Luceat!

This past week, I traveled down to Texas to be on-site in preparation for the 10th Anniversary FOCUS National Conference. I am on the steering committee for the Conference and we were taking part in an intense 36 hours of meetings and planning. I had some time Wednesday morning for some personal prayer, [...]

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So I was reading an opinion article at Opinion journal from the Wall Street Journal, by Peggy Noonan. She analyzed Hillary Clinton’s efforts to “seem more like a woman.” Noonan makes the statement, “The question, actually, is not whether America is “ready” for a woman.” However, I think that the question is [...]

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Recently, as I walked away from one of the UW rec centers, I heard a crash and a scream. I looked back and witnessed a young woman on the ground in tears, lying in the middle of the road with her moped tossed a few feet away from her. I stared for a [...]

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Over the next few weeks, we’ll be talking a fair bit about sexual difference and sundry related topics. With a theme so all-encompassing in its import, I usually find it worthwhile to lay down some groundwork. Over the course of our reflections, it is my hope each of us will be challenged to [...]

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I had originally planned on writing a rather low-key article on Jane Austen to follow our new theme.  However, in light of recent events, Brave New World has now taken precedence.
In the book Brave New World, families become obsolete and sexuality is reserved purely for pleasure and is not intended for procreation.  Thus, “mother and [...]

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Despite promises made last week, we didn’t post on Monday.  Please accept my sincerest apologies, dear reader.
To make it up to you, I offer the following video:

I know it has nothing to do with our current topic, but it is timely and brief–and it should pique interest about our upcoming conference.  I plan to post [...]

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Check out this new video hot off the wire from FOCUS Productions!

If you haven’t heard about FOCUS’ 10th Anniversary National Student Leadership Conference in Grapevine, Texas this coming January, check out the conference website to learn all about it! With speakers like Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R. and MLB baseball player Mike Sweeney, a Third Day [...]

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That’s right, we’re overdue for a change of topic. Seeing as discussion has been relatively light of late, we’ve decided to stir the pot a bit more. For the next month or so–of course punctuated by the requisite reflections on important happenings and feast days–we’ll be meditating on the theme Christian Anthropology: Gender, [...]

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October 7th marks the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on the liturgical calendars.  I thought it would be good for us to take a moment and reflect upon the importance of the Rosary in the life of a Christian.
In recent years the Rosary has become the topic of much debate among scholars and [...]

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Several years ago, on a retreat in Assisi, I heard a story about St. Francis of Assisi (whose feast it is today) that has inspired me ever since. As the story goes, St. Francis was walking on the road to another monastery with Brother Leo. It was winter and bitterly cold. St. [...]

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