Preface: I write this as a Catholic who is speaking about sexuality to other Catholics. In doing so, I affirm my adherence to the teachings of Roman Catholic Church. If this is not your perspective, I understand that. But to keep the commbox from straying too far afield, I will be monitoring the comments and censoring those that are clearly not intended to engage either myself or others on the level of the presumed principles of the audience; I will... Read more
Sometimes, it’s the people you agree most with that you get into the most vitriolic fights with, particularly in the war of words. Because the other seems in agreement with you in 98% of the cases, it’s far easier to make a mountain out of the other ones. Particularly online. I’m speaking of the Mark Shea-Simcha Fisher-National Catholic Register* blow up that has many of my friends reacting in the strangest of ways towards their brothers and sisters in Christ.... Read more
Today is the feast of the Assumption. Yesterday was the day that I fell into a sin (among, unfortunately, other sins) that I hadn’t fallen into since I was a teenager. In fact, this particularly troublesome sin was one I hadn’t even thought to be on guard for, it had been so long since I had been tempted to it. And then, bam!, there I went falling into it without even realizing. It really sucked. I was texting a good... Read more
Trigger/Content Warning: this post and podcast include discussion of sensitive topics such as masturbation and sexuality. So do what you will with that information. I had been talking to my friends John Hall, Matthew Sewell, and Matthew Petesch while writing and thinking out my recent post Masturbation and Despair: A One Body Problem post, and I found their insights really helpful. When the post became more popular, we continued talking, addressing various aspects of the feedback the post received. And since... Read more
All the cool girls, that is, Rebecca Bratten Weiss over at suspended in her jar and Mary Pezzulo (see Mary, you’re definitely at the table) at Steel Magnificat, are talking about modesty, so it seems prudent to hitch my star to that bandwagon. These two ladies have already discussed modesty in terms of power and subjectivity and the pornographic gaze that reduces subjects to objects, respectively. Now, this might sound weird given that I recently talked about how topless... Read more
Update: Mountain Catholic asked me to do a follow up podcast with them about this post. Link and some thoughts about why talk about sexual morality topics can be found here. This is going to mark the beginning of a series of examinations of sins connected in various ways to human sexuality. I will begin each of these posts with a reference to the Catechism of the Catholic Church to serve as a content and/or trigger warning for those who may,... Read more
“We’re saving it for the next generation, you know, after us, because it’s all disappearing” So says Monique Brand, Executive Director of the Manitoba Association of Museums in The End of Our Memories, a documentary exploring the loss of community history that occurs as small museums in rural Canada struggle to remain viable. The documentary, which premiered this July at the Gimli Film Festival, was directed by Andy Blicq and produced by Huw Eirug for Manitoba Telecom Service’s Stories from... Read more
So the fine fellows over at Mountain Catholic are running my thoughts rn on topless picnics, art, St. JPII’s Theology of the Body, and all sorts of fun things today. You should check those thoughts out! And if you aren’t sold, here’s a tease: So, women and men are pretty different in many ways and very similar in others. As someone reading a Catholic think site on the internet, you probably realized this at some point in your life. I think... Read more
Back in my freshman year of college, one of my friends was in the process of entering the Church. While doing so, she told me that one of the things she had learned about being Catholic is that it “the only thing that gives meaning to suffering.” The phrase stuck with me, as it did with her. In particular, I often remember this when I hear about atrocious acts of violence committed against Catholics and Christians worldwide. Yesterday,... Read more
“In most cases it would have been possible to do something better than what an individual person actually did do. And yet it would be wrong to say that one is always duty-bound to do the best possible thing. That is simply not possible.” -Robert Spaemann, Basic Moral Concepts It’s NFP Awareness week. While I’m not married, I am human, and I am trained in theology; I know married couples, and I’ve even read books on the moral life, sexuality—Catholic... Read more
Eating Peaches
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