AmP Speaker of the Month: Janet Smith
This is my contribution to Fallible Blogma's Support a Catholic Speaker initiative.Labels: Catholic culture, contraception
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Pa•pist: n. A Catholic who is a strong advocate of the papacy.
"Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them." - Ephesians 5:11 |
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This is my contribution to Fallible Blogma's Support a Catholic Speaker initiative.Labels: Catholic culture, contraception
"Want to combat climate change? Use birth control. Family planning is a green technology."This sort of argument has been around for some time, in fact I blogged about a parallel argument early last month.
Labels: contraception, environmentalism, outrageous, stupidity
Alternative captions for this "Womens Rights" poster:Labels: contraception, signs of the times
The Population Research Institute, a pro-life research group based in Front Royal, VA, has released the first in a series of humorous cartoons intended to disprove the myth of overpopulation.
This video, a minute and a half long, deftly refutes common misconceptions about world population, poverty, resource consumption, and the United Nations.
Labels: contraception, video
For any questions about world religions and demographics, Philip Jenkins is the scholar to read. I don't always agree with his ecclesiology, but his knowledge of the worldwide landscape is unparalleled, and especially the situation in Africa. His 2006 article for First Things, "Believing in the Global South" is a good place to start.
For those who are looking for a book-length treatment, one might read "The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South", "The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity" or "God's Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe's Religious Crisis" (in which he claims that the "Islamification" of Europe is being over-dramatized, but Richard John Neuhaus disagrees).That's a good place to start reading if you don't believe the West is contracepting itself out of existence.
Labels: Abortion, contraception, culture of death, demographics, video
15. Two further documents by Paul VI without any direct link to social doctrine — the Encyclical Humanae Vitae (25 July 1968) and the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December 1975) — are highly important for delineating the fully human meaning of the development that the Church proposes. It is therefore helpful to consider these texts too in relation to Populorum Progressio.
The Encyclical Humanae Vitae emphasizes both the unitive and the procreative meaning of sexuality, thereby locating at the foundation of society the married couple, man and woman, who accept one another mutually, in distinction and in complementarity: a couple, therefore, that is open to life. This is not a question of purely individual morality: Humanae Vitae indicates the strong links between life ethics and social ethics, ushering in a new area of magisterial teaching that has gradually been articulated in a series of documents, most recently John Paul II's Encyclical Evangelium Vitae.
Labels: contraception, encyclicals, Pope Benedict XVI
A bag of condoms on your dorm door? Now that's classy. That's going to send boys the right message.Frustrated that her college does not distribute birth control, Stonehill College senior Katie Freitas decided she would do it herself.
After collecting hundreds of free condoms from two family-planning agencies, she and about 20 classmates placed boxes of the contraceptives in student dormitories across the Easton campus last month.
But when administrators at the Catholic school learned of the effort, they quickly intervened and collected the condoms, citing the college's ban against distributing birth control on campus.
... Freitas said she will continue to hang a bag of condoms on her dormitory door, although McGovern warned otherwise. (Boston Globe)
Labels: catholic controversy, contraception, outrageous
"The Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood’s research arm, released a pitch today for more taxpayer funding for ‘family planning services’ – contraception and abortion. Every dollar spent on ‘family planning programs’ saves the American people $4, the study says." - Read a response from the American Life League
LifeNews: "However, the report doesn't appear to square with the facts in places where the number of abortions have been compiled following extensive promotion of family planning."
Ross Douthat: "I admire the persistence with which Will Saletan argues for common ground in the abortion debate, and attempts to sell his fellow liberals on the notion that reducing the abortion rate belongs in the Democratic Party's agenda. But I remain unconvinced that his preferred method for such reductions - a dramatic new push, whether political or cultural, to expand the use of contraception in the United States - would produce anything like the results that he envisions."
"Congress increases "family planning" budget by $95.5 million to whopping $852 million" - Jill Stanek
"Democrats in Congress are not abandoning their overall goal. They plan to push soon for a major funding increase for Title X, the main federal family planning program, as part of broader legislation endorsed by President Barack Obama to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies. The Guttmacher report provides ammunition for those who will advocate the funding increase." - AP
"Boston College Students Vote to Demand Free Condoms, Other Birth Control" - Cardinal Newman Society
[From an article promoting condom use]: "And learn to live with the guilt. Hey, I’m Catholic — you can learn to live with guilt. Potentially life-threatening infections and diseases, on the other hand, not so much."
Labels: contraception, culture of death, prediction, signs of the times

Labels: cartoon, contraception
President Obama is trying to blunt the edge of perhaps the sharpest, most divisive wedge issue in the country: abortion.The devil is completely in the details on this one. I'm extremely pessimistic. So often "abortion reduction" simply means an excuse to fund more distribution of contraception, with no real tackling of abortion itself.
In a series of moves, Obama is attempting to nudge the debate away from the morality and legality of abortion and toward a goal he hopes both sides can endorse: decreasing the number of women who terminate their pregnancies by addressing the reasons they might choose the procedure.
The strategy is being met by deep skepticism from many prominent antiabortion activists, but it has been embraced by some others as well as by leading abortion rights activists, who hope it could fundamentally reshape one of the nation's most intransigent political stalemates
Today, the president announced the creation of a new White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which will make abortion reduction one of its priorities.
Labels: Abortion, contraception, culture of life, president obama
Labels: contraception, current events, economics, outrageous, pelosi, sexual morality
"All of these programs will result in more babies being killed and more taxpayer money going to the largest abortion chain in the nation ? Planned Parenthood." - {Source.}
American Life League has a comprehensive overview of what this bill will bring about should it pass.
LifeNews also covered this story. They recommend contacting members of the U.S. Senate.Labels: Abortion, catholic hospitals, contraception, culture of death, get involved
[Seaker Nancy Pelosi] didn't limit herself to "birth control" but referred to "family planning services" which we all know is a code word which includes the "service" of abortion. I think that this should be highlighted. Although she mentioned contraception specifically with reference to the bill, she seems to be advocating all family planning services as a way to reduce costs. I think that this is a way bigger scandal that people are making it out to be, not only because of the gravely immoral support of contraception but because of the endorsement of all "family planning services" as a way to reduce government costs, especially in light of her goal of pursuing universal government provided health care.I couldn't agree more. Her radical promotion of contraception and abortion is gravely scandalous.
Labels: Abortion, contraception, outrageous, pelosi
House Democrats are likely to jettison family planning funds for the low-income from an $825 billion economic stimulus bill, officials said late Monday, following a personal appeal from President Barack Obama at a time the administration is courting Republican critics of the legislation.Two initial reactions:
Several officials said a final decision was expected on Tuesday, coinciding with Obama's scheduled visit to the Capitol for separate meetings with House and Senate Republicans.
The provision has emerged as a point of contention among Republicans, who criticize it as an example of wasteful spending that would neither create jobs nor otherwise improve the economy. (AP)
I'll be watching this and related stories closely.
Nancy Pelosi still needs to be answered.
update: Good analysis from Ed Morrissey, along with news that Pelosi is backing down:
Meanwhile, over at the death-happy Feministing blog, typical cluelessness:"Democrats thought they could sneak subsidies for Planned Parenthood into the stimulus package, and why not? After all, in a bill that will cost $825 billion, who’d notice? Unfortunately for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, George Stephanopolous did. After failing to explain how hundreds of millions of dollars in new contraception funding would stimulate anything except libidos and Democrats, Pelosi will reluctantly remove the provisions from the stimulus bill this morning...
... Reid and Pelosi wanted to toss hundreds of millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood, an important contributor to Democratic candidates and the party. It has nothing to do with economic stimulus; it has everything to do with political stimulus."
"It is clear that state spending on family planning services not only save the state money and time, but have greater long-term benefits for the health of our people."How do contraceptives save money and time? Oh that's right, because abortions take money and time. Reproductive Health Reality Check is hopping mad, too:
"Women are screwed, the poor lose essential health care, the Republicans galvanize their nutcase base by removing contraception but will still run around playing the common ground card. Could it maybe have been a better idea to flip this tired script and show some muscle right now?"Note how Pelosi, the Feministing blogger, and RHRC ... are all in complete agreement on this issue!
Labels: contraception, outrageous, president obama, scandal
... not! The sordid details:
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi boldly defended a move to add birth control funding to the new economic "stimulus" package, claiming "contraception will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."
Pelosi, the mother of 5 children and 6 grandchildren, who once said, "Nothing in my life will ever, ever compare to being a mom," seemed to imply babies are somehow a burden on the treasury.
The revelation came during an exchange Sunday morning on ABC's THIS WEEK.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services. How is that stimulus?
PELOSI: Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So no apologies for that?
PELOSI: No apologies. No. we have to deal with the consequences of the downturn in our economy. (Drudge)
Pelosi has said so many stupid things before that I didn't think she could shock me still. Well, I was wrong.
What especially gets me about this statement is her obstinance ("No aplogies. No."). She makes no excuses for her radical contraceptive solution and doesn't even have the good taste to qualify her commitments for such bald-faced legislation. Instead, she's dead-set on this solution. An evil solution.
Once again, I can't help but note that she's long overdue for her promised sit-down with her bishop.
143 days, 5 hours, 02 minutes, 33 seconds....
update: even from an economic point of view, this advice is just plain stupid.
update 2 (video):"We have reached a new low when high-ranking public office holders in the federal government cast children as the enemy. But at least it explains their enthusiasm for abortion-on-demand."
Labels: breaking news, contraception, hot topics, outrageous, pelosi
I've heard a few on-the-ground reports - all of them favorable - about Sacred Heart Major Seminary's "Co-Creating with God: Humanae Vitae Today" conference (previous AmP posts about it here).Labels: catholic events, catholic tips, contraception, culture of life, humanae vitae
This Saturday my alma mater Sacred Heart Major Seminary is hosting a conference to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of the encyclical letter Humanae Vitae entitled "Co-Creating with God: Humane Vitae Today"."Sacred Heart Major Seminary hopes through this conference to give witness to our confidence that human experience and divine wisdom demonstrate the truth of Humanae Vitae.
Featuring 8 nationally known speakers on life issues, it is aimed at those who already embrace the document and wish to understand it more deeply, and to those who are skeptical about it."
You may register online here (walk-ins also welcome). I have more information in my first post.
Labels: catholic conferences, catholic events, catholic tips, contraception
"In a 2007 Pew Research Center telephone survey of 2,000 U.S. men and women, only 41 percent said children are "very important to a successful marriage." In 1990, that figure was 65 percent."
McClure says he spends most of his time "putting vasectomies back together," performing more than 2,000 reversals since 1975.
"Over the last several years, it appears that more males under the age of 25 who've never had children and who had a vasectomy are coming in [for a reversal] because they've found a new partner and they want to have children," says McClure.
Labels: contraception, culture of death, secular culture
In 2002, when she was running for lieutenant governor, Palin sent an e-mail to the anti-abortion Alaska Right to Life Board saying she was as "pro-life as any candidate can be" and has "adamantly supported our cause since I first understood, as a child, the atrocity of abortion."Palin said last month that no woman should have to choose between her career, education and her child. She is pro-contraception and said she's a member of a pro-woman but anti-abortion group called Feminists for Life."I believe in the strength and the power of women, and the potential of every human life," she said.
Palin’s beliefs mesh well with Feminists for Life’s goal of “systematically eliminating the root causes that drive women to abortion” and “doing so through women centered solutions.” The vice presidential nominee explained that she believes “no woman should have to choose between her career, education and her child.”While Palin, a non-denominational Protestant, is anti-abortion, she is in support of contraception, a position that lies beyond the scope of FFL’s mission, [FFL President] Ms. Foster said.
Question: Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?
Sarah Palin: "Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support."
Labels: 2008 presidential race, contraception, religion and politics, sarah palin
A proposed Bush administration regulation on contraception and abortion would stop California from enforcing a state law that requires Catholic hospitals and charities to provide birth control coverage for thousands of female employees, state Attorney General Jerry Brown and family-planning advocates said Wednesday. (San Francisco Chronicle)
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department regulation, still in draft form, would define abortion as including certain methods of contraception and would prohibit states and other recipients of federal funds from penalizing health care workers who refused to provide those services because of religious or moral beliefs.
An early draft of the regulations found its way into public circulation before it had reached my review. It contained words that lead some to conclude my intent is to deal with the subject of contraceptives, somehow defining them as abortion. Not true.
The Bush Administration has consistently supported the unborn. However, the issue I asked to be addressed in this regulation is not abortion or contraceptives, but the legal right medical practitioners have to practice according to their conscience and patients should be able to choose a doctor who has beliefs like his or hers.
There, doesn't that sound far more reasonable?
Planned Parenthood has its formidable attack machine trained on Mr. Leavitt, who responds to them here:
Continue fighting the good fight, sir.So, according to Ms. Gallagher’s ideology, if a person goes to medical school they lose their right of conscience. Freedom of expression and action is surrendered with the issuance of a medical degree.
There is something I’d like to point out to Ms Gallagher and the people she represents. It is currently a violation of three separate federal laws to compel medical practitioners to perform a procedure that violates their conscience.
... I want to reiterate. If the Department of Health and Human Services issues a regulation on this matter, it will aim at one thing, protecting the right of conscience of those who practice medicine. From what I’ve read the last few days, there’s a serious need for it.
Labels: catholic hospitals, contraception, medical ethics
To millions of women it has been the great liberator over the past four decades, allowing them the freedom to control their fertility and their relationships. But the contraceptive Pill could also be responsible for skewing their hormones and attracting them to the “wrong” partner.
A study by British scientists suggests that taking the Pill can change a woman’s taste in men — to those who are genetically less compatible.
The research found that the Pill can alter the type of male scent that women find most attractive, which may in turn affect the kind of men they choose as partners. It suggests that the popular form of contraception — used by a quarter of British women aged between 16 and 50 — could have implications for fertility and relationship breakdowns.
The findings, from a team at the University of Liverpool, add to growing evidence that the hormones in the Pill influence the way that women assess male sexual attractiveness. (source)
In addition to altering women's natural attraction to suitable partners, the pill also permanently damages sex drive over long-term use, according to one study (Read here).
Labels: contraception, hot topics, sexual morality, stupid reporting
Meanwhile? Are Catholics ready to hear about the Church's teaching?During the tumultuous years of the 1960's Pope Paul VI published a controversial encyclical, Humanae Vitae, which addressed the issue of birth control in light of the arrival of the birth control pill.
Today LifeSiteNews.com is publishing a recently unearthed letter which was sent to Bishops with a pre-release copy of the encyclical. The letter, dated July 19, 1968, is signed by the late Amleto Giovanni Cardinal Cicognani, who was then-Secretary of the Vatican Secretariat of State.
The outright defiance of many priests and even bishops to Pope Paul VI's encyclical - which restated and reinforced the Church's long-time opposition to artificial birth control - is even graver in light of the carefully worded letter the bishops received specifically pointing to the urgent need for unity on the matter.
Labels: contraception, human experience, orthodoxy, renegade bishops, renegade priests
I'm not sure I'd take it quite this far:Mark W. LeChevallier agrees with Dr. Lester Ruppersberger, a pro-life obstetrician and gynecologist, that natural family planning is safe, healthy and effective. But he would add one more characteristic: It's environmentally responsible.
... In a talk with the daunting title of "Endocrine Disruptions: Chemical Contraceptives in Sewage Effluents," LeChevallier explained that like secondhand smoke, "secondhand estrogens are being released into the environment," to devastating effect on fish, panthers, alligators and other wildlife. (CNS)
He said touting the environmental benefits of natural family planning "can be a new way to evangelize youths" and attract them to the church-approved method of postponing pregnancy.
The real way to attract them is the physiological, psychological and spiritual benefits, but sure - environmental as well. The rest of what he says is sound, informed and so desparately needs to be heard by our culture and youth especially.
Labels: catholic youth, contraception, environmentalism, natural family planning
I'm pleased to see the former, and not surprised to see the latter.
Labels: catholic controversy, contraception, humanae vitae
Labels: contraception, dissent, human experience, renegade priests
I normally tend to not quote articles at great length, allowing instead my readers to follow through themselves if they have an interest. But I found everything Lombardi had to say to be topical and enlightening. Well done!Responding to an open letter from dissident groups asking Pope Benedict XVI to change church teaching on birth control, the pope's spokesman said the letter was "paid propaganda in favor of the use of contraceptives."
The letter, sponsored by the U.S.-based Catholics for Choice and signed by dozens of its national chapters, sections of We Are Church and groups promoting women's ordination, was published July 25 in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
... Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the papal spokesman, told Vatican Radio that the ad was "nothing new" from a collection of small groups already known for their opposition to church teaching on a variety of topics."
In addition, the harshest accusation -- that the Catholic position is the cause of the spread of AIDS and, therefore, of suffering and death, blocking enlightened policies of public health -- is demonstrably unfounded," he said.
The spread of AIDS has nothing to do with someone's religion, he said, and policies responding to AIDS that rely chiefly on the distribution of condoms "have largely failed."
"Responding to AIDS requires interventions that are much deeper and detailed," he said, and Catholic agencies and religious orders are actively involved in those projects.
The most interesting thing about the protest letter, Father Lombardi said, was the fact that "it does not touch -- in anyway -- the true question at the center of 'Humanae Vitae,' which is the connection between spouses' human and spiritual relationship and the exercise of their sexuality as an expression of it and its fruitfulness."
"In the entire letter," he said, "the word 'love' does not appear once."
Father Lombardi said the letter does not "express a theological or moral position," but seemed to be "paid propaganda in favor of the use of contraceptives. One also could ask who paid for it and why." (CNS)
Labels: anti-catholicism, catholic controversy, contraception, culture of death, humanae vitae, vatican speaks
The Vindication of Humanae Vitae by Mary Eberstadt
That Humanae Vitae and related Catholic teachings about sexual morality are laughingstocks in all the best places is not exactly news. Even in the benighted precincts of believers, where information from the outside world is known to travel exceedingly slowly, everybody grasps that this is one doctrine the world loves to hate. During Benedict XVI’s April visit to the United States, hardly a story in the secular press failed to mention the teachings of Humanae Vitae, usually alongside adjectives like “divisive” and “controversial” and “outdated.” In fact, if there’s anything on earth that unites the Church’s adversaries—all of them except for the Muslims, anyway—the teaching against contraception is probably it.
Note: Each file is roughly 25mb, so they will take a little while to download even on a broadband connection.
Pro-Life activist Dr. Janet Smith debated the dissenter Dr. Charles Curran in front of a packed Dallas audience in 1994. I think the debate is well worth a focused listening because Dr. Smith and Dr. Curran are widely recognized as the top proponents of their respective positions on the contraception issue (at least in the US), and it's a rare occurrence indeed to hear two figures of their stature debating each other live.
Perhaps this weekend would be a good chance to set aside a bit of time and give it a listen.
And for a secular perspective: Forty years of 'Humanae Vitae' (Irish Times)
Plenty of work to do.
The "Reproductive Health" blog, meanwhile, reminds us that the culture of death has set its sights squarely on squarely on the Philippines. Surprise, surprise: the author references Catholics for Free Choice.
Labels: contraception, culture of life, hot topics, humanae vitae
The URL is: http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/nfp/nfpweek/The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has launched “Natural Family Planning Awareness Week” to promote Catholic teaching about human sexuality, marital love, and responsible parenthood as the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae approaches.
...
Natural Family Planning (NFP) uses a variety of methods for married couples to determine the signs of a woman’s fertility to help conceive a child, or for serious reasons, to avoid a pregnancy, but still maintaining an openness to life. (CNA)
Labels: catholic tips, contraception, get involved, natural family planning, usccb
Stories relating to Humanae Vitae (explicitly and implicitly, or tangentially) have been increasing lately in anticipation of its 40th anniversary on July 25th. Notably among these is the outrageous decision of "Catholics for Choice" to publish an open letter to Pope Benedict criticizing the church's constant teaching against artificial contraception.The leader of "Catholics" for Choice argued that in some countries where Catholic institutions exercise great power, people "are dying as a result of the ban" on contraceptives. His statement presumably referred to the argument that AIDS is spread by the lack of access to condoms.However, the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, a group of 600 orthodox Catholic priests and deacons, meeting in Baltimore last week, strongly endorsed the Church's teaching. Referring to the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae, in which Pope Paul VI reinforced the traditional teaching, the Confraternity approved a statement asking "all its brother clergy to teach, explain, and defend this timely encyclical."
"While sometimes a difficult teaching to embrace and maintain, it is nevertheless the only means to uphold the natural law and to safeguard the sanctity of the human person, marriage, and the family as well as civilization itself," the Confraternity proclaimed. The group pointed out that in the 40 years since Pope Paul issued the encyclical, the steadily growing public acceptance of contraception has been associated with epidemics of sexual promiscuity, deviancy, venereal disease, divorce, illegitimacy, and other problems including sharp increases in breast cancer and uterine cancer. (CWNews)
LifeNews has more on the story. You can also read more on the Catholic and Christian newswires.
Please consider making a donation to the CCC or sponsoring your priest for a CCC membership to support the good work they are doing and spread awareness their joyful, firm obedience to the Church's teaching.
Labels: catholic witness, contraception, Family, get involved, humanae vitae, pop culture
A group of Catholic dissenters plans to publish an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI in a major U.S. and a major Italian newspaper criticizing Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae on the fortieth anniversary of its promulgation, July 25. The group Catholics for Choice (CFC) claims that the encyclical’s teaching against contraception has been an “utter failure” that endangers women’s lives and leaves millions at risk of HIV. However, a major pro-life leader said the group’s accusations were hard to take seriously. (CNA)Meanwhile, in the corridors of sanity:
On 40th anniversary, 'Humanae Vitae' starts to gain more attention "Humanae Vitae" ("Of Human Life"), Pope Paul VI's encyclical on artificial contraception and the role of procreation in marriage, turns 40 July 25 and seems to be finding new life across the country."There is an army of people out there right now who are desirous of getting this message out," said Janet Smith, professor of moral theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in the Detroit Archdiocese.Smith, who has taken her "Contraception Why Not" presentation across the U.S. and Canada, is finding that while the numbers may not be overwhelming, a growing number of people are beginning to understand the connection between the sexual freedom that emerged in the 1960s and today's violence, depiction of women as sex objects and high incidence of divorce."It seems to me that 40 years ago people thought that contraception would be advantageous. Now 40 years later, we'd better rethink that," she said. (CNS)
Labels: catholic controversy, contraception, dissent, humanae vitae
Labels: contraception, Family, pop culture, stupid reporting
The 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, the papal document which reaffirmed the Church's teaching against contraception, is this July 25th.
What a wonderful thing it would be if priests would take this opportunity to either re-affirm the teaching to their congregations, or preach about the evils of contraception for the first time from the pulpit!
See also:
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Mary Eberstadt’s excellent piece from our current issue — viewable online for free — “The Vindication of Humanae Vitae.” In it, you’ll find a comprehensive survey of the current data which, although drawn from secular sources, illustrates the warnings and predictions of Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical almost to the T.
Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review Online also questions the empty promises of liberation and empowerment that contraception was purported to fulfill for women, and contrasts it with what’s actually followed — largely, a growing degradation of women — which looks remarkably like what Humanae Vitae predicted.
Labels: catholic tips, contraception, get involved
The fortieth anniversary of the landmark encyclical Humanae Vitae (On Human Life) of Pope Paul VI is being celebrated this year. Catholics are generally misinformed about the Church's teaching on birth control. In response, Sacred Heart Major Seminary has developed a one-day conference, "Humanae Vitae Today: Co-Creating with God," which will examine the encyclical's critical and prophetic teachings. The conference will be held at the seminary on Saturday, September 20, 2008, from 9:00 AM until 8:30 PM.
.... Sacred Heart Major Seminary hopes through this conference to give witness to our confidence that human experience and divine wisdom demonstrate the truth of Humanae Vitae. Featuring seven nationally known speakers on life issues, it is aimed at those who already embrace the document and wish to understand it more deeply, and to those who are skeptical about it.
Although this is a one-time event, we hope it will bear lasting fruit in the lives of those who attend. [More]
Contact: (313) 883-8792 // keller.marybeth@shms.edu. Registration here.
Please help me spread awareness. I'd love to see this conference well attended.
update: I've been provided with the speaker topics and descriptions:
Pia: “Generations X and Y and Humanae Vitae”
Many experts have commented on the fallout of Humanae Vitae (or rather the fallout from the neglect and refusal of this monumental document). Forty years later, there are signs that younger generations are understanding Humanae Vitae better than their parents and grandparents if only because they've had to live through the original fallout. Even the oft criticized mainstream media or secular media can't avoid certain truths about life and love that can be used effectively to teach the truths of marriage - truths that apply even to non-Catholics.Alexanders: “Sex, Lies and the Truth of Humanae Vitae ”
Several years ago when Julie and Greg Alexander were considering a divorce, a priest challenged them to live their marriage in accord with Church teaching. They are now devoting their lives to helping others find the happiness they have found in living by Church teaching rather than the destructive mores of modern culture.Fagan: “Contraception as a Social Justice Issue”
The contraceptive revolution led to multiple crises in social justice in matters of birth, marriage, family and society, such as increases in unwed pregnancy, abortion, divorce, and poverty. Social science data subsequent to Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae (1968) tends to support the Pope's depiction of what works (and does not work) for human nature in life, love and sexuality.
[Special Lunch Hour Presenter:]Dr. Mark Latkovic, professor of moral and systematic theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, has written and spoken widely on bioethical issues. He will review the principles of Humanae Vitae for the attendees during the lunch hour.
Waldstein: “Theology of the Body and Humanae Vitae”
The question of contraception is not simply one among other moral questions of our age. In his Theology of the Body, John Paul II shows that it is a pivotal question. It is the question in which the many concerns of our age come together as in a tight knot.Smith: “Parents as Co-Creators with God”
One of the great joys and responsibilities of marriage is having children. In doing so, they become “co-creators” with God. In having conjugal relations they invite God to create a new human soul and he entrusts that soul to them with the gift of a child. This truth is a truth that underlies all of sexual morality.
Sure looks like a powerhouse line up!
Other blogs which have linked to this post:
Have you blogged about this conference? Drop me a line and I'll add you to this list!
Labels: catholic conferences, catholic events, catholic tips, contraception
No, this blog title is not a typo. I don't mean "WYD" (World Youth Day), I mean "World Population Day." It was technically July 11, as the girls at Feministing have informed me.n 1968, world leaders proclaimed that individuals have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and timing of their children. Forty years later, modern contraception remains out of reach for hundreds of millions of women, men and young people.
This year’s World Population Day reaffirms the right of people to plan their families. It encourages activities, events and information that will help make this right real – especially for those who often have the hardest time getting the information and services they need to plan their families, such as marginalized populations and young people.
When people can plan their families, they can plan their lives. They can plan to beat poverty. They can plan on healthier mothers and children. They can plan to gain equality for women. Plan to support World Population Day this year!
The message? Birth control: it's for other people (mostly the poor).
Labels: contraception, outrageous, world trends
"Needy survivors" who need .... condoms?! "Struggling survivors" who struggle ... to maintain their family planning?! How does this sort of decision make any sort of sense in even a secular perspective?220 000 condoms off to Myanmar
Bangkok - The United Nations will send nearly a quarter of a million condoms into cyclone-hit Myanmar to help needy survivors with no access to contraceptives, a UN official says.
So far, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said it had sent 72 800 condoms to survivors struggling to maintain their family planning after the storm hit in early May.
A total of 218 400 condoms would be delivered, UNFPA aid advisor Chaiyos Kunanusont said.
"We don't want regular use of contraception disrupted. An emergency usually damages the health system, so people don't have access to condoms and contraceptives," said Chaiyos.
Labels: contraception, outrageous, world events, world trends
A brief dip into the UK tabloids, where Catholic Cherie Blair defends her use of contraception. Local press thinks she's talking about this sort of stuff to sell her recently released memoirs.Former British prime minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie has defended her use of contraception despite calling herself a "good Catholic girl".Spare me. This is a classic example of the "it's just common sense" defense of contraception.
Mrs Blair, whose husband coverted to Catholicism after leaving office last June, made the comments after she revealed in a new book how her fourth child was conceived accidentally, during a holiday with teh Queen.
"People seem to be quite shocked that perhaps a Catholic girl even uses contraception,'' she told GMTV television.
"But it is really an important thing for women .. One of the reasons women's lives have changed is that they have been able to control their fertility, it is an important issue."
In her just-published autobiography, Speaking for Myself, Mrs Blair describes how the birth of the couple's last child Leo followed a visit to the queen's Balmoral Scottish residence in 1999.
She tells how she had not packed her "contraceptive equipment'' because the previous year it had embarrassingly been discovered, unpacked along with a "range of unmentionables''.
"As usual up there, it had been bitterly cold, and what with one thing and another... but then, I thought, I can't be. I'm too old. It must be the menopause,'' she said. (source)
Labels: catholic controversy, contraception, england
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Labels: catholic tips, contraception
But the recommendation?A European study released on Tuesday has raised new concerns about the safety of women's long-term use of the birth control pill, suggesting increased risk of heart attack or stroke.
Women who had used oral contraceptives were more likely than those who did not take the pill to have a buildup of plaque in their arteries, the researchers told an American Heart Association meeting.
... Rietzschel's team studied 1,301 women ages 35 to 55.
Of them, 81 percent had used the pill, for an average of 13 years. The researchers saw a rise of 20 to 30 percent in arterial plaque in two big arteries -- the carotid in the neck and the femoral in the leg -- for each decade of use.
Rietzschel said he did not think the findings should trigger alarms about the safety of the pill.
"Bottom line -- don't discontinue your pill suddenly. Don't panic. Don't call your gynecologist tomorrow morning," Rietzschel said.
... what?
At the same time:
Because heaven forbid that she not supress her fertility: better to take the above-mentioned risks!Dr. Gordon Tomaselli, a Johns Hopkins University cardiologist and American Heart Association official, said he was surprised by the findings.
"It's a bit eye-opening, I think," Tomaselli said in an interview.
... "What would I tell my daughter to do? I might suggest maybe not oral contraception," Tomaselli said.
Labels: contraception, medical ethics
Bishop Richard Malone of Portland, Maine, has strongly objected to a decision by the city’s school board that will make contraceptives available to middle-school students.Diogenes notes an unexplained absence.
"I join the number of parents who have expressed their outrage and disbelief at the decision which affects young girls aged 11 to 14 years old," the bishop said. He was responding to a new policy that will allow distribution of birth-control devices to students, without the knowledge of their parents.
11-year-old children need their parents involved in their medical care. Period. We need to check their temperatures and give them Ibuprofin when they need it, talk with their doctors, understand how their prescription drugs interact, make sure they drink enough fluids when they have the flu...and we sure as [heck] need to know when they're taking hormone-altering drugs that can have serious short and long-term side-effects. [full post.]
Labels: contraception, medical ethics, outrageous, sexual morality
Cardinal Pell has been too-long absent from AmP coverage. Reading about his constant witness and energetic teaching to build up a culture of life around the world is always a strong gust of fresh air:Needless to say, I expect him to shine at World Youth Day in Sydney next year.In his recent book “God and Caesar,” the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, said a “common heresy of our times” is believing that Catholics can accept and practice contraception, using the “primacy of conscience” as a justification.
Taking a metaphor from Oxford professor Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, the cardinal called this belief that has spread among Catholics the “Donald Duck heresy,” referring to the Disney character who "knows it all", and "has an unshakeable conviction of self-righteousness." The self-indulgent duck, explains Pell is well-meaning but "his activity is often disastrous for himself and others."
The same thing happens with Catholics who practice and promote a disordered vision of human sexuality through contraception, abortion and the destruction of embryos.
With claims to "primacy of conscience," he said, “they falsely believe themselves in the right, while they thus distort the image of God which the Creator intended to convey in the fruitful sexual union of husband and wife.”
"Too many 'Donald Ducks' produce a 'feel good' society, which works to remove personal guilt, anything that would make people feel uncomfortable, and complacent self-satisfaction becomes a virtue," writes Pell. "Confession of sins is replaced with therapy, and self-reproach with self-discovery."
Cardinal Pell noted that the false conception of the “primacy of conscience” was the object of John Paul II’s 1993 encyclical Veritatis Splendor.
"Only truth, or the Word of God has primacy, and is the ultimate rule of action.” The individual conscience is necessary, but sometimes insufficient. “Even a genuine searcher for truth can be mistaken, sometimes with disastrous consequences," he added.
The book is a compilation of essays the Cardinal has penned over the years. In one essay which was delivered as a talk to the Linicare Conference in the UK in 2000, under the title "The Role of the Bishop in Promoting the Gospel of Life", the Cardinal warns that the Catholic Church would not grow unless the full teaching of the Church on life issues was promoted. "Tactical silence", as practiced by many bishops, would in fact stifle growth, he suggested. [CNA]
Labels: cardinal pell, contraception, world youth day 2008
Labels: american papist picks, contraception, natural family planning, videos