Why We’re Praying & Fasting Today

Last updated on: September 7, 2013 at 12:12 am By Pia de Solenni

Because these people need help and it’s not clear that a military intervention will help them. In fact, it’s pretty well understood that the most vulnerable segments of society and the minority communities (e.g. Christians) will suffer the most. John Allen, an expert Vatican journalist has an excellent piece comparing the similarities in the Pope’s/Vatican’s approach to Iraq and Syria. He makes the very important point that despite John Paul II’s call for peace in Iraq, he never called the war... Read more

Kiss This Man!

Last updated on: August 30, 2013 at 11:00 am By Pia de Solenni

It’s what a friend of mine in college would say when she wanted to make a point. Yes, random. But I thought of it as a I read Matt Walsh’s blog post, “Dear son, don’t let Robin Thicke be a lesson to you.” I don’t know Walsh, but his post is an absolute must-read. In this debacle of commentary surrounding the recent Miley Cyrus MTV stunt, which is taking center stage as the world is about to erupt in World War... Read more

A Week In The Life: Four Scenes That Make Sense Of It All

Last updated on: May 30, 2013 at 9:00 am By Pia de Solenni

Several years ago, my husband was at a dinner with a CNN executive. The inevitable and predictable question arose: “Why do news outlets run so much bad news? Why can’t they tell more positive and heartwarming stories?” After all, most of us don’t need convincing that ours is a fallen world. The answer was pretty simple, honest, and straightforward. Good news doesn’t sell. People tune in more for bad news than for good news. Still, I’d argue that we actually... Read more

There are Kermit Gosnells everywhere and they can be brought to justice.

Last updated on: May 17, 2013 at 11:14 am By Pia de Solenni

This week brought us the conviction of Kermit Gosnell, a man whom I refuse to recognize as a medical doctor and whom the state of Pennsylvania should have shut down long ago. Gosnell, apparently, didn’t do abortions very well; so he had his staff dope up his patients with various drugs so that they would deliver the fetus on their own (at which point, legally, it magically becomes a baby because she’s now outside of the mother) and then he... Read more

Mother’s Day: Gender Matters

Last updated on: May 9, 2013 at 5:59 am By Pia de Solenni

In his book Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe describes the women at an exclusive party in Manhattan. The first group, starved to near perfection, used fashion to compensate for the natural curves that they had denied their bodies. These were mostly the first wives and “women of a certain age.” Then he describes the “lemon-tarts,” the women who were young, the live-in girlfriends, or subsequent wives. But he notes that one type of woman was missing: “[N]o one ever... Read more

Just what is the Catholic teaching on guns & gun control?

Last updated on: April 25, 2013 at 6:32 am By Pia de Solenni

Although there was a time when the old men at a local gun club used to flatter my dad by telling him that I was a better shot than any of the boys in my 4-H club, I am not a gun enthusiast. Nevertheless, as a Catholic theologian, I am troubled by accounts suggesting that Catholics who don’t support the U.S. bishops on gun control are akin to Catholics who disagree with fundamental moral teachings like contraception, abortion and marriage. Read... Read more

Gosnell’s Mother’s Day Massacre

Last updated on: April 15, 2013 at 1:34 pm By Pia de Solenni

The news of the horrors committed by abortionist Kermit Gosnell is finally getting some visibility. Many pro-life advocates wrote about it when the Philadelphia Grand Jury issued a report on Gosnell and his clinics back in January 2011. I blogged about it here. My first take on the lack of coverage was that, on some level, everyone knows it’s horribly true and, hence, no one wants to hear it. Too disturbing. Today’s column by James Taranto in The Wall Street Journal might be... Read more

“But I’m the Pope. Sit down.”

Last updated on: April 13, 2013 at 11:23 am By Pia de Solenni

An Italian soccer news site has a sweet story about Pope Francis who apparently gets up very early without an alarm. Loose translation of the story: Recently, when he left his apartment at Domus Marta and went out into the hall, the Pope found a Swiss Guard standing at attention outside his door. He asked him, “And what are you doing here? Were you awake all night? “Yes,” the guard answered respectfully. “Standing?” “One of my colleagues gave me a... Read more

Pro-Choice Women Defeat Washington Abortion Mandate

Last updated on: April 2, 2013 at 4:20 pm By Pia de Solenni

Yep, you read that correctly. But I don’t mean “pro-choice” as in women who don’t think you’re responsible enough to decide whether you can buy a big gulp and yet think you should be able to decide to murder your unborn child. It’s pro-choice in the sense of “we think people can make up their own minds about whether or not they buy health insurance that includes abortion coverage.” This year, the Washington State legislature reintroduced legislation that would create... Read more

Shoe Leather Evangelization

Last updated on: March 14, 2013 at 11:24 am By Pia de Solenni

Most of us are just getting to know Cardinal Bergoglio, the man who is now Pope Francis. Anyone with access to the Interwebs can now be an “expert” after a few searches. As I learn more about Bergoglio, I’m struck by his simplicity and humility, as are many others. His sincere and prayerful countenance when he first greeted the world yesterday made a strong impression. We don’t know much about how he ran the chancellory in Buenos Aires, but we do... Read more