Catholic Church

September 19, 2015

A Perfect Line of Communication

Lines of CommunicationLast week I wrote about what motivates me to write a religious article every week. After providing the definition of the word “motivate” — “to provide a reason for doing something” — I listed several reasons why I continue to write every week. After listing my reasons, I wrote:

July 18, 2015

Backstage at a Professional Performance

Backstage PassDuring the spring semester of my junior year in high school (1974), I organized a barbershop quartet. I recruited three of my friends who were in the music program with me at the high school. We started out by practicing at the house of one of the guys in the quartet. We continued practicing throughout the summer and started performing in the fall.

July 4, 2015

Restoring Freedom of Religion in America

libertyIn November 2011, 70 businesses and professional organizations added their names to a legal brief that was filed in a case that was in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. The businesses and organizations were recruited by a law firm that had been hired to file a “friend of the court” brief. The purpose of the brief was to encourage the court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

June 27, 2015

The Trashing of a Sacred Institution

Les Misérables  - CosetteIf you pay any attention to our local community-theater productions, you know that the play Les Misérables opened last weekend at the Eastlight Theater in East Peoria. My daughter, Mary Rose, plays Cosette (after she grows up) in the play.

June 13, 2015

Beyond Your 15 Minutes of Fame

15 MInutes of FameFive years ago, in an Adoration Letter article titled “A Prayer for a Beating Heart,” I asked for prayers for my wife, Georgette. In the article, I wrote about a genetic condition that she had that caused the wall of one of the ventricles of her heart to become so thick that her heart was unable to supply her body with a sufficient amount of oxygenated blood. Her health was quickly deteriorating and the only way to correct the problem was through open-heart surgery, which was scheduled for June 16, 2010.

March 21, 2015

Eradicating Weeds

Week BookIn the early summer of 1975, one of my cousins decided that he wanted to try his hand at gardening. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to call him “James.” At the time, James and I were both 18 years old. I knew quite a bit about gardening because I had been in charge of taking care of our large family garden for the previous five years.

February 7, 2015

Breeding Like Rabbits

RabbitsAs you may know, a few weeks ago Pope Francis was criticized for making a statement about how Catholics are not required to breed like rabbits.  I wasn’t planning on writing about the pope’s remark, but I’ve had some people bring it up for discussion, so I decided I would share my thoughts with you concerning the pope and his comment.

November 22, 2014

A Saint’s View of a Political Controversy

StormThere is a political storm brewing in Washington, D.C., that will eventually turn into a destructive hurricane. While various multinational corporations, in conjunction with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are pushing for a change in our laws to allow foreigners to bypass our current federal immigration system, the typical American taxpayer is outraged by the prospect of millions of additional foreigners being allowed to come into our country.  Despite federal prohibitions, many of these foreigners will also be allowed to receive free food stamps, medical care, and a publicly funded education.

September 6, 2014

An Unlikely Gatekeeper

GatekeeperIf you’re over the age of 40, you remember a time when most homes had a telephone connected to a wall in the kitchen and a second telephone that sat on a nightstand in the master bedroom.  Both phones were connected to the same telephone line (what is now referred to as a “landline”).

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