contraception

The question of what can be done, individually, to reverse the watering-down of Christianity in Western societies can be asked with a positive attitude or with an apathetic, fatalistic one. The natural disposition of seemingly-typical Catholics in many places is the latter, and to ‘settle’ for a comparatively-more-‘comfortable’ life of merely stating a religious opinion (if occasion arises and cannot be evaded) rather than trying to get it adopted in practice.  Take the example of abortion, representing a chasm which … Read More

This article is available for download. You can download it and print it for private use and for private sharing but it cannot be reproduced in any other publication. To download a print copy click here – Casti Connubii – Part 2 In the previous article, we saw that Pope Pius XI, after noting that holy matrimony is under grave attack, gave us a basic understanding of the nature of true marriage and of the limits to the authority of … Read More

This article is available for download. You can download it and print it for private use and for private sharing but it cannot be reproduced in any other publication. To download a print copy click here – Casti Connubii – Part 1 Pope Pius XI, published his encyclical letter “Casti Connubii”, on Christian marriage, on the last day of the year 1930. He urgently wanted this encyclical to be published in 1930 because this was the year that another great … Read More

That question is addressed here to people who take a real interest in it; more specifically, to those who are unhappy with legalised abortion. People who approve of legalised abortion may find interest in what follows. Probably by the end of their reading they would be more encouraged than the first group; that outcome is not my intention, but I believe that the assessment of the question should be made candidly as well as honestly. I suspect that many people, … Read More

Parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom and France recently provide interesting ‘food for thought’ regarding politics and religion. In France, President Macron’s Party was unpopular. The main reason seems to have been immigration. News-reports gave no indication that the unpopularity was because, a few months earlier, the President had promoted a change in the country’s Constitution to ensure that abortion continued to be available. In the U.K., the Conservative Party was unpopular for many reasons (immigration being one; others included … Read More

The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” (‘CCC’), paragraphs 1803 and 1833, defines virtue as “habitual and firm disposition to do good.” An old adage alleges that patience is a virtue, but how patience (in the usual sense of that word) can be equated with habitual and firm disposition to do good is unclear to me. A tendency towards doing good can co-exist with impatience (in the usual sense of that word). Patience (in the usual sense of that word) can … Read More

“The contra-Catholic scene” is a broad-to-the-point-of-vague expression, but its breadth is appropriate for the breadth of subjects on which Catholic principle is manifestly and diametrically defied by law and public policy. Anyone to whose mind examples do not come immediately, effortlessly, and regretfully will not find much interest in this essay, so if you are such a person your time would be better spent on something else. If “the contra-Catholic scene” means something to you, you may have noticed some … Read More

Perhaps most Christians can be assumed confidently to know that God’s instruction to the human race was to be fruitful, multiply and fill the Earth.[1] It is common knowledge that in the twentieth century the governments of the world, with the acquiescence of their populations, decided that (even if God still existed) compliance with His instruction had gone far enough, and made it their policy to encourage defiance of it and to provide people with every known means for that … Read More

Understanding Casti ConnubiiOne cannot understand the encyclical ‘Casti Connubii’, which reaffirms the Catholic Church’s constant teaching against contraception, unless one first understands why ‘Casti Connubii’ was written. In order to understand this, we must look to the years 1920 and 1930 and we must look to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican church in those years. The Lambeth conference is an international gathering of protestant Anglican bishops and usually meets about every ten years to discuss matters pertaining to that … Read More

Filial CorrectionI begin writing this article having just read the “Filial Correction of Pope Francis For the Propagation of Heresies” which has been signed by 62 Catholic academics and pastors from 20 countries. The document begins “With profound grief, but moved by fidelity to our Lord Jesus Christ, by love for the Church…” These words “with profound grief” caused me to reflect on something I noticed some time ago. I have developed a custom whereby after attending Holy Mass in … Read More

Cardinal Caffare & Sister Lucia of Fatima Recently, I mentioned that Cardinal Carlo Caffara received a letter from Sister Lucia dos Santos, one of the seers of Fatima, stating that, “the final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family.” I think that the significance of this simple statement is lost on many people given that sacramental marriage is no longer held in the high esteem in which it should be held. … Read More

Pope Pius XII – Allocution to MidwivesIn the coming weeks I would like to take a look at Pope Pius XII’s allocution to Italian midwives from October of 1951. This allocution is very important for those who wish to have a proper understanding of marriage particularly when, as we have seen, a former President of Ireland has joined with a group of dissenting Catholics in calling for the over turning of Blessed Pope Paul VI’s encyclical ‘Humanae Vitae’, falsely stating … Read More

A Brief History of Contraception in Ireland and the Church response to it You can listen to this talk by clicking on this link The Story of Contraception in Ireland I was invited by Patrick McCrystal to give a talk at the Human Life International Conference ‘By Way of the Family’ which was held in the Clayton Hotel in Leopardstown on September 24th 2016. Patrick asked me to speak about the history of contraception in Ireland with a particular look … Read More

This show was broadcast on Radio Maria ireland on Friday 9th September 2016 You can listen to the show HERE You can read a transcript HERE This show continues looking at the fact that our young people no longer value marriage and therefore put off getting married generally until they are in their thirties. It also looks at Pope Pius XII’s allocution to midwives from November 1951 and it looks at how Catholic teaching on marriage is being contradicted even … Read More

I attended the first Holy Communion recently of a daughter of one of our fellow homeschooling families here in Ireland in a neighbouring parish.  Catholic homeschooling families are quite rare in Ireland.  The priest who celebrated Mass was one of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross and afterwards we got to talking about marriage and family.  The subject of contraception came up, as it usually does, and the priest wondered if immodesty was the main issue that led to … Read More

First Published in ‘The Catholic Voice’, Ireland, December 2015 Modern Ireland’s Pharisaism Modern Ireland, has lost sight of God’s primary purpose for marriage and has become Pharisaical in putting God to the test with legalised divorce, legalised contraception, legalised ‘same-sex’ relationships which are falsely called marriages, legalised adoption of children into ‘same-sex households contrary to the best interests of those children and contrary to all the ‘fluff and burble’ of our politicians about cherishing and protecting all children, legalised murder … Read More

First Published in ‘The Catholic Voice’, Ireland, June 2015 The Wisdom of the Foreigner As I begin this article I have before me a magazine, produced in Ireland, by an American couple who came to live here in 1979 to promote Natural Family Planning. As is sometimes the case, the eyes of the foreigner can see more clearly the blighted landscape that is no longer noticed by the native, because it has become all too familiar to him. This American … Read More

First Published in ‘The Catholic Voice’, Ireland, May 2015 Priests who fail to uphold Church teaching on contraception, damage Marriage Our third child was born by caesarian section in December 1992. The following year we moved from County Tipperary to a parish in Co Sligo. We got to know the parish priest quite well and on one occasion when my wife was speaking with him on the subject of marriage and children he told her that perhaps it was time … Read More

First Published in ‘The Catholic Voice’, Ireland, May 2015 The Last Episcopal Voice in Ireland to speak out against Heretical professors In a previous article I mentioned that one of Ireland’s Archbishops, in 1970, issued a letter that was to be read out at every Mass in his diocese on account of the heretical statements made by one of the professors at Maynooth to the Irish Medical Union. This professor’s statements, contradicted Church teaching on contraception. The archbishop, who was … Read More

First Published in ‘The Catholic Voice’, Ireland, May 2015 The Bishops did not express disapproval of Contraception Legislation We are looking at the year 1978 when the Irish Bishops issued a total of three statements, none of which expressed disapproval of proposed legislation which would make the sale and importation of contraceptives legal in Ireland for the first time. We are also looking at the comments of one prophetic professor of moral theology and canon law in regard to those … Read More