A friend who thinks abortion is wrong and should be prohibited nevertheless said to me, “People aren’t entirely devoid of moral understanding.  Yet everywhere we look, the penalty for committing abortion is less than the penalty for committing murder.  Doesn't this show that though abortion is wrong, it’s less wrong than killing someone who is already born?”

 

A talkative young woman with a penetrating voice was holding court in a section of seats slightly ahead of me on the airplane, amusing her seatmates and flirting with the young man across the aisle.  I was trying to read my book, but couldn’t entirely keep from overhearing.

I am honored to post two recent interviews, one with Thomas Mirus of the Catholic Culture Podcast, the other with Sean Tehan of The Irish Rover at the University of Notre Dame.  The links are underneath the pictures.

 

Query:

Thomas Aquinas connects the authority to make laws with responsibility for the common good.  Surprisingly, some of my colleagues find this connection perplexing.  How would you explain it?

 

 

Let no one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free.  He that was taken by death has annihilated it!  He descended into hades and took hades captive!  He embittered it when it tasted his flesh!  And anticipating this Isaiah exclaimed, "Hades was embittered when it encountered thee in the lower regions."

 

The Soviet Union used to put political dissidents into insane asylums.  But there is more than one way to make political use of the issue of mental health.  One path to the total state is the therapeutic state.