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What a difference six years and a midterm make. Many Christians I know, who’d been jubilant at the prospect of a Republican red wave on election night, didn’t feel that way the next day. The history of midterm elections, the president’s low popularity rating, the low state of the economy, the hard progressive views of many Democrats, had led most of the country to believe the Republicans would sweep to victory. They didn’t. Everyone has an explanation. I have my theories, of course, as someone professionally involved in observing political life, but I’d stress to disappointed Christians that the results show the psalmist’s wisdom, telling us, “Put not your trust in princes.” Here I’d like to talk about the midterm results, compared with the results in 2016, when the same people did not exp...

[embedded content] How can women come to have a proper perception of their own beauty? I have a suggestion toward a partial answer. A great beginning is that fathers learn to see their daughters’ beauty; and then tell them. I think we fathers too easily forget that insistent voices are telling our daughters how to see themselves. Indeed, these voices are fairly screaming. How insistent and confident is our voice, and what exactly are we saying? Here is a matter for careful reflection. It might be more urgent than we realize. There is a fascinating difference between men and women as regards being told ‘you are beautiful.’ Men surely want to be ‘attractive’ or ‘handsome.’ But we normally don’t speak of men as ‘beautiful.’ Or, if we do say ‘he is a beautiful person,’ we are often simply abst...

VALLETTA, Dec 4 (Reuters) – A large picture of an unborn baby was placed outside the office of Malta’s prime minister on Sunday as demonstrators called on the government to halt plans to amend the country’s strict anti-abortion laws. The protest, the biggest in years, attracted several thousand people including Malta’s top Catholic bishop and the leader of the conservative opposition, but was led by a former centre-left president, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca. “We are here to be the voice of the unborn child,” said 19-year-old university student Maria Formosa, one of the speakers at the rally. “Through abortion, life is always lost.” Some of those present carried placards reading slogans such as “Keep abortion out of Malta” and “Protect o...

This is so great! NBA coach Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics answered questions during a press conference following a victory against the Miami Heat on Nov. 30. One reporter asked about the presence of Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton of Wales at the game. “Did you get a chance to meet with the royal family, and if not, what was it like having them there in the building?” the reporter asked. Mazzulla answers, “Jesus, Mary and Joseph?” The reporter laughs and responds, “The prince and princess of Wales.” Mazzulla then says, “I’m only familiar with one royal family. I don’t know too much about that one. But hopefully they’re Celtic fans.” Mazzulla is a devout Catholic and a husband and father of two children. According to this report,  he is “a focused man of faith who count...

Archaeologists believe they have uncovered the location where the sarcophagus of St. Nicholas of Myra (A.D. 270-343) was originally located. Various media were quick to report that the “Tomb of Santa Claus” was discovered, but, in fact, the many and varied resting places of the great bishop and saint have been known for some time, and his remains were translated to Italy more than a thousand years ago. The new announcement arises from an excavation that finally cleared centuries of sediment at St. Nicholas Church in Demre, formerly Myra, in the Antalya province of southern Turkey. The church itself was built around 520 over a previous church that had likely served as the bishop’s cathedral and later became his resting place for a time. As sea levels rose in the Middle Ages, the church was ...