The late Cardinal John O’Connor of New York often said women who had abortions were “invincibly ignorant” — they did not understand what they were doing. He blamed the bishops for not teaching convincingly. The question of abortion may be decided politically, but the real test is if morality is taught. The Supreme Court’s decision Read more
Louisa Wall, the Labour member of parliament for Manurewa in New Zealand, says the Catholic Church should stay out of the current Australian discussion about same-gender marriage because it lacks moral authority. She told the BuzzFeed political podcast Is It On? she is perplexed by the prominent role of the Catholic Church and its leaders in Read more
You’ve probably heard the stereotype: Catholic colleges are in denial about their students’ sexual lives and alcohol use. Indeed, it’s true that many Catholic universities traditionally ended the conversations on sex and underage drinking with a simple, “just say no!” And yet, students attending Catholic colleges do not differ from students at other colleges, with Read more
For the faithful it (birth control) is a sad and agonizing issue, for there is a cleavage between the official teaching of the Church and the contrary practice in most families. — Former Patriarch Maximos IV Saigh of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church quoted in What Happened at Vatican II, by John W. O’Malley. Recalling that Thursday was Read more
While pondering last week’s sapphire anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life) and the continuing controversy over the so-called “birth control encyclical” throughout both Church and society, I came across a striking passage in an essay by Polish Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz, written shortly before his death in 2004. “Increasingly the institution Read more
The University of Notre Dame in the United States has launched a pastoral plan for gay students — “for the support, holistic development and formation of students who identify as GLBTQ [gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, questioning], as well as their heterosexual friends and allies”. Though the announcement follows years of petitions for an official “gay-straight Read more