THE SAN JOSE ARTICLES: Speaking Pro-Life Truth to Pro-Abortion Power

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:00 pm By Kathy Schiffer

Amid little fanfare, yesterday in the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium at the United Nations headquarters in New York, a new document was released to the world. Called the San Jose Articles, the nine-part document has already been called “the most important pro-life document of our time.” The San Jose Articles begin simply, strongly, effectively: As a matter of scientific fact, a new human life begins at conception. U.N. officials and liberal American intellectuals have, in recent years, repeatedly told foreign governments that... Read more

Truth and Beauty: Father Barron’s "Catholicism"

Last updated on: February 24, 2015 at 7:54 pm By Kathy Schiffer

Our cable carrier picks up WGN, the network from Chicago which aired several videos from Fr. Robert Barron’s 10-part series titled “Catholicism.” The series–at least, four parts of it–will be coming to PBS in October, with the other six videos to be aired on EWTN beginning in November. I jumped through hoops to see the first ones, adjusting my schedule so that I could attend Mass on Saturday, then sit glued in front of the TV on Sunday morning. I’m here to... Read more

Buy This Book! "The Church and New Media" Is for Everyone

Last updated on: February 24, 2015 at 7:55 pm By Kathy Schiffer

Finally! I really, really enjoyed my friend Brandon Vogt’s new book, The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet. So why did it take me so long to tell you that you need to go out and buy it? Anyway, it’s truly a fantastic how-to guide to the new media. I thought I knew my way around the Internet, but I’m still applying the information I gleaned from this very helpful book. Writing about it... Read more

U.N.’s Dag Hammarskjöld: Negotiating With God

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:00 pm By Kathy Schiffer

“In our age, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action.” –Dag Hammarskjöld U.S. Secretary-General, 1953-1961 Dag Hammarskjöld. Dag Hammarskjöld. Dag Hammarskjöld. It’s funny how sometimes a childhood memory pierces through years of overlaid data and forces its way into the present. I was a young child—in early elementary school, I suppose—when I first learned the name of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. I learned to say his name and to spell it, complete with the... Read more

In October, We Celebrate Life

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:00 pm By Kathy Schiffer

October is Respect Life Month. Each year during October, we remember the over 53 million lives lost to abortion since 1973; and we pray for those whose lives may be devalued by the secular society—including the elderly and the disabled. On Sunday, October 2, in cities across America, people who believe in the sanctity of life will join together in peaceful solidarity, standing along heavily traveled roads with signs reminding passersby that abortion kills children and that the Church supports... Read more

Pope Urban: Patron of Nonsmokers?

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:00 pm By Kathy Schiffer

Once upon a time, I took home delivery of the Detroit Free Press—allowing its ink to smear my fingers, spread to my cheek, leave smudges on the kitchen table. To my irritation, my children left it around, comic pages spread wide on the living room floor. My husband read the Sports Page instead of engaging in witty repartee. I’m digital now; but I have a vague memory from those olden days of a newspaper column I really enjoyed—something like “Things... Read more

Getting All Puffed Up Over Mushrooms

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:00 pm By Kathy Schiffer

“Darn,” I thought. “The raccoons have been in the trash cans again. There are paper plates all over the yard!” But no. On closer inspection, what first brought scowls, then smiles, was a congregation of plate-sized mushrooms that had sprung up, courtesy of a gentle rainfall, and now turned faces heavenward to bask in the setting sun. I never saw this type of mushroom before. My friend John, a connoisseur of all things home-grown, would have been out there... Read more

Freiburg, the Pope, and Me

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:00 pm By Kathy Schiffer

Today, September 24, Pope Benedict XVI rode through the streets of Freiburg in the popemobile before meeting with a group of lay Catholics gathered at the Freiburg Seminary. In the background of the copyrighted photo, you can clearly see Freiburg’s village clock. I was there, too, in October 2000. I was poring through some photos and came across one in particular that I’d like to share. Our family photo reveals the village clock in clearer perspective. It also shows you... Read more

Benedict’s Visit to His German Homeland: Grace, Compassion and Truth

Last updated on: January 19, 2015 at 12:45 pm By Kathy Schiffer

Day by day, Pope Benedict’s first official state visit to his native Germany brings encouraging reports: In Berlin, he met with German Jewish leaders. In that meeting, Pope Benedict emphasized that what the two faiths “hold in common is not an insignificant part of their traditions.” He went on to tell the dozens of rabbis that: It is clear to us all that a loving relationship of mutual understanding between Israel and the Church, each respecting the existence of the... Read more

Prayer for Just In Case a Satellite Lands on Your Head

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 4:00 pm By Kathy Schiffer

Heads up! Talk about being environmentally wasteful! Here I am, using paper not plastic, recycling my cans and bottles, shunning cars with yellow paint because I hear it’s not good for the environment—and NASA has this rusty old 6½-ton space capsule that’s going to crash land on my head?! That’s the news report, folks. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), which was launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1993 to study climate conditions, is expected to fall... Read more

Who were Isaac and Rebekah's twin sons?