“Wives should be submissive to their husbands as to the Lord.” ~ St. Paul The dreaded “submission” featured in Ephesians 5 lands like a four-letter word on the ears of many who are otherwise eager to put Catholic social teaching into practice in their lives. This negative response to the idea of headship in marriage . . . Read more
The short answer is no, remarriage after annulment is morally okay. The Catholic Church does not acknowledge divorce. In the Catholic mindset, marriage is not merely contractual, but sacramental. It is a permanent spiritual union formed by God, and it makes no more sense to speak of a couple becoming un-married than of a person . . . Read more
The Beauty of Catholic Marriage Is remarrying after divorce a sin? To answer this question from a Catholic viewpoint, we must first understand what marriage is. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines marriage as “the matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of . . . Read more
The Second Prediction: Men Would Lose Respect for Women The second prediction of Paul VI in Humanae Vitae, no. 17, was that if people resorted to contraception, men would lose respect for women: Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget . . . Read more
The Predictions of Pope Saint Paul VI The first prediction of Paul VI in Humanae Vitae, no. 17 was that if people resorted to contraception, there would follow a general increase in immorality, especially among the youth, and also an increase in marital infidelity: Upright men can even better convince themselves of the solid grounds . . . Read more
The Truly Radical Revolution that Accompanied Christianity “It is essential, therefore, that the values chosen and pursued in one’s life be true, because only true values can lead people to realize themselves fully, allowing them to be true to their nature. The truth of these values is to be found not by turning in on . . . Read more
Man as Collaborator “Married people are the free and responsible collaborators with God the Creator in the most serious duty of transmitting human life,” reads the very first sentence of Humanae Vitae. Explicit mention of God also occurs at least 24 times in the encyclical. Then Pope Paul VI refers to married couples being “collaborators” . . . Read more
The Predictions of Humanae Vitae We begin our exposition of Humanae Vitae (HV) with section no. 17. In this part of the document, Pope Paul VI lays out four predictions as to what would happen in society if teaching against contraception went unheeded. Let us remember that this teaching is not simply a particular doctrine . . . Read more
Humanae Vitae Was No “Invention;” It Repeated Church Teaching Since the 1960’s Western culture has been in a downward spiral of moral decadence. The contraceptive pill, introduced in the U.S. during that decade, brought about the so-called “sexual revolution.” This revolution brought in turn an unprecedented increase in sexual promiscuity, conjugal infidelity, divorce, abortion, and . . . Read more
In 1996 Pope St. John Paul II, speaking to a group of teachers of Natural Family Planning (NFP), boldly declared: “The moment has come for every parish and every structure of consultation and assistance to the family and to the defense of life to have personnel available who can teach married couples how to use . . . Read more
