Culturally, it’s getting easier for people to be pro-life. There are four key reasons for this:

(*While being pro-life includes many things, here I’m mostly referring to life in the womb.)

1) The science: Science has clearly confirmed that a new, individual, self-directing human life is created at the moment of fertilization (i.e. conception). There is no point after that where this life magically becomes human or deserves to live, etc. It’s quite obviously a precious human life from that first moment. Just add food, water and proper shelter and eventually you get a bigger human being. People increasingly get that. And it takes really convoluted, non-rational squirming to try and say...READ MORE

Momentum Studios. Check them out. Their mission:

“Momentum Studios is a Catholic production company producing solid Catholic videos for youth.  We pray that our videos will ignite the fire of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of every Catholic teen and bring them into a deeper understanding of the faith and into a profound union with our Lord, Jesus Christ.”

They are doing a series on the sacraments that I think will be very helpful for youth and youth ministers. You can check out the first couple of them here on Confession and Confirmation. I’ve embedded the one on Confession below.

Great as a teaching aid or simply something easy to share, these well produced 5-7 minute videos are made...READ MORE

The Obama Administration is making a political calculation. 98% of women (even Catholic women) have used contraception. So they think it was a brilliant move (as a way to progress their regressive agenda) to mandate that Catholic organizations (actually almost all organizations and businesses, not just Catholic) provide contraception (and sterilizations and abortifacients) to their employees.

They thought, this will rile up those “cooky, extremist” folks who are against contraception and remind everyone else how extremely crazy they are — therefore marginalizing them. In the meantime, everyone else will be excited to get free contraception and “better health care” for women.

What it...READ MORE

Some people think that kids who make any noise at Mass need to be in a sound-proof room (i.e. a “cry room”) so they don’t bother anybody.

Here’s the deal: The average “cry room” holds like 5 families. Multiply that times about 3 Masses and that means the average parish is set up to accomodate 15 young families for Sunday Mass each week.

The average parish has about 1200 families. About half of those (~600) have kids under the age of 18. Of those, there are probably (I’m guessing now) 200 or so with kids under the age of 3. Pretty much every kid under three years old I know is loud and rowdy and has trouble understanding how to be reverent at Mass.

So the average parish needs to...READ MORE

it’s all too common, unfortunately, for a young Catholic to stop going to Mass after they graduate high school. They are out of Mom and Dad’s house for the first time, off to college, into the workforce and enjoying a yuppie lifestyle void of Sunday Mass.

But then something happens: Marriage and kids. And with that comes an overwhelming responsibility for something much bigger than yourself. And an awareness that you can’t possibly fulfill this responsibility all on your own. You need God. And so you and your family find yourselves back at Mass.

And it’s the most stressful, annoying and anxious experience of your life.

Your kids are loud. They seem to be bothering everyone. You don’t...READ MORE

As I mentioned in a post last year, I’ve never gotten to attend a celebration of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form (aka the “Latin Mass” or the “Tridentine Mass,” etc.). I’ve tried a few times and it didn’t work out for various reasons. And I really didn’t even know it existed or what it exactly was up until 5-10 years ago. I’ve been interested in attending ever since.

I grew up where all I ever knew was the Ordinary Form (this is the same form of the Mass that’s been said in various translations since Vatican II). If you’re under the age of 40 it’s probably all you’ve ever really known, too.

Not too long ago, however, I attended an Ordinary Form of the Mass where the priest was facing...READ MORE

Obama offered his “compromise” exemption for religious institutions today regarding his contraception (sterilization and abortifacient) mandate. Now, instead of the religious institution having to pay for it directly, the insurance company (which the religious institution is paying) will pay for it instead. I remember this one. It was back in college when you gave your money to the old kid to buy your beer for you. Brilliant! I knew the whole college professor background was gonna come in handy for this president.

As Jimmy Akin and so many others have already pointed out, it’s all a shell game. They’ve changed nothing of the substance in the mandate, they’ve only adjusted some...READ MORE

Surely we can all agree that orthodox Catholic teaching must be defended and promoted vigorously in this challenging time in our history. Here in America, and across the industrialized world, a vicious relativism runs rampant through a culture in crisis — a crisis of faith.

But now that I’ve been blogging for awhile, I’ve discovered there is something much, much more dangerous and important than the slaughter of millions of babies every year, the needs of the poor, the obsession with money and power and vanity, the fight for freedom and against tyranny across the globe, the solidarity to combat it together, the call to prayer, the promotion of the sacraments and our obligation to love our...READ MORE