TikTok and the Noonday Devil
The many dangers of smartphones and screen time for kids have been long articulated by now, but most have missed what this distraction is doing to their souls.
Do Young Children Belong at Mass?
Tradition favors formation through participation, not exclusion. Children belong at Mass precisely because they are learning to love what is sacred.
Elon Musk Rightly Sounds the Alarm on the Global Fertility Crisis
The world continues to reap the bitter consequences of being increasingly closed to family and children. A return to the Church’s teaching on openness to life is the only way forward.
Woman Does Not Live on Work Alone
The “worker’s rights” vision of economist and lawmakers fails to account for something more fundamental: the essential work of raising one’s own children.
The Problem With “Themed” Masses
However well-meaning, turning Holy Mass into a church play to keep kids engaged robs from them the real lessons of the Holy Sacrifice.
The Screens Are Killing Your Children
With all the monstrous challenges facing parents today, screen time is the Hydra, and once it comes into being, it can’t easily be slayed.
Turning on Children
The nations of the West have turned against children. They are committing suicide.
Let Children Aim High This Lent
We should see our children’s youth not as a hindrance to bold acts of love, but as an asset.
Can Governments Increase Family Size?
Many Catholic commentators urge governments to economically incentivize childbearing. However, the early returns on such incentives disappoint.
The Offering of Children to False Gods
Protecting the innocence of children is the most minimal function of a society that calls itself civilized.
Imagining More Than a Career
I’d like my children to identify vocations (and perhaps professions) that will provide for their needs and give them some degree of personal fulfillment. But I would never tell them that their careers are the most important thing.
Raising Children in an Anti-Child World
There is a growing childfree movement comprised of people who intentionally choose never to welcome children. Often people mistakenly see their own laziness and selfishness as very important aspects of their person that are worthy of protection and cultivation.
The Supreme Court’s Misuse of Children to Justify Same-Sex Marriage
Of all the misconceived nonsense in the recent Windsor v. United States ruling, perhaps the most egregious was Justice Anthony Kennedy’s insinuation that “the children made me do it.” Windsor declared the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional because it defined marriage as being between one man and one woman. Why was DOMA a problem for … Read more
On the Dangers of Reading the Bible as a Kid
Other than regular Sunday readings and occasional rumblings heard as an altar boy, I first began to read the Scriptures at age 12 in the spring of 1963. It was Lent. Our teacher, a formidable Dominican nun in full white regalia, laid it down as a project for 7th grade religion that all students should … Read more
Chastity and the Child
Jesus said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me…for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” I’ve suggested in an earlier essay that chastity is but the giving of due reverence to the goodness and the holiness of sexual being, male and female. A land where chastity—not mere abstinence, and not prideful scorn of … Read more
Children of Same Sex Couples
Kids thrive in families with same-sex parents. This is beyond serious debate. The science says so. Get over it. Denying this self-evident truth has become tantamount to homophobia. In 2010 a Florida court, the Third District Court of Appeal, was certain enough to state complacently that: “based on the robust nature of the evidence available … Read more
The Unborn Child
The nine months of waiting for a baby can deepen a couple’s relationship and bring them closer to each other than any other time in their marriage. Especially for a young couple looking forward to their first child, there is a sense of excitement and the thrill of the unknown – a strange mixture of … Read more
Should the Government be Involved in Marriage?
Some libertarians, notably Ron Paul, say it should not. Another says that is foolish and irresponsible.
Hollywood’s Soda-Pop Statism
The Hollywood elite’s concern for the children stops at the water’s edge of physical fitness. They simply do not touch the subject of moral fitness. On The Huffington Post, former entertainment executive Laurie David offered this pre-holiday piece of encouragement: “Thanksgiving Conversation Starter: Is It Time to Ban Soda Ads on Prime Time Television?” … Read more