“Mutual masturbation.” That is how author and Notre Dame professor, Charles Rice describes contraceptive sex in his book, Fifty Questions on Natural Law (Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 1995, pg. 254). This seems like a crude assessment. Why would he say this? As Professor Rice describes in his book, contraceptive sex disrupts and even contradicts the […]
[click to continue...]What Can Be Said about Modern Americans’ Fascination with the Value of Individualism?
“Developed into a system by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), autonomous morality in effect deifies each person’s free will. In the Kantian understanding of freedom, liberty means not only freedom of choice but freedom of independence, on the assumption that one cannot retain free will and still be under the command of another’s law. To save freedom, Kant demanded autonomy, but by demanding autonomy he destroyed all real obligation and therefore all real law.”
[click to continue...]Thoughts on Having Large Families While Growing Up
What if Mozart’s parents decided after the sixth kid they were through? Our world would never have been blessed with its greatest composer. Had the Washingtons stopped after their fourth, would America have won the Revolutionary War?
Had Jim Gaffigan’s parents decided they didn’t want anymore blessing from God after five children already, we would never have been made to laugh by their sixth child.
[click to continue...]NARAL and the One Unpardonable Sin Against the Holy Spirit
How can Doritos be guilty of “humanizing” a human? The lunacy boggles the mind.
[click to continue...]What is the Source of Human Dignity?: Bioethics And Natural Law
“In fact, from the very first instant of the human being’s life is characterized by the fact that it is human life and for this reason possesses its own dignity everywhere and in spite of all (cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dignitas Personae). Otherwise, we should always be threatened by the risk of an exploitative use of science, with the inevitable consequence of slipping into arbitrary decisions, discrimination and the financial interest of the strongest.
[click to continue...]Forget Going to a Sperm Bank; You Can Meet Your Donor at the Local Gas Station!
Or how about the fact that these women are coming face-to-face with the father of their future child? So what if they didn’t pick him out of a catalog?
At least they get to put a face to their benefactor. They get to meet the stranger, whose baby they are paying him to carry for themselves!
[click to continue...]What was the Impact of Griswold v. Connecticut? Only, Roe v. Wade and Much More
The Supreme Court decision of 1965 may not have been considered in its day a monumental event. However, that did not change the fact that its horrendous decision made a mess of things morally.
[click to continue...]The Sad Irony of the Symbol of the Rainbow Used by Gays
Jesus Christ, of all people, connected the end of the world to a cataclysmic event of centuries past. He said His Second coming at the end of the world in judgment would be at a time much like the time of the Flood.
“As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man.
For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,
and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man,” Jesus proclaimed (Matthew 24:37).
What Are the Effects of Violating Natural Law?
The Doctor of the Church lays out the case that man flourishes when he keeps his will in check, and his intellect clear (1.13, pg. 23).
The problem for mankind in this lifetime remains, however, his fallen human nature. Mankind has an attraction for sin, called concupiscence that remains present for one’s entire life.
[click to continue...]Does Increased Use of Contraception Lead to Fewer Abortions?
If you heard this once, you heard it a million times. If only we all increased use of contraception, then we would see the number of abortions decrease.
Does such an argument hold up under scrutiny?
Let us turn to a papal encyclical, written by Pope Saint John Paul II, for some clarity. After all, no one else more famously opposes contraception and abortion as the Catholic Church.
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