Challenges to the New York Times piece on the abuse scandal in Milwaukee keep on coming, and they damage is piling up. The latest comes from a priest who directly oversaw the case against Father Lawrence Murphy, though he was never contacted by the Times for comment. Now, he says, he wants to set the … Read more
It is an honor, of sorts, to have one’s Lenten penances externally imposed, and the whole Church has shared in this honor this year. Led by an ignorant and malicious attack in the New York Times, the liberal media internationally have been doing everything in their power to pin something — anything — on Pope … Read more
The recent attacks on Pope Benedict and the Church have brought forth some excellent responses. First, over at National Review Online, Fr. Raymond J. de Souza says that the New York Times‘ Friday expose’ of the pope’s alleged intervention into a Milwaukee abuse case is undercut by the very evidence the reporters cite. The documents … Read more
A few links to kick off your Friday: CNS on the Vatican’s response to the New York Times article yesterday claiming that the Holy See was involved in covering up the horrifying abuse of boys at a school for the deaf in Milwaukee. Social security goes into defecit for the first time, six years ahead … 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
In “The Femivore’s Dilemma” in last Thursday’s New York Times, Peggy Orenstein looked at the surprising intersection between feminism and locovorism. Apparently, there is a noticable movement of American women leaving high-level careers to raise organic produce, home school, can vegetables, and raise chickens. Femivorism is grounded in the very principles of self-sufficiency, autonomy and … Read more
I receive, not infrequently, inquiries by mail from recent converts to the Church who, after a year or so as new Catholics, find themselves wondering about this and that. All of these letters are from former Evangelicals who have read themselves joyfully into the Church. With their earnest, muscular, biblically oriented background in the … Read more
To Begin the World All Over Again: Lawrence of Arabia from Damascus to Baghdad John Hulsman, Palgrave Macmillan, 256 pages, $27.95 Those of us who try to keep up with developments during the Iraq War find that there are many basic facts about the region that don’t get answered in the daily coverage by … Read more
Those in homeschooling circles are probably familiar with the education system in Germany, which requires all children to attend an officially recognized school or face fines and penalties. The story of one German family, the Romeikes, has also gained some notoreity here: After attempting to homeschool their children and being threatened with thousands in fines, … Read more
According to the Centers for Disease Control, African American women have 40 percent of the nation’s abortions, but make up only 13 percent of the population. That black children are being aborted at such a high rate has not been a subject of discussion among the Democrats in the Congress and the White House, who … Read more
Last November 5, Ave Maria University celebrated a generous gift of $4 million from Tom Golisano, chairman of Paychex, the second largest payroll processor in the United States. Given that Golisano is the owner of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team and Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team, his gift will go to build a field house, where … 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
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
That bastion of conservatism, the New York Times, reports that “monogamy is not a central feature for many” gay and lesbian couples. In fact, fully 50% of gay couples are involved in polyandry, according to the soon-to-be-released Gay Couples Study by San Francisco State University. (In contrast, between 1.7 and 6% of heterosexual married couples are … Read more
Michael Pollan’s new book, Food Rules, is number one on Amazon and was called “the best nutrition book in 40 years,” by New York Times personal health columnist, Jane E. Brody: “I suspect that this little book can do more than the most authoritative text to get you motivated to make some important, lasting, health-promoting and … Read more
Behold, the latest pitch to attract more men to church: In the back room of a theater on Beale Street, John Renken, 42, a pastor, recently led a group of young men in prayer. “Father, we thank you for tonight,” he said. “We pray that we will be a representation of you.” An hour later, a … Read more
A very different set of photos from the ones I posted this morning: The images accompanying this New York Times article about the children of Haiti will break your heart. From the story: Not long after 14-year-old Daphne Joseph escaped her collapsed house on the day of the earthquake, she boarded a crowded jitney with … Read more
Zoe can stop buying those lottery tickets — turns out that (surprise!) money can’t buy you happiness. In fact, many of the things society associates with happiness — health, good looks, career success — are not as important as our relationships with one another, says Nicholas Kristoff in the New York Times: Men are no … Read more
Now this is embarrassing: Two years ago, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report claiming — among other things — that the glaciers of the Himalayas would melt by 2035. Unfortunately, it appears that the researchers didn’t do a lot of actual, you know, research. In the past few days the … Read more
Pope Benedict paid a visit to Rome’s main synagogue yesterday, where the canonization cause of Pope Pius XII — something of a sore spot in Catholic-Jewish relations these days — was almost guaranteed to come up. (Some in the Jewish community feel he didn’t do enough to combat the Holocaust, but others counter that he … Read more