A bitterly cold late January Friday evening found me outdoors at dusk on an “Owl Prowl” in northwestern Connecticut. A few weeks prior, I had arranged with my friend and fellow (though ‘expert’) birder, Ken, to search out the wintering, yet active, nocturnal large birds.
Author: settinger
This Is Infanticide
While excommunicating Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his pro-abortion flunkies is a popular notion, it may not be the solution to the problem. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio says he will not excommunicate the governor who last month signed into law the most permissive abortion law in the country. The bishop bases his decision on sound reasoning. First of all, Cuomo and his allies would wear such an action as a badge of courage. He could play the martyr and say, “Look what the big bad Church has done to me.”
Prayers for Cuomo
Dear Editor: Each church should name Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Prayer of the Faithful and also name the members of the legislature in their community (“Let Us Not Judge, Let Us Pray For Governor Cuomo,” Feb. 2). However, some of our clergy are so far out Democrats that they will praise him.
Anything Is Possible With God’s Grace
One beautiful July Saturday three summers ago, some former co-workers and I were enjoying lunch on the Coney Island boardwalk when I put out an invitation for Mass later that evening.
African-American Influence on Catholicism
FROM THE 1920s through the 1960s more than 300,000 African-Americans across the country chose to enter into communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Their choices to become Catholic set them apart from most African-American Christians who were members of Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal and Holiness traditions.
A True Existential Threat
In 1983, ABC Television broadcast a “made-for-TV” film entitled “The Day After.” This film helped shape the consciousness of a generation of young people who watched it. It tells the story of what would occur if a nuclear war actually occurred between the then-Soviet Union and the United States. Watching the film today, nearly 36 years later, one is aware that, artistically perhaps, it has not aged well. Regardless, the message remains the same. To engage in a nuclear war would be catastrophic.
Christ Gives Certain Hope of Victory
Two images on the shelf above my desk keep my focus as I write this column: a crumbling drawing of Jesus salvaged from my childhood home that dates back to the 1960s, and a figurine of St. Michael the Archangel, that my brother Larry gave me. The drawing of Jesus, so lifelike that His eyes seem to pierce the soul, is disintegrating, tearing, and browning at the edges; the St. Michael figure lost half of its left wing when I dropped it a good while back. These images guide me both for what they depict, and – much like the People of God, the Mystical Body of Christ – how they are damaged, but yet endure.
Inspiring Future Journalists
by Michael Rizzo
THE START OF the spring semester at St. John’s University, Jamaica, brought with it new classes, students returning to campus and for journalism majors, a day related to their area of study that is often overlooked.
Chinese Immigrants Prepare to Celebrate New Year
Chinese New Year is Tuesday, Feb. 5 and it is the most important festival for Chinese people. It is like Thanksgiving Day for Americans.
Rush to Judgment
If we can learn anything from the Covington Catholic event which so overshadowed the real intent of the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., perhaps it is to be aware of how quickly we respond to news we read on the internet. As has become known since more video footage has been released, some of the immediate reactions of the media like that of The New York Times has been proven wrong.