‘Humanae Vitae’: Living the Gospel of Life

This past July 25 marked the 40th anniversary of the landmark encyclical letter by Pope Paul VI, “Humanae Vitae”  (“On Human Life”). In this prophetic document the Holy Father reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s constant teaching about the “inseparable connection” between the “unitive meaning and the procreative meaning” of marital love (12).

 In focusing on this link between marital intimacy and the new life dimension of marriage, between spousal love and fertility, the pope was simply proclaiming what previous generations had always accepted: by its nature, human sexuality is ordered to married love and parenthood. Why did his words meet with such opposition? Why do so many Catholics today still question and even reject this important teaching of the Church?

There have been many insightful articles written over these past two months commemorating the anniversary of “Humanae Vitae” which help to shed light on these questions. In my mind it ultimately comes down to a lack of trust in God and in the wisdom of the Catholic faith. We as a society and a culture have been led to believe that everything belongs to us, that we are in total control of our lives. It is this false understanding of reality that has helped cultivate today’s pervasive “contraceptive mentality.” I am reminded of G.K. Chesterton’s paradoxical definition of birth control, “no birth and no control.”

The reality is that we belong to God. “Humanae Vitae” means “of human life” and human life came from God, belongs to God, and goes back to God. “You are not your own,” St. Paul writes. “You have been bought at a price” (1 Cor 6:19-20). If we are under the illusion that we are in control of human life, when it begins and when it ends, and we think that “this is my life, my body, my choice,” then there is a natural progression to abortion, euthanasia, homosexual acts, pornography, embryonic destructive research, divorce, sexually transmitted diseases, abuse of women and a host of other social and moral evils.
The experience of the last 40 years confirms the fact that Paul VI’s 1968 letter was prophetic in so many ways. Both contraception and its related evils spring from this illusion that we are in control of these “foundational” goods. Pope Paul VI foretold in 1968 that there would be “marital infidelity,” “a general lowering of moral standards,” men who will “forget the reverence due to woman” and “reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of their own desires,” and the misuse of government power to manipulate population growth (17).

 The Church, however, does not reject the use of contraception because it is an act that has bad consequences. Rather, the Church teaches that since contraception is an intrinsically evil action, it is predictable that it will have bad consequences. The Church teaches that contraception is wrong because it violates the very purpose of human sexual love, and therefore violates the dignity of the human person. Pope John Paul II, in the enormous body of work he has left us on this subject, has taught us that the sexual act speaks a nuptial language of total self-giving and his insight that contraception diminishes that self-giving, has made a profound contribution to our understanding of the evil of contraception. 

I have worked with college students and young adults for more than 12 years now, over half of my priesthood. This new generation is tired of the old lies and false promises that my generation has selfishly offered them. We have failed our young people, and for this I am sorry. Young hearts want to believe that there must be something better, something more beautiful, true and good for their future. They are open to the beauty of the Church’s teaching on chaste love, human sexuality and marriage. They are willing to make the sacrifices to embrace the fullness of the gospel of life. We as bishops, priests, parents and teachers, need to have the confidence to both live and preach this gospel of life with conviction, confidence and unselfish love.

Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley will be a keynote presenter at the annual Oct. 25 Gospel of Life conference. Theme of the conference is “Humanae Vitae”: 40 Years Later.