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From Sr Anne:
I have just had my first appearance as a member of the "guest blogging team" for the Chicago Tribune's religion blog. My post is a response to a Tribune cover story on the predicament of couples who resort to IVF to resolve their infertility problems, and then face questions about the embryos that may never be born.
If y'all could visit the site, comment on it and let others know about it, that could confirm the Tribune in its willingness to support religious dialogue like this. It would also ramp up my credibility(!), and--most importantly--allow the conversation to go deeper. I am especially concerned that comments from Catholics show pastoral concern for couples who are in this predicament, since all I did, really, was look at the predicament from an objective sort of stance. That's never enough when you're talking about people's actual lives.

Here's the link:http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/religion_theseeker/2009/11/sister-anne-flanagan-desperation-and-the-indefensible.html

Worth reading

Found this terrific conversation with Jennifer of Conversion Diary by following a chain of links... (Be sure to read the whole page!) But it would be a disservice not to cite at least this much:

I come from a background of lifelong secular atheism, so I know how crazy the Church’s stance on contraception sounds. Up until a few years ago, I didn’t know that anyone was even opposed to contraception anymore; I’d heard something about the Catholic Church being against it, but I thought it was an urban legend.

When I began to look into Christianity and was researching the Catholic Church, however, what I found when I read up on its views of human life and sexuality was nothing short of breathtaking. The wisdom I found in reading things like the Theology of the Body or Humanae Vitae was so counter-cultural, so unexpected, and yet resonated so deeply as being true, that for the first time I started to think that this Church might be telling the truth when it says it’s guided by Something more than just the opinions of men. John Paul II once said, "the difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle...is much wider and deeper than is usually thought, one which involves in the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality." I have found this to be true.
...

I don’t have a big interest in anyone telling me how I should run my family, especially if they can’t relate to my situation. However, if the teachings of the Catholic Church are founded on the opinions of celibate dudes in Rome who have a bad habit of not listening to the opinions of the faithful, then we as Catholics have a lot more to worry about than just the issue of contraception. If, however, this is the Church that Christ founded, and if the Holy Spirit works through the fallible humans in this Church to reveal God’s will for humanity, then even the most difficult -- sometimes agonizingly difficult -- teachings are sure to lead us through the narrow gate that we seek to enter.