Today’s Sexual ‘Liberation’ Confirms ‘Humanae Vitae’ : Sexual morality: Divorce rates, teen-age pregnancy, AIDS and the Spur Posse--are we really better off?
To ask people to direct an occasional thought toward sex might strike one as rather strange in an age so sex-obsessed that we can rightly wonder if much else is ever thought about. But that is precisely the point; the typical modern person hardly ever thinks about sex: “He dreams of it, of course, by day and night; he craves for it; he pictures it; is stimulated or depressed by it, drools over it. But this frothing, steaming activity is not thinking. . . . Thinking means bringing the power of the mind to bear. Thinking about sex means striving to see sex in its innermost reality and in the function it is meant to serve.”
This observation, made by Frank J. Sheed 45 years ago in the book “Society and Sanity,” deserves to be repeated as we mark the 25th anniversary of “Humanae Vitae.” In this encyclical letter--to my mind one of the great and prophetic religious happenings of the 20th Century--Pope Paul VI did what most people do not do: He thought about sex and the role sex plays in the all-encompassing, interpersonal dynamic of conjugal love.
“What does God have in mind here?” is the implicit question that should guide the course of every human action. And given the nature of sex in all of its physiological and psychological reality, it does not take great genius to ascertain what Nature’s God had in mind when fashioning the faculty and implanting the sexual instinct in humans. It has to do with carrying on the human race, and not just coincidentally or as an afterthought. Moreover, since parenthood calls for sustained care and nurturing in a communion of life and love, in a context of commitment, responsibility and sacrifice, the sex act that is naturally directed toward generating new life is also meant to bolster and strengthen the bond of marital love that succors that life.
In the light of all this and when you think about it (there’s that word again), it should not really have surprised anyone that “Humanae Vitae” reaffirmed the constant and unambiguous teaching of the church on the wrongness of contraception in all situations.
If ever there was a prophecy fulfilled, it was Pope Paul’s warning that the isolation of sex from its unitive and procreative roles could only undermine society’s stability. Welcome to the end of the 20th Century and its revered logo, the condom.
Or would anyone wish to argue that today’s sexual “liberation,” unleashed by the easy availability of contraceptives and their unrelenting promotion, has led to truth and happiness, to full and rich lives, strong families, wholesome communities--in short, to the enhanced dignity of men and women? If so, let it be argued in the light of how far we have progressed over the past 30 years: illegitimate births have gone from 5.3% to 28%, children with single mothers from 8% to 28.6%, children on welfare from 3.5% to 12.5%, the teen-age suicide rate from 3.6% to 11.3%, SAT scores have dropped from 975 to 899, violent crimes (per 100,000 people) have risen from 16.1 to 75.8. We also have today the highest teen-age pregnancy rate in American history, the AIDS epidemic, the highest abortion rate in the Western World, record child abuse, rape and incest.
Television programming is saturated with sex. We are treated to the sexual exploits of high school students in our area by tongue-clucking media people, who at the same time argue for tax dollars going to the raunchiest “artistic” productions in the name of freedom of expression. Spur Posse parents boast of their sons as “virile specimens” and shrug off their sexual fun and games with “boys will be boys,” while the fun-loving kids rack up their scores with such explanations as “Sex to us is like taking vitamins. Because if you don’t have sex, you’re not going to grow up right.” I presume they just as conscientiously drink their milk and eat Wonder Bread in their pursuit of proper growth.
Students in our schools are given explicit instruction in the use of condoms (which are supplied to them), and their educators tell us that by no means are they thus encouraging them to engage in sex. They also teach driver-education in order to keep the kids off the road, right?
And then, if there has been a consistent theme precipitously, and almost compulsively, pursued over the years by those insisting that the church must change its teaching on artificial contraception, it has been that such change is necessary for the stability of marriage itself. For example, the Catholic Theological Society of America Report, “Human Sexuality,” noted “the overwhelming number and authority of sincere, respected and experienced people” who contend that use of contraceptives can serve to “deepen the mutual love and respect of spouses, bring peace and healing, and raise the whole level of moral responsibility of the marriage partners.” If this is so, and if more people are using contraceptives than ever before, why are more marriages breaking up than ever before? We have today the highest divorce rate in American history. Could it be that artificial contraception is not all that beneficial to the stability and happiness of marriage after all?
I really do believe we might usefully spend some time thinking about sex, and I suggest that it would help to have a copy of “Humanae Vitae” on hand when we do.
