Gentlemen, I need your help.
The focus of my PhD is the question “is there a Catholic view of Masculinity?” Part of my research is reading on gender identity, particularly relating to masculinity. When I saw that the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRS) have released a discussion paper titled “Protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and sex and/or gender identity” I thought I had better read it. Discussion papers are important stages in policy development in Australia so, when a body as important at the AHRS write a paper on this, you can count on somebody bringing it to parliament sooner or later.
The damage pornography does to a relationship and to an individual are well documented. I want to consider here just one of the effects of pornography on a couple and consider a possible problem not identified in most discussions of marriage.
One of the problems of porn is that it presents one partner (usually the man) with an unrealistic view of what to expect in and of a sexual partner. That is, it presents an airbrushed reality with a model who is begging to do things any sane woman would find beneath her dignity. As Simcha Fisher puts it,
If you can summon up a panting beauty just by touching your iPod screen, then why go to the trouble of getting to know an actual woman—learning who she really is, winning her love, and dedicating your life to serving her?
One of the things my wife and I have noticed in the last few years is the large number of married couples, including Catholics, in which each person views themselves as an individual only slightly connected to the other.
Their lives seem so separate that neither knows nor understands what the other is doing!
Recently, its seems as if every town, city, state, and country in North America, Europe, and beyond, has taken to assaulting the foundations of natural marriage.
In light of this onslaught, you could not be blamed if you felt a sense of helplessness and despair.
Fathers have a great deal to learn from this saint who was martyred when she was 11 years old.
Stairway to Heaven is a weekly feature exploring how to live our Catholic faith in our culture.
July 6th is the feast day of St. Maria Goretti. She is the patron saint of young women.
She grew up a farm girl in rural Italy at the turn of the 19th into the 20th Century. When she was 11, a 19-year old boy living in the same house as her family started making advances on her. She kept refusing him.
Finally, after six months, the boy cornered her and forced himself on her, brandishing a knife. She didn’t give in. He then stabbed her repeatedly.
Hope for marriage is needed for the good of society
When I got married, I had hopes for my marriage. I hoped we would be happy and have many children and live together a long time. So far so good!
But I don’t think I had hope for marriage in general, at least not that I can recall.
Blessed Pope John Paul II and his exhortation to families starts with accepting the Gospel
It is probably no surprise that this week I am returning to the writings of Blessed Pope John Paul II.
As one of the longest serving popes, he wrote extensively. And he wrote often about the family and fatherhood.
Traditional-marriage advocates say scientists won’t report how divorce, single parenting and step-parenting hurt children.
You’re a prince so love your wife as a princess, for that is who she is.
Stairway to Heaven is a weekly feature exploring how to live our Catholic faith in our culture.
I was hoping to avoid writing about that wedding in London last Friday but something my daughter said made me stop in my tracks in such a way that I (sort of) must pen a few words related (very loosely) to the blessed event.
My wife and daughter watched the whole wedding and my little girl started talking to my wife about marrying a prince. It is, after all, every girl’s dream to fall in love with a prince and become a princess. After some conversation back and forth, my wife said something to the effect of having met her prince (that would be me) . . .
The conjugal love that St. Joseph had for the Blessed Virgin
Very often men are accused of having just one thing on their minds.
And in today’s sensuality-saturated world, can we be blamed?
