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Restoring The Sacred… Silence As An Expression Of The Sacred

February 18, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Restoring The Sacred… Silence As An Expression Of The Sacred

By JAME MONTI In a recent interview concerning his new book, The Power of Silence, His Eminence Robert Cardinal Sarah observed, “Before God’s majesty, we lose our words” (Catholic World Report, October 3, 2016). Silence is man’s humble reply to the glory and transcendence of His Creator, a reply that even the high and mighty of this world have found themselves compelled to give, as Isaiah had foretold: “…kings shall shut their mouths because of him” (Isaiah 52:15). But it is also in silence that God speaks to us. For most of His Sacred Passion, our Lord remained silent. Pilate was amazed by this silence. During the scourging and crowning with thorns, despite the provocative insults and blasphemies of the…Continue Reading

The Fatima Centenary . . . The Historical Context Of The Fatima Event

February 17, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on The Fatima Centenary . . . The Historical Context Of The Fatima Event

By FR. SEAN CONNOLLY (Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of monthly articles on the one hundredth anniversary of our Lady’s apparitions at Fatima. Fr. Connolly is a priest of the Archdiocese of New York.) + + + There is no better time to more deeply learn, live, and spread the message of Fatima than in this centenary year. One hundred years ago in 1917, through our Lady’s apparitions to the three shepherd children Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta, Heaven provided Earth the antidote to the moral and social evils which could lead to the destruction of the world and the ruin of countless souls. It was not without reason, that our Lady imparted this message in 1917…Continue Reading

A Book Review… Man’s Metaphysical Dimension

February 16, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review… Man’s Metaphysical Dimension

By JUDE P. DOUGHERTY Scruton, Roger. On Human Nature. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2017; 151 pp. Cloth, $22.95. This book consists of three lectures that Roger Scruton gave as the Charles E. Test Memorial Lectures under the auspices of the James Madison Program at Princeton University in the fall of 2013. They follow his previously published The Soul of The World and draw upon and develop arguments first presented there. A fourth essay is added to the three lectures under the title “Sacred Obligations.” The first lecture provides a profile of man as an animal, a description of the features that man has in common with other members of the animal kingdom. But wait; there is something about man…Continue Reading

Controlling My Destiny

February 15, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Controlling My Destiny

By DONALD DeMARCO “Destiny” is a word that has both profound and mysterious significance. And like kindred words such as love, beauty, goodness, wisdom, and truth, it is often trivialized to fit some mundane purpose. A football team, for example, is said to “be in control of its own destiny” simply because its trip to the playoffs is not dependent on a rival team losing. Yet, that same team is not in control of winning. Nor does it make any sense to say that at the start of the season every team is in control of its destiny. Equally fallacious is the notion that contraception and abortion afford a woman “control over her destiny.” We have no control of how…Continue Reading

Culture Of Life 101… The Cross Of Infertility

February 14, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Culture Of Life 101… The Cross Of Infertility

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 15 of The Facts of Life, “Artificial Reproductive Technologies,” e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.) + + + It is nearly impossible for those with children to comprehend the depth of the suffering of those who would love to have their own kids but cannot because of infertility. The Bible mentions a number of women who were unable to conceive and were thus considered “barren” by their kinfolk. Their anguish is plainly evident — not because of the opinions of others, but because of their natural yearning for a child. Elkanah asks his wife, “Hannah, why…Continue Reading

Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic… What Happened To American Liberalism?

February 13, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic… What Happened To American Liberalism?

By STEPHEN M. KRASON (Editor’s Note: Stephen M. Krason’s Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic column appears monthly [sometimes bimonthly] in Crisis. He 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. (Among his books are The Transformation of the American Democratic Republic; Liberalism, Conservatism, and Catholicism; and the forthcoming Catholicism and American Political Ideologies. The last two books mentioned evaluate American liberalism and conservatism from World War II to the present from the standpoint of Catholic social teaching.) + + + In an obscure article entitled “Catholics and Liberals: Decline…Continue Reading

Humanae Vitae, Germany, And Amoris Laetitia

February 12, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Humanae Vitae, Germany, And Amoris Laetitia

By JOHN F. KIPPLEY (Editor’s Note: John F. Kippley is the author of Sex and the Marriage Covenant: A Basis for Morality [Ignatius]. He is involved in the NFP movement and is available for presentations related to Humanae Vitae. Contact him via www.nfpandmore.org.) + + + Although I have read many words about Amoris Laetitia, I don’t recall seeing anything that has related it to Humanae Vitae. To be more specific, I have not seen analyses that relate the non-support of Humanae Vitae by the German hierarchy in 1968 to the state of the Church today in Germany and then to the Kasperite interpretation of Amoris Laetitia. Now that it’s time to get ready for the 50th anniversary of Humanae…Continue Reading

The Politics Of Higher Education

February 11, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on The Politics Of Higher Education

By JUDE DOUGHERTY In an opinion piece that The Wall Street Journal published at the opening of the last academic year (August 27, 2016), Robert J. Zimmer, president of the University of Chicago, had this to say: “A university should not be a sanctuary for comfort but rather a crucible for confronting ideas….What is the value of an education without encountering or debating ideas that differ from the ones that students bring with them to college? The purpose of a university education is to provide a critical pathway by which students can change the trajectory of their families, and can build healthier and more inclusive societies.” For Zimmer, liberal politics seems to trump wisdom. “Change the trajectory of their families.”…Continue Reading

A New Pseudo-Argument For Atheism

February 10, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on A New Pseudo-Argument For Atheism

By DONALD DeMARCO An amateur theologian and an amateur plumber have something in common. They know a few things, but should enlist the services of a professional when their problems are more than they can handle. I have a friend who is a self-styled theologian. He has never had a theological problem with suffering. He contends that suffering can strengthen character, elicit loving care from others, and serve a redemptive purpose. Christ is the ultimate role model for all who suffer because He showed how Good Friday can lead to Easter. So far, so good. But my friend feels that he still has a strong argument for atheism. Although he believes that “all this suffering in the world” does not…Continue Reading

A Book Review . . . The Shadow Of Constantine

February 9, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review . . . The Shadow Of Constantine

By JUDE DOUGHERTY Demacopoulos, George E. and Aristotle Papanikolaou, editors. Christianity, Democracy, and the Shadow of Constantine. New York: Fordham University Press, 2017. viii + 290 pp. This is a collection of 14 studies by distinguished scholars who participated in a conference that took place under the sponsorship of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University in 2013. Its focus is the relation of religion to state, to society, and to culture, particularly in Eastern Europe, where Orthodox Christianity prevails in a variety of national identities. Essays address the relation of religion to human rights, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the forced secularization of society under Communism, the secularization of Western Europe, the European Court of Human…Continue Reading