January 1, 2019 marked the beginning of legalized abortion in Ireland, drawing dismay from Irish pro-life groups, who campaigned extensively against the reform. Once a majority-Catholic and pro-life contingent, voters in Ireland last May voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment to their constitution, which had banned abortion. The repeal was officially enacted by President Michael…
CNA—In its 2019 roundup of the biggest lies of the year (dubbed the biggest ‘Pinocchios’), the Washington Post included a false but oft-repeated claim that “thousands” of women died while undergoing illegal abortions before the legalization of abortion in the United States. This statistic was frequently cited this year by Dr. Leana Wen, who was…
According to a Wall Street Journal exposé series by Francis X. Rocca, not only does the Vatican use donations for the poor to plug its budget deficit, but only 10% of donations to the Vatican’s Peter’s Pence collection go to charitable works. Although sources of information are not always named and generic resources such as…
I am writing this note almost exactly one year, to the minute, since one of the most wonderful and powerful moments in my life. A year ago, I was in Maryland at a hotel located along one of the many bays in the region. After a client event, I had an extra day to write…
Bishop Paul Sirba of the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota died on Sunday, after suffering a heart attack before offering Mass. He was 59 years old. “It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I must inform you of tragic news regarding our Bishop,” said a Dec. 1 statement from Fr. James B. Bissonette, who had…
CNA—A religious order in southern California is kicking off Advent with a digital calendar that allows Catholics to go more in-depth as they prepare for the Christmas season. The virtual calendar was launched on the first Sunday of Advent by the priests of the Norbertine order from St. Michael’s Abbey in Orange County, California. The…
CNA—Catholic business owners have both a grave responsibility and an opportunity to promote the Church’s social teaching in a difficult atmosphere, Pope Francis told young entrepreneurs Monday. “I am well aware that it is not easy, in everyday life, to reconcile the needs of the faith and the social teaching of the Church with the…
“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,…
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—A state law in Ohio that effectively defunds Planned Parenthood is legal, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday in a split decision. The state passed a law in 2016 that banned state funds from going to medical providers that offer abortions. In 2018, the Sixth Circuit unanimously found that Ohio’s law was…
CNA—A federal court in San Francisco found that pro-life advocate David Daleiden’s Center for Medical Progress caused “substantial harm” to Planned Parenthood by secretly recording meetings with abortion doctors and staff to expose their business practices. “Justice was not done today in San Francisco. While top Planned Parenthood witnesses spent six weeks testifying under oath…
Caracas, Venezuela, Nov 4 2019-CNA—Cardinal Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino has said that if the administration of Nicolas Maduro “truly had love for Venezuela they would have already left power.” In an interview published by the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional, Cardinal Urosa, Archbishop Emeritus of Caracas, noted that the Maduro administration “has really led the country…
Vatican City, Nov 5, 2019-CNA—A 50 million euro loan request to secure the purchase of a bankrupt hospital was vetoed by Cardinal George Pell and financial authorities at the Institute for Works of Religion, commonly called the Vatican Bank, before it was approved by the Holy See’s central bank, APSA, where the loan breached international…
CNA—The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Monday issued a temporary injunction against a law banning dilation-and-evacuation abortions. The injunction will stop the law from taking effect while a legal challenge to it progresses. The “Unborn Child Protection-from-Dismemberment-Abortion Act,” passed in 2015, bars dilation-and-evacuation abortions after 14 weeks. Also called a “dismemberment abortion,” the procedure uses clamps, scissors,…
U.S. senator and noted hip-hop enthusiast Marco Rubio shared his thoughts on rapper Kanye West’s new gospel album in a recent interview with CNA. “I don’t know if I like it or dislike it,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told CNA of the track “Selah” on West’s highly-anticipated album “Jesus is King.” Rubio said the track…
Invite God into Your Life and into a world in desperate need of spiritual solutions for today’s challenges, a review of Rev William Watson, S.J.,’s Inviting God Into Your Life: A Practical Guide for Prayer. We live in turbulent times characterized by injustice, violence, and misinformation (what we use to call propaganda). Happiness and peace…
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…
CNA—Efforts by the Catholic Church to evangelize the Japanese population have frequently collided with roadblocks, according to Archbishop of Tokyo Isao Kikuchi, but the Church is still finding some ways to proclaim the Gospel. The archbishop answered question from Catholic News Agency on Japan, evangelization, and why breaking through into mainstream Japanese society is so…
CNA—Esmeralda Solís Gonzáles is a young Mexican woman who was crowned last year as a beauty queen in her native town – and now she’s joined the Poor Clare Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament. Twenty-year old Gonzáles has watched her story go viral over the last week on social media over a post on the…
Anyone who knows me understands that among the books I’ve written, one of my favorites is The Truth About Employee Engagement. My affinity for this book is the simplicity and efficacy of its message: employees only need three things from their managers to love their work. Really. And if that doesn’t sound unbelievable enough, those…
