Casti Connubii – Defending Catholic Matrimony from Attack – Part 2

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This article is available for download. You can download it and print it for private use and for private sharing but it cannot be reproduced in any other publication. To download a print copy click here – Casti Connubii – Part 2 In the previous article, we saw that Pope Pius XI, after noting that holy matrimony is under grave attack, gave us a basic understanding of the nature of true marriage and of the limits to the authority of … Read More

Casti Connubii – Defending Catholic Matrimony from Attack – Part 1

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This article is available for download. You can download it and print it for private use and for private sharing but it cannot be reproduced in any other publication. To download a print copy click here – Casti Connubii – Part 1 Pope Pius XI, published his encyclical letter “Casti Connubii”, on Christian marriage, on the last day of the year 1930. He urgently wanted this encyclical to be published in 1930 because this was the year that another great … Read More

Will more prayer than activity produce success?

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The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” (‘CCC’), paragraphs 1803 and 1833, defines virtue as “habitual and firm disposition to do good.” An old adage alleges that patience is a virtue, but how patience (in the usual sense of that word) can be equated with habitual and firm disposition to do good is unclear to me. A tendency towards doing good can co-exist with impatience (in the usual sense of that word). Patience (in the usual sense of that word) can … Read More

Article 110 – Evangelise the Culture

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We Are Losing The Culture War!“And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men: Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.” … Read More

Article 108 – Marriage Casti Connubii

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Understanding Casti ConnubiiOne cannot understand the encyclical ‘Casti Connubii’, which reaffirms the Catholic Church’s constant teaching against contraception, unless one first understands why ‘Casti Connubii’ was written. In order to understand this, we must look to the years 1920 and 1930 and we must look to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican church in those years. The Lambeth conference is an international gathering of protestant Anglican bishops and usually meets about every ten years to discuss matters pertaining to that … Read More

Article 101 – Catholic Family Conference

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Great ConferenceIt was great to meet up with so many Catholic Voice readers at last Saturday’s conference in Limerick. For those who were unable to attend, I would like to give an extract from my talk in which we made a very important announcement for next year. Today, those who are leading the main attack on Catholic teaching on marriage and family life come from within the ranks of the Catholic church herself, with many senior prelates contradicting the constant … Read More

Article 74 – Pope Pius XII on Family 2

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Marriage! Family Matters …cont’d God is OrderGod is a God of order. Simply put, this tells us that God does everything for a particular purpose. He creates things for a purpose and we have ‘right order’ when that purpose is being followed. The maxim ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’ captures the essential essence of right order. Conversely, disorder, is when persons or things are used contrary to the purpose for which God created them. The Importance … Read More

Article 73 – Pope Pius XII on Family

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Pope Pius XII – Allocution to MidwivesIn the coming weeks I would like to take a look at Pope Pius XII’s allocution to Italian midwives from October of 1951. This allocution is very important for those who wish to have a proper understanding of marriage particularly when, as we have seen, a former President of Ireland has joined with a group of dissenting Catholics in calling for the over turning of Blessed Pope Paul VI’s encyclical ‘Humanae Vitae’, falsely stating … Read More

Calling Catholic Fathers

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On November 5th I gave a talk at the annual Catholic Voice conference in Limerick. You can listen to the talk HERE You can download a transcript of the talk HERE This talk points out that the Catholic Church is being undermined from within by those Catholics who promote false and misleading teaching all the while claiming that it is what the Church teaches. It uses a simple mathematical formula to help Catholics to understand the second Vatican council. Stress … Read More

Article 72 – You Shall be Like God

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Marriage! Men & Women reluctant to Marry Young The Traditional Catholic FamilyReaders of the Catholic Voice may be interested to know that I now present a half hour programme on Radio Maria Ireland at 4pm on Friday afternoons called ‘The Traditional Catholic Family’. Radio Maria Ireland do not have a standard broadcast licence at present in Ireland, so the show is only available either online or in Dublin and Cork with a DAB (digital audio broadcasting) Radio. You can also … Read More

Ireland & Contraception

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A Brief History of Contraception in Ireland and the Church response to it You can listen to this talk by clicking on this link The Story of Contraception in Ireland I was invited by Patrick McCrystal to give a talk at the Human Life International Conference ‘By Way of the Family’ which was held in the Clayton Hotel in Leopardstown on September 24th 2016. Patrick asked me to speak about the history of contraception in Ireland with a particular look … Read More

Article 71 – Marriage, Bishops Fail to Speak Out

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First Published in ‘The Catholic Voice’, Ireland, September 2016 By Way of the Family I gave a talk at the Human Life International, ‘By Way of the Family’ conference, on Saturday 24th September. My talk was on the history of contraception in Ireland and the response of the Church in Ireland to it. Whenever someone of faith looks at this history, they will be filled with a deep sadness at the way that the flock of Christ were neglected. The … Read More

The President & the Popes

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This show was broadcast on Radio Maria ireland on Friday 23rd September 2016 You can listen to the show HERE You can read a transcript HERE The show shares some very brief thoughts about technology. I also look at a former Irish  President’s remarks about getting rid of ‘Humanae Vitae’.  The former president will have to clear a lot of others out of the Church too if her erroneous views on contraception are to stand.  Even Martin Luther himself was … Read More

Article 51 – Marriage! In the Beginning

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First Published in ‘The Catholic Voice’, Ireland, December 2015 Modern Ireland’s Pharisaism Modern Ireland, has lost sight of God’s primary purpose for marriage and has become Pharisaical in putting God to the test with legalised divorce, legalised contraception, legalised ‘same-sex’ relationships which are falsely called marriages, legalised adoption of children into ‘same-sex households contrary to the best interests of those children and contrary to all the ‘fluff and burble’ of our politicians about cherishing and protecting all children, legalised murder … Read More

Article 41 – Marriage! Become a Saint

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First Published in ‘The Catholic Voice’, Ireland, July 2015 Holiness is the Solution to all of Our Problems There is one, and only one, simple solution to the problems that beset our nation today and that is for each and every one who reads these articles to become saints. I once read a definition of intelligence, I cannot remember where, which defined it as the ability to separate out into categories. At first I did not understand what it meant … Read More

Article 31 – Marriage! The Uninterrupted Teaching

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First Published in ‘The Catholic Voice’, Ireland, March 2015 Casti Connubi confirms and reaffirms the uninterrupted tradition We have seen that Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical Casti Connubi, both confirms and reaffirms the uninterrupted Christian tradition of opposition to contraception and to any use of matrimony which deliberately frustrates the natural procreative power of the marital act. That this teaching is infallible is clear from the fact that the whole of Christendom was united on this point up until … Read More

Article 30 – Marriage! A Great Sacrament

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First Published in ‘The Catholic Voice’, Ireland, February 2015 Pope Pius XI – Casti Connubi In responding not just to the Lambeth conference but to the world at large, Pope Pius XI opens the encyclical letter Casti Connubi by recalling to our minds the greatness of the sacrament of matrimony. “How great is the dignity of chaste wedlock, Venerable Brethren, may be judged best from this that Christ Our Lord, Son of the Eternal Father, having assumed the nature of … Read More