Reflecting on Humanae
Vitae after 40 years

One of the recurring themes of this column has been the dignity of the human person. This is so because this is a recurring theme in the history of our relationship with God. In the Book of Genesis we read: “God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis: 1:27). This dignity is repeatedly proclaimed throughout the Scriptures in various ways. In the Gospels, Jesus reiterates this dignity, especially through His teachings which concern those who are the weakest and most vulnerable. From the earliest days of the Church’s existence, she has continued this proclamation and she has been known for her care for the poor, the sick and the needy. Indeed, many of the institutions of charity which we are familiar with, such as hospitals and those which care for the aged and the physically and mentally challenged, were originally founded under Christian auspices as a reflection of our belief in this dignity.

Always reading the signs of the times, the Church seeks to defend this dignity by her teaching. This is why modern slavery was condemned as early as the year 1435 by Pope Eugene IV, a condemnation repeated by successive popes, including Pope Gregory XVI, whose condemnation of the slave trade in 1839 was read to the assembled bishops of the United States in Baltimore in 1840. This is also why Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) defended the rights of workers in his famous encyclical Rerum Novarum and why Pope Pius XI condemned the subordination of the human person to an all-powerful state in an encyclical, smuggled secretly into Nazi Germany in 1937, and read in all that country’s churches (Mit Brennender Sorge). In order to read the signs of the times and proclaim the dignity of the human person once again, Pope Paul VI issued the encyclical Humanae Vitae on July 25, 1968. This encyclical reiterated the constant teaching of the Church concerning artificial contraception. In anticipation of the 40th anniversary of this document, an international congress was recently held in Rome. In an address that Pope Benedict gave to the members of this Congress, he pointed out why this issue is also one that concerns the dignity of the human person. He said: “In a culture that suffers from the prevalence of being turned in on itself, there is the risk of human life losing its value. If the exercise of sexuality becomes a drug, desiring to enslave the partner to one’s own desires and interests, without respecting the cycle of the one loved, then what we are defending becomes not only a true concept of love, but primarily the dignity of the human person” (Address, 10 May 2008).

The Church, like Jesus, a sign of contradiction
Pope Paul VI anticipated that the teaching of Humanae Vitae would not be easily received. He acknowledged that the Church is not surprised to be, like Jesus Himself, a sign of contradiction. Pope Paul concluded that the Church has no alternative than to teach faithfully the entire moral law of which she is neither the author nor the arbiter but a servant in the cause of the truth, entrusted to her by Jesus. Those who had argued that the Church should change her perennial teaching had claimed that there would actually be benefits to the use of artificial contraception. They held that marriages would be strengthened, teen pregnancy would be eliminated and the “need” for abortions would decrease, thereby limiting their number. I do not have to tell you that the consequences of the widespread use of artificial contraception have been the exact opposite: our divorce rate has soared, teen pregnancy has reached what have been called epidemic proportions and the efforts to legalize abortion only intensified after the promulgation of Humanae Vitae, with the tragic consequences of the “success” of those efforts.

However, it is important to note that the Church does not teach that artificial contraception is not permissible merely because of its bad consequences. She teaches that this practice “violates the very purpose and nature of the human sexual act, and therefore violates the dignity of the human person. The experience of the last several decades has simply served to reinforce the wisdom of the Church’s teaching” (Humanae Vitae: A Challenge to Love, Introductory Essay, Professor Janet E. Smith, Ph.D.). Pope Paul VI stated: “The Church, which interprets natural law through its unchanging doctrine, reminds men and women that the teachings based on natural law must be obeyed, and teaches that it is necessary that each and every conjugal act remain ordered to the procreation of human life. There is an unbreakable connection between the unitive (“love giving”) meaning and the procreative (“life giving”) meaning of the conjugal act. This connection was established by God and cannot be broken by man through his own volition” (Humanae Vitae, 11 and 12).

Protection?
It is interesting to note how the term “protection” has come to be used in connection with the marital act. Are couples being protected from some evil? Are we suggesting that God somehow made a mistake in uniting the magnificent capability that men and women have both to express love in the most intimate manner and also possibly to conceive a child together? Have the various forms of “protection” brought about protection from anything, except at times the conception of a child, who is now seen as an intrusive burden or a punishment? Has this practice protected young people from the cheapening of human relationships that come with sexual promiscuity? Indeed, the prediction of Pope Paul VI that the practice of artificial contraception would contribute to the lessening of the dignity of women and the opportunity to use them for selfish ends has come to pass all too sadly.

Instead of viewing the conjugal act as a mere selfish source of pleasure and self-fulfillment, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, drawing on the perennial principles taught in Humanae Vitae, beautifully expresses the Church’s teaching in this fashion: “Fecundity is a gift, an end (an ultimate purpose) of marriage, for conjugal love naturally tends to be fruitful. A child does not come from outside as something added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment. So the Church, which is on the side of life, teaches that each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life” (2366).

Not an impractical or impossible teaching
Please know, as you read this, that your parish priests and all those who work so hard in marriage preparation programs throughout the Archdiocese, as well as your Archbishop, realize that this is not an easy teaching. It also does not exclude every form of regulation of births. Indeed, the Catechism reminds us that “for just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children. It is their duty to make certain that their desire is not motivated by selfishness but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood” (2368). The various means of Natural Family Planning, which can easily be learned about through parish or diocesan programs, are very effective moral means of both achieving a pregnancy when this is difficult and also morally regulating the birth of children, while always respecting the act ordained towards the procreation of new life. The use of these means may involve acts that are not procreative but they are never anti-procreative, as are acts of artificial contraception. It is interesting to note that while one in every two marriages in the United States today ends in divorce, divorce is extremely rare among those couples who use NFP.

The Church is not a mother who condemns but a loving mother who encourages and challenges her sons and daughters to live out their true potential and recognize their own worth. This is not done by following the solutions that seem to satisfy our desires at the moment but that have other significant consequences. I commend and encourage all those couples who, with great generosity and confidence in God, strive to follow the clear and unchanging teaching that Pope Paul VI reiterated with such courage and wisdom in 1968. Concerning this teaching, Pope Benedict XVI said in his address which we mentioned earlier: “What was true yesterday also remains true today. The truth expressed in Humanae Vitae does not change; in fact, even more so in the light of new scientific discoveries, its teaching becomes even more current and calls us to reflect upon the intrinsic value it possesses.”
May 22, 2008