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"The Church has always taught the intrinsic evil of contraception — that is, of every marital act intentionally rendered unfruitful. This teaching is to be held as definitive and irreformable. Contraception is gravely opposed to marital chastity; it is contrary to the good of the transmission of life (the procreative aspect of matrimony) and to the reciprocal self-giving of the spouses (the unitive aspect of matrimony); it harms true love and denies the sovereign role of God in the transmission of human life."
Pontifical Council for the Family, Vademecum for Confessors Concerning Some Aspects of the Morality of Conjugal Life, 1997.
Introduction
In this essay, I discuss the continuing crisis in the Catholic Church provoked by the teaching of the ordinary magisterium that individual acts of contraception in marriage are intrinsically evil. I explain why the resultant controversy in the Catholic Church is so serious and needs to be resolved as soon as possible. I discuss for whom and in what manner the magisterial teaching is controversial, and the harm being done as a result. I discuss the traditional approaches to this issue and explore whether there are any Scriptural references relevant to the problem. I discuss recent magisterial responses to the issue. I describe the main arguments and counter-arguments being put forward from both sides of the controversy and evaluate their relative merits. Finally I look at possible approaches to resolving the present controversy. I argue that Christian marriage is not something static with its own immutable moral laws, but something dynamic and constantly evolving with the changing nature of society in different cultures. Thus, norms that may have been valid in the past do not necessarily apply today.
In discussing contraception, I am referring to non-abortive contraception. Discussion of the possible abortive effects of some contraceptives is outside the scope of this essay, except that allegations that the contraceptive pill often functions to prevent implantation of a fertilised ovum are discussed.
An Annotated Bibliography is provided as a starting point for further research.
The controversy
The publication of Humanae Vitae, in 1968, precipitated a controversy [1] that is still continuing in the Catholic Church [2] . Dissent from the teachings of the papal magisterium and Vatican congregations on the matter of contraception is widespread [3] among the Catholic laity, clergy, theologians [4] and even bishops [5] . Included among the dissenting theologians have been men like Karl Rahner and Bernard Häring, recognised as the most eminent Catholic theologians of the twentieth century in their respective fields [6] . On the other side of the controversy are men like Germain Grisez [7] whose scholarly status, honesty and dedication to the Church are beyond doubt. An enormous amount of theological effort that could have been devoted to other pressing problems in the Church and the world has been expended on this controversy [8] .
In Western countries, it is estimated that up to 96% of fertile, sexually active Catholic women are using means of contraception condemned by the Vatican as intrinsically evil [9] . It is estimated that up to 80% of all Catholics dissent from the official Catholic teachings on contraception [10] . This has destroyed the credibility of the Catholic Church as a moral guide in matters of sexual and biomedical ethics [11] . It has caused a great deal of suffering to those trying to balance the demands of a committed marital union and the demands of parenthood with the teachings of the Church on contraception [12] . On the other hand, it has led to a mass exodus from the Church in some countries [13] . Cardinal Ratzinger recently stated that, in some German cities, only about eight percent of the population now call themselves Christians. [14] Of course, the controversy over contraception is not the only reason for that. European churches have been in decline since the mid eighteenth century, but the contraception controversy has certainly alienated many people. My personal observation from Catholics with whom I went to high school and people I have met over the past 40 years, is that Humanae Vitae alienated a major proportion of two generations of Australians from the Church. In the UK., among those still attending mass the use of the "individual confession" form of the Sacrament of Penance has declined dramatically [15] . My personal observation is that, in Australia, the decline started with the publication of Humanae Vitae. Married couples who continued to use contraception and refused to consider a change were denied absolution, so they just stopped going. To some extent this has had a good effect in focussing people on their total relationship with God, rather than a regular catalogue of individual sins and frequencies. However there are also undesirable effects. A recent publication indicates that many university students who have been educated at Catholic high schools see no purpose in feelings of guilt when they have caused harm to another person [16] .
The lack of credibility of the Catholic Church on sexual and biomedical ethics and the alienation of people from the Church means that the Church cannot function effectively as the moral guide so much needed in contemporary society. Research shows young people becoming sexually active in their early teens, or even earlier [17] , often with little understanding of the dangers involved. Cohabitation before marriage is becoming the norm despite good research evidence that cohabitation (as opposed to pre-marital sex in engagement [18] ) significantly increases the risk of failure of a future marriage. [19]
Also, recent research [20] has shown (unexpectedly) that one key characteristic of strong families over many cultures and nations is a firm religious commitment. Thus, the problems caused in the Church by the controversy over contraception may be weakening the very family values the Church should be striving to protect.
Pressure groups like Catholics for Contraception [21] and the Couple to Couple league have sprung up [22] and are publishing articles and advertisements sometimes containing definitive statements and accusations that have little respect for factual evidence [23] .
The preoccupation of Pope John Paul II with matters of sexual ethics and his perceived need to suppress dissent within the Church [24] have had very undesirable effects within the Church. Though the Pope is not himself a restorationist, a small but very active restorationist group has gained power in the Church, especially in Rome. [25] There has been serious interference from Rome in the affairs of national churches [26] . Bishops have been removed from their diocese or had all authority transferred to an "assistant" bishop [27] . Books have been burned and nuns forced to leave their congregations [28] . Dissenting Catholic laity have been threatened with excommunication [29] . Theologians have been "investigated" by the CDF or dismissed from their teaching positions [30] . These include leading theologians whose personal lives of humility, courtesy and piety have been an inspiration to many [31] . In the case of Charles Curran it has been suggested that his removal from Catholic University of America was in part because of his exemplary life style. The restorationists cannot admit that such qualities can exist in someone who dissents from official teachings [32] .
The collegial function of the world's bishops has come under attack, with Synod meetings in Rome dominated by the restorationists, with the bishops not permitted to raise issues of serious concern to the Church [33] . New "loyalty oaths" [34] are being imposed on teachers of theology and others holding office in the Church. Unilateral changes in Canon Law [35] have been introduced with the effect of stifling debate on disputed issues and previous Vatican teachings admitted to be non-infallible are now being described as "irreformable" [36] . "Corrections" have been introduced into the Catechism of the Catholic Church to remove a section that could be used to argue in favour of contraception [37] .All of this hinders ecumenical dialogue. [38]
All of the above adds up to a very serious crisis in the Church, but in the New Testament "crisis" also denotes a time of opportunity for a new beginning and a move towards the "kingdom" that has drawn near. We urgently need to find that way forward.
The relevance of Scripture
The Gen. 38:8-10 text on Onan is no longer considered to be a condemnation of contraception, but please note the comments of Häring (1989) on the long standing sacred duty to practice coitus interruptus in the service of preserving infant life among certain African nations.
Pope John Paul II has cited the accounts of the creation of man and woman in Gen. 1 and 2 as the basis for his meditations leading to his new "theology of the body" and "language of love". Pruss (2000) has cited Tobit 8:7 (And now, Lord, not out of lust do I take this kinswoman of mine, but in accordance with truth.) as part of the basis for his attempt to develop a new approach to the theology of contraception [39] .Pruss also cites Gen. 2:23, Gen. 2:24, Ex. 22:16, Lev. 18:22, The Song of Songs [as a whole], Mark. 10:8b-9, and 1: Cor. 6:15a.
One could also cite 1 Cor. 13 and 1 Cor. 8:9-12 on how to approach the current controversy, and texts such as Ezek. 34:1-10, Matt. 15:8-9 and Luke 11:46, on the misuse of spiritual authority.
However Cahill (1985) draws attention to the problems of applying historically conditioned biblical texts to contemporary moral problems, so great care is needed when arguing on the basis of such texts.
The history and current status of Papal and Vatican teaching on contraception.
Noonan (1965) has traced the history of teachings on contraception from patristic times up to 1965. Though contraception was condemned throughout that period, with varying degrees of severity, the reasons changed over time and, until the discovery of the human ovum in 1826, were based on an incorrect biology. There were many changes and reversals of teachings on the morality of various aspects of marital intercourse. [40]
Pope Pius XI's rejection, in Casti Conubii, of the use of contraception in marriage is well known, as is the support of that ban by Pope Pius XII. Pope John XXIII established and Pope Paul VI expanded a commission of lay experts, bishops, and theologians to advise on whether a change in the Church's teachings had become necessary.
It is well known that, in the Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae, Paul VI rejected the recommendation of the Papal Birth Control Commission [41] that the morality of contraception should be seen in the context of the totality of a marriage rather than in terms of individual acts.
Pope John Paul II has continued to defend the teaching that "every act must remain open to the transmission of life" [42] and to condemn contraceptive acts as intrinsically evil [43] . However, he has changed the basis of that ruling from a classical Natural Law approach to a new more personalist approach based on a further development of his philosophical treatise The Acting Person. In a series of Wednesday audiences from December 1979 to April 1980 [44] he drew on the Genesis stories of the creation of man and woman, taking them almost literally. He developed his theme further in Familiaris Consortio (1981) and in a further series of addresses from 11 July through 28 November, 1984 [45] (mostly in defence of Humanae Vitae).. He has developed a theology of the body [46] in which man and woman come to fulfil "the very meaning of their being and existence" through chaste marital intercourse which constitutes a special language of love in which the two persons give themselves totally to each other.
The nuptial meaning of the body is "the [body's] capacity of expressing love: that love precisely in which the person becomes a gift and - by means of this gift - fulfils the very meaning of his being and existence" (General Audience 1/16/80) [47] .
(One might wonder where this leaves celibate, or simply unmarried, people.) Somehow, not clearly explained, contraceptive marital intercourse is intrinsically evil because it overlays the language of love with a contradictory language by not accepting the fertility of the partner. This basic approach has been repeated and developed in the Encyclicals Familiaris Consortio and Veritatis Splendor in which a personalist approach [48] is combined with a Thomistic Natural Law approach [49] similar to that of Existential Thomism, rather than the Transcendental Thomism that emerged from Vatican II as the major Thomistic approach. [50] By adopting a more personalist approach John Paul II has addressed, in part, an objection to Humanae Vitae raised by McCormick in 1981 [51] .
The Pope's teaching in these talks and documents has not received widespread support from Catholic moral theologians, though some have welcomed it and adopted it in their own works [52] . Space does not allow a detailed analysis of the issues here My own conclusion from a study of the Pope's teachings and other documents cited here is that the Pope has constructed a beautiful and in many ways poetic model of marriage that has some aspects of an ideal to be moved towards [53] . However, he has not established that his model corresponds to the existential reality of marriage as lived in Western Society. The Pope may have unwittingly contributed to the argument in favour of contraction in marriage. In 1964, Paul Ricoeur wrote: "it is possible that a rational use of contraception can only succeed when men are spiritually aroused to the need for maintaining the quality of the sexual language." [54]
There are two negative aspects of the Pope's methodology that detract from his conclusions. Firstly, he seems to think that a certain asceticism is good for married couples [55] . John Paul II believes that they cannot truly give themselves to each other until they have achieved "self mastery" through asceticism. He does not realise how infrequently the opportunity for marital intercourse can arise for a busy couple caring for a young family. Secondly, he regards NFP as a perfect, almost saintly, way for a married couple to live [56] , thereby ignoring the firm empirical evidence that NFP is not for all couples and can be very damaging to a marriage [57] . Price (2000) argues that the fullness of the unitive power of martial intercourse can be experienced only by those who have received the grace of the sacrament.
A new Natural Law argument against contraception
In 1966 Germain Grisez and John Ford admitted that that the traditional Natural Law argument against contraception was unconvincing [58] . However Grisez, Finnis and others have, over the past two decades, developed a new approach to Natural Law which they claim rules out contraception [59] .
Grisez-Finnis base their new approach [60] on a set of "basic human goods" which are "the intrinsic aspects of personal full-being" and underlie all reasons for choosing and carrying out valid moral choices. Though based on human nature, the basic human goods are not determined from a study of human nature but are self-evident. Among them are "life" and "play". They "transcend any particular state of affairs that can instantiate them". They are open ended, so we can never exhaust them. They do not themselves determine moral norms which are determined in terms of the moral agent's attitude towards the basic human goods and are defined through a new model of human action.
The Grisez-Finnis approach has received a lot of negative criticism in the literature [61] with accusations that their definition of the basic human goods is arbitrary, their arguments are difficult to follow and their methodology leads to ridiculous conclusions. For example, their rule that a basic human good cannot be violated in order to achieve another basic human good is said to lead to the conclusion than one cannot morally rescue a drowning child (thereby achieving the basic human good of "life") if it would mean interrupting your golf game (thereby violating the basic human good of "play"). Grisez and Finnis have responded by claiming that some of their critics have misunderstood their approach [62] .
Concerning their argument against contraception, I must come down on the side of the critics. Grisez-Finnis consider a situation where a couple have a morally good, or even compelling, reason for not having another child. They concede that if they avoid the "coming to be" of a potential child by NFP they are refraining from doing something that may result in the child, whereas in contracepting they are taking positive action to prevent the coming to be of the child; but clearly they do not consider that argument as morally compelling [63] . Their argument hinges on what they see as two different attitudes towards the basic human good of "life". Granted that the possible coming to be of another child is "emotionally repugnant" to the potential parents, if the coming to be is avoided by NFP, the child is still a "wanted child" and the basic human good of "life" is respected. But if the coming to be of the potential child is avoided by contraception, the potential child is an "unwanted child" and the basic human good of "life" is violated. I cannot see that they have proved their point.
Other arguments against contraception.
According to various opponents of contraception, it will lead to:
· the destruction of marriages [64] :
· untold early abortions caused by the contraceptive pill [65] ;
· euthanasia;
· the death of Europe through under population [66] ;
· atheism [67] .
The last two arguments are difficult to defend. Also, it has not been established that marital contraception leads to a lack of respect for life that would justify euthanasia. The first two arguments require analysis.
There is not much empirical evidence on the effects of contraception on marriage stability, but the research that has been conducted indicates that contraception significantly lowers the probability of disruption of a marriage [68] and usually leads to greater happiness in marriages [69] . A recent publication of the Couple to Couple League [70] admits that they can find no research publications to support their expectation of a lower divorce rate among ordinary couples using NFP compared to those using contraceptives. There was a low (though not zero) divorce rate among the highly committed members of the Couple to Couple League who teach NFP.
Kippley (1996) and Zimmerman (1994) have stated that it is an established fact that the contraceptive pill causes untold early abortions through preventing implantation of fertilised ova. Independent studies of the research literature by Tonti-Filippini (1995) and Larimore (2000) could find no published research to support that claim, though both reseachers admit it as a theoretical possibility and have called for caution and further research. On the other hand Maguire (2001c) argues (somewhat ambiguously) that there is no evidence of prevention of implantation by 'emergency contraception', but he cites no research to support his argument [71] .
Arguments against the condemnation of contraception
· The condemnation has not been accepted as infallibly taught.
· The condemnation is against the sensus fidelium [72] .
This is supported by fact that the vast majority of the Church for over 30 years has held a different view and put it into practice in their lives.
· Pope John Paul I contradicted the Church's ban on in vitro fertilisation [73] , and made it clear that he would revise the teaching on contraception after wide ranging consultation [74] .
· NFP does not always have the personal and interpersonal benefits claimed by the magisterium.
It can in fact be very damaging to persons and marriages [75] . It has also been condemned as unnatural [76] . Price (2000) has argued that the natural cycle of nocturnal emission of semen in celibate males indicates the natural frequency that God intends for sexual intercourse in marriage. The strictest and most effective form of NFP restricts intercourse to every second day of a ten day period at the end of a woman's monthly cycle [77] . This not in accordance with the dynamics of a marital relationship.
· NFP and non-abortive contraception are not morally different.. This is my own version of the argument.
NFP uses a temporal barrier to prevent a fertile ovum from meeting a viable sperm. The detailed sequence of actions required by the sympto-thermal method ensure that that temporal barrier is in place. The couple themselves erect the temporal barrier by choosing not to have intercourse on days when the woman is considered fertile. Use of a condom erects a spatial barrier to the union of sperm and ovum. But modern physics shows that space and time are both components of the space-time continuum. May one place a barrier on one component but not the other? I think a viable argument could be developed along these lines.
· The reasons for change proposed by the Papal Birth Control Commission have not been shown to be wrong.
· The proportionalist approached developed primarily by Richard A. McCormick [78] , though condemned by the magisterium [79] , has not been proved wrong [80] .
· As discussed above, sociological research shows that contraception is associated with lower divorce rates and greater marital happiness [81] .
The fact that the vast majority of fertile, sexually active, Catholic women have continued to use contraception over the past thirty five years supports the sociological evidence.
· The immoral means adopted by Church authorities to suppress dissent detract from the credibility of the teaching.
· Though young Australian women have the world's highest per capita rate of usage of the contraceptive pill, a recent survey [82] shows that 92% of those young women expect that, at age 35, they will be either married or in a stable relationship and will have children. Similar international studies show that such expectations are usually achieved. The authors conclude that "Young women still aspire to family and children as did previous generations for whom easy access to contraception was not the norm."
Thus contraception does not seem to have destroyed traditional family values.
· It is accepted by the Church that a woman can suppress ovulation by heavy and continuous lactation over a long period in order to avoid another pregnancy. Why should her sister who is not physically capable of such sustained lactation not be morally able to produce the identical hormonal changes through a pill?
· In human beings, alone of all animals, couples can continue to enjoy the unitive effects of sexual intercourse after the woman's menopause. Why should not the time of menopause be medically brought forward for the good of the existing children and the marriage partners?
· Gudorf (1994) has argued that the positioning of the clitoris on the female human indicates that God intends sexual pleasure as an end in itself, separated from procreation (at least for women).
I think it may be hard to defend that argument.
But perhaps the most telling argument is as follows: In 1966 the correctness of the condemnation of individual acts of contraception was in a state of practical doubt and it remained so after Humanae Vitae [83] . More than 35 years later, given the non-reception of that teaching by the Church, it remains in a state of practical doubt. Given the serious suffering that can result to persons trying to implement the teaching of the magisterium in their own marriages, it is immoral for the magisterium to try to enforce acceptance of that teaching when it is not absolutely proven that it is in conformance with the will of God [84] .
The weight of evidence
While neither side of the controversy has been able to definitively prove the validity of its viewpoint, the weight of evidence reviewed above is heavily in favour of rejecting the thesis that every individual act of non-abortive marital contraception is always and everywhere, intrinsically evil.
Possible ways of resolving the controversy
It would. seem that the most viable approach for those wishing to gain acceptance of the teachings of the magisterium would be to establish that there is a real difference between NFP and contraception and that the difference is morally normative. Perhaps this could come from further development of the Grisez/Finnis approach to Natural Law. So far, as discussed above, the arguments are unconvincing.
On the other hand, Arraj (1989) has attempted the opposite approach in trying to show that there is no real difference between non-abortive contraception and NFP. Since the Church accepts NFP he argues, it can accept non-abortive contraception.
I suggest an alternative, and in some ways new, approach. In 1944 the Holy Roman Rota ruled that a valid marriage could be contracted solely in terms of the procreative aspect. "to the positive exclusion" of the unitive aspect [85] . In 1970, the Rota reversed that ruling and ruled that lack of love in a marriage is the same as lack of consent. [86] What had changed? Was it just the understanding of the Rota? I claim that it was the existential reality of marriage in Western Society that had changed, though the Rota may have been slow to acknowledge the change.
In Old Testament times God permitted polygamy. In that society and in other primitive societies with a high male death rate, polygamy may be essential to the survival of the race. In societies with a high perinatal mortality, contraception could also be a threat to the survival of the race. However, Häring (1989) points to an example of the use of coitus interruptus in the service of preserving infant life. So, can we admit that the existential reality of marriage is an evolving historical reality with different characteristics depending on place and time. May it not be then that we have fulfilled the command of Gen.1:28a to "fill the earth" and that contraception may become, not a sin, but a moral imperative? [87]
Rausch [88] has suggested 11 "principles" that are really preconditions for an effective dialogue to resolve the current controversy in the Church. I agree with Rausch's "principles", but the fate of Cardinal Bernadin's "Catholic Common Ground Initiative" in the USA [89] indicates that such a dialogue cannot take place without the leadership of the Vatican, which is unlikely to occur in this papacy.
Conclusion
I have shown why the continuing controversy over contraception is seriously damaging to the Church and needs to be resolved as soon as possible. I have analysed the arguments being presented on both sides of the controversy and have concluded that the weight of evidence is against the claim that non-abortive contraception is always, and everywhere, intrinsically evil. I have suggested some possible approaches to resolving the controversy.
There is firm evidence that Pope John Paul II is not one to listen to the opinions of others or to be influenced by empirical evidence [90] . Thus, I think we will have to wait until after his death for real progress in resolving the conflict. Häring expected a rapid change with a new papacy [91] , though Curran [92] thinks the process will be a slow one.
There are some hopeful signs. Cardinal Ratzinger has called for simplification of the Church, with a return to the essentials [93] . On the questions of sexual ethics he has said: "Perhaps too much has been said and too often in this direction – and without the necessary connection of truth and love." [94] Also the Vatican press office recently released an official response to a UN claim that the Vatican had softened its opposition to UN population control policies [95] . The Vatican response [96] stresses that its stance had not changed and that it remains firmly opposed to abortion. "The Holy See has opposed the promotion of so called 'emergency contraception' because it considers such material as an abortifacient." It makes no mention of opposition to non-abortive contraception. Are we perhaps being prepared for a change early in the next Papacy?
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Annotated Bibliography
Alphonsian Academy, 1998, Father Bernard Häring Professor at the Academy 1949 – 1987, posted on the World Wide Web by members of the Alphonsian Academy, Rome, following Häring's death in 1998.
http://www.alfonsiana.edu/In%20Memoriam/EN%20-%20IM%20Haring2.htm
States that Häring is regarded by many as the foremost Catholic moral theologian of the 20th century. Provides a brief history of his life, pastoral work and seminal contributions to moral theology. Mentions his public disagreement with Humanae Vitae and subsequent investigation by the CDF. Stresses his humility and gentleness and his saintly lifestyle. "His presence exuded prayer and holiness".
Anonymous, 1999, "Obituary of Cardinal Basil Hume", The Tablet, Saturday, 26 June 1999, (the Editor):
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00294
Arraj, James, 1989, Is There a Solution to the Catholic Debate on Contraception?, Online Edition http://www.innerexplorations.com/catchtheomor/is.htm
This is an extremely lengthy article occupying 88 A4 pages, excluding Bibliography of 8 pages. Only a few major points will be summarised here.
Arraj contrasts "essentialist" approaches, concentrating on the nature of the act of sexual intercourse and stressing procreation, with an "existentialist" approach concentrating on the lived experience of contemporary marriage. He argues that these two approaches can be brought together by realising that we are not bound by natural law based on the original state of humanity because we are now living in a fallen-redeemed state. He holds that both NFP and contraception are against nature "as essence" but are permitted in our fallen redeemed state. A long attempt to justify this viewpoint based on Thomistic theology follows. He argues that there is no objective difference between NFP and contraception. Since the church accepts and even promotes NFP, it can also change its teaching on contraception.
Berry, Brian, 1999, "Roman Catholic Ethics: Three Approaches", This article first appeared in the March 1999 issue of Catholic Practice, the E-Magazine of PastoraLink, which is no longer on line, It can now be found on:
http://www.mcgill.pvt.k12.al.us/jerryd/ligouri/berry.htm
Berry discusses the deontological approach of Grisez, and "proportionalism" as chiefly represented by Richard McCormick. He then discusses "virtue ethics" a third major development since Vatican II. "Unlike deontology and revisionism, this approach does not focus on human actions, but on being a certain kind of person. In fact, virtue ethics criticises deontology and revisionism for focusing on actions and neglecting the importance of moral character. It argues that morality is as much about who we are as about what we do. Who we are extends into what we do and do not do, and what we do and do not do shapes the kind of persons we become."
Bertels, Ruth, undated, Father Bernard Haring – Part I,
http://www.takingfive.com/fatherbernardharing.htm
Documents Häring's heroic pastoral work during World War II and its influence on his subsequent theology.
Best, Kim, 1998, "Contraception Influences Quality of Life", Network, Vol. 19, No. 4, Summer 1998. Also available on:
http://www.fhi.org/en/fp/fppubs/network/v18-4/nt1842.html
Best reports that international studies have identified many benefits from marital contraception. On the link between marital contraception and marriage stability, Best reports the results of Kritz and Gurak (1997 version) and also reports that: "Contracepting couples in the Zimbabwe study described more peace and happiness in their homes than couples who were not using contraceptives. In the Cochalamba, Bolivia, study, current users of contraceptives were more likely than non-users to report better relationships with their partners." However some studies showed that use of contraceptives by a wife caused marital tensions where the husband or older relatives disapproved of contraception.
Birth Control and the Catholic Church, 2000, Birth Control and the Catholic Church: A Divisive Teaching in Need of Revision, is a web site with main page last updated 17 July, 2000, though there are links to more recent publications.
The URL is http://members.aol.com/revising/front.html
The site editor states:
"Note to Students: Many of the e-mails we receive inquire of the author of the web site for purposes of citing material
from this web site in an essay or research paper. As noted on the Home Page, however, the contributors to this web site have chosen to remain anonymous--mostly because they work for the Catholic Church and would probably lose their jobs if their identity was known. All of them have doctorate degrees, however, and are experts in biology, moral theology, and Church history."
This site contains links to the following articles:
· Theological Discussion (ongoing)
· A Short History of Catholic Teaching on Birth Control
· Why the Pope Really Said "Nope"
· Natural Law and Human Sexuality
· Pope John Paul II and the "Language of Love"
· Natural Family Planning and Artificial Contraception: Are They the Same?
· Can the Present Teaching Be Changed?
· Is Artificial Contraception a Mortal Sin?
· Birth Control and Marital Chastity
· Birth Control and Society
· Summary and Conclusions
Brumley, Mark, 1999, "Germain Grisez Explains It All (Well, Almost)", The Catholic Faith, March/April 1999.
http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Faith/MARAPR99/books.html
In this article Brumley reviews the book The Way of the Lord Jesus, Vol. 3: Difficult Moral Questions , by Germain Grisez, Franciscan Press, Quincy, IL. Brumley (whose own religious tradition is Judaism) reviews Grisez's book favourably, but with a few reservations. I have not read the book in question, but from a lengthy example quoted by Brumly I have one reservation about Grisez's approach.
The case study in question concerns twin brothers who have ceased to communicate because of differences over teachings of the Catholic magisterium. One brother is "conservative". The other is a "dissenter" guided by the writings of Charles Curran.
Grisez points out that there is fault on both sides and suggests practical steps towards reconciliation, but he "bluntly" tell the dissenting brother: "Examine your conscience, repent of your dissent, and then go and be reconciled with your brother."
This shows little respect for the conscience of the dissenting brother, which is an informed conscience based on study of the issues. Much less does it admit the possibility that the dissenting brother might ultimately be proved correct.
Bryson, Lois, Stefani Strazzari and Wendy Brown, 1999, "Shaping Families: Women, Control and Contraception, Family Matters No. 53, Winter 1999, Australian Institute of Family Studies.
Bushman, Douglas, 2000, "How Contraception Destroys Marital Friendship", Third Millennium Perspectives, August 1, 2000.
http://www.interx.net/~mbrumley/contra.htm
Douglas Bushman, S.T.L., is director of the Institute for Religious and Pastoral Studies of the University of Dallas. He is also author of In His Image, an adult faith enrichment program published by Ignatius Press.
Burghardt, Walter, 2000, Long Have I Loved You: A Theologian Reflects on His Church, Orbis Books, Mary Knol, New York, 2000.
Burghardt was for many years, the editor of the Jesuit Journal Theological Studies. This autobiographical work traces his own development as a theologian and links it to important events in the Church at each stage of his life. His Chapter 11: "From the Apostle Paul to John Paul II: Crisis in the Church", comments upon changes in US society and in the US Church and on the current problems of dissent from teachings of the magisterium. I draw on Burghardt's discussion (p. 343) of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernadin's efforts, via the Catholic Common Ground Initiative, commencing in 1996, to bring American Catholics into dialogue on the issues polarising and paralysing the US Church.
The dying Cardinal commission a founding document, Called to Be Catholic: The Church in a Time of Peril summarising the current problems in the Church. Bernadin intended that document to be the basic for the hoped-for dialogue and his initiative was well received by many American Catholics. However, shortly after publication of the document, four US Cardinals, Law, Maida, Bevilacqua and Hickey, expressed reservations about such an initiative being undertaken except under the leadership of the Vatican and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Byrne, Lavinea, 1999, Timely Virtues, the Haring Lecture, Margaret Baufort Institute of Theology, 20 October, 1999
http://www.laviniabyrne.co.uk/haring_lecture.htm
Reviews the life and publications of Bernard Haring, his pastoral experience and development a theologian and teacher. Häring "wrote about what he called 'covenant morality', the life of faith of a whole community , rather than of individuals." In Called to Holiness (1982) Haring wrote: "I am only one voice in a great choir that sings out the invitation on the Lord, 'become a truthful image of God.'" He died in 1998 "after what his students called 'a courageous life, dedicated to love, faith, truth and human dignity.'".
Byrne, Lavinea, 2000, The Journey is My Home, Hodder & Stoughton, London, Sydney, Auckland, 2000.
Chapters 7 to 12 (pp. 103-200) document how Lavinea Byrne's book Woman at the Altar was burned on orders from the Vatican and how, despite support for her from Cardinal Hume, she was forced to leave her religious order after refusing to sign documents acknowledging her agreement with Humanae Vitae and the Vatican's teachings against the priestly ordination of women.
Callea, Michael, 2001, Human Sexuality: God's plans vs, a modern alternative", Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Aug/Sept 2001
http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Homiletic/2001-09/noting.html
Argues that marital contraceptors treat sex as "the mere experience of various kinds of enjoyment" rather than an expression of self giving love. Please click on the hot link under GOD AND SEX."
Cahill, Lisa Sowele, 1985, Between the Sexes: Foundations for a Christian Ethics of Sexuality, Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1985.
In Chapter 2, "The Bible and Ethics: Hermeneutical Dilemmas", Cahill draws attention to the problems of applying historically conditioned biblical texts to contemporary moral problems, and lays down some methodological guidelines. In Chapters 3, 4 and 5 she looks at biblical perspectives on human sexuality and gender roles considering both Old Testament and New Testament examples.
Catholics for contraception, undated.
Catholics for contraception have published a series of "Contraception in good faith" advertisements: (undated). These are accessible on:
http://www.cath4choice.org/contraception/faith1.pdf
http://www.cath4choice.org/contraception/faith2.pdf
http://www.cath4choice.org/contraception/faith3.pdf
http://www.cath4choice.org/contraception/faith4.pdf
http://www.cath4choice.org/contraception/faith5.pdf
Catholics for Contraception, circa 1998, Access to Family Planning Helps Women and Families: The Facts Tell the Story, Catholics for Contraception, Washington, DC,
http://www.cath4choice.org/contraception/access.htm
Access to contraception improves women’s health and well-being:
“It is estimated that 100,000 maternal deaths could be avoided each year if all women who said they want no more children were able to stop childbearing.” —World Health Organization: Health Benefits of Family Planning, 1995.
Also cites similar evidence from:
Johns Hopkins School of Health, Population Information Program: Population Reports, “Preventable Deaths, Avoidable Injuries,” Vol. XXV, No. 1, 1997
Also cites many other research studies showing that access to reliable contraception improves women's health and wellbeing and, through spacing of births, lowers infant mortality. [It could be argued that similar benefits could be obtained by strict NFP; but note other evidence in this bibliography that NFP can damage marriages.]
Catholics for Contraception, 1999, Catholics and Contraception: The Facts tell the Story, Catholics for Contraception, Washington, DC
http://www.cath4choice.org/nobandwidth/English/contraception/facts.pdf
http://www.cath4choice.org/contraception/catholics.html
96% of catholic women [in the USA] who have ever had sex have used modern contraceptives. Less than 3% of sexually active catholic women use church approved methods of contraception. Sexually active catholic women who attend church at least once per week or more use contraceptives at about the same rate as those who attend church only monthly, i.e. 73.5% compared to 75%. Source: 1995 National Survey of Family Growth.
Check, Paul N., circa 1997, "Wives be subject to your husbands": The authority of the husband according to the magisterium, Pontificio Ateneo Della Santa Croce Facolta di Theologia,
http://www.familylifecenter.net/html/resources/check2.html#V
Von Balthasar also examines the primacy of the husband from the standpoint of the conjugal act. He connects the authority of the husband with the fact that the man is the initiator in sexual intercourse while the woman is essentially receptive. According to von Balthasar, "it still remains true that absolute beginning lies in the progenitor--in the father--while the feminine principle, even as Magna Mater or as Mother Nature, can never be simply conceived as the beginning. In the Christian view of God, the begetting Father stands at the very source and origin of all things." Von Balthasar sees the man's role in procreation as a "distant analogy" to trinitarian and Christological self-giving. "But it is an analogy nonetheless; and this analogy allows us to acknowledge, even today, the truth contained in the statement that the husband is the head of the wife.
Churchwatch, 1998a, "Vatican orders books destroyed", Churchwatch, October 1998, call to action online,
http://www.cta-usa.org/watch10-98/vaticanorders.html
"Liturgical Press of Collegeville, Minn., has destroyed 1,300 copies of a 1994 book by Sr. Lavinia Byrne, IBVM that promotes women's ordination. The Benedictine monks who own the publishing house destroyed all unsold copies of "Woman at the Altar" by the well-known British theologian on orders from their local bishop, who got a directive from Cardinal Ratzinger's office in Rome."
Churchwatch, 1998b, "Pope helps women's equality". Churchwatch, October 1998, call to action online,
http://www.cta-usa.org/watch10-98/quotes.html
"Despite his resistance to equal roles for women in the Church, Pope John Paul II has dramatically changed church teaching toward women's equality in marriage, writes moral theologian Christine Gudorf in U.S. Catholic (July)".
"The Pope's 1988 letter on women makes 'a monumental move in church teaching' by insisting that the only subjection in marriage must be mutual between spouses. 'How many battered wives might find the courage to report or leave abusive husbands if they knew the church no longer taught unilateral wifely subjection?' asks Gudorf."
CIN, 1996,
Argues, on the basis of an analysis of human sexuality as distinct from animal sexuality, that the nature of human sexuality justifies the use of contraception. "Its essence, as human sexuality, is to join persons, to enable them to break out from their shell of loneliness and enter into a deeply intimate fellowship with other persons."
Coffee, Kathy, 2000, "It's time to end the hypocrisy over birth control". Original article appeared in the June 1998 issue of U.S. Catholic. URL is:
http://www.uscatholic.org/soundboard/1998/jun/bc2.html
Key paragraphs of the article follow:
It's high time we admit reality: no amount of railing or threatening from popes or bishops seems to affect people's decisions on the use of birth control made in good conscience. On this issue, people have learned to trust their own intuitions, faith understanding, and life experience. On other issues, they may let the church tell them what to do, but on this one they stand firm. Let's applaud their maturity instead of berating them for a supposed "defection." IIndeed, "defection" is the wrong word to use for such a rare and clear consensus, such a powerful demonstration of the sensus fidelium, the "sense of the faithful." Thirty years ago when Pope Paul VI issued the encyclical Humanae Vitae, which condemned the use of any means of birth control other than the rhythm method, over 600 theologians signed dissenting statements. And ever since, the polls have consistently shown that the vast majority of the Catholic laity disagree with their church's official position and practice birth control in good conscience. To cite just two examples: A 1992 Gallup poll showed that 80 percent of U.S. Catholics disagreed with the statement "Using artificial means of birth control is wrong." And a 1996 study conducted by Father Thomas Sweetser for the Parish Evaluation Project found only 9 percent of Catholics who consider birth control to be wrong.
Kathy Coffey is the author of Experiencing God with Your Children and Hidden
Women of the Gospels, both from Crossroad Publishing.
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1989, Profession of Faith and The Oath of Fidelity On Assuming An Office To Be Exercised In The Name Of The Church, 9 January 1989, AAS 81 (1989), 105. Published in L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 25 November, 1989.
Couple to Couple League, 1995, Marriage Stability and Natural Family Planning,
http://www.ccli.org/nfp/divorce.shtml
The Couple to Couple League has had many requests for data to support the claim that the practice of Natural Family Planning is associated with a very low divorce rate. We do not have the hard sociological data we would like to have about this relationship. The League administration has tried to get social scientists to study this matter, but thus far, while there has been interest in the subject, there has been no action.
CTA, 2002 , CTA Stronger after Nebraska bishop's censure.
http://www.cta-usa.org/watch5-96/ctastronger.html
"The saga began when Bruskewitz reacted to the establishment of CTA Nebraska by proclaiming that anyone among the 85,000 Catholics in his diocese who belongs to CTA or CTA Nebraska after May 15 faces automatic excommunication. He also banned membership in ten other organizations, including Planned Parenthood, Catholics for a Free Choice, and Masonic groups, but CTA was clearly his reason for acting now."
"No other U.S. bishop has joined Bruskewitz in the excommunication decree. Many, even conservatives, have called it a pastoral mistake. Cardinal Bernard Law's archdiocesan weekly in Boston editorialized that Bruskewitz should have consulted his fellow bishops, and said even Pope John Paul II invoked excommunication only as a last resort with schismatic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Cardinal Bernardin of
Chicago said he likes CTA on some issues, disagrees on others, and always prefers dialogue to censure. Similar public statements came from the bishops of Denver, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, Saginaw, MI, Kansas City, MO, Kansas City, KS, and Grand Island, NE. Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese, an expert on the U.S. hierarchy, predicted that the U.S. bishops would 'burn up the telephone wires talking about how they are going to handle Bruskewitz.' ".
"Call To Action USA (CTA) is an independent national organization of over 22,000 people and 40 local organizations who believe the Spirit of God is at work in the whole church, not just in its appointed leaders. We believe the entire Catholic church has the obligation of responding to the needs of the world and taking initiative in programs of peace and justice."
Curran, Charles, 1986, Faithful Dissent, Sheed & Ward, London, 1986.
Documents the events leading up to the dismissal of Charles Current from his tenured position at The Catholic University of America by order of the CDF. It includes copies of the following documents:
1. Statement from Curran's diocesan bishop, Matthew Clark, March 12, 1986, which states, in part: "Father Curran is a priest whose personal life could well be called exemplary. He lives simply and has a remarkable ability to combine a life of serious scholarship with a generous availability to a great variety of persons. My personal observation, supported by the testimony of many, is that Father Curran is a man deeply committed to the spiritual life. I am personally aware of his commitment and know by testimony of others that he is a respected spiritual guide for people who seek counsel in their journeys of faith.
As a theologian Father Curran enjoys considerable respect, not only in our diocese but across the country. He is unfailingly thorough and respectful in his exposition of the teaching of the church. Indeed, I have heard it said that few theologians have a better grasp of or express more clearly the fullness of the Catholic moral tradition."
2. Statement by Friends of American Catholic Theology, supporting Curran, signed by 20,000 people.
3. Statement signed by five former presidents of the Catholic Theological Society of America and 750 theologians, supporting Curran.
Curran, Charles, 1987, "Roman Catholic Sexual Ethics: A Dissenting View", Christian Century, December 16, 1987, pp. 1139-1142.
Curran says that the teaching of the magisterium on contraception has destroyed its credibility as a moral guide. He cites sociological research by Andrew Greeley which concludes that Humanae Vitae "seems to have been the reason for massive apostasy and for a notable decline in religious devotion and belief". He says that the vast majority of catholic moral theologians disagree with official teaching on sexual ethics and that the reaction of the magisterium has been to remove some dissenting theologians, including himself from their teaching positions. He discusses developments since Vatican II and also draws on material in a recent biography of Karl Rahner to illustrate some earlier controversies. Curran considers that "dissent from the authoritative noninfallible teaching of the Roman Catholic Church is an effort to support, not destroy, the credibility of the teaching office".
Curran, Charles, 1993, "Encyclical left church credibility stillborn", National Catholic Reporter, July 16, 1993 Vol. 29 No. 34, pp.14-15.
Curran, Charles, 1994, quoted in Luker (1994).
Curran, Charles, 1998, "Bernard Haring: a moral theologian whose soul matched his scholarship", National Catholic Reporter, July 17, 1998, Vol. 34 No.34, p.11.
Curran, Charles, 1999, The Catholic Moral Tradition Today: A Synthesis, Georgetown University Press, Washington DC.
1. On pp. 82-83, Curran discusses a significant change in the twentieth century in the Catholic approach to lying. Some authors see lying as a violation of my neighbour's right to truth. In the case of Nazi's seeking Jews in order kill them, those sheltering Jews could deny it without acting immorally, since the Nazi's had no right to the correct information. The 1994 edition of The Catechism of the Catholic Church adopted this relationship-responsibility approach to lying. However when the definitive Latin edition of the Catechism was published in 1997 the CDF made a "correction" to the text on lying removing references to he right to correct information. Curran claims that this was because the CDF had realised that a relationship- responsibility argument could be used to justify contraception.
2. On p. 222, Curran claims that the magisterium is preoccupied with the fear that any change in a moral teaching will open the way for "other changes including many seemingly far out proposals that circulate in today's world".
Curran, Charles, 2000, "Notes on Richard A. McCormik", Theological Studies, Sept. 2000, Vol. 61, p. 533 et seq.
A summary of the life and work of Richard A. McCormick, plus a small but useful bibliography.
Curran, Charles E. and McCormick, Richard A, (editors),1993, Dialogue About Catholic Sexual Teaching, Readings in Moral Theology No. 8, Paulist Press, New York, 1993.
Curran, Charles E. and McCormick, Richard A, (editors),1998, John Paul II and Moral Theology, Readings in Moral Theology No. 10, Paulist Press, New York, 1998.
Curran, Charles E. and McCormick, Richard A, (editors), 1999, The Historical Development of Fundamental Moral Theology in the United States, Readings in Moral Theology No. 11, Paulist Press, New York, 1999.
DeFrain, John, 1999, "Strong families around the world", Family Matters, No. 53, Winter 1999, pp. 6-13, Australian Institute of Family Studies.
"Perhaps the most controversial of our findings on strong families is the importance of religion or spirituality. Some families call this quality spiritual wellbeing. … The elusive concept called spiritual wellbeing, deep down, is about connection. Connection to each other and connection to that which is sacred to us in life." (p. 11.)
This paper can be down loaded from: http://www.aifs.org.au
Dejond, Thierry, 1996a, Contraception, Copyright (c) 1996 Eternal Word Television Network, Manassas, VA, FTP: EWTN.COM Telnet: EWTN.COM
URL: http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARRIAGE/CONTRA.TXT
"The demographer Pierre Chaunu wrote: Since 1964--the take-off point for most European countries--we have arrived at a process of reproductive collapse never seen before in history...From a gradual death we are moving to an instantaneous death: Germany is dead; its situation is non-reversible (1.2 children per German woman, while an average of 2.1 children per woman is necessary to replace a generation). How is this implosion, this destruction, explained? The most blame apparently can be assigned to the contraceptive revolution which started in 1960."
Dejond, Thierry, 1996b, Contraception, Copyright (c) 1996 Eternal Word Television Network, Manassas, VA, FTP: EWTN.COM Telnet: EWTN.COM
URL: http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARRIAGE/CONTRA.TXT
The first consequence - the most miserable, but one that at first escapes attention - is practical atheism. Whenever a man raises himself to the status of lord and master over life, to the role of "boss" over his own body, he ceases to recognize and acknowledge his dependence on God. Such a man fantasizes that he is creator, thereby mentally placing himself of God's throne. The person who does this becomes an atheist without even recognizing it. Such a person does not need to expressly deny God; he merely needs to accept a premise that is intrinsically sinful and materialistic rather than spiritual and holy.
Dombrowski, Daniel, and Robert Deltete (2001) quoted in Maguire (2001). These two philosophers from the Jesuit Seattle University consider that: "A rich spiritual life is not necessarily hindered by, and may actually be enhanced by, premarital sexual relations." Maguire regards their viewpoint as "simplistic".
Dunphy, William, (editor),1981, Marriage and the Mind of Christ: John Paul II, Genesis and Marriage, A.C.T.S. Publication No. 1742, February 1981, A.C.T.S. Publications, Melbourne.
This is an edited version of the text of Pope John Paul II's addresses concerning marriage from 10th December 1979 through 8th April 1980. In those addresses John Paul II, inspired by the words of Jesus in Matt. 19:4,9, returns to the stories of the creation of man and woman in Gen. 1:26 et seq. and Gen. 2:5 et seq.. Meditating upon those stories he develops a "theology of the body" including the "nuptial meaning of the body" and God's plan for it in the procreation of children. Mankind's original innocence is lost through original sin, but this does not change the nuptial meaning of the body and its implications for marriage as a permanent relationship of self giving and of supreme joy in which, in the union of bodies sinful but redeemed by Christ, a couple submit themselves to "the blessing of fertility". Man and woman are created for marriage and in the mystery of procreation we have a "primordial sacrament" in which man and woman become co-creators with God. Thus it is a matter of the utterly sacred. Through marriage and procreation sinful but redeemed humanity still share in the first vision of God that all of creation was "very good". Marriage is the path to "the redemption of the body".
Fertilityuk.org,, undated, Interpretation of the Sympto-Thermal Chart, http://www.fertilityuk.org/nfps410.html
Explains how the composite chart of the complete sympto-thermal method of NFP, (including date, temperature, mucus pattern and changes in the cervix) is to be interpreted.
Finnis, John, and Germain Grisez, 1981/1991, "The Basic Principles of Natural Law: A Reply to Ralph McInerny", in Natural Law and Theology, Readings in Moral Theology No. 7, Charles E. Curran and Richard A. McCormick (editors), Paulist Press, New York, 1991, pp. 157-170. Originally published in American Journal of Jurisprudence, 1n 1981.
Finnis and Grisez argue that McInerny's criticism of their new approach to Natural Law is due the his misunderstanding of their methodology and to his reading into their publications attitudes that they have never supported.
Finnis, John, Joseph M. Boyle, Jr., and Germain Grisez, 1987/1999, "A Sounder Theory of Morality", in Curran and McCormick, 1999, pp. 200-218. Originally published in John Finnis, Joseph M. Boyle and Germain Grisez, Nuclear Deterrence, Morality and Realism, Clarendon, Oxford ,1987.
This paper provides a summary of the new approach to Natural Law developed by Grisez and Finnis which they claim goes beyond both teleology and deontology. It introduces the idea of "basic human goods" which are the "intrinsic aspects of personal full-being" and are held to be self evident. They "transcend any particular state of affairs which can instantiate them" and are open ended, so we can never exhaust them. They underlie all the reasons for choosing and carrying out valid moral choices. Examples of basic moral goods are:
1. Truth and friendship.
2. Life – its maintenance and transmission – health and safety.
3. Knowledge and aesthetic experience.
4. Excellence in work and play.
5. Harmony, integration and community (fellowship).
How, they ask, can there be bad choices? The choice of a particular option is never rationally necessary, otherwise there would be not conflict between choices. Every rational choice is based on some intelligible good, but virtually every choice has some negative impact on some other good or goods. Consequentialism does not provide the answer since one can never fully evaluate all consequences of alternative choices. So, "how can basic human goods mark the moral distinction between choosing well and choosing badly?" (p. 205)
For these authors, the answer lies in the attitude of the moral agent towards the basic Human goods. The first moral principle is :"Morally right choices are those that can be made by one whose will is disposed towards the entire moral foundation with the attitude of appreciation" which includes respect, for and impartial interest in, all of the basic human goods in all their connotations. (pp. 206-207)
One cannot immediately derive concrete moral norms from the first moral principle, but "it does imply intermediate principles from which specific norms can be deduced." Among these is the Golden Rule [i.e., treat others the way you would like to be treated.. This precept is found in all of the world's major religions and philosophies. See: http://www.fragrant.demon.co.uk/golden.html ].
In order to see how moral norms are deduced from the intermediate principles, a new model of human action is needed.
Gordon, David, 1999, "New But Not Improved", The Mises Review, Winter 1999.
http://www.mises.org/misesreview_detail.asp?control=129&sortorder=issue
This article is a very unfavourable review of Robert P. George's book In Defense of Natural Law (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1999) and of the natural law theory of Grisez and Finnis that underpins the book. Gordon sees the selection of basic goods by Grisez and Finnis as arbitrary and finds George's arguments based on the approach of Grisez and Finnis almost impossible to follow. I have the same problem with some of the writings of Grisez and Finnis on natural law.
Grisez, Germain, Joseph Boyle, John Finnis and William E, May, 1988/1993, NFP: Not Contralife, in Curran and McCormick (eds.) (1993, pp. 126-134). This article first appeared in Humanae Vitae, a Defense, 1988.
. Grisez and his colleagues consider a situation where a couple have a morally good, or even compelling, reason for not having another child. They concede that if they avoid the "coming to be" of a potential child by NFP they are refraining from doing something that may result in the child, whereas in contracepting they are taking positive action to prevent the coming to be of the child; but clearly they do not consider that argument as morally compelling [97] . Their argument hinges on what they see as two different attitudes towards the basic human good of "life". Granted that the possible coming to be of another child is "emotionally repugnant" to the potential parents, if the coming to be is avoided by NFP, the child is still a "wanted child" and the basic human good of "life" is respected. But if the coming to be of the potential child is avoided by contraception, the potential child is an "unwanted child" and the basic human good of "life" is violated.
Gudorf, Christine E., 1994, Body, Sex and Pleasure: Reconstructing Christian Sexual Ethics, The Pilgrim Press, 1994, p. 65, reprinted on:
http://www.uno.edu/~asoble/pages/gudorf.htm
A contemporary physicalist approach to natural law on sexuality must take into account that the female clitoris has no function save sexual pleasure--it has no reproductive, urological, or other function in the body. But the clitoris is the organ most sensitive to sexual pleasure. Within the twentieth century some commentators have suggested that the role of the clitoris is to provide pleasure to women as a reward for sex, as a way of ensuring the willingness of women to reproduce the species. But contemporary science has demonstrated that this attempt to link the sexual pleasure function of the clitoris to procreation is a failure. . . . Between 56 and 70 percent of women do not receive sufficient clitoral stimulation in coitus to reach the sexual satisfaction of orgasm; the majority require direct stimulation of the clitoris. That is, the procreative act does not itself stimulate pleasure sufficient to act as reinforcement for engaging in sex for the majority of women. If the placement of the clitoris in the female body reflects the divine will, then God wills that sex is not just oriented to procreation, but is at least as, if not more, oriented to pleasure as to procreation.
Gudorf, Christine E., 1995, "Don't cancel that guilt trip", U.S. Catholic, January 01, 1995. Reprint available on: http://www.smp.org/hs/printablepage.cfm?article=149
Gudorf reports her experience with young adult students who see no purpose in guilt feelings when they or others have done wrong. "I was astounded and dismayed. The majority of these students are practicing Roman Catholics with years of religious education, often from Catholic grade schools and high schools. How can such attitudes be compatible with models of conscience taught in Catholic religious education?"
Gudorf, Christine,1998, "Who says the church can't change? (Even when it comes to women)", U.S. Catholic, July 1998. Reprint available on: http://www.uscatholic.org/1998/07/change.htm
Gudorf reviews the development of a siege mentality in the Catholic Church following the reformation and the great changes initiated by Vatican II. She sees constant change and development as essential for the church, since institutions that do not change die. She then reviews the significant changes in the church's approach to the role of women initiated by Paul VI and especially by John Paul II, with all liturgical offices except that of the priest [and deacon?] now open to women.
"Changing historical contexts also mean that new perspectives arise that allow the church to better recognize long-standing evils to which earlier church communities had been blind. The church's rejection of slavery and the subjection of women are examples. Neither suddenly became evil after having been morally good or neutral for hundreds or thousands of years; what changed was the moral perspective the church used for interpreting the reality." (p. 10)
Gudorf, Christine, 2001, cited in Maguire (2001b).
Christine Gudorf suggests that within a generation or two the hierarchical magisterium will be forced by population and ecological pressures to encourage the use of contraception in marriage and to permit early abortion. She holds that not only is contraception not wrong but that it should be the norm in heterosexual intercourse in view of the grave moral responsibility of bringing another child into the world.
Gumbleton, Thomas J, 1993, quoted in " Birth Control and the Catholic Church". 17 July 2000.
http://members.aol.com/revising/front.html
Thomas J. Gumbleton, Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, in America, November 20, 1993, said: ". . . Fr. Richard McCormick maintains that) there are many Jesuits who do not accept the thesis that every contraceptive act is morally wrong. I can vouch for the fact that very many bishops share the same conviction. However, sadly enough, fewer and fewer are willing to say this publicly."
Häring, Bernard, 1989, "Building a Creative Conscience: Resisting Moral Rigor Mortis", Commonweal, August 11, 1989,
http://www.peppercornplace.com/~haring/hcon.html
Häring writes: "Consider two examples, both having to do with Africa, both concerned with the regulation of birth, both reflecting the ethical significance of historical circumstances. With the help of missionaries, catechists, and others, we examined the methods of birth regulation traditionally followed by African peoples. In all the Bantu tribes (which constitute about half of Black Africa) and also in many other tribes, a sacral norm requires that a new pregnancy may not occur while the mother is breastfeeding a child; for she cannot simultaneously nourish two children, one at the breast and one in the womb without threatening life."
"The solution combines two methods: strong, consistent nursing (which impedes ovulation) and coitus interruptus. Every mother knows she is obligated to teach her daughter before marriage how to help her husband interrupt intercourse on time. Missionary doctors and native nurses have described to us how guilty young mothers feel, how strongly and publicly they are reproached, if a pregnancy comes about within the critical interval. Why has this norm maintained a strong consensus over such a huge continent right up to the present? Behind this specific form of contraception stands the high value of life, a value experienced as holy."
Häring's second example concerns Coitus interruptus which was, of course, condemned in the encyclical Casti Connubii (1930), citing the story of Onan in Gen. 38: 6-11.
Häring writes: "For the moralist whose views are embedded in Casti connubii, this was a condemnation of contraception. However, even without the benefit of skilled biblical criticism, it is clear from the text that what is branded evil, "detestable," is not contraception, but rather the refusal of the levirate obligation which was legally bound up with polygamy."
"Interestingly, the levirate obligation exists to this day in almost all tribes of Black Africa. Whoever refuses it because of the church's condemnation loses his good name and is plagued by his conscience. Today, such norms strike us as strange. But polemicists who deny their relevance must somehow explain how the norms evolved and have persisted with sacral sanctions over whole continents through many centuries --- or so long as the socio-economic, cultural, and demographic-political situation has not changed fundamentally."
'If church morality is to be proclaimed and operative for the entire populated earth, we will require a deeper understanding of the historicity of human culture, including revised behavioral norms---an understanding, for example, that for millennia, a need existed to exploit fertility to the utmost in order to assure the survival of clan and tribe, indeed the human race. Christian theology cannot afford to flee from such historical realities by deriving its moral precepts only from abstract reflection on biological processes."
Häring, Bernard, 1990, "Please take this as my confession of faith"; This article first appeared in The Tablet, July 28 and August 4, 1990. For a Web version see Yakimishyn (1999)
Häring, Bernard, 1993, as cited by Yakimishyn (1998):
"Rev. Bernard Häring, C.Ss.R., wrote an article for the Prairie Messenger on November 8, 1993. Häring writes that 'The church has greater concerns than this, and more urgent needs. Proclaim the Good News and encourage all to set out on the road to holiness. Let us honor God's gracious forgiveness by forgiving one another for the harm we have inflicted on each other, and for the anger we may have harbored in our hearts.' "
Häring, Bernard, 1993/1998, "A Distrust that Wounds", in John Paul II and Moral Theology, Readings in Moral Theology No. 10, Charles E. Curran and Richard A. McCormick (editors), Paulist Press, New York, 1998, pp. 42-46. Originally published in The Tablet in 1993.
1. Häring complains that the whole of Veritatis Splendor "is directed above all towards one goal: to endorse total assent and submission to all utterances of the Pope, and above all on one crucial point: that the use of artificial means for regulating birth is intrinsically evil and sinful, without exception, even in circumstances where contraception would be a lesser evil."
2. Häring says that Pope John Paul I was a noted moral theologian who had given a lot of attention to the morality of contraception and had left no doubt, after his election as Pope, that he would review the teaching of Humanae vitae after a wide ranging consultation including moral theologians and bishops.
3. Haring contrasts the consultative approach of John Paul I with that of John Paul II whose high sense of duty is "coupled with an absolute trust in his own, competence, with the special assistance of the Holy Spirit" and "a profound distrust towards all theologians (particularly moral theologians) who might not be in total sympathy with him."
4. "As a moral theologian, John Paul I shared fully in the conviction of the vast majority of moral theologians that it is unlawful and possibly a great injustice to impose on people heavy burdens in the name of God unless it is fully clear that this really is God's will,"
Häring, Bernard, 1997/1999, My Hope for the Church: Critical Encouragement for the Twenty-First Century, Ligouri/Triumph, Ligouri, Missouri; English translation 1999; German original 1997.
1. Pages 48-50: Regarding birth control, a crucial problem arises in dialogue with sister churches "when, on the Catholic side, only Rome's official pronouncements get to be heard, not the views of the overwhelming majority of Catholic scholars."
2. Page 72: "Anyone thoroughly familiar with the history of dogma and moral theology knows that many ideas once considered definitively settled have later been revised or have just slipped into oblivion."
3. Page 96: " One indication of the greatness of Paul VI is that he neither understood nor authorized repressive measures. . . . The pontificate of John Paul II, by contrast, has been marked by a whole series of measures, aimed at cutting off all reactions, except positive ones, to papal pronouncements."
4. Page 97: " .. the former bishop of Rottenburg, George Moser, told me that the pope hanged him about the German Bishops having to recant the so-called Königstein declaration on Humanae Vitae. Moser explained to me that he flatly rejected this demand, which he saw as outrageous,"
5. Page 100: " . . we must not overlook what is probably the most serious phenomenon: the growing religious distress in the face of outrageous demands that do not belong to the core of Christian faith".
6. Page 136: "I admire the courage but not the wisdom of the pope in his unlimited zeal for the controlled and controlling application of his doctrines and decisions. No doubt he is following his conscience. Of course, that conscience is shaped by a particular tradition and mode of thinking. More and more one hears the question as to whether popes have a harder time than ordinary mortals when it comes to changing their mind. The current papal practice in doctrine and discipline is painting itself into a corner."
Hartman, Megan, 1998, "Humanae Vitae: Thirty Years of Discord and Dissent", Conscience, Autumn 1998, http://www.cath4choice.org/nobandwidth/English/contraception/thirty.htm
Heaps, John, Bishop, 1998, A Love that Dares to Question,: A Bishop Challenges His Church, Aurora Books, Richmond, Victoria.
1. "The ordinary magisterium, however, does not possess a great record for reliability when it enters into matters of natural or human science. Its teachings on marriage and sexual ethics have been abysmal. Any pastoral priest will know from experience the misery inflicted on people through commonly accepted teachings, now no longer held the physical interpretations of the functions and purpose of God-given nature is, and was, a force for destruction of the human spirit that needs healing and redeeming. Even today we could ask in relation to this body-centred moral theology, what is more important to take seriously: the coming into being of a new human life, or the physical means by which we prevent this life? What is more important in the physical and sexual expression of love; its depth of reality or the time of the month in which it is most unlikely to conceive a child? What is more important: love and spirit, or caution and physical methods? "(Heaps, pp. 37-38.)
2. "Confirming past mistakes to prove we were not mistaken is no way forward." (Heaps, p. 52.)
3. "With regard to the law, Jesus did not observe any law which contradicted love." (Heaps, p.89.)
Hornsby-Smith, Michael, 1999, "Look on the bright side", The Tablet, 10 July 1999,
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00296
"The God in whom we believe is a God of history and of historical action. Faith, therefore, includes historically based thinking. And today, in dealing with the control of fertility, it must acknowledge the colossal ecological crisis that arises in great part from propagation. "
Somewhere around the 1960s, which was a period of major cultural change throughout the Western world, Catholics in England lost the "sense of hell" and began to make up their own minds over an increasing range of moral and disciplinary issues, such as contraception and the obligation to attend Sunday Mass. In historical context, the publication of Paul VI’s encyclical letter Humanae Vitae in 1968, reiterating the traditional ban on contraception, marks a watershed. Conviction in the legitimacy of clerical authority was severely dented and ever afterwards Catholics were much less likely to feel constrained by papal teaching if it did not fit their own experience.
Also lists other socioeconomic reasons for decline in the number of practicing Catholics.
John Paul II, Pope, 1979-1980. For an edited summary of Pope John Paul II's addresses on marriage from 10th December 1979 through 8th April 1980, see Dunphy (1981).
John Paul II, Pope, 1981, Familiaris Consortio, 1981, http://www.cin.org/jp2ency/famcon.html
No. 32 states: "When couples, by means of recourse to contraception, separate these two meanings that God the Creator has inscribed in the being of man and woman and in the dynamism of their sexual communion, they act as " arbiters" of the divine plan and they " manipulate " and degrade human sexuality-and with it themselves and their married partner-by altering its value of " total " selfgiving. Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception by an objectively contradictory language, namely that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality. When, instead, by means of recourse to periods of infertility, the couple respect the inseparable connection between the unitive and procreative meanings of human sexuality, they are acting as "ministers" of God's plan and they "benefit from" their sexuality according to the original dynamism of "total" self-giving, without manipulation or alteration."
John Paul II, Pope, 1984a, Morality of the Marriage Act determined by the Nature of the Act and of the Subjects, General Audience, 11 July 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-01.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1984b, Norm of Humanae Vitae arises from the Natural Law and Revealed Order , General Audience, 18 July 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-02.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1984c, Importance of harmonizing human love with respect for life, General Audience, 25 July 25 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-03.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1984d, Responsible Parenthood, General Audience, 1 August 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-04.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1984e, Faithfulness to the Divine Plan in the transmission of life, General Audience, 8 August 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-05.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1984f, The Church's Position on the Transmission of Life, General Audience, 22 August 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-06.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1984g, A Discipline that Ennobles Human Love, General Audience, 28August 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-07.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1984h, Responsible Parenthood linked to moral maturity, General Audience, 5 September 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-08.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1984i, Power of Love is given to man and woman as a share of God's love, General Audience,10 October 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-10.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1984j, Continence protects the dignity of the conjugal act, General Audience of October 24, 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-11.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1984k, Continence frees one from inner tension, General Audience of October 31, 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-12.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1984m, Continence deepens personal communion, General Audience, 7 November 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-13.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1984n, Respect for the work of God, General Audience, 21 November 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-14.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1984p, Redemption of the Body and the Sacramentality of Marriage, General Audience, 28 November 1984.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/marriage/jp2-15.asp
John Paul II, Pope, 1993, Veritatis Splendor.
http://www.cin.org/jp2ency/versplen.html
1. John Paul II states (in No. 4.) that " a new situation has come about within the Christian community itself, which has experienced the spread of numerous doubts and objections of a human and psychological, social and cultural, religious and even properly theological nature, with regard to the Church's moral teachings. It is no longer a matter of limited and occasional dissent, but of an overall and systematic calling into question of traditional moral doctrine, on the basis of certain anthropological and ethical presuppositions."
2. "Intrinsically evil acts" against the Natural Law are condemned in Nos. 56, 67, 80. 81, 83, 90, 95,110 and 115.
3. "The teleological ethical theories (proportionalism, consequentialism)," are condemned in No. 75.
John Paul II, Pope, 1995, Evangelium Vitae.
http://www.cin.org/jp2ency/jp2evang.html
Contraception is condemned in Nos. 13,16, 17 and 91. In No. 13, it is argued that, far from preventing abortions, the use of contraceptive encourages abortion.
John Paul II, Pope, 1998a, Marital Act Must Be Total Gift of Person,
Pope John Paul II to the Centre for Natural Fertility Regulation (27 February 1998) in which he cautions against using NFP for selfish reasons.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/dir/link.asp?ref=16302
John Paul II, Pope, 1998b, Pastors Must Not Be Afraid to Follow Paul VI's Example In Teaching True Nature of Conjugal Life,
Pope John Paul II (20 September 1998)
http://www.catholic-pages.com/dir/link.asp?ref=16425
John Paul II, Pope, 1998c, Ad Tuendam Fidem, Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio, 28 May, 1988, inserting additions to Canons 750 and 1371 of the Code of Canon Law, requiring to be "firmly accepted and held" everything "set forth definitively by the Magisterium" and providing "punishment with a just penalty" for a persistent dissenter.
John Paul II, Pope, 1999, Human Life Must Originate in the Conjugal Act,
Pope John Paul II to the Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, 27 August 1999.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/dir/link.asp?ref=16171
Johnson, Phillip E., 1999, Book Review of: In Defense of Natural Law by Robert P. George, Clarendon/Oxford University Press.
http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9911/reviews/johnson.html
Besides reviewing George's book (mostly negatively), Johnson provides a concise summary of the Grisez-Finnis approach to natural law. He observes that their approach has "been greeted by a barrage of criticism. Much of the criticism comes from scholars of distinction who are favorable to natural law in principle, but who think that the Grisez-Finnis system is not really natural law (because it does not rest on factual propositions about human nature), or that some of its basic propositions are far from self-evident, or that its logic is so convoluted that it tends to turn even the easiest problems into moral dilemmas"
"Another common criticism is that Grisez-Finnis often seem to think that everything can be decided by abstract principles, without regard to the facts or to competing considerations. The most obvious example is the ban on artificial contraception and on inherently non-procreative sexual acts, even when engaged in by married couples."
For a response by George and a reply by Johnson see First Things, Correspondence, February 2000:
URL: http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0002/correspondence.html#natural
Kelly, Tony, 1987, "The Vatican muscles in on US Catholics: the Curran / Hunthausen cases", National Outlook, Australia, March 1987, pp. 9-12.
Summarises the injustice of the dismissal of Charles Curran, despite the public protest of 700 Catholic theologians and the support of Curran by his own bishop. Also documents the (then) unprecedented effective removal from authority of Archbishop Huntington of Seattle by the Vatican's appointment of a new "assistant" bishop to whom power was effectively transferred. This happened following complaints to Rome by "[e]xtreme reactionary groups [who] had evidently compiled a dossier of imaginary abuses". It happened in spite of "words of effusive praise for Huntington's leadership" from Archbishop Hickey of Washington DC who had been appointed by the Vatican to investigate the charges against Archbishop Hunthausen.
Kenny, Mary, 2000, "Abortion? No thanks", The Tablet, 19 August 2000,
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00435
The majority of British teenagers are now sexually active by the age of 15, and it is by no means unusual to be sexually active at 12 or 13.
Kippley, John F.,1981, What does the Church teach about birth control?, The Couple to Couple League International Inc., 1981,
http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARRIAGE/CCLBC.TXT
"Even if other factors have contributed to the breakdown of family stability, there are ample indicators that the use of unnatural birth control has been a significant factor."
Kippley, John F.,1996, 'The Pill and Early Abortion", Catholic Information Network (CIN) - September 7, 1996. Originally published in American Life League's "About Issues".
The CIN URL is http://www.cin.org/pillabor.html
Kippley states that "It is a fact that even some pro-lifers find difficult to face: the Pill causes almost as many abortions as are done surgically each year in this country"… "the ordinary birth control pill already causes as many early abortions each year as RU-486 would cause if allowed in the country!" …. "The current-- birth control pills already cause between 600,000 and 1,500,000 early abortions each year!"
John F. Kippley is President of the Couple to Couple League. Compare Kippley's statements with the results of research by Tonti-Filippini (1995) and Larimore (2000).
Knasas, John F. X., 2000, "Fides et Ratio and the twentieth century Thomistic revival", Catholic Dossier. November/December 2000
http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Dossier/2000-12/article3.html
Knasas reviews the revival of Thomistic theology in the 20th century. An edited selection of key points follows:
Before Vatican II the revival was characterised by three approaches, Aristotelian Thomism, Existential Thomism and Transcendental Thomism. The first two were aposteriori in their epistemology. The mind abstractly draws its fundamental conceptual content from the human knower’s contact with the self-manifestly real things given in sensation. Aristotelian Thomists and Existential Thomists dispute among themselves about the precise definition of being. The Aristotelian Thomists say that a being basically is a possessor of formal act (forma). Most famous of the Existential Thomists were Etienne Gilson and Jacques Maritain. The third strain of 20th century Thomistic interpretation is Transcendental Thomism. It follows a different epistemology than the others. At its most fundamental level, human knowing involves not reception from the real but a projection of the knower upon the real. The knower’s projection is the knower’s own intellectual dynamism to the unconceptualizable term of Infinite Being. Hence, the intellect’s basic contact with reality is not through concepts abstracted from things, as is the case in the previous two camps. Rather, the intellect’s contact is through its own dynamism to Infinite Being. In the life of the mind, prior to static concepts is intellectual dynamism.
All three currents streamed into Vatican II. But, as a matter of historical fact, only Transcendental Thomism emerged with any vibrancy. In the time since and especially in its use by theologians Karl Rahner, Henri de Lubac, and Bernard J. F. Lonergan, Transcendental Thomism has been the reigning Thomism. Of the various Thomistic camps in the 20th century Thomistic revival, the Pope’s clear preference, in Fides et Ratio, is for the Existential Thomist camp. But the Pope makes it clear that the Church will never put its infallible seal of approval on any one particular philosophy. [One might ask how this matches with Pius XII's firm (though not infallible) approval, in Humani Generis, of one version of Thomistic philosophy.] Pope John Paul II remarks, “Developing further what the Magisterium before me has taught, I intend in this final section to point out certain requirements which theology . . . makes today of philosophical thinking and contemporary philosophies.”
Kritz, M.M. and D.T. Gurak, 1999, "The Effects of Family Planning on Marital Disruption in Malaysia", Revised version published by Family Health International (FHI), October 8, 1999. Original version presented at International Union for the Scientific Study of Population meeting, Beijing, October 1997. http://www.fhi.org/en/wsp/wsfinal/fctshts/wsfct20.html
Reports on an analysis of data from the Malaysian Family Life survey including 1,261 women interviewed in 1976, plus 889 women re-interviewed in 1988, plus a new sample [size not reported] of women interviewed in 1988. The survey was based on retrospective life histories. Use of contraception was defined as "ever use" and marital disruption was defined as "divorce or separation". In both surveys women using contraception experienced a significantly lower rate of marital disruption.
Of women interviewed in 1976 and 1988 , 6.1% of marriages of women using contraception had ended in separation or divorce, compared with a 16.4% disruption rate for women not using contraception
Of the new sample of women interviewed in 1988 , 4.6% of marriages of women using contraception had ended in separation or divorce, compared with a 10.6% disruption rate for women not using contraception.
Couples using contraception early in marriage (by age 25 of the woman) experienced a 40% reduction in the likelihood of marital disruption. [It is not clear with which other group the comparison was made.]
The secondary analysis of the survey data on which the above statistics are based was carried out by Dr Mary Kritz and colleagues at the Department of Rural Sociology, Cornell University, for the Women's Study Project (WSP) at Family Health International.
The researchers warn that other factors besides use of contraception may have affected the results. For example, couples using contraception may also have had better communication between the spouses.
Larimore, Walter L., 2000, "The Growing Debate About the Abortifacient Effect of the Birth Control Pill and the Principle of the Double Effect". An earlier version of this paper was published in the journal Ethics and Medicine, January, 2000; vol. 16, no.1,pp.23-30. Updated by the author September 15, 2000.
http://www.epm.org/pilldebate.html
Larimore reaches the following conclusions:
"There is currently a growing controversy about whether the Pill causes early, unrecognized abortions of preborn children. It does appear theoretically possible (even probable) that research could be done to begin to settle the controversy and this research is critically needed. However until such research is available, those who feel ethically comfortable with prescribing the Pill should at the very least inform their female patients of this possible effect and allow their patients to decide whether they should or should not use this form of birth control."
"Finally, based upon the principle of double effect, it appears reasonable to conclude that the Pill should not be used or recommended to those who believe life begins at conception – unless and until the Pill is scientifically proven to not have an abortifacient effect. It appears to be a reasonable conclusion that such studies could be done and that proof could and should be forthcoming; however, to date, that proof clearly does not exist. Until such proof is available, one way or the other, the Pill should be considered a possible cause of death to preborn children." [Emphasis mine.]
Longley, Clifford, 1999a, "Licence for Vatican sneaks", The Tablet, 28 August 1999,
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00310
Fear of anonymous denunciation to the Vatican inhibits pastoral activities of bishops in areas related to marriage and sexuality.
Longley, Clifford, 1999b, "Hume's mission impossible". The Tablet, 20 November 1999.
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00362
1. Discusses Cardinal Hume's efforts to personally present Pope John Paul II with a copy of The Easter People, the official report of the National Pastoral Conference of the English church held in Liverpool in 1980 which raised questions about the Magisterium's teachings on contraception and divorce. "The Pope merely waved it to one side. It was an unfavourable omen."
2. Also reports Cardinal Hume's view that the 1980 Synod of bishops "had been steered towards foregone and basically closed-minded conclusions". "Particular exception was taken to the hand-picked lay people present, primed to sing the praises of Humanae Vitae in the most triumphalistic manner."
Luker, Carol, 1994, "Curran, Smith update birth-control debate", National Catholic Reporter, Vol. 31, No. 4, November 1, 1994, page 7.
1. Smith argued that an analysis of "the widening social chaos" over the past 25 years shows that the results of contraception are even worse than predicted [in Humanae Vitae]. "She cited statistics on divorce, children born out of wedlock, poverty, abortion, pre-marital sex, contraceptive failure as a cause of abortion, and health risks associated with contraception."
2. Curran argued that it is morally permissible to exclude the procreative potential of individual acts for the good of the marriage. He said that the church's teaching on other moral matters has changed over time and that its teaching on married love and procreation has also evolved from "a time when you had to intend procreation in order to justify the use of this marital act, to a time where you didn't have to intend it, to now when you can intend not to procreate".
"I see that all of this meaning has come from historical and cultural developments as we come to a greater appreciation of the meaning of marriage. And the same aspect would cause us to change our understanding of contraception."
Maguire, Daniel C., 2001a, Sex, Ethics, and One Billion Adolescents, The Religious Consultation on Population, Reproductive Health & Ethics
http://www.religiousconsultation.org/sex,ethics%20&%20one%20billion%20adolescents.htm
The estimate is that there are one billion adolescents o planet earth. In the south one quarter of the population is between 10 and 19 years age; in the north, the figure is 11 to 14 percent of the population. The numbers alone present stark challenges to ethics, medicine, and demography. Beyond the numbers, the circumstantial reality is new. "Human actions are right or wrong according to their circumstances," said Thomas Aquinas. One billion adolescents face some circumstances that make their sexual health and sexual morality a daunting new reality that demands serious and creative attention."
Puberty is arriving earlier and in many places marriage occurs later. Records from family bibles at the time of the American Revolution indicate that girls' average age menarche was 17. A hundred years later it was 15. Speaking still of conditions in the United States, Debra Haffner writes: "Today, the average age is 12." Some studies report instances of even earlier menarche. Add to this delays in the age of marriage.
The average age of marriage has increased from 20 for girls and 23 for boys in 1950 to 25 for girls and 27 for boys in 1998. More than half of teenagers today begin to have intercourse while they are in high school, and most will have several sexual partners before they get married. These changes are not limited to the more affluent United States. In a study on adolescent sexuality in Nigeria and Cameroon, Andrea Irvin writes: "Throughout the world, adolescence has been undergoing significant changes during the last several decades. Age at onset of puberty has been declining in most regions as a consequence of improved nutrition, while age of first marriage has been rising, especially for females in early-marrying societies."
Maguire, Daniel C, 2001b, "Catholic theologian predicts Vatican will change stance on contraception and abortion", Religious Consultation Report, Vol.5, No. 1, June 2001, pp. 1-2.
http://www.religiousconsultation.org/211172.pdf
For a discussion, see Gudorf (2001), above.
Maguire, Daniel C, 2001c, "Emergency Contraception – a too well kept secret", Religious Consultation Report, Vol.5, No. 1, June 2001, p.7.
http://www.religiousconsultation.org/211172.pdf
Maguire argues that in the use of "morning after" contraception, involving repeated doses of oral contraceptives "there is no risk to a developing fetus if the woman should happen to be already pregnant. Also, he claims, "No evidence supports the theory that EC interferes with implantation." He cites no research literature supporting either statement. In fact, he seems to contradict the second statement by quoting a medical specialist who advises that "women who revere fertilized eggs could still use EC if they use the pills before ovulation. Doing so prevents ovulation, not fertilization."
Mahoney, John. 1987, The making of Moral Theology: The Roman Catholic Tradition, Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1987.
On page 281, Mahoney discusses Karl Rahner's reaction to Humane Vitae. "Probably the most highly respected theologian in the Church, Karl Rahner, felt it instructive to offer a theological analysis of the striking phenomenon of strong, rapid and widespread disagreement with the non-infallible teaching of the encyclical and particularly of its arguments, which he himself found more the adopting of a particular attitude to contraception than an explanation or proof of that attitude. 'It hardly goes beyond the actual statement of the thesis.' ".
May, William E., 1994, "Moral Theologians and 'Veritatis Splendor' ", Homiletic & Pastoral Review. December 1994.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/THEOLOGY/MORALVS.HTM
May writes: "Within weeks of the promulgation of Pope John Paul II's encyclical Veritatis Splendor, a number of theologians known as "proportionalists," preeminently Richard A. McCormick, S.J., claimed that the Holy Father had seriously misrepresented their position. According to McCormick "the vast majority of theologians known as proportionalists will 'rightly' say that they do not hold or teach what the encyclical attributes to them." May argues that the theologians mentioned were justly condemned in Veritatus Splendor.
May, William E., 1983/1996a, "Contraception and Catholicism", a series of chapters published by Catholic Information Network (CIN) in 1996. Originally published in total as Contraception and Catholicism, Common Faith Tract No. 5, (c) Christendom Educational Corporation 1983, Christendom Publications, Route 3, Box 87, Front Royal, Virginia 22630 . An on line version can be down loaded from: http://www.cin.org/cf5-1.html
Individual chapters can be found on the following URL's:
Contraception and Catholicism - Foreword
Contraception and Catholicism
I. The Defense of Contraception
The Nature of Human Sexuality as a Basis for Contraception:
The Totality or Wholeness of Marriage and Contraception
II. Critical Analysis of Arguments for Contraception
Human Persons and Human Sexuality
Conclusion: The Teaching of the Church
http://www.cin.org/cf5-13.html
Catholicism and Contraception Afterword
http://www.cin.org/cf5-14.html
May, William E., 1996b, 3. The Contraceptive Ethic. Published by Catholic Information Network (CIN) - August 29, 1996
May writes: " Beyond their apparent failure to grasp the essential reason why contraception is wrong, most Catholics show little awareness of the role of contraception as a root cause of other evils. The general acceptance of the morality of the act of contraception is a major factor in the following developments: "
His list includes abortion, pornography, homosexual activity, in vitro fertilization, teen-age promiscuity, divorce, child abuse, and euthanasia.
May, William, E, 2000, "Teaching Authority in the Church: Morality and Dissent", Catholic Dossier, May/June 2000.
http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Dossier/2000-5-6/article2.html
May considers arguments by Curran and others that there has never been an infallible declaration of the magisterium on specific moral issues and that there never can be. May says that before Vatican II all Catholic theologians recognised that the moral precepts set forth in the Decalogue had been infallibly defined by the magisterium, and many theologians still believe that today, he claims. May draws attention to the fact that in renewing the condemnation of intentional abortion and euthanasia, in Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul II cited the conditions in Lumen Gentium, 25, under which the ordinary magisterium can maker infallible pronouncements. He claims that Vatican II did not consider the possibility of theological dissent from an authentic teaching of the magisterium. Also, he claims, the CDF's Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian, allows theologians tot discuss disputed matters among their colleagues, before submitting them to the magisterium for judgement, but it does not allow theologians to put forward their views as alternatives to magisterial teachings on which individual Catholics can base moral decisions. Yet, he claims, this is precisely what is happening.
McClory, Robert, 1997, Turning Point: The Inside Story of the Papal Birth Control Commission, and How Humanae Vitae Changed the Life of Patty Crowley and the Future of the Church, The Crossroad Publishing Company, New York.
1. Chapter 10 documents the results of an international survey, in 1965/1966 of leader couples of the Christian Family Movement, a Catholic association primarily for married couples. 78% of responding couples reported that NFP had harmed their relationship due to tension, lack of spontaneity, fear of pregnancy, etc.
2. Chapter 12 documents the discussion of the Crowley's findings by the Birth Control Commission. They also considered a survey of the worlds Catholic bishops commissioned by the pope. The bishops listed contraception as the leading moral problem. Other research carried out by Commission members (p. 101) indicated that NFP left Catholics immature emotionally, impoverished financially, insecure, rebellious and frustrated. Serious psychological disorders had resulted.
3. The members of the Commission were powerfully moved by this testimony and it led to a change in their views of the morality of contraception. ]Though a member of the Commission, Karol Wojtyla never attended any of its meetings and was thus not exposed to the evidence that led to changed attitudes.]
McCormick, Richard A, 1981a,Notes on Moral Theology 1965 through1980, University Press of America, Washington DC, 1981.
McCormick, Richard A, 1984,Notes on Moral Theology 1981 through1984, University Press of America, Washington DC, 1984.
The above two works are collections of McCormick's regular "Notes on Moral Theology" sections of the Jesuit journal Theological Studies over the twenty years from 1965 through 1984. In these "Notes" McCormick provided a critical analysis of all significant publications in moral theology during that period, a work so daunting that on his retirement from producing the "Notes" no one else could be found to take on the task. McCormick's notes allow us to trace the development of the Catholic debate on contraception over a critical twenty year period which included the watershed event of Humanae Vitae and reactions to it..
McCormick, Richard A, 1981b, How Brave a New World?: Dilemmas in Bioethics, Doubleday, New York, 1981.
1. McCormick (pp. 210-218) provides a closely reasoned argument (against Ford and Lynch) that the traditional teaching of the magisterium on contraception was and remained in a state of practical doubt at and after Pope Paul VI's statement of Oct. 20 1966, up to the publication of Humanae Vitae. On page 232, McCormck concludes that even after Humanae Vitae "the intrinsic immorality of every contraceptive act remains a teaching subject to solid and positive doubt", which is not to say that it is certainly erroneous.
2. On page 220, McCormick discusses the long accepted argument "that contraceptive intercourse could not be viewed as a merely biological intervention [citing three of his own publications supporting that argument]. Rather, he argued, it was one that affected the very foundation of the act as procreative and hence as unitive of persons, for by excluding the child as the permanent sign of the love to be expressed in coitus, one introduced a reservation into coitus and therefore robbed it of that which makes it objectively unitive." McCormick then cites Germain Grisez (1964) as having, refuted the validity of the argument "that every act of coitus has and therefore must retain an aptitude for procreation." The work cited is G. Grisez, Contraception and the Natural Law, Bruce, Milwarkee, Wis., 1964, pp. 34-35.)
3. On pages 221-222 McCormick argues that Humanae Vitae is based on an obsolete understanding of biology and that it unwittingly admits that there is a separation of the unitive and procreative aspects of coitus during the infertile period.
4. He also argues (p. 222) that Humanae Vitae neglects the personalist aspects of human sexuality. [Did John Paul II succeed in redressing this in Veritatis Splendor?]
5. On pages 228-229 McCormick discusses an argument of Paul Ricoeur (Cross Currents, Vol. 14, 1964, pp. 246-247) that the real argument against contraception is not based on the meaning of "natural" or "unnatural", but is based on the risk that contraception make coitus facile and ultimately meaningless and insignificant, and thus "it is possible that a rational use of contraception can only succeed where men are spiritually aroused to the need for maintaining the quality of the sexual language." (Ricoeur, loc. cit .) [Has Pope John Paul II, in developing his Theology of the Body taken a step towards such spiritual arousal and thus towards a rational use of contraception?]
McDonnell, Kilian, 2001, "Our dysfunctional Church", The Tablet, 8 September 2001.
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00560
Complains of excessive centralisation within the Church and the manipulation of the Synod of Bishops by the Curia to exclude collegial decision making.
Another example: according to Roman norms a retired bishop can be elected to synods. Accordingly the US National Bishops’ Conference elected Archbishop Quinn, retired Archbishop of San Francisco, to the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for America in 1997. Next day the bishops were informed by Rome that rules had been changed and it was no longer permissible for a retired bishop to be elected. Quinn, whose lecture on the reform of the papacy had been delivered in Oxford in 1996 before being published in book form in 1999, had to stand down. Yet two other retired bishops, a Panamanian and Italian, attended the same synod.
Miller, Annabel, 2000, "How natural is NFP?", The Tablet, 2 December 2000,
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00499
"The evidence which is available indicates that if used correctly, modern methods of NFP do work. But to say that NFP "works" is to assume that the couple are highly motivated, organised enough to measure symptoms and keep charts every day, and that they find that limiting their love-making to certain times in the month does not damage their relationship by causing undue frustration. But there are many couples who do not fit that mould. Church authorities would argue that they must practise more self-control. But others might reply that some couples don’t fit that mould because their personalities are not suited to it. Because their relationship is especially physical and passionate. Because they have been created differently by God. For some couples, NFP is a joy. Others describe it as a destructive burden. Should the latter group be told there is something wrong with them, and that they should try to change so as to conform happily with church teaching on birth control? Or should they just concentrate on continuing their joyful and fruitful relationships in their own way? More than 30 years after Humanae Vitae, the time is overdue for another look at that one."
Miller, Annabel, 2001, "Anyone for confession?", The Tablet, 17 March 2001.
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00508
Miller documents the virtual disappearance of the "individual confession" form of the Sacrament of Penance from the British Catholic Church. She finds a partial explanation for this in terms of the growing independence of Catholics in their moral decision making and their rejection of a morality based on individual sins and their frequency. She suggests some reasons for reviving individual confession and some suggestions for a methodology to achieve it.
Neill, Rosemary, 2002, "Not a law unto themselves", The Australian, 1 February, 2002.
After recounting the sufferings of her own mother from rheumatoid arthritis associated with multiple pregnancies, Neill wrote: "While one hardly expects the men in dresses to frock-up for Mardi Gras, the Catholic hierarchy's dogged resistance to universal values – such as a married woman's right to contraception – is self-defeating. It can only alienate more believers than it attracts.
The church's pressuring women in developing countries to spurn contraception, even when they cannot feed, clothe or educate their growing broods, is not just a case of religious beliefs colliding with secular values: it is an abuse of these women's human rights."
Noonan, John T., Jr., 1965, Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists, The New American Library, New York, 1965.
This is a very famous and very comprehensive study of the treatment of the morality of contraception within the Catholic Church from 50 AD to 1965 AD. It shows that contraception has been constantly condemned through that period, sometimes with great severity, sometimes with lesser severity. Until 1826, when the human ovum was discovered, that condemnation was based on an erroneous biology which equated contraception with abortion.
Noonan shows that, over the centuries, many practices relating to marital intercourse have been condemned, only to be permitted by later rulings. Noonan's study was a primary resource for the Papal Birth Control Commission, of which Noonan was a member.
Novak, Michael, 2001, "Body and soul", The Tablet, 10 February 2001, http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00491
Novak believes that Pope John Paul II's teachings on human sexuality will be seen, decades from now, as prophetic.
Palmer, Paul, 1972, "Christian Marriage: Contract or Covenant?," Theological Studies, vol. 33, pp.:617-665
This paper quotes the text of the two Roman Rota (1944 and 1970) rulings discussed below, as well as the implications of Vatican II's insights on marriage as a covenant as opposed to the old legalistic "contact" mode.
Patrick, Anne E, 1996, Liberating Conscience: Feminist Explorations in Catholic Moral Theology, Continuum, New York, 1996.
Patrick (p.110) proposes that the dismissal of Charles Curran from Catholic University of America was in part because "Curran's evident piety and reasonableness are an added threat, for the patriarchal paradigm has retained its power in part by convincing believers that goodness lies only within the bounds prescribed by those wielding religious authority."
Pontifical Council for the Family, 1997, Vademecum for Confessors concerning Some Aspects of the Morality of Conjugal Life, Pontifical Council for the Family, 2 December 1997.
A guide published by the Vatican to help priests deal with the issue of contraception in the confessional.
http://www.catholic-pages.com/dir/link.asp?ref=16856
Price, Elizabeth , 2000, Seeing Sin Where None Is, published by Catholics for a Changing Church (14 West Halkin Street, London SW1X 8JS, UK), New Blackfriar Publications 2000.
In this lengthy article Price undertakes a critique of Morality of Conjugal Life: Handbook for Confessors (12 February 1997). (See Pontifical Council for the Family (1997), above.) After quoting that document on the difference between NFP and contraception, she writes:
No other Christian denomination now teaches that contraception is intrinsically evil. If statistics are to be believed, neither do 80% of Catholics agree, either in theory or practice. This cannot but undermine both Papal authority and the credibility of the Roman Catholic Church when it speaks on matters relating to Marriage and the Family. Furthermore there is the accusation of serious sin, an offence against God Himself, being practised by most married couples during their fertile years, staining with guilt the most intimate expression of their love.
She then provides a critique of the changing theological views of human sexual intercourse in marriage from Saint Augustine to the preset time, including a discussion of the history of events leading up to Humanae Vitae and the subsequent teachings of Pope John Paul II
She holds that the fullness of the unitive power of marital intercourse can by understood only by those who have received the grace of the sacrament, thus ruling out Augustine, Aquinas and Pope John Paul II.
In Chapter 4 [Part 3] under the heading "Crucial Advances in Physiological Understanding of Human Sexuality", Price writes:
The main reason why so many people reject Natural Family Planning, is because of the abnormal pattern of intercourse it imposes upon the couple. I pondered long and hard about how I could demonstrate the truth of this to a group of unmarried men certain of their own rectitude in demanding such a regime. I hope my solution will not be deemed impertinent or flippant. It should not do so to a group who see nothing wrong in obliging women to finger around their vaginal secretions. What is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander. Let them chart their nocturnal emissions. They will see that these occur in frequency of so-many times per week. These happen to single men in single beds. When they become married men in double beds, intercourse takes place instead. Indeed, it could be said the adult male organs are designed for intercourse with a frequency of so-many times per week. Nocturnal emissions merely keep their organs in working order till a wife is there for them. When the Magisterium can honestly say they do not have such nocturnal emissions then, and only then, can they call on married men to forego intercourse. I speak particularly of young healthy, highly or normally sexed couples, which probably represent an average for a human population.
The witness of married couples who for years have lived in harmony with the plan of the Creator.” How strange that this plan has only come to light through one facet of physiological knowledge gained in the latter half of the 20th century. What was the Creator doing, allowing this secret to be hidden until now? Was not His plan obvious from the beginning by looking at the male organ and its times per week need? Is it gluttony which makes us eat three times a day or are we designed to do so? Would we not complain if we were told to fast for three days and then eat whenever we wanted on the fourth day?
The regime asked of the fertile couple is not dissimilar.
In "Chapter 5: A New Theological Approach to Marriage" Price writes:
I believe the one huge mistake of the Church’s Magisterium has been not to link up all the evidence given by married people about the need for frequent intercourse in marriage, to the teaching of Christ in Mt 19.6. Not only is this teaching concerned with divorce but also with revelation about why marriage is indissoluble, and the part that sexual intercourse plays in the indissolubility.
Pruss, Alexander R., 1998, "Christian Sexual Ethics and Teleological Organicity", Department of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, U.S.A., October 27, 1998, Forthcoming in The Thomist.
Abstract: A new, more physically embodied, approach to Christian sexual ethics is introduced, centered around providing an ontological grounding for union in "one flesh/body" at a biological level in an organic teleological striving in the direction of procreation (a striving that need not succeed, e.g., at infertile times). The phenomenology of sexual love requires such an ontological grounding, which grounding in turn implies such doctrines of traditional Christian sexual ethics as the unlawfulness of artificial contraception and homosexual acts, while allowing for Natural Family Planning. What is particularly striking about this approach is that it links the unitive and procreative dimension of the sexual act in such a way that artificial contraception is seen as an attack on the unitive dimension, and that the approach avoids the difficulties that can plague the more common approaches from either the natural law or the phenomenological perspectives.
Pruss, Alexander R., 2000, " Not out of lust but in accordance with truth: Reflections on sexuality and reality", Department of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, U.S.A.. Unpublished working paper, August 18, 2000. Personal communication from Dr. Pruss,
And now, Lord, not out of lust do
I take this kinswoman of mine, but in accordance with truth.
(Tobit 8:7). (Translation from Hebrew by Dr Pruss.)
In this 35 page paper Dr Pruss defends traditional teaching of the magisterium on sexual morality. In the course of the argument he cites the following additional scriptural passages: Gen. 2:23, Gen. 2:24, Ex. 22:15, Lev. 18:22, The Song of Songs [as a whole], Mk. 10:8b-9, and 1: Cor. 6:15a.
Pruss, Alexander R., 2001, "The Meaning of Sexual Love", Department of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, U.S.A.. Unpublished working paper, March 24, 2001. Personal communication from Dr. Pruss,
In this paper Pruss further develops the thesis of his 1998 paper, but along the same basic lines.
Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal, 2000, "The Church at the End of the Millennium", Third Millennium Perspectives, 1 August, 2000
http://www.interx.net/~mbrumley/salt.htm
1. Ratzinger on Pope John Paul II:
"The first thing that won my sympathy was his uncomplicated, human frankness and openness, as well as the cordiality that he radiated. There was his humor. You also sensed a piety that had nothing false, nothing external about it. You sensed that here was a man of God. Here was a person who had nothing artificial about him, who was really a man of God and, what is more, a completely original person who had a long intellectual and personal history behind him. You notice that about a person: he has suffered, he has also struggled on his way to this vocation. He lived through the whole drama of the German occupation, of the Russian occupation, and of the Communist regime. He blazed his own intellectual trail. He studied German philosophy intensively; he entered deeply into the whole intellectual history of Europe. And he also knew crucial points in the history of theology that lead far from the usual paths. This intellectual wealth, as well as his enjoyment of dialogue and exchange, these were all things that immediately made him likeable to me."
2. On restrictive teachings of the magisterium:
It’s correct that for many people what remains of the Church’s words are just a few moral prohibitions -- principally having to do with sexual ethics -- and in this respect they have the impression that the Church’s real function is only to condemn and to restrict life. Perhaps too much has been said and too often in this direction -- and without the necessary connection of truth and love. To some extent, it also has to do, I think, with the media’s selective way of reporting things.
Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal, 2001, Comments by Cardinal Ratzinger in an interview with ZENIT.org Newsagency, reported 1 October, 2001under the headline "Cardinal Ratzinger on the Future of Christianity".
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=19347
Selected quotations follow:
1. " increasingly more [people] admit the decrease in the percentage of baptized Christians in today´s Europe: in a city like Magdeburg, Christians are only 8% of the total population, including all Christian denominations.". " The process of numerical reduction, which we are experiencing today, will also have to be addressed precisely by exploring new ways of openness to the outside, of new ways of participation by those who are outside the community of believers. I have nothing against people who, though they never enter a church during the year, go to Christmas midnight Mass, or go on the occasion of some other celebration, because this is also a way of coming close to the light. Therefore, there must be different forms of involvement and participation."
2. "We must take note of the decrease in our lines but, likewise, we must continue to be an open Church. The Church cannot be a closed, self-sufficient group.. Above all, we should be missionaries, in the sense of proposing again to society those values that are the foundation of the constitutive form that society has given itself, and which are at the base of the possibility to build a really human social community."
3. "What is clear, in any event, is the different composition of the potential on which the Western Church will be sustained. What is most important, in my opinion, is to look at the 'essence' . . . A process of simplification is important, which will enable us to distinguish between what is the master beam of our doctrine, of our faith, what is of perennial value in it. It is important to propose again the great underlying constants in their fundamental components, the questions on God, salvation, hope, life, especially what has a basic ethical value."
Rausch, Thomas P., 2000, Reconciling Faith and Reason: Apologists, Evangelists, and Theologians in a Divided Church, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota.
(a) Pages 1-10: Rausch reviews the state of division in the US Catholic church, mostly centring round the issue of contraception and describes the various factions and pressure groups that have arisen on both sides of the debate.
(b) Pages 117-126: After a careful analysis of the history of there present conflict Rausch recommends a solution based on the following principles.
1. A recognition that the church by its very nature is inclusive; it seeks to join together, not to separate.
2. A recognition that diversity can be accepted within a basic unity on essentials.
3. Theological humility based on a recognition of the ultimate "incomprehensibility" of God (following Karl Rahner's insights).
4. Faith seeking understanding: Theology must be carried out by persons involved in the life and worship of Christian communities.
5. A recognition of the complementarity of faith and reason, or of theology and science.
6. A historical consciousness that stresses the concrete and particular and "presumes development and change based on new insights, the re-interpretation of traditional positions, and the incorporation of higher viewpoints. Its approach is inductive, not deducing conclusions from some concept of a universal nature, but synthesising the results of empirical observation, critical, historical evidence, and personal experience. It recognises that meaning emerges out of a historical process of investigation, that it develops, sometimes becomes frozen, and can change, but is always capable of reinterpretation and arriving at deeper insight."
7. An Ecclesial theology, in the service of the community, which recognises that "Faith is mediated by the believing community; it is proclaimed, lived out, celebrated, expressed in various forms and handed on to future generations through the Church." It recognises the unique and indispensable role of the magisterium, but not a magisterium operating independently of the Church. It is not over the Church, but speaks for it. The Holy Spirit lives in the whole Church, not just the hierarchy.
8. An evangelical theology based on the Good News of salvation revealed in Christ.
9. An ecumenical theology recognising truth where it is found in other believing communities.
10. Recognition of a hierarchy of truths; not all doctrines are of the same order of importance, though none are insignificant.
11. Respect for others linked with the Church's evangelical mission.; a recognition that a respectful Christian discourse will not always lead to agreement. "It has a great value nevertheless in clarifying disagreements, which can then be faced and embraced with charity, respect, humility and love for the truth. And in this process each one may be changed personally by virtue of the gifts exchanged." Quoted by Rausch from Speaking the Truth in Love: Christian Discourse within the Church, a 1997 pastoral letter of Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh.
Rodriguez, Hilda, 1998, Cohabitation: A Snapshot, Center for Law and Social Policy Inc., Washington, DC, May 1998.
http://www.clasp.org/pubs/familyformation/cohab.html
On the relationship between Cohabitation and the stability of a subsequent marriage, Rodriguez's findings are as follows:
Cohabitation and Divorce
Cohabiting unions are much less stable than unions that begin as marriages. Marriages that are preceded by living together have 50 to 100% higher disruption rates than marriages without premarital cohabitation. Cohabitation experience also affects the quality of marriage to one other than the cohabitor. Marriages in which at least one spouse is an ex-cohabitor are 50% more likely to end in divorce than are marriages in which neither spouse experienced premarital cohabitation. Cohabitation does not appear to make for better marriages. People in marriages that were preceded by cohabitation have significantly lower levels of marital interaction and higher levels of disagreement and instability than their counterparts who never cohabited. Spouses who cohabited before marriage report lower levels of commitment to marriage as an institution. However, these findings may be a function of the group who chooses to cohabit before marriage and not a function of cohabitation per se. Those who cohabit are those least committed to marriage and most accepting of divorce. As a result, the observed relationship between cohabitation and divorce is produced, at least in part, by a selection of those most likely to divorce into cohabiting relationships.
Roman Rota, 1944, quoted in Palmer (1972), p. 646. In discussing the "principal" (i.e., procreative ) right of marriage partners and the "secondary" right (i.e., the unitive right to mutual love and support) the Rota ruled that: "A marriage can be contracted validly in terms of the principal right, to the positive exclusion of the secondary right."
Roman Rota, 1970, quoted in Palmer (1972), p. 647. In 1970 the Roman Rota reversed its 1944 ruling, stating that : "Where conjugal love is lacking, either the consent is not free or it is not internal, or it excludes or limits the object which must be integral to have a valid marriage." Later in the same ruling the Roman Rota stated that "Now, after the Council, it is clear that, because of lack of true conjugal love, the object of the contract is missing, . . . because the mutual self giving in marriage, by which marriage is constituted, [is] missing in the act of celebrating the marriage. . . . As a result, lack of conjugal love is the same as lack of consent."
Ruether, Rosemary Radford, 1964, "Birth Control and the Ideal of Marital Sexuality", in Contraception and Holiness: The Catholic Predicament, A symposium introduced by Archbishop Thomas D. Roberts, Collins, Fontana Books, 1965, © Herder and Herder, N.Y., 1964, pp. 65-80.
Rosemary Radford Ruether argues that NFP is unnatural in that it destroys the spontaneity and dynamism of the marital relationship. Far from having an ascetic value it makes people frustrated and obsessed with sex.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford, 1994, "Comments from a Christian Perspective on Religion and Population Policy", originally published in IN/FIRE ETHICS: Newsletter of the International Network of Feminists Interested in Reproductive Health, Volume 3, Issues 3&4, 1994. Reprint available on:
http://www.religiousconsultation.org/ruether.htm
Rosemary Radford Ruether argues that the United Nations is wrong in trying to take a purely secular view of issues of sexuality, fertility and family matters. This is because, in almost all cultures, such issues are deeply intertwined with religion. The conflict on these issues is not simply between the secular and religious viewpoints. For example, such a conflict is currently raging within Roman Catholicism. Christianity has recently re-discovered a this-worldly meaning of the religious symbols of redemption and has taken a stance against patriarchal and imperial social patterns that resulted in the marginalisation of the poor, and women. The refusal of the Vatican to support the UN conference's document on population policy "is ultimately a refusal to dialogue with this challenge of renewal within its own community".
Shivanandan, Mary, 1999, "John Paul II's Theology of the Body", Catholic Dossier, Jan./Feb. 1999.
http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Dossier/JAN-FEB1999/Pope.html
This paper provides a brief summary of the contributions to the theology of the unitive aspects of marriage by Von Hilderbrand and by Doms in the 1930's and Pius XII's reaction in his Address to the Italian Midwives. Shivanandan notes that Pius spoke about the inseparability of the unitive and procreative end of marriage, The remainder of the paper is devoted to a summary of John Paul II's Theology of the Body, which she considers to be "one of his most original contributions". This is a fuller summary than that provided by Dunphy (1981).
Smith, Janet E., 1994. See Luker (1994).
Smith, Janet E., 1995/1999, "Natural Law and Personalism in Veritatis Splendor", in Curran and McCormick (1998), pp. 67-84; originally published in Veritatis Splendor: American Responses, eds. Michael E. Alsopp and John J. O'Keefe, in 1995.
Smith (pp. 73-78) argues that in Veritatis Splendor, John Paul II goes beyond Aquinas' theory of natural law by introducing aspects of personalism based on his early book The Acting Person (Wojtyla, Karol. 1979. The Acting Person. John Paul II, Pope. Tymieniecka, Anna-Teresa , ed. .) Smith (p. 74) writes "In The Acting Person, particularly in Chapters 3 and 4, Wojtyla maintains that to actualize himself adequately the human person must have an authentic grasp of values and goods and must work to determine himself in accord with objective goods; only thus is his freedom truly exercised."
Contrary to Aquinas' interest in determining what acts are good or bad John Paul II holds that man's very subjectivity and freedom require that he be concerned with the truth. Though ultimately John Paul II draws upon a Thomistic metaphysics, he "is interested in using man's experience of himself, of his self-determining powers, to lead him to an awareness of his dignity." (Smith, p. 75.)
Smith, Janet E., 1994, "The Wake of Vatican II", Catholic Dossier, Nov./Dec. 2000.
http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Dossier/2000-12/column.html
Two quotations illustrate the triumphalist flavour of this paper:
(a) "But perhaps the time for weeping is coming to an end. The ravages of ICEL are being reconsidered, the US bishops are revisiting norms for building churches, permission for Latin liturgies is being extended, Eucharistic adoration is becoming an underground movement of immense proportions. It is a good sign that at the University of Dallas, the students have spontaneously begun to sing the ordinary of the mass in Latin at some of the liturgies. It is now a truism to say that the more traditional orders and dioceses are attracting by far the greater number of vocations. The generation that despised orthodoxy is growing old and are drawing virtually no young people to themselves. They have been attempting for decades to dance on the graves of their enemies, but new, strong, and energetic life has sprung up that will soon be doing a more productive, a more life-giving dance."
(b) "One needs point only to the proliferation of pernicious sex education programs that have required massive resistance from the laity to extract them from Catholic schools, an effort not yet completed. The promotion of Natural Family Planning and the support for Humanae Vitae has been overwhelmingly a lay run initiative and is to this day is terribly underpreached by the clergy. New journals have been started, new movements, new schools, and new presses for instance, sometimes with the lead of a religious but often with little support from the hierarchy and much support from the laity. One senses somewhat recently a greater respect and support for orthodoxy among the hierarchy and clergy, especially the seminarians, so, once the whole crew is working together, once there has been sufficient reform within the Church, we may be able to undertake the desperately needed re-evangelization of the culture."
Compare these with Ratzinger (2001).
Solomon, David, 1993,"The Complexities of Natural Law", First Things 33, May 1993, pp. 42-46. A review of Natural Law Theory: Contemporary Essays, edited by Robert P. George, Clarendon/Oxford University Press..
http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9305/reviews/solomon.html
This is a very positive review of George's work which Solomon calls " Professor Robert George's superb collection of original essays on natural theory." Solomon writes: "Professor George somehow convinced many of the leading participants in the contemporary discussion of natural law to contribute to this collection, and he is to be commended. Nevertheless, one comes away from reading it with the impression that at the heart of the contemporary debate about natural law there is not a single set of relatively well- defined issues, but rather a complicated, and sometimes confusing, set of problems and queries that intersect at odd angles. The collection, to be sure, is none the worse for this, representing so perfectly as it does the untidy state of the current discussion."
Solomon includes in his article a summary of the Grisez-Finnis approach to natural law and the criticisms of their approach by more traditional Thomists " like Ralph McInerny, Vernon Bourke, Henry Veatch, Ernest Fortin and others".
Teen Pregnancy Information Center, undated.
http://www.geocities.com/maggi19/sex/cohabitation.htm
Consider the following (edited) excerpts from various studies cited by Teen Pregnancy Information Center.
Cohabiting partners "experience significantly more difficulties in subsequent marriages and with issues of adultery, alcohol, drugs, and independence than couples who had not cohabited." Marriages preceded by cohabitation are 50 to 100 percent more likely to break up than those not preceded by cohabitation. (William Axinn and Arland Thornton, "The Relationship Between Cohabitation and Divorce: Selectivity or Casual Influence?" Demography, Vol. 29, 1992, page 358.)
Of all sexually active people, married couples report being the most physically pleased and emotionally satisfied. (Robert T. Michael, John H. Gagnon, and Edward O. Lauman, Sex in America: A Definitive Survey, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1994, page 124.)
Cohabiting couples have less healthy relationships than married couples. (Jan E. Stets, "The Link Between Past and Present Intimate Relationships," Journal of Family Issues, 114, 1993, page 251).
Males beating female partners are "at least twice as common among cohabitors as it is among married partners." (Jan E. Stets, "Cohabiting and Marital Aggression: The Role of Social Isolation," Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 53, 1991, pages 669-670)
The number of cases of major depression per 100 people per year: Married and Never Divorced--1.5; Never Married--2.4; Divorced Once--4.1; cohabiting--5.1; Divorced twice--5.8. (Lee Robins and David Regier, Psychiatric Disorders in America: The Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study, New York: Free Press, 1991, page 72.)
A study published in the American Sociological Review found that for couples that cohabit with their future spouses: "Overall association exists between premarital cohabitation and subsequent marital instability. The dissolution rates of women who cohabit premaritally with their future spouse are, on average, nearly 80 percent higher than the rates of those who do not."
Neil G. Bennett, Ann Blanc Klimas and David E. Bloom, "Commitment and the Modern Union: Assessing the Link Between Premarital Cohabitation and Subsequent Marital Stability", American Sociological Review, 1988, p.132. The University of California, Los Angeles, published research in The Journal of Personality Assessment, that looked at "problem areas" for married couples who did and did not cohabit prior to marriage. The study found the top three problems that distinguished pre-marital cohabitants from non-premarital cohabitants were drunkenness, adultery and drug-abuse (in that order).
Michael D. Newcomb and P.M. Bentler, "Assessment of Personality and Demographic Aspects of Cohabitation and Marital Success", Journal of Personality Assessment, 1980, p.16
Brown University and the University of Michigan studying the nest-leaving process found that "only those leaving in conjunction with marriage were truly unlikely to return" to their parents' home. (Frances Goldsheider, Arland Thornton, and Linda Young-DeMarco, "A Portrait of the Nest-Leaving Process in EarlyAdulthood", Demography, 1993, p. 694.) However, "cohabitors were very likely to return home for an extended stay." The study found 20 percent of cohabitants returned home and only 2 percent of marrieds returned. Goldscheider, et al. conclude that "it is difficult to argue that cohabitors resemble married people," ibid., p. 695.
This is only the tip of the ice burg. It's not just religious people who say marriage is better, the actual facts speak for themselves. In truth, most women who live with a man before marriage really believe they will marry him. It is supposed to be a kind of "trial marriage". It seems like a good idea at first but it doesn't really work out that way.
Tonti-Filippini, Nicholas, 1995, "The Pill: Abortifacient or Contraceptive? A Literature Review", Linacre Quarterly , February 1995, pp. 5-10.
http://www.cin.org/life/pillabor.html
"The progestogen-only pill therefore depends largely on the other two factors: the disruption of the cervical mucus function and the changes to the lining of the uterus. It is not known precisely which is more likely.
Significantly, the effect on the endometrium differs between the different progestogen preparations. What significance this has for the sustained effect of the formulations and whether the endometrial factor is likely to be more or less significant than the cervical factor has not been established.
It should be borne in mind that our interest in which factor is significant is not reflected in the published research priorities. A computer search of the literature yielded no recent study that aimed to find out whether the progestogen-only pill was abortifacient or contraceptive."
Vatican Press Office, 1999, Catholic World News — Feature — 09/27/1999.
http://www.cwnews.com/Browse/1999/09/11172.htm
"VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- On September 27, Joaquin Navarro-Valls- - the director of the Vatican press office-- issued a public statement in response to press reports that the Vatican has relented in its opposition to UN family-planning programs. The following are excerpts from the statement by Navarro-Valls."
"According to several reports in the media, the director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Nafis Sadik, has expressed the opinion, on the occasion of the presentation of the 1999 World Population Report in London on September 22, that the Holy See no longer opposes the techniques and policies of 'family planning' as propagated by this same UN agency."
"In this regard I wish to make it clear that the Holy See has not, in fact, changed its well-known position and, at the same time, to recall several principles which were constantly affirmed by the Holy See delegations in the diverse international meetings and reunions."
But the part of the Vatican statement concerning contraception remains vague. It states:
"As far as the following are concerned-- 'contraception,' 'family planning,' 'reproductive rights,' 'female controlled methods,' 'the widest possible range of family planning services,' 'new options,' 'under-utilized methods,' and any other expression relative to the services of family planning and fertility regulation-- the Holy See's satisfaction for the consensus reached in the documents [of the Cairo Conference] in which these (expressions) were adopted, cannot be interpreted as a change in its well known position regarding 'family planning' services which do not respect the freedom of the spouses, human dignity, and the human rights of the interested parties."
There is no clear cut statement that the Vatican condemns all forms of contraception. When it comes to abortion, however, there is no vagueness.
"Concerning abortion and access to abortion, the Holy See affirms that human life begins at the moment of conception and that it must be defended and protected. The Holy See can never excuse abortion and policies in favor of abortion, which it considers to be a crime."
"The Holy See has opposed introduction of the promotion of so-called 'emergency contraception' because it considers such material as an abortifacient."
Does that mean that it does not oppose non-abortifacient contraception?].
Is the vagueness about contraception significant? Perhaps it is a way of avoiding critical comment from the UN rather than a reflection of a changed outlook from the Vatican.
West Christopher (undated) "The Pope's Theology of the Body: Part II", Couple to Couple League.
http://www.ccli.org/marriage/west2.shtml
One of a three part series of brief articles discussing Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body.
Wijngaards, John, 1998, " God and our new Selves: Why the Church needs to be reformed in our time", A paper presented by John Wijngaards on March 7 1998 in Vienna during a consultation regarding ‘Sects and Fringe Religious Groups in Europe’, convoked by the Council of European Bishops Conferences. The paper was published first in Religioni e Sette del Mondo 4 (1998) pp. 172 - 193. Copyright belongs to John Wijngaards.
http://www.womenpriests.org/teaching/godselv2.htm
Wijngaards sees a need to reform the church to allow it address the following problems in European society:
· God is disappearing from our everyday spheres of life.
· We live in a mixed, pluriform, fragmented society.
· Our own autonomy is taking over from traditional morality.
· We are becoming fulfilment seekers.
He discusses three main options facing believers:
A. Fundamentalism.
B. New Age compromise.
C. The Search for the Integration of Christian Faith and our newly found Human Identity.
Wilkins, John, 1998, "Can the Papacy change?", The Tablet, Saturday, 7 November1998,
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00228
Wills, Garry , 2000, Papal Sin: Structures of Deceit, Doubleday, New York, 2000.
Primarily concerned with the teachings of the papal magisterium on the role of women in the Church, celibacy and contraception. Claims that recent papal teachings and actions of the Vatican indicate a systematic attempt to distort the truth in favour of power and authority.
Wojtyla, Karol, Cardinal, 1978, Fruitful and Responsible Love. English translation published in 1979 by Geoffrey Chapman, Australia.
In this book Wojtyla, before his election to the papacy as Pope John Paul II, lays down the foundations for his later writings on marriage and responsible parenthood.
Yakimishyn, Nicholas J., 1998, Applied Ethical Issues, 21 March 1998,
http://www.escape.ca/~nyaki/index.html
"Rev. Bernard Haring, C.Ss.R., wrote an article for the Prairie Messenger on November 8, 1993. Haring writes that 'The church has greater concerns than this, and more urgent needs. Proclaim the Good News and encourage all to set out on the road to holiness. Let us honor God's gracious forgiveness by forgiving one another for the harm we have inflicted on each other, and for the anger we may have harbored in our hearts'.".
Yakimishyn, N., 1998, Bernard Häring's Confession of Faith, Web site last updated 21 March 1999.
http://www.escape.ca/~nyaki/haring.html
See Häring (1998).
Zapor, 2001, "Poll links frequent mass attendance with support of church teachings", Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
http://www.the-tidings.com/001/cns/cns1128.html (This URL is no longer active).
Reports the results of a nationwide telephone survey of 1,508 adult US Catholics conducted by Zogby International in association with LeMoyne College in Syracuse, N.Y.
"Asked about the statement 'artificial birth control is morally wrong' , 36 percent of the total said they agree, while 61 percent said they disagreed. Among those who attend mass every day, 74 percent agreed with the statement. But 54 percent of weekly mass-goers disagreed."
Zimmerman, Anthony, circa 1994, "Abortion", Catholic Teachings on Pro Life Issues, Chapter 2, http://zimmerman.catholic.ac/cath-2.htm (This URL is no longer active).
"In addition, an uncounted number of induced abortions result from use of the Pill, the IUD, Norplant, Depo-Provera, the morning after pill such as Ovral, Danocrine, etc."
About the Author: Anthony Zimmerman is a retired Professor of Moral Theology at Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan.
Zizola, Giancarlo, 1998a, "The power of the pope: 1", The Tablet, Saturday, 17 October 1998
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00221
Zizola holds that John Paul II is not himself a restorationist intent on undoing Vatican II. However he inherited a church open to the world and his efforts to increase the influence of the church in the world have encouraged some who are restorationists. It was "inevitable that the structural model of the Church worked out under John XXIII and Paul VI would come in for revision". . . " what now counted was the success of the Church in a world-wide social and ethical role. This was, as it were, fundamentalism expressed in action, with all the necessary tools from concordats to an updated social doctrine, from television satellites to a presence on the international political scene."
Some results have been " a reinforcement of the power of the Roman Curia, an unwarranted extension of the power of jurisdiction of the papal primacy, and an unprecedented expansion of the political and diplomatic system of the Holy See. The claim that society should be ruled by sacred directives has been relaunched, and a process of clericalisation set in train that could not have been foreseen after the reforms of Vatican II."
Zizola, Giancarlo, 1998b, "The many sides of John Paul II", The Tablet, Saturday, 24 October 1998
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00223
Zizola draws attention to the apparent contradicts among some of the actions of Pope John Paul II. On the one hand he has taken some progressive steps:
"In . . . . 1995, he published the encyclical Ut Unum Sint on commitment to ecumenism. According to the Dominican theologian Fr Hervé Legrand of the Catholic Institute in Paris, this 'entirely new and unprecedented initiative in the Church's history' was 'a most convincing rejection of maximalist interpretations of the place of the primacy in relationship to the college of the bishops'. In this encyclical John Paul II declared his willingness to throw open the reform of the papacy to discussion with the leaders of the other Christian Churches."
He has also taken some steps towards recognising the equality of women in the Church. But mostly his papacy has been characterised by the growing power of centralising and revisionist element in the Church. "In the Nineties, the unfolding of a strategy of restoration has been explicit ,side by side with the progressive decline in the Pope's health.." Zizola documents examples of Vatican interference in the affairs of local churches from 1984 to the present.
Zizola, Giancarlo, 1998c, "Poured out in service", The Tablet, Saturday, 31 October 1998
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00225
"John Paul II did not appear to favour moderation, even in some especially delicate and controversial areas. Thus he refused any liberalisation on birth control, ruling out contraceptive means even in order to check the spread of an AIDS pandemic, and would not admit divorcees to communion in any circumstances, even if they were blameless and in irreversible situations, though many episcopates asked for more openness in these matters. He opposed without exception any institutionalised forms of sexual relationship which differed from the model of Western marriage, refusing to ratify others sacramentally, such as those traditional in Africa and the Far East."
REFERENCES
[1] See Hornsby-Smith (1999).
[2] See Luker (1994) and Hartman (1998). See also, Birth Control and the Catholic Church (Website) (2000).
[3] John Paul II (1993), Veritatis Splendor, No. 4, acknowledges the seriousness and extent of dissent within the Church.
[4] For an exhaustive critical discussion of theological debate on this and other moral issues from 1965 to 1984, see McCormick (1981a and 1984).
[5] See Gumbleton (1993); Heaps (1998), quotations 1 and 2.
[6] On Rahner, see Mahoney (1987, p. 281). On Häring, see Alphonsonian Academy (1998), Byrne(1999), Curran (1998).
[7] For Grisez's condemnation of dissent in the Church see Brumley (2000).
[8] See Häring (1993).
[9] Catholics for contraception (1999).
[10] But Zapor (2001) cites another poll showing that 74% of daily mass goers agree that "artificial birth control is morally wrong", while 61% of all Catholics disagree.
[11] See Curran (1987, 1993)
[12] See McClory (1997), my notes 1 and 2. See also Neill (2002).
[13] See Curran (1987) citing Greeley.
[14] Ratzinger (2001) my quotation 1.
[15] See Miller (2001).
[16] Gudorf (1995).
[17] See Kenny (2000) and Maguire (2001a).
[18] See Dombrowski and Deltete (2001).
[19] See Rodriguez (1998) and eight studies cited by Teen Pregnancy Information Center (undated)
[20] DeFrain (1999, p. 11).
[21] For URL of Catholics For Contraception "contraception in good faith" advertisements see Catholics for contraception (undated).
[22] For a discussion of the divisions in the Church, in the USA, mostly over contraception, and the pressure groups that have developed, see Rausch (2000, pp. 1-10).
[23] See for example John Kippley (1996), "The Pill and Early Abortion" and Janet E. Smith (1994), "The Wake of Vatican II".
[24] See Häring (1997/1999), my quotations 2 and 6.
[25] See Zizola (1998a, 1998b).
[26] Longley (1999a)
[27] See Kelly (1987).
[28] Byrne (2000), Chs. 7 and 12; Churchwatch (1998a).
[29] See CTA (2002).
[30] See Curran (1986), Kelly (1987).
[31] On Bernard Häring, see Bertels (undated), Curren (1998), Byrne (1999); on Charles Curran, see my note 1 on Curran (1986).
[32] See Patrick (1996, p.110).
[33] Anonymous (Tablet Editor) (1999); Häring (1997/1999), my quotation from p. 97, Longley (1999b), my note 2, McDonnell (2001).