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Reconnecting With Mary . . . The Sabbatine Privilege

September 2, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Reconnecting With Mary . . . The Sabbatine Privilege

By DONAL ANTHONY FOLEY We recently celebrated, on July 16, the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which, according to tradition, is associated with the giving of the Brown Scapular to St. Simon Stock on that date in 1251. The Blessed Virgin appeared to him with the scapular saying, “This will be for you and for all Carmelites the privilege, that he who dies in this will not suffer eternal fire.” This promise implies that our Lady will intercede to ensure that the wearer of the scapular obtains the grace of final perseverance, that is of dying in a state of grace, and this privilege has now been extended to all Catholics who are enrolled in the scapular. The…Continue Reading

Is Trumpism The New Nationalism?

September 1, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Is Trumpism The New Nationalism?

By PATRICK BUCHANAN Since China devalued its currency 3 percent, global markets have gone into a tailspin. Why should this be? After all, 3 percent devaluation in China could be countered by a U.S. tariff of 3 percent on all goods made in China, and the tariff revenue used to cut U.S. corporate taxes. The crisis in world markets seems related not only to a sinking Chinese economy, but also to what Beijing is saying to the world; i.e., China will save herself first even if it means throwing others out of the life boat. Disbelievers in New World Order mythology have long recognized that this new China is fiercely nationalistic. Indeed, with Marxism-Leninism dead, nationalism is the Communist Party’s…Continue Reading

The Family Synod’s Instrumentum Laboris Presents Many Grave Problems

August 31, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on The Family Synod’s Instrumentum Laboris Presents Many Grave Problems

By MAIKE HICKSON After reading the Instrumentum Laboris (working document) for the upcoming October 2015 Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family, when it was first published in June, the author of this short article was somewhat stunned and increasingly troubled. Yet I was soon helped by others to acquire a better understanding. It is therefore with much gratitude that I try in the following to present a short synopsis of an excellent analysis and critique of that Instrumentum which a coalition of pro-life and pro-family organizations, Voice of the Family, published on August 5. The author of this analysis, Matthew McCusker, presents on 19 pages the many grave problems which this official Vatican document presents (visit this website for…Continue Reading

Syrian Apocalypse

August 30, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Syrian Apocalypse

By JOHN J. METZLER UNITED NATIONS— Syria continues to descend into the inferno while the international community stands transfixed. A political solution seems elusive as ever, the civil war grinds on having killed over 250,000 people, and more than twelve million people have fled their homeland. Alarmed by these developments, the UN Security Council has affirmed its support for finding a durable political settlement to a crisis which after four years of fighting not only threatens Syria, but dangerously has morphed into a regional threat. “The Security Council stresses that the only sustainable solution to the current crisis in Syria is through an inclusive Syrian-led political process that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people,” a consensus statement says.…Continue Reading

One Catholic Congressman … Prepping For The Pope’s U.S. Visit

August 29, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on One Catholic Congressman … Prepping For The Pope’s U.S. Visit

By MATT HADRO WASHINTON, D.C. (CNA)— As the nation’s capital works to get ready for Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S. this fall, one Catholic congressman is preparing by reading papal encyclicals. “I say as a Catholic, I’m pretty excited,” Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R., Kan.) told CNA of the upcoming papal visit. He added that it is an opportunity to “evangelize as Catholic members of Congress.” The Pope’s visit is a “serious matter,” he said, even though many might see it as “just another celebrity in their mind coming.” “This is a historical opportunity,” he stressed, “this is the one time you’ll have a Pope speaking to Congress.” The congressman has announced that, in preparation for the first-ever papal address…Continue Reading

ACLU: Force Catholic Hospitals To Abandon Catholic Faith

August 28, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on ACLU: Force Catholic Hospitals To Abandon Catholic Faith

By TERENCE P. JEFFREY The woefully misnamed American Civil Liberties Union is launching a crusade to force Catholic hospitals to act against Catholic moral teachings and the natural law. This is an un-American attack on religious liberty. The ACLU’s intentions came to light this week after it threatened to sue Mercy Medical Center in Redding, California, which is operated by the Sisters of Mercy. The hospital is a part of Dignity Health, a nonprofit that operates 40 hospitals — 22 of which are Catholic — in California, Nevada, and Arizona. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday, Elizabeth Gill, an ACLU lawyer, sent a letter to the hospital threatening legal action if it would not relent on its…Continue Reading

Kenneth D. Whitehead, RIP . . . A Personal Tribute To An Outstanding Layman

August 27, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Kenneth D. Whitehead, RIP . . . A Personal Tribute To An Outstanding Layman

By JAMES LIKOUDIS Last April, the Church in the United States lost to cancer one of its most dedicated and well-informed laymen. His life was dedicated to defending the faith from the major errors that have afflicted the Church in the postconciliar period. I had the great privilege of working with Ken Whitehead when for eight years he was executive director of Catholics United for the Faith (CUF) then headquartered in New Rochelle, N.Y. He was a former career foreign service officer who had served in Rome, the Middle East, and North Africa, and for a time served as the head of the Arabic service of the Voice of America. He would later serve in the U.S. Department of Education…Continue Reading

Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic… Same-Sex “Marriage” And The Crisis Of Leadership

August 26, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic… Same-Sex “Marriage” And The Crisis Of Leadership

By STEPHEN M. KRASON (Editor’s Note: Stephen M. Krason’s Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic column appears monthly [sometimes bi-monthly]. 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 [Transaction Publishers, 2012], and most recently two edited volumes: Child Abuse, Family Rights, and the Child Protective System [Scarecrow Press, 2013] and The Crisis of Religious Liberty [Rowman & Littlefield, 2014]. This column originally appeared in Crisismagazine.com. All rights reserved.) + + + Many see the new putative constitutional right…Continue Reading

A Book Review . . . Carry On The Fight With Faith

August 25, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review . . . Carry On The Fight With Faith

By ANNE W. CARROLL Robert C. Cetrulo, J.D. On the Gift of Life, From Eden to Eternity. Northern Kentucky Right to Life Educational Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 1202, Covington, KY 41012, 2015. 189 pp. $10.00. “I tell you not for your comfort, yea not for your desire,/ Save that the sky grows darker yet, and the sea rises higher” — G.K. Chesterton, Ballad of the White Horse. + + + These words from one of the great poems of the English language describe the situation facing the Christians of England in the 800s, as a small remnant under the leadership of King Alfred (later to be known as Alfred the Great), hid on the island of Athelney, wondering if the…Continue Reading

A Book Review… Sainthood In Married Life

August 24, 2015 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review… Sainthood In Married Life

By MITCHELL KALPAKGIAN The Journey of Our Love: The Letters of Saint Gianna Beretta and Pietro Molla, edited by Elio Guerriero (Pauline Books & Media, Boston: 2014); 282 pp.; $17.95. Available through www.pauline.org. Many know the courageous story of St. Gianna’s sacrifice of her life for the sake of her newborn fourth child and recall her words, “This time my pregnancy will be difficult and they will have to save one or the other, and I want them to save the baby.” Despite conflicting medical advice, she never wavered in this choice and insisted that the life of her child mattered and deserved ultimate respect. She would never consider the idea of losing a child for the sake of her…Continue Reading