In my third Chapter I wrote, concerning Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae:
Pope Paul VI
wrote of four evils that would result from a disobedience to Church teaching
set down in his encyclical:
- That widespread contraceptive practice would lead to
“conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality.”
- Men… would “lose respect” for women and no longer
care for their physical and psychological enjoyment.
- The contraceptive mentality would “place a dangerous
weapon…in the hands of those public authorities who take no heed of moral
exigencies.”
- Contraception would lead humans into thinking they
have unrestricted authority over their bodies.
It is easy to show from the historical record that the Holy Spirit had
guided the heart and mind of Paul VI to see clearly the consequences of the
intrinsic evil of contraception. Jesus, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,”
teaches that the truth sets us free.
Pope Paul VI was the Lord’s herald in Humanae
Vitae, and so understanding and assimilating its teaching is the key to
human freedom in our sexually befuddled world.
The fulfillment of Pope Paul’s predictions has been recounted in numerous
theological studies. All show convincingly the negative fruits in the areas of
abortion, divorce, family disintegration, wife and child abuse, STDs and
illegitimate births. These studies also show the dehumanization of women as males were released from accountability for their sexual aggression. And, as
pro-life Catholics know all too well, population control is part and parcel of
current United Nations policy debates vis-Ã -vis
developing nations. Finally, the studies also reveal in vitro fertilization, cloning, genetic engineering and embryonic
stem cell research for what they are: the fruits of the contraceptive
mentality. I avidly recommend these studies to the reader, for I have found no
shortage of Catholics intellectually dishonest in spouting off on our topic not
having read these studies in light of Humanae
Vitae and the tradition of the Church.
At the very least, the Church which Jesus established, in teaching that
contraception is “shameful and intrinsically vicious,” stands with Him as a
“sign of contradiction” in our present culture’s moral climate.
July 25th marked the 40th anniversary of one of the most controversial papal documents in history: Humanae Vitae, which reaffirmed the traditional Christian teaching on the immorality of contraception. Here I include, in honor of this prophetic encyclical Christopher West's reflections. Read, and join the group that is having the best sex: Heterosexual married couples living chastity!
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