by George Weigel The Catholic Church began compiling “martyrologies” – lists of saints, typically martyrs – during the first centuries after Constantine. In the pre-Vatican II breviary, a reading from the Roman Martyrology, or what we might call the Catholic Book of Witnesses, was an integral part of the Office of Prime, the “hour” recited after […]
by Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk CNN recently profiled the case of Marlise Munoz, who was both pregnant and brain dead. Its report noted that Munoz was “33 years old and 14 weeks pregnant with the couple’s second child when her husband found her unconscious on their kitchen floor on November 26. Though doctors had pronounced her […]
by George Weigel When the Holy See signed the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, a friend knowledgeable in legal matters said, with considerable vehemence, that the Convention was a snare and a delusion that would eventually come back to bite the Vatican. The bite came earlier this month in a […]
by George Weigel Pete Seeger died on Jan. 27, rich in years – 94, to be exact – and in honors: a lifetime-achievement Grammy, the National Medal for the Arts. His death rated a segment on the PBS News Hour, during which the inconvenient fact that Seeger had been a member of the U.S. Communist Party […]
by George Weigel Papal approbation being no bad thing, I was delighted to learn that Pope Francis, in a homily a few weeks ago, had suggested that his congregants learn the date of their baptisms and celebrate it – which is precisely what I have been proposing to audiences around the country this past year […]
by George Weigel Twenty-five years ago, on Jan. 27, 1989, a joint statement from the communist government of Poland, the Solidarity trade union and the Catholic Church announced a national “Roundtable” to discuss the country’s future, including major structural issues of political and economic reform. The Roundtable began the following month; basic agreements were reached […]
by Msgr. Joseph Calise TODAY’S SCRIPTURES circle around the theme of the light breaking into the darkness of the human experience. In the first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, we hear that a “people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” and learn of the joy that accompanied this revelation. […]
by George Weigel TWO) RECENT BOOKS suggest that, amidst challenges and problems, the pace of authentic Catholic renewal is accelerating in the U.S. “Renewal: How a New Generation of Faithful Priests and Bishops Is Revitalizing the Catholic Church” (Encounter Books) by Anne Hendershott and Christopher White was nicely timed to coincide with Pope Francis’ recently […]
by Karen Osborne These days, you might ask your friends to “chill,” or post a “selfie” for Facebook. In the 1970s, you would have asked your friend “can you dig it?” or to “book it” from a boring party. Cool things in the 1920s were the “cat’s pajamas,” and people got the “heebie-jeebies” at Halloween. […]
by Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk In her still-widely-read 1971 article, “A Defense of Abortion,” Judith Jarvis Thomson sets up a thought experiment known as “The Famous Violinist Problem” to argue that abortion ought to be morally justified when a pregnancy arises out of sexual assault: “You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to […]
