These are some scenes from outside an abortion clinic, the All Women’s Medical Pavilion in Forest Hills, Queens in 2014. Our parish twice a year hosted a prayer vigil and march with the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. [img attachment=”99174″ align=”aligncenter” size=”full” alt=”P1020413″ /] The events were always peaceful and prayerful. More than a few times, women were moved to change their minds and head home. Lives were saved. [img attachment=”99176″ align=”aligncenter” size=”full” alt=”P1020410″ /] If anyone wonders whether this sort of... Read more

Last week, I received an email from a friend, a woman in Philadelphia. She wrote: “This morning we received devastating news at Mass. Our beloved Augustinian pastor has been diagnosed with liver cancer that has spread to his lungs. The priest who told us said that he was visiting him yesterday when a cousin came into the hospital room and told him that they are all praying for a miracle. His response was, ‘I have already received a miracle. I... Read more

Why does this choice not surprise me? Details: In an interview today with a local New York radio host, Bob Lonsberry, on WHAM 1180AM, Donald Trump said his favorite Bible verse is the Old Testament passage which says one can take “an eye for an eye.” In response to Lonsberry’s question about which verse in the Bible is his favorite, Trump initially responded “so many,” then followed it up by saying that “an eye for an eye” is a good... Read more

Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders made a highly-publicized trip to the Vatican Friday to speak to a conference on Catholic social teaching.  I’d be hard-pressed to remember the last time a presidential candidate from any party (let alone, a Jewish one) quoted extensively from a papal encyclical during his campaign. From his prepared text:  I am honored to be with you today and was pleased to receive your invitation to speak to this conference of The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.... Read more

The press release: President Bill Clinton will deliver the keynote address at Loyola Marymount University’s undergraduate commencement ceremony on May 7, LMU President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D., announced today. “President Clinton is one of the great statesmen of our time, and he will address our students as they embark on the next stage of their lives,” Snyder said. “His commitment to improving the lives of other people, during and beyond his career in U.S. politics, embodies the ethos of becoming... Read more

It happened in Australia: A Melbourne Catholic priest has compared paedophile priests to adulterous women and said victims of sexual abuse would be “denied healing” because the “baying crowd” of media and lawyers don’t understand mercy, in statements published in a primary school newsletter. The Malvern East priest Father Bill Edebohls, who under Victoria’s Catholic school structure is head of schools in his parish, made the comments in a homily delivered at St Mary’s church. It was reprinted in full... Read more

You don’t hear this sort of story very often, from The Riverhead Local newspaper on Long Island: Former Suffolk Congressman Mike Forbes, long on a political path, is now on a spiritual path — and he sees a clear connection. Mr. Forbes who from 1995 to 2001 represented the First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives will receive a master’s degree in canon law from Saint Paul’s University in Ottawa, Canada in September. He has been a full-time... Read more

This popped up on Twitter this morning: an image from the baptistry in Brooklyn’s Co-cathedral of St. Joseph, showing St. Philip baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch. This event is described in today’s reading from Acts.  About St. Philip:  Saint Philip the Evangelist, also called Philip The Deacon (born 1st century), in the early Christian church, one of the seven deacons appointed to tend the Christians of Jerusalem, thereby enabling the Apostles to freely conduct their missions. His energetic preaching, however, earned... Read more

Scott Eric Alt takes a careful look at one of the most polarizing and controversial sections of the pope’s new exhortation: In the few days since the Vatican’s release of Amoris Laetitia, there has been talk of footnote 351 being a “smoking gun” that endorses communion for the divorced and remarried who lack an annulment. In the text preceding this note, Pope Francis observes that, while certain individuals may be objectively in sin, they may not be fully culpable. This... Read more