Topics

The Short-Lived “Gay Gene”

GENETIC DETERMINISM OR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY?

Christopher M. Reilly

We can challenge genetic determinism by reaffirming both our inherent free will to make choices and our inherent dignity.

Eugenics De-fanged or Re-fanged?

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

The new eugenics is essentially a man-made religion, with a false hope of perfection and immortality.

What Every Priest Should Know about Ecological Breastfeeding

GOD’S PLAN FOR MOTHERS & BABIES

John F. Kippley

Fr. William Virtue concludes “it has been the constant teaching of the Church that there is a serious obligation of maternal nursing.”

Suicide: Human Right or Human Tragedy?

HOW CAN IT BE BOTH GOOD AND BAD?

Joseph Illo

On the one hand, we declare suicide a human right. On the other, we set up hotlines and billboards to prevent people from exercising this supposed right.

“Good News, Son, You’re Adopted!”

ADOPTION, DIVINE & HUMAN

Christopher A. Decaen

Blood relationship is overrated, and natural relations are less important than ones that mirror supernatural relations.

The Hollywood Scandal Behind the Clerical Scandal

STATE JUDICIAL SYSTEMS AND MEDIA HOLD A DOUBLE STANDARD

Jesse Russell

U.S. media and the American judicial system will gladly go after a high-ranking Catholic priest or bishop but will run cover for powerful Hollywood directors and actors.

A See of the Second-Rate

GUEST COLUMN

Craig F. Montesano

The norm among the men who wear miters — men who are supposed to possess powers of discernment — appears to be gaffes, ill judgment, and an apparent blindness to reason.

Parental Love vs. Loveless “Rights”

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

"Abortion Rights: For and Against" is exceptional in showing with startling clarity how the fight over abortion is really a battle between love and lovelessness.

Is Francis’s Revised Teaching on the Death Penalty a Development of Doctrine?

THE PRIMACY OF MERCY — OR THE END OF MERCY ?

Monica Migliorino Miller

The Culture of Life may be advanced by the Holy Father’s innovation, but he has forged an unsettling theological path to take us there.

Gosnell: The Bigger Picture

GUEST COLUMN

Alexandra Wilson

Gosnell’s attorney asks why Gosnell should be convicted of murder in the case of “Baby A” but not in the cases of the countless other babies.

Humanae Vitae: A Manual for Better Sex?

REVERT'S ROSTRUM

Casey Chalk

Much popular Catholic literature on NFP is utilitarian, claiming that obeying Church teaching results in a happier, more exciting bedroom experience.

A Pro-Life Pivot?

GUEST COLUMN

F. Douglas Kneibert

Pope Francis’s new appointees to the Pontifical Academy for Life have expanded the pro-life umbrella to include migrants, technology, and the environment.

Briefly: September 2018

Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality... The Maternal Face of God?: Explorations in Catholic Sophiology... Seeing is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of Abortion... An Introduction to Ethics: A Natural Law Approach

Are We Winning?

The pro-life movement has enjoyed some happy victories recently, but abortion remains a legal, political, and cultural mainstay in America. The U.S. is aborting and contracepting itself into oblivion.

A Journey to the Threshold of Eternal Life

ON THE PAINFUL ROAD OF SPIRITUAL PURIFICATION

Alvaro Delgado

Pro-lifers, You've Been Played

Some call the Democratic Party the "Party of Death." There is no viable major American political party worthy of the label "Party of Life." We pro-lifers need to stop pretending there is.

Kermit Gosnell in the Cone of Silence

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

A review of Gosnell: The Untold Story of America's Most Prolific Serial Killer

Isn't It Ironic?

The former Democratic presidential nominee is no friend to women; she has been a brazen bully and an enabler of sexual assault. The press willingly disregarded a mountain of evidence on this.

Planned Parenthood: Seventy Years of Defying the Law

STAGNATING IN A FETID SWAMP

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

All Aboard the Suicide Train

In the Netherlands an increasing number of patients now seek assisted dying because of dementia, psychiatric illnesses, and age-related complaints — in other words, non-terminal medical conditions.

A Virus, a Crisis

EXAMINING THE FALLOUT FROM ZIKAGATE

Monica Migliorino Miller

Pope Francis Doesn't Need Your Applause

Pope Francis isn't satisfied with the reductionism that narrows the Catholic ethic of life to "no abortion," or the Catholic teaching on the family to "no same-sex marriage."

Dying Without Dignity & Other End-of-Life Scares

UNEXAMINED ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE

Elizabeth Hanink

How the Pro-Life Movement Became Warm & Cuddly

GUEST COLUMN

Richard Anderson

Eugenics in the USA: Black Life, White Justice

Justice Ginsburg, one of the nation's most powerful abortion advocates, has been working for 20 years to reduce those populations she doesn't "want to have too many of."

Scenes from Ground Zero of the Abortion Holocaust

MODERN GOLGOTHAS

Alvaro Delgado

In modern-day America, human life is destroyed on a massive scale with the cruel, evil, and machine-like efficiency characteristic of the Nazis.

The Birth-Control Box in the Living Room

Research has uncovered a link between soap operas and lower fertility rates in Brazil, Mexico, and Kenya. In fact, some countries have "a history of using soap operas to cut fertility."

The Case for a Consistently Pro-Life God

DISPELLING AN ATHEIST ILLUSION

Frederick W. Marks

Graphic Images: An Apologia

THEIR HISTORY AND ROLE IN THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT

Monica Migliorino Miller

Advocating for the Innocent in an Abnormal World

Mary McWay Seaman

A review of Abandoned: The Untold Story of the Abortion Wars

Exposed

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

A review of Roe v. Wade: Unraveling the Fabric of America

Bumping Off Baby

ARE WE ROMANIZING?

Andrew M. Seddon

Rushing Death

The elderly and the under-pressure organ donor have reason to distrust the falsely compassionate, as advocates of legalized euthanasia threaten to undermine the foundation of medical care as we've known it.

Incarnations

WORD MADE FLESH, THOUGHT RENDERED VISIBLE

Donald Lospinuso

Guaranteed Controversy

In advance of her big London Summit on Family Planning, Melinda Gates launched a campaign called "No Controversy." She may soon realize she's already knee-deep in it.

How Small Is Too Small?

GUEST COLUMN

Donald DeMarco

Finding the Truth in a Narrative of Lies

WHERE THE CONTRACEPTIVE IMPERATIVE TRUMPS ALL

Kenneth D. Whitehead

Occasions of Truth

Sustained national discussion of taboo topics like contraception and Planned Parenthood have yielded valuable 'teaching moments' and surprisingly countercultural essays in some mainstream venues.

The Culture War & the Catholic Church

THE CONTRACEPTION MANDATE IN CONTEXT

Tom Bethell

On the Ethical Treatment of Rape Victims

THE PROBLEMS WITH PLAN B

Joseph E. Kincaid

Are All Human Beings Persons?

SOMEONE, SOMETHING, OR SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN ?

James G. Hanink

Abortion & the Creed of Progress

GUEST COLUMN

Edmund B. Miller

The creed of progress has destroyed community, the family, and the bond between man and woman, as it has destroyed countless unborn babies.

The Perils of Promoting Personhood

DEEP-SIXED IN THE DEEP SOUTH

James T. McCafferty

Conspicuously absent from a coalition of pro-life advocates supporting a personhood amendment in Mississippi were the bishops of Jackson and Biloxi.

Gurus of a Post-Human Age

GARRETT HARDIN & JAMES RACHELS

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

Behind the Mask

The media hype a world population of seven billion, but growth is decelerating and we’ll face a new problem: under-population.

The Virtue of Reverence & Respect for Life

SEEING WITH A PURE HEART

Stephen Napier

Free Will & Freedom of Choice

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi is one politician known to pontificate on subjects that are "above her pay grade."

Waiting on the Past

Two more bishops recently weighed in on what measures are appropriate to take against pro-abortion Catholic politicians.

Is It Time to Dump the Term 'Pro-life'?

FOR THE SAKE OF PREBORN CHILDREN

Leo Hunt

Blessed Are the Barren

WHO'S AFRAID OF FERTILITY?

Ann Frailey

For all the talk of freedom and population control, one simple fact is ignored: God is the Lord of life, and to reject the life in us as women is surely to reject Him.

The Five Most Pathetic Words

'I AM A PROCHOICE CATHOLIC'

Patrick Madrid

Contraception & Logical Consistency

GUEST COLUMN

Howard P. Kainz

Catholics or non-Catholics who practice contraception but oppose premarital or extramarital sex hold a position that is logically inconsistent.

The Prolife Movement & the Culture of Violence

ON THE MURDER OF GEORGE TILLER

Judie Brown

Senseless acts of violence should never be answered with any words other than those extended with the love of Christ.

Everyone Knows That!

GUEST COLUMN

Raymond W. Belair

Sometimes the truth is so simple, so easily recognizable and self-evident that even children have no trouble comprehending.

Wonderful Are Your Works

Every life is valuable in and of itself. Every life is capable of giving glory to God, and therefore every life is worthy of our protection.

The Spirit of Humanae Vitae

MAKE THE LORD YOUR REFUGE

Frederick W. Marks

Oh Saratoga!

GUEST COLUMN

Francis G. McCloskey

Heroic Mothers

"I guess she knew the secret of life, and it is not in receiving but giving."

Situation Critical

How far has marriage sunk? Married couples in 2005, as a proportion of U.S. households, "have finally slipped into a minority."

American Genocide

WHY DO WE MURDER DOWN SYNDROME BABIES?

Charles & Donna James

'Just Say No'

The modcon Our Sunday Visitor is now advocating a new vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease given to girls at age 11.

The Vaccine Debate

WHOM TO BELIEVE?

Agnes N. Penny

In Vitro Clinics Are Death Camps

"If embryos are human beings with full human rights, fertility clinics are death camps -- with a side order of cold-blooded eugenics."

The Betrayal at the Root of the Culture Wars

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

A review of Preaching Eugenics: Religious Leaders and the American Eugenics Movement

Pope Paul VI's Prophetic Warning

THE BIRTH CONTROL PILL IS A "GATEWAY" DRUG

George Delgado

Abortion Is More Than 'Murder'

NIETZSCHE VS. CHRIST

Richard Stith

When Will Prolifers Wise Up?

If any of our readers had any doubts about what we had to say regarding John Roberts, they can now quietly lay them to rest.

Athanasius Against the World: Still Looking for Some Company

GUEST COLUMN

Daniel M. Hoffman

Here Come the Catholic Cheerleaders

The Thomas More Law Center, founded by Tom Monaghan, has decided to support the nomination of Judge John Roberts, even though he called Roe v. Wade "the settled law of the land."

Prolifers: Thanks for the Votes; We'll See You Again in Four Years

"According to the White House, Judge Roberts does not oppose Roe v. Wade." What more do you need to know?

Her Mamas Were Prolife

GUEST COLUMN

Daniel J. Rabil

A Primer on Stem Cells

IT'S NOT REALLY COMPLICATED

E. Christian Brugger

A New Approach for The Prolife Movement

GUEST COLUMN

R.T. Neary

The Example of Large Families

CAN GOD BE TRUSTED?

Nancy Harvey

The Latest Antilife Thrust: "Emergency Contraception"

WHERE ARE THE PROLIFERS?

Kenneth D. Whitehead

'Till Death Do Us Part (And Not Soon Enough)

In the style of their pro-abortion counterparts, right-to-death advocates have been busily forging a debate over when life ends.

Infertility & the Illusion of Control

ON BUCKING GOD'S PLAN

Andrew D. Muras

Woe to the Bloody City!

THE HARVEST OF INNOCENTS

Joseph Collison

The Bitter Fruit of the Sexual Revolution

THE DISEASES OF OUR SEX-OBSESSED SOCIETY

Joseph Collison

The Incredible Shrinking of Man

Peter Singer's philosophy of preference-utilitarianism

An Educational Funeral

GUEST COLUMN

David C. Stolinsky

Confronting Sexual Immorality

TO CIVILIZE THE COMING GENERATION

Anthony Zimmerman

In the Valley of the Shadow of Death

NO EVIL SHALL I FEAR, FOR JANE FONDA IS MY GUIDE

Joseph Collison

Malaria kills many in Kenya when there is no chloroquine, but the West consistently sends “huge stockpiles of contraceptives.”

Don't Mess With a Pregnant Lady - Or Her Husband!

GUEST COLUMN

Lou Bruno

The right attitude and a little preparation can turn a rude comment into an opportunity to witness to your faith.

These Are Family-Life Experts?

Trustworthy advice for parents who happen upon the "Your Family" page in Time magazine

Anti-Fetal Rhetoric: America's Best-Loved Hate Speech

"...BUT NAMES WILL NEVER HURT ME"?

William Brennan

Why Is It O.K. to Insult a Pregnant Lady?

APPARENTLY, 'DIVERSITY' HAS ITS LIMITS

Kathleen Whitney Barr

Unsolicited conversations often turn into sermonettes, confrontations, or inquisitions if this is not the “blessed” first child.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!"

JUST A HUMAN WEED?

Joseph Collison

Harold Cybulski was to be taken off life support. When his two-year-old grandson ran in, Cybulski opened his eyes, sat up, and reached for the boy.

Contraception vs. Natural Piety

GUEST COLUMN

Thomas E. Woods Jr.

The idea of nature as something to which we ought to conform ourselves allows for benign mystery as opposed to malign mastery.

Teacher's Dirty Books

CHILDREN TRAPPED IN A WEB OF DECEIT

Joseph Collison

A survey of a thousand teenage girls found 82% said they wanted sex-ed to teach them “how to say no” without hurting a guy’s feelings.

The New Wonder Non-Drug That Cures Contraception

GUEST COLUMN

Joseph Collison

Who Are the Real Fanatics?

GUEST COLUMN

Joseph Collison

“I didn’t know Christians would help me,” the expectant mother told the counselor. “I thought they were all mean.”

The Least of the Least of Our Brethren

THE NEW KILLING FIELDS

Jeffrey Ziegler

How can we convert this culture of death? Through education, public action, pastoral leadership — and faith.

Unhappy Anniversary: Humanae Vitae at 30

THE PROPHETIC INSIGHT OF POPE PAUL VI

Kenneth D. Whitehead

From "Babies Having Babies" To Babies Hating Babies

GUEST COLUMN

Joseph Collison

Contraception & Compromised Intimacy

FALSE FREEDOM & LIMITED LOVE

Donald DeMarco

When one has passed beyond egoism, when one has truly understood that love is a mutual gift, then one comes to what is truly love.

Babies on Demand?

GUEST COLUMN

York A. Young

If you don’t want children— contracept. If you don’t want children but you get pregnant— abort. If you do want children but can’t conceive— take fertility drugs.

The Christian View of Sex

A TIME FOR APOLOGETICS, NOT APOLOGIES

Janet E. Smith

Men and women today are tired of unfaithfulness, tired of shallow and brief relationships. They crave something more meaningful and reliable.

What the Pope Called the 'Culture of Death' Is Actually a Syndicate of Death

CRIMES COVERED UP

Joseph Collison

The Decline of the Family in 20th Century America

FROM A PRODUCTION UNION TO A CONSUMER UNIT

Howard Curtis

The Problem Is Not Too Many People

ON POVERTY & POLLUTION

Thomas Storck

In most circles it is an article of unquestionable faith that the world has a population problem. But are there too many people for one earth?

America's Children Are in Jeopardy

CHILDHOOD BETRAYED — A PERSONALIST ANALYSIS

James G. Hanink

Suggesting that the very young, born or pre­born, are not persons is exclusivist. It makes the betrayal of children almost morally palatable.

Earthiness as Sacred

GUEST COLUMN

Ken Russell

The Church celebrates and proclaims publicly some very private human activities that might well cause some folks to feel a bit squeamish.

Abortion & Last Month's Election

CHRIST & NEIGHBOR

John C. Cort

Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament & Being 'Squeezed Out Like a Lemon'

EDITORIAL

Dale Vree

Consistently Pro-Choice

GUEST COLUMN

Michael Pakaluk

The New Right & the Pro-life Movement: How Solid is the Marriage?

ON THE RIGHT WING’S “SEAMLESS GARMENT”

Stephen Settle

March for Life organizer Nellie Gray had little patience with those who would solicit pro-life support simply to boost the bomb, bolster corporate profits, or get fluoride out of the water.

Surveillance of the Unborn: A Human Rights Issue

GUEST COLUMN

Marika Wilson Smith

While the March of Dimes may do valuable work toward helping conquer birth defects, other unborn handicapped children are denied life because of its support of prenatal testing.

The Sanctity of Life & the Right to Adequate Health Care

DETERIORATING HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA

John O’Connor

Infant mortality, life expectancy, and disability rates confirm that the poor and uninsured permanently suffer the consequences of our broken healthcare system.

Seams in the Seamless Garment?

DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN INNOCENT & GUILTY HUMAN LIFE

Sheldon Vanauken

If the Seamless Garment links the sparing of innocent human life with the sparing of guilty human life (the murderer or invader of the household or the invader of the country) then the Garment is full of seams.

Saying a Humble, Compassionate & Joyful “Yes” to Life

A SPIRITUALITY OF PEACEMAKING — PART III

Henri J.M. Nouwen

Resisting the forces of death is only meaningful when we are fully in touch with the forces of life we want to uphold.

Sterilization & An Unformed Conscience

GUEST COLUMN

Ann Kelly

To tamper with the generative function, as I did, is to make myself a god, or to tell God, in effect, “I know better than You do.”

Saying “No” to Death in All Its Manifestations

A SPIRITUALITY OF PEACEMAKING — PART II

Henri J.M. Nouwen

Real resistance requires the humble confes­sion that we are partners in the evil that we seek to resist. This is a very hard and seemingly endless dis­cipline.

Peace, a Gift We Receive in Prayer

A SPIRITUALITY OF PEACEMAKING — PART I

Henri J.M. Nouwen

Just as Jesus’ command to love one another cannot be seen as a part-time obligation, so too His call to peacemaking is unconditional, unlimited, and uncompromising.

Beyond “Left” & “Right”

ABORTION & NUCLEAR WAR

Peter Kreeft

How can we honestly ask God to re­move the scourge of abortion from our land when we are prepared to abort entire other countries with nuclear fire and brimstone?

The Consistent Pro-life Ethic

INTEGRAL TO PRO-LIFE SUCCESS

Bernard F. Law

The prophet gives words that echo an understanding of the heart. He understands the tragic situation and speaks of comfort, solace, hope, and then begins to help.

Stirring Things Up in Western Europe

AN UNUSUAL PRO-LIFE/PEACE JOURNEY

Juli Loesch

Many peace & anti-abortion advocates find themselves on opposite ends of the political spectrum. In the U.S. and Western Europe, stirring up the desire for reconciliation is a crucial task.

Teenage Pregnancy: A Moral Matter

HARVARD DIARY

Robert Coles

Young women also are spiritually hungry for a sense of purpose and meaning in life, for something or someone to believe in, for moral direction.

Abortion as “Growth Experience”

Dave Andrusko

Almost all abortion ideologues refuse to address the core question: Is the unborn child a fellow member of the human family, one to whom we owe love, life, and justice?

The Treatment of Handicapped Infants

A DECADE OF DETERIORATION

Gregory F. Aloia

Wide-scale prenatal screening procedures brought about a “free-fire zone” on the defective child throughout all three stages of gestation.

Conjugal Intimacy

IN LIGHT OF CREATION, FALL & REDEMPTION

Marshall Fightlin

Sacred Scripture and the mystical tradition in the Church present our redemption by Christ in terms of a husband-wife relationship.