Catholic Church

Catholic News Agency – A new study examining the correlation between religion and marital happiness found that women who are part of a highly religious, traditional couple are most likely to report being happy in marriage, as well as sexually satisfied in their relationship… In addition, a woman in a highly religious couple was most likely to report that she and her spouse share responsibility for important household decisions, rather than one spouse making all the family’s decisions.

By Kathryn Jean Lopez, The Stream – “I was one of those babies whose mother couldn’t afford to keep her child,” Sobolik writes. “My birth mother was a 19-year-old girl with no money, no husband and limited resources. Her decision to place me up for adoption wasn’t an easy one. My birth mom longed for motherhood, but instead she had to choose childlessness.”… The couple who would become her adoptive parents desired children, but they suffered the pain of infertility and miscarriage. In the midst of an “excruciatingly long” domestic adoption process, they wound up watching a 20/20 documentary called “Shame of a Nation” about Romanian orphans.

By Jarrett Stepman, Daily Signal – “Pregnancy Kills. Abortion Saves Lives.”.. That was the headline on an absurd opinion article in The New York Times, deploying Orwellian language to turn the abortion debate on pro-lifers and comfort those who support abortion on demand… While the conversation over Alabama’s new abortion law has drawn out some wild arguments from the left, it’s easy to miss the less obvious ways the media reinforce the pro-abortion side… The media, cleverly and often subtly, use rhetorical adjustments to reinforce left-wing ideas under the guise of objectivity…

By Archbishop Aquila, Denver Catholic – This past week, three states moved ahead with bills that recognize this reality by limiting abortion. I applaud these laws, which attempt to deliver justice to the most vulnerable among us — defenseless, unborn children. Every child has the right to life and should not have this right cast aside by his or her mother or father, regardless of the circumstances of his or her conception… When St. Mother Teresa addressed the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994, she boldly decried abortion. She told the assembled lawmakers, “The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child ….”

By Patti Armstrong, EWTN News – In 2017, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $375 million for population control to organizations providing contraceptives and abortions, and they also gave over $117 million previously… In a TIME article, Melinda said that because she grew up Catholic, she had to “wrestle” with the issue of contraception and “reflect about it deeply before I came out publicly.” She opted against supporting Church teaching because “no country has made it from middle income to high income in the last 50 years without going through the transition of having contraceptives widely available to people.” So, there you have it — a decision made 100% on money and 0% on theology.

Assisted suicide is in the news and on lawmakers’ agendas. Supporters call it “aid in dying” and claim it is just another option for ending intolerable pain as part of end-of-life care. But assisted suicide is radically different from end-of-life care and the practice of palliative care, the healing art of relieving pain and other distressing symptoms for patients who are seriously ill. In fact, these two agendas are at war with each other.

By Paul Kengor, Crisis Magazine – I wanted to be the first to hog the honor of announcing it… President Donald Trump will be Notre Dame’s commencement speaker next year, a presidential campaign year no less… No, I’m not privy to any discussions. I have no board or faculty affiliation with Notre Dame. I’m not an alum. I’ve spoken there only twice… I am, however, a mere mortal who tries to operate according to logic. That being the case, I think we all can be certain that President Donald Trump will be the commencement speaker at the University of Notre Dame in 2020. How so?

By Bob Kellogg, OneNewsNow –

By Micaiah Bilger, LifeNews – Pro-life groups praised the Trump administration on Friday for proposing changes to an old Obama-era rule that threatened the conscience rights of people who oppose abortions… The new rule applies to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. It clarifies that the federal definition of sex discrimination does not include abortion and makes sure the health care law complies with conscience protection laws… Under the Obama administration in 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a rule that defined sex discrimination to include a “termination of pregnancy,” or abortion….

By Jennifer Roback Morse, National Catholic Register – Pope Emeritus Benedict wrote an extended essay on the clergy sex-abuse and cover-up scandal, where he cited the sexual revolution coming of age in Europe in 1968 as a contributing factor… Some critical commentators thought Benedict’s attention to the sexual revolution was misplaced. Some, such as seasoned reporter and Vatican watcher Christopher Altieri, observed that the problem preceded the sexual revolution. Some say the problem is bigger than sexual morality….