Jordan Smith of ‘The Voice’ Says ‘Hallelujah’

Last updated on: November 30, 2015 at 11:37 pm By Kate O'Hare

Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” has a beautiful, plaintive melody paired with vaguely Old Testament-ty lyrics that, if not exactly anti-religious, are religiously ambivalent. Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord But you don’t really care for music, do you? It goes like this The fourth, the fifth The minor fall, the major lift The baffled king composing Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Your faith was strong but you needed proof You saw... Read more

‘Spotlight’ May Have Defamed an Innocent Man

Last updated on: November 29, 2015 at 1:46 pm By Kate O'Hare

Over at CatholicVote today, I address the story of Jack Dunn, a spokesman for Boston College and an alumni of Boston College High School in Boston, who’s featured in a scene in the movie “Spotlight,” currently in theaters. The critically acclaimed film follows the investigation by the Spotlight team at The Boston Globe that led to the Catholic Church sex-abuse revelations in the newspaper in early 2002. But according to Dunn, his role — and that of BC and the... Read more

REELZ’ ‘Master P’s Family Empire’: They’re Catholic … But It’s Complicated

Last updated on: March 9, 2016 at 9:24 am By Kate O'Hare

A rap mogul masters being a single father to a large brood. Read more

Shooting Rampage at Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood Clinic (UPDATED)

Last updated on: November 28, 2015 at 7:27 am By Kate O'Hare

What we know: On Friday, Nov. 27, at about 11:38 a.m. local time a lone gunman started shooting at people in or near a Planned Parenthood clinic, located in a shopping center with several other businesses in Colorado Springs, Colorado. According to a lengthy, continuously updated timeline at the local Colorado Springs Gazette, two civilians and a police officer died; four civilians and five officers were taken to local hospitals with gunshot wounds. According to Planned Parenthood officials, all staff... Read more

Thanksgiving Shopping: Slate Finally Finds Something It Considers Indecent

Last updated on: November 25, 2015 at 5:34 pm By Kate O'Hare

A correspondent for the very progressive Website Slate has a problem with shopping on Thanksgiving, and he has the usual progressive answer to it, in a story called “Be a Decent Human Being and Don’t Go Shopping on Thanksgiving”: We could try to solve this problem with regulation. Massachusetts, Maine, and Rhode Island ban stores from opening on Thanksgiving. A state lawmaker in Ohio has introduced a bill that would force stores to pay employees triple wages for working on the holiday and... Read more

No Abortion ‘Scandal,’ Just a Baby Boy Left in a Nativity Scene

Last updated on: November 24, 2015 at 6:40 pm By Kate O'Hare

While TV writer/producer Shonda Rhimes is called “brave” for having her wealthy, privileged lead character in the ABC drama “Scandal” have an abortion, to the tune of “Silent Night,” one anonymous woman showed more courage than the fictional Olivia Pope could even imagine. I don’t know who she is, but she endured a pregnancy, which was no doubt difficult and scary, and then gave birth under unfortunate circumstances. We know this, because the child — a baby boy, with the... Read more

‘Scandal’ and Abortion: Offense Intended?

Last updated on: November 25, 2015 at 6:36 pm By Kate O'Hare

I’m not here to debate abortion (my opinion is not a secret; you’re entitled to yours) or whether TV characters should have them (especially since they’re not real people, and I have enough trouble these days worrying about the problems of actual human beings). But I am here to call BS on Hollywood. Over the last few months, I’ve been doing a series of interviews on the role spirituality plays in scripted television, for an upcoming book. One of the... Read more

The Essential Humanity of NatGeo’s Superb ‘Saints & Strangers’

Last updated on: November 20, 2015 at 2:56 pm By Kate O'Hare

We are all humans passing through history -- this is one of those stories. Read more

History and Chant With the Norbertines of St. Michael’s Abbey

Last updated on: November 20, 2015 at 11:36 am By Kate O'Hare

One of the great Catholic treasures of Southern California is St. Michael’s Abbey in Orange County, south of Los Angeles (and, ironically, not far from the mega-campus of Saddleback Church). Situated on top of a hill, St. Michael’s encompasses a church, gardens, housing for the Norbertines in various states of formation — from postulants to priests — and a live-in school for boys. A new location is under construction in a nearby area that’s more geologically stable, with the current location... Read more