A Pastor’s Reflections was created in 2015 by Reverend W. Ross Blackburn, who has been a pastor in the Anglican Church in North America for 20 years, and a longtime contributor to the Human Life Review. It was then expanded to Pastoral Reflections, with contributions from a variety of clerics and religious who write on abortion and other grave moral transgressions that not only hurt individuals but deform the culture and threaten religious liberty. We are expanding again, this time to include the lay faithful, in our new feature Faithful Reflections. We look forward to continued wisdom from our pastors as well as thoughtful reflections from those for whom faith is foundational. 

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Articles

Love as Prelude to Persuasion

I served for 11 years as a chaplain in the United States Naval Reserve. Chaplains’ school consisted of a seven-week training program at Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island. One of the lessons we learned was how to carry on “deck-plate...
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The Names We Give

  I have taught in schools, seminaries, and churches all my adult life. My first job was as babysitter to my cousins, followed by nursery attendant at my church. My first job after college was teaching pre-school, where I was assigned...
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On the Storming of the Capitol: No to Political Violence. Yes to Civil Society

  The one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church strives to serve the Gospel of Life. Remember that the Gospel of Life is simply the Gospel, and that the Gospel is simply the Gospel of Life. (St. John Paul II and Rev. Richard John Neuhaus...
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Good Friday and Jesus’ Conception

  You may have heard it said—even in a sermon, which should be free of such speculation—that Christians chose December 25 to celebrate Jesus’ birth because that was the day the Romans held a festival celebrating the sun god. The idea, oft...
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New Life, New Mess

  Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” It’s an aggressive instruction. The word for “put,” as elsewhere in this passage, can mean...
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The Prince of Life

  Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous. The Prince of Life, who died, reigns immortal. Alleluia! (Victimae Paschali Laudes) As I grow older, I find myself increasingly interested in obituaries (I wonder why). And there,...
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The Donkey’s Vital Work, and Ours

  “Jesus . . . sent two of his disciples and said to them: ‘Go into the village opposite you, and immediately upon entering it, you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone should say to...
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Read Love First

  When he was in high school, my eldest son was assigned Jonathan Edwards’s famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” He was to compare it with a sermon of his own choosing—one his deeply Calvinist teacher might expect him...
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About Conspiracy Theories

Psalm 83 For they conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant (83:5).    “Conspiracy theorist” is a term thrown about much these days, usually to belittle those who believe that sometimes people engage in, well, conspiracies....
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