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Democratic Party Platform . . . Attacks Religious Liberty That “Discriminates”

August 16, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Democratic Party Platform . . . Attacks Religious Liberty That “Discriminates”

By DEXTER DUGGAN The Democratic Party’s 2016 platform states a commitment to heavy-handedly micromanaging the United States as well as intruding into people’s traditional morality in other nations. It speaks contradictorily of cutting red tape for small businesses and entrepreneurs but of imposing scrutiny throughout the U.S. for this or that statistical purpose that allegedly advances fairness and equality. The platform denounces millionaires and billionaires, even though the super-wealthy elite and their Wall Street institutions are among Democratic presidential nominee and multimillionaire Hillary Clinton’s closest buddies and funders. Democrats say they believe that “no executive (is) too powerful to jail” — even though nominee Hillary’s unhindered, obvious lawbreaking has brought cries to “Lock her up” from both disgusted conservative Republicans…Continue Reading

How Did the U.S. Become A Secular Nation?

August 15, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on How Did the U.S. Become A Secular Nation?

BY CHARLES  LiMANDRI A friend recently asked: “How did we get to this point in our nation’s history when so many people have a secular worldview?”  I told him that I thought that there were many factors; however, a few major milestones stood out in the past sixty or so years. For example, in 1954 the U.S. Congress passed the Johnson Amendment which had the effect of silencing many of our nation’s religious leaders on the important political and cultural issues of the day. Then, by 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively outlawed prayer in public schools. What followed was a new era of deleterious impacts on students and society. These included a decline in academic achievement and increases in…Continue Reading

Interview With Cardinal Arinze… The State Of The Church In Africa

August 15, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Interview With Cardinal Arinze… The State Of The Church In Africa

By DON FIER Part 2 (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Francis Cardinal Arinze, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, recently traveled to the United States to speak at The Church Teaches forum in Louisville, Ky. (At the forum, he delivered an outstanding presentation on the role of the Sacred Liturgy in developing a Catholic conscience. His Eminence graciously agreed to grant an interview to The Wanderer in which he shared his insights on reasons for the remarkable growth of the Church in his native continent of Africa [which includes 54 independent countries], the historical background of Catholic Christianity in Africa, the challenges and future hopes for Catholicism in Africa, and the continent’s expanding role in…Continue Reading

Soft Treatment For Clinton, Biden . . . But Media Boast Over Hostile Coverage Of Trump

August 14, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Soft Treatment For Clinton, Biden . . . But Media Boast Over Hostile Coverage Of Trump

By DEXTER DUGGAN As the Summer Olympics kicked off in Brazil, the marathon effort against Republican Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy in the U.S. passed the baton to a new runner. Whatever the physical and mental demands on the world’s athletes in Rio de Janeiro, Trump was getting slugged in ways that would have had referees jumping in to protect the Manhattan billionaire competitor against low blows if he were a preferred liberal Democrat. A few months ago, continued riots against Trump’s candidacy were bruited as bloody demonstrations against him burst out, with many Latinos participating, against his alleged racism. The open-border controversy bore its bitter fruit. They waved the Mexican flag, burned the U.S. flag, wore masks, wrecked police cars,…Continue Reading

Reductive Materialism . . . It Takes A Lot Of Faith To Be An Atheist

August 13, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Reductive Materialism . . . It Takes A Lot Of Faith To Be An Atheist

By JUDE P. DOUGHERTY “In Brain Map, Gears of Mind Get Rare Look” is the headline given to a front-page report in The New York Times. “Gears” of the mind? Yes. We are told, “In what many experts are calling a milestone in neuroscience, researchers published a spectacular neuro map of the brain, detailing nearly 100 previously unknown regions in an unprecedented glimpse into the machinery of the human mind.” “Machinery” of the human mind? Yes. Yawn! It was known in antiquity that the brain is an organ of thought, much as the eye is the organ of sight. What was not known is that some groups of neurons become active when we recognize faces, others when we read, and…Continue Reading

Faith And Personal Identity

August 12, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Faith And Personal Identity

By DONALD DeMARCO In the year 2001, one hundred years after the Russian Orthodox Church excommunicated Leo Tolstoy, his great-great-grandson, Vladimir Tolstoy, requested that the Church review Tolstoy’s teachings on the grounds that the excommunication of this great writer was a hindrance to national unity. Tolstoy had no belief in the immortality of the soul and regarded Christ as merely a man. His novel, Resurrection, published in 1899, includes strong criticism of church ritual. Tolstoy provided clear testimony of his rejection of the Church when he wrote: “It is perfectly justifiable that I have renounced the Church that calls itself Orthodox….I renounce all the sacraments….I have truly renounced the Church, I have stopped fulfilling its rites, and I have written…Continue Reading

Truth And The Housing Crash

August 11, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Truth And The Housing Crash

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK I can’t think of anything in Church doctrine that prohibits Catholics from participating in partisan political spin. We have a right to put the best face possible on the agenda of the political party we favor. Outright lying is a different matter. As are slander and defamation of character. We have an obligation to draw the necessary lines in this matter, a duty to seek and defend the truth in pursuit of the common good in debates over public policy. Where is this heading? Don’t you feel at times that the adversaries in some of the major political debates of our time talk past each other; that if someone could get them to sit down and…Continue Reading

What If We Get Tuition Vouchers, And No One Cares?

August 10, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on What If We Get Tuition Vouchers, And No One Cares?

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK I hesitate to write what I am about to write. There are many well-run Catholic elementary and high schools, with dedicated and skilled administrators and teachers. Yet facts are facts. I bet many of you have heard Catholic parents with children in public schools say the same thing that I have heard: “Why would I send my kids to a Catholic school? The teachers are liberals and feminists who couldn’t get a job in the local public schools.” The people who say this tend to live in stable suburban communities, where the local public schools are a source of community pride because of the academic success their graduates enjoy, along with the athletic teams, debate teams,…Continue Reading

Unlike Democrats . . . Republican Party Platform Includes Strong Moral Affirmations

August 9, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Unlike Democrats . . . Republican Party Platform Includes Strong Moral Affirmations

By DEXTER DUGGAN Political-party platforms, issued for their national conventions every four years, are both a wish list and an affirmation of what’s important to them. Not everything they stand for will be achieved, but they want voters to know how a party sees itself and its commitments. Sometimes the platforms have unintentionally comical aspects, like the Democrats in 2016 pledging to fight for affordable health-care premiums. However, they claimed to have done that six years ago, ramming through unyielding Obamacare in 2010 without a single Republican vote. That was supposed to have made premiums way lower, but Barack Obama’s lies only resulted in costs rocketing higher. Having learned nothing — or at least admitting nothing about their failure —…Continue Reading

The Wanderer Interviews Cardinal Arinze . . . The State Of The Church In Africa

August 8, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on The Wanderer Interviews Cardinal Arinze . . . The State Of The Church In Africa

By DON FIER Part 1 (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Francis Cardinal Arinze, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, recently traveled to the United States to speak at The Church Teaches forum in Louisville, Ky. (At the forum, he delivered an outstanding presentation on the role of the Sacred Liturgy in developing a Catholic conscience. His Eminence graciously agreed to grant an interview to The Wanderer in which he shared his insights on reasons for the remarkable growth of the Church in his native continent of Africa [which includes 54 independent countries], the historical background of Catholic Christianity in Africa, the challenges and future hopes for Catholicism in Africa, and the continent’s expanding…Continue Reading