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
…and no one’s there, does it make a sound? Over at dotCommonweal, Robert Imbelli had a brief post on the buzz-producing “Yes” from Scott Brown on yesterday’s jobs bill. While many analysts have spent the last little while dissecting the vote itself, Imbelli noticed a much quieter (yet much more depressing) note in the story: Three hours before … Read more
Last fall, I (and the rest of the world) reported on the story of Rom Houben, a man who was thought to have been in a coma for 23 years before doctors discovered that he was actually conscious. Even more incredible was that Houben was reported to be communicating — even hoping to write a book about … Read more
If you followed CPAC news at all, you know the big story of the conference was that Congressman Ron Paul improbably won the presidential straw poll. While I don’t think Paul has a chance at the 2012 nomination (sadly), the poll was revealing in other ways. 2395 attendees voted — the highest number in the … Read more
The only thing that explains Sen. Harry Reid’s latest verbal gaffe is stress and exhaustion — he needs a long vacation. Standing on the floor of the Senate yesterday with notes, yes, with notes on the podium in front of him, the majority leader said, I met with some people while I was home dealing … Read more
Australia has her first saint! Sister Mary Mackillop, co-founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, will be canonized on October 17. I will be making my first trip to Australia — Sydney and Melbourne — in early March, so I’m sure to encounter some of the excitement among Catholic Aussies at … Read more
For the last several years, I’ve been keeping a wary and mistrusting eye on Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackon’s secretive attempts to turn the work responsible for some of my fondest (and, I would have thought, least cinematic) childhood memories into a motion picture. I speak, of course, of the long-gestating, mysterious, almost-impossibly challenging The Adventures of … 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
Thanks to Father James Martin for pointing out the new movie Lourdes, which I hadn’t heard of before but now definitely want to see. The set-up seems straightforward — a young Frenchwoman, Christine, is afflicted with multiple sclerosis and visits Lourdes with a group of handicapped pilgrims — but the film itself takes a more complex look … Read more
This is one of the loveliest photos I’ve ever seen: Miriam, the sister of the late Georgian Luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili, in her home town this weekend during his funeral. The picture perfectly captures a sister’s grief. Heart-breaking. In spite of the Olympics’ tragic start, I have found the games exciting thus far. As … Read more
It was my first trip to the new city of Ave Maria, some thirty miles northeast of Naples, Florida. I’d been to Ave Maria University when it was still housed in temporary buildings in Naples proper but had not seen, with my own eyes, the new campus, especially the stunning new oratory that dominates the … Read more
Rekindling a semi-tradition from last year, here is a piece of sacred music to help celebrate the First Sunday of Lent. I thought I’d start off with a relative newcomer (to me, at least): “In te Domine speravi,” from the ubiquitous Anonymous. O Lord, in Thee I have hoped; let me never be put to … Read more
Comedic action rules the day in part seven of 1960’s ten-part serial “Uncle Harry’s Gold Mine,” written and illustrated by Frank Borth. As always, these pages come from Catholic University’s online archive of Treasure Chest of Fact and Fun. Thanks to Grandpa, that forward-looking stalwart…
Matt Smith takes the debate over the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to a new level: He calculates the amount Catholic parishes paid to organizations supporting abortion and same-sex marriage. Smith calculates that since CCHD receives from $7 to $9 million each years, and their are 18,280 parishes in the US, “the average parish contribution … Read more
Here’s an instant classic from British television on Wednesday. Two news anchors were covering Joe Biden’s press conference when they noticed the smudge on his forehead. It begins at .27…
The Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) is holding its annual conference right now in Washington, D.C. and these comments by Libertarian Party Executive Director Wes Benedict caught my eye today: I’m sure we’ll hear an awful lot about “limited government” from the mouths of CPAC politicians over the next few days. If I had a … Read more
Time for some Friday morning linkage: “Sarah Palin and the mutual loathing society“: George Will says that, whatever raw deal she may have been handed by the media, Sarah Palin’s brand of populism isn’t a winning political movement. Over at True/Slant, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up his picks for the best journalism of 2009. The pieces … Read more
Debates about what a Catholic hospital must (and must not) do to be considered fully “Catholic” are nothing new, but this latest step by Bishop Vasa perhaps is: The diocese of Baker, Oregon, has announced that it will be “ending its official sponsorship” of St. Charles Medical Center, a historically Catholic hospital: “It is my responsibility … Read more
Canadian Dahlia Lithwick has an enjoyable piece at Slate defending “Own the Podium,” her nation’s $118 billion dollar effort to dominate the medal race in Vancouver. Someday, someone is going to explain to me why it is that journalists so frequently speak about Canadians as though we are all about 2 feet tall and 7 … Read more
Lent. It’s here already. My Shrove Tuesday fare was a bit subdued because I’m fighting a cold, but I managed to make my favorite pancakes. With only 7 tablespoons of flour and 1 cup of sour cream, it’s the perfect food for Fat Tuesday. But I’m not posting to tell you about my pancakes. A … Read more