Ever since the first human embryonic stem-cell lines were established in 1998, the Catholic Church has maintained that this type of research was ethically unacceptable. The fact that such research requires the creation and subsequent destruction of human life makes it a non-starter for the Church, which has continually upheld and defended the sanctity and value of human life in all its forms. Unfortunately, the Church’s opposition to this research has exposed it to harsh criticism from those who would paint the Church as an institution bent on holding back the tide of scientific progress.

Yet, if one were to stack up all the clinical studies demonstrating either the safety or possible...READ MORE

I have a difficult time managing change. At work, I have recently been transferred to a different department, therefore dealing with a new boss and assignments. At home, I chose to sell my house in order to save money, but I am not enjoying my new neighborhood.  On top of that, I am in a new relationship. That part is positive, but it is new, and the changes all at once are overwhelming. How do I cope?

There are both changes that are imposed and those we choose. Your situation includes both. Although managing self-imposed changes is slightly different than managing changes that you did not choose, they both have similarities. I recommend three practices when managing change.

The first is to...READ MORE

Epiphany Customs and Blessings - Shawn Tribe, New Liturgical Movement

Ann Coulter . . . Anti-Catholic Bigot [Updated] - Jay Anderson, Pro Ecclesia

Wise Men from the East & the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord - Sandra Meisel, Ignatius Insight Scoop

On the Transformative Power of an Observed Love - Msgr. Charles Pope, Archdiocese of Washington

The Legend of the Letter from the Lord - The Bones, Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma

What’s In A Name? . . .Or A Symbol? - Brad Noel, Southern Fried Catholicism

Some Music for your Epiphany - DarwinCatholic, The American Catholic

A Personal Defense of Celibacy - Colin Gormley, Ignitum Today

Why Did God Order the Death of Gentile Infants? - Dr....READ MORE

Roman Hurko is a Ukrainian Canadian who has just composed and recorded his third Divine Liturgy. Like all his work, it is divine indeed.

The Byzantine Eucharistic celebration is called “divine” because it is the work of the God-man, Jesus Christ. But Hurko arguably has been deemed worthy to become — musically — a partaker of the divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4).

Hurko’s Liturgy No. 3 premiered over two evenings in November, Nov. 12-13, at St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church and St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in New York City. I was able to attend the former, and, like St. Vladimir’s 10th-century emissaries to Constantinople, I knew not whether I was in heaven or on earth, “for...READ MORE

Jan. 1 issue feature.

Over the course of 2011, the U.S. bishops were in dialogue with the presidents of Catholic universities about U.S. implementation of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Blessed John Paul II’s 1990 apostolic constitution for Catholic higher education.

Now that this collaborative discussion has been largely completed, what has been learned?

“There seems to be a sense that Ex Corde has had a very positive influence in bringing about a consciousness of focusing on the Catholic identity of colleges and universities,” said Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry of Los Angeles, who until November was chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education. “It has led to a lot of progress...READ MORE

“The idea of abortions being paid for by federal funds does not play well with the American people.”

— Mary Spaulding Balch, the National Right to Life Committee’s state legislation coordinator, on government-funded abortion.

“We are going through a crisis of Catholic identity both in terms of individuals who claim to be Catholic, but neither talking nor acting in accordance with Church teachings, and in terms of institutions such as universities and health-care organizations.”

— Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, following his decision that St. Joseph’s Hospital can no longer be considered Catholic.

“Being sure that the Church’s voice is heard clearly and accurately has always been the core of...READ MORE

As welcome as inconvenient relations coming for Thanksgiving dinner, the Tea Party movement has upset America’s political order to varying degrees. And Christine O’Donnell can lay claim to being one of the Tea Party’s opening toasts. A complete underdog, she narrowly lost a 2010 Senate race in Delaware that pitted her against the national GOP establishment as well as a dishwater Democrat opponent.

But her book is a winner.

Part memoir, part political tract, the whole seasoned with a populism steeped in the faith she embraced in adulthood, Troublemaker is not the usual book written by a former candidate: i.e., a self-serving piece of pap penned in order to advance future political...READ MORE

Philadelphia, Pa. — Catholic schools must move forward with hope and realism, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput said as his education commission announced school mergers and closings in a Jan. 6 report.

“We need to honor the great history of Catholic education in our archdiocese. But we must not be constrained by it,” the archbishop said in a letter to the Blue Ribbon Commission. “Nostalgia for the past is a bad foundation if we want to think clearly and build creatively for the future.”

He praised the authors of the “Faith in the Future” report for their “courage in facing the hard financial realities burdening many of our schools,” nearly 50 of which may be closed or merged.