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?
Catholic men need solidarity with other Catholics or they will seek solidarity from the culture instead.
This past Sunday was August 14th – a special spiritual day. It is the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe, the patron saint of my parish. It is also the anniversary of the death of the Venerable Father Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus, of which I am a proud member. His cause for sainthood is ongoing, so I presume August 14th will be his feast day if he is ever beautified.
Stairway to Heaven is a weekly feature exploring how to live our Catholic faith in our culture.
The relationship between Pope John Paul II and his father was one for the ages. There is so much for us to learn from them.
When Pope John Paul II was nine years old, his mother succumbed to a weak heart and damaged kidneys, leaving the future pontiff alone with his father and 23-year old brother who was in medical school.
I’ve been reading a book entitled “John Paul II: A Life of Grace” by Renzo Allegri, which tries to tie together all of the remarkable and providential occurrences in the Holy Father’s life. In the chapter describing the family’s life after Emilia Wojtyla’s death, Allegri paints a beautiful and stirring portrait of Pope John Paul II’s father, Captain Karol Wojtyla, Sr.
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 police station in a Texas city once posted a list of rules entitled “How to Raise a Juvenile Delinquent” as: 1. From infancy, give a child everything he wants. He’ll believe that the world owes him a living. 2. Pick up after your child. He’ll learn to pass his duties on others. 3. Side [...]
Joe Carter at First Things has list of 50 things a man should be able to do. It is a good list – those are thing a man should be able to do. I am pretty sure that the list might not be the same. What do you think should be on a list of [...]
Machismo is defined as a strong or exaggerated sense of masculinity stressing attributes such as physical courage, virility, domination of women, and aggressiveness. It is downplayed as cultural and even backwards. But it appears to be deeply planted in nature – genetic even. Does it have a place in bringing up boys who are followers [...]
Even if our daughters don’t respond to our parenting, we must never give up or get bitter. We plant the seed of counsel and discipline now and leave it to the good Lord to let it blossom in His time. Always bear in mind the good word that St. Paul has written in his first [...]
It’s true. Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity. America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don’t Let Freedom Slip Away – After America, There is No Place to Go” Next to religious and inspirational stories, this is one of the [...]
