The following comes from a September 20 Catholic Culture article:
More than 500 scholars have signed a statement of support for the Catholic Church’s teaching on contraception.
At a press conference held at the Catholic University of America on September 20, the scholars unveiled an “Affirmation of the Church’s Teaching on the Gift of Sexuality.” The statement was issued as a rebuttal to the “Wijngaards Statement,” in which critics of the Church’s teaching had called for acceptance of contraception.
The Wijngaards Statement had argued that Humanae Vitae, the 1968 encyclical by Pope Paul VI reaffirming the Church’s opposition to contraception, has now been shown inadequate.
The authors of the “Affirmation” emphatically disagreed:
[from Affirmation of the Church’s Teaching on the Gift of Sexuality]
The points below briefly outline the true basis of the Church’s teaching that contraception is not in accord with God’s plan for sexuality and marriage. It also responds to some of the erroneous claims found in the Wijngaards Statement.
God is Love
The God who made this beautiful and ordered world is a loving and good God. All of His creation is a loving gift to humankind. Even after the Fall, God continued to reach out to His people, gradually revealing Himself and the depths of his love and mercy. God the Father’s gift of His Son Jesus, whose life was poured out on the Cross, was the ultimate and complete self-gift. This great and radical love is borne out in Scripture where the biblical authors in the Old Testament often speak of God in the image of husband and His people as His wife, and in the New Testament where Christ is described as the bridegroom and the Church as His bride. Throughout the history of the Church, many have seen this spousal imagery as a key to understanding God’s relationship to every human soul.
Made in God’s Image
Because God is Love – a communion of Divine Persons– He made men and women in His image: able to reason and to choose freely, with the capacity to love and to be in loving relationships.
Gift of Self
God invites all people to share in His love. Every person, therefore, is beloved by God and made to be in loving relationships; every person is created to make a gift of self to God and to others. The gift of self means living in a way that promotes the good of everyone, especially those with whom one is in close relationship.
Marriage: A Unique Communion of Persons
Marriage was designed by God to enable a man and a woman to live out humanity’s core identity as lovers and givers of life, to enable the two to become “one flesh” (Gen. 2:24) and for that one flesh to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Human sexual relations fulfill God’s intent only when they respect the procreative meaning of the sexual act and involve a complete gift of self between married partners.
God’s Law, Not Man’s
“The doctrine that the Magisterium of the Church has often explained is this: there is an unbreakable connection between the unitive meaning and the procreative meaning [of the marital act], and both are inherent in the marital act. This connection was established by God and human beings are not permitted to break it through their own volition.” (HV12) The teaching that contraception is always against God’s plan for sexuality, marriage and happiness is not based on human law: “The teaching of the Church about the proper spacing of children is a promulgation of the divine law itself.” (HV 20)
Faith and Reason
God has revealed the truths about sexuality to human beings through the biblical vision of the human person and has also made it accessible to our reason. Several well-argued versions of “natural law” defenses support the Church’s teaching that contraception is not in accord with God’s plan for sexuality and marriage. Each begins with different basic truths and thus each constructs its arguments differently.
The Theology of the Body: Saint John Paul II’s Contribution
Saint John Paul II’s Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body (virtually ignored by the Wijngaards Statement) provides a powerful defense of the view that contraception is not in accord with the understanding of the human person as conveyed by Scripture and sacred Catholic Tradition. He speaks of the “language of the body” and has shown that to violate the procreative meaning of the marital act is also to violate the unitive (the “commitment-expressing”) meaning of the marital act. There he demonstrates that our very bodies have a language and a “spousal meaning” — that they express the truth that we are to be in loving and fruitful relationships with others.
Humanae Vitae as Prophetic
Humanae Vitae speaks against the distorted view of human sexuality and intimate relationships that many in the modern world promote. Humanae Vitae was prophetic when it listed some of the harms that would result from the widespread use of contraception. Abundant studies show that contraception, such as hormonal contraceptives and intrauterine devices, can cause serious health problems for women. The widespread use of contraception appears to have contributed greatly to the increase of sex outside of marriage, to an increase of unwed pregnancies, abortion, single parenthood, cohabitation, divorce, poverty, the exploitation of women, to declining marriage rates as well as to declining population growth in many parts of the world. There is even growing evidence that chemical contraceptives harm the environment.
A Practical Help to Husbands and Wives—FABMs
In order to live God’s design for married love, husband and wife need moral family planning methods. Fertility Awareness Based Methods of Family Planning (or FABMs, i.e., the many forms of Natural Family Planning) respect the God-given spousal union and the potential to procreate. FABMs are fully consistent with the Church’s teaching on marital chastity. Couples using these methods make no attempt to thwart the power of acts that could result in the procreation of new human persons. They respect God’s design for sexuality; they help individuals grow in self-mastery; they have the potential to strengthen marriages and respect the physical and psychological health of women. Moreover, science demonstrates that they are highly effective both in helping couples limit their family size when necessary and conceive when appropriate.
Respect for Cultural Values, Freedom
International organizations and governments should respect the values and beliefs of families and cultures that see children as a gift, and, therefore, should not impose—on individuals, families, or cultures—practices antithetical to their values and beliefs about children and family planning. Governments and international organizations should make instruction in Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABMs) of family planning a priority. FABMs are based on solid scientific understanding of a woman’s fertility cycle, are easily learned by women in developing countries, are virtually without cost, and promote respect for women.
Christ Provides Grace
Because of Original Sin, men and women became subject to temptations that sometimes seem insuperable. Christ came not just to restore our original goodness but to enable us to achieve holiness. The Catholic Church invites married couples to participate in the life of Christ, to participate in the sacraments, especially in Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist. The Church asks the faithful to deepen their relationship with the Lord God the Father, to be open to receive the direction of the Holy Spirit, and to ask Christ to provide the graces needed to live in accord with God’s will for their married lives, even the difficult moral truths.
500. Is that all?
Given the current culture wars with the vast media and political forces arrayed against Christian belief, I would think 500 to be an awesome number. But then, is the number of scholars really all that important? If only one scholar came forth in defense of H. V. , that would be a prophetic moment, don’t you agree?
the wijngaards statement was endorsed by 150 scholars, considering that HV is the harder teaching, and probably hard on one’s tenure profile in the ‘progressive’ environment, 500 is a phenomenal number, even surprising. clearly a sign of the operation of grace.
Only one signer from St. John’s Seminary and none at all from St. Patrick’s. Way past time for cleanup at both institutions.
Would love to see that list, but so far unable to find it. Can you help?
You can find the list of signers by clicking here and scrolling towards the bottom.
Who are these scholars? I would love to know who they are so that we can write and thank them personally.
You can find the list of signers by clicking here and scrolling towards the bottom of the page.
The academic achievements and appointments of the signatories to the CUA statement are impressive. Many of them work for the Church or at a Catholic University. I wonder how many of them are married and parents. My husband and I practiced NFP (with coaching) and had five children (three unplanned) by the time I was 32. It has not been easy. My husband left me and the Church after I insisted that I could not use any form of contraception. Now I wonder if I made the right decision.
A sad story, Helen. You and your ex were on the same page so far as NFP was concerned. After 5 children he bolted, and you stayed the course. Those opposed to H.V. will say, “See, I told you so. The Church’s teaching is too hard.” Those believing H.V. will lament the outcome of your fidelity and can only say, “Yes, the teaching is hard.” A number of those signatories are married. It might help to write some of them with your story. Maybe begin with Scott Hahn?
God bless these signers. The birth control pill has done more to help destroy this and other nations than anything I know. An untold number of women have died in their early years from breast and other cancers that it and abortion have helped to exacerbate. It also opened the doors to massive immorality and the pollution of our waterways. Thanks be to God that an older priest told me never to take it when I was younger, and that God gave me the grace to listen; therefore I have survived minute cancers three times already during my lifetime which the pill would have caused to grow faster and kill me. Praise God for such faithful priests.
Seems to me that back in Moses time there was one of God’s 10 Commandments that said: “Thou shalt not kill”.
Gee I hope God didn’t offend anyone who is politically correct. Maybe that is why the communists (Obama, Clinton, Schumer, Reid, Pelosi, Boxer and the list goes on and on an on) threw God under the bus and out of our feeble and collapsing nation because God is not politically correct; God is just always correct! Whatever our Almighty and all Holy God says goes, without question! Any fool would beg to differ of course.
“There is even growing evidence that chemical contraceptives harm the environment.”
Oh no you di’int. Sad.
“Governments and international organizations should make instruction in Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABMs) of family planning a priority.”
More Government–just what we need. Ugh.
Maybe these 500 advanced middlebrows just didn’t read the whole statement before signing.
Thank you Dan. My ex husband has remarried and had a child with his new wife. I suspect they will only have this one child. My children love their dad and like to go over to his house; he has the big screen TV, swimming pool, etc. His wife is very kind to our children. Perhaps, if I had agreed to use contraception our family would still be intact.
Again, how painful to read that your fidelity to the Church cost you so much. Whatever else is true, you were faithful when it was difficult to be faithful. That is rare these days, and I can only pray our Lord gives you special graces in these trying times. You may not have a big screen TV or a pool, but Jesus in the heart is worth more than all of that put together, even if your children cannot appreciate that at the present time. My poor prayers go with you.
Helen, you deserve a crown in heaven. Keep up the good fight and God will surely reward you. My love and prayers go out for you.