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  On the first Sunday in Lent this year, many churches will read St. Luke’s account of our Lord’s forty days’ temptations in the wilderness, which is preceded by a genealogy of Jesus (Lk. 3:23-38). St. Matthew’s Gospel has a genealogy too (Mt. 1:1-17), proceeding from... Read More →

  I recently read Carmen Joy Imes’s Bearing God’s Name, an accessible, albeit somewhat academic meditation on the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai. This is just my sort of thing, both meditative and intellectual, biblical and gentle. During the course of the book, Imes... Read More →

    Persuasive people are logical, passionate—and credible. And undergirding credibility is the virtue of integrity. If prolifers want to win people over to the pro-life cause, we should be in the habit of building and repairing our own integrity. A lack of integrity... Read More →

    You may have heard that President Trump recently pardoned several prolifers who were arrested and jailed for peacefully praying/protesting at abortion clinics. Kayleigh McEnany of Fox News interviewed three of them: Paulette Harlow (who was accompanied on set by her... Read More →

    Women in leadership roles are to some degree immune from public criticism. Often, those who find female leaders lacking tend to restrict their observations to private communication. Afraid of being labeled “sexist,” they pretty much silence their concerns. Sure,... Read More →

    In my last reflection here, I argued against euthanasia and physician assisted suicide—medically available options in an increasing number of countries, and states in the U.S. But as with many other unethical practices, simply making the case for their wrongness is... Read More →

  Someone once remarked that life is a series of interruptions. That certainly is the case for the pastor of a parish in the city that never sleeps! Yet this description of day-to-day life really applies to just about everyone. We all have tasks to accomplish each day. We... Read More →

  At the time of our Lord’s birth, Jews were present in most major cities throughout the known world. This was called the “Diaspora,” which the story of Pentecost refers to in the Book of Acts (2:1-11), where we read that, “Staying in Jerusalem were devout Jews of every... Read More →

      In the ancient world, baby girls were in effect disposable. Women were necessary to produce the next generation, but they could not inherit, fight in wars, or carry the family name, so girls were not generally seen as worthy of much investment. In parts of ancient... Read More →

  On the Sunday before Christmas, many Christians will hear an excerpt from the “Visitation” of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-56). The story climbs the heights of pro-life philosophy, so I quote a portion here: Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste... Read More →