Novus Ordo Mass Lowers Mass Attendance: True or False
Liturgy/Mass
Written by Stephen Michael Leininger
Posted 01/31/2023
STOSS Books
Did Second Vatican Council & the Novus Ordo Mass Cause Fewer Faithful
… Or was it something else?
Correlation and Causation Fallacy
As was said above, there are false assumptions (in my view) being made on the part of many Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) proponents. They assume that changes made by the Second Vatican Council (the NOM being one of those changes) cause so many Catholics to leave the faith. They look at polls and, without citing any adequately designed scientific studies to justify their assertions, propagate what may well be a logical fallacy.
This fallacy is known as the Questionable Cause Fallacy (cum hoc ergo propter hoc). It is also known as butterfly logic, ignoring a common cause, neglecting a common cause, confusing correlation and causation, confusing cause and effect, false cause, third cause, third-cause fallacy, juxtaposition [form of], reversing causality/wrong direction [form of].
I have never seen a study that validates the assumptions used by Traditionalists to put forth their claims. However, I am open to seeing one and accepting its conclusions if the following criteria are met:
1). It must contain a null hypothesis that directly links the decline of Mass attendance with 2VC and NOM.
2). The null hypothesis must be shown to be statistically significant (i.e., p=<0.05).
With the assumption at hand, it is possible that correlation also coincides with causation. But without statistically significant evidence, one cannot automatically assume that to be the case. The hypothesis the Traditionalists are putting forward, the weight of the evidence I present, points to a different cause than the one they are proposing. My research indicates another root cause for the Church’s decline in the numbers of the Catholic faithful. While I, too, cannot cite a statistically significant scientific study, I do provide a good deal of evidence to support my conclusions.
My hypothesis is revealed in a three-part blog titled “The Beast in Scripture is Not Coming. It Is Here: Part III.” In it, I seek to identify Satan’s 100 to 120-year plan to destroy Christ’s Church. The first step in Satan’s plan is to make enough artificial birth control products available to saturate the world’s cultures. Addressed in the blog series is the issue of when and why the smoke of Satan entered through a crack in the Church. What is that crack? In “The Beast in Scripture is Not Coming. It Is Here: Part III,” those questions are answered. All three series parts must be read to receive a fuller view of Satan’s plan. However, the focus will be on part three, which is directly pertinent to our topic.
In an Aleteia article, Gelsomino Del Guercio writes:
Pope Paul VI writes a letter that will remain unpublished until 2018, when its content is revealed in the book The Barque of Paul (“La barca di Paolo“), by Fr. Leonardo Sapienza, regent of the Pontifical Household.
It’s June 29, 1972. Paul VI has a clearer and clearer impression that there is something deep and negative that is increasingly afflicting the Church. The path towards secularization and the lack of internal unity are becoming two great problems for the Church throughout the world.
The concerned pope writes:
We would say that, through some mysterious crack — no, it’s not mysterious; through some crack, the smoke of Satan has entered the Church of God. There is doubt, uncertainty, problems, unrest, dissatisfaction, confrontation.[1]
Was 2VC (which had recently concluded) the crack through which this “doubt, uncertainty, problems, unrest, dissatisfaction, confrontation” entered? No, it was not. How can this be known? Pope Paul VI had a pretty good idea of where the crack came from and pointed to it directly. Later in the same letter, he writes:
The Church is no longer trusted. We trust the first pagan prophet we see who speaks to us in some newspaper, and we run behind him and ask him if he has the formula for true life. I repeat, doubt has entered our conscience. And it entered through the windows that should have been open to the light: science [emphasis mine].[2]
What does science have to do with the 2VC? Absolutely nothing! However, in late July of 1968, Pope Paul VI promulgated Humanae Vitae (HV). In it is written, “But the most remarkable development of all is to be seen in man’s stupendous progress in the domination and rational organization of the forces of nature to the point that he is endeavoring to extend this control over every aspect of his own life — over his body, over his mind and emotions, over his social life, and even over the laws that regulate the transmission of life.”[3] It was through science, not the 2VC or the NOM, that this domination of the forces of nature had been attained. Never before in history had the scientific ability to control conception on such a grand scale been achieved. Pope Paul VI realized that it was through this crack (i.e., the overwhelming failure of the episcopate and the laity to accept, obey, and vigorously defend Humane Vitae) that the smoke of Satan entered the Church.[4]
Listed below are some significant contributing factors that helped to fan the flames of our collective lust of the flesh. Each worked synergistically to increase the efficacy of these sterilizing products to cause the moral decay within the Church and the progressive loss in the numbers of the faithful (both the laity and the episcopate):
1). In 1917, the year of Fatima, when Mary warned us of the errors of Russia, another event also occurred. That event was the beginning of the publication of Margaret Sanger’s Birth Control Review. Statistics reveal that the consequences of her advocacy immediately produced effects. For fifty-two years prior to the NOM (during which the so-called superior Tridentine Mass, using the Roman Missal, was the only Mass offered), the Church was virtually silent about this birth control-induced moral decline. I remember one homily at Mass about the evil of Communism. I heard none about the evils of artificially-induced sterility.
2). One of Marxist Communist’s immediate goals were to sexualize the young — including children. This tactic was introduced in Revelations (2:14) and should serve as a warning about the tactics Satan would use in the end times.
3). In 1963, a list of goals formulated by the Communists to achieve the downfall of any country they wished to conquer was entered into the Congressional Record. Many of those goals dealt directly with activity and behavior that were intentionally or inherently sterile, thus removing man from the state of being in the image and likeness of God. Where were all the TLM attendees and the TLM clergy? Where were they when the Church desperately needed help fending off the evils of intentional unfruitfulness? NOTE: I am not saying the TLM was not a perfect sacrificial offering to the Father by the Son. I am merely pointing out that Mass attendance losses were likely not the direct result of the 2VC and/or the NOM. The problems already existed long before 1970 — while the TLM was still the only Roman Rite offered at the time. Further evidence of that will be presented later.
To sum up Pope Paul VI’s beliefs, the rejection of Humanae Vitae by the episcopate and the laity is the crack through which the smoke of Satan entered the Church. As a result, that smoke blinded those both for and against the goals of the 2VC and the resulting NOM. On one side, the Council introduced (or facilitated) varying degrees of Liturgical abuse. On the other side, Traditionalists, citing these abuses, justified throwing out the bath water and the baby (claiming Jesus celebrated a less perfect, less efficacious Novus Ordo Mass). I don’t believe this was their intention, but it occurred nonetheless.As the Family Goes — So Goes the Culture
A few questions now need to be addressed:
1). Did the decline of Church attendance start in the early 1970s immediately after the 2VC concluded and the NOM became the Ordinary Form of the Mass?2). Could the attendance decline of the faithful have been avoided had we just kept the TLM as the Ordinary Form of the Mass?3). Was the pre-conciliar Mass the proximate cause of the glory days of the Church in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?4). When did faith start to decline in the Church, and what likely caused it?5). Had Artificial Contraception already begun to significantly erode the morality of the Church long before the 2VC?
All those questions will be answered as we proceed through this article. By comparing the two possible root causes (# 1 and #2 below) for the decline of the faithful, we can help identify the most likely root cause.
1). The relative validity and efficacy of the NOM versus the TLM have been shown in the article “Novus Ordo Versus Latin Mass”. It was demonstrated that both are equally perfect sacrificial offerings of the Son to the Father. Consequently, choosing one over the other represents a personal preference that in no way affects the perfection of the sacrificial offering made by the High Priest, Jesus Christ, to the Father.2). On the other hand, partaking in the act of conjugal sex while simultaneously rendering said act intentionally/inherently sterile destroys within us the likeness of God. It doesn’t destroy the image of God within us, but it does destroy the likeness. How consequential is that fact? Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden because their sin of disobedience rendered them no longer in God’s perfect image and likeness. They were rendered spiritually dead because of their sin. No one can be in a nuptial relationship with the Son of God (neither in the Garden of Eden nor in the Eucharist) with any stain of sin on their spiritual soul.
Already, it is becoming increasingly evident which of the two possibilities, #2 is likely the root cause. So, let’s focus on #2.
God revealed to St. Hildegard:
And falling thus from disobedience into death, when they [Adam and Eve] knew they could sin [thanks to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil — SML], they discovered sin’s sweetness [two sections down, we will learn more about the meaning of sweetness–SML]. And in this way, turning My rightful institution into sinful lust, although they should have known that the commotion in their veins [i.e., hormones] was not for the sweetness of sin but for the love of children, by the Devil’s suggestion they changed it to lechery; and, losing the innocence of the act of begetting, they yielded it to sin. This was not accomplished without the Devil’s persuasion; for that purpose he sent forth his darts, and it did not come to pass without his suggestion; as he said, “My [The Devil’s] strength is in human conception, and therefore humanity is mine” [emphasis mine]![5]
Clearly, we must be much more concerned about the severe impact of artificial birth control on our faith than which Form of the Mass we choose to attend. Below, we will examine that more fully.
Pope John Paul II tasked Cardinal Carlo Caffara to plan and establish the Pontifical Institute for the Studies on Marriage and the Family. He wrote to Sr. Lucia, one of the three children who received apparitions from Mary, the Mother of God (for information on Fatima and the miracle of the sun, click here and here. The purpose of his letter was to ask for her prayers for the success of this endeavor. She responded with a six-page letter, telling the Cardinal, “The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family [emphasis mine]. Don’t be afraid, she added because anyone who works for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be fought and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue [my emphasis].”[6] Without a doubt, we are now in this final battle.
In a written interview with Bishop Peter J. Elliott, Paul Senz at Catholic World Report writes:
Over the last several decades, the decay in our society has flowed almost exclusively from the rotten state of the family, confusion over proper approaches to human sexuality, gender, and more, all of which is the result of the sexual revolution.[7]
His guest is Bishop Peter J. Elliott[8] (auxiliary Bishop emeritus of Melbourne, Australia), who has written a book titled, “The Sexual Revolution: History, Ideology, Power,” (Ignatius Press, 2023).
In that interview, Bishop Elliott writes:
Family breakdown, cohabitation, domestic violence, prostitution, pornography, gender ideology all impact on women. Their children are victims of the sexual revolution, especially now that their cell phones show pornography and are used by predators. … [To what can we attribute the Sexual Revolution and, therefore, the breakdown/destruction of the family? Bishop Elliott tells us] In practical terms it can be summed up in two words: the Pill and abortion.[9]
While abortion is the most brutal form, it and many others methods of birth control fall under the category of the contraceptive mentality. We only fool ourselves if we think we can stop abortion without vigorously addressing the root mentality and products that led to abortion. If we fight abortion and ignore the Pill (and other forms of intentional/inherent sterility), we fool ourselves into believing we can end abortion by simply decreasing the gasoline we pour on the fire.
Satan’s First Battle Front: The De-moral-ization of the Church (aka the Beast from Out of the Sea)[10]
The first choice of battlefront reveals Satan’s plan to destroy Christ’s Church Militant. His plans are designed to de-moral-ize, and thus weaken the Church. I am not using this term to refer to morale, i.e., one’s mental and emotional state. Instead, I’m explicitly pointing to virtues and vices — particularly those tied to the lusts of the flesh. Satan desires to weaken the members of the Church Militant and to do so by destroying their moral underpinnings, the very thing that makes us strong. This approach is revealed in Revelation 2:12-17.
In it, we read about the church at Pergamum. The people of this church are told, “To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna (a type of the Eucharist), and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.” So, what was it that the Spirit wanted this particular church to conquer? The sin of the church at Pergamum was fornication and/or adultery, both of the flesh and the spirit (idolatry); both were rampant in the twentieth century. Interestingly, none of the other churches were promised a white stone should they succeed in conquering their particular brand of sinfulness. We know this because of the reference to the “teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak” (Rev 2:12-17).
What was it Balaam taught Balak? Balaam was a wicked prophet who sought to destroy Israel. Balaam knew that without God, Israel would become weak and vulnerable. To make God angry at the Israelites, Balaam taught Balak to place stumbling blocks before the men of Israel. To put that teaching into action, Balak employed some of the most beautiful women in his kingdom to lure the men into unclean fleshly, and spiritual acts, i.e., sexual intercourse and idolatry.[11] The stumbling blocks were the DNA/salt/dust/stone bodies of beautiful and desirous women. This temptation tactic is why the Spirit informs them of the white stone. He is telling them if the men conquer their lust for the flesh, then, at the resurrection, their bodies will be raised from the dead, be glorified, and become as pure as snow (as clean as a white stone).[12]
There are no more effective means of luring souls to hell than through sins of the flesh. It is so dangerous because one of the consequences of committing such a powerfully induced sin is this: once committed, it will hormonally cause an ever-growing addiction toward experiencing the pleasure and excitement associated with that sin. Unfortunately, the nature of biologically generated hormonal rewards is that they necessitate new perversions to obtain that same level of excitement as was experienced the first time the sin was committed.
This tactic constitutes battlefront #1. It is through this front that Satan destroys marriage and the family structure.
According to the recordings of a priest-exorcist:
The demons admit that they penetrate everywhere to bring about the ruination of souls, especially through impurity. Everywhere they are spreading “the blackest deceptions.” One demon who called himself “Luxuria” and who used the possessed person to imitate femininity, told me proudly: “I have by far more servants than your Virgin (Bl. Virgin) has.”[13]
Satan boasted to God that he could destroy the Church. Why the Church? The family is the closest image on earth of the Covenantal relationship between the three Persons of the Trinity — the Family of God. The actual Covenant of Salt exists between Jesus and his Church. He is the bridegroom; the Church (consisting of all the baptized) is his Bride. Satan sought to hurt the Son of God by destroying the bodies and souls of his Bride — a replay of his tactic for destroying Adam and his seed via Eve, who is bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh, i.e., his family.
However, before Satan could destroy the domestic Church through sexual immorality, he had to remove one obstacle, i.e., the fruitfulness inherent in the conjugal act. Pregnancy could very well throw a monkey wrench into Satan’s demonic works. The sin of adultery could very well be discovered (creating massive repercussions) should one of the participants become pregnant. Casual sex and cohabitation could also produce huge repercussions should the woman become pregnant. Satan knew that artificial birth control would make the commission of sexual sin sooo much more accessible — sooo much more consequence-free (from the world’s standpoint). Satan knew his plans had to wait until the technology existed to make rendering oneself intentionally/inherently sterile on a massive scale became possible.
Beginning the Decisive Battle with Satan Over Marriage & the Family
A sacramental marriage is sacred (only if made sacramental by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) because God instituted it as an image and likeness of the Trinity and the relationship between Jesus and his one and only Church. This sacramental union is why the spirit of the Antichrist wants to destroy marriage, the spouses, and the spouse’s children.
According to a Wall Street Journal article, the U.S. marriage rate has dropped to the lowest rate since 1867 (the point at which records became available).[14] More and more Americans are choosing to cohabitate. In 1970, about 70% of the population were married and only 1% cohabitated.[15] In 2019, 7% were cohabitating. Americans choose cohabitation because of strained finances, a declining religious adherence, and growing acceptance of unmarried cohabitation.[16]
When the disordered soul lost control over the body, the sweetness of sin was discovered through the uncontrollable (by the soul) expression of hormones such as dopamine, oxytocin, vasopressin, and others. These hormones are both sweet and addictive (producing slavery to sin). These hormones produce knowledge of good and evil. The biological sciences tell us, unlike most other proteins, hormones are carried to their target cells via the bloodstream. Hildegard informs us that after Adam’s sin, the blood carried within itself: 1) sweet, but deadly, poison;[17] 2) shameful and turbulent acts, thus increasing the body’s appetite for those very crimes carried in the blood;[18] and, 3) impure filth which changed Adam’s blood into a liquid of pollution.[19]
As was said previously, artificial birth control has provided mankind with the technology to commit grievous and perverse sins on a massive scale. Sins directly target fruitfulness and the family structure.
In the past, there have always been great evils, but they primarily harmed the bodies of their victims, not their souls. As Matthew says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mt 10:28). Artificial birth control not only profoundly harms the body of self and others, it also destroys the spiritual soul of those who freely partakes of it. It turns men into beasts, no longer in the image and likeness of God.
God, in his own words, describes to Saints Hildegard and Catherine (both Doctors of the Church) the consequences of sexual impurity. The following are examples:
1). “Their innocence lost, the flesh rebelled against the spirit and they became filthy beasts;”[20]
2). “See that some of these fruits are the food of beasts who live impurely, using their body and their mind like a swine who wallows in mud, for in the same way they wallow in the mire of sensuality. Oh, ugly soul, where have you left your dignity? You were made sister to the angels, and now you are become a brute beast. To such misery come sinners, notwithstanding that they are sustained by Me, who am Supreme Purity, notwithstanding that the very devils, whose friends and servants they have become, cannot endure the sight of such filthy actions.”[21]
3). “But let there be right faith and pure love…between husband and wife lest their seed be polluted by the Devil’s art…because they are biting and tearing each other to pieces and sowing their seed inhumanely with the wantoness of beasts.”[22] We make the sin even more grievous and deadly by sowing coupling our “seed inhumanely with the wantoness of beasts,” together with making ourselves deliberately sterile/unfruitful.
Men who willingly make themselves into beasts are not (and can never be) in the image and likeness of God. As such, “beasts” can never be in a nuptial union with the Son of God via Jesus’ humanity. Can never validly partake of the Eucharist at Mass. The consequences of receiving the Eucharist while being in a “beastly/impure state” renders one spiritually dead (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:29). It is for these reasons that Church attendance is in decline. It is for these reasons that Catholics are losing their faith. Not the NOM Mass.
Satan, together with his spiritual and human followers, can destroy both the body and the spiritual soul. Furthermore, through epigenetic plasticity/change and subsequent heritability (e.g., here), our offspring can be pre-disposed to compulsive addictions and perversions — to the third and fourth generation[23][24] as Scripture tells us (e.g., Ex 20:5, 34:7; Num 14:18; Deut 5:9). I believe that no greater evil can be committed than the sin of purposely making oneself sterile.
The History of Artificial Birth Control
From the beginning of recorded history, man has sought ways to prevent pregnancy. As was said earlier, in October 1884, Satan had a conversation with God, which Pope Leo XIII was allowed to hear. In this conversation, Satan boasted that he could destroy God’s Church if given enough time and extra power for his followers. God granted 100-120 years. It is a common belief of theologians that that period began in 1899 when the world was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
So why did Satan choose the 1900s to begin his final attack on the Church? It is because Satan knew the technological know-how was about to reach the point where artificial birth control could make sexual sin very easy and relatively consequence-free (from a worldly standpoint).
Describing a movie titled, The Pill, the following was written:
In May 1960, the FDA approved the sale of a pill that arguably would have a greater impact on American culture than any other drug in the nation’s history. For women across the country, the contraceptive Pill was liberating: it allowed them to pursue careers, fueled the feminist and pro-choice movements and encouraged more open attitudes towards sex.
Among the key players in the development of the drug were two elderly female activists who demanded a contraceptive women could eat like aspirin and then paid for the scientific research; a devout Catholic gynecologist who believed a robust sex life made for a good marriage and argued tirelessly that the Pill was a natural form of birth control; and a brilliant biologist who bullied a pharmaceutical company into risking a possibly crippling boycott to develop this revolutionary contraceptive.[25]
Let us look at some history that will allow us to see the relevance of Satan’s boasting.
1). In the late 1800’s, two women are born that will play a huge role in the spread of artificial contraception. In 1875, Katherine Dexter McCormick is born. In 1879, Maggie Louise Higgins (Margaret Sanger) is born. In 1884, Satan would have been well aware of both of them.[26]2). The next person to be born would be Gregory Pincus in 1903. Incidentally, Satan’s 100-120-year period likely began in 1899, the year of the Consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.[27]3). In 1917, Margaret Sanger and Katharine McCormick first meet at one of Sanger’s Boston lectures, and strike up an enduring friendship. Sympathizing with Sanger’s movement, McCormick makes small contributions to the cause and smuggles diaphragms into the United States for Sanger’s clinics.[28]4). In 1918, condoms become legal in the U.S. Troops fighting in World War I ignored official Army advice to abstain from sex. They obtained condoms overseas — and brought them home.[29] [Note: This was only a year after Mary’s warnings to the world at Fatima].5). In the 1920s, the U.S. birth rate drops by half [the contraceptive mentality is beginning to take root]. Condom reliability is still terrible by modern standards, but people achieved effective birth control by combining condoms, the rhythm method, male withdrawal, diaphragms, and/or intrauterine devices.[30]6). Here’s the significance of Sanger, McCormick, and Pincus: Around 1951, Pincus formulates the first hormonal contraceptive Pill. McCormick funds its development. Sanger (eventually forms Planned Parenthood) promotes, markets, and sells it.[31]7). In 1938, a case involving Margaret Sanger, a judge lifted the federal ban on birth control, ending the Comstock era. Diaphragms, also known as womb veils, became a popular method of birth control.[32]8). By 1939, nearly 400 community-based and state-sponsored birth control clinics existed throughout the country.[33]Also, by 1938, condoms become popular.[34]9). “While in her 80s, Sanger underwrote the research necessary to create the first human birth control pill. She raised $150,000 for the project.”[35] Incidentally, 1950 is the year in which many modernized countries reached a peak level of personal happiness, then steadily declined immediately thereafter. Even though per capita incomes raised significantly, happiness progressively dropped.[36] [When a progressively large portion of the population voluntarily transitions into a state that takes them out of being in the image and likeness of God, unhappiness cannot help but be the result — SML]
So, were various contraceptive products, such as pills, rubbers, diaphragms, etc., having a significant impact on the morality of the Western nations before 2VC and the NOM ever came into being? In 1951, Sanger had over two-hundred birth control clinics in the U.S.; four hundred, if you add in private and state-sponsored birth control clinics.[37] Throughout the 1950s, it was estimated that the sales of all birth control products were two hundred million dollars per year in America alone. That doesn’t seem like a lot until we adjust that figure to reflect the value in 2022 dollars. In today’s dollars, that two hundred million dollars would equal approximately 2.362 billion dollars annually — for America alone.
By comparison, in 2012, the revenue for pornography worldwide was estimated to be between 5-10 billion dollars per year [WARNING: The citation for that figure is a site that markets to pornographers, so I do not include its link].[38] In 2018, Netflix had an annual revenue of 8.28 billion in North America.[39] These figures help us realize that soul-destroying birth control products and practices had an extremely significant and widespread impact on the morality of our culture as a whole.
For example, according to the American Experience website:
In the midst of the civil rights and anti-war movements, the young generation of the 1960s questioned authority and rejected their parents’ values. For many who came of age in this era, the traditional notion that a woman wouldn’t be able to find a husband if she weren’t a virgin was absurd. Though social conservatives blamed these sweeping changes in American values on the oral contraceptive, most historians now believe that in reality the Pill did not cause the sexual revolution in America. Rather, the two collided [i.e., the Pill facilitated the sexual revolution — SML].[40]
The point of citing the history above is to show that by 1950, artificial birth control (that which destroys the likeness of God within us) had achieved widespread usage in most Western countries. Thus, before the 2VC occurred, our collective spiritual faith progressively (or had already) died.
Epigenetics, Artificial Birth Control, and Sexual Perversions
Fr. Paul Mankowski, S.J. tells us, “I believe the sexual abuse crisis represents no isolated phenomenon and no new failure, but rather illustrates a state of slowly worsening clerical and episcopal corruption with its roots well back into the 1940s.”[41]
Furthermore, he writes:
I’d contend that the single important difference in the Church’s failure regarding abusive clergy and the failures regarding liturgy, catechesis, pro-life politics, doctrinal dissent and biblical translation is this: that in the case of the sex abuse scandal we’ve been allowed a look over the bishops’ shoulders at their own memos. Deviant sexual assault has accomplished what liturgical abuse never could … I would estimate that between 50 and 60 percent of the men who entered religious life with me in the mid-70s were homosexuals who had no particular interest in the Church, but who were using the celibacy requirement of the priesthood as a way of camouflaging the real reason for the fact that they would never marry.[42]
In other words, the priesthood didn’t cause homosexuality; it served as an attractive residence, which happened to be next to their workplace.
Short Epigenetics Tutorial
To help tie the above to our discussion about artificial birth control, we need to understand the science behind epigenetics, epigenetic plasticity, and its contribution to genetic heritability. A general discussion of epigenetics can be found here. The current state of biological science has reached the level that the current consensus among biologists is that same-sex attraction is not due to a “gay” gene. Instead, it is a direct result of epigenetic plasticity. When Scripture tells us the sins of the father visit the sons to the third and fourth generation (e.g., Ex 20:5, 34:7; Num 14:18; Deut 5:9), God is actually making a direct reference to epigenetic plasticity.
The word epigenetic, translated literally, means above the genome. A more precise definition comes from Dupont et al. He writes, “Over the following years, with the rapid growth of genetics, the meaning of the word [epigenetic] has gradually narrowed. Epigenetics has been defined and today is generally accepted as ‘the study of changes in gene function that are mitotically[43] and/or meiotically[44] heritable and that do not entail a change in the DNA sequence.’”[45]
Think of our DNA as a computer to help visualize the epigenome’s role. The genes within the DNA molecule are the hardware of the computer. The epigenome is the software that tells the computer (our genes) what to do and what not to do. In our biology, the software (the epigenome) will alter the computer’s function without changing the hardware (the DNA sequencing of the nucleotides, aka the steps of the DNA ladder). For example, the epigenome tells the cells to divide and what types of cells they are to become (e.g., heart cell, muscle cell, neuron, etc.). It’s the epigenome that turns on the “switch” of one’s genes needed for a particular cell type to function correctly while turning off the switch of unneeded genes (i.e., telling them to stop making proteins).
Initially, it was felt that all epigenetic changes resulted from the diet. However, current research shows a much more comprehensive range of environmental and behavioral factors (both sense–able and meta–sense–able) will also epigenetically alter gene function, possibly for several generations, aka transgenerational heredity.
What are some of the environmental and behavioral factors that initiate the epigenetic mechanism? The following research represents a small sample of all triggers for epigenetic change that often lead to transgenerational heredity. They are:
1. Food, alcohol, and other drinks;2. Repeated behaviors that trigger fight, flight, or stress hormones such as norepinephrine, epinephrine, adrenaline, and cortisol;3. Repeated behaviors that result in the production of reward hormones/neurotransmitters such as dopamine (often associated with addictions), oxytocin, endorphins, and serotonin;4. Repeated behaviors that feed the three lusts described by St. Paul — the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life (1 Jn. 2:16). Typically, behaviors of this nature are also closely involved with numbers 2 and 3 above;5. Traumatic experiences with parents, loved ones, and/or others;6. Experiences that result in unhealthy and/or chronic levels of fear;7. Both light and sound waves, and;8. Environmental Factors.
Incidentally, all of the above factors are discussed in greater detail in the three parts of the blog “Born With It: Does God Will It?” The links to those blogs are in the section below.
The epigenetics of homosexuality
Francis Collins led the Human Genome Project, which (as the title indicates) mapped the entire human genome. He is the former (now retired) Director of the National Institutes of Health. He wrote that studies performed on twins suggest that there are heritable factors in same-sex attraction (SSA), but attraction is not hard–wired into the structural genetic code. In other words, the genes within the DNA are not structurally altered, implying that hard-wired mutations are not directly responsible for functional changes that produce SSA. He concludes that epigenetics plays a role in creating a predisposition (but not predetermination) toward homosexuality.[46]
His view indicates “Behavioral & Environmental Input, Reactive Biological Output” (BEIRBO) — a phrase I coined. It refers to the epigenetic process through which one’s computer hardware (structural DNA) reacts to software instruction to execute a functional change, i.e., turning a gene on or off. Research, especially in the area of epigenetics, is pointing to the validity of this belief. Wikipedia provides a pretty good summary, targeting non-scientists, of the epigenetic roots of homosexuality.
I wrote a three-part blog that comprehensively answers the question: If one is “born with it,” does that mean God wills it? Here are the links for Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
Several wide-ranging studies reliably confirm Collin’s hypothesis, i.e., there is no hard-wired gay gene(s). However, that does not mean epigenetic mechanisms do not play a significant role in genetic function (aka protein expression/production) and are not somehow involved in the biology of SSA.[47]
For example, research from the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis provides compelling evidence indicating homosexuality seems to have an epigenetic link (i.e., environmentally/behaviorally induced and passed down to offspring as a result of inheritance) but not a hard-wired genetic connection. Their research also indicates that lesbians get this epigenetic marker from their fathers, while gay men get it from their mothers. William Rice, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California Santa Barbara and lead author of the study, mentioned that most mainstream biologists had shied away from this type of research because of, as he worded it, social stigma.[48]
Let me go on a brief tangent. Agenda science is trying desperately to find the “gay gene.” A scientific axiom is this: research follows the money. Unfortunately, those in power are huge proponents of the gay agenda — at the expense of your religious freedoms. Consequently, science is not even attempting to find a moral, authentic, compassionate solution for those with SSA. Why? Because there is no funding available to do that type of research. What happened to altruism?
As has already been said, the epigenome is the body’s software. Theoretically, the software can be reprogrammed to function correctly. The key is to harness the capabilities of the energies of light, structured biological water, and soundwaves. It is not a question of if we can fully realize that capability; it is a question of when.
Using the energies of light and sound, coupled with biological water, researchers have already been able to return differentiated cells (e.g., a heart cell, a kidney cell, or a nerve cell) into stem cells (i.e., non-differentiated cells). Then, subsequently, redifferentiate them into newly differentiated cells.
Maria Esperanza was a visionary at a Church-approved apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Betania , Venezuela
According to Michael Brown of SpiritDaily, Jesus told Esperanza the following would occur after world purification and a return to Christ-centered scientific endeavors:
A new type of music (i.e., soundwaves) will be discovered [actually, it has been discovered], which, when combined with light (i.e., electromagnetic radiation), will heal the human body of illness and dysfunction.[49]
Based on my research, I believe that the science already exists to come close to fulfilling Esperanza’s prophecy. In an article about the Incorruptibles, that science is discussed in detail. However, it has not yet developed sufficiently to cure SSA. So, instead of trying to get the Church to bless SSA “so-called” marriages (German bishops — are you paying attention), why doesn’t the Church lobby the scientific community to undertake the research necessary to reprogram the epigenetic software of those afflicted with the disordered SSA? Tangent over!
A team of researchers at Penn State University have discovered an epigenetic link between:
1) alcohol consumption (chronic/addictive);2) the “reward” hormone, dopamine (one of the pleasure and addiction hormones, aka biological reward hormones), and;3) SSA among male fruit flies.
According to research team leader Kyung An Han, associate professor of biology and neuroscience at Penn State, their research points to dopamine as the critical mediator of ethanol-induced (ethanol is a crucial component of alcohol) homosexual behavior. Their research indicates that the more chronic the consumption of alcohol, the greater the frequency of occurrence of SSA.[50] Please consider that many other pleasurable behaviors are rewarded via the release of dopamine (or other reward hormones) into the bloodstream. Let me add that no one is saying alcohol is the only trigger for the epi-marks that lead to a predisposition for homosexuality. The Penn State study does not attempt to answer the following question, but I will ask. Do any other epigenetic connections between pleasure/reward hormones like dopamine and disordered behaviors come to mind?
Clergy Abuse Scandal
Since the topic of this article is what is causing the decrease in the number of Catholic faithful, it would be fair to bring up clergy sex abuse. I don’t think anyone would dispute the statement that the abuse significantly contributes to that loss.
The John Jay report argued:
There was “no single cause of the sexual-abuse ‘crisis.’” Rather, the “deviant” practices of clerical predators were “consistent with patterns of increased deviance of society during that time [emphasis SML].” The social influence intersected with vulnerabilities of some individual priests whose preparation for a life of celibacy was inadequate at that time. Church-specific factors that were constant during that time, such as celibacy, were not causes of the abuse crisis.[50]
Richard Fitzgibbons and Dale O’Leary argue that “studies used to support the view the abuse of minors is not related to homosexuality are not applicable to the problem of clergy SSA [same-sex attraction]. The data in John Jay reports strongly suggests that homosexual abuse of adolescent males [note: victims not classified as children, which would mean the abuse would be classified as pedophilia — SML] is at the heart of the crisis.”[51] The John Jay report found that 81% of the alleged clergy abuse victims were male.
It is important to remember what has already been discussed. Homosexual (SSA) predisposition is a direct consequence of epigenetic plasticity, triggered by behaviors and environment (both of the offspring and the parents). Research indicates that addictive hormones, such as dopamine, play a significant part in that biological process. The sex act leads to the production of dopamine. Chronic alcohol consumption produces dopamine. Addictive sex leads to the production of a lot of dopamine. Homosexual predisposition is inherited from the mother and/or father. The increase in homosexuality among those entering the priesthood coincides with the widespread availability of contraception starting in the 1950s and the subsequent Sexual Revolution in the 1960s. As we move on to the next section, the above should also be kept in mind.
Fr. Paul Mankowski tells us:
I would estimate that between 50 and 60 percent [those statistics would likely vary from one seminary to another] of the men who entered religious life with me in the mid-70s were homosexuals who had no particular interest in the Church,* but who were using the celibacy requirement of the priesthood as a way of camouflaging the real reason for the fact that they would never marry. [Perhaps an unknown percentage of homosexuals entering the priesthood had more nefarious motivations — SML]
*The parents of those potential priests who are truly interested in the Church, are not likely to engage in behaviors that would results in their sons inheriting predispositions to same-sex attraction.[53]
The Impact of Birth Control on the Church
By the 1960s, when the Pill became available and the young generation rejected traditional morals. One could make the case that, starting in the early 1950s — when only the TLM was offered in most countries — the Church had waited far too long to begin a serious effort to teach the Truths regarding the necessity of being open to fruitfulness as an integral part of being in the image and likeness of God. As a result, the damage had grown pervasive inside and outside the Church.
As we learned after Humanae Vitae, a large percentage of the episcopate, who were participating in the so-called “glory days” of the TLM, turned out to be vehemently opposed to the necessity of such an effort. Moreover, as a side note, many of the German episcopate leaders (an episcopate currently causing grave concerns for the Church regarding sexual doctrines) were among those vehemently opposed.
I grew up in the TLM. I can tell you that I heard neither a Homily about the theological evils of artificial contraception nor one on why/how it destroys the likeness of God within those who use it.
According to American Experience:
Even though John Rock [a Catholic scientist who helped develop the Pill and lobbied for its use] had lost the battle with the Vatican, Catholics around the world agreed with his view. A Gallup poll taken only a month after the encyclical [Humanae Vitae] found that only 28% of American Catholics favored the Vatican’s stance. Among Catholics in their twenties [emphasis SML], 8 out of 10 disagreed with the pope.Within just two years of Humanae Vitae, almost as many Catholic women used the Pill as non-Catholics. By 1970, two-thirds of all Catholic women and three-quarters of those under 30 were using the Pill and other birth control methods banned by the Church. In 2002, Humanae Vitae still defined the Church’s position on birth control, and many observers of the Church believed that it contributed to the erosion of the Vatican’s authority during the last decades of the twentieth century.[54]
Before 1958 (see Ratzinger’s speech below), the Church was experiencing a significant problem related to the world’s moral decay. The loss of faith, particularly in the Western nations (where birth control got its start). We begin to see that the golden age of the TLM was not so golden after all. I’m not knocking the perfect sacrificial offering of our Savior Jesus Christ to our Father in both the TLM and NOM. I am criticizing those who believe the TLM is superior to the NOM and think we are losing Catholics because of the 2VC and the NOM.
In 1958, Pope Benedict XVI (then priest Joseph Ratzinger) delivered the following speech to a group of young people:
According to religious statistics, old Europe is still a part of the earth that is almost completely Christian. But there is hardly another case in which everyone knows as well as they do here that the statistic is false: This so-called Christian Europe for almost four hundred years has become the birthplace of a new paganism, which is growing steadily in the heart of the Church, and threatens to undermine her from within. The outward shape of the modern Church is determined essentially by the fact that, in a totally new way, she has become the Church of pagans, and is constantly becoming even more so. She is no longer, as she once was, a Church composed of pagans who have become Christians, but a Church of pagans, who still call themselves Christians, but actually have become pagans. Paganism resides today in the Church herself, and precisely that is the characteristic of the Church of our day, and that of the new paganism, so that it is a matter of a paganism in the Church, and of a Church in whose heart paganism is living. … The fact that today, even given an optimistic evaluation, certainly more than half of the Catholics (here we are considering only our Church) no longer “practice” their faith.[55]
It is clear from Ratzinger’s speech, given more than twelve years before the 2VC and the NOM, that two things were happening. First, Catholics were leaving the Church in pretty incredible numbers. Second, a good number of those that stayed were becoming cafeteria Catholics — Catholics in name only. What can we conclude from that? The moral decline of the Western culture had a very significant impact on the Church beginning in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Anecdotally, my personal experience mimics Ratzinger’s assertions. In 1960, my parents (followed by my siblings) stopped going to Mass — the TLM.
ENDNOTES:
[1]. Gelsomino Del Guercio, “What did Paul VI mean by saying ‘the smoke of Satan has entered the Church’?,” Aleteia, https://aleteia.org/2018/07/06/what-did-paul-vi-mean-by-saying-the-smoke-of-satan-has-entered-the-church/, 07/06/18 (accessed 06/07/2020).
[2]. Gelsomino Del Guercio, “What did Paul VI mean by saying ‘the smoke of Satan has entered the Church’?,” Aleteia, https://aleteia.org/2018/07/06/what-did-paul-vi-mean-by-saying-the-smoke-of-satan-has-entered-the-church/, 07/06/18 (accessed 06/07/2020).
[3]. Pope Paul IV, Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, http://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae.html, July 25, 1968, (accessed 6/27/2020), n. 2.
[4]. Stephen Michael Leininger, “The Beast in Scripture is Not Coming. It Is Here: Part III,” STOSS Books, https://www.stossbooks.com/blog/index.php?7-06----the-beast-in-scripture-is-not-coming--it-is-here--part-iii, 07/26/2020 (accessed 08/11/2022).
[5]. St. Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, (Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1990), 80-81.
[6]. Rorate Caeli, “Cardinal: What Sister Lucia told me: Final Confrontation between the Lord and Satan will be over Family and Marriage,” https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2015/06/cardinal-what-sister-lucia-told-me.html, 2/16/2008.
[7]. Paul Senz, “New book examines origins, history, and goals of the sexual revolution,” Catholic World Report, https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2023/01/24/new-book-examines-origins-history-and-goals-of-the-sexual-revolution/, January 24, 2023 (accessed 01/27/2023).
[8]. Bishop Elliott holds a doctorate from the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Rome, and from 1987 to 1997 he served in the Vatican’s Pontification Council for the Family. Following that, he was the last Director of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne.
[9]. Ibid.
[10]. The key to understanding the two Beasts (both possessing the spirit of Satan, aka the spirit of the antichrist) described in Revelation 13, is the last passage written in Chapter 12. It reads, “Then the dragon took his stand on the sand of the seashore” (Rev 12:18). [“Then the dragon took his stand on the sand of the seashore.” Note: the labeling of this verse can vary between different Bible translations. Some identify it as 12:17, some as 13:1, and others as 12:18]. This is the point at which the dragon gave his spirit to the first Beast described in Rev 13. In John’s letters, he wrote, “And every spirit [SML] which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist [SML], of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already” (1 John 4:3). The dragon, who took his stand on the sand of the seashore (very important words), is a description of Satan immediately after failing to destroy the woman and her male child (Chapter 12) and just as he sets out to make war with the rest of her offspring. It is also the point at which the Dragon’s spirit, the spirit of the antichrist, was given to the Beasts to wage war on the Church, the Bride of Christ, in order to destroy that Church, i.e., the Mystical Body of Christ on earth. As was said in other posts and articles on STOSS Books, sand/dust/stone in Scripture is a reference to the collective DNA of our entire body. In Scripture, sand/dust do not possess a general connotation of good or bad. It simply denotes the entire collective genome of man, in general. The land upon which Satan stood (the sand/dust of the seashore—Rev 12:18) denotes the second Beast which was on the land (Rev 13:11). Both Beasts are one in the same spirit of the antichrist, with the same substance, i.e., the dust of DNA. The Beast coming from the land will be explained later in the section titled, Battle Front Two. Both salt and the sea (salt together with water) refer to fallen man, the bad consequences flowing from the actual genetic functioning of fallen man.
[11]. Ken Ham, “Millions of Years and the ‘Doctrine of Balaam,’” Answers in Genesis, https://answersingenesis.org/the-word-of-god/millions-of-years-and-the-doctrine-of-balaam/: June 1, 1997 (accessed 05/07/2017).
[12]. cf. Peter Abelard (circa 1100 AD), “The Story of My Misfortunes,” (Third Millennium Media L.L.C., The Faith Database L.L.C., 2008).
[13]. Anonymous Exorcist Priest, Mary Crushes the Serpent: 30 Years' Experience of An Exorcist Told In His Own Words, ed. Fr. Theodore Geigerm, Cottingham Press, Kindle Edition, Location 491-492].
[14]. Janet Adamy, “U.S. Marriage Rate Plunges to Lowest Level on Record,” Wall Street Journal, https://www.advfn.com/stock-market/stock-news/82330647/u-s-marriage-rate-plunges-to-lowest-level-on-reco, April 29, 2020 (accessed 4/29/2020).
[15]. Ibid.
[16]. Ibid.
[17]. Hildegard, Scivias, 113.
[18]. Ibid., 417.
[19]. Ibid., 257-258.
[20]. St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, trans. Suzanne Noffke, O.P (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1980), 58.
[21]. Catherine of Siena, Dialog of Catherine of Siena, Kindle Locations 1075-1078.
[22]. St. Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1990), 79.
[23]. Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, "Epigenetic Changes Often Don’t Last, Probably Have Limited Effects on Long-Term Evolution, Research Finds," Science Daily, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110920132628.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Google+Feedfetcher: Science Daily LLC, Sept. 20, 2011 (accessed 9/20/2011).
[24]. “In a study published in 2005 (Science, Vol. 308, p. 1466), researchers at the University of Idaho showed that male rats exposed to the crop fungicide, vinclozolin, experienced higher rates of cancer and kidney defects. The effects were also passed down to all of the affected male’s offspring, and through three generations of father to son offspring.”
Quote Source: Emma Young, "Rewriting Darwin: The new non-genetic inheritance," New Scientist, http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19926641.500-rewriting-darwin-the-new-nongenetic-inheritance.html: Reed Business Information Ltd., July 09, 2008 (accessed 02/15/2012).
[25]. American Experience, “The Pill,” WGBH Educational Foundation, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/pill/, February 24, 2003 (accessed 01/17/2023).
[26]. American Experience, “A Timeline of Contraception,” WGBH Educational Foundation, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-timeline/, February 24, 2003 (accessed 01/17/2023).
[27]. American Experience, “A Timeline of Contraception,” WGBH Educational Foundation, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-timeline/, February 24, 2003 (accessed 01/17/2023).
[28]. American Experience, “A Timeline of Contraception,” WGBH Educational Foundation, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-timeline/, February 24, 2003 (accessed 01/17/2023).
[29]. Daniel DeNoon, “Birth Control Timeline,” MedicineNet Inc., https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52188, July 7, 2003 (accessed 07/20/2020).
[30]. Daniel DeNoon, “Birth Control Timeline,” MedicineNet Inc., https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52188, July 7, 2003 (accessed 07/20/2020).
[31]. American Experience, “A Timeline of Contraception,” WGBH Educational Foundation, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-timeline/, February 24, 2003 (accessed 01/17/2023).
[32]. Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights at Suffolk University, “A Brief History of Birth Control in the U.S.,” Our Bodies Ourselves, https://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/health-info/a-brief-history-of-birth-control/, (accessed 01/27/2023).
[33]. Ibid.
[34]. Ibid.
[35]. Ibid.
[36]. “Numerous studies from the United States, Europe and Japan confirm that increasing per capita incomes do not result in increasing happiness. In the United States real incomes rose substantially between the 1940s and the 1970s; new detailed studies of that period have confirmed Easterlin’s 1974 finding that happiness peaked in the late 1950s and then declined. From 1972 through 1991, a period when per capita income after tax rose by one third, annual survey data from the national Opinion Research Centre likewise show no upward trend in happiness. Surveys of life satisfaction in nine European countries from 1973 through 1989 show a slight upward tend [sic] in two countries, a slight downward trend in two, and no trend in the remaining five, during those years real per capita gross domestic product rose from 25 to 50% in the nine countries. A study of Japan found no increase in subjective well being from 1964 to 1987, despite the fact that real per capita GDP more than doubled.”
The Global Development and Environment Institute Tufts University, The Consumer Society, ed. Neva R. Goodwin, Frank Ackerman, and David Kiron, (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1997), p. 26
[37]. Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights at Suffolk University, “A Brief History of Birth Control in the U.S.,” Our Bodies Ourselves, https://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/health-info/a-brief-history-of-birth-control/, (accessed 01/27/2023).
[38]. Dan Miller, “Poll: Porn Revenues Exceed $5 Billion According to Industry Survey,” Adnet Media, Jul 25, 2012.
[39]. Mansoor Iqbal, “Netflix Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023),” Business of Apps, https://www.businessofapps.com/data/netflix-statistics/, January 9, 2023.
[40]. American Experience, “The Pill and the Sexual Revolution,” WGBH Educational Foundation, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-and-sexual-revolution/, February 24, 2003 (accessed 01/17/2023).
[41]. Fr. Paul Mankowski, S.J., “What Went Wrong?” Catholic Education Resource Center, (originally published by Catholic Culture on July 15, 2003), https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/sexual-abuse-and-the-priesthood/what-went-wrong.html, (accessed 01/27/2023).
[42]. Fr. Paul Mankowski, S.J., “What Went Wrong?” Catholic Education Resource Center, (originally published by Catholic Culture on July 15, 2003), https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/sexual-abuse-and-the-priesthood/what-went-wrong.html, (accessed 01/27/2023).
[43]. Mitosis involves the division of body cells.
[44]. Meiosis involves the division of sex cells (gametes), i.e., sperm or egg cells.
[45]. Dupont C, Armant DR, and Brenner CA (September 2009), “Epigenetics: definition, mechanisms, and clinical perspective”, Seminars in Reproductive Medicine, 27 (5): 351-7. doi:10.1055/s–0029–1237423. PMC 2791696. PMID 19711245.
[46]. Francis S. Collins, The Language of God, (New York, NY: Free Press, 2006), 260.
[47]. Sara Reardon, “Massive Study Finds No Single Genetic Cause of Same–Sex Sexual Behavior: Analysis of half a million people suggests genetics may have a limited contribution to sexual orientation,” Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/massive-study-finds-no-single-genetic-cause-of-same-sex-sexual-behavior/, August 29, 2019 (accessed 3/22/2021).
[48]. Jason Koebler, "Scientists May Have Finally Unlocked Puzzle of Why People Are Gay," Online edition of U.S. News & World Report, https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/12/11/scientists-may-have-finally-unlocked-puzzle-of-why-people-are-gay: December 11, 2012 (accessed 12/11/2012).
[49]. Michael Brown, "In Startling Language, Mystic Claimed a Message About 'Future' of Technology," SpiritDaily, https://www.spiritdaily.org/esperanzatechnology.htm.
[50]. Penn State, "With Daily Alcohol Use, Male Fruit Flies Court Other Males," Science Daily LLC, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080102222901.htm, an. 10, 2008 (accessed 01/16/2008).
[51]. Joan Frawley Desmond, “New John Jay Report on Abuse Released,” National Catholic Register/EWTN News, https://www.ncregister.com/news/new-john-jay-report-on-abuse-released, May 27, 2011 (accessed 01/27/2023).
[52]. Joan Frawley Desmond, “New John Jay Report on Abuse Released,” National Catholic Register/EWTN News, https://www.ncregister.com/news/new-john-jay-report-on-abuse-released, May 27, 2011 (accessed 01/27/2023).
[53]. Fr. Paul Mankowski, S.J., “What Went Wrong?” Catholic Education Resource Center, (originally published by Catholic Culture on July 15, 2003), https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/sexual-abuse-and-the-priesthood/what-went-wrong.html, (accessed 01/27/2023).
[54]. American Experience, “The Pope Issues Humanae Vitae,” WGBH Educational Foundation, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-pope-issues-humanae-vitae-human-life/, February 24, 2003 (accessed 01/17/2023).
[55]. Pope Benedict XVI, “The New Pagans and the Church,” trans. Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J., (Trinity Communications, 2023), https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=11509, originally published Homiletic & Pastoral Review, Ignatius Press, January 30, 2017.