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by Helen M. Alvaré, J.D., Senior Fellow in Law
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 In two previous columns I suggested that a not insignificant cause of
the current rates of out of wedlock pregnancies in the US is a
breakdown of healthy relations between women and men. Past attempts to
address high rates of nonmarital pregnancies failed to note this
possible cause. To be clear, I am not suggesting that all prior
attempts to curb such pregnancies (e.g. policies in areas such as
education, job-training, sex-education, child support enforcement,
social welfare, and marriage) were wrong or illogical in themselves,
only that they were incomplete. At the same time I would have to note
that some policy responses may have actually exacerbated the situation.
Those involving large-scale birth control distribution, for example,
and abortion on request, were not only unsuccessful, but sent messages
about the meaning of male/female relationships that very likely sent
nonmarital birth rates to higher levels. [1]
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09/03/2009
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by William E. May, Ph.D., Senior Fellow
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 “Boys will be doofuses.” Kevin Ryan, in an essay with this title on
“MercatorNet” [1]
begins with a citation from Mark Penn, “the social trend guru,” in
which Penn declares: “Men are now lagging women in every major category
from lifestyle to health, from education to employment.” Ryan considers
some major causes of this phenomenon. The primary factor for this, he
thinks, is that “many, many boys are lacking what the psychologists
call ‘role models,’ most important of which is a visible, present
father.” In a short time, “the shape of the American family has
undergone radical surgery and the part most obviously cut away is Dad.
A 50 percent divorce rate, plus simple walk-away separations are well
known factors in the dismal family landscape.” (Ryan claims that this
trend began at the end of World War II. I believe he errs in this--it
began, as I will show, with the rise of feminism and widespread use of
contraceptives associated with that rise during the 1960s).
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08/26/2009
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by Helen Alvaré, J.D., Senior Fellow in Law
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In my last column, I concluded that while public and private actors
have taken many different and sometimes logical approaches to reducing
out of wedlock pregnancies, they have also missed a crucial aspect of
the problem: the difficulties men and women are experiencing in their
relationships with one another, as evidenced by their unwillingness to
commit to one another, even after a baby is conceived. These
difficulties surface particularly in qualitative studies/narrative
accounts of individual and unmarried-couple single parents. They are
also logically apparent, based upon the real differences between the
meanings and consequences of decisions about sex and commitment, as
between the unmarried and the married. In other words, the very
structure of nonmarital childbearing -- i.e. sex within an
uncommitted relationship – and as compared with marital childbearing,
indicates that the process is very likely to foster (and sustain)
conflicts between men and women, and ill effects for their children.
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07/23/2009
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by William E. May, Ph.D., Senior Fellow
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I will examine and criticize the position of Lisa Sowle Cahill, a
married woman and mother who is professor of moral theology at Boston
College and highly regarded by her peers, on the issue of human
sexuality by focusing on her views regarding the significance of
“single sexual acts,” contraception, and in vitro fertilization.
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03/13/2009
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by colfi_admin
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I will examine and criticize the position of Lisa Sowle
Cahill, a married woman and mother who is professor of moral theology at Boston
College and highly regarded by her peers, on the issue of human sexuality by
focusing on her views regarding the significance of “single sexual acts,” contraception,
and in vitro fertilization.
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03/13/2009
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by William E. May, Ph.D., Senior Fellow
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Feminism comes in different varieties. Some forms are compatible with
Catholic/Christian teaching on human sexuality; others are not. In a
two-part essay I will consider the heterodox feminist understanding of
human sexuality and of norms governing sexual activity proposed by some
Catholic theologians that is quite different from and opposed to the
understanding of human sexuality and its norms held firmly by the
Catholic Church.
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02/25/2009
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by William E. May, Ph.D, Senior Fellow
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 In Part I, I said I would devote two articles to this important book. Because of the dramatic change in the political atmosphere caused by the 2008 presidential and congressional elections, I now think that three articles are necessary. This one, Part II, takes up the chapters by Robin Fretwell Wilson and Chai R. Feldblum, whose proposals were made when a quite different political situation was in place. Part III will consider the chapters of Charles R. Reid and Douglas Laycock and offer final reflections.
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12/03/2008
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by William E. May, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow
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Edited by Douglas Laycock, Anthony R. Picarello, Jr., and Robin Fretwell Wilson and published by The Becket Fund and Rowman & Littlefield Publishers in 2008, this book is over 300 pages. Pages xi-xiv+1-207 include the essays by the editors and contributors, pages 209-298 provide notes and are followed an Appendix (pp. 200-310), an Index (pp. 311-326), and “About Contributors.”
The book is so significant I will devote two articles to it. In this, Part I, I summarize the essays, offer personal comments, and identify those papers that demand the closer study, analysis, and critique to be given in Part II.
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10/30/2008
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by Elizabeth Moncher, MS, MSW
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 1. Ms. O’Leary, can you begin by helping us understand what is meant
by feminism, and whether there are particular distinctions among
feminists that are important to recognize?
It is important to distinguish liberal feminism from radical feminism
and these from the search for authentic womanhood based on the truth
about the human person.
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07/10/2008
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by Matt Hanley
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If you were looking for another indicator of the cultural malaise to which our young are subjected today, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) delivered last week. At the 2008 National STD Prevention Conference in Chicago, March 11th, they issued results of a nationally representative survey which found that slightly more that one in four (26%), or 3.2 million, teenage girls between ages 14 and 19 have contracted a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Among those infected, about 15% had more than one disease. Some groups had about twice the national average – nearly half of young African American women or adolescents in the survey had an STD.
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03/20/2008
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by Culture of Life
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 Dr. Jennifer Roback-Morse is Research Fellow at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty and former Research Fellow at the Stanford University Hoover Institution. In an interview with Culture of Life Foundation, Dr. Morse discusses her research on abstinence education programs and what she calls “Comprehensive Abstinence Education”.
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03/07/2008
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by Dawn Eden
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 Contributing writer Dawn Eden is author of The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On (Thomas Nelson) and an internationally recognized speaker on chastity. During the past year, her writings on culture-of-life issues, faith, and popular culture have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, the Sunday Times of London, the National Post of Canada, and First Things.
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01/16/2008
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by Joe Capizzi, Ph.D.
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Writing in the Washington Post, Michael Kinsley thinks he has cornered opponents of embryo-destructive research into contradicting themselves. In fact all he does is reveal his ignorance of the pro-life movement.
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07/12/2006
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by Catholic Medical Association
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This is a summary or condensed version of the statement of the Catholic Medical Association on the diagnosis and treatment of Same Sex Attraction. The extended version is also available on the Culture of Life website.
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03/08/2006
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by Culture of Life
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Strong majorities of Americans oppose gay marriage. Supporters of SSM (Same Sex Marriage) therefore seek to change the subject to just about anything: our sacred constitution, federalism, discrimination, benefits, homosexuality, gay rights. Our goal is simple: Shift the conversation rapidly back to marriage. Don’t get sidetracked. Marriage is the issue. Marriage is what we care about. Marriage really matters. It’s just common sense.
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01/31/2006
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