Natural Family Planning (NFP) is a way that many Catholics today space-out births of children based on their economic, social or medical reasons. Unfortunately, many Catholics also use NFP to decide when they are "done" having children, often based on lifestyle-preferences more than "grave reasons," as required by the Catholic Church.  On the other hand, some traditional Catholics today erroneously believe NFP didn't exist before Vatican II.  Pope Pius XII spoke about this aspect of the matrimonial-contract in an Address to Midwives on 29 October 1951. A small segment of his talk is copied below. His words are in italics and my commentary is found in orange-bold. The Bonum Prolis [...]

This post is not about the morning-after pill or RU-486. Rather, it is about the much more common form of birth control, frequently referred to as "The Pill."  We will be looking at all forms of Hormonal Birth Control (HBC) and combined estrogen-progestin oral contraceptives (COC.)  How does HBC and COC work? WebMD explains the three methods in which most HBCs and COCs function: "Hormonal contraceptives (the pill, the patch, and the vaginal ring) all contain a small amount of estrogen and progestin hormones. These hormones inhibit your body's natural hormones to prevent pregnancy in a few ways. Hormonal contraceptives usually stop the body from ovulating. They also change the [...]

From Fr. David Nix:  This is a short conversion story written by a married friend. As you read it, notice how her own conscience comes into play with objective truth.  She writes... As a new Catholic, I quickly fell in love with the Rosary.  I loved the prayers, the meditations, the lovely beads. Not long into my devotional life with the rosary, as I was praying I had the fleeting thought, "Why am I not getting out of the Rosary what I think other people are receiving?" In the tiniest flash, the Blessed Mother's face was before me and I got the interior the message: "Birth Control." I had the [...]