De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

And this , my friends, is why no faithful, intelligent Catholic should ever buy or even read The Tablet . I mean, how on earth did Christopher Lamb get to this ridiculous leap of logic from Pope Francis' words, words which reaffirmed his rejection of population control programmes as an example of “ideological colonisation” and praised Blessed Paul VI for defending Catholic teaching against contraception?!! The Pope is asked a question on a plane, the question is this: Christoph Schmidt: Holy Father, first of all I would like to say: Thank you very much for all the impressive moments of this week. It is the first time I accompany you, and I would like to say thank you very much. My question: you have talked about the many children in the Philippines, about your joy because there are so many children, but according to some polls the majority of Filipinos think that the huge growth of Filipino population is one of the most important reasons for the enormous poverty in the c...

Does Fr. Lombardi look nervous to you? Just when we thought it was all over... ...we forgot about the plane journey home! The BBC news at 10 was classic, as Huw Edwards asked the Religion Correspondent, Caroline Wyatt "Has the Pope changed Catholic teaching on contraception?". The question which has been asked time and time and time again. The answer is always the same "no". Wyatt actually rather impressed me with her grasp of the Holy Father's personality. She commented that the language used was unprecedented, but although we are not used to hearing this sort of language from the Vatican, nothing has changed. Pope Francis speaks colloquially, he is understood by normal people. He is having a chat - not authoring a theological tract. If he read something in Vaticanese or Theologicalese who would understand? Perhaps only those of us who have spent years studying and following such things. The reality of this style is that Pope Francis is getting th...

Deacon's Bench reports today that, twenty-three years ago, Bishop Glennon Flavin of Lincoln Diocese, USA, issued a letter to parishioners and physicians, decrying birth control as evil and immoral. He warned Catholic couples using contraception and the Catholic physicians prescribing it they were “committing grave sin.” On Tuesday, Bishop James Conley issued his own letter to parishioners reaffirming the Catholic Church’s stance prohibiting the use of all contraceptives, although his pastoral letter goes to greater lengths to explain the teaching in gentle tones. I think it is very powerful that every priest in the diocese has been asked to discuss the letter and talk about contraception during Mass this weekend. Wow! +Conley said: “We really live in a wounded world when it comes to the family,”  In a move that I think clearly demonstrates the reality of his gentle pastoral care for his flock, he explained how he chose to issue the letter during Lent ...

Right, now I have your attention... Caroline Farrow has written a really interesting reflection on the Catholic theology of the family and fertility. It raises many important points which will resonate with Catholics who are in engaged in the melee of family life. For example, the term Natural Family Planning could have negative connotations with contraceptive over-tones. Indeed, it is a fact that such secular institutions as the NHS and the BBC both refer to NFP as a method of contraception. Caroline points out that some non-Catholics consider that NFP is a method of contraception and to say it is not is merely to enagage in semantics. Of course, Catholics argue that there is nothing in any way contraceptive about natural family planning because a couple practicing NFP do nothing at all to prevent procreation or to render the act infertile either before, during, or after sexual intercourse has taken place . The sexual act may in fact be infertile (i.e. it may not be possib...

The Church has always extolled fertility as a good of marriage despite this being somewhat contrary to the modern secular understanding of fertility as either a nuisance, some sort of disease to be treated with medication, or alternatively as a ‘right’. Today it sometimes appears that we spend the first half our lives desperately trying to avoid pregnancy, and the second half trying desperately to conceive. The perspective offered by the Catholic Church may be one you actually find refreshing, surprising, relevant and clear, especially when explained through the lens of modern teaching. The ‘good’ of fertility consistently upheld and taught by the Church speaks to our physical reality, without making excuses, acknowledging the complimentarity of our bodies and the good of the sexual inclination we experience. Through these realities, a husband and wife, as sexually differentiated beings, are able to unite themselves to one another in the deepest way possible in the conjugal act...