WASHINGTON, October 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – At the fall meeting of the United Stated Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which will take place November 13-16, the Bishops will be asked to give final approval to a document on contraception. A media advisory from the USCCB notes that the bishops will vote on approval of "a document from the Pro-Life Committee offering pastoral guidance on the Church’s teaching concerning contraception, linked with a culture of life."
The issue of contraception has launched back onto the public scene in recent months with the attempt of pro-abortion forces to drive a wedge within the pro-life movement. The most notable move has come from pro-abortion activist Senator Hilary Clinton who spoke of reducing abortion by turning to contraception, abortifacient contraception included.
Fr. Frank of Priests for Life told LifeSiteNews.com that he was "very much looking forward to the document on contraception". He noted that the concern over contraception has been recognized by the whole pro-life movement, not only Catholics. "Many groups that I work with both Catholic and Protestant alike are discovering the importance of working on this problem which is at the heart of the culture of death," he said.
Fr. Pavone added that the real test will be in applying the teachings on contraception both in our personal lives and by priests in parishes. "Will the priests, will the people use them, is the real question," he told LifeSiteNews.com.
Well I guess better late than never. I agree with Michael Liccione when he writes:
Save perhaps for the butchering of the liturgy that took place after Vatican II, the single most destructive event in the Catholic Church within the last forty years was the response of the worldwide college of bishops to Pope Paul VI’s brave, prophetic encyclical on birth control: Humanae Vitae.
This is when dissent went mainstream within the Church. So many blind eyes were turned to outright dissent, and instead of it just going away it metastasized beyond the sin of contraception into other malignant tumors within the Body of Christ. It only saddens me thinking of the many contracepting couples in Communion lines and how many were told to just follow their conscience on this issue.
6 comments
Right you are, Jeff. I like that cancer metaphor.
Best,
Mike
I almost don’t even know where to begin with this one. My entire post-VII generation grew up with pathetic catechesis that never even explained why the Church opposes contraception. It was that much of a non-issue.
Previous generations may have had at least a twinge of guilt, realizing that they were going against what the Church said. My generation hasn’t even heard it. The priest (Opus Dei) who witnessed my wedding deliberately sent dh & I to the one pre-Cana program in the diocese run by an orthodox priest. We were probably the only couple, out of twenty or thirty, that knew and accepted Humanae Vitae. Many of the participants, women especially, were out-and-out belligerent on the matter. And in some way, who could blame them? To many of them, I’m sure the priest truly sounded like an out-of-left-field whack job. Who is this guy? Where does he get this stuff? That’s not what Fr. So-and-So told me!
We have a really long way to go on this one… For many people, attacking contraception head on may backfire. They may almost need a reconversion on the whole issue of the moral teaching authority of the Church, and then suddenly several pieces will fall in place together.
Margaret,
You’re so right. Catechesis is desparately needed among Catholics these days, but what is needed by many even more is a personal relationship with Jesus. Unless they realize that this is whole Christian thing is about a relationship, a lot of the catechesis will sound restrictive, out-of-touch-with-reality, or unimportant/boring. Who cares about court etiquette when they don’t care much about the Prince/King?
A long way to go, a lot of work, and a lot of prayer, for sure!
Natural family planning has to become an essential part of every Pre-cana in every diocese.
Out here in Seattle, we have a constant stream of people coming to our NFP classes. I dare say that the split is about 50/50 with Catholic couples and Protestant couples. Of course, we teach from a Catholic perspective. It may be a drop in the bucket, but more and more people are looking for an alternative to chemicals and barriers.
Reasons people have for coming to our classes range from acceptance of Humanae Vitae to health. Even if the couple coming to our class is only interested in the how-to’s and the health aspects of NFP, they will certainly benefit from enhanced spousal communication that is inherent in the various methods of NFP. Even they will have stronger families to combat the cultural smut that is so common today.
I love using a little humor to get the message across. In one of our lectures, we talk about the various side-effects of hormonal birth control. I usually make a statement to the effect: “Moodiness, decreased libido, weight gain… those are things I generally find attractive, don’t you?” That usually gets a good chuckle, because no sane individual would actually seek those characteristics out for themself or their wife.
Proof of the widespread use of contraceptives came yesterday in the mail. The Michigan Catholic weekly highlighted the new deacons in the diocese. Only one had more than a couple of children: five, to be exact.
When I was a kid, our deacon and his wife had 12 children. They used to tell us eighth-graders how even Catholics would comment on their large brood!