Love him or hate him, he knew what he was talking about
Perhaps the easiest law for Catholics to ignore is the prohibition of contraception. And violating this law has cost us dearly.
When was the last time you hear a priest at a Mass in your parish preach against contraception?
Instead, people often hear priests advise them (privately) that they "shouldn't worry about it". Such "advice" puts not only the layperson but the priest's soul in peril. Priests who give such advice are guilty of insubordination, but sadly, the priests most likely to be reprimanded by their bishops are the brave few who preach AGAINST contraception.
Every one of us at one time or another has probably heard someone make one of these statements:
"Why should I listen to the pope (or any priest or bishop) give advice about sex? He's just an old man."
"Humanae Vitae is not infallible."
(If that's what YOU think, then you need to read this)
"God doesn't really care whether I take a pill/use a diaphram/use a condom/get a shot, etc.."
"At least contraception is better than getting an abortion."
"Think of all the unwanted children there would be if we didn't use contraception."
The problem with all of these statements is that not one of them is true. The the last statement is proven false by this June 9 news story informing us that 70 percent of women seeking abortions in Australia had already been using contraceptives.
How many of us pay lip service to pro-life activities, while still reserving the right to be anti-life by practicing contraception?
We may fool our neighbors, but God is not fooled.
Father Thomas Euteneuer, the President of Human Life International, published a compelling newsletter about four prophetic statements made by Pope Paul VI in his widely-ignored encyclical.
Here is Father Euteneuer's commentary on the four prophetic statements in his own words:
• First, contraception would lead to conjugal infidelity. Not hard to see this one right? When you separate babies from the marital act there is nothing binding that act to, well, marriage. Fornication (pre-marital) and adultery (extra-marital) have thus skyrocketed with the massive practice of contraception.
• Second, Pope Paul predicted that contraceptive practice would lead to a “general lowering of morality.” Hmm, let’s see if this one was right: “normal” youthful entertainments in our society today include that despicable MTV channel, hooking up, salacious reality TV shows, heavy metal music, wicca and the New Age, drugs and ubiquitous internet porn. In Janet Smith’s famous words: has anyone noticed a “general lowering of morality” lately?
• Third, Paul VI said that contraception would lead men to cease respecting women in their totality and would cause them to treat women as “mere instruments of selfish enjoyment” rather than as cherished partners. Clearly, this prophecy has been vindicated many times over by pornography alone, the most lucrative business in the modern world. That entire industry is singularly dedicated to the “selfish enjoyment” of men.
• Finally, the Holy Father said that massive acceptance of contraception by couples would lead to a massive imposition of contraception by unscrupulous governments. He predicted, in other words, that contraception would pass from a “lifestyle choice” to a weapon of mass destruction, and how dreadfully his prophecy has been vindicated by population control and coercive sterilization programs, fertility reduction quotas and the promotion of abortion literally everywhere in the world.
There you have it. The pope said it. The bishops and priests remained silent. Some even advised against their boss's words. We chose to ignore it. Now we have to live with it.
But there is good news...we still have time to change.
2 comments:
The two best things Paul VI did was promulgate Mysterium Fidei and
Humanae Vitae in which he certainly was a prophet. And just as high ranking clergy and religious led the way in dissent then, we all reap the fruits now.
Had Catholics obeyed and truly lived their faith, no pr0-abortion politician would be ever in the white house.
As one evil was compromised with, others have followed. We are drowning in immorality to the devastating loss of souls.
Tis the devil's playground in the world.
You think _Humanae Vitae_ was prophetic, try _Casti Connubii_!
When I met with a certain priest about marriage preparation, I asked him about NFP classes. He laughed at me, like I was some naive kook, and said, "I think there are maybe two couples in the parish who are into that sort of thing. You might want to ask them about it, if you really want to." During the same session, he bragged that he one of the priests in charge of the diocesan Engaged Encounter program.
Post a Comment