Few pieces of music I know capture the mystery of the Incarnation better than Victoria’s motet “O Magnum Mysterium.” The words are: O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, jacentem in praesepio! Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt . . . . Continue Reading »
Yesterday in St. Patrick’s Cathedral a crowd of 750 bid farewell to Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. in a beautiful funeral Mass. Fordham University and the New York Times have accounts of the occasion. . . . . Continue Reading »
Many conservatives hope political pressure will force Obama to move to the center. There’s indeed good reason to expect that he will pursue a moderate economic and foreign policy, but he seems wholly set on preserving and strengthening the Roe regime and supporting other socially liberal . . . . Continue Reading »
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jay Bookman has written a difficult but, I think, important column on the distinction between the moral value of a beloved dog coming to the end of its life and those of human beings. Any pet owner can only have great empathy for the grief Bookman is . . . . Continue Reading »
The Department of Health and Human Services will publish its Final Rule tomorrow protecting the rights of conscience for health care workers who refuse to perform medical acts with which they morally disagree. The rule specifically applies to abortion and sterilization. But it also has a general . . . . Continue Reading »
In this edition of What It Means to be Human, I get into conscience clauses as a potential way for us to co-exist together, given our profound cultural differences over what I call “an emerging culture of death.” I conclude: I strongly support the rights of conscience for health care . . . . Continue Reading »
Well, as long as Stalin meant well: Stalin, the brutal Soviet dictator responsible for the deaths of millions of his citizens, has been undergoing a makeover of sorts in recent years. Russian authorities have reshaped the Georgia-born dictator’s image into that of a misunderstood, demonized . . . . Continue Reading »
NASA has announced plans to donate its retiring Space Shuttle fleet to “educational institutions, science museums, and other appropriate organizations.” Recipients will just have to foot the bill for the shipping and handling of the shuttles: an estimated 42 million dollars. . . . . Continue Reading »
Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation and a long-time activist in Washington, has passed away . A sad loss. May God welcome him home. . . . . Continue Reading »
Just a quick update, since many of you have asked and all of you were so kind: My daughter Faith is home from the hospital. She’ll still be bed-ridden for a week or so, but she’s now out of danger. Some strange, life-threatening virus had attacked her lungs—you really don’t . . . . Continue Reading »
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