Month: July 2018

Denver, Colo., Jul 24, 2018 / 02:57 pm (CNA).- Sex “untethered” from reproduction can mean “whatever individual men decide it means to them, even violence and power,” says law professor Helen Alvaré, adding that the #MeToo movement can learn from the wisdom expressed by Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae.

“When even the very thought of children is far removed from sexual intimacy, sex struggles to serve the man and woman together. Why? Because the man and woman’s possible future — i.e., a child, a family, a marriage, extended kin, even love — is cut off from their present,” Alvaré wrote in the July issue of the Knights of Columbus’ Columbia Magazine.

“What Catholics are so concerned about when it comes to contraception,” Alvaré wrote, is “the breaking apart of what should be held together, with the result that sex loses its beautiful mutuality and becomes something else.”

Humanae vitae teaches that “a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods,” he wrote, “may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires.”

“This is more than a little relevant to the current #MeToo moment. Without descending into the detailed accusations of so many women, we can summarize #MeToo sex as a set of words and acts of a sexual nature done to project power or to gain pleasure for one person. It is the understatement of the year to say that these words and actions “lack mutuality” or a common — let alone good — end.”

Alvaré, cofounder of the movement Women Speak for Themselves, said that artificial contraception, which was expected to improve marital love and “free women,” has instead led to declining marriage rates and declining rates of happiness among women.

Because contraception separates sex from the “joint future” for husbands and wives implied by openness to conception, “sex becomes something less than it is meant to be. Perhaps our current #MeToo crisis has the potential to provoke greater sympathy for Humanae vitae‘s holistic vision of human sexuality and a second look at the Church’s age-old wisdom.”

Alvaré’s essay was featured in an issue of Columbia Magazine dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of Humanae vitae, which was promulgated July 25, 1968. The issue also included reflections from authors Mary Eberstadt and George Weigel, lawyer Elizabeth Kirk and theologians Janet Smith and David Crawford, along with profiles of Knights of Columbus members and their families.

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Denver, Colo., Jul 24, 2018 / 01:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Ramping up to the 50th anniversary of Humanae vitae, a Catholic professor analyzed the encyclical’s guidance on responsible parenthood- discussing when a couple might be open to more children, and when they might choose to delay openness to new life.

Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical explained that “with regard to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those who, for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time.”

The encyclical said that couples may never licitly use artificial contraception, though couples may use their awareness of a woman’s natural fertility cycle to determine whether to engage in potentially procreative acts; this is ordinarily referred to as “natural family planning,” or NFP.

But what is a “serious reason?” How should couples discern when to be open to children, and when it might be prudent to wait?

Dr. Kevin Miller, a professor of Franciscan University of Steubenville and a bioethics consultant for the online NFP program of Marquette University College of Nursing Institute for Natural Family Planning, discussed Pope Paul VI’s encyclical with CNA.

Miller said that he has very rarely witnessed examples of practicing Catholics- those using natural family planning methods- abstaining selfishly from procreation. More often, he said, he has seen couples struggle with scrupulosity about openness to new life.

“I sometimes run into this idea that there is this crisis in the Church today of couples using NFP for bad reasons, for selfish reasons, or for inadequate reasons to avoid procreation. Honestly, I’m not seeing that.”

“When I’m dealing with people who are using NFP, I actually witness more cases in which there is a significant underestimation of the seriousness of a situation than I do situations in which there is a problem of overestimating the seriousness of the situation.”

“Serious reasons” for using NFP to avoid conception, Miller said, are not limited to life-and-death situations.

The professor said that years before Humanae vitae’s publication, Pope Pius XII issued two addresses: one to Italian midwives and one to an Italian family association. He said the statements, both released in 1951, further clarify the Church’s use of the word “serious” in this context.

“Humanae vitae uses that language- ‘serious reasons.’ I think it ought to be interpreted in continuity with what Pope Pius XII had said 17 years earlier.”

Pius “referred to ‘serious reasons that not rarely occur,’” said Miller.

Reasons can be “serious in the sense of not just a trivial reason…[but Pope Pius XII] indicates that that can happen commonly,” he said.

Miller also pointed to the language used by John Paul II regarding family planning. He said the late pope’s word choice leaned towards “unselfish reasons.”

“In other words, you get the idea that if a reason is an unselfish one, if it doesn’t have to do with hedonistic wishes or something like that, then it’s probably a serious reason.”

In his encyclical, Pope Paul VI gave four broad categories that qualify as serious reasons to avoid potentially procreative acts – medical, psychological, economic, and social reasons.

Miller said if the medical or psychological risks of pregnancy are more than trivial, they qualify as serious reasons. This could mean a physical or mental strain on the mother, he said, but also health issues for other members of the family.  

Using NFP to attempt avoiding or delaying pregnancy is acceptable “if having another child, at least for a time, is going to impose significant health risks on typically the mother, but possibly on some other family member,” he said.

“Maybe there is already a child in the family who has health problems who would be harder to afford to care for that child if you have another child,” he added.

Miller also pointed to the economic factors that could qualify as serious reasons to delay pregnancy through natural family planning, among them the likelihood that additional children would restrict a family’s basic necessities, including food, shelter, clothing, and education.

“One way I like to look at it would be to say if having another child would put the family in the sort of economic situation that if it were the result of, let’s say, a low wage would be called an unjust situation by the Church. I would say that counts as a serious economic reason for using natural family planning.”

He said the last category, social reasons, is not as clearly defined by the Church, but he said it might include those situations in which a family could better serve the common good by having a “somewhat of a smaller family.”

“Some families, in response to the teachings of the Church in places like Familaris consortio, wish to serve society in some special way, maybe like reach out to the needy in society,” said Miller.

These reasons, he said, certainly do not require couples to refrain from procreation, he said, noting there is no flowchart or algorithm for decision-making.

Rather, he said the decision should be made with honesty and prayer, using moral reasoning over moral rationalizing.

“First of all a couple has to make sure they are being honest with themselves, make sure they are reasoning honestly about their situation and not rationalizing,” he said. “Secondly, I would also say…do your moral reasoning in light of your relationship with God. It should be a prayerful as well as an intellectually honest discernment.”

Miller cautioned that couples ought “not to be scrupulous in these matters” if prayer and honesty accompany their decision. He said that unlike artificial contraception, NFP calls couples naturally to be sacrificial.

“I would also even say that, if a couple used natural family planning, the self-mastery and the discipline, that the Church has said comes with use of natural family planning, the more it is likely that as time goes by they will develop even more the virtues of generosity and selflessness.”

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Erie, Pa., Jul 24, 2018 / 12:30 pm (CNA).- Bishop Lawrence Persico of Erie has warned Catholics that the results of a Pennsylvania grand jury investigation into sexual abuse of minors will make for disturbing reading. The release of the 800-page report has been delayed by order of the state’s supreme court.

“It certainly is going to be sobering,” said Bishop Persico to news outlet Penn Live.

“The report is rather graphic, and it will be very detailed on what has occurred,” he added.

The report is the result of a two-year investigation by state authorities into the handling of clerical sexual abuse in the five Pennsylvania dioceses – Altoona-Johnstown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. The dioceses were served with wide ranging subpoenas and turned over decades’ worth of files concerning the handling of abuse allegations by Church authorities.

A former diocesan official in Pennsylvania, who was involved in developing responses to the subpoena, told CNA that complying with the court order took considerable time and effort.

“It covered everything we had, it was very broadly drawn. We handed over years’ and years’ worth of files.”

It is expected that the report will include details of instances of abuse, the handling of allegations by diocesan authorities, and also measures taken by local bishops to deal with accused clerics.

In some cases, priests who were credibly accused of sexual abuse were moved from parish to parish over a period of years, or even allowed to remain in active ministry outside the diocese. Bishop Persico alluded to this kind of behavior while speaking about the report to local media on 23 July.

“I think in looking historically at it you may see bishops named who probably in view of the way we do things now as compared to 20 or 30 years ago, it would not be considered acceptable that type of action.”

The final report was scheduled for public release at the end of June, but it has been held back following legal challenges from a number individuals named in the report, including some priests. They argue they were denied due process because they were only allowed to submit written statements, not testify in person or cross-examine other witnesses.

They also claim that their reputational rights, protected by the state constitution, were harmed by the inclusion of their names even though they were not accused of a crime.

The same former official told CNA that while he did not know anyone challenging the report’s release, those doing so may have legitimate concerns.

“There’s a feeling, at least among some people, that they are being made to carry the can for a previous generation’s misdeeds.”

Bishop Persico’s own diocese, Erie, has been unusually forthright in handling abuse allegations, publicly listing the names of all priests and lay employees against whom credible allegations have been received.

Bishop Persico said this policy has helped victims.

“It’s an opportunity for them to feel validated. To tell you the truth, ever since we started publishing names I’m really surprised at how that has been helpful to victims. I’m a firm believer in that because of what I experience in just speaking to victims.”

Persico also said he does not know who is challenging the report’s release, but that he looks forward to it eventually being made public, even if it will be hard reading for Catholics.

“I know I did not [block publication],” he said. “I’ve been calling from the very beginning that the grand jury report be released so it can be a voice for the victims. I’m not sure who all is behind this.”

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro, whose office led the investigation, is fighting the court-imposed stay.

“The people of Pennsylvania have a right to see the report, know who is attempting to block its release and why, and to hear the voices of the victims of sexual abuse within the Church.”

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is still considering when and in what form the report will be released.  

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Denver, Colo., Jul 24, 2018 / 10:56 am (CNA).- Efforts to advance a pro-life ethic need to be “authentic, consistent and beautiful” if they are to combat the “throwaway culture” diagnosed by Pope Francis–and they must reject an… […]