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At the height of the counterculture of the late 1960s and the flower-power desire for peace, Pope Paul VI said "If you want peace, work for justice." It remains a popular bumper sticker even today. And the Church does a tremendous job working for justice: feeding the hungry, providing clothing, offering shelter and healing, ministering to prisoners, caring for AIDS patients, promoting peace, offering counsel, providing education, condemning consumerism, preserving the environment, and so forth. This work often draws praise from those who are otherwise critical, those who might ask: "Why can’t the Church stick to issues of social justice?...

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church" (Eph. 5:25). The problem is most of us can’t just flip a switch and love our wives "as Christ loved the Church," even if—especially if—we understand the true meaning and depth of Paul’s words. Nonetheless, we realize that the apostle to the Gentiles is trying to give us a blueprint for success as husbands and fathers. The key for us as Christian men is to realize that implementing Paul’s instruction requires training and hard work. We need to build virtues, which not only are godly habits, but spiritual muscles that...

In a speech stressing the importance of protecting America's religious liberties and other inalienable rights that so-called "radical" Democratic policies are trying to limit, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, reflected on his own family's path toward the Christian faith, which included his father abandoning him and his mother when he was three years old before returning to them after finding Jesus. Before Rev. Rafael Cruz became an evangelical Texas pastor and one of the nation's most notable and quotable congressional parents, he and his wife, with their toddler son, lived in Canada and worked in the oil and energy business....

I’d like to begin this post with a warning from the U.S Justice Department: Never before in the history of telecommunications media in the United States has so much indecent and obscene material been so easily accessible by so many minors in so many American homes with so few restrictions. If that sounds about right, it will be sobering to consider that it was written in 1996—before wireless broadband, before iPads, before selfies and sexting. Before pornography took over twelve percent of the Internet, with more than 25 million sites today raking in over $5 billion a year. Before it...

Hannah Graham is straight-A, a second year University of Virginia student who has been missing since September 13th,2014. Typically, at this stage of the game it isn’t looking good for Hannah. Her parents, as you can imagine, are beyond crushed. As of yesterday, the police have issued a search warrant for Jesse Matthew, who cops think was the last person to see Hannah Graham before she vanished. Last weekend Mr. & Mrs. Graham held a press conference thanking law enforcement and volunteers for their search efforts and letting folks know that this is a ‘parents worse nightmare’ and that ‘it...

Hey all, September's been a difficult month. I lost my Gus on the 6th, almost 14. Had been nursing him through since December, last few months were pretty busy taking care of him. Anyway, his roomie Dex had been of food/water and I took him in and he's anemic. They sent the blood away to determine if the anemia is due to something acute, like internal bleed/ulcer , or more chronic anemia, like kidney/liver/bone marrow kind of issue. He's also a "senior" animal so all i really ask is that we can find out what the cause is so we...

The Alaska man who divulged details about the bizarre brawl that broke out between the Palin family and a large group of other inebriated snowmobile enthusiasts has been fired from his job for the revelation, according to a bombshell report. Eric Thompson gave his account of the bizarre fight, which occurred earlier this month at a birthday party in Anchorage, on ABC’s “Good Morning America," prompting his boss at a local paving company — which was affiliated with the party — to fire him from his job. He is now seeking work and has posted an unusual, but emotional, YouTube...

Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, speaks with CNA Sept. 15, 2014. Credit: Joaquin Piero Perez/CNA. Vatican City, Sep 23, 2014 / 04:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Next month's Synod on the Family has undergone an attempted hijacking by some media sources, which are fueling expectations that impossible changes will be made to Church doctrine, said the head of the Church's highest court. “I don’t think you have to be brilliant to see that the media has, for months, been trying to hijack this Synod,” said Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect for the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura –...

First, do NOT read this article if you can’t handle the cold, hard truth. Go back to your Vampire Diaries. Second, Catholics love sex. If you don’t believe me, read a little European history. Oh, and look at your own family. (Nuff said? Okay.) Third, why on earth is sex such a big deal? It would be far easier for Catholics to just relax, already, and do what everyone else is doing – guilt free! Right? Wrong. Read on, if you dare… Not About Your Self-Esteem You can relax, because I am not going to deliver a lecture on your...

Editor's note: this piece was coauthored by Hagelin's daughter, Kristin Carey. If you could take any aspect from the family you grew up in and bring it into the family you have created, what would it be? A certain holiday tradition? The way your home was always filled with visitors? The friendship and affection your parents had for each other? Or maybe even the tough, but refining love they showed you?What would you obliterate, if you could? The alcoholism? The sting of abandonment? Strict rules and unfair punishment? Short tempers?Your answers to these questions may reveal more than you think. Even...

Michael Ingmire, uncle of Benghazi attack victim Sean Smith, spoke with Gretchen Carlson today following the hearing by the Select Committee on Benghazi. Ingmire wrote an editorial recently saying, “Americans should never be afraid to ask for justice.” On Wednesday, Ingmire said Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta are all liars. “They promised, for example, Pat Smith was promised by Panetta, Obama, Hillary Clinton that they were going to get back to her. That they were going to keep a consistent word as far as like, keeping her abreast of the investigation into the murders. And, they’ve never returned...

A husband's happiness is significantly related to how his wife feels about the union, according to researchers at Rutgers University and the University of Michigan, who say the happier the wife is with the marriage, the more content her husband will be with life in general. "I think it comes down to the fact that when a wife is satisfied with the marriage she tends to do a lot more for her husband, which has a positive effect on his life," noted Deborah Carr, a professor in the Department of Sociology, School of Arts and Science at RU. "Men tend...

The Tswana people of South Africa practice polygamy. (Photo/Wikipedia) Say “family issues” to most Americans or Europeans, and they’re likely to flash on divorce, or the challenges of single-parent households, or perhaps same-sex relationships and the push for gay marriage.What probably wouldn’t come naturally to mind is polygamy. Yet in many parts of the non-Western world, polygamy is a major feature of family life, and thus a major pastoral challenge for the Catholic Church.Discussion of polygamy is likely to surface at the Oct. 5-19 Synod of Bishops on the family in the Vatican, and could be a factor in the...

We are now just weeks aways from the commencement of the Synod on the Family. Due to the words of a Cardinal Kasper earlier this year during a speech in preparation for the synod, and the praise it received from the Pope, many have begun to suspect that the Synod on the Family will introduce novelties that will contradict the Church's (and Jesus') clear teaching on the indissolubility of marriage. Some even think that such an event could provoke a schism. I want to go on record that I do not expect that. Actually, what I expect is that the...

Let’s start with the end. When it’s over — when you make it through the marathon that is Ken Burns’s beautiful, seven-part documentary “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History,” which begins Sunday night on PBS — you may find yourself with a lingering, nebulous grief. You’re sorry it’s over. You’re sorry they’re over. You’re sorry a certain expression of American ideals is, or often appears to be, completely over. My study habits haven’t improved since college; like an idiot, I put off watching all 14 hours of “The Roosevelts” until I absolutely had to watch them on a deadline binge this...

An arrest warrant was issued Friday in Texas for Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson after he was indicted on a child abuse charge for using a branch to spank his son. He won't play in Sunday's game against the New England Patriots. The Vikings said they had deactivated Peterson for Sunday's game Friday evening, just after his lawyer and the Montgomery County sheriff's office confirmed he was Read Adrian Peterson's lawyer Rusty Hardin's statement in full below: Adrian Peterson has been informed that he was indicted by a grand jury in Montgomery County, Texas for Injury to a...

Painting the Catholic Church as "out of touch" is like shooting fish in a barrel, what with the funny hats and gilded churches. And nothing makes it easier than the Church's stance against contraception. Many people, (including our editor) are wondering why the Catholic Church doesn't just ditch this requirement. They note that most Catholics ignore it, and that most everyone else finds it divisive, or "out-dated." C'mon! It's the 21st century, they say! Don't they SEE that it's STUPID, they scream. Here's the thing, though: the Catholic Church is the world's biggest and oldest organization. It has buried all...

Back in March, I wrote a piece for CatholicVote about FDA evaluation of a process that would create multi-parent embryos: Things like this always begin for such seemingly noble scientific reasons, don’t they? But they rarely stop there. And of course in addition to creating tri-parent offspring, which creates ethical and genealogical nightmares in its own right, virtually every instance of embryonic modification involves a slew of violations of the moral law, from in-vitro fertilization to the destruction of fertilized human embryos — human life — deemed imperfect or unnecessary to achieve the desired outcome. This morning, I read...

As my daughter, Kristin, and I recently browsed through my last book, 30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family, we came across a chapter entitled, Vow To Be The Parent (Not Your Child’s Best Friend). I had to laugh to myself because Kristin—my third and youngest child—is now 22 and married, and I know my days of "active parenting" are more or less over. She is now first and foremost a friend. As long as there is breath in me I will be her mother - ready to provide counsel and advice as I am invited to share...

Hundreds of adoptive parents in New York City who've sent their children to live elsewhere continue to get monthly government subsidies of up to $1,700 per child. They can continue receiving the checks until the child turns 21 years old.They gave up on their “hard-to-place" adopted kids — but not on the government check intended for the discarded kids’ care. Hundreds of adoptive parents across the five boroughs who've sent their children to live elsewhere are continuing to pull in monthly checks of up to $1,700 per child while the city, state and feds look the other way, the Daily...