Inside the Capitol

  • A Catholic judge?

    Posted by · August 22, 2018 12:00 PM

    President Donald Trump has selected Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court left by Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement. Unless something damaging emerges from his background, Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed.

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  • ‘Gaudete et exultate’ teaches civic life as a labor of love

    Posted by · July 23, 2018 12:00 PM

    Holiness in politics? Is that an oxymoron? Not for Catholics. In Pope Francis’ recent exhortation “Gaudete et Exultate,” he reminds us that the two are indeed connected.

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  • Religious liberty and constructive freedom

    Posted by · June 21, 2018 12:00 PM

    Almost 40 years ago, in June 1979, Pope John Paul II traveled to his homeland of Poland, and within nine days ignited a human rights revolution that continues to shape the Church and the world today.

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  • Advocacy: More life-giving than you think

    Posted by · May 23, 2018 12:00 PM

    As Catholics, we are called to actively live out the Gospel in public life. It’s a call that sometimes solicits the thought, “Do I really have to?”

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  • The Politics of Language

    Posted by · May 07, 2018 4:00 PM

    “In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. … Thus, political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.”

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  • Sports gambling: Leave the money on the table

    Posted by · April 19, 2018 3:00 PM

    In the coming weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court may loosen federal restrictions on sports gambling. As a result, many states have proactively drafted bills that would create regulated sports gambling industries at the state level—Minnesota included. 

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  • We are all responsible for helping the poor

    Posted by · April 10, 2018 12:00 PM

    Minnesota is ranked the second-best state in the nation overall (after Iowa). This is according to new overall state rankings by U.S. News and World Report, which are based on more than 75 metrics including economy, education, opportunities and quality of life.

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  • Overcoming Gun Absolutism

    Posted by · March 15, 2018 3:00 PM

    Five years ago, just after the Sandy Hook massacre, I wrote a highly criticized column on gun control.

    The causes of gun violence, I noted in that column, run deeper than easy access to guns, and include a media culture filled with violence, and consumer choices supporting it.

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  • The Inseparable Link: Pornography and Human Trafficking

    Posted by · March 02, 2018 3:00 PM

    Every second, people spend $3,075.64 on pornography; every second, 28,258 people view it online; every 39 minutes, a new pornographic video is made in the United States; and every day approximately 11 million teens access some form of pornography.

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