The Spiritual Dangers of Contraception

Fr. Paul Mankowski has an interesting piece on the threat posed by the rejection of Humanae Vitae, and the attendant acceptance of contraception, to the authority of the Church and to the lives of religious Brothers and Sisters.

If the Church is wrong in Humanae vitae, the judgment that it is wrong can only be made with reference to some standard. That standard, obviously, cannot be the Church herself; some contend that it is moral intuition, others a more academically respectable reading of scripture or of the history of doctrine; still others some comprehensive system of ethics or logic. But the crucial point is that whatever standard is taken as fundamentally reliable, this standard judges the Church, and is not judged by her. Here is the real revolution incited by the Pill; next to it the rise in promiscuity is a mere flutter.

It's not about how many kids you have or don't have; it's about whether the Church can be led into error or whether the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. I seem to recall hearing that somewhere.