Introduction: The week of July 21-27, 2013 celebrates the 45th anniversary of Humanae Vitae issued by Pope Paul VI on July 25, 1968. A recent letter to the editor in our local Cincinnati tabloid criticized the bishops for suppressing dissent. My husband’s letter showing the error of that opinion was, of course, not published. The reality is that the dissent movement suppressed those who taught orthodoxy. What follows is our personal experience with that. Subsequent blogs this week reflect our experiences, most of which are related to the effort to support Humanae Vitae intellectually and to provide practical help to live it.
In the academic year 1967-1968, my husband became known for teaching parish adult education courses that were thoroughly orthodox, including the received teaching against contraception. One morning about the start of my ninth month of a pregnancy, he was summarily fired, no reasons ever given, no defense possible. A person who had been an insider on the decision a year previous to hire John gave us her opinion: The pastor had hoped that this lay theologian would be promoting the acceptance of contraception, something the pastor didn’t dare to do publicly because he had ambitions to be a bishop some day. If that is correct, John became the first victim of the dissent movement—even before the encyclical was officially published.
John started a job search which was interesting in many ways and the following excerpt is his experience with a parish in the Greater Minneapolis area. ( I will be blogging daily during NFP Week taking excerpts from his memoirs, Battle-Scarred.)
The Job Search
I left on June 15th for two meetings. On the 17th I met with the Executive Board and passed with flying colors. On the 18th I met with the whole Board with the same result…..However, I was asked to attend a weekend meeting in early July to meet the other new staff members and get a better feel for the parish. I flew back to Minneapolis on July 4 for an unforgettable experience.
At our first “T-group” session, one of the young men began to tell a sad story about himself and he actually started crying. This was totally strange to me…. Then we had an evaluation of that performance, and the young man with the sad story criticized me very directly for not coming to his aid. This was touchy-feely at its max, my first experience with sensitivity training. I never knew whether the young man was genuine or was playing a part in a prearranged act… We were not given the opportunity to attend one of the regular parish Sunday morning Masses, so I thought we would be having Mass in the afternoon. Not at all. As the pastor was summarizing the weekend on Sunday afternoon, I asked him when we were going to have Mass. “Oh,” he replied, “this whole weekend has been one big Eucharist.”
(Excerpt from Battle-Scarred, pages 21-22) Battle-Scarred: Justice Can Be Elusive by John F. Kippley is available at a 50% discount at lulu.com during NFP week.
Everyone has the right to know about eco-breastfeeding: Right to Know: Ecological Breastfeeding blog