Eric Pavlat

Eric Pavlat is a convert from Unitarian Universalism who entered the Church in 1996. He lives in Maryland with his wife and six children. He is also a perpetually professed Lay Dominican in St. Pius V Pro-Chapter, located in Catonsville, MD. He founded Democrats for Life of Maryland, Inc., in 2004, served one term as president, and stayed on the board of directors until 2010. He now considers himself more a Distributist than anything else. Eric teaches 10th grade honors and special education students in English literature, composition, and grammar at his alma mater, Parkdale High School.

recent articles

A New Game: Shifting the Pro-Life Strategy

Pro-lifers have become used to having an ally in Washington, D.C. But now that we are faced with a pro-choice House, Senate, and presidency, with a nearly filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, the facts demand a new path of action.   Many pro-lifers are already engaged in some form of activism beyond voting, whether it’s … Read more

A New Model for Catholic Community

  To some, the phrase “Catholic Community” conjures up images of exclusive ghettos — areas of faith-filled Catholics who live close together and are so different from the world outside that they fail to engage it in any meaningful way. At the other extreme is contemporary Catholic life, where churchgoers attend the parish of their … Read more

Why Taxation Isn’t (Necessarily) Theft

I still remember the pain when my best friend and I stopped attending the same school after first grade. His parents decided he would be better off in a private school. I asked my mom how he could do that, and she explained that his parents were spending a little extra money to send him … Read more

Genealogy: My Fathers and Our Father

I’m genealogy crazy, to my wife’s occasional dismay. As of a few years ago, I’d traced most of my ancestral lines back to about 1600, but one particular branch was giving me problems: the Kendalls, the source of my middle name. Two years ago, I discovered my grandmother’s grandfather, Adelbert A. Kendall, but I couldn’t … Read more

If Only He Were Pro-Life…

Every election cycle, partisans distort the positions of those they oppose. I particularly recall one pro-lifer, a Mitt Romney supporter, who titled Sen. John McCain — he of the 0 percent NARAL rating — “the ultimate betrayer.” And I’ve heard many people, Catholic and Protestant, seriously suggest that Sen. Barack Obama is the anti-Christ, which … Read more

The Unintended Consequences of Contraception

Pop culture, schools, and the media all tell you that artificial birth control is a wonderful development of modernity. Explaining why they’re wrong and the official Church teaching is correct can be a painful matter. The teaching itself is a difficult one, but if you support contraception, I invite you to rethink your position. Some … Read more

Tolkien and the Silver Age of Comics

J. R. R. Tolkien spent nearly 20 pages defining fairy tales in his 1946 essay “On Fairy-Stories” (found in The Tolkien Reader). This essay, a favorite of his friend C. S. Lewis’s, summarizes many of the attitudes toward storytelling that guided his creation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.   Tolkien’s insights provide general … Read more

A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Homeschooling

Last week an appellate court in Los Angeles County handed down a ruling that may criminalize homeschooling in California. As a homeschooling father of six, this troubles me. My main opposition, though, comes from my experience as a public high school teacher.  Last week an appellate court in Los Angeles County handed down a 3-0 … Read more

When There Is Too Much Religion In Politics

Next week, my defense of religion in politics — Onward, Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States — will be published by Simon & Schuster. This book is both a history and apologia of religious conservatives in politics over the past 30 years. But this primary season has … Read more

The Dignity of Man and the Indignity of Torture

Just a few years ago, no one seriously discussed torture. The Soviet Union, one of the world’s last practitioners, had fallen, and only a handful of countries (Iraq notably among them) were still using it. But then 9/11 happened, and the world changed. Within two short years, accused Islamic militants filled Guantanamo Bay, and the … Read more

Superhuman: The Uncharted Territory of Transhumanism

“By responsible use of science, technology, and other rational means we shall eventually manage to become posthuman.” –Nick Bostron “The moral challenge of transhumanism will transcend those of abortion and euthanasia.  For this reason, the pro-life movement must become the pro-human movement.” –Nigel M. Cameron Cryonics. Neural implants. Designer babies. Welcome to the future of transhumanism. … Read more

How to Talk to Democrats About Embryonic Stem Cell Research

The record shows that as the need for medical experiments grew, many physicians and others treated institutionalized infants, dying patients, and mentally impaired individuals as not quite persons in the moral sense. Moreover, indigent patients in hospitals were often treated in a similar fashion. . . . Clearly, these ‘vulnerable’ individuals were thought of as … Read more

How to Talk to Democrats About Embryonic Stem Cell Research

“The record shows that as the need for medical experiments grew, many physicians and others treated institutionalized infants, dying patients, and mentally impaired individuals as not quite persons in the moral sense. Moreover, indigent patients in hospitals were often treated in a similar fashion. … Clearly, these ‘vulnerable’ individuals were thought of as not quite eligible … Read more

Pulling the Plug: Five Strategies for Talking to Democrats About Euthanasia

Five Strategies for Talking to Democrats About Euthanasia “My underlying motive was the desire to help individuals who could not help themselves…. Such consideration should not be regarded as inhuman. Nor did I feel it in any way to be unethical or immoral…. I am convinced that if Hippocrates were alive today, he would change … Read more

How to Talk to Democrats About Abortion: Five Strategies For Making the Pro-Life Case

“Many people discount the power of the so-called ‘cultural issues’ – and especially the abortion issue. I see it the other way around. These issues are central to the resurgence of the Republicans, central to the national implosion of the Democrats, central to the question of whether there will be a third party… [The] Democrats’ … Read more

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