Every couple of months or so there’s a minor panic on Catholic social media about how the gay agenda is co-opting various cultural institutions and how you can hardly let your kids watch anything because the gay is everywhere. So since it’s pride month, I want to talk about why Catholics should not object to the representation of LGBTQ characters and experience in media – and I’m also going to talk about what’s valid in the way that conservative Catholics... Read more
A couple of weeks ago, I was walking through the park with a friend of mine, talking about religion and the spiritual life. He paraphrased a quote, whose source I’m unfortunately unfamiliar with: “Some people use religion to approach mystery. Others use it to keep mystery at bay.” It struck me as a profound sentiment, one that resonated with my experience. When I first converted to Christianity I was drawn by the sense that Creation and its contents were infinitely... Read more
Yesterday over at Crisis, Fr. Longenecker has a piece about why the Benedict Option may be the only option…because rational debate is impossible. Longenecker’s complaint is very familiar to me, mostly because it’s exactly how I saw conversations with non-Christians for about the first seven years that I was a Catholic: No true debate takes place. Instead, arguments are dismissed by changing the subject, launching a personal attack or playing the victim. A position is advocated according to sentimental feelings... Read more
It makes my blood boil when people claim that there is no homophobic discrimination in Christian circles. Read more
Cliffhangers are the worst. You wait, and you wait, and you wait all week, wondering how your favourite characters will escape from certain death. Sometimes, if the writers are evil, you have to wait longer: a whole summer, maybe even a year. Over 25 years ago when the last episode of Twin Peaks aired, David Lynch left us hanging on the ultimate cliff. This weekend, Showtime released the first four episodes of the new series. At very long last, it... Read more
It’s come to my attention that I have a deep-seated, possibly but not necessarily disordered, inclination that I need y’all to pray for me about. Basically, I’m doing research for my NFP book and I feel more or less constantly swamped by the sheer magnitude of my own ignorance. Which means that when I go to work on it, what happens is that instead of drafting I try to fill the huge, gaping gaps in my knowledge by getting a... Read more
You actually do have a literal culture war going on where the two most prominent American cultures are trying to destroy one another. Read more
Jane the Actuary has recently posted on the problem of young people receiving inaccurate information about the reliability of natural family planning methods. Basically, if you look at a chart on your OB/Gyn’s wall or your secular sex-ed curriculum, you’ll find that NFP is almost invariably reported as having basically no efficacy whatsoever – failure rates tend to be cited at around 25% – and most health care professionals behave as though it’s basically equivalent to reading tea-leaves or poking... Read more
I've seen a lot of hate poured out on the idea that Christians should seek out sheltered, intentional communities where they can live together, protected to some degree from the cultural elements that blow through the world. Read more
Every Catholic parent wants to know: how do you raise perfect kids who will remain Catholic forever, never have premarital sex, never do drugs, never suffer from depression, attempt suicide, turn out gay, or grieve their mothers heart in any way? What is the secret? Fortunately, there are tonnes of articles all across the web telling you how this can be done. And more! Not only can you have morally perfect children, you can also have children who sleep through... Read more
Catholic Authenticity
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