For those of you who have been reading this lengthy article by Albert from Defend Life, you have no doubt learned a few things about the Catholic Church, chastity, contraception and the value of human life.
The last piece of the article shows us that if we don't take seriously the need to understand what can happen to us if we lose our humanity and our connection with God, we will head down a long dark road.
Humane Vitae
Below are some key points from Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical Humane Vitae (On Human Life) to understand the role of husband and wife in marriage and from what foundation individuals are to build a family.
He begins by expressing what authority the Catholic Church has in such matters. He said, "No believer will wish to deny that the teaching authority of the church is competent to interpret even the natural moral law...the church has always provided - and even more amply in recent times - a coherent teaching concerning both the nature of marriage and the correct use of conjugal rights and the duties of husband and wife...Marriage is the wise institution
of the Creator to realize in mankind His design of love. By means of the reciprocal personal gift of self, proper and exclusive to them, husband and wife tend toward the communion of their beings in view of mutual personal perfection, to collaborate with God in the generation and education of new lives...this love is total, that is to say, it is a very special form of personal friendship, in which husband and wife generously share everything, without undue reservations or selfish calculations...rejoicing that he can enrich his partner with the gift of himself...this love is faithful and exclusive until death...Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the begetting and educating of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute very substantially to the
welfare of their parents...conjugal love requires in husband and wife an awareness of their mission of "responsible parenthood," (which is)
exercised, either by the deliberate and generous decision to raise a
numerous family, or by the decision, made for grave motives and with due respect for the moral law, to avoid for the time being, or even for an indeterminate period, a new birth...husband and wife recognize fully their own duties toward God, toward themselves, toward the family and toward society, in a correct hierarchy of values.
In the task of transmitting life, therefore, they are not free to proceed completely at will, as if they could determine in a wholly autonomous way the honest path to follow; but they must conform their activity to the creative intention of God...not every conjugal act is followed by new life...Nonetheless, the church, calling men back to the observance of the norms of the natural law, as interpreted by their constant doctrine, teaches that each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life...the conjugal act preserves in its fullness the sense of true mutual love and its ordination toward man's most high calling to parenthood...Hence, one who reflects well must also recognize that a reciprocal act of love, which jeopardizes the responsibility to transmit life which God the Creator, according to particular laws, inserted therein, is in contradiction with the design constitutive of marriage, and with the
will of the Author of life. To use this divine gift destroying, even if only partially, its meaning and its purpose is to contradict the nature both of man and woman and of their most intimate relationship, and therefore it is to contradict also the plan of God and His will..." Humane Vitae went further to point out the "ILLICIT WAYS OF REGULATING BIRTH," stating that "the direct interruption of the generative process already begun, and, above all, directly willed and procured abortion, even if for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as licit means of regulating birth. Equally to be excluded...is direct sterilization, whether perpetual or temporary,
whether of the man or of the woman (and) every action which...proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible." Also, that "it is not licit, even for the gravest reasons, to do evil so that good may follow there-from." In spelling out the various "GRAVE CONSEQUENCES OF METHODS OF ARTIFICIAL BIRTH CONTROL" the Church was prophetic when she declared "how wide and easy a road would thus be opened up toward conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality...that the man, growing used
to the employment of anti-conceptive practices, may finally lose respect for the woman and, no longer caring for her physical and psychological equilibrium, may come to the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment, and no longer as his respected and beloved companion;" further, that a "dangerous weapon would thus be placed in the hands of those public authorities who take no heed of moral exigencies. Who could blame a government for applying to the solution of the problems of the community those means acknowledged to be licit for married couples in the solution of a family problem? Who will stop rulers from favoring, from even imposing upon their peoples, if they were to consider it necessary, the method of contraception which they judge to be most efficacious?...(which) would reach the point of placing at the mercy of the intervention of public authorities the most personal and most reserved sector of conjugal intimacy."
For over twenty years China has had its one-child policy. Families caught violating it can face harsh penalties, including forced abortion, forced sterilization, imprisonment, fines, loss of wages, torture, loss of varying privileges, etc. Various other nations are now involved in forced sterilization and abortion. And women are even being sterilized without their knowledge, let alone consent, because of criteria to meet population control policies demands by USAID, the U.N. Population Fund, and others. Just this past week, it has been reported that the Congress of the Philippines is considering a mandatory one-child policy like China's. And in Tulua, Columbia, Venezuela, it has been proposed that anyone 14 years or older be required to carry a condom on them at all times, or be subject to a
$180.00 fine. Clearly, where we are today is exactly where the Pope in 1968 warned could happen if we ignored God's plan for Marriage and the Family. Let's hope it's not too late to turn back. And let's also hope people will soon make the choice to do just that!
Albert
Books Everyone Should Read:
The Facts of Life - An Authoritative Guide to Life and Family Issues by Brian Clowes published by Human Life International
The Winning Side - Questions on Living the Culture of Life by Charles E. Rice published by St. Brendan's Institute
Love & Family - Raising a Traditional Family in a Secular World by Mercedes Arzu Wilson published by Ignatius Press
Kinsey: Crimes & Consequences by Judith A. Reisman, Ph.D. Published by the Institute for Media Education
Grand Illusions - The Legacy of Planned Parenthood by George Grant
published by Highland Books
Margaret Sanger - FATHER OF MODERN SOCIETY by Elasah Drogin CUL
Publications
Lime 5 - Exploited by Choice by Mark Crutcher published by Life Dynamics,Incorporated
The Battle For Normality - A Guide for (Self) Therapy for homosexuality (Constructive Help and Support For Men and Women troubled by unwanted homosexual feelings and/or behavior) by Gerard J.M. Van Den Aardweg, Ph.D. published by Ignatius Press
A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality by Joseph Nicolosi, Ph.D., & Linda Ames Nicolosi published by Inter Varsity Press
The Death Peddlers - War On The Unborn, Past, Present, Future by Rev. Paul Marx, O.S.B., Ph.D. published by Human Life Center, St. John's University
Forced Exit - The Slippery Slope From Assisted Suicide to Legalized Murder by Wesley J. Smith Spence Publishing Company
Power Over Pain - How To Get the Pain Control You Need by Eric M. Chevlen, M.D. and Wesley J. Smith published by International Task Force
The Hand of God - A Journey From Death to Life by the Abortion Doctor Who Changed His Mind by Bernard N. Nathanson, M.D.
Regnery Publishing, Inc.
Breast Cancer - Its Link to Abortion and the Birth Control Pill by Chris Kahlenborn, M.D. published by One More Soul
The Gender Agenda - Redefining Equality by Dale O' Leary published by Vital Issues Press.
The War Against Population by Jacqueline Kasun published by Ignatius Press
"Soft Porn" Plays Hardball - Its Tragic Effects on Women, Children and the Family by Judith A. Reisman Huntington House Publishers
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