It wasn’t long after I became a Catholic at the age of eighteen, during my freshman year of college, that I began to discern religious life. I figured that if I was going “in,” I was going all in, and …
Category: Family
Silent Suffering: The Pain of Miscarriage
With all the myriad problems afflicting the Bride of Christ in her human element today, it can be tempting to be caught up with problems about which we can do precious little. It is easy to be consumed with the …
Responding to the Call for the Church to Bless Same-Sex Relationships
This is a question many Catholics (including clergy) are asking, and this topic has contributed to the revealing of an obvious divide among the people of the Church (which is different from the Church as the Spotless Bride of Christ …
The Fifth Prophecy of Humanae Vitae
In his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI prophesied four serious consequences if contraception became embraced by the culture and the family: infidelity/moral decadence, lost respect for and use of women by their husbands, government’s abuse of power, and …
How to Talk to Children about Liturgical Evils
Recently I received the following email, and since it brought up a topic that I am sure an increasing number of parents have to deal with, I would like to share it and my response. Dear Dr. Kwasniewski, My family …
Today’s Catholic ‘Hard Sayings’: Women Should Work Primarily in the Home
“Women,” writes Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum, “are not suited for certain occupations,” for “a woman is by nature fitted for home-work, and it is that which is best adapted at once to preserve her modesty and to promote the …
The Lamb of God Is Not Made of Cotton Balls
“Twelve years. Twelve years in Catholic school, and my son thinks it is enough to be a ‘good person,’ and he doesn’t practice anymore.” That was the pained lament of one of my closest friends in the parish. In economics, …
‘Have You Thought about Adopting?’ Reflections on Infertility
My wife and I took a cooking class once. We made pasta with two unmarried couples we had never met. I decided not to ask the twenty-something couple if it was their first date. Why put them on the spot? …
‘Children Change Everything’: Prioritizing Family Worship
Children change everything. This is a truth we ponder many times in our lives. First, if we are believing Christians, we celebrate each year the coming of a child – the Child, Emmanuel, God with us, the Word made flesh …
New Academy Hosts Conference on Humanae Vitae and Veritatis Splendor
The newly founded John Paul II Academy on Human Life and the Family (JAHLF), which is headed by Professor Josef Seifert and which has other prominent Catholics such as Professor Roberto de Mattei and John-Henry Westen on its Boards, is …