"What was true yesterday is true also today. The truth expressed in Humanae Vitae does not change . . . . The transmission of life is inscribed in nature and its laws stand as an unwritten norm to which all must refer. Any attempt to turn one's gaze away from this principle is in itself barren and does not produce a future."
-Pope Benedict XVI
Today is the 40th Anniversary of the publication of Humane Vitae, the still controversial Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI, in which the Church's belief that Contraception is a grave moral evil was once again reaffirmed.
This morning I read an excellent article by Russel Shaw (one of my favorite authors) on the topic over at InsideCatholic.com. Read the whole thing, but here are the first few paragraphs to wet your whistle:
I know a woman – and, in fairness, I must say that she's a truly good Catholic woman -- who's slightly bonkers on the subject of birth control. I suppose there are people like that on both sides of this argument, but this woman happens to be bonkers on the pro-contraception side. You can't help noticing it. Whenever the subject comes up in conversation -- and, not infrequently, even when it doesn't -- she lets everybody within earshot know that the Church is flatly wrong about birth control and absolutely, unquestionably, and incontrovertibly must change its position without further delay.
Poor lady. She may be in for a hard time of it in the next several weeks. Today is the 40th anniversary of the publication of Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI's encyclical reaffirming the Church's teaching against artificial contraception; and although, among those taking note of the occasion, some will undoubtedly join this good Catholic woman in rapping the document and calling for change, many others just as certainly will praise the encyclical as not just true but even prophetically so. Pope Benedict XVI got in the first licks a little while back when he spoke to a group meeting in Rome to celebrate the anniversary.
