Marriage and family life are punctuated with times of great happiness and joy, such as the wedding day and the birth of a child. Also known to family life are times of great sadness as daily struggles, illness and death…
Category: Family
Sexuality Education: 6 proactive tips for concerned parents
Sexuality education is an ever-present problem for concerned parents. The growing tsunami of progressive sexual attitudes heightens the natural desire to protect our children’s innocence. With so much happening, and very quickly, it can be difficult to know how to…
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Celebrating the family
On Sunday, more than 100 people gathered in Auckland for an afternoon to celebrate and pray for the family. The event was organised by Family Life International NZ to recognise the importance of the natural family as a vital cell…
Egg freezing: A work benefit?
Two leading technology companies, Apple and Facebook, are funding their workers or ‘partners’ to have their eggs frozen for future IVF. This is already covered by Facebook's employee benefit plan, and Apple plans to introduce it in the 2015. Both…
A true pastoral response: teaching the truth in love without fear
At a recent press conference for the Synod on the Family it was announced that one presenter, who was not to be named, had proposed that "language such as 'living in sin', 'intrinsically disordered', or 'contraceptive mentality' are not necessarily…
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The Numbers game
One question that frequently comes up in parenting circles is 'how many children is the right number?' I've always thought it is an odd that in a pluralistic world, people would think there would be a one size fits all…
Living and dying with faith, hope and love
Yesterday I attended the Requiem Mass for a man whose life profoundly affected mine - Dr Peter Scanlon. It was a beautiful Requiem - solemn, a little bit joyful at times and a reminder that our eyes must always be…
Life affirming ultrasound
I recently had the experience of sitting in on a 19 week pregnancy scan. For my wife and I it was the first chance to see our new child and as such, we were both looking forward to it. For…
IVF as exploitation
I think the Catholic Church’s opposition to IVF is well known. It’s based on the principle that IVF separates intercourse from procreation. In some ways it’s like contraception, only in reverse. It’s also very costly in terms of human life…
The heart of a mother: bearing witness to a child’s life
Thinking about Mother's Day had me looking at quotes about motherhood. I came across a huge number of beautifully illustrated thoughts from various people. But then, then there was this... “Was it the act of giving birth that made you…
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