July 18, 2008 Humanae Vitae, Pt. 2
Bishop Michael Sheridan, STD
Jul 18, 2008 12:00 PM

(NOTE: This is the conclusion of a reflection on the 40th anniversary of the encyclical "Humanae Vitae.")

The publication of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical "Humanae Vitae" ("Of Human Life") in 1968, while marking the beginning of a new era of dissent

in the Catholic Church, was at the same time a great gift to the church.

Many Catholics expected that the pope would change — even reverse — the church’s teaching on contraception. Instead, "Humanae Vitae" reasserted the constant tradition of the church in her insistence that contraception violates both natural and divine law.

The encyclical did not just forbid contraception, it also presented the church’s teaching regarding the meaning of married love and of the conjugal act. Because so many Catholics receive their understanding of "Humanae Vitae" from secular media or from dissenting theologians and because so few Catholics have read the encyclical, the beauty and depth of the church’s teaching has eluded many of the faithful.

At the heart of the very brief encyclical (cf. no. 9) is an exposition of the meaning of married love as revealed by God in His creation and taught by the Church through the ages. Before we look at that part of the encyclical it is important to note that Paul VI developed his teaching on the meaning of marriage from the Church’s awareness that marriage is what it is because of the creative will of God and not because of what any individual or society — or judge — might declare it to be.

To appreciate fully the encyclical’s teaching on married love, it is important to know that Pope Paul VI grounds his teaching about marriage in the love that is God himself, as manifested in the love of Christ for his Church. Pope John Paul II helped us to understand more deeply the meaning of married love in his series of catecheses that have come to be known as The Theology of the Body. Marriage, in the teaching of Pope John Paul, is the prime expression or icon of the mutual love of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity. With this as our starting point, let’s take a look at "Humanae Vitae’s" teaching.

In No. 9 of the encyclical, Pope Paul identified four dimensions or characteristic features of married love. First, married love is above all fully human. Married love is qualitatively different from the natural instincts that drive animals to reproduce. For human beings the conjugal act is an act of free will that expresses the communion of people that is a married couple. Animals reproduce, but human beings procreate. This means that humans are partners with God in the creation of new life. Placing an obstacle to procreation makes the conjugal act something other than is intended by God.

Second, married love is total. Marriage is the total and free gift of a man and woman to each other. "Whoever really loves his partner loves not only for what he receives, but loves that partner for the partner’s own sake, content to be able to enrich the other with the gift of himself." When contraception becomes part of the marriage act, the partners are saying to each other, "I give myself entirely to you — except for my fertility." Christ’s love for His Church knows no limits or exceptions. If married love is to be an authentic expression of that love, there is no room for contraception.

Third, married love is faithful. Married love is a reflection of divine love. Even though God’s people have been unfaithful to Him countless times in the course of salvation history, God is never unfaithful to his people. Fidelity and exclusivity in marriage derive from the bond that is created between a man and a woman in marriage. This bond allows for no exceptions. If a man and a woman are to live their fidelity completely and perfectly, it must be by way of the complete union of persons, not a union that is mitigated by a less than complete conjugal act.

Finally, married love is fruitful, i.e., life–giving. Just as the mutual and perfect love of God the Father and God the Son is fruitful — their love being their Holy Spirit — so is married love to be fruitful and life-giving. Trinitarian love overflows into creation. Just so must married love be understood not only as an act of love between married partners, but also an act that brings new life into the world. Even though not every conjugal act produces a new life, it is not permitted to place an obstacle to that fruitfulness. The act of contraception under any circumstances violates the integrity of the marriage act.

For these reasons the unitive and procreative aspects of every conjugal act must never be separated. To do so is to strike at the very meaning of married love and the sexual act that is expressive of that love. To sever the unitive from the procreative — which is precisely what contraception does — is to betray the vows of marriage, by which a couple freely agree to give themselves completely to each other.

Pope Paul, however, was not unaware of the duty of married couples to exercise responsible parenthood. The regulation of birth can be done licitly for serious reasons. The only legitimate means, however, is natural family planning, which respects the inseparability of the unitive and procreative dimensions of married love and ensures that each and every marital act retains its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life. Natural family planning involves periodic abstinence as a means of spacing or otherwise limiting the birth of children.

In his recent statement to the International Congress on "Humanae Vitae", Pope Benedict XVI extolled the wisdom and truth of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical. Concerning the teaching of the encyclical, Benedict said, "What was true yesterday also remains true today. The truth expressed in ‘Humanae Vitae’ does not change; in fact, even more so in the light of new scientific discoveries, its teaching becomes even more current and calls us to reflect upon the intrinsic value it possesses."

The dissent of many Catholics from the Church’s authentic teaching about married love has not resulted in happier or stronger marriages.

Just the opposite. All Catholics would do well to heed Pope Benedict’s advice and seek out the truth and beauty of the teaching of Humanae Vitae.