No line-drawingMichael Pakaluk
A good way to grasp the central idea of "Infinite Dignity," the recent Declaration of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, is to set down this rule: if we are engaged in any project of line-drawing ...
Physician-assisted suicide is a slippery slopeCardinal Seán P. O’Malley
It has been said that at the heart of the physician-assisted suicide debate is the moral-medical distinction between curing and caring for patients. The United States has an unmatched capacity for curing ...
He saw the cloths and believedBishop Robert Barron
The Gospel for Easter Sunday is from St. John's account of Easter morning (John 20:1-9). We are told that Mary Magdalene arrives at the tomb very early in the morning while it is still dark. She has ...
God's instrument for viewing the crucifixionMichael Pakaluk
The crucifixion is so horrible that we naturally recoil from it. Without some special reason to view it, we flee from it, just as the Apostles did at the event itself (except for John). Protest as much ...
QuinquagesimaMichael Pakaluk
The word I have chosen for the title of this essay means "fiftieth" in Latin. Before Vatican II, among Catholics, the term referred to the Sunday before Lent, which is exactly 50 days before Easter. This ...
Pro-life Christians: Now is the time to shout from the rooftopsBishop Robert Barron
Tom Holland's magnificent book "Dominion" develops in detail what amounts to a very simple proposition -- namely, that Christianity is responsible for many of the central values that we take for granted ...
Seeking an indulgence as an act of faithMichael Pakaluk
Surely no Catholic devotion is more congenial than to pray before a creche. Perhaps with the end of the Christmas season on Jan. 8 (the Baptism of the Lord), you miss the creche already. I wonder, are ...
It's not your life, it's not your death, it's not your choiceBishop Robert Barron
When I was an auxiliary bishop in the Los Angeles Archdiocese some years ago, the state of California was militating in favor of physician-assisted suicide. During the campaign, while driving through ...
Ivy League presidents and the collapse of moral reasoningBishop Robert Barron
Last week, the presidents of three Ivy League universities -- Harvard, MIT, and Penn -- appeared before Congress to address the issue of anti-Semitism on their campuses, in the wake of the conflict between ...
In honor of MaryMichael Pakaluk
In honor of the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe, I invite you to ponder with me the two opening lines of Mary's song, the "Magnificat" (Luke 1:46-7). We are confronted first with ...
