Crisis—“Don’t immanentize the eschaton!” was William F. Buckley’s popularized version of an idea taken from the political philosopher Eric Voegelin. Buckley later made it a political slogan: “Don’t let them immanentize the eschaton!” With apologies to Voegelin scholars, what Buckley meant was: “Don’t let ideologues try to create heaven on earth, because they’ll deprive us…
Biblical teaching and medical ethics led Dr. Rod Story to leave a hospital that was asking him to violate both. Since resigning from Pullman Regional Hospital in Washington state at the end of 2017 rather than participate in “transgender” surgeries, Dr. Story has not only started his own successful direct primary care practice, but he…
Will you get different care by going to a doctor who is a professed Christian? How should a believer practice medicine? I’ve worked in the medical community for 15 years. My colleagues are good doctors, by and large. Medicine has a lot of standard procedures—how you treat blood pressure, diabetes or chronic illnesses—and, for the…
Catholic Business Journal brings you a moment from the past that is perhaps worth repeating elsewhere in the country, you be the judge—On Sept. 2, 2016, Dodger Stadium served as the center of a massive Venn diagram of local Catholics and lifelong fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers, as the ballpark hosted its first-ever “Catholic…
Two years after his death, the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is missed for many reasons, not least among them his colorful writing style. In one notable opinion, Scalia said this: “Like some ghoul in a late night horror movie that repeatedly sits up in its grave and shuffles abroad, after being repeatedly killed…
Aristotle, the famous Greek philosopher who lived four centuries before Christ, proposed the scientific theory of horror vacui. Based on his observations, he concluded that nature fills every empty space with something, even if it is only air. In his works Gargantua and Pantagruel, the Renaissance priest, doctor and scientist Rabelais popularized this idea with…
Pope Francis announced Monday that the Vatican will open its archives on the pontificate of Pope Pius XII. Confidential files of the pope who led the Church during World War II will be made available next year. “Serious and objective historical research” will be able to evaluate Pius XII’s “hidden but active diplomacy” “in its…
CNA—Before Sister Ruth Pfau arrived in Pakistan in the 1960s, life for leprosy victims in the country was filled with suffering and ostracization. In addition to the discomfort of the disfiguring disease itself, victims would often be isolated from society by others who feared catching the illness. But the work of Sister Pfau – a…
Steve Bannon aims to help revive Europe’s Christian roots. And he plans to do it at an 800-year-old monastery nestled in the mountains of central Italy. Trisulti monastery, south of Rome, is a 100-room complex founded in 1204 near an apparition of the Virgin Mary. There, hand-selected professors will teach core Judaeo-Christian principles to as…
Pat and I recently returned from the annual Legatus Summit in Dana Point, California. For those not familiar with Legatus it is an organization of leading Catholic business men and women from across America who are Ambassadors for Jesus Christ. At the Summit, you hear nationally recognized speakers and learn the current status of things…
When you name a thing squarely, it ceases its ability to deceive. It can no longer present itself in your understanding—or that of the public—as anything other than what it truly is. Then, and only then, can one find a genuine solution to any problem caused by that thing. For example, if church leaders were…
Pope Francis Sunday outlined eight points that the Church will focus on in an “all-out battle” against the sexual abuse of minors to, he said, “turn this evil into an opportunity for purification.” “We need to recognize with humility and courage that we stand face to face with the mystery of evil, which strikes most…
The sermon we heard last Sunday was so candid it took our breath away. By the end of Fr. Geoffrey Baraan’s second sentence, the uncomfortable pew twitching at his initial mention of clergy abuse and the recently publicized list of priest predators in the Diocese of Oakland had given way to a stillness so complete…
CNA—Assisted suicide contradicts the foundations of medical ethics, violates the basic standards of medical care, and threatens people who most need the assistance of the medical profession, warned a doctor who is opposing Maryland’s proposal to legalize the practice. “If we allow this form of euthanasia into our health care system, it will inevitably corrode…
“Let not your heart be troubled!” (John 14:1) In the face of growing confusion about the doctrine of the Faith, many bishops, priests, religious and lay people of the Catholic Church have requested that I make a public testimony about the truth of revelation. It is the shepherds’ very own task to guide those entrusted…
CNA—The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Feb. 14 officially proposed to rescind a rule to protect borrowers from predatory lending, prompting concern from Christian groups nationwide that the CFPB may weaken existing protections against loan sharks. Catholic Charities USA and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops joined a coalition of Christian groups to sign…
CNA — Another miracle was officially recognized at the Marian shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, the 70th Lourdes miracle recognized by the Catholic Church. The miracle was officially declared by Bishop Jacques Benoit-Gonin of Beauvais, France on Feb. 11, the World Day of the Sick and the feast day of Our Lady…
Happily married for 40 years, a friend of mine from New York says that one of the (several) reasons his marriage has survived when so many others have crashed is a single, simple act of self-discipline. Every payday for more than three decades, he’s brought home six roses for his wife: sometimes three red, sometimes…
Can a one-day conference at a university breathe life into a cause that lately appears to have stalled: involving the Catholic laity in ending the crisis of authority and trust afflicting the Church in the wake of the sex abuse scandal? If not, here’s hoping that at least it points a way out of the…
CNA—In a rare new letter penned by Benedict XVI, the retired pontiff said he is in the last phase of his life, and while his physical strength might be waning, he is surrounded by a “love and goodness” that he never imagined. “I can only say that at the end of a slow decline in…
