What kind of political idiot would pick a fight with the Little Sisters of the Poor? Our president, that’s who. The Little Sisters of the Poor had their day in court yesterday. Arrayed against them were the forces of the President of the United States and his Justice Department. I have no words for this stupidity. Even if the President wins this fight, he loses. It defies political logic. From the Becket Fund: Sr. Loraine Marie Maguire, Mother Provincial of... Read more
My mother is doing a new thing with her dementia. A couple of years ago, she stopped eating. It took all sorts of finagling to get her started again. Now, she eats and demands ice cream (which she always tells me she hasn’t had “in years”) in between meals. Yesterday, she asked me how I was doing. “I haven’t seen you in a long time,” she said. A few months before she quit eating, she stopped drinking water. We had to... Read more
Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It is one of my favorite days in the Church year because it commemorates the first turn of the prophetic wheel that led to our salvation. God blessed Mary with the Immaculate Conception, meaning that He removed from her soul the stain of Original Sin at that first moment when she existed. There is meaning, wrapped inside meaning, in this event. For the moment, I want to focus on one meaning... Read more
Amazing Grace touches hearts as no other hymn. Here is the remarkable story of its author. Read more
Euthanasia is the practice of killing another person. It is murder. One question that orbits around this debate is based on the “difference” between euthanasia and, say, a drive-by shooting. Many — certainly not all, but many — of the victims of euthanasia ask to be killed. So, people whose brains have marinated in relativism and other addlepated lines of reasoning ask, Doesn’t that make euthanasia “different.” The quick and obvious answer is no. It does not. It someone asks... Read more
Photo source: Reuters, via Vatican Radio We call it “modern slavery.” “It” is the business of buying and selling people. Pope Francis hosted a group of religious leaders from many faiths who signed a pledge against modern slavery. Signatories included representatives from the Shai and Sunni Muslims, Buddhism, Orthodox, Jewish and Anglican faith traditions. I once did something similar to this. I hosted a luncheon for Oklahoma’s faith leaders, including many Protestant denominations, Orthodox, Catholic, Buddhist, and Muslim. I think... Read more
Human rights. Does that phrase refer to unalienable human rights that are ours by virtue of the fact that we are human beings? Or, does it refer to laws and rules that can be shifted and changed by the whim of legislative bodies or the flick of a dictator’s will? What are human rights, and where, if they exist as a separate entity, do they come from? Thomas Jefferson, Deist that he was, got it exactly right when he... Read more
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