Archbishop Chaput put it best himself in an exclusive interview with Catholic News Agency: “The biggest challenge, not just in Philadelphia but everywhere, is to preach the Gospel. . . . We need to have confidence in the Gospel, we have to live it faithfully, and to live it without compromise and with great joy.” That formulation – the Gospel without compromise, joyfully lived – captures the essence of the Evangelical Catholicism that is slowly but steadily replacing Counter-Reformation Catholicism... Read more

William McGowan, Wall Street Journal “‘Safe, legal and rare” has long been the pro-choice mantra, but these days it applies less and less to the reality of abortion. In New York City, officials reported this year that 41% of pregnancies end in abortion—double the national rate. In the black community, the figure is 60%. Numbers like these motivate the Sisters of Life, a small order of nuns celebrating its 20th anniversary this summer. The sisters take traditional vows of poverty,... Read more

Robert Gagnon The hateful reaction [to conservative thinkers on this question] stems largely from a comparison of such persons to racists and sexists. Yet such a comparison begs the question of whether the comparison is accurate. If opposition to gay marriage is more like opposition to marriage between close kin and to marriage between three or more persons, than one arrives at very different conclusions about what constitutes love. http://www.christianpost.com/news/the-bible-and-the-gay-marriage-question-part-1-52020/ Read more

Daniel Greenfield Breivik did call himself a Christian, but meant that in a cultural sense, rather than a theological one. He emphasized that he was not seeking a theocracy, but a secular society. His idea of a Christian Europe had nothing to do with religion. http://www.eurasiareview.com/debunking-6-myths-about-norways-anders-breivik-oped-26072011/ Read more

A tiny golden bell preserved in a Roman-era sewer underneath Jerusalem’s Old City has been recovered by Israeli archaeologists. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0725/2-000-year-old-bell-found-in-Jerusalem-rings-again Read more

Matthew Franck I learned this morning from a friend of the pastoral letter recently issued by the Right Reverend Lawrence C. Provenzano, the bishop of the Episcopal Church’s Long Island diocese, to be read aloud at all services on Sunday, August 7. The letter, an effort to adapt to the new law establishing same-sex marriage in New York, is such a welter of confusion it will take your breath away. http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2011/07/25/bishop-tanglefoot/ Read more

Helen Navare It is no surprise that the rates of every outcome harmful to women—uncommitted sexual encounters, sexually transmitted infections, nonmarital births, and abortion—have climbed precipitously during the decades that the federal government has escalated both public and private support for contraception. Yet the IOM report—a report on women’s health—makes no reference to this substantial body of literature. Americans are likely to support its conclusions generally. They assume, understandably, that widespread distribution of contraception successfully reduces pregnancy rates. Four decades of... Read more

Robert Royal It’s become quite clear that what now most threatens traditional religious belief and behavior is not exactly relativism. Or openness. Or tolerance. Not by a long shot. It’s a substantial set of alternative beliefs and teachings. And claiming that this new faith is fairness or neutrality simply won’t survive a moment’s thought. http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/beyond-the-dictatorship-of-relativism.html Read more

Still, there’s a third vision that’s worth pondering — neither conservative nor liberationist, but a little bit of both. This vision embraces the institution of marriage, rather than seeking to overthrow it. But it also hints that the example of same-sex unions might partially transform marriage from within, creating greater institutional flexibility — particularly sexual flexibility — for straight and gay spouses alike. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/04/opinion/04douthat.html Read more

Alongside the ox, sheep and goat, the list of ungulate animals permitted for consumption in Deuteronomy includes the aqqo, dishon and zemer – but what exactly are these species? Could it be that part of the Israelite diet included rhinoceros, bison and giraffe, as some interpretations have offered? A new archaeozoological study has examined zoological findings at 133 biblical sites and is exploring the possible answers to these questions. http://www.jidaily.com/WhDF/e Read more