Do you ever wonder about the church’s teachings regarding contraception? Fr. Josh Johnson and Dr. Sarah Denny Lorio address this topic from both a moral reasoning and medical application standpoint. They also look at the broader picture of holistic understanding of fertility, fertility awareness-based methods and restorative reproductive medicine. Dr. Sarah advocates for improved education about these topics and acknowledges that it is valid to still be learning, growing, and wrestling with this complex area as long as we maintain our trust in the Lord.
Snippet from the Show
There may be church teachings that we do not yet understand, but that’s OK; the point of our faith is that we remain close to Jesus and trust that over time God will give us grace.
Shownotes
Glory Story (3:43)
Listener Question (8:19)
Is it OK to take birth control for health reasons if you are not using it as a contraceptive?
-Anonymous
Prayer (29:14)
Hail Mary
Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
About Dr. Sarah Denny Lorio
Dr. Sarah Denny Lorio holds a PhD in Bioethics from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, and her doctoral research argued for a “third way” of sex education that teaches young people fertility awareness-based methods both as preventive medicine and as proximate vocation preparation. Throughout the last 12 years, Sarah has taught at both the university and high school levels: working as an ethics professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, teaching and coaching young women at Archbishop Chapelle High School in New Orleans, and speaking and leading international trips for college students as a campus minister at Louisiana State University. Trained in two methods of fertility awareness–Creighton Model FertilityCare System (2013) and FEMM (2024)–her passion is to empower women through a deeper knowledge of the great gift and beauty of their bodies and sexuality. In her work, she consistently seeks to integrate the demands of medicine with the dignity of womanhood and highlights the essential role of human freedom in the education of young women. She is in the process both of developing a high school curriculum that brings light to these realities as well as creating similar resources for parents. She currently lives in New Orleans, LA, and works remotely as a Personal Consultations Fellow with the National Catholic Bioethics Center.
You can find out more on her website: What Women Are.
Resources
- Submit your questions and feedback to Fr. Josh by filling out a form at www.ascensionpress.com/askfatherjosh
- Broken and Blessed by Fr. Josh Johnson
- Pocket Guide to Adoration by Fr. Josh Johnson
- Pocket Guide to Reconciliation by Fr. Josh Johnson & Fr. Mike Schmitz
- Ascension is pleased to offer our new and improved online bible study programs and sacramental preparation programs digitally to help you minister with flexibility. Go to ascensionpress.com to view all our offerings.
Meet Fr. Josh Johnson
While Fr. Josh was raised Catholic, he didn’t like the Church growing up. Then, one day in adoration, he fell in love with Jesus and received the call to become a priest.
Now, Fr. Josh is the Vocations Director of the Diocese of Baton Rouge in Louisiana. He is a presenter in four of Ascension’s programs: Altaration, YOU: Life, Love, and the Theology of the Body, The 99, and Connected: Catholic Social Teaching for This Generation, as well as the author of Broken and Blessed: An Invitation to My Generation, Pocket Guide to Adoration, and co-author of Pocket Guide to Reconciliation.
