Published from 1982-96, Fidelity magazine was the predecessor of Culture Wars.
Birth Control
and Christian Discipleship
Birth
Control and Christian Discipleship, by John F. Kippley,
Cincinnati: The Couple to Couple League, 1985, 36 pp., $2.
Reviewed by James G. Bruen, Jr.
From the June 1986 issue of Fidelity magazine
If all roads lead to Rome, the paths from Rome also
often seem to converge at a common destination. This is unsurprising because
only two final destinations exist in eternity.
Today, Protestant churches appear united in their
acceptance of artificial birth control, while many of those Catholics who are
journeying from Rome leave because of contraception. Birth Control and
Christian Discipleship traces the crumbling during this century of the
previously unanimous Christian opposition to contraception and invites a return
to truth: “Christians, let us unite with each other and with our forefathers in
a renewed appreciation of marriage, morality, and discipleship.” Will the
return occur? Although error “will not disappear overnight, all things are
possible with God.”
This pamphlet also describes the social consequences
of the acceptance of contraception, the tie between contraception and abortion, and, of course,
the connection between sex, procreation, and marriage. It persuasively
addresses the effectiveness, morality, and scriptural underpinnings of natural
family planning. And no punches are pulled about the morality of NFP: “Of
course NFP can be used selfishly. That’s why it needs to be taught within the
context of the Judeo-Christian call to generosity in the service of life.
However, the fact that NPP can be abused is no reason not to call it a gift
from God. Sex is a gift, and it’s widely abused.”
There is one sentence in the pamphlet that could
have been written more felicitously, for I fear unsympathetic reviewers will
seize it to batter the Church’s teaching as anti-sex. “The Bible,” writes John
F. Kippley, director of The Couple to Couple League for Natural Family
Planning, “condemns every form of sexual behavior except sexual intercourse
between a married couple who are not committing the sin of Onan.” Cannot a
kiss, to use an extreme example, be “sexual behavior”? Is all kissing – even
between a husband and wife – condemned by the Bible? I can hear the advocates
of sexual immorality raising such questions to ridicule the teaching of the
Church and the views of CCL. The context of the sentence would make the
questions unfair and misleading. Nevertheless, the sentence gives the opponents
of truth a tool with which to strike.
Reduced rates are available for bulk purchases of
this attractively designed pamphlet, which should be available in parish
bookracks and given by dioceses and parishes to engaged couples. Because some
priests are guides for the journey from Rome, and because others are at best
reluctant to give clear directions on how to travel within Rome rather than
outside of her boundaries, this road map will probably nevertheless receive
limited distribution by our Church. Because it explains Catholic teaching well
but is written to appeal to Catholics and non-Catholics alike, it may, however,
help guide some non-Catholics to Rome.
James G. Bruen,
Jr. is an attorney.
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Libido
Dominandi: Sexual Liberation and Political Control by E. Michael Jones. Libido
Dominandi (the term is from St. Augustine’s City of God) is the
definitive history of the sexual revolution, from 1773 to the present,
examining the development of psychotherapy, behaviorism, advertising,
sensitivity training, pornography, and plain old blackmail that allowed the
Enlightenment and its heirs to turn Augustine’s insight on its head and create
masters out of men’s vices. Libido Dominandi explains how the rhetoric
of sexual freedom was used to engineer a system of covert political and social
control. Paperback, $28.00 + s&h. [When ordering for international shipment, the price will
appear as $35 to offset increased shipping and handling charges.] Read More Read Reviews
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