“Last Wednesday, I emphasized the deep bond that exists between the Holy Spirit and the Church. Today, I would like to begin on the mystery of the Church, a mystery which we all experience and of which we are part.” — Pope Francis, General Audience, May 29, 2013 (L’Osservatore Romano, English, June 5, 2013) “The Read more
Brookes Ebetsch took only a long weekend off work after giving birth to her daughter in Texas in 2011. Her employer didn’t offer paid leave, and she and her husband couldn’t afford to take the financial hit of having her take weeks off. Her daughter, Sabina, arrived on a Thursday and Ebetsch was back at Read more
Most married couples with children are satisfied with their relationships. There is only one problem with the dour and dismal portrait of heterosexual marriage painted by Liza Mundy in this month’s Atlantic cover story. It’s wrong. In her bleak rendering, contemporary marriage comes across as unequal, unfair, and unhappy to today’s wives. Wives are burdened Read more
In 1985, Mary Anne Warren coined the term gendercide to refer to the ritual eradication of women and girls throughout the world. More recently, the heartbreaking film It’s a Girl documents the effects of this practice on the numbers of girls and women in China and India. It makes for difficult viewing, particularly when confronted with the Read more
Have we as pro-life Catholics been wrong to invest the lion’s share of our time, talent and energy in the political battle against abortion over the past forty years? Or even if we have not been wrong the whole time, are we wrong now? Perhaps it is obvious that I believe the answer is yes. It Read more
Kids need a dad and a mum, not just “parents”, because, as a new study shows, dad does different things for the growing child than mum does, at least some of the time. I know this will not impress die-hard gender egalitarians, but most mums and dads will quickly see the point. The study tracked Read more
This year’s Australian Catholic Bishops Social Justice Statement focuses on the family. It is put into useful perspective by the publication the Bishops’ Pastoral Research Office September E-News Bulletin headlining the 2011 Census statistic that only 50 per cent of Catholics aged 15 and over are married. The often talked about nexus between marriage, the family, and the Catholic Read more
Police have released a statistical analysis of Family Violence Death Reviews done since 2004 which shows that the majority of the suspect/offenders were aged between 20 and 29. The report summarises the findings of 95 police family violence death reviews involving 101 victims. The report is not an exhaustive list of all family violence deaths Read more
The family is the first and fundamental school of social living: as a community of love, it finds in self-giving the law that guides it and makes it grow. The self-giving that inspires the love of a husband and a wife for each other is the model and the norm for the self-giving that must be practiced in Read more
A United States Christian web-based television service known as Sky Angel may soon be available for free in New Zealand. James Cope is negotiating with several New Zealand broadband providers to offer the service for free rather than for a monthly subscription of about $17. “This is a great opportunity for people here in New Read more