Wednesday 24th April 2024

Home » Featured Today » Recent Articles:

Our Lady In The Sacred Liturgy

February 2, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on Our Lady In The Sacred Liturgy

By JAMES MONTI As many of our readers are undoubtedly aware, the liturgical feast that we celebrate on February 2 has gone by a variety of names over the ages, beginning with its Greek title in the sixth century, Hypapante (“Meeting,” i.e., the Christ Child meeting Simeon) to the popular name “Candlemas,” and in the modern Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, “the Presentation of the Lord.” But the title for this feast that has had by far the longest history of usage, from the seventh century onward, is the name by which it is identified in the Extraordinary Form (“Usus antiquior”) of the Roman Rite, “the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” Of course the titles “Presentation” and “Purification”…Continue Reading

Intelligent Design And Atheism: Some Remarks

February 1, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on Intelligent Design And Atheism: Some Remarks

By GEORGE A. KENDALL For years now, I have taken an interest in issues concerning the origin of living things, notably the controversy between Darwinists and proponents of Intelligent Design theory (A/K/A ID). What follows is a series of loosely connected reflections on these matters, a sort of potpourri, but one in which all the items relate to the same subject matter. + + + Darwinists like to maintain that their theory does not in and of itself necessarily deny the existence of God, but merely stays neutral on the question. But is this really true? If there is a God, and He is the Creator and designer of the physical universe, then neutrality is impossible. You accept Him or…Continue Reading

Urban II And The Benedict Option

January 31, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on Urban II And The Benedict Option

By JUDE DOUGHERTY The fall issue of Modern Age bears the title of “Christianity and Politics From the Reformation to the Benedict Option.” The term “Benedict option” entered the vocabulary of academic discourse when Alasdair MacIntyre in 1981 ended his book, After Virtue, with the judgment, [Given the moral condition of Europe], “we are not waiting for Godot but for – doubtless — a very different St. Benedict.” No one questions the fundamental contribution of the Benedictines to the preservation of classical learning nor questions the order’s contribution to the civilization characteristic of the West. The distinguished Renaissance scholar, Paul Oskar Kristeller, in an essay, “The Contribution of Religious Orders to Renaissance Thought and Learning,” expressed it this way: “If…Continue Reading

A Book Review . . . Delineating China’s Desire For World Dominance

January 30, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review . . . Delineating China’s Desire For World Dominance

By REY FLORES Bully of Asia: Why China’s Dream Is the New Threat to World Order by Steven W. Mosher; Washington, D.C., 2017; hardcover; available at amazon.com, $18.89. Also available on Kindle. When I was offered the opportunity to review Bully of Asia, I felt somewhat intimidated by its heavy subject matter. The story of China is incredible, deeply profound and frightening, which is especially clear after reading this book. Bully of Asia is author Steven Mosher’s latest offering that blows the lid off the growing threat that China has become, and how Americans are literally rolling out the red carpet, pun intended, for today’s great red menace. China’s desire for world dominance is no secret, never has been, never…Continue Reading

A Book Review . . . Msgr. Knox: A Fearless Thinker And Writer

January 29, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review . . . Msgr. Knox: A Fearless Thinker And Writer

By MITCHELL KALPAKGIAN The Wine of Certitude: A Literary Biography of Ronald Knox, by David Rooney (Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 2009), 427 pp. Available through www.amazon.com as a paperback or on Kindle. A comprehensive account of the life, works, and apologetics of one of the great Catholic controversialists of the first half of the twentieth century, this book provides a thorough introduction to the thought of a prominent convert to the Catholic faith, a prolific writer, and an eloquent defender of the faith in a period of history permeated with agnosticism and skepticism. Ordained an Anglican priest like his father, Bishop Edmund Knox, Ronald embraced the Catholic Church much to the disappointment and chagrin of the father — a situation…Continue Reading

Milwaukee Archbishop In Phoenix . . . Officials At Red Mass Told To Be Risk-Takers Against Suffering

January 28, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on Milwaukee Archbishop In Phoenix . . . Officials At Red Mass Told To Be Risk-Takers Against Suffering

By DEXTER DUGGAN PHOENIX — Christians should be “risk-takers” in society, as illustrated by the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the archbishop of Milwaukee told the 48th annual Red Mass at St. Mary’s Basilica here to mark the beginning of the Arizona legislature’s session. Archbishop Jerome Listecki delivered the guest homily to a congregation including Arizona legislators, judges, and other public officials on January 23 in an observance that dates back to 1970 in the Diocese of Phoenix. State Sen. Catherine Miranda, a Democrat, was announced as this year’s recipient of the local St. Thomas More Society’s award for standing up for her pro-life beliefs. Each year the Red Mass here has a portrait of More up front in the…Continue Reading

A Note Of Good News

January 27, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on A Note Of Good News

By DONALD DeMARCO Hostility against pro-life students on college campuses has been escalating. This is not only troubling, but difficult to comprehend. Abortion is a violent act that ends an innocent life. It is, as a matter of fact, the country’s most egregious act of domestic violence. Why, then, is so much animus directed against students who stand opposed to abortion? Secondly, since colleges are mandated to be educational centers where dialogue and debate are an integral part, why is there such opposition to freedom of speech when it centers on defending life? But there is a note of good news. Late last year, a federal court ordered Gregory Thatcher, a professor of public health at Fresno State, to pay…Continue Reading

YAL Lawsuit Against Pierce College . . . Motion To Dismiss Lawsuit Against Free Speech Zone Rejected

January 26, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on YAL Lawsuit Against Pierce College . . . Motion To Dismiss Lawsuit Against Free Speech Zone Rejected

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Central District Court of California rejected a motion to dismiss Young Americans for Liberty’s lawsuit against Los Angeles Pierce College over their free speech zone which consists of only .003 percent of the campus. The court ruled January 17 that the open spaces of public colleges like LA Pierce are open forums “regardless of Pierce’s regulations,” thereby rejecting the motion to dismiss on the part of LA Pierce administrators. As a result, the lawsuit will proceed forward on the grounds of First Amendment violations. In November 2016, Los Angeles Pierce College student and Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) member Kevin Shaw attempted to distribute copies of the U.S. Constitution and recruit new members for the YAL…Continue Reading

The Crisis We Are Living

January 25, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on The Crisis We Are Living

By FR. GERALD E. MURRAY (Editor’s Note: This column first appeared January 6 on the website The Catholic Thing [www.thecatholicthing.org.] Copyright 2018. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. + + + The publication in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis of Pope Francis’ letter confirming the interpretation of Amoris Laetitia by the bishops of the Buenos Aires region marked a new phase in the serious crisis affecting the Church. We now know that the pastoral advice of this group of bishops embodies what Pope Francis intended in chapter 8 of AL. Pope Francis wrote to them: “The document is very good and completely explains the meaning of chapter VIII of Amoris Laetitia. There are no other interpretations.” Pope Francis’ endorsement had previously…Continue Reading

Creating A Robust Pro-Life Public Voice

January 24, 2018 Featured Today Comments Off on Creating A Robust Pro-Life Public Voice

By LAWRENCE P. GRAYSON For 45 years, ever since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion, Catholics and people of other religious persuasions have tried to stir the conscience of the country about the consequences of this ruling. Since the decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973, over 60 million children in the United States have been killed in the womb. What a tragedy of epic proportions — 60 million children destined to be born in the image and likeness of God destroyed by acts of their mothers’ free will and abetted by an industry of death. Despite almost half a century of opposition, there remains a determined offensive against life at every stage. As a society, we prevent its beginning,…Continue Reading