You may have caught the New York Times piece last week that made much of the fact that even economically backward Rwanda has universal health care for its residents (unlike the heartless U.S.). Of course, the Times didn’t tell the whole story… Rwanda is so poor, its per capita income is about 1 percent that … Read more
I’ve written about the problem of obesity in the past. It’s an epidemic in North America now as we all know, and with one look around, it’s not hard to see why. But let’s say you want to lose weight — what do you do? There are so many diets out there, it’s really tough … Read more
Chicago’s Francis Cardinal George says that in the healthcare debate, Sister Carol Keehan, President of the Catholic Health Association (CHA), chose the president over the bishops: During the bishops’ executive session held Tuesday morning to address the fallout of CHA’s support for the health care legislation despite the bishop’s opposition, Cardinal George recounted the events … Read more
A new study has been released by the Commission on Parenthood’s Future, showing that young adults conceived by sperm donors generally fair more poorly than adopted children or those raised by their biological parents. The authors — which include Professor Norval Glenn of the University of Texas at Austin — surveyed more than 1 million … Read more
Steve Ertelt at LifeNews.com has posted a complete list of President Obama’s record on abortion since taking office. Given the one year anniversary, it’s time to ask whether, since visiting Notre Dame, there has been any subtle or significant change in direction in Obama’s view of innocent human life. After all, President Jenkins, as you … Read more
Faithful Catholics have been so worn down by fighting fundamental heresies taught by bishops that we sometimes shun intrareligious dialogue — that is, talking to sincere but confused fellow Catholics with whom we don’t agree. And that’s a mistake, since many issues really are complex, and we might in fact be confused ourselves. Let’s take … Read more
When the health-care bill passed, the bishops’ reaction was twofold: disappointment at federal funding for abortion, while universal care was applauded. For some, including myself, the sound of the bishops’ clapping was far too loud given the immense tragedy of our federal tax dollars being committed to support abortion under the guise of “women’s health … Read more
Sr. Carol Keehan responded to the standing ovation she received at a gathering of Obama’s Catholic coalition by making a very strange claim about her support of the recent health-care legislation signed by President Barack Obama. “We were in complete accord with our bishops and our church that abortion is a grave evil. There is … Read more
Looks like the folks at NCR’s “Washington Briefing” had their collective Kum-Ba-Ya moment when Sr. Carol Keehan rose to speak at the podium. Michael Sean Winters describes the moment: Then there are those moments when a group of people want to express their profound admiration and love for someone and, given the context, the only … Read more
Looks like the folks at NCR’s “Washington Briefing” had their collective Kum-Ba-Ya moment when Sr. Carol Keehan rose to speak at the podium. Michael Sean Winters describes the moment: Then there are those moments when a group of people want to express their profound admiration and love for someone and, given the context, the only … Read more
Looks like the folks at NCR’s “Washington Briefing” had their collective Kum-Ba-Ya moment when Sr. Carol Keehan rose to speak at the podium. Michael Sean Winters describes the moment: Then there are those moments when a group of people want to express their profound admiration and love for someone and, given the context, the only … Read more
Let us set aside, for the sake of this essay, various questions concerning the recent health-care bill passed by Congress. We will concede the highly dubious proposition that it will hold down costs; that it will not add hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt; that it will not lead to the queues … Read more
Over on the Touchstone blog, Russell Moore has an interesting post about “Cremation and a New Kind of Christianity.” Citing Diarmaid MacCulloch’s new book, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, Moore notes that one of the greatest cultural shifts in the Church over the last century has been the overwhelming acceptance of cremation, when from its very … Read more
The Baltimore contingent of InsideCatholic enjoys patronizing a local bar that serves classic Prohibition Era cocktails. I had my first Gin Fizz there a few months back, and it was a revelation; I’d never tasted anything quite like it. If our government protectors have anything to do with it, I may not again. In early … Read more
Regular readers may be taken aback by the question, but I ask it seriously. In fact, I am repeating a question put to Francis Cardinal George by a reporter for the Catholic News Service. A March 23 story from CNS, written by Nancy Frazier O’Brien, featured an exchange with Cardinal George, president of the U.S. … Read more
I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard “Stupak” in the past couple of weeks, but I can’t say the same about the name “Lipinski.” Yet, Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois seems like exactly the kind of pro-life Democrat so many were hoping Rep. Bart Stupak would be. Lipinski voted against the health care … Read more
There are only two facts Catholics need to know about the health-care bill to decide it must be repealed: The bill signed by the president includes federal funding for abortion, and the executive order does nothing to remove that funding. You don’t have to accept those facts on my authority — they have both … Read more
I found Todd’s post particularly interesting today, especially as I had just stumbled across a very different take on Stupak’s health-care capitulation over on Ross Douthat’s New York Times blog. While he would agree with Todd that the executive order is “probably meaningless,” and that the new health-care legislation “effectively tilts public policy in a … Read more
Rep. Bart Stupak’s stupaking on the health care reform bill has led Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn to wonder if the pro-life Democratic politician, already an endangered species, has finally gone the way of the Dodo: By caving at the last hour, he discredited all who stood with him. (What does it say about … Read more
Yesterday afternoon, I spoke with Rev. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., on the phone from his Trinity Retreat Center in Larchmont, New York. Father Groeschel is recovering from a nasty cold, and we were speaking about other matters, but I couldn’t resist keeping him on the phone long enough to hear his thoughts on the health-care vote. … Read more