As we can see in the debate anticipating the Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson, many abortion arguments boil down to the question of when the occupant of the womb should be considered a human being. Prolifers—and biology textbooks—state the obvious... Read More →

Bleak and brutal. These words come to mind today—December 28, the Feast of the Holy Innocents—when the Church remembers the children who were murdered in what the poet John Donne calls “Herod’s jealous general doom” (“La Corona”). Of course, no words, poetic or prophetic, can... Read More →

As we drove through the beachfront resort community, our guide pointed out all the homes of famous people. These were second (and third) residences that belonged to people who lived elsewhere most of the time. Gesturing to one of them, he told... Read More →

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17).  During Christmas week the church commemorates the Feast of the Holy Innocents, honoring the infant victims of... Read More →

(This first appeared on our site on January 23, 2017. The visual is an original Nick Downes cartoon created for  Hentoff’s Great Defender of Life Award, in 2005) He shocked his friends, and lost a good many of them. He said something no one in his circles would say. In... Read More →

I don’t like it when the Church moves feast days. Today, January 6, is the feast of the Epiphany—even though the Church celebrated it last Sunday. January 6 is special in my family of origin because it’s the birthday of my parents’ first born, Robert—who died, 27 years ago, at... Read More →