Laity advisory panels and Humanae Vitae

[PoorKnight]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone knew if there were laity (name removed by moderator)ut panels on BOTH sides of the issue leading up to Humanae Vitae. My parents were involved in laity panels trying to convince the Catholic Church to accept contraception. My dad believes that the Church completely ignored the laity (name removed by moderator)ut and ruled against all the laity advice. I’d be interested if someone could point me to some resources on this.

Thank you, God Bless

 

[1ke]

This idea that there can or should be a “laity panel” to give “(name removed by moderator)ut” on Church doctrine indicates a fundamental lack of understanding of what Church teaching is and Who and where it comes from.

Doctrine is neither a matter of opinion nor popular vote.

So, your dad is not asking the right questions, not starting from a premise based in Truth, not seeking to understand the mind of God and teaching of the Church. Instead it sounds like he succumbed to the oldest of whispers out there-- eat of the fruit of which you were forbidden and you will be like gods. Sounds as if he tagged up with a group whose agenda was to reject and change Church teaching/bend it to human whims and will-- which of course is not possible.

The Truth is what it is.

 

[PoorKnight]

hey 1ke,

I absolutely agree with how doctrine is formed, however, I think I might not have been very clear.

From my understanding, when Pope John XXIII initially started looking into the issue of contraception, he wanted laity (name removed by moderator)ut. Pope Paul VI then increased the emphasis on the issue.

Again from my understanding, part of this was at least one panel of laity, put together by the Church, to give their assesment of whether or not the Church should ‘allow’ contraception. My parents were part of at least one panel - in Urbana Ill - that gave a report to the Vatican that contraception was ok.

Yes I have an ok grasp on how doctrine / dogmas are made, but I’m not asking that.

I’m asking if there was only one laity panel, or if there were multiple that may have given reports / advice both for and against contraception.

My Dad’s belief is that the entirety of the laity wanted contraception and that per his errant definition of ‘sensus fidelum’(sp?), ‘all’ the laity cannot be wrong. Lumen Gentium allows for the entirety of the People of God (chapter 2, paragraph 12, 2nd and 3rd sentences) to be infallible, but only when it is every last one of the People of God, which includes the Bishops and the Pope, and when they are in agreement with the Bishops and the Pope… but he doesn’t believe that last part is correct. His idea of “People of God” is the laity vs the hierarchy… but I digress.

If there were mixed reports from laity going to the Vatican, I would like to show my Dad so he can see it was NOT ‘all’ the laity that wanted contraception.

I hope that clears up my reason for posting.

Thank you again, God Bless

 

[PoorKnight]

Can anyone help out with the historical events that lead up to Humanae Vitae?

Were there Church sponsored laity panels? Or is that one of those myths like “Vatican 2 did away with communion rails” etc.?

Thanks ahead of time, God Bless

 

[thenobes]

Can anyone help out with the historical events that lead up to Humanae Vitae?

Were there Church sponsored laity panels? Or is that one of those myths like “Vatican 2 did away with communion rails” etc.?

Thanks ahead of time, God Bless

You are right.
From Wikipedia “Humane Viata”. See footnotes 19-21 for sources.

The commission of John XXIII[edit]Main article: Pontifical Commission on Birth Control
With the appearance of the first oral contraceptives in 1960, dissenters in the Church argued for a reconsideration of the Church positions. In 1963 Pope John XXIII established a commission of six European non-theologians to study questions of birth control and population.[19][20] The commission that Pope John XXIII formed to study population problems as well as acceptable methods of birth control met once in 1963 and twice in 1964. As Vatican Council II was concluding, Pope Paul VI enlarged it to fifty-eight members, including married couples, laywomen, as well as theologians and bishops. The last document issued by the council (Gaudium et spes) contained a very important section titled “Fostering the Nobility of Marriage” (1965, nos. 47-52), which discusses marriage from the personalist point of view. The “duty of responsible parenthood” was affirmed, but the determination of licit and illicit forms of regulating birth was reserved to Pope Paul VI. After the close of the council a fifth and final meeting of the commission was held, again enlarged to include sixteen bishops as an executive committee, in Rome in the spring of 1966. The commission was only consultative but did make a report to Paul VI approved by a majority of members, proposing that he might use his authority to approve at least some form of contraception for married couples. A minority number of members opposed this report and issued a parallel report to the Pope. After two more years of study and consultation, the pope issued Humanae Vitae, which removed any doubt that hormonal anti-ovulants are contraceptive. He explained why he did not accept the opinion of the majority report of the commission (1968, #6).[21]

peace
steve

 

[PoorKnight]

I never thought to try Wikipedia… Thanks!

God Bless :signofthecross:

 

[chaunceygardner]

As has been pointed out, after the birth control commission was expanded several times there were many lay people on it, including theologians, physicians, psychologists and other experts, and several married couples, including Americans Patrick and Patricia Crowley. The Crowley’s presented data and comments from many people who had been surveyed by the Catholic Family Movement. This inclusion of the “human side” of marriage and children had a great impact on several members of the commission.

This may be the lay involvement the OP is referencing. There were no separate lay panels, at least officially. There may have been lay groups who advocated for one side or the other. One can find several books and articles about the history of the birth control debate, either in your local library, bookstore, on at Amazon. Check it out; it is quite interesting and may be very enlightening.