Category Archive

On the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2009, Dr. Oz declared that the stem cell debate was effectively “over”. He explained that embryonic stem cells were harder to control and touted the then brand new discovery of induced pluripotent (Ips) stem cells. I know many in the pro-life movement who agree with Dr. Oz’ assessment and, in many ways, he was … Read More

Today the Catholic Church honors the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of Sorrows. Today also happens to be my birthday, so this feast has always kind of been a bit of a personal one for me. Our Lady was so intimately linked with the redemptive work of her Son that she shared in His sufferings here … Read More

Let us celebrate with joy the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for from her arose the sun of justice, Christ our God! Image: ‘The Birth of the Virgin’, fresco by Juan de Borgoña Typically Church to celebrates a saint’s death day instead of their birthday. The birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an exquisite exception, however, since “her … Read More

No, this is not a joke or an onion parody. There is actually a man in Russia who has volunteered to receive the world’s first human head transplant (or body transplant, depending on how you look at it). Valery Spiridonov, who suffers from a rare form of spinal muscular dystrophy called Werdnig-Hoffman disease, recently met with Italian Dr. Sergio Canavero … Read More

Always a pleasure getting up before the sunrises to chat about bioethics with Mike Allen. Yesterday morning we discussed the ethical questions surrounding transhumanism and the movement against surrogacy. http://www.reflectionsofaoaralytic.com/audio/Mike-Allen-05-27-15a.m4a http://www.reflectionsofaoaralytic.com/audio/Mike-Allen-05-27-15b.m4a (Can’t see the players? Click here and here for direct links to each segment.) If you haven’t yet, please sign your name to the Stop Surrogacy Now campaign. I … Read More

Smarter Every Day is one of my favorite channels on YouTube. I’m not a big science/physics buff. But Destin manages to make it all really fun and interesting. A few years ago I shared with you one of my favorite SED videos “Why You Didn’t Die at Childbirth“, explaining how human beings go from breathing fluid inside the mother’s womb … Read More

The other day I took Grammerly’s Who is your poet BFF? quiz and got Maya Angelou. I didn’t immediately think much of the results. It was just a fun little distraction. But then I read the poem that was listed on the author’s page there, and wow. I was surprised by how much I was able to relate to it … Read More

During a radio interview this morning about the coming 20th anniversary of Evangelium Vitae, I was reminded of something Archbishop Chaput said about the encyclical in his book Render Unto Caesar. After explaining that the book was a response to someone who asked him to write down his thoughts about Catholics in public service to help people considering a political … Read More

I’m a little late (okay, really late) promoting this, but recently a couple of people started a special novena celebrating the 20th Anniversary of St. JP II’s Encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) — which is this coming March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. The novena started on March 16 (so we are on day … Read More

This week MPs in the House of Commons voted 382-128 to make Britain the first country in the world to offer controversial ‘three-parent’ fertility treatments. A further vote is required in the House of Lords, but according to the BBC, if everything goes ahead then the first such baby could be born next year. This is truly an historic decision that … Read More