Hey NYT: There is more to the Church than “Pelvic Theology”
From Ave Maria in the Afternoon Segments by Dr. Marcus Peter
May 30, 2026 · 22 min
About this episode
The episode discusses the misconceptions surrounding the Church's teachings on sexuality in light of recent comments by the New York Times.
Following the publication of Pope Leo’s new encyclical, the New York Times claimed that the teaching on artificial intelligence was a shift from the Church’s “fixation” on “pelvic theology.” This betrays a profound misunderstanding of the Church’s teaching on sexuality and its relationship to Catholic social doctrine. Noelle Mering has more. Further Reading The false divide between “pelvic theology” and Catholic social teaching Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology Follow Noelle on Substack Guest Info Noelle Mering is a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in the Life and Family Initiative . She is the author of No Contact: How a Seductive Ideology Broke Families and Friendships—and How We Can Repair Them (Penguin Random House, 2026). She is also the best-selling author of Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology and co-author of the Theology of Home book series. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit avemariapm.substack.com
People in this episode
Host: Dr. Marcus Peter
Guest: Noelle Mering
Topics covered
- Church teaching
- sexuality
- Catholic social doctrine
- artificial intelligence
- cultural critique
Keywords
- pelvic theology
- Catholic Church
- New York Times
- Noelle Mering
- Pope Leo
- artificial intelligence
- Catholic social teaching
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: New York Times, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Books & works: Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology, No Contact: How a Seductive Ideology Broke Families and Friendships—and How We Can Repair Them, Theology of Home
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