Contraception; Was the Church Right?
I was in my mid twenties when 'Humanae Vitae' was published. For months before I was being told by Protestants and Catholics that the Church was going to allow contraception. Not that this meant anything because the use of contraceptives was already being used by many Catholic couples. An approval by the Church would have brought them some satisfaction. Yet I knew it would not happen. There was a view that contraception was something new, a challenge for the Church in the modern world, but this was not so. Contraception goes back to long before Christ came on earth and indeed the practice of contraception was one of the challenges of the early Church. I remember when the 'no' verdict came through, there was a great gathering of 'men' on the steps of Westminster Cathedral who were protesting against the decision and many priests came to their defence, they did hot say the teaching was wrong but for the first time used the phrase that Catholics should 'follow their conscience' and this became something that would cover many other sins thereafter and we still have meetings where priests and even bishops advice people how to sin 'with a good conscience'. Poor Blessed John Henry Newman was used as someone who approved of catholic following their conscience, but his letter to the Duke of Norfolk demonstrated that he very much was not the champion they made him out to be.
But despite my first paragraph there were many questions to be asked about how this mass falling away of the faithful and a distrust of the teachings of the Church occurred. The problem was that the Church watched so much wrong happen within families without helping and even condoning how the marriage act was being carried out. The male was very much the dominant partner whose needs had to be satisfied. "Women be subject to your husband", the writing of St Paul was very much quoted. There was an opinion which even as late as the sixties I found being use by clerics that it was the duty of the wife to submit to the husband whenever he desired her. The other saying of St Paul, "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church" was not taken so seriously. So husbands would come back from the pub drunk and the wife had a duty to satisfy him in his drunken state. whether she wished to or not. I have heard this from many women and I know it to be true. And too many priests turned away. Of course this behaviour ended in unwanted pregnancies in already large families which many women resented So in such circumstances contraception was welcome. But there was also the same problem the early Church faced. There was a growing wealth now among the people, luxuries were for all, but the price many families paid was that women who wanted a home with their husband had to find work to pay mortgages, and thee was the family ar to be pad for, and suddenly the pressure on women to work became a pressure on their children and family. A child could mean them losing their jobs. With the new style of life Churh became less important and started declining.
Humanae Vitae when it was published caused an outcry and yet within its pages there was a great deal of warnings as to where contraception was heading and indeed all the things it warned against have come true. Contraception is used more outside of marriage than within, indeed in making infidelity within marriage so much easier, many marriages break up because of one partners idolatrous relationship with someone else. But infidelity is fed into marriage because of the adultery committed before marriage. If you are used to variety then one partner is not enough. About 50% of marriages break up. But that is OK the children do not mind really, do they? It is a pity that nobody really bothers about the subject. One thing the secular state never touches on is how many young prostitutes and knife stabbers came from broken homes or were placed in children homes. If they wanted they could open their eyes to the hurting children who feel unwanted because they work out that their father did not want them. They find it hard to cope with relationships and 'helpful' teachers give them contraceptives believing they are stopping a pregnancy when what they are really doing is ruining another life.
But at the time of Humanae Vitae there was not a reliable way of controlling the fertility of a woman. We did hear that in Australia a Dr Billings was looking at the survival of sperm in the womb which mad the rhythm method unreliable and he had developed Natural Birth Control. In this method you know exactly when your fertility rate begins and allow for sperm survival. You do not need thermometers in your mouth. But there is one great advantage to Natural Birth Control, the husband and wife work together, they know when the fertility period begins and the husband co-operates with the wife. Thus the deep love that the sexual act between a husband and a wife should enhance is very much present, the husband very much listens to the wife. A womb is not just there to serve the husbands needs, The two become one with the blessing of God and having God in everything is the basic point of Christianity.
But let us look at the Early Church. The Fathers of the Early Church were very direct about what they thought of contraception and other impure acts.
St Clement of Alexandria (c. AD 197) "Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted (Instructor of Children)
St Hippolytus "Women reputed believers began to resort to drugs to produce sterility, and gird themselves round so as to expel what was being conceived on account of them not wishing to have a child either by a slave or any paltry fellow, for the sake of their family and excessive wealth. Behold into what great impiety that lawless one has proceeded by committing adultery and murder at the same time (c. AD 277)
There are so many other quotes for the Fathers which show how the misuse of the gift of sex must not be abused. But that the members of the Churh on the whole sought never to commit adultery and kept true to their vows in marriage is attested to by St Augustine who looking around pagan Rome noted that they were in this way very different and very committed of their Lord Jesus. This converted him to Christianity. But look at tour society today, Contraception, impurity, adultery, broken homes and broke marriages. Thousands of children being raised by one parent if they are lucky and do not land up in a childrens' hone where there is little love. Catholic schools are now full f children with no father who envy those wh do. The children grow up in a society where they are fed the lie that sex outside marriage is OK and even that marriage is old fashioned. This lie is even taught in Catholic Schools. What we need is a Church that is different, which follows Jesus Christ in all his teachings. A Church which because of its faithfulness is a true light to the world as the early Church was to St Augustine. I pray that one day we will see that Church again.
.
But despite my first paragraph there were many questions to be asked about how this mass falling away of the faithful and a distrust of the teachings of the Church occurred. The problem was that the Church watched so much wrong happen within families without helping and even condoning how the marriage act was being carried out. The male was very much the dominant partner whose needs had to be satisfied. "Women be subject to your husband", the writing of St Paul was very much quoted. There was an opinion which even as late as the sixties I found being use by clerics that it was the duty of the wife to submit to the husband whenever he desired her. The other saying of St Paul, "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church" was not taken so seriously. So husbands would come back from the pub drunk and the wife had a duty to satisfy him in his drunken state. whether she wished to or not. I have heard this from many women and I know it to be true. And too many priests turned away. Of course this behaviour ended in unwanted pregnancies in already large families which many women resented So in such circumstances contraception was welcome. But there was also the same problem the early Church faced. There was a growing wealth now among the people, luxuries were for all, but the price many families paid was that women who wanted a home with their husband had to find work to pay mortgages, and thee was the family ar to be pad for, and suddenly the pressure on women to work became a pressure on their children and family. A child could mean them losing their jobs. With the new style of life Churh became less important and started declining.
Humanae Vitae when it was published caused an outcry and yet within its pages there was a great deal of warnings as to where contraception was heading and indeed all the things it warned against have come true. Contraception is used more outside of marriage than within, indeed in making infidelity within marriage so much easier, many marriages break up because of one partners idolatrous relationship with someone else. But infidelity is fed into marriage because of the adultery committed before marriage. If you are used to variety then one partner is not enough. About 50% of marriages break up. But that is OK the children do not mind really, do they? It is a pity that nobody really bothers about the subject. One thing the secular state never touches on is how many young prostitutes and knife stabbers came from broken homes or were placed in children homes. If they wanted they could open their eyes to the hurting children who feel unwanted because they work out that their father did not want them. They find it hard to cope with relationships and 'helpful' teachers give them contraceptives believing they are stopping a pregnancy when what they are really doing is ruining another life.
But at the time of Humanae Vitae there was not a reliable way of controlling the fertility of a woman. We did hear that in Australia a Dr Billings was looking at the survival of sperm in the womb which mad the rhythm method unreliable and he had developed Natural Birth Control. In this method you know exactly when your fertility rate begins and allow for sperm survival. You do not need thermometers in your mouth. But there is one great advantage to Natural Birth Control, the husband and wife work together, they know when the fertility period begins and the husband co-operates with the wife. Thus the deep love that the sexual act between a husband and a wife should enhance is very much present, the husband very much listens to the wife. A womb is not just there to serve the husbands needs, The two become one with the blessing of God and having God in everything is the basic point of Christianity.
But let us look at the Early Church. The Fathers of the Early Church were very direct about what they thought of contraception and other impure acts.
St Clement of Alexandria (c. AD 197) "Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted (Instructor of Children)
St Hippolytus "Women reputed believers began to resort to drugs to produce sterility, and gird themselves round so as to expel what was being conceived on account of them not wishing to have a child either by a slave or any paltry fellow, for the sake of their family and excessive wealth. Behold into what great impiety that lawless one has proceeded by committing adultery and murder at the same time (c. AD 277)
There are so many other quotes for the Fathers which show how the misuse of the gift of sex must not be abused. But that the members of the Churh on the whole sought never to commit adultery and kept true to their vows in marriage is attested to by St Augustine who looking around pagan Rome noted that they were in this way very different and very committed of their Lord Jesus. This converted him to Christianity. But look at tour society today, Contraception, impurity, adultery, broken homes and broke marriages. Thousands of children being raised by one parent if they are lucky and do not land up in a childrens' hone where there is little love. Catholic schools are now full f children with no father who envy those wh do. The children grow up in a society where they are fed the lie that sex outside marriage is OK and even that marriage is old fashioned. This lie is even taught in Catholic Schools. What we need is a Church that is different, which follows Jesus Christ in all his teachings. A Church which because of its faithfulness is a true light to the world as the early Church was to St Augustine. I pray that one day we will see that Church again.
.
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