Tuesday February 9, 2010
What is the best way to prevent teenagers from engaging in early sexual activity? According to a new study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, the answer may be as simple as "Just say no."
The study, conducted over the course of 24 months, divided 662 African-American students in the sixth and seventh grades into four groups, along with a control group. The article abstract describes the four "Interventions" that the authors used (the control group received no instruction):
- An 8-hour abstinence-only intervention targeted reduced sexual intercourse;
- an 8-hour safer sex–only intervention targeted increased condom use;
- 8-hour and 12-hour comprehensive interventions targeted sexual intercourse and condom use;
- and an 8-hour health-promotion control intervention targeted health issues unrelated to sexual behavior.
The results of the study undercut the basic premise of birth-control-based sex ed programs: that children are going to have sex anyway, so we must be "realistic" and "prepare" them. Read more...
Tuesday February 9, 2010
February is the Month of the Holy Family, so what better way to mark the month than with a Novena to the Holy Family? This novena is also particularly appropriate as our novena this week, as we make our final preparations for the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday (or, for Eastern Catholics, on Clean Monday).
The Holy Family should always be the model for our own family life, and the primary classroom of the Faith for our children. And there is no better time than Lent, when we strip away the distractions of life through fasting and concentrate on prayer and Christian charity, to strengthen our family and bring it closer to the example of the Holy Family.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, pray for us!
If you have a favorite novena that you'd like me to choose as Novena of the Week, or if you'd like me to suggest a novena for a particular intention, send me an e-mail, and I'll work it into the rotation.
Friday February 5, 2010
In the Catholicism Forum, forum member "librarystitcher" is looking for "a list of books or authors which is Catholic in content." Our forum moderator, Steven Hepburn, and forum member Michael Ezzo have offered some ideas, but do you have any others? If so, please post them in the forum thread, and help "librarystitcher" help the Catholic patrons at her library!
Hottest Threads in the Catholicism Forum:
Friday February 5, 2010
In response to last week's Reader Question, a reader writes:
I've had people—both non-Catholics and some Catholics—tell me that the distinction between mortal sin and venial sin is made up. Some (most often the Catholics) think that the Church makes this distinction in order to scare people away from certain actions (usually sexual); others (primarily evangelicals) say that all sin is sin, and that the distinction encourages people to commit venial sins. Where does the distinction come from?
This is a great question. And the answer, I think, will surprise a lot of readers: The distinction between mortal and venial sin comes from the Bible itself, in 1 John 5:16-17. Traditional translations, such as the King James Version and the Catholic Douay Rheims, speak of a "sin unto death" and of other sins which are "not to death." That language itself should call to mind the explanation of why mortal sin is called mortal.
More modern translations, such as the Revised Standard Version, explicitly use the term "mortal sin." Here is the text of 1 John 5:16-17 in the RSV translation:
If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal.
There is a lot packed into those two short verses, and even more packed into the verses surrounding them (including a verse—1 John 5:18—which certain evangelicals claim means that believers do not sin, even though the previous verses make it clear that they can and do). And thus the Church's understanding of the two types of actual sin, mortal and venial, has been refined over the centuries, as theologians have struggled with the implications of these verses.
The important thing to remember, however, is that the distinction between mortal and venial sin is found right where you would expect it to be—in the Bible.
