Bud Light, Target, haven’t the Dodgers learned anything? As a sports team owner, I know better

Bud Light, Target, haven’t the Dodgers learned anything? As a sports team owner, I know better

Will the Los Angeles Dodgers ever be the same? I doubt it. One of the most-storied sports brands in history is reeling. It’s the result of management’s foolish decision to invite an anti-Catholic hate group to an LGBT Pride night, then rescind the invitation after criticism from the right, only to re-invite the group after blowback from the left.…

Intelligent E.T. Life Apart from Earth: What a Famous Scientist Concluded

Intelligent E.T. Life Apart from Earth: What a Famous Scientist Concluded

Over the past few years there has been consistent and growing talk in the media (and elsewhere) about the probability of there being intelligent life forms elsewhere in the universe. Much of this is due to grainy video footage and some Congressional hearings on the topic of UFO’s (but they don’t call them UFO’s any…

Remembering Cardinal George Pell

Remembering Cardinal George Pell

Cardinal George Pell, whom I believed to be a modern-day saint, passed away on January 10th. It was a great pleasure to get to know Cardinal Pell during visits to Rome over the years. As a testimony to his faith in God and His divine teachings, he loved sacred tradition and pursued truth with persistence…

One YES….made all the difference

One YES….made all the difference

The last thing I expected — not even remotely on the radar — was a text I received on Saturday morning around 10am that a friend had been put on palliative care to manage her pain. WHAT?! Her eldest son was on his way in from Boston to California, to join his brother and family…

Spreading the Thinking of Pope John Paul II

Spreading the Thinking of Pope John Paul II

It’s sometimes said Pope St. John Paul II was the most intellectually gifted occupant of the See of Peter ever, but inasmuch as the line of popes stretches back two millennia and includes some known to history only by their names, there is no realistic way of verifying that. What is certain, though, is that…

Risks of Social Media: Advice from Fr. Norbert at St. Michael’s Abbey

Risks of Social Media: Advice from Fr. Norbert at St. Michael’s Abbey

From St. Michael’s Abbey in Orange County, Fr. Norbert Wood, O.Praem, recently warned of some dangers we face in today’s avalanche of social media, and how to manage these risks in a worthwhile contemporary human life. Focus on what’s important in life Fr. Norbert emphasized that the overwhelming use of social media makes it very…

COVID restrictions on religion: I’m still attending Mass from my church parking lot

COVID restrictions on religion: I’m still attending Mass from my church parking lot

I never thought I’d watch Mass from the front seat of my car. I never thought I’d receive Holy Communion standing in the parish parking lot. But there I’ve been, Sunday after Sunday for months on end, in the parking lot at St. Kilian Catholic Church in Mission Viejo, California. From the start, I knew…

COVID’s Valentine Dance can deepen our understanding of human communication

COVID’s Valentine Dance can deepen our understanding of human communication

This year, with COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in many parts of the country and world constraining most of our communications to video, phone calls, email and text, our interpersonal communication truly lacks the “fullness of interpersonal communication” that St. Pope John Paul II introduced in his general audiences regarding Theology of the Body (1). How much…

PIVOT: Adapting During the Pandemic

PIVOT: Adapting During the Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has forced us all to rethink our daily lives. From the personal to the professional to the spiritual, the habits and rituals that we have come to rely on have been upended. It’s been difficult, to say the least. But it’s also a good time for us to ask: How can we…

He’s a Good Man

He’s a Good Man

“…he is a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.” That’s how the author of Acts describes  the apostle Barnabas. That simple description—a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith—stuck in my mind as I read the words. Stop for a moment. Think of your day today.  This week. Your work,…

Media Dust, Ethics, and Truth in a pandemic

Media Dust, Ethics, and Truth in a pandemic

A frivolous amount of media dust has arisen regarding a proper name for the virus turned pandemic. Some say it’s wrong if the name offends anyone. Others callout leaders for not being politically correct in the name they use.  But there’s no ethical merit in naming a thing according to whether or not it offends.…

The Dire Need for the “Wisdom Books”

The Dire Need for the “Wisdom Books”

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of every human being.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13) Many of the headlines and pundits over the past 20-30 years state the same mantra, that “this country has lost its moral compass”, or that we…

Every Day Of Advent Is Preparation — And Celebration

Every Day Of Advent Is Preparation — And Celebration

If you ask my family what I’m like during the holidays, they’ll tell you that I tend to go a little overboard. The get-togethers, the gifts, the good times with loved ones and treasured friends — I can’t get or give enough during this special season. My wife and kids make fun of me for…

Undaunted, Justice Thomas Seeks the Court’s Atonement on Abortion

Undaunted, Justice Thomas Seeks the Court’s Atonement on Abortion

by Tim Busch and Kevin Stidham—Another Supreme Court term has ended, and once again the court failed to revisit the question of abortion. In our time, it seems that abortion is discussed everywhere except the Supreme Court, where most justices seem intent to do anything to avoid the topic. And still, each passing term, the…

A Book Worth Reading: American Priest

A Book Worth Reading: American Priest

There are books worth reading, and then there are books worth sharing after you’ve read them. I heartily recommend the new book by Father Bill Miscamble, a Holy Cross Father, at the University of Notre Dame. It’s called American Priest: The Ambitious Life and Conflicted Legacy of Notre Dame’s Father Ted Hesburgh , and it profiles the…

The Link Between Atheists, Agnostics and Mass Shooters

The Link Between Atheists, Agnostics and Mass Shooters

After two more horrific, senseless and random killing sprees worldwide — one in New Zealand and the other in the Netherlands — the media and the world once again ask the questions, “Who is doing this?” and “How can we prevent it?” Just recently, in New Zealand, a self-proclaimed “eco-fascist” murdered 50 Muslims attending a…

Lenten Reflections from a Catholic Business Leader

Lenten Reflections from a Catholic Business Leader

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…

The Court and the Cross

The Court and the Cross

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…

The Laity and The Crisis

The Laity and The Crisis

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…

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