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GOP platform has lost its way (7/17/24)Pro-life people believe abortion to be the human rights issue of our lifetime, one with eternal stakes. With the Republican Party’s changes to its platform regarding abortion, it’s hard to believe the GOP is in the cause for the long haul — never mind the eternal. The platform no longer calls for an end to abortion, opting instead for the leave-it-to-the-states position. This platform and likely presidential nominee Donald Trump have abandoned any even nominal claim to the moral high ground. ...
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The power of ‘Possum Trot’ (7/9/24)"The whole town. The whole town wants kids now!" The caseworker with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services was giddy with a mixture of elation and disbelief. A pastor and his wife were in her office explaining that 22 families were ready to foster some of the most difficult children in the surrounding area. The pastor emphasized the point: There are more couples than babies available to adopt.
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An unsurprisingly uninspiring debate (7/3/24)"I did not have sex with a porn star." Donald Trump’s statement in response to an arguably ad hominem attack from Joe Biden during their June 27 debate must have given more than a few of us flashbacks to Bill Clinton -- specifically, his "It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is" dance as he tried to linguistically sidestep allegations about Monica Lewinsky.
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The true meaning of freedom (6/25/24)Now is the time of year that stores and companies move from displaying pride flags to draping everything in red, white and blue. Independence Day is about freedom. But what does that mean? A mature and educated understanding of freedom is not libertine. It is not about doing everything we want. It is not about hyper-individualism. We make choices about freedom every day, and we all need them to be rooted in civic duty and virtue.
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The importance of miracles (6/18/24)"Every Sunday for me it’s hard," says Nancy Pelosi in "Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk About Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning," a 2008 collection edited by Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late Robert Kennedy. Pelosi’s sabbath difficulty has to do with the Eucharist, the Catholic belief that the bread and wine of Communion are transformed into the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. "This is my body, this is my blood. They’re asking a lot. In my era, we didn’t question any of it," Pelosi says in "Being Catholic."
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The message of motherhood (5/30/24)"I am mother!" cried "Saturday Night Live" host, and former cast member, Maya Rudolph on Mother’s Day weekend, On the show, she was dubbed the "Mother of the House of Rockefeller," and she proceeded to recount some of the many characters she played throughout the years. I stopped watching "SNL" regularly when Adam Sandler’s "Opera Man" retired, so some of the bit was lost on me. But this idea landed: Even in a comedic context, popular culture was celebrating motherhood.
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Advice to the graduate (5/22/24)"We don’t just need leaders, we need followers." A friend who’s worked in Washington politics for decades was thinking aloud about a commencement speech she was scheduled to give at her law school alma mater. She didn’t want to give the students fluff. She wanted to be congratulatory while not patronizing them. She wanted to make a point about gratitude, stewardship and humility.
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The long haul of love (5/15/24)We cannot live without mothers. That seems like it should be an obvious point. But we have examples in recent culture and politics that suggest otherwise. The vice president of the United States recently visited an abortion clinic. As much as the issue of abortion has been important to the Democratic Party, no president or vice president had previously made such a visit. At his own abortion-rights rally, our Catholic president made the sign of the cross, as if to call upon God’s blessings for more abortions.
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A troubling tale (5/8/24)At 10 years old, Rob Henderson reached the following conclusion: "As far as I was concerned, adults were unreliable liars. With each new family, new parent and new rejection, grief, anger and loneliness accrued within me." Henderson writes of the upbringing that led to this despairing insight in his powerful new book, "Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class."
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The evil of antisemitism (4/30/24)Eva Weintraubova and her older brother Pavel. Marthe Suzanne Tepfer. Rosa Henriette de Vries-Gersons. Petr Haim. Eva Neuova. Those are just a few of the names of children at Auschwitz who were recently remembered in an online memorial. The Auschwitz museum in Poland regularly posts photos on social media of people who died in the gas chambers. These posts note the birthdays and death days of people of all ages. Most jarring are the daily photos of children.
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The power of forgiveness (4/23/24)"Is forgiveness and being forgiven an important part of gratitude?" I was asked this question around the same time that Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, an Iraqi-born Assyrian bishop in Sydney, released a statement from a hospital, forgiving a teenager who stabbed him during Mass.
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The human cost of IVF (4/17/24)The New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury and her husband recently put some of their hard-earned resources into getting a movie based on one of her novels, "Someone Like You," into theaters. It was an act of courage and faith, and it could be a cultural game-changer if people care to notice.
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Remembering and misremembering Buckley (4/9/24)I cried and cried and cried on the night of Feb. 27, 2008. I'm not sure anyone ever did that while watching Charlie Rose on PBS before. But there I was. William F. Buckley Jr. had died that day, and Rose played recaps of interviews with Bill over the years. Bill founded National Review magazine in 1955, and I was editor of the magazine's website when he died.
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The gift of Lieberman's example (4/2/24)"The light's gone from his eyes." It was 2000, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Democrat from Connecticut, was in full campaign mode. As Al Gore's vice-presidential nominee, Lieberman was preparing to debate Dick Cheney, but Lieberman's son, Matt, was worried about him. He said the words above to Lieberman's wife, Hadassah, who later used them as a wake-up call for her husband. As Lieberman recounted in his 2011 book, "The Gift of Rest," Matt had been concerned that he was not sleeping, and maybe not praying, as he normally would. Matt had said, "His brain is all there, but his soul isn't coming through," Liberman wrote. "... It jolted me from my fatigue, and, I think, reconnected me to my soul."
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A message from Rome (3/27/24)ROME -- I was here 11 years ago today, I am remembering. A pope from Latin America was elected. Everyone was surprised. I've been staying at the North American Pontifical College here in the Eternal City. The seminarians have a love for the pope and want to teach the treasures of the Church to all who are open...
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Suffragette city at the state of the union (3/14/24)"Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women." This quote isn't from some evangelical firebrand or conservative pundit -- it's from Alice Paul, one of the leading suffragettes of the early 20th century. And yet, not for the first time, Democratic women wore white at a presidential State of the Union address to advocate for abortion. ...
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Martyrdom and suicide are not the same (3/5/24)God rest the soul of Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old in the Air Force who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. "Free Palestine," he declared as he was dying. While he meant his death as a political protest, it was suicide. And it should not be celebrated...
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Of service and celebration (2/14/24)It's near-impossible to walk the streets of Manhattan -- or any other major American city -- without running into a woman on the sidewalk begging for money. She may have a sign that she is a mother, explaining how many children she has. She may have a child or two right there with her...
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'The Chosen' carries a valuable message (2/6/24)"Our hearts are so tender. All of our emotions right at the surface. Laughter. Tears. Closer than ever." That line is spoken in the new season of "The Chosen." If you haven't heard of it yet, do consider going to see it. While previous seasons of the show have streamed, this new installment will be showing in theaters...
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Tragedy and inspiration in D.C. (1/31/24)The last thing Ryan Realbuto did in his life on earth was praise God. He did this the Thursday before the New Hampshire primary and the day before the March for Life -- just before the 23-year-old was shot in Washington, D.C. I have no idea if Realbuto was planning on going to the annual pro-life celebration I was in D.C. ...
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Marching for life (1/24/24)Washington, D.C. "My mother told me that she tried to induce a miscarriage by jumping off chairs and trunks." The late former New York City Mayor Ed Koch wrote this 1989. He explained that she had told him she had several abortions in her life. "We were very poor. The prospect of another mouth to feed posed serious problems," he wrote...
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The other side of surrogacy (1/16/24)Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted a photo from a hospital bed in August 2021. He and his husband, Chasten, were fully dressed, holding their new twins. The human response is to wish them all the best. At the same time, it can't be forgotten that there is someone missing from the photo. We, as a culture, can't erase the birth mother. And yet we do...
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In memoriam (1/9/24)Last week, a young woman who never thought she would make it to 40 years died at 41. Her message to the world was about remembering that we are all mortal -- and she meant it in an encouraging way. Use your time well and give thanks. Emily DeArdo was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) at 11. She almost died as she was graduating from college. A double-lung transplant saved her life...
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A New Year's prayer (1/3/24)I hate that politics and media are the main venues for discussing abortion. As you may know, if you've read my column before, ending abortion is a priority for me. As we see headline after headline about abortion — which I'm aware I'm adding to, here — I wish we could focus not only on the resources available to help young mothers, but the help available to women dealing with the repercussions of having an abortion...
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The inspiration of Harold Gomes (12/27/23)Harold Gomes wanted us all to be brave. "A warrior" is how his sister described him, but one who as "tender" and "authoritative," she said before his funeral Mass. As long as I knew him, he was on a ventilator and in a wheelchair, due to the afflictions of muscular dystrophy. And yet, even in the confines of his illness, he lived so freely...
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The importance of family (12/21/23)A baby, a mother and a father. They are at the heart of the Christmas season. And, yet, as Mary Eberstadt points out in her book "How the West Really Lost God", a nuclear family might seem strange to many people who did not grow up in one. And the celebration of a baby might hold a painful reminder to a person unable to have children for whatever reason. Eberstadt's point is that we should acknowledge how reality contrasts with our ideals...
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Remember the joy of December (12/12/23)The quote is attributed to a Catholic Pope: "Christian, remember your dignity." Pope Leo I, or Pope Leo the Great, as he's also known, ruled in the mid-fifth century, but his words have plenty to teach us in our current moment. Every Christmas Day, Catholics read his sermon, in which he implores: "Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. ...
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Last words from Kissinger (12/6/23)"Diplomacy is the art of hope." Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger quoted Pope Benedict XVI in what must have been the final public address he made, just weeks before his death. Kissinger was speaking at the annual Al Smith Dinner for charity in New York, an event he'd regularly attended for decades. For myriad reasons, Kissinger being the keynote speaker was important...
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Finding meaning in a broken world (11/30/23)She was a refugee from Somalia, where she was subject to genital mutilation. A man she worked with on a documentary was killed, and she was warned she was next. Activist and former Dutch politician Aayan Hirsi Ali was born a Muslim and later an atheist. She recently converted to Christianity. Her testimony ought to be listened to and she and her family prayed for...
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Sisters doin' it for the love (11/15/23)I used to think that almost everyone celebrated their birthday, even if it were only via messages on Facebook. But from the Sisters of Life in New York, I've learned that many of the women the religious group serves — who are pregnant and in need of support — have never had a birthday party. The women often come to the nuns in desperate circumstances. And the nuns greet them with love, which includes making a big deal about their birthdays. They truly celebrate the gift of life...
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Britney Spears' bravery (11/7/23)The lyrics for Britney Spears "Everytime" have a whole new meaning now. In her new memoir, "The Woman in Me," the pop star writes about the abortion she was pressured into by her boyfriend and fellow "Mickey Mouse Club" star Justin Timberlake. In the 2003 ballad, she sang: "Every time I try to fly, I fall/Without my wings/I feel so small/I guess I need you, baby/And every time I see you in my dreams/I see your face/It's haunting me/I guess I need you, baby."...
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'Antisemitism is a unique evil' (11/1/23)STEUBENVILLE OHIO "The Jewish religion is not 'extrinsic' to us, but in a certain way is 'intrinsic' to our own religion. With Judaism, therefore, we have a relationship which we do not have with any other religion. You are our dearly beloved brothers, and in a certain way, it could be said that you are our elder brothers."...
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We must not look away (10/24/23)Ruth Peretz was 16 years old. She had cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy; she was nonverbal and used a wheelchair. But she loved music. So her father, Erick, brought her to the desert concert in Israel that was so brutally attacked by Hamas. Ruth and Erick were among the missing for days, but they have both now been found dead. ...
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Evil in Israel (10/19/23)"A baby, an infant, riddled with bullets. Soldiers beheaded. Young people burned alive. I could go on, but it's simply depravity in the worst imaginable way." In Israel, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken described some of the photographic evidence he'd seen of the Hamas attacks against Israel...
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Ohio at a crossroads (10/10/23)COLUMBUS, OHIO "The unborn are the poorest of the poor," Jeanne Mancini emphasized in front of the statehouse here. Mancini is the president of the March for Life. For a half-century the March for Life has been a frigid annual January event in Washington., D.C., marking the Supreme Court decision, Roe vs. Wade, that made abortion federally legal...
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Doctors in Detroit making a difference (10/3/23)DETROIT — "They say there are no atheists in foxholes. Maybe there are no atheists on operating tables." Dr. Ray Guarendi, a clinical psychologist, said this while emceeing a fundraising dinner for a new medical clinic for women and their children. ...
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RIP to a real one: Father William Holt (9/27/23)I never encountered Father William Holt — Billy Holt, as some who loved him referred to him -- without smiling. His joy was contagious. Holt died in Ireland earlier this month, while on a trip that was paid for by someone whose life had been touched by his ministry...
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Christianity is alive and well in Iraq (9/21/23)ORLANDO There are recent American college graduates teaching in Iraq, due to an exchange program between the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil and the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. But just the other day, a Nigerian seminarian was burned alive as his rectory was attacked. This kind of thing is a common occurrence in Nigeria...
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Mother Teresa's example (9/12/23)Malcolm Muggeridge noticed that Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity religious sisters in India radiated joy. "I have been immensely struck by the joyfulness of these Sisters, who do what an outsider might think to be almost impossibly difficult and painful tasks," the British journalist, an avowed atheist, told Mother Teresa in 1968 as he was working on a documentary and book "Something Beautiful for God." That BBC interview introduced her to the world stage...
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Haley has the right idea (9/9/23)Politics is the absolute worst lens through which to look at abortion. And yet, when we talk about abortion, it's almost always about the political aspects of it. This is necessary because we must debate law and policy. But how can we make the discussion more compassionate? Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley led the way during the first Republican primary debate...
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The shape of politics to come (8/29/23)SHARON, CT -- "The Founders were not afraid of religion," James L. Buckley wrote in his book "Gleanings from an Unplanned Life." Buckley was a one-term senator from New York, elected on the Conservative Party line. His funeral Mass was the morning after the first Republican presidential primary this year, and just about everything about it seemed like a stark contrast to our current politics. ...
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An inspirational life (8/22/23)"Proof That One Life Can Change the World." The headline of a recent New York Times column drew me in and did not disappoint. The article was about Father Charles Strobel, a Nashville legend. The columnist, Margaret Renkl, writes about Strobel: "What he understood is the difference between charity and community -- a difference founded in kinship, in recognizing that we all fall down, that sometimes it takes another hand to pull us up again."...
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Foster care crisis (8/15/23)"Their faith is not supportive." That was the official Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) determination about Mike and Kitty Burke's application to be foster parents. Otherwise qualified to be certified as foster parents, they failed because of their answers to a series of hypothetical questions about sexual orientation and gender dysphoria. ...
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Sisters for Life show US the way (8/8/23)ORLANDO -- "We are pro-woman and we are pro-baby. And we must take care of both of them." Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York paid tribute to Mother Mary Agnes Donovan and the Sisters of Life while not so subtly reminding those in the audience that the pro-life movement requires love above all. His remarks were part of an introductory video for an award given by the Knights of Columbus to the group of religious women that works to support women in need...
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The youth of the world (8/2/23)Pope Francis is headed to Portugal for World Youth Day, an event started by Pope John Paul II that remains transformational for Catholic young people. A papal event isn't breaking news, but it could be even more important. I was 40 when I experienced World Youth Day for the first time, in Poland that year. ...
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Darkness on the edge of a small town (7/26/23)The country singer Jason Aldean has a No. 1 hit with "Try That in a Small Town." It's made news because Country Music Television won't play the video due to its threatening nature. Aldean is a Trump fan, so it's brought out predictable right vs. left defenses and condemnations. But it's not that simple. It's an opportunity to look at 1985 vs. 2023 and take some lessons from the relatively recent past...
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New movie makes U.S. face the unthinkable (7/18/23)The movie "Sound of Freedom" beat Indiana Jones at the box office Independence Day weekend. The budgets behind them do not compare, but David beat Goliath, and that's a blessing in the world today. As you might know by now, "Sound of Freedom" is about the sex trafficking of children. ...
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Let kids be kids and let Barbie be Barbie (7/13/23)In the new "Barbie" movie, one of the dolls is played by a transgender actor who was assigned male at birth. It's far from the most important thing in the world, but it's one of many wake-up calls in the culture today. A 1980s ad campaign, which I can still hear in my head, had girls declaring: "We girls can do anything. Right, Barbie?" It's just a toy. But taking the girl from Barbie does seem to take away the point of it...
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Smiles amid the pain (7/5/23)A little girl -- maybe 4 years old -- looks at you with disappointment. In a photo on display in a new exhibit in Manhattan, she appears to be reacting to boys with her who are cutting in line in front of her for food. Also in the gallery is a photo of that same girl exuding joy. ...
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A path to depolarization (6/28/23)GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — "We need healing when we use violence." Kevin Vallier is speaking at the Acton Institute's annual international gathering of nonprofit, faith-based leaders. The Institute is named after the 19th-century Englishman Lord Acton, known best for the quote "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." The Institute's also motivated by Acton's admonition: "Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought."...
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A blow to children and families (6/20/23)Find an Indian. Any Indian. That's essentially the approach the United States takes when a Native American child winds up in foster care. The Supreme Court was just given the opportunity to help these children by overturning a law that prioritizes placing Native American children in need of adoption with Native American families, but did not take it...
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Reason to live (6/14/23)What would it take to come together to form some kind of consistent commitment to life in the United States? When former Vice President Mike Pence recently announced his campaign for the Republican nomination for president, he talked about his commitment to the protection of innocent human life during a town hall on CNN. ...
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Amazing Grace in Ohio (6/2/23)GRANVILLE, OH -- Whit's frozen custard shop was invaded by joyful young people one recent Sunday night. After pizza, 20-somethings on a weekend religious retreat were hard to miss amid the locals walking their dogs or enjoying a cone. Many of the young people were telling passersby: "You're amazing!" and receiving double takes, strange looks and smiles in return...
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That's the power of love (5/24/23)Arthur Brooks has managed to carve out a living studying, speaking about, and encouraging happiness -- and that's after many fascinating journeys, including as a classical French horn player and president of the American Enterprise Institute. He teaches a class on happiness at Harvard, even. ...
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A warrior for dignity (5/18/23)Dr. Michael Brescia promised Angela, a woman who had been living under FDR Drive in Manhattan, that he would visit her three times a day in the hospital. Brescia, who died late last month, was the executive medical director and co-founder of Calvary Hospital, a trailblazer in palliative care. He would tell anyone who would listen about the beauty of human life, and the duties to each other that beauty brings...
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Reminder of what counts (5/13/23)On a visit to Hungary, Pope Francis recently made headlines for talking about peace efforts between Ukraine and Russia. But some of his messages were about a war in the West, a war occurring in human hearts. In a meeting with young people, he said quite bluntly: "Nowadays there is a great temptation to be satisfied with a cellphone and a few friends. ... You cannot shut yourselves away in small groups of friends, talking only on your cellphone."...
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The attitude of gratitude (5/3/23)Commencement season is upon us. And if I were giving one of the addresses this year, I'd begin with a quote from William F. Buckley Jr.: "We are basket cases of ingratitude, so many of us." That's one of the National Review founder's most memorable quotes, as far as I'm concerned. In a 1988 speech, he said: "Our offense ... is that of the Westerner, rich or poor, learned or ignorant, who accepts without any thought the patrimony we all enjoy, those of us who live in the Free World."...
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A new mission (4/26/23)"My cousin has twins. She got pregnant again. Her boyfriend is a gang member. She had an abortion. How can anyone say she should have had the baby?" This question came after a talk I was giving at a Christian college. The student was opposed to abortion, but was also struggling with the reality of life's complications. Her question should be a challenge to anyone who has ever had a word to say about abortion in a political context...
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The mission and the noise (4/18/23)On Good Friday, a judge made a ruling in Texas to sideline one of the drugs used in chemical abortions. The ruling never went into practice, and that decision will likely wind up in the Supreme Court before long. It was a sober reminder that abortion in the United States is both far from over and intensely complicated. Reactions were -- as is typical in the wake of last June's Supreme Court ruling that ended Roe v. Wade -- hysterical...
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Hope for holy week (4/11/23)Justin always seems shocked that I remember his name. It's such a small thing, but it sure seems to mean a great deal to him. He's homeless, but he says being homeless in New York is much better than being homeless in other places. He tells me about the coffee place that always shares caffeine and sandwiches. ...
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Principled leaders vs. abuse of power (4/4/23)You may have heard the name Mark Houck. He was arrested last September -- FBI agents stormed his home early one Saturday morning, shocking him awake, along with his wife and their young children. To this day, one of the youngest is still having nightmares...
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Are we serious about pluralism? (3/28/23)Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi recently spoke on faith and justice at Georgetown University. She talked about her Catholic upbringing and how she was raised to see that everyone has the spark of the Divine within. This was just days after Judge Kyle Duncan listened to Stanford Law students heckle him because, among other concerns, they disagreed with his Catholic beliefs. ...
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On the media (3/22/23)As I write, I'm about to speak for the second time in a week about the media. I almost turned down both invitations to speak at two very different conferences, because, despite working in the press, I don't think much about the media. But early on in my life as an opinion journalist, I realized criticizing the mainstream media — "the liberal media" — could be something of an easy parlor game among conservatives. ...
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Remembering evil in Jerusalem (3/14/23)JERUSALEM -- You walk into the Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem and the walls already seem to be closing in on you. That's by design. I've walked through the camps in Auschwitz and Dachau. At Yad Vashem, as Israel's museum is called, I didn't have the nerve to cry until we watched documentary footage of the liberation of some of the camps. ...
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Lent in Jerusalem (3/7/23)JERUSALEM -- Any day of the week here, the 4:30 a.m. Muslim call to prayer may wake you up. As a Christian in this holy land, it calls me, too. And, sure enough: If you head out the door to the Old City, you will be joining Muslims, Jews and Christians going to their houses of worship...
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The message of a murdered bishop (3/1/23)In his last homily at Los Angeles' cathedral before he was murdered on Feb. 18, Bishop David O'Connell talked about Mary, the mother of Jesus -- and a pilgrimage we led to shrines in Portugal and Lourdes, France. The Los Angeles auxiliary recalled weeping in Lourdes. His own mother had died two decades before, and for the first time since he'd last seen her, he said he felt the loving welcome of a mother...
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The mysticism of real change (2/22/23)"Everything begins in mysticism and ends in politics." That's a quote from Charles Peguy, a French poet, who died in World War I. Reflecting on his thinking, author Robert Royal recently explained on his website The Catholic Thing: "What he meant is that every powerful movement begins as a spiritual force, and then is 'incarnated' in concrete action."...
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Controversy at the Grammys (2/15/23)There was some outrage surrounding the "Unholy" performance of Sam Smith and Kim Petras at the Grammys, which involved Smith dressing up like the devil, against a backdrop of someone's cartoonish idea of hell. What deserves more reflection than Sam Smith's horned hat is singer Kim Petras. I confess both Petras and Smith are new to me. And I did a doubletake when Petras was heralded as a first transgender woman to win a Grammy...
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The necessity of virtue (2/8/23)Last month, Father Isaac Achi was burned alive in his rectory by militants in Kafin-Koro, Nigeria. Another priest there, Father Collins Omeh, who was shot in the back but escaped. Before Achi insisted that Omeh flee, the two priests heard each other's Confessions. ...
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Don't put support for life on life support (2/1/23)"To the men of America: This cause is your fight, too. It's not a women's issue. It is a human issue." Sen. Richard Blumenthal was talking about abortion. He was not speaking against it -- he's about as far as you can get from pro-life. He's the lead sponsor of the so-called Women's Health Protection Act, which seeks to ensure that legal abortion remains an option nationwide...
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The weird new era of abortion debate (1/24/23)This year marks the 50th anniversary since Roe v. Wade. Obviously, this year people gathered in Washington, D.C. for the March for Life with a new focus, as the Supreme Court threw out Roe v. Wade, the decision that made legal abortion the law of the land, last year...
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A mother's tale of hardship and triumph (1/18/23)Have you ever been on a roller coaster and felt like your stomach was falling out of your body? That's the closest Gina can get to describing what it was like to see her unborn son, Jeremiah, on a sonogram for the first time. She was 17 and living with her grandmother. Jeremiah's father was facing criminal charges because of her age. Deciding not to have an abortion was "scary" -- because it was choosing not to make it all "go away," she says...
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A former pope's wonderful example (1/11/23)"The one who has hope lives differently." That comes from something Pope Benedict XVI wrote in 2007. He continued: "The Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known -- it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life."...
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Hope in the new year (1/4/23)There is "no better place to find God, and to help others to find him, than in the hearts of the women and men" of our time. The assertion -- sometimes hard to believe, in today's social media-saturated age -- about opening our eyes to God in the lives of those around us is an insight of St. ...
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There's gold in the hillbillies (12/28/22)It didn't surprise me when, backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, Father Thomas Joseph White began telling me that while he enjoyed touring with his band the Hillbilly Thomists, which consists of musical friars, he enjoys writing more. When not playing banjo in Nashville, White is the rector of the Angelicum in Rome; the school's most famous alumnus is Pope John Paul II. His latest book is an authoritative study of the Holy Trinity...
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A real example at Christmas (12/20/22)KATHRYN JEAN LOPEZ for 12-19-22 Getting to know people who are persecuted for their religious faith is life-changing. To meet people whose everyday life involves the real possibility that they might be kidnapped, tortured or killed simply because they are Christian, Yazidi or Uyghur Muslim gives you a whole new perspective...
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Going to Georgia (12/13/22)Milner, Georgia Claudia is a truck driver in Georgia. She is running transportation logistics on a movie being filmed here. The movie, "Possum Trot," is a true story about the foster care and adoption of Black children who suffered unspeakable trauma in their young lives. Claudia knows that experience all too well. At one point, sharing her story on the set, she said she remembers being so skinny from malnutrition that "I could feel my bones. It's a real thing...
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Examples for Advent (12/6/22)On Thanksgiving Day, a Catholic priest from Nigeria was praising God for the opportunity to be in the United States. At a Catholic Church in lower Manhattan, hidden in between courthouses and the New York Police Department headquarters, the Nigerian priest told us about his seminary classmate of his who is missing and assumed dead and about a village of Christians recently wiped out by Islamic terrorists in his home country. ...
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Step out of your comfort zone (11/29/22)Conversations and investments in relationships can go a long way. Our polarized and social media culture fights against these incredibly human things, but we can fight back. I was recently in the Dallas area, meeting a friend for lunch. On the way back, somehow, I wound up talking about some of the most controversial topics with my Uber driver. Abortion came up early and often. So did religion...
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A calm for Christmas (11/22/22)With a thundering voice, Bill Holt, a Dominican priest in Manhattan, preaches frequently about the "thunder of silence." Father Holt isn't just any Catholic priest -- he's one who went viral during COVID. A video of him was posted, unbeknownst to him, of him smoking on the St. Vincent Ferrer priory steps. There he was, being himself, quite relatable, and yet with something clearly more. Something deeper; magnetic. People responded...
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What do we prefer? (11/16/22)Do we prefer abortion? It's something we must ask ourselves given the election results in places such as Michigan and California, where some radical changes have been made to those states' constitutions regarding abortion rights. In Montana, voters chose not to protect infants born alive in a botched abortion. Do people really believe that's OK? Has 49 years of legal abortion numbed us to violence and inhumanity?...
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Reclaiming civic respect (11/9/22)Among the most shameful events of the midterm election season this year has been the rumor-mongering and conspiracy-theorizing about what lurid things could have led to the attack on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's husband. A man was attacked in his home, by someone who wanted to attack his wife...
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Catholic university walking the walk (11/1/22)"You are not alone." The midterm elections with their fury, scandals and histrionics, work to drown out this message we could all stand to hear. "You are not alone" is the message that my alma mater, the Catholic University of America, is sending students, faculty and staff...
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A different path (10/25/22)"I don't like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far." That was Sen. Joe Biden's immediate reaction to Roe v. Wade in 1974. My, how the times have changed. In many ways, Biden reflects the culture. Back in the day, Biden said that his opposition to Roe made him "about as liberal as your grandmother." Well, now our grandfather president is as radical as they get on abortion...
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A difficult, inspirational choice (10/18/22)"Your daughter will be a mental vegetable incapable of having a normal life. You should leave her to die on the table," he said. Lidia was an immigrant living in poverty in New Orleans, and no doubt had no idea how to follow through with her threat of a lawsuit if the doctor didn't comply. But a mother's instinct kicked in, even though she had intended on walking out without a baby on that day in January 1990...
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Reagan's example (10/4/22)Simi Valley, Calif. "I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph and there is purpose and worth to each and every life." Those words from the late President Ronald Reagan appear above where he and his beloved Nancy's earthly remains rest here at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. ...
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A new way forward (9/27/22)"Texas doesn't own your body. You do," a billboard reads, with an image of a woman with her hands chained behind her back. It's part of an ad campaign launched by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas. Another of the ads has a photo of a young woman who looks sad and scared. The text reads: "Need an abortion? California is ready to help." There's a link to California's abortion information website...
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The gift of adoption (9/20/22)"Lifemark," a movie out now, isn't afraid to tackle the tough questions. Inspired by a documentary about an adoptee traveling to meet his birthparents, "Lifemark" doesn't sugarcoat the pain that is involved in separation or the emotional uncertainties. At the same time, it shows us the blessing that a child can be to both a couple and to a young mother who is not prepared to raise the baby within her...
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Long live the queen! (9/13/22)"Many religions have festivals which celebrate light overcoming darkness ... They seem to speak to every culture, and appeal to people of all faiths, and of none." That was the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's 2020 Easter message. This wasn't one of the royal traditions -- there were no previous Easter messages, nor any to follow. But she knew her people needed guidance, encouragement, and direction during the uncertainties of the COVID pandemic...
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Biden thinks there's only one American way (9/8/22)"I voted for Obama twice and Hillary once. But I'll tell you, I'm going to vote for that knucklehead Donald Trump again." My Uber driver made that declaration without much of an invitation. We were passing some protesters in midtown Manhattan. As best I could tell, they were protesting inhumane work hours and conditions, but my driver didn't really care what they were protesting -- he only saw "woke." He felt powerless and fed up...
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Operators are standing by (8/30/22)COLUMBUS, OHIO "I'm not having this child." Kayla was a single mom already. Her relationship with the father of her first child had disintegrated. During the COVID shutdown, she stayed with her family in Tampa, Florida, where she grew up. She was in a developing relationship, and on Memorial Day morning, she discovered herself pregnant...
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Operators are standing by (8/30/22)COLUMBUS, Ohio — "I'm not having this child." Kayla was a single mom already. Her relationship with the father of her first child had disintegrated. During the COVID shutdown, she stayed with her family in Tampa, Florida, where she grew up. She was in a developing relationship, and on Memorial Day morning, she discovered herself pregnant...
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A revolution in care (8/23/22)Alan Nichols was "basically put to death" in a Toronto hospital, his brother Gary told the Associated Press. Nichols was 61 years old, with a history of depression. When he was hospitalized and put on suicide watch, he asked his brother to "bust him out" as soon as possible...
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A different kind of gender war (8/16/22)Boston Children's Hospital offers a "full suite of surgical options for transgender teens and young adults," a video made by hospital explains. A cheerful woman doctor in the video says, "A gender-affirming hysterectomy is very similar to most hysterectomies that occur," and goes into more detail I won't belabor here...
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Hope in Ukraine (8/9/22)NASHVILLE -- "We don't have refugee camps in Poland," Szymon Czyszek explains. Instead, Poles have welcomed Ukrainians into their private homes, despite often speaking different languages. Czyszek is in the United States for the Knights of Columbus annual convention, giving testimony to what the Knights have seen and done in Poland and Ukraine to help innocent victims of the Russian war on the Ukrainian people. ...
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Sisters, sisters (8/3/22)"You are irreplaceable." That's the first thing you will see when you go to the website of the Sisters of Life, sistersoflife.org. If you know the Sisters of Life, you might associate them with abortion -- they are a group of religious women whose mission is to help mothers -- but their fourth vow is "to protect and enhance the sacredness of every human life." That means they will help any and every pregnant woman they encounter who needs assistance. ...
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End of Roe a new beginning (7/26/22)When the Roe v. Wade decision was handed down by the Supreme Court, Mary Eberstadt's mother, a nurse, came home from work wearing a silver pin with two baby feet on it. She and her colleagues were wearing them to signify their refusal to participate in abortions. They weren't following the pope or bishops' orders. They didn't have the sonograms we have now, but they knew what was happening in a pregnant woman's womb...
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Let's get out of our corners (7/19/22)"Out of the Corner" is the title of Jennifer Grey's recent memoir. It's a play on the famous line from Patrick Swayze's character in "Dirty Dancing," the movie they are both known best for. Grey's character is nicknamed "Baby," and Swayze's character tells her family, "No one puts Baby in a corner" -- after they had done just that...
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Less mockery, more help and love (7/12/22)It appears that Luke Skywalker wants you to fear the Joker. Mark Hamill, best known for his "Star Wars" role, took to Twitter this Independence Day weekend to mock pro-lifers who are willing to adopt the babies of women who choose adoption over abortion. ...
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The choice ahead (7/7/22)"The real question today is not when human life begins, but what is the value of human life?" President Ronald Reagan asserted this on the 10th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, in his piece "Abortion and the Conscience of America." (It was first an unsolicited submission to The Human Life Review before it became a book with other commentaries.)...
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Post-Roe America begins now (6/28/22)"Nights of Rage" are how some pro-abortion activists described their plans for the days following the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade. By the time you read this, I hope we will know it was all talk from extremists. But in the weeks after the draft leak of the decision, there was violence. In a country of division, can we at least stand up against more violence — even beyond the violence of abortion?...
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What do we prefer? (6/21/22)Do we prefer abortion? That's the question we should be asking right now as Americans. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi recoils when asked about her position on abortion. If the reporter who asks her is a man, she tends to try to put him in his place by pointing out that she is a mother and a grandmother. ...
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A history of violence (6/16/22)A man was arrested on the way to murder a Supreme Court justice, according to authorities. And it was a footnote the next day in a major national newspaper. Was it because it was Brett Kavanaugh, which that particular paper isn't happy is on the Court? That same paper had above the fold "Inside an Attack on Democracy," referring to the Jan. ...
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America at a crossroads (6/7/22)"Who are we? Where are we going?" These are fundamental questions that Monsignor James P. Shea, president of the University of Mary in North Dakota, asked repeatedly while speaking at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty's recent annual dinner. We witness slaughters of children in school, of people in a grocery store. ...
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Evil in Texas (6/1/22)Is there anything more painful than parents burying their children? How about children losing both of their parents in the same week? There's so much pain emanating out of the Uvalde, Texas, Robb Elementary School shooting. We pray and we offer our aid, but the families who are burying their young children because of a disturbed young man on a rampage are inconsolable. ...
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Look beyond the rancor (5/24/22)I've heard things in recent days about the pro-life movement that are not true. I've read how we're against abortion because we want more white babies for white couples to adopt. This doesn't make any sense to anyone who has ever spent time at an abortion clinic, where the vast majority of abortion patients are nonwhite...
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The shifting language of abortion (5/18/22)For about a half-second after the leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion in the case that may throw out Roe v. Wade, people who support Roe dropped the talking points and told the truth. California Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted that if men could get pregnant, of course abortion would be legal. Joe Biden talked about the right to abort a child. The dropping of the filter was a refreshing reprieve from the typical euphemisms...
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The reality behind abortion (5/11/22)"I felt like a fireman in hell. I couldn't put out all the fires." That's a quote from Steven Massof, an employee of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortionist. Massof was operating illegally as a doctor in Gosnell's clinic. At Gosnell's trial, Massof testified to the horrors that played out in Gosnell's clinic, where women were overmedicated for late-term abortions. Babies were born alive, necks were snipped and women died there. It was, in fact, a hellish scene...
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Joy in the Vatican (5/4/22)I'm confident that the highlight of Pope Francis's recent meeting with members of the Papal Foundation at the Vatican was a little foster boy named Noah. Fresh off his baptism into the Catholic Church back home in California, Noah and his soon-to-be adoptive family were invited to the Vatican to sit in on the meeting of the Papal Foundation, which works to help needy people all around the world by giving money to projects personally selected by the pope...
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A loss for women, and an example (4/26/22)A great woman died suddenly just after Easter Sunday. Vicki Thorn was the founder of Project Rachel, a post-abortion healing ministry. Thorn's compassion for women who have had abortions began when she was in high school, before Roe v. Wade. Abortion was not legal, but it was available. ...
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The example of Easter (4/19/22)At this year's Chrism Mass -- in which holy oils are blessed and the priesthood is celebrated -- at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan chose not to preach. Instead, he gave the pulpit to Archbishop Borys Gudziak, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Philadelphia for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. ...
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Our suffering world (4/12/22)For the relative few paying attention, it seems impossible to keep up with the violence against Christians happening in Nigeria. A priest is killed; people are kidnapped; it's a place of unrelenting terror. I'm glad we care to light buildings in the colors of the Ukrainian flag here in the United States, but Ukrainians are far from the only people suffering in the world today...
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When to check out of the discourse (4/5/22)Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars -- you could live in a cave and still know about this, and be subject to the blizzard of opinions about it. This incident exposed the depths of my phone addiction as I clicked on link after link to articles that had just about zero impact on anyone's life. The media frenzy was a bit like a siren warning us all to step away from our screens...
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Touching testimony at Jackson confirmation hearings (3/29/22)A few days ago, Eleanor McCullen's telephone rang. It was a woman she had met outside an abortion clinic 18 years ago. The woman explained that she was looking through her daughter's baby book, and underneath the picture of her then 3-month-old was Eleanor's business card that simply read, "Hope, help and love."...
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Life during wartime (3/15/22)We are watching something quite foreign as we watch Russia attack Ukraine. It's not the bombing of everything from maternity wards to nuclear power plants, though those atrocities are shocking. But in the midst of the inhumanity of war, we are also seeing some of the best of humanity. Radical hospitality is on display in Ukraine, and that's what can be quite foreign to Americans...
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Dems make their priorities clear (3/8/22)Senate Democrats ended February insisting on a procedural fight over the Women's Health Protection Act, to get Republicans on record about the issue during a midterm election year. But if Americans realized just what the Women's Health Protection Act is about, it should not only backfire as a strategy for the Dems, but would prompt an awakening about just how radical a country we've become when it comes to abortion...
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The responsibilities of freedom (3/1/22)Russia's attack on Ukraine seems to be something of a Rorschach test for Americans who have the luxury of freely voicing opinions. A Republican candidate for the United States Senate asserted that she identifies more with the Christian values of Vladimir Putin than she does with the values of Joe Biden. Television hosts seem to say something similar. "Genius" is what our most recent former president said about the Russian leader's machinations. These aren't healthy human responses...
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The realities of life and the lies of abortion (2/22/22)A baby was born on Feb. 2 because, when a scared late teenager walked in for an appointment at an abortion clinic months earlier, someone explained to her what would happen during the abortion process. A doctor would stop the baby's heart from beating. I'm sure the person doing the explaining didn't use the word "baby," but once you know it has a heart, it's hard to pretend it isn't a human...
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You can't take it with you (2/15/22)"It makes no sense to accumulate, if one day we will die." Pope Francis said this to a crowd in front of the Vatican the other day. He wasn't trying to be depressing; he was trying to inspire us. Storage spaces are somewhat ubiquitous in modern-day America. Save for Christmas decorations, the odds are we don't need most of what's in them. And yet we cling, like we cling to a false sense of security about our health and wealth and a new normal...
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Jimmy Lai: A beacon of courage amid oppression (2/8/22)"Taped on the wall by my desk," wrote Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn in the summer of 2020, "is a photo of Jimmy Lai in handcuffs. It was taken (Aug. 10, 2020), the day 200 Hong Kong police raided his Apple Daily newspaper and arrested him. ...
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What pro-life really means (2/1/22)"All life is worthy of dignity and respect." Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Sisters of Life, Cardinal Timothy Dolan and others prayed for the protection of all human life. It was the 49th anniversary of the Supreme Court's grave Roe v. Wade decision, which ushered in a regime of "unfettered access to abortion," Cardinal Dolan said. ...
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The power of life shines through the darkest night (1/25/22)It was breathtaking to be at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on the morning of Jan. 18. The Christmas tree was gone from Rockefeller Center, but the church was packed yet again, this time with a strong showing from the NYPD, the new mayor, and other civil leaders...
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Preparing for post-Roe America (1/18/22)This year may be the last January March for Life. I've attended many of the annual anti-abortion gatherings in our nation's capital, and it's a sight to behold. There's always a big showing from North Dakota, thanks to the University of Mary in Bismarck. ...
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A crisis in America (1/11/22)"When I hear a firecracker, I panic." As the new year brought the news that a million people in the United States have died of opioid overdoses since 1999, Andrew Doran wrote a piece in The American Conservative that deserves nationwide attention. The piece is titled "American Orphans in the Wasteland." While it's not about opioids, it's about the kind of trauma that exists in our country...
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A challenge for the new year (1/4/22)"Be my Mommy!" the banner in the CVS window read, part of a display of surplus Baby Emma dolls. It was the fifth day of Christmas, and I noticed during Mass — shortly before I went to the drugstore to pick up prescriptions — one of the petitions during the service was for those struggling to have a happy, peaceful Christmas. ...
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The true gift of Christmas (12/28/21)Christmas is a season, not just a day. And it only begins on Dec. 25. The Rockefeller Center tree and elves on shelves and all the rest can be deceiving. We were merely preparing for Christmas, and are now celebrating it, at least until the Epiphany. Others will celebrate until the feast of the Presentation in early February. It's a season that renews Christians' faith and hope, and reminds them of their capacity for joy...
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U.S. throws Nigerian Christians to the wolves (12/21/21)Imagine knowing that the very act of going to a religious service would likely result in violence and death. In Nigeria, churches have been sent warning letters instructing them to shut down or face "ferocious" attacks. That's some Christmas card! In a perhaps not unrelated event, just before Thanksgiving, as U.S. ...
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The tarnishing of the Golden State (12/14/21)The State of California has declared that it wants to be a "sanctuary" for abortion. The Golden State powers-that-be have assembled the California Future of Abortion Council (FAB) to make that wish a reality. Someone should have checked the acronym. ...
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Light in the darkness (12/7/21)There was a prevailing feeling of optimism as I stood outside the Supreme Court with the sun warming us on a brisk late fall day as oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Mississippi abortion case, were to be heard. For those of us who gather outside the Court every January to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade with sorrow, hope was palpable...
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The miracle of fatherhood (11/30/21)Over the last few weeks, Pope Francis has been pointing to St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, as a role model. At a time when the United States has some 440,000 children stuck in the foster care system, it’s a good time to be talking about foster parents...
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Beyond Roe v. Wade (11/23/21)If you are pregnant and in need, come to the Catholic Church! That was the message of Cardinal John O'Connor 30 years ago when he founded the Sisters of Life in New York. That community of Catholic nuns were founded to protect and enhance the sanctity of human life. The Sisters today are in the New York metropolitan area, Phoenix, Denver, Philadelphia, Toronto and Washington, D.C...
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The real pro-life movement (11/18/21)The upcoming Mississippi case that will be heard at the Supreme Court is an opportunity for us as a nation to take a saner look at abortion in America and the alternatives to it. There is freedom in life, whereas abortion offers only death -- to unborn children in the womb, and to any culture that promotes it...
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Losing our religion (11/9/21)"Love is love." "Science is science." Homes and offices in Washington, D.C. must display every politically correct lawn sign there is. Could it be these signs give a sense of belonging, the kind that used to be provided by organized religion? And what does "Love is love" and "Science is science" really mean?...
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A life well lived (11/2/21)Ross Douthat has a powerful new book about his battle with chronic Lyme disease. In "The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery," he writes beautifully, with honesty and gratitude. I was overcome with emotion when I got to the part about our mutual friend Andrew Walther, who died a year ago...
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Tragedy in the U.K. (10/26/21)"Alta was alive and breathed on her own for 90 minutes after her breathing tube was removed," — Rabbi Elisha Greenbaum said, stating the key fact as clearly as can be. The United Kingdom wanted 2-year-old Alta Fixsler dead. The powers-that-be may not have put it that baldly, but they decided to end her life. ...
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The importance of foster care (10/19/21)In the abortion debates, the polarized discussion often focuses on death. Which is a shame, as foster care and adoption are important, even crucial, parts of the pro-life platform. In "No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives," Journalist Naomi Schaefer Riley highlights leaders "in a foster-care revolution happening across the country, even in some places you might not expect" using a "combination of evidence-based practical help and spiritual support.". ...
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Motherhood and the future (10/12/21)"The decision to have children has always struck me as an essentially selfish one: You choose, out of a desire for fulfillment or self-betterment or curiosity or boredom or baby-mania or peer pressure, to bring a new human into this world. And it has never seemed more selfish than today."...
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An example in New Orleans (10/6/21)New Orleans -- Carson Coyle runs around like any healthy young boy. Coyle suffered brain damage at his birth two years ago, with hospital staff at one point predicting he had just hours to live. But then a judge prayed over Carson's cradle with a cross from the Francis Xavier Seelos shrine in New Orleans, and a miracle is believed to have happened -- Coyle healed essentially overnight and is thriving today...
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Resilience and love in Louisiana (9/28/21)Lafayette, Louisiana -- Mattresses waiting for sanitation pickup. Downed trees. Trees pruned by nature. Bags and bags and bags of garbage. On the way from the airport into New Orleans, I see all this outside homes. Refrigerators, too -- people discarding them because they didn't get a chance to empty the freezer before the storm hit and the power went out...
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The realities of abortion (9/21/21)Social media was all about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's "Tax the Rich" dress at the Met Gala. But the more important outfit was worn by her Congressional colleague Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who dressed as a suffragette. The suffragettes were largely against abortion. But earlier in the week, Maloney had cheered on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul as Hochul invited Texas women seeking abortions to visit New York...
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Words of wisdom in troubled times (9/14/21)"How easy it is, in times of ease, for us to become dependent on our routines, on the established order of our day-to-day existence, to carry us along." These words greeted subscribers to the monthly spiritual magazine Magnificat 20 years ago, on the morning after the 9/11 attacks on the United States. ...
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Texas is the reason (9/9/21)Like everyone under the age of 50, I was born after Roe v. Wade. It's worth reflecting: If our parents knew what we'd experience in life and the mistakes we would make, would they have decided not to have had us? Terrorist attacks. A global pandemic. ...
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Mother Teresa's shining example (8/31/21)On the eve of the 111th birthday of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, five nuns from Missionaries of Charity arrived in Rome from Kabul with 14 disabled Afghan youths, most of them children. The sisters, members of the religious community that Mother Teresa founded in 1950 and lived with until her death in 1997, have run an orphanage for children since 2006 in Afghanistan. With Italy's help, they fled that country as the Taliban have taken over...
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Turning points abroad and at home (8/24/21)The upcoming Supreme Court case about abortion is about more than a Mississippi law and Roe v. Wade. It's an opportunity for a nation to look in the mirror. We end the lives of unborn babies in United States. We sever the most precious relationship there is -- between a mother and a child -- and we call it health care. Long gone are the Bill Clinton days of "safe, legal, and rare."...
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Cuomo's misdeeds reflect larger problem (8/17/21)As you've likely heard by now, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is resigning in the wake of allegations of utter disrespect, to put it mildly, of women on his staff. He should have resigned much earlier for his cover-up of how the state handled nursing homes during COVID-19. But on both fronts, our problems go beyond Cuomo...
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No good answers in Britain (8/10/21)By the time you read this column, Alta Fixler may no longer be with us in this world. Alta is a 2-year-old who is severely disabled. Born premature, she showed no signs of life until doctors resuscitated her and put her on a ventilator. After spending her entire existence on life support, Royal Manchester Children's Hospital has now decided that her time is up, at the objection of her parents. And the parents are running out of options...
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Mississippi takes aim at Roe (7/27/21)Is the Supreme Court going to overrule Roe v. Wade? That's the question raised by a Mississippi abortion case soon to come before court. "The conclusion that abortion is a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history, or tradition," the attorney general of Mississippi, Lynn Fitch, writes in her brief...
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Religious freedom? Yeah, right! (7/20/21)"Freedom of speech is the air that any thinker breathes; it's the fuel that ignites the fire of an intellectual's thoughts." Raif Badawi dared to write such things in Saudi Arabia. And he exercised his own freedom of speech, asking questions about faith and challenging extremism in that country -- so he was imprisoned for apostasy for 10 years. ...
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Priest's arrest part of larger problem (7/13/21)As I write, a Franciscan priest I know is in a courtroom in Ohio. Father Fidelis Moscinski was charged with criminal trespass for walking into an abortion facility in Cuyahoga Falls. It's called a Red Rose Rescue: He goes inside, offers women roses, and when asked to leave, says he's happy to -- once the doctor performing abortions does. In other words, once the abortions stop. So the police wind up getting involved...
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Finding common ground (7/8/21)Sharonell Fulton and Toni Simms-Busch should be household names. Fulton and Simms-Busch were the plaintiffs in a recent foster-care and religious-liberty case at the Supreme Court. It was a unanimous ruling, as you may have heard, and that is somewhat remarkable. Legal eagles who labor to defend religious liberty have qualms about the narrowness of the ruling, but I'm grateful for the message it sends...
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The spirit of freedom (6/29/21)"He has to get a life." I've cleaned up the actual quote for family newspapers. Disdain would be a kind word to describe the feelings people had for a protester who recently livestreamed his time outside a Manhattan Planned Parenthood clinic. A few people crashed his video to let his social media followers know what a loser they think he is...
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A decision to celebrate! (6/22/21)The Supreme Court just ruled against the City of Philadelphia, which was trying to prevent Catholic Social Services (CSS) from helping children in foster care get placed in homes, due to CSS's views on same-sex marriage. Had the Supreme Court ruled differently, the case would have been heralded as a Pride Month win. ...
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Letting our young people down (6/8/21)You may have heard by now about Paxton Smith, the high-school valedictorian in Texas who switched out her expected speech to decry the recent heartbeat law passed in that state, which restricts abortions early on in pregnancy. "I have dreams and hopes and ambitions," she said. "Every girl graduating today does. ... And without our input and without our consent, our control over that future has been stripped away from us...
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The radical gifts of the saints (6/3/21)"If a mother can kill her own child, what is there to stop others from killing one another?" Well, I guess those are fighting words today. But the speaker was hardly controversial at one time: Nobel Peace Prize winner and canonized saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta. But even saints aren't safe these days...
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The power of foster care (5/25/21)May is National Foster Care Month, and a big concept for anyone who knows anything about foster care is reunification. Reuniting a child with their birthparents or parent is a beautiful thought and a positive goal, when it's possible. The organization Safe Families is all about people (of faith, typically) stepping in and helping a family out for a short term. This is a relationship that is not adoption-minded, but simply about keeping a family together...
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You got to pray just to make it today (5/11/21)President Joseph Biden mentions his Catholic faith frequently. We've heard him cite both Pope and Saint Francis. At his inauguration, he ran through a litany of promises about love, healing and decency, and other things no one could object to, prefaced by: "Before God and all of you I give you my word." But when it came time for his first proclamation for a National Day of Prayer, his administration chose to leave God out of it...
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The power and potential of women (5/4/21)COLUMBUS, Ohio On the Feast of St. Catherine of Siena, the 14th-century saint, I was surrounded by Dominican friars, priests who have dedicated their lives to God. Remembering her, we sang: "No earthy pleasure, bodily adornment, nor fleshly beauty, satisfied your longing; every enticement to a life unholy, always avoiding."...
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The power and potential of suffering (4/27/21)We live in a time when lawn signs tell us that lives matter. The isolation and fear of these pandemic times has led to an increase in suicide. People feel beaten down, worthless. Society in no little part has been built to keep people feeling that way. But our lives matter and our suffering, however profoundly unjust, matters. We work for justice, but need mercy. Martin Luther King Jr. gets invoked often; his words on suffering are needed...
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FDA move the latest in a downward spiral (4/20/21)The Food and Drug Administration just gave the green light to abortion pills by mail. They are using the coronavirus pandemic as cover, even as people are getting vaccinated and things are opening up. It's disingenuous and it is cruel. Some days at Planned Parenthood on Bleecker and Mott Streets in Manhattan, there is an intimidating man who looks a little like a bouncer outside the abortion clinic, waving girls in so they can't talk to a pro-life sidewalk counselor who simply wants them to know that there are other options, that there are people who will walk with them. ...
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For whom the bell tolls (4/13/21)"Do you want to be a boy?" Keira Bell says that's a question her mother asked her when she was 14. She had been a tomboy in her youth, from a broken home. When she hit puberty, she suffered, as many a girl does, with the changes and the monthly physical pain. And when the question of her gender was raised more than once, she thought it might be her ticket out of misery...
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Chaput book reminds us what's worth living for (4/6/21)I'm writing this on Good Friday. I just spent a few minutes in prayer outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic in lower Manhattan. A hazardous medical waste truck, familiar to some of us who regularly pray outside the clinic, was just getting loaded. Eleven boxes stacked up, just a little shorter than me. They perform abortions at Planned Parenthood, so you can imagine at least some of what was in those boxes...
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There are better options than assisted suicide, abortion (3/30/21)"Do people know they can come to me for help when they are in need?" It's a question New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan poses in a new pastoral letter, "Fostering a Culture of Life as a People of Hope." He suggests we all ask it and think seriously about the possible answers...
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Medicine for the soul (3/17/21)On the first ever papal visit to Iraq, Pope Francis said: "We know how easy it is to be infected by the virus of discouragement that at times seems to spread all around us." He was talking to a persecuted people, but he was also talking to every one of us...
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Pope's visit to Iraq provies a needed reminder (3/9/21)As Pope Francis landed in Baghdad after the short flight from Rome, I was reviewing his words from an evening prayer service he held last March. That night, you could hear Italian ambulance sirens go by -- this was no escape from the pandemic reality we were all facing...
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Let's argue instead of judge (3/2/21)"What any religious tradition ascribes as God's will is no concern of this Congress." New York Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, said this on the House floor during debate over the euphemistically named Equality Act...
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Unlikely lessons from Super Bowl ad (2/18/21)"We found a baby girl for your adoption, but there are some things you will need to know. She's in Siberia, and she was born with a rare condition. Her legs will need to be amputated. I know this is difficult to hear. Her life, it won't be easy." This was part of one of the Super Bowl commercials this year, from Toyota. ...
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We should get our priorities straight (2/9/21)You may have heard that a 9-year-old was recently pepper-sprayed by a police officer in Rochester, New York. But did you happen to watch the whole 10-minute video of what transpired? There is so much more going on there than just another police brutality story. It's a window into pain...
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Old views from new administration (2/2/21)"(W)e will never again sow division. Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one shall make them afraid." That's from Amanda Gorman's poem, "The Hill We Climb," which she read at the recent inauguration...
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Lighting up the 'midnight' of our current society (1/28/21)"It is midnight within the social order." Martin Luther King Jr. said this in a 1967 sermon called "A Knock at Midnight." He based it on a passage from the 11th chapter of the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus asks: "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'?"...
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The toll of violence (1/19/21)In preparation for Election Day, Manhattan businesses boarded up in case violence erupted if Donald Trump won reelection. They had seen or already experienced destruction during the summer, when George Floyd's and other Black people's death at the hands -- or knees -- of police officers set off both legitimate protests and outright violent riots and looting. ...
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The peril of false idols (1/16/21)On the morning of Jan. 5, a bestselling Christian author posted a picture of the Egyptian Coptic martyrs who were beheaded on a beach in Libya in 2015. Above the photo, the author asked: "What price are you willing to pay for what you believe in?" That's an excellent question I ask myself often. ...
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Here's to new life in the new year (1/6/21)The current president of Planned Parenthood is unafraid to use the word "abortion." In a Christmas-season interview with The Washington Post, Alexis McGill Johnson scolded those who would downplay the importance of abortion in her organization's work. She says it is "stigmatizing" to do so...
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Christian examples and warnings (12/31/20)"In times of trouble, it's always the most vulnerable who suffer the worst," Archbishop Bashar Warda, Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Erbil, Iraq, said just before Thanksgiving, at a mostly virtual global conference focusing on persecuted Christians and other religious minorities around the globe...
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The year of St. Joe (12/22/20)This is the year of Joe. Not Biden. But the main man in the Nativity scene nearest you (since Jesus is but a baby, albeit divine). Pope Francis delivered the news of a year dedicated to St. Joseph earlier this month on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8. So, we are already a few weeks in...
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Argentina and the wrong lessons about abortion (12/8/20)Argentina -- the home country of Pope Francis -- is currently in a fight over abortion. The pope has even weighed in -- talking, among other things, about making it clear that abortion isn't a religious issue. It's a fact issue. A matter of science. When a woman is pregnant, there is a child developing inside her. It's not a leap of faith to say it; we see it on sonograms. She is a mother and will always be, whatever happens to that child. That's why women mourn when they suffer miscarriages...
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Christians in the Middle East need us (11/24/20)Archbishop Bashar Warda is a man of hope, humility, courage and defiance. Christians will stay in the Middle East, like it or not, he says -- even if there is little or no room for them among Muslim leaders in the region. "Chilling" doesn't begin to describe listening to Warda talking about the threat to his people in that troubled part of the world. ...
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Catholic beliefs, Catholic responsibilities (11/17/20)"Are you celebrating?" The Uber driver's question took me a little off-guard. And then he may have gotten an earful from me. He was talking about the election. And my answer was "no." There is nothing to celebrate when New York City was boarded up for election night, with the threat of violence looming on the chance that Donald Trump would win reelection...
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The real priorities (11/10/20)The morning after Election Day, the Supreme Court heard a case on foster care and adoption that puts a heck of a lot in perspective. I listened with some frustration and bewilderment as a few of the justices talked with some hostility about the idea that Catholic Social Services in Philadelphia would dare to expect to be able to contract with the city to certify and provide ongoing support for foster and adoptive families...
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A step back from the brink (11/2/20)"Blessed is the righteous judge." Someone had painted this on the side of a building in lower Manhattan. It wasn't the first of my encounters with memorials to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I passed this one, though, the night after the Girl Scouts were pressured into taking back their congratulations to Amy Coney Barrett for succeeding the late Supreme Court justice on the court. ...
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Perspective on the pope (10/27/20)A new Pope Francis documentary, "Francesco," has certainly commanded some attention. Longtime pope followers like me know to take the hubbub with a grain of salt. The press attention to Francis' papacy has been so often guided by ideology. The progressive left, so to speak, has held onto hope that he is their way to a church they are more comfortable with, one conformed to the values of the times rather than age-old tenets. ...
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A new challenge for tough times (10/24/20)"Dude, I want you to punch Donald Trump in the face." During Amy Coney Barrett's hearing, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker quoted a man who approached him at a town hall. "Dude, that's a felony," is how Booker described his response. Good for him, fighting against our crazed political culture of anger, contempt and violence. ...
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Let's hear it for real religious freedom (10/13/20)"Staggering friendliness." That's how one reporter described his encounter with People of Praise, the apostolic community that Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett and her family belong to. I've always heard wonderful things about Barrett, knowing more than a few people who teach or have studied at the University of Notre Dame, where Barrett attended school...
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Debates and what really matters (10/6/20)There wasn't much to say about the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The lowest point may have been when Trump went after Biden's son Hunter and his addiction struggles. There are legitimate questions to be asked about Hunter Biden and his international dealings, but addiction is not the issue to raise on a national stage. How many people have often hidden struggles they are too ashamed to ask for help for? Moments like that only make things worse...
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Hope will get us through (9/30/20)Walking the streets of lower Manhattan for the first time in a long time, I was talking with a friend a few days ago. Over the course of 20 blocks or so, I would occasionally play with my face mask, to get a little extra air. Not take it off, not to pull it down, but pull it outward. ...
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Find love in dark times (9/23/20)You can get lost in the Auschwitz Memorial Twitter feed. When I visited that infamous German World War II concentration camp during the summer before our last presidential election, I had the overwhelming feeling that we were forgetting its terrible example -- that we could fall into such evil again. With the recent violence in the streets, in homes, on television and even in human hearts, that's become a familiar feeling...
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The perils of ideology (9/16/20)I was in New York on that Sept. 11, 19 years ago. The darkness that descended that day and the hope that rose from it are indelible parts of everyone who lived through the attacks, especially, of course, those who lost family or friends that day. The tragedy and the lessons we learned from it could come in handy at this difficult time in our nation's history...
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You gotta have faith (9/9/20)I used to be one of those people who argued with the talking heads on television. I was a political junkie from my earliest days, so there I would be on a Saturday morning, thanking Bill Buckley on the other side of the screen for correcting his "Firing Line" guest's wayward thinking or telling Eleanor Clift on "The McLaughlin Group" that there is another way to think about things (as if she didn't know that on her own, or, well, could hear me). ...
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Elections are important, but we can't lose our souls (9/1/20)Elections, even in non-pandemic years, can bring out some of the best and the worst of America. Both parties, in their convention productions, were a mix of both. The aspirational, inspirational moments are the best -- though, of course, may promise too much about what electing one ticket to the White House could possibly do...
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Time for grief and honesty (8/26/20)The Democratic convention this year, odd Hollywood production that it was in these virtual times, was a bit of an exercise in denial. There were the feel-good segments about Joe Biden and his life in public office and his painful personal tragedy. There were shrill attacks on President Donald Trump, probably the easiest thing in the world to do...
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Let's talk about the soul of America (8/18/20)"We're in a battle for the soul of America," the Democratic nominee for president recently said. I happen to think that's true. But my tolerance for listening to Joe Biden talk about it is officially something like nonexistent. There was a time in my life when I think I could have entertained the idea of voting for Biden. ...
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Who's really hurting God (8/11/20)I find myself in the odd position of being grateful this summer for both Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Donald Trump. The two celebrity politicians may have more in common than we realize. First, AOC did the unexpected -- she put Saint Damien of Molokai in the news, accusing the martyr and Hawaiian hero of being part of our problems -- representative of "patriarchy and white supremacist culture" -- and so she wants his statue out of the Capitol rotunda...
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That's the power of love (8/4/20)"John Lewis believed in the Lord, he believed in humanity and he believed in America. He's been called an American saint, a believer willing to give up everything, even life itself, to bear witness to the truth that drove him all his life. That we could build a world of peace and justice, harmony and dignity and love. And the first crucial step on that journey was the recognition that all people are born in the image of God, and carry a spark of the divine in them."...
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Planned Parenthood's unexpected move (7/28/20)I'm no fan of cancel culture, which seems to me to be shrill, suffocating and unforgiving. At the same time, Planned Parenthood in New York is distancing itself from its co-founder, Margaret Sanger, removing her name from one of their health centers in lower Manhattan. This is overdue -- and, frankly, unexpected. For as long as I can remember, protests about her pro-eugenics views were largely ignored...
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Life must not be devalued (7/23/20)Michael Hickson should be a household name. From best I can tell, he was a tender soul. He was living in a residential home when he contracted COVID-19. He was transferred to a hospital and was, by all indications -- including a recording of a conversation a doctor had with his wife -- not cherished as a patient with rights and dignity. His cognitive impairment and physical disability marked him, for at least that one doctor, below a quality of life worth fighting for...
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Serious candidate or not, Kanye raises important ideas (7/15/20)It was "a plan by the Devil to have our kids committing suicide at an all-time high." So said Kanye West, the recently declared "Birthday Party" presidential candidate. It's about the best explanation I've heard for the non-coronavirus issues that plague us. There's some serious good-and-evil combat going on, and neutrality isn't a viable option...
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The example of history (6/30/20)"Here is the truth ... From us there is nothing except ingratitude." Those words come from a sermon from Saint Junipero Serra, founder of the California missions. Statues of Serra are currently being expunged from the state. Watching the scenes around the Golden State and the country, I'm thinking he was a prophet. The ingratitude seems to capture what we're watching, as a stubborn, violent ignorance seems to reign as the likes of Serra, Abraham Lincoln and even Jesus himself are being targeted...
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Making room in our hearts (6/24/20)Adoption made the news in recent days because of a Republican congressman unveiling the surprise news that he has been raising an adopted son from Cuba. Though the reaction on the hyperpartisan internet has been shrill and unpleasant, perhaps this can nudge us toward a radical shift in our thinking -- one where adoption is more commonplace, because we are more welcoming...
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Freedom? Yeah, right? (6/17/20)When Pope Francis came to the United States in September 2015, he quoted the Declaration of Independence while addressing Congress: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."...
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Missed opportunities in D.C. (6/9/20)"Disappointment" doesn't even begin to cover how I feel about the news lately. A man dies at the hands of police, and what could and should have been a righteous quest for justice broke out into destruction. What could have been a presidential prayer for wisdom, strength and protection became a profane misuse of a sacred text. What could have been a joyful moment in support of religious freedom devolved to a botched P.R. attempt...
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The real lesson of love (6/2/20)It all comes back to what we think about life. Is it a gift? Is it precious? One thing I worry about these last few weeks and months now: Have we been staying home out of respect for others more vulnerable than we are, or have we been hiding in an act of somewhat universal self-preservation? One of the healthy lessons from this time is a deeper appreciation of the fact that we are all going to die!