Sheila Reports

The impact of Obama silencing military chaplains

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:09:36 GMT

Enough was already enough with this administration trampling conscience rights and religious liberties protected in the Constitution. Than he clamped down on speech rights of Army chaplains, for crying out loud. Read more...

Big abortion’s ‘gangster tactics’

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:35:27 GMT

Some big media writers are using strong language to criticize the strongarm tactics Planned Parenthood used on the Komen foundation last week. Read more...

What did we learn from the Komen-PP fiasco?

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:12:08 GMT

It has been deeply revealing and we have learned much. Read more...

About Komen’s reversal…

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:38:01 GMT

First, the backoff happened with head-spinning swiftness. Second, it’s still unclear what the statement by the breast cancer awareness foundation really meant. Read more...

Komen defunds Planned Parenthood

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:08:45 GMT

It seemed to take a long time to get public admission that the breast cancer awareness giant was even giving funds to the abortion giant. Once they did, they tried to focus on the good they intended it to do, and discounted the potential harm. Now, there’s no denial. Read more...

Obama tests faith boundaries

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:37:33 GMT

He won election with a slim majority of Catholic voters because enough progressives believed his policies aligned with social justice mandates of the Gospel. He just lost them with a mandate of his own. Read more...

Conscience rights precede politics

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:34:51 GMT

The Obama administration did what no one or nothing else has seemed able to do in recent history in one sweeping stroke…galvanize Catholics who were otherwise evenly divided for and against his policies. Read more...

Obama’s ‘war on the church’

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:05:49 GMT

This was an extraordinary provocation. Read more...

Pollster admits they’re clueless

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:06:46 GMT

It was a rare moment of honest admission. Read more...

What happened in South Carolina?

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:46:50 GMT

I remember writing in 2008 that the race was consistent only in its unpredicability. That’s the only resemblance this presidential race holds to the last. Read more...

Megauploads charged with…what?

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 06:45:59 GMT

The news reports have been fast and…confusing. Or careful, as they ought to be. The internet world is far more difficult to police than the geographical one, tough as that one is. Read more...

Pay attention to Egypt and Nigeria

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:11:30 GMT

In the US, we’re consumed with presidential campaigns, debates and primary elections. However... Read more...

New technology wins, quickly

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:26:07 GMT

It started out to be about copyright infringement. But it ended quickly, when the old guard caved to the pervasive pressure from the new. Read more...

If you need information online Wednesday…

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:41:58 GMT

…be prepared to work harder for it. Some of the top search sites are going dark for the day. Read more...

Martin Luther King, in his own words

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:40:46 GMT

For many years and political cycles, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words and works have been selectively remembered according to which passages and sound clips work for the advantage of a political agenda. Read more...

Pope says ‘we’re all in this together’

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:43:06 GMT

Though paraphrased and abbreviated, that message isn’t as simple as it sounds. Read more...

‘The most important religious freedom test in 20 years’

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:17:06 GMT

The Supreme Court of the United States has been asked to hear some unusually pivotal cases in recent time, even for that increasingly political body. Read more...

Mitt, the unpopular winner

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 06:30:18 GMT

For many months, an odd trend has held sway in the GOP and the media reporting on the presidential campaigns as they shaped up: calling the weekly Mitt Romney polling strength and the Not-Mitt Candidate of the moment who shared or even overtook the lead in those polls. That Not-Romney Candidate has rotated through the ranks over time, but the position has remained important to a major faction of the GOP. Even on election night in the New Hampshire primary. Read more...

Social moral issues in presidential politics

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:41:40 GMT

The media don’t quite know how to handle this. Read more...

Giffords and Tucson one year later

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:00:33 GMT

A picture is worth a thousand words. Look at this one of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband on the one-year anniversary of the Tucson shooting. Read more...

Catholic Charities in the presidential debate

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 06:26:57 GMT

Three days ahead of the New Hampshire primary, ABC moderated yet another debate Saturday night among the GOP candidates. Questioners asked about the economy and foreign policy. But they provoked candidates pointedly on social moral issues. In response, they got an earful. Read more...

Santorum on O’Reilly

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:34:13 GMT

Actually it was the reverse. Fox News host Bill O’Reilly really got on Republican candidate Rick Santorum about his campaign and views and likelihood of success going forward. The day after he was victorious in Iowa. Read more...

Rick Santorum captures Iowa

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:50:38 GMT

And suddenly, the spotlight. The truth is, virtually no one saw that coming. Media have largely overlooked or discounted the conservative Republican candidate whose values were easier to marginalize than engage. ”You ask me what motivates me,” he said late in his remarks onstage at the end of the night. “It’s the dignity of each and every human life.” Read more...

What matters in Iowa

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:36:23 GMT

Nearly all the media focus is on where the GOP presidential candidates stand in the polls and who will have a stronger standing after Iowa, and New Hampshire and North Carolina. I’m interested in what they’re standing on. Read more...

What a difference a day makes

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 06:13:15 GMT

Most things don’t or can’t change overnight. But when the calendar turns over once a year, it seems like anything is possible. Read more...

Pope and Queen address their people

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 06:17:04 GMT

They both faced the somber realities of 2011, which took no break for the holidays. Read more...

Christmas in the Vatican, Bethlehem

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 06:47:49 GMT

What is, is. What gets reported is another story. Read more...

Vaclav Havel’s legacy

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:05:24 GMT

How utterly simplistic to call a blog post to such a task. This does not pretend to do that. It’s merely intended to be a signpost along the way. Read more...

‘Courtyard of the Gentiles’

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:22:07 GMT

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi’s Pontifical Council for Culture has held ‘a series of events around Europe for atheist and agnostic intellectuals to meet and talk with Catholic counterparts.’ Cardinal Ravasi is going to miss Christopher Hitchens. Read more...

Chistopher Hitchens and life

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 04:24:58 GMT

He had a huge presence, made forceful arguments and leaves an important body of work as his legacy. But he has taken leave. Read more...

Time honors protesters

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 04:07:10 GMT

This used to be a bigger issue. Read more...

The Gingrich bump is persisting

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 06:37:24 GMT

So it’s more than a bump. And it’s the darndest thing…media pundits presumably on the same side of the political equation are on opposite sides of the Gingrich calculus. Read more...

Where the GOP candidates stand

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 06:48:48 GMT

So here we are, a few weeks away from the first primary elections, with more debates to analyze and more media handicapping of party hopefuls and pundits saying exactly opposite things about the contenders. Read more...

Tim Tebow and the media

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 05:42:36 GMT

A lot of major league athletes are Christians. A lot of them invoke God or make personal expressions of faith at some point in their games. That’s been the case for a long time. Why are the media obsessing on this quarterback and his particular witness to faith? Read more...

Plan B for the ages

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 06:13:38 GMT

Funny, what relativism does to public tolerance for acceptable behavior. Read more...

“Anti-abortion Forces” and the “Fetal Heartbeat Bill”

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 06:51:04 GMT

That’s the issue dividing pro-life groups, in other words. Read more...

Everyday heroes

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 06:22:34 GMT

Is there any good news in the dire straits all the headlines reflect? Yes. Read more...

Appalling animal cruelty

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 05:39:14 GMT

Graphic images on news shows and television commercials rightly rouse us to horror and indignation. Imagine if those tortured and disfigured creatures were helpless humans. Read more...

Sole surviving hostage prayed for captors

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 06:02:57 GMT

Draw your own conclusion. Read more...

Collin Raye, voice for the voiceless

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 03:00:52 GMT

Health care practice has already posed threats to the disabled and cognitively impaired. Now, healthcare law is putting the lives of the most vulnerable people at risk. Who's speaking out for 'the least of these'? Read more...

Thanksgiving is not over

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 06:13:50 GMT

In other words, stay grateful. It’s good for you. Read more...

Praying the Mass with new words

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 05:34:42 GMT

And hearing it with new ears. That’s what happened over the weekend in the Roman Catholic Church. Read more...

The perfect family Thanksgiving

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 03:50:09 GMT

We imagine that to be like the famous Norman Rockwell painting so dear to our American culture and tradition, of the multi-generation gamily around the dinner table all dressed with wonderful food and happy faces enjoying the occasion. That’s what other people do, we think, and if we work hard enough we can be that family too. Read more...

Regulatory czar wants to regulate organ donation

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 04:52:09 GMT

Donations are supposed to be gifts, freely given. Especially when the gift is a bodily organ. Read more...

Media asking questions about Obama

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 01:30:18 GMT

It took them awhile, those who are even asking now. Many are not. Read more...

The Bible as timeless manual

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 06:11:51 GMT

St. Jerome said ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. To a certain proportion of civilization, Christ doesn’t matter. Nor do Scriptures. So…what’s the point in a forum for worldwide dialogue and engagement? Read more...

When the supercommittee fails…

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 05:13:53 GMT

What next? That’s what seemingly all the media are asking. As if political realities aren’t enough disincentive to deal… Read more...

Is Obama healthcare law constitutional?

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:29:10 GMT

Shouldn’t that have been determined before it was passed? Read more...

Fact-checking the campaigns

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 06:07:42 GMT

Maybe this only seems like a new phenomenon in the presidential campaign. Maybe the media really did this last time around. Read more...

Fighting for a post-war civilized society

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:45:08 GMT

Occasions like this give us the opportunity to consider modern life and current affairs in the context of world history which framed it all. Read more...