Every time I travel by air, there comes a point in the flight when I decide that I am never, ever flying again. It invariably occurs when the plane is woefully far from the earth and we hit turbulence. I can deal with some bumps during takeoff and landing, since something about being close to the ground gives me an irrational sense of security, but when things get bad at 30,000 feet, I freak. I resolve that this will be my last flight, one way or the other; on the off chance that I survive until landing, I will never make the terrible mistake of getting onto an aircraft again. Then, inevitably, the memories fade (or perhaps I block them out), and when the next trip comes up, I do not in...READ MORE

A while back I mentioned to an atheist acquaintance that I'd cried at Mass that morning. I explained that it was one of those times when I felt overwhelmed with the presence of God; I was so perfectly at peace, so surrounded by love, that I couldn't help but be moved to tears.

"Maybe it was the music," he responded. He went on to offer an erudite analysis of how music is known to produce certain positive sensations in the brain, noting that religious leaders from time immemorial have used the evolved human response to the stimulus of music to delude the faithful into believing that they've experience the divine.

I had to smile at his suggestion, because I actually agreed with part of...READ MORE

Yesterday Cardinal Timothy Dolan released an original e-book called True Freedom: On Protecting Human Dignity and Religious Liberty, timed to coincide with the upcoming Fortnight for Freedom. It is a tour de force piece in which the Cardinal explains with clarity and brevity why the Church preaches a Gospel of Life, and why this Gospel of Life "offers us a pathway to building not just good laws, but a free and virtuous culture as well." This is an important read not only for Catholics, but for anyone who wants to understand why certain core beliefs of modern culture threaten human life and liberty. (If you'd like to learn more about the book's content, Brandon Vogt has a good review here...READ MORE

MSN.com has a photo essay featuring the collected wisdom of their Facebook fans who answered the question: "What do you wish you knew as a teen?" They got a wide variety of answers, some good, some so-so, some of it just amusing. A couple of excerpts:

Character Counts: This might sound sort of clichéd, but it's helpful to remember: You can't always control what happens in your life, but you can control how you react to it. And it's in those moments that you get to figure out who you are -- and how much it matches up with who you want to be.

Think Of Your Career: When it comes to choosing what to study in college, remember this: Don’t be a history major unless you want to teach...READ MORE