People with faith tend to sleep better

A recent study shows that believing that you have a relationship with God and that you are going to be saved after death, as well as other religious beliefs and activities, help you sleep better.



People with faith tend to sleep better — Aleteia:

Vatican adviser says 'real reform,' not spin, key to recovery from abuse crisis

Vatican adviser says 'real reform,' not spin, key to recovery from abuse crisis:

It’s gut-check time for secularists as Quebec counts people affected by religious symbols ban

Chris Selley: It’s gut-check time for secularists as Quebec counts people affected by religious symbols ban | National Post:

Dallas Charter Culture and the Covington Controversy

Dallas Charter Culture and the Covington Controversy:

The Courageous Honesty of Peter Steinfels: The latest column from George Weigel on the First Things blog

The Courageous Honesty of Peter Steinfels | George Weigel | First Things:

Expert sees Asia Bibi acquittal fueling push for 'rule of law' in Pakistan

Following Tuesday’s “definitive” acquittal of Asia Bibi, an illiterate Catholic mother of four who spent almost a decade on death row on blasphemy charges, one Asia expert says the next frontier for minorities in Pakistan is the press for full equality as citizens under the law.



Expert sees Asia Bibi acquittal fueling push for 'rule of law' in Pakistan:

Should Scientists Toy With the Secret to Life? - The New York Times

The gene-editing technology Crispr has the power to remake life as we know it. Questions about how to use it concern everyone.



Opinion | Should Scientists Toy With the Secret to Life? - The New York Times:

Opinion | Kindness Is a Skill - Practical tips for fighting a culture of savagery.

Opinion | Kindness Is a Skill - The New York Times:

Full text of Pope Francis’ in-flight press conference from Panama

Full text of Pope Francis’ in-flight press conference from Panama – Catholic World Report

C. Matthew Hawkins: Encountering Christ; A Conspiracy of Love: Beale Street: Mid-70s African American Novel Gets 21st Century Cinematographic Treatment

Here's a blog post that's a review of a film currently playing in theatres titled 'Beale Street' written by a seminarian I've met here in Baltimore during my current sabbatical. Matt Hawkins is a man of tremendous passion, zeal, and intellect who has clearly dedicated his life to both promoting the Gospel of Christ and bettering the welfare of the greater American community. I suspect that we'll be hearing a great deal from this young man in the years to come within the American Church and beyond.



Check out his blog and see there just a taste of what I believe he has to offer. It has been the opportunity to meet, discuss, and debate issues of theology and social justice that I count among the great gifts this time of study at St. Mary's Seminary and University here in Baltimore has afforded me. I am truly blessed. Here's hoping we all will continue to be blessed by reading more from this insightful Catholic: Matt Hawkins in the years to come. Well done Matt.



C. Matthew Hawkins: Encountering Christ; A Conspiracy of Love: Beale Street: Mid-70s African American Novel Gets 21st Century Cinematographic Treatment:

New York, Abortion, and a Short Route to Chaos: An article from +Robert Barron

New York, Abortion, and a Short Route to Chaos | Word on Fire

Pope Francis Outlines Key Priorities for February Sex-Abuse Summit

Pope Francis Outlines Key Priorities for February Sex-Abuse Summit:

Pope reaffirms priest celibacy but makes case for exception

Pope reaffirms priest celibacy but makes case for exception | CTV News:

Pope Urges Clergy to Keep Faith Despite Frustrations

Pope Urges Clergy to Keep Faith Despite Frustrations:

Covington Bishop Apologizes to Covington Catholic Students

Covington Bishop Apologizes to Covington Catholic Students:

Pope Francis Speaks on Fake News and Prejudice on Social Media Networks

Pope Francis Speaks on Fake News and Prejudice on Social Media Networks - World Religion News:

Christians in the Cultural Crosshairs

Christians in the Cultural Crosshairs: NEWS ANALYSIS: Targets Include Kentucky High-School Boys, Karen Pence

Trudeau needs to sign UN nuclear treaty, says Canadian Council of Churches

Trudeau needs to sign UN nuclear treaty, says Canadian Council of Churches:

Vatican summit to create task force in every continent for protection of minors

Vatican summit to create task force in every continent for protection of minors:

Vatican takes stab at bettering Latin American politics

Vatican takes stab at bettering Latin American politics: Twenty-six young Latin American Catholics involved in politics will travel to the Vatican in March 2019 as part of a study program organized by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, L’…

Fortifying the Faith in a Time of Crisis

Fortifying the Faith in a Time of Crisis: At this moment of crisis, Catholics need to draw closer to Christ, not farther away.

More than a quarter of the deaths in Holland are “induced,” report finds

More than a quarter of the deaths in Holland are “induced,” report finds:

'Bishop of the Internet': Backlash against Covington Catholic students 'literally, Satanic'

'Bishop of the Internet': Backlash against Covington Catholic students 'literally, Satanic':

The Credibility of Bishops on Credibly Accused Priests

The Credibility of Bishops on Credibly Accused Priests:

Squandering Moral Capital

Squandering Moral Capital | George Weigel | First Things:

Nathan Phillips rally attempted to disrupt Mass at DC’s National Shrine

While chanting and playing ceremonial drums, a group of Native American rights activists reportedly led by Nathan Phillips attempted Jan. 19 to enter Washington, DC’s National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception during a Saturday evening Mass.



Nathan Phillips rally attempted to disrupt Mass at DC’s National Shrine:

Cardinal O’Connor’s Pro-Life Legacy Lives On Among Students

Cardinal O’Connor’s Pro-Life Legacy Lives On Among Students:

Ben Shapiro rips 'manufactured media lie' against Covington Catholic High School boys

Ben Shapiro rips 'manufactured media lie' against Covington Catholic High School boys - Washington Times:

Priests and pastors shoulder a huge emotional burden, but they're burning out ... alone

Priests and pastors shoulder a huge emotional burden, but they're burning out ... alone | CBC News:

5 Things to Know About World Youth Day 2019

5 Things to Know About World Youth Day 2019: The youth event in Panama starts today and ends Jan. 27.

How We Destroy Lives Today: Will the Covington Catholic High School fiasco change social media?

Opinion | How We Destroy Lives Today - The New York Times:

Ontario doctors in court challenge to referral rule for services that clash with their beliefs

Ontario doctors in court challenge to referral rule for services that clash with their beliefs | CTV News:

Hospitals have long tradition in Christianity

Hospitals have long tradition in Christianity--Aleteia:

26 people as wealthy as half of all humanity combined: report

26 people as wealthy as half of all humanity combined: report | CTV News:

March for Life Keeps Getting Younger and Less Catholic

March for Life Keeps Getting Younger and Less Catholic | Newsmax.com:

Who gets to decide when a 14-year-old wants to change gender? The child, the hospital, the battling parents?

Who gets to decide when a 14-year-old wants to change gender? The child, the hospital, the battling parents? | National Post: A B.C. case raises difficult questions about parental rights and about how young is too young to make medical decisions. The result is a messy ethical and legal tangle

Father Raymond J. de Souza: Canada’s police crack down on peaceful free speech

Father Raymond J. de Souza: Canada’s police crack down on peaceful free speech | National Post:

Sexual Abuse and the End of Papal Deference

Sexual Abuse and the End of Papal Deference: COMMENTARY: The Chilean bishops’ visit to Rome demonstrated the newfound willingness of bishops to push back publicly against objection...

Why I Assigned “The Kingdom” | Stephen E. Lewis

Why I Assigned “The Kingdom” | Stephen E. Lewis | First Things: Our daily blog content exclusive to the web hits on hot topics in both religion and public life and will keep you informed and entertained all week.

Five reasons the pope's clergy sex abuse meeting in Rome will fail

Five reasons the pope's clergy sex abuse meeting in Rome will fail | National Catholic Reporter:

Sojourner's Notes from a Sabbatical

Back in the day when I was still a young priest, I used to have the opportunity to augment my meagre clerical salary by filling in as a supply teacher at the local Catholic High School. One day a young lad, eager to establish his bona fides with his fellow ‘back of the classroom’ mates, decided to challenge me to prove that heaven and hell were realities we would face when we departed this mortal coil. “If they really exist” he asked, “tell me what they are really like.” After explaining that I had as yet no first hand experience of either eternal state I said that I could only answer his question by using earthly analogies that we both could relate to. “Hell” I said “was a never ending litany of wedding rehearsals while heaven was a library that held more interesting books than I could read in an eternity.” Using that paradigm, I am currently experiencing a taste of heaven as I enjoy a sabbatical at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland where I am spending many blissful hours each day in their library researching a topic I’ve given much thought to over the years: ‘Friendship as a model of the moral and religious life’.

Friendship (filial love) has long been held as the least important type of love. Christian theology holds agape love (total self-giving) as the highest form of love that believers should strive to emulate. Post-modern Western culture lifts up sexual love (eros) as that penultimate goal of human existence guaranteed to bring one fulfillment in life. But many wise sages through the years have argued that friendship stands at least as their equal as the means of living a virtuous and fulfilled life. Aristotle declared in his signature work The Nicomachean Ethics that friendship was the one essential thing that a virtuous person needed to possess a life worthy of living. Others as noteworthy as Cicero and Thomas Aquinas offered similar arguments expounding on the vital role that filial love plays in the good life. Modern philosophers and theologians from Paul Wadell, C.P., to Michael Pakaluk, and John M. Cooper have also offered a vigorous defence of this oft-denigrated mode of love. Having the luxury to be able to spend as many hours as I desire each day to read the works of such notables in the comfort of a modern university library is truly a foretaste for me of the promised New Jerusalem of paradise.

So what has this paradisiacal experience taught me about friendship? Stay tuned to the blog and I'll post whatever nuggets of wisdom I'm able to digest.

Ben Shapiro: "We are the Guardians of His Most Precious Creations," He Says in Powerful March for Life Speech

Ben Shapiro: "We are the Guardians of His Most Precious Creations," He Says in Powerful March for Life Speech | ChurchPOP:

Archbishop Naumann: The Pro-Life Movement Must Be One of Mercy

Archbishop Naumann: The Pro-Life Movement Must Be One of Mercy: Kansas City shepherd presided at the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the basilica in Washington.

Scandal-scarred American Catholic Church approaches a crossroad

Scandal-scarred American Catholic Church approaches a crossroad:

The Rudderless West: We are drifting, in the absence of mind and will, toward a moment of civilizational self-negation.

Opinion | The Rudderless West - The New York Times:

The PA Grand-Jury Report: Not What It Seems. It’s Inaccurate, Unfair & Misleading.

The PA Grand-Jury Report: Not What It Seems | Commonweal Magazine

Why Is Jordan Peterson So Popular? The Canadian psychology professor’s stardom is evidence that leftism is on the decline—and deeply vulnerable.

Why Is Jordan Peterson So Popular? - The Atlantic: The Canadian psychology professor’s stardom is evidence that leftism is on the decline—and deeply vulnerable.

Pope Francis: What to expect in 2019

Pope Francis: What to expect in 2019: The finalization of a Curial reform process, a reshuffle in some Vatican positions, and an eventual consistory to “refill” the College of Cardinals might be among Pope Francis’ key moves in 2019.

Archbishop Lori Announces System to Report Allegations Against Baltimore Bishops

Archbishop Lori Announces System to Report Allegations Against Baltimore Bishops: Complaints made through the Ethics Point system about bishops will be routed to Baltimore’s diocesan review board.

Nothing About Us Without Us: The latest from George Weigel

Nothing About Us Without Us | George Weigel | First Things:

Should Catholics Be More Involved In Politics?

Should Catholics Be More Involved In Politics?: Is a lack of Catholic political involvement really the problem?

Lay Collaboration and Episcopal Authority

Lay Collaboration and Episcopal Authority:

Cardinal Wuerl knew of allegations against McCarrick, despite earlier denials

Cardinal Wuerl knew of allegations against McCarrick, despite earlier denials

In the Pope Francis era, the Eucharist defines doctrinal tussles

In the Pope Francis era, the Eucharist defines doctrinal tussles

Here's What You Need to Know About the Final Document from the Synod of Bishops on Young People

Here's What You Need to Know About the Final Document from the Synod of Bishops on Young People – EpicPew

What is the meaning of the name 'Jesus'?

Meaning of the name 'Jesus' --Aleteia

What do these Catholic abbreviations and acronyms mean? A handy reference for Catholics.

What do these Catholic abbreviations and acronyms mean?

Opinion | The Remoralization of the Market - A column from David Brooks

Opinion | The Remoralization of the Market - The New York Times

Father Raymond J. de Souza: My friend knew well the danger of intolerant liberalism

Father Raymond J. de Souza: My friend knew well the danger of intolerant liberalism | National Post

Montreal Catholic archdiocese slammed for promoting alternative sex-ed

Montreal Catholic archdiocese slammed for promoting alternative sex-ed | CTV News

The War of Words on Abortion: I’m pro-life. But many people describe me based on what I’m against, not what I’m for.

Opinion | The War of Words on Abortion - The New York Times

What Does a Sober Assessment of the Pa. Grand Jury Report Reveal?

What Does a Sober Assessment of the Pa. Grand Jury Report Reveal?

These Are Four of the Best Catholic Children's Books Available

These Are Four of the Best Catholic Children's Books Available – EpicPew

Meet the priest who's helping others recover from overeating

Meet the priest who's helping others recover from overeating -- Aleteia

Belgian euthanasia case to be heard by European Court of Human Rights

Belgian euthanasia case to be heard by European Court of Human Rights

The 12 most important symbols found in the Christian catacombs

The 12 most important symbols found in the Christian catacombs

The Witch Hunt Against Australia's Cardinal George Pell: Five Facts You Need To Know

The Witch Hunt Against Australia's Cardinal George Pell: Five Facts You Need To Know

Lay Collaboration and Episcopal Authority

Lay Collaboration and Episcopal Authority | George Weigel | First Things

As US bishops meet, Vatican may be deciding McCarrick's fate

As US bishops meet, Vatican may be deciding McCarrick's fate | National Catholic Reporter

Assisted dying laws are ‘paternalistic and patronizing,’ academic says

Assisted dying laws are ‘paternalistic and patronizing,’ academic says | CTV News

6 Ways pets are good for your health

6 Ways pets are good for your health--Aleteia

‘Completely worn out’: Quebecers with incurable degenerative diseases challenge assisted dying laws in court

‘Completely worn out’: Quebecers with incurable degenerative diseases challenge assisted dying laws in court | Ottawa Citizen

Future of the Catholic Church: Love of Christ

Future of the Catholic Church: Love of Christ | National Review

Cardinal’s cover-up trial puts French Catholic Church in glare of abuse scandal

Cardinal’s cover-up trial puts French Catholic Church in glare of abuse scandal

5 Surprising health benefits of church attendance

5 Surprising health benefits of church attendance

Pope risks rare double 'own goal' in case of Argentine bishop

Pope risks rare double 'own goal' in case of Argentine bishop

How many times has the Bible been translated?

How many times has the Bible been translated?

35 Missionary Priests Killed in 2018

35 Missionary Priests Killed in 2018 – EpicPew

Vatican press office shuffle could mean the age of a 'papal spokesman' is over

Vatican press office shuffle could mean the age of a 'papal spokesman' is over

Man thought nearly brain-dead recovers and leaves hospital: Doctors are not always right when they recommend the termination of life support!

Man thought nearly brain-dead recovers and leaves hospital | CTV News

U.S. Catholic Bishops & Sex Abuse: Vatican’s Misstep Could Be Costly

U.S. Catholic Bishops & Sex Abuse: Vatican’s Misstep Could Be Costly | National Review

The Morality of Selfism: The Gospel of Saint You

Opinion | The Morality of Selfism - The New York Times

The power of silence: The mystery of Pope Francis' refusal to respond to his enemies

The power of silence: The mystery of Pope Francis' refusal to respond to his enemies

Pope Francis criticizes U.S. bishops over abuse scandal, demands unity

Pope Francis criticizes U.S. bishops over abuse scandal, demands unity - The Globe and Mail

Naming names: A reckoning is underway in US Catholic Church

Naming names: A reckoning is underway in US Catholic Church

Father Raymond J. Souza: The morals, and money, of major junior sport

Father Raymond J. Souza: The morals, and money, of major junior sport | National Post

The next frontier in the 'right to die': advance requests, minors and the mentally ill

The next frontier in the 'right to die': advance requests, minors and the mentally ill | CBC News

Useless Knowledge Begets New Horizons: Fundamental discoveries don’t always have practical uses, but they have soul-saving applications.

Opinion | Useless Knowledge Begets New Horizons - The New York Times

Who were the Magi, really?

Who were the Magi, really?

3 Books That Teach About Islam

3 Books That Teach About Islam

Staying Through Scandal

Staying Through Scandal

'The unfair, anti-Catholic conviction of Cardinal George Pell' by George Weigel

The unfair, anti-Catholic conviction of Cardinal George Pell

To believe or not to believe, that is the question

To believe or not to believe, that is the question

Villanova produces 3D virtual tours of Vatican locations

Villanova produces 3D virtual tours of Vatican locations