Subscribe to this RSS feed
November 14, 2018

Fr. Raymond J. de Souza: The blessings and burden of living Humanae Vitae

There are many burdens in life, but a husband and wife can have no greater burden than creating new life.

Is living the teaching of Humanae Vitae regarding the moral means of managing fertility burdensome? Yes, and effective pastoral support for couples who are attempting to do just that — using natural family planning (NFP) rather than contraception — is served by acknowledging that up front. NFP is a burden.

Published in Register Columnists
July 23, 2018

Canadian Church coming to terms with Humanae Vitae

Archbishop Philip Pocock, left, and Bishop Gerald Emmett Carter, seen here in the early 1960s, were key figures in drafting the Winnipeg Statement.

Canadian controversy over Humanae Vitae began long before Pope Paul VI issued his controversial encyclical.

Published in Features
June 5, 2018

Fr. Raymond J. De Souza: Humanae Vitae’s vision still as relevant as ever

“Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae and the subsequent ‘theology of the body’ developed by Pope John Paul II issue an immense challenge to a world that is too often occupied with protecting itself against the extraordinary life potential of sexuality,” the Canadian bishops wrote during Humanae Vitae's 40th anniversary in 2008.

Next month will mark the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, the 1968 encyclical of Blessed Paul VI which  reaffirmed the immorality of contraception at a time when many in the Church and the world expected a change.

Published in Register Columnists
December 4, 2016

Understanding fertility is key to good marriage

Dominc and Lisa Price and their three children.

SURREY,  B.C. – For Dominic and Lisa Price natural family planning is exactly that —natural.

Published in Life & Family
February 20, 2013

Dr. Billings helped develop widely used method of NFP

Drs. Evelyn and John Billings are pictured in the garden of their home in Melbourne, Australia, in this 2004 file photo. Evelyn Billings, who with her husband pioneered a revolutionary church-backed method for couples to avoid or achieve conception, died February 16 after a short illness.

MELBOURNE, Australia - Dr. Evelyn Billings, who with her husband, John, pioneered research that led them to develop a form of natural family planning supported by the Catholic Church, died Feb. 16 after a short illness. She was 95.

Published in International