The fertility market

"It is ironic that many of these buyers [of human ova, or eggs] probably seek hormone-free meat and eggs for their dinner table yet have no compunction about treating a woman like an industrial farm chicken and pumping her full of hormones to make her produce more eggs." Read more here.

More trailers here.

Monasticism and Marriage

From a Romanian Orthodox writer: "Marriage and monasticism matter because people matter, because love matters..." This is also the heart of the Theology of the Body, which Pope John Paul subtitled "Human Love in the Divine Plan." 
In Orthodoxy, monasticism has a "stronger" image than it does in the West, where active religious life has historically been more visible. But in East and West, the people in the pews have been tempted to see celibacy in an idealized light that seems to put marriage on the shadow side. 
Read more here: Fr. Peter-Michael Preble: Monasticism and Marriage

HHS Mandate (how firm a foundation?)

Over at "Truthiness will set you free" some inconvenient truths for the White House. Courtesy of .gov's own Department of Health and Human Services. Seems that in trumpeting the famous "98%" of women who have "ever" used contraception, the selfsame Department decided to go with the Gutmacher Institute rather than its own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Plus other inconvenient realities.
Best to be informed about the facts, since the mandate seems to be only the nose of the camel poking under the tentcloths of civic life...

Chicagoland: Free all-day TOB seminar!

Come to Corpus Christi Church in Carol Stream, IL (Joliet diocese) on Saturday,
March 24, 9am-3pm for an all-day overview of BJP2G's revolutionary, mind-blowing, life-changing, epoch-shaking take on what it means to BE a body, not HAVE a body. Sr Helena Burns is the presenter.

Be sure to register with Mark Herwaldt (630-483-4226)for a headcount (and $5 box lunch if your body needs one).

Issues and Answers

I seem to remember that being the name of one of those Sunday morning political analysis programs way back...today we have more issues than answers, especially in areas related to Theology of the Body.
The Washington Catholic Information Center is helping correct that situation with its series of videos from a women's panel on the HHS Mandate. Here is the full-length version; you can get snippets on their YouTube channel:

TOB Summer Camp for Teens!

An immersion experience for high school juniors-seniors and new grads: TOB teaching integrated with teen spirituality (and loads of fun):

For more info: facebook.com/dumboxproductions

SSA-From the Inside

The Aggie Catholics blog offers a link to a moving testimony from a homeschooling wife and mom (of five) who faces a daily struggle with same-sex attraction while fully and happily embracing Catholic Church teaching.
Worth your time.