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A Benign Reading of a Confusing Paragraph

When I was asked to sign the Appeal critiquing Paragraph 137, I initially agreed with the reading of the authors of the Appeal—but as I studied the paragraph more carefully, it became clear to me that it could be read in a much more benign fashion, and that the benign reading is the correct . . . . Continue Reading »

Popes in These United States

The history of popes in these United States is full of surprises. And one of them, to begin at the beginning, includes the little-known fact that Blessed Paul VI was not the first pontiff to set foot on American territory, when he landed at newly-renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport on . . . . Continue Reading »

We Need to Talk About Adoption

In “Adoption, Abortion and a Message of Hope,” J.D. Flynn makes an important point: the choice to place a child for adoption is a heroic sacrifice, borne in suffering, which we must always acknowledge and honor. As adoptive parents, my husband and I wholeheartedly embrace this truth. As I have . . . . Continue Reading »

The Derridean Echo

When I read this story on the University of Tennessee Office for Diversity and Inclusion asking students and teachers to stop imposing gendered pronouns on one another, I didn’t think about the silliness of trying to create linguistic change by bureaucratic fiat. Or about one more exercise in . . . . Continue Reading »

Learned Ignorance

On Wednesday evening, a capacity crowd assembled at the Calvary Chapel on the campus of Biola University for a roundtable discussion on the future of the Church. The event was co-sponsored by Biola’s Torrey Honors Institute, First Things, and the Theopolis Institute.The four speakers represented . . . . Continue Reading »

Fuller Seminary Takes a Stand

Fuller Seminary decided not to offer tenure to a New Testament professor, J. R. Daniel Kirk, whose view of marriage does not comport with Jesus’s view.Although a decision such as this is never made happily or easily, I am grateful for the courage of senior faculty at Fuller Seminary in asserting . . . . Continue Reading »

An Appeal

An Instrumentum laboris (working paper) was prepared for the XIV Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops and published on June 23, 2015. It covers a range of topics germane to the Synod’s theme of the family. Paragraph 137 addresses a key document of the modern Magisterium, Humanae Vitae, in a . . . . Continue Reading »

Kim Davis and the Mess She's In

Once upon a time I was a sworn officer of the State of Kansas, occupying a statutory office as deputy secretary of state for legislative matters. I had to take an oath before I could sign my name to anything that pertained to the job. (Somewhere I think there is still a photograph of the occasion, . . . . Continue Reading »

Remembering “The Few”

Seventy-five years ago, on Sunday, September 15, 1940, Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine were driven from the prime minister’s country house, Chequers, to the nearby village of Uxbridge: a Royal Air Force station and the headquarters from which Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park was directing . . . . Continue Reading »

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