The New York Times ran a rather remarkable Op-Ed piece today by John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter in which he salutes the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae, which condemned contraception as a violation of Catholic doctrine.
Allen does not take a clear stance on this issue although one senses his admiration for the sheer contrariness of the papal stance. What I find interesting is his simultaneous claim for the institutional vitality of the decision while acknowledging that it is being ignored by upwards of 80% of Western Catholics. Moreover, the audience to whom the encyclical was directed in 1968, the Catholics of Western Europe, have voted with their (um) feet with respect to the Church. They have deserted it in droves, rendering it the ultimate in hollow institutions on the Continent -- a place of magnificent churches with no parishioners.
Allen points to the decline in European birth rates as somehow validating the Pope's world view. I don't quite follow his logic nor understand his implication that this is a triumph of papal wisdom. Having long ago left the Church, I have no direct stake in this matter. But I am convinced that if the Church ever decides to vigorously push this issue vis a vis its membership in the U.S., the American church will follow in Europe's wake. Then the Pope's triumph will have been complete.
Recent Comments