Letters

Finding balance

Walter H. Kirk

Contents - Nov 2013 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Pope Francis' call to holiness - Peter Westmore Human rights: Zoe's Law and the right to life - Eamonn Keane News: The Church Around the World Culture: Cardinal Pell: defend religious freedom - Cardinal George Pell Schools: The future of Catholic education - Archbishop Timothy Costelloe Youth: Emmanuel Community: youth ministry powerhouse - Br Barry Coldrey Interview: G.K. Chesterton's cause for sainthood - Dale Ahlquist Marriage: Humanae Vitae: for an excellent love - Anne Lastman Marriage: English bishop warns on same-sex marriage law - Bishop Philip Egan Letters: Pope misrepresented - C. O'Driscoll Letters: Australia's new Prime Minister - Arnold Jago Letters: Three to get married - Cedric Wright Letters: Total love - Madge Fahy Letters: Clutching at straws - Anne Lastman Letters: Finding balance - Walter H. Kirk Books: Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer and Sex changed a Nation at War - Gabrielle Walsh (reviewer) Books: WHO NEEDS GOD?, by Barbara Stockl with Christoph Cardinal Schönborn - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: THE CRAFT OF CATECHESIS, by P. Wiley, P. de Cointet and B. Morgan - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Support: 2013 Fighting Fund Progress Report - Peter Westmore Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: Bishop Anthony Fisher: Do you want to be a saint? - Bishop Anthony Fisher

Dr Frank Mobbs' recent letters have prompted what must be a record number of responses for the AD2000 letters section. Many readers are obviously sensitive to any real or implied criticism of Pope Paul VI's encyclical, Humanae Vitae.

However, it is my impression that some of the letter writers have misread the points Dr Mobbs was making in his response to Anne Lastman's article in that they fail to distinguish between the document's doctrinal and spiritual status and the practical, social and human consequences said to follow from observance or non-observance of Church teaching forbidding contraception.

Understandably, given the wide-spread opposition, disregard or ignorance surrounding this teaching, those anxious to defend or justify it tend to emphasise the marital benefits said to result from observing the teaching, and the evil fallout from a "contraceptive mentality", as evidenced in the massive worldwide increase since the late 1960s in the number of abortions and broken marriages, plus the acceptance of homosexual acts and calls for "gay marriage" to be legitimised.

Dr Mobbs argues that the precise fallout resulting from observance or non-observance of the Church's teaching, as set out in Humanae Vitae, is a matter for debate, is difficult to establish and can be exaggerated along the lines of "post hoc, ergo propter hoc". That is, the sexual revolution since the late 1960s is the result of many factors, not just contraception.

The key focus should be on the doctrinal status of Humanae Vitae, and the Church's moral teachings in general: that they are consistent with Christ's divine mandate to bind and loose. Alongside this, the assessing of any fallout from observance or non-observance is, in a sense, incidental, even if it could be established with any accuracy.

The same line of argument could be applied to Church teaching on marriage and divorce. If this teaching is true, being based on Our Lord's words, "What God has joined together, let no man put asunder", then claims as to the good or bad consequences of allowing divorce are again incidental, although useful if one is arguing the case with a non-believer.

Defenders of easy divorce will claim it is better for children that violent or abusive parents be separated. Opponents of divorce will mount a case, based on social research, that the children of divorced parents often suffer serious consequences.

Much of the correspondence following Dr Mobbs' letters seems to regard any questioning of the above fallout claims as tantamount to rejection of the doctrinal status of Humanae Vitae itself.

While observance of Church teachings, apart from their obvious spiritual benefits, will, hopefully also lead to positive consequences like happier marriages, the key focus should be on the soundness of the doctrinal basis for these teachings.

To have Church teachings stand or fall primarily on their practical consequences could be a slippery slope.

Meanwhile, the sad reality is that for most of the world's population, and indeed most of today's Catholics, contraception has ceased to be an issue.

WALTER H. KIRK
Chinchilla, Qld

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 26 No 10 (November 2013), p. 15