You might find this useful: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64318356/PORTA%20FIDEI.ppt
It's a commentary I made on the Pope's Porta Fidei, explaining the Year of Faith.
The Year of Faith is a singular opportunity we have to seize-- and prepare well for to maximize its impact! For this we have to know the mind of the Pope.
Carpe annum!
You may download a free Visita Iglesia Guide here or here. (two forms).
This practice among Filipinos on Holy Thursday is rooted in a practice in Mexico (as most of our practices are), and in turn this Mexican practice is rooted in a Roman practice. After some search in the internet, I found this explanation which I thought was the most meaningful:
The Seven Churches Visitation or Visita a las Siete Casas in Mexico commemorates:
the stops (visits or stations) that were made by Jesus on his way to Calvary:
1st Visit: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22: 39-46)
2nd Visit: Jesus bound and taken before Annas (John 18: 19-22)
3rd Visit: Jesus taken before the High Priest, Caiaphas (Matthew 26: 63-65)
4th Visit: Jesus taken before Pilate (John 18,35-37)
5th Visit: Jesus taken before Herod (Luke 23: 8-9; 11)
6th Visit: Jesus taken before Pilate again (Matthew 27: 22-26)
7th Visit: Jesus given the crown of thorns and led to his crucifixion (Matthew 27: 27-31)
Upon entering the church one kneels, makes the sign of the cross, reads the above noted scriptures, reads a special meditation and ends with 5 Our Fathers, 5 Hail Marys and 5 Glorias. After this, one makes a personal reflection before moving on to the next church. In Mexico they sell small booklets outside the churches with the prayers to be used as a guideline. However, most eliminate the actual scripture leaving only the meditation (which may or may not coincide with the scripture). Many Mexican Catholics perform a “Holy Hour” (Hora Santa) after the last visit.
I translated a Visita Iglesia Guide and you can download it here or here.
Source: http://jimmyakin.com/2005/02/seven_churches_.html
Other sources:
http://www.churchforum.org/visita-a-siete-casas-familia.htm - with a sample prayer in Spanish
http://www.archdioceseofanchorage.org/documents/HolyThur06Bklt.pdf - prayers in English
http://www.zenit.org/article-34584?l=english - a bit of history
That's a big title. But Christians are here to do big things. For with God, nothing is impossible (Lk 1:37).
So how do we renew the world? By renewing the Church.
And how do we renew the Church?
The solution comes from the greatest analyzer of present-day affairs: Pope Ratzinger.
To a great extent, the renewal of the Church throughout the world depends on the renewal of the practice of Penance and the growth in holiness which that sacrament both inspires and accomplishes.
The liberating power of this sacrament needs to be rediscovered and owned once again by every Catholic.
by Mary Beth Bonacci in Stay Catholic
It’s not about avoiding teen pregnancy. It’s not about avoiding sexually transmitted diseases. It’s not even about preventing AIDS. All of those goals are good, mind you. But the concept of chastity is about so much more. Chastity is, quite simply, about finding and living real love. It is about living our human sexuality the way it was designed to be lived, and in the process putting that sexuality at the service of real, authentic love.
Chastity is the radical notion that sex has a meaning. It speaks a language -- the language of self-gift. Everything about sex is about permanence. It says, "I give myself to you. And I give to you my potential offspring, knowing that if a child is conceived, you and I will always be together to raise and form this product of our love." Sex brings new life into the world. New souls, destined to live forever, come into the world through the love of a man and a woman, through their sexual union. And that fact alone makes it a sacred, holy act.
Our bodies conspire in a myriad of ways to make sex a permanent, self-giving act. Hormonally, sexual arousal and intercourse set off a chain reaction designed to keep married couples bound together. Women experience a flood of oxytocin -- the same hormone which they produce in labor and in nursing a baby. Oxytocin causes a woman to be forgetful, decreases her ability to think rationally -- and causes an incredibly strong emotional attachment to form with the man she is with. Men also produce some oxytocin during sexual intercourse. But their bodies also produce a hormone called vasopressin. Vasopressin, called "the monogamy molecule," kicks in after sexual activity, and its impact is to heighten a man’s sense of responsibility. It encourages that part of him which says, "My gosh, she may be carrying my child! I’d better get serious about life! I’ve got to get to work, to provide for this family!"
Sex flourishes in the context of permanence. It speaks the language of marriage. Within a marriage, it’s an incredibly powerful expression of self-giving love. It helps to bind a couple together, for better or for worse. It’s an instrument of the grace of matrimony. It helps a husband and a wife live out their commitment to each other.
But what about sex outside of marriage? Simply put, it’s speaking the language of the body in a lie. It’s physically saying, "I give myself to you forever" when that is not in fact the case. It is putting the other person at physical risk -- of pregnancy and of disease. It is, more importantly, putting the other person at emotional and spiritual risk -- allowing a bond to form with no commitment to back it up. It puts relationships at risk, by creating uneven and inconsistent levels of communication. The body is saying one thing, but the relationship says something else. Love means wanting what is best for the other person. Real Love would never put the other at any kind of risk. But sex outside marriage does just that -- it puts one’s "beloved" at significant risk. And that, my friends, is not real love.
Chastity -- respecting the language of sex and saving sexual expression for marriage -- frees us to find real love. It helps to insure that our dates care about us for ourselves, and not just as a way for them to find sexual satisfaction for themselves. It weeds out those who would use us. And it helps to insure that we treat our dates as the images and likenesses of God that they are!
Chastity is the way -- the only way -- to find and live real love. And isn’t that what we’re all looking for, anyway?
A key to vast re-evangelization is to turn those who actually go to church into zealous evangelizers.
Those who go to church have to frequently hear these truths:
1. The Command of Christ, his last words on earth: "Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you."
If we are to teach Christians to follow all of Christ's commands, we should never miss to include his last and most crucial command: Go and make disciples, the very continuation of his divine mission to save all men. It's a command, an imperative command --not a request nor a mere plea-- that is self-perpetuating and self-multiplying.
2. CBCP's Catechism for Filipino Catholics: Today, we realize that "each disciple of Christ has the obligation of spreading the faith to the best of his ability" (LG 17) PCP II asserts: "All are called to mission...all --without exception-- are called to evangelize." (PCP II 402) (bold in the original)
Take note it says, Today we realize... This shows how the church has been cleric-centered in its approach to evangelization for some time. It is up to us today to be thoroughly faithful to Christ's commissioning of the laity into his saving work.
3. Catechism of the Catholic Church:
> The Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well. - CCC 863
> "To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer. ...Lay people also fulfill their prophetic mission by evangelization." - CCC 904
> The duty of Christians to take part in the life of the Church impels them to act as witnesses of the Gospel and of the obligations that flow from it. - CCC 2472. This discussion of the 8th commandment in the CCC shows that evangelization, apostolate, is a clear obligation.
Second, the laity have to allow grace into their life, because only the grace of God is capable of bringing people to his divine level. If Christians are not habitually in the state of grace, if do not have the life of Christ in their soul, no evangelization can take place. Thus, Benedict XVI has lately said that the beginning of all evangelization is confession. The premise of a vast re-evangelization is a vast evangelization on the healing and sanctifying power of confession. A powerpoint presentation, entitled Sin and Confession, can be found in this dropbox link.
Lay leaders, influential Catholics and priests have to keep on reminding Christians --other Christs!-- of these fundamental truths, if we want the new evangelization to take place.
Of course, these truths are not enough to turn Christians into evangelizers. They need to study Christ's revelation so they can truly fall in love with Christ and transmit all of his teachings to others. Here below are some internet resources for this work.
Resources:
> Course of Catechesis in Catholic Doctrine - 60 powerpoint presentation on the Catechism of the Catholic Church
> Beginning Catholic
> Catholic Home Study Service
> Explore your Faith
By Dr. Raul Nidoy
Parents for Education Foundation (PAREF)
Association for Single-Sex Education in Asia (ASSEA)
Download the article in brochure form here.
Are there benefits to single-sex schooling?
The best research on this topic was sponsored by the U.S. government in 2005. The research demonstrated “a single-sex school advantage by far” over coed schools.
Do those results refer to academics?
Yes, they found better results in math, science, English, and social studies achievement. But advantages extend to social and emotional development of the children too.
But isn’t this just one study?
by Fr. Michael E. Giesler. The sub-titles and formatting were added to facilitate reading. Taken from Stay Catholic.
Highly valued in ancient times
It is a fact that virginity and continence (restraint from sexual activity) were highly regarded in ancient times. Many non-Christian peoples valued these practices for their ascetical example as well as for their religious significance.1
Hebrew priests were asked to abstain from intercourse in order to prepare themselves for certain rituals, the Roman vestal virgins were considered sacred guardians of the city, and many tribal religions considered sexual abstinence, at least for a time, as a way to win favor from God.
Closer to the time of Christ, a religious group of Jews called the Essenes seems to have practiced a form of celibacy in expectation for the coming of the Messiah. From what we can gather from Scripture, John the Baptist was celibate, along with two of the greatest Hebrew prophets, Elijah and Jeremiah.
Occasionally we also hear of Jewish scholars, such as the Rabbi Akiba in the second century A.D., who with the permission of their wives lived long periods of continence in order to devote themselves more completely to the study of the Law.2
Jesus and the biblical record
But while most first-century Jewish rabbis were expected to marry, in the hope of adding to the numbers of the chosen people and raising children well-formed in the Law, we do know of one egregious exception to this practice, the young rabbi from Nazareth named Jesus Christ. He did not choose to marry, and there is clear evidence that he also asked his apostles to live celibacy in order to follow him.
As a matter of fact, many scholars believe that he was making a defense of his own and his apostles' celibacy when he affirmed that "there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive this" (Matt. 19:11). In other words, Jesus and his apostles had freely renounced their right to have a wife and children, in order to spread the kingdom of God.
And he later declares that this generosity will not go unrewarded: "For everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life" (Matt. 19:29). Luke's Gospel specifically mentions the leaving of a wife for the sake of God's kingdom (Luke 18:29), along with the reward that God will give.
Christ also speaks of the kingdom of God as the definitive state of mankind, where there will be no marrying or giving in marriage (cf. Mark 12:25). Though at that point he was answering a question about eternal life posed by his opponents, his response highlights the power and beauty of celibacy: those who practice it in this world are truly anticipating the final state of man in paradise, where God's love is the greatest and most exclusive reality.
Therefore virginity for the sake of God's kingdom can truly be called the "pearl of great price" (Matt. 13:46), to use the expression of one of Christ's parables.
It is clear then that the origin of virginity or celibacy is intrinsically connected with love for God, and as a result of that love, with evangelization. Implied in both love and evangelizing is closeness to Christ; we can surmise that this was the main motive of the apostles, at least at first, when they made their commitment to celibacy. We know that one of them, Peter, had married, though we are not sure if his wife was still living at the time of the Gospels, since we never hear of her. We can assume that some of the others were married also, but again, we hear nothing of their spouses, since the main message of the Gospel is that they gave up everything to follow the Master. They wanted to be close to the Messiah, and therefore practiced his way of life; they were deeply and personally drawn to his holiness and mission.
This exclusive love of Christ seems to have been experienced particularly by one of his apostles, John, who according to Catholic tradition lived virginity all of his life. And the Master requited his dedication in a deeper way than to the others; for it was John, the youngest of them, who was called the "disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23), and it was to him that he entrusted his virgin mother.
It is also clear from the Gospel text and later Church history that Christ did not restrict his invitation to celibacy and the hundredfold to the apostles or to priests. At the time of their calling the apostles were not priests, but simply his disciples. The very wording of Christ's invitation is purposefully general — let him who can take it, take it; that is, virginity for the kingdom of God is open to all those who have received this grace, and who wish to follow him in this special way.
Certainly, among all the apostles, Saint Paul understood this most clearly, and manifested it in his letters. In 1 Cor. 7 he speaks of his own celibacy, and encourages as many men and women as possible to embrace this state in life, in order to be more concerned with the Lord's affairs (cf. 1 Cor. 7:32-35). Though some think that he was originally addressing only Jewish Christians and their marital concerns in this text, the early Church always understood his words in a broader way, referring to the gift of celibacy and its power to free a man or woman for spreading Christ's kingdom, as Paul himself had done so assiduously.
Another reason that the Apostle gives for endorsing celibacy is the fact that time is passing by quickly: "I mean, brethren, that the time has grown very short; from now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning" (1 Cor.7:29). Obviously Paul has his eyes on the coming of Christ and the definitive kingdom of God, as did so many of the early Christians; in this context human marriage, like all earthly realities, is a temporary condition and will pass away. Given this reality, it is much easier and more advantageous for people of faith to live continence, including within marriage.
The other great apostle, John, was himself a virgin and celibate all of his life, as we mentioned above. In the fascinating book of Revelation, which many believe to be his work, there is a vision of celibate men "who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb" (Rev. 14:4). Again, as in the case of the Gospel and the text of Paul, there is no indication that these men were all clerics.3 The main point of the vision is that they had given up everything, including their right to intercourse with women, in order to follow Christ.
Testimony of the early Church
In immediate post-apostolic times we have clear testimony that men and women throughout the Roman Empire had received the charism of celibacy and lived it fervently, though we have no specific numbers of them. One of the earliest post-apostolic documents that we possess is the letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, from around the year 95, which gives witness to the charism of continence or celibacy. In this letter, as the head of the church of Rome, Clement is trying to restore order to the church in Corinth, which had been divided into factions and was not loyal to their bishop.
In speaking of what God intends for them, he mentions the various gifts received in the church of Corinth, including wisdom and charity, and states that each one has its place. For those who practice celibacy or continence he simply says: "Let him who is continent (literally holy in the flesh) not boast of it — knowing that it is another that giveth him the power of continence."4 Obviously continence was highly esteemed in Corinth, but it had to be accepted and practiced with humility. The persons receiving this gift had to realize that it came from God, and not from human virtue or power alone.
Writing only ten years later, Ignatius of Antioch, on his way to martyrdom in the Colosseum in Rome, wrote to Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna about those who practiced celibacy and the need to be humble: "If anyone is able to remain continent, to the honor of the Flesh of the Lord, let him persistently avoid boasting."5 This particularly significant text places the source of celibacy's greatness in Christ; those who give up sexual experience are really honoring the Flesh of Christ, who himself was a virgin. This is without doubt a great gift and privilege, but it should not give way to pride. Apparently in Smyrna there was a danger that some men (or women) would fall into boasting.
In another text he speaks of the Flesh of Christ in the Eucharist, which unites all of us in himself, "for one is the Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one the cup to unite us with his Blood, and one altar, just as there is one bishop assisted by the presbytery and the deacons, my fellow servants."6
Other very early works, such as the Didache and the Letter of Barnabas, contain strong moral exhortations to charity and sexual purity, but they do not directly mention the gift of continence or virginity. Perhaps the reason for this is the purpose of the documents themselves. The Didache was written for recent converts, and highlighted the basic morality of the Church and how to follow it. Continence or virginity was a more advanced gift to be considered later for some of them. The Letter of Barnabas was probably written to Jewish Christians suffering persecution by the Jews during the first decades of the second century; it exhorts them to have purity of life and self-control, but does not directly mention celibacy.
The Letter to Diognetus, which appears to be an apology and defense of Christianity written to a certain educated pagan, contains a moving passage about Christians living in the middle of the world, as the soul is in the body, and how they lived personal and marital chastity; the fact that some men and women lived total continence is implied, but not stated. Aristides of Athens in his Apology (ch.15) to the Emperor Hadrian also highlights the Christians' cleanness of life, contrasted to the lives of non-Christians.
Justin Martyr, on the other hand, writing his Defense of Christianity around A.D. 150 to the Emperor Antoninus Pius, refers specifically to individuals who have given up marriage to practice continence, and whose lives and dedication are well known to the other faithful (cf. Apology I, n.29). He does refer to one Christian youth, who actually had asked to be made a eunuch, but the Roman authorities refused him (cf. Apology I, n.29). Earlier in his Defense (n. 15) he reports how widespread the practice of celibacy and virginity had grown throughout the Roman Empire: "And many, both men and women, who have been Christ's disciples from childhood, have preserved their purity at the age of sixty and seventy years; and I am proud that I could produce such from every race of men and women."7
Remaining pure (in Greek, aphthoroi) could refer either to leading a chaste life or to embracing a continent or celibate life from the time of baptism. He cites these examples because he obviously considers that Antoninus, who was a practicing Stoic, would understand the meaning of virtue and self-denial, and would be impressed with this asceticism. Referring to the Christian community in general, he also speaks of the sexual purity of Christians; they marry to bring children into the world, and they do not abandon them or expose them, nor practice promiscuity. He obviously states these facts in order to contrast the family life of Christians with that of the pagans, many of whom practiced contraception and abortion.
It also appears that Justin himself never married and spent many years teaching at a school that he founded in Rome, trying to show the underlying unity between Christian and Greek philosophy. Some speculate that he could have been a deacon, but it is just as likely that he was a layman who had received the gift of celibacy and had dedicated himself completely to spreading Christ's truth through his words and classes. He apparently converted many young people to Christianity but earned the enmity of certain pagan philosophers in Rome who denounced him as a Christian. He was beheaded under Marcus Aurelius in 165, along with several of his students.
Shortly after this time another Christian apologist, Athenagoras of Athens, wrote a plea to Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, also defending the Christians, while asking them to consider objectively the virtues of the Christians. As Justin did, he reiterates that Christians marry for the sake of having children, not to gratify lust, then adds significantly that "one might find many amongst us, both men and women, who are growing old in virginity, their hope being to have greater fruition of God."8
In line with Justin's statement mentioned earlier, we hear that there were many (in Greek, pollous) men and women who lived the charism of celibacy, most likely dwelling in the major cities of the Empire. We also note that the dedication of these faithful Christians was lived over a lifetime; it was not restricted to young people only, and its purpose was not to possess moral excellence in itself (the Stoic ideal), but to have a life of closer communion with God. In the next chapter he refers to the persecution that Christian celibates had to endure from the non-Christians.9
Yet not all non-Christians were so hostile. Galen, the great physician and philosopher of the second century, and contemporary of Justin Martyr and Athenagoras, was particularly impressed at the high standards of morality practiced by the followers of Christ. After praising their continence and fearlessness before death, he states that the Christians "also number individuals who, in self-discipline and self-control in matters of food and drink, and in their keen pursuit of justice, have attained a pitch not inferior to that of genuine philosophers."10 To be called a "philosopher" was a great honor in the minds of non-Christians of that era; it was also one of the central aspirations of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Writing at the end of the second century, Minucius Felix in his apologia entitled Octavius speaks of those who practiced perpetual virginity of body. In this dialogue Octavius, a Christian, does not describe their life in detail, but is simply trying to show the pagan Caecilius that the Christians were not low-life criminals, as they were accused of being, but that they had very high moral standards.
We should note that all of these apologists were addressing pagans, and wanted to impress them with the holiness and purity of Christians, often in contrast to the immorality of non-Christians. Believers in Christ had been maliciously slandered and portrayed as fanatics and criminals. In general these early apologists do not state the greatest reasons for celibacy — to be close to Christ and to spread his kingdom. These reasons must have been very obvious to the Christian community from the start, but there was no need to mention them to pagan emperors or leaders. Not only would they misunderstand these reasons, but also, since Christianity was proscribed, they could have these celibate men and women arrested for being zealots. Therefore the Christian apologists stressed personal virtue and moral conduct instead, emphasizing asceticism, which noble pagan minds would find more impressive.
We saw earlier that there was a danger of pridefulness in some celibate faithful even at the end of the first century. This tendency would actually develop into a heresy during the second century under the influence of Gnosticism, which despised marriage and marital relations as unclean and material. The heretic Marcion was tainted with this view, since he would admit and baptize into his church only those who practiced continence. The mere fact that his heretical group was so successful demonstrates the large number of Christians who were actually practicing continence in the second century. Apart from spiritual ideals, it seems that many of them were simply repelled by the sexual excesses of the pagan society in which they lived; practicing celibacy or continence was a dramatic way of showing their independence and conviction.
One of Justin's students, Tatian, author of the Diatesseron, actually took the ideal of continence too far, and he left the Catholic Church to found his own sect, called the Encratites, which eschewed marriage and considered themselves to be the "self-controlled," as opposed to those who married. Many apocryphal writings of Gnostic origin, including parts of the Gospel of Thomas made famous in the spurious novel The Da Vinci Code, actually scorned marriage, and even went to the point of saying that Christ did not really exist in the flesh, but was a kind of spiritual apparition. The apocryphal work entitled the Acts of Peter and Andrew is also of this variety.
But there are many other apocryphal writings of the second and third centuries that show the real value of celibacy, connecting it with dedication to God and the mission to evangelize. One of the most famous of these is the Acts of Paul and Thecla, which narrates the life of a dedicated virgin and disciple of Saint Paul from Iconium (Asia Minor).
Without question the power and appeal of celibacy in the first two centuries came above all from the direct example of Jesus Christ, his mother and the apostles, and from the dedicated lives of both male and female Christians. The fact that the charism of virginity and celibacy was highly esteemed, and that it was extended and thriving among both sexes is clear from the above early writings. How much influence did these celibate men and women have on the Church and pagan society? Judging from the lives of persons such as Saints John and Paul, Cecilia and Seraphia, it must have been great, equivalent in some ways to martyrdom in both pagan and Christian eyes. We know from later Church writings that both virgins and martyrs were called "Christopheroi," or "Christ bearers."
How they lived their dedication
We don't know with certainty how the early faithful lived their dedication. Many celibate women seemed to have lived at home; that was the case of the famous virgins and martyrs Cecilia and Agnes. But other women, either individually or in groups, appear to have served the Church from earliest times through their domestic work. This custom surely began with the services of the holy women to Christ and his apostles mentioned in the Gospel (cf. Luke 8:1-3). From that example other dedicated women continued to serve the apostles and presbyters in the years ahead as sisters in Christ (see 1 Cor. 9:2-6). Since they had more social independence, celibate Christian men may have lived alone or in communities. Since Christ himself and his apostles lived as a group of celibate men in complete dedication to God and his kingdom, it is quite possible that in subsequent decades other groups of faithful, particularly men, would want to imitate them in some way. Certainly Saint Justin in the middle of the second century seemed to have formed some kind of community around himself as he taught Catholic philosophy to his students, particularly about Christ as the Logos, or Saving Word, who recapitulated and elevated the best of Greek philosophy in himself. Since Justin himself seems to have been celibate, it is quite likely that many of his students would choose the same path, though one of them after Justin's death erred from the Church's teachings, as we saw above.
In the first part of the third century we have two letters, originally attributed to Clement of Rome, that are addressed to virgins of both sexes who lived in community. They are certainly praised and encouraged for their commitment, which is said to be like that of Christ and the apostles, but are severely warned against lack of charity and temptations against chastity.11
In the latter part of the third century continence and virginity were more and more connected with special consecrated states of life, which separated celibate men and women from other Christians. This was the beginning of the religious phenomenon, from the era of Saint Anthony onwards. By the time of Saint Augustine (late fourth century), many virgins had actually taken a kind of public vow and were called spouses of Christ; a Church ceremony was also established in the fourth century called the velatio, in which these women were given special veils to wear, signifying their mystical marriage with Christ. In the third century a ceremony began for the public profession of consecrated virgins before the bishop, which has been restored to the Church in recent times.
We do know however that in Saint Augustine's time there were still virgins and continent men called confessors who continued to live in the world; they most likely lived alone or with their families, and would meet frequently in groups for common prayer and support. In 590 Gregory the Great also refers to celibate men and women living in the world, encouraging them to be generous, and not to fall into a lukewarm dedication.
In later centuries however, perhaps due to the barbarian invasions with the resulting chaos in society, and also due in part to the phenomenal growth of monasteries and convents, the charism of continence among the lay faithful in the middle of the world — motivated by the desire to imitate Christ and to spread his kingdom — largely disappeared from the Church. The practice of virginity or celibacy became almost exclusively restricted to ordained ministers and to those in religious orders.
End Notes
Cf. Gran Enciclopedia Rialp, Vol.5, section on "Celibato" n.1 (Madrid, Spain: Ediciones Rialp, 1991), 450.
A text from the Jewish Mishna (Keth.62b) speaks of the famous Rabbi Akiba who abstained from marital relations with his wife for twelve years in order to study the Torah. The Mishna (meaning Second Law) was a series of oral traditions on the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures; they were compiled and handed down by rabbis in the century following the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
With regard to the celibacy of the clergy, Stefan Heid and others have given ample evidence that the practice of continence, or abstaining from sexual relations, was part of a priest's and bishop's commitment, even if they were married. Through a scholarly analysis of New Testament sources and early Church documents, they demonstrate that the celibacy and continence of the clergy, including deacons, is a perennial tradition that has its roots in the life of Christ and his apostles, and was not a mere man-made law or juridical discipline from the fourth or fifth century. See Stefan Heid, Celibacy in the Early Church (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000).
Clement of Rome, Letter to Corinthians, Ch. 38.2. Quoted from Ancient Christian Writers, edited by J. Quasten and Joseph Plumpe (Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Bookshop, 1946), 32.
St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Polycarp (n.5). from Ibid, p.98.
St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Philadelphians (n.4). from Ibid, p.86.
St. Justin Martyr, Apology to the Emperor Antoninus Pius nn.15 and 29, taken from Ancient Christian Writers, (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1997), 32.
Athenagoras of Athens, Apology to Marcus Aurelius, chapter 33, taken from Ancient Christian Writers, (London: The Newman Press, 1956), 74.
Ibid., chapter 34.
This statement was preserved in an Arabic document (see Leslie W. Barnard, Athenagoras [Paris: Editiones Beauchesne, 1972], 55). Also R. Walzer, Galen on Jews and Christians (Oxford, 1949), 19-20.
See Joannes Quasten, Patrology (Vol. I), (Utrecht-Antwerp: Spectrum Publishers, 1966), 58-59.
Copyright © 2008 Homiletic & Pastoral Review
Rev. Michael E. Giesler obtained his doctorate in theology form the University of Navarre (Spain). He is the author of a book and several articles on Sacred Scripture and the natural law, along with a series of audio tapes on the marks of the Church and the writings of Pope John Paul II. He has also recently published two books of historical fiction on the lives of the early Christians. He is a member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and co-founder of the Midwest Theological Forum, an educational service that sponsors conferences and workshops for diocesan priests. Father Giesler is a priest of the prelature Opus Dei; he was raised in Chicago and since 1989 has been stationed at the Wespine Study Center in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to his service to lay people, he has given many reflections and retreats to diocesan priests, along with individual spiritual direction.
A survey of 250 men who are seeking to overcome homosexual desires
1. Father and son relationship was characterized by abandonment, extended absence, hostility or disinterest.
2. Conflict with male peers, making them feel that they were not man enough, and do not belong with men.
3. Mother-son relationships characterized by over-dependence that led to viewing the world from a woman's perspective.
4. Sexually abused in their youth.
Read more at People Can Change: Root Causes, Homosexual Consequences.
Another important insight from the Family Research Council:
There is a difference between:
1. Homosexual attraction - in vast majority of cases is not a choice
2. Homosexual behavior - this is a choice, because 50% of people who performed homosexual actions before age 15 never did it again.
3. Homosexual self-identification - a choice of what to label oneself.
See Top Ten myths of Homosexuality.
Let the eye fast from beholding objects, which are only calculated to excite curiosity and vanity; that being now humbled, it may be restrained to repentance, which before wandered in guilt.
Let the ear fast from listening to idle stories and words that have no reference to salvation.
Let the tongue fast from detraction and murmuring, from unprofitable and sacrilegious discourse; sometimes also, out of respect to holy silence, from speaking what appears necessary and profitable.
Let the hand also fast from useless works, and from every action that is not commanded.
But above all, let the soul fast from sin and the doing of its own will.
Without these fasts, all others will not be accepted by the Lord.
St. Bernard of Clairvaus, Serm. 2 de Jejun. Quad
http://haydock1859.tripod.com/id20.html
http://acontinualfeastcontinued.blogspot.com/2010/03/advice-on-fasting-from-st-bernard-of.html
Jason Evert, an international expert on sexuality and family, who was in Manila a year ago this month, heaped praises on the "wisdom of the Filipino approach to halting AIDS" and said that they are "living proof that self-control always trumps birth control," in his book If You Really Loved Me. He offers prestigious empirical research to support his statements.
If people abstained from sex at least six months between partners, the odds of HIV transmission would be decimated. Therefore, countries that encourage monogamy and self-control enjoy much greater success in preventing HIV than countries that simply hand out condoms.
A key example of this is in the Philippines, where condoms are rare, and so is HIV. A New York Times article entitled "Low Rate of AIDS Virus in Philippines Is a Puzzle" reported that the Church in the Philippines is "conservative and politically powerful." As a result, "the government has no AIDS-awareness program of its own and restricts the public campaigns of independent family-planning groups."289
But, the article reported, "public health officials say they are stumped by a paradox in the Philippines, where a very low rate of condom use [4 percent] and a very low rate of HIV infection seem to be going hand in hand." In this conservative Catholic country that shuns condoms, about twelve thousand of the eighty-four million residents are infected with HIV. Jean-Marc Olive of the World Health Organization said that he's not sure why this is, but he thinks they're "lucky." One gets the impression that "experts" would rather look puzzled than be forced to give credit to a chaste culture.
To appreciate the wisdom of the Filipino approach to halting the spread of HIV, contrast their efforts with the "safe sex" program implemented in Thailand. Both countries reported their first case of HIV in 1984. By 1987 there were 135 cases in the Philippines, and 112 in Thailand. The World Health Organization predicted that by 1999, 85,000 people would die of AIDS in the Philippines, and 70,000 in Thailand. In an effort to prevent this tragedy, Thailand enacted a "one hundred percent condom use program" and promoted widespread availability of condoms.290 Meanwhile, the Filipino government backed the Church's plan to prevent the epidemic.By 2005, Thailand's HIV rate was fifty times as high as the Philippines (580,000 vs. 12,000).291
But because Thailand's rate of new HIV infections is not as high as it used to be, it is hailed by "safe sex" experts as the model of how to protect a country against HIV. Health officials warn that an HIV epidemic has "the potential to explode" in the Philippines, but they are slow to acknowledge that if Filipinos hold fast to their morals, they'll have nothing to fear.292 Compared to Western culture, Filipinos have a delayed sexual debut and a reduced number of partners.293 They are living proof that self-control always trumps birth control.
While some people see the Catholic Church as an obstacle to HIV prevention, the British Medical Journal noted, "The greater the percentage of Catholics in any country, the lower the level of HIV. If the Catholic Church is promoting a message about HIV in those countries, it seems to be working. On the basis of data from the World Health Organization, in Swaziland, where 42.6 percent have HIV, only 5 percent of the population is Catholic. In Botswana, where 37 percent of the adult population is HIV infected, only 4 percent of the population is Catholic. In South Africa, 22 percent of the population is HIV infected, and only 6 percent is Catholic. In Uganda, with 43 percent of the population Catholic, the proportion of HIV infected adults is 4 percent."294 In the Philippines, over 80 percent of the population is Catholic, and only .03 percent of the population has HIV!295
References:
289 Seth Mydans, "Low Rate Of AIDS Virus In Philippines Is a Puzzle," The New York Times (April 20, 2003).
290 Human Life International, "Condom Expose" www.hli.org, 16.
291UNAIDS "Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic," 2006, Annex 2
292 Mydans.
293 Cecile Balgos, "Philippines Proud of its Low Infection Rate, Number of Cases," San Francisco Chronicle (May 21, 2003).
294 Amin Abboud, "Searching for Papal Scapegoats Is Pointless," British Medical Journal 331 (July 30, 2005), 294.
295 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, "International Religious Freedom Report 2004," U.S. Department of State (September 15, 2004); UNAIDS "Philippines" Country Situation Analysis (www.unaids.org).
By Kevin in Undivided Heart, vocationblog.com entitled 2010 Profession Class, By the Numbers
What do we know about the women religious in the United States who made their final vows this past year? [2010]
Plenty!
The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) released a report last week on the women who professed perpetual vows in 2010. This report, commissioned by the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), contains an overwhelming amount of statistics and demographic data.
Here, I will provide a “top ten” list of findings that I found most significant:
(1) 77% of the sisters have three or more siblings (the average was five), while only one sister reported being an only child.
Need I say any more about the critically important role of large Catholic families as fertile ground for religious vocations? The generosity of Catholic parents who are open to life speaks volumes to their children.
(2) Prayer matters.
74% had attended a retreat prior to entering the community, and two-thirds of them prayed the Rosary and participated in Eucharistic adoration on a regular basis before entering religious life. While this is a positive stat, I hope that the other one-third picked up these religious practices after they joined!
(3) 52% reported that they were encouraged by other religious to consider religious life.
And nine out of ten reported that they were encouraged by someone in their life. This stat shows the importance of inviting others to “come and see,” and of supporting them in their discernment process. This is especially important in light of the next item.
(4) 66% reported that they were discouraged from considering a vocation by one or more persons.
Even more, 51% reported that they faced opposition within their own families! It makes one wonder how we can make families a more hospitable seedbed for vocations. Certainly a renewal of faith and sense of vocation among Catholic parents is crucial if we are to reverse this trend.
Read the rest here: http://vocationblog.com/2011/02/2010-profession-class-by-the-numbers/
Jason Evert, an international expert on sexuality and family, who was in Manila a year ago, heaped praises on the "wisdom of the Filipino approach to halting AIDS" and said that they are "living proof that self-control always trumps birth control," in his book If You Really Loved Me. He offers prestigious empirical research to prove his point.
If people abstained from sex at least six months between partners, the odds of HIV transmission would be decimated. Therefore, countries that encourage monogamy and self-control enjoy much greater success in preventing HIV than countries that simply hand out condoms.
A key example of this is in the Philippines, where condoms are rare, and so is HIV. A New York Times article entitled "Low Rate of AIDS Virus in Philippines Is a Puzzle" reported that the Church in the Philippines is "conservative and politically powerful." As a result, "the government has no AIDS-awareness program of its own and restricts the public campaigns of independent family-planning groups."289
But, the article reported, "public health officials say they are stumped by a paradox in the Philippines, where a very low rate of condom use [4 percent] and a very low rate of HIV infection seem to be going hand in hand." In this conservative Catholic country that shuns condoms, about twelve thousand of the eighty-four million residents are infected with HIV. Jean-Marc Olive of the World Health Organization said that he's not sure why this is, but he thinks they're "lucky." One gets the impression that "experts" would rather look puzzled than be forced to give credit to a chaste culture.
To appreciate the wisdom of the Filipino approach to halting the spread of HIV, contrast their efforts with the "safe sex" program implemented in Thailand. Both countries reported their first case of HIV in 1984. By 1987 there were 135 cases in the Philippines, and 112 in Thailand. The World Health Organization predicted that by 1999, 85,000 people would die of AIDS in the Philippines, and 70,000 in Thailand. In an effort to prevent this tragedy, Thailand enacted a "one hundred percent condom use program" and promoted widespread availability of condoms.290 Meanwhile, the Filipino government backed the Church's plan to prevent the epidemic.By 2005, Thailand's HIV rate was fifty times as high as the Philippines (580,000 vs. 12,000).291
But because Thailand's rate of new HIV infections is not as high as it used to be, it is hailed by "safe sex" experts as the model of how to protect a country against HIV. Health officials warn that an HIV epidemic has "the potential to explode" in the Philippines, but they are slow to acknowledge that if Filipinos hold fast to their morals, they'll have nothing to fear.292 Compared to Western culture, Filipinos have a delayed sexual debut and a reduced number of partners.293 They are living proof that self-control always trumps birth control.
While some people see the Catholic Church as an obstacle to HIV prevention, the British Medical Journal noted, "The greater the percentage of Catholics in any country, the lower the level of HIV. If the Catholic Church is promoting a message about HIV in those countries, it seems to be working. On the basis of data from the World Health Organization, in Swaziland, where 42.6 percent have HIV, only 5 percent of the population is Catholic. In Botswana, where 37 percent of the adult population is HIV infected, only 4 percent of the population is Catholic. In South Africa, 22 percent of the population is HIV infected, and only 6 percent is Catholic. In Uganda, with 43 percent of the population Catholic, the proportion of HIV infected adults is 4 percent."294 In the Philippines, over 80 percent of the population is Catholic, and only .03 percent of the population has HIV!295
References:
289 Seth Mydans, "Low Rate Of AIDS Virus In Philippines Is a Puzzle," The New York Times (April 20, 2003).
290 Human Life International, "Condom Expose" www.hli.org, 16.
291UNAIDS "Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic," 2006, Annex 2
292 Mydans.
293 Cecile Balgos, "Philippines Proud of its Low Infection Rate, Number of Cases," San Francisco Chronicle (May 21, 2003).
294 Amin Abboud, "Searching for Papal Scapegoats Is Pointless," British Medical Journal 331 (July 30, 2005), 294.
295 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, "International Religious Freedom Report 2004," U.S. Department of State (September 15, 2004); UNAIDS "Philippines" Country Situation Analysis (www.unaids.org).
By Dr. Raul Nidoy
HSBC, the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company, predicted that the Philippines will be the 16th biggest economy by 2050, surpassing Australia, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. It means the Philippines will leapfrog 27 ranks!
The explanation of HSBC, among others, points to the Philippines' large growing population.
Why? In a nutshell, the experts say a large population means:
>a greater domestic market
>attracting investors and multinational companies
>stimulating investment in knowledge
>generating more new ideas which improve productivity
>market size stimulates innovative activity
>increasing learning-by-doing due to pressures of increased production volume
>more workers
>more young people energizing the economy
>increased consumption driving manufacturing and services
>increased national savings
>a big home market that is an attractive prize for successful new products
>greater economies of scale (less cost in production per unit with increase of volume)
>an absolutely larger number of outstanding, highly effective people
Gary Becker, Nobel Prize Winner:
In modern knowledge-based economies, on balance population growth helps rather than hurts income growth and general welfare.
Larger populations stimulate greater investments in knowledge that tend to raise per capita welfare.
RAND Corporation (associated with 30 Nobel Prize Winners)
Most economic analysis has examined the statistical correlation between population and economic growth and found little significant connection. Though countries with rapidly growing populations tend to have more slowly growing economies, this negative correlation typically disappears (or even reverses direction) once other factors such as country size, openness to trade,educational attainment of the population, and the quality of civil and political institutions are taken into account.
Michael Spence, Nobel Prize Winner:
One factor that relates to size is important. Large countries, even in the early stages, have a potential advantage in that if they are serious about growth, their domestic economies are prospectively large and of great interest to multinational corporations. This will attract the multinationals' attention, and cause them to make the up front investment in learning to operate in a new environment with a view to both the expandability of exports and, in the longer term, supplying the large domestic market.
Small countries do not offer these inducements. That makes it more difficult to get the attention of the multinationals and hence harder to open this important channel for knowledge transfer. (From his 2011 book: The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World. 1st Edition. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, pages 124-125.)
Bernardo Villegas, Doctor of Economics, Harvard University in Benefits of Large and Young Population:
Lessons are being learned from the ongoing global economic crisis. One of them is that a large and young population can partly insulate a country from the ill effects of a global recession. It should not come as a surprise that in Southeast Asia, there are three countries that are still posting positive growth rates in Gross Domestic Product, i.e. Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines (VIP). …
The VIP countries, like the so-called tiger economies such as Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea, are also experiencing precipitous drops in their exports (declines of 30 percent or more). Their economies are still growing, however, because their businesses can still sell to their respective domestic markets. Indonesia, for example, has close to 250 million consumers. … Vietnam and the Philippines have each close to 90 million consumers. Their GDP is being fueled by private consumption, thanks to large and young populations.
The VIP countries also share a common feature: their populations are relatively young. Close to 70 percent of their populations are less than thirty years old. Those who are over 65 are less than 5 percent (in contrast with Japan, where those who are over 65 are nearing 20 percent of the entire population). Young populations tend to consume more. They also are magnets for foreign investors from the developed countries that are looking for lower labor costs. ..
Among the so-called emerging markets that are led by the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries, those that have the best of both worlds are those with large and young populations and are endowed with rich natural resources…
Julian Simon, Senior Fellow at Cato Institute and Professor of Business at University of Maryland, Is Population Growth A Drag to Economic Development?
In the very long run more people have a positive net effect. This is because the most important positive effects of additional people -- improvement of productivity through both the contribution of new ideas, and also the learning-by-doing consequent upon increased production volume -- happen in the long run, and are cumulative...
It may at first seem preposterous that greater population density might lead to better economic results. This is the equivalent of saying that if all Americans moved east of the Mississippi, we might not be the poorer for it. Upon reflection, this proposition is not as unlikely as it sounds....
Such a change would bring about major benefits in shortening transportation and communication distances, a factor which has been important in Japan's ability to closely coordinate its industrial operations in such a fashion as to reduce costs of inventory and transportation.
Additionally, greater population concentration forces social changes in the direction of a greater degree of organization, changes which may be costly in the short run but in the long run increase a society's ability to reach its economic and social objectives. If we were still living at the population density of, say, ten thousand years ago, we would have none of the vital complex social and economic apparatuses that are the backbone of our society.
Prof. Casey Mulligan, University of Chicago in the New York Times
The more people on earth, the greater the chance that one of them has an idea of how to improve alternative energies, or to mitigate the climate effects of carbon emissions. It takes only one person to have an idea that can benefit many.
Plus, the more people on earth, the larger are the markets for new innovations.
Thus, even if the brilliant innovators would be born regardless of population control, their incentives to devote effort toward finding new discoveries and bringing them to the marketplace depend on the size of that marketplace.
And it’s clear that incentives matter for innovative activity: That’s why we have a patent system that helps innovators obtain financial rewards for their inventions.
Not surprisingly, research has shown that market size stimulates innovative activity, as in the case of pharmaceutical research that is especially intense for conditions that have more victims.
Dr. Roberto de Vera and Dr. Victor Abola, University of Asia and the Pacific
Roberto de Vera: It is true that economic development is not only a matter of quantity nor a matter only of having warm bodies. However, a country has to have warm bodies to begin with.
De Vera opines that the problem of poverty, although a heavy burden, is easier to solve than the problem of not having enough people. He says controlling population growth poses the serious threat of population aging and dwindling number of human resources, which many advanced economies now face.
He says the projection that some more developed economies like Singapore will be overtaken by the Philippines by 2050 hinges on the fact that the former are now facing serious problems of population aging.
De Vera also disagrees with the notion that there are not enough resources to educate all school-aged children in the country. He says government resources, if efficiently monitored and allocated, should be able to accommodate the education needs of Filipino children belonging to households that cannot financially afford sending kids to school.Ongoing efforts of the government to improve governance and rising contributions from the private sector as far as investments are concerned should bear positive results over the long term.
Dr. Victor A. Abola: A large population is an advantage rather than a drag on economic growth based on two fronts—advancement of knowledge and economies of scale.
Advances in knowledge are faster in a large population because intelligence and genius is not confined to the rich. It is normally distributed, and, therefore, with a larger population you would have an absolutely larger number of outstanding people who do make a difference.
Economies of scale (which happens when cost of per-unit production declines as volume increases) can be more easily achieved with a large population. Countries with smaller population have to rely on the export markets just to achieve economies of scale, he explains.
Previous studies have concluded that 58 percent of economic growth can be traced to advancement in knowledge, while 17 percent is anchored on economies of scale.
Abola says existing resources of the Philippines, including human capital, will help the country become progressive decades from now.
The Economist by Buttonwood
Basically, economic growth comes from having more workers, making them more productive or a combination of the two. If a country has fewer workers, productivity has to do all the work, and even then real growth is likely to be slow.
The following nations are all set to see declines of more than 10%; Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Poland, South Korea, Russia, Japan and Germany. In the last two cases, the decline is set to be a remarkable 20%.
The US is likely to show a rise of almost 10%; Britain a more modest increase. The top five growers are the Philippines, Egypt, Malaysia, Israel and india. Of course, very-rapidly growing population can be a problem, especially if you can't find jobs for young men. But it is better to be in the top half of the table - like Australia, New Zealand and Ireland - than the bottom.
These figures are quite remarkable - not since the Black Death can there have been such a fall in workers - and the implications must surely be very profound. One reason it will be so hard for Europe to grow its way out of the debt crisis is the impact of demography.
Marie Powell
Many economists contend that larger numbers of young people energize an economy by growing the productive labor pool, driving manufacturing and services through consumption and increasing the national savings rate.
Young people have incentives to save for purposes like home purchases, college tuition for children and retirement plans.
Businessweek
Is it coincidence that the most innovative major industrialized country, the U.S., also has the fastest growing population and the most young people? No coincidence at all, as it turns out.
Surprisingly, a nation with a large population may have an advantage when it comes to innovation and the adoption of new technologies.
Why is that? For one thing, innovation is risky. Most new products and new technologies fail. But a big home market offers a very attractive prize for success: Lots and lots of potential customers. And that tends to encourage innovation.
Bert Hofman, World Bank Chief Economist for East Asia and the Pacific
Aging is one of the "most important megatrends" in East Asia and the Pacific and the Philippines stands to benefit from it.
Hofman said the country’s young and well-educated work force would be able to attract more businesses to set up shop in the Philippines. This includes more business-process outsourcing (BPO) firms and even manufacturing firms in China that will decide to move to the Philippines, where wages are relatively low and the work force is young.“This is truly one of the most important megatrends in the region. And for the Philippines, it’s an opportunity. If the Philippines creates the business environment that would create jobs, they’re going to be a big winner of this trend because a lot of the rest of the region are actually aging quite rapidly,” Hofman said.
=======================================
Breaking News! The one-page leaflets on this blog are going viral around the world. One leaflet was posted in the website of the Archdiocese of Westminster in London ("The Mother Church of England"), in the Corpus Christi Parish in Canada,
in Kenya and in Macau. To get the full collection, please see this: One Page Leaflets for New Evangelization Going Viral!
A related article which tackles population control and poverty, and the role of contraceptives is Science Facts on Contraceptives.
Excerpts and summary of statement signed by Rolando Dizon (Good Citizenship Movement), Edgardo Tirona (Sangguniang Laiko), and Tony Roxas (Kanlungan ng Buhay).
The RH Bill violates these Commandments of the God of the Christians, Jews and Moslems:
Fifth Commandment, Thou shalt not kill, because RH promotes abortifacients.
Fourth Commandment, Honor thy father and mother, because everyone, including kids, will have "the right to safe, satisfying sex" and it will be illegal for parents to stop them.
Sixth Commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery, because through the condom culture, RH promotes extramarital sex and premarital sex.
First Commandment, Thou shalt not have other gods before me, because RH chooses the State over God, as ultimate moral authority.
A State that implores the help of Almighty God in the preamble of its own Constitution for its survival and well-being does not have any moral right to pass laws that overrule God's laws clearly expressed in His Ten Commandments and implied in the natural moral law written in the hearts of men.
A collection of select resources on the causes and the therapy of homosexual tendencies.
One-page summary of the causes and the therapy: Key Facts about Homosexuality.
Causes
1. People Can Change, Root Causes, a survey of 205 with homosexual feelings: http://www.peoplecanchange.com/change/causes.php
2. Homosexuality 101, Video by Dr. Julie Harren-Hamilton: http://www.homosexuality101.com/
3. Battle for Normality by Gerard van den Aardweg (one of the best and most effective books on homosexuality) - http://thetruthsetsyoufree.wordpress.com/homosexuality-an-overview/
4. Homosexuality and Hope, Q&A on causes and healing: http://www.maritalhealing.com/HSaH.pdf
original research: http://catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/ho0039.html/
5. Family Research Council, What Causes Homosexuality: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF08L41.pdf
Homosexuality: Causes and Cures, by Mark Latkovic: http://www.aodonline.org/aodonline-sqlimages/SHMS/Faculty/LatkovicMark/UnpublishedWritings/HomosexualityCausesAndCures.pdf
Therapy
6. The Truth Sets You Free, Counseling and Therapy: http://thetruthsetsyoufree.wordpress.com/category/counselling-therapy/
7. Battle for Normality, Knowing Oneself, Chapter 7, by Gerard van den Aardweg, Ph.D.: http://www.jonahweb.org/sections.php?secId=238
8. People Can Change, An Integrated Solution: http://www.peoplecanchange.com/change/mans.php
9. Homosexuality and Hope, Q&A on causes and healing: http://www.maritalhealing.com/HSaH.pdf
original research: http://catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/ho0039.html/
10. National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (Treatment of Male Homosexuality: A Cognitive-Behavioral and Interpersonal Approach): http://narth.com/docs/byrd.html
The Healing of Homosexual Attractions, by Richard Fitzgibbons: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resource.php?n=279
General Knowledge
11. Considerations Regarding Proposals To Give Legal Recognition To Unions Between Homosexual Persons, by CDF: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html
12. Top Ten Myths about Homosexuality, by Family Research Council: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF10F01.pdf
13. Facts about Youth: Quick Facts about Homosexuality: http://factsaboutyouth.com/getthefacts/quickfacts/
14. JONAH, Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing, Common Questions: http://www.jonahweb.org/sections.php?secId=16
15. Courage: http://www.couragerc.net/
16. Getting the Facts: Same-Sex Marriage - http://www.familyresearchinst.org/2009/02/getting-the-facts-same-sex-marriage/
17. A summary: Science Facts on Homosexual Unions: http://primacyofreason.blogspot.com/2011/12/science-facts-on-same-sex-marriage.html
Please also see Key Facts about Homosexuality, a one-page leaflet containing scientific research on the topic.
The
leaflet differentiates between same-sex attraction and homosexual
behavior, explains why homosexuality is not genetic and points to the
factors behind same-sex attraction, and shows how therapy can be
achieved.
Covers resources for students, parents, teachers, curricula, porn addiction, homosexuality, and theology of the body
• For students (and parents and teachers)
o Purity and the Best Remedy for Lust - http://primacyofreason.blogspot.com/2015/07/purity-and-best-remedy-for-lust.html
o Jason Evert website: Chastity.org – Jason has given permission to reproduce articles
Question and Answer Library: http://chastity.com/node/21
Document Library: http://chastity.com/research/document-library
o Pastoral Letter to Young People: http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/chastity_en.pdf
o Achieving Chastity in a Pornographic World, by Fr. T.G. Morrow: http://cfalive.com/resources/book-previews/achieving-chastity/ It says here the book is available for free: http://cfalive.com/resources/book-previews/
o Chastity, Temperance and Modesty: http://www.scribd.com/doc/19023125/Chastity
o Catholic Youth Apostolate: http://www.reapteam.org/ http://www.reapteam.org/resources
o Learning to Love (internet copy of the book): http://learningtolove.wordpress.com/contents/
o Family Honor’s Teen Tips: http://familyhonor.org/category/teen-tips/
o Christian Courtship in an Over Sexed World: http://cfalive.com/resources/book-previews/christian-courtship/
• For parents (and teachers)
o Giving Real Love to Your Child: An Outline on How Parents Can Educate Their Children in Human Sexuality - http://primacyofreason.blogspot.com/2015/01/giving-real-love-to-your-child.html
o Program for Parents of Grades 1-4 used by the Archdiocese of Denver (change the number to access other grade levels): http://www.archden.org/childyouthprotection/LessonPlansFormationInChristianChastity/CatholicGradeSchool/Grade1-ParentsLetter.pdf
o The Truth And Meaning Of Human Sexuality: Guidelines for Education within the Family, by the Pontifical Council of the Family: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/family/documents/rc_pc_family_doc_08121995_human-sexuality_en.html
o Parent’s Guide, by the Fargo Diocese: http://www.fargodiocese.org/respectlife/PDFs/ChastityParentGuide.pdf
o Catholic Chastity Formation for Families: publications may be downloaded, copied and/or reproduced for non-commercial use: http://chastityformation.org/publications/free-homepage.html / http://chastityformation.org/books/CatholicChastityWorkbook.pdf
o Sexuality, Chastity and our Youth (flyer): http://www.sesnaperville.org/re/pdf/Sexuality%20%20Chastity%20%20&%20Youthl.pdf
o Sexuality 101: Parent’s Manual: http://www.eriercd.org/pdf/schools/Sex%20_101_Parents.pdf
o Chastity and Sexuality Education, Parent Plan of Action: http://www.eriercd.org/pdf/schools/Parent_Plan.pdf
o Your Journey Continues: A Boy’s Guidebook: (it is better to give this to parents rather than directly to the students): http://www.eriercd.org/pdf/schools/Boys.pdf
o Your Journey Continues: A Girl’s Guidebook: (it is better to give this to parents rather than directly to the students): http://www.eriercd.org/pdf/schools/Girls.pdf
o Checklist for a Spiritually Healthy Family: http://www.diocese-kcsj.org/myhousekcsj/Impact.html
o Christopher West: http://www.christopherwest.com/page.asp?ContentID=15
o Catholic Education Resource Center on Sexuality: http://www.catholiceducation.org/directory/Current_Issues/Sexuality/
o Love and Responsibility (excerpts in pdf format): http://www.catholicculture.com/jp2_on_l&r.pdf
o Family Honor’s Parent Tips: http://familyhonor.org/category/parent-tips/
o Formatted Version of Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality (for easy reading) http://www.familylifeinstitute.org/BooksAndGifts/fli_booksf4_TruthAndMeaning.pdf
• For curriculum-making and programs
o Archdiocese of Denver Curriculum for Parents Teaching their children (change the number to access other grade levels): http://www.archden.org/childyouthprotection/LessonPlansFormationInChristianChastity/CatholicGradeSchool/Grade1-ParentsLetter.pdf
o St. Thomas the Apostle, Catholic Morality and Chastity Education Program: http://www.stthomasgr.org/non-core%20curriculum/stthomas_morality.pdf
o True Love Waits task group of the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry: http://www.nfcym.org/resources/pastoralresponse/tlw/TLWJanuary182006.pdf
• Porn addiction
o Blessed are the Pure of Heart by Bishop Robert Finn (an excellent pastoral letter) : http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=7438
o Bought With a Price: Pornography and the Attack on the Living Temple of God, by Bishop Paul Loverde: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=7321
o 12 Steps to Freedom from Pornography by Stephen Wood: http://www.scribd.com/doc/17414321/55b-12-Steps-to-Freedom-From-Pornography
o Seminar on Pornography: The Epidemic and the Solutions: powerpoint presentation: http://www.scribd.com/doc/67650023/Human-Formation-Seminars-Pornography-Conflicts-1 / http://www.scribd.com/doc/67650224/Human-Formation-Seminars-Pornography-Conflicts-2
o Arriving at the Peace of Chastity: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33273167/Arriving-at-the-Peace-of-Chastity-Part-One / http://www.scribd.com/doc/33273730/Arriving-at-the-Peace-of-Chastity-Part-Two
o Internet Pornography: Practical means of avoiding the near occasion of this sin, by Sister Meyer: http://denvercma.org/Resources/PracticalHANDOUT.pdf
o Setting Captives Free (a free online course): http://www.settingcaptivesfree.com/courses/way-of-purity/
o Porn Free (free online courses): http://www.porn-free.org/online_courses.htm
o The Porn Effect: http://www.whodoesithurt.com/who-does-it-hurt/about-us
o Achieving Chastity in a Pornographic World, by Fr. T.G. Morrow: http://cfalive.com/resources/book-previews/achieving-chastity/ It says here the book is available for free: http://cfalive.com/resources/book-previews/
o Porn Harms (peer-reviewed scientific research on effects of porn): http://www.pornharms.com/category/research/
o E5 Men (fasting and liberation from sexual addiction): http://www.e5men.org/page.cfm?pk_page=2
Homosexuality: Causes and Therapy (some internet resources)
A collection of select resources on the causes and the therapy of homosexual tendencies.
Causes
1. People Can Change, Root Causes, a survey of 205 with homosexual feelings: http://www.peoplecanchange.com/change/causes.php
2. Homosexuality 101, Video by Dr. Julie Harren-Hamilton: http://www.homosexuality101.com/
3. Battle for Normality by Gerard van den Aardweg (one of the best and most effective books on homosexuality) - http://thetruthsetsyoufree.wordpress.com/homosexuality-an-overview/
4. Homosexuality and Hope, Q&A on causes and healing: http://www.maritalhealing.com/HSaH.pdf
original research: http://catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/ho0039.html/
5. Family Research Council, What Causes Homosexuality: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF08L41.pdf
Homosexuality: Causes and Cures, by Mark Latkovic: http://www.aodonline.org/aodonline-sqlimages/SHMS/Faculty/LatkovicMark/UnpublishedWritings/HomosexualityCausesAndCures.pdf
Therapy
6. The Truth Sets You Free, Counseling and Therapy: http://thetruthsetsyoufree.wordpress.com/category/counselling-therapy/
7. Battle for Normality, Knowing Oneself, Chapter 7, by Gerard van den Aardweg, Ph.D.: http://www.jonahweb.org/sections.php?secId=238
8. People Can Change, An Integrated Solution: http://www.peoplecanchange.com/change/mans.php
9. Homosexuality and Hope, Q&A on causes and healing: http://www.maritalhealing.com/HSaH.pdf
original research: http://catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/ho0039.html/
10. National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (Treatment of Male Homosexuality: A Cognitive-Behavioral and Interpersonal Approach): http://narth.com/docs/byrd.html
The Healing of Homosexual Attractions, by Richard Fitzgibbons: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resource.php?n=279
General Knowledge
11. Considerations Regarding Proposals To Give Legal Recognition To Unions Between Homosexual Persons, by CDF: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html
12. Top Ten Myths about Homosexuality, by Family Research Council: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF10F01.pdf
13. Facts about Youth: Quick Facts about Homosexuality: http://factsaboutyouth.com/getthefacts/quickfacts/
14. JONAH, Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing, Common Questions: http://www.jonahweb.org/sections.php?secId=16
15. Courage: http://www.couragerc.net/
16. Getting the Facts: Same-Sex Marriage - http://www.familyresearchinst.org/2009/02/getting-the-facts-same-sex-marriage/
A summary: Science Facts on Homosexual Unions: http://primacyofreason.blogspot.com/2011/12/science-facts-on-same-sex-marriage.html
• Theology of the Body
o Cliff Notes Version by Fr. Roger Landry: http://catholicpreaching.com/content/docs/TOB.pdf
o Overview of TOB by Fr. Roger Landry: http://catholicpreaching.com/content/docs/TOBshort.pdf
o Theology of the Body for Schools: http://www.scribd.com/doc/25999167/Theology-of-the-Body-for-Schools
o Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body: http://www.jp2.info/Theology_of_the_Body.pdf
Posts
All Comments
