“Life isn’t much fun anymore now that the wife has me doing all kinds of nutty things to economize.”

“Ah, yes, you speak of the way Americans are responding to rapidly rising fuel and food costs.”

“You got that right. The wife…

In 1974, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to hold the Games of the XXII Olympiad in Moscow, the capital of what was then the Soviet Union. Sparked by opposition to the Soviet Union’s renegade foreign policy in Afghanistan, and…

Whenever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of the liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment.  

The above words were penned…

Dear Right Reverend and Most Reverend Bishops of the Anglican Communion:

At the Lambeth Conference of 1908, your brothers of a saner age offered an unequivocal condemnation of the evils of contraception, abortion, and other degrading immoralities. One century later, in…

With the credit crunch and oil prices continuing to shake economies across the globe, the world’s more prominent financial centers, most notably Wall Street and the City of London, have lost much of their luster.

From Geneva to Hong Kong, thousands…

“God chose us in Christ, before the world began, to be holy and blameless in his sight” (See Ephesians 1:5).

On Saturday, July 12 I had the joy of baptizing three babies, chosen by God from all eternity to live. A…

“George W. Bush is a [EXPLETIVE] theocrat!”

If I had a dollar for every time I heard that over the past eight years. Having written a book on the faith of George W. Bush, I was pummeled by liberals for not…

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has a long and painful history of coercive tactics. Since its inception in 1969, pro-lifers have decried its cultural insensitivity and unrelenting top-down logic that sees human beings as disposable commodities, and overpopulation as…

Was Humanae Vitae prophetic? Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical condemning contraception has often been described that way, and, not to be coy about it, I’ve often called it prophetic myself. But with the 40^th anniversary of this remarkable document at hand July…

The news that Tony Snow, a Catholic convert and national media figure, had lost his battle with colon cancer in the wee hours of Saturday morning was not a surprise, but it was still a sad disappointment. He is survived…

Our civilization may be nearing its end. I offer proof: bottled water for dogs.

According to a Sun of Baltimore blog, Century Foods, a maker of nutritional supplements, has introduced three types of bottled water for dogs: one to promote healthy…

Charities are usually founded on high ideals and goals. But the difficult part comes when those behind the good cause must come up with the cold, hard cash to fund their charitable works.

One always supposes that there are benefactors out…

Ask Southern Baptists to name their “religion” and most of them will simply say, “I’m a Baptist.”

Ask Roman Catholics the same question and most will say, “I’m Catholic.”

Odds are good that most Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and occupants of other name-brand…

In religion, the Golden Rule means that one should treat others as he would like to be treated.  It is considered the highest standard of personal conduct.

But when the government is involved, the Golden Rule means something quite different.  It…

Hundreds of people gathered around me, as the little children’s casket was placed next to the open grave into which it would shortly be lowered.

I prayed the words of the Church’s liturgy, “Tender Shepherd of the flock, Rachael, Joshua, Victoria,…

I nearly hemorrhaged when Lil’ Wayne approached the microphone at the 2008 BET Awards saying, “I am nothing without God, baby! I just want to say thank God, thank my family and thank Universal.” What god is he thanking? Does…

Stirrings in Rome suggest that the movement to beatify Pope Pius XII may be on its way to getting back on track. If so, it’s a development that fair-minded people should welcome.

The beatification of Pope Pius, who headed the Church…

By now, most Americans are familiar with YouTube.  The on-line video provider, which is now owned by Google, has enabled millions of Americans to post their own videos on the Internet for all to see.  It is an equal opportunity…

To [Christian married couples] the Lord entrusts the task of making visible to men the holiness and sweetness of the law which unites the mutual love of husband and wife with their cooperation with the love of God the author of…

Barack Obama using Christian and Jewish scriptures as mendaciously as Bill Clinton once did, when the former president took to choreographing his church visits so that photographers could see the huge gold cross on the cover of the bible that…

The alleged crime took place at the corner of Alum Rock and Ellesmere roads in Birmingham, England, where an officer spotted two missionaries distributing “God’s Bridge to Eternal Life” tracts.

The controversial pamphlets contained comments such as, “Throughout history individuals have…

I have been blessed to have served my last two Air Force assignments in French colonial country.  The cultures of southern Illinois and northwestern Louisiana retain a lot of their French-Catholic character, complete with Mardi Gras and those wonderful French…

“So you feel you’re the most qualified candidate for this position?”

“Absolutely. As you see by my resume, I graduated with honors from MIT.”

“Impressive. But tell me. How often do you go to the gym?”

“The gym?”

“Yeah, workout, pump iron, run on…

In part 1 of this series on “Ending Abortion the Church’s Way,” we reflected on the fact that the pro-life movement goes beyond the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church, and that it is a specifically Catholic attitude to embrace those…

Steve Strang knew the ground rules for the recent meeting between Sen. Barack Obama and a flock of evangelical, Catholic and liberal Protestant leaders.

The invitation to the Chicago gathering stated: “This is an off-the-record (no media) time for questioning and…

It’s June and for many in the senior classes at school there has been a graduation ceremony, and friends and relatives and out-of-town family who make a trip to see a son or daughter, niece, grandchild, brother or sister receive a diploma…

“Is your book like Scott McClellan’s?” an interviewer asked me that the other day, thereby suggesting a possible parallel between the former White House press secretary’s insider tell-all volume about the Bush administration and my new book about the issue…

The US bishops have issued a very clear statement on embryonic stem cell research. It does not dwell upon the scientific nuances of the issue, but rather assists the reader to focus on the moral issues involved. The statement is…

Once again journalists have carried off our means of communication like so many Sabine women or girls of Shiloh. Except, the Sabine women and girls of Shiloh actually were women. What journalists have carried off is the actual meaning of…

For years the slogan “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drink and Drive” has been the salient reminder of the dangers of driving under the influence.

This saying has become a part of our culture, embedded into our collective consciousness as a guiding…

A friend recently asked: “How long do we have left as a society?”  In answer to that question I informed her about an interesting and comprehensive study that a renowned British anthropologist, Joseph Unwin, PhD., presented to the British Psychological Society in 1935. …

With the recent spike in gasoline prices, politicians and pundits have begun calling again for energy independence for America. Ethanol refiners continue lobbying Congress for massive subsidies while electric utilities and coal producers promote clean coal and a nuclear renaissance.

Oil…

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year, therefore, marks its 60^th anniversary and provides us an opportunity to examine some themes in the Declaration which deserve special…

I haven’t missed Meet the Press in 12 years. After Mass it is an essential part of my Sunday morning ritual. I am listening to MSNBC’s ongoing coverage of Tim Russert’s sudden death today, June 13, as I am working. I…

Get this: Dads are essential to kids.

According to the National Fatherhood Initiative, kids who grow up without dads are more likely to grow up poor, drop out of school, end up in jail and encounter numerous other struggles in life…

QUEBEC,QC,CA — No one can know with certainty if the choice of Quebec City as the site of the 49^th International Eucharistic Congress was another example Pope John Paul II’s prophetic charism. Nevertheless, in retrospect the choice is certainly providential in…

The other week, the Holy See, via the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, published a strongly-worded and unequivocal warning aimed at contumacious souls tinkering with the idea of “ordaining” women to the priesthood. The document makes clear that any such…

There are roughly 77 million people in the USA who identify themselves as Catholics.  The much vaunted “Catholic Vote” is very sought after with politicians trying to use the words of our bishops as implicit endorsements.  This is a twisting…

Unsuspecting pro-life cultures are regularly assaulted by the “logic” of the international abortion promoters who push their anti-life agenda into every culture that will cave in to the pressure. Their main argument goes roughly like this: “When abortion is not…

In a decision that foreshadows the possible fate of Fr. Alphonse de Valk, Canada’s leading pro-life voice among Catholic clergy, the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal has forbidden evangelical pastor Stephen Boisson from expressing his moral opposition to homosexuality. The tribunal…

Although the search for clean, alternative sources of energy is to be commended in and of itself, the environmentalist movement has a history of overreaching. The ethanol story is a case in point. Of course the farmers are happy that…

To say that only Christ in and through His Church can ultimately conquer abortion is not a pious platitude, nor is it a fancy way of saying, “Jesus, help us fight abortion.” Nor is it an elitist way of excluding…

I recently had the opportunity to visit Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the places most affected by high food prices. I saw firsthand the difficulties the food crisis is causing and the choices it…

“If one, because of one’s sincerely held moral beliefs, whether it be Jew, Muslim, Christian, Catholic, opposes the idea of same-sex marriage in Canada, is that considered ‘hate’?”

The question was not rhetorical. Nor was it theoretical. Fr. Alphonse de Valk,…

As the presidential campaign moves along and Americans take to arguing around water coolers and dinner tables, we ought to embrace the wit and wisdom of Will Rogers:

“The short memory of voters is what keeps our politicians in office.”

“We’ve got…

Perhaps it had to happen, given the temper of the times. But the California Supreme Court’s 4-3 ruling last month saying the constitution of the nation’s most populous state gives gay couples a  previously invisible right to marry nevertheless is…

Ten was a particularly hard year.

For some reason, that year the isolation of our small mountain town seemed especially severe. The snow had piled so high on our unplowed road we had to park the car on the highway and…

Late last year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops put out its strongest statement yet about the need for American voters to avoid voting for candidates who refuse to defend the sanctity of human life. This document urged Americans…

Abortion will end.

The premise of Priests for Life is that abortion will end through the Church, because Christ has conquered death, and it is He who works through each of us to bring this victory to every segment of our…

The producers and writers behind The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian say the same thing when describing the challenge they faced bringing the novel to the screen.

The problem, all agree, is that the second book in the classic seven-book fantasy series…