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Scholarship Needs To Return To Timeless Truths

February 28, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Scholarship Needs To Return To Timeless Truths

By JUDE DOUGHERTY In the “Review” section of a recent issue of The Wall Street Journal (February 10) Alexandra Wolfe provides a short biographical sketch that provides insight into the ambitions of the multibillionaire Nicholas Berggruen, a financier and philanthropist. Seven years ago he launched the Berggruen Institute, an unusual think tank with an endowment of $1 billion. His initiative, according to Wolfe, aims to develop ideas in economics, politics, and social organization. The institute has two divisions, one focused on governance, the other on philosophy and culture. Berggruen is starting work on a physical place for what he calls his “secular monastery.” Located near Los Angeles, it will house about 50 scholars on 400 acres of land. One can…Continue Reading

A Book Review… A Methodical Plan For Spiritual Reading And Growth

February 27, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review… A Methodical Plan For Spiritual Reading And Growth

By MITCHELL KALPAKGIAN How To Read Your Way to Heaven, by Vicki Burbach (Sophia Institute Press: Manchester, NH, 2016), 275 pp., $18.95. Available from www.SophiaInstitute.com. Because faith is like a mustard seed that needs to grow, it requires cultivation and nourishment to bloom and flourish. One of the traditional ways to nurture Christian faith comes from the wisdom of the saints who teach the importance of spiritual reading. In the words of St. John Chrysostom quoted by the author, “A religious cannot be wounded, because she is far from the combat. But you who are in the midst of battle, must protect yourself with the buckler of holy thoughts drawn from good books.” To read your way into Heaven, then,…Continue Reading

From A Former Member… Pope’s Overhaul Of Vatican Pro-Life Academy “Heartbreaking”

February 26, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on From A Former Member… Pope’s Overhaul Of Vatican Pro-Life Academy “Heartbreaking”

By JUDIE BROWN (Editor’s Note: Judie Brown is the president of the American Life League and a former member of the Pontifical Academy for Life. She wrote this commentary for all.org and LifeSiteNews reprinted it. All rights reserved.) + + + The Pontifical Academy for Life is undergoing an overhaul by Pope Francis and his political operatives within the Vatican’s hierarchy, and it is one of the most heartbreaking events I have seen in my lifetime. But given the politics of the Vatican, it is not surprising. For those who are not aware of its history, the Academy was established by Pope John Paul II on February 11, 1994, at the urging of his close friend Dr. Jerome Lejeune to…Continue Reading

Stop And Go, But Don’t Think

February 25, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Stop And Go, But Don’t Think

By DONALD DeMARCO It may very well be that my philosophical nature inclines me to value the Stop Sign above traffic lights. This may seem to be an odd and arbitrary preference, but there are good reasons for it, especially if one thinks symbolically. The latter represents a mechanical stop-and-go instruction that reminds me too much of our mechanized way of life. We are busy creatures and become anxious when we are required to pause for the red light to change to green. It is symbolic of a hurried lifestyle, but also of one in which we are told what our next step will be. We find ourselves marching to a mechanized beat. The Stop Sign, on the other hand,…Continue Reading

St. Catherine Of Bologna . . . The Patron Saint Of Artists

February 24, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on St. Catherine Of Bologna . . . The Patron Saint Of Artists

By RAY CAVANAUGH There are patrons of the arts, and then there’s St. Catherine of Bologna — the patron saint of artists. She was a nun, mystic, painter, and author whose feast day occurs on March 9. Born in the northern Italian city of Bologna on September 8, 1413, she entered an aristocratic family. Her education was provided at a royal court until age 14, when she joined a convent in the city of Ferrara. First she served as the convent baker and laundress, then as mistress of novices, as told by the New Catholic Encyclopedia. While in Ferrara, she began composition of her most enduring written work, The Seven Spiritual Weapons. During this time, she also claimed to have…Continue Reading

A Movie Review… Stalin’s Bitter Harvest

February 23, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on A Movie Review… Stalin’s Bitter Harvest

By REY FLORES Bitter Harvest is a powerful film; but where do I begin to tell you about it? The first 11 minutes give us the background of the main characters who are shown enjoying somewhat of the last vestiges of a peaceful and idyllic existence before the Holodomor, which was a deliberate famine created by Josef Stalin and his Bolsheviks by taking over farmland in the Soviet Ukraine. This famine killed more than eight million people between 1932 and 1933. Holodomor means “death by forced starvation” in Ukrainian. Given that my knowledge of this historical event was minimal, I visited a terrific website dedicated to telling the dreadful story of the Holodomor at holodomorct.org, and this is a basic…Continue Reading

Culture Of Life 101… The History Of Future Dreams

February 22, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Culture Of Life 101… The History Of Future Dreams

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 the complete series on artificial reproduction, e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.) + + + “In the year 6565, ain’t gonna need no husband, won’t need your wife, you’ll pick your son, pick your daughter too, from the bottom of a long black tube….” (from the song In the Year 2525). + + + I am by nature an optimist, so when Zager and Evans released their song In the Year 2525 in 1969, I hated it upon first hearing it because of its dreary lyrics and dragging pace. I was very interested in science and had…Continue Reading

Ex-Planned Parenthood Worker . . . Recalls Webcam Abortion Opposition, Sees Hope For Pro-Life Cause

February 21, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Ex-Planned Parenthood Worker . . . Recalls Webcam Abortion Opposition, Sees Hope For Pro-Life Cause

By PEGGY MOEN ST. PAUL — Sue Thayer told her February 15 audience here that “an immediate stopper” in a debate with a pro-abort is this quotation from President Reagan: “I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.” Thayer was addressing the Legislative Dinner of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, held here at the historic Landmark Center. A sellout crowd of over 200 heard Thayer recall how she began working in 1991 at Planned Parenthood, Storm Lake, Iowa, “thinking I was doing good things.” She began as an entry-level assistant, but was quickly promoted to office manager. “Several things happened,” Thayer said, to turn her against Planned Parenthood. Chief among these factors was the advent of webcam abortions and…Continue Reading

Reopening The Question Of Women Priests… A Theological Travesty And A Spiritual Tragedy

February 20, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Reopening The Question Of Women Priests… A Theological Travesty And A Spiritual Tragedy

By JEFFREY MIRUS (Editor’s Note: Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org. This commentary first appeared on CatholicCulture.org, and LifeSiteNews featured it on February 13. All rights reserved.) + + + La Civilta Cattolica has published an essay by its deputy editor, Fr. Giancarlo Pani, which seeks to reopen the possibility of ordaining women to the priesthood. This journal, published by the Jesuits but vetted by the Vatican Secretariat of State, has long been a means of communicating lines of thought which reigning Popes consider important. Therefore, the kindest way to describe this particular article is “peculiar.” It is,…Continue Reading

Even As “Assisted Suicide” Looms . . . Ethics Expert Tells How Roe V. Wade Might Be Reversed

February 19, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Even As “Assisted Suicide” Looms . . . Ethics Expert Tells How Roe V. Wade Might Be Reversed

By DEXTER DUGGAN PHOENIX — “If you want to see what a Roe v. Wade reversal looks like, read Washington v. Glucksberg,” a national expert on medical ethics and the law told a Catholic physicians’ meeting here while he also warned against an accelerating effort to legalize “assisted suicide” in the states. With speculation rising about the U.S. Supreme Court possibly someday reversing its creation of a national mandate for permissive abortion in 1973, attorney Nikolas Nikas told the Catholic Physicians Guild of Phoenix that the High Court’s own opinion in the 1997 Glucksberg “assisted suicide” case provides the legal reasoning for this potential reversal. Glucksberg, a case from Washington State that asserted a liberty interest in committing suicide through…Continue Reading