Opinion
spanidends for Catholic families and parishes
At the midpoint of Catholic Schools Week in the Archdiocese, its theme, “spanidends for Life,” bears consideration by parents with children in Catholic schools and those without. The theme evokes financial sacrifices made today with the hope of a “return on investment” tomorrow. Parents know the sacrifices they make to provide a Catholic education do […]
Haiti: A new moment to share
By Father Stephen Perzan In 1984 I ventured to Haiti. The news of the earthquake brought back memories from that trip. Through a chance meeting with Father Tom Wenski, now Bishop of Orlando, I was able to make arrangements to stay with a group of Canadian priests. My purpose in going to Haiti was to […]
What the march means
Even in a city that sees protests of varying sizes every year, the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., gives pause to office workers and daily commuters. It’s not every day that about 200,000 people descend upon our nation’s capital bearing slogans, banners and high spirits affirming human life. It’s once a year every […]
‘We the people’ must include the unborn
By Father John J. Ames “We the people….” The words echo throughout world and American history as the introduction of a most cherished document, the Constitution of the United States. This document provides a model which nations try to emulate and a cause for which Americans have died. “We the people” … no one even […]
On abortion: We can still make a difference
By Father Leonard Peterson As the calendar page turned to 2010, I thought about how futuristic the sound of that number is to my generation, born in the 1940s. I also remember how my late, dear mom felt about the year 1980, a number which to her had sounded the same to a person born […]
Faith abides, even amid the rubble
As if devastating floods two years ago, the scourge of unstable dictatorships for decades and generations of brutal poverty were not enough, last week Haiti suffered another catastrophe when a massive earthquake shook its capital into rubble. A week later, bodies are still being pulled from the wreckage in the capital; perhaps as many as […]
Year of the people of God
By Msgr. Francis X. Meehan On the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June 2009, Pope Benedict declared that this would be the “Year of the Priest.” It was a welcome declaration. We priests have sensed ourselves being lifted up in prayer by all God’s people. Yet each priest with whom I speak […]
Health reform heads into the homestretch
Few issues of this generation have churned as much political and social turmoil as the health care reform debate heading into its final stage now in Congress. Democratic leaders are busy trying to hold together a balky coalition of their own ranks to retain the votes needed to pass a compromise bill in the House […]
Euthanasia – broken memories, broken bonds
By Father Tad Pacholczyk Most people fear the process of dying, which involves radical dependency, a sense of powerlessness and sometimes significant pain as well. Pain management is a serious, if not central obligation for health care professionals and for all who care for the dying. Although we may never choose directly to cause death […]
New year, new urgency
Most news media presented their “year/decade in review” stories recently. One might think the only things that happened in 2009 or the preceding years were killings, scandals, catastrophes and the rise and fall of meaningless cultural froth. As every family knows, what did not make headlines were the most meaningful moments in life: the births […]