In Umbris Sancti Petri

In 1995, Pope John Paul II coined the now prevalent term, "The Culture of Death," with respect to cultures promoting abortion, euthanasia, etc. Since this time, thanks be to God, generous people of good will have begun a sort of revolution against some of the worlds most deadly yet silent assassins: abortion and euthanasia. Abortion has caused deaths on such a horrific scale that - not including the abortions from the so called "contraceptive pill" - we should be trembling at the bloodshed.

At least in the United States, the Pro-Life movement has created a sort of ecumenical spring board for Catholics and many protestants - particularly the evangelicals - upon which to unite. However, one issue of paramount importance has rarely been discussed in the Pro-Life movement: that of contraception. If abortion is the weed destroying much of the garden of humanity - 1/3 of Americans conceived in the last 44 years have been murdered by abortion before child birth - then contraception and it's accompanying mentality are surely its seed. The Catholic Church has never failed to see the intrinsic link between contraception and abortion, but sadly the Pro-Life movement in general, which is predominantly Catholic, has utterly failed to make clear this most important link between contraception and abortion.

It is my belief that the Pro-Life movement will remain only an attempt to heal a serious cultural wound, one truly in need of profound and divine healing, with a bandage; unless we clearly and unambiguously demonstrate this link between contraception and abortion, healing of the true wound will never take place. Without demonstrating the link between contraception and abortion, I don't think the Pro-Life movement can achieve its aim: cultural metanoia, which is the deep conversion of heart and mind causing individuals and societies at large to make a 180-degree turn with respect to our outlook and attitude toward life.

The fundamental problem with contraception is that it is radically closed to life; it is an anti-life. It is a fundamental "no" in response to the first command God gave man: "Be fruitful and multiply." It says no to the most mysterious and powerful part of the human person, the procreative or generative potency.