Rejoice!

In the Roman liturgical calendar, this is Gaudete Sunday, “Rejoice Sunday,” a break in the (formerly) stark fasting and penance of the Advent season in favor of a little anticipatory celebration of Christmas. If, like members of monastic orders, you’ve been steeped in self-denial...
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Mary Immaculate

Today is the Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception. It is often misunderstood: many think it refers to the conception of Jesus and the Virgin birth. But it is Mary’s conception in the womb of her mother we celebrate. Mary’s conception was immaculate because God ordained...
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Advent Courage and Confidence

Advent is a time of expectation and preparation for the Christmas celebration of Christ’s first coming into our world. It is also a time to meditate upon the prospect of his second coming at the end of time. “No one knows the day or hour” (Mt. 26:34) when the Lord will return to...
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Thoughts on the Dobbs Oral Arguments

(Reprinted with permission from Stepping out of the Boat, Ed Mechmann’s public policy blog, December 2, 2021. Image thanks to Feminists Choosing Life of New York.) Ed Mechmann is a life-long New Yorker, a graduate of Columbia College and Harvard Law School, and a former...
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Dobbs v. Jackson: Folly—and Furor

Every day, the beneficence and wisdom of our public “expert” class look less beneficent, and certainly less wise. There’s Covid; there’s public schooling and job opportunity; there’s race relations; there’s government spending. To which well-known topics, let’s join abortion and...
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Grieving With Hope

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (1...
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Integrity and Character: Marvin Olasky

We were surprised to see a New York Times headline this week:  His Reasons for Opposing Trump Were Biblical. Now a Top Christian Editor Is Out. A clash over culture and politics comes to World, a groundbreaking journalistic that covers evangelical Christians. Marvin Olasky, our...
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technician working on cancer research

IVF Extras

She was telling me about her friend, a married woman who, having found it impossible to conceive a child, had turned to IVF. Two embryos were implanted in her womb, but as they were developing problems arose, resulting in a highly dangerous pregnancy from which she could have...
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“Clown Abortion” Comedy Skit Punches Down

You may have seen or read about the recent Saturday Night Live Weekend Update skit ridiculing the Texas Heartbeat Act. Longtime cast member Cecily Strong appeared as “Goober the Clown” to talk about the “clown abortion” she had when she was 23 years old, saying: “It’s a rough...
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Annie: Great-grandmother by Love (not Blood)

Annie Frances McCampbell was born in 1897 on Christmas Day. She hated having a Christmas birthday. As a child, I recall being shocked to hear an elderly woman complain that having her birthday on Christmas meant she got only one annual gift instead of two. Somehow, hearing an...
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