The Heroic Minute Challenge: Day 10: The Joy Comes With the Morning

I often wonder what it must have been like for the Blessed Mother and the Apostles to wake up on Holy Saturday morning consumed with an overwhelming feeling of loss, hopelessness and fear. What were they thinking that day? How did they even get through it? The shock of all they had witnessed and experienced…

Israel Wants to make Catholic Schools State Schools

This is an interesting collision of two profoundly sacred cows in American conservative thought (which deeply colors American conservative *Catholic* thought).On the one hand, the State getting its mitts on Catholic schools is regarded with horror by American conservatives (for good reason).On the other hand, the Immaculate Conception of the State of Israel and its…

Today’s Chance to Do a Work of Mercy

You can help Sr. Julia get kids an education:Maryknoll Sister Julia Shideler has been teaching in the small Pacific island nation for the past six years. As she watched her students graduate from high school — a significant accomplishment for children of subsistence farmers — she knew that even for the brightest, college was out…

Washington State Democrats Revive the Know Nothings

I know Mark Miloscia.  He’s a very good man, motivated by a genuine desire to live out social justice–the whole deal and not the cannibalized variety promoted by both left and right.  And for his troubles, the Democratic party to which he belonged for years made extremely clear that they are some of the rankest…

The Heroic Minute Challenge: Day 9: The Perfect Morning

We have been talking a lot about the struggle of living out the Heroic Minute – and it can be a big struggle (at least it is for me….) Considering it is Sunday, I thought we would keep it light here and just share our vision of a perfect morning – the kind when the…

The Heroic Minute Challenge:Day 12: Purity of Motive

As we get to the last few days of 14 Day “Heroic Minute” Challenge, I got to thinking about what my motives are for taking this challenge.  Here’s what I have come up with:I am hoping that by living out the “Heroic Minute” I will grow in the virtue of self-discipline.The early morning hours before my children…

9 Ways to Restore All Things in Christ

Bring it on, Modernists. The world looks pretty frightening for the Church these days. Christians are being martyred around the world, whether it be by Communists in China or by Islamic radicals in the Middle East. Meanwhile, Western society is becoming ever more anti-religious, and the Church is facing increasing threats by secularists in many…