TV/Video

The videos shown below are curated on Vimeo and YouTube, where

high-resolution versions for use in classroom, parish and

other settings are available for download.

 

 

 

    

Available on both Vimeo and YouTube, this professionally-filmed video offers a full-length educational presentation drawing on the rich tradition of Catholic teaching about end-of-life decisions. It includes an extended Q & A section with audience members.

End of life medical decisions can be challenging. The availability of so many options and complex technologies can be daunting to families dealing with a sick family member. We may wonder:

— Is a ventilator required?
— What about morphine?
— Should I have a Living Will?

Filmed at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, and ideally suited for parish-based and other educational settings, this presentation offers guidance and direction for those who may be facing these and other questions about end-of-life decision making.

Even as we face the reality of end stage suffering, we encounter opportunities for change and transformation. Father Tad emphasizes the importance of respecting the dying process as a time of unanticipated graces, with opportunities for interpersonal healing and spiritual growth not only for the ailing individual, but for those around him or her.

 

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Married love today stands in need of revitalization and strengthening. This video seeks to engage our modern-day situation by offering an expansive discussion and understanding of the Lord's teachings on human sexuality.

Catholicism and Contraception provides a lively and engaging explanation of the ethical concerns surrounding contraception in marriage, drawing upon the rich tradition of Catholic teaching on marital sexuality.

It includes an extended Q & A section with audience members. Father Tad addresses a range of questions, including:

— How can we space our children while respecting the beauty and sacredness of marital intimacy?
— What is Humanae Vitae and why is its message so important today?
— Why are NFP and contraception so different morally?

When couples generously embrace and live out the Church's teaching in this arena of married life, they discover a fulfilling path forward that not only helps order their sexuality, but deepens their shared love and aligns their fruitfulness with the expansive and liberating plan of God.

 

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When a couple has unimpeded marital relations for a year without conceiving a child, they are often considered to be facing issues of infertility. The phenomenon is not uncommon, with one in six couples reportedly infertile. Married couples will often be encouraged by family, friends and the mass media to turn to IVF as a solution. As spouses and friends become more aware of their situation and face uncertainty about the future, they may wonder about a range of important questions:

— How do we speak to individuals facing infertility who wonder whether they should do IVF?
— What is the difference between assisting and replacing the marital act?
— What are NaProTechnology and FEMM and what approaches do they offer to infertile couples?

Potential alternative therapies to help resolve underlying causes of infertility, and related approaches that are ethically congruent with marital intimacy, are also considered. Professionally filmed at Ave Maria University in Florida and ideally suited for parish-based and other educational settings, Father Tad's engaging and clearly-arranged video offers practical guidance and insight for those who may be facing infertility and for those who help others who are. Molly Hickey, wife and mother of 4, provides additional compelling firsthand testimony of her family's journey through the maze of infertility options, and offers a witness to the cogency and beauty of the Church's teachings on assisted reproduction.

 

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As of 2022, more than 12 million babies have reportedly been born via in vitro fertilization (IVF) around the world.

— Besides the extra embryos that may be produced, what are the other, more fundamental, reasons that IVF raises serious moral concerns?
— Why is it the case that marital intimacy should be understood as the unique and privileged setting for handing on the gift of human life?
— What can be done about the largely unregulated infertility industry, and the "Wild West of Infertility" in the U.S.?

Professionally filmed at Ave Maria University in Florida and ideally suited for parish-based and other educational settings, Father Tad's engaging and clearly-arranged video offers a range of insights to help Catholics understand the sometimes hard-to-understand teaching and wisdom of the Church when it comes to IVF and safeguarding the origins of our children. Molly Hickey, wife and mother of 4, provides additional compelling firsthand testimony of her family's journey through the maze of infertility options, and offers a witness to the cogency and beauty of the Church's teachings on assisted reproduction.

Father Tad looks closely at some of the key reasons IVF is morally objectionable, and explains the problems with replacing the marital act with an entirely different kind of act like IVF.

 

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It can be perplexing to sort through the questions and new cultural currents swirling around transgender issues. Many people, including many Catholics, find themselves at a loss when challenged to coherently engage the topic of gender dysphoria within the broader context of what it means to be a human person:

— How are gender and sex inter-related?
— Is our sex a fixed quantity, or does gender-fluidity mean that men can become women, and vice-versa?
— For those people who struggle with gender dysphoria, do hormones and surgeries offer a sensible approach?
— What ethical concerns surround pronoun usage and other "affirmation" strategies?
— How can Christians manifest compassion towards persons facing gender dysphoria, and accompany them on that all-important journey towards healing and the fullness of life in Christ?
— What are some of the pastoral and sacramental concerns that arise when members of the faith community seek to gender transition?
— What can we learn from the important witness of detransitioners and their growing calls for better psychotherapeutic support for those with gender dysphoria?

Filmed at Prince of Peace Catholic Community in Houston, this presentation on "Welcoming in Truth and Charity: The Church and Transgender Issues" is not only well-suited for parish-based and other educational settings, but also affords a lively and engaging discussion of personal identity in light of the unique biological and human endowments of men and women.

Father Tad offers helpful guidance from the teachings of the Church in the hope that comes from anchoring our lives in Christ. He echoes Church teaching that only in “the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light,” noting how Jesus Christ, both God and man, fully reveals man to man himself and clarifies his supreme calling.

 

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The scientific perspective regarding the initiation or beginning of new human beings is straightforward. As Ronan O’Rahilly and Fabiola Muller put it in the 3rd edition of their famous 2001 textbook, "Human Embryology & Teratology": "Although life is a continuous process, fertilization is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new genetically distinct human organism is formed.” That new, genetically distinct human organism is the human embryo, a new member of the species, a very small human being which we each ourselves once were.

Scientific research that experiments on, or relies on, human embryos raises profound moral concerns. Human embryonic stem cell research is one important example of such research that has been a topic of considerable public controversy in recent decades. Since 1998, when the first human embryonic stem cell line was derived by the destruction of a human embryo, a great deal of discussion and debate has surrounded proposals to study human embryonic stem cells or develop treatments from them.

This professionally-filmed video offers a highly accessible and lively explanation of the controversy surrounding embryonic stem cell research, with up-to-date ethical and scientific information. Filmed at Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers, Florida, it offers an enhanced and improved version of a talk originally filmed in the studios of Boston Catholic TV. A memorable Q & A section with students from the school adds further appeal to this remarkable presentation.

 

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The issue of same-sex attraction is a deeply personal issue calling for great respect and patience, and is an issue affecting many families today. Many people, including many Catholics, struggle to understand the meaning of same-sex attraction within the broader context of what it means to be a human person.

— How are Christians to accompany those facing same-sex attractions?
— What are the problems with tethering our personal identity to our sexual proclivities?
— What sorts of biological factors - genes, hormones, anatomical variability in the brain - may be associated with sexual behaviors and attractions?
— How can we share with those facing same-sex attractions not only respect, compassion, and sensitivity, but also the full vision of human sexuality?
— What is behind the notion of certain sexual practices being “fundamentally disordered”?
— What are some of the pastoral and practical concerns that arise in the lives of same-sex attracted individuals who are memebers of the faith community?

Filmed at Prince of Peace Catholic Community in Houston, this presentation on "Welcoming in Truth and Charity: The Church and Same-Sex Attraction" is well-suited for parish-based and other educational settings. It affords a lively and engaging discussion of personal identity in the light of the Lord's teachings revealed through his Church, teachings that anchor us to Christ and offer us the invitation to a beautiful and liberating path of integration and holiness in Him.

 

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The "hard cases" of abortion are widely discussed and frequently invoked as an approach to justifying direct abortions "at least in some cases."

— What about "life-of-the mother" situations?
— If a mother's water breaks early, and membranes become infected and both mother and child are likely to die because of the infection, how can one proceed?
— Is an early induction of labor the same as an abortion?
— What about the emotionally-charged cases of 10 year olds being raped and becoming pregnant?
— May one ever choose a direct abortion?
— Why is the Principle of Double Effect so important to many of these cases?
— What about the loss of a pregnancy that occurs secondary to a therapeutic treatment of the mother?

Filmed at the 2022 Massachusetts Citizens for Life Annual Pro-Life Banquet in Greater Boston, and ideally suited for parish-based and other educational settings, this video offers morally-sensible approaches and careful, insightful analyses of these extremely challenging cases.

 

 

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Host a Parish Showing or Public Event

& Zoom in Father Tad Live for Q&A Following

 

When a parish or church schedules a viewing of one of these videos to a live group, Father Tad is available to Zoom in after the viewing to take questions live from the audience — For further details, including rates, or to schedule a specific date, please contact Father Tad.

For in-person talks and presentations, please see: Ask Father Tad to Speak

 

  

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