I am doing a lot of interviews over the next few days about the appeal of the 50 Shades of Grey phenomenon and what our Christian response should be. I find that many people are responding to the wide appeal of the film by being outraged, clucking about how disgusting and shameful it is. I want to say upfront that I agree that the content of 50 Shades is, indeed, disgusting and shameful, but I also want to say that I think that being... Read more
Note: The following article deals frankly with sexual topics. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that 50 Shades of Grey, a popular soft-core pornographic movie about a timid young woman who is sexually dominated by a billionaire, is being released this coming Valentine’s Day. Based on a popular series of erotic novels, the film is being released both to wide acclaim and wider controversy, especially among those who are repulsed by this glorification of domestic partner... Read more
According to sources, Pope Francis has given the go-ahead for the Vatican to launch an international telecommunications company called Viaticom. Vatican Press Secretary, Fr. Thomas Rosica, told reporters that Viaticom will offer Catholics cell service via a Natural Family Plan. People say its great, but you have to agree to not use your phone for 7-10 days every month. Rimshot! (Can I tell you how proud I am of myself for this? HA! I kill me. Seriously, folks. I’ll be here all... Read more
Researchers in Denmark have discovered that there is both a moderate increased risk of developing glioma (a type of brain tumor) among women who engage in shorter-term use of hormonal contraceptives and a two-fold risk of developing glioma among 15-49 year olds who use oral contraceptives for 5+ years. Every use of hormonal contraceptive was associated with an OR of 1.5 (95% CI: 1.2-2.0) and the OR increased with duration of use (long-term, ≥5 years: OR, 1.9; 95% CI: 1.2–2.9). The... Read more
In his general audience, Pope Francis is asserting the importance of family life, repeating his exhortation to parents, and particularly fathers, to “waste time with your children.” One even more remarkable statement he made was that too many children are “orphans within the family.” From Zenit “Even as bishop of Buenos Aires,” the Pope recalled, “I warned of this sense of orphan-hood that children live today. And I regularly asked fathers if they played with their children; if they had... Read more
For all the cyber sturm und drang yesterday surrounding Pope Francis comment that Catholics don’t have to reproduce like rabbits to be faithful to the Church, many people forget that only a couple of short weeks before, (yes, I know, a millennium in the news cycle), at the meeting of the National Association of Large Families, Pope Francis said some very supportive things about parents who are heroically generous in the service of life. The presence of large families is a... Read more
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still take my Dayquil and my antibiotics, but maybe I’ll follow that up with an extra big hug from anyone who can stand to be around my snuffly self. (from PsychCentral) It’s cold and flu season again — make sure you get plenty of sleep, take some extra vitamin C and … hug each other a little more. Yes, that’s right. A new study reveals that frequent hugging lowers your chances of becoming ill during... Read more
Over at Crux News the other day, Margery Eagan posted a column indicating that she was “devastated” that Pope Francis crushed her hopes for reform on pelvic issues by affirming Pope Paul VI’s courage in promoting Humanae Vitae. A snippet: “Although he has not lived it himself, I had thought he understood something about good people living real lives in real marriages. I had thought he even understood something about the beauty of sex in marriage, the need for sex in marriage.... Read more
Pope Francis raised more than a few eyebrows yesterday when he said, “Some think, excuse me if I use the word, that in order to be good Catholics, we have to be like rabbits – but no.” Pope Francis asserted that the church counsels “responsible parenthood” a phrase referenced in several Church documents, including Humanae Vitae, Familiaris Consortio, and St. John Paul II’s Letter to Families. Doubling down, Pope Francis went on to recount the story of a woman he... Read more
This past Sunday, Pope Francis celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord by baptizing 33 babies in the Sistine Chapel, NBC News reports. During the mass, the Catholic leader encouraged the infants’ mothers to breastfeed their babies. “You mothers give your children milk and even now, if they cry because they are hungry, breastfeed them, don’t worry,” Pope Francis declared in his homily.According to Reuters, the written sermon used the Italian phrase for “give them milk,” but during his... Read more
Faith on the Couch
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