As we approach next month the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae do you have any thoughts to share?

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Rob2

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This isn’t intended , hopefully , to be a debate on contraception , but rather a sharing of thoughts about the impact of Humanae Vitae on the Church and world .

I was around when Humanae Vitae was published by Pope Paul . It was long awaited . There was much media speculation about what Pope Paul would say . It was big news , and its publication dominated the secular media unlike any other encyclical letter had ever done or is likely to do in the future .

!968…a time of consumerism…a time of “anything goes” thinking…the years of the permissive society …a time of social revolution .

My main thought is that Pope Paul came along and through Humanae Vitae drew a line in the sand .

The encyclical was in a big way contrary to the powerful drift of the mores of certainly Western societies .

I loved Pope Paul . He is one my heroes , not because of Humanae Vitae , but for the way he guided the Church through the Second Council of the Vatican and helped to implement much of the teacings of that Sacred Council . Plus he is the only man I have ever wanted to be elected pope who was actually elected .

But as I now reflect on his encyclical , and what it involved for him personally Pope Paul grows in stature .
 
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Rob2 said:
Humanae Vitae
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Excellent elucidation of the teaching of the Church, and H.H. Pope Paul VI utilized the better known works of Pope Pius XI (Casti Canubii 1930) and XII (Address to Midwives 1951) and many others less well known.
 
I think the long term result of the encyclical was to show that large numbers of Catholics could completely disagree with the Church and ignore it’s teachings yet still consider themselves and generally be considered to be good Catholics. You can’t lead people where they don’t want to go.
 
Dissent was not a result of the encyclical. There already was a massive network in place prior to 1968, in seminaries universities and many religious orders. But it was under the radar, so laity were not aware of how they priests were being formed.

Pope Pius 12 was aware as far back as 1950, if you consider some of his writings. Pope Paul was aware, but he underestimated the dissenters strength. I have talked to Catholics who got advice in confession that was against Church teaching before 1968.
 
Pope Paul was exactly accurate in predicting the consequences. For a decade or so after, people denied the connection between contraception and abortion. In the 1970s, it was fashionable for many Catholics, Protestant and others to say you can be pro contraception but against abortion.

Sincythen, most of that group has come to support legal abortion. A small part of that group has come back around to the traditional Catholic and Protestant teaching on the natural law.
 
My thoughts to share…Pope Paul was spot on 100% right. Too bad the world doesn’t want to hear the truth.
 
“Humanae Vitae” helped me become a Catholic again. I was certain the Church was wrong about contraception at the time I drifted away from the Church as a young adult. When I began looking into returning to the Church, a priest suggested I read the document to help me work through my issues regarding the Church’s teaching. One of the things that struck me was how prophetic yet counter-intuitive the document was. Basically everything Pope Paul VI predicted would go wrong if contraception were widely accepted had in fact gone wrong. Shouldn’t contraception have reduced unwanted pregnancies and abortions? Yet these things had increased. Why would contraception lead to increased abuse and objectification of women? Why had marriage become less stable given that couples could now make love as much as they wanted without worrying about having another baby? Prayerful consideration of these issues helped me to understand how contraception works against God’s plan for human sexuality and find the wisdom behind the Church’s teaching.

But for “Humane Vitae,” it is quite possible I would not be Catholic today, that my marriage wouldn’t have lasted and that not all of my children would have been born. I am grateful for it.
 
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Not sure what to say about this except that it saddens me when people celebrate their infidelity to the Church. Ignoring the Church’s teachings on morality is not heroic.
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
I think the long term result of the encyclical was to show that large numbers of Catholics could completely disagree with the Church and ignore it’s teachings yet still consider themselves and generally be considered to be good Catholics.
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What percentage of married American Catholics have never used artificial birth control?
 
I suppose one could also ask what percentage of married Catholics have never had an affair, or gotten drunk. That kind of question tells nothing about the value of those actions, either.
 
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commenter said:
I suppose one could also ask what percentage of married Catholics have never had an affair, or gotten drunk. That kind of question tells nothing about the value of those actions, either.
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A Pew poll of Mass-going Catholics found that 87% either found contraception morally acceptable or not a moral issue at all.


I don’t think you’d find similar numbers supporting having affairs or getting drunk. What happens when the Church loses its teaching authority?
 
If the media campaigned to persuade people that “X” was healthy for you with support of the school and state, I’m sure in a few decades the surveys would reflect that. On the other hand, if they demanded that X was harmful, the surveys would soon reflect that opposite conclusion.

The Church moral authority has never depended on popularity.
 
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SuscipeMeDomine said:
A Pew poll of Mass-going Catholics found that 87% either found contraception morally acceptable or not a moral issue at all.
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And that poll was for Mass-going Catholics? Is it all right for Roman Catholics to receive Holy Communion and believe that artificial contraception (ABC) is morally acceptable or not a moral issue at all ? If this is so widespread, shouldn’t there be a whole lot more sermons on why ABC is gravely sinful? Or is it better not to say too much so as not to disturb people?
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
… yet still consider themselves and generally be considered to be good Catholics. …
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If they do not read the Catechism, I suppose:
2399 The regulation of births represents one of the aspects of responsible fatherhood and motherhood. Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means (for example, direct sterilization or contraception).
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I believe that ABC is the the “beast” that comes out of the sea in Revelations. Our God is an infinitely and unceasingly fruitful God. Marriage is the image of the Trinity on earth. It’s not in the image of the Trinity when we artificially contracept. Thus turning us into beasts. Whenever God talked about lust to St. Hildegard of Bingen and St. Catherine of Siena, people having sex out of lust and not for bringing new sons and daughters of God into the world were identified by God as beasts.

Everyone is familiar with Fatima and the warning of Mary about Russia. Something else happened in 1917. A socialist named Margaret Sanger started publishing the Birth Control League magazine (I can’t remember the exact name at this time). Remember that 100 year reign of Satan. Socialism and Communism are largely responsible for the climate that produced that consequence-free sex … ABC.

Sr. Lucia of Fatima fame wrote a letter to a Cardinal who asked her to pray for him in his endeavor to put together an organization for families. Sr. Lucia wrote that it was revealed to her by Heaven that we are in the final battle with Satan. She said the final battle revolves around marriage and the family … also the target and victim of ABC.

Pope St. John Paul II also wrote that most people don’t realize it, but we are in the final confrontation between Jesus and Satan. Between the Church and the anti-church. Between Christ and the anti-christ. It’s not a chronological coincidence that St. Faustina was told that her mission was to prepare the Church for the second coming of Christ.

Humani Vitae was a water-shed event for the Church. An opportunity to repent and return to God … to warn the world of the cliff we were all heading towards. We all failed miserably.
 
“We do not really want a religion that is right where we are right. We want a religion that is right where we are wrong. We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world.”

The Catholic Church and Conversion, 1926 G. K. Chesterton
 
Thoughts to share? Too many. But how about this:

As we approach the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, what can we do to celebrate?
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
I don’t think you’d find similar numbers supporting having affairs or getting drunk. What happens when the Church loses its teaching authority?
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Great question. I’ve been trying to learn about saints lately, and one thing I have observed is that Christianized lands do not stay Christian without saints re-evangelizing them. How many times did God’s chosen people turn away from Him in the Old Testament? Thankfully, God is merciful and patient. Those of us who do see the grace and wisdom in the Church’s teaching need to do our part to remind our neighbors what God is calling us to.
 
AlNg said:
If this is so widespread, shouldn’t there be a whole lot more sermons on why ABC is gravely sinful? Or is it better not to say too much so as not to disturb people?
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I am not sure why we don’t hear more from our priests – even priests whom I know to be faithful to the Church’s teaching on this matter rarely if ever seem to bring it up in their homilies. Part of the issue may be that Mass is a family event and talking about contraception in front of children might bring up some awkward questions on the drive home. But it has occurred to me that the homily is not the primary purpose of Mass, and it may not be a good thing if the homily overshadows that purpose. Perhaps we need to provide more opportunities for Catholics to be formed in their faith outside of the Mass, and to make sure that the average Mass-goer is aware of these opportunities. I have started taking some classes, but I had to dig a bit to find out they were taking place.
 
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