What is commonly known as the St. Andrew Christmas Novena — or The St Andrew Christmas Prayer— is not a novena (because it is prayed for more than nine days), nor is it a prayer to St. Andrew. Instead, it is a most simple, unusual and beautiful prayer recitation that prepares the soul for Christmas. …
“Anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: ‘Ye must have faith.’ It is a quality which the scientist cannot dispense with.” Max Planck, “Where is Science Going?” In Chapter 2 of my web-book,…
Say it ain’t so! Some brands are just so iconic it’s unimaginable they would ever be other than what they’ve always been… And in a world that seems ever more driven by tech innovations and “how fast, how far, how much,” the sale of Tiffany & Co. matters. The iconic older brands with storied foundations…
NY Post—The 5-year-old boy hurled off a Mall of America balcony by a stranger in April is now “walking perfectly” and even back at school, his family says. Landen Hoffman fell nearly 40 feet from the balcony of the Minnesota mall — breaking his skull, face bones, both arms and a leg — when Emmanuel…
Texas native Tim VonDohlen, a long-time Catholic Business Journal columnist, is known as much for his business savvy and significant success as for his profound Catholic faith. That said, life has not always been smooth-sailing for Tim, nor for his wife, even though to meet either of them you would never know. Pat Von Dohlen…
CNA—The Salvation Army has denied accusations that it is an anti-LGBT organization in the wake of the Chick-Fil-A Foundation publicly severing ties with the group. “We’re saddened to learn that a corporate partner has felt it necessary to divert funding to other hunger, education and homelessness organizations — areas in which The Salvation Army, as…
The New Atlantis—On June 9, 2016, a law permitting physician-assisted suicide went into effect in California. The same day, Dr. Lonny Shavelson, an emergency medicine physician, opened the Bay Area End of Life Options clinic to provide the newly legal service. A longtime activist for the cause, Shavelson’s interest began in adolescence. In an interview…
BBC—For the first 17 years of his life, Pascal Siakam didn’t pick up a basketball much. It was just a game his older brothers played. Even though his father dreamed about one of his children growing up to play in the NBA, Siakam, the youngest of six siblings, was always more interested in other sports.…
CNA—American fast-food chain Chick-Fil-A has announced it will stop donating to two large faith-based charitable organizations, after years of criticism from LGBT groups. On Monday, the Chick-Fil-A Foundation announced the organizations it would donate to in 2020. Notably, the foundation will no longer donate to the Salvation Army or to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.…
CNA—The Diocese of Peoria announced Monday that Venerable Fulton Sheen will be beatified Dec. 21 at the city’s Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception. Sheen had been ordained a priest of the diocese in that cathedral Sept. 20, 1919. “It seems entirely fitting that the Beatification will take place at the end of…
Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles was elected president of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) today during the Fall General Assembly in Baltimore. Archbishop Gomez has served as vice president of the Conference since 2016. Archbishop Gomez issued the following statement upon being elected. “I am humbled by this vote and my…
CNS, Knights of Columbus—Sgt. Gary Rose looked out and saw a wounded soldier 50 meters outside his company’s perimeter, stranded in the middle of North Vietnamese Army machine gun fire during a Vietnam War Special Forces mission in Laos. It was day two of Operation Tailwind — a Special Forces mission to disrupt the enemy…
Beijing, China, Sep 23, 2019—(CNA)—Christian churches in China have been ordered to take down displays of the Ten Commandments and replace them with quotes from Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to reports. According to Bitter Winter, a magazine covering religious liberty and human rights in China, churches belonging to the country’s state-run “Three-Self Patriotic Movement”…
New York City, N.Y., Nov 6, 2019-(CNA)—A federal judge in New York overturned the Trump administration’s conscience protection rule for health care workers on Wednesday. The “Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care” rule was finalized by the Department of Health and Human Services in May and set to go into effect on Nov. 22.…
Spokane, Wash., Nov 8, 2019- (CNA)—For the second time in two days, a federal judge on Thursday said the Trump administration’s conscience protection rule for health care workers violated the law. Judge Stanley Bastian in the Eastern District Court of Washington, an Obama appointee, ruled against the Department of Health and Human Services Nov. 7…
Last Wednesday, a New York federal district court issued an order to vacate a May 2019 rule issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to protect the conscience rights of health care professionals. This is unimaginable in a country founded upon, guaranteeing and listing, as our nation’s foundational document in the…
Crisis—A few decades ago, I had lunch with Daniel Carroll in Howard County, Maryland, during which he used a pop-up toaster in his grand dining room, which was hung with ancestral portraits. There were many such portraits, for Dan was a direct descendant of the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll…
Walmart is going into price-competitive health care. I live in exactly the right location to see the outcome of a grand experiment. The pilot Walmart Supercenter is located in Dallas, Georgia. So am I. On Friday, September 13, the CEO of Walmart cut the ribbon at the grand opening. Sadly, I only learned about this…
I am Cecilia Miskic (standing on the right front side of the photo) from Hayward, California. My husband and I have been blessed with a 20-year marriage and have four healthy children. We blended my general contracting business and my husband’s construction business, and in our first 10 years we experienced great success. Then like…
In the words of the American writer William Arthur Ward, ”The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The wise teacher inspires.” Kenneth Farr, M.A., the new principal at St. David Catholic School in Richmond, CA, as of July 1, inspires. To become principal at age 26, after just five years…
