11 Dec 2024

Joy Despite Adversity – Part 1

by | posted in: Catholic Church, Encyclicals | 0

As each Christmas approaches, encouragements to joyfulness increase. Because joy is enjoyable, the encouragements seem to encounter no adverse reactions, even if they are at odds with matters which weigh on people’s minds. Various factors can induce joy, and it is not mere cynicism to believe that most of the joyfulness each December has no consciously-religious ‘root’. Try an amateur test of that belief. ‘Engineer’ a brief chat with some strangers and ‘steer’ it in a way which leads to … Read More
5 Nov 2024

Is It Worth The Bother? – Part 2

by | posted in: Catholic Church, Family, Resistance movement | 0

The question of what can be done, individually, to reverse the watering-down of Christianity in Western societies can be asked with a positive attitude or with an apathetic, fatalistic one. The natural disposition of seemingly-typical Catholics in many places is the latter, and to ‘settle’ for a comparatively-more-‘comfortable’ life of merely stating a religious opinion (if occasion arises and cannot be evaded) rather than trying to get it adopted in practice.  Take the example of abortion, representing a chasm which … Read More
30 Oct 2024

Casti Connubii – Defending Catholic Matrimony from Attack – Part 2

by | posted in: Casti Connubi, Catholic Marriage, Family | 0

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
18 Oct 2024

Casti Connubii – Defending Catholic Matrimony from Attack – Part 1

by | posted in: Casti Connubi, Catholic Church, Catholic Marriage, Encyclicals | 0

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
2 Oct 2024

Is It Worth The Bother? – Part 1

by | posted in: Catholic Church, Resistance movement | 0

Answering that question, which is applicable in many circumstances, requires an answer to two others: why is ‘it’ being considered or attempted, and what ‘bother’ might be – or is being – encountered? This essay analyses the matter in the context of effort to advance (including defence of) recognisably-Catholic teachings which are not embodied in the laws and practices of States. If you are involved in such effort or are considering whether to become so, you may find interest in … Read More
2 Sep 2024

Can Abortion Be Made Illegal Again?

by | posted in: Catholic Church, Family, Resistance movement | 0

That question is addressed here to people who take a real interest in it; more specifically, to those who are unhappy with legalised abortion. People who approve of legalised abortion may find interest in what follows. Probably by the end of their reading they would be more encouraged than the first group; that outcome is not my intention, but I believe that the assessment of the question should be made candidly as well as honestly. I suspect that many people, … Read More
12 Aug 2024

Unpopular Parties, An Unpopular Church, And Comparative Reactions

by | posted in: Catholic Church, Moral Theology, Resistance movement | 0

Parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom and France recently provide interesting ‘food for thought’ regarding politics and religion. In France, President Macron’s Party was unpopular. The main reason seems to have been immigration. News-reports gave no indication that the unpopularity was because, a few months earlier, the President had promoted a change in the country’s Constitution to ensure that abortion continued to be available. In the U.K., the Conservative Party was unpopular for many reasons (immigration being one; others included … Read More
8 Jul 2024

Regulating The Irrepressible

by | posted in: Catholic Church, Family, Moral Theology, Resistance movement | 0

The long-established phenomenon of ‘domestic abuse,’ the main practitioners of which seem to be male, has not merely survived attempts to end or perhaps curtail it but seems to have grown despite them.  Its intractability is not unique. Unlike, however, other types of behaviour, nobody suggests that there is something to be said for it, or that its prevalence indicates that it is ‘normal’ in the sense of being morally ‘neutral,’ or that efforts against it should be abandoned, or … Read More

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