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Remembering The Heart Of Christmas . . . A Tree, A Crèche, And A Thousand Stink Bugs

December 26, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Remembering The Heart Of Christmas . . . A Tree, A Crèche, And A Thousand Stink Bugs

By JEFF MINICK It was about a week before Christmas when I saw them, a half-dozen tiny insects holding a convention on the carpet near the porch door of my second-story apartment. I produced my magnifying glass, studied them, and was unhappy with the results. Baby stink bugs. For those unfamiliar with those insects entomologists classify as halyomorpha halys and the hoi polloi call stink bugs, let me offer some information. Stink bugs were accidentally introduced to the United States around 1998, possibly arriving with some freight from China. They can destroy crops. The dumbest and most inept of all insects, they lack the agility and speed of roaches, the cunning of ants, and the aeronautical talents of the common…Continue Reading

Christmas From A Child

December 25, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Christmas From A Child

By DEREK BECHER Christmas has always been a magical time for me. Growing up in a large family, I experienced Christmases with much laughter, fun, love, giving, receiving, singing, and enjoyable get-togethers that eventually became traditions that would last throughout my youth. While some of these traditions have changed into my adulthood, I’ve been blessed so far with 13 nieces and nephews who, in their own imaginative and genuine ways, reignite in me the true spirit of Christmas every year, because of the sincerity and hope that I’ve seen in the hearts and the imaginations of each of them, at one point or another. Most recently, I was touched by the heartfelt and innocent comment of my dear nephew Vance.…Continue Reading

Restoring The Sacred . . . The Sacred Night Of Christmas Eve

December 24, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Restoring The Sacred . . . The Sacred Night Of Christmas Eve

By JAMES MONTI Christmas Eve has about it a certain air of mystery and wonder. This “mystique” of the night of Christ’s birth transcends national boundaries, with each Catholic culture expressing it in its own distinctive manner. In his classic work A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens has famously evoked this perception of Christmas Eve as a night when almost anything miraculous can happen, a concept that has a long history. The ancient Carol of the Birds, a Christmas song of Catalonian Spain said to date back to the ninth century, tells of the sparrow, the eagle, and the robin coming from afar “when rose the eastern star” to rejoice together at the birth of the Savior. Legends about Christmas Eve…Continue Reading

Generation Whine

December 23, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Generation Whine

By REY FLORES If what we have witnessed since Election Day from the liberal left is any indication of what the future of this nation looks like, we’re all in a whole heap of trouble. Never before have I seen such a collective temper tantrum. It is just plain embarrassing. All the way from has-been actors like Martin Sheen who is still making video pleas to Electoral College electors to change their votes, to the diaper safety pin campaign, this display of childishness from so many left-wing lunatics has got to come to an end at some point. It’s entertaining to watch liberals’ heads explode at every administrative appointment President-elect Trump makes. The mainstream news media liars won’t even hide…Continue Reading

A Merry Maronite Christmas

December 22, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on A Merry Maronite Christmas

By JOANNE SADLER BUTLER In his 1995 apostolic letter, Orientale Lumen, Pope St. John Paul II reminded us to look to the East, the land of Jesus and the place where the Church began. He also exhorted us to be mindful of our brothers and sisters in the Eastern Rite churches. As a humble part of that exhortation, I invite you to take a look at how Maronite Catholics celebrate Christmas. First, let’s examine what’s behind being a Maronite Catholic. The Maronites take their name from St. Maron, a monk, a mystic, and an evangelizer, who lived in the fourth century AD in what is now Syria. His aesthetic life, combined with his preaching, brought many to the Catholic faith.…Continue Reading

Reclaiming Our Language

December 21, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Reclaiming Our Language

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK W.W. writes to make the observation that a central problem in modern education is the need to “reclaim our language.” He notes, that many modern students “have no background in how to think clearly or discern truth” because of the distortion of “the meaning of many terms used today. As one example, why are people with the highest suicide rate called ‘gay’? Why can’t we discuss this without being labeled ‘homophobes,’ which is a word devised to eliminate serious discussion, rather than encourage it? “This is a common tactic in the media these days: They accept reductio ad absurdum as a legitimate form of criticism when addressing those who hold to politically incorrect ideas. They use labels…Continue Reading

The Heavenly Choir Nursery

December 20, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on The Heavenly Choir Nursery

By FR. MICHAEL P. ORSI Angels have always played a prominent role in Scripture. Their job is to announce God’s message and to praise Him, especially in song. During the Christmas Season, the angels’ hymn over the Babe in the manager, “Glory to God in the highest. . .” (Luke 2:14), resounds in our ears. In the very last book of the Bible, we read of their song around the heavenly throne, “Amen, blessing and glory…to our God forever and ever. Amen” (Rev. 7: 9-12). When we sing in church we are joining the angels’ and saints’ praise of the Creator. And, we anticipate the great chorus of all the angels and saints foretold at the end of time.

Stop Whining About Christmas?

December 19, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Stop Whining About Christmas?

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK Recently, I came across an exchange on Facebook over one of those “Keep Christ in Christmas” banners that you see around this time of year. The banner was not confrontational or politically partisan. It read, “I’m inviting all my Facebook family and friends to join me in returning to the traditional greeting of ‘Merry Christmas,’ instead of the politically correct ‘Happy Holidays!’ If you agree with me, please repost this message. ‘Merry Christmas.’ We need Christ in our lives.” (I shouldn’t assume that readers of this column know what Facebook is all about. There is nothing wrong with not knowing. Family members of mine with master’s degrees are in that category. In basic terms, it is…Continue Reading

Bob Dornan Takes Note . . . “Fake News,” Russia As Worse Threat Are Media’s New Narratives

December 18, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Bob Dornan Takes Note . . . “Fake News,” Russia As Worse Threat Are Media’s New Narratives

By DEXTER DUGGAN From media conniptions against “fake news” to U.S. left-wingers denouncing Russia, the landscape certainly has changed with the advent of aspiring Republican Donald Trump. For longer than the lifetimes of many current media consumers, dominant liberal U.S. media have conjured one twisted narrative after another of their own fake news stories to try to sway Americans toward leftist results. To cite a very few examples: Tyrannical Communist revolutionaries from Asia to Latin America were admirable “freedom fighters.” Conservative Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964 was a homicidal, fascist madman. Pro-lifers are a small band of superstitious religious fanatics, and abortion is legal for only “the early months” of pregnancy. None of this true, but each one…Continue Reading

The Night Before Christmas . . . An Ongoing Christmas Controversy

December 17, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on The Night Before Christmas . . . An Ongoing Christmas Controversy

By RAY CAVANAUGH With lyrics that evoke wholesome images of holiday glee and anticipation, what could be more innocent and straightforward than The Night Before Christmas? Well, it turns out, not even that item is free of controversy. For more than 100 years now, debate has persisted over who actually penned this beloved American poem, which appeared anonymously on December 23, 1823, in the Troy (N.Y.) Sentinel newspaper. The two leading candidates for authorship are: Clement Clarke Moore, a New York City literature professor long credited with writing the poem; and Henry Livingston Jr., a Poughkeepsie, N.Y., native whom multiple literature professors have since proclaimed as the author. In the 19th century, poetry was a major part of popular culture,…Continue Reading