Catholic Fire

New research at Malmö University Hospital has revealed that mothers who have more children and especially those who breastfeed their babies have a significantly lowered risk of arthritis later in life. Use of oral contraceptives, on the other hand, is of no benefit. The study , which was funded by Lund University, The Craaford Foundation and the Swedish Rheumatism Association, wanted to determine whether breast-feeding or the use of oral contraceptives(OC) could affect the future risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a community-based prospective cohort. Researcher Dr. Mitra Pikwer found that breastfeeding for more than a year reduced women's risk of rheumatoid arthritis 54% and breastfeeding for at least a month tended to reduce the risk 26 percent. Moreover, women who gave birth to more children tended to be at lower RA risk, with a 13% reduction for each child they had. MORE

"Pills or dinner?" was the subject heading of Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards' email alert yesterday. The premise is ridiculous: that due to rising prices of artificial female steroids, i.e., birth control pills, college nyphomaniacs are being forced to choose between illicit sex and eating. Here's what happened. Legislators passed the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 to save $40 billion over 5 years. A consequence, according to U.S. News & World Report : A quirk in a new federal law, designed to save taxpayers money on Medicaid reimbursements for drugs, has effectively persuaded pharmaceutical companies to stop selling their products to these [university] pharmacies at deeply discounted rates. (If companies continue to offer such discounts, the law stipulates, they will also receive lower payments from Medicaid.) Shock: the government isn't buying the whining. In response to one request to restore the loophole, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid wro...

by Juliana Davis My husband Alton and I married in the Catholic Church in July of 1969. During our marriage instruction, the priest told us that it was uncertain whether the Church might be changing regarding birth control, but we didn't want to take any chances, so we read a book on the rhythm method which my mother used when she got married in 1947. I became pregnant after about a month, and we had our first son. My doctor encouraged me to use the Pill, and I wanted to be "hip" and progressive anyway, not too Catholic, and so I did. I lost interest in sex, (a common side-effect of the Pill) and the doctor assured me it was just an overly scrupulous conscience due to my Catholic upbringing and that I should be grateful to have such a good husband. I stopped taking the Pill after awhile, being something of a hypochondriac and worried about side effects, and we conceived and had our second son. My husband complained that I wasn't very motherly, and I wondered why I fel...

Jimmy Akin, noted Catholic apologist, has an interesting piece on a German study just out which is quite slanted and refers to Natural Family Planning as a "Modified Rhythm Method" which in itself shows that they don't know what they are talking about due to lack of education or are purposely attempting to deceive their readers. NFP is totally different from the Rhythm method. Here is a portion of Jimmy's post. Here's their (slanted) headline: Modified Rhythm Method Shown to Be as Effective as the Pill—But Who Has That Kind of Self-Control? The slant is also evident through the story, from the "Vatican roulette" reference in the lede (opening paragraph) to one researcher's disparaging remarks about the term "natural family planning": "For many couples this is highly unnatural. 'Natural' is methods that you don't have to think about, that allow you to be spontaneous…" Sorry, but there's nothing "natural" a...

Far too many Catholics think of the Church in terms of laxity or strictness, when in fact to do so is to miss the whole point. Morality is the fruit of love. Love of Christ, who said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments” (Cf. John 14:15). This was not a threat or some divine arm-twisting, but a statement of fact. Religious obedience is an act of great spiritual maturity and love. It is not that we love Him but that He first loved us (Cf. 1 John 4:19). He is our Bridegroom. I would be worried about any engaged couple that was caught up in worry about fidelity instead of being so dizzy—or sanely—in love that infidelity was unthinkable. In theological terms we speak of fear of the Lord as a virtue—which of course it is—but it is not a craven timorousness, nor is it simply “awe,” as some proposed in the 60s and 70s to soften the blow of the word “fear.” Proper fear of the Lord is the horror one feels at the thought of hurting, harming or even simply displeasing our beloved, be it...