The Girl Scouts’ Radical Friends
Tell me who you hang out with and I’ll tell you who you are. Anna Maria Chávez, CEO of Girl Scouts USA (GSUSA), offers this pithy saying as her favorite quote. In order to figure out who the Girl Scouts are, I suppose we must follow Ms. Chávez’ logic and look at the organizations that GSUSA [...]
Pio Nono, the Washington Monument and the Purloined Block of Marble
Well it took long enough. George Washington had been dead for more than three decades before a society was founded to build a monument to his honor in the city which bore his name. In 1832, the centenary of the birth of Washington, the Washington National Monument Society was founded. The Society began raising funds [...]
Tenderhearted
How often do we see life through a child’s eyes? When we are young and come directly from God, we enter this world without any preconceived expectations or formulated opinions. We embrace life fearlessly and lovingly. We see those around us through compassionate eyes. We love unconditionally, not expecting anything except the same love and [...]
HOW TO FIND FAITH AT THE MOVIES: Your Real Agenda
In the series HOW TO FIND FAITH AT THE MOVIES, John has invited us to take a hero’s journey in search of faith through watching movies. As seen in our ordinary world, we first encountered The Fool’s Quest to Understand. Then we considered how each of us is called to adventure through well-drawn questions that present a true issue: Issuing the Call [...]
When God Says “No”
Have you ever prayed really hard about a decision – perhaps one involving a new job or a new relationship – and you were absolutely certain that God would answer your prayer in a specific way? You would get the job, the guy or girl, the promotion or the recognition for work well done. But you [...]
A Woman is Made to Be A Woman
My first grandchild was born a week ago and God has given me tons of lessons since. My head is swirling from them all. She has changed our whole world and she is tiny. I always fought the idea that the wife and mother had to do so much more work than the husband. I [...]
New Age and the Need for Soul Food
In this world where science and reason reign as twin demi-gods, there is curiously a sizeable portion of intelligent Catholics being lured into the new age lair. There’s no shortage of articulate theologians and apologists what with Catholic publishers and websites swamping us with brilliant Catholic writers. Yet the baffling mystery of Catholics with one [...]
Should We Pray For The Souls Of Murderers And Terrorists?
A few years ago, upon hearing of the death of the infamous Dr. Jack Kevorkian, I wrote about the importance of praying for his soul. As you may suspect, I received a lot of backlash. The recent death of Canadian abortionist Henry Morgentaler provided an opportunity to revisit my article and the results were the [...]
The Right to Keep and Bear Children
In 1968, an ecologist named Garrett Hardin wrote an article for Science magazine titled “The Tragedy of the Commons.” A utilitarian and Malthusian, Hardin argued that the modern welfare state made it possible for people to gain the advantages of large families while socializing their costs. Therefore, the solution to overpopulation must be based in [...]
Save Our Catholic Schools! Send This Article To Your Bishop!
My concerns over our Catholic schools are increasing as we are seeing a perfect storm developing which could cost our schools dearly in terms of treasure and reputation. I have written previously here at Catholic Stand about the general failure of our Catholic schools to be saint-producing factories, instead churning out lukewarm young Catholics for [...]
Love With Reckless Abandon
A number of years ago, I did a poster presentation at a conference that turned out to be painfully dull. None of my target audience was very interested in my discussion of Perinatal Loss interventions. Oh Lord, why did you bring me here and am I really going to stay overnight and interact with these [...]
Richard Dawkins on Understanding Fractions
Are you English? Richard Dawkins gave the correct answer: It’s a matter of degree. You’re as English as the fractional concentration of Englishmen among your ancestors. No matter what fractional concentration of your ancestors is English, that fraction plus the fractional concentration of non-Englishmen among your ancestors equals one. Richard Dawkins has used this arithmetic as [...]
The Girl Scouts: A “Groundbreaking” Feminist Moment
It’s hard to find two women more pro-abortion than Marlo Thomas and Amy Richards. But the Girl Scouts love ‘em. These two feminists headlined a recent Girl Scout-sponsored live screening and panel discussion of the “acclaimed documentary MAKERS,” a feminist, pro-abortion, video narrative of “trailblazing” women whose “pioneering contributions” changed America. What kind of pioneering contributions? I’ll get to that in a minute. (Amy Richards’ [...]
Get Our Youth Addicted to Being Catholic
“Choosing Christ is the most important decision anyone can make because it is the only decision that has eternal consequences.” ~Father Larry Richards The young Catholics of the world are preparing for World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro this upcoming July. Pope Francis has already marked this event as his first trip back home [...]
Why Godparents Matter
A few months ago we wrote about the Catholic Church’s teaching on infant baptism, specifically the Church’s command to have infants baptized as soon as possible after they are born. Not surprisingly, we encountered a diversity of strong opinions in the comment box. One frustrated commenter defined the godparent selection process as a “minefield.” No [...]
Peter or Judas: Hanging or Hope?
“Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings Rabbi!” and kissed him. Jesus replied, “Friend, do what you came for.” Matthew 26:49-50 “Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “this very night you will disown me three times.” But Peter insisted [...]
Ordinary Time Needs Extraordinary Faith
The Church is back in Ordinary Time on its liturgical calendar. For a lot of people (including myself) there are a lot things about the Church that are hard to comprehend, but calling this time of the year ‘ordinary’ sounds not only a no-brainer but also appropriate. With the pains of Good Friday completely healed [...]
Relativism: Missing The Truth
Whether a moral, ethical or philosophical statement can be absolutely true is the central issue of our time. We live in a culture bombarded by messages from television, books, radio, magazines and social media. The discoveries of archaeology and technology in the last 100 years have placed the entire past and a vision of the [...]
Why Don’t They Come Here Legally?
Last week, I had the pleasant surprise of meeting a very well-known figure in Catholic media. We were attending the same conference, and I practically ran into him on my way back from a break. Excitedly, I introduced myself. He very pleasantly told me his name (as if I didn’t know it), and asked, with [...]
Father Corapi and Praying for Priests
Last week the Church celebrated the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and later this month, on June 24th, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. This time of year, as the Church celebrates these liturgies I am reminded of one of the most excellent homilies I [...]
Austerity Is Good For You
Don’t be fooled by the cultural tendency to lead a sedentary, Starbucks-filled life (as much as I love Starbucks), striving towards beach vacations and massages. That’s not what you were made for. To live a happy and holy life, discipline and sacrifice must be cornerstones in your life. Fast to be able to savor the [...]
The Boy Scouts: Newly “Out and Proud”
Uniformed Boy Scouts marched front and center this past weekend, leading the Utah “gay pride parade“ in Salt Lake City. No matter that officials from the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) told the marchers not to wear their uniforms. (BSA policies prohibit Scouts from wearing uniforms while engaging in social or political advocacy.) For these Scouts, [...]
John Henry Newman on the Psychology of Faith and Reason
To understand Cardinal Newman well, you need to know that he was a master psychologist who had great insight into the complexity and richness of the human mind. The three books where Newman writes explicitly about philosophical psychology are Newman’s The Idea of a University, Fifteen Sermons Preached before the University of Oxford, and An [...]
Auto Prudence: A Driving Story
Most likely, you did some driving last Memorial Day, and if you did that, you almost assuredly got caught in bad traffic that was bad for no obvious reason. Depending on your temperament you may have tried to figure out how it got to stop-and-go traffic in a 60mph zone for no apparent reason; you [...]
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