2016-09-30T15:53:05-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:53 pm   By

The news that American front-line journalist James Wright Foley has been beheaded by ISIS has sent shock waves through America.  Graphic video of the execution was released by ISIS, with a warning to President Obama that his next decision will determine whether a second freelance reporter, Steven Joel Sotloff, will meet the same fate. Foley was captured on Thanksgiving Day in 2012, and since that time his parents, family and friends have mounted a campaign of prayer for his safe release.... Read more

2014-08-19T20:32:51-05:00

Last updated on: August 19, 2014 at 8:32 pm   By

Opening  in theaters across America this weekend is a new sports film from Sony Pictures and Affirm Films, WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL. But then again, it’s much more than a sports film.  WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL is a story about commitment and character and determination and love. Inspired by a true story, the film tells the remarkable journey of legendary football coach Bob Ladouceur, who took the De La Salle High School Spartans from obscurity to a 151-game winning streak... Read more

2014-12-28T19:20:45-05:00

Last updated on: December 28, 2014 at 7:20 pm   By

Sad news today from Buenos Aires, where three relatives of Pope Francis died in a car crash early this morning. According to police reports, the car was being driven by the pope’s nephew, 38-year-old Emanuel Bergoglio, when it slammed into the back of a truck at 12:30 a.m.  The family had been returning from a holiday weekend when the accident occurred.  Killed in the crash were the wife and two children, two-year-old Antonio and eight-month-old Jose Bergoglio.  The pope’s nephew remains... Read more

2014-08-19T05:08:20-05:00

Last updated on: August 19, 2014 at 5:08 am   By

“We wish to scream, but there are no ears that wish to hear.” Those are the words of Bishop Francis Y. Kalabat, leader of St. Thomas the Apostle Chaldean Eparchy of the U.S.A., in a letter expressing his frustration at the lack of response by the world to the ongoing crisis in Iraq.  Bishop Francis urged Chaldeans and other Catholics to support relief efforts for the people of Mosul who have been displaced by ISIS insurgents. Bishop Francis, along with Chaldean... Read more

2014-12-28T19:22:04-05:00

Last updated on: December 28, 2014 at 7:22 pm   By

“Potentially unethical.”     That’s how one expert described an Italian scientist’s plan to perform a “head transplant” by severing two heads at the same time, then cooling and flushing out the ‘recipient’ head before attaching it to its new body with polymer glue. That is “POTENTIALLY unethical?”   Making one person out of two, and throwing away the unused halves, is only “potentially” unethical? Shock and awe. *     *     *     *    ... Read more

2014-12-28T19:22:46-05:00

Last updated on: December 28, 2014 at 7:22 pm   By

Fireworks this week, as the Leadership Conference of Women Religious met in Nashville for their 2014 annual meeting. The meeting marks the first time the women’s religious had met since Vatican officials imposed a requirement last April that the group pre-clear its speakers’ lists with Rome. LCWR leadership had snubbed their noses at that request–instead presenting their highest award, the Outstanding Leadership Award, to Fordham University’s Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, who is considered one of the architects of feminist theology.... Read more

2014-12-28T19:23:43-05:00

Last updated on: December 28, 2014 at 7:23 pm   By

Pope Francis is coming to America! We thought that it would happen:  We believed that Pope Francis would honor his predecessor Benedict XVI’s commitment and would participate in the World Meeting of Families, planned for September 2015 in Philadelphia. In fact, I reported last month that Archbishop Charles Chaput had announced the Pope’s plans to visit the City of Brotherly Love.  Archbishop Chaput said that the Holy Father would be present for the last days of the conference, Friday-Sunday, September... Read more

2014-12-28T19:24:10-05:00

Last updated on: December 28, 2014 at 7:24 pm   By

A physician has become a popular hero in Poland, after he was fired from his position as director of Warsaw’s Holy Family Hospital for refusing to refer a pregnant woman for an abortion. In April, Warsaw obstetrician Dr. Bogdan Chazan was approached by a woman who wanted an abortion, after learning that the baby she carried might be seriously deformed.  The child had been conceived via in vitro fertilization in a fertility clinic. Dr. Chazan refused to perform the abortion or to... Read more

2014-08-13T18:27:02-05:00

Last updated on: August 13, 2014 at 6:27 pm   By

“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” –Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States Are handguns unsafe? Proponents of gun control would want you to believe they are.  The way to increase safety in urban areas, they say, is to reduce the number of guns. Libertarians take exception to that claim–insisting, instead, that an armed citizenry is the best... Read more

2014-12-28T19:25:23-05:00

Last updated on: December 28, 2014 at 7:25 pm   By

I wish I could tell you that I’m related to Jesuit Father Hubert Schiffer.  I’ve asked family members, hoping someone will be able to prove that he’s a second cousin twice removed….  But while we know of two priests among my husband’s ancestors, Father Schiffer’s name doesn’t come up. I like to imagine, though, that we have some kind of special link.  Two Schiffers with a common destination. Father Schiffer’s story has been on my mind lately for at least two reasons:... Read more

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