Online text: “Humanae Vitae and the Perfection of Love”, by Dr. David S. Crawford

See this online text:

• “Humanae Vitae and the Perfection of Love”, by Prof. David S. Crawford, M.T.S., S.T.L., S.T.D., Communio, Vol. 25, No. 3 (Fall 1998): pp. 414-433. Available in pdf format through this page of Communio.

Posted on the anniversary of the issuance of the Encyclical “Humanae Vitae”. See also the texts listed on the page “Marriage and the Family“ and on the 25 July 2019 post “Online text: “Every Marital Act Ought to be Open to New Life: Toward a Clearer Understanding”, by Germain Grisez et al.” For other texts and ebooks, you may access the List of Free eBooks (Arranged by Title), the List of Free eBooks (Grouped by Subject), the List of Worth-It Catholic Books & eBooks, and the main page of the Catholic eBooks Project.

“For God, the Lord of life, has conferred on men the surpassing ministry of safeguarding life in a manner which is worthy of man…. Hence when there is question of harmonizing conjugal love with the responsible transmission of life, the moral aspects of any procedure does not depend solely on sincere intentions or on an evaluation of motives, but must be determined by objective standards. These, based on the nature of the human person and his acts, preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love. Such a goal cannot be achieved unless the virtue of conjugal chastity is sincerely practiced. Relying on these principles, sons of the Church may not undertake methods of birth control which are found blameworthy by the teaching authority of the Church in its unfolding of the divine law.” (Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution “Gaudium et Spes”, 51)

Online text: “’Mystically Espoused to Christ, the Son of God”, by Dr. Judith M. Stegman

See this online text:

• “’Mystically Espoused to Christ, the Son of God (c. 604 §1)’: The Basis for Proposing Juridic Principles to Guide the Development of Norms for the Ordo virginum”, by Judith M. Stegman, CPA, JSD. Dissertation, School of Canon Law, Catholic University of America (2019). Available in pdf format on this page of the Catholic University of America.
  • Note: This text is a dissertation best suited for specialists and advanced students of canon law and theology. General or lay readers are invited to read, instead or in preparation, the following text by the same author:
    • “Virginal Chastity in the Consecrated Virgin”, by Judith M. Stegman [CPA]. Thesis, Master of Arts in Theology, Catholic Distance University, 2014. Available in pdf format on this page, linked by this page of the United States Association of Consecrated Virgins (USACV).

See also these related texts:

Online text: “Moral Theology and the Problem of Modernity”, by Dr. David L. Schindler

See this online text:

• “Conscience and the Relation between Truth and Pastoral Practice: Moral Theology and the Problem of Modernity”, by Professor David L. Schindler, Ph.D., Communio, Volume 46.2 (Summer 2019): pp. 333-385. Available in pdf format through this page of Communio.

On the Feast of St. Maria Goretti and the Octave of Sts. Peter and Paul in the Roman Rite. For other texts and ebooks, you may access the List of Free eBooks (Arranged by Title), the List of Free eBooks (Grouped by Subject), the List of Worth-It Catholic Books & eBooks, and the main page of the Catholic eBooks Project.

“It… seems urgently necessary to recover the authentic concept of authority, not only from the formal juridical standpoint, but more profoundly, as a means of guaranteeing, safeguarding and guiding the Christian community in fidelity to and continuity with Tradition, to make it possible for believers to be in contact with the preaching of the Apostles and with the source of the Christian reality itself.” (Saint John Paul the Great, Address to Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
November 24, 1995)

Online text: “Bishop John Fisher: Defender of the Faith and Pastor of Souls”, by Fr Thomas J. McGovern

See this online text:

• “Bishop John Fisher: Defender of the Faith and Pastor of Souls”, by Fr Thomas J. McGovern, Homiletic and Pastoral Review (New York), June 1987, pp 10-24. May be read online on this page of Catholic Culture.

Posted in belated observance of the Memorial of St. John Fisher, and on the Eve of the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite. For other texts and ebooks, you may access the List of Free eBooks (Arranged by Title), the List of Free eBooks (Grouped by Subject), the List of Worth-It Catholic Books & eBooks, and the main page of the Catholic eBooks Project.

Online ebook: “The Science of Fatherhood”, by Soren Johnson

See this online ebook:

• The Science of Fatherhood, by Soren Johnson (New Haven, CT: Knights of Columbus). Available in pdf format on this page of the Knights of Columbus.
  • A summary of the text is published on Columbia (August 2018): p. 7, which may be read online at Issuu; and it may be read on this page of the Knights of Columbus.
  • See also the same author’s essay “Daddy, I love your…“, June 13, 2019, at North Texas Catholic. 

See also these related texts:

Worth-it book: “A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward”, by Dr. Ralph Martin

See this worth-it book:

• A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward, by Dr. Ralph Martin (Steubenville, Ohio: Emmaus Road, 2000). The printed book may be purchased on this page of the Store at Renewal Ministries; and the ebook and printed book may be purchased on this page of St. Paul Center. [Note: The Project receives no commission or other revenue from indexing worth-it books.] See also the reviews and interviews indexed on this page of St. Paul Center. 

See also these related ebooks and texts:

Worth-it book & ebook: “How to Discover Your Vocation”, by Fr. Stephen Wang

See this worth-it book & ebook:

• How to Discover Your Vocation: Marriage, Priesthood, Consecrated Life, Permanent Diaconate, Single Life, by Fr Stephen Wang (London: Catholic Truth Society, 2009).
  • The printed book may be purchased on this page of the Catholic Truth Society.
    • [Note 1: For the support of faithful Catholic publishers, we encourage all readers to purchase the said book. (The Project earns no commission from any such purchase.) Nonetheless, for those who are unable to do so for just reasons, or would like electronic texts, see the following links to pages where the lawful copyright holders appear to have uploaded the work.]
  • The ebook be read online on this subpage of the Issuu page of the Catholic Truth Society. Available in pdf format on this Wayback Machine page, which is the 22 December 2014 snapshot of the Dropbox page linked by the 25 August 2009 post of Fr. Stephen Wang on Catholic Ideas.
    • [Note 2: These links are indexed on the conclusion that the texts were uploaded by the lawful copyright holders. If this is incorrect, kindly inform us immediately via comment so we might delete the links forthwith.]

See also these related texts:

Online text: “New Challenges to Humanae Vitae: Conscience and Discernment”, by Dr. Janet E. Smith

See this online text:

• “New Challenges to Humanae Vitae: Conscience and Discernment”, by Dr. Janet E. Smith, UFL Life and Learning Conference XXVIII (2018): pp. 229-253. Available in pdf format through this page of University Faculty for Life.

See also the texts listed on the page “Marriage and the Family“ and on the 25 July 2019 post “Online text: “Every Marital Act Ought to be Open to New Life: Toward a Clearer Understanding”, by Germain Grisez et al.”

On the Feast of the Annunciation in the one true and Catholic Church. For other texts and ebooks, you may access the List of Free eBooks (Arranged by Title), the List of Free eBooks (Grouped by Subject), the List of Worth-It Catholic Books & eBooks, and the main page of the Catholic eBooks Project.

“In marriage, as the marriage law declares, the man and woman come together for the procreation of children. Therefore whoever makes the procreation of children a greater sin than copulation, forbids marriage, and makes the woman not a wife, but a mistress, who for some gifts presented to her is joined to the man to gratify his passion. Where there is a wife there must be marriage. But there is no marriage where motherhood is not in view; therefore neither is there a wife.”

(Saint Augustine, On the Morals of the Manichaeans, xviii, 65)

“For God, the Lord of life, has conferred on men the surpassing ministry of safeguarding life in a manner which is worthy of man…. The sexual characteristics of man and the human faculty of reproduction wonderfully exceed the dispositions of lower forms of life. Hence the acts themselves which are proper to conjugal love and which are exercised in accord with genuine human dignity must be honored with great reverence.

“Hence when there is question of harmonizing conjugal love with the responsible transmission of life, the moral aspects of any procedure does not depend solely on sincere intentions or on an evaluation of motives, but must be determined by objective standards. These, based on the nature of the human person and his acts, preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love. Such a goal cannot be achieved unless the virtue of conjugal chastity is sincerely practiced. Relying on these principles, sons of the Church may not undertake methods of birth control which are found blameworthy by the teaching authority of the Church in its unfolding of the divine law.

“All should be persuaded that human life and the task of transmitting it are not realities bound up with this world alone. Hence they cannot be measured or perceived only in terms of it, but always have a bearing on the eternal destiny of men.”

(Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution “Gaudium et Spes”, 51)

“[I]t is never lawful, even for the gravest reasons, to do evil that good may come of it (cf. Rom 3:8) — in other words, to intend directly something which of its very nature contradicts the moral order, and which must therefore be judged unworthy of man, even though the intention is to protect or promote the welfare of an individual, of a family or of society in general”

(Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, No. 14, as quoted by Pope St. John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, No. 80)

Free ebook: “Sermons on the Song of Solomon”, by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

See this legally free ebook:

• Cantica Canticorum: Eighty-Six Sermons on the Song of Solomon. Volume 4 of the series Life and Works of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, edited by John Mabillon, translated and edited with additional notes Samuel J. Eales (London: John Hodges, 1896). May be read online, and available in pdf, mobi, epub and other formats, at Internet Archive, with a 2^nd copy at Internet Archive. An edition published as a standalone volume (London: Elliot Stock, 1895) is available at Google Books and at Hathitrust Digital Library (for US residents).

On the Feast of Saint Valentine. For other texts and ebooks, you may access the List of Free eBooks (Arranged by Title), the List of Free eBooks (Grouped by Subject), the List of Worth-It Catholic Books & eBooks, and the main page of the Catholic eBooks Project.

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered himself up for it, That he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, nor any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.

“So also ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh: but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother: and shall adhere to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh.

“This is a great sacrament: but I speak in Christ, and in the church.” (Ephesians v, 25-32)

Online text: “Large Families Are the Hope of Society”, by Pope Francis

See this online text:

• “Large Families Are the Hope of Society”, by Pope Francis, translated by Junno Arocho Esteves. Address to the Italian Association of Large Families, December 28, 2014 (© Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2014). May be read online on this page of Catholic Culture.

See also the following related text(s) concerning large families: