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Consider a Prophetic Interpretation of Reality from the Book of Wisdom By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn today’s Office of Readings there is a text from the Book of Wisdom that prophetically interprets the times in which we are living. In the 30 years I have been reading this text in the Breviary, I found that the pieces of this prophecy are continually falling into place. In my earlier years I would have found the threats or persecution to be too overtated for our times. That is changing now and slowly we are seeing each element become more clear.In the text that...

By its own admission, the Arab world loves death more than it loves life. Consider that "during all periods of their history, the ancient Egyptians seem to have spent much of their time thinking of death and making provisions for their afterlife. The vast size ... and the ubiquity of their funerary monuments bear testimony to this obsession." Consider that the Palestinian world teaches its children to embrace shahid, or martyrdom. It is an aberrant culture where parents celebrate their own children's deaths by the promotion of suicide terrorism. Consider that these suicide/homicide bombers are taught that death will bring...

AURORA, CO – A Planned Parenthood affiliate awarded a local business for increasing the number of abortions it performed over the previous year. Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains gave a special commendation to its office in Aurora, Colorado, for "exceeding abortion visits first half of fiscal year 2012 compared to first half of fiscal year 2013.” A former abortion industry worker took a picture of the award and sent it to And Then There Were None, the ministry of former Planned Parenthood manager Abby Johnson to those employed in her former industry. “Ever since I left Planned Parenthood, I...

When a person has a disease that cannot be cured, do you think doctors should be allowed by law to end the patient’s life by some painless means if the patient and his or her family request it? At first blush, the idea that a euthanasia should be allowed seems to follow a logic. If a person is suffering and wishes to end that suffering then who has the right to tell them no? It is their life, right? Only some troglodyte Bible thumper could possibly deny a person the simple mercy of ending their suffering. In this way it...

GEORGETOWN, Texas -- The parents of a Killeen man on life support have won a battle to keep him alive. Attorneys representing 43-year-old Terry Mace and his parents came to an agreement Thursday outside of court. Terry Allen Mace and Carol Mace will have control over their son's financial matter, as well as the ability to keep him on life support for the next 60 days. Mace's estranged wife was not a part of Thursday's proceedings. Her attorney did not contest the order presented to her by Mace's Attorney Ad Litem. On March 6, former Army Staff Sergeant turned military...

There is a text in Luke’s Gospel that I meant to cover back in Holy Week but things slipped by. It is a rather extraordinary thing that Jesus said on his way to the cross. He said it to women who had gathered to lament him:Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ At that time people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and to...

At least one in five patients declared brain dead and approved as organ donors by one organ donation organization, are in fact still alive and are being killed by the removal of vital organs, a lawsuit filed last week in Manhattan alleges. The suit outlines the ghoulish worst-case scenario, one that was widely dismissed as scaremongering in the early days of the development of organ transplant technology, but which is getting a second hearing amidst growing concerns that coercion and abuse are becoming increasingly common in the highly lucrative transplant business. Patrick McMahon, a nurse practitioner and Air Force combat...

BRUSSELS -- Since euthanasia was legalized in Belgium in 2002, Belgians have been euthanized for blindness, depression, anorexia nervosa, and a botched sex change operation. Now, Belgians want to allow euthanasia for children. Under legislation currently being debated in the Belgian Parliament, terminally ill or suffering children under 18 could be euthanized if they request it, their parents consent to it, and an expert deems the child capable of understanding their decision. The bill is widely supported and is expected to become law. ***snip*** Not only do two thirds of Belgians favor the new euthanasia bill, but in a controversial...

With all the attention focused on Ted Cruz’s attempt to defund Obamacare in the continuing resolution, some of the law’s parade of horribles are momentarily out of view. Come October 1, those horribles will resume their onward march as the law’s impact on subsidizing elective abortion will begin to become clearer. One area that deserves special scrutiny is the feature known as Multi-State Plans (MSPs). This provision of Obamacare represented a partial victory for progressive forces who favored a national, single-payer system. In its place they accepted a category of health-insurance plans managed by the Office of Personnel Management under...

When you talk about being pro-choice, sex selective abortion is often slung at you as the triumphant gotcha. "You love women so much you want them to be in charge of what grows inside their bodies, but what about the women who are aborted, have a go at answering that? ZING!" The answer is actually remarkably simple, and it's this: it doesn't matter whether what's growing inside you is liable to end up as a man or a woman. What matters is whether the person it's growing inside – the person who is going to have to deliver the resulting...

I haven’t been blogging for a while, and I wonder why. One of the reasons is simple: I have had some personal and family issues to deal with. They have occupied my mind and my time. I’ve also been working hard to finish Slubgrip Instructs – the sequel to The Gargoyle Code . But today I realize that there is another reason. Maybe I should give up reading hysterical Facebook stuff, but the temperature is rising in the culture wars, and I’m scared.This week we’ve seen homosexual protesters screaming and shouting abuse at a Catholic Mass. At this Mass, celebrated...

Archdiocese of Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley will boycott the commencement at Boston College because the Catholic educational institution is hosting the Prime Minister of Ireland at a time when the nation faces a government bill that would okay some abortions. The College is scheduled to award Edna Kenny an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Pro-life advocates, led by Students for Life of America, are galvanizing pro-lifers against Ireland’s first pro-abortion Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s planned address to Boston College graduates. It has launched a web site, NotAtBC.com, to gather supporters to protest the speech. “Since the university has not withdrawn...

One of the most disgusting serial killers in American history is standing trial in Philadelphia at the moment – and, since it’s happening in the US, where reporting restrictions are light, the media are free to discuss his case. Only they haven’t – at least, not until recently, and even when the crimes are reported, they haven’t merited many headlines. Which is horrifying, when you consider what the killer is accused of. I’m going to leave out the nastiest details – but, seriously, if you don’t want to feel sick to your stomach, look away now.

My husband I just ended our debate about having children. To breed or not to breed, this was the question — and it had been ticking like an egg timer in the back of my head for 15 years. We talked about it for five months. In the car on the way to work. During dinner. For five minutes, for 30 minutes. After seeing nephews and nieces. I wanted it to be a decision we made, not one made for us by chance or time. I turned to friends with kids for advice. “Feel free to convince me to your...

It's the Culture of Death, silly! Brothers and Sisters, Peace be with you. Like many of you, I've been perusing the more "thoughtful" introspections by writers of national recognition. One by Adam Gopnik in The New Yorker's blog caught my eye. It's titled Newtown and the Madness of Guns. Here's an excerpt: The people who fight and lobby and legislate to make guns regularly available are complicit in the murder of those children. They have made a clear moral choice: that the comfort and emotional reassurance they take from the possession of guns, placed in the balance even against the...

A federal judge Monday rejected Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.'s request to block part of the federal health care overhaul that requires the arts and craft supply company to provide insurance coverage for the morning-after and week-after birth control pills.

Adam Gopnik is a gifted essayist and writer whose contributions, often published in The New Yorker, are almost always thoughtful and interesting. Nevertheless, one of his most recent writings is deeply disturbing, and at the deepest level. Reflecting on the debate between Vice President Joseph Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan, Gopnik registered alarm at “something genuinely disturbing and scary” that had been said by Paul Ryan. Gopnik first complained that Biden and Ryan should not have even been asked about the role their Roman Catholic faith plays in their thinking, specifically on the issue of abortion. Gopnik then wrote: “Paul...

Read and weep!! Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The following is a compilation of bill signings, speeches, appointments and other actions that President Barack Obama has engaged in that have promoted abortion before and during his presidency. While Obama has promised to reduce abortions and some of his supporters believe that will happen, this long list proves his only agenda is promoting more abortions. During the presidential election, Obama selected pro-abortion Sen. Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate. http://www.lifenews.com/2010/11/07/obamaabortionrecord/

I don’t want to give this one away, but you must stop for 5 minutes and watch this latest LifeSiteNews video. Powerful, touching and, deeply moving! It reveals so much in so little time. There is also some astonishing new information about the woman who plays the mother in the video. Watch it and then read on.

Awhile back, The Wall Street Journal ran a fascinating and deeply saddening article exploring the reasons behind the Kennedy Family’s staunch pro-abortion position. Believe it or not, Ted Kennedy used to be pro-life. So how did he and all the other prominent Kennedys swing so far in the wrong direction? For that matter, what about some of the other Catholic pro-abortion zealots in (or recently in) high public office, such as Nancy Pelosi, Mario Cuomo, and Tom Daschle? What happened to them? (NB: I originally posted this blog entry on January 2, 2009. Given all the chattering right now from...