Note: This post originally attributed the opening quote to the interviewer, Elaina Koros, rather than the author, Jonathan Eig. My apologies. The attribution has been corrected. “People have been trying to control birth since the dawn of sex. As long as we’ve been trying to make babies, we’ve been trying not to make babies.” —Jonathan Eig on…
(This post continues the discussion begun in a prior post, What’s the Big Deal About Contraception?) Sometimes we hear something that catapults us out of our old world and into a new one. That happened to me during a mini-course taught by Professor Janet Smith on Pope John Paul II’s encyclical “The Splendor of Truth.” By the end…
The latest papal commotion about contraception surely has some people asking: “What’s the big deal?” They join the chorus that began when companies like Hobby Lobby went to court over being forced to cover contraception under Obamacare. Why in the world are people making such a fuss over contraception? Radio personality Garrison Keillor used to…
In most quarters, the frenzy over the Pope’s last press conference has abated. American attention, anyway, has turned to the unfortunate remarks of the U.S. Presidential aspirants instead. But Pope Francis inadvertently presented us with a superb “teaching moment” concerning infallibility and the Magisterium. The setup, in case you missed it: Pope Francis made the casual and…
I’ll say one thing for this Pope: he certainly keeps us bloggers busy. Thank you, Pope Francis! I now have enough material for the next three or four posts. Papal authority, the Zika virus, the lesser of two evils, microcephaly, Blessed Pope Paul VI, nuns in the Congo, and more! OK, so much for the…
By now, many of us are familiar with the 2010 quote of Cardinal Francis George, “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.” It was originally uttered by Cardinal George as a wake-up call to the dangers of an entirely…
After Mass on Sunday (January 3), a friend said, “Well, I’ve already failed at my New Year’s resolutions. What a relief! Now that’s done.” It’s become a sort of a necessary burden, to make New Year’s resolutions. That’s why I’ve waited a few days to talk about the New Year’s schtick… resolutions, goals, intentions, whatever…
More than ever this year, I’ve noticed how many people don’t celebrate, and perhaps even disdain, Christmas. I’ve even picked up some undercurrents of pride in the non-celebration, as though neglecting to observe Christmas is a sign of tolerance and high-mindedness. If all Christmas is, is decorations, lights, retail profits and consumer goods, then maybe…
Do you remember the Last Lecture series? Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburg would periodically select professors to give the lecture they would give if they only had one more chance to pass on their most important lessons. A computer science professor, Dr. Randy Pausch, was invited to give a Last Lecture, and after he had already…
This blog has been on holiday for a few weeks, recovering from the trip to Philadelphia. If you weren’t able to follow my Philly blog, you can still read it by clicking here. The Top 3 Things I learned from the World Meeting of Families and the Papal visit: The theology of the body was implicit…
