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British Authors . . . Discuss Their New Book On John Paul’s Spiritual Legacy

May 30, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on British Authors . . . Discuss Their New Book On John Paul’s Spiritual Legacy

(Editor’s Note: Two women writers in England recently published a book called St. John Paul — The Spiritual Life of a Saint, published by Gracewing, Leominster, England. The authors, Clare Anderson and Joanna Bogle, described the book in an interview with ZENIT News Agency. All rights reserved.) +    +    + Q. How did this project come about? Bogle: We’ve worked together a bit over the years: I edited a small Catholic magazine for which Clare was a regular contributor and so on. And we’d meet for occasional chatty lunches, catching up on news. The book idea grew out of a couple of conversations about John Paul and about the message that he had for us all. Q. Was it a…Continue Reading

Canon Law Colleges

May 29, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Canon Law Colleges

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK I am not sure if “canon law colleges” is an official, or even a commonly used, term for Catholic colleges that publicly comply with the Church’s higher-education requirements, specifically canon 812 (the so-called mandatum) and canon 833 (the Oath of Fidelity), directing Catholic colleges to be “faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church.” I came across it for the first time in a column by Tom Hoopes in a recent edition of the National Catholic Register. Perhaps it is just a shorthand expression that Hoopes uses to describe these colleges. In any event, Hoopes used the term in making the point that it is worth the expense to attend these schools, even though that may…Continue Reading

Culture Of Life 101 . . . “Why Not Abortion If It Sends Babies Right To Heaven?”

May 28, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Culture Of Life 101 . . . “Why Not Abortion If It Sends Babies Right To Heaven?”

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 9 of The Facts of Life, “Catholic Church Teachings on Abortion,” e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.) +    +    + Most women understandably feel some degree of guilt about having an abortion. After all, abortion is a grossly unnatural act, and people who believe in God (as most aborting women do to varying degrees) have difficulty justifying the deliberate killing of a child that they know was willed into existence by Him. All of us have a strong urge to rationalize our sins in order to calm our stinging consciences. It is just an inevitable feature…Continue Reading

The Department Of Delay, Deceit, And Dumb Disorder

May 27, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on The Department Of Delay, Deceit, And Dumb Disorder

By CHARLES G. MILLS (Editor’s Note: Charles G. Mills is the judge advocate or general counsel for the New York State American Legion. He has 40 years of experience in many trial and appellate courts and has published several articles about the law. This article is copyright © 2014 by Charles G. Mills and the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation, www.fgfBooks.com. All rights reserved.) +    +    + GLEN COVE, N.Y. — The two largest components of the Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) are the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). Both are riddled with dishonesty, inefficiency, and ineptitude. The VHA is in the news for a scandal involving the falsification of records. The VHA runs hundreds of…Continue Reading

“End Times” Internet Seer… “Maria Divine Mercy” Has No Ecclesiastical Approval

May 26, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on “End Times” Internet Seer… “Maria Divine Mercy” Has No Ecclesiastical Approval

By DEXTER DUGGAN A campaign to launch sales of a religious medal by an internationally known seer who claims to be God’s last prophet was reaffirmed despite a statement by the archbishop of Dublin, Ireland, that the visionary has “no ecclesiastical approval.” The seer, who goes by the title of “Maria Divine Mercy” (MDM), is believed to reside in the Dublin Archdiocese. Her messages warn of worldwide devastation and the end times. On May 16 the “Midway Street” web site (midwaystreet.wordpress.com), devoted to debunking the visionary, reported that web pages “are appearing in anticipation of taking orders for the ‘Medal of Salvation,’ with the magic power to save ‘billions’ of souls.” In July 2013, Midway Street said, the seer “claimed…Continue Reading

The Church Is Paying Dearly For Its Mistakes

May 25, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on The Church Is Paying Dearly For Its Mistakes

By FR. MARVIN DEUTSCH, MM (Editor’s Note: Fr. Marvin Deutsch, a Maryknoll priest, is a retired missionary who spent many years in Tanzania.) +    +    + During the month of May, I am in my home Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, visiting friends and relatives. The archdiocese is being severely attacked by the local newspapers in both cities, spearheaded by Jeff Anderson, a lawyer who (it seems to me) wants to punish the Catholic Church much more than what justice requires while ignoring other agencies who have had the same problems. He is the brains behind the attack on the Church. Of course, he claims to have a legitimate cause in defending those who have been abused sexually by Catholic priests.…Continue Reading

Another Week Of Government Lawlessness

May 24, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Another Week Of Government Lawlessness

By ANDREW P. NAPOLITANO What if the federal government is shameless? What if it personifies the adage of do as I say and not as I do? What if it does the very things it prosecutes others for doing? What if it has written laws and enacted procedures so that it can spy and kill, while it charges others with doing just that? What if the feds recently indicted five low-level Chinese military officers for spying on American corporations? What if the feds accused these officers of using their computers in Beijing to hack into computers in Denver that are not owned by the federal government but by well-known and wealthy American corporations? What if these corporations are rich enough…Continue Reading

A Book Review . . . A Beautiful Introduction To Religious Life For Children

May 23, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review . . . A Beautiful Introduction To Religious Life For Children

By MITCHELL KALPAKGIAN Of Bells . . . and Cells, by M. Cristina Borges (St. Bonosa Books: Miami, FL 2014), 42 pp.; $11.00. Available through www.stbonosabooks.com or info@stbonosabooks.com. An illustrated and beautifully designed book intended for elementary school students, this work introduces the vocation of religious life to the young with a simple, lucid, succinct narrative accompanied by attractive pictures that capture the nature and essence of this noble calling. The book introduces students to the vocabulary of religious life and defines such words as “a special call,” “vocation,” “postulant,” “novice,” “religious community,” “rule,” “habit,” and “vows.” The text not only clearly defines these terms but also explains their moral significance. For example, a habit is not only “the uniform…Continue Reading

Latin, Liberal Censorship, Elite Schools

May 22, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on Latin, Liberal Censorship, Elite Schools

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK In the May 1 edition of First Teachers there was a discussion of an article from the British newspaper The Telegraph by British grammarian Nevile Gwynne. Gwynne calls for a revival of the study of Latin in British schools, arguing that its study “gives a clearer understanding of the meaning and spelling of many English words; and of course it is bound to be helpful for learning any of the several European languages that are descended from Latin.” We asked our readers to weigh in. F.J.R. from Missouri took us up on the offer. He agrees with Gwynne: “I studied Latin for two years at St. Louis University High School in the mid-60s and, of course,…Continue Reading

“The Beauty Of Statistics On Abortion”

May 21, 2014 Featured Today Comments Off on “The Beauty Of Statistics On Abortion”

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 chapter 19 of The Facts of Life, “United States Abortion Statistics,” e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.) +    +    + In the previous article, we considered several ways to visualize the more than 55 million abortions that have been performed in the United States since the first states legalized the procedure. Images are excellent tools for describing the sheer magnitude of the abortion disaster, which has killed the equivalent of the population of 18 of the western states or of the six largest metropolitan areas in the nation. One superb example of the use of…Continue Reading