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Christmas Sourpusses . . . The New England Puritans And The Jesus Seminar

December 19, 2013 Featured Today Comments Off on Christmas Sourpusses . . . The New England Puritans And The Jesus Seminar

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK I don’t have a polling service to prove it, but I think it safe to say that liberal Christians dedicated to “demythologizing” the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth — such as those who promote the views of John Dominic Crossan and the “Jesus Seminar” — would fall on the left side of the political spectrum. I’d bet serious money that most favor legalized abortion and same-sex marriage. They would be offended if anyone linked them with the fire-and-brimstone 18th-century New England Puritans who spent their lives pointing fingers at their neighbors who were on their way to Hell. Yet it strikes me that the two groups have much in common when it comes to Christmas. Check…Continue Reading

Christmas And the Cult Of Liberty

December 18, 2013 Featured Today Comments Off on Christmas And the Cult Of Liberty

By JOANNE SADLER BUTLER This year, I want to share some thoughts with you about how the true meaning of Christmas clashes with today’s cult of liberty. When I say “cult of liberty,” I mean that peculiar American institution that transforms our founding fathers into iconic demigods, our Constitution and Bill of Rights into sacred texts, and together they are the physical proof that Americans are God’s chosen people. I’ll limit myself to one opening salvo on the demigod issue: Thomas Jefferson was not a Christian; he had a vague belief in a “Nature’s God” (as stated in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence). Further, to mollify his distaste for the Gospels, he snipped out all references to the…Continue Reading

Christmas 1944: Victory Denied

December 17, 2013 Featured Today Comments Off on Christmas 1944: Victory Denied

By MICHAEL D. HULL Allied hopes for a victory over Nazi Germany by the end of 1944 were dashed by the failure of Operation Market-Garden, the massive airborne invasion of Holland, that September. But the enemy forces in Western Europe, while fighting stubbornly, were nevertheless on the retreat as the British, U.S., and Canadian armies pushed doggedly eastward. A sense of euphoria persisted in the Allied headquarters, and many soldiers — generals, field marshals, and men on the front lines — still clung to the hope that the European war might be over by Christmas. Such optimism then vanished abruptly early on the morning of Saturday, December 16, 1944, when 25 German armored and infantry divisions rolled through thinly held…Continue Reading

Contemplative Nuns Make Billboard Chart History

December 16, 2013 Featured Today Comments Off on Contemplative Nuns Make Billboard Chart History

ATLANTA — The Missouri-based contemplative nuns Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles were named Billboard magazine’s Classical Traditional Artist 2012 and 2013. It’s the first order of nuns to ever win an award in the history of Billboard magazine. The sisters were recognized for their two bestselling albums, Angels and Saints at Ephesus, which spent 13 consecutive weeks at no. 1 on Billboard’s Classical Traditional Music chart, and Advent at Ephesus, which spent six consecutive weeks at no. 1 on the same chart. The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles bested a group of popular classical music artists to secure the award, including Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. “How does a community of Benedictine Sisters who follow the rule of…Continue Reading

Are the Senkakus Worth a War?

December 15, 2013 Featured Today Comments Off on Are the Senkakus Worth a War?

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN “The U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty of 1960 obligates the United States to treat any armed attack against any territories under the administration of Japan as dangerous to [America’s] own peace and safety. This would cover such islets as the Senkakus also claimed by Beijing.” So this author wrote 15 years ago in “A Republic Not an Empire.” And so it has come to pass. The United States, because of this 53-year-old treaty, is today in the middle of a quarrel between Japan and China over these very rocks in the East China Sea. This Senkakus dispute, which has warships and planes of both nations circling each other around and above the islands, could bring on a…Continue Reading

High Court Side-Steps… Liberty University’s Challenge To Employer Mandate

December 14, 2013 Featured Today Comments Off on High Court Side-Steps… Liberty University’s Challenge To Employer Mandate

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States Supreme Court on December 2 side-stepped an opportunity to take up Liberty University’s challenge to the entire employer mandate, declining to review the case without comment. Denial of review does not result in an opinion on the merits. The Supreme Court could take up a similar challenge if a federal court of appeals strikes down the entire employer mandate, although no such challenge is currently pending. Liberty Counsel represents Liberty University and two private individuals in the case of Liberty University v. Lew (formerly Liberty University v. Geithner). This was the first private lawsuit against Obamacare filed on the day President Obama signed it into law on March 23, 2010. The Liberty University case…Continue Reading

A Book Review… A Critique Of Christians’ Misleading Language

December 13, 2013 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review… A Critique Of Christians’ Misleading Language

By JUDE DOUGHERTY Brague, Remi, On the God of the Christians (and on one or two others), trans. from the French Du Dieu des chretiens by Paul Seaton. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press, 2013. Pp. xvii + 160. Contact the publisher at www.staugustine.net or 574-291-3500. The aim of this book, Remi Brague declares at the outset, is to describe the image made of God by Christianity. In Himself God is the same for all, but the images and concepts that have been made of God differ among men and among the associations that bring men together, whether they be philosophical or religious. “I want to show,” writes Brague, “that a certain image of God, the one that Christians address,…Continue Reading

A Book Review… The Lay Apostolate Defined

December 12, 2013 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review… The Lay Apostolate Defined

By REY FLORES The Layperson’s Distinctive Role by Francis Cardinal Arinze. Ignatius Press: 2013, 118 pages. Available at ignatius.com or by calling 1-800-651-1531 as either a paperback or an electronic book download. Witness to Honest Living — “In many countries, corruption is becoming widespread in fields like high finance, politics, civil service, trade and commerce and even sports. This is a big challenge to harmonious living, mutual trust and steady economic development. Christians cannot remain indifferent in front of this virus. And it is the lay faithful who are in the front line to give witness to honest living. They can achieve much individually and in organized groups” — Francis Cardinal Arinze. +    +    + The above is an excerpt…Continue Reading

Which Immigrant Should Be Your Neighbor?

December 11, 2013 Featured Today 1 Comment

By TERENCE P. JEFFREY Daniel and Samuel were both born in Monterrey, Mexico, on the same day in 1990 and baptized by the same priest two Sundays later. Both attended the same primary and secondary schools. Both dreamed of some day moving to the United States. But there the similarity ends. Samuel dropped out of school in tenth grade. Daniel graduated from secondary school, went on to the university, and graduated at the top of his class. The last time Samuel ever walked through the door of a church is when he walked out of one just after receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. Daniel served as an altar boy and attends Mass every Sunday, every holy day, and often on…Continue Reading

The Apostle Of First Principles . . . Speaker Recalls Fr. Vincent McNabb, OP

December 10, 2013 Featured Today Comments Off on The Apostle Of First Principles . . . Speaker Recalls Fr. Vincent McNabb, OP

By PAUL LIKOUDIS Catholics today who are confused or dismayed by the so-called “radicalism” of Pope Francis — especially in view of his critique of “trickle-down” economics and the “tyranny” of modern finance —should understand that he is in line with a tradition that goes back to Pope Leo XIII, who in the foundational encyclical on Catholic social doctrine, Rerum Novarum (1891), deplored the fact that: “[W]orking men have been surrendered, isolated and helpless, to the hard-heartedness of employers and the greed of unchecked competition. The mischief has been increased by rapacious usury, which, although more than once condemned by the Church, is nevertheless under different guise, but with the like injustice, still practiced by covetous and grasping men. To…Continue Reading