Eleven top reasons in favor of abortionMichael Pakaluk
I will give what I think are the top motives for why people favor abortion rights, in what I think is the order, from the most to the least influential. 1. One motive is the sensed disproportion between ...
A day at the synodBishop Robert Barron
As some of you probably know, I've been in Rome for the past three weeks participating as a delegate at the Synod on Synodality. You might also have heard that in order to ensure the confidentiality ...
Inclined toward oneself but not 'curved inward'Michael Pakaluk
Samuel Beckett is reputed to have said, "God created the universe out of nothing, and it shows." I don't know whether he really said this. But the quip is theologically very deep, because it echoes ...
Meet the new goddess, same as the old goddessBishop Robert Barron
A few weeks ago, I spoke at the annual convention of the G.K. Chesterton Society. The theme of the conference was St. Francis, since this year marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Chesterton's ...
How to start a Bible studyMichael Pakaluk
But why should you start a Bible study? Because ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ, as St. Jerome said. Because we want to model our lives on the life of Christ. Because we all sense that the ...
When did 'conversion' become a dirty word?Bishop Robert Barron
I have recently returned from World Youth Day in Lisbon, where I gave five presentations, each one of which, as I promised, was evangelical in purpose. I made that promise in response to Cardinal-elect ...
Thoughts on World Youth Day in LisbonBishop Robert Barron
I've just returned from World Youth Day in Lisbon, my fourth experience of this unique gathering. I had attended the celebrations in Madrid (2011), Krakow (2016), and Panama (2019), but in many ways, ...
Tracing things backMichael Pakaluk
What could be more ridiculous, as a Christian, than to celebrate the dedication of a building, and even to place that celebration on the universal calendar of the Church? But that is what Catholics do, ...
'Oppenheimer's' frownBishop Robert Barron
Cillian Murphy, who beautifully evokes the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's new film, wears, through about 85 percent of the movie, a worried frown. Nolan does not lionize Oppenheimer ...
Unless the Lord founds the countryMichael Pakaluk
Samuel Johnson once said that any book that we have not read is for us as if it were published yesterday -- The Odyssey, Plato's "Phaedo," More's "Utopia" -- they are all, for a novice, equally ...
