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A Book Review… A Culmination Of James Likoudis’ Pilgrimage

January 19, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review… A Culmination Of James Likoudis’ Pilgrimage

By ROBERT L. FASTIGGI A signed copy of Heralds of a Catholic Russia: Twelve Spiritual Pilgrims From Byzantium to Rome ($19.95) can be obtained by ordering directly from the author: James Likoudis, P.O. Box 852, Montour Falls, NY 14865. I first met James Likoudis during a visit to Rome in 1996 — though I had corresponded with him for several years before our initial meeting. Over the last 18 years, I have been blessed by his friendship and his scholarship. I have learned a great deal from him, and, in particular, from his writings concerned with Catholic and Eastern Orthodox relations. In many ways, this present volume is the culmination of Likoudis’ own spiritual and intellectual pilgrimage, a pilgrimage that…Continue Reading

Culture Of Life 101… “In-Vitro Fertilization And ‘Pregnancy Reduction’”

January 18, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Culture Of Life 101… “In-Vitro Fertilization And ‘Pregnancy Reduction’”

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.) + + + IVF Procedure Efficiency: The probability of a single transplanted embryo surviving the entire IVF process is unfavorable to say the least. Despite using multiple eggs, the probability of achieving pregnancy per in vitro cycle is only about one in three. Even with decades of constant tinkering with the details of the IVF process, its efficiency rate has not improved significantly since 1990. Pro-life activists object to IVF not only because it violates the dignity of the marriage act…Continue Reading

Thinking Inside The Box

January 17, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Thinking Inside The Box

By DEACON JAMES H. TONER Praise, prizes, and promotions come to those who think innovatively and creatively; accolades come to those stalwart enough to think outside the box. That prepositional phrase means imaginative and progressive thinking — an attachment to and a love for novelty, as well as a yearning to listen to the tender counsel of the heart. There is something to this, of course, for, as Blaise Pascal famously wrote, “the heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.” The exact ratio between love and logic is something which poets and philosophers have tried to work out for centuries. Let’s concede the importance of passion; it has its place. But as the frenzy of the lynch mob…Continue Reading

The Shockwaves Of Abortion… Return To The Steps Of The Supreme Court

January 16, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on The Shockwaves Of Abortion… Return To The Steps Of The Supreme Court

By KEVIN BURKE (Editor’s Note: LifeSiteNews published the following commentary on January 5. All rights reserved. For links to information about the Washington, D.C., and West Coast March for Life events, please see Kevin Burke’s article at LifeSiteNews.com.) + + + (LifeSiteNews) — As we prepare to come together again this month in Washington, D.C., something continues to resonate within me about the last two gatherings of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign at the March for Life. That afternoon and evening of January 22, 2016, as we stood at the steps of the Supreme Court and snow began to blanket our nation’s capital, I saw the campaign’s Shockwaves of Abortion Initiative in a new and dynamic light. The Shockwaves of Abortion shines a…Continue Reading

The Fatima Centenary… A World That Has Forgotten God

January 15, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on The Fatima Centenary… A World That Has Forgotten God

By FR. SEAN CONNOLLY (Editor’s Note: This is the first 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.) + + + The new year 2017 marks the centenary of our Lady’s apparitions at Fatima, Portugal. In 1917 the Blessed Virgin Mary came to visit mankind at a time when man had forgotten God. The “suicide of Christendom,” as the First World War has been called, was being waged across Europe. Christian nations waged war upon one another that would cost Europe an entire generation — 17 million killed and 20 million wounded. Such loss was not suffered for some overriding…Continue Reading

A Maestro’s Observations… The Problem Of Sacred Music In Today’s Church

January 14, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on A Maestro’s Observations… The Problem Of Sacred Music In Today’s Church

By ALBERTO CAROSA ROME — As is widely known, the almost universal “great narrative” of today’s liturgists is that we are now experiencing the outcome of the liturgical reforms stemming from Vatican II. But most of the liturgies celebrated around the world are actually not in line with Vatican II reforms and teachings. This problem is the result of arbitrary interpretations that over time have spread in the Church, and not only in liturgy, but also in sacred music, which has to be considered an integral and essential component of these very liturgical rites. The basic assumption of these interpretations is that you can do whatever you want and sing whatever you like — but this is not correct. For…Continue Reading

Chapter Two… The Best Proof For God’s Existence

January 13, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Chapter Two… The Best Proof For God’s Existence

By DONALD DeMARCO I would like to add a second chapter to “the best proof for God’s existence” from personal experience. God enters our lives and directs us in many ways. If we are sufficiently observant, we will notice this. We do not live as orphans, disinherited from our Maker. He watches over His creatures, as St. Paul tells us, “like a nursing mother taking care of her own children” (1 Thess. 2:7). The difference between an everyday coincidence and a God-incidence is the difference between chance and Providence. The agnostic believes that everything comes about by chance. He should be more skeptical about such a belief since it does not stand up to experience. Nonetheless, he feels he is…Continue Reading

Culture Of Life 101… The Early History Of Assisted Reproduction

January 12, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Culture Of Life 101… The Early History Of Assisted Reproduction

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.) + + + Sen. Brian Harradine: “How often has in vitro fertilization been undertaken on non-human higher primates?” Professor William Short: “It has not been undertaken on gorillas because gorillas are an endangered species.” Sen. Brian Harradine: “So you are able to do it on humans?” Professor William Short: “We are not an endangered species.” + + + The Precursor: Artificial Insemination. Artificial insemination (AI) is the most basic assisted reproductive technique. The sperm donor typically masturbates in order to…Continue Reading

Make Government Schools Compete Or Die

January 11, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Make Government Schools Compete Or Die

By TERENCE P. JEFFREY If you pay taxes and take responsibility for getting your own children to and from school, you may be interested in learning that the government spent $23,233, 698,000 in the 2012-2013 school year transporting other people’s children to and from public schools around this country. When those students got off the bus, taxpayers spent even more money on them — for things other than education in a classroom. For example, according to the Digest of Education Statistics published in December by the federal government’s National Center for Education Statistics, the government spent $21,862,081,000 in the 2012-2013 school year on food services in public schools. That included $10,110,833,000 on supplies for these food services, $6,607,701,000 on salaries…Continue Reading

Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic… Catholic Social Teaching, Political Ideology, And Corporate America

January 10, 2017 Featured Today Comments Off on Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic… Catholic Social Teaching, Political Ideology, And Corporate America

By STEPHEN M. KRASON (Editor’s Note: Stephen M. Krason’s Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic column appears monthly [sometimes bimonthly]. 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 is The Transformation of the American Democratic Republic, and two recent edited volumes: The Crisis of Religious Liberty and Challenging the Secular Culture: A Call to Christians. His latest book, Catholicism and American Political Ideologies: Catholic Social Teaching, Liberalism, and Conservatism, will be published later this year. This column originally appeared in Crisismagazine.com and is reprinted with permission.)…Continue Reading