Amanda Shaw

The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect, and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at this moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, . . . . Continue Reading »

I’ve heard priests remark about the disconcerting tendency of penitents to confess other people’s sins. “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. My spouse got angry because I misplaced the car keys . . . ” Then, there’s our curious compulsion to confess offenses that are . . . . Continue Reading »

As a coda to last year’s USCCB document ” Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship ,” the New York Catholic bishops yesterday issued a statement on voting, and voting wisely. ” Our Cherished Right, Our Solemn Duty ” poses a series of questions citizens should use . . . . Continue Reading »

“For he will give his angels charge of you, to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up . . . ” (Psalm 91:11-12) On Angels All was taken away from you: white dresses, wings, even existence. Yet I believe you, messengers. There, where the world is turned inside . . . . Continue Reading »

In the August/September issue of First Things , Mary Eberstadt incisively discusses the ” Vindication of Humanae Vitae ,” noting that among the harmful consequences of the contraceptive culture was the Protestant—especially Anglican—collapse. Before 1930, no Christian Church . . . . Continue Reading »

Kalaupapa doesn’t fall on the standard Hawaiian tourist circuit. It’s not known for its pristine beaches, however fine they may be, nor for its tropical cuisine or music or ambiance. It is, however, a place of history and pilgrimage, particularly now that Fr. Damien’s canonization . . . . Continue Reading »

There has been much talk recently about the possible introduction of requirements that medical students learn to perform abortions and that Catholic hospitals administer the morning-after pill. And, as anyone in a medical profession knows, these are only a few of the times when a healthcare . . . . Continue Reading »

As Ramadan draws to an end, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue has sent its annual greetings to the Muslim faithful , urging Christians and Muslims to come together in safeguarding the dignity of the family, the “fundamental cell of society.” I found this message of . . . . Continue Reading »

I love this sonnet by Robert Frost, capturing something of an autumnal wistfulness. He begins with a straightforward, almost flat statement, “There is a singer everyone had heard,” but his description of the oven bird’s plain chirrup soon wafts into evocative paradox: “On . . . . Continue Reading »

“I’m a liberal Democrat. And I do not favor same-sex marriage. Do those positions sound contradictory? To me, they fit together.” So writes David Blankenhorn, author of The Future of Marriage , in a recent LA Times editorial. The legalization of same-sex marriage, he writes, is . . . . Continue Reading »