I was an army chaplain at Puckapunyal preparing conscripts for Vietnam and, at the same time, an undergraduate at Melbourne University where the Vietnam War was taboo. Those two worlds were a universe apart.

As I drove into the university car park the car radio told me that Paul VI had reaffirmed the intrinsic immorality of contraception.

I was shocked.

His advisory group had advised differently.

We now know he went against most of the bishops he had chosen to consult.

Little did I know that this was just the start of a journey to sexual common sense for the whole church.

Five years later, I was parish priest of a brand-new parish full of baby boomers with growing families. They were enthusiastic Catholics who loved parish involvement. Life was full on.

As families grew, so did the parish school. Vatican II was the guiding charter. Liturgy was alive — the source and summit of the life of the parish.

Two things were of interest.

• Nobody ever mentioned contraception.
• Very few went to confession.

Fifteen years later, the younger generation was courting and moving into partnerships.

First, they had sleepovers, then holiday trips together, then they moved in together. Their baby-boomer parents moved gradually from concern, to acceptance and, finally, approval.

The younger generation was re-educating the older.

Some saw this as an erosion of values; others saw it as the emergence of common sense, replacing a strongly ingrained pre-judgement that sex was bad and dangerous.

Then they started thinking.

• Was the pill a bad thing because it allowed license, or a good thing because it allowed greater freedom?
• Was vasectomy a violation of nature, or a newly available option for alleviating anxiety?

Were the tortuous arguments of Catholic moralists based on a prejudice that sex is somehow suspect, rather than an integral part of a fully human life?

John Paul II pre-occupied with sexual morality

The 80s were dominated by Pope John Paul II's fight back on the issue.

He had a hand in framing the original encyclical and seemed pre-occupied with sexual morality.

Over a five-year period, he lectured on his Theology of the Body at the Wednesday Papal Audiences. These cerebral, rationalistic talks moved the focus of discussion of sexuality from human experience to rules and regulations.

He was an old-time student of scholastic philosophy which he propounded in the Wednesday talks and in the two encyclicals "Veritatis Splendor" and "Fides et Ratio."

Human sexuality, as a wholistic human experience, got lost in this arid universe. Was he fighting his own inner demons?

Sexual ethics, a new Church industry

John Paul II's intense pre-occupation with sexual ethics emboldened the law and order wing of the Catholic Church and created a new industry.

In 1981 he established the Pontifical Council for the Family. Its chief focus was sexual morality, especially opposition to contraception.

Under the 18 years of the controversial Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo's presidency, it was renowned for opposition to family planning, use of condoms, even as AIDS prevention, gay marriage and embryological research.

Another spinoff was the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family.

It has developed a heavily ideological course program using the JP II Theology of the Body as its ideological bedrock.

Allied to established theology schools, it grants degrees under a moral theology or bioethics rubric. George Pell promoted this institute in Australia first under the leadership of Anthony Fisher and then Peter Elliott.

Moral theologians like Charles Curran, who argued a more nuanced view of Humanae Vitae, were blackballed by the pope.

During the 37 years of John Paul II and Benedict XVI a chasm grew between an ever more entrenched, Roman, anti-sex mentality and a Catholic faithful who had adapted to a more wholistic vision of sexuality in human life and love.

Official Church ossifies

The church at large was getting freer while church officialdom dug in and ossified.

The doubters were not just pleasure seekers.

They sensed that integral humanity was at the core of their conviction. A narrow, cerebral path of study had led officialdom away from God's reality.

Margaret Farley, a leading American moral theologian, backed up this intuitive sense with her book "Just Love." Justice is the top criterion for loving - including sexual love.

At the same time, something new was crystalizing in this cauldron of ideas.

The mind of the church is formulated by the teachers ("magisterium" in Latin), but it needed to be received by the church at large to receive its final endorsement.

Reception theology now had its day. Ask Father Ormond Rush, an Australian theologian in the forefront of this study. The common sense of the faithful was solidly founded after all.

Cat out of the bag

Paul VI was shocked by the response of the church at large to his encyclical. It caused turmoil for many and departure from the church for some, including priests.

But it prompted others to formulate their conscience for themselves.

No longer is the pope's or bishop's word law. Make the case or lose the argument.

So, Humanae Vitae turned out to be a watershed moment.

Paul VI meant to settle the matter but, instead, began a movement that put conscience, reception and sexual taboo under the microscope.

John Paul II laboured for 27 years to bag the cat again - but lost.

What a roller coaster ride it has been!

But the church is, consequently, better informed and wiser.

Continue reading

• Eric Hodgens was ordained a Catholic priest in 1960. In 1973 he graduated M.A. from Melbourne University Criminology Department in 1973. For seven years he was Director of Pastoral Formation of Clergy for the Archdiocese of Melbourne. In 1965 he was appointed an Australian Army chaplain part-time. He was heavily involved in the army's Character Guidence Course program during the Vietnam National Service conscription period. He held this appointment for 15 years. Eric now blogs at Catholic View. Reproduced with permission.
• Image: La-Croix International

Mates and Dates is a programme for secondary school students.

It is aimed at teaching young people healthy relationship skills and behaviour to help prevent sexual and dating violence.

TWT says sexual violence, like so many forms of violence experienced by Maori, will not be reduced by programmes like Mates and Dates.

In a press release, they say the money would be better invested in culturally appropriate teacher-led sexuality education in schools.

TWT says Mates and Dates is unconnected to the realities of Maori and fails to draw on the wealth of historical and contemporary Maori knowledge and practices associated with healthy relationships.

What is required is an evidence-based national plan for culturally appropriate sexuality education.

There are programmes underway in some schools where teachers are already addressing consent and sexual violence as part of comprehensive sexuality education.

However, a lack of specific policy, funding and the political ‘will' to lead the charge is prevent the programme from being rolled out nationally.

This month the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has published its Concluding Observations on New Zealand's 8th Periodic Report.

Among the observations were:

• The high level of gender-based violence in New Zealand, especially domestic and sexual violence
• The low levels of reporting of violence within Maori communities - only 20% of family violence and 9% of sexual violence is reported
• The lack of culturally appropriate approaches and distrust in public authorities
• This lack prevents Maori and other ethnic minority women from seeking protection from domestic and sexual violence

Source

• scoop.co.nz
• tewhariki.org.nz
• acc.co.nz
• nzfvc.org.nz
• Image: laraphillips.co.nz

A survey of 342 people, mostly Catholic, earlier this year by A Call To Action describes a widening gap between Church teaching on sexual and family ethics and the opinion and practice of many of the faithful.

Some 85 per cent of respondents rejected the Church's ban on contraception and 88 per cent rejected the Church's policy of refusing access to the sacraments for the divorced and remarried.

And 94 per cent agreed that the Church needed to be more welcoming to those in irregular relationships.

Sermons about family life were singled out by respondents as not being very helpful.

Respondents called for a more welcoming, family-friendly Church, less clerical and more open to lay involvement.

Lead author of a report on the survey, Andrew Hornsby-Smith said: "These issues are strangling the future of the Church at a time when the clergy is ageing and numbers are falling."

"There are some real opportunities, but the Church leadership needs to modernise its policies, become more family friendly, and encourage lay involvement."

The authors of the report said the project was conducted "in a spirit of critical loyalty".

The authors admit, "It would be incorrect to claim that these results are a representative sample of churchgoers".

Many of the respondents were older and white.

Nearly half (49.4 per cent) of those who completed the survey were more than 71 years old, while 37.6 per cent were in the 56-70 age bracket.

Objection to a question on abortion reportedly resulted in a reduced the availability of the survey.

The report has been given to the Catholic bishops of England and Wales as part of the Church's preparations for the Synod on the Family in Rome in October.

Sources

• Christian Today
• Lifesitenews
• Independent Catholic News
• Image: Beads with Faith

Speaking to Die Tagespost on June 6, Cardinal Gerhard Müller rejected placing "any so-called lived realities" on the same level as Scripture and tradition.

This is "nothing more than the introduction of subjectivism and arbitrariness, wrapped up in sentimental and smug religious terminology", he said.

The cardinal's comments have been seen as a criticism of a "shadow council" held recently in Rome involving some bishops, theologians and priests.

This event, held at the Pontifical Gregorian University on May 25, discussed how the Church could adapt its pastoral approach to lived experiences, especially regarding sexual ethics.

German Bishop Franz-Josef Bode, who was at the event, reportedly said that the "lived realities" of people should be a source of information for dogmatic and moral truths.

But Cardinal Müller stressed that these "lived realities" can sometimes be very pagan.

The cardinal said the faith cannot be the result of a compromise between acceptable Christian ideas, abstract principles and the practice of a pagan lifestyle.

Speaking of the Gregorian meeting, Cardinal Müller said it is right to exchange information on any point or major issue.

But he added that one cannot organise the truth.

If this principle were to be adopted and taken as true by the Church, leading her to take her cue from public opinion, then the Church would be "shaken to her foundations", he said.

The Catholic Church is mother and teacher of all churches, he said, one that teaches and is not taught.

"She does not need anybody - as superior and as adapted to our times he might think he is - to teach her a notion of the right faith, because in her, the apostolic tradition has been faithfully safeguarded and always will be preserved."

He added that Rome will strengthen bishops' freedom and responsibility, according to a National Catholic Register report.

But this will be threatened by "nostalgias for national churches and by the haggling over social acceptance", the cardinal said.

Sources

• National Catholic Register
• Image: Lifesitenews

As early as 1977, Dr Dominian warned against what he called the Catholic Church's pre-occupation with marital chastity at the expense of other factors in a successful marriage.

In his "Proposals for a New Sexual Ethic", he argued that the presence of a genuine love between two people - whether they be married or not - validates sex, making it an activity worthy of celebration.

Sexual pleasure, he wrote, must not be trivialised in the eyes of the Church, being one of the "gifts of God to man which can become the springs of joy, pleasure and loving communication".

Dr Dominian went on to extend the argument in defence of the love between same-sex couples.

To think of sex solely in terms of procreation, he wrote in New Internationalist in 1986, was to deny its "capacity to give life in a more than biological sense", its role in strengthening a couple's sexual identity and their sense of commitment to each other.

While Dr Dominian admitted that the teachings of the Bible condemned homosexual practices, he ventured that same-sex marriages would one day be possible, and that couples should receive the support of Church and state.

In all, he published more than 30 books, including "The Definitive Guide to What Makes a Marriage Work" (1995), and "One Like Us: A Psychological Interpretation of Jesus" (1998), which employed modern psychoanalytic theories to explore Christ's childhood development.

In the latter, Dr Dominian argued that Mary's nurturing in the early years enabled Jesus to develop the emotional maturity to be fully human and fully divine.

It was part of Jesus' "psychological genius" that he could handle both natures without becoming a split personality, Dr Dominian theorised.

He also wrote that Jesus was "capable of appreciating female beauty and being aroused by it" and was "no prude".

But Jesus came to give himself to the whole world, not to an exclusive person, he wrote.

Dr Dominian decided to write "One Like Us" because "Christianity is wrapped up in theological terms which are meaningless to the contemporary world".

Dr Dominian became critical of the Church's teaching on sexuality, its hierarchical structure and "the gap between the institutional reality and the community of love Jesus set up".

Sources

• The Telegraph
• The Independent
• Image: The Telegraph

In a press release from Family First she says when she appeared before the committee on December 10 those who appeared before her were all in support of the bill, and were treated well, but when her name was called the mood changed.

"The heavy air was charged with emotion and I am still astounded that I managed to walk towards that table and chair despite apprehension and feeling sick at heart at my different treatment and the apparent hostility," she said.

Carroll said in the middle of her speech, acting chair Chris Auchinvole got up to get a drink, and when she finished her speech with the words of Martin Luther King Jr, Hague was "unsavoury and menacing" to her, calling her homophobic.

"The whole experience was very strange. There was a lack of common courtesy and respect," she said.

Auchinvole said it was common for committee members to get drinks and go to the toilet during submissions as long as a quorum was maintained and that Carroll had already made a written submission to which she was speaking.

He said appearing before a select committee "can be an intimidating experience if you were too sensitive" but members went to great lengths to make people feel relaxed.

He said Carroll was "very direct" and "passionate" in delivering her submission.

"Lots of people were emotional but it's an emotional topic," he said.

Hague said he felt all submitters - especially individuals - had been treated with respect. He said he would be concerned if an 18-year-old felt bullied, but he didn't think that was the case. However, he admitted he did express exasperation when she began talking about "virtue".

"That makes my hackles rise . . . I find it offensive," he said.

"Even more outrageous is her quoting Martin Luther King at the end. I am certain that my feelings would have been obvious at the time: co-opting words from the leader of the American civil rights movement, whose widow has been a vocal advocate of marriage equality, to deny civil rights to others is going to stir strong reactions."

Hague said he never used the word homophobic.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: New Zealand Listener

Pro-choice groups have labelled Right to Life's ongoing grudge-match as tiresome and time-wasting.

The Charities Commission confirmed it received a complaint regarding the Family Planning Association's charity status, but was yet to decide whether to investigate.

Family Planning Association chief executive Jackie Edmond said she's confident the organisation meets the legal requirements of a charity.

"We're not concerned it will impact on our charity status. It's just tiresome and a distraction."

Right To Life had also complained to the Government about the association's funding, she said.

"The biggest concern for me is it makes people nervous to address the real issues because a small number of people are very vocal," Edmond said.

The teacher, Emily Herx, filed the suit because she was discriminated against after the school's priest found out she had begun the IVF treatements.

IVF treatments are against Catholic Church teaching.

According to CNN, the school's priest called Herx a "grave, immoral sinner". He told her she should have kept quiet about such things because "some things are better left between the individual and God," she said.

"I don't think I was doing anything wrong."

"I have never had any complaints about me as a teacher," Herx said.

Responding, the diocese said it "views the core issue raised in this lawsuit as a challenge to the diocese's right, as a religious employer, to make religious based decisions consistent with its religious standards on an impartial basis."

In its statement, Fort Wayne-South Bend Indiana diocesan officials said that "the church promotes treatment of infertility through means that respect the right to life, the unity of marriage, and procreation brought about as the fruit of the conjugal act. There are other infertility treatments, such as in vitro fertilization, which are not morally licit according to Catholic teaching."

The statement adds that teachers working in the diocese are required to "have a knowledge and respect for the Catholic faith, and abide by the tenets of the Catholic Church."

Herx said she underwent her first in vitro fertilization treatment in March 2010, and immediately told her supervisor, the school's principal.

"The first time she was made aware that my husband and I had to go through fertility treatments, she said, 'You are in my prayers,' " Herx said.

"To me, that was support."

Source

• CNN
• Image: CNN