November 16, 2018
by James Soriano
Americans like to think of themselves as living in a classless society, and historically this is largely, but not entirely, true, with a large middle class dominating the country’s economic, political, and social life. In the traditional social model, there was a small and moneyed upper class above the middle class, typically marked by its willingness [...]
June 14, 2018
by John M. Grondelski
June 17, 2018. Why are we celebrating “Father’s Day?” Despite the overwhelming evidence that the presence of fathers in intact families pays incalculable social dividends in terms of future generations and the communities in which they live, fatherhood as such is increasingly marginalized by culture-makers. Case-in-point: I spent time the last two weekends watching the [...]
June 4, 2018
by Regis Nicoll
According to a gay victim of the clerical sex scandal in Chile, Pope Francis told him, “You have to be happy with who you are. God made you this way.” It’s the conclusion reached by many Christians with same-sex attraction, whose stories share telling similarities. They knew they were different at a young age. Throughout [...]
May 11, 2018
by Fr. John A. Perricone
Crowns fall fittingly upon the head of the Virgin during this month of May, but it is also fitting that they fall upon the head of every mother. Mothers possess hearts that act like God’s megaphone. It is of the very nature of mothers to be God’s proxy in a world weary of God. Even [...]
February 2, 2018
by John M. Grondelski
Austin Ruse rightly praises Ryan Anderson’s new book, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Movement, due out February 20. The book is an authoritative compendium of arguments on transgenderism, exposing much of the “science” and “medicine” that pretends sex is a state of mind. My favorite argument from Anderson’s forthcoming book is, however, what I [...]
April 25, 2017
by Jim Russell
“The primary end of marriage is the procreation and education of children; its secondary end is mutual help and the allaying of concupiscence.” (Canon 1013, 1917 Code of Canon Law) Anyone familiar with the history of contraception and the Church in the 1960s will know the name of John T. Noonan. His singular 1965 work [...]
August 4, 2016
by Bruce Frohnen
For decades, now, Christians have worried about the progressive push to strip naked the public square by forcing religion into the shadows of a private sphere. Recent events have made clear that this is not the case. Everything is public and political to the secular left. All aspects of our lives are fair game in [...]
July 1, 2015
by Joshua Schulz
In 1968, Pope Paul VI predicted that the widespread adoption of contraception would effectively sever the procreative and unitive purposes of sex in the popular mind and consequently lead to profound moral and sociological changes (see Humanae Vitae 17). British philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe likewise argued that accepting the liceity of contraception would leave no principled [...]
February 2, 2015
by Richard A. Spinello
Someone presumptuous enough to recommend some readings for those attending the 2015 Synod on the Family could undoubtedly put together an impressive list of books on marriage and sexual morality. Arguably, at the top of any such list belongs Karol Wojtyla’s classic work called Love and Responsibility. An appreciation of marriage as an indissoluble conjugal [...]
May 6, 2014
by Pete Jermann
Marriage requires sex. This seems to be the sine qua non of marriage even in a world where the definition of marriage has been broadened in ways never imagined even a generation ago. And indeed marriage does require sex because sex is unitive in a unique way and marriage is about union. A shake of [...]
April 22, 2014
by Joshua Schulz
I was recently asked to sit before college undergraduates on a panel of philosophers, theologians and counselors tasked with discussing the impact of pornography on our culture. Specifically, I was asked to reflect on the widely confirmed fact that regular porn use deadens the male libido, that men who use pornography find themselves unable to [...]
December 19, 2013
by Eric Johnston
The great NFP debate would be greatly helped by some serious reflections on ends: teleology, as the philosophers like to say. On one side stand the Providentialists. At their more strident, they accuse NFP users of a “contraceptive mentality.” Just because periodic abstinence (the means) is legitimate doesn’t mean that its every use is appropriate. Some [...]
