Catholic Church

Salvatore J. Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco - It was a bit disconcerting, then, when on June 18, sixty Democratic members of Congress, all Catholics, issued a significant “Statement of Principles” in response to a decision by U.S. Catholic bishops to develop a teaching document on the nature of the Eucharist and its proper reception... The statement raises many troubling questions... the public nature of the statement invites a public response and provides an excellent opportunity for candid dialogue. In that spirit, allow me to begin the dialogue with comments on some specific passages from the statement.

By Michael Pakaluk, The Catholic Thing - My thesis is that contraception negates fatherhood, is at war with it, undermines what it means to be a father. Where widely adopted, it works out that effect in all aspects of society.  We are familiar with the idea, championed by St. John Paul II, “the Great,” that contraception attacks the unity of husband and wife. The unitive dimension of the sexual act will not survive, he taught, if separated from the procreative.  I want to add: fatherhood will not survive if the sexual act is separated from its fatherly aspect.

By Msgr. Charles Pope - ... I am not a 21-year-old with a 28-inch waist and dark rich hair. Trying to be this is a losing battle. The fact is, I look just like my father, who looked just like his father. Genetics, body type, and age tend to win, and the energy required to try to overcome these is increasingly disproportionate to the results and to my other duties... I do want to say that I love being 60. I would never want to be 25 again ...

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture - ...our bishops as a body may finally have achieved both the clarity and courage to take a stronger stand. Given opposition to a teaching document on this issue from a number of high-ranking American churchmen, it is already a very good sign that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has decided to go ahead. Now it is worth considering what the eventual document should and should not say.