This November the citizens of San Francisco will decide whether to ban circumcision, a practice that dates from antiquity and is embraced by at least three of the world’s major religions. Now, the fact that something stretches far back into human history is by no means a guarantee that it has social value. Slavery, [...]

Question: What do the following have in common? Eckert Cold Storage Co., Kerly Homes of Yuma, Classic Party Rentals, West Coast Turf Inc., Ellenbecker Investment Group Inc., Only in San Francisco, Hotel Nikko, International Pacific Halibut Commission, City of Puyallup, Local 485 Health and Welfare Fund, Chicago Plastering Institute Health & Welfare Fund, Blue Cross [...]

What would you do if you were in the habit of eavesdropping on the most secret aspects of someone's life, and you overheard something that was a matter of life and death? What should you do with this knowledge -- knowledge that you have no right to possess, and which serves as a constant reminder [...]

Many articles today explore the question of what technology and modern gadgets are doing to our brains. How do they affect learning? Memory? Focus? Productivity? Health? This article in The New York Times says some research shows that constantly stimulating the brain isn't a good idea: Cellphones, which in the last few years have become [...]

The paycheck -- that plucky, stubbed, cashable contribution to a family's daily sustenance -- has become a problem to every adult woman. It's a challenge to earn it, and it's a challenge to live without it. This reality can pervade and put pressure on even faithful marriages, where husband and wife have discussed their priorities [...]

Only a few months ago, it was revealed that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development was funding organizations actively promoting abortion and same-sex marriage. As a result, several organizations were defunded, and the CCHD was declared back on track. But with regard to at least one CCHD grantee, The San Francisco Organizing Project (SFOP), that [...]

  I leaned over the low stone wall along Broadway and raised my six-year-old daughter by her ankle back to the sidewalk. Her bicycle had ended its journey in the side of my neighbor's BMW.   "Drat," I muttered, hoisting up the stubborn child like a fish from deep water. "Carol," I shouted, "stop screaming. [...]

"I've gotten more phone calls in the last two days than I received the entire two months I've been working for McCain." J. R. Sanchez, head of McCain's Catholic outreach in Florida, isn't the only one experiencing this among religious and social conservatives. One Catholic activist from San Francisco told me she was offering to [...]

According to a new Pew Forum study, more Americans have left the Catholic Church than any other religious body. We asked 34 prominent Catholics why. Last week the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released a study on the changing religious habits of Americans. Among many things, the researchers found that the Catholic Church [...]

A new and unusual film festival focused on pro-life issues will be held in San Francisco this coming Friday, March 7. The Cinema Vita Film Festival is "dedicated to encouraging emerging filmmakers, showcasing movies about contemporary issues concerning life, and exploring life's deep significance." Sponsored by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the Diocese of Oakland, [...]

It's February again. I've suffered three weeks of cold, steady rain here in San Francisco, rain that creeps under my collar like slimy earthworms, rain that squeezes out of the fog like suds. Perennially happy people smirk and say, "Yes, but it makes snow in the mountains." I want to bonk them with their ski [...]

  In the past six months, Hollywood has released two major pictures that have each dealt with one of America's two most famous unsolved criminal mysteries, both of which took place in California. Last year's The Black Dahlia, directed by Brian De Palma, covered the gruesome and much-publicized murder of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, whose [...]