Civility in public discourse seems to be dead. When is the last time two candidates had a serious debate, a genuine exchange of ideas rather than accusations and zingers? Candidates seem to no longer champion ideas but rather simply represent ideologies. This is also a major challenge of the New Evangelization. . . . → Read More: What Ever Happened to Reason?
Photo by J&J Brusie Photography and Jacquelyn Kippenbrock
A preliminary report, “What Catholic Women Think About Faith, Conscience, and Contraception,” co-authored by Mary Rice Hasson and Michele M. Hill, offers new data about the views of church-going Catholic women, ages 18-54, on faith, conscience, and contraception. This report is part of a larger research effort called the Women, Faith, and Culture Project.
Report Highlights 13% of church-going Catholic women completely accept the Church’s teachings on family planning. Acceptance of the Church’s teaching on family planning doubles (27%) among young women (aged 18-34) who attend Mass weekly. 37% of women who both attend Mass weekly and have been to confession within the past . . . → Read More: What Catholic Women Think
Editor’s Note: In honor of Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, welcome back Renee McGuire to The Practicing Catholic. Read Part 1 of Renee’s testimony 6 Things I’ve Learned Since Dumping the Pill.
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Once we removed the pill from our marriage, my husband and I experienced healing we didn’t know we needed. This truly was a turning point in our marriage. But after the birth of our first son, we had to trust in God another way … postponing pregnancy. Here comes the responsible parenthood part.
What’s responsible parenthood? It’s the virtuous decision made by a married couple to either conceive a child or postpone conception. Catholics are NOT expected to have . . . → Read More: 5 Steps to Embracing Natural Family Planning
City Council agrees to remove image of chapel from new logo.
UPDATE: August 3, 2012 – According to Steubenville City Manager Cathy Davison, the mayor, City Council, and administration are reviewing all options regarding the city logo. At this point, no lawsuit has been filed against the City of Steubenville. Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly Alliance Defense Fund) is reportedly considering setting up a national escrow fund to help the city fight this issue. A couple quotes:
“All of the facts lead us to believe we can win this case and set a precedent going forward. And I don’t believe the FFRF will file a lawsuit. The foundation has limited legal . . . → Read More: The Smoke of Satan in Steubenville
Christians need to facilitate dialogue without arguing politics and religion.
Congratulations to last week’s giveaway winner Sally Pap!
Enter to win a your own copy of Indivisible! Simply leave a comment here. Next Wednesday, July 25, we will randomly select this week’s winner. Giveaway sponsored by The Maximus Group. You also can buy Indivisible from Ignatius Press (with Voting Guidelines for Catholics bonus CD).
This is the third installment from our interview with Dr. Jay Richards; click the links below to read the previous ones:
Law, Liberty, and Freedom (July 4) Morality and Economics (July 11)
Distinctions between social and economic issues are artificial.
Congratulations to last week’s giveaway winners Jessica Kiesling and Rita Rawson! See details below to enter this week’s Indvisible giveaway. You also can buy Indivisible from Ignatius Press (with Voting Guidelines for Catholics bonus CD).
This is the second installment from our interview with Dr. Jay Richards; read Part One here. In the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), it seems appropriate to publish an excerpt in which he discussed the moral connection between social and economic issues.
The faithful should embrace this barb for what it really means.
I had a Facebook dialog a few weeks ago with a couple Catholic friends who struggle with some of the Church’s teachings. The subject of the exchange was Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget proposal. One of them suggested he should be denied communion because he supposedly doesn’t care about the poor. After I refuted that bit of nonsense, the conversation quickly turned toward the HHS contraception mandate. One of the two interjected:
Why, when many states had similar mandates already on the books, did the Bishops suddenly decide to cry foul? Seems entirely political to me and disingenuous as well. . . . → Read More: Power to the Sheeple!
Obama administration empowers dissident Catholics to represent the Church, tries to shift conversation from religious freedom to contraception.
EWTN's Teresa Tomeo interviews NY Archbishop Dolan at 2012 March for Life
“Click, click.”
Did you hear that? It’s the sound of the Obama administration taking aim at the Catholic Church. I’m sure there are some who disagree with me, who want me to just relax and stop with the conspiracy theory nonsense. I won’t.
According to Fr. Jesus Urteaga, “If we love truth, we must learn to defend it against all attack.” Make no mistake; we are most definitely being attacked. The Obama administration has declared war on religious freedom, . . . → Read More: Catholic Church in the Crosshairs
“With all the problems in this world, with the economy, with terrorism, with our country being sold to China, with Iran possibly becoming a nuclear power, with all these things, why is [the Obama administration] so obsessed on reproductive services?
When did reproductive services become the national cry of our nation? When did it become more important than the Bill of Rights, more important than the Constitution?
We [the Catholic Church] are the one voice that speaks out clearly to this culture of death that abortion is wrong…and now we will be forced to actually pay for someone to have an abortion…We cannot and . . . → Read More: President Obama: Let Us Be Catholic
Joel and I often say that the “attitude” of this blog embodies what a practicing Catholic ought to be — intentionally, joyfully, and faithfully Catholic all the time. Our blog posts attempt to be the antidote to the perception that piety is boring or that the Church is filled with “sour-faced saints,” as St. Teresa of Avila warns us of becoming.
The recent Health & Human Services’ mandate that orders almost every employer and insurer in the United States to provide sterilization and contraceptives, including abortion-inducing drugs, has resulted in so much debate across the country. I have seen quite enough sour-faced Catholics arguing for AND against this issue.
Even as a young man, Joseph loved to attend Mass and was known for his humility and fervor in prayer. After his ordination he was assigned to a seminary in Turin. There he worked especially against the spirit of Jansenism, an excessive preoccupation with sin and damnation. Joseph used the works ... […]
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