Contraception's failure becoming clear.

Thirty years of labouring under a contraceptive mentality has had a profound effect on our modern society, yet "more than ever Catholics are incredibly uninformed about this issue." So argued Professor Janet Smith, to a group of NFP (Natural Family Planning) teachers attending a Professional Development Day sponsored by the Ontario NFP Association and held in Kingston on August 23rd and 24th. Smith is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Dallas and author of the outstanding study Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later.

That Catholics are uninformed about NFP is, of course, nothing new to those of us who try to present the Billings Method of NFP to couples, especially in Marriage Preparation Classes. The culture around us is outspokenly partial to artificial contraception and any attempt to teach a method such as NFP seems tantamount to walking into a Lion's Den.

Contraception is the cornerstone of anti-life culture

Artificial contraception, which in the 1960's was heralded by feminists and population control advocates as the greatest discovery of all time, is the cornerstone of an anti-life culture. Sadly, it has also become the catalyst of dissent in the Catholic Church as well. "Any civilization," said Prof. Smith, "which sees death as a viable solution to social problems has embraced what Pope John Paul calls `the culture of death."' Therefore we must understand that the Pill and such devices as the IUD and condom, all "objectively disordered," are not in themselves the issue. Rather, the issue is the philosophical and ideological mindset that presupposes their use.

Over the two-day seminar, Professor Smith, centering her comments around the encyclicals Humanae vitae (1968) and Evangelium vitae (The Gospel of Life, 1995), as well as medical and sociological studies, presented in a systematic manner the ideology and consequences of artificial contraception, as well as the philosophy and benefits of natural family planning.

Dissent

Catholic theological dissent in particular has taken a dangerous turn precisely because of this issue. In 1968 Father Charles Curran, then at the Catholic University of America, within twenty-four hours of the official promulgation of Humanae vitae, wrote that Catholics could ignore the encyclical. Hence began the road away from magisterial teaching. For if Rome could be wrong on this issue, then it could be wrong on others, and it was now up to the theologians to tell the faithful what was right, based on their expertise and scholarly studies. Prof. Smith commented that a cursory look at religious education textbooks shows that "the idea of dissent usually follows the section on the Church's teaching on sexuality."

On a more sociological level, recent studies have found that the fear of overpopulation, which gave such a push to the contraceptive mentality in the mid-60s, is unfounded. While the world's population has grown at a steady 1.8% since the turn of the century, food production has grown at a rate of 2.1%. Fertility rates in developed countries have now fallen below replacement levels, while in developing countries they are also decreasing. Currently, the most important reason for population growth is greater longevity.

Aid to marriage?

On a more immediate and intimate level, artificial contraception was deemed by many to be an aid to marriages, making intercourse more loving and spontaneous because it would be freed from the unwanted burden of possible pregnancy. Yet in the U.S., divorce rates, which had been rising at a rate of less than 1% per year since the 1920's, jumped a full 25% in the ten years after the introduction of the Pill and have risen to a now constant 50% of all marriages. Pregnancies out of wedlock, adultery, and promiscuity have all increased as a result of the availability of, and mindset associated with, artificial contraception. Its most deadly fruit was approval for abortion.

Professor Smith holds that there is cause for hope, however, for no matter how strident proponents of artificial contraception may be, the results are having the reverse effect on the younger generation. While the baby-boomers continue to espouse sexual education and availability of contraceptives, more and more young people are turning to abstinence, led in large part by young members of evangelical Christian churches.

In the Catholic Church "we're starting to see the turnaround regarding Humanae vitae." This Professor Smith attributes to the growing weariness among the young with the effects of divorce, along with the constant and welcome teaching of Pope John Paul II. She admits that "my students are still confused, yet they are more open to the truth than ever before." Young clergy, themselves witnesses of the effects of the sexual revolution, "are more enthusiastic about Humanae vitae and are willing to foster an atmosphere that is conducive to teaching about the benefits of Natural Family Planning," benefits that include stronger, more loving marriages, and subsequently healthier families.

His Holiness once commented that error, once it has run its course, must inevitably give way to the truth. Ever so slowly, Catholics and non-Catholics alike are beginning to see the beauty of the Church's teaching on life and human sexuality. Increasingly, women have come to see that only in the Church is there true defence of their feminine dignity and fertility. That is why so many are dedicating their lives to teaching NFP, not so much for the method itself, but rather for the truth that underlies it, a truth that is the foundation stone for a "culture of life."

Dennis Buonafede has a M. Div. from St. Augustine's in Toronto, an STB from St. Paul's University in Ottawa, and is a lay pastoral assistant at Holy Spirit Parish in Agincourt, Toronto. He and his wife Theresa are the parents of 8-month-old Alexander.