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Gilligan’s Island

January 20, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on Gilligan’s Island

By DEACON MIKE MANNO, JD I don’t share too many personal stories, but here is one that I posted on Facebook. It’s about a little kitten that has come into my life. Now I’m not really a cat guy. In fact, all my life I’ve been a dog guy. Oftentimes having two at the same time. My most recent four-legged friend is a rescue by the name of Buster, whose companion, Bo, crossed over the Rainbow Bridge a few years ago. Buster is fourteen and in good health, but slowing down a bit. I’ve had a Bailey and a Bentley, as well as a Roxie. My most memorable dog was Ginger, who hung around me during my grade school years.…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World . . . Struggle Over Celibacy Is About Church’s Identity

January 19, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on A Leaven In The World . . . Struggle Over Celibacy Is About Church’s Identity

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The latest dust-up in the Vatican over clerical celibacy is just more evidence that two forces are at work in the Church today: One seeks to more and more accommodate the world while the other prioritizes getting to Heaven. The post-synodal exhortation for the Synod on the Amazon is soon to be released. There was much talk during the synod of relaxing some of the customs and traditions in the Church that are suspected by some of discouraging the practice of the faith. One of these is thought by those who have the Pope’s ear to be clerical celibacy. Someone allegedly made a comment during the synod that the people of the Amazon “don’t understand…Continue Reading

The Culture War Comes To The Old Dominion

January 18, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on The Culture War Comes To The Old Dominion

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Since 1969, “Virginia Is for Lovers” has been the tourism and travel slogan of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Advertising Age called it “one of the most iconic ad campaigns in the past 50 years.” But the Virginia of 2020 seems to be another country than the friendly commonwealth to which this writer moved four decades ago. Charlottesville, home to Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia, has become famous as the site of a 2017 Klan-Nazi clash with antifa over the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from a municipal park. During the clash, protester Heather Heyer was run over and killed. There followed the inauguration of a new Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, in 2018 and…Continue Reading

Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic . . . Economics, American Ideologies, And Catholic Social Teaching

January 17, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic . . . Economics, American Ideologies, And Catholic Social Teaching

By STEPHEN M. KRASON (Editor’s Note: Stephen M. Krason is professor of political science and legal studies and associate director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is also co-founder and president of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists and a lawyer. Among his books are: Liberalism, Conservatism, and Catholicism; The Transformation of the American Democratic Republic; Catholicism and American Political Ideologies, and a Catholic political novel, American Cincinnatus.) + + + Jane Clark Scharl wrote an article in Crisis in December 2019 discussing how the Republican Party has moved away from an extreme notion of capitalism — of economic freedom — that characterized it in the past and so is now…Continue Reading

My New Home… A Stranger In A Strange Land

January 16, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on My New Home… A Stranger In A Strange Land

By REY FLORES I recently moved to Omaha, Neb., to be near my family. At this point, it isn’t exactly my favorite place in the world, but my much-loved wife and children are here, and I would follow them to the ends of the Earth. I must admit it has been somewhat of a rough ride the past few years, and now I’m living in a town that I’d only visited twice before. I challenge anyone to just drop everything for the love of marriage and family. Like anywhere else, Omaha has its interesting parts, neighborhoods, and attractions. The Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium is supposed to be second in the nation only to the San Diego Zoo, though I’ve…Continue Reading

Some Gifts In Strange Packages From 2019

January 15, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on Some Gifts In Strange Packages From 2019

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope is the pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Parish in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. This commentary first appeared on his blog dated January 1, 2020. It is reprinted here with Msgr. Pope’s kind permission. All rights reserved.) + + + It is hard to describe 2019 in glowing terms for the Church, both in the United States and around the world. I will not recite every gory detail here but this year saw a further unfolding of the drama of sexual abuse, the coverup of sexual abuse, and the deposing of several bishops and other clergy for this reason, and with more likely to follow in the year to come. All…Continue Reading

Seven Rivers

January 14, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on Seven Rivers

By JOE SIXPACK A certain holy monk was taken in a dream by his guardian angel and shown a vast plain covered with many cities and men. On one side of the plain a rushing spring of water came forth from a hillside, and divided into seven clear streams, which flowed down into the plain. At the other side of the plain another fountain rushed up from a dark cave, and also spread out into seven streams. He watched the streams that came from the cave and saw many people drinking eagerly from their waters, as the waters were sweet to taste. Soon after drinking the water, though, these people were seized with violent pains and vomiting, and many died.…Continue Reading

More Campus Craziness

January 13, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on More Campus Craziness

By DEACON MIKE MANNO, JD And so here we go again. Anyone who thought the New Year would be free from educational idiocy needs to think again. Campus Reform is reporting that at Rutgers University-New Brunswick a student was told not to use Scripture in an academic paper. The student was given the assignment to write an autobiographical paper in his “Intro to Gender, Race, and Sexuality” class last semester. In the paper, the student cited a close friend who struggled with his own sexual identity whose mother continued to cite Bible verses to her son about the dangers of homosexual activity. The student supported his friend and in response to the mother’s use of Scripture quoted John 3:16: “For…Continue Reading

Cosmos Or Chaos?

January 12, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on Cosmos Or Chaos?

By DONALD DeMARCO The word “cosmos” was coined by Pythagoras and referred to a universe that is unified, ordered, good, and beautiful — that last adjective endures among cosmetologists whose work with cosmetics are aimed at restoring beauty to the face. According to Hesiod, chaos was the first thing that came to be. Many religious groups in ancient Greece believed that chaos was nothingness, but not entirely inert. It was a matrix of unintelligible entities from which things took shape and became distinct, ultimately forming the cosmos. Given the intimacy between cosmos and chaos, it was inevitable that people would fear that the cosmos would eventually return to that vast amorphous soup known as chaos. These terms were not created…Continue Reading

Confucius, Humpty Dumpty, And Impeachment

January 11, 2020 Frontpage Comments Off on Confucius, Humpty Dumpty, And Impeachment

By CHRISTOPHER MANION “In rebuilding a society in disarray, the first priority is to restore the proper meaning of words” — Confucius, Analects. “ ‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ “ ‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ “ ‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all’” — Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass. + + + The constitutional process of impeachment has roots in centuries of jurisprudence. The authoritative Black’s Law Dictionary recounts at length the term’s provenance, including frequent mention of the Common…Continue Reading