The Linacre quarterly

Gender-affirming care has emerged as the dominant model of healthcare for adolescents with gender dysphoria, replacing the historical model of watchful waiting. In gender-affirming care, the healthcare professional affirms the gender with w…

A one-day meeting was held as a pre-conference to the Catholic Medical Association Annual Educational event in 2024. A panel of eighteen physicians, scientists, and researchers involved in NFP work was convened to review the available evide…

The teachings of the Catholic Church on human sexuality, contraception and the treatment of infertility are well established and clearly explained in many Church documents, including Humanae vitae and Familiaris consortio. In 2022, a book w…

Mark 10:13-16, interpreted within the broader context of the Gospel of Mark, using a moral exegetical framework, provides a lens for what welcoming the children refers to in sacramental marital discipleship. Building upon the narrative ethi…

Taking the heart into account while providing pastoral care to couples suffering from infertility is essential. The affective sphere is not irrational but has its own logic that needs to be addressed. Trying to bypass the wounds involved in…

The Path of Fertile Family (FFP) is a service for couples experiencing infertility, aimed to obtain natural conception, as an alternative to assisted reproductive techniques, developed in 2018 and provided by the Counseling Centre of Centro…

The mystery of love as it unfolds in marriage is an adventure filled with wonder and anticipation for what the future holds. Such is the excitement and optimism of the couple embarking on family life by actively trying to conceive a child. …

Over the last 5 decades, the fulfillment of maternity wishes in solid organ transplanted women has become a reality. Despite pregnancy contraindication in transplanted women during the early post-transplant period, such a condition can be o…

Humanae Vitae taught that sexual relations must respect both the procreative and unitive meanings of the marital act. Most Catholic ethical analysis of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has focused on whether the procedure assists or…

A reductive reading of Humanae vitae seeks to limit its appeal to a ban on contraception. In truth, however, it offers a vision of human sexuality and conjugal love with broad and enduring relevance. In setting forth the intrinsic complemen…

Oral contraceptives (OCs) are often prescribed to adolescents and young adults for the treatment of health problems and to avoid unwanted pregnancies. We hypothesized that the use of OCs, among adolescents and young adults, is associated wi…

A one-day meeting of physicians, professional nurses, and scientists actively involved in Natural Family Planning (NFP) research was held to review the state of the science of NFP and consider future priorities. The meeting had four objecti…

Moral character is formed by one's actions. The habits, actions, and emotional responses of the person of good character all are united and directed toward the moral and the good. Because human beings are body/soul unities, actions of the b…

By encouraging doctors and scientists to improve the regulation of births through the observation of natural fertility rhythms, Humanae vitae promoted the development of natural family planning (NFP). The study of NFP has lead to NFP-based …

Central among the many issues that form a person’s choice in family planning is the method effectiveness rate for pregnancy avoidance (typically, most people do not consider the difference between moral and immoral methods). Despite the fac…

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is morally objectionable for a number of reasons: the destruction of human embryos, the danger to women and newborn infants, and the replacement of the marital act in procreation. Recent studies have shown a sig…

Note that the "Current Medical Research" feature focuses on issues relevant to natural family planning and the beginning of life. This piece is complemented by medical reviews published in The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, which fo…

The current approach to infertility of assisted reproductive technology (ART) completely misses and then bypasses the evaluation and treatment of cervical factor infertility. In contrast, the Creighton Model Fertility Care System (CrMS), a …