The story of the Christmas tree begins in England, where the very young Winfrid decided to enter a Benedictine monastery over the objections of his parents. Winfrid grew in holiness and piety but yearned to leave the monastery and bring the light of Christ to the pagan Germans just as the monks had brought the […] More
1. “Charity gave me the key to my vocation.” 2. “I want to be scourged and crucified like You, my Spouse; flayed alive like St. Bartholomew; thrown into boiling oil like St. John; and ground by the teeth of wild beasts like St. Ignatius of Antioch, so that I might become bread worthy of God.” […] More
I turned 16 just two months before I became pregnant in 1976. Getting pregnant was not in the cards and I was scared and embarrassed to tell anyone. Especially since I had a boyfriend, and he was not the father of my baby. I kept it a secret from everyone but two people for nearly […] More
2.1 The classical view of marriageWell, as the American pop-punk band Blink-182 once sang, “I’ve been here before a few times”. Thirteen years ago, then a newish bishop, I had the privilege of giving this annual lecture. I noted that marriage had traditionally been understood as “the union of a man and a woman to […] More
With the American Medical Association considering changing its’ long-standing opposition to physician-assisted suicide despite the recommendations of its’ ethics committee and the California assisted suicide law declared unconstitutional now reinstated pending appeal, assisted suicide/euthanasia groups like Compassion and Choices (the well-funded former Hemlock Society) are ramping up efforts nationwide to legalize assisted suicide. Along with major media outlets overwhelmingly supporting […] More
The current debate over surrogacy has two main positions. One side argues we should allow the practice with regulations. The other side argues it should be prohibited altogether. All parties in the debate generally acknowledge that there can be abuses and exploitation, and that the best interests of the children produced should be considered. The […] More
Katie Whiddon was 18 years old and in an ‘abusive and unfaithful’ relationship when she became pregnant with her son, Camden, who during an anatomy scan, was found to be missing his arms and legs. Speaking to Love What Matters Magazine, Ms Whiddon said: “Thanks to my intense pregnancy symptoms, I knew I was pregnant. Then fear […] More
HERE: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0049089X12000610 The New Family Structures Study (NFSS) is a social-science data-collection project that fielded a survey to a large, random sample of American young adults (ages 18–39) who were raised in different types of family arrangements. In this debut article of the NFSS, I compare how the young-adult children of a parent who has […] More
Australian-born Margaret Somerville is Professor of Law at McGill University in Canada and a world-renowned ethicist. In Sydney recently she said that “euthanasia is not an incremental change to current end-of-life practices but a radical and massive shift in our society’s and civilisation’s foundational values”. Her words could be adapted to same-sex marriage, which is […] More
It may rank as one of the most unintentionally sad headlines I’ve ever read, and it showed up in The Telegraph last week: “Baby born to transgender man could become the first person without a legal mother.” A transgender man — a biological woman — is in court insisting that to refer to a legal […] More
Editor’s note: London-based ethicist Dr. Anthony McCarthy is the editor of the newly released book Abortion Matters. The book provides clear, convincing answers to the most fundamental questions relating to abortion, not least: why abortion is always wrong. Brendan O’Neill, in his article The Moral Infantilism of the Pro-Life Lobby, tells us that pro-lifers “never say […] More
The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria would like to once again reiterate the perspective of the Church on more recent developments concerning the sanctity and dignity of human life and the institutions of marriage and the family all across the world. The recent rise in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender activism, the popular vote in […] More
St. Benedict in his Rule tells the monk that all the possessions of the monastery are to be treated with the same care that a monk would give to the vessels of the altar. The monk owns nothing, not even his own body, or his own will, says the saint. The human body is a […] More
In a letter of sympathy to Evan Charteris, whose father had just died, Hilaire Belloc once wrote: Now what has come upon you is as hard a thing as any man can have to bear. The inanimate friends, which are the truest and which never betray, the walls and scents of home, when we lose […] More
General Remarks On Indulgences 1. This is how an indulgence is defined in the Code of Canon Law (can. 992) and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 1471): “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who […] More
About 400 different languages are spoken in the West African country of Nigeria. They belong to three African language families, namely the :Niger-Cordofanian, the Nilo-Saharan and the Afro-Asiatic family. The three largest language groups in Nigeria are Hausa in the North (23.2 million speakers), Yoruba in the Southwest (22.6 million speakers) and Igbo in the […] More
29 August 2006 My spiritual testament When, at this late hour of my life, I look back on the decades I have wandered through, I see first of all how much reason I have to give thanks. Above all, I thank God Himself, the giver of all good gifts, who has given me life and […] More
In April of 2018, archaeologists in Peru announced a horrifying discovery: Evidence of what appears to be the largest single mass child sacrifice in the world. Researchers uncovered the skeletons of 140 children between the age of five and fourteen years old, many with dislocated and twisted rib cages, indicating that their killers may have […] More
In western countries we assist at the paradox that fertility is socially discouraged by a mindset that depicts fertility as a resource to exploit as late as possible. So, couples have high expectative about the advantages of delayed parenthood, but they are scarcely informed about its risks. Scientific data suggests to anticipate the first pregnancy, […] More
Adeline Allen’s recent article focuses on the document at the crux of all surrogacy deals: the contract. Here, at the point where the two trade parties meet, we see the stark imbalance of the exploitative surrogacy industry in black and white. Allen argues that while there is a fundamental right for citizens to be free […] More
Dear Brothers and Sisters, The Letter to the Ephesians presents the Church to us as a structure built “upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (Eph 2: 20). In the Book of Revelation the role of the Apostles, and more specifically, of the Twelve, is explained in the eschatological […] More
The government of Moldova maintained victim protection efforts. The government identified 249 trafficking victims in 2017, compared with 232 in 2016. Of these identified victims, 48 were children, an increase from 35 in 2016. Some law enforcement officials may have intentionally avoided taking action on victim identification and investigation of trafficking crimes. Border police did […] More
Where can I find assistance, medical treatment and support? Women’s Shelters and Centres Against Domestic violence provide: FOR HELP click here More
The phrase Female Genital Mutilations (FGM) refers to all forms of partial or complete removal of female external genitals, or other modifications of the female genital organs, performed for cultural or other non-medical purposes. FGMs are an extremely serious violation of women’s and girls’ human rights. They consist in the partial removal of a healthy […] More
Ever since I first read the Letters of Saint Ignatius of Antioch in the 1950s, one passage from his Letter to the Ephesians has particularly affected me: “It is better to keep silence and be [a Christian] than to talk and not to be. Teaching is an excellent thing, provided the speaker practices what he […] More
The Government of Moldova does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period; therefore Moldova was upgraded to Tier 2. The government demonstrated increasing efforts by investigating and prosecuting more suspected traffickers, […] More
Dear Dr. Franco, I was moved that so many readers of your newspaper want to know how I am spending this last period of my life. I can only say in this regard that, with the slow decline of my physical strength, interiorly I am on a pilgrimage Home. It is a great grace for […] More
And so, we will stand up every time that human life is threatened. When the sacredness of life before birth is attacked, we will stand up and proclaim that no one ever has the authority to destroy unborn life.When a child is described as a burden or is looked upon only as a means to […] More
Dear Brothers and Sisters, With this celebration we are entering the liturgical season of Advent. In the biblical Reading we have just heard, taken from the First Letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul invites us to prepare for “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (5: 23), with God’s grace keeping ourselves blameless. The […] More
Are Parents Liable for Their Babies’ Prenatally Acquired Injuries?C. Bellieni, A. Gambino – Ethics & Medicine – Vol. 33:1 Spring 2017, pp. 55-59 CARLO V. BELLIENI, MD; ALBERTO M. GAMBINO, PHDAbstract External factors can interfere with pregnancy; some of them are factors of parental origin, such as active or passive smoking or alcohol use; some […] More
