By Judie Brown
Hotbed: an environment that favors rapid growth or development
Joseph F. Naumann, DD, archbishop of Kansas City, Kansas, is the incoming chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Pro-Life Committee. He is a champion of respect for human beings from their inception until their death.
A couple of days ago Archbishop Naumann made an insightful comment regarding contraception that is in many ways as prophetic as Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae. LifeSiteNews reports that Naumann said that, in all cases, the use of contraception is an “intrinsic evil” because it “cuts off one of the goals of marriage which is an openness to life.” We must understand that, once we deny the two goals of marriage (unity and fecundity/fruitfulness), disrespect for the human being is sure to follow because, while God’s design for marriage is perfect, man’s is fatally flawed. Naumann has previously reiterated Pope Paul VI’s concerns for those who prefer man’s desires to God design. Furthermore, he wrote that one of the outcomes of the contraceptive mindset is that it has resulted “in a diminished respect for the human person in general and women in particular.”
We have plenty of evidence that proves this beyond a doubt. The results of an environment that breeds disregard for the human person are seen everywhere.
Imagine reading this headline 50 years ago: “Father Raped Teen Daughter, Took Her to Planned Parenthood for Abortion. It Did One and Sent Her Back to Her Father.” It should send chills up your spine. Such a “father” has obviously lost the very concept of what it means to shepherd his children.
Now, think about the implications of this report entitled “What Assisted Suicide Foes Don’t Understand: Aid in Dying Is Health Care.” When direct killing of human beings becomes healthcare, the results are always devastating.
Once the camel’s nose of contraception peeked into the tent of human relationships, nothing was off limits. It may have taken many years to reach this point, but we are confronting an escalation in moral evils that few could have foreseen.
The truth is that Pope Paul VI was on to something when he warned us in Humanae Vitae that “unless we are willing that the responsibility of procreating life should be left to the arbitrary decision of men, we must accept that there are certain limits, beyond which it is wrong to go, to the power of man over his own body and its natural functions—limits, let it be said, which no one, whether as a private individual or as a public authority, can lawfully exceed.”
Pope Paul VI was referring to the natural law rather than the elastic laws of men which seem, even more so today, to serve the gods of selfishness and greed rather than respect for the sanctity of life and the procreative act that should be reserved for marriage.
Cultural acceptance of contraception has led to abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and all manner of twisted practices that degrade and deny the value of the human being.
Once respect for the dignity of the human person is diluted for any reason—including sexual gratification—all is lost. In such an atmosphere we will continue to hear about babies “mistakenly” decapitated by doctors, newborns found dead by the side of the road, and elderly mothers and fathers being cruelly abused by their children.
None of these examples is an isolated incident. They are all examples of how far our society has sunk into the hotbed of moral evil.
To turn this madness around, faith, hope, and commitment to the Lord and His laws are required. As defenders of the innocent, the vulnerable, and the voiceless, we are up to that task! Join us!
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Teach the principles of truth and life to your children.
Learn the facts about the culture of death.
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