Church teaching

6 books to read before you get married

Congratulations! You’re engaged! Phew, do you have a lot of work ahead of you. It will be easy to get caught up in the details of the big day, so take it from someone who’s just a month away from her own wedding: make a point to slow down and put some preparation towards the…

On St. Jean Vianney and NFP

I’m sure I’m not the only parish priest who tends to daydream when thinking of what happened in the village of Ars during the pastorate of Fr. Jean Vianney. In 1818 when he was first assigned the parish was lukewarm, with at most a few people at daily Mass and hardly any regular Communicants. By…

How Humanae Vitae shaped our family

Humanae Vitae Giving Day 2018 * * * From the Family Foundations archives by Jack and Sonia Ferraro Like most engaged couples, we set goals for our life together. As we progressed toward our wedding date, we constructed an idea of what our life would be like in “The Five-Year Plan.” We…

Why is the Catholic Church against contraception?

Humanae Vitae Giving Day 2018 * * * by Jason Evert Contraception is nothing new; history records people using various methods of birth control four thousand years ago. Ancient people swallowed potions to cause temporary sterility; they used linens, wool, or animal skins as barrier methods; they fumigated the uterus with poison to…

From Humanae Vitae to the Theology of the Body

Humanae Vitae Giving Day 2018 We are very glad to share this excerpt from Christopher West’s newest book which he debuted at our conference earlier this month, Eclipse of the Body: How We Lost Sight of the Meaning of Sex, Gender, Marriage, and Family and How to Regain It. * * * by Christopher West Soon after…

50 reasons to read Humanae Vitae

It’s the 50th anniversary of one of the most ground-shaking, pot-stirring, life-giving documents the Church has released in recent history. In 31 short paragraphs, soon-to-be-Saint Pope Paul VI defended the Church’s unchangeable teaching on contraception and laid the groundwork that would inspire a certain Cardinal Wojtyla to pen the Theology of the Body. So what’s…

This couple went a year without sex (and lived to tell the tale)

Humanae Vitae Giving Day 2018 * * * We are pleased to share this piece from the fabulous blog of Jenny Uebbing, Mama Needs Coffee, hosted on the Catholic News Agency site. This was the first of a series of articles she shared in advance of today’s anniversary. Be sure to check out and follow…

Four ways NFP is different from contraception

Humanae Vitae Giving Day 2018 * * * by Professor Janet E. Smith On the 50th year anniversary of Humanae Vitae, let’s take a moment to consider the differences between NFP and contraception. Some people think they are essentially the same because both are used by couples who want to have sexual intercourse but who…

Aquila’s “The Splendor of Love” worth the read

Early last month on the Feast of the Presentation, Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila released an incredible pastoral letter that, although written for his Colorado flock, speaks to Catholics everywhere. The 50-paragraph document entitled, “The Splendor of Love” is essentially a theological pep talk on the mind-blowing beauty of human sexuality, as expressed in Blessed…

Know it or not, you’ve read Humanae Vitae

If you’ve been keeping up with us on any of our social media pages (Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter), you certainly have seen our photo posts with Humanae Vitae quotes. We started that last July, and if you’ve read every single one of them, we’ve got news for you: You’ve read the entire encyclical. Of course,…