Current Issues

In the Trenches of the Abortion Battle

Every day, thousands of children--fragile, innocent, alone--are abandoned. They are brutally snuffed from the world and literally left in the trash . . . and it's all legal. Abandoned: The Untold Stories of the Abortion Wars is the story of those children abandoned by abortion, and it is the story of their courageous defenders.

Since 1976, Monica Miller has made it her life's work to defend the unborn: she has counseled pregnant women outside abortion clinics and organized pro-life groups and sit-ins at many of those same clinics. She has blocked abortionists cars, been arrested, and gone to jail. And she has pulled the bodies of thousands of unborn babies out of dumpsters and given them a proper burial.

Abandoned: The Untold Stories of the Abortion Wars is the profound, breathtaking, and often daring journey of one woman, but it is much more than that. It is a history of the Pro-Life movement since Roe vs. Wade, a suspenseful, true-life tale of life and death, an insightful look into the unique and terrible horror of abortion, and a plea for the protection of the most helpless and innocent members of the human family.

Based on 20 years of research, including an examination of the papers of eight of the nine Justices who voted in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, Abuse of Discretion is a critical review of the behind-the-scenes deliberations that went into the Supreme Court's abortion decisions and how the mistakes made by the Justices in 1971-1973 have led to the turmoil we see today in legislation, politics, and public health.

The first half of the book looks at the mistakes made by the Justices, based on the case files, the oral arguments, and the Justices' papers. The second half of the book critically examines the unintended consequences of the abortion decisions in law, politics, and women's health.

Why do the abortion decisions remain so controversial after almost 40 years, despite more than 50,000,000 abortions, numerous presidential elections, and a complete turnover in the Justices? Why did such a sweeping decision--with such important consequences for public health, producing such prolonged political turmoil--come from the Supreme Court in 1973?

Answering those questions is the aim of this book. The controversy over the abortion decisions has hardly subsided, and the reasons why are to be found in the Justices' deliberations in 1971-1972 that resulted in the unprecedented decision they issued.

Discuss Abuse of Discretion on Twitter using hashtag #AbuseOfDiscretion.

The natural law worldview developed over the course of almost two thousand years beginning with Plato and Aristotle and culminating with St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. This tradition holds that the world is ordered, intelligible and good, that there are objective moral truths which we can know and that human beings can achieve true happiness only by following our inborn nature, which draws us toward our own perfection. Most accounts of the natural law are based on a God-centered understanding of the world.

After the Natural Law traces this tradition from Plato and Aristotle to Thomas Aquinas and then describes how and why modern philosophers such as Descartes, Locke and Hobbes began to chip away at this foundation. The book argues that natural law is a necessary foundation for our most important moral and political values - freedom, human rights, equality, responsibility and human dignity, among others. Without a theory of natural law, these values lose their coherence: we literally cannot make sense of them given the assumptions of modern philosophy.

Part I of the book traces the development of natural law theory from Plato and Aristotle through the crowning achievement of Thomas Aquinas. Part II explores how modern philosophers have systematically chipped away at the only coherent foundation for these values. As a result, our most important moral and political ideals today are incoherent. Modern political and moral thinkers have been led either to dilute the meaning of such terms as freedom or the moral good - or abandon these ideas altogether. Thus, modern philosophy and political thought are leading us either toward anarchy or totalitarianism.

The conclusion, entitled Why God Matters, shows how even the philosophical assumptions of the natural law depend on a personal God.

Larry Oney endured years of adversity and racial prejudice as a child in a sharecropping family on a plantation in northern Louisiana and into his high school years in New Orleans. Black, proud, and angry, his life began to pivot toward hope when a mysterious white woman offered his family a random act of kindness. Amazed by God's Grace reveals what it took to bring Larry from resentment to hope and eventually into the Catholic Church where he now serves as a deacon. Deacon Oney's insights, love of Scripture, confidence in the Holy Spirit, and pure joy will encourage anyone looking for a hope and inspiration in a difficult world. Insightful and thought-provoking meditations follow each chapter.

Has the Americanization of American Catholics--their cultural assimilation, that is--been a blessing or a curse for the Church in the United States? Or has it been a bit of both? In The Gibbons Legacy Russell Shaw takes a searching look at that question and reaches a disturbing conclusion. Cultural assimilation, which was ardently championed by churchmen like the great Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore around the turn of the last century, has undoubtedly conferred many benefits on Catholics. Their absorption into the secular culture of America, however, now threatens the Catholic identity of millions of faithful and of their institutions, such as schools, universities, and hospitals. Shaw does not offer this conclusion as an unsupported generalization. The Gibbons Legacy is a richly documented analysis of a process extending over two centuries. Colorful characters and dramatic incidents abound, including the nineteenth-century intellectual feud between Father Orestes Brownson and the Transcendentalist convert to Catholicism Isaac Hecker, Pope Leo XIII's condemnation of Americanism, the anti-Catholicism that greeted the presidential campaigns of Al Smith and John F. Kennedy, and the numerous intra-Church conflicts that have divided American Catholics since the Second Vatican Council. In concluding his study, Shaw offers a number of thoughtprovoking suggestions about what the Church in America needs to do now in the face of an ongoing decline that is sapping its strength and may threaten its very survival.

This inspiring book presents the opposite side of the coin of DeMarco's previous bestseller, Architects of the Culture of Death, and presents short but vivid and insightful profiles of individuals who worked heroically, consistently, and effectively in defense of life. Grouped according to various fields of endeavor - medicine, philosophy, theology, sports, entertainment, and politics and the arts - and hailing from many different countries, the heroes described within exemplify the diversity of the pro-life movement. Some are still living, others have passed from the scene. Men and women are represented as well as individuals from different races. While some are Jewish and others Protestant, the majority are Catholic. Offering the most extensive and diverse representation of pro-life stalwarts that has ever been collected, Apostles of the Culture of Life will serve as an inspiration to anyone who loves justice, while, at the same time, providing cogent and convincing arguments as to why the defense of life is the most important issue of our time. Read it and be inspired!

Every day, millions of people fight about religion. Whether with friends, family, or on social media, we expend lots of energy, lots of sharp words, and lots of strong feelings. But very few know how to have a good religious argument a rational, respectful, and productive exchange of differing views.

Bishop Robert Barron, one of the leading Catholic figures in the world and among the most active on social media, has enjoyed thousands of fruitful religious arguments. In this book based on talks delivered at Facebook and Google, he explains why religion at its best opens up the searching mind, and how we all believer and unbeliever alike can share better discussions about God.

Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have each approached the papacy in strikingly different ways, yet they share the same fundamental vision of the world and man. In these pages, Cardinal Muller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, explores the differences and commonalities of these two popes, showing how the challenge for the Church's hierarchy remains the same, and how these two popes are leading the Church to resist worldly infections and to heal the spiritual diseases of our time.

He also provides a succinct and fascinating look into the universal ministry of the Church, showing how the popes, as successors to Peter, are the visible head of the pilgrim Church and are tasked with carrying out the pastoral ministry of Christ.

If you follow politics or the news, America is a country of culture wars and great divides, a partisan place of red states and blue states, of us against them. From pundits to politicians it seems that anyone with an audience sees a polarized country - a country at war with itself.
In a radical departure from this "conventional wisdom," Carl Anderson explores what the talking heads have missed: an overwhelming American consensus on many of the country's seemingly most divisive issues. If the debates are shrill in public, he says, there is a quiet consensus in private - one that America's institutions ignore at their peril. From health care, to the role of religion in America, to abortion, to the importance of traditional ethics in business and society, Anderson uses fresh polling data and keen insight in BEYOND A HOUSE DIVIDED to show that a surprising consensus has emerged despite these debates. He sheds light on what's been missing in the public and political debates of the last several years: the consensus that isn't hard to find if you know where to look.
For Anderson, allowing polar opposites to drive the discussion has made the resolution of contentious issues impossible. Instead, he says, we should look to the consensus among Americans as the best prospect for a beneficial conclusion.

Many Christians today find it hard to accept that "homosexuality is wrong" based on the Bible or Church authority: it seems to contradict what they know to be obviously OK and normal. Others are convinced that gay-lesbian lifestyle is wrong, but have no answer for those who justify it with Scripture.

Born to Love is a clear, solid presentation of Catholic teaching on homosexuality and related topics. Fr. John Waiss' presentation is well grounded in John Paul II's personalist philosophy and Theology of the Body, making convincing arguments that are accessible to all. He focuses on the intrinsic good of the person and on the true meaning of sexuality as created by God. This is much more helpful than a list of "do's and don'ts."

Born to Love is written as a dialogue that gives it a personal, easy-going feeling and avoids treating homosexuality in a generic or abstract manner. The story is engaging, capturing the reader's interest while piquing his curiosity about what is coming next. Fr. Waiss' many years of pastoral experience gives the dialogue an authentic feel. Yet his great strength is the ability to present Church teaching positively, thoroughly, and methodically, while remaining completely faithful to Catholic doctrine. He does it with great compassion.

YOUNG PEOPLE will find in Born to Love insights on how to deal with friends and peers who may advocate the homosexual persuasion as valid and wholesome as any other. They will discover how they can be truly compassionate while sticking to the truth of their Faith, being true to themselves as well as to God.

PARENTS will find in Born to Love suggestions for improving their relationships with their children-no matter what age-relationships that will be the foundation of their future identity as persons. They will learn that improving all their relationships (including with God) is the best help they can offer, especially when faced with a loved-one who has embraced the gay-lesbian lifestyle. They will also learn that compromising their own beliefs and values not only hurts their relationship with God and others, but also makes their child's or relative's identity even more amorphous and tenuous.

SEMINARIANS and PRIESTS will experience in Born to Love a great pastoral approach that is based on a solid foundation of biblical anthropology. This is Theology of the Body practically applied.

TEACHERS and YOUTH MINISTERS will learn from Born to Love to understand the very personal nature of same-sex-attraction and how to lead the young people to follow their personal path to the fullness of life, love and relationships, based on embracing Church teaching and giving oneself as Christ did on the Cross, realizing that a happy life always involves sacrifice.

Born to Love analyzes the Bible's teaching on homosexuality in-depth, addressing common objections and misconstrued scriptural arguments. Fr. Waiss shows how the Church's teaching fits the unified teaching on sexuality in the Bible.

Born to Love also addresses questions such as: What aspects of homosexuality are personal choices? What aspects are not? What does the science say? Born to Love gives straightforward answers that go beyond common myths and stereotypes to get to its root-causes. The science is well documented.

How to approach political issues is also addressed, such as "gay-marriage" or gay adoption: Are these civil rights, as interracial marriage is? How should we support families through our civil laws and institutions?

The author takes the "love the sinner, hate the sin" approach to a new level, showing Christians how to help family, friends, and colleagues-whether or not they struggle with same-sex-attraction-to develop a healthy, personal identity by developing strong, non-erotic, and unselfish relationships.

-Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R.-priest, author, psychologist, and TV show host-writes the Foreword that introduces the book.

The Catholic Church has in recent decades been associated with political efforts to eliminate the death penalty. It was not always so. This timely work reviews and explains the Catholic Tradition regarding the death penalty, demonstrating that it is not inherently evil and that it can be reserved as a just form of punishment in certain cases.

Drawing upon a wealth of philosophical, scriptural, theological, and social scientific arguments, the authors explain the perennial teaching of the Church that capital punishment can in principle be legitimate--not only to protect society from immediate physical danger, but also to administer retributive justice and to deter capital crimes. The authors also show how some recent statements of Church leaders in opposition to the death penalty are prudential judgments rather than dogma. They reaffirm that Catholics may, in good conscience, disagree about the application of the death penalty.

Some arguments against the death penalty falsely suggest that there has been a rupture in the Church's traditional teaching and thereby inadvertently cast doubt on the reliability of the Magisterium. Yet, as the authors demonstrate, the Church's traditional teaching is a safeguard to society, because the just use of the death penalty can be used to protect the lives of the innocent, inculcate a horror of murder, and affirm the dignity of human beings as free and rational creatures who must be held responsible for their actions.

By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed challenges contemporary Catholics to engage with Scripture, Tradition, natural law, and the actual social scientific evidence in order to undertake a thoughtful analysis of the current debate about the death penalty.

This is an exclusive interview of Cardinal Müller, the head of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and one of the most outstanding Catholic figures in theology today. As a theologian, he strives to give God's answers to men's questions. As the Prefect of the CDF, he has a privileged perspective on the worldwide state of the Church on doctrinal, moral and theological matters, and the questions Catholics and others have today on those matters.

But what questions do our contemporaries have? And what answers do they demand from the believer? People today do not see their lack of faith as a tragedy, but what does worry them profoundly is their lack of hope, for which--making matters worse--they try to make up with shallow substitutes like optimism. The key question today therefore is one of hope. And they wonder whether there is hope for the now, they wonder whether they can find it in Christianity--and they wonder, above all: What is the foundation of Christian hope?

This interview with Cardinal Müller therefore takes hope as its basic subject: it is a report on hope. It is an in-depth discussion of hope in relation to faith and love, and in relation to Jesus Christ, the Church, the family, and contemporary society.

Praise for Catholic Priests Falsely Accused:

"This is an important topic, and not just for priests and bishops! Everyone should be concerned about this. Please check out Catholic Priests Falsely Accused: The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories."
- Rev. John T. Zuhlsdorf ("Fr. Z"), "What Does The Prayer Really Say?", wdtprs.com

"[T]he chilling tale of how decades-old claims of abuse by Catholic priests become 'credible' ... David F. Pierre tells the sordid story the mainstream media won't touch. It rings of both truth and justice. I highly recommend Catholic Priests Falsely Accused: The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories."
- Ryan A. MacDonald, Spero News columnist

"David Pierre's Catholic Priests Falsely Accused is an important volume. By carefully documenting the harrowing stories of priests falsely accused, the author shows that legitimate outrage about abuse can at times boil over into wanton hysteria. May this book serve as a clarion call for even-handed and impartial justice for all, so that future tragedies may be avoided."
- Rev. Thomas G. Guarino, S.T.D., Professor of Systematic Theology, Seton Hall University

"Mr. Pierre's book is an eye opener! Meticulously researched and clearly written, it is a must-read for anyone with questions about the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church."
- Rev. Kenneth Gumbert, O.P., M.F.A., Providence College

--------

We must continue to demand justice and compassion for victims of Catholic clergy abuse. This is not optional.

However, there is a side of the Catholic Church abuse narrative that is not getting the attention it warrants. Countless priests in the United States have been falsely accused of committing horrendous child abuse.

Topics in this book include:
... how the most recent and reliable figures reveal that one third of accused Catholic priests in a major archdiocese were accused falsely;
... the stunning court declaration with the opinion from a retired FBI investigator that "one half" of all accusations are "entirely false" or "greatly exaggerated";
... the American cardinal who has been the target of not just one - but two - completely bogus abuse accusations;
... how accusers have retained huge monetary settlements even though their allegations later proved to be false;
... the father of an accuser who appeared at the funeral of an accused priest and apologized for the false allegation that his son leveled;
... proof that the agenda of the advocacy group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) has little to do with the protection of children and everything to do with bludgeoning the Catholic Church;
... the Catholic archbishop who tells of being spat upon by a member of SNAP;
... the monsignor who waited five years to be exonerated of abuse charges even though his alleged victims denied having been molested;
plus much more.

This is the side of the Catholic Church abuse narrative that the media has not told you. This book is fast-paced, informative, and impeccably researched. There is no other book like this one.

For Catholics, the question of evolution touches on all the most important topics: the nature of God and his work in the world, the nature of life, and the status of man in the universe. It is also a subject of perennial controversy and confusion. Some see the Darwinian theory of evolution as a major agent in discrediting the Church's doctrine on creation, undermining biblically-based morality and the concept of human exceptionalism. Others regard Darwinian theory as compatible with biblical faith and Catholic tradition. Has the Church itself "evolved"? Or are there certain truths that are permanent and irreplaceable?

Fr. Michael Chaberek is a Polish Dominican who has studied creation doctrine from Old and New Testament accounts to the Church Fathers, to the Medieval Scholastics (especially St. Thomas Aquinas), to the Vatican's internal and public papers of the 19th and 20th centuries--and on into our own times and the pronouncements of recent popes. His new book gathers all doctrinal statements on evolution and presents the history of the engagement of Catholicism with natural science since Darwin presented his theory in 1859. What he finds is a clear path that gradually became twisted and over-grown. His exploration of that path is both scholarly and engrossing.

"Finally, a book that tells the full story of Catholic reflections and Magisterial statements down through the centuries on issues of creation and evolution. From the meditations of the ancient Church Fathers to the statements of Popes Pelagius I and Leo XIII, there are many hidden treasures to be found here. Fr. Chaberek combines historical, philosophical, and theological scholarship in a book that is both comprehensive and engaging. This book will be an eye-opener for many, and will quickly become the standard and essential work on the subject."--ROBERT STACKPOLE, director, John Paul II Institute of Divine Mercy

"In Catholicism and Evolution, Fr. Michael Chaberek surveys perennial Catholic teaching, plumbs the depths of Catholic philosophy and historical theology, and analyzes the best scientific evidence to date. In the process, he shows that certain elements of Darwinian evolution are not only incompatible with Catholic belief, but largely lacking in evidence. He shows also that despite her clear historical teaching, the contemporary Church lacks an unambiguous statement of how Catholics should understand this question. I expect this to become the definitive book on Catholicism and evolution."--JAY W. RICHARDS, co-author of The Privileged Planet; editor of God and Evolution

"Darwin and his contemporaries thought the cell was a simple blob of jelly, protoplasm. Modern science has discovered the exact opposite, that astoundingly sophisticated technology undergirds life. Father Michael Chaberek probes the implications of this and other surprising developments in his erudite study of Catholicism's collision with Darwinism."--MICHAEL BEHE, author of Darwin's Black Box

"Catholicism and Evolution is a thorough exposition of the history of the debate over evolution, especially the theory's proponents and opponents within the Catholic Church. This book should be on the shelves of any concerned with this subject, or indeed any who would like to fully grasp the controversy's roots in the Church."--ANN GAUGER, Senior Research Scientist, Biologic Institute

"Fr. Chaberek has done Catholics and all Christians a great service by describing the progression of the present controversy over creation, intelligent design, and theistic evolution from the Bible and early days of Christianity until today. His book will open eyes."--BRUCE CHAPMAN, Founding Fellow, Discovery Institute

FR. MICHAEL CHABEREK O.P., S.T.D. is a member of the Polish Dominican Province, with a Doctorate in Fundamental Theology from Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw.

Cardinal Christoph Schonborn's article on evolution and creation in The New York Times launched an international controversy. Critics charged him with biblical literalism and "creationism."

In this book, Cardinal Schonborn responds to his critics by tackling the hard questions with a carefully reasoned "theology of creation." Can we still speak intelligently of the world as "creation" and affirm the existence of the Creator, or is God a "delusion"? How should an informed believer read Genesis? If God exists, why is there so much injustice and suffering? Are human beings a part of nature or elevated above it? What is man's destiny? Is everything a matter of chance or can we discern purpose in human existence?

In his treatment of evolution, Cardinal Schonborn distinguishes the biological theory from "evolutionism," the ideology that tries to reduce all of reality to mindless, meaningless processes. He argues that science and a rationally grounded faith are not at odds and that what many people represent as "science" is really a set of philosophical positions that will not withstand critical scrutiny.

Chance or Purpose? directly raises the philosophical and theological issues many scientists today overlook or ignore. The result is a vigorous, frank dialogue that acknowledges the respective insights of the philosopher, the theologian and the scientist, but which calls on them to listen and to learn from each another.