Blog
The Transgender Movement Is Especially Dangerous for Boys…
September 25, 2024 The Transgender Movement Is Especially Dangerous for Boys It is a bit ironic that the “bathroom wars” began in Charlotte, NC, my home state.[1] While we war over whether or not a man is a man, or just seems that way, North Carolina’s motto remains engraved in stones around the state: Esse quam videri, which is Latin for “to be, rather than to seem”. Like I said – ironic. Of course, I think both sides of the argument could use the motto to their liking. But there is a more interesting note about the transgender issues of today: how often it is a matter of male identity – i.e. men wanting to become women.[2] While of course the data can be confusing, estimates put the desire for males to become female as nearly three times as prevalent as females wanting to be males. We ha...
Catholic presidential candidate Peter Sonski: ‘Pro-life voters don’t have to pick the lesser of two evils, and a third-party vote is not wasted’…
On November 5, pro-life voters will be faced with a stark choice at the ballot box. They’ll have the option to choose Democrat Kamala Harris, who promises to advance the abortion advocacy of the Biden administration and codify Roe v. Wade into federal law. Alternatively, they may opt to support Republican Donald Trump, who, while increasingly distancing himself from pro-life policy issues, continues to tout his appointment of three U.S. Supreme Court Justices who contributed to overturning Roe. Trump regularly asserts support for abortion exceptions and insists related laws are matter for the states, with no intention of moving the issue forward at the federal level. While these major party options are bleak for pro-lifers, they should know that they don’t have to vote for a pr...
Pope in Luxembourg: Service, Mission and Joy Are at the Heart of the Gospel…
Addressing the Catholic community of Luxembourg, Pope Francis emphasises the importance of service, mission, and joy, and calls on the Church to embrace hospitality, engage in missionary outreach, and live the Gospel with joyful hearts. By Francesca Merlo As the final event of the first leg of his 46th Apostolic Journey abroad, Pope Francis addressed a gathering of Luxembourg’s Catholic community. The event coincided with a Marian Jubilee, marking four centuries of devotion to Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted. Speaking to the faithful gathered in Luxembourg’s Notre-Dame Cathedral, Pope Francis focused on three key themes: service, mission, and joy. A Church called to serve Addressing the first word, “serve”, Pope Francis noted that serving is an action which “is at the very heart of t...
‘The Chosen’ Creator Dallas Jenkins Makes Big Announcements About Future of Show, Other Projects…
By Francesca Pollio Fenton CNA Staff, Sep 25, 2024 / 06:00 am Dallas Jenkins, the creator, director, and writer of the hit series “The Chosen,” made several big announcements regarding the future of the show and the launch of new projects during the second annual “Chosen” fan convention, ChosenCon, on Sept. 20 at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida. The second annual “Chosen” fan convention, ChosenCon, took place Sept. 20-21, 2024, at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida. Credit: Francesca Pollio-Fenton/CNA The announcements included details about several new shows, ranging from an animated children’s series to a reality show in partnership with celebrity survivalist and adventurer Bear Grylls, as well as the creation of a new production studi...
How the Church’s Vast Talent Pool Represents an Ironic Obstacle to Reform…
ROME – Fans of the Roma soccer team, one of the two professional squads in the Eternal City, are in a grumpy mood these days. In part that’s because of the team’s uneven performance, but even more so because of perceived mismanagement by its American owners, Texas billionaire Dan Friedkin and his son Ryan. Things came to a head when the team’s popular coach, a beloved former player, was unceremoniously fired just four games into the new season, leading to the most devoted fans boycotting the first half-hour of the next home game and then marching into the stadium chanting the coach’s name. It’s not that the Friedkins aren’t willing to spend – since they took over, they’ve pumped an estimated $1 billion into the franchise. It’s rather that those expenses sometimes seem more about building a...
Pope Warns Faithful About Pornography and Satan: ‘Do Not Approach the Dog Tied With a Chain’…
During his weekly General Audience Wednesday morning, Pope Francis continues his catechesis series on the Holy Spirit and reminds that despite Satan’s attempts to distract and tempt us, the Lord enables us to free ourselves of his trickery and deception. By Deborah Castellano Lubov The Lord protects us from being deceived by the devil…. Pope Francis gave this comforting observation during his Wednesday morning General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, while, at the same time, urging the faithful to “never dialogue with the devil.” As he continued his catechesis series on the Holy Spirit, he turned this week to the Gospel account of Jesus’ temptations in the desert. Never converse with the devil The Pope recalled a Church Father’s observation that once...
On contraception, an unfaithful Vatican consultor…
By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio – articles – email ) | Sep 24, 2024 One cannot help but be disturbed yet again by Pope Francis’ seemingly half-hearted commitment to Catholic doctrine. Some time ago he elevated Cardinal Hollerich to a major role in the Synod on Synodality despite his belief that Church teaching on homosexuality is based on an outdated anthropology. Now he has included among 28 new consultors to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith one who disagrees with the Church’s teaching that contraception is a sin. Why would anyone want to appoint an advisor to the Church’s doctrinal dicastery who does not himself uphold the teachings of the Magisterium? And one might well also ask why it is not yet obvious to everyone that the rejection of this teaching has borne an enormou...
To Belong to Christ: A Reflection on the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time…
Readings:Numbers 11:25–29Psalm 19:8,10,12–14James 5:1–6Mark 9:38–48 Today’s Gospel begins with a scene that recalls a similar moment in the history of Israel, the episode recalled in today’s First Reading. The seventy elders who receive God’s Spirit through Moses prefigure the ministry of the Apostles. Like Joshua in the First Reading, John makes the mistake of presuming that only a select few are inspired and entrusted to carry out God’s plans. The Spirit blows where it wills (see John 3:8), and God desires to bestow His Spirit on all the people of God in every nation under heaven (see Acts 2:5, 38). God can and will work mighty deeds through the most unexpected and unlikely people. All of us are called to perform even our most humble tasks, such as giving a cup of water, for the sake of ...
How Can We Have Free Will If God Knows the Future?
[embedded content]A lot of people think that if God knows what we’re going to do ahead of time, then we have no free will. But that’s a huge mistake—and to see why, you’ll need to watch to the end of this short video. Classical theism holds that God is omniscient, meaning that he knows everything, and this means that he knows the future. This is how God lets the biblical prophets know what’s going to be happening in the future. However, the terms “foreknow” and “foreknowledge” don’t appear at all in the Old Testament, and they appear only seven times in the New Testament. With that small a number of examples to study, we have to be very careful about how we understand it and what inferences we draw from them. In Greek the verb that means “to foreknow” is proginôskô, and the noun for “forek...
Diocese of San Diego Bans Catholic Homeschool Groups on Parish Properties; Non-Catholic Schools Allowed to Remain…
San Diego diocese bans homeschool groups on parish properties Skip to content A newly issued policy in the Diocese of San Diego forbids homeschool groups from using space at area parishes, while allowing parishes to rent space to non-Catholic schools on a case-by-case basis. St. Joseph’s Cathedral in San Diego, California. Credit: Nehrams2020/wikimedia. CC BY SA 3.0 Some homeschooling co-op groups in the diocese were reportedly notified of the policy only days before beginning weekly classes, with one group forced to find an immediate alternative location to accommodate weekly classes offered for at least 40 children. While the Diocese of San Diego has not responded to The Pillar’s questions on the policy, sources in the diocese say it comes amid growth in homeschooling in the ...
Weaving a Web of Faith
“Through reading Your Word, I’ve seen that waiting, trusting, and hoping are intricately connected— like golden strands woven together to form a strong chain. I think of trusting as the central strand because this attitude is taught so frequently throughout the Bible. Waiting and hoping embellish the central strand and strengthen the chain that connects me to You.” – Jesus Listens, April 15th When my younger son was four, his preschool teacher spent the month of October on a spider unit. They went on walks looking for webs, made spider art, and generally delighted in all things spider. I do not delight in anything spider. One October afternoon, he began to climb into his backseat chair while offering an unending flow of words about webs: “There are different kinds of spider’s webs, not jus...
Pope Francis Names New Consultors to Vatican’s DDF, Including Controversial Theologian Father Maurizio Chiodi…
By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Sep 23, 2024 / 11:45 am Pope Francis has named 28 new consultors to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, including moral theologian Father Maurizio Chiodi, who has expressed opinions contrary to Church teaching. Chiodi, a moral theologian, has come under media scrutiny in recent years for suggesting contraception use in marriage could be morally permissible in some circumstances. In a 2017 lecture in Rome, the priest also said that homosexual relationships “under certain conditions” could be “the most fruitful way” for those with same-sex attraction “to enjoy good relations.” Chiodi was made a theology professor at the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and the Family Sciences in 2019 following its refounding by Po...
