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The Ancient Scourge Human Slavery Is Thriving

April 10, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on The Ancient Scourge Human Slavery Is Thriving

By JOHN J. METZLER UNITED NATIONS — Modern slavery is tragically thriving in the twenty-first century! While ethnic, religious, and military conflicts seem to be the grist of news headlines, the quiet and brutal backstory of this global violence involves the vulnerable millions who have been displaced as migrants and refugees. Ironically, in the midst of such desperation, there’s a “business model” used by human traffickers who are profiting from slavery, an ancient scourge, which reap profits of over $150 billion annually. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned recently that “trafficking networks have gone global” with over 21 million people ensnared in forced labor, and extreme exploitation. Families and societies are being torn apart by what he called “gross violations of…Continue Reading

The Mystery Of Christ And Judas

April 9, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on The Mystery Of Christ And Judas

By DONAL FOLEY One of the most puzzling things in the New Testament concerns the question as to why Christ chose Judas Iscariot to be one of His apostles knowing that he would ultimately betray Him. It almost seems as if Christ was being unfair to him in doing this, that it would have been better if He had allowed Judas to leave Him — or even sent him away — rather than put him in a position where he would ultimately commit the terrible sin of betraying Christ to the Jewish authorities, and thus, according to Scripture, end up in Hell. We can see this from the passage in the Acts of the Apostles, which describes him as going…Continue Reading

A Man Of Faith

April 8, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on A Man Of Faith

By DONALD DeMARCO Herbert Marshall McLuhan was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in the year 1911. During his adolescent period, he explored his conflicted relationship with religion and turned to literature to “gratify his soul’s hunger for truth and beauty.” He later referred to this stage as agnosticism. While studying in England, he read G.K. Chesterton, whose effect on him was similar to the effect he had on C.S. Lewis. “A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading,” Lewis remarked, after imbibing Chesterton’s persuasive logic. McLuhan abandoned his agnosticism just as C.S. Lewis abandoned his atheism. In a letter to his mother, in 1935, McLuhan revealed his indebtedness to the persuasive Chesterton:…Continue Reading

The European Union And De-Christianization

April 7, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on The European Union And De-Christianization

By ALBERTO PIEDRA World War I was supposed to be the war that would end all wars and bring stability and peace to Europe and all civilized nations on the planet. The Treaty of Versailles was supposed to open the door to this desirable goal. The end result was World War II, the greatest slaughter that the world has ever known. There is no need to mention in this brief essay the many errors and failed policies resulting from the signing of this treaty and its accompanying agreements. It changed the map not only of Germany but also of Central Europe and the territorial boundaries of the major European powers in Africa and Asia. Probably, the most fervent critic of…Continue Reading

Gorsuch Hearings… Just Who Is “The Little Guy”?

April 6, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Gorsuch Hearings… Just Who Is “The Little Guy”?

By JACK KENNY There was a lot of talk about “the little guy” during the confirmation hearings on the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. Foremost among the objections raised by the Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee was the charge that Gorsuch, as a member of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, nearly always came down on the side of the “the big guy” — usually some powerful corporation — against “the little guy” litigating against said corporation. The judge obviously anticipated that charge and was able to cite a long list of cases in which he had come down on the side of “the little guy” — in favor of people suing against…Continue Reading

Culture Of Life 101 . . . How To Identify Modern-Day Eugenics Groups

April 5, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Culture Of Life 101 . . . How To Identify Modern-Day Eugenics Groups

By BRIAN CLOWES (Editor’s Note: Brian Clowes has been director of research and training at Human Life International since 1995. For an electronic copy of chapter 24 of The Facts of Life, “Eugenics,” e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.) + + + “Guide reproduction wisely, improving fitness and diversity” — The Georgia Guidestone, monument constructed in 1980. + + + After World War II, the term “eugenics” had lost much of its glittering promise and appeal. People had seen — and remembered in vivid detail — what happens when eugenicists are given free rein. But the “new eugenicists” of the mid-20th century countered by insisting that the problem was not eugenics per se, but the overeagerness of the Nazis, who had simply…Continue Reading

Sounds Of Hope… Gregorian Chant Conference Celebrates The Beauty Of Truly Sacred Music

April 4, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Sounds Of Hope… Gregorian Chant Conference Celebrates The Beauty Of Truly Sacred Music

By JAMES MONTI “Illumina oculos meos” — “Enlighten my eyes”: With this polyphonic motet of Heinrich Isaac in the five hundredth anniversary year of Isaac’s death, the March 2017 conference “Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Religious Education” began as Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth entered in solemn procession the magnificent 121-year-old chapel of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. The two-day event thus began with Solemn Lauds. As conference director Dr. Jennifer Donelson was to observe afterward, “We have begun the conference in prayer, prayer will mark our time together throughout the conference, and we will conclude in prayer.” Isaac’s motet was sung with stunning beauty by the Mueller Family Schola, an ensemble under the direction of Christopher Mueller consisting of…Continue Reading

A Book Review… Finding Evidence That U.S. Journey In World History Nurtured By Divine Guidance

April 3, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review… Finding Evidence That U.S. Journey In World History Nurtured By Divine Guidance

By DEXTER DUGGAN The American Miracle: Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic, by Michael Medved, Crown Forum, crownforum.com, New York, ISBN 9780553447262, 416 pages hardback, $29.00, 2016. Available at amazon.com. In 1815, the Ursuline nuns feared the powerful British would overwhelm the American troops and destroy the Ursulines’ city at the Battle of New Orleans. During a night of tears and prayer to Our Lady of Prompt Succor, the nuns’ prioress made a public vow to have a solemn Mass of thanksgiving every year henceforth should Gen. Andrew Jackson’s soldiers somehow manage to overcome the hopeless-seeming odds against the renowned royal fighters. Win the Americans did, killing, among others, the famed 36-year-old Gen. Edward Pakenham, who had brought…Continue Reading

Christ’s Tomb In The Church Of The Holy Sepulcher Is Restored

April 2, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Christ’s Tomb In The Church Of The Holy Sepulcher Is Restored

By FR. SEAN CONNOLLY The holiest shrine of Christendom is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem built over the site of Christ’s death and Resurrection. Yet, the first reaction of Christian pilgrims when they behold this church for the first time is often bitter disappointment. A scholar and archaeologist of the Holy Land, Fr. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, wryly notes: “One expects the central shrine of Christendom to stand out in majestic isolation, but anonymous buildings cling to it like barnacles. One looks for numinous light; it is in fact dark and cramped. One hopes for peace, but the cacophony of warring chants is punctuated by the ring of mason’s hammers. One desires holiness only to encounter a jealous possessiveness:…Continue Reading

State On Rise As Family Dies

April 1, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on State On Rise As Family Dies

By TERENCE P. JEFFREY In 1947, two years after the United States won World War II, 96.4 percent of the babies in this country were born to a married mother and father. Not a single American was on Medicaid that year. The program did not exist. Nor did Obamacare. Traditional families — mom, dad, and kids — were the cultural norm. Was America a great country in 1947? Or was it lacking in socialized health-care programs? In 1965, 20 years after World War II, President Lyndon Johnson signed the law creating Medicaid. That year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of American babies born to married moms and dads was 92.3 percent. The traditional family…Continue Reading