I tend to think the danger from silent bishops is greater than from the arrogant state. Yes, the state can shut down our humanitarian organizations, but how many Catholic hospitals and social service organizations are truly Catholic these days? Just recently I heard a woman comment about the sterilizations done in one of our local Catholic hospitals.
Out of fear of losing their people, most of our bishops have treated Humanae Vitae as a “hot potato” to quote Cardinal Dolan, citing his own experience. How many teachers in our Catholic schools agree in faith and practice with Humanae Vitae? The problem is not just the sinfulness of contracepting married Catholic teachers. The problem is also that when teachers repudiate the teaching of Humanae Vitae, they are also repudiating the ordinary teaching authority of the Church.
In his manner of speaking, Saint John Paul II has left no room for doubt that the doctrine of marital non-contraception reaffirmed by Casti Connubii, Humanae Vitae, and Familiaris Consortio must be believed and put into practice. He has taught that
• to hold out for exceptions as if God’s grace were not sufficient is a form of atheism (September 17, 1983);
• denying the doctrine of marital non-contraception is “equivalent to denying the Catholic concept of revelation” (April 10, 1986);
• it is a teaching whose truth is beyond discussion (June 5, 1987);
• it is a “teaching which belongs to the permanent patrimony of the Church’s moral doctrine” and “a truth which cannot be questioned” (March 14, 1988);
• it is a teaching which is intrinsic to our human nature and that calling it into question “is equivalent to refusing God himself the obedience of our intelligence” (November 12, 1988) and, finally,
• “what is being questioned by rejecting that teaching . . . is the very idea of the holiness of God´(November 12, 1988). [This list was taken from Sex and the Marriage Covenant, page 148.]
John F. Kippley
Sex and the Marriage Covenant