Margaret linked to a story this morning that I thought deserved a closer look. While studies have shown that regular church attendance is linked to greater levels of happiness, lower rates of substance abuse, and better marriages, a new study has reported that middle-aged people who are religiously active are also more obese. Is it … Read more
At long last, private-sector jobs are growing again. They rose 159,000 in October, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even more encouraging are the revisions to earlier surveys, indicating that the improvement in new jobs was not a one-time event. Job gains for August and September were revised up to 250,000 from 157,000. … Read more
Every group has its code words. These words serve an imÂportant social function — they enable the members of the group to deliver a harsh judgment on others withÂout accountability. In the Catholic world, when someone is called “divisive,” it means he is too conservative to be trusted. Those who are “divisive” threaten the “unity … Read more
The world is full of talented failures — people who either didn’t live up to their abilities, or who did, but in a way that diminished their humanity and their character. God made us to be better than that. And our nation and our Church need His people to be better than that. Scripture tells … Read more
Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha has been forced to suppress the Intercessors of the Lamb, a formerly-Catholic association of the faithful in his archdiocese. After the group requested recognition as an official Catholic organization, the archbishop undertook a canonical visitation: “It was my hope from the beginning that the Intercessors and the archdiocese would move … Read more
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has set five goals to pursue until the end of 2011. They are: Strengthening marriage Faith formation focused on sacramental practice Priestly and religious vocations Life and dignity of the human person Recognition of cultural diversity The USCCB Web site contains a link to a timeline for … Read more
Archbishop Chaput’s address to the first session of “The 15th symposium for the Canon Law Association of Slovakia” — wow, that’s quite a mouthful — was delivered over a week ago. Yet it has not been making quite as robust a showing on The Catholic IntraWebs as I would have expected after giving it the once-over. The … Read more
A press release from Human Life International: The board of directors of Human Life International (HLI) has announced that after nearly 10 years of meritorious service to HLI as president, Reverend Thomas J Euteneuer has stepped down from his position after being asked by his Bishop to return to his Diocese in West Palm Beach, … Read more
Interesting findings from a Reuters review of 255 health-care systems in the United States: Catholic and other church-owned systems are significantly more likely to provide higher quality performance and efficiency to the communities served than investor-owned systems. . . . Catholic health systems are also significantly more likely to provide higher quality performance to the … Read more
Too often, Catholic commentators, including myself, speak about American bishops in the plural. The existence of a national bishops’ conference unfortunately encourages this habit, one that obscures a basic fact about the Catholic Church: It is individual bishops who are responsible for sanctifying the lives of the Catholic faithful. There’s no better antidote to the … Read more
Every summer I take a group of high school students on a mission trip to El Salvador. Our hosts there come from the landowning class, and over lunch a woman I’ll call Rosa told me about her husband’s family. “They are very wealthy landowners,” she said. “They own a lot of land and run … Read more
There’s an objection that Protestants sometimes pose to Catholics: Why should I confess my sins to a man, when I could simply confess alone, in my room, to God? Â I’m sure there are all kinds of theological answers to this question. But I want to talk about what the presence of the “other person,” … Read more
Rome will be taking control of the Legionaries of Christ, at least for the time being: In a statement on Saturday, the Vatican said that Benedict would appoint a special delegate to govern the Legionaries, an influential worldwide order that has been an important source of new priests in a church that has struggled with … Read more
At Catholic Advocate, I argue the White House and the Congress are empowering Catholic dissidents, and, as a result, the Church is paying the price. For those who say we must wait for the Church to exert its influence over politics, I say the Church in presently too weak. The vectors of influence can … Read more
At Catholic Advocate, I argue the White House and the Congress are empowering Catholic dissidents, and, as a result, the Church is paying the price. For those who say we must wait for the Church to exert its influence over politics, I say the Church in presently too weak. The vectors of influence can … Read more
At Catholic Advocate, I argue the White House and the Congress are empowering Catholic dissidents, and, as a result, the Church is paying the price. For those who say we must wait for the Church to exert its influence over politics, I say the Church in presently too weak. The vectors of influence can … Read more
I wasn’t surprised to hear that Ann Coulter’s speech at the University of Ottawa was cancelled last night. Two thousand students showed up to protest her appearance and authorities were afraid rioting would break out, so they canned her: “What Ann Coulter is practicing is not free speech, it’s hate speech,” [one student] said. “She’s … Read more
According to the New York Times, ACORN is close to bankruptcy. The organization’s leadership are teleconferencing this weekend to work out the details. A network that once included more than 1,000 grass-roots groups, Acorn, which stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, was created in 1970 and has fought for liberal causes like … Read more
Recently, one of our local high schools celebrated a state championship in track and field. Not remarkable, unless you consider that it was the school’s 16th championship in a row. On the same day, the same high school’s swimmers swept to victory in the state finals. It was their 21st straight championship. This school is … Read more
“Cardinal Pell is an inspiration to all Catholics in Australia,” says Cory Bernardi, a pro-life Catholic senator from South Australia. Bernardi, along with his wife Sinead and two young sons, attends the traditional Latin Mass in his hometown of Adelaide. I spoke with him a few months ago in Washington, D.C., as I was preparing for my trip … Read more