Learning to be Quick to Listen

It’s a popular notion today that all religions are essentially the same, their worth measured solely by their contribution to " social justice ." The belief is that as long as a faith provides peace, strength, and inspires attention to others' needs, its specific doctrines don't truly matter. There is a measure of truth to this emphasis, as a true religion must affirm, promote, and defend the dignity of the human person. However, reducing religion to mere social utility misses a foundational point articulated by figures like Cardinal Gerhard Müller : the question of God is inevitably linked to the question of self. As Müller argues, a proper doctrine about God has enormous consequences for our very existence. In the Catholic view, we don't need to justify our existence to ourselves or others; rather, "God justifies that I am and that I am who I am." This recognition of a transcendent Creator is the ultimate defense of human worth. When the transcendent n...

You have hopefully seen the report that dozens of buses of March for Life participants were stranded on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, after a small accident caused a huge back up of traffic Friday evening. The massive dumping of snow then left many of the buses unable to carry on. LifeSite spoke with several of the groups that are stranded, and found that the marcher's spirits were high. One group of Catholic students from Omaha and Minneapolis-St. Paul suggested that all the pilgrims celebrate Mass. Without a proper altar available, they took things into their own hands and made an altar of snow. The Missionary Benedict Sisters from Norfolk, Nebraska posted that, "Word spread around, and on one bus, the priest had around 300 hosts, and offered to celebrate the mass. Well word traveled around fast and soon we had like 6 priests and 500 people there. God is good!!!" “We have now been stuck over 15 hours in the snow because of this so called #jonasblizzard but that isn't ...

In a narrowly tailored 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court June 30 said closely held companies may be exempted from a government requirement to include contraceptives in employee health insurance coverage under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The court said that Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Woods, the two family-run companies that objected to the government mandate that employees be covered for a range of contraceptives, including drugs considered to be abortifacients, are protected from the requirement of the Affordable Care Act. The opinion essentially held that for-profit companies may hold protected religious views. But the court also said that government requirements do not necessarily lose if they conflict with an employer's religious beliefs. The court noted that cases challenging the mandate for nonprofit entities, such as Catholic colleges and faith-based employers, are pending and that the June 30 ruling doesn't consider them. The decision also did not delve into whethe...

I was listening to Catholic Radio this morning and heard an interesting conversation about abortion. Perhaps I haven't been paying close enough attention but apparently many of the Pink organizations (namely Susan Komen Breast Cancer) have created numerous alliances with Planned Parenthood. As you are well aware, PP is extremely pro-abortion and promotes the culture of death with the use of our tax dollars. Karen Malec, who runs the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, maintains a very informative website that explains this connection much better than I could. The program also talked about a useful source of information on the after-effects of abortion and post-abortion healing. The website was an eye opener for me and I consider myself a very informed pro-lifer. Just goes to show how life can distract you from what is truly important. I would urge you to pray for an end to abortion in America. It is truly the most egregious human-rights violation that our great nation allows.