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Birth control 1303. Why is the Catholic Church opposed to birth-control? She is not opposed to the controlling of the number of children by lawful means, such as by self-control and by mutual consent to abstain from the use of marital privileges. But she is opposed to birth-control as commonly understood to mean the prevention of conception, after indulgence in actions calculated to result in the generation of children. The use of such privileges and the deliberate frustration of their normal effects is a very grave sin against the law of God. And for this reason the Catholic Church cannot...

A PHARMACIST in western NSW has banned the sale of condoms, the contraceptive and morning-after pill because it is against his beliefs as a Catholic. In a move that has angered health experts, Griffith pharmacist Trevor Dal Broi has refused to sell the oral contraceptive pill, the morning-after pill and condoms, referring customers to other chemists in the area. Mr Dal Broi, who runs the East Griffith Pharmacy, told The Sunday Telegraph he was strictly against the use of artificial contraception. "As a practising Catholic, it is my obligation to accept the official teaching of the Catholic Church against the...

Families with more than 10 children are becoming the norm among a group of traditionalist US Christians. The so-called Quiverfull families believe they are carrying out God's work, and providing a new generation of moral leaders. The BBC's religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott went to Illinois to meet some of them. The way Psalm 127 talks about children has an almost military sound. It describes them as "an inheritance, and arrows in the hands of a mighty warrior," adding, "happy is he whose quiver is full of them". Many Quiverfull families do indeed sense looming battles for Christians, and often...

Estrogen – from artificial contraception pills, consumed daily by tens of millions of women – is making its way through sewage treatment plants and severely pollutes our waterways with chilling consequences. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar reacted to an August report that emissions from coal-fired power plants have led to widespread mercury pollution in our rivers and streams by saying: "this science sends a clear message that our country must continue to confront pollution, restore our nation's waterways, and protect the public from potential health dangers." Who, after all, wants toxic levels of mercury in our rivers? But mercury is not...

Abortifacients -- The Other Forbidden GriefJanet Morana, Associate Director, Priests for Life I was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1952 and grew up educated in Catholic schools. I am the oldest of four children with 14 years separating the oldest to youngest in my family. I graduated college in 1974 and married in 1975. It was a time when my Catholic faith no longer seemed to make sense to me and I gradually drifted away and became a non-practicing Catholic. At the same time all my close friends were getting married and so marriage seemed like the next step...

Many people, indeed many Catholics, do not see the moral difference between contraception and NFP. “It does the same thing, doesn’t it?� They will often refer to NFP as “Catholic contraception.� What these people need is a brief lesson is Moral Theology 101. And here it is.In order for a human act to be moral, three aspects of it must be good: The act itself (the “object� or means), the goal or reason for doing it (the “end�), and the circumstances under which the act is done.The bedrock principle from which all moral reasoning flows is this: “The end doesn’t...

Earlier this year the Revere School Committee dropped a bombshell on the community. Without any warning, they voted to distribute contraceptives and the "morning after pill" to students in Revere High School. As Kathy Magno, an activist in Revere, told us, this was done without any notice to the community. There were no public hearings. No sub-committee meetings about it. It wasn't even on the agenda that day. Massachusetts Law appears to mandate that school committees run these ideas by a committee of the town's citizens before implementing them. And every town we know of (except Revere) has traditionally had...

British human rights lawyer, Cherie Blair has called on the Church to reconsider its opposition to artificial contraception because it may be holding back women's careers. Ms Blair is wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. She told an audience at Edinburgh International Book Festival she believed the church should be "more positive" about permitting women to use artificial birth control as a means of regulating their fertility, UK's The Herald reports. A devout Catholic who encouraged her husband, Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister, to convert from Anglicanism after he left office in 2007, Mrs Blair has previously...

Madison, Wis., Aug 23, 2009 / 02:13 am (CNA).- The bishops of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) have issued a statement to the state’s Catholic faithful expressing their “deep concern” about a state provision that requires providers of health insurance include contraceptive services. The rule will force Catholic dioceses and other agencies to pay for a “gravely immoral” service, the conference says.A provision in the new state budget mandates the coverage as a “benefit.”Signatories of the August 20 WCC letter were Bishop of Green Bay David L. Ricken, Bishop of Madison Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of La Crosse Jerome...

In the July-August 2009 issue of New Oxford Review, Michael V. McIntire, a 1957 graduate of Notre Dame and former Associate Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, writes:In the early 1960s, promotion of the eugenics agenda of John D. Rockefeller III and Planned Parenthood was being frustrated by the Church's stubborn moral opposition to contraception. Rockefeller and Planned Parenthood considered public acceptance of contraception to be the key to public acceptance of eugenics by abortion, euthanasia, and genetic manipulation, and they actively sought a prominent Catholic voice to assist them in successfully opposing the strength of the Church's...

Look Who's Discriminating Now Last week, thanks to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal government took a giant leap toward encroaching on the religious liberty of Catholics. Reuben Daniels Jr., director of the EEOC District Office in Charlotte, N.C, ruled that a small Catholic college discriminated against female employees by refusing to cover prescription contraceptives in its health insurance plan. With health-care reform looming before the country, this ruling is a bad omen for people of faith. In 2007, eight faculty members filed a complaint against Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., claiming that the school's decision to exclude...

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in its great wisdom, has determined that Belmont Abbey College discriminated against women when it changed a policy that had previously allowed women to have oral contraception covered by the College's medical plan. This is discrimination against women, the EEOC says, because only women take oral contraception. Never mind the fact that Belmont Abbey also doesn't pay for male prophylactics (I presume). I guess a group of men haven't filed that suit yet. It's interesting that Belmont Abbey College, in the policy change I mention above, also ceased paying for voluntary sterilization and abortion....

The US Government is about to spend $700 million on wild horse contraception and management. Yes, really. Powerline and HotAir have hit on this already, but it’s worth beating this dead horse a bit more. A bill being put forward by Rep. Raul Grijalva D-Ariz. and Rep. Nick Rahall D-W.Va. named the Restore Our American Mustangs Act has wasteful spending opponents’ jaws dropping, and given the ridiculous amount of wasteful spending we’ve seen this year, that’s no small accomplishment. ...This whole discussion reminds me of my little sister obsessing over horses for three years, usually culminating with a tearful Christmas...

ROME -- Some things are beyond parody. In announcing that Barack Obama is more Catholic than the pope, Newsweek takes the cake. The piece, written by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend for the magazine's Web site, in anticipation of last week's presidential-papal meeting, asserts: "(The pope and the president) politely disagree about reproductive freedoms and homosexuality, but Catholics back home won't care, because they know Obama's on their side. In fact, Obama's agenda is closer to their views than even the pope's." Townsend, like many a commentator, misses something essential: There is a truth to which the pope subscribes. The whims American...

Catholic villagers in Thua Thien-Hue province say they have tried their best to follow Church teaching on the use of artificial birth control methods in the face of the government's two-child policy. Huong Toan villagers, just like Vietnamese elsewhere in the country, are required to have no more than two children per family since 1994, when village authorities launched a nationwide family planning program. Families with more than two children have to pay rice to the government as a fine. Many local Catholics say they have done their best to remain true to Church teaching but some have had to...

It is amazing now to think back on the fact that Fulton J. Sheen, a Catholic archbishop, had a weekly TV show that was vastly popular in the 50s and 60s, in which he defended the Catholic faith. We used to watch it every week when my grandma could convince my uncle to give up watching equally popular comedian Milton Berle on another channel. According to Wikipedia, when Sheen won an Emmy, Berle quipped, 'He's got better writers.'" I came upon Sheen's book Three to Get Married on Amazon just now when I was browsing in reaction to the...

On March 22, a number of the world’s media outlets reported something along the lines of “ Far-right youths carrying placards reading ‘leave my Pope alone’ clashed with left-wing activists outside Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris after the latter had thrown condoms on the square as worshippers were leaving Sunday mass.” The Associated Press, AFP and Reuters were among the news-wires which used the term “far right” to describe the young people protesting in favour of the Pope. A group of about 30 demonstrators belonging to a group called Act Up had chosen a major Sunday Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral...

May 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A documentary called “28 Days on the Pill” has been released that seeks expose the abortifacient properties of the birth control pill.  The documentary explains that many forms of birth control pills contain progesterone, which thins the endometrium, the walls of the uterus, which in turn causes it to become inhospitable to a conceived ovum.  This inhospitality may cause a newly conceived human being not to implant in the endometrium and cause an abortion.The documentary instead promotes the use of Natural Family Planning, which is the use of natural periods of infertility to regulate the...

Wednesday May 13, 2009 Notre Dame President Sits on Board of Directors of Pro-Abortion, Pro-Contraception Organization By Alex Bush and John JalsevacSOUTH BEND, Indiana, May 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Fr. John Jenkins, President of Notre Dame University, sits on the board of directors of Millennium Promise, an organization dedicated to fighting poverty in Africa that promotes contraceptives and abortion, it has been revealed.  The finding comes as the controversy over President Obama's award and speech at the University reaches a fever pitch in the last week before the event.  As the president of Notre Dame, Fr. Jenkins has received the...

Pro-Choice Equals Pro-Abortion, Contraception Doesn't Reduce Abortions by Steven Ertelt The old adage is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. That's certainly the case with abortion advocates who rely on the same tired arguments to defend their views. Pro-abortion activists rely on old antipode arguments that pro-choice doesn't mean pro-abortion and that contraception and birth control reduces the number of abortions. News out of England today shows the opposite is true. Full story at http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5038.html

LifeNews.com Note: As the founder and Editor of LifeNews.com, Steven Ertelt has provided the pro-life community with news via the Internet since 1993. He also has served as the president of Right to Life of Wyoming and is the Vice-President of LifeChoice Pregnancy Center in Cheyenne, Wyoming.The old adage is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. That's certainly the case with abortion advocates who rely on the same tired arguments to defend their views.Evidence of this came in my emailbox over the last few days as abortion advocates responded to Lifenews.com news stories about children's...

Sex Sermonist's Heroes: Pope John Paul II and Hugh Hefner Devout Catholic Christopher West Lays Out Unexpected Vision of What Sex Can Mean for Christians Christopher West is not your average sex therapist. He's a devout Catholic who believes one of the most important ways we can get closer to God is through great sex.   "As Christians, we are desperately in need of a renewed vision of our sexuality," West has sermonized. "The union of man and woman itself is meant to be here on planet Earth an image, a foretaste, a little glimmer of the eternal ecstasy that...

An injection for men appears to be just as effective at preventing pregnancy as the birth control pill, finds new research that could revolutionize contraception. In testing in China, only one man in 100 fathered a child while on the injections, the study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism reports. The contraceptive is a form of testosterone that is injected into the buttocks once a month. It works by temporarily blocking sperm production.

Denver, Colo., Apr 8, 2009 / 05:19 am (CNA).- A “dangerously broad” proposed Colorado law written to protect contraception in response to a “personhood amendment” ballot measure is headed to the governor’s desk for approval. Amendment 48, a ballot measure on the 2008 Colorado ballot, would have defined a human being from the moment of conception as a person. It garnered only 26.7 percent of the vote.The pending law, Senate Bill 225, is called the Birth Control Protection Act. It defines contraceptives as “any medically acceptable drug, device or procedure used to prevent pregnancy.”The bill also defines “emergency contraception,” excluding...

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Do Condom Corporations Kill You for Your Money "When used consistently and correctly"... Abstinence = 0% Chance of Infection / 100% safe Condoms = 20% Chance of Infection / 80% safe "In one study, condoms failed to prevent HIV transmission 17% of the time (ref. 51). A review of several studies found that HIV infection rates for couples using condoms ranged from 13-27%" http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+barrier+performance+of+latex+rubber-a014089514 "...experts estimate that consistent condom use reduces the risk of HIV transmission by about 80 to 90 percent. We are unable to quantify this protective effect more precisely..." http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/354/25/2642 "...no barrier method...

Richard Dawkins says Pope is 'stupid' Richard Dawkins has described the Pope as "stupid" for claiming that the use of condoms could increase Africa's Aids problem. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/5088516/Richard-Dawkins-says-Pope-is-stupid.html

Alternatives to Condoms: The Catholic Church and Contraceptives By Dan DiLeo Created Apr 1 2009 - 12:00am Recently, Pope Benedict XVI made headlines by saying that condoms are an inappropriate and counter-productive solution to HIV/AIDS. Some have expanded on the implications of the Pope’s comments and have considered Church teaching on contraception in light of overpopulation. However, many understand what the Catholic Church says regarding contraception, but few understand why it says it. As such, I now offer this information, assuming that overpopulation is a problem. It is my hope that, whatever moral view you ultimately take, you at least...

God in His mercy allows evil that greater good may come as a result of the evil. He has allowed contraception to plague the modern world so that we may repent and return to our Father’s house. I have deliberately stated the title of this conference in uncompromising language: “Either we stop contraception or we destroy the family.” This is a warning to all of us, married and single, the laity and the clergy, bishops, priests, deacons, and religious, parents and children. Why do I say this? Because, in greater or less measure, it has been the infidelity of so...

Press in a Dither Again over Pope’s Reaffirmation of Catholic Teaching March 19th, 2009 by Hugh J. McNichol Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the African continent continues to provide ammunition for opponents of Catholic teachings on artificial methods of contraception and artificial methods of birth control. During the apostolic flight Tuesday, Pope Benedict once again reaffirmed the Church’s position against the use of condoms as a preventative method of protecting individuals against AIDS and other communicable diseases.Speaking of AIDS and the toll it is taking on Africa, the Pope said, “You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms…. On...

It’s the subtle stuff that often knocks me for a parental loop. Like when my good, conscientious, Christian family doctor offered birth control pills to my twelve-year-old daughter. I’m not making this up.

Cardinal James Stafford reflects on how dissenters to Humane Vitae tore the Church apart -- and how that rift left scars that remain to this day. "Lead us not into temptation" is the sixth petition of the Our Father. Peirasmòs, the Greek word used in this passage for 'temptation,' means a trial or test. Disciples petition God to be protected against the supreme test of ungodly powers. The trial is related to Jesus's cup in Gethsemane, the same cup which his disciples would also taste (Mk 10: 35-45). The dark side of the interior of the cup is an abyss....

A Prophecy Fulfilled Fr. Stanislas de Lestapis, a French Jesuit, died in 1999 at the age of 94. He had been a member of the Papal Commission on Birth Control and was one of the signatories of its so-called Minority Report. He had published a book on Birth Control, of which the third edition appeared in 1962, long before Humanae Vitae (1968). In Chapter 7, on The Contraceptive Civilization, he made the following bold prophecies: 'We do not hesitate to say that the acceptance of contraception will produce profound changes in our civilization. These changes are already taking place in...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A chemist who led to the invention of the birth control pill says he regrets the demographic catastrophe that has resulted from people using the contraceptive device to separate reproduction from sexuality. Carl Djerassi, the 85-year-old Austrian chemist who was one of three whose formulation of synthetic hormones paved the way for the pill, wrote an opinion piece in the Austrian newspaper Der Standard lamenting the way the pill has been used. Austria's population now includes more people over age 65 than under 15, and Djerassi said the country soon will face an "impossible situation" as the working...

Janet Smith on the Right to Privacy How Bad Laws Allowed the Culture of Death By Annamarie Adkins Dr. Janet E. Smith ST. PAUL, Minnesota, OCT. 17, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Most Americans, even Catholics, probably take it for granted that the U.S. Constitution protects their right to privacy. But they may be surprised to find out that no such right is in the Constitution. Furthermore, the advent of the right to privacy in American constitutional law built a foundation for the culture of death to thrive in this country, according to philosopher Janet E. Smith. To diagnose the problem further, Smith...

Pelosi telegraphs the real liberal agenda By IkeonicCompassionate liberalism: A utilitarian, utopian philosophy of social engineering which justifies using government funds to extinguish the next generation of recipients of government assistance (AKA the dole); fiscally conservative because it saves money which can then be spent on curing poverty (Great Society, anyone?) once and for all! If only we can stop those poor people from breeding first! BRILLIANT!Hot Air has some brilliant analysis of Madame Pelosi's contorted logic in justifying why giving Planned Parenthood hundreds of millions for family planning services qualifies as an economic stimulus.Here's the actual conversation Madame Pelosi...

This letter was found on the sidewalk outside the Capitol. Its authenticity could not be verified. My Dear Wormwood, You say that the economic crisis of late has consumed the attention of the young country’s leaders, and you succeeded in convincing your Patient to spend even more by foisting the debt onto the next generation. You and your fellow Tempters did well in leading your Patients to act quickly and without reflection. Now they’ve become accustomed to spending hundreds of billions of dollars in one bill, and even easier to hide our projects. It is amusing to imagine the troubles...

Global aging, combined with plummeting birth rates, is a catastrophically dangerous menace that only a few people seem to be waking up to. You may not be familiar with terms like “global aging� and “demographic winter,� but you will be soon. I've been giving public lectures on the problem of global aging for the past 7 years or so, and my audiences are always shocked and dumbfounded as I explain how the West's ever expanding population of old people (due, thank God, to the ever-improving capabilities of bio-medical science), while a good thing in itself, will soon become a prime...

Pelosi attempts to justify funding for contraception in economic stimulus package House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Washington DC, Jan 26, 2009 / 07:16 pm (CNA).- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in a Sunday interview tried to justify the inclusion of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for contraceptives in the $825 billion economic stimulus package by claiming family planning services “reduce cost.” Speaker Pelosi made her comments in an appearance on ABC’s This Week with host George Stephanopoulos. Stephanopoulos asked how the expansion of “family planning services” could be considered an economic stimulus.  The Speaker replied: “Well, the family planning...

"How can you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives? How does that stimulate the economy?"

WASHINGTON -- Democratic leaders in the House are nearly certain to drop federal funding for new contraceptive services and on-going programs to stop sexually transmitted diseases from the $825 billion economic stimulus bill due to hit the floor Tuesday, a senior official told FOX News. (snip)The contraceptive funding is an effort to expand federal efforts to prevent unwanted births. Currently, Medicaid provides family planning services after women become pregnant. This move would focus all federal funds on contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies, not the other family planning services Medicaid provides. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended the policy initiative Sunday on...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco Democrat who describes herself as “an ardent practicing Catholic,” said on a nationally televised news program on Sunday that federal spending on artificial contraception helps states financially by lowering the amount spent on education and health care for children. Pelosi, appearing on the ABC program This Week, was asked by moderator George Stephanopolous about the inclusion of huge federal outlays for contraception in President Barack Obama’s proposed $825-billion ‘economic stimulus package.’ “Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services. How is that stimulus?” asked Stephanopoulos. Replied the Speaker, “Well, the family...

House Democrats appear likely to jettison family planning funds for the low-income from an $825 billion economic stimulus bill, officials said late Monday, following an appeal from President Barack Obama at a time the administration is courting Republican critics of the legislation. Several officials said a final decision was likely 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. Under the...

No details yet, it's the main headline though...

Heaven is getting crowded these days! When Father Venditti redesigned Priestly Pugilist for the new year, he created a new color entry for obituaries; but I had no idea I'd be using it so often right off the bat. First it was Father Neuhaus, then Patricarch Stephanos; now, Monsignor William B. Smith, STD, professor of moral theology at St. Joseph's Seminary (Dunwoodie), Yonkers, New York. If you're not up on your theological journals, you probably wouldn't recognize his name—unless you caught him on the Charlie Rose show or the odd episode of "Good Morning America"—; but, for those involved in...

On the day on which the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, took the oath of Office the White House Web Site was immediately updated. Here are two extremely important paragraphs for all Americans, and citizens around the world, who recognize the truth that the taking of innocent human life in the womb is an egregious and intrinsic evil which violates the Natural Law Right to Life. Under the section of the web site considering the President’s “Agenda on Women" we read these straightforward words concerning his support for a number of initiatives. Included among them are the...

Eighty five year old Carl Djerassi the Austrian chemist who helped invent the contraceptive pill now says that his co-creation has led to a "demographic catastrophe." In an article published by the Vatican this week, the head of the world's Catholic doctors broadened the attack on the pill, claiming it had also brought "devastating ecological effects" by releasing into the environment "tonnes of hormones" that had impaired male fertility, The Taiwan Times says. The assault began with a personal commentary in the Austrian newspaper Der Standard by Carl Djerassi. The Austrian chemist was one of three whose formulation of the...

he contraceptive pill is polluting the environment and is in part responsible for male infertility, a report in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said Saturday. The pill "has for some years had devastating effects on the environment by releasing tonnes of hormones into nature" through female urine, said Pedro Jose Maria Simon Castellvi, president of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, in the report. "We have sufficient evidence to state that a non-negligible cause of male infertility in the West is the environmental pollution caused by the pill," he said, without elaborating further. "We are faced with a clear...

A new pilot program in London will make the birth control pill available next month, through pharmacists, without a prescription. It's a big shift from December 1955, when scientists made the first presentation that progesterone can stop women from ovulating, and many states had laws banning the use of contraception. Despite nearly 50 years of access to the pill, some women are clueless about side effects that doctors might not bother sharing, and some that are just being discovered.

Regarding the Instruction Dignitas PersonaeAim In recent years, biomedical research has made great strides, opening new possibilities for the treatment of disease, but also giving rise to serious questions which had not been directly treated in the Instruction Donum vitae (22 February 1987).  A new Instruction, which is dated 8 September 2008, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, seeks to provide some responses to these new bioethical questions, as these have been the focus of expectations and concerns in large sectors of society.  In this way, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith seeks both...

Where should a young couple wanting to know, practically and theologically, what the Catholic Church has to say about natural family planning go these days? Well among other places they could go to a Protestant couple. In particular, they should look for Sam and Bethany Torode....