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The Lost Art Of Thinking

March 3, 2016 Featured Today Comments Off on The Lost Art Of Thinking

By DONALD DeMARCO There are two popular maxims to live by that, taken together, provide not clarity but confusion. The first advises us to “think outside the box.” This bromide appeals to our sense of independence. We are flattered into believing that we are bold and adventurous and will not be confined to a way of life that is prescribed by others. This has proven to be a most effective maxim, but only in achieving widespread acceptance. The second one is “get with the program.” In this case, the appeal is to our sense of community. We think it is arrogant to believe that we can invent our own program, while rejecting what has already been established with our good…Continue Reading

Cardinal Pell . . . Says He Was Not Part Of The Church’s “Indefensible” Cover-Up

March 2, 2016 Featured Today Comments Off on Cardinal Pell . . . Says He Was Not Part Of The Church’s “Indefensible” Cover-Up

By ELISE HARRIS VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) — On the first day of his video testimony to Australia’s Royal Commission investigating institutional responses to child sex-abuse cases, George Cardinal Pell said that while the Church has made “enormous mistakes” in the handling of abuse cases, he had no role in covering them up. “Let me just say this as an initial clarification: I’m not here to defend the indefensible,” Cardinal Pell said during the hearing. The Church “has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy those,” he admitted, adding that in many places, and certainly in Australia, the Church “has mucked things up, has let people down.” However, he also recognized that “there are very few countries in the…Continue Reading

Along The Campaign Trail . . . Winning Trump Chooses To Treat Pro-Lifers Like Winners, Too

March 1, 2016 Featured Today Comments Off on Along The Campaign Trail . . . Winning Trump Chooses To Treat Pro-Lifers Like Winners, Too

By DEXTER DUGGAN Romping presidential candidate Donald Trump has shown he’ll denounce anyone or anything he thinks is bad for the United States. He may be wrong or right on this or that, but he’s not bashful about bashing what he thinks is wrong. The open-borders lobby? Despite its power in political, religious, and media circles, Trump says it’s on the wrong path. Internationalist industrialists? They hurt American workers, he says. Political correctness? Don’t even mention its shibboleths to him. Political powerbrokers? He’ll break their smugness into pieces. No group or person seems too big or domineering to him if he thinks it needs to be told off — not even the papacy after Trump got the impression that Pope…Continue Reading

Fathers And Religion

February 29, 2016 Featured Today Comments Off on Fathers And Religion

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK J.M. of Wikieup, Ariz., writes to call our readers’ attention to a survey taken by the Federal Statistical Office in Switzerland, reproduced in Wikipedia; also to an American study that came up with similar results. The findings offer much food for thought. (Many are skeptical of what is found in Wikipedia, but in this case I think it can be trusted since Wikipedia is merely reproducing the results of these studies.) What the Swiss found, was that “if a father does not go to church, no matter how faithful his wife’s devotions, only one child in 50 will become a regular worshiper. If a father does go regularly, regardless of the practice of the mother, between…Continue Reading

Culture Of Life 101 . . . “How Dissenters Attack The Universality Of The Church”

February 28, 2016 Featured Today Comments Off on Culture Of Life 101 . . . “How Dissenters Attack The Universality Of The Church”

By BRIAN CLOWES Part 3 (Editor’s Note: Brian Clowes has been director of research and training at Human Life International since 1995. For an electronic copy of the book Call to Action or Call to Apostasy, consisting of a detailed description of the current forms of dissent and how to fight them, e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.) + + + As we have seen, the first of three primary strategies that dissenters are using to reconstruct the Holy Mass is what they call a “fully inclusive liturgy,” whereby language is altered to coddle various self-appointed victim groups. Strategy #2: New Traditions and Symbols. The second strategy is, as Diann Neu of WATER says, “Reclaiming religious tradition and symbols.” Neu ignores the…Continue Reading

The Availability Of Mercy Is Not Sufficient

February 27, 2016 Featured Today Comments Off on The Availability Of Mercy Is Not Sufficient

By DONALD DeMARCO “Why is there a Church?” Cardinal Pell has answered this often asked question in a timely and theologically sound way. The Church exists, says the Australian prelate, to bring God’s mercy into the world. Two essential points are implied by this comment. The first is that mercy is available. God is Mercy and His Mercy has no limit. It is infinite. The second is that if mercy is to be dispensed, it must first be requested. If mercy is not requested, it is not received. The distinction between the availability and reception of mercy calls to mind a remark that the noted evangelist Fr. Vincent McNabb, OP, made while speaking to a public gathering in London’s Speaker’s…Continue Reading

Apple’s Involuntary Servitude

February 26, 2016 Featured Today Comments Off on Apple’s Involuntary Servitude

By ANDREW P. NAPOLITANO “There is nothing new in the realization that the Constitution sometimes insulates the criminality of a few in order to protect the privacy of us all” — Justice Antonin Scalia (1936-2016). After the San Bernardino massacre on December 2, 2015, the FBI lawfully acquired the cell phone of one of the killers and persuaded a federal judge to authorize its agents to access the contents of the phone. Some of what it found revealed that the killer used the phone to communicate with victims and perhaps confederates and even innocents who unwittingly provided material assistance. Then the FBI hit a wall. It appears that the killer took advantage of the phone’s encryption features to protect some…Continue Reading

Nationalism And Populism Propel Trump

February 25, 2016 Featured Today Comments Off on Nationalism And Populism Propel Trump

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN As the returns came in from South Carolina Saturday night, February 20, showing Donald Trump winning a decisive victory, a note of nervous desperation crept into the commentary. Political analysts pointed out repeatedly that if all of the votes for Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Jeb Bush, and Ben Carson were added up, they far exceeded the Trump vote. Why this sudden interest in arithmetic? If the field can be winnowed, we were told, if Carson and Kasich can be persuaded to follow Bush and get out, if Cruz can be sidelined, if we can get a one-on-one Rubio-Trump race, Trump can be stopped. Behind the thought is the wish. Behind the wish is the…Continue Reading

Culture Of Life 101… “How Dissenters Attack The Universality Of The Church”

February 24, 2016 Featured Today Comments Off on Culture Of Life 101… “How Dissenters Attack The Universality Of The Church”

By BRIAN CLOWES Part 2 (Editor’s Note: Brian Clowes has been director of research and training at Human Life International since 1995. For an electronic copy of the book Call to Action or Call to Apostasy, consisting of a detailed description of the current forms of dissent and how to fight them, e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.) + + + “If they must be Christians, let them at least be Christians with a difference. Substitute for the faith itself some Fashion with a Christian coloring. Work on their horror of the Same Old Thing. The horror of the Same Old Thing is one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart — an endless source of heresies…Continue Reading

Justice Scalia And Constitutional Fidelity

February 23, 2016 Featured Today Comments Off on Justice Scalia And Constitutional Fidelity

By JUDGE ANDREW P. NAPOLITANO When the sad news came of the sudden death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, I wept for my friend. We had developed a happy friendship during the past 15 years, one which I had selfishly hoped would endure. He permitted his friends to see all of him. We knew him to be in private just as he appeared in public — happy, loud, brash, warm, engaging, challenging, witty, brilliant, courageous, Catholic, traditionalist. He also let us know that he understood the significant role history gave him. Knowing him personally and spending private time with him was one of the great gifts of my adult life. In my heart, there is a great sense…Continue Reading