Jun
25
May ours be the noble heart
June 25, 2010 | 7 Comments
A high school classmate alerted me to this story. Author Pete Hamill will be receiving an honorary diploma from Regis High School tomorrow afternoon. It’s really a nice story, but I couldn’t help but comment on this: Mr. Hamill makes no pretense of being much of a Catholic. “Somebody once said there’s no ex-Catholic, there’s [...]
Jun
21
How the Catholic Church caused the Black Death
June 21, 2010 | 2 Comments
Dan Collins links to the latest bit of anti-Catholic lunacy. The complete historical illiteracy of these nutjobs is something that never ceases to amaze (and amuse) me.
Jun
16
Is this a hill worth dying on?
June 16, 2010 | 4 Comments
A pastor out in South Dakota has decided he’d like to make himself a test case for first amendment rights. A South Dakota minister says he wants to do for religious freedom what the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did for civil rights. We’re already not off to a great start here. Martin Luther King [...]
Jun
16
Is Cardinal Pell the victim of a smear campaign?
June 16, 2010 | Comments Off
That’s what Damian Thompson suggests: I write this with some urgency. For the last week, Catholic sources have been insisting that Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, will not take up his appointment as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. Two reasons are given – one connected to his health, the other to utterly false [...]
Jun
1
Chutzpah Alert: Nancy Pelosi
June 1, 2010 | 2 Comments
Looks like we’re about get hit with a pretty bad thunderstorm here in the DC area. I would suggest that anyone within Nancy Pelosi’s periphery take extra precaution. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says she believes she must pursue public policies “in keeping with the values” of Jesus Christ, ”The Word made Flesh.” Pelosi, who is a Catholic and who favors legalized abortion, voted [...]
May
26
The hippy Jesus
May 26, 2010 | 6 Comments
Last week Mathew Archbold reprinted a humorous cartoon from the Catholic Cartoon blog titles “Footprints of Vatican II.” I was struck by one of the comments on CMR fretting over the humor of the cartoon. I don’t like the idea of Jesus throwing anyone, even Hans Kung in the ocean. I know Jesus still loves [...]
Apr
28
The Catholic Church and America
April 28, 2010 | Comments Off
Joe Hargrave has a terrific piece at Inside Catholic that explodes some of the myths about the inherent tensions between the Catholic Church and the American founding and early American history. First of all, the concept of religious liberty that eventually crystallized in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights was actually imported to [...]
Apr
27
The Sistine Chapel Digitized
April 27, 2010 | Comments Off
This is very cool, especially for those of us who have never had the privilege of seeing the Sistine Chapel in person. H/t: to the Crankywife.
Apr
25
Compare and Contrast
April 25, 2010 | 4 Comments
Why is it that the most angst-ridden, hate-filled enemies of the Church lack basic grammar and spelling ability? See this comment over at the American Catholic: I’m British and I couldn’t be happyer [sic] that this was sent to the pope. He has the responsibility and opportunity to stand up to pedaphellia [sic] in the [...]
Apr
20
Episcopal Spine Alert
April 20, 2010 | 3 Comments
Jay Anderson has the details on a couple of Bishops who have taken on dissenting “Catholic” groups. Jay’s own Bishop Blair penned a firm rebuke of a group of sisters who provided cover for the pro-abort forces during the health care debate. As if the political and cultural challenges were not grave enough, we also [...]
Apr
16
National Day of Prayer Ruled Unconstitutional
April 16, 2010 | 4 Comments
This decision will likely be overturned, but it’s always fun to point out judicial lunacy. A federal judge on Thursday struck down the federal statute that established the National Day of Prayer, ruling that it violates the constitutional ban on government-backed religion. “[I]ts sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an [...]
Apr
12
Terrible writer writes terribly
April 12, 2010 | 3 Comments
While awaiting my annual engagement in ritualized torture, otherwise known as my annual eye exam, I decided my day wouldn’t be completely wrecked until I checked out Lisa Miller’s cover piece calling for an end to the all-male celibate priesthood. Dont’cha know that many of the Church’s problem are rooted in its male dominated fiefdom. [...]
Apr
8
Sandro Magister on the Passion of the Pope
April 8, 2010 | 1 Comment
Sandro Magister is an excellent reporter, and he usually strikes a fairly even tone, but this is a rather stinging rebuke of criticisms aimed at Pope Benedict XVI. He goes through some of the common allegations hurled at the Pope, and beats them back one-by-one. I haven’t really discussed the latest “controversy.” Quite frankly I [...]
Mar
15
Must see tv
March 15, 2010 | 4 Comments
Unsure of how to top itself after the Jesus Tomb fiasco, the Discovery Channel decided to dig deep into another mystery. For two thousand years, blame for the murder of Jesus has rested squarely on the shoulders of Judas Iscariot and the Jewish High Priest. This gritty crime thriller exposes all-new suspects and asks whether [...]
Mar
3
Roundup
March 3, 2010 | 3 Comments
Things are crazy busy, so as you can see I haven’t had much time to blog. Here is a roundup of some of the more interesting developments of the past week. – Well at least Notre Dame seems to have finally learned a lesson about turning its back on Church teaching. Oh. Wait. What’s the [...]
Feb
18
CIC does the right thing
February 18, 2010 | 4 Comments
For those of you unfamiliar with DC, the Catholic Information Center is a Catholic bookstore (and much more) located in downtown DC. It also happens to be the meetup place for my Council of the Knights of Columbus. They originally had a book signing scheduled today for Cokie Roberts, and that prompted a scathing editorial [...]
Jan
24
Non Nobis
January 24, 2010 | 5 Comments
Patrick Archbold has asked that Catholic bloggers publish the Non Nobis prayer below as a way of giving thanks to God for the turn of events that have taken place this week that has made ultimate passage of a health care bill that funds abortion very unlikley. As Patrick says, we still have a very [...]
Jan
6
I appreciate the sentiment
January 6, 2010 | 1 Comment
But can we agree that booing and heckling a Bishop during Mass is not the most appropriate means of showing your disapproval of his actions? Damian Thompson has the background on all this.
Jan
6
Shea on Hitchens
January 6, 2010 | 3 Comments
When he’s right he’s right. The same lesson should be internalized by the Christians who, in their hatred of the monsters known as “radical Islamists,” have clasped Hitchens to their bosom as a “treasure.” Hitchens fulminates with his customary eloquence against the numerous evils of Radical Islam, much as Spike beats the living hell out [...]
Jan
5
Freedom
January 5, 2010 | 2 Comments
It must be a slow news week when Brit Hume’s suggestion that Tiger Woods embrace Christ is one of the big stories. There are a lot of angles to the reaction of Hume’ comments. To me it suggests how sensitive certain subjects are in this country, particularly discussion of religion. It is doubly shocking in [...]