tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post5563824845163852009..comments2024-03-23T12:05:23.537-05:00Comments on The Wild Reed: Robert McClory on Humanae VitaeMichael J. Baylyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03087458490602152648noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-72478477675784493592009-09-25T08:50:06.167-05:002009-09-25T08:50:06.167-05:00I found this article very interesting. I think th...I found this article very interesting. I think there is a bit of doublespeak in the argument that contraception is "hostile to life itself" if the Church offers its own approved avenue of contraception whereby people can try to avoid pregnancy and make decisions regarding their situation.<br /><br />Isn't it the intention to avoid pregnancy that is considered hostile to life itself? <br /><br />Even God hasn't designed us to always be fertile. <br /><br />As always, enjoying the discussion here.suzannenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-67344077818984378702008-08-03T09:34:00.000-05:002008-08-03T09:34:00.000-05:00I've posted three other reactions to the 40th anni...I've posted <A HREF="http://www.doxaweb.com/blog/2008/08/forty-years-after-humanae-vitae.htm" REL="nofollow">three other reactions to the 40th anniversary of the encyclical over on my blog today</A>... from a lay woman, a priest, and a cardinal.CDEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01442791960391683444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-18459128538255114722008-08-02T11:49:00.000-05:002008-08-02T11:49:00.000-05:00This is one of the best blog entries I've read her...This is one of the best blog entries I've read here. Exactly right! Sexual acts--many of them, not just use of artificial means of contraception--are often intrinsically evil. In other words, no circumstance, no intentionality makes a bit of difference. That just doesn't make sense, when moral theology has allowed for "exceptions" even to the gravest of actions (e.g., the taking of another's life).<BR/><BR/>The biggest shame is that the Church, yes, was marginalized by this encyclical from the broader societal discussion on sexual morality, during decades when its voice was truly needed. <BR/><BR/>On the one hand, the disaster of Humanae Vitae will ultimately force the Church to re-examine its philsophical/theological framework for understanding sexuality. On the other hand, like the rejection of Galileo, evolution, etc. in centuries past, it will relegate the Church to the sidelines for a long, long time to come.kevin57https://www.blogger.com/profile/01681985465980196347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-5589345513330408432008-08-02T10:09:00.000-05:002008-08-02T10:09:00.000-05:00Sorry, my first comment was a bit sloppy, so I del...Sorry, my first comment was a bit sloppy, so I deleted it.<BR/><BR/><EM>In traditional Catholic morality, the nature of a human act, the intention and the circumstances must be all considered in weighing its rightness or wrongness.<BR/><BR/>But as Pope Paul presented his case, intention and circumstances are irrelevant. The nature of contraception is so heinous, so intrinsically evil that alleviating circumstance and good intention don’t count.</EM><BR/><BR/>While the criteria mentioned by the author are generally correct, the Church also teaches that some actions are gravely wrong in themselves (by the nature of the act).<BR/><BR/>John Paul II pointed this out, and in doing so made reference to Gaudium et Spes from Vatican II:<BR/><EM>...Without in the least denying the influence on morality exercised by circumstances and especially by intentions, the Church teaches that "there exist acts which per se and in themselves, independently of circumstances, are always seriously wrong by reason of their object". The Second Vatican Council itself, in discussing the respect due to the human person, gives a number of examples of such acts: "Whatever is hostile to life itself, such as any kind of homicide, genocide, abortion, euthanasia and voluntary suicide; whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture and attempts to coerce the spirit; whatever is offensive to human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution and trafficking in women and children; degrading conditions of work which treat labourers as mere instruments of profit, and not as free responsible persons: all these and the like are a disgrace, and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honour due to the Creator".</EM><BR/>(<EM><A HREF="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html" REL="nofollow">Veritatis Splendor</A></EM>, 80)<BR/><BR/>Contraception would fall under the category of acts "hostile to life itself."CDEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01442791960391683444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-19137761353668177432008-08-02T09:41:00.000-05:002008-08-02T09:41:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.CDEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01442791960391683444noreply@blogger.com