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I’ve been through hell several dozen times, and each time I go I want to take pictures and bring them back to show life-size on my living room wall with my $399 data projector from Microcenter in order to warn my family and friends. I find in the Gospel of Luke my folly in this daydream, for “if they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead” (16:31).Oh, well. If people won’t heed warnings, the next best thing is to give them a list of 10 must-see...

Everyone knows that good Christian girls love Jane Austen.But perhaps not everyone knows that good Catholic Christian girls also love St. Thomas Aquinas.That is why I had to have mama fetch my smelling salts when the Masked Thomist linked me to a whole series of posts on Austen, Aquinas and Aristotle at the Dominicana blog. In a series of 5 posts, Br. Aquinas Beale argues that, There is something more than romance and drama in the novels of Jane Austen, namely a systematic approach to leading the good and happy life. It’s true you know.Austen’s novels are a perfect education in...

heated dispute between a pro-life protester and parishioners of First Presbyterian Church in San Luis Obispo ended with police involvement and multiple citations issued on Dec. 14. However, after initially citing protester and Paso Robles resident Danny Ehinger for two municipal code violations on Dec. 14 and sticking by the decision in a conversation with New Times on Dec. 15, SLOPD Capt. Chris Staley said on Dec. 17 that the department has decided to dismiss both citations. “We reviewed the case with [SLO City Attorney Christine Dietrick], and we decided to dismiss both of the citations,” Staley said. “She didn’t...

(I offer this for those who need information to refute the lies about Islam being just another religion born from Abraham. Muhammad is NOT a descendant of Ismael and thus it is not a fulfillment of a prophecy given to Hagar in Genesis 16:11 or Genesis 21:13-21.) Ishmael is not the Father of Muhammad Sam Shamoun According to the Holy Bible Ishmael settled in Paran and married an Egyptian from whom he had twelve sons: "Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders...

Background: On Nov 5th, 2014, Dr. Gregory Fiebig, a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University (a Christian university), presented his pro-abortion views at the "Life vs Choice" public forum. His statements included, "I’m very strongly supportive of pro-choice, and I have a very theological reason for that." Days later, Dr. Fiebig gave a more detailed defense of legal abortion in a letter to IWU's student newspaper, The Sojourn. In a letter to the IWU community, President Dr. David Wright offered no evidence to change the perception that Dr. Fiebig supports legal abortion. This is why we are calling for Dr. Fiebig...

The phrase has become slippery. “Christian writer.” What does it mean? For some the phrase plays like a favorite old song, an evocation of the glory days of Greene, Waugh, Percy, O’Connor, et alia. Days long gone and sorely missed. For others “Christian writer” may spell an oxymoron, or at least refer to the kind of writer one would not like to meet at a Manhattan cocktail party. And for still others the phrase increasingly tends to serve as a signal that some exceptionally maudlin fiction is quivering like a bad cheese on the horizon. But even looking at the...

Many observers have called 2014 the “Year of the Bible Movie” and it’s easy to see why. A vast array of faith-based films have released this year, some to significant success including Heaven is for Real, Irreplaceable and Son of God. But Rick Santorum says we can do more than entertain with films. “Yes, we make films for the church,” he said recently at The Heritage Foundation. “We need to wake up the church!” As CEO of Echolight Studios, Santorum aims to do just that with the new documentary film One Generation Away. His group invites local churches to host...

Featured Term selected at random:BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY A term used by Petrarch and later writers of the exile of the popes at Avignon, France, from 1309 to 1377. Seven French popes--so called Clement V, John XXII, Benedict XII, Clement VI, Innocent VI, Blessed Urban V, and Gregory XI--were involved. Pope Gregory, the last one, yielded to the entreaties of St. Catherine of Siena (1347-80) to return to Rome in sprite of the protests of the King of France and most of the cardinals. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with...

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, one of the largest secular groups in America, announced it is erecting 11 different billboards across Chicago this week with various messages. Some of the ads ask people to "think for (themselves)," while others argue that kindness "comes from altruism" and not from "seeking divine reward." "Research shows that atheists and other nonbelievers remain at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to social acceptance. One reason for that is that even though at least 20% of the population today is nonreligious in the United States, many Americans have never knowingly met an...

Run, Don’t Walk, to the Nearing Jesus! By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe Lord’s coming is near. And though we have all been well taught that the word “Advent” means “coming,” there is the danger that we think we are only passively waiting for him to come.  It is not just that the Lord is coming to us, but that we are also journeying to Him. In fact, as the Advent prayers in the Roman Missal instruct, we ought to run, not walk, and hasten to greet Him as He draws near.The image of the Prodigal Son comes to mind. His...

Q. Your Eminence, you grew up before the Second Vatican Council. How do you remember those times? A. I grew up in a very beautiful time in the Church, in which we were carefully instructed in the faith, both at home and in the Catholic school, especially with the Baltimore Catechism. I remember the great beauty of the Sacred Liturgy, even in our little farming town, with beautiful Masses. And then, I’m of course most grateful for my parents who gave me a very sound up-bringing in how to live as a Catholic. So they were beautiful years. Q. A...

In 1909, a small community of farmers purchased some land for a Catholic mission church; after World War II, the area boomed with aviation and aerospace industries. St John Chrysostom Church in Inglewood, California, which seats at least 1,000, was finished in 1959 to accommodate this growing, thriving Catholic population. It is located minutes from Los Angeles International Airport and the 405 freeway.An “Art Deco Revival” edifice built entirely of reinforced concrete, St. John’s 182ft carillon bell tower can be seen from miles away. Art Deco-inspired architectural forms are used throughout the church, and the 42ft walls house intricate, Celtic...

We publish an analysis by John Thavis, journalist, author and speaker specializing in Vatican and religious affairsToday's Vatican report on the investigation of U.S. women's religious orders was largely positive in tone, in contrast to statements issued when the investigation began in 2009. At that time, Cardinal Franc Rodé, who headed the Vatican congregation for religious orders, said the study was aimed at identifying "secular" and "feminist" attitudes that had infiltrated the nuns' orders and helped cause a drastic decline in membership. Today's report didn't go there. Instead, it delineated real challenges facing religious orders while thanking the sisters repeatedly...

Morning and Evening Charles H. Spurgeon December 18, 2014 Morning Reading Rend your heart, and not your garments. —Joel 2:13 Garment-rendering and other outward signs of religious emotion, are easily manifested and are frequently hypocritical; but to feel true repentance is far more difficult, and consequently far less common. Men will attend to the most multiplied and minute ceremonial regulations—for such things are pleasing to the flesh—but true religion is too humbling, too heart-searching, too thorough for the tastes of the carnal men; they prefer something more ostentatious, flimsy, and worldly. Outward observances are temporarily comfortable; eye and ear are...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Abraham and Sarah New International Version (NIV) 21 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac[a] to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to...

Pray For Our American Heroes and Our Nation Stand Firm New International Version (NIV) Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

A woman kneels down as she lays flowers in a makeshift memorial near the site where a gunman held hostages for 16 hours at a popular Sydney cafe, Australia (PA) Father Brendan Purcell is based at St Mary's Cathedral, close to where Monday's siege took placeAn Irish priest based in Sydney said he was struck by how people turned to prayer when a gunman took hostages at a cafe.Father Brendan Purcell is based at St Mary’s Cathedral, just a five-minute walk from the nearby Lindt Cafe, where Iranian-born gunman Man Haron Monis took dozens of hostages on Monday morning.Father...

One young woman, a college student at Texas Christian University, tells the following story: “Several years ago, a 19-year-old mother found herself pregnant in Houston, Texas from a one night stand. She had a thriving acting and modeling career and was planning to move to LA to persue more in the performing arts as soon as she had enough money. Her parents were ex-pats in Indonesia, and she was living alone in the big city with no one to turn to. She had enough money to get an abortion, and she had the legal right to get an abortion since...

December 18, 2014Thursday of the Third Week of Advent    Reading 1 Jer 23:5-8 Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David;As king he shall reign and govern wisely,he shall do what is just and right in the land.In his days Judah shall be saved,Israel shall dwell in security.This is the name they give him:“The LORD our justice.” Therefore, the days will come, says the LORD,when they shall no longer say, “As the LORD lives,who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt”;but rather, "As the LORD...

George Weigel About a year ago, I suggested to one of the top editors of a major American newspaper that his journal’s coverage of things papal left something to be desired, as it seemed based on the assumption that Pope Francis was some kind of radical wild-man, eager to toss into the garbage bin of history all those aspects of Catholic faith and practice that mainstream western culture finds distasteful. My friend replied, in so many words, look, you know how these media narratives are: they’re like bamboo. Once they get started, there’s no stopping them. They just keep...