July 25 is the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, the encyclical of Pope Paul VI that reiterated the Catholic Church’s age-old condemnation of the use of artificial birth control, reestablished the two-thousand year old teaching that unborn human life is sacred and that abortion is the destruction of human life, and pointing up the sacredness of the body and the plan of God to fill the earth with new lives born into a holy union of man and woman in matrimony.
Humanae Vitae 40 Years Later: Pope Paul VI Was Right
When the encyclical was promulgated in 1968 hundreds of theologians and even priests and religious were up in arms, having been expecting a ruling that would permit use of contraception. Many had been championing for a change in Church moral doctrine, and some moral theologians, believing that contraception would be approved, especially in the form of the ‘pill’ then being widely used even by Catholics, were counseling for its use.
They were outraged and ran ads, complained, wrote articles and became a pain in the neck to Catholics who accepted the Church’s long condemnation of contraception.
Now, forty years later, polls tell us the vast majority of Catholic couples have accepted contraception into their lives despite the gravity of its use. And all of the dire predictions of Paul VI presented in his 1968 encyclical have come true: sexually activity has skyrocketed among young people, there is an enormous increase in Catholics divorcing, a burgeoning of abortion, a cheapening of sex, a plague of pornography, a breakdown of the family, and a loss of zeal for spiritual truths.
Yet many of us knew at the time that even the Pope could not change the moral code if he wanted to, since Christ had promised to send the Holy Spirit to guide the church through its leader, the Holy Father, who remains infallible in matters of faith and morals.
Artificial contraception is immoral at its root and can never be made moral. What Humanae Vitae proves beyond a doubt is that the Church founded by Jesus Christ will not fail us in issues dealing with faith and morals.
Pro-Life Ob/Gyn to Speak on NFP in Westmont July 30
To celebrate the Fortieth Anniversary of this landmark encyclical, there will be a special Mass at 6 PM on Wednesday, July 30 at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, 111 South Cass in Westmont [map] followed by a talk by Dr. Robert Lawler, an Ob/Gyn practicing at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. He will concentrate on the multiple problems contraceptives present to women’s health and relationships and explain the use of Natural Family Planning. A reception will follow his talk. For more information contact Daria at 630-910-7135 or Debbie at 630-428-3046.
Sun-Times Column Hopelessly Confused
For a prime example of tortured modern confused hopelessness, read a column by Deborah Douglas from July 23’s Chicago Sun-Times. It’s something else!
Headlined, ‘Stealth attack on women’s rights exposed,’ it comments on the Department of Health and Human Services efforts to allow medical personnel to opt out of giving selling abortifacient pills and devices if such involvement in killing offends their consciences.
Deborah says HHS is redefining birth control as a form of abortion by redefining when human life begins. She thinks life begins when a fertilized egg implants.
She believes this irrational fiction so strongly that she says ‘no implantation means no personhood means no abortion’. This is like saying that unless you are actually driving your car you are not a driver, of if you are not actually singing you are not a singer.
Deborah says it makes women feel awful for taking the Pill. We sure hope so. It should.
She also thinks people with morals should not be allowed to practice those morals. A pharmacist must not refuse to give a woman a morning after pill just because he happens to know that these pills can cause an abortion. How dare he follow his conscience when a woman asks for a lethal medication’
We hope Deborah Douglas studies this issue before she writes another column on it. It’s embarrassing.
