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  Humanae Vitae: A Renaissance of Solid Catholic Doctrine.

Daniel Kedinger

Pope Paul VI in 1968 issued a letter on the regulation of birth titled Humanae Vitae. The encyclical letter, as extremely controversial as it was, did nothing more than affirm the Roman Catholic Church’s long standing doctrinal and social teaching.  It is evident throughout the document that Paul VI attempts to shed light on modern problems with a lamp of the Church’s firm doctrinal principles.  This document has met with much controversy and continues even today to spur much debate.  Its release was preceded by a commission organized by the order of Pope John XXIII consisting of cardinals, bishops, theologians, scientists and doctors, and many single and married lay persons with the purpose of discerning all the issues surrounding the regulation of birth.  The commission presented their findings and much to their surprise, Humanae Vitae was released with an opposite stance.  This fueled much confusion, but the encyclical states that the Church can not waiver from her firm moral teaching. “The Church has always provided-and even more amply in recent times” as Paul VI puts it is “a coherent teaching concerning both the nature of marriage and the correct use of conjugal rights and the duties of husband and wife.”[1]  The encyclical when read lightly appears to be merely document with information on artificial birth control, but when approached scholastically shines out as a rich exegesis of catholic doctrinal principles and social teaching.  Paul VI pulls much of his material from previously written documents on Catholic social thought from the Second Vatican council up to his own encyclical Populorum Progressio.  Even though written in 1968 it proves to be a document on the threshold of the past, present, and future.  In its treatment of the past, it beautifully expounds upon the twofold faith of Sacred Scripture and Tradition while in the same swoop projecting a prophetic voice of the future.  Through the eyes of this document it becomes apparent that there is a slow patient theological development of the Church’s doctrinal and social teaching continuing even today in the current pontiff’s writings on sex, marriage, and the human person.  This document stands at a point of a new renaissance, a rebirth of Catholic doctrine presenting nothing new, but born again in the unswerving tradition of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Commission, the Magisterium’s Reply, and some Criticisms

In 1963, Pope John XXIII initiated a commission to investigate the topic of the problems of population, family and birth. This commission consisted of physicians, theologians, philosophers, demographers, psychologists, zoologists, economists, bishops and cardinals, as well as lay married and single persons. It had as its task to examine different opinions and concerns amongst the people of God pertaining to the current issues.  That commissions objective was, amongst others, to furnish opportune elements of information so that the Magisterium could give an adequate reply to the expectation not only of the faithful, but also of the world opinion.[2]  This commission’s findings were submitted in 1966 to the Vatican with the conclusion that approximately 90% of the entire commission were in full agreement that birth control was not intrinsically evil. As one of the commission participants Patty Crowley, a wife and mother from the United States, remarked, “We left the last meeting thinking that a document presenting love and marriage in a very positive manner would come from Rome.”[3]  On July 25, 1968 the encyclical was released in contrast to the findings of the commission.  “Pope Paul VI’s reaffirmation of the constant Church teaching was a surprise and a disappointment to many.”[4]  Crowley remarks that she felt betrayed by the church and its response to the commission’s findings. Many critics comment that there was a total lack on the Church’s part to see a development in the Church’s moral teaching and to favor an extreme and exclusionary conservatism.

Many critics have presented what they see as deficiencies in the document’s response to the development of Catholic moral teaching. One such critic, Luke Timothy Johnson, finds five major deficiencies in Humanae Vitae. His first criticism is that the document does not take into account the maturation of the moral theology of the period leading up to and following Vatican II.[5]  Next he argues that Paul VI’s treatment of birth control and abortion were logically contradictory.  His argument is that Paul VI by elevating the moral seriousness of birth control to the same level as abortion provoked the opposite result of the one he intended.[6] He goes on to point out that the document’s treatment of women presents a sexism consistent throughout official Catholicism.[7] This criticism focuses on Paul’s discussion of birth control contributing to an objectification of women by men. Johnson argues that only treating the issue of women as passive sexual instruments actually objectifies women and disregards the issue of women’s moral agency in the realm of sexual relations. His final point is that Humanae Vitae while absolutely prohibiting artificial birth control it stands in contradiction to massive medical realities on the issue. He argues that the concept of the documents “openness to life” stands against compassion for millions of Africans dieing of a sexual pandemic of the HIV virus and becomes a cover for “death-dealing.”  For Johnson, Humanae Vitae failed to convince most of its readers not least because its reader knew that Paul VI spoke in the face of the recommendations of his own birth-control commission, but simply because it pitted papal authority against science and the papacy was wrong both substantively and formally.

Luke Timothy Johnson’s main argument of the document’s failure to follow in the tradition of the church seems a bit skewed when a true scholastic discernment of the document presents a firm adherence as well as modern development of Sacred Scripture and doctrine.  Paul VI remark’s on the commission that Johnson so fervently defends, is that it does not in actuality keep with sound moral teaching.

The conclusions at which the commission arrived could not, nevertheless, be considered by us as definitive, nor dispense us from a personal examination of this serious question; and this also because, within the commission itself, no full concordance of judgments concerning the moral norms to be proposed had been reached, and above all because certain criteria of solutions had emerged which departed from the moral teaching on marriage proposed with constant firmness by the teaching authority of the Church.[8]

It is the Pope’s argument that the commission stands in opposition to thousands of years of Catholic teaching.  His refusal to accept totally their findings is not simply founded on an extreme conservatism of “official Catholicism” but is deeply rooted in St. Paul.  In St. Paul’s letter to the Church in Corinth he conveys the caution of contrary doctrine.  “For if someone comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted…such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, who masquerade as apostles of Christ.”[9]  Here St. Paul indicates that one who teaches other than the Gospel of Christ is a false apostle not in line with the Church. In Humanae Vitae it is evident that this document presents the Gospel and the teaching of the apostles developed through the centuries. It is pope’s point that the Magisterium is competent to interpret the natural moral law as have been argued by his predecessors as well as declared by Christ in giving His divine authority to the apostles.[10]

The Unwavering Doctrinal Principles of the Church

            When beginning to read Humanae Vitae, if one pays attention to the footnotes it becomes increasingly apparent that the material contained within the encyclical flows from a host of rich and authoritative sources of Catholic teaching.  These sources vary from ecumenical councils to social and doctrinal encyclicals. A large portion of the documents context comes out of the Second Vatican Council, especially the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes.  Although Luke Timothy Johnson argues that Humanae Vitae fails to take into account the development in moral theology leading up to and following Vatican II, it appears this is not so.  Another strong source used throughout the document is the social encyclicals of Mater et Magistra (John XXIII), Pacem in Terris (John XXIII), Populorum Progressio (Paul VI).  These three documents compose a large majority of the development of Catholic social teaching beginning with Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum.  There is also noticeably a heavy emphasis on Sacred Scripture in the document. In a 15 page document scripture is quoted approximately 15 times throughout the course of the encyclical.  With these three deposits of catholic teaching a stream of doctrine flows forth from the seemingly small encyclical on the regulation of birth.

Scriptural Foundations

            Within the first four paragraphs of the document Paul VI uses scripture to set the foundation for his encyclical Humanae Vitae. Although the scriptures do not explicitly state with a commandment “Thou shalt not use contraception,” it does develop strong evidence that contraception is not within God’s divine will and plan for humanity.  Dr. Janet Smith has derived four main themes within Scripture that help develop this prohibition of contraception.[11]  The first and second are connected with the idea that a high value is placed on procreation and as a curse placed on sterility.  There also is a strict condemnation of all sexual acts that run contrary to the procreation. And finally Smith sees in scripture a likening of Christ’s relationship to His Church to that of a bridegroom to his bride, a union that is meant to be a fecund relationship, one that will bring forth many sons and daughters of God.

            The first significant text in scripture can be found in the very beginning of Genesis.  It is here that man receives the first commandment from God, to “be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.”[12]  Here is an indication for man and woman to share in God’s abundance and fecundity through his procreative power.  “Thus, fertility and fruitfulness seem to be part of the covenant that man has with God.”[13]  This same mandate is repeated to Noah in Genesis 9:1 and then again to Abraham.  God indicates that man by His divine directive is to procreate.  This portrays a positive view of human sexual fertility. On the opposing side scripture also deals with the negative aspect of infertility. Throughout the Old Testament fertility is looked upon as a gift from God.  It is evident that God bestows upon people this gift as a reward for doing his will.  As the Psalmist recounts, “Behold, sons are a gift from the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward.”[14]  By the same token when infertility is present it becomes a curse in which God is begged to release a woman from childlessness.  Special mention is made here to emphasis that though people are infertile it doesn’t necessarily mean they are cursed or unable to enter into a loving sexual union. Archbishop Charles Caput in his 30 year anniversary pastoral letter takes special care to address this issue. “Spouses’ self-giving in one flesh remains the most intimate, powerful and life-giving expression of their love for one another, even when nature, or some problem of nature, prevents new life from being conceived.”[15] Nonetheless the scriptures indicate that contraception does not fit.  It places the person in a temporary state of infertility which is far from the directive of God to “be fertile and multiply”.

            Another area of scripture used as an underpinning for the Church’s teaching on contraception is found in the condemnation of sexual acts disconnected from the possibility of procreation.  Repeatedly the scriptures states that fornication, adultery, homosexual acts, and bestiality are serious sins. It is clear in the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians that those who engage in these actions with out repentance will not inherit the kingdom of God. Scripture also shows that it is the marriage covenant which images the new covenant between Christ and his bride the Church.  “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her…”[16]  As Humanae Vitae indicates this reflection of Christ’s covenant will not always be an easy one, yet it is possible. Paul VI gives scriptural quotes indicating this radical call and its inherent sacrifice.  He weaves a basis of Sacred Scripture showing that the teachings of the Church are not the work of men but the directive of Christ and God the Father Almighty.

Church Teaching on Natural Law

            Humanae Vitae is grounded not only in the divine will found in the revelation of the Scriptures but also in the natural law inscribed in the very being of man.  The document reemphasizes the Church’s ethics grounding in a natural law theory.  Paul VI writes that the questions of the time dealing with procreation and contraception require a “new and deeper reflection upon the principles of the moral teaching on marriage: a teaching founded on the natural law, illuminated and enriched by divine revelation.”[17] The pope references St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica to describe exactly what is meant by the “natural law” concerning the human person.  By “natural law” St. Thomas refers to man’s inherent desire to seek the good and avoid what is evil and by way of reason to discern the difference.  “The Church teaches that Man by the power of his reason, if he reasons correctly, is capable of knowing such moral truths as murder is immoral and that rape is immoral.”  It is by way of reason that man must judge the object of his actions against the natural law.

It is only within a framework of natural law that humanity will understand the need to respect the fundamental dignity of the human person.  In the section devoted to the faithfulness to God’s design, the pope emphasizes that man is created by God to be intrinsically revered.  He returns to the encyclical from Pope John XXIII in which he affirmed the dignity of the person is firmly upheld within the context of the family.  “The transmission of human life is the result of a personal and conscious act, and, as such, is subject to the all-holy, inviolable and immutable laws of God, which no man may ignore or disobey…Human life is sacred-all men must recognize that fact.”[18]  We see again that this document reflects a doctrine not created in the mind of Pope Paul VI but in a venerable teaching spanning multiple popes.  He emphasizes again that it is never acceptable, even for the gravest reasons, “to do evil so that good may follow therefrom…and hence unworthy of the human person…”[19]  No solution can be given which does not keep the dignity of man as the central factor.  Pope John Paul II has continued to increasingly develop this doctrine in his writings today.  In his encyclical commemorating the 100^th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum he comments that human dignity is essential to our communal life. 

Among the things…which offer opportunities and material for enriching both Tradition and the life of faith, there is the fruitful activity of many millions of people, who…have sought to make that teaching the inspiration for their involvement in the world. Acting either as individuals or joined together…these people represent a great movement for the defense of the human person and the safeguarding of human dignity. Amid changing historical circumstances, this movement has contributed to the building up of a more just society…[20]

It becomes apparent that the concept of human dignity has not changed much, but before Humanae Vitae, within, and following it has been enriched both philosophically and theologically.

An Adequate Anthropology

            The pope in his section on Doctrinal Principles discusses the need to reflect on an adequate anthropology of humanity to address the problems at hand. “The problem of birth, like every other problem regarding human life, is to be considered…in the light of an integral vision of man, and of his vocation, not only his natural and earthly, but also his supernatural and eternal vocation.”[21]  This vision must take into account the rich teachings of the Church throughout its history. If we reflect back on what is hailed as one of the Church’s revolutionary documents on social teaching, Leo XXIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum, it “becomes still more clearly evident if man's nature be considered a little more deeply.”[22]  It then must be examined to what exactly is the Church’s teaching on man’s nature.

The Church’s teaching on marriage and sexuality can never be adequately understood apart from God’s original plan, our fall from it, and our redemption in Christ.  This issue has been greatly discussed by Pope John Paul II in a series of Wednesday audiences in Rome compiled and titled the Theology of the Body.  John Paul II redirects the focus of anthropology to the Gospel of Matthew and in it the words of Christ to the Pharisees concerning marriage.  Jesus confronted with the question of divorce declares that the condition now of man is not as it always was for “from the beginning it was not so.”[23]  Biblically founded, Man was in a state of grace and purity after God created them man and woman. Unfortunately Adam and Eve, declaring their sin of pride against God, were removed from the Garden of Eden and their choice robbed them of their original purity and justice.  This original sin has been passed on to their descendants throughout history. The Church has firmly held a doctrine of a fallen man in a state of original sin.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church shows the evolution of the doctrine on original sin.[24]  The Church's teaching on the transmission of original sin was articulated more precisely in the fifth century, due in large part to the writings of Saint Augustine against the heresy of Pelagianism and again in the sixteenth century, in opposition to the Protestant Reformation.  The Church clarified the doctrine of original sin especially at the second Council of Orange in the year 529 and at the Council of Trent in 1546. The story of a fallen man does not end original sin though.

Catholicism has consistently taught that even though man is fallen God continually calls him back through the salvation of Christ. God brings him back to communion “as it was in the beginning,” to renew what was lost. In Christ’s renewal of man, he calls us to return to a state of original purity in the beginning and to image in Him an ethics of self-giving love.  Christopher West in his commentary on Pope John Paul II’s writings says that by penetrating the experience of man and woman before the fall we understand our nature.  “John Paul wants to demonstrate that the Church’s objective norms (ethics) actually correspond to the deepest subjective desires of the human heart (ethos).”  It is by Christ and our self-giving love that ethics becomes rooted in anthropology.  Pope Paul indicates this in Humanae Vitae when he state that only by a “reciprocal personal gift of self”[25] are husband and wife truly able to be in union and to collaborate with God in the procreation of new lives.   Only with this in mind will humanity be able to have an integral vision of man keeping in mind his earthly and teleological vocations.

Solidarity and the Common Good of All

            Another unchangeable doctrine apparent in this document is the issue of solidarity and unity.  Paul VI urges bishops to strive to make “living together in human society more fraternal and peaceful, in faithfulness to God’s design for the world.”[26]  Solidarity is the teaching that Christians as well as the human race is called to greater communion and mutual support.  This union reaches across national, racial, economic and ideological differences.  Each person is called to work collectively for the building up of the body of Christ.  This doctrine, though not always called solidarity, is a tenet of basic Christian life.  Christ constantly exhorts his followers to support and care for the poor, the sick, and the infirmed, which are all members of the Body of Christ.  The early apostles recognized this call and responded with heartfelt compassion as is seen in the Acts of the Apostles. “There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.”[27] Not only was this theme strong in the early church but is continues to be a main focus in the continual growth of social doctrine and catholic teaching.

            In the late 19^th century, Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Rerum Novarum indicates that the church is called to return to this type of Christian lifestyle of giving and unity.  “All who are concerned in the matter should be of one mind and according to their ability act together.”[28] Leo exhorts that it is only by way of cooperation will the struggles of humanity be overcome.  Pope John XXIII in Mater et Magistra as well as Pacem in Terris also incorporates solidarity into his social framework.[29]  He uses the term solidarity interchangeably with Christian charity emphasizing the call to service of all.  Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae makes an appeal to all professions and types of people to take up the cause for the protection of human life.  He calls scientists and doctors to pool their efforts to create conditions favorable and proper to the regulation of births as prescribed in the natural rhythms of the female body.  He also speaks to husbands and wives, asking them to keep visible the holiness of marriage in cooperation with God. He continues to encourage the laudable practice of married couples guiding other couples in a form of apostolate of promoting life and the family.[30]  And finally he addresses the bishops and priests to be “united in the same mind and the same judgment”[31] so as to guide individual persons and families. He also especially exhorts those responsible for the common good of people to safeguard moral customs and to create an atmosphere favorable to education in chastity. The work of Humanae Vitae is deeply connected with the social teachings of solidarity and the common good.

            Pope John Paul II builds off of this doctrine developed in Humanae Vitae and others in his encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis. John Paul continues to indicate that this is a call for all Christians to support the common good. “Solidarity then is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people…it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all.”[32]  It is for John Paul an essential Christian dimension of total gratuity and self giving love, much like that mentioned in Humanae Vitae between husband and wife in marriage. John Paul II is only at the forefront of the development of this deeply biblical concept of Christian charity, but uses Humanae Vitae’s personal gift of self and other encyclicals search for the common good of man.

Church as Mother and Teacher

            The Church finally indicates its roles in reference to this development of doctrine seen throughout the dense 15 page document.  The illustration of the Catholic Church as a mother and teacher is used by Paul VI in Humanae Vitae to illustrate a compassionate and strengthening church, but this image is nothing new.  This image is a journey back to the encyclical titled Mater et Magistra by Pope John XXIII only seven years before.  In John XXIII’s encyclical he is concerned with the doctrine of the Church and its ability to enkindle the hearts of the faithful.  “She is ever powerful to offer suitable, effective remedies for the increasing needs of men, and the sorrows and anxieties of this present life.”[33]  Paul VI uses this image to express the Church’s connection to Christ and the way He treated the People of God. It is this imitation of Christ’s life in His self-sacrificing love and solid teaching, that the Christian finds direction. “She knows their weaknesses, has compassion on the crowd…but she cannot renounce the teaching of the law…”[34] This reminds the people exactly the role that the Church is called by Christ to fulfill, of parent and educator.  It is the task of the Magisterium to interpret and explain the divine law in revelation and well as the natural law.  Humanae Vitae has as its purpose as much a clarification of the rules of human life as an assertion of the authority of the Church in matters of faith and morals.

A Prophetic Voice in Catholic Teaching

            Though this document was met and is still met with much criticism and dissention, it still stands as a prophetic voice in Catholic doctrine since its promulgation in 1968.  Pope Paul VI indicated in Humanae Vitae some of the possible consequences of the wide use of artificial birth control.  All of his predictions have substantially come true.  Paul VI presented four main problems: an increase in conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality, a lessening of respect of women from men, the use of contraception as a dangerous weapon for immoral public authorities, and man being misled into thinking he has unlimited dominion over his body. When comparing statistics it becomes frighteningly obvious that all of the four problems have to pass.

            The first of Paul VI’s consequences was artificial birth control would allow a wide and easy road towards “conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality.”[35]  Recent studies show that there has been a steady increase in this problem. In a study presented to Congress conducted by the Department of Health and Human Service on out-of-wedlock childbearing,  the following results were startling reminiscent of Paul VI.  One of the causes, according to the study, of unmarried births is divorce and teenage/adolescent sexual activity.  “With young people initiating sexual activity earlier than before, but delaying or rejecting marriage, they face many years at risk of unmarried childbearing. Higher divorce rates and more frequent cohabitation have also increased the size of the population at risk of non-marital parenthood.”[36]  Many critics will argue that it only takes a few minutes of prime-time television programming or entry into a PG-13 movie to see what the pope characterizes as a “general lowering of morality.”  Archbishop Caput of Denver states that although contraception is not the only factor in this unraveling it has played a major role. “In fact, the cultural revolution since 1968, driven at least in part by transformed attitudes toward sex, would not have been possible or sustainable without easy access to reliable contraception.  In this, Paul VI was right.”[37]  In Paul VI’s second prediction of a lack in the in respect for women and their physical and psychological equilibrium has also become shockingly true.  He sees that contraception this will tend to “instrumentalize” women for the sake of men’s selfish pleasure and enjoyment.  This is indicated not only by the growth in fatherless children but also in the level of battered women.  “85-95 percent of assault victims and two-thirds of domestic murder victims are women.”[38] Studies also indicate a large growth in women involved in pornography and prostitution. Humanae Vitae was sadly correct in its predication of the devaluation of women, morality, and marriage in general.

            Thirdly, the Holy Father warned against the possibility of immoral public authorities using contraception as a “dangerous weapon.”  Population control and contraception have become common place discussion when foreign aid or in country assistance programs.  Archbishop Chaput indicates that this is already the case in the massive export of contraceptives by the developed world to developing countries, usually as a requirement for financial assistance, and often in direct contradiction to local moral traditions. This has become a thinly disguised form of population warfare and cultural re-engineering. This prediction runs dangerously true in China and their governmentally controlled Family Planning Commission. Since its conception in December of 2000, it has asserted a one-child policy upon families. One article relates a story of a woman after having her first son was visited by family-planning workers bearing a box of different types of contraception and their different merits and side effects.  The choice of the type of contraception is up to the family, but the choice to use some kind of artificial contraception is not.

            Lastly, Humanae Vitae warns that if man does not foster a society of generating life humanity would develop a mindset that they are in full control of their own bodies.  This also has sadly become the case in the current day and age.  Contraceptive technology, precisely because of its impact on sexual intimacy, has subverted our understanding of the purpose of sexuality, fertility and marriage itself. “It has detached them from the natural, organic identity of the human person and disrupted the ecology of human relationships.”[39]  It has lead to scientific processes that can completely cut out the act of conjugal love in the conception of life, such as in vitro fertilization and cloning.  Another result of the devaluation of the human body can be connected with the new surge in embryonic stem cell research.  Here human life is considered nothing more than something to be artificially grown, used, and discarded.  All of these grizzly predictions have shockingly become common place in a society characterized as Pope John Paul II in a “culture of death.”

Conclusions about Humanae Vitae

Humanae Vitae, in its deceivingly small size, is filled with a wealth of Catholic doctrine and social teaching.  The title “of Human Life” truly contains much more than a discourse on the regulation of birth.  Within its mere 15 pages of teaching it contains an insightful view of what it exactly means to be human.  In two paragraphs the pope is able to layout at the time a prophetic, now historical, vision of the grave consequences of man’s disregard of human life.  He very precisely presents millennia of teaching authority in a single sentence. Presenting the authority of the Magisterium, as granted by Christ and the Almighty Creator, to interpret and deliver the teaching of the divine and natural law.  This document sums up the Church’s anthropological view of man and his teleological end in perfect self-giving union with God. Not only was the document an expounding of the Church’s teaching, but it has served as a landmark document for following pontiffs and theologians to develop upon.  Some consider this landmark more as a sad day in Catholic moral and theological development.  But as the document clearly states this is nothing unexpected.  “To tell the truth, the Church is not surprised to be made, like her divine founder, a “sign of contradiction,” yet she does not because of this cease to proclaim with humble firmness the entire moral law, both natural and evangelical.”[40]  In a world filled with sexual promiscuity, a degrading vision of the human person, and a complete lack of moral certainty, there is still a glimmering of hope found in a document over 15 years old.  When reevaluated it provides a possible powder keg to a young and fresh generation seeking some certitude in a morally relativistic world.  The imperative now is to seek to evangelize and catechize a new youth filled with hunger for truth, meaning, community, and true self-giving reciprocal love.  Pope Paul VI in an interview after finishing Humanae Vitae made a very profound statement indicating that the search for the truth about love must continue.  “Burning questions are also complex ones.  Simple honesty demands that they be considered without haste.  We should have respect for the complexity of things, listen, weigh them.  If the past teaches us anything, it is that it is better to wait than to make hasty improvisations.”[41]  A document that has been so fiercely criticized and defended contains within it a true examination of human life and the Roman Catholic Church’s long and solid tradition of Truth. Archbishop Chaput in his pastoral letter ends with this hopeful prayer to the People of God. “May the Lord grant us the wisdom to recognize the great treasure which resides in our teaching about married love and human sexuality, the faith, joy and perseverance to live it in our own families—and the courage which Paul VI possessed to preach it anew.”[42]

Works Cited

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1993. trans. Vatican.

Chaput, OFM Cap, Archbishop Charles J., “Of Human Life”, pastoral letter, July 22, 1998.

Crowley, Patty, “Confessions of a birth control commission Catholic...” National Catholic Reporter, December 17, 1993.

Guitton, Jean, The Pope Speaks: Dialoques of Paul VI with Jean Guitton, trans. Anne and Christopher Fremantle (New York: Meredith Press, 1968)

Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, July 25, 1968, no. 4. trans. NC News Service Translation, (Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 1968)

Smith, Janet E., Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later, (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1991)

John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 1991. trans. Vatican.

John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 1987. trans. Vatican.

John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, May 15, 1961, trans. Vatican.

John XIII, Pacem in Terris, 1963. trans. Vatican.

Johnson, Luke Timothy, “A Disembodied Theology of the Body,” Commonweal. January 26, 2001.

Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, 1891. trans. Vatican.

Meier, Joan, “Battered Justice” Washington Monthly, May 1987.

US Department of Health and Human Services, Report to Congress on Out-of-wedlock Childbearing, Sept. 1999.