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A Response to the Bishops of Malta

From Web Exclusives

At the heart of what these bishops and others have called a “merciful” path is a frenzied desire for happiness and for the avoidance of pain and suffering, supposing that these people have suffered enough. This stands in direct contrast to the Scriptures, the Fathers, and the saints, whose premise is that suffering is not something to be avoided at all costs—one can learn to live through it. Continue Reading »

Why Amoris Laetitia Wouldn't Have Helped Me

From Web Exclusives

Like waves breaking on rock, polishing and shaping by force, the Catholic faith sands and sculpts my being. The day my soul became Catholic was the day I found out that as a divorced and remarried woman I could not receive Communion. “Truth enlightens man's intelligence and shapes his freedom,” . . . . Continue Reading »

Kim Davis: The Guts of a Convert

From First Thoughts

Kim Davis may not have a legal leg to stand on (see here, and here). But I think some Christians are moving too quickly to critique her situation on a purely legal basis. We are Christians first, before we are Americans. So before we start talking about whether this is a good religious liberty . . . . Continue Reading »

Renewing My Plea: Humanae Vitae after Obergefell

From Web Exclusives

Some months back, I made a plea—that the Church not yield on withholding the Eucharist from divorced and remarried Catholics. I wrote briefly of my own Catholic conversion, which has left me, as a divorced and remarried woman, unable to receive. I mentioned that my husband and I hoped to be granted a decree of nullity. Now we have received word that we are approximately six weeks from the end.At this post-Obergefell moment, and with my annulment in view—and on the eve of the anniversary of Pope Paul VI's great encyclical, Humanae Vitae—I wish to make two proposals to the Church and to my American Catholic brothers and sisters.First, let us embrace Humanae Vitae in word and deed. Second, let us embrace a renewal of celibacy. Continue Reading »