I am writing this note almost exactly one year, to the minute, since one of the most wonderful and powerful moments in my life. A year ago, I was in Maryland at a hotel located along one of the many bays in the region. After a client event, I had an extra day to write…
The Catholic Thing—Today we begin the liturgical season defined by hope. The preface for Mass says that we dare to hope. Indeed, hope seems a more daring venture than ever. And yet for precisely that reason, it holds more importance than ever. In keeping with Chesterton’s famous aphorism — Hope means hoping when things are…
Bishop Paul Sirba of the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota died on Sunday, after suffering a heart attack before offering Mass. He was 59 years old. “It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I must inform you of tragic news regarding our Bishop,” said a Dec. 1 statement from Fr. James B. Bissonette, who had…
CNA—A religious order in southern California is kicking off Advent with a digital calendar that allows Catholics to go more in-depth as they prepare for the Christmas season. The virtual calendar was launched on the first Sunday of Advent by the priests of the Norbertine order from St. Michael’s Abbey in Orange County, California. The…
CNA—Catholic business owners have both a grave responsibility and an opportunity to promote the Church’s social teaching in a difficult atmosphere, Pope Francis told young entrepreneurs Monday. “I am well aware that it is not easy, in everyday life, to reconcile the needs of the faith and the social teaching of the Church with the…
What is commonly known as the St. Andrew Christmas Novena — or The St Andrew Christmas Prayer— is not a novena (because it is prayed for more than nine days), nor is it a prayer to St. Andrew. Instead, it is a most simple, unusual and beautiful prayer recitation that prepares the soul for Christmas. …
“Anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: ‘Ye must have faith.’ It is a quality which the scientist cannot dispense with.” Max Planck, “Where is Science Going?” In Chapter 2 of my web-book,…
As I skim a few headlined stories below, it strikes me that in seven years or less a new generation of career-launching young adults will enter our businesses and companies with an entirely different mental outlook from even those of the last 10 years. Either these new young professionals will enter the workforce with remarkable…
Say it ain’t so! Some brands are just so iconic it’s unimaginable they would ever be other than what they’ve always been… And in a world that seems ever more driven by tech innovations and “how fast, how far, how much,” the sale of Tiffany & Co. matters. The iconic older brands with storied foundations…
CNA—The Louisiana Department of Justice is asking an appeals court to unseal documents from abortion provider June Medical Services (Hope Medical Group) in order to report evidence of criminal and professional misconduct against a staff member of the group that the department says was hidden from the Supreme Court. Attorneys for the Louisiana Department of…
NY Post—The 5-year-old boy hurled off a Mall of America balcony by a stranger in April is now “walking perfectly” and even back at school, his family says. Landen Hoffman fell nearly 40 feet from the balcony of the Minnesota mall — breaking his skull, face bones, both arms and a leg — when Emmanuel…
Texas native Tim VonDohlen, a long-time Catholic Business Journal columnist, is known as much for his business savvy and significant success as for his profound Catholic faith. That said, life has not always been smooth-sailing for Tim, nor for his wife, even though to meet either of them you would never know. Pat Von Dohlen…
CNA—The Salvation Army has denied accusations that it is an anti-LGBT organization in the wake of the Chick-Fil-A Foundation publicly severing ties with the group. “We’re saddened to learn that a corporate partner has felt it necessary to divert funding to other hunger, education and homelessness organizations — areas in which The Salvation Army, as…
The New Atlantis—On June 9, 2016, a law permitting physician-assisted suicide went into effect in California. The same day, Dr. Lonny Shavelson, an emergency medicine physician, opened the Bay Area End of Life Options clinic to provide the newly legal service. A longtime activist for the cause, Shavelson’s interest began in adolescence. In an interview…
BBC—For the first 17 years of his life, Pascal Siakam didn’t pick up a basketball much. It was just a game his older brothers played. Even though his father dreamed about one of his children growing up to play in the NBA, Siakam, the youngest of six siblings, was always more interested in other sports.…
In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, directly over the very spot where our Lord’s Cross stood, right where our Savior died for our salvation, there stands a Greek altar. Directly next to it stands a Latin altar. In between the two altars hangs an icon of the Mother of God. Right at…
CNA—A state law in Ohio that effectively defunds Planned Parenthood is legal, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday in a split decision. The state passed a law in 2016 that banned state funds from going to medical providers that offer abortions. In 2018, the Sixth Circuit unanimously found that Ohio’s law was…
On Friday, November 15, 2019, San Francisco Federal Judge Orrick—who is himself an abortion clinic founder and funder—succeeded in extracting a massive $2.2 million verdict from the jury against David Daleiden and Center for Medical Progress (CMP) for their felony-revealing undercover work exposing that Planned Parenthood routinely sells aborted human body parts and organs as core part…
CNA—A federal court in San Francisco found that pro-life advocate David Daleiden’s Center for Medical Progress caused “substantial harm” to Planned Parenthood by secretly recording meetings with abortion doctors and staff to expose their business practices. “Justice was not done today in San Francisco. While top Planned Parenthood witnesses spent six weeks testifying under oath…
CNA—The Diocese of Peoria announced Monday that Venerable Fulton Sheen will be beatified Dec. 21 at the city’s Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception. Sheen had been ordained a priest of the diocese in that cathedral Sept. 20, 1919. “It seems entirely fitting that the Beatification will take place at the end of…
