Popular Culture

October 31, 2015

A Priestly Halloween Costume

Halloween - 2013A few weeks ago, my daughter Anna had a birthday party at her home. Anna has five children. They range in age from one-year-old to nine years old. After the party was over, I walked into Anna’s kitchen to say goodbye to her. When I entered the kitchen, I heard her two-year-old son Peter ask, “Mom, can I wear my vestment?” Anna replied, “Yes, I’ll get it for you in a few minutes.”

October 24, 2015

The Sin That Infected Our Entire Society

Sin PatentLast week I wrote about how the Governor of California, Jerry Brown, had signed a bill into law that legalized doctor-assisted suicide. When I found out about the new law, I thought about the deep-rooted thistles I had to dig up from the pasture next to my parents’ home when I was a teenager.

October 17, 2015

Sloppily Describing a Governor as a “Devout” Catholic

ThistleDuring the years I was growing up, my parents owned an acre and a half of land that was located next to our house. When I was a young boy, my dad made a pasture by putting up a fence around the land. He also built a barn on the land.

October 10, 2015

Debit Card Nightmare

Debit Card NightmareBoo! Since Halloween is right around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to discuss a scary situation we’re all facing.

August 8, 2015

An Unknown and Underused Power

jury-nullificationShortly after I opened my law practice in January 1983, I was contacted by a pro-life activist who had been arrested at the local abortion clinic. After his arrest, a criminal case was filed against him charging him with criminal trespass to property. I agreed to represent him and was able to get the case dismissed because, at the time of his arrest, he was standing on a public sidewalk near the clinic.

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 20, 2015

Training To Be A Superhero

Superhero Training CampHave you ever heard of Benjamin Percy? He’s a 36-year-old writer who has won several awards for his novels and short stories. His newest novel, The Deadlands, was just released. He is currently adapting his previous novel, Red Moon, for Fox, and is writing a new television series — Black Gold — for the Starz cable network. His favorite current project is writing the newest version of Green Arrow for DC Comics.

June 6, 2015

John Wayne vs. Bruce Jenner

John WayneEvery so often, my wife tells me that I’m living in the wrong times. Because of my old-fashioned beliefs, she claims that I would have been better off living during the 1800s. Whenever she comments about this, I remind her that I spent the better part of my early years at my grandfather’s (Tom Williams’s) house, and since he was born in 1898, that’s probably where I picked up a lot of my beliefs.

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