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Columnists and contributors
George Weigel
In praise of Father Schall
Posted: 7/30/2010
One does wonder sometimes about God's ways with his most devoted servants. Several years back, Father James Schall, SJ, one of the greatest of American Jesuits and the living embodiment of Catholic liberal learning at Georgetown, was struck by an illness that cost him an eye. This summer, Father Schall is recovering from some nasty surgery, which involved removing a cancerous jawbone and its attendant teeth and replacing the jaw with bone taken from Schall's leg. Father Schall has taken this with his customary faith, good humor, and sang-froid; his convalescence, and his enormous grace amidst suffering, prompt me to pay him long overdue tribute.
Dale O'Leary
Unnatural conception
Posted: 7/30/2010
In 1987 in the document called "Donum Vitae," the Vatican spoke out strongly against various forms of reproductive technologies. Unfortunately, the document received little publicity and the practice of conceiving children artificially mushroomed. In 2008, the Vatican issued "Dignitas Personae," reinforcing the previous teaching and addressing new technologies:
Jaymie Stuart Wolfe
wePray
Posted: 7/30/2010
I've drawn the conclusion that prayer has never been easy. That's why Moses needed someone to hold his arms up, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, and Teresa of Avila threw herself down in front of a statue of Christ and refused to leave until God changed her. The problem with prayer is that, unlike when you talk to yourself, you may actually get an answer you don't expect -- maybe even one you don't like. Sometimes it feels like you're waiting an eternity for God to just say something, anything. At other times, it seems like he just won't stop talking. Silent or not, one thing is clear: prayer is a dialogue and I can only control my end of it.
Clark Booth
Around the leagues, across the pond
Posted: 7/30/2010
Atop the Pat's pedestal
Here's a handful of items beginning with the thought that in the Tom Brady contract hassle -- now fast blossoming as pre-season camp arrives -- we could have one of the mothers of the dubious art form in the offing.
Daniel Avila
A summer afternoon in Providence
Posted: 7/23/2010
On Sunday, July 18, I took the commuter rail from Boston to Providence for an afternoon rally. The National Organization for Marriage is conducting what it calls the Summer for Marriage Tour 2010, and landed at the foot of the Rhode Island Statehouse on a warm, breezy day to encourage citizens of that state to defend marriage as the union of one man, one woman. Over 200 people gathered under the trees of the Capitol's south lawn to hear speeches, get their marriage tour t-shirts, and prepare for an upcoming legislative battle in that state over the definition of marriage. The crowd reminded me of a church picnic gathering: Lots of families, kids running around, and smiling adults chatting. The idyllic feeling continued even as the first speakers delivered their remarks. Then a red-shirted army of chanting picketers suddenly emerged from around the western side of the statehouse and the time of white martyrdom began.
Dwight G. Duncan
An American televangelist who may be a saint
Posted: 7/23/2010
Shortly after Pope John Paul II embraced him at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1979 as a loyal son of the Church who "had written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus," Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the most prominent Catholic evangelist in our country's history, died. His cause of beatification and canonization is now awaiting decision at the Vatican.
Tiziana C. Dearing
Sharing my beliefs
Posted: 7/23/2010
This will be my last column in The Pilot. As I announced in my column last month, I am leaving Catholic Charities in late August to become CEO of Boston Rising, a new anti-poverty grant maker here in Boston. It is a challenge I feel called to accept. As with leaving Catholic Charities, writing this last column is bittersweet. You have been wonderful readers, and I will miss you. Thank you for your attention, your feedback and your thoughtful support of Catholic Charities' work over these last three years.
Clark Booth
The Boss
Posted: 7/23/2010
Much -- doubtless too much -- has been written and said about George Steinbrenner since the mighty fellow finally ran out of rage and bombast after an extraordinary 80 year run full of sound and fury signifying much.
Father Bryan Parrish
A community of faith
Posted: 7/16/2010
In celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary, after having enjoyed a beautiful family weekend with their children and grandchildren at the Red Lion Inn and the Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA, my parents and I travelled recently on a wonderful tour of Philadelphia, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk
Difficult pregnancies, precarious choices, and the absolute value of innocent lives
Posted: 7/16/2010
Some medical conditions can be made worse by becoming pregnant. Pulmonary hypertension, for example, is often exacerbated by pregnancy: the additional blood volume of the pregnancy burdens the mother's weakened heart and, in extreme cases, can result in heart failure and the death of both mother and child.
Clark Booth
Since we went away
Posted: 7/16/2010
You steal away for a fortnight or so in the middle of what used to be the lazy, hazy end of June and beginning of July and it's as if you've taken a snooze worthy of Rip Van Winkle. The contemporary sporting agenda rolls over us in ever mightier waves, unfolding not in cycles but revolutions.
George Weigel
Papal kudos for the fourth estate?
Posted: 7/16/2010
That Pope Benedict XVI is Catholicism's most effective spokesman and navigator through the rocks and shoals of Scandal Time II was demonstrated yet again in May, during a flying papal press conference en route to Portugal. Discussing the enduring meaning of the "message of Fatima," the pope said the following:
Jaymie Stuart Wolfe
Tell Me a Story
Posted: 7/16/2010
Everybody loves a good story. It doesn't matter whether it's drama, adventure or fantasy, historical or science fiction -- even non-fiction. Certainly both the form and content of any story will reflect the variety of human culture, historical experience, and perspective. But storytelling is part of what it means to be human. It is at the core of what is common to all of us. Stories powerfully entertain, instruct, and inspire. They even have to the power to form a lasting human communities--that is, if they are well told.
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