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Adorned Like A Bride For Her Husband… The Cartuja Monastery Of Granada

November 23, 2021 Featured Today Comments Off on Adorned Like A Bride For Her Husband… The Cartuja Monastery Of Granada

By JAMES MONTI When we think of the Carthusian Order, the imagery that comes most readily to mind is that of a life of profound and utter austerity — a demanding life of self-denial lived in stark surroundings and in much silence. Yet within the Carthusian tradition, there developed over the centuries a recognition of the value of beautiful sacred art as a gateway to contemplation. The Carthusians have understood that embracing a life of personal poverty for the sake of the Kingdom of God does not mean impoverishing the House of God, and that even within the austere setting of a monk’s personal cell, beautiful religious images could have a very powerful role to play in raising the eyes…Continue Reading

A Book Review . . . Debunking A Plethora Of Myths About Michelangelo

November 22, 2021 Featured Today Comments Off on A Book Review . . . Debunking A Plethora Of Myths About Michelangelo

By JAMES BARESEL Michelangelo, God’s Architect: The Story of His Final Years and Greatest Masterpiece by William E. Wallace, Princeton University Press, 2021. Popular memory treats Michelangelo simply as a man of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century Tuscan High Renaissance that was centered on Florence and Rome. That was the time that he rose to fame, sculpted his Pieta and his David, and painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. That was when his chief rivals were the aging Leonardo da Vinci and the young but prematurely deceased Raphael.The Tuscan artistic school, to which all three belonged, was at its apogee after a century of development by such geniuses as Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Bramante —…Continue Reading

Getting Our Words’ Worth

November 21, 2021 Featured Today Comments Off on Getting Our Words’ Worth

By DONALD DeMARCO What are words worth? Not very much if we consider that it takes a thousand of them to equal one picture. Even less if we consider the superhighway of information that is deleted as soon as it is delivered. And yet, “I love you,” “everything is going to be fine,” “thank you,” “amen,” and “alleluia,” can be worth far more when spoken on a personal level than any picture or text message. On a monetary plane, their value fluctuates wildly.I once received a letter from a publisher informing me that the value of my words would double from five cents to ten. Unfortunately, before I could enjoy this whopping pay hike, the publisher went out of business.…Continue Reading

Are Democrats Looking To The Lifeboats?

November 20, 2021 Featured Today Comments Off on Are Democrats Looking To The Lifeboats?

By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN Not so long ago, President Joe Biden was being talked of as a transformative president, a second Franklin D. Roosevelt in terms of the domestic agenda he would enact.And there was substance to the claim.Early in his presidency, Biden had passed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package. While his majorities in both houses of Congress were razor-thin, they proved sufficient to push through a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.Clusters of Republicans backed the Biden infrastructure bill.A follow-on $3.5 trillion Build Back Better social spending bill to rival New Deal and Great Society measures has broad support — though not for its sticker price — and, even today, as of November 16, still seems possible.So, how are Biden and…Continue Reading

Charles De Foucauld, Six Others To Be Canonized May 15

November 19, 2021 Featured Today Comments Off on Charles De Foucauld, Six Others To Be Canonized May 15

By HANNAH BROCKHAUS VATICAN CITY (CNA) — The Vatican on November 9 announced that the canonization of Blessed Charles de Foucauld and six others will take place in Rome on May 15, 2022.The date of the canonization had been delayed due to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, Foucauld’s postulator told Catholic News Agency last month.The May 15 ceremony will be the Catholic Church’s first canonization Mass since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. It will take place two years and seven months after the most recent canonization, that of St. John Henry Newman and four others in October 2019.Blessed Charles de Foucauld was a dissolute French soldier who became a Trappist monk and Catholic missionary to Muslims in Algeria.…Continue Reading

Nebraska Attorney General . . . Releases Report On Clergy Sexual Abuse

November 18, 2021 Featured Today Comments Off on Nebraska Attorney General . . . Releases Report On Clergy Sexual Abuse

By KATE OLIVERA LINCOLN, Neb. (CNA) — A report detailing sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Nebraska has found credible allegations against 57 Church officials, involving 258 documented victims, since the 1930s.“We acknowledge with sadness that so many innocent minors and young adults were harmed by Catholic clergy and other representatives of the Church,” Nebraska’s bishops wrote in a November 4 joint statement. “It is clear that the hurt is still felt, even if the abuse was perpetrated many years ago.”“We apologize to the victims and their families for the pain, betrayal, and suffering that never should have been experienced in the Church.”Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson released the report November 4, after a three-year investigation that began with…Continue Reading

Biden Admin To Roll Back . . . Trump Rule Strengthening Religious Protection For Federal Contractors

November 17, 2021 Featured Today Comments Off on Biden Admin To Roll Back . . . Trump Rule Strengthening Religious Protection For Federal Contractors

By CALVIN FREIBURGER WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The Biden Department of Labor (DOL) announced Monday, November 8 that it is moving to roll back a Trump-era regulation that broadened the definition of federal contractors who could claim religious exemptions to federal hiring regulations that interfered with their ability to hire personnel aligned with their religious beliefs.Last December, the Labor Department under outgoing President Donald Trump announced a rule making clear that faith-based organizations that contract with the federal government retain the right to only hire individuals who share that organization’s faith, and that they can terminate employees on the basis of whether they abide by or reject the tenets of that faith.That rule, which took effect January 8, 2021, broadened…Continue Reading

Can Americans Exercise Religion In An Execution Chamber?

November 16, 2021 Featured Today Comments Off on Can Americans Exercise Religion In An Execution Chamber?

By TERENCE P. JEFFREY Dustin Honken was convicted of murdering five people, including two children, and was sentenced to death in a federal court in 2004.Sixteen years later, he was executed.He also received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church — in the execution chamber — from Fr. Mark O’Keefe, a Catholic priest who accompanied him there.“On the day of the execution, Fr. O’Keefe was screened thoroughly by security and accompanied by an agent escort at all times — except for the brief period during which he accepted Mr. Honken’s final confession,” said a brief filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in Ramirez v. Collier, which the Supreme Court heard this past week.“When it was time for the execution…Continue Reading

American Life League Mourns Death Of Co-Founder Paul Brown

November 15, 2021 Featured Today Comments Off on American Life League Mourns Death Of Co-Founder Paul Brown

By JOE BUKURAS WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNA) — Paul Brown, co-founder of American Life League, died Thursday, November 4 the pro-life group has announced.“Husband, father, grandfather, and pro-life hero, Paul Brown passed away on November 4, 2021, with his family by his side,” American Life League said in a statement.The American Life League, founded in 1979, is a nonprofit organization with a mission to protect the unborn by focusing on “providing TRUTH-based educational materials and opportunities, inspiring and equipping generations to act for GOD and LIFE, and protecting and caring for the most vulnerable among us — the defenseless, the hurting, the lost, and the despairing.”Brown, 83, “was the man with the vision . . . the driving force providing the…Continue Reading

Giving Thanks During A Pandemic

November 14, 2021 Featured Today Comments Off on Giving Thanks During A Pandemic

By DONALD DeMARCO During the Last Supper, knowing that His death was imminent, Christ, nonetheless, gave thanks. In Luke 22:14-20, we read Christ’s words: “After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, ‘Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me’.”Why did He give thanks? Theologians says that since this was a Passover meal, He was thanking God for the deliverance of the Jewish people. He was also thanking God for the…Continue Reading