Raising Up an Army

originally published at Live Action News Serena Dyksen is the human face of the “hard case.” She was raped by a family member at the age of 13 and became pregnant. “Our family doctor only offered an abortion … and it wrecked our whole family. It was a day that we all wanted to forget,” Dyksen told Live Action News. Nobody […]

“If You Can’t Get Out of the Womb, Nothing—Nothing—Matters.”

originally published at Live Action News February is Black History Month. But there is a very real part of the Black history narrative that most people — including people in the Black community — do not know: the Civil Rights Movement was pro-life, and the battle for so-called “abortion rights” has always been a red herring for racism. However, Rev. Walter […]

Love’s Lies and Little Girl Lost

Originally published at Live Action News I can proudly state that I have never read a single issue of Cosmopolitan in my entire life. I don’t think I’ve ever so much as picked up a copy. Nonetheless, they helped create a mythos that has permeated our culture, and I was undeniably formed by it. In fact, in my 20’s and early 30’s, […]

Two Paths

Originally published at Live Action News At a shadowy crossroads, two paths diverge. The roads ahead are unclear, but it’s obvious neither will be easy to tread. And the direction chosen will change everything, forever.  This was the situation for Tori Shaw and Leah Outten when they both got pregnant at age 16. Shaw chose abortion. Outten chose open adoption. […]

Reveling While Gomorrah Burns

“There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction … Bold and willful, they are not afraid to revile the glorious ones …” —2 Peter 2:1, 10 “It’s no wonder the faithful have lost confidence in the bishops, because so many of them […]

Spring Cleaning

Originally published by Oremus Press, June, 2020 Do you love God? Are you sure? Just how much? Do you love Him as much as your earthly father—the one who taught you how to ride a bike?  Let’s find out.  Pretend your dad’s organized a multi-week family reunion. He has a large, well-appointed home, and he’s hosting everyone in a lavish […]

On Bishops and Bellyachers

I was in the grocery store when I snapped. It was two months into lockdown. As an immune-compromised person, I’d begun my Coronavirus journey cautiously—staying in, and wearing an N-95 mask if I had to go out. My roommate had been shopping for the items we were unable to get delivered. So it’d been some time since I’d experienced the […]

The Last Time I Slow-Danced With Death

Originally published at The Stream It seemed so Providential. So heaven-sent. So meant to be. And perhaps it was. Perhaps I will never really know for sure. What I do know is, when I saw her email sitting in my inbox, my heart skipped a beat. My article on ancient child sacrifice and the modern abortion epidemic, in which I’d […]

Child Sacrifice in the COVID-19 Era

Originally published at OnePeterFive “It’s very difficult for us to recapture people’s motivations for carrying out this practice … Perhaps it was out of … a sense that the good the sacrifice could bring the family or community as a whole outweighed the life of the child.” — Dr. Josephine Quinn, on Carthaginian ritual infant sacrifice “The reasons and need […]

The Saint, The Sinner, and the Wrath of God

originally published at OnePeterFive Sunday was my thirteenth day in coronavirus quarantine. I must confess that, although I have done some liturgical sewing and have spent more time than usual exercising, cooking, and praying, most of this precious downtime has slipped by without anything of note transpiring.  But Sunday was different. My church—a small Melkite parish—has been moved from its […]