The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1955-02-04
Just Among Ourselves
Passing Comment Considered or lneonsidersts


usually religion of maerialiSm, convenience, and
pseudo-socology. They refuse the strong food of
eternity for the husks Of time They turn from the
Cross of Christ to the soft armchair OF sensual
ease They seorn the of penance without which,
on Our Lords own authority all will perish)
and proclaim the gospel of self-indulgence
When a person abandons the acts and ideals
of Christian living, We are sorry for him, and hope
that he will accept Gods grace to return TO spir-
itual sanity. But when he abandons Christianity
for its opposite and then declares that his aber-
alton indicates the true Christianity, we feel not
only sorrow for him but contempt For a weak and
mistaken man, there is pity. For plain shyster,
faker, and chaIlatan there can only be derison-
and adherence.
The thing called birth-controI (Which one sane
critic has described as "fewer births and no
trol'0 has been agitated for a long time by those
who frankly disregard the requirements of Chris
tian morality 1t takes the form of family plan
ming" among those who dislike the harshei term
of birth control" For, while it might appear pre-
sumptuous for person to assume control, there
is always suggestion of wisdom in planning.
There is a legitimate way in which married
couples may control the flow of offspring; this
is the way of chaste abstainng from the operation
dyiney planned for procreation. This is the way,
and the only way in which ii is lawful to control
lawfully used only when spouses freely agree to
abstain, and when such abstentaton involves
serious danger of incontinence in either party.
Why, after all do couples marry? They marry,
first and foremost to have children. The attraction
which draws them emotionally romantically
together springs, bioogically out of the drive to
propagate. That is the way in which God has con-
stituted His children. And since they are rational
creatures, they expected to act reasonably, using
natural outcome Of the imp0rtan, and sacred acts
which they freely choose to perform. They are
not expected like moronc children, to think they
can have their cake and eat it too.
In word Christian virtue involves. in every
case constant prudent restraint What is char
acteristic Of every virtue, is manifesy character
stic Of marital virtue Without restraint, marriage
is quickly dvested Of the mutual respect which is
the foundation OF real love- it ceases to be source
of happiness for the spouses; il tends TO become
a sheer burden Without restraint, marriage tends
towards disappointment, disgust and divorce
Now the soul of the Planned Parenthood idea,
that is, OF the birth control movements the
throwing aside of all restraint In an age which is
aware of the keen need of fidelity, domestic peace,
and strong hOme-life the Planners and Controllers
seek to attain these fine objectives by means which
nexorably work for their destruction They are like
mad physicians who would prescribe carboc acid
for an upset stomach, and cyanide to insure free
dom from headache.
And, since the surviving elements of Christian
y in the non-C Catholic world all in conflict with
the purposes of the Planners and Controllers, these
persons are ever eager to have some churchman
speak for their cause in the very of the Chris
tanity which they offend And such churchmen
are not hard to find The latest discovery OF the
sort is the Very Reverend Dean of the Protestant
Cathedral of ST. John the Divine in New York
City,-a man by the name Of James A. Pike.
This gentleman with wde-gapped clerical vest
talks pously OF the duty of parents to share Gods
creative process But they share ii on their own
terms not Gods according to this churchman's ad.
vice. They have, the clergyman declares, to "think
through the responsibility of having children in the
light OF all factors operating il their particular
situation from time to time" One might suppose
that the sane couple had "thor ght through" this
question before they decided to marry, and mar
riage declared to the world that they had thought
through" the matter and had reached their change.
less decision Otherwise, why did they marry?
Now, says the Pike, brth-control is "a positive
duty when parentspotental think through" the
business and decide that they should not have a
child at this time or that And does the gentleman
of the cloth then declare that tho spouseS are to
practise confluence for tme2 Far from IT, His
brand of Christianity ignores the laws of God
through process indicates avoidance of offspring,
I'VE must make it very clear that it is licit to
contraeeptiVeS"
You can have respect for sinner who is cour-
ageouS enough to stand by his sin. But you cannot
respect the faker who proposes his sin virtuous
act. You may tolerate the man who rejects Chris
tian morality, You cannot tolerate the Shyster who
tries 10 tell you that heather morality is really
Christian The man who says that sometimes It is
the duty of spouses to avoid offspring might be
toerable in human society; but when he says that
this duty must not cost the SpouseS anything but
must leave them free to wallow in meaningless
passion he is not tolerabe, in the society OF
non-human animals
Is II not strange that rational do not see
the obvious necessity of having in the world the
infallibe Voice of Christ speaking in His Church?
Faith and morals what is truth to be believed
and deeency to be done) cannot be Safeguarded
by Planners and Pixies Faith and morals be
proclaimed and defended only by that institution
to which the Goodman said 'He that heareth you,
heareth Me / am with you all DAYS"