Don’t Drink and Be Open to Life!

Last updated on: February 8, 2016 at 8:05 am By Melinda Selmys

Last week, the CDC released a statement that women should not consume alcohol during their fertile years unless they are using birth control. This is the latest and most extreme in a series of directives issued by medical authorities to prevent children from being exposed to potentially dangerous substances while in the womb. Many Catholic writers have pointed out the seeming contradictions between treating an unborn child as disposable when it comes to abortion, yet as a precious being who deserves the... Read more

For the Love of Lust

Last updated on: February 5, 2016 at 2:20 pm By Melinda Selmys

Someone accused me recently of being obsessed with sex. It’s not a new accusation: I write a lot about sexuality, LGBTQ issues, NFP, and so forth and I also have the dubious honour of being a person who Catholics feel they can write to with really private sexual questions. Naturally, people who never write about sex (and who would be mortified if they had to get up and talk about it in front of large groups of people) conclude that... Read more

My Own Parochial Jesus

Last updated on: January 31, 2016 at 6:55 pm By Melinda Selmys

Serendipitously, this week’s gospel speaks to the theme of tribalism that I’ve been talking about this week. Jesus began to speak in the synagogue: ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips They said, ‘This is Joseph’s son, surely?’ But he replied, ‘No doubt you will quote me the saying, “Physician, heal yourself” and tell me, “We... Read more

Telling the Deep, Dark Truth About the Sordid Sin of Sodomy in Love

Last updated on: January 30, 2016 at 8:39 pm By Melinda Selmys

I want to deal in a little more detail with the idea that it is “loving” for straight Christians to present detailed information about the less savoury aspects of the gay scene. The arguments put forward are basically two-fold: on the one hand, it will supposedly equip straight Christians to fight back against the gay agenda, and give them the courage to speak out in the face of overwhelming social pressure to keep silent. On the other hand, it’s argued... Read more

Sanctioned Bigotry: Let’s All Get Together, Hold Hands, and Form a Circle of Hate

Last updated on: January 29, 2016 at 4:01 pm By Melinda Selmys

So Austin Ruse has published yet another piece at Crisis about homosexuality. I haven’t bothered with the last few; it seems to be a kind of perennial obsession and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of point in exhaustively refuting each problematic claim. Basically, the stream of vitriol against homosexuality, the gay community, the “gay agenda,” and even gay-identified Catholics who choose to live according to the teachings of the Church, has the endless trait. Lop off a head,... Read more

Blessed Catastrophe: The Staggering Account of the Sermon on the Mount

Last updated on: January 28, 2016 at 1:08 am By Melinda Selmys

If you say "I lost my job" or "I've been diagnosed with cancer," or "My sister died," nobody ever says, "You're so blessed!" Except this one really weird dude several thousand years ago on a mountain in the Middle East. Read more

Child Sex Abuse in the Church of Rock and Roll?

Last updated on: January 15, 2016 at 7:25 pm By Melinda Selmys

Artur Rosman of Cosmos The In Lost published a post the other day calling the media out on hypocrisy for treating the sex scandals within the Church completely differently than David Bowie (and other stars’) sexual escapades with minors. Usually I find Rosman’s writing insightful and compelling, but in this case I think he makes a bad comparison. Rosman’s article relies on suggesting a moral equivalency between Bowie’s sexual behaviour with “baby groupies” (fans in the 12-17 year old age... Read more

Best Baby Gadgets: My top 7 picks

Last updated on: January 12, 2016 at 11:28 pm By Melinda Selmys

You’re at the baby store. There’s a boggling array of baby gadgets, all of them guaranteed to make your baby smarter, happier, healthier and easier to manage. They’ll encourage motor development and stimulate early learning and – most importantly – they’ll make your baby sleep! The closets and basements of new parents are filled with this stuff: products that the parents bought that did not amuse or interest the baby and that they eventually got tired of tripping over.... Read more

Don’t Panic! You Don’t Need Thousands of Dollars Worth of Baby Stuff

Last updated on: January 11, 2016 at 6:14 pm By Melinda Selmys

First time parents are a marketer's dream: a vulnerable and anxious consumer base who really want to get things right and who can easily be persuaded into dropping huge wads of cash on unnecessary crap. Here's what you don't need. Read more

Till Pregnant Women Have Faces

Last updated on: January 8, 2016 at 2:25 pm By Melinda Selmys

Giving birth – the capacity of the female body to produce a new living being – is the theoretical centre of our sexual morality and yet there's a kind of weird and uncomfortable silence surrounding it. Read more