The Vatican is hosting an international interreligious colloquium on the Complementarity of Man and Women from Nov 17-19. The Complementarity of Man and Woman: An International Colloquium is a gathering of leaders and scholars from many religions across the globe, to examine and propose anew the beauty of the relationship between the man and the woman, in order to support … Read More
TOB Tues: Register Now
Registration is open for the 2014 International Theology of the Body Congress. The theme this year is “Love, Mercy and the New Evangelization” and will focus on the important pastoral work of leading all men and women to Christ. The Congress will be held in a the Sheraton Downtown Philadelphia, July 9-11, and will offer: –The most expansive gathering of … Read More
Radio Interviews
I am a monthly guest on a wonderful local Catholic radio show. The Mike Allen Show airs Mon-Fri, 6-8am ET on Breadbox Media. Listen to some of my appearances on the show below and, if you’re a fan of Catholic radio, please consider downloading the Breadbox Media app (Apple, Android) for programming from some of your favorite online Catholic personalities. … Read More
Jim Gaffigan: From “Loner” to Father of Five (and Counting?)
) This is a great piece from CBS on comedian Jim Gaffigan about his family life. At the end of the interview Anthony Mason asks Gaffigan if he’s “done” having kids. To which he responds that, because he’s Catholic and his wife is a “shiite” Catholic, “there is no goalie” and he’s, “not opposed to it.” “I know the positives … Read More
Grandma as “Birth Mother” and Children as Science Experiments
As if third party reproduction hasn’t confused the make-up of the family enough already, we now have grandmothers giving birth to their own grandchildren (and also, in some cases, freezing their OWN eggs for their infertile daughters to use later on in life!). The latest: a 58 year old woman in Utah is currently pregnant with her daughter’s child. Said … Read More
Danny and Annie
When a guy is happily married, no matter what happens at work, no matter what happens the rest of the day, there’s a shelter when you get home. There’s a knowledge, knowing that you can hug somebody without them throwing you down the stairs and saying get your hands off me. Being married is like having a color television set; … Read More
The Overlooked Ethics of Reproduction
Absolute must-read from Jennifer Lahl at Christianity Today: The fact that so many people fail to consider the moral implications of IVF suggests that in the age of fertility treatments, surrogates, and modern family-building via parenting partnerships, a woman’s womb has come to be seen as a somewhat arbitrary location. NBC’s The New Normal quips that women are “Easy-Bake Ovens” … Read More
DOMA ≠ Anti-Miscegenation Laws
I don’t know about you, but one of my biggest pet-peeves in the debate over same-sex marriage is the comparison of SSM to interracial marriages. Recently a good friend of mine received an email bringing up that very argument in response to an article he wrote about last month’s DOMA ruling. I really liked his response to this woman which … Read More
A Promise Wrongly Made
In an article about a recommended change in Australian law that would give children greater rights to know about their sperm donor, IVF professor Gab Kovacs said, retrospectively changing the law would be “un-Australian and unfair”. In a letter to the editor, “Ian Smith” responded: Professor Gab Kovacs says he is “worried about men who donated over 25 years ago, … Read More
TOB Tues: TOB for Kids?
Amid the ongoing debate in the Catholic blogosphere about proper and effective sex education, I came across this post from Dr. Gregory Popcak on whether it’s appropriate to teach the Theology of the Body to children 10 years old or younger. He’s responding to Elizabeth Duffy who thinks that TOB is too complex for young kids. Popcak disagrees saying, “Teaching … Read More