Contraception: Why Not? (part 13)

This post is part of a series by Professor Janet E. Smith.

Slide: Catholics and Contraception

In 1950, 66 percent of Catholics did not contracept.  By about 1975 or so, Catholics were contracepting at the same rate as the rest of the population.   At any given time about 80 percent of Catholics are contracepting.  Almost all of Catholics have contracepted at some time.  Very few Catholics have ever heard a defense of the Church’s teaching on contraception.  Certainly not from the pulpit, neither in their high school education, nor during their college education have they ever heard an explanation in defense of the Church’s teaching.  It is my impression that this situation is changing; I myself in recent years have heard several excellent homilies against contraception and I know many marriage preparation courses that are trying hard to educate those who are about to marry about the evils of contraception.  Yet, I believe it to be true that most Catholics are likely in a state of “invincible ignorance” in respect to contraception.  Those not responsible for their ignorance about the immorality of contraception are not guilty of the sin of contraception – but they are still doing something wrong and something harmful.

Many years ago when I was first teaching at Notre Dame, I taught Humanae Vitae in my ethics class.  I asked the students how many of them thought that contraception is moral.  All of their hands went up.  How many have read Humanae Vitae?  None of their hands went up.  I said how many have thought about the topic for three minutes or longer?  None of their hands went up.  Now these are college sophomores, so it’s a bit unfair to expect college sophomores to have read Humanae Vitae. I was, however, making a point.  They had made up their mind about contraception without having done any thinking or reading about it.  They reported to one my colleagues that I was teaching Humanae Vitae and actually supporting it.  It was okay to teach Humanae Vitae at Notre Dame if you were against it.  But if you supported it you got in big trouble.  So I was in big trouble.  One professor said, “I don’t understand Professor Smith, she seems intelligent and educated and I don’t see how she could possibly be against contraception.”  The students arranged a debate between the two of us, two weeks later.   My opponent was a very gracious and wonderful man, a very good friend of mine, I loved him very much.  But he and his wife had been contracepting for 15 years.  At the beginning of my talk I mentioned that most Catholics have not read Humane Vitae, thought about it, prayed about it.  My opponent had the good grace to blush bright red.  He said he had not read Humanae Vitae until that afternoon.  Even though he and his wife had been contracepting for 15 years and two weeks earlier he had agreed to debate Humanae Vitae.  The students were shocked.  Students think professors would never hold a position that wasn’t well considered, well researched, well thought out.  To learn that their revered professor was willing to debate something he hadn’t even read was shocking to the students.

But most Catholics are in that situation.  I think Catholics should be embarrassed that they read publications like Sports Illustrated or People Magazine and haven’t read key documents of the Church like Humanae Vitae.

Slide: Philippine Bishops Apologize:

In the early 1990’s, the Philippine bishops put out a statement apologizing for not having taught against contraception.  They said:

It is said that when seeking ways of regulating births, only five percent of you consult God.  In the face of this unfortunate fact we, your pastors, have been remiss.  How few there are among you whom we have reached.  There have been some couples eager to share their expertise and values on birth regulation with others.  They are saying that they did not receive adequate support from their priests.  We did not give them due attention believing then that this ministry consisted merely of imparting a technique best left to married couples.  Only recently have we discovered how deep your yearning is for God to be present in your married life.  But we did not know then how to help you discover God’s presence and activity in your mission of Christian parenting.  Conflicted with doubt about alternatives to contraceptive technology, we abandoned you to your confused and lonely consciences with only an excuse, follow what your conscience tells you.  How little we realized that it was our consciences that needed to be formed first.  A greater concern would have led us to discover that religious hunger in you.

That apology is one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever read.  Bishops apologizing to Catholics because they have not taught church teaching!  While there have been several bishops in the United States who have done a good job teaching Humanae Vitae – Archbishop Chaput in Denver is one of them, Bishop Galeone in Florida and Bishop Carlson in Saginaw are also on that list, in too many cases priests have been told that they should not be teaching against contraception to their people.

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