Is the Shroud of Turin the actual burial cloth of Jesus Christ or is it a very clever man-made artifact? Skeptic Daniel Porter, after investigating the shroud, exclaims on his website: “It is real, or it is the world’s most amazing and unexplained hoax!”

The shroud of Turin measures roughly 14-by-3.5 feet and bears the faint head-to-feet image of the front and the back of a man. Forensic pathologist Dr. Robert Bucklin describes the image as that of an adult man, 71 inches tall, about 175 pounds, with shoulder length hair, moustache, and a forked beard. He had been scourged, shoulders and knees were abraded, his side had been pierced, the wrists and feet had been pierced by nails and blood stains from the wrist run toward the elbow as would occur in a crucifixion.

The shroud can be traced to the Middle Ages and is believed to be the same as the “Edessa cloth” discovered in Turkey in 544 and moved to Constantinople in 944. For centuries it had the reputation of protecting whoever possessed it from harm. In 1204 the shroud disappeared from Constantinople and is believed to have been in the possession of heretics until 1349. It was then moved to Chamberry, France, where it was almost destroyed in a fire in 1532. It has been in Turin, Italy, since 1578.

In 1898 the shroud attracted worldwide attention when Secondo Pia was allowed to photograph it during one of its rare public displays at the cathedral in Turin. On developing the film, when light and dark were reversed, much to his amazement he saw in his darkroom the positive version of a face that was extraordinarily lifelike, haunting, hollow-eyed, showing clearly a contused cheek, slight displacement of the nose, and puncture wounds about the head that might have been made by some thorny cap. Pia wondered: Could it be possible that he might be looking at the first-ever photograph of the face of Jesus Christ? Read the rest of this entry »


I’ve always had trouble with God. You can’t see him, can’t hear him. Is there really a God out there and is he really concerned about me? I’d heard about God from practically Day One, learned the routine prayers, was baptized and made my First Communion. But like the atheist in the foxhole, I never actually said a personal word to God until my first roller coaster ride. As a tiny little thing at age 12 I flew up in the air as the roller coaster made its first down-dip. “God!” I cried. Even then I recognized it as my first real prayer.

In high school, despite my pitiful allowance, I would part with a precious dime to buy a Sunday Visitor at church each week. To this day I remember Dale Francis as being my favorite columnist. The things of God interested me but I would never have said we had a personal relationship. The saints, especially, were a problem. It seemed they were always talking to God and he to them. It seemed they knew him up close and personal.

I, on the other hand, sounded like the psalmist when I prayed: “God, where are you? Why don’t you answer? I cry out to you all day long and you are silent. Why have you abandoned me?” Read the rest of this entry »


The following is taken directly from a letter I received a week ago from John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute.

According to the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey, Marcus Borden has fostered a “destructive environment” for students. What did Borden, a high school football coach in East Brunswick NJ and a recipient of the national Caring Coach of the Year award, do to create such a “destructive” environment? He bowed his head,

silently

At other times, he knelt down on one knee–

silently

That’s the extent of Coach Borden’s so-called destructive behavior, which to him was a sign of respect while his football players offered a simple, solemn prayer for safety and honor on the field. If the matter weren’t so serious, the accusations being leveled at Coach Borden would be laughable. Read the rest of this entry »

Another grandson has graduated! This one became a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration a couple of days ago at Southern Connecticut State University. It was a bright sunny day and Danny got quite a sunburn sitting for those hours on the bleachers. His other grandmother and I found that such events can require a really long exhausting walk from car to bleachers. We did learn that they had a station to help those with disabilities and they found us seats without our having to negotiate the steps of the bleachers. We also learned about the shuttle which was a blessing in getting back to our car. Read the rest of this entry »

Our baby robins have hatched. I can’t tell you how many there are. There were only two eggs the last time I looked and now there is just movement in a pile of grayish fluff. There aren’t too many opportunities to take a peek as the mother is almost constantly in attendance. Don’t want to spook her, you know, or they tell me she won’t come back.

When we had baby rabbits, the mother would line her nest with fur from her belly. I understand that the eider duck lines her nest with down plucked from her breast, and that eider down is harvested from the nests when the ducklings leave. But, from what I read, robin nests are lined with very fine grasses (though there was mention of one robin that persisted in taking fur from a Golden Retriever) and the fluff mentioned above is the down that the baby birds are covered with at first.

Sometimes there are two parents feeding the babies, presumably the mother and father. Since mother and father aren’t politically correct terms anymore, perhaps I should call them Cock Robin and Hen Robin? Or parent XY and parent XX. How do you suppose the robin parents recognize each other? They all look the same to me–one robin face looks like another robin face. In the MARCH OF THE PENGUINS I learned that mates could recognize each other, that the mother penguin could always find her mate who was hatching her chick after she trekked miles to the water to bring back nourishment. It’s my guess that they know each other somehow by scent (pheromones) and song.

My research tells me that birds generally have small olfactory bulbs and very poor sense of smell. No bird pheromones have been discovered. However, birds have excellent eyesight and perhaps color vision plays a role in mating. We’re all familiar with Darwin’s discussion of the displays of the male bird (the peacock is the ultimate example) in order to woo the female bird. And birds have MARVELOUS hearing in spite of the fact that there are no visible external ears.

This bird-watching is raising a lot of questions. Is there a robin expert somewhere out there?

Next day:
My babies! They’re gone! The nest is EMPTY! Who — or what — has done this thing? The mother robin had so much invested — the nest, the eggs, the brooding, the feeding. Is she grieving as much as I am? It’s always so sad to see new, innocent life destroyed — the promise nipped in the bud. Will she have the heart to try again?

Is there a robin expert somewhere out there?


With a 4-3 vote, the seven judges of the California Supreme Court have just ruled that a ban on homosexual marriage is unconstitutional. California voters had previously approved (by 61%) Proposition 22 in 2000, defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Once again judicial activism is overruling the will of the people. It is expected that a “stay” will be placed on this decision until November 2008 when it is hoped a constitutional amendment, the California Marriage Protection Act, will qualify for ballot.

Until now Massachusetts was the only state licensing same-sex marriage. Massachusetts now boasts an annual Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Youth Parade with “fully sanctioned participation by a variety of school groups,” link here. A number of other states offer civil unions. On the other hand 26 states have amended their constitutions to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.

Also in the news this month is that an eminent Spanish psychiatrist, Enrique Rojas, called the homosexual orientation a “disorder” rather than an illness, 95% of the time due to environmental factors such as an absent father, overweening mother, or sexual abuse in childhood. He said that studies from the United States, Canada and New Zealand show a 70-80 per cent chance that a child adopted by homosexuals will develop the same tendencies. Read the rest of this entry »

I try to remember to take my cell phone with me when I take a bath but it has never happened that I received a call when in the bathroom. Until today. I answered the ring and some man was asking for a name I didn’t recognize. He then asked, “Who am I speaking to.” “You’re talking to an old lady in a bathtub,” I answered. “You’re talking to an old man in the kitchen,” he said. “I was trying to find someone to mow my lawn.”

It sounded as if he might be willing to talk a little, but my bath was done and I had things to do. I wished him a good day and hung up. I had concluded that (a) he was probably not very able-bodied or he could mow his own lawn, and (b) he had a little property (with a lawn) and could afford to hire someone to mow. Maybe I should have taken the time to talk with him a bit. He might have been lonely. Read the rest of this entry »

I once read that people who are willing to kill will not hesitate to lie. So many lies issue from the pro-abortion camp that I would think they would hang their heads in shame! They will say almost anything rather than admit the truth– that the unborn baby is a living human being and they want the right to kill it.

For starters, take Justice Harry Blackmun’s statement in the Roe vs. Wade decision that we cannot determine when human life begins. No one was asking when the first living cell appeared on Planet Earth! The question at hand was when does an individual human life begin, and if Blackmun had asked an embryologist he would have known. Basic biology teaches us that the union of sperm and egg provides a full complement of chromoscomes and produces a new living, growing human being. Blackmun’s statement was either a bald-faced lie or the most egregious ignorance.

They embarrass themselves with their own evasions. Tim Russert once asked Al Gore, on Meet the Press, “Do you believe life begins at conception?” Gore was flustered, but finally came up with “I believe life begins when Roe vs. Wade said it did.”

To heck with the truth! Hew to the party line!

If at all interested in the truth about abortion, I beg my readers to go click here and watch the video, The Silent Scream.

It is not surprising that the “pro-choice” folks do not like to admit that abortion kills a child. That sounds so cruel. Everyone loves a baby! So innocent, so helpless, so calling for caring. Almost as cute as a baby seal! Almost as precious as a turtle egg!

We need to fudge the facts, harden our hearts, and cloud our reason — otherwise, how could we do that to our sons and daughters?

Par-lor, n. 1: a room used primarily for conversation or the reception of guests.

I am defining parlor because many of our younger generation would not be able to tell you what a parlor is, or even how to spell it. The parlor of yesteryear is today called the living room or the family room. And I worry considerably about the “guest” most often present there — the thief that is otherwise known as a television set.

A thief, by definition, steals. How can I call something that offers so much marvelous programming, that gives us a window to the world, a thief? Television does, indeed, come bearing gifts, some superb, some just trash in fancy wrappings. But that is the problem. It brings gifts 24 hours a day, with many selections for each hour of every day. It tantalizes us, making us curious about what the next program may have to offer. Perhaps it will show us something new and exciting! Perhaps it will intrigue us with yet another depravity. Well do I remember my family’s first radio. I thought I would be able to hear many things when I was home alone that my parents wouldn’t approve of. My hope didn’t pan out back then, but had I been a teenager nowadays I could have gone OVERLOAD and TILT on the sleaze that TV has to offer. Read the rest of this entry »

What would prompt a seemingly sensible 65-year-old woman to abandon her job, spend a night sleeping on a New York store-front floor and then take a bus to Atlanta, only to be arrested for sitting on the ground in front of an abortion mill? When the Opinion editor of the News-Times in my home town asked me to explain why I did the things I did that day, and subsequently, in their Community Forum, I was happy to oblige.

COMMUNITY FORUM

News-Times, Danbury CT

July 28, 1991

On September 28, 1990, in Dobbs Ferry, NY, I had the privilege of being handcuffed to a chain link fence behind an abortion clinic next to a Maryknoll priest whom I knew only as Father Andrew.

The occasion was Father Andrew’s first rescue and 38 of us had been arrested for sitting in front of the door of the Women’s Medical Pavilion, refusing to move. Father Andrew told me at the time that he had prayed about it and felt he was obeying God in trying to prevent, at least for a day, the killing of unborn children at that facility. I remember putting my free hand over his in appreciation of his caring enough to be there, Roman collar and all, lending a certain quiet respectability to our efforts. Read the rest of this entry »