27 couples joined in Celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ; please join us next year for our 4th Christmas celebration.
10 Christmas Stories Every Father Should Read to His Children – Crisis Magazine
When St. Nick drives his miniature sleigh full of toys drawn by eight tiny reindeer to the snowy housetop, and drops to the sooty hearth below, the paterfamilias is bidden to attend. It is the father who hears “the prancing and pawing of each little hoof,” and springs from his bed to stand witness and …
Source: 10 Christmas Stories Every Father Should Read to His Children – Crisis Magazine
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans 12:2
It seems like my wife is always finding some new blog or podcast geared towards Catholic women and Catholic moms, to the point that I probably can no longer count them all on my own ten fingers. Now this is all great, because women can find a lot of affirmation and encouragement to carry out their particular vocations. But it got me to thinking: What is out there for Catholic men? As time goes on, the more and more I am convinced that to rebuild and restore masculinity is to rebuild and restore this failing world. So I’m going to share my top 5 online Catholic Manistries (pun *chuckles*) to make you a better man.
This by no means exhausts the resources out there for Catholic men, as many may exist beyond my knowledge. But for now I wish it was difficult to narrow it down to a list of top ten, rather than be challenged to come up with 5! So here’s where you come in: If you know a good online Catholic resource for men, type it in to the comments below, or contact us by email and we’ll check it out! Brotherhood and Fraternity are two masculine virtues that are necessary for us men if we’re ever going to change the world for Christ. We not only need to bond together in person and in our communities, but the internet is a tool that is enabling us to create a bond of Catholic men that spans the world, and that, my brothers, is a force that can make great change….starting with you and I.
By the way, if you’re on Twitter, consider subscribing to Catholic Men United, to get the latest tweets from a list compiled of Catholic Men’s groups, conferences, and resources!
DUBLIN — When Ailbhe Smyth was 37, voters in Ireland approved a constitutional amendment that banned abortion in nearly all cases and committed the nation to the principle that a pregnant woman and her fetus have an “equal right to life.”
Next year, when Ms. Smyth, a former professor and chairwoman of the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment, will be 72, Irish voters are expected to remove or alter that amendment in a new referendum that could give Ireland’s Parliament the freedom to legislate on the issue and write more flexible abortion laws.
What are the driving forces behind this significant shift in voter attitudes toward abortion and other social issues?
Ireland was long a bastion of Catholic conservatism, a place where pedestrians might tip their hats and hop off the footpath when a priest walked past. But economic and technological changes helped propel a shift in attitudes that accelerated with the unfolding of far-reaching abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church in the 1990s.
Over a generation, Ireland transformed from a country where 67 percent of voters approved the constitutional abortion ban to one where, in 2015, 62 percent voted to legalize same-sex marriage.
Ireland moved to the left on other social issues, too. It decriminalized homosexuality in 1992, removed restrictions on the sale of contraception in 1993 and legalized divorce in 1996. The Irish voted twice, in 1992 and 2002, to permit abortion if the mother were deemed a suicide risk. In 2015, the country passed a gender identity law favored by transgender rights groups.
Priests once enjoyed great social and political power in Ireland, but the abuse scandal led to “the demise of the church,” the center-right prime minister, Leo Varadkar, who is 38, biracial and gay, said in an interview in September.
That would have been a politically unspeakable phrase for an Irish leader in the not-too-distant past.
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The devil is a pathetic joke and a cosmic fool and failure.
