January 31, 2014
by Regis Martin
Years ago while living in Rome I made my first Jesuit retreat, a memorably intense affair, presided over by a priest so long in the tooth that I naturally assumed he knew St. Ignatius himself. It was there that I learned the practice of Composition of Place, an exercise central to Ignatian spirituality, in which [...]
March 10, 2011
by Deal W. Hudson
Long before I became a Catholic at age 34, I opposed abortion. I came to this position on the basis of reason alone -- as an Evangelical I had not been schooled on this issue. Evangelicals, by the way, did not start their anti-abortion activism until the 80s, taking over leadership from Catholics like Dr. [...]
May 1, 1987
by Richard Berquist
The recent Vatican “Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation” is a profoundly significant document. The issues it discusses, the “Brave New World” reproductive technologies and their associated social practices — in vitro fertilization, sperm banks, surrogate motherhood, sex selection, etc. — have recently emerged as major [...]