A seminarian friend, Enrique Salvo, sends a reminiscence of Fr. Neuhaus: One sunny September morning during my first semester at St. Joseph’s seminary in 2006, I was assigned to preach about vocations at all the Sunday Masses celebrated at the Church of the Immaculate Conception. It was right . . . . Continue Reading »
I’ve received a ton of emails lately from people wanting me to tell them more about what it’s like being a junior fellow at First Things . That’s a pretty tall order, so I’ve decided to recruit some junior fellows of the past to help me out. Amanda Shaw has written a nice . . . . Continue Reading »
In a recent open letter to Barack Obama, Francis Cardinal George outlines the “principles and priorities” which will “make this period of national change a time to advance the common good and defend the life and dignity of all.” Writing on behalf of the United States . . . . Continue Reading »
A short time ago Barack Obama became the nation’s chief executive and the leader of the Free World. His inauguration as 44th President was historic and nation-altering: what was at one time an inconceivable dream - an African-American President - is now a daily fact. Flying . . . . Continue Reading »
Uh, oh: Here it comes. Incoming Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Daschle wants to create a US Agency to control costs based on the UK’s Orwellian-named National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which substantially controls the ethics and medical . . . . Continue Reading »
Last week, University College London announced that a baby in the UK was born after being tested and screened for a genetic form of breast cancer. Slate’s national correspondent William Saletan does a fine job highlighting the euphemisms and subtle implications present in the announcement: . . . . Continue Reading »
As regular SHSers know, I love non controversial biotechnology. Here’s another good example. If it works, it will be a case of life imitating, well not art exactly, but schlock.Scientists have invented a mini robot that might be injected into a stroke patient’s blood stream with which to . . . . Continue Reading »
One of the things I have come to understand about the euthanasia movement is that the law will never be loose enough to satiate the appetite of the ideologically committed for death on demand. As one example, when the Dutch formally legalized euthanasia, the very next day the Minister of Health . . . . Continue Reading »
The agitation to increase the pool of potential organ donors by allowing people who are unquestionably not dead, but who have profound cognitive disabilities, to be killed for their organs continues. An article in the American Medical News, primarily concerned with organ procurement after . . . . Continue Reading »
I am not sure what to make of this. According to a Politico writer, President Obama many not rescind President Bush’s embryonic stem cell funding executive order. He is going to leave it to the Congress. From the story:Obama pledged during the campaign to lift the restrictions, and political . . . . Continue Reading »