The Life of Virtue

[This article was written on Wednesday, May 20.  In the interim, I have shopped it for publication, but to no avail.  Here it is in its original form.] The events that took place in South Bend, Indiana on Sunday afternoon have created a state of confusion, disappointment, and even anger (to greater or lesser degrees) all across America.  In the immediate aftermath of President Obama’s visit to the University of Notre Dame, several media outlets allowed their pundits to comment.  During the two days interim, many other commentators have offered their opinions as well.  This article is a bid to offer the perspective of an intellectual Catholic who is loyal to the Church’s magisterium; to focus on a few things not yet analyzed and, hopefully, offer new and fresh insights. The thoughts contained herein were created while viewing the event on Sunday and reading a variety of perspectives during the ensuing two days.  Most importantly, the opinions e...

May is always a wonderful time of year for me, and a maddening one, too.  The reasons for such a dichotomy involve family life, a parish youth ministry, a second job, and a budding apostolate on the side of my full-time work. Family life, as anyone who has been married for several months knows, has good seasons and not-so-good seasons.  What I mean to say is that there are cycles during which the day-to-day operations of family become easier and harder.  Early May brings a freshness that helps us shake off the winter blues.  On the other hand, it also means that the sun stays out later, which makes it difficult to put to bed a two-year-old.  The abode looks and feels so nice when the "spring cleaning" is completed; but there is that little annoyance of actually cleaning instead of taking a walk or relaxing under the shady tree.  Do you get my drift? The largest and most stressful events of the youth ministry year are finished by late April, whic...