Jobs And The Common Good

Last updated on: February 12, 2021 at 4:07 am By Henry Karlson

Pope Francis, in his important encyclical, Laudato si’, reminds us that politics and the economy should serve the common good, and with it, the good of human life instead of having human lives serve the dictates and desires of powerful economic interests: “Politics must not be subject to the economy, nor should the economy be subject to the dictates of an efficiency-driven paradigm of technocracy. Today, in view of the common good, there is urgent need for politics and economics... Read more

Sometimes, Abortion Is The Pro-Life Answer

Last updated on: February 13, 2021 at 4:19 pm By Henry Karlson

All abortion is wrong. No abortion should ever be allowed. If a Catholic were to support any abortion, they go against church teaching and should be excommunicated. We must get serious about abortion. Until we do so, nothing else matters. Abortion is never acceptable, and anyone who thinks otherwise are morally depraved and should not be supported either. Such sentiments are commonly held and proclaimed by Catholics who believe they are what Catholic teaching dictates. However, any serious examination of... Read more

St. Josephine Bakhita And The Holiness Of Love

Last updated on: February 8, 2021 at 4:02 am By Henry Karlson

Holiness does not come from knowledge. Holiness does not come from being smart or appearing to be wise. Holiness comes from love. The more someone loves, the more that love transforms them, making them better. God is love, and to pursue love is to pursue God. To act out of love is to follow the way of God. If one holds fast simply to love, nurturing it, developing it, they will develop their relationship with God. They will be like... Read more

The Last Judgment, The Judgment of Love

Last updated on: February 7, 2021 at 4:10 am By Henry Karlson

Jesus is coming again. When he comes, he will judge the living and the dead. Through that judgement, Jesus will reveal to everyone, including ourselves, who we are. No one will be able to hide from the truth. What we have made of ourselves, who we have become, will be clear. We will not dispute it. There will be nothing which we can dispute, because it will be true, and we will know it is true. We will know ourselves... Read more

The COVID19 Threat And Sports

Last updated on: February 4, 2021 at 7:11 am By Henry Karlson

The COVID19 pandemic not only continues, its threat to society worsens as mutations are making the virus much more contagious. While several vaccines have been developed which help protect those vaccinated against COVID19, either by helping them resist infection, or to be able to deal with the infection better, it has proven difficult to mass produce and distribute those vaccines so as to properly ward off the COVID19 threat. Through social distancing practices, it can sometimes seem as if the... Read more

St. Moses The Ethiopian’s Struggles Against Temptation

Last updated on: February 3, 2021 at 4:10 am By Henry Karlson

St. Moses the Ethiopian has become a much loved saint. It is easy to be inspired by his story. Once a runaway slave, he found himself involved with and leading a gang of robbers. Eventually, trying to hide from authorities, he came upon a monastery in which he found welcome, and with it, a newfound faith in God. He not only converted to the Christian faith, but through dedication and effort, he was to become a leader in his monastic... Read more

Cooperation With Evil

Last updated on: February 1, 2021 at 4:08 am By Henry Karlson

While the should know better, many Catholics are incapable of engaging moral arguments because they have not been taught, or they reject, basic moral qualifications and categories which must be used in order to make a proper moral claim. This has become a serious problem as many Catholics, especially in engaging political or social questions, reduce everything to an overly-simplified position without any nuance. They think if they can say a particular act is wrong, from an objective standpoint, then... Read more

Freedom And The Prodigal Son

Last updated on: January 31, 2021 at 4:08 am By Henry Karlson

One of the most difficult things for Christians to navigate is the way they are to use the freedom given to them by Christ. If they are not careful, they will abuse it and lose themselves once again to sin. Sin imprisons us; it detracts from us, harming us and our ability to act, creating habits and conditions which limit us in their aftermath, destroying the freedom which we desire. Christ grants us, indeed, restores to us, the freedom we... Read more

Amma Theodora, Gnosticism, And The Goodness Of The Body

Last updated on: January 28, 2021 at 4:08 am By Henry Karlson

Gnosticism, both directly and indirectly, has a history of confusing Christians concerning the world and our relationship to it. Gnostics denied the goodness of material creation. This led them to declare that the human body, being a part of material creation, was bad. The material world, and all that is within it, was said to be created by an evil (or ignorant) creator. The human spirit was created by, or came from, a good creator, but found itself trapped by... Read more

Never Again Another Auschwitz

Last updated on: January 26, 2021 at 7:42 am By Henry Karlson

January 27, 1945. Soviet soldiers, without looking for it, without knowing what they would soon discover, arrived at Auschwitz. The Germans had already given up on the concentration camp. They left it, forcing many of its inmates to go with them on a death march. Those who were too infirm, the elderly and the extremely young, those who could not make such a march, were left behind, as were the bodies of several hundred of the Jews which had recently... Read more

How many disciples did Jesus call as His closest followers?