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An Advent Reflection . . . The Very Visible Sin Of Gluttony

December 16, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on An Advent Reflection . . . The Very Visible Sin Of Gluttony

By REY FLORES Ever since I can remember, I have always had a problem with the fluctuation of my weight. As a child, my nickname was “Gordo,” which means fat in Spanish. I wasn’t bothered when my own family called me that, but it did bother me when the other school kids would make fun of me because of my weight. I bring this up not as the latest installment of my true confessions or to garner sympathy, but for a few other, timely reasons. Advent is upon us and, as the Church teaches us, it is a time to pray, fast, and prepare for the birth of our Lord Jesus on Christmas Day. While many Catholics do not adhere…Continue Reading

Gosnell Filmmakers Reopen Crowdfunding Campaign

December 15, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Gosnell Filmmakers Reopen Crowdfunding Campaign

By LISA BOURNE (LifeSiteNews) — The producers of the forthcoming Kermit Gosnell “House of Horrors” movie are reopening their crowdfunding campaign after Indiegogo changed its rules to allow campaigns without a deadline. Magdalena Segieda, Phelim McAleer, and Ann McElhinney surpassed their previous crowdfunding goal of $2.1 million earlier this year, and the Indiegogo fundraising site is permitting them to reopen the campaign indefinitely effective December 3, according to the Christian Post. The reopening is under the site’s recently added Forever Funding category. “It’s a huge boost to the movie,” McElhinney said. “More donations, means more shooting days, better actors, higher production values, it’ll mean a better movie. It will also mean we’ll be able to get Gosnell’s story out to…Continue Reading

The CIA And Its Torturers

December 14, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on The CIA And Its Torturers

By ANDREW P. NAPOLITANO When the head of the CIA’s torture unit decided to destroy videotapes of his team’s horrific work, he unwittingly set in motion a series of events that led to the release this past week of the most massive, detailed documentation of unlawful behavior by high-ranking government officials and intentional infliction of pain on noncombatants by the United States government since the Civil War era. Here is the backstory. One of the reasons repeatedly stated by President George W. Bush for the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 was the maintenance of “torture rooms” by Saddam Hussein. While making this very argument, Bush was secretly authorizing CIA agents to engage in similar unlawful behavior for similar purposes:…Continue Reading

Fr. Jaki Wrote About… Cardinal Kasper’s Disbelief In The Gospel Accounts Of Christ’s Miracles

December 13, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Fr. Jaki Wrote About… Cardinal Kasper’s Disbelief In The Gospel Accounts Of Christ’s Miracles

By JAMES LIKOUDIS Walter Cardinal Kasper has been regarded in liberal circles as a profound theologian and an expert on ecumenism and Jewish-Catholic relations, as well as an authority on Vatican II. At the center of a recent storm of controversy over his views on the possibility of change concerning the doctrine of the Church on sexual morality, his views were unfortunately echoed by some other bishops at the recent Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in Rome. The result? Other cardinals and bishops were prompted to publicly denounce such attacks on Catholic teaching crying out, “Enough of this!” They referred to calls from Cardinal Kasper and others allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion, acknowledging the “positive aspects of…Continue Reading

Consecrated Life . . . Why We Still Need Its Presence In the Church

December 12, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Consecrated Life . . . Why We Still Need Its Presence In the Church

By DONAL ANTHONY FOLEY On November 29, 2013, Pope Francis announced that the year 2015 would be dedicated to consecrated life, and specifically its mission and identity. We can ask, though, if the consecrated life is still relevant for the Church, especially when we hear so much nowadays about the new lay movements and communities. It might be argued that these can take the place of religious orders and congregations and that specific vows of poverty, chastity and obedience are no longer necessary. It is certainly true that lay movements and communities have come to fore in recent years, as part of the New Evangelization promoted in particular by Pope St. John Paul II. But that doesn’t mean that the…Continue Reading

Orthodoxy Under Review

December 11, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Orthodoxy Under Review

By DONALD DeMARCO Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan, had some sharp criticisms of certain bishops who were involved in the October Synod on the Family. His criticisms, originally published in the Polish magazine Polonia Christiana, warrant both close attention and further amplification. Bishop Schneider found it most disconcerting that these bishops were attempting to “legitimate their infidelity to Christ’s word by means of arguments such as ‘pastoral need,’ ‘mercy,’ and ‘openness to the Holy Spirit’.” At the same time, they castigated more orthodox members of the synod as being “intransigent,” “traditionalist,” “rigid,” or “scrupulous.” Orthodox Catholics are only too familiar with being labeled in such unflattering terms. Psychologist Abraham Maslow, in…Continue Reading

Culture Of Life 101 . . . “Abortifacient Brief: The Intrauterine Device”

December 10, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Culture Of Life 101 . . . “Abortifacient Brief: The Intrauterine Device”

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 2 of The Facts of Life, “Abortifacients,” e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.) + + + The intrauterine device (IUD) is a foreign body inserted into the uterus. IUDs are made of a non-reactive plastic such as polyethylene, and may include active chemicals or elements such as progesterone or copper which slowly diffuse into the uterus over a period of several years. The first modern-day IUD, the Grafenberg Ring, was placed on the market in 1915. Several other companies immediately saw the opportunity for profit, and by the mid-1930s, there was a proliferation of IUDs for…Continue Reading

A Thanksgiving Note At Christmastime

December 9, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on A Thanksgiving Note At Christmastime

By PAUL LIKOUDIS At the approach of Christmas, I would like once again to thank the hundreds of Wanderer readers who have so kindly helped me out with their prayers and gifts since I informed them of my cancer diagnosis almost a year ago. As an update: On October 9 I had a CT scan which revealed that the heavy-duty chemo treatments I was receiving had, so far, prevented the cancer from spreading. Two weeks ago, I learned that my chemo treatments will not end, as I had previously thought, at the end of December, but will continue indefinitely, since I have a particularly aggressive cancer. The big challenge, as far as daily life is concerned, is still extreme physical…Continue Reading

Report By Same-Sex Marriage Group Touted At Gonzaga

December 8, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Report By Same-Sex Marriage Group Touted At Gonzaga

By KIMBERLY SCHAFENBERGER (Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in Catholic Education Daily, an online publication of The Cardinal Newman Society. All rights reserved.) + + + The Gonzaga University director for “special student populations” indicated that the results of a new Human Rights Campaign (HRC) report are a step in the right direction, The Gonzaga Bulletin reported in a recent article, despite the fact that both HRC and the new report support same-sex marriage. The HRC report detailed the “status of LGBT equality” in cities across the nation and noted that 2014 marked “incredible advances toward marriage equality in states across the nation,” adding that “we celebrate these victories, but know our work is far from over.” According to…Continue Reading

Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic… Street Harassment: Another Misdirected Cause, Another Confused Response?

December 7, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Neither Left Nor Right, But Catholic… Street Harassment: Another Misdirected Cause, Another Confused Response?

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 [Transaction Publishers, 2012], and most recently an edited volume entitled, Child Abuse, Family Rights, and the Child Protective System [Scarecrow Press, 2013]. This column originally appeared in Crisismagazine.com. All rights reserved.) + + + A multitude of people saw the YouTube video, or read the story in the news, about…Continue Reading