The Bellarmine Forum

Most sensible people are tired of the Prestige Media and its lapdog liberals. Fortunately, there’s one Washington reporter who actually knows what he’s doing.

Dissident Catholics are a curious bunch. They reject the teaching authority of the Church, they can’t say the Creed honestly, and yet they insist on calling themselves “Catholic” and demand that the Church change its teachings to accommodate them. Can you figure them out?

The relationship between the Church’s charities and the federal government is not often discussed in fundraising campaigns of groups like Catholic Relief Services. Is that a good idea?

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, outgoing president of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference, says that the bishops, some of Obama’s “greatest supporters,” can’t be cheerleaders for the president until he ends the HHS Contraception Mandate. Is Cardinal Dolan on the right track here?

“Social Justice” groups argue that the “gap between the rich and the poor” is the major cause of poverty. Would it help if we were all poor?

Many groups raising money to “fight poverty” are actually using contributions to hire lobbyists in Washington. Does this meet the “Truth in Advertising” standard?

There’s more to homeschooling than content and curriculum: the habits homeschoolers learn are far different from those inculcated in public school students.

The National Catholic Education Association has endorsed the Federal Government’s “Common Core” educational standards. Should Catholics be concerned?

The Census Bureau reports that the number of Americans receiving means-tested welfare benefits is greater than the number who work full time. Should the Catholic church take note?

The “Nuns on the Bus” are acting like a couple of political charlatans. But they can reprieve their reputations by rallying to the long-standing tradition of women religious and their service to children.

The Washington Post doesn’t think so.

What would happen if the word got out that the U.S. Government were sharing all your personal data, conversations, and emails with the Vatican? Ed. note: due to technical glitch, this episode has been updated to connect to the correct audio file.

Footnote wandered over to the Senate Chamber last month to watch Sen. Ted Cruz read a bedtime story to his kids. But the media prefer the Texas State Senator who spent eleven hours defending infanticide.

German authorities sent a SWAT team with a battering ram to “rescue” four homeschooled children from their parents’ “prison” in Darmstadt. Footnote rejects the notion that this mentality is a leftover from the Hitler ear, and traces the mentality much further back in Germany. Footnote also recalls that John Swett, the state Superintendent of Education for California in the 1860s, also demanded that parents be removed from the education of their children. “Children belong to the state,” he said.

Wrong-Way Corrigan flew out of Floyd Bennett field in New York in 1938, heading for California. He somehow wound up in Dublin, Ireland, instead. President Obama’s proposed standards for government student loans demand higher graduation rates, rather than improved educational standards, at participating colleges and universities. Is he heading in the wrong direction?