Association Of Catholic Bloggers

"I shall put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers" (Gn 3, 15) Janet Smith (Professor of Moral Philosophy) Articles by Dr. Janet Smith on topics ranging from   Abortion, Bioethics, Feminism & Women and the Family to Moral Philosophy   and an exhaustive defense of Humanae Vitae, etc.,.    ( read on... ) Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later   ( read on... ) Contraception: Why Not? ( read on... ) Natural Family Planning and Self-Mastery ( read on... ) The Christian View of Sex: A Time for Apologetics, not Apologies ( read on... ) Language of the Body ( read on... ) Premarital Sex ( read on... ) He Taught Us Who We Are ( read on... )   Dianne Irving (Professor of Philosophy and Medical Ethics) Lifeissues.net has published a large number of articles by Dr. Irving on the Development of the Embryo, Cloning,   the Nature of Bioethics, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, In Vitro Fertilization,   the Role of Ethics in Science, etc.,.   ( rea

One of our blog authors Genevieve Kineke writes wonderfully at link below: The Lost Essence of Femininity

Ave Cor Maria.. The ACWB now has 36 blog authors who all have full admin access. We began May 12th 2011 & have had 318 posts on topics such as: Adoption; Assumption; abortion; bible; Billings ovulation method; Bishops/Priests; Catholic homeschooling; Catholic parenting; youth; Catholic retreats; Catholic devotions; dementia; pregnancy; childbirth; period problems; miscarriage/stillbirth; grief; spritual direction; Saints/Blesseds .... The posts have been very inspiring & uplifting touching on very difficult subjects that affect us in our daily lives. We welcome other women..married, single, widowed in order to support each other in a true Catholic feminity based on the full magisterial teaching of the Catholic Church. We have priest bloggers who post which is incredibly helpful. Any other Rev Frs are welcome to post. Often times the Frs have talked about their own mothers & their influence on them & other topics which are helpful for us mothers of sons p

On this last day of the month, let us pray one last time for this month’s papal intentions. May young people find the treasure of their lives in Christ and be rooted and built up in him. May the Christians of the West rediscover the freshness and enthusiasm of their faith. The reflection is from Pope Benedict’s Message for World Youth Day. In the history of the Church, the saints and the martyrs have always drawn from the glorious Cross of Christ the strength to be faithful to God even to the point of offering their own lives. In faith they found the strength to overcome their weaknesses and to prevail over every adversity. Indeed, as the Apostle John says, “Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 Jn 5:5). The victory born of faith is that of love. There have been, and still are, many Christians who are living witnesses of the power of faith that is expressed in charity. They have been peacemakers, promoters of justice and workers f

St. Jeanne Jugan

 Pope Benedict celebrating Mass ad orientem in the Sistine Chapel on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord 2008 when he baptised 13 children. In this post I don't wish to enter the area of controversy. I'm simply sharing some experiences and thoughts . A very irritating experience I have here in the Philippines occasionally is when I am invited to celebrate Mass on some special occasion such as a recollection day for students. Usually there is a commentator. I would love to see this role abolished, since it serves no useful purpose. Many parishes here still have someone telling them when to sit, stand or kneel, which is not the business of the commentator at all. The General Instruction of the Roman Mass No 105 b) clearly describes the commentator's job: The commentator, who provides the faithful, when appropriate , with brief explanations and commentaries with the purpose of introducing them to the celebration and preparing them to understand it better. The commentato

“ Natural family planning ? What’s that? And does it really work?” These are probably some of the most common reactions or statements we get when people ask us how we spaced our two kids (Tim is turning 5 in October and Rysse just turned 2 last July). Those who are already in the know though can testify that NFP is the best way to go when it comes to family planning. Our kids are products of NFP, just like Umbert. ;-) What is natural family planning (NFP)? Wikipedia defines  NFP  in the following way: Natural family planning   (NFP) is a term referring to the  family planning  methods approved by the  Roman Catholic Church . In accordance with the Church's requirements for  sexual behavior  in keeping with its philosophy of the dignity of the human person, NFP excludes the use of other methods of  birth control . *To read the full article, please go to Philstar.com's unBLOGGED section by clicking  here .

Sir Thomas More , Hans Holbein the Younger, painted 1527 Readings (New American Bible, used in the Philippines and USA). Gospel Matthew 16:21-27 (Jerusalem Bible, used in Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, Scotlanc)  Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day. Then, taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him. 'Heaven preserve you, Lord;' he said 'this must not happen to you'. But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because the way you think is not God's way but man's.' Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will

St Monica, Luis Tristán de Escamilla 1616 I posted the following two years ago on Bangor to Bobbio  and thought it might be of interest to the Catholic Women Bloggers this year on the feast of St Monica: The second reading in the Office of Readings for the feast of St Monica (332-387) always brings a smile to my face and leads me to ask, ‘Was St Monica an “Irish mother”?’ St Augustine’s brother had said to their mother when she was dying that it might be better if she died in her homeland in north Africa, rather than in Italy. The extract from St Augustine’s Confessions goes on: But as she heard this she looked at me and said: ‘See the way he talks’. And then she said to us both: ‘Lay this body where it may be. Let no care of it disturb you: this only I ask of you that you should remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be’. The latter part of the last quotation appears on innumerable memorial cards and I don’t know of a better request for prayers for the dead. But i

I spent the good part of an hour yesterday afternoon standing in a lobster shack. Outside it was pouring. As I waited for the skies to clear, I chatted with a woman whose given name is Storme. Each summer after lobster season ends, Storme and her partner transform this shack (on the right in the photo) on the New Brunswick coast into a shop, where they sell their photographs, pottery and paintings. Transform is a nice way to put it: the women have to scour the shack of the stench of lobster, haddock and mussels so summer tourists see only a cute gift shop. It is hard, smelly work. My husband and I like to vacation like this, nice and slow. We love to take in the local flavors, learning a little about another corner of the world. This summer, we are spending time in a town called St. Martins, population 386. Read more here...

At Adoration yesterday, deep in thought with Christ, I noticed a gleaming shine in two places in my sight.  One was the monstrance, where the Holy Eucharist was displayed; the other was on my own hand. My wedding band seemed to match the golden monstrance made to enhance and protect Christ's body in the humble form of bread. When the monstrance is displayed on the Altar it represents something very special, it is the throne of Christ during Adoration.  It is the symbol of Christ's love and redeeming care for us. Time spent in Adoration to Christ has proven time and time again to be beneficial in strengthening the love and hope of the believer.  During Adoration, we reach out to God, trusting Him, loving Him, and letting Him know this with our time and heart. My wedding band is displayed on my hand to represent something very special.  It is a symbol of the unending love and devotion I have for my husband.  Time spent with my husband proves time and time again to be beneficia

I recently read an article titled “ The Teaching of the Catholic Church on Home Schooling – Parents for Eternal Life ” by Jesuit priest Fr. John Hardon, and the following paragraph really struck me: “...what they (children) mainly need is to know why God made them; why they are on earth at all; why they are in this world; that  they are here in this life in order to prepare and train themselves for the world to come . In a word,  children are to be taught that their short stay here in time is only a preparation for the world that will never end . They are to be trained for heaven.” Our kids need to be “trained for heaven”?! What a big responsibility we parents have then! In fact, Fr. Hardon goes on to say: “The Church teaches that, ‘Under God, parents are the  first in time, first in authority, first in responsibility, first in supernatural ability, and first in dignity  to  educate their children for eternal life .’” “... believing Catholic parents ...must be convinced that

' For many years I've had some involvement with persons with disabilities. Last Sunday I officiated at a wedding for two Deaf people. I regularly celebrate Sunday Mass in Sign Language. I'm not very good in that language and find conversations difficult, since I'm poor at reading signs. I've asked a number of experienced interpreters and their experience has been similar to mine. When you are learning a spoken language you reach a point when you can understand far more than you can express. With Sign Language it is the opposite. I've also been on the fringes of Faith and Life for many years. It is a movement, born from a pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1871, that is made up of 'communities made up of persons with an intellectual disability, their families and friends, particularly young friends, who meet together on a regular basis in a Christian spirit, to share friendship, pray together, fiesta and celebrate life'. San José Foundation More here .  

My possessions have been whittled down to books, clothes, movies and paper records of the past. I do have a few other things as well, but much of it is in boxes down in the basement. Most of the time I don't even think of it (that stuff), but sometimes I do miss it. And sometimes I just misplace it. I have lately gone looking for this or that, and have been unable to unearth either of them (this or that) which has left me feeling rather shiftless, rootless, dispossessed and transient. This strikes me as a rather extreme reaction to what is merely a simplification of my life, a reduction in my belongings. When I don't imagine myself a sad and stuff-less waif, I do have a sense of freedom and unknown possibility. I'm not weighed down by a household and its attendant bits and pieces, and can conceivably pick up sticks at a moment's notice for parts and adventures unknown. While I am grateful for that freedom, my perverse human nature sometimes rails against the fact t

Last year I decided this needed to go: It's pretty, I know. But this beauty has an evil side; it has mad thorns that will rip your flesh with one wrong move. It grows like wildfire and you can't kill it. What began as a small potted gift from a friend had turned into a fiend that was destroying my fence, yard and innocent flowers. My husband doesn't let me use electrical tools in the garden because...well, because I've given him good reason not to. So-- I have been relegated to do whatever I'd like in the garden as long as I don't sever electrical wires or send myself to the emergency room. Every summer in the unrelenting Florida heat, I'd trim it back in tiny increments, but the more I trimmed the faster and thicker it grew... until it took over half of the backyard fence. It was so intricately entwined and out of control that as I stood with my clippers in hand I was at a loss for where to begin. One thing about me ... If I have enough determination to beg

The Church celebrates the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary today, that time after her Assumption when she was crowned Queen of Heaven. I find this memorial to be a beautiful reminder that Mary not only reigns in heaven, but we should allow her to do so in our hearts and lives as well. Her greatest desire is to bring us to Jesus; it is often said she is the shortest and surest way to Him. Mary, if we go to her, will obtain every grace we need. As our Queen and our Mother she looks upon us with the greatest love. I sometimes forget this. As those who follow my Daughter of the King blog know, I sometimes struggle in my relationship with Mary; I find it hard to relate to her, but I still pray to her and ask her to increase my devotion to her. Jesus gave us an invaluable gift when He gave us His own Mother as he was dying on the cross. As Fr. Joseph Homick relates in his book on Mary, A Place Prepared by God , a book I strongly recommend, Mary has protected us from more than we may e

Its almost a year since we were able to welcome Pope Benedict to the UK and once again this dear man,  at an age when most would be staying at home and just pottering about a bit, is greeting tens of thousands at World Youth Day in Spain. The readings this week so well expounded by Father Sean on the post before this one, is the great and wonderful passage were Simon answers "You are the Christ!" and Jesus gives him his new name and his commission as first Pope. Peter didn't know he was being made Pope then, the position only came into being after Jesus had ascended but from this point on Jesus had given him his job, his role to guide the Church on earth until death. It is a role. a job greater than any one man, it has survived being held by men who were not worthy of it and yet the line back to Peter is unbroken and when the simple man puts on his garments of authority he IS Peter, the Rock, what a rock, what a church! When Holy Father Pope Benedict came to London he too

Baldacchino , St Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Gian Lorezo Bernini, 1624 Readings (New American Bible, used in the Philippines and the USA).  Gospel Matthew 16:13-20 (Jerusalem Bible, used in Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, Scotland). When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of Man is?' And they said, 'Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets'. 'But you,' he said 'who do you say I am?' Then Simon Peter spoke up, 'You are the Christ,' he said 'the Son of the living God'. Jesus replied, 'Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever