Northwestern University is getting a lot of heat for the live sex-act segment of an after-class presentation (on campus) on sexual arousal recently. What’s lost in the maelstrom is the absolute farce this course is in the first place. Professor J. Michael Bailey’s Human Sexuality class has nothing to do with psychosexual development, morality, biology — … Read more
Time for some Friday morning links: France’s ban on the niqab, or face veil, goes into effect next month: Face veils will be outlawed virtually anywhere outside women’s own homes, except when they are worshipping in a religious place or travelling as a passenger in a private car, although traffic police may stop them if … Read more
Pope Benedict’s second book on Jesus of Nazareth — Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection — is set to be released next week, but readers can get a sneak peek at a few sections now. Amy Welborn teases out one of the interesting chapters on “The Dating of the Last Supper.” … Read more
Pope Benedict’s second book on Jesus of Nazareth — Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection — is set to be released next week, but readers can get a sneak peek at a few sections now. Amy Welborn teases out one of the interesting chapters on “The Dating of the Last Supper.” … Read more
One of my heroes, Wendell Berry, was awarded the National Humanities Medal yesterday at the White House by President Obama. Berry, 76, is a farmer and activist from Kentucky who has written more than 40 books. He just spent a long weekend at a sit-in at the Kentucky state capitol with a group called “Kentucky Rising” … Read more
If you’re having a hard time understanding the problem with raising the statutory debt limit (yet again), here it is on a family scale:
Earlier today, the Supreme Court decided 8-1 in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church’s right to be egregiously hateful by protesting at military funerals. Offensive as their speech may be, the majority opinion states that they have a right to it: Westboro believes that America is morally flawed; many Americans might feel the same about … Read more
Last month I blogged about Shahbaz Bhatti, the Catholic politician in Pakistan who had been courageously speaking out against the anti-blasphemy laws in that country, even in the face of death threats. “I follow the principles of my conscience, and I am ready to die and sacrifice my life for the principles I believe,” he … Read more
Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues (PNCI) reports that Ireland’s Fine Gael party has won the largest number of seats in the Irish National Parliament’s lower house, the Dáil Éireann: Prior to the election, Fine Gael had pledged to uphold the nation’s pro-life protections: “Fine Gael is opposed to the legalisation of abortion” and “Fine Gael … Read more
Eager not to miss any detail about the flaming ball of crazy that is Charlie Sheen, I recently spent a little time reading about his father, actor and TV-world president emeritus Martin Sheen. In some circles, you may know, Martin is recognized as one of Hollywood’s stalwart Catholics, having famously chosen his stage name after … Read more
One of the (few) bright spots in Sunday’s Oscar show had to be Luke Matheny’s acceptance speech upon winning Best Short Film. It was nice to see someone genuinely surprised and excited to be on that stage — and who thanked his mother, “who did craft services for the film,” and the great state of … Read more
Aldo Maria Valli, a Vatican expert for the Italian television network RAI, has recently published a book titled, The Truth About the Pope: Why He Is Attacked, Why He Must Be Listened To. In it, he poses the question: “Why is the present Pope the absolutely most attacked public figure and why are his words … Read more
Many of us already know about confirmation bias, the psychological phenomenon that makes people fit incoming data into their own worldview. The same news article, in other words, could make the liberal and the conservative each nod their heads, seeing things in the article that confirm their own biases, but skipping over the facts that … Read more
A couple in England lost their right to be foster parents because “they said they could not tell a child a ‘homosexual lifestyle’ was acceptable”: Lord Justice Munby and Mr Justice Beatson ruled that laws protecting people from discrimination because of their sexual orientation “should take precedence” over the right not to be discriminated against … Read more
New Jersey governor Chris Christie is one of the more intriguing political figures today, even for those who don’t agree with him. In this weekend’s New York Times Magazine, Matt Bai considers Christie’s appeal, his political strengths, and his case against public-sector unions in his attempt to haul New Jersey out of its giant sink … Read more
Here’s part four of “The Treasure of Paradise Island,” a ten-part 1952 serial by Capt. Frank Moss and artist Frank Borth. As always, these pages come from Catholic University’s online archive of Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact. More next week!
When Peter O’Toole was denied an Oscar for his astonishing performance in “Venus” a few years ago, I turned off the television declaring, “That’s it for me and the Oscars!” I can’t recall all the times I’ve made that promise and failed to keep it. It should probably go onto my iConfess app list of … Read more
I’m pretty sure my books don’t do this. Why not, I wonder. It seems like a useful feature, though the “sorting by color” principle could get to be a bit irritating. [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFnuP9niRUg 635×355] (Today’s stop-motion gem comes to us by way of the ever-interesting/bizarre Within the Crainium.)
It’s Friday, which means you may need a good laugh at the end of a long week — or maybe I should speak for myself. Anyway, here’s a piece, resurrected from the archives of the Atlantic, that you may appreciate. It’s called “Laws Concerning Food and Drink; Household Principles; Lamentations of the Father,” by Ian … Read more
Time for some Friday morning links: Catholic bishops back Wisconsin protestors? Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, CA, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ committee on domestic justice, said: “The debates over worker representation and collective bargaining are not simply matters of ideology or power but involve principles of justice, participation and how workers can have a … Read more
With so much happening in the Church right now, we are hard at work drawing out the battle plans so we can keep the faithful informed—but we need to know who we have on our side. Do you stand with Crisis Magazine?