Science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick’s later work was marked by Gnostic tendencies, and The Adjustment Bureau, loosely inspired by Dick’s 1954 short story “The Adjustment Team” could easily have been another Gnostic-colored Hollywood parable akin to The Matrix and The Truman Show. In these movies, the hero slowly awakens to the realization that the known world is a facade engineered by a malevolent false creator, and ultimately throws off his shackles, rebelling against the false authority and achieving freedom from the constraints of this world.

Instead, writer-director George Nolfi, a philosophy major who studied at Princeton and Oxford, uses Dick’s fantasy conceit of a team of...READ MORE

New Missal Translation Will Be Like Rediscovering Buried Treasure - Bishop Peter Elliott, The Record (Australia)

BYU is a Model of Principle - Jake Tawney, Roma locuta est

Fathoming the Mercy of God - Doctor Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture/In Depth Analysis

Bad Mass = Weak Faith - Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

...Father John Zuhlsdorf comments here...

Here Comes Ash Wednesday. There Goes Your Media? - Steven D. Greydanus, CatholicExchange

Nun Run Anyone? - Joseph Pronechen, National Catholic Register

England: The Convocation of 1559 A.D. - Stephanie A. Mann, Supremacy and Survival

“Pink Smoke Over the Vatican” - California Catholic Daily

US: “The Boys of Jay Street”: Saint James...READ MORE

ANTIOCH, Calif. (CNS) — “You’re in the presence of a saint,” Tim Hooke told his students who were seated quietly in the sanctuary at Most Holy Rosary Church as they waited their turn to take a close look at a relic of St. Mary Magdalene.

“And not just a saint,” he added, “but a friend of Jesus.”

The Holy Rosary seventh-graders then rose from their seats and filed toward the altar of the Antioch church to pick up a prayer card and, one by one, pause before the relic, a portion of St. Mary Magdalene’s tibia (shinbone).

It was Mary Magdalene who announced to the apostles that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Hooke, in his 13th year of teaching at the school from which he graduated, knew...READ MORE

Liturgy’s Effect on Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ Debate - Louie Verrecchio, Catholic News Agency

...Father Zuhlsdorf comments here...

Being Good or Going to Mass? - Father Dwight Longenecker, Standing on my Head

Don’t Rub Off Your Ashes, Urges Bishop - Anna Arco, Catholic Herald

Shahbaz Bhatti:  Martyr For the Faith - Donald R. McClarey, The American Catholic

Moral Threats Of College Life: What are We Doing To Protect Our Young? - Monsignor Charles Pope, Archdiocese of Washington

If You’re Married and You’re on Facebook, Read This - Patrick Madrid

Oh my Gosh I Am Hardly Sorry for Having Upended Thee - Matthew Archbold, National Catholic Register

The Effectiveness of Natural Family Planning,...READ MORE

There aren’t many winners who hit the jackpot in Vegas. But last February, baby Claire beat the highest of odds stacked against her. This Feb. 24, she smiled and laughed all the way through her first birthday.

Her mother, Jamie Stout, couldn’t be happier. Neither could her big sister Vanessa nor her grandparents Jim and Cindy Stout, not to mention Pam Caylor and Marina Cortopassi of First Choice Pregnancy Services in Las Vegas.

“It’s amazing she’s having her birthday,” says an elated Caylor, the executive director of First Choice. “This could have had such a different meaning.”

Indeed. Finding herself in a desperate situation, Stout had started the first step of a three-day late-term...READ MORE

Does a Fallen Soldier Deserve More Respect than an Abortionist? - Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture/On the Culture

Medjugorje, Reality-Tele-Visions & the Cruel Absence of Pastoral Care - Louis Bélanger, Medjupedia

Is Facebook Evil? - Taylor Marshall, Canterbury Tales

Is the Cuomo-Communion Case about Conduct, Law, or Lawyers? - Doctor Ed Peters, In the Light of the Law

Another Dissident “Faithful” Catholic Attacks the Church - Paul Zummo, The American Catholic

Up from Literalism - John Zmirak, InsideCatholic

Catholic Pakistani Minister Killed for Protecting Christians - Anto Akarra, The Daily Register

Maryland: Birthplace of Tolerance for Catholics, a New Intolerance is Preached - Thomas...READ MORE

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Christians, government officials and secular groups have condemned the brutal assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, the young Catholic minister in charge of minority affairs in Pakistan’s federal cabinet.

Bhatti, 42, was shot by unidentified gunmen who pumped bullets into his car from automatic weapons as he was being driven from his residence to his office in Islamabad this morning.

Bhatti, bleeding profusely, was rushed to a nearby hospital by his driver in the same car. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

He had been facing public death threats from Muslim fundamentalists in recent weeks.

“Bhatti’s assassination underlines the issue of protection of religious...READ MORE

George Weigel: The Catholic Church is the Safest Environment for Children. Period. - Father Tim Moyle, Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Britain Cowers to Muslim Persecution - Damian Thompson, Telegraph

Catholic Critic of Blasphemy Law is Shot Dead in Pakistan - Ed West, Catholic Herald

Alternate Oscars - Donald R. McClarey, The American Catholic

Somber Health News: Scientists Link Promiscuity and Oral Cancer - California Catholic Daily

Aliens? Be Not Afraid - Joseph Wood, The Catholic Thing

Ash Wednesday: “And Unto Dust You Shall Return” - Doctor John-Mark L. Miravalle, Homiletic & Pastoral Review

Private vs. Public. Not Non-union vs. Union. - Tom Crowe, Catholic Vote

The Chutzpa of...READ MORE