modern-day scenes are overlapped with older photographs to give a seamless impression of different moments in time. Some have a great ghostly quality: While others give a startling look at just how quickly landscapes change, as in this shot of Dubai: … Read more
On Christmas day, a Delta Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit narrowly escaped catastrophe when an intended suicide bomber who had passed through security could not get the plastic explosives he hid in his underwear to detonate. The attempt occurred as the plane was on its final descent, 20 minutes from landing, with 289 people … Read more
“Mo-om!” If the rolling of eyes could make a noise, my oldest daughter’s facial expression would have been deafening. We were headed to her orthodontist appointment. It was early, but I had brushed my teeth, put on make up, and was wearing my new hat. I thought I might even look a little bit … Read more
By now most people know Fox News’s Brit Hume recommended Tiger Woods consider what Jesus Christ has to offer him in his difficult situation. Tiger Woods will recover as a golfer. Whether he can recover as a person I think is a very open question, and it’s a tragic situation for him. I think he’s lost his … Read more
BBC News published a heart-breaking piece just before Christmas about what has become of Romania’s orphans. You may remember reports from the early 1990s detailing the horrific orphanage conditions there. (Deal and his family can attest to this first-hand, from the experience of adopting their son.) Tragically, most of the children from that period went … Read more
This TimesOnline (UK) story — detailing a recently-completed parent survey on the ages at which their children learned to speak — caught my attention for several reasons. Firstly, because the “raw numbers” themselves are quite interesting — 3 seems disconcertingly late for speech to me, though that was a relatively small percentage of responders. And the gender splits … Read more
With 2009 in the books, we asked the staff and friends of InsideCatholic to offer their predictions for the new year. Here’s what they told us… ♦♦♦ Congress will take another stab at comprehensive immigration reform and will pass a less-than-perfect bill before May and the run-up to the midterm … Read more
