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Lex Cordis Caritas - The law of the heart is Love

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August 26, 2012
On Aug. 1, the mandate of the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) went into effect, requiring employers who offer group health insurance in a business of any size to provide coverage for contraception, abortion-inducing drugs and sterilizations. Some owners of Catholic-run businesses or organizations have asked what this means for them and what their options are in light of Catholic moral teaching.
August 12, 2012
Nearly 4 billion people are estimated to have watched the Summer Olympics in London the past couple of weeks. That is an astounding number of people, considering there are 7 billion people in the world. Of these, 1.6 billion have no access to electricity. A further 300 million may have access to electricity, but are under 5 years old. So why do so many people watch?
July 28, 2012
Once again our nation has experienced another senseless shooting rampage, this time at a theater in Aurora, Colo., that left 12 people dead and 58 wounded. Countless others now suffer the grief of dealing with the death or injury of their loved ones due to this pointless violence. Our hearts go out to the families and friends of the victims and we offer our prayers for them. We pray for the repose of the souls of those who have died.
July 15, 2012
In my previous (July 1) column in Catholic Times I asked if the United States of America was a great nation or simply a powerful country. I concluded by saying that “I remain hopeful that our nation can still live up to its potential for greatness.” I would like to continue that theme further today.
July 01, 2012
As we approach our national Independence Day celebration on the Fourth of July, it is a good time to ask: Is the United States of America a great nation? Certainly the U.S. is a powerful country, but that does not mean that we are a great nation.
June 17, 2012
Summer is upon us, bringing vacations, picnics and beach parties. Actually we have been blessed with summer-like weather for several weeks. The warm weather has also brought out summer apparel earlier than usual. Unfortunately, skimpy garb more suitable for vacations, picnics and beach parties has also made its way into church as the clothing of choice for many people. In visiting many of our parishes this spring for confirmation as well as attending some commencement ceremonies, I have noticed more and more people wearing short shorts, tank-tops and flip-flops. Even the more formal wear with slit-leg dresses, bare midriffs and strapless tops looks more suited to a House of Blues than the House of God.
June 03, 2012
There's a new movie opening in theaters this weekend called For Greater Glory. Normally I don't endorse or recommend movies, but this one is very timely given our current struggles to protect religious liberty from government encroachment. For Greater Glory is the story of the Cristero War, fought from 1926 to 1929 by devout Catholic rebels against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country.
May 20, 2012
In his best-selling book published over 20 years ago, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey wrote of the importance of what he called the Character Ethic, which “is based on the fundamental idea that there are principles that govern human effectiveness — natural laws in the human dimension that are just as real, just as ‘unchanging’ ... as laws such as gravity are in the physical dimension.”
May 06, 2012
Recently at the Vatican the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released their findings of the Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). In order to implement the findings of the doctrinal assessment, the Holy See, through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has appointed Most Reverend Peter Sartain, Archbishop of Seattle, as its archbishop delegate for review, guidance and approval, where necessary, of the work of the LCWR. Most Reverend Leonard Blair, Bishop of Toledo, and I were also appointed as assistant delegates.
April 22, 2012
It was disappointing to see a gratuitous slap at the Catholic Church in a column published on April 7, the day before Easter, in the local secular newspaper, The State Journal-Register. Easter should be a time for all Christians to rejoice in their shared belief in the Lord’s resurrection, yet the Episcopalian priest-columnist Tom Ehrich took the occasion to write divisively, “In the Roman Catholic Church, where central control is everything, a wave of decentralized thinking is threatening Rome’s control over congregations, personal practices and even doctrine.” His point was that the Catholic Church threatens his view of what he calls “free thinking.” He claims that the method of the Messiah was to encourage “freedom from all constraints.”