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    The penitential season of Lent is upon us, when every year we ask ourselves what we will give up. Because we almost always choose something that gives us pleasure, we may spend the next forty days looking forward to when we can take it back. This is not a very... Read More →

    The pro-life movement is ultimately about extending the protection of the law to unborn babies; those of all faiths, or none, contribute meaningfully to that humanitarian cause. But for Christians, our pro-life witness must be subsumed into Our Lord’s healing work... Read More →

    In the first chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians, Saint Paul writes: “The preaching of the cross is to them that [are] perish[ing], foolishness; but unto us which are [being] saved, it is the power of God.” Recently preaching on this passage, I first... Read More →

  Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak (Ps 12:1-2).   Predictably, passage in the House of the Born-Alive Abortion... Read More →

  The Church recognizes the absolute necessity of repetition. The Christian Year repeats its seasons—Advent through Pentecost Season (or Ordinary Time)—year after year, so that the congregation and the individual can be renewed in the whole Gospel. Week after week, the... Read More →

January is my least favorite month, followed closely by February. In fact, the only reason I dislike them in that order is because in January there is still February to endure. I have never liked the cold of winter, the inconvenience of snow, and the long wait for the sprouting... Read More →

    The death of Pope Benedict XVI on December 31, 2022, brought an end to the earthly pilgrimage of this great servant of the servants of God. Joseph Ratzinger’s sacred journey to eternal life began at the baptismal font of his parish church in Marktl, Bavaria, on... Read More →

    One day, a priest of my acquaintance heard the voice of a young woman through the screen of his confessional: “Father, tomorrow I will have an abortion. I know that it is wrong. Can you forgive me in advance?” The priest was stunned. “Dear child,” he said, “wh... Read More →

    “I’m done with the pro-life movement.” I heard that trope all too often this past fall, as erstwhile prolifers washed their proverbial hands of responsibility for the failures and foolishness of so-called pro-life politicians in this year’s midterm elections. The... Read More →

  A brilliant novel from 2021 that is mostly about life lived in “the portal,” that is, on social media, makes, mid-course, a dramatic turn and engages the world of the flesh. The sister of the unnamed female narrator conceives a child who is prenatally diagnosed with a... Read More →