Rights of the Child

Excerpts from the The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church on the rights of the Child.

A 'Reality Check' for Ireland's Church 
Marriage Redefinition Vote
Both Challenge and Invitation
ROME, May 25, 2015  -- The Christian message can't be shaken by a national vote, but Ireland’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage is forcing Catholic leaders to rethink how they have been keeping the faith alive among the nation's young people.

Stunning Insights From
Woman with Same-Sex Parents
SAN FRANCISCO, February 5, 2015 -- Katy Faust was raised in a family with parents who are a same-sex couple. She loves her parents and freely acknowledges they have been loving to her. Yet she opposes the redefinition of marriage. In her open letter to US Supreme Court Justice Kennedy, Katy tells us why.

Choosing Ideology Over Life:
Children Latest Pawns in
Battle to Redefine Marriage
SAN FRANCISCO, Reposted Thursday, January 22, 2015 -- A recent article published by Reuters reported that lawyers intent on persuading courts to redefine marriage are employing a new strategy: recruiting same-sex couples with children to provide emotionally charged testimony in favor of recognizing their relationships as legal marriages.

The Hidden Consequences:
What Redefining Marriage
Really Means
SAN FRANCISCO, November 19, 2014 -- Focusing on why same-sex couples should not be permitted to marry distracts people from the real consequences of redefining marriage. It also leads to unnecessary conflict that has no relationship to the real meaning and purpose of marriage and what is really at stake.

Pope Francis:
Children Have Right to
a Their Mother and Father
VATICAN CITY, November 17, 2014 -- Children have the right to be raised by a mother and a father, Pope Francis said, emphasizing that “the family is the foundation of co-existence and a remedy against social fragmentation.”editor

Archbishop Cordileone’s Talk
At the March for Marriage
WASHINGTON, DC, June 19, 2014 "The question is then: does society need an institution that unites children to the mothers and fathers who bring them into the world, or doesn’t it?"

Italian Court Overturns
Law Against Donated Sperm, Eggs
ROME, April 10, 2014 -- Italy’s Constitutional Court has overturned a law that prohibited a ban on the use of donated sperm and eggs for human reproduction.

Preview: 6 Part Series, Video Companion to Getting the Marriage Conversation Right

Today Catechesis is not enough. Young people (as well as older ones) are vulnerable to accepting reasonable sounding ideas that conflict with their faith. The DVD series discusses how important it is to present what the Church teaches about marriage that is grounded in indisputable reality. The technique involves seeing and verifying reality through the eyes of the child -- the child within us.

Ethicists Warn Against
Three-Parent Reproductive Technology
WASHINGTON, DC, February 24, 2014 -- Concerned about the effects of a new technology that involves three parents providing genetic information to create a child, experts are cautioning against opening up the technology to human clinical trials.

Gay Adoption and
the Rights of the Child
FALL RIVER, MA February 18, 2014 -- In March, 2013, the British paper The Independent ran an article entitled, “Children in gay adoptions at no disadvantage: Research confirms same-sex couples are just as good at parenting as heterosexuals.”

Gay Adoption and
the Rights of the Child
FALL RIVER, MA February 18, 2014 -- In March, 2013, the British paper The Independent ran an article entitled, “Children in gay adoptions at no disadvantage: Research confirms same-sex couples are just as good at parenting as heterosexuals.”