HERO---a word that conjures up dramatic images of risking life and limb to run into a burning building, or charge an armed assailant, with the only objective being to protect the life of people at risk, often people who are strangers to them. Heroism can...

I didn’t set out to make a movie about contraception. After all, in a country where sex without babies is largely considered a basic human necessity like air and water, telling a story about the disastrous consequences of rendering the conjugal act sterile...

In the U.S., the Supreme Court generally has the last word on what law means, and even what the Constitution means. Even more, the only authoritative meaning is what the most recent Supreme Court opinion has said. When I first trained as a lawyer years ago, we still...

50 years ago, Pope Paul VI suggested if we need convincing of the solid ground on which the teachings of the church in this area are based, we need only “stop to reflect upon the consequences of the use of the methods of artificial birth regulation” ----consequences...

When Pope Paul VI wrote Humanae Vitae in 1968, he began with the reflection that the moral norms regarding married love can only be observed with the gravest difficulty, sometimes heroic effort, and it was time to review these norms in light of the conditions of life...

Many couples who have used methods of natural family planning testify that using NFP, while not always easy, has been beneficial and sometimes even extremely beneficial to their marriages and their personal spiritual lives. Their testimonies are not difficult to find...

In one year we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae. This landmark encyclical has been one of the milestones in reaffirming and clarifying what the Church has always taught about human love and life. However, despite much talk, debate, dissension...

The Church’s teaching on marital sexuality is an invitation for men and women—an invitation to let God be God, to receive the gift of God’s love and care, and to let this gift inform and transform us, so we may share that love with each other and with the world....

Where do we locate the “good news” of Jesus Christ? We find it in the Word of God in Sacred Scripture, announcing to us the “day of salvation.” (II Cor 6:2) We are thankful for the Sacraments that bring divine life to the soul and make us citizens of the Kingdom of...

In July 1978, a symposium marking the tenth anniversary of Humanae Vitae took place at the University of San Francisco. The symposium was sponsored by the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the St. Ignatius Institute of the University of San Francisco. For the occasion,...

Woven in the fabric of our being is a gift that reflects how much God loves us. By creating our bodies in such complex beauty so that the mystery of life comes from love, and love leads to life, God has revealed his image as the Creator and Source of Love. Couples who...