“Prison rape occupies a fairly odd space in our culture,” wrote Ezra Klein, bringing to the fore a subject that is often ignored. “It is, all at once, a cherished source of humor, a tacitly accepted form of punishment, and a broadly understood human rights abuse.” We are justifiably outraged by the human rights abuses occurring in foreign lands. Why, then, are we not more outraged by atrocities here in our own country? … Continue Reading»
Where can you find a Catholic chaplaincy at an institution of higher learning that’s looking to expand its church to seat 1,400, because the current 850 just isn’t enough? South Bend, Indiana, perhaps? Well, no, actually: College Station, Texas, where the Catholic chaplaincy at Texas A&M, St. Mary’s Catholic Center, is setting a new national standard for Catholic campus ministry… . Continue Reading»
The story of Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist who ran what a Grand Jury report referred to as “a baby charnel house,” where viable babies”“big enough to walk around with me or walk me to the bus,” as Gosnell joked”were delivered and then outright killed with a “snip” to the spinal cord, their feet sometimes severed for souvenirs … Continue Reading»
The trampoline, that upset them. We bought one of the big round ones for our eldest’s sixteenth birthday a few years ago, and parents we knew (mothers more than fathers) were appalled that we’d bought such a dangerous thing and horrified that our children were allowed to jump on it when we were not there. Fortunately, no one ever asked how many children we let on the trampoline at one time, since sometimes all four jumped on it at once… . Continue Reading»
As you may be aware, several Christian churches in Kirkuk, Mosul, Basra, and Baghdad, as well as throughout the rest of Iraq, cancelled their festivities this past Christmas. Ever since the massacre of worshippers in Baghdad’s Church of Our Lady of Salvation last November … Continue Reading»
Quick raise your hand if you think you know something about exorcisms. Now put down your hand if what you have learned has mostly come from Hollywood and the movies. I’m guessing there are not many hands left up out there… . Continue Reading»
It’s been a ride that has not reached a destination. Those people who say it’s the journey, not the destination, do not know what they are talking about. My mother is descending”has descended”into dementia. My wife and I have noticed little markers along the way over the last year. … Continue Reading»
Since the so-called “hermeneutic turn,” initiated and sustained by that Teutonic proclivity for ratiocination, we’re told that everything”on the page and off the page”is a text, and therefore it’s interpretation all the way down. … Continue Reading»
Not every person is a human being, but is every human being a person? Examples abound of non-human persons: Christians believe that the Godhead consists of “three Persons of one substance”; U.S. Supreme Court justices have ruled that corporations are “artificial persons”; fans of Star Trek argue that androids like Data and aliens like Spock are all (fictional) persons; and the Spanish Parliament even ruled that great apes are “legal persons.” … Continue Reading»
The otherwise inexplicable cure of a French nun suffering from Parkinson’s disease was accepted in early January by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and Pope Benedict XVI as the confirming miracle that clears the way for the beatification of Pope John Paul II on May 1, Divine Mercy Sunday… . Continue Reading»
