Amanda Shaw

From the instructive, if often sobering, weekly newsletter of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy come these two news stories : Proposition 8, California’s newly passed constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union between one man and one woman, is being fiercely challenged . . . . Continue Reading »

A Tribute to Preoccupied Parents, Elder Siblings, and Longsuffering Relations (In all due Respect to their Little Angels) Playing with children is a glorious thing; but the journalist in question has never understood why it is considered a soothing or idyllic one. It reminds him, not of watering . . . . Continue Reading »

Also of interest, the U.S. bishops yesterday approved a rite of blessing for expectant parents and unborn children, which Louisville’s Archbishop Joseph Kurtz described as “a very tangible way to witness pastorally and sacramentally to the life of the unborn child.” Included in . . . . Continue Reading »

Yesterday at the USCCB Annual Assembly, the American bishops voted to approve the Revised Grail Psalter for liturgical use in the United States, along with a new (and improved) translation of the Proper of Seasons for the Roman missal. The new Psalter has been recommended for its musicality, its . . . . Continue Reading »

A little pocket-sized volume, Jesus Is My All in All: Praying with the Saint of Calcutta, just came out from Doubleday. It is a collection of thoughts and prayers in the words of Mother Teresa, arranged by Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., as a novena of meditations from the “saint of the . . . . Continue Reading »

A Man for All Seasons received a yawning review from the New York Times when it opened on Broadway this fall. But, poking around in the NYT archives, I received a lesson in changing times and tastes. Maybe more than tastes . . . Then (1961): “A Man for All Seasons” is written with . . . . Continue Reading »

“In praise, there is the speaking forth of one confessing; in singing, the affection of one loving.” So wrote St. Augustine, in a line often paraphrased as “Singing is praying twice.” And as Pope Benedict added in his recent address at the Collège des Bernardins in . . . . Continue Reading »

“As powerful as anything you’ll encounter on the stage or big screen this year,” wrote Anthony Sacramone earlier this week, reviewing God on Trial , a “compelling and disturbing television drama to broadcast on PBS stations Sunday, November 9.” It opens with a bus . . . . Continue Reading »

From the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide comes this frightening news : In 2008, assisted-suicide proponents targeted the state for a massive effort to make Washington only the second state to approve assisted suicide. With a voter initiative (I-1000) on the 2008 ballot, . . . . Continue Reading »

. . . at least about this : As of early this morning, California’s Proposition 8 was passing with 52 percent of the vote (92 percent of precincts reporting). The proposition would amend the state’s constitution to say that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or . . . . Continue Reading »