“I looked up at the great basilica, and I had two reactions: First, I appreciated its beauty and reverence; but then I thought, ‘What corruption caused someone to spend so much on this building when people are hungry’?” I made a new friend on the train this week. Mark described himself as a Christian but Read more
Fear of Islamic radicalism cows the West into silence on Christian persecution. In perhaps the only sign of action from the West to the increased intensity of Christian persecution, France has opened itself up to refugees from Iraq, who are being driven out under pain of death by ISIS. This is a welcome reversion to Read more
My family name, “Maron,” is a vestige of and a testament to the human capacity to hate. My family tradition tells the story of my ancestors’ expulsion — along with hundreds of thousands of other Jews — from the Iberian Peninsula by royal Spanish decree in 1492 following an era of great success and coexistence Read more
I noticed a decided anti-Catholic bent at the AA meetings I was attending, but my sobriety has only benefited from my religious upbringing. Forgive me for leading with a rather painful and obvious pun, but I have a confession to make: I am a member of Alcoholics Anonymous who is also a practicing Catholic. I Read more
Shocking, grotesque, violent, and dark! Readers often use these adjectives after reading Flannery O’Connor’s stories. In her day, the horrified reactions from country folks in the small town of Milledgeville where she lived were fairly predictable. Even her own mother flinched from the gruesomeness of her fiction—and an aunt took to bed for a week Read more
In turning Maleficent into a feminist morality play, Disney subverts the nature of fairy tales and suppresses any sense of magic and moral logic. For the child—and the adult who knows there is still a child in all of us—fairy tales reveal truths about ourselves and the world. As psychologist Bruno Bettelheim stated in his Read more
While some groups still believe that people infected with HIV should be stigmatised as a deterrent, the majority view at this month’s International AIDS Conference in Melbourne is that victims and the social groups to which they belong must be empowered. The media is being encouraged to listen to stories such as Sarah’s: ‘As a Read more
There is a riddle among priests that I have heard on every continent I have ever visited (all but Antarctica). The question is: “What are the three things God doesn’t know?” The third of the answers is: “What will the Jesuits be up to next?” Certainly much of the world is curious to know what Read more
It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father—Pope St. John XXIII. I often feel completely lost and befuddled as a Catholic father in today’s world. How do I set the right example? How do I help my sons grow up with a strong Catholic faith? How Read more
Have the body-snatchers taken Lord Carey? This is what I ask myself as I read his support for assisted suicide. He comes up with all the usual clichés used to justify turning doctors into assisted killers. Compassion, care, but worst of all, Christian love. He abuses each and every concept. Lord Carey also conflates a Read more