Being pessimistic is bad for your heart – but being optimistic doesn’t help

So – avoid pessimism and say your prayers. Here's a study from Finland – During 11 years of follow-up, 122 people died from coronary heart disease. After controlling for smoking, diabetes and other factors, the scientists found that those in the highest one-quarter of scores on pessimism were more than twice as likely to die … Read more

Two years ago this month, 20 Coptic Christian Egyptians + 1 were beheaded by ISIS

Most everyone remembers this horror.  Hard to believe it was two years ago. 2015 kidnapping and beheading of Copts in Libya Who was the 21st person beheaded? According to reports, Mathew Ayairga was not a Christian. However, when moments before his death the IS extremists demanded that he follow Islam, Mathew turned them down. After … Read more

Brigid has left Australia; on her way to England (HA! Just in time – check below!)

Australia has loads of nasty, deadly creatures and here’s one of them – Boy survives bite from super deadly spider thanks to quick-thinking dad A 10-year-old Australian boy has survived a bite from one of the world’s deadliest spiders after taking a record 12 vials of anti-venom, local media reported. Matthew Mitchell was helping his … Read more

From Stepinac; Fr. Gelsomino Obituary and more

I took this entirely from the Stepinac HS email that was sent around Tuesday morning. I thought it was nicely done.   A number of wonderful conversations, calls, emails and Facebook comments have been coming to us since the passing of our beloved “Fr. Pete”.  As you have probably heard, Monsignor Peter Gelsomino passed away … Read more

Fr. Peter Gelsomino

A former teacher at Stepinac, a real character. I never had him as a teacher – he taught Russian – but he had positive influence on many students. He only retired in 2014, at the age of 85. He was at Stepinac from 1958 to 1993. This is from Catholic New York when he retired: … Read more

Michael Novak

The Catholic intellectual. He was 83 years old. I enjoyed reading his columns and commentary although I never read any of his books. This is a press release from the Catholic league, and below is a short video from Fr. Robert Sirico. Michael Novak, R.I.P. February 17, 2017 Bill Donohue comments on the death of … Read more