De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

And this , my friends, is why no faithful, intelligent Catholic should ever buy or even read The Tablet . I mean, how on earth did Christopher Lamb get to this ridiculous leap of logic from Pope Francis' words, words which reaffirmed his rejection of population control programmes as an example of “ideological colonisation” and praised Blessed Paul VI for defending Catholic teaching against contraception?!! The Pope is asked a question on a plane, the question is this: Christoph Schmidt: Holy Father, first of all I would like to say: Thank you very much for all the impressive moments of this week. It is the first time I accompany you, and I would like to say thank you very much. My question: you have talked about the many children in the Philippines, about your joy because there are so many children, but according to some polls the majority of Filipinos think that the huge growth of Filipino population is one of the most important reasons for the enormous poverty in the c...

Right, now I have your attention... Caroline Farrow has written a really interesting reflection on the Catholic theology of the family and fertility. It raises many important points which will resonate with Catholics who are in engaged in the melee of family life. For example, the term Natural Family Planning could have negative connotations with contraceptive over-tones. Indeed, it is a fact that such secular institutions as the NHS and the BBC both refer to NFP as a method of contraception. Caroline points out that some non-Catholics consider that NFP is a method of contraception and to say it is not is merely to enagage in semantics. Of course, Catholics argue that there is nothing in any way contraceptive about natural family planning because a couple practicing NFP do nothing at all to prevent procreation or to render the act infertile either before, during, or after sexual intercourse has taken place . The sexual act may in fact be infertile (i.e. it may not be possib...

I have been asked by my friend Jackie Parkes to help publicise this up and coming event: UK & Ireland  Natural Family Planning Conference 2012 Natural Family Planning refers to teaching methods that use the cyclical pattern of female fertility to help couples achieve their fertility intentions.  We are holding an NFP conference to help us learn more about this subject and to network with others teachers in the UK and Ireland. Please join us! Conference Details When: Saturday 10th Nov ember, 11am – 5pm. Registration & refreshments available from 10.15am. Where: The ReachOut! Centre, 6 Oxford Place, Manchester, M14 5RZ. Speakers: • Dr John Kelly is a retired Obstetrician Gynaecologist who has previously worked in both London and Birmingham. He is a specialist in Symptothermal methods who promotes NFP in the UK and abroad. • Dr Phil Boyle is a General Practitioner and a Certified FertilityCare Medical Consultant. He runs two NaProTechnologyTM clinics ...

The Church has always extolled fertility as a good of marriage despite this being somewhat contrary to the modern secular understanding of fertility as either a nuisance, some sort of disease to be treated with medication, or alternatively as a ‘right’. Today it sometimes appears that we spend the first half our lives desperately trying to avoid pregnancy, and the second half trying desperately to conceive. The perspective offered by the Catholic Church may be one you actually find refreshing, surprising, relevant and clear, especially when explained through the lens of modern teaching. The ‘good’ of fertility consistently upheld and taught by the Church speaks to our physical reality, without making excuses, acknowledging the complimentarity of our bodies and the good of the sexual inclination we experience. Through these realities, a husband and wife, as sexually differentiated beings, are able to unite themselves to one another in the deepest way possible in the conjugal act...