Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 30, 1993 TAG: 9403080002
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN H. LAWLESS JR.
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
At one point you praise Pope John Paul II for his "call for a return to personal discipline . . . and to acceptance of a moral imperative in making life's choices." One paragraph later, you insist that his teaching against artificial birth control "is an edict that condemns the merely poor to desperate want and hopelessness." I suppose that some things are just too important to be judged moralistically.
Is it your belief that these ignorant poor people are too bestial to understand the concept of occasional sexual abstinence within marriage that is at the core of natural family planning? Perhaps you believe that they are simply too primal to resist the sexual urge when it occurs to them. Maybe they just are not bright, or responsible enough to comprehend and accept their global population control duties. Who is being inhumane here?
Remember that the pope, as the vicar of Christ on Earth, has two primary charges - to ensure both the physical survival of the Universal Church of Jesus Christ and the salvation of as many individual human souls as possible. Note that it is the condition of the soul in the next life that takes precedence over the condition of the body in this. When attempts to improve the material state of the poor, as our Lord instructed, correspond with these two papal missions, then the pope, the church and the faithful are bound to pursue them.
Jesus' teaching to, and of the poor, was not, and must not be construed to be: Stop breeding, throw off your shackles, and appropriate for yourselves the property of your oppressors. His message, the truly "good news," was that despite the paucity of earthly resources at your disposal, the degree of perfection of your bodily shell, or the equity of the sociopolitical system under which you live, an eternity of spiritual delight awaits those who love him and heed his commandments. Anything that distracts from this essential teaching in the actions or preachments of the pope would be irresponsible.
The Catholic Church has always taught that each individual human soul was known, and beloved, by God from all eternity, not only before being born into this world, but even before being conceived into the flesh. Therefore, it is entirely consistent to assert that God, the author of life, must be allowed to determine when each life begins and ends. That is the constant thread running through the church's opposition to contraception, abortion, murder and euthanasia. To presume that man may collectively arrogate such authority to himself, for the greater good of aggregate humanity, is an insult and an affront to our Creator.
That we are allowed - or should I say required - to participate actively in the twin miracles of procreation and redemption, through the exercise of our intellect and free will, is one of God's great gifts to us. We may be physically capable of cutting him out of the loop, but do you really think that we can do so with impunity? Of course, if all this heaven/hell stuff is just a load of bunk, then material conditions in this life would be of paramount importance. But, certainly, that would be an absurd standard to apply to the Catholic Church.
Perhaps most striking about your commentary was the total lack of understanding it displayed for the basis of the church's teaching about sex and love, and by extension, contraception. It is not a simple matter of: Don't do it . . . it's a sin. The truth is bound up in the fact that humans exist simultaneously in two planes of reality - spiritual and material. Tied to that is the more crucial fact that while one is never ending, the other will soon pass away. Also critical to a clear comprehension of the church's position is an appreciation of the false sense of urgency and importance that our senses and emotions lend to things material as over those of the spirit.
Let me attempt a very brief and necessarily incomplete overview of the church's instruction to the faithful in these matters. Human sexuality, confined by divine law to a man and woman joined in marriage, has two primary functions - unitive and procreative. The unitive function serves to deepen and strengthen the bond of love between married couples, and the procreative preserves the continuation of the human race. These two functions must not be separated lest sex become a purely recreational activity, devoid of any spiritual meaning - merely an animal act. Given the often predatory nature of male sexuality, this is truly a prescription for social and moral disaster.
If these two aspects of sexuality are not equally present, why should we expect pregnant women to bring their babies to term? Or biological fathers to support their offspring emotionally or materially? Can we be surprised at the shocking abdication of parental responsibility we see all around us when we are taught that a precious new life is often no more than the "unwanted product" of an acquisitive act of lustful self-fulfillment? Could a society that had succeeded in de-linking sexual activity and reproduction in the moral minds of its citizens be very effective in seeking to limit promiscuity, prostitution or even adultery?
In this progressive modern world, we are cautioned not to smoke, drink or eat certain foods because they are harmful, and that we must endure a regular workout regimen to maintain good health. Is it not curious that these exercises in rigorous self-control are part of the secular creed, but that regulation of sexual appetites is just too much to expect of mere humans? No, the only way to prevent ourselves from becoming too numerous is to thwart the true purpose of the sex act. Why? So we can have more of it?
Sex is not a god, or even an ideal. It is no more than one of the human passions, necessary for survival, much like eating and sleeping, though undeniably, far more intense and fascinating. Properly understood and employed, it can bring immense joy and pleasure to the human condition. Uncontrolled, it can bind us to the Earth and cut us off from God. We would be well advised to heed the counsel of the church on this one.
\ John H. Lawless Jr. of Roanoke is a musician and a member at St. Andrew's Catholic Church.
by CNB