Jim Mutscheller, who died on April 10, wanted to be known as a man “who had led a good life,” for he was “quiet, humble, and so conservative that he’d eat crabs with a suit and tie on.” And therein lies a tale – and a yardstick by which to measure pro sports then and now.
Guest Columnists
A Modern Martyr: Father van der Lugt
A little over a year ago, Jesuit Father Frans van der Lugt was assassinated in Syria. His story is inspirational for the sheer faithfulness and integrity of his witness. I keep his picture in my office to remind me of this witness.
Practicing Charity In Our Words
YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD the familiar: “We care about what you think.” You’ve seen or heard it nearly every day via telephone, online or in commercial surveys. Companies gather the feedback forms in a variety of ways and the possibilities of making ourselves heard appears to be endless – and perhaps, too tempting.
Austerity, Conservation Should Be Our Platform
ON A RECENT TRIP out West, I once again became aware of one of St. John XXIII’s reasons for initiating the Second Vatican Council: to encourage the Church to adjust to changing times.
‘Wolf Hall’ and Anti-Catholicism
“WOLF HALL,” THE BBC adaptation of Hillary Mantel’s novel about early Tudor England, began airing on PBS’ “Masterpiece Theater” Easter Sunday night. It’s brilliant television. It’s also a serious distortion of history. And it proves, yet again, that anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable bigotry in elite circles in the Anglosphere.
Piecemeal Procreation and Three-Parent Embryos
AN ETHICAL RUBICON was crossed when the first in-vitro fertilization (IVF)-conceived baby came into the world in 1978. With human reproduction no longer limited to the embrace of a man and a woman, people felt empowered to take their own sperm and eggs, or those of others, and create their much desired children bit-by-cellular-bit.
Walking with Others In Times of Pain
In late 2012, when we knew my wife, Monica, had only a short time to live because of uterine cancer, people began asking me if I planned on writing a book about widowhood and grief after she passed away.
Newman and Vatican II
What might we learn from John Henry Newman about the proper way to “read” Vatican II, as we anticipate the 50th anniversary of its conclusion on Dec. 8?
Military Mom’s Stories of Courage on the Home Front
In her just-released book, “Be Safe, Love Mom,” Elaine Lowry Brye seeks to help mothers whose children are in uniform.
Easter and Evangelism
GALATIANS 1:15-18 is not your basic witness-to-the-Resurrection text. Yet St. Paul’s mini-spiritual autobiography helps us understand just how radically the experience of the Risen Lord changed the first disciples’ religious worldview, and why an evangelical imperative was built into that experience.