Do you remember the Heidi Game? On November 17, 1968, the Oakland Raiders defeated the New York Jets 43-32, scoring two touchdowns in nine seconds to overcome a 32-29 New York lead. Fans didn’t see the dramatic finish, though, because with just 65 seconds left to pay and with the Jets in the lead, NBC made a last-minute decision to cut from the game to begin airing a much touted 1968 made-for-TV version of Heidi. NBC executives were caught between a rock... Read more
There’s quite a brew erupting in social media over remarks by President Obama this week about stay-at-home mothers. I am reminded, as I was when he made the infamous remark in 2011 about not wanting his daughters to be “punished with a baby”, that the President and I reside in different universes on social issues. Speaking yesterday in Rhode Island, the president called for more taxpayer-spending on early education programs in order to “make sure that women are full and equal participants... Read more
When a loved one dies, should you take your small child to the funeral? I know it’s Halloween and all, but this is a serious question–and it was given a very serious answer in the French Catholic newspaper La Croix. Daniel Oppenheim, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst and the author of Dialogues With Children About Life and Death, offers advice to parents of young children. I’m not sure there’s any one “right” answer–but I’ll share some of his insights. If your... Read more
Sadly, it appears that I spoke too soon yesterday when I told you that Brittany Maynard didn’t want to die. What Brittany meant to say was that she didn’t want to die on Saturday. But dying– Well, yes, she’s still got that very much in mind. * * * * * The terminal cancer patient released a new video Wednesday night, explaining that “I still feel good enough, and I still have enough... Read more
This kid is great! Little Camden, age two, plays the drums with the church choir at the Greater Mount Zion Church in Mississippi. He’s got the moves, he’s got the rhythm…. Now all he needs is a recording contract! Read more
Kaci Hickox, the nurse who recently returned from treating Ebola patients in West Africa, has ended her voluntary quarantine in Maine–demanding that the government and public health officials stop protecting the public’s health and start protecting her right to have a good time. The Doctors Without Borders nurse feels that she’s been unfairly discriminated against, and so has enlisted an attorney to defend her right to move about society. She broke out of her “voluntary confinement” Wednesday evening to hold... Read more
Brittany Maynard, the 29-year-old brain cancer patient who announced her plan to take her own life on November 1, may have changed her mind. According to a report by Norah O’Donnell on CBS News, the terminally ill woman isn’t feeling so bad–and now she wants to “see how it goes.” Brittany had been married only a year when she received a devastating diagnosis in April 2014: She had an aggressive form of brain cancer and, according to doctors, had possibly only six months... Read more
What words can you offer when a family has lost someone they love, when death claims a child or a young mother? Even more difficult, what can you say when someone without faith crosses that final threshold, and those he left behind are bereft, deeply worried about his eternal home? I have often thought that of the many responsibilities which priests and pastors face in their ministry, delivering a sermon at a funeral must be one of the most fearsome... Read more
It’s autumn here in Michigan, and that means that the trees are wearing a vibrant palette of burnt sienna, cadmium red and yellow ochre. The leaves are twitching, spinning in the breeze–and just one gust can send them gliding earthward, severing their connection to the branch which has nourished them through the warm summer days. * * * * * I thought about this, watching the downward dance of leaves in the front yard.... Read more
The Obama Administration has suffered another defeat in its quest to force Catholics and people of faith to pay for abortion-causing drugs, as required by the HHS Mandate. Today the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida came down in favor of Ave Maria School of Law, ruling that the Catholic law school cannot be forced to implement portions of the HHS Mandate which compel faith-based organizations to pay for abortion-causing drugs for their employees. Attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom,... Read more
Seasons of Grace
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