CNA—As communist Chinese President Xi Jinping travels to Rome this week, there has been much speculation as to whether his trip will also include an unofficial visit with Pope Francis. Ahead of China’s president’s arrival in Italy on March 21, the Associated Press (AP) reported that Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said, “Our…
Beneath the soil of every continent lie buried the ruins of fallen civilizations. The Sumerians, Akkadians, Mayans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Minoans, Romans: all of them, faded memories of past grandeur and glory. History records the collapse of at least thirty-two major civilizations that once thrived and prospered before our time. No great civilization is built in…
Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman, the writers and co-directors of the upcoming film Unplanned revealed that they prepared for a “spiritual battle” in the hopes that the pro-life film will change hearts and minds through its groundbreaking depiction of the abortion process. “From the beginning, we knew that it would be spiritual battle, spiritual warfare.…
The president of the U.S. bishops’ conference was hospitalized March 15 after suffering a mild stroke, according to a statement from the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, which has been led by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo since 2006. “It is expected that Cardinal DiNardo will remain hospitalized for a few more days of testing and observation, followed by…
For this article, I’ve been asked to “dig deeper” and to share some of my inner, personal motivations for Lent this year. It’s a challenge I am happy to embrace, even though imperfectly, because throughout my career and even now I have been — and continue to be — inspired by and learn so much…
In the history of Christianity, few people spoke more gracefully and truthfully than John Henry Newman. In the nineteenth century, this English teacher and preacher embraced the Faith. And then, with the grace of his conversion, he explained how, throughout history, God’s grace and truth had been sensed, intimated and expressed, even by those who…
A Review of August Turak’s Brother John: A monk, a pilgrim and the purpose of life. Author August Turak, a successful entrepreneur in the software business, endured a personal crisis that led him to a Trappist Monastery in Charleston, South Carolina. While there, he began a decades-long journey to find the secrets to a life…
Steve Lewis isn’t a big name. Not even on your radar. He is a missionary. But you won’t find him on the streets of an inner city or Third World country. He’s not even a monk! Yet he’s doing great missionary work in most unlikely of places: YouTube. A 30-year-old, fully engaged, fully faithful young…
If you think every corner of today’s world doesn’t need serious evangelization, think again. Even in Rome. Yes. Rome, the renown center of the Catholic Church and Christianity, and home to some of the most breath-taking Christian art and historical evidence for early Christianity, has a newcomer and its doors just opened for public tours…
The unrestrained migration of hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim immigrants into European countries the last few years—most notably in Germany, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel allowed more than a million Syrian refugees to pour into the country’s cities and towns, but also in other European countries—seems to have come to an abrupt about-face. This…
CNA—Controversy over a New York abortion bill resulted in a rebuke for a state senator who has been disinvited from a Huntington, N.Y. Irish-American Catholic group’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities and asked to resign as a member due to his vote for the legislation. Monsignor Steven R. Camp, chaplain of the Ancient Order of Hibernians’…
CNA—A school district in Utah has issued an apology after a fourth-grade student was told by a teacher that he must remove the cross from his forehead on Ash Wednesday. William McLeod, a student at Valley View Elementary School in Bountiful, Utah, arrived at school with ashes on his forehead in the shape of a…
Lent is an invigorating time for truth. The Truth Himself spent forty days in the wilderness combatting the Prince of Lies. He did it as our “champion.” A champion is more than someone who gets his face on a cereal box for having won contests. Go back to the thirteenth century and you will see…
G.K. Chesterton’s brilliant sketch of the life and thought of Thomas Aquinas is as relevant today as when it was published in 1933. Then it earned the praise of such distinguished writers as Etienne Gilson, Jacques Martain, and Anton Pegis as the best book ever written on the great thirteenth-century Dominican. Today Chesterton’s classic stands…
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…
In this 10th Anniversary Edition of No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy, the Very Reverend Donald Calloway, MIC, provides a compelling account of his journey from darkness to light. His struggles with severe drug and alcohol abuse, “free” sex, gangs, deception and theft take him down a road that seemingly has no return. By…
Renown portrait photographer Michael Collopy, a devout Catholic, is about as humble as you can get. Yet his easy-to-know manner and quick smile belie his extraordinary talent with people and the camera. The subjects of his work would agree, who include Saint John Paul II and Saint Mother Teresa, as well as Mick Jagger, Bono,…
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…
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…
Following a legal battle that has lasted nearly seven years, EWTN Global Catholic Network has prevailed in its lawsuit against the U.S. government over what has become known as the “HHS Contraception Mandate.” In an order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit published Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018, the court vacated a…
