Boba, a manufacturer of baby slings, has released a new ad for 2014 titled “You Made Me a Mother.” And my gosh, they’ve done it: They’ve captured the joy and the fear, the exhilaration and the fatigue, the deep, abiding satisfaction in parenting someone you love more than they can imagine, someone you helped God to create. Warning: Have plenty of Kleenex at hand when you watch this! Read more
Not content with Pope Francis’ washing of women’s feet on Holy Thursday or phoning up the Carmelites of Lucena on New Year’s Eve, HuffPo columnist Angela Bonavoglia wants to see more evidence of the pontiff’s respect for and commitment to women. With that in mind, Angela Bonavoglia–self-appointed papal advisor–has published a “To-Do List” of demands for the Holy Father. And high on that list, of course, is acceptance of abortion. Oh–and blessing the use of contraception. And throwing away the... Read more
All right, no Pope-sickle jokes, you hear? At an audience on Wednesday, February 5, Pope Francis was introduced to a life-size sculpture of himself, carved from a 1.5-ton block of dark chocolate. The tasty Pope Francis is the work of chocolate artist Mirco Della Vecchia, an instructor at Rome’s Accademia de Maestri Cioccolatieri. Della Vecchia and his 20 students worked for a full month to create the chocolate pontiff, using dark chocolate from Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. The award-winning chocolate... Read more
Father Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., a leading English Dominican theologian and former master general of the Dominican order, narrowly escaped capture by an angry mob–being rescued at the last minute by the skilled driving of the local bishop. The Catholic Herald reports this morning that Father Radcliffe, visiting Algeria to participate in a year-long period of reflection on the Church’s future in the North African nation, found himself in a dangerous situation. The priest was in a car being driven by Bishop... Read more
December 15, 2013 was Bambinelli Sunday–Remember that? That was the day on which children from Rome and environs brought the Infant Jesus from their family creche to St. Peter’s Square to be blessed by Pope Francis. I told that story at the time. But that’s not all the Holy Father did that weekend. He also stopped in on Saturday, December 14 for a visit at St. Martha’s Dispensary at the Vatican. The maternal and pediatric clinic there serves mainly immigrants.... Read more
FACEBOOK is ten years old, and the social media giant is celebrating—offering minute-long videos commemorating its users’ experience on-line. The Facebook videos are popular this week, with people commenting on what they’ve learned about friends they know only through the Interwebs. Facebook has an estimated 757 million daily users—some 143 million in the United States and Canada. One interesting factoid uncovered by Associated Press: About 400 billion photos have been shared on Facebook. That, writes Seth Borenstein in the AP’s... Read more
It’s been a decade or longer since my little local drug store, a small chain called Arbor Drugs, closed up shop and the property was sold to CVS Pharmacy. I still remember, though, how shocked I was upon entering the new establishment for the first time, to find that the entire front of the store was filled with crap that was harmful to people: cigarettes and cigars; liquor; sleazy, off-color magazines, and junk food, marketed with their in-your-face, you-need-this-everyone’s-doing-it approach.... Read more
From the Archdiocese of New Orleans comes one of the most effective anti-abortion protests to date. On January 27, Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans published a letter in the Clarion-Herald, the Archdiocesan newspaper, which has been distributed in every Catholic church in the metropolitan area. In it, Archbishop Aymond announces that the Archdiocese of New Orleans will boycott any person or business who plays a role in helping to erect a new Planned Parenthood facility on Claiborne Avenue.... Read more
It’s snowing again! Here in southeast Michigan, schools and districts are expected to announce a new round of school closings as the temperature drops and we head back to the deep freeze. In Burlington, Kentucky, one school principal got tired of hearing himself deliver the same old “School Closing” message after nine school closings in the 2013-14 school year, and he decided to have a little fun. James Detwiler, principal of Stephens Elementary, enlisted the help of drama teacher Chad... Read more
Emilia Kaczorowska was pregnant, but she was ill—so ill, in fact, that her doctor encouraged her to have an abortion, to give up the baby she was carrying rather than risk her own life. With a husband in military service, wouldn’t it be more important to care for herself? But Emilia said no. She had already lost one child, a daughter named Olga, in childbirth. Despite her physician’s urging, she continued the pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy... Read more
Seasons of Grace
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