Sen. John McCain reached out to Catholic voters yesterday in Philadelphia at a gathering of Catholic lay leaders and clergy. The meeting, held at the venerable Union League on South Broad St., is one in an ongoing series being held nationwide by McCain and his Catholic surrogates — Sen. Sam Brownback, Gov. Frank Keating, … Read more
With the announcement last November that Ian Wilmut, who cloned Dolly the sheep, was ditching cloning in favor of the “amazingly efficient” method of induced pluripotent stem-cell research (iPS) — which reprograms adult stem cells into embryonic ones without using human embryos or eggs — pro-lifers had reason to celebrate. The most prominent cloning … Read more
Is clericalism still a problem in the Catholic Church, and if so, what do we do about it? We put that question to prominent Catholics of diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Here are their answers. Today, Inside Catholic concludes its multi-part, multi-week examination of clericalism in the Catholic Church. These items have already appeared: "On Clericalism," … Read more
If Hillary Clinton were elected president, she’d be the second feminist to hold that office. The first was her husband Bill. (If this seems a questionable proposition, hold on. I’ll defend it later.) But “feminism” is an equivocal term, having at least four distinct but related meanings, each of them indicative of a somewhat more … Read more
It was the biggest event in the history of the White House, with over 13,000 people forming a line that snaked for over a quarter of a mile down 15th Street and onto Constitution Avenue. Benedict XVI was in town, and President George W. Bush was giving him his 81st birthday party on the South … Read more
In his 2008 World Day of Peace address, Pope Benedict XVI made clear that human beings “are of supreme worth vis-Ã -vis creation as a whole.” He explained that respecting the environment does not mean considering “material or animal nature more important than man.” According to some early accounts, this amounted to a “surprise attack” on … Read more
There have been so many books about Thomas Jefferson that it’s hard to see what more can be said about him. But Alan Pell Crawford, in this elegant, elegiac book, suggests that looking at Jefferson’s last years will help us understand his greatness as a Founder and as a president. Twilight at Monticello: The Final … Read more
According to a new Pew Forum study, more Americans have left the Catholic Church than any other religious body. We asked 34 prominent Catholics why. Last week the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released a study on the changing religious habits of Americans. Among many things, the researchers found that the Catholic Church … Read more
Belmont Abbey College is one of the few Catholic colleges in the southeastern United States, located about ten miles west of Charlotte, North Carolina. Unfortunately, its president and chancellor are currently embroiled in a defense of the college’s Catholic identity against eight faculty members who insist on insurance coverage for voluntary sterilization, abortion, and contraception. … Read more
Manny Miranda is recognized as the leading national activist for conservative judicial appointments. He surprised people by endorsing Sen. John McCain for president, in spite of criticism of the Arizona senator’s role in the “Gang of 14,” a bipartisan effort to deal with the Senate backlog of Bush’s judicial nominees. As a staffer in the … Read more
Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) is the leading pro-life Catholic in the Senate. After withdrawing from the race for the GOP presidential nomination, he endorsed Senator John McCain (R-AZ). His choice of McCain surprised some of Brownback’s supporters, so I asked him about his endorsement. ♦         ♦         ♦ Deal W. Hudson: Some people were surprised when … Read more
There was once a young American college student whose love for his faith led him to devote two years of his life as an overseas missionary, embracing loneliness and relative poverty in his zeal to convert unbelievers. He’d even left behind his high school sweetheart, to whom he was faithfully and chastely devoted. He didn’t … Read more
On the Feast of the Annunciation in 2003, Military Archbishop Edwin O’Brien wrote: “Long after the [Iraq] hostilities cease, the debate likely will continue as to the moral justification for the armed force recently initiated by the United States and its allies. It is to be hoped that all factors which have led to our … Read more
In his excellent new book, 33 Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask, Thomas E. Woods Jr. explodes the common myths that surround the short life of our nation. Brian Saint-Paul spoke with him about two of those errors, which have appeared frequently in the media and popular opinion. ♦ ♦ ♦ Brian … Read more
There were two political Henry Hydes, and until the second lived his life’s span (1924 – 2007), no historian would have imagined the Clarendon Papers of the mercurial Jacobite (1638 – 1709) being eclipsed in social importance by a Hyde from Chicago. In his Irish Catholic family, Henry Hyde had virtually no political option: To … Read more
Henry Hyde, former longtime Illinois Representative and stalwart defender of life, passed away early this morning. Hyde, 83, had recently brought a long political career to an end, retiring at the conclusion of the last session. In that time, he earned a reputation as the most committed and uncompromising opponent of abortion in national office. … Read more
This week the U.S. House of Representatives will very likely vote to add “sexual orientation” as a category of persons legally protected from discrimination. If passed, H.R. 3685, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), will mean that homosexuals can bring lawsuits against employers they feel have discriminated against them because of their sexual orientation. Although religious … Read more
The Jesuit College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, is in trouble. Bishop Robert J McManus, S.T.D., issued a statement on October 10th warning President Michael McFarland, S.J., that the official Catholic status of Holy Cross was at risk. The reason for the showdown? On October 24, representatives of both Planned Parenthood and NARAL … Read more
“If Giuliani and Clinton are the nominees, then Hillary Clinton will certainly win the Catholic vote in 2008.” This is the opinion of a chief strategist behind George W. Bush’s success with Catholic voters in 2000 and 2004. Steve Wagner, president of QEV Analytics in Washington, D.C., isn’t happy in reaching this conclusion. “Hillary Clinton, … Read more
As a practical matter, the argument that a pro-choice president will end abortion is far-fetched. Never in American history has a laissez-faire chief executive ended a great moral evil. Take slavery and de jure racial discrimination. Pro-slavery presidents did not end slavery; it was brought to its conclusion by Abraham Lincoln, who in his 1860 … Read more