AmP Speaker of the Month: Janet Smith

This is my contribution to Fallible Blogma's Support a Catholic Speaker initiative.

Dr. Janet E. Smith is the world's leading lay authority on the Church's teaching about contraception and related moral issues.

In addition to her full-time teaching responsibilities at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Dr. Smith is a tireless world traveler on behalf of promoting the fullness of the Church's teaching on issues of sexuality, virtue ethics, and bioethics.

Over a million copies of her talk, "Contraception: Why Not" have been distributed. The apostolate One More Soul offers a free copy of her talk on CD here. You can also read the text of one of her talks here.

I have been privileged to have taken classes she has taught, and have been honored to have worked for her. She has a warm, engaging personality that compliments a dazzling intellect and a deep passion for rigorous debate in pursuit of the truth.

To contact Dr. Smith about having her speak for your parish, conference or event, email "endowedchairsasst@shms.edu". 

Her schedule tends to be very busy so please give her as much advanced notice as possible.

In Vogue: "Contraception fights global warming"

From Salon, a simple message:

"Want to combat climate change? Use birth control. Family planning is a green technology."

This sort of argument has been around for some time, in fact I blogged about a parallel argument early last month.

You know what also is a green technology? Genocide.

I mean - think about it: less people, less environmental impact.

The logic is perfect.

Oh, and lethal.

(Still, we should pray for the author, Frances Kissling, who wrote in June of this year that "It's hard for pro-choicers to admit sometimes a woman shouldn't be allowed to choose abortion -- but we have to." Now there's a concept.)

Picture: Finding the wrong path to sexual fulfillment

Alternative captions for this "Womens Rights" poster:

"What if this was your only counter-argument that pre-marital sex is wrong?"

"Now that we had sex, I sure hope that it turns out he loves me."

"I want birth control to make me happy. I mean, maybe, right?"

"Science will save me, I think."

Related: "Local Catholic Bishops Fight Wisconsin Contraceptive Coverage Mandate"

Brilliant Video - Overpopulation: The Making of a Myth

I think this is flat-out brilliant. It's factual, but accessible enough that I could see this video being widely picked-up on Facebook, MySpace, and high-school classrooms. Maybe you're the person to pick it up, in fact.

From PRI:

The Population Research Institute, a pro-life research group based in Front Royal, VA, has released the first in a series of humorous cartoons intended to disprove the myth of overpopulation.

This video, a minute and a half long, deftly refutes common misconceptions about world population, poverty, resource consumption, and the United Nations.

Here it is:

Also visited the associated website: http://www.overpopulationisamyth.com/

I've talked about the overpopulation myth before, particularly when I try to get my head around why some groups are still so desperate to spread contraception (not to mention sterilization). 

For a movement that claims to be scientifically-informed, they've sure manage to ignore confronting this truth for a long time.

Video/commentary: Really, the world needs more contraception?!

Over the past couple weeks I've been focusing on a ploy by pro-aborts to convince pro-lifers to agree on contraception as a "common ground" solution to the abortion rate in America.

Now I disagree strongly that America needs contraception, for many reasons. One of them is demographic. This video has almost 10 million views on YouTube, and while I disagree with the editorial "tone" of the video, the facts it is using are compelling.

Jump farther into it where it begins looking at numbers and predictions.

Now, after seeing that ... do we really think what the world needs is contraception (and abortion)?

I've discussed demographics before at length on AmP, especially back in early 2008:

For any questions about world religions and demographics, Philip Jenkins is the scholar to read. I don't always agree with his ecclesiology, but his knowledge of the worldwide landscape is unparalleled, and especially the situation in Africa. His 2006 article for First Things, "Believing in the Global South" is a good place to start.

For those who are looking for a book-length treatment, one might read "The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South", "The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity" or "God's Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe's Religious Crisis" (in which he claims that the "Islamification" of Europe is being over-dramatized, but Richard John Neuhaus disagrees).

That's a good place to start reading if you don't believe the West is contracepting itself out of existence.

Text: Caritas in Veritate on the teaching of Humanae Vitae

Pope Benedict's third encyclical is a mammoth work which will take some time to digest, but here is a fourth important paragraph I'd like to highlight, revealing Pope Benedict's summary of Paul VI's Humanae Vitae:

15. Two further documents by Paul VI without any direct link to social doctrine — the Encyclical Humanae Vitae (25 July 1968) and the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (8 December 1975) — are highly important for delineating the fully human meaning of the development that the Church proposes. It is therefore helpful to consider these texts too in relation to Populorum Progressio.

The Encyclical Humanae Vitae emphasizes both the unitive and the procreative meaning of sexuality, thereby locating at the foundation of society the married couple, man and woman, who accept one another mutually, in distinction and in complementarity: a couple, therefore, that is open to life. This is not a question of purely individual morality: Humanae Vitae indicates the strong links between life ethics and social ethics, ushering in a new area of magisterial teaching that has gradually been articulated in a series of documents, most recently John Paul II's Encyclical Evangelium Vitae.

Stonehill Catholic college stops condom-distributing senior

Friday is crazy Catholic news day at AmP. Last week it was the Dante's Inferno Computer Game.

This week it's the self-appointed contraception fairy....

Frustrated that her college does not distribute birth control, Stonehill College senior Katie Freitas decided she would do it herself.

After collecting hundreds of free condoms from two family-planning agencies, she and about 20 classmates placed boxes of the contraceptives in student dormitories across the Easton campus last month.

But when administrators at the Catholic school learned of the effort, they quickly intervened and collected the condoms, citing the college's ban against distributing birth control on campus.

... Freitas said she will continue to hang a bag of condoms on her dormitory door, although McGovern warned otherwise. (Boston Globe)

A bag of condoms on your dorm door? Now that's classy. That's going to send boys the right message.

Get ready for a deluge of condoms & other contraceptives

All the pieces are lining up:

"The Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood’s research arm, released a pitch today for more taxpayer funding for ‘family planning services’ – contraception and abortion. Every dollar spent on ‘family planning programs’ saves the American people $4, the study says." - Read a response from the American Life League

LifeNews: "However, the report doesn't appear to square with the facts in places where the number of abortions have been compiled following extensive promotion of family planning."

Ross Douthat: "I admire the persistence with which Will Saletan argues for common ground in the abortion debate, and attempts to sell his fellow liberals on the notion that reducing the abortion rate belongs in the Democratic Party's agenda. But I remain unconvinced that his preferred method for such reductions - a dramatic new push, whether political or cultural, to expand the use of contraception in the United States - would produce anything like the results that he envisions."

"Congress increases "family planning" budget by $95.5 million to whopping $852 million" - Jill Stanek

"Democrats in Congress are not abandoning their overall goal. They plan to push soon for a major funding increase for Title X, the main federal family planning program, as part of broader legislation endorsed by President Barack Obama to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies. The Guttmacher report provides ammunition for those who will advocate the funding increase." - AP

"Boston College Students Vote to Demand Free Condoms, Other Birth Control" - Cardinal Newman Society

[From an article promoting condom use]: "And learn to live with the guilt. Hey, I’m Catholic — you can learn to live with guilt. Potentially life-threatening infections and diseases, on the other hand, not so much."

Cartoon: The real threat to the modern world

I found this cartoon powerful:


Copyright, Artist: John Francis Borra, SFO

Obama's faith-based Innitiative to include "abortion reduction" priority

Initial coverage from WaPo:

President Obama is trying to blunt the edge of perhaps the sharpest, most divisive wedge issue in the country: abortion.

In a series of moves, Obama is attempting to nudge the debate away from the morality and legality of abortion and toward a goal he hopes both sides can endorse: decreasing the number of women who terminate their pregnancies by addressing the reasons they might choose the procedure.

The strategy is being met by deep skepticism from many prominent antiabortion activists, but it has been embraced by some others as well as by leading abortion rights activists, who hope it could fundamentally reshape one of the nation's most intransigent political stalemates

Today, the president announced the creation of a new White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which will make abortion reduction one of its priorities.

The devil is completely in the details on this one. I'm extremely pessimistic. So often "abortion reduction" simply means an excuse to fund more distribution of contraception, with no real tackling of abortion itself.

If anything actually happens, you'll hear about it here. Until then, this is just hot air.

Video: Pelosi stammers about STD earmarks

On The CBS "Early Show" today:

I explain the backstory for Pelosi's bid to include $335 million in STD prevention earmarks here.

Face it, Pelosi, there's no reason to have this stuff in the bill except that you want to sneak more money to your pet causes and organizations..... immoral causes and evil organizations, I might add.

Where is (are) the bishop(s)?

Worse than FOCA: Prevention First Act

This act, introduced three weeks ago, is more dangerous than FOCA because it is already in Congress.

{updated} Select things the Prevention First Act (PFA) will do:

• Make Title X (family planning) a permanent program and fund it at $700 million or more.
• Mandate that health insurance programs that cover prescriptions must cover abortifacient contraceptives.
• Create a government program to push abortifacient "Emergency Contraception."
• Take all federal money away from any hospital that refuses to administer the abortifacient Emergency Contraception to victims of rape.
• Create additional massive government funding for Planned Parenthood style sex education programs (abstinence-only programs are specifically excluded from funding).
  Permanently include family planning services as part of the Medicaid program.

"All of these programs will result in more babies being killed and more taxpayer money going to the largest abortion chain in the nation ? Planned Parenthood." - {Source.}

American Life League has a comprehensive overview of what this bill will bring about should it pass.

LifeNews also covered this story. They recommend contacting members of the U.S. Senate.

Ph/t: AmP Reader Fr. William.

Pelosi didn't limit herself to promoting contraception to help the economy

AmP reader Gunnar with an excellent observation:

[Seaker Nancy Pelosi] didn't limit herself to "birth control" but referred to "family planning services" which we all know is a code word which includes the "service" of abortion. I think that this should be highlighted. Although she mentioned contraception specifically with reference to the bill, she seems to be advocating all family planning services as a way to reduce costs. I think that this is a way bigger scandal that people are making it out to be, not only because of the gravely immoral support of contraception but because of the endorsement of all "family planning services" as a way to reduce government costs, especially in light of her goal of pursuing universal government provided health care.

I couldn't agree more. Her radical promotion of contraception and abortion is gravely scandalous.

Updated: Obama "personal appeal" *will* drop contraception money from stimulus plan

{post updated - see below}

Quite a development:

House Democrats are likely to jettison family planning funds for the low-income from an $825 billion economic stimulus bill, officials said late Monday, following a personal appeal from President Barack Obama at a time the administration is courting Republican critics of the legislation.

Several officials said a final decision was expected on Tuesday, coinciding with Obama's scheduled visit to the Capitol for separate meetings with House and Senate Republicans.

The provision has emerged as a point of contention among Republicans, who criticize it as an example of wasteful spending that would neither create jobs nor otherwise improve the economy. (AP)

Two initial reactions:

• It is gratifying (even encouraging) to see Obama willing to bend on such issues
• It is gratifying to see Pelosi's stupid justifications left out in the cold this time

I'll be watching this and related stories closely.

Nancy Pelosi still needs to be answered.

update: Good analysis from Ed Morrissey, along with news that Pelosi is backing down:

"Democrats thought they could sneak subsidies for Planned Parenthood into the stimulus package, and why not? After all, in a bill that will cost $825 billion, who’d notice? Unfortunately for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, George Stephanopolous did. After failing to explain how hundreds of millions of dollars in new contraception funding would stimulate anything except libidos and Democrats, Pelosi will reluctantly remove the provisions from the stimulus bill this morning...

... Reid and Pelosi wanted to toss hundreds of millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood, an important contributor to Democratic candidates and the party. It has nothing to do with economic stimulus; it has everything to do with political stimulus."

Meanwhile, over at the death-happy Feministing blog, typical cluelessness:

"It is clear that state spending on family planning services not only save the state money and time, but have greater long-term benefits for the health of our people."

How do contraceptives save money and time? Oh that's right, because abortions take money and time. Reproductive Health Reality Check is hopping mad, too:

"Women are screwed, the poor lose essential health care, the Republicans galvanize their nutcase base by removing contraception but will still run around playing the common ground card. Could it maybe have been a better idea to flip this tired script and show some muscle right now?"

Note how Pelosi, the Feministing blogger, and RHRC ... are all in complete agreement on this issue!

Video: "Pelosi says birth control will help the economy"

{updated: video added below.}

What a fine example of a Catholic witness in public office:

... not!

The sordid details:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi boldly defended a move to add birth control funding to the new economic "stimulus" package, claiming "contraception will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."

Pelosi, the mother of 5 children and 6 grandchildren, who once said, "Nothing in my life will ever, ever compare to being a mom," seemed to imply babies are somehow a burden on the treasury.

The revelation came during an exchange Sunday morning on ABC's THIS WEEK.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services. How is that stimulus?

PELOSI: Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So no apologies for that?

PELOSI: No apologies. No. we have to deal with the consequences of the downturn in our economy. (Drudge)

Pelosi has said so many stupid things before that I didn't think she could shock me still. Well, I was wrong.

What especially gets me about this statement is her obstinance ("No aplogies. No."). She makes no excuses for her radical contraceptive solution and doesn't even have the good taste to qualify her commitments for such bald-faced legislation. Instead, she's dead-set on this solution. An evil solution.

Once again, I can't help but note that she's long overdue for her promised sit-down with her bishop.

143 days, 5 hours, 02 minutes, 33 seconds....

update: even from an economic point of view, this advice is just plain stupid.

update 2 (video):

update 3: Bill Donohue:

"We have reached a new low when high-ranking public office holders in the federal government cast children as the enemy. But at least it explains their enthusiasm for abortion-on-demand."

Co-Creating with God conference a success!

I've heard a few on-the-ground reports - all of them favorable - about Sacred Heart Major Seminary's "Co-Creating with God: Humanae Vitae Today" conference (previous AmP posts about it here).

Evidently they had several hundred participants, which is a phenomenal turn-out. The local Free Press also noticed. At least one group of folks came from several states away, after seeing the event advertised here on AmP.

Be sure to check back here in case SHMS decides to post a follow-up press release about the even - I'll be sure to give that a mention. As the organizers said, "Although this is a one-time event, we hope it will bear lasting fruit in the lives of those who attend." Amen!

Related: "Canadian Bishops Issue Pastoral Letter Encouraging Faithfulness to Anti-Contraception Encyclical Humanae Vitae" (LifeSiteNews)

Reminder: This weekend, Co-Creating with God Conference

This Saturday my alma mater Sacred Heart Major Seminary is hosting a conference to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of the encyclical letter Humanae Vitae entitled "Co-Creating with God: Humane Vitae Today".

If you are free this weekend and live near Detroit, please consider attending!

Description:

"Sacred Heart Major Seminary hopes through this conference to give witness to our confidence that human experience and divine wisdom demonstrate the truth of Humanae Vitae.

Featuring 8 nationally known speakers on life issues, it is aimed at those who already embrace the document and wish to understand it more deeply, and to those who are skeptical about it."

You may register online here (walk-ins also welcome). I have more information in my first post.

"Better sterile than sorry": vasectomies in America

Lifewire has the story. I found it useful mostly for the statistics. Some snips:

• Health agency: One in six men over age 35 had a vasectomy by 2006

"In a 2007 Pew Research Center telephone survey of 2,000 U.S. men and women, only 41 percent said children are "very important to a successful marriage." In 1990, that figure was 65 percent."

McClure says he spends most of his time "putting vasectomies back together," performing more than 2,000 reversals since 1975.

"Over the last several years, it appears that more males under the age of 25 who've never had children and who had a vasectomy are coming in [for a reversal] because they've found a new partner and they want to have children," says McClure.

Question: is Sarah Palin pro-contraception?

AmP reader Nicole raised the question, but the evidence I've been able to find so far is shaky.

The only source directly claiming Palin is pro-contraception that I've been able to find is an Anchorage Daily News article from 2006 (underlining mine):

In 2002, when she was running for lieutenant governor, Palin sent an e-mail to the anti-abortion Alaska Right to Life Board saying she was as "pro-life as any candidate can be" and has "adamantly supported our cause since I first understood, as a child, the atrocity of abortion."

Palin said last month that no woman should have to choose between her career, education and her child. She is pro-contraception and said she's a member of a pro-woman but anti-abortion group called Feminists for Life.

"I believe in the strength and the power of women, and the potential of every human life," she said.

So far I've not been able to find a single corroborating source for the claim that she is pro-contraception.

CNA, reporting on Feminists for Life's reaction to the news that Sarah Palin was the GOP VP-pick, quotes their President as saying the following:

Palin’s beliefs mesh well with Feminists for Life’s goal of “systematically eliminating the root causes that drive women to abortion” and “doing so through women centered solutions.” The vice presidential nominee explained that she believes “no woman should have to choose between her career, education and her child.”

While Palin, a non-denominational Protestant, is anti-abortion, she is in support of contraception, a position that lies beyond the scope of FFL’s mission, [FFL President] Ms. Foster said.

Now, point #2: Palin appears to be pro-abstinence education.

There is, for instance, this response to a questionnaire she answered in 2006:

Question: Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?

Sarah Palin: "Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support."

The original source for this response has been taken down, but is still in the Google cache.

So... Sarah Palin is against teaching and distributing contraception in educational settings but is for contraception in general? How does that match up? Is she for teaching abstinence but, if that fails, allows resorting to contraception, especially within marriage? Sadly, that might be the most likely explanation.

In any case, I think it's an important question to ask, and as I've said, the public record is shaky, at best.

... is there more to the story?

"Bush plan would blunt state birth control law"

Pro-abortion/contraception groups are hopping mad about it, too:

A proposed Bush administration regulation on contraception and abortion would stop California from enforcing a state law that requires Catholic hospitals and charities to provide birth control coverage for thousands of female employees, state Attorney General Jerry Brown and family-planning advocates said Wednesday. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Sadly, I think they are going about this the wrong way:

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department regulation, still in draft form, would define abortion as including certain methods of contraception and would prohibit states and other recipients of federal funds from penalizing health care workers who refused to provide those services because of religious or moral beliefs.

Why not simply include contraception under the penumbra of treatments that health care workers are allowed to refuse because of religious or moral beliefs? The evidence supporting the claim that contraceptives are also abortifacients has been legitimately challenged.

In other words, sooner or later, if not already, contraceptives will not have abortifacient side effects. Then where will we be when Catholic individuals and organizations wish to refuse distributing them?

update: Dawn Eden has brought it to my attention that the San Francisco Chronicle is actually (intentionally or not) playing into the pro-choice talking points, and is not giving us the straight story.

In actuality, Secretary Mike Leavitt of the US Dep. of Health & Human Services agrees with me:

An early draft of the regulations found its way into public circulation before it had reached my review. It contained words that lead some to conclude my intent is to deal with the subject of contraceptives, somehow defining them as abortion. Not true.

The Bush Administration has consistently supported the unborn. However, the issue I asked to be addressed in this regulation is not abortion or contraceptives, but the legal right medical practitioners have to practice according to their conscience and patients should be able to choose a doctor who has beliefs like his or hers.

There, doesn't that sound far more reasonable?

Planned Parenthood has its formidable attack machine trained on Mr. Leavitt, who responds to them here:

So, according to Ms. Gallagher’s ideology, if a person goes to medical school they lose their right of conscience. Freedom of expression and action is surrendered with the issuance of a medical degree.

There is something I’d like to point out to Ms Gallagher and the people she represents. It is currently a violation of three separate federal laws to compel medical practitioners to perform a procedure that violates their conscience.

... I want to reiterate. If the Department of Health and Human Services issues a regulation on this matter, it will aim at one thing, protecting the right of conscience of those who practice medicine. From what I’ve read the last few days, there’s a serious need for it.

Continue fighting the good fight, sir.

Finally, some honesty about the effects of The Pill on relationships

The UK Times Online, in its typical British-tabloid way, published an article yesterday entitled: "The Pill may put you off smell of your man and ruin your relationship."

Caustic, sure. But accurate? Yes!

While this information has long been available, a scant few publications have actually spoken about it, leaving such pro-life, pro-Humanae Vitae catholics such as Janet Smith trying to get the word out.

Today, the media finally is beginning to catch up, even if they have to put it in their own way:

To millions of women it has been the great liberator over the past four decades, allowing them the freedom to control their fertility and their relationships. But the contraceptive Pill could also be responsible for skewing their hormones and attracting them to the “wrong” partner.

A study by British scientists suggests that taking the Pill can change a woman’s taste in men — to those who are genetically less compatible.

The research found that the Pill can alter the type of male scent that women find most attractive, which may in turn affect the kind of men they choose as partners. It suggests that the popular form of contraception — used by a quarter of British women aged between 16 and 50 — could have implications for fertility and relationship breakdowns.

The findings, from a team at the University of Liverpool, add to growing evidence that the hormones in the Pill influence the way that women assess male sexual attractiveness. (source)

Web MD has also published a story on the findings.

What should one take from these findings? Certainly not "biological determinism". Rather, this study simply bears out what some people have long known, but few secularists are willing to admit: The Pill radically and harmfully affects female physiology. As LifeSiteNews adds:

In addition to altering women's natural attraction to suitable partners, the pill also permanently damages sex drive over long-term use, according to one study (Read here).

So what, again, are some of the goals women supposedly take the pill to achieve? Oh that's right - finding a suitable, healthy partner and improving their sex lives.

... looks like the pill is 0-2.

Unearthed Vatican Letter to Bishops Emphasizes Choice of Defiance

Wow, I knew this happened, but the documentation makes it crystal clear:

During the tumultuous years of the 1960's Pope Paul VI published a controversial encyclical, Humanae Vitae, which addressed the issue of birth control in light of the arrival of the birth control pill.

Today LifeSiteNews.com is publishing a recently unearthed letter which was sent to Bishops with a pre-release copy of the encyclical. The letter, dated July 19, 1968, is signed by the late Amleto Giovanni Cardinal Cicognani, who was then-Secretary of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

The outright defiance of many priests and even bishops to Pope Paul VI's encyclical - which restated and reinforced the Church's long-time opposition to artificial birth control - is even graver in light of the carefully worded letter the bishops received specifically pointing to the urgent need for unity on the matter.

[Read more about the letter.]

[Read the actual text of the letter.]

Meanwhile? Are Catholics ready to hear about the Church's teaching?

Maybe not everwhere, but sometimes ... they applaud.

"Contraceptives affect environment too, water expert tells conference"

Truth makes interesting bedfellows, in this case pro-lifers and environmentalists (and no, I'm not saying they're contradictory causes, I'm saying that often, sadly, the latter are at-odds with the former):

Mark W. LeChevallier agrees with Dr. Lester Ruppersberger, a pro-life obstetrician and gynecologist, that natural family planning is safe, healthy and effective. But he would add one more characteristic: It's environmentally responsible.

... In a talk with the daunting title of "Endocrine Disruptions: Chemical Contraceptives in Sewage Effluents," LeChevallier explained that like secondhand smoke, "secondhand estrogens are being released into the environment," to devastating effect on fish, panthers, alligators and other wildlife. (CNS)

I'm not sure I'd take it quite this far:

He said touting the environmental benefits of natural family planning "can be a new way to evangelize youths" and attract them to the church-approved method of postponing pregnancy.

The real way to attract them is the physiological, psychological and spiritual benefits, but sure - environmental as well. The rest of what he says is sound, informed and so desparately needs to be heard by our culture and youth especially.

Note: John Allen (personally) and National "Catholic" Reporter on Humanae Vitae

Fr. Z takes a look at both:

• John Allen gets a "pass" to "good"
• National Catholic Reporter gets a "fail" to "excommunicate"

I'm pleased to see the former, and not surprised to see the latter.

Is anything different 40 years later? Yes.

A particularly sad and encompassing example of dissent is presented by Fr. Richard McBrien (of the University of Notre Dame) upon the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae.

He cites the same, tired arguments that have been circulated against the teaching about contraception, and ends with this question: "Is the situation any different today, on the fortieth anniversary?"

My answer is yes, the situation is very different, but you, sir, sadly, are not.

(And that difference is not, I might add, in the teaching, but in the reception of it by the people of God - particularly my own generation - and the proven veracity of the predictions that document made.)

"Papal spokesman calls Catholics for Choice ad 'paid propaganda'"

Good to see the Vatican speaking out:

Responding to an open letter from dissident groups asking Pope Benedict XVI to change church teaching on birth control, the pope's spokesman said the letter was "paid propaganda in favor of the use of contraceptives."

The letter, sponsored by the U.S.-based Catholics for Choice and signed by dozens of its national chapters, sections of We Are Church and groups promoting women's ordination, was published July 25 in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

... Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the papal spokesman, told Vatican Radio that the ad was "nothing new" from a collection of small groups already known for their opposition to church teaching on a variety of topics."

In addition, the harshest accusation -- that the Catholic position is the cause of the spread of AIDS and, therefore, of suffering and death, blocking enlightened policies of public health -- is demonstrably unfounded," he said.

The spread of AIDS has nothing to do with someone's religion, he said, and policies responding to AIDS that rely chiefly on the distribution of condoms "have largely failed."

"Responding to AIDS requires interventions that are much deeper and detailed," he said, and Catholic agencies and religious orders are actively involved in those projects.

The most interesting thing about the protest letter, Father Lombardi said, was the fact that "it does not touch -- in anyway -- the true question at the center of 'Humanae Vitae,' which is the connection between spouses' human and spiritual relationship and the exercise of their sexuality as an expression of it and its fruitfulness."

"In the entire letter," he said, "the word 'love' does not appear once."

Father Lombardi said the letter does not "express a theological or moral position," but seemed to be "paid propaganda in favor of the use of contraceptives. One also could ask who paid for it and why." (CNS)

I normally tend to not quote articles at great length, allowing instead my readers to follow through themselves if they have an interest. But I found everything Lombardi had to say to be topical and enlightening. Well done!

Humanae Vitae 40th Anniversary Post

(this post will be updated throughout the day .... see below)

Marcel LeJeune brought this to my attention:

The Vindication of Humanae Vitae by Mary Eberstadt

That Humanae Vitae and related Catholic teachings about sexual morality are laughingstocks in all the best places is not exactly news. Even in the benighted precincts of believers, where information from the outside world is known to travel exceedingly slowly, everybody grasps that this is one doctrine the world loves to hate. During Benedict XVI’s April visit to the United States, hardly a story in the secular press failed to mention the teachings of Humanae Vitae, usually alongside adjectives like “divisive” and “controversial” and “outdated.” In fact, if there’s anything on earth that unites the Church’s adversaries—all of them except for the Muslims, anyway—the teaching against contraception is probably it.

Humanae Vitae was promulgated 40 years today.

Also... Listen to a recorded debate between Dr. Janet Smith and Charlie Curran on contraception:

• [Listen to Part One] - Dr. Smith and Fr. Curran give their presentations and rebuttals.
• [Listen to Part Two] - They ask each other questions, and take more from the audience.

Note: Each file is roughly 25mb, so they will take a little while to download even on a broadband connection.

My description:

Pro-Life activist Dr. Janet Smith debated the dissenter Dr. Charles Curran in front of a packed Dallas audience in 1994. I think the debate is well worth a focused listening because Dr. Smith and Dr. Curran are widely recognized as the top proponents of their respective positions on the contraception issue (at least in the US), and it's a rare occurrence indeed to hear two figures of their stature debating each other live.

Perhaps this weekend would be a good chance to set aside a bit of time and give it a listen.

And for a secular perspective: Forty years of 'Humanae Vitae' (Irish Times)

Plenty of work to do.

update: Cardinal James Francis Stafford shows us the path towards Humanae Vitae and since its publication from an insider's/scholar's perspective.

The "Reproductive Health" blog, meanwhile, reminds us that the culture of death has set its sights squarely on squarely on the Philippines. Surprise, surprise: the author references Catholics for Free Choice.

Good: "U.S. bishops launch Natural Family Planning Awareness Week"

This is a good, positive way to approach Catholics (and non-Catholics) about artificial contraception alternatives as the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae approaches this Friday:

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has launched “Natural Family Planning Awareness Week” to promote Catholic teaching about human sexuality, marital love, and responsible parenthood as the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae approaches.

...

Natural Family Planning (NFP) uses a variety of methods for married couples to determine the signs of a woman’s fertility to help conceive a child, or for serious reasons, to avoid a pregnancy, but still maintaining an openness to life. (CNA)

The URL is: http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/nfp/nfpweek/

They also offer a poster suitable for putting up on your parish's bulletin board, which you can download in English & Spanish (PDF files), or order it.

Confratenity of Catholic Clergy defends Humanae Vitae on its 40th anniversary

Stories relating to Humanae Vitae (explicitly and implicitly, or tangentially) have been increasing lately in anticipation of its 40th anniversary on July 25th. Notably among these is the outrageous decision of "Catholics for Choice" to publish an open letter to Pope Benedict criticizing the church's constant teaching against artificial contraception.

I'm happy to see, therefore, that the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy (who generously invited me to their convocation in Baltimore last week) is jumping into the breach:

The leader of "Catholics" for Choice argued that in some countries where Catholic institutions exercise great power, people "are dying as a result of the ban" on contraceptives. His statement presumably referred to the argument that AIDS is spread by the lack of access to condoms.

However, the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, a group of 600 orthodox Catholic priests and deacons, meeting in Baltimore last week, strongly endorsed the Church's teaching. Referring to the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae, in which Pope Paul VI reinforced the traditional teaching, the Confraternity approved a statement asking "all its brother clergy to teach, explain, and defend this timely encyclical."

"While sometimes a difficult teaching to embrace and maintain, it is nevertheless the only means to uphold the natural law and to safeguard the sanctity of the human person, marriage, and the family as well as civilization itself," the Confraternity proclaimed. The group pointed out that in the 40 years since Pope Paul issued the encyclical, the steadily growing public acceptance of contraception has been associated with epidemics of sexual promiscuity, deviancy, venereal disease, divorce, illegitimacy, and other problems including sharp increases in breast cancer and uterine cancer. (CWNews)

LifeNews has more on the story. You can also read more on the Catholic and Christian newswires.

Please consider making a donation to the CCC or sponsoring your priest for a CCC membership to support the good work they are doing and spread awareness their joyful, firm obedience to the Church's teaching.

"Catholics for Choice" to publish open letter to Pope criticizing Humanae Vitae

The nerve:

A group of Catholic dissenters plans to publish an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI in a major U.S. and a major Italian newspaper criticizing Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae on the fortieth anniversary of its promulgation, July 25. The group Catholics for Choice (CFC) claims that the encyclical’s teaching against contraception has been an “utter failure” that endangers women’s lives and leaves millions at risk of HIV. However, a major pro-life leader said the group’s accusations were hard to take seriously. (CNA)

Meanwhile, in the corridors of sanity:

On 40th anniversary, 'Humanae Vitae' starts to gain more attention "Humanae Vitae" ("Of Human Life"), Pope Paul VI's encyclical on artificial contraception and the role of procreation in marriage, turns 40 July 25 and seems to be finding new life across the country.

"There is an army of people out there right now who are desirous of getting this message out," said Janet Smith, professor of moral theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in the Detroit Archdiocese.

Smith, who has taken her "Contraception Why Not" presentation across the U.S. and Canada, is finding that while the numbers may not be overwhelming, a growing number of people are beginning to understand the connection between the sexual freedom that emerged in the 1960s and today's violence, depiction of women as sex objects and high incidence of divorce.

"It seems to me that 40 years ago people thought that contraception would be advantageous. Now 40 years later, we'd better rethink that," she said. (CNS)

There's nothing like having reality on your side when you're trying to make a point.

Does Having Kids Makes You Happy?

Newsweek says it doesn't, and cites surveys.

I say they should reevaluate their questions.

Plus, I find it very intriguing that they would choose to publish such an article so close to the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae. What, are they trying to console all those folks who chose to contracept instead of having children, telling them, in other words, that they're probably happier off for it?

Tip: Resources for preaching/teaching Humanae Vitae

Courtesy of Human Life International:

• PREACHING HUMANAE VITAE
• PARISH BULLETIN INSERTS FOR HUMANAE VITAE 40th ANNIVERSARY
• Benedict XVI and Contraception, Part 1
• Benedict XVI and Contraception, Part 2

The 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, the papal document which reaffirmed the Church's teaching against contraception, is this July 25th.

What a wonderful thing it would be if priests would take this opportunity to either re-affirm the teaching to their congregations, or preach about the evils of contraception for the first time from the pulpit!

See also:

Humane Vitae turns 40

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Mary Eberstadt’s excellent piece from our current issue — viewable online for free — “The Vindication of Humanae Vitae.” In it, you’ll find a comprehensive survey of the current data which, although drawn from secular sources, illustrates the warnings and predictions of Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical almost to the T.

Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review Online also questions the empty promises of liberation and empowerment that contraception was purported to fulfill for women, and contrasts it with what’s actually followed — largely, a growing degradation of women — which looks remarkably like what Humanae Vitae predicted.

*Save the Date* "Co-Creating with God: Humanae Vitae Today" (Sep. 20)

updated 9/16 (see below...)

Here's something you don't want to miss!

On Sep. 20th, Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit is hosting a conference to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of the encyclical Humanae Vitae entitled "Co-Creating with God: Humanae Vitae Today".

Presenters include Dr. Michael Waldstein, Dr. Janet Smith and Dr. Pia de Solenni. I've had the privilege to study under the first two and can highly recommend them to my readers. You can see the full list of presenters here. Also, the conference's Mass celebrant and homilist is Bishop Robert Carlson of Saginaw (pitured right)!

More about the conference:

The fortieth anniversary of the landmark encyclical Humanae Vitae (On Human Life) of Pope Paul VI is being celebrated this year. Catholics are generally misinformed about the Church's teaching on birth control. In response, Sacred Heart Major Seminary has developed a one-day conference, "Humanae Vitae Today: Co-Creating with God," which will examine the encyclical's critical and prophetic teachings. The conference will be held at the seminary on Saturday, September 20, 2008, from 9:00 AM until 8:30 PM.

.... Sacred Heart Major Seminary hopes through this conference to give witness to our confidence that human experience and divine wisdom demonstrate the truth of Humanae Vitae. Featuring seven nationally known speakers on life issues, it is aimed at those who already embrace the document and wish to understand it more deeply, and to those who are skeptical about it.

Although this is a one-time event, we hope it will bear lasting fruit in the lives of those who attend. [More]

Resources:

• Conference information and registration sheet (PDF)
• Facebook Event Page - Spread the word!

Contact: (313) 883-8792 // keller.marybeth@shms.edu. Registration here.

Please help me spread awareness. I'd love to see this conference well attended.

update: I've been provided with the speaker topics and descriptions:

Pia: “Generations X and Y and Humanae Vitae”

Many experts have commented on the fallout of Humanae Vitae (or rather the fallout from the neglect and refusal of this monumental document). Forty years later, there are signs that younger generations are understanding Humanae Vitae better than their parents and grandparents if only because they've had to live through the original fallout. Even the oft criticized mainstream media or secular media can't avoid certain truths about life and love that can be used effectively to teach the truths of marriage - truths that apply even to non-Catholics.

Alexanders: “Sex, Lies and the Truth of Humanae Vitae ”

Several years ago when Julie and Greg Alexander were considering a divorce, a priest challenged them to live their marriage in accord with Church teaching. They are now devoting their lives to helping others find the happiness they have found in living by Church teaching rather than the destructive mores of modern culture.


Fagan: “Contraception as a Social Justice Issue”

The contraceptive revolution led to multiple crises in social justice in matters of birth, marriage, family and society, such as increases in unwed pregnancy, abortion, divorce, and poverty. Social science data subsequent to Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae (1968) tends to support the Pope's depiction of what works (and does not work) for human nature in life, love and sexuality.

[Special Lunch Hour Presenter:]

Dr. Mark Latkovic, professor of moral and systematic theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, has written and spoken widely on bioethical issues. He will review the principles of Humanae Vitae for the attendees during the lunch hour.

Waldstein: “Theology of the Body and Humanae Vitae”

The question of contraception is not simply one among other moral questions of our age. In his Theology of the Body, John Paul II shows that it is a pivotal question. It is the question in which the many concerns of our age come together as in a tight knot.

Smith: “Parents as Co-Creators with God”

One of the great joys and responsibilities of marriage is having children. In doing so, they become “co-creators” with God. In having conjugal relations they invite God to create a new human soul and he entrusts that soul to them with the gift of a child. This truth is a truth that underlies all of sexual morality.

Sure looks like a powerhouse line up!

Other blogs which have linked to this post:

• Against the Grain: 40th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae
• Catholic & Loving It: Humanae Vitae Roundup Bonanza!
• Curt Jester: One-day conference to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae

Have you blogged about this conference? Drop me a line and I'll add you to this list!

It's WPD 2008!

No, this blog title is not a typo. I don't mean "WYD" (World Youth Day), I mean "World Population Day." It was technically July 11, as the girls at Feministing have informed me.

The Bush administration, to their ire, has blocked funding to it for the seventh consecutive year (good for them), despite the Feministas claiming that "Family planning is a human right."

The spiel from the United Nations Population Fund:

n 1968, world leaders proclaimed that individuals have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and timing of their children. Forty years later, modern contraception remains out of reach for hundreds of millions of women, men and young people.

This year’s World Population Day reaffirms the right of people to plan their families. It encourages activities, events and information that will help make this right real – especially for those who often have the hardest time getting the information and services they need to plan their families, such as marginalized populations and young people.

When people can plan their families, they can plan their lives. They can plan to beat poverty. They can plan on healthier mothers and children. They can plan to gain equality for women. Plan to support World Population Day this year!

A 10 second Google search, however, reveals the other things the UNFPA supports:

• UNFPA Population Awards Honor Abortion Advocates: "One of the awards’ most controversial past recipients was Qian Xinzhong, who as minister of China's State Family Planning Commission was responsible for overseeing China’s draconian one-child policy, which included forced abortion and mandatory sterilization."
• US Government Withholds UNFPA Funding over Coerced Abortion for Another Year
• 'Abolish the United Nations Population Fund': "It is an organization that was set up in 1968 for the purpose of reducing fertility rates around the world, and over the past three-and-a-half decades it has not deviated from that purpose. To give you one example, the U.N. Population Fund recently offered the government of Pakistan $250 million in aid in return for the insertion of sex education programs in all of the primary and secondary schools throughout Pakistan, sex education programs which would not only provide-impose-sex education on young and innocent children but would also attempt to instill in them norms of small family size, to instill in them anti-natal attitudes."
• UN Declares Abortion a Universal Right; Enforced Pregnancy an International Crime: "At issue are globally guaranteed "freedom of sexual expression," access to contraceptives and abortion for the world's youth (defined by the UN World Health Organization as 10-18 year olds) without parental consent, and the demand that abortion and "gender equity" be granted status as a universal human right."
• U.N. plans ways to limit births: the United Nations population fund supports abortion and sterilization programs throughout the third world and is seeking to impose birth-control methods as human rights

The message? Birth control: it's for other people (mostly the poor).

Disaster at Myanmar? Quick - send them condoms!

Via Curt Jester and the Anchoress, something I just can't understand:

220 000 condoms off to Myanmar

Bangkok - The United Nations will send nearly a quarter of a million condoms into cyclone-hit Myanmar to help needy survivors with no access to contraceptives, a UN official says.

So far, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said it had sent 72 800 condoms to survivors struggling to maintain their family planning after the storm hit in early May.

A total of 218 400 condoms would be delivered, UNFPA aid advisor Chaiyos Kunanusont said.

"We don't want regular use of contraception disrupted. An emergency usually damages the health system, so people don't have access to condoms and contraceptives," said Chaiyos.

"Needy survivors" who need .... condoms?! "Struggling survivors" who struggle ... to maintain their family planning?! How does this sort of decision make any sort of sense in even a secular perspective?

Oh that's right. I guess it's future disaster prevention. Because if there are less people, there are less fatalities.

Catholic Cherie Blair defends her use of contraception

A brief dip into the UK tabloids, where Catholic Cherie Blair defends her use of contraception. Local press thinks she's talking about this sort of stuff to sell her recently released memoirs.

The international press, however, has at times been quick to see this as a case of a high-level dissent, when actually it strikes me rather more as a case of ordinary ignorance and uncaring:

Former British prime minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie has defended her use of contraception despite calling herself a "good Catholic girl".

Mrs Blair, whose husband coverted to Catholicism after leaving office last June, made the comments after she revealed in a new book how her fourth child was conceived accidentally, during a holiday with teh Queen.

"People seem to be quite shocked that perhaps a Catholic girl even uses contraception,'' she told GMTV television.

"But it is really an important thing for women .. One of the reasons women's lives have changed is that they have been able to control their fertility, it is an important issue."

In her just-published autobiography, Speaking for Myself, Mrs Blair describes how the birth of the couple's last child Leo followed a visit to the queen's Balmoral Scottish residence in 1999.

She tells how she had not packed her "contraceptive equipment'' because the previous year it had embarrassingly been discovered, unpacked along with a "range of unmentionables''.

"As usual up there, it had been bitterly cold, and what with one thing and another... but then, I thought, I can't be. I'm too old. It must be the menopause,'' she said. (source)

Spare me. This is a classic example of the "it's just common sense" defense of contraception.

Her husband Tony Blair has also publicly held several positions contrary to the Church's teaching.

Tip: Get a *free* copy of "Contraception, Why Not"

I love telling my readers how to get quality Catholic content, for free (or at a ridiculous discount, in some cases).

Here's an example of free:

"Contraception: Why Not is a powerful presentation that challenges America to rethink its contraceptive mindset. To help people understand the contraception situation better, One More Soul offers one free copy of this talk to any new customer.

For more about Professor Smith and her available publications click here.

To see more of our radically pro-life resources, please visit our online catalog."

In all seriousness, if you know someone who is using contraception, or wants to understand the Church's teaching more fully, get this CD . I've listened to it before and it is, without a doubt, the single most effective one-stop explanation. Dr. Smith goes far beyond the "why nots" and explains the "whys." A must-have for Catholic youth.

If you have a Catholic tip you'd like people to hear about, drop me an email: "thomas [at] americanpapist.com".

Ph/t: AmP reader Nicole.

"Study links birth control pill to arterial plaque" - Reuters

Reuters:

A European study released on Tuesday has raised new concerns about the safety of women's long-term use of the birth control pill, suggesting increased risk of heart attack or stroke.

Women who had used oral contraceptives were more likely than those who did not take the pill to have a buildup of plaque in their arteries, the researchers told an American Heart Association meeting.

... Rietzschel's team studied 1,301 women ages 35 to 55.

Of them, 81 percent had used the pill, for an average of 13 years. The researchers saw a rise of 20 to 30 percent in arterial plaque in two big arteries -- the carotid in the neck and the femoral in the leg -- for each decade of use.

But the recommendation?

Rietzschel said he did not think the findings should trigger alarms about the safety of the pill.

"Bottom line -- don't discontinue your pill suddenly. Don't panic. Don't call your gynecologist tomorrow morning," Rietzschel said.

... what?

At the same time:

Dr. Gordon Tomaselli, a Johns Hopkins University cardiologist and American Heart Association official, said he was surprised by the findings.

"It's a bit eye-opening, I think," Tomaselli said in an interview.

... "What would I tell my daughter to do? I might suggest maybe not oral contraception," Tomaselli said.

Because heaven forbid that she not supress her fertility: better to take the above-mentioned risks!

Bp. Richard Malone speaks out against middle-school contraceptives

CWNews:

Bishop Richard Malone of Portland, Maine, has strongly objected to a decision by the city’s school board that will make contraceptives available to middle-school students.
"I join the number of parents who have expressed their outrage and disbelief at the decision which affects young girls aged 11 to 14 years old," the bishop said. He was responding to a new policy that will allow distribution of birth-control devices to students, without the knowledge of their parents.

Diogenes notes an unexplained absence.

Brief AP coverage here. CNA does a bit better here.

Update: Good observations from a simple practical stand point:

11-year-old children need their parents involved in their medical care. Period. We need to check their temperatures and give them Ibuprofin when they need it, talk with their doctors, understand how their prescription drugs interact, make sure they drink enough fluids when they have the flu...and we sure as [heck] need to know when they're taking hormone-altering drugs that can have serious short and long-term side-effects. [full post.]

Cardinal Pell's apt - and memorable - "Donald Duck heresy"

Update: David @ C-N-S has a good break-down of the Cardinal's argument in short hand.

Cardinal Pell has been too-long absent from AmP coverage. Reading about his constant witness and energetic teaching to build up a culture of life around the world is always a strong gust of fresh air:

In his recent book “God and Caesar,” the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, said a “common heresy of our times” is believing that Catholics can accept and practice contraception, using the “primacy of conscience” as a justification.

Taking a metaphor from Oxford professor Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, the cardinal called this belief that has spread among Catholics the “Donald Duck heresy,” referring to the Disney character who "knows it all", and "has an unshakeable conviction of self-righteousness." The self-indulgent duck, explains Pell is well-meaning but "his activity is often disastrous for himself and others."

The same thing happens with Catholics who practice and promote a disordered vision of human sexuality through contraception, abortion and the destruction of embryos.

With claims to "primacy of conscience," he said, “they falsely believe themselves in the right, while they thus distort the image of God which the Creator intended to convey in the fruitful sexual union of husband and wife.”

"Too many 'Donald Ducks' produce a 'feel good' society, which works to remove personal guilt, anything that would make people feel uncomfortable, and complacent self-satisfaction becomes a virtue," writes Pell. "Confession of sins is replaced with therapy, and self-reproach with self-discovery."

Cardinal Pell noted that the false conception of the “primacy of conscience” was the object of John Paul II’s 1993 encyclical Veritatis Splendor.

"Only truth, or the Word of God has primacy, and is the ultimate rule of action.” The individual conscience is necessary, but sometimes insufficient. “Even a genuine searcher for truth can be mistaken, sometimes with disastrous consequences," he added.

The book is a compilation of essays the Cardinal has penned over the years. In one essay which was delivered as a talk to the Linicare Conference in the UK in 2000, under the title "The Role of the Bishop in Promoting the Gospel of Life", the Cardinal warns that the Catholic Church would not grow unless the full teaching of the Church on life issues was promoted. "Tactical silence", as practiced by many bishops, would in fact stifle growth, he suggested. [CNA]

Needless to say, I expect him to shine at World Youth Day in Sydney next year.

Videos: NFP vs. Contraception (a la Apple)

A seminarian for the Diocese of Saginaw sent along a link to these three excellent videos entitled "NFP vs. Contraception," done in the style of those popular Apple commercials.

The actors are seminarians who recently participated in the Institute for Priestly Formation in Omaha, Nebraska. I've studied with both of them and I have to tip my hat - they did an awesome job!

Video 1:


Video 2:


Video 3:

Spread the word!