Jeanie Hannaman

By Fr. Benedict Kiely, The Catholic Thing - We remember Chesterton’s great quip that the object of a New Year is that “we should have a new soul.” Part of that, I think, apart from repentance and resolution to avoid the sins and failures of the past year, is to enter the new year with a sense of hope... Not a naïve optimism, but a sense of hope and trust in God, and a willingness to cooperate with Him, to listen to Him. And yes, a new soul means a conversion. Let us, in a profound way, be more committed to our faith, in public and in private, even as we end the first month of the new year, than we were in 2024.

By Eric Sammons, Crisis Magazine - It’s not the color of someone’s skin or some inherent inferiority of certain races— to suggest so would be racism. The problem is black American culture, which too often glorifies violence, absentee fathers, promiscuity, misogyny, and self-centeredness. Too many black children grow up without fathers present, and they’re taught at a young age that any sign of “disrespect” to them must be met with aggressive action, typically violent action. The music that dominates black American culture depicts gangsters and thugs as people to emulate, and women as things to exploit as sexual objects. Very little good comes out of black American culture, and it’s time to say this out loud.