March 19 is the feast day of St. Joseph, husband of Mary and adoptive father of Jesus. In Italy, the feast is marked by celebrations and food—lots and lots of food! But what do we know about this gentle man who was entrusted with the care of the Son of God? Not much. We know a little about him from the Gospel of Matthew and that of Luke. He was just, yet compassionate. When, during the period of his betrothal to... Read more
In ancient Greece, the “areopagus” was the meeting point, the arena where intellectuals and philosophers gathered for discussion and debate. The great high court of Athens, it was said that the god Ares was tried at the areopagus for the death of Poseidon’s son Alirrothios. Like the “town square” of colonial America, the areopagus was the place where announcements were made, where ideas were debated, where criminal and civil cases were decided. The Apostle Paul spoke to the leaders in the... Read more
May you have good friends aplenty, And may they be as faithful and reliable As the morning’s sunrise each day. May you have warm words on a cold evening, A full moon on a dark night And a road downhill all the way to your door. May every hair on your head turn into a candle To light your way to heaven; And may God and His Holy Mother Take the harm of years away from you. And may you... Read more
WHAT DO THESE PEOPLE HAVE IN COMMON? Actors John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Jim Nabors, Faye Dunaway, Vincent Price, Susan Hayward and Patricia Neal Academics and intellectuals Hadley Arkes (Amherst), Mortimer Adler (Great Books), Robert Bork (Yale), G.K. Chesterton Royalty King Charles II ( Great Britain ) Artist Peter Paul Rubens Heroes of the Old West Kit Carson, Buffalo Bill and Doc Holliday Musician Dave Brubeck Politicians John Ellis (Jeb) Bush and Newt Gingrich Famed coach Knute Rockne (Notre Dame) Playwrights... Read more
By now I’ll bet you’ve heard: On March 14, the U.S. Bishops released a response to the White House statement regarding the HHS Mandate. Depending on where you get your news, you may have heard that the bishops seem to have “calmed down” or are preparing to “accept the accommodation.” The editors of America magazine embarrassed themselves with an editorial encouraging the bishops to get over it and accept the White House’s program—with the result that the White House felt... Read more
Europe has become completely secularized, right? That’s the common understanding. Church attendance, we hear, is at record low levels. Within ten years, pollsters predict, England will be a predominantly atheist nation. What a surprise, then, to read in L’Osservatore Romano that thirteen European nations have joined together to say “No” to working on Sundays. The European Sunday Alliance—a special-interest group of various unions, associations of civil society, as well as Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox communities—united to confirm their belief that... Read more
“We have learned the very painful lesson that all of creation is in God’s hands and he will end time in his time, not ours!” With that statement published this week on the website of California-based Family Radio, ministry president Harold Camping admitted that he was wrong, and that his prediction that the world would end last May 21—and his revised prediction, changing the date of Armageddon to October 21—were “incorrect and sinful.” The radio evangelist originally intended to mail... Read more
Alternately titled: How Would Jesus Drive? Perhaps you saw the story breaking in Crystal River, Florida, where 22-year-old resident Kristyn Dominy just earned my respect for her kindness in the face of adversity. Kristyn was driving along, apparently within the legal speed limit, when another woman sped past and showed Kristyn one of her fingers. Now I’m not gonna say which one—but it wasn’t her pointer, or her pinky, or her ring finger. And it wasn’t her thumb. Yep, that... Read more
Hello, I’m Kathy. And I am a seeker, just like you. Like you, I am on a quest for Truth. Truth about heaven and hell, science and sexuality, faith and family. I’m interested in politics and poetry, Socrates and Sacajawea. When I was a child of ten I had a younger cousin, Bonnie, who was only three. I remember how little Bonnie amused us sophisticated ten-year-olds with her constant questions. It didn’t matter what you said; Bonnie’s predictable response was... Read more
Oh, those crazy Occupy folks! Just when you think there’s nothing new under the sun, Occupy Seattle protestor Babylonia Aivaz, a Duke University graduate, married an abandoned warehouse at 10th and Union Street in Seattle. Yes: I said “married.” The bride, radiant in a white wedding gown, posed beside a bulldozer as fellow occupiers swayed to the strains of Bill Withers’ 1972 hit “Lean On Me” strummed by a ukelele. The wedding, Aivaz’ friends report, was a lesbian wedding because... Read more
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