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A Movie Review . . . Risen: The Greatest Manhunt In History

February 28, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on A Movie Review . . . Risen: The Greatest Manhunt In History

By REY FLORES Not since I viewed Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ had I been so excited to watch a movie about Jesus. Risen, however, isn’t so much about Jesus as it is about one man who, like many of us, came to believe in God’s time under his own special circumstances. God’s time for this man was Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead. I couldn’t imagine a more powerful way for one to start believing in our risen Lord than to be given the task of finding the holiest of fugitives. Set exactly at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion and Resurrection, Risen was released by no accident at the beginning of this season of Lent. Hollywood, perhaps, isn’t…Continue Reading

Karl Rahner, Paul VI, And John Paul II . . . Regarding Morally Difficult Situations

February 27, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Karl Rahner, Paul VI, And John Paul II . . . Regarding Morally Difficult Situations

By JOHN F. KIPPLEY (Editor’s Note: John F. Kippley is the author of Sex and the Marriage Covenant: A Basis for Morality and other books and articles. With his wife Sheila, he is a coauthor of Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach and cofounder of NFP International. This commentary appeared on his blog [johnkippley.com] and is reprinted with permission.) + + + The real issue raised by the ambiguous statements of Pope Francis and [Vatican spokesman] Fr. Federico Lombardi is this: Are there situations when you can do something that is morally evil in order to accomplish some good? Can you do something you regard as a lesser evil in order to avoid what you regard as a greater evil?…Continue Reading

Gravity, Gravely Considered In An Election Year

February 26, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Gravity, Gravely Considered In An Election Year

By JUDE P. DOUGHERTY That science has a cultural dimension, both in its creation and in its use is a fact under-acknowledged. Modern science is distinctly European and could have arisen only within a distinctive intellectual tradition, centuries in the making. As to its cultural impact, many of the names we associate with the history of science were not oblivious to the social implications of the philosophy that ruled the day. F.A. Hayek saw this clearly when he wrote The Road to Serfdom. Known primarily as an economist, he was also a philosopher of science. Like Karl Popper, Michael Polanyi, and Otto Neurath, he was interested in how those methods which had proven so successful in the natural sciences might…Continue Reading

Human Life International . . . Says Pope’s Inflight Remarks Cause Widespread Confusion

February 25, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Human Life International . . . Says Pope’s Inflight Remarks Cause Widespread Confusion

(Wanderer Editor’s Note: Below is the commentary by Human Life International on Pope Francis’ remarks on contraception and the Zika virus in his inflight press conference, which were followed by the clarification of Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, which appeared to support the Pope’s commentary. (First is HLI’s updated statement given after Fr. Lombardi spoke, followed by HLI’s original statement.) + + + Vatican Radio [on February 19] published in Italian the text of an interview with Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, in which he attempts to clarify some of the Holy Father’s more controversial comments from [his February 18] return flight from Mexico. In the interview, Fr. Lombardi expands on comments Pope Francis made about the possibility of…Continue Reading

Restoring The Sacred . . . How A Plaster Statue Of Our Lady Changed One Young Woman’s Life

February 24, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Restoring The Sacred . . . How A Plaster Statue Of Our Lady Changed One Young Woman’s Life

By JAMES MONTI Part 2 In an earlier essay, we related the events leading to the conversion of the young Japanese university student Venerable Elizabeth Maria Satoko Kitahara (1929-1958), a conversion prompted by a decisive encounter with a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. In this essay we complete our account of her spiritual journey. Having been baptized and confirmed, Satoko, now 20, intent upon pursuing her dream of becoming a Mercedarian nun, arranged to have one of the sisters begin teaching her Spanish, an official language of the congregation. Anticipating her entrance into the convent with great joy, Satoko packed a black dress for her postulancy, and tucked her train ticket for the journey underneath her pillow as if…Continue Reading

The Good News And The Bad

February 23, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on The Good News And The Bad

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK First, the good news: Pro-life students from the Jesuits’ Georgetown University were a prominent part of the March for Life in Washington, D.C., in January. Now the bad: Georgetown had nothing to do with it. It is an instructive test case, a scenario that makes one wonder whether our modern Catholic universities have become schools with as pronounced an animus against Catholicism as nonsectarian schools fully under the sway of the secular left. The Georgetown students who attended the March for Life recently told The Cardinal Newman Society (cardinalnewmansociety.org) that “student groups at the university are finding success in driving pro-life outreach and discussion on campus despite the university’s lack of support for their events and…Continue Reading

Best Way To Honor Hero Scalia . . . To Protect His Court Legacy From Obama’s Plotting

February 22, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Best Way To Honor Hero Scalia . . . To Protect His Court Legacy From Obama’s Plotting

By DEXTER DUGGAN Add to the mysterious traditional closed-door procedures of the mighty U.S. Supreme Court the mysterious way in which one of its most consequential members had the door suddenly closed on his life and work in remote west Texas. And add to this that the death of conservative titan Justice Antonin Scalia, a Catholic, created a potential opening for a lying, lawless, Alinskyite president who has marked his tenure in the White House by remarkably trampling on the Constitution, on congressional authority, and on the American people. Even those who find politics boring as compared to empty Hollywood gossip might see the possibility of riveting drama in Scalia’s passing and the contest to confirm his successor. Barack Obama’s…Continue Reading

If You Have Not Heard This Homily . . . It Is Well Worth The Time

February 21, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on If You Have Not Heard This Homily . . . It Is Well Worth The Time

Homily for Justice Scalia by his son, Rev. Paul Scalia

The Francis Effect

February 21, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on The Francis Effect

By REY FLORES It is not my place or anyone else’s place to pass judgment on anyone, but especially not on a Pope. I understand that Pope Francis has not been everyone’s favorite Pope, but I am forever grateful for him for one specific reason. Just the day before I wrote this, I spoke long distance with my father, who was baptized in the faith and I assume received all of the sacraments, but has not taken his religion very seriously. He is one of many who were poorly catechized and malformed in the faith. My father has been a hard worker all of his life who left home at the age of 15 to seek his fortune and provide…Continue Reading

Socialism And Bernie Sanders

February 20, 2016 Frontpage Comments Off on Socialism And Bernie Sanders

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK My hope was that Bernie Sanders would remain a viable candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency well into the election season, and not only because I think he would be easier to beat than Hillary Clinton. (Though, I confess, that is one of the reasons.) I thought it would be a teachable moment. I envisioned the eventual Republican nominee and conservative commentators seizing the moment to educate the voters, especially younger voters, about the disasters that socialists have created in countries such as Cuba and Venezuela, all their slogans about fairness and equality notwithstanding. Q.E.D. You can’t redistribute the wealth when no one has created it. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out as I had…Continue Reading