Humanae Vitae (HV) is a dynamic, challenging and life-transforming encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and promulgated on July 24, 1968. It coherently follows the teaching of the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, known by its Latin title, Gaudium et Spes (GS), published on December 7, 1965.
The encyclical challenges persons who have received the Sacrament of Matrimony to enter into the sacrament with the full understanding that for baptized persons, “marriage takes on the dignity of a sacramental sign of grace inasmuch as it represents the union of Christ and the Church” (HV, 8; Ephesians 5:31-32).
Humanae Vitae describes the characteristics of the love between a man and woman in the Sacrament of Matrimony: it is fully human and total; this love is faithful and exclusive; this love is fruitful. Quoting from GS, 50, Pope Paul VI writes: “Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained to the procreation and rearing of children. Indeed, children are the most precious gift of marriage and contribute immensely to the good of the parents themselves” (HV, 9).
Parallel teachings
HV considers the procreation of children as the apogee of the Sacrament of Matrimony. As a result, artificial interference with the conception of children is considered sinful as it interferes with the total meaning of mutual self-giving and true love. This parallels exactly the teaching of Gaudium et Spes (GS, 51).
The Vatican document states specifically that, “in questions of birth regulation the sons of the Church, faithful to these principles, are forbidden to use methods disapproved of by the teaching authority of the Church in its interpretation of the divine law” (GS, 51).
In using artificial means to prevent conception, Paul VI responded that responsible persons should first consider “how wide and easy a road would thus be opened to conjugal infidelity and to a general lowering of morality” (HV, 17). He states that, “the man who becomes used to contraceptive practices, may in the end lose respect for his wife, and no longer caring about her physical and psychological wellbeing, will come to the point of considering her a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment, and no longer his respected and beloved companion” (HV, 17).
Under the heading Pastoral Directives, the Holy Father wrote:
The teaching of the Church on birth regulation, which is a promulgation of the divine law, will easily appear to many to be difficult or even impossible to put into practice. And certainly, like all great and beneficial realities, it calls for serious commitment and many efforts on the part of individuals, of families and of society. Moreover, it would not be livable without the help of God, who supports and strengthens the good will of men. Yet to anyone who weighs the matter well, it must be clear that such efforts ennoble man and benefit the human community. (HV, 20)
Abundant wisdom
There is much wisdom in the whole encyclical. Following the above, Pope Paul focused on the following topics: Mastery of Self, Creating an Environment Favorable to Chastity, Appeal to Public Authorities, To Men of Science, To Christian Husbands and Wives, Apostolate of Couples, To Doctors and Medical Personnel, To Priests, To Bishops, and then a Final Appeal.
In the encyclical’s appeal to Priests, Paul VI writes:
By vocation you are the counselors and spiritual guides of individuals and of families. We now turn to you with confidence. Your first task – especially in the case of those who teach moral theology – is to expound without ambiguity the Church’s teaching on marriage. Be the first to give, in the exercise of your ministry, the example of loyal internal and external submission to the Magisterium of the Church. Such submission as you well know, obliges not only because of the reason given, but much more on account of the light of the Holy Spirit, which in a particular way is granted the pastors of the Church to elucidate the truth (See LG, 25). You know, too, that it is of the utmost importance for the peace of consciences and for the unity of the Christian people, that in the field of morals as well as in that of dogma, all should adhere to the Magisterium of the Church and should speak the same language. This is why we most earnestly renew to you the heartfelt plea of the great apostle Paul: “I entreat you, brethren, by the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10) [emphasis added].
In the final paragraph of GS, 51, the authors state, “Let all be convinced that human life and its transmission are realities whose meaning is not limited by the horizons of this life only: their true evaluation and full meaning can only be understood in reference to man’s eternal destiny.”
Since the encyclical was published in 1968, many of the warnings made by Pope Paul VI regarding the use of artificial birth control have come to pass. It is not within the scope of this paper to refer to each one and elaborate on the accuracy of Holy Father Paul VI but simply to point out the prophetic nature of his words.
Theological dissent
However, it may be important for the reader to be familiar with the dissent of six-hundred theologians across the country regarding the encyclical. The reasons for the importance of this dissent will be evident.
Immediately after the publication of HV, theologians, spearheaded by Father Charles Curran, a moral theologian at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. published the, “Statement by Catholic Theologians on the Encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” Washington D.C., July 30, 1968. The dissenting Statement was published in the New York Times the next day.
In their dissent, the theologians could only come up with the statement that “the encyclical is not an infallible teaching”, even though it is. The teachings in HV are, “incompatible with the church’s authentic self-awareness as expressed and suggested by the acts of the Second Vatican Council itself,” they said. (1)
Because the theologians stated that the encyclical was “not an infallible teaching,” the consequence was that those who received the Sacrament of Matrimony were not obligated to enter the spiritual experience taught in HV. Neither, it seems, were married couples obliged to abide by the instruction from GS in which the “self-aware” Church stated:
When it is a question of harmonizing married love with the responsible transmission of life, it is not enough to take only the good intention and the evaluation of motives into account; the objective criteria must be used, criteria drawn from the nature of the human person and human action, criteria which respect the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love; all this is possible only if the virtue of married chastity is seriously practiced. In questions of birth regulation the sons of the Church, faithful to these principles, are forbidden to use methods disapproved of by the teaching authority of the Church in its interpretation of the divine law. (GS 51)
The authors of Gaudium et Spes were clear: “Hence, while not making the other purposes of matrimony of less account, the true practice of conjugal love, and the whole meaning of the family life which results from it, have this aim: that the couple be ready with stout hearts to cooperate with the love of the Creator and the Savior. Who through them will enlarge and enrich His own family day by day” (GS, 50).
A rush job
Curran received a copy of the Encyclical the day before it was published, and immediately cobbled together a dissent against Humanae Vitae. If the reports are correct, Curran and eight other theologians at Catholic University spent the night into the wee hours of the morning seeking like-minded theologians to sign their names to the dissenting document. In the end, six hundred theologians from around the country signed their names to it.
The dissent states that the “Roman Catholic Theologians, conscious of our duty and our limitations… conclude that spouses may responsibly decide according to their conscience that artificial contraception in some circumstances is permissible and indeed necessary to preserve and foster the values and sacredness of marriage.” (2)
It is not clear how using artificial means opens those in the Sacrament of Matrimony to preserve values and sacredness, especially when the Vatican II Document states that the couple should “be ready with stout hearts to cooperate with the love of the Creator and the Savior.”
The fallout of dissent
It may be valuable to see how things led up to and flowed from the promulgation of Humanae Vitae. Here we cite studies that have laid out the whole trajectory from before and after the encyclical. Samuel Thomas in The Catholic Historical Review notes that
In April 1967, university trustees voted to let Fr. Charles E. Curran’s tenure stream appointment lapse rather than reappoint him, primarily because of his dissenting views on contraception. After a faculty-led strike that included students, the university reversed its position on Curran two weeks later and the trustees not only reappointed him, but also promoted him to associate professor with tenure. (3)
In July, 1967, a group of Catholic educators, led by University of Notre Dame president Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, met in Land O’ Lakes, Wisconsin to define the relationship between the modern American university and the Church as well as between the Catholic university and American intellectual life. This meeting, and the document it produced, was characterized by historian Philip Gleason as a “declaration of independence from the hierarchy.” (4)
The Land O’ Lakes declaration may have emboldened many academicians throughout the Catholic University system to formally dissent from official Church teaching. Educators were free to “spread their wings,” and assert their thoughts on university hierarchy as well as students.
A terrible legacy
The position of Rev. Charles Curran and his associates toward matters of the Church left a terrible legacy of dissent. It pointed more toward the things that belong to the culture and society we live than to actual Christian teaching. Opening the doors to deny the Vicar of Christ a deep and thorough investigation of his teachings both diminished the Church in the minds of untold millions and disregarded the work of the Holy Spirit in and through the couples who received the Sacrament of Matrimony.
Sources:
- Hunt, J.F. Connelly, T. Rua, The Responsibility of Dissent: The Church and Academic Freedom, New York, 1969, 203-205.
- Ibid.
- Samuel J. Thomas, “A Final Disposition…One Way Or Another: The Real End of the First Curran Affair,” The Catholic Historical Review, XCI (October 2005), 717-72.
- catholichistory.net/Events/LandOLakesStatement.htm.
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