Learning to be Quick to Listen

The promotional tour of a recent film on the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe has helped reawaken devotion to the Patroness of the Americas, while inspiring a deeper conversion among Catholics. “We need things that are artistic, that leave impressions, that will help guide people back to our faith,” said Tim Watkins, director of 'The Blood and the Rose'. The film centers around three major aspects of the apparition of the Virgin Mother to St. Juan Diego: the historical background; the apparition itself and Mary’s message; and the scientific analysis of the image on the tilma. “Even though this image was made in 1531, there are still things that we found in the twentieth century that made us go, ‘Oh wow,’” Watkins explained. “It begs the question: what else is in this image that hasn’t been discovered yet?” Careful study and inspection of the image throughout recent history has yielded surprising discoveries about the image, such as the tiny human figures and face...

Pro-life lawmakers issued statements supporting a government decision to investigate the federal funding of Planned Parenthood and other organizations that perform abortions. “The federal government providing funding to abortion providers is a serious problem in our nation,” said Rep. Diane Black (R- Tenn.) in an August 5 statement. She said that she is pleased with the Government Accountability Office’s decision to investigate the use of taxpayer funds by abortion groups. The independent study of how much and for what purpose these dollars are allocated to all abortion providers is necessary for Congress to ensure accountability and oversight, she stressed. Earlier this year, more than 50 members of Congress asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate how Planned Parenthood and other organizations that promote or perform abortions use federal funds. Black has also sponsored the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which would prevent federal funds from be...

Pope Francis denounced consumerism as a poison that threatens true happiness, which comes from membership in the church. The pope made his remarks before praying the Angelus with a noontime crowd in St. Peter's Square. "The encounter with the living Jesus, in the great family that is the church, fills the heart with joy, because it fills it with true life, a profound goodness that does not pass away or decay," he said. "But this experience must face the daily vanity, the poison of emptiness that insinuates itself into our society based on profit and having (things), that deludes young people with consumerism," he said. "Young people are particularly sensitive to the emptiness of meaning and values that surrounds them," he said. "And they, unfortunately, pay the consequences."