Alaska’s Supreme Court majority decision to strike down parental notifications on abortion displays a stunning lack of contact with the real effects that abortion has on young women.
Hunger is an issue about which we, as a community, feel passionately. It is why Catholic Social Services began initially, to help ensure our neighbors had enough food to feed themselves and their family.
Despite what may seem to us as planetary chaos, the universe is doing what it was created to do, at least until the creation of the first humans. It was only then that true chaos began to set in.
The so-called “Satanic prayer” at the Aug. 9 Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting was widely reported on and left some Alaskans outraged. Others shook their heads or shrugged. Was this an earnest prayer for satanic principles to guide assembly members in discerning the public good or was it a tongue-in-cheek mockery of public invocations in general?
Religious education methods from 50 or 60 years ago simply aren’t working now. Millennials don’t accept church doctrine and authority just because it’s what they’re supposed to do. They need more. They need reasons to believe and causes to believe in. Unfortunately many parishes fail to offer either.
When Middle-Eastern Christians are beheaded for their faith, when men, women and children are killed in the streets of France, when ancient holy sites are reduced to rubble — something deep in the human heart cries for revenge.
Norris points out that Judeo-Christianity begins in a desert, and advises us to read Exodus again. There, our ancestors sought escape from slavery, but began to question God’s faithfulness. “Did God lead us here to kill us?” they asked. The desert is challenging, but God remains faithful.
Why these movies? Why Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Superwoman and The Fantastic Four? The human heart cries out for something greater — for good to triumph over evil.
At times I feel like the darkness of events around us is overshadowing the light. Last month there was another horrible mass shooting that killed more than 49 people and injured another 53 in Orlando, Florida. Yet another national and international tragedy has befallen us. More families suffering and lives lost.
The physicality of Filipino spirituality flows into a practical empathy for others. Filipinos are the most kind, hospitable and generous people I’ve ever met.