As Ashley McGuire notes in her Townhall article today, the beloved jewelry store Tiffany’s is about to break your heart.

Set during the Rebellion of 1798, the play, billed as a “classic Irish comedy,” is handled skillfully by director Peter Dobbins and his thoroughly entertaining cast, offering the audience a sweet glimpse past March’s ever-present “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” t-shirts into a world where love, loyalty, and a good joke win the day. . .

The story of Arrah-na-Pogue offers a thoughtful meditation on the nature of love and trust. Arrah and Shaun’s unshakeable devotion to each other arises from their mutual belief in the innate good of their beloved and their consequent commitment to putting the other first. . .

Be sure to read the rest of it here. And, if you’re in New York, check out the play before it closes on April 2.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and those of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

In every era, there’s been a tragic contrast between the burden of unwanted pregnancies and the burden of infertility. But this gap used to be bridged by adoption far more frequently than it is today. Prior to 1973, 20 percent of births to white, unmarried women (and 9 percent of unwed births over all) led to an adoption. Today, just 1 percent of babies born to unwed mothers are adopted, and would-be adoptive parents face a waiting list that has lengthened beyond reason.

Be sure to read the rest of it here.

In an upset, New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan elected president Tuesday of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, defeating a vice president who had been widely expected to win the job.

This year’s winners are: Jeanne Head (a UN representative for National Right to Life and a Representative of the International Right to Life Federation), the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network (which has provided assistance to more than 1000 families, including the medically dependent, persons with disabilities, and those incapacitated in life-threatening situations), Douglas Johnson (legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee), Kristan Hawkins (executive director of Students for Life of America), Reverend Alveda King (a public face of the pro-life movement in the African American community), and Marie Smith (director of the Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues, a non-partisan global outreach of Gospel of Life Ministries).

Life Prizes “awards those who have succeeded in awakening the conscience of America to uphold and preserve the sanctity of human life through their leadership and advances in public advocacy, scientific research, outreach and public disclosure activities, legal action, and other noteworthy achievements.” Congrats to this year’s six winners!

a hard-working cafe owner has been ordered to tear down an extractor fan–because the smell of her frying bacon ‘offends’ Muslims. Mrs Akciecek and her husband Cetin, 50,–himself a Turkish Muslim–work more than 50 hours a week buying, preparing, and cooking hot and cold sandwiches and hot-pots for their customers. . . . She said: “I just think it’s crazy. Cetin’s friends actually visit the shop, they’re regular visitors, they’re Muslim people, they come in a couple of times a week. . . . I have Muslim people come in for cheese toasties. Cetin cooks the food himself, he cooks the bacon.”

Mmm . . . cheese toasties and bacon. I don’t even know what cheese toasties are, but they certainly sound good. I think we have to admit that it’s all a matter of perspective here. There are some people, comedian Jim Gaffigan for instance, who would pay a pretty penny for real estate in a bacon-smelling neighborhood: