Terrorism And Evangelization

By DONALD DeMARCO

A great gap exists between “imposing” and “proposing.” The former operates through some form of physical or psychological pressure; the latter relies on enlightenment. Imposing does not take “no” for an answer; proposing accepts either “yes” or “no.” The Church, as Blessed John Paul II has reiterated, never “imposes,” but only “proposes.”
The terrorist operates without patience or regard for the freedom of the other. The evangelist, by contrast, must be patient and careful not to interfere with the freedom of the other. The terrorist wants to conquer; the evangelist wants to convince. … Continue Reading

What Would Reagan Do?

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN

President Reagan was holding a meeting in the Cabinet Room on March 25, 1985, when Press Secretary Larry Speakes came over to me, as communications director, with a concern.
The White House was about to issue a statement on the killing of Major Arthur Nicholson, a U.S. army officer serving in East Germany. Major Nicholson had been shot in cold blood by a Russian soldier.
Speakes thought the president’s statement, “This violence was unjustified,” was weak. I agreed. We interrupted the president, who reread the statement, then said go ahead with it.
What lay behind this Reagan decision not to express his own and his nation’s disgust and anger at this atrocity?
Since taking office, Reagan had sought to engage Soviet leaders in negotiations, but, as he told me, “they keep dying on me.” … Continue Reading

While Pope Francis Warns Of Evil… California Catholic University Celebrates The Devil At Drag Show

By DEXTER DUGGAN

Pope Francis warned about the reality of the Devil and his evil during daily Mass in Rome on Friday, April 11, two days before Palm Sunday.
As it happened, an image of the Devil cavorted on stage thousands of miles away, at a major religious university in southern California, on the evening of Thursday, April 10.
However, evil was celebrated instead of being warned against at the prominent school that describes itself as Catholic, the University of San Diego (USD).
Its web site says, “As a nationally ranked Catholic university, the University of San Diego is dedicated to preparing ethical and compassionate leaders inspired to create lasting social change in our global society.” … Continue Reading

Obama’s Choice To Run HHS . . . Ran Gates Foundation’s Third World Population Control Efforts

By DEXTER DUGGAN

Speculation about the credentials of people Barack Obama chooses to help him run the federal government must start with the fact that he’s the most rawly partisan, rigid, lawless and corrupt president in the nation’s history. He demands only players who’ll help push forward his mindset.
It’s immaterial to ask whether his choice to take over the Department of Health and Human Services from radical pro-abortionist and defiantly bad Catholic Kathleen Sebelius was born in West Virginia, likes Greek food, or visited Japan.
Obama worships the Culture of Death and left-wing extremism. He doesn’t intend to put impediments to his agenda in positions of government leadership. He knows their resumes and dossiers and chooses accordingly. … Continue Reading

Holy Week And The Gift Of Priesthood

By MOST REV. CHARLES CHAPUT, OFM Cap.

(Editor’s Note: This commentary, released April 11, first appeared as the weekly column of Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap., of Philadelphia. It is reprinted here with permission. All rights reserved.)

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Holy Week is the most sacred time of the Christian year. And on every Holy Thursday, priests of the archdiocese gather at the annual Chrism Mass to renew their fraternal bonds and the meaning of their vocation.
The readings of the Chrism Mass have a special beauty and power, and they deserve the attention of all the faithful, not just our priests:
First Reading: Isaiah 61:1-3a, 6a, 8b-9; Second Reading: Rev. 1:5-8; Gospel: Luke 4:16-21.
The Bible has dozens of dramatic moments, but the one that arguably matters most is the last line of the Chrism Mass Gospel: “Today, this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” If human history has a center, this is it. If Scripture has a direction and meaning, this is it. All of God’s contact with humanity either leads up to this point, or flows from it. … Continue Reading

Guilty As Charged

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK

Perhaps the women in question should not be criticized. It strikes me that we no longer have publications on the right that explore in a thorough and serious manner the difference between the traditionalist and libertarian wings of the conservative movement. That said, the young ladies jumped into a fight that need not be fought.
I am talking about the young women who appeared on Megyn Kelly’s Fox News program a few weeks back. They were calling attention to the liberal bias of the textbook Introduction to Social Work & Social Welfare used in their college course at the University of South Carolina. “I was tempted to throw the book away,” said one of the women, a sophomore majoring in political science. “This book goes out of its way to glorify liberalism and demonize conservatism. I don’t think it can get much more in-your-face than that.” … Continue Reading

The New Blacklist

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN

(Editor’s Note: This column was provided by creators.com. All rights reserved.)

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“There is a gay mafia,” said Bill Maher, “if you cross them you do get whacked.”
Maher, the host of HBO’s Real Time, was talking about the gay activists and their comrades who drove Brendan Eich out as CEO of Mozilla. Eich, who invented JavaScript and cofounded Mozilla in 1998, had been named chief executive in late March.
Instantly, he came under attack for having contributed $1,000 to Proposition 8, whereby a majority of Californians voted in 2008 to reinstate a ban on same-sex marriage. Prop 8 was backed by the Catholic Church, the Mormon Church, and the black churches, and carried 70 percent of the African-American vote. … Continue Reading

Here’s The Answer To . . . “How Does My Same-Sex Marriage Hurt You?”

By DEXTER DUGGAN

PHOENIX — The U.S. Supreme Court may have thrown another blistering ingredient into the stew for this fall’s elections across the nation when it refused to review the case of a New Mexico wedding photographer being coerced by government to violate her conscience.
New Mexico is known around the Southwest for its tangy chile harvest as summer wanes.
However, the burn of the chile peppers may be nothing to match the flare of voter anger in November with another element added to public resentment against an elite that contemptuously has imposed Obamacare and other arrogance on an unwilling populace.
Elane Photography in Albuquerque had been hauled through legal persecution after Elaine Huguenin, due to her religious beliefs, declined in 2006 to photograph a “commitment ceremony” of two lesbians. … Continue Reading

Whose Side Is God On Now?

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN

In his Kremlin defense of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin, even before he began listing the battles where Russian blood had been shed on Crimean soil, spoke of an older deeper bond.
Crimea, said Putin, “is the location of ancient Khersones, where Prince Vladimir was baptized. His spiritual feat of adopting Orthodoxy predetermined the overall basis of the culture, civilization, and human values that unite the peoples of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.”
Russia is a Christian country, Putin was saying.
This speech recalls last December’s address where the former KGB chief spoke of Russia as standing against a decadent West: … Continue Reading

This England?

By ROBERT MORRISON

(Editor’s Note: Robert Morrison is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council. This essay is reprinted with permission; all rights reserved.)

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I was a last-minute substitute for an international conference on euthanasia, in London! The year was 1998 and I had never been to Britain before. I was so excited I could not sleep. What to see? Where to go?
The conference obviously took first priority. But I wanted to spend every spare moment taking in the sights. “When a man is tired of London,” said the great Samuel Johnson, “he is tired of life.” I planned to walk everywhere. Under my own feet, I wanted to feel the streets where history happened.
From my earliest memory, I had been lulled to sleep with English lullabies. My mother loved to share English poetry and song. My father told me tales of sailing to Swansea, Wales, as an American Merchant Seaman during World War II. Because of stringent food rationing, my dad was able to bring to the children the first oranges they had ever seen. He had tender stories of these little children’s delight as they returned to their bombed-out flats clutching these rare fruits like they were the Crown Jewels. … Continue Reading