Abiding by moral rules, especially when they are explained meaningfully and mercifully, gives teenagers swimming in a sea of relativism and nihilism a “moral vocabulary.” Sympathy isn’t enough. People need norms. Continue Reading »
The following is an excerpt from Archbishop Chaput's new book, Strangers in a Strange Land: The crime of the modern sexual regime is that it robs Eros of its meaning and love of its grandeur. It’s a lie. It’s a theft. It makes us small and ignoble.
Continue Reading »
When we pledge our faithfulness to another on our wedding day, we’re mocking the changeableness of life, saying that we trust in the covenant of marriage to transcend the weakness of our flesh, the fickleness of our passions, and the fragility of our egos. Continue Reading »
Recently I attended my son’s installation ceremony as a member of the student government at his elementary school. The passage into office was marked by a series of oaths in which students made vows to uphold the integrity of their charges and the duties that flowed from those vows. In the ancient Roman world, the term most employed to refer to the civic relationship to which such vows bound a person was pietas.
The suffering of those who feel themselves to be transsexual can be so great—to the point of making them suicidal—that from the perspective of the Church one can hardly categorically forbid surgical and hormonal measures to reduce their suffering, as a last resort after attempting other measures. The proscription of self-mutilation must here be weighed against the good of reducing suffering. Continue Reading »
The debate last night underlined the reasons why Donald Trump’s character and temperament should be disqualifying in the eyes of conservatives. Continue Reading »
Incestuous relationships between adults should push the issue of consent and its many complexities and weaknesses to the fore in debates about sexual morality and marriage. Continue Reading »
Marriage and monastic life share many pleasures, pains, and conundrums. Every day you have to walk into the thicket of your promise again. Continue Reading »
Communion discipline, Rocco Buttiglione says, should be changed to incorporate the difference between objective and subjective guilt. This is wrong. Continue Reading »
Unfortunately, a lot of NFP promoters preach NFP as a prosperity gospel. When this happens, NFP doesn’t deliver and people abandon it. Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
