Humanae Vitae Forty Years On

When I returned to the Church, nearly 16 years ago (ouch... tempus fugit and all that!) I found I had a lot to learn, as my initial catechesis had been so woefully inadequate. I didn't know, for example, that the Real Presence was actually, well, real. Oh, as a teenager I "knew" that superstitious and ignorant peasants in the Middle Ages had believed in Transubstantiation, but I thought that idea had been ditched in modern times... since Vatican II at any rate (thinking about it, I may have been more perceptive than I originally gave myself credit for!)

But on my reversion, one thing seemed clear. The main reason for my rejection of God and the Church was my own arrogance: I was of a scientific inclination, and for me that meant that, unless you could produce proof that God existed, then he didn't. So, in order to avoid making the same mistake again, I made the decision to accept all that the Church taught. All of it. No exceptions.

I realised that I wouldn't always understand the logic behind the teachings, but, by the grace of God, I understood that, where my own reason protested against something, I would make an act of humility and accept that it was my reason which was faulty, not that of the Church.

Almost immediately, I ran into the "problem" of contraception. I couldn't quite get my head round it. I was fine on the "no sex before marriage" issue, that made sense. But I couldn't understand why married couples were forbidden to use contraception. It didn't apply to me, I wasn't married, but I wanted to know why.

But I had made my decision, and I accepted that the Church was right, that there must be a reason. Maybe it was part of my formation by God, because no sooner had I assented to the infallibility of the Church's teachings in this matter, I came across Humanae Vitae.

Wow. What an eye-opener. Of course, I had the benefit of 25 years' hindsight. But reading the predictions made by Pope Paul VI sent shivers down my spine: it all seemed to be happening just as he warned it would.

It's now 40 years on. The encyclical is no less prophetic, and I'd say that things are even worse than Pope Paul VI ever thought possible. Don't just take my word for it: Mary Eberstadt, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, has written an excellent article on Humanae Vitae, explaining exactly how the predictions have been fulfilled, using secular sources as evidence.

Mantilla-twitch to the Curt Jester.