THE PROPHETIC VISION OF POPE PAUL VI

Bishop Paul S. Coakley

Diocese of Salina

This week marks the anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s prophetic encyclical Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life) published on July 25, 1968.  Best know for upholding the Church’s constant moral teaching on the illicitness of contraception, Pope Paul VI reminded Catholics and all people of good will that something so sacred as the transmission of human life cannot be cut loose from its moorings, without grave consequences to individuals, to marriage and family, and to society.  Human life and married love are sacred. 

THE MOORINGS WHICH insure respect for the dignity of human sexual love are rooted in God’s plan for marriage.   The conjugal act (sexual love between spouses) has a meaning which comes from the Creator.  As a sign of the covenant between spouses, every conjugal act ought to be both unitive (a true act of mutual self-giving) and procreative (open to the transmission of life).  To separate these two prevents the conjugal act from realizing its divinely intended purpose.  To engage in sexual activity outside of marriage, or for selfish purposes, or while interfering with the natural fruitfulness of the act by contraception is a rejection of God’s intended meaning and purpose.  It is sinful. 

The widespread dissent and disregard of this teaching in the more secularized and developed nation following the publication of Humanae Vitae were symptomatic.  The secular mentality says that human beings, rather than God, are the measure of all things.  Right and wrong are determined on the basis of what is practical rather than what is true.  This worldview values results over reason.  This radical secular humanism has affected even many in the Church.  Many have sought to accommodate Church teaching and the Gospel to the wisdom of the world and have ended by eliminating the necessary tension that must always exist between the spirit of the Gospel and the spirit of the world.  The salt lost its savor (Mt.5:13). The Christian message will always be a sign of contradiction.

POPE PAUL VI WAS prophetic in recognizing the grave consequences that would follow if Catholics and others failed to consider where the acceptance of artificial birth control would lead society.  A contraceptive mentality would lead inevitably, he said, “toward conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality”.  It would be disastrous for marriage and families and would lead to loss of respect for women, “to the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment, and no longer as his (man’s) respected and beloved companion.” 

Certainly many family problems and social ills can be linked to this widespread contraceptive mentality which separates sexual love from its proper context in the divine plan for marriage.  Skyrocketing divorce, premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexual activity, abortion and a host of other problems follow in its wake.  The loss of respect for God’s plan for marriage, the dignity of human sexuality and the gift of life has contributed to the explosion of pornography as a multi-billion dollar industry and society’s slide toward embracing euthanasia, embryonic stem cell experimentation, and finally human cloning.

However unpopular in some quarters, and admittedly difficult, the Church cannot change its teaching on the immorality of artificial contraception.  The Church does not create the moral law, but is only its guardian and interpreter.  Ultimately, contraception is morally unacceptable because it is contrary to the true good of both the human person and marriage.

Catholics who strive to live according to the Church’s teaching find divine assistance by having recourse to the grace of the sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Penance and the Eucharist, as well as to prayer and the cultivation of virtue. 

A PRICELESS GIFT IS ALSO available through the scientifically-proven methods of Natural Family Planning.  NFP is a healthy means of family planning which enables couples to cooperate with God and one another in spacing pregnancies in a way which actually strengthens their relationship.  This week is Natural Family Planning Awareness Week.  Perhaps now is a good time to take another look at the benefits which NFP can offer to you and your marriage.

   Published in NW Kansas Register – Friday, July 28, 2006