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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Journalist Children from around the world are being invited to participate in the annual Worldwide Children’s Eucharistic Holy Hour on Friday, Oct. 2.

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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Journalist On the morning after the president’s address to a joint session of Congress last night, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) says he is once again misleading the American public about whether or not he supports abortion funding in the health care plan.

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Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Journalist   In yet another example of global warming hysteria, UK journalist Richard Pindar reports on research by the London School of Economics (LSE) which finds that contraception is five times cheaper than green technologies for preventing climate change. Pindar recommends that people either stop breeding or governments should put contraceptives in public water supplies.  

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Yesterday the Church celebrated the Feast of the Birth of Mary and encouraged us to turn our hearts and our minds to her in a special way. She is, after all, the woman whose "yes" birthed Salvation to the world.

Sadly, however, far too many Catholics are leary of Mary. Some fear that a relationship with her will potentially diminish their relationship with Jesus Christ. They fear that to embrace Mary means to let go of Jesus.

Still other Catholics have fallen sway to the Marian misconceptions propagated by Protestantism and proclaimed by its members. They see devotion to her as unbiblical and in some way a sin against the First Commandment. 

And finally, some Catholics believe Mary's intercession isn't important-- why bother if they can go straight to Jesus. After all, wasn't devotion to her simply the invention of misguided (or worse yet, corrupt) clerics from the Middle Ages?  Who needs her anyway?

The plain fact is -- we all need Mary!  Devotion to Mary is not capricious, it is abundantly beneficial. Devotion to her wasn't started by clerics in the Middle Ages, but by her Son, Jesus Christ.  The Bible does not prove Marian devotion is non-essential but actually proves just the opposite .

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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Writer Amidst the controversy over Obama’s “green jobs czar”, Van Jones, who was forced to resign this past weekend, a bill designed to shut down the dangerous practice of appointing “czars” by executive privilege has been introduced in the House.

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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Writer In an article appearing in the National Catholic Reporter, Fr. Richard P. McBrien of the University of Notre Dame said that in earlier times when Catholics were less educated in the faith, Eucharistic adoration had its place. But continuing this practice today is “is a doctrinal, theological, and spiritual step backward.”

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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Writer A leading researcher who co-authored a study of American and Russian women found that 64 percent of American women who had abortions said they felt pressured to abort by others.

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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Writer For the first time, the United Nations is joining in the call for a new world currency which will replace the current system of currencies and capital rules which bind the world’s economy.

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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Writer Even though negative reaction to President Obama’s speech to school students today is being largely dismissed by liberal media and politicians, a similar speech by President George H. W. Bush in 1991 prompted an extensive investigation on the Hill and media reports accusing him of producing “paid political advertising.”

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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Writer In his most recent column, Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin explains why some Catholics may have sinned in their reaction to the funeral of Sen. Edward Kennedy.

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