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If God used Balaam’s donkey to get
that prophet’s attention, I guess he can use me to get yours. May these
periodic postings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month (God willing)
generate fruitful discussion and faithful change.
I recently read a short but interesting
article written by Father Michael Orsi. It is entitled How Same-Sex
Marriage Won. You can read his article here at Catholic Exchange.
As I am wont to do, I simply
passed it along to several social media sites with the same question I
posed in today's post. That's all I did. What a stir it created.
I did not have time to join the
on-going and often troublesome discussion but did forward another relevant
piece I discovered on Homiletic & Pastoral Review (HP&R),
entitled Celebrating "Humanae Vitae" 45 Years Later. You
can find this excellent article by the well respected editor of HP&R
and Jesuit, David Vincent Melconi, S.J., by
clicking here.
Maybe I am naïve but I was caught
off-guard by the nature of the discussion these two articles sparked.
Reading some of the comments became excruciatingly painful - a hard but
valuable lesson learned by this wannabe evangelizer.
Even though you have not read the
discussion to which I have been referring, I think you will understand the
thrust of it by reading what follows:
Since I initiated this
discussion, let me offer my final comments as we bring this discussion to a
merciful conclusion.
There have been so
many twists and turns from the initial orientation of this discussion, I could
not possibly respond to all that has been raised – save for expressing sadness
and disappointment for the pain that denial of God’s Truth causes His Most
Precious and Sacred Heart and for the times we have failed to be as charitable
as we should have been in responding to the multiple issues raised herein.
The sinfulness of
contraception did not begin with the issuance of Humanae Vitae. No
matter how many bishops, priests, theologians or lay people challenge the
authenticity of Pope Paul VI’s courageous encyclical, contraception is and
always has been an “intrinsic evil” and “grave sin” - not just for Catholics
but for all human beings. This fundamental and vital Truth and its
eternal implications must be preached from all our pulpits. I suspect that will
not happen unless and until we return to the primary mission of our Church –
not alleviating the physical, material, emotional and addictive behaviors of
the poor, oppressed and marginalized (all worthy efforts for sure) but the
salvation of souls.
