There is so much confusion about love and marriage in our society. There is so much confusion about love and marriage in our church. So here are ten things every Catholic should know about marriage. 1. Marriage is something given by God – Marriage is not a social construct or a romantic idea. Marriage is not a sentimental occasion or the chance for a great party. Marriage is not something we made up either as individuals, a tribe or a society.... Read more

Read this story about a Seattle entrepreneur who has taken a 90% pay cut to ensure that all his employees earn at least $70K a year. Mr Price, whose company handled $6.5billion in transactions last year, decided to raise his employees’ pay after reading a study about happiness in the workplace. The research, conducted by Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton and psychologist Daniel Kahneman, found that what they called emotional well-being rises with income, but only to a point. And that point... Read more

As you know my dear people, the last year for me has been an annus horribilus. We have been tormented by questions about our handling of finances and the royal house of Clinton has been subjected to tiresome questions about the tragic events in Benghazi–in the furthest regions of our empire. Nevertheless, I will not be daunted in my desire and commitment to serve you the people. For the next seventeen months I will be traveling among you as one of... Read more

In an effort to understand where Americans are in their religious viewpoints, I am spending more time reading the religion columns at the Huffington Post. That means I grit my teeth and maybe read one column a day… The impression I receive is that the vast American media public are totally conditioned by fundamentalist Protestantism. The majority of articles written by atheists, agnostics and liberals are in reaction to fundamentalist Protestantism. It is as if that is the only form... Read more

  This article from the Daily Telegraph got me thinking. It’s all about a guy from London who lives in LA with two women. The women are bi sexual so they have a three way relationship: both women with him and both women with each other. The article is written in that usual, cheerful manner that is assumed when we are supposed to be introduced to a sexual practice we use to think was devious and dirty, but are now... Read more

Like many cradle Catholics Marco Rubio has also benefited from the high octane, no compromise Christianity of conservative mega churches. This article at the Huffington Post records Rubio’s interest in Miami’s Christ Fellowship. After a short spell in the Mormon Church, Marco Rubio started attending the large Baptist Church, but has finally returned to his roots in the Catholic faith. According to the article Marco Rubio is a bottom line, conservative Christian. Bruce Wilson, the author of the article, makes... Read more

My essay this week for Imaginative Conservative is an abridged version of one of the chapters of my book The Quest for the Creed Pleasure anesthetizes the soul, but pain is the pinch that wakes us up. What makes us face the largest and most dangerous questions of life? Sometimes pleasure, but more often pain. Someone is diagnosed with cancer or we cling to the precipice of life after an accident or a car knocks down our child. Then in the... Read more

Reading Mark Steyn here on the corruption in American society it reminded me of something my brother Daryl once said years ago. Some cop had been arrested for taking bribes and Daryl said, “When a whole society is corrupt how would you expect to have honest policemen?” In other words, when there is moral failure in society the evidence is seen in individuals: it’s not just the criminal classes who are violent, lying, cheating and robbing. It is everyone. It... Read more

We often hear from atheists how religion is dying out as mankind comes to see the clear light of reason. Atheist “intellectuals” speak disparagingly about religion and predict that mankind is on the cusp of a new age in which religion will simply disappear as science, technology and reason are in the ascendant. The facts indicate exactly the opposite. It is religion which continues to grow around the world while the statistics indicate that agnosticism and atheism are dying out.... Read more