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A plurality of Democrats said governments should “fine or imprison individuals who publicly question the efficacy of the existing COVID-19 vaccines” (48%), and support forcing unvaccinated American citizens “to use a smart phone app or wearable device that tracks unvaccinated people to ensure that they are quarantined or socially distancing from others.”

Today is the feast of the Annunciation. On this great day, the eternal Word of God stooped down from heaven, was made flesh, and came to dwell among us. In His great goodness, in the wise folly of His boundless love for us, God gave Himself to us, humbling Himself and taking the form of a slave so that we who had been conquered by sin and evil might in Him be made their conquerors. Yet today is not called the feast of the Incarnation, but rather the feast of the Annunciation. The great mystery of the incarnation was made...

With a heavy heart I report that MarkBsnr has gone to his reward. He was learned, intelligent, devout, and a good friend. Please pray for the repose of his soul and for all who mourn at his passing.

Back in September I took the liberty of starting a thread inviting all to pray for the election. Well, that didn't work out so well, maybe. But I am am still asking us to consider ADDING something to our daily prayers. I know you all are busy and I suspect many of you spend a good deal of time in prayer anyway. I do not seek to bind burdens on anyone's back. Though prayer sometimes involves teeth-gritting, that should not be the main theme! The main themes should always be hope, joy, and gratitude, IMHO. But the prayer of a...

I’ve generally stayed quiet during this election season, but as the election draws near and I’m seeing posts saying that voting for Romney is a step backwards for the country…I am going to speak why I’m not supporting reelecting Obama—probably different than what you’re hearing. I honestly fear for the future of my job if he is reelected. His moves against the Catholic Church with the contraception mandate frustrate me—for my Church, as well as for me personally. You may or may not know that I have not prescribed or referred for contraception, abortion or sterilization for 16 years. That...

Clearly we need to seek, to beg God's help in the coming election. I invite all to join in a "Novena" -- a LONG one -- with just such an intention. If you start on 9/11 (!) and pray for 56 days, you end the day before election day. If you start on 9/13 and pray for 54 days... you do the math. :-) I am asking us to consider ADDING something to our daily prayers. I know you all are busy and I suspect many of you spend a good deal of time in prayer anyway. I do not...

Bruce Charlton identifies six problems for modern Christian apologists, and proposes a solution.  His remarks are all interesting, but I want to focus on the first and most fundamental of the problems he identifies, which is that the metaphysical and moral knowledge that even pagans had in the ancient world can no longer be taken for granted: Christianity is a much bigger jump from secular modernity than from paganism.  Christianity seemed like a completion of paganism - a step or two further in the same direction and building on what was already there: souls and their survival beyond death, the...

Sit on a bench on the Thompson Hall lawn -- the "green" at the University of New Hampshire -- and watch the students walk past. Scattered among legions of women you may sight the occasional male. Observe his attire, and you will likely see a discordant trifecta: Timberland work boots, sweatpants and a backpack. Is he headed to the field and manual labor, to his dorm room for a Donkey Kong marathon, or is he shooting towards a professional career? We're told to dress for the job we want. If their dress is any indication, these young men reply firmly,...

I want to make a gift, no strings attached, of a handgun to a resident of Maryland. What are the legal hurdles? Does anyone know? Does anyone know where I can find out?Thanks.

Veritas and Music The LORD will save me, and we will sing to stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of the LORD.                                 Isaiah 38:20 Note that it says that "we will sing."  It is not just a matter to the instruments that we make with our hands. Our bodies themselves are to be instruments of song, of music. Making music is not a burden.  All around us we encounter, we cannot avoid, people making music. They drum their fingers, hum, and whistle. Humankind  is eager to sing. As we walk, especially if we walk...

In this post I would like to ponder the apparent dying of Europe and what God might be teaching us. I would first like to present some information and then reflect as to what God might be teaching us. The Pope has remarked that the lights are going out in Europe. The Christian faith has largely been forsaken by Europeans (only about 10% go to Mass and in many places over 60% describe themselves as atheists). Birth rates have plummeted to death-wish levels, and Europeans are slowly being replaced by Muslim immigrants who have a much higher birth rate. It...

NORFOLK -- They wake each morning to pray the Liturgy of the Hours and chant it again before they go to sleep. They pray the rosary, spend time in contemplative prayer and gather each Sunday to discuss the Gospel. In almost every way they are like the members of other chapters of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic, except they are incarcerated. The chapter, located at Norfolk State Prison, has about 35 members, 17 of whom have made their final profession in the Dominican order. It is the only Dominican chapter in a prison. Ruth Raichle, the Catholic chaplain...

Litany of Humility Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me. From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me,...

The Institution of the Eucharist in Scripture from a talk by Scott HahnThe Catholic Church claims that Christ is really present in the Eucharist, that the sacrifice of calvary is repeated at every Mass, and that he gives Himself to us in Holy Communion as food unto eternal life.With this in mind, let's look at Scripture. Luke 22, verse 15, our Lord says, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you." So we are assured that the Last Supper in the Upper Room was a Passover meal. In Mark 14, verses 22 through 26, we hear the...

If I were asked to summarize the typical cultural narrative of Christianity to which the average Westerner holds, it would be something like this: Jesus was a good man who taught us to love each other, but tragically he was killed (nobody really know why, but it probably had something to do with ‘religious conservatives’ who were as bigoted then as they are now). His disciples totally misunderstood almost everything he said and built up this gigantic legend around him, full of miracles and other fictional rubbish in order to construct a vast and complicated church that encrusted the simple...

Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. It's easy to forget sometimes that being a child of God, having the privilege of calling God our Father is itself a gift -- that you and I have no personal claims, no right to be called a "child of God" apart from the grace that comes to us in our Lord Jesus Christ.  The fact that you and I have been made sons and daughters of our heavenly Father is pure gift.  As it says in...

'Child-witches' of Nigeria seek refuge Mary is a pretty five-year-old girl with big brown eyes and a father who kicked her out onto the streets in one of the most dangerous parts of the world. Her crime: the local priest had denounced her as a witch and blamed her "evil powers" for causing her mother's death. Ostracised, vulnerable and frightened, she wandered the streets in south-eastern Nigeria, sleeping rough, struggling to stay alive. Mary was found by a British charity worker and today lives at a refuge in Akwa Ibom province with 150 other children who have been branded witches,...

The Rosary and MeA young man, nineteen years old, trudges up a hill in Berkeley, California. Asked by his parents to leave his New York home, he hitchhiked across the country with a friend. He has moved from crash pad to crash pad, and slept in backyards and in the grassy hills behind the University. He has been taken in by an Episcopal priest and his wife, and gets room and board in exchange for house-cleaning and baby-sitting. His lips move as he climbs, and in his hand is a cheap rosary.

RICHMOND — In a scathing letter to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, the chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said no state has been slower than Virginia in putting federal highway stimulus cash to use. As of Aug. 31, construction had begun on only 16.5 percent of the $695 million Virginia received for statewide and local highway and bridge projects under President Barack Obama’s stimulus initiative, said the letter from U.S. Rep. James L. Oberstar, D-Minn. Nationally, nearly 43 percent of the billions of dollars a Democratic Congress approved for highway revitalization is already under construction, according to...

Marielle (Molly) Kronberg, widow of northern Virginia businessman Kenneth Kronberg, filed a lawsuit last Friday in U.S. Federal Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against cult leader Lyndon LaRouche and his political action committee, claiming they have defamed and libeled her and have "conspired to injure her" because she once provided testimony against LaRouche in a federal criminal trial.