By Jessica Able, Record Staff Writer
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz celebrated a Mass May 6 at the Cathedral of the Assumption commemorating the 50th anniversary of the publication of “Humanae Vitae,” an encyclical on the regulation of birth promulgated by Blessed Paul VI in 1968.
In his homily, the archbishop said that a half a century later the document is still important today and noted it is about “human love and human life.”
“Humanae Vitae” -— translated as “Of Human Life” -— was issued at a time of great upheaval for family life, the archbishop noted.
“In that time, there were a lot of questions with all the struggles in family life: with poverty, with population growth, with great pressure on work as both husband and wife began to work outside the home,” he said.
Many people — both lay and clergy — had questions related to strides in modern technology, he said. They wondered, “Shouldn’t the church change its teaching that says the love of a husband and wife for one another in conjugal love should be open always to new life?”
“There were great pressures on the Holy Father to change that teaching,” the archbishop said. “Some even called it progress.”
“Humanae Vitae” reaffirmed the church’s teaching.
But before it was drafted, a Vatican commission studied new forms of contraception to recommend the church’s response, according to an April 9 news story from Catholic News Service.
The majority of people on the commission recommended the birth control pill be accepted and church teaching changed, the CNS story went on to say.
Blessed Paul rejected the commission’s report and in “Humanae Vitae” affirmed the church’s teaching on life and its opposition to artificial contraception.
The encyclical points out
several potential consequences of artificial contraception:
“This course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. … Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.”
Archbishop Kurtz noted in his homily that not all modern technological and medical progress is good. Fifty years ago, he said, Blessed Paul VI “renewed that commitment to married love that is open — always open — to new life against what has been called a ‘contraceptive mentality.’ ”
The encyclical notes that resisting such a mentality will not be easy.
“The teaching of the Church on the regulation of birth, which promulgates the divine law, will easily appear to many to be difficult or even impossible of actuation,” Blessed Paul VI wrote. “And indeed, like all great beneficent realities, it demands serious engagement and much effort, individual, family and social effort.”
Archbishop Kurtz echoed Blessed Paul’s statement and recalled Pope Francis’ 2016 apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” — “The Joy of Love.” -The church, in teaching “Humanae Vitae,” has a responsibility to provide information and resources to families when problems arise, the archbishop said.
“The couple needs the church. They need you and me to assist them and to accompany them. They need services that come from our parishes and from our family life ministries throughout the archdiocese,” Archbishop Kurtz said.
Most especially, the archbishop said, married couples need help from their immediate families “to walk with them and help because married life is never easy.”
