Whence Opposition to Birth Control? A Rebuttal.

Last updated on: May 19, 2013 at 4:18 pm By Marc

The wonderful Libby Anne of Love, Joy, Feminism recently critiqued a poorly-designed graphic made by well-meaning Catholics, saying its “very simplicity…is the downfall of this illustration.” She’s dead right, and I’m thankful that she points it out. Graphics attempting to pixelate the complexities of chastity, marriage, and contraception naturally reduce the intricate, opening themselves to easy criticism. But if the graphic falls short, Libby Anne’s critiques fall shorter, due — I hope — to a misunderstanding of what the Catholic Church means... Read more

Quick, Label Me!

Last updated on: June 12, 2013 at 4:04 pm By Marc

Labels are not concerned with the accurate description of people. In fact, they work against description by allowing us to avoid dealing with the person — who is confusing — by pointing to an abstraction — which is simple. We replace the infinite, complex man with the immediately recognizable “liberal.” This evident in that the labels “liberal” and “conservative” — in themselves — mean nothing. A man who is liberal is a man who allows, and a man who is conservative is... Read more

How Not To Know God

Last updated on: June 12, 2013 at 4:02 pm By Marc

The word “eternity” scares us post-Christians. It was no contradiction for atheists like Nietzsche to disavow the existence of God while simultaneously reveling in the idea of eternity, but now that popular atheism has been irretrievably wed to the idea that truth is only in the material world, and that physical science rightfully usurps all other forms of knowledge, a rejection of God has come to mean a simultaneous rejection of eternity. Why? Because if truth is only known through... Read more

Virginity is Sexual

Last updated on: June 12, 2013 at 4:03 pm By Marc

This post will probably make a lot more sense if you read Is Female Purity Bullshit? and Is Purity Culture Sexist? first. Virginity is sexual. This is difficult to grasp in a post-Christian culture which lacks the social presence of nuns and religious sisters in daily life. We are educated to laud and await the day we’ll misplace our all-too-clingy virginity, making it impossible to imagine a beautiful woman freely and joyfully giving up everything she owns, shaving her head, taking up... Read more

Is the “Purity Culture” Sexist?

Last updated on: June 12, 2013 at 4:05 pm By Marc

When discussing purity as it relates to our awesome, sexually-liberated culture, it’s best to begin with a brief history of the female breast. The bosom has been through a lot, but allow me to point out its place in two distinct time periods, one Christian and one post-Christian. According to the traditional feminist narrative, a heavily Christian culture that promotes purity — and even virginity — would be a culture busy repressing the hell out of the female breast, while a... Read more

Is Female Purity Bullshit?

Last updated on: June 12, 2013 at 6:35 pm By Marc

Yerp, says the wonderful Lindy West of Jezebel. Her critique comes from being righteously pissed over an evangelical culture which has guys saying they want a “pure” girl without defining their terms. She discusses “sex-ed” classes which liken women who have had sex before marriage to chewed up pieces of gum no one wants. Allow me to murder my way through her thesis: “Purity” is a vague, repressive expectation imposed on women by men, a unique method of controlling female sexuality,... Read more

Catholic. Nuff Said.

Last updated on: June 12, 2013 at 4:05 pm By Marc

When I modify the word “Catholic” with some preceding description — be it traditional Catholic, liberal Catholic, or faithful Catholic — I do a disservice to the Catholic Church. Perhaps there are times when a concise modification is good, true, and beautiful, but on the off-chance that you — like me — are doing your Catholicism wrong, have a reason to quit your modifying: It’s usually a reaction which unintentionally gives credence to the thing reacted against. I used to call myself a conservative... Read more

Why the Church Would be so Ridiculous as to Oppose IVF

Last updated on: April 15, 2013 at 6:19 pm By Marc

We have a godawful habit of seeing children as things so small, cute and fluffy that we hollow them of that dignity hard as titanium steel — the dignity of being a human person. The child is not owned by his mother, father, community, or state. He is a unique human subject, a universe unto himself, an unfathomable subjectivity — a being who finds himself free, existing for his own sake. In the glare of this freedom, it occurs to me... Read more

Death as Orgasm

Last updated on: June 12, 2013 at 4:06 pm By Marc

Love sucks. To love is to desire communion with the beloved, to ache for unity, oneness, and a coming-together. But my beloved is infinitely not me, just as I am infinitely not her. Love seeks to bring me and not-me into one, that the “two become one flesh”, that “we’ll be one tonight,” that “you’ll be in my heart” that “I’ll melt with you,” “lose myself” and on and on, a heaving tumble of ill-thought love-songs and poorly-constructed sonnets that... Read more

My Talk on Beauty at Notre Dame

Last updated on: April 8, 2013 at 10:08 am By Marc

Thanks so much to the Sophomore Class Council at Notre Dame for having me over to speak! It was wonderful meeting all of you, eating your food, sleeping in your library, talking to your squirrels, getting lost on your campus, praying at the Grotto, and generally wishing I’d worked harder in high school. For those who couldn’t make it, here’s a recording of the talk: I’d like to add that a lot more can be said here, and that —... Read more