There were many people before the hippies and Hugh Hefner who practiced and advocated sex outside of permissible parameters; society simply didn’t see/hear them because there was not a medium that could reach from one corner of the country to another like there is today. What we see today is the result of the secularization of Western Civilization, a process that has its origins in the 18th century.
While I certainly uphold the Truths of Humane Vitae I realize that there are those who, either against their own conscience or through their own ignorance, do not understand the issue. As was mentioned before, in 1930 the Anglican Church changed it’s teachings on sexual morality and there weren’t any hippies there. The Vatican II Council was called because it saw the changes in society and had to address them before it was too late. My point is, that birth control, abortion, sex outside of marriage, homosexuality, pornography and all of the other social ills that we have today did not start with the “hippies” in the 1960s.
And my point is this: I was there. Prior to the Hippies running around, a lot of things were socially unacceptable, especially regarding sexual activity and modesty. Marriage was held in very high regard. This is a Catholic, not an Anglican forum. My focus is on Catholics.
In the 1960s, skirts worn by Catholic girls had to cover the knees.
The mini-skirt was regarded as a scandal.
Girlie magazines were hard to get much less explicit pornography.
“Performers” could be arrested for a lewd or obscence performance.
Divorce was rare and if it occurred, a scandal.
Abortion was rare and if it occurred, a scandal.
The medium that could reach from one part of the country to the other was television. In the 1960s, time was set aside during programming so that a man from the station’s Standards and Practices Department could tell viewers that they watched everything we watched to make sure it was suitable for the entire family. Do you understand? There were standards in place that would not allow 90% of what is shown on TV today to exist.
The world of the sexual pervert was underground. It did not exist in the “mainstream” world. Art houses showing “art films” had a rather exclusive clientele.
By the 1970s, a small group of lawyers, judges and organized crime, decided to legalize filth and perversion. Were the following a Catholic initiative?
Adult bookstores.
Topless bars.
Strip clubs.
Swinger magazines.
1973 By nonscientific vote, homosexuality is removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Go ahead. Look it up.
Sexual perverts brought all of that into our neighborhoods so we could have direct access to their previously hidden, underground world. Then the moves and TV gradually began to inject a little poison into our veins. Oh at first it was a little off color, a little risque, then it got a little worse, and a little worse, until the 1980s and porn on cable. Then let’s throw in No-Fault Divorce and movies that said if you got divorced it was OK. Or how about books with titles like: How to Have a Healthy Divorce. Divorce? Healthy?
It took 40 years of hearing: “Leave us alone! Mind your own business! We’ll live however we want to! You bunch of prudes!” to wear down parents and friends who asked why? Why are living with your girlfriend outside of marriage?
And there used to be something called dating - without sex. There was courtship. There was engagement. And then there was marriage. Today? What do you have? Meaningless 'just sex." The other person being turned into a thing for momentary pleasure. And what did sexual perverts say to those who objected: “Two consenting adults. Mind your own business.” So why the cover-up by the porn industry who need to call what they do “Adult Entertainment”?
And if you want to know why the Second Vatican Council was called, here is the opening statement from Pope John XXIII:
ourladyswarriors.org/teach/v2open.htm
God bless,
Ed
