Catholic Church

By Michael Warren Davis, Crisis Magazine - I’m ambivalent about that most common pro-life argument: that, because life begins at conception, to abort a pregnancy is to commit murder. That’s not to say I don’t believe it’s true. On the contrary: it’s not only true, it’s obviously true. It’s one of the few points upon which credible scientists and ethicists can agree. What gives me pause about this argument is what inevitably follows from it.

By David Carlin, The Catholic Thing - One of the distinctive things about Catholic moral doctrine is that it has a number of absolute or exceptionless rules, many of them involving or at least associated with sexual matters… Most people, I believe, including most people who are on the whole sympathetic to the prohibitions just outlined, feel that some exceptions should be made to the above prohibitions. But their sympathies are partly misguided, and warrant serious clarification…

By Archbishop Aquila, Denver Catholic - It is truly a wonder that we have the gift of the Bible, through which God speaks to us, convicts us, heals us and nourishes us on our journey. In recognition of the importance of the Scriptures, on Jan. 26 the Church will celebrate the first “Sunday of the Word of God.”… The Word of God is essential to our identity as Christian. It gives us strength, healing and nourishment… How many of us can say that in the last day or even week we have read these holy and transformative words? Do we love the Word of God and allow it to be written on our minds and hearts by prayerfully and frequently reading it? Is God’s Word part of the fabric of our lives?

By Msgr, Charles Pope - Most of us struggle with the fact that God allows bad things to happen to us. Why does He not intervene more often to protect us from attacks of various kinds and from events that cause sadness, setbacks, or suffering?... While mysterious, the clearest answer is that God allows suffering in order that some greater blessing may occur. To some degree I have found this to be so; some of my greatest blessings required that a door slam shut for me or that I endure some suffering. If my college sweetheart had not ended things, I would most likely not have the very great blessing of being a priest today.