Not Devaluing The Person And Sex Is The Gift Of Humanae Vitae

Listening to the talk of Fr. Donald Haggerty in the July 21, 2018 Immaculate Conception Church’s conference celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae made me somber on two points, but I will get to that later.

Fr. Haggerty masterfully elucidated Blessed Pope Paul VI’s encyclical with these points.

The ends of marriage is the procreation and education of children. This is the very end that is subverted by the contraceptive movement which puts the ends of marine as purely unitive (the sexual fulfillment of the husband and wife).

But they ignore one point: the unitive and procreative aspects of the sexual act IS INSEPARABLE. Meaning if you demean one aspect, if you ignore the other aspect. AND THEY ARE NOT WARRING FACTIONS, BUT BOTH ARE A BLESSING TO THE COUPLE 

He points out: chemical and barrier methods blot out the procreative aspects (and cause cancer besides), but the unitive aspect is hurt as well. The selfishness that comes from putting lust at the forefront ultimately makes couples less loving to each other and thus open it to the risks of pornography, infidelity, divorce etc. 

It pricked me a bit because at month 6 of our marriage and into my fellowship, I got stuck by a needle from an HIV and HepC positive patient, and being a dutiful doctor and patient, not wanting to potentially infect my husband we tried barrier methods, which made him and me unsatisfied and me additionally disobedient, because my doctor-husband already assuaged me that I will very, very less likely get those infections anyway and I had taken the prophylaxis, I was just fear-motivated. 

Imagine people who are doing it their whole married lives! It was fitting that on the way here I was listening to a Love and Responsibility NJ talk of Brian and Eni Honsberger from last year who said that they are offering to speak on the beauty of Theology of the Body (TOB) because they are happy! And they have observed all the rules teachings of the Church from their dating and married life! How can they not be! 

I am a late bloomer to knowing Church teachings in detail, but we never had bothered with contraception aside from that episode. And boy, we are happy too! Eni and Brian put out there something powerful: the Bible is all about marriage, from Genesis, where Adam marries Eve, to Revelation, where Christ marries the Church, we should not miss out on the grandeur and the truth the Church reminds in magisterial teaching scripture and papally infallible teaching. 

Yes, papally infallible teaching. Because following the contraception-is intrinsically-evil because-we are-made-for-so-much-more message of Humanae Vitae is sometimes rejected by even fine theologians because, one, they are dissident and second, they do not get what makes for papal infallibility. Express Scriptural basis do not make for infallibility, but consent of the bishops of over the world for a long time on the same issue make it so. (Lumen Gentium para 25) And the Church had felt that contraception is an inherent evil until 1964, when the handful of arrogant dissenters made their opposition known. That doesn’t make the Church nor the Pope wrong, so this document bears truth and respect too. 

I just sidetracked with another event which made me have pause, making me realize where disobedience to the requirements of the marital act ultimately leads. The marital act, naturally between a husband and wife, man and woman who had solemnized their union before God and the Church, has to be:

1. fruitful

1. permanent
2. total
3. monogamous.

The use of technology to subvert the natural order brings only despair and unhappiness, as far as all the porn and contraceptive users demonstrate. Meanwhile, those who honor the body’s natural rhythms (ex. Creighton Method which uses temperature and mucus monitoring)  and accept all, not merely a fixed or finite, children that can come from the marital act or none at all, are joyful and in stable marriages, and you know what good that can lead too: happy children, coworkers, happy society, It is the early heaven that many a happy family has come to experience. I have seen it in my family, pre- and post-Humanae Vitae observance, even in a non-deliberate way: “peace, tranquility, thoughtfulness” as Father Haggerty alludes. Oh, we win with it! 

One sad thing that came about the disobedient pro-contraceptive theologians’ movement  is that the public was confused. They thought wrongly that conscience or right to privacy can be above Church law, moral law, natural law. They, limited creaturely and God-separated thinking, can tell what is right or wrong. 

Let me just give an example of how badly that went wrong, fifty years later. The divorce, promiscuity, early sexual initiation, genocidal abortion “fruits” of widespread contraception have been in the mainstream more than happy, stable, traditional and child-welcoming families. Thus a kid will be sexting and fornicating in hook-ups and in the name of body positivity. A young woman did this route, thinking the way of the world is harmless, and felt trashed by the whole experience of premarital sex, but pressured to continue. The birth control she takes makes her fat and more depressed, her Vit B 12 and progesterone, both natural mood enhancers, dipping. The boyfriend wanted nothing more to do with her, having obtained what he wanted, but was annoyed she was still needy and added a layer of revenge by sending some suggestive pictures out to peers who shamed her. The funny thing about it is damned if you do, damned if you don’t. She committed suicide later and I grieve because it would have been preventable if Humanae Vitae was more mainstream than not.