Illegal-Entry Highway Deaths . . . Show Part Of Picture Of Damage Being Done By Unbalanced Media

By DEXTER DUGGAN

PHOENIX — On the same day that a veteran Arizona major television news anchor explained why she was leaving her job, at least 13 illegal immigrants left this earthly life in a highway collision more than a 230-mile drive west of here near California’s border with Mexico.
Both events on March 2 involved the condition of media reporting these days.
Although TV anchor Kari Lake didn’t go into details during a video about what displeased her, she plainly said that journalism had become unrecognizable from what it was when she first walked into a newsroom in 1992.
The Arizona Daily Independent quoted Lake on March 2, “I think in a way the nastiness toward me is meant to scare other journalists who are open-minded and considerate of all points of view to snap back into line or they, too, will be ‘canceled’ and their reputation attacked.”
An article at the state’s largest news platform, the leftist Arizona Republic, didn’t conceal its dislike for Lake while quoting her on March 2 as saying, “The media needs more balance in coverage and a wider range of viewpoints represented in every newsroom at every level and at each position. In the last few years I haven’t felt proud to be a member of the media. I’m sure there are other journalists out there who feel the same way.”
Later, she told national radio talk host Larry Elder on March 3, “It’s not a crime to have traditional values. It’s not a crime to love America.”
Meanwhile, at least 13 of the 25 people crammed into an SUV with most of its … Continue Reading

Introducing A New “Reality” By Legislative Fiat

By CHRISTOPHER MANION

On February 25, the House of Representatives, by a vote of 211 to 195, passed H.R. 5, the “Equality Act.”
Here is the official summary provided by the Congressional Research Service, in full, with my comments in parentheses:

Equality Act

This bill prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit, and the jury system.
(In brief: Very little of everyday life is left out.)
Specifically, the bill defines and includes sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity among the prohibited categories of discrimination or segregation.
(Includes, perhaps, but does not define. And it is hardly “specific.”)
The bill expands the definition of public accommodations to include places or establishments that provide (1) exhibitions, recreation, exercise, amusement, gatherings, or displays; (2) goods, services, or programs; and (3) transportation services.
(Don’t feel left out. You’ll be included soon.)
The bill allows the Department of Justice to intervene in equal protection actions in federal … Continue Reading

The Truest, Most Courageous Love

By JOE SIXPACK

St. Felicitas was a widow of the second century. She and her seven sons were very strong and devoted Catholics. Despite the Roman persecution against the faith, and despite the threat of horrid tortures and death, Felicitas and her sons not only practiced their faith fervently but also quite openly.
Indeed, their open and fervent practice of the faith won many souls to Christ and His Church. This angered the pagan priests, who complained to Emperor Antoninus. They told the emperor that this family was drawing many of the people away from worship of the gods, which made the gods displeased. The only way the gods could be appeased, they told the emperor, would be when Felicitas and her sons would sacrifice to them.
Both privately and publicly the Roman officials tried to get the family to sacrifice to the gods. Officials used pleading, promises of wealth and privilege, attempts at bribery, and threats of torture and death to get … Continue Reading

Please Don’t Take My Fish Fry Away

By REY FLORES

“You are my fish fry, my favorite fish fry, you make me happy, when I crave fish. You’ll never know just how much I miss you, please don’t take my fish fry away.”

• + + With a lot of people still being scared half to death from the COVID pandemic, that and everyone taking extra precautions, we’ve learned to live in a new world of masks and a media-fueled fear pandemic. Is it real? Is it not? Are the COVID death statistics true or blown up by the big pharma and big media corporations? It’s still somewhat all up in the air.
  About a year ago when this whole thing started, everything basically came to a screeching halt. People were in a panic buying up all of the toilet paper and hand sanitizer they could get their hands on. Retailers couldn’t meet the demand quickly enough and started limiting how many of these items each customer could purchase. The upside is that maybe people started incorporating better personal hygiene practices. I hope.
  The thing that bothered me the most was when churches started closing down. All of a sudden, the Mass many of us took … Continue Reading

Diocesan Official Says . . . It’s “A Red Herring” To Ask About Being “A One-Issue Voter” Over Abortion

By DEXTER DUGGAN

PHOENIX — Government allowing innocent humans “to be attacked and killed” cannot continue, an official of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix said as he gave a talk on St. John Paul II’s mission to defend and ennoble the human person. It was titled, “John Paul II’s Contributions to Catholic Social Teaching.”
Mike Phelan, director of the diocese’s Office of Marriage and Respect Life, reviewing some of the twentieth century, recalled that Germany’s morally weak Weimar Republic, which followed World War I, already showed disgust toward the handicapped and mentally ill, so the successor Nazi-ruled government didn’t have to change any language about how to treat them.
He added later, “We could be in the United States at our Weimar moment. . . . Our country cannot continue to coincide” with the destruction of human life, nor can the rest of the world, including Communist China, with its forced family-limitation policy.
Phelan looked over some of the major developments of the twentieth century, in which St. John Paul spent 80 of his nearly 85 years of life, and which he spoke to as Pope in encyclicals on topics including labor and the worker, socialism and capitalism, and human life.
“It’s well-said that Catholic social teaching is one of the best-kept secrets in the Church,” which includes addressing the development of the individual person and of society, said Phelan, who spoke on February 20 for a Zoom session of the Institute of Catholic … Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… Jesus Meets His Mother And Veronica

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON JR.

(Editor’s Note: Fr. Richard D. Breton Jr. is a priest of the Diocese of Norwich, Conn. He received his BA in religious studies and his MA in dogmatic theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Conn.)

• + + As we journey through the second week of Lent, we will be reflecting on the Fourth and Sixth Stations of the Cross: Jesus meets His afflicted Mother and Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.
  In the Fourth Station, we find ourselves amid the crowd that is gathering along the streets to watch the spectacle of Jesus carrying His cross. Jesus has just gotten up from the first fall and struggles to continue to Calvary. Then it happens: Jesus notices His Mother in the crowd. He turns His head to gaze at her. You see the blood dripping from the crown of thorns as it runs down His face. You see the pain and agony in his face. You see the cry of help in His eyes as He gazes toward His Mother, Mary.
  Jesus’ eyes convey a message to His Mother. His eyes say: I know you want this to stop but I must go on, I must fulfill my Father’s will. She, in turn, gazes back intently into her son’s eyes. She knows His pain, as she sees the prophecy of Simeon fulfilled as a sword pierces her heart.
  This very poignant moment was portrayed in the movie, The Passion of the Christ. I remember how vivid and heartbreaking this moment was. It brought tears to many eyes, including my own.
  In his book, The World’s First Love, the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen reminds us how important Mary is. In his book he says: “The key … Continue Reading

Religious Schools And The First Amendment… Is There A Difference Between “Status” And “Use”?

By DEACON MIKE MANNO

There is an interesting school choice case from Maine that is sitting at the door of the Supreme Court on appeal from the First Circuit Court of Appeals that could settle a legally thorny problem if the court decides to accept it.
The state of Maine has a law that allows local school districts to pay the tuition for students to attend either private or public secondary schools where the district does not have a public high school. Thus the local districts have the option of providing the school or simply paying the tuition for its students to attend another school of choice.
Those other schools of choice can be outside the state.
Unfortunately, that choice appears to be limited by courts making the distinction between religious status and religious use. In short that means participating schools can be religious in name, but if they do religious things they do not qualify.
Three families in Maine, all living in districts that chose to provide the tuition option for its students, were denied tuition for their schools of choice due to the “status vs. use” distinction. Their legal challenges were denied by state and federal courts; thus the appeal to the Supreme Court.
The families are being represented by the First Liberty Institute and … Continue Reading

Bleary Biden Bad Enough . . . But He’s The One Who Gives Us Nominees Like Baby-Bashing Becerra

By DEXTER DUGGAN

Joe Biden’s minefield of his own making was bigger than potentially blowing up a few cow pastures. Just over a month after his inauguration, members of the cognitively impaired Democrat’s own party began signing a letter requesting that Biden “end the sole authority you have to launch a nuclear attack, and to install additional checks and balances into the system.”
It remained to be seen, as this article was written overnight on February 24-25, if the White House would quash the seriously embarrassing letter to a president who has a way of talking in word salads that betray a seriously confused mind.
The February 22-dated letter noted that a U.S. president isn’t obligated to consult with anyone else before giving a nuclear-attack order, and if the military believes the order was lawfully given, “that attack would happen in minutes.”
Coincidentally, conservative Sean Hannity’s February 24 national radio program played another tape of aging Biden struggling to express his thoughts. Hannity invited listeners to compare the rapidly declining Biden with elderly U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who sounds as strong as he did ten years ago.
It won’t be forgotten that a callous elite rammed left-wing Biden into the White House with their tricks and feints in order to remove the successful Republican conservative Donald Trump.
Upon its release, the congressional Democrats’ letter already had 31 signatures, including the very liberal like Ted Lieu, Ayanna Pressley, and Pramila Jayapal. This wasn’t a few … Continue Reading

Notre Dame Awaits The Call On Instant Replay

By CHRISTOPHER MANION

Twelve years ago this May, the University of Notre Dame welcomed to its campus the newly elected Barack Obama as an honored guest, speaker, and recipient of an honorary degree. For Notre Dame, it was a great coup: Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory, now cardinal archbishop of Washington, had already hailed Obama’s election as “a great step for humanity, a sign that in the United States the issue of race and the problem of discrimination have been overcome.”
Fr. John Jenkins, CSC, university president, wanted Notre Dame to play a part in that historic journey. He extended an invitation to Obama, telling the class of 2009 that “as the first African-American holder of this office, [Obama] has accelerated our country’s progress in overcoming the painful legacy of slavery and segregation. He is a remarkable figure in American history, and I look forward to welcoming him to Notre Dame.”
Of course, Notre Dame had made other historic welcomes. For one, President Ronald Reagan honored Notre Dame with his first public appearance after recovering from the attempt on his life at the Washington Hilton in May 1981. This writer attended those commencement exercises, and they were historic indeed. Thousands of left-wing protesters crowded the campus, many having camped out for days on its various peripheries. In speaking with several of them, I found that most were affiliated with radical political groups that opposed Reagan’s Central American policies. I met none who had any connection with Notre Dame.
Eighteen years later, the ground rules had changed. By the time Air Force One landed near South Bend in May 2009, 83 American bishops had expressed their disapproval of Fr. Jenkins’ invitation. Over 350,000 people had signed a petition objecting to the honors conferred on the most pro-abortion president in history by “America’s premiere Catholic University.”
Fr. Jenkins was not pleased.
So he doubled down. Defying Notre Dame’s own bishop, the Most Rev. John D’Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Fr. Jenkins arranged to have Obama’s motorcade sneak through back roads east of campus to spare Obama the unpleasant sight of thousands of pro-life demonstrators lining the streets leading to Notre Dame Avenue. Fr. Jenkins forbade pro-life demonstrations on campus, and when 88 pro-lifers defied … Continue Reading

For The Love Of God

By JOE SIXPACK

When St. Anthony of Padua was only five years old, he once heard a knock at the door late at night. It was wintertime, and the weather outside was very cold and snowy. Little Anthony ran to the window to see who was knocking at the door on such a blistery night.
He saw standing in the deep snow another little boy who was barefoot and dressed in pitifully worn and torn clothing, carrying a bag on his back. When Anthony opened the door, the little boy came into the warm house. He was shivering from the cold, and his feet were numb and almost frozen.
“Thank you,” said the little boy. “I’m glad to get warm and rest awhile because I’m very cold and tired.”
He laid his small bag on the floor and stood close to the fire to warm himself.
“What do you have in the bag?” Anthony asked.
“What do you think it is?”
“I think you have loaves of bread some good people have given you, because you look like a little beggar.”
“No!” answered the little boy.
So Anthony looked into his little guest’s bag and saw many little hearts that looked like rubies. “Who are you and what is this?” asked Anthony.
“I’m the son of a King, and I’m gathering human hearts who want to love me. Anthony, give me your heart.”
“What is your name?” Anthony asked.
“Oh, I don’t have to tell you that, because your mother has often told you about me. I am Jesus.”
Then the little boy suddenly disappeared. This was how Jesus first began to draw Anthony to Himself, the beginning of his journey to sainthood.
This is a true story from the life of St. Anthony of Padua. Many of the greatest saints in our history have extraordinary stories like this from their childhood, because God had chosen them for some extraordinary work. In St. Anthony’s case, He wanted the saint to preach … Continue Reading