Misconception

No pun intended there. But it works as a header…

As mentioned below in the previous post, the bishops will be addressing the issue of contraception in their upcoming Fall meeting, and they’re expected to approve a document clarifying what the Church teaches about birth control. That’s the anticipation reported on LifeSiteNews.

A media advisory from the USCCB notes that the bishops will vote on approval of “a document from the Pro-Life Committee offering pastoral guidance on the Church’s teaching concerning contraception, linked with a culture of life.”

There’s a dire need for that clarity and guidance.

The issue of contraception has launched back onto the public scene in recent months with the attempt of pro-abortion forces to drive a wedge within the pro-life movement.  The most notable move has come from pro-abortion activist Senator Hilary Clinton who spoke of reducing abortion by turning to contraception, abortifacient contraception included.

That message is absorbing into the cultural mindset of a lot of folks who do, in presumed goodwill, want to reduce or eliminate abortion. Bruce writes in to the Forum that “world estimations of the number of terminations carried out each year is somewhere between 20 and 88 million.” By terminations he means abortions. He runs through the numbers in America alone, and the percentage that blamed failed birth control. And he adds the percentage of abortions by women who didn’t use birth control at all. His conclusion: “That means a staggering 98 percent (of abortions) may have been avoided had an effective birth control been used.”

That’s exactly the mindset (mentioned above) of Sen. Hilary Clinton and like-minded politicians. It’s a matter of education about human life that was elaborated by Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae in 1968. He also predicted that abortion would follow a contraceptive mentality in the culture.

That’s why pro-life leaders are anticipating the bishops’ new clarification.

Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life told LifeSiteNews.com that he was “very much looking forward to the document on contraception”.  He noted that the concern over contraception has been recognized by the whole pro-life movement, not only Catholics.  “Many groups that I work with both Catholic and Protestant alike are discovering the importance of working on this problem which is at the heart of the culture of death,” he said.

Fr. Pavone added that the real test will be in applying the teachings on contraception both in our personal lives and by priests in parishes.

It starts with understanding it.