Overheard at St Blog's Coffee Hour

• Eric Johnson of Catholic Light gives a brilliant explanation of the Catholic "just war" theory, as applied to American military actions during the last century. And for those of you who still want to rub our noses in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, item 6 is worth contemplating.

• Letters to the New Oxford Review gave a scathing account of the recent piece by H W Crocker III in crisis Magazine entitled: "Making Babies: A Very Different Look at Natural Family Planning." Here was a sample: "Natural family planning (NFP) needs a slogan, because as a 'product'—if I might adopt business-speak—it’s not selling too well... So let me propose a new rallying cry: 'Use NFP: It Doesn’t Work!'... [It] has many strong arguments in its favor. First, it is true. NFP proponents tout its 99 percent effectiveness rate, but they neglect to mention that this is true only if the husband is in the Navy and assigned to extended, uninterrupted sea duty of three-year tours or longer. Otherwise, for most Catholics I know, NFP means a baby every two years or so..." He also paints a scenario of how a priest might counsel a couple on the subject. Personally, I thought it was hilarious. Then again, I think too many Catholics confuse anal retention with "orthodoxy" on any given day. Of course... that's just me.

• Dom of Bettnet reports that the bishops in Ireland are compiling a list of approved music for weddings, in a desparate attempt to subvert further concessions to the latest hit parade. I couldn't resist the following comment: "Weddings tend to be driven less by the sacredness of the occasion, than by ingratiating [that should read 'indulging'] a young woman’s fantasies, in what ends up looking like the coming-out party she never had (or maybe did, but in a different dress). When we remove all traces of novelty (which could by definition include the bride being given away by the father, an uncle, or any older male relative with a pulse), we might someday treat it as the event in the life of the Church that it really is."