David Poecking

    In recent years, I’ve become fascinated with the use of “extravagance” as an expression of Christian spirituality. While the word has negative connotations of waste or indulgence, Jesus often invokes fiscal extravagance positively: the forgiveness of great debts,... Read More →

    “It is not enough that I succeed; everyone else must fail.” Google attributes this quote to a Mongol conqueror of the 12th and 13th centuries, though how Google would know baffles me: I can’t find one blog or social media post signed Genghis Khan. Seriously, the... Read More →

  When Jesus says at his death, “It is finished” (also translated “It is accomplished”), he refers not only to his earthly ministry, but to the purpose for which man and woman were created: to love God and neighbor wholeheartedly for as long as we live. With Jesus’ victory... Read More →

    Christmas incites observers to contemplate the overthrow of the worldly order on behalf of the oppressed. The pro-life movement, in order to protect the unborn, sustains the seditious nature of Christmas and enlivens Christmas hope. Casting down the Mighty Sometime... Read More →

      The Sisters of Life are no strangers to readers of the Human Life Review. But they pretty much were to me before my Bishop invited one of them, Sr. Virginia Joy, to speak to the clergy and lay ministers of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. I had no idea what I... Read More →

    I may flatter myself, but I like to think I’ve matured as a prolifer. and having learned some philosophy and theology,  I was pro-life out of moral principle. Now, however, I increasingly think that to be pro-life is to share in the extravagant love and mercy of God... Read More →

    “That’s what I’m talking about.” English dictionaries cite this phrase as an idiom for approval, satisfaction, and vindication: Prior words or actions may have been inadequate, but this at last is how I want things to be. Because the pro-life movement has a political... Read More →

    In a rural stretch of East Africa, where I lived for two years, I once observed the fate of a flock of sheep without their shepherd. It was market day, and whoever was tending them had wandered off, distracted by the abundant produce temptingly spread across the... Read More →

    Prolifers can learn from the marvelously practical language of Alcoholics Anonymous. In AA, the phrase “stinking thinking” refers to destructive habits of thought that tend to return the alcoholic to the bottle. Those of us concerned with abortion do well to be alert to... Read More →

    I’ve always admired the title of the organization “Priests for Life”—let’s not go into the controversies or scandals—as an ingenious name because it is a fundamentally priestly role to be for life. And what I mean by a “priestly” role here is not specifically... Read More →