Of the many reasons that have been written in this space for answering the title of this blog, this is one answer that I’ve rarely mentioned, but I do so now. Persecution. You would have to have your head solidly buried in the sand to miss the fact that of all the great religions known the world over, Christianity, and her members, are constantly bashed, battered, and attacked. Perhaps more so than any other faith group. (more…) Read more
A friend of mine shared the following essay with me recently. She knows I’m a baseball fan, but I’m not sure if she realizes I’m a newbie writer. Either way, it’s a good little piece written by the fellow you see in the photograph here. I have been a baseball player for twenty-eight years, the last fifteen of which I have had the blessing of playing professionally. I am currently a pitcher for the New York Mets, and I... Read more
The Catholic Church is not against the Affordable Care Act, which the Supreme Court just upheld today in a landmark decision that found it constitutional. The Bishops, via the USCCB, seek for the ACA to be “repaired,” not “scrapped.” Following enactment of ACA, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has not joined in efforts to repeal the law in its entirety, and we do not do so today.The decision of the Supreme Court neither diminishes the moral imperative to... Read more
that the HHS Mandate is an assault on religious liberty. Which means it’s an assault on liberty. Period. What’s that got to do with Dietrich Bonhoeffer? (more…) Read more
November is the month that we Catholics remember the dead. There’s the Feast of All Souls, and the Feast of All Saints, celebrated right after Halloween. Here in the United States, as the Fortnight for Freedom enters its third day, the Archdiocese of St. Louis suggests we remember the martyrs of Vietnam, and St. Andrew Dung Lac. I don’t know much about Andrew, but I found a treasure trove worth of information about the Vietnamese martyrs, especially one named Vincent... Read more
Thomas L. McDonald shares his Saturday Song — “The Lord’s Prayer,” as sung by the Beach Boys. ==> It doesn’t get much better than this. <== Read more
There are many posts written here at YIMCatholic that haven’t been read by enough people. This one is from around the end of May in 2011 and is about the “Sign of Contradiction,” Our Mother, the Church, in China. Perhaps the writing is lame, but the photographs alone are worth a look. See if you agree. It’s minor miracle time. Yesterday I got around to forwarding my recent post on Dom Lou to my friend Jonathan Chaves. Jonathan, a... Read more
It hit the web edition’s Guest Voices column early this afternoon. With tweets and text messages, prayers and preaching, Catholics and other Americans will spend the next two weeks (June 21-July 4) launching a religious freedom awareness campaign called the “Fortnight for Freedom.” Concern for religious freedom both here and abroad has been growing for years, and now there are calls for immediate action. Stories of people literally dying for the faith in Iraq and Nigeria can be found in... Read more
Several of the Patheos Catholic Portal bloggers (Elizabeth Scalia, and Deacon Greg Kandra) are in Indianapolis for the Catholic Media Conference. Last night, Archbishop Charles Chaput, my favorite Franciscan, gave an important speech at the conference to set the stage for the kickoff of today’s Fortnight for Freedom call to prayer. I’ll share a bit of the speech with you below. For the sake of brevity, and for the ease of memorization, I’ve summarized his five main points here. (more…) Read more
It was actually pretty balanced. A couple of parishioners “for,” a couple “against,” and snippets from Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop Lori, and (naturally) the strident comments of Bishop Jenky from Peoria. (more…) Read more
Why I Am Catholic
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