"A Humble Servant's Catholic Blog"

In THIS article, my wife and I gave some background on our own journey through making the decision whether or not to circumcise our future boys. In addition to some feedback and discussion in that post, there have been some more questions and discussion points come up and I feel like these present a great opportunity for discussing this seeming “hot topic” in a way that isn’t contentious. The following are paraphrased from actual questions and comments, with answers and open-ended questions to encourage further dialog and consideration. “What about emergency circumcisions? Wouldn’t boys/men who have to have these emergency procedures have been better off if they had been circumcised at birth? We could spare them this medical trauma later in life by circumcising them now.” Do you really think that sparing them from a “potential” medical trauma later justifies putting them through a certain medical trauma now? Are you aware of how traumatic circumcision is to an infant? Have y...

It's a pretty safe bet that most of us do things without thinking. We have our habits and our routines, our particular personalities that shine through in our words and actions, and our core beliefs which shape how we respond to things and direct us in our actions. We also have past experiences which have shaped the way we see things, affect who we are and can influence the way we live our lives. But how many of us take time to think about the message we are sending to others by our choices, actions, behaviors, responses, etc...? I'll go out on a limb here and say that most of us don't think about it, and I'll be that first to raise my hand in shame. We all do things unconsciously that send a negative message to others that we don't intend to send. Worse yet, sometimes we do things intentionally to send a particular message, yet we don't realize it's a negative or wrong one, or don't realize what that message really says about us. For examp...

“ Of course we are circumcising our son…the Bible says so! ” If you’ve read the Bible much, especially the Acts of the Apostles or Paul’s letters to the Romans and Galatians, you know that this statement makes no sense. But if you are anything like me and didn’t pay attention in Sunday school as a child, or never really read much of the Scriptures growing up, or didn’t pay attention when your parents or pastors were reading Scriptures to you, then you might identify with that statement. I’ll never forget the day that I learned just how ignorant I was about circumcision and Scripture. My wife and I were meeting with a Priest to talk about receiving the sacrament of Baptism for our soon-to-be-first-born baby. We had no idea if it was a boy or girl, and were preparing for either one. When my wife first asked me what I thought of circumcision, I expressed the same sentiment as in that first sentence. After all, the Bible could not be any clearer. God said: “ This is my covenan...