Whenever I talk or write about nonviolence, the number one question I’m always asked is, “But what if someone wants to hurt you?” It’s an honest question. No one wants to simply lie down and let themselves be maimed or killed in the face of danger — I know I certainly don’t. So how should someone practicing nonviolence respond to the threat of physical harm? To get the answer, we have to first make the distinction between legitimate defense and the proclivity... Read more

This post is a part of the Patheos Catholic Channel series, “Catholicity:Identity and Its Discontents.” Read more here. It’s true. I do it all the time. I do it openly, and I don’t feel guilty about it. Oddly enough, I still manage to make it through the doors of my parish without catching fire. Can ya believe it? For the record, I am fully aware that the Party supports issues that are directly opposed to Church teaching, and on those... Read more

So apparently, the Seamless Garment (aka, the consistent life ethic) is a “poison pill” that was implemented by the Democrats with the intention of killing off the pro-life movement once and for all. At least, that’s the story from John Zmirak, editor of The Stream, who recently published an article claiming that very thing. It’s a tad hyperbolic, to say the least. “When Catholic liberal Democrats embraced the “Seamless Garment” spun by the leftist Cardinal Joseph Bernadin in 1982, and... Read more

Around this time last year, I posted a blog regarding Mary’s perpetual virginity, which you can read here. In that previous piece, I mentioned that in being Holy, Mary was set apart by God from the beginning for a specific purpose. In revisiting Mary’s perpetual virginity, I’d like to focus more on the idea of God’s purpose, and how considering that, we can better see why the Virgin who bore Jesus would have remained a virgin for her entire life. Throughout the... Read more

This Tuesday, July 27th, I’ll be on Catholic Channel’s Seize the Day with Bob Dunning (filling in for Gus Lloyd) on XM radio. We’ll be talking about my last blog post and same-sex marriage, so tune it if you can. 7am central time. Read more

There has been a lot of fuss from fellow Catholics over the recent SCOTUS decision to legalize same-sex marriage across the board in our country. I haven’t said much about it from a political standpoint because I am, quite honestly, suffering from a major case of political burn out. But from a Catholic viewpoint I have to say… I’m not worried. Perhaps I’m naively optimistic, but I’m just not concerned, and I’ll tell you why. Most of my readers and... Read more

And technically speaking, he’s not really a man either–at least not in the sense that we understand “man” and “woman”, because God isn’t..ya know..human. Regardless, God is the Father. So we refer to him in the masculine context, and that’s not an accident. Neither is an all male priesthood. Yet, as usual, us Catholics tend to be at odds with most other Christian sects in this area. We’re told we aren’t “gender inclusive” enough, that our practices and rules are... Read more