In adoring the birth of our Saviour, we find we are celebrating the commencement of our own life.  For the birth of Christ is the source of life for Christian folk, and the birthday of the Head is the birthday of the body.

An interesting claim was offered in class discussion one day.  The students were discussing the famous, or infamous, 1999 exchange between Senators Santorum and Boxer about partial-birth abortion, in which Boxer refused to specify any point, even after birth, at which the child was entitled to Constitutional protection as a human person.

Reader's Query:

An overseas friend asks “How are you handling the return to classes?  Are you doing everything online in your country?

Parody

Wilton D. Gregory, the new cardinal-designate of Washington, D.C. said he would not prevent Joseph Biden, the Catholic president-presumptive who promotes abortion, from receiving Communion in the archdiocese.

The techniques for reinventing the wheel get more and more sophisticated.  All too often, the reinvented wheel is less serviceable than the old one.  I am reminded of an old Johnny Hart comic strip in which the caveman shows off his new triangular wheel, boasting that it improves on the square wheel because it eliminates one bump.

Reader’s Query:

I’ve been composing a book about the application of some of Thomas Aquinas’s political and theological insights to our own time.  When I submitted the manuscript to an academic publisher, half of the editorial board was favorable, but the historians wanted me to say a lot more about things like who influenced him.

In a country like ours, that likes to think of itself as a republic, rulers might adopt any of three different patterns for the relationship between themselves and ordinary people, three different attitudes toward their role: