The Church and science, Part 1

Science has been in the news a lot lately, with various marches and demonstrations, based on feelings, perhaps, that science is being underappreciated these days by various people in power.  I figured this would be an opportunity to discuss what the Church teaches about science in general, a little bit about the historical relationship between Church and science, and then maybe get into discussions about specific areas and concerns where faith and science meet today.

I find it interesting that in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the paragraphs on science are in Part 3, Article 5, which discusses the Fifth Commandment,  “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:4).   This is the same section that discusses the life issues (respect for life, self-defense, homicide, abortion, euthanasia, suicide, health).   Even though the Catechism came out in the mid-90’s, it still seems very relevant and noteworthy today that the discussion of science is placed in the section where respect for the life and dignity of human persons is likewise discussed.   Science cannot operate apart from respect for all human life. 

The first mention of science in the Catechism comes in Paragraph 2292: Scientific, medical, or psychological experiments on human individuals or groups can contribute to healing the sick and the advancement of public health.   It then continues in Paragraph 2293  Basic scientific research, as well as applied research, is a significant expression of man's dominion over creation. Science and technology are precious resources when placed at the service of man and promote his integral development for the benefit of all. By themselves however they cannot disclose the meaning of existence and of human progress. Science and technology are ordered to man, from whom they take their origin and development; hence they find in the person and in his moral values both evidence of their purpose and awareness of their limits.   So science is there for a purpose beyond itself.  It is not a goal.   God created the world for man (as we have discussed in previous posts), and therefore, science, which explores the universe, will do best when it is used at the service of man. 

In the next Paragraph (2294), we read: It is an illusion to claim moral neutrality in scientific research and its applications. On the other hand, guiding principles cannot be inferred from simple technical efficiency, or from the usefulness accruing to some at the expense of others or, even worse, from prevailing ideologies. Science and technology by their very nature require unconditional respect for fundamental moral criteria. They must be at the service of the human person, of his inalienable rights, of his true and integral good, in conformity with the plan and the will of God.   Like we said before, science must be at the service of man.   In order to do so, it requires a moral code to guide its actions.  Morality, contrary to what some may posit today, is not derived from science.   Morality guides science; science cannot determine morality.   And where does morality come from?  Philosophy and theology.   If there is corruption at any of those levels, science will suffer.  Good science requires good morality, which in turn requires good philosophy and theology.

In the next Paragraph (2295), the Church speaks specifically about experimentation involving human persons.  Research or experimentation on the human being cannot legitimate acts that are in themselves contrary to the dignity of persons and to the moral law. The subjects' potential consent does not justify such acts. Experimentation on human beings is not morally legitimate if it exposes the subject's life or physical and psychological integrity to disproportionate or avoidable risks. Experimentation on human beings does not conform to the dignity of the person if it takes place without the informed consent of the subject or those who legitimately speak for him.   The human person can never be an object for science.  The human person is rather, a subject.   The human person can never be regarded as simply utilitarian for something else.  Rather, it has its own dignity, coming from within, not without, and this comes first before anything else.

The final paragraph (2296) in this section discusses the issue of organ transplants.   Organ transplants are in conformity with the moral law if the physical and psychological dangers and risks to the donor are proportionate to the good sought for the recipient. Organ donation after death is a noble and meritorious act and is to be encouraged as an expression of generous solidarity. It is not morally acceptable if the donor or his proxy has not given explicit consent. Moreover, it is not morally admissible to bring about the disabling mutilation or death of a human being, even in order to delay the death of other persons.  This is a specific application of the principles we have discussed above.

So we can see in these few paragraphs here, the Church has tremendous respect for the potential of science in service of the human person.   I do realize that a lot of science does not necessarily deal directly with man, such as research on the environment, and/or on animals.   However, since, according to Genesis, man has dominion over creation, one can say that all science relates in some way to man.  Therefore, how we do it is, and the conclusions we draw from it, are very important.   It is important that scientific work continue, but that it not lose become unhinged from morality, and therefore, the human person.   The Church will continue to value science as it always has, and will encourage research and development that fit in her moral criteria.

In the next post, we will discuss some notable moments and persons in the history of the Church’s dealings in science.  Despite what some today might think, it is a great story to tell.

Joseph, protector of Holy Church, pray for us.

Making a good Confession

In the post earlier today, I published the first part of a brochure on Confession that can be found at the Shrine (copyright information can be found in that post.)   In that post, a lot of valuable information was presented that can help us in our preparation for the Sacrament of Confession.   In this post, we will, again using the words from that brochure, describe how we can celebrate the Sacrament of Confession. once we have prepared.  If we have prepared well, it will be a good one!

Mortal Sins Must Be Confessed

You are only obligated to confess mortal sins, although confession of venial sins is very helpful in receiving the grace to avoid sin in the future and for advancing in holiness.

For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must be met (in bold): “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.” (CCC 1857)

Steps to a Good Confession

1. Examine your conscience.

2. Be repentant of your sins.

3. Confess your sins to the priest in number and kind, being sure to confess all mortal sins.

4. Make an act of contrition, receive absolution from the priest, and resolve to sin no more.

5. Do the penance the priest gives you.

How to Go to Confession

• Begin with the Sign of the Cross.

• Then say, “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been ______ days/weeks/ months/years since my last confession.”

• Tell the priest your sins and how many times you committed each (to the best of your memory), beginning with any mortal sins and any sins you are particularly struggling with.

• The priest will give you some advice and assign you a penance.

• You then make the Act of Contrition.

• The priest will give you absolution and then dismiss you.

Act of Contrition

 O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all of my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they have offended you, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of your grace, to sin no more, to do penance, and to avoid the near occasions of sin. Amen.

 (The rest of this post are my words.)

Confession is a beautiful experience.    I go every 4-6 weeks.  Once a month should be the goal of all Catholics.  Under no circumstances should we go more than two months without receiving it.   We simply cannot live a devout, full Christian life without frequent reception of this Sacrament.

However, even if you have not been to Confession for a long time;  6 months, a year, 6 years, or even 60 years, like the loving father in the story of the Prodigal Son,  the Lord is ready to welcome you with open and loving arms!  Any baptized Catholic can go, no matter how long it has been.  Any baptized person,  even non-Catholics, may be able to receive under certain circumstances (ask a local priest.)

Remember that a priest cannot reveal anything he has heard in the Confession under any circumstance.   If he does, he can no longer function as a priest.   And a priest has heard it all!  For these reasons, never be afraid to confess your sins to him!   

Happy Feast of Divine Mercy to all of you!

Preparing for Confession

In light of today's Feast of Divine Mercy, I thought I would share with you material from a brochure that the Shrine has outside its confessionals.  It is a wonderful tool to help one prepare to receive the Sacrament of Confession.   Sometimes when we go to Confession, it is clear what we need to confess, but sometimes it is not so clear, and guides like can be very helpful.  This is one of the most thorough, complete guides to an examination of conscience that I have encountered, and I feel it is worthwhile to share with you all.  It is copyrighted 2010 from the Archdiocese of Boston, and it is adapted from the Diocese of Fall River's "Be Reconciled to God" initiative in 2009.   (This brochure also great information on actually making a Confession, and that will be the topic of our next post.  Today we will just discuss preparing for it.  The beautiful stained glass window pictured here is from the corridor at the Shrine where the confessionals are.)

Preparing for Confession

• Find a quiet place to pray and think. • Ask the Holy Spirit in prayer to help you remember your sins. • Use the questions below as a guide. • Remember to include sins of omission—that is, things you should have done but did not.

Examination of Conscience

First, consider how well you have kept the Ten Commandments.

 First Commandment “I am the lord your God. … You shall have no other gods before me.” – Exodus 20:2-3

• Do I put other things, activities, or people before God? • Have I spent time with God each day in prayer? • Do I accept all of God’s teaching or just the parts I find convenient? • Have I practiced or engaged in occult practices, such as consulting horoscopes, tarot cards, fortune telling, or “Ouija” boards? • Have I denied my faith in any ways? • Have I ever received Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin?

Second Commandment “You shall not take the name of the lord your God in vain.” – Exodus 20:7

• Do I always show respect and reverence for God’s name? • Have I used God’s name as a curse, out of anger, or in a careless way? • Have I irreverently spoken about God or about any sacred person, place, or thing? • Have I done my best to fulfill any promises in which I invoked God’s name (oaths)?

Third Commandment “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” – Exodus 20:8

• Have I deliberately missed Mass on a Sunday or holy day of obligation without just cause (for example, a serious illness)? • Do I actively and fully participate at Mass? • Have I carelessly arrived late or left early from Mass without a serious reason? • Have I kept the Eucharistic fast before Mass (i.e., no food or drink—except water—for one hour before receiving Holy Communion)?

Fourth Commandment “Honor your father and your mother.” – Exodus 20:12

• Have I failed to show love and respect to my parents? • Have a lied to, deceived, or disobeyed them? • Have I gotten angry, talked back, or used profanity at them? • Have I failed to be grateful for the sacrifices they have made for my family? • Have I fulfilled all the duties and responsibilities I have toward my parents and family? • Have I been critical of them to others? • Do I respect and obey others who have a legitimate role of authority in my life?

 Fifth Commandment “You shall not kill.” – Exodus 20:13

• Have I killed or harmed someone physically, mentally, or verbally? • Am I harming myself (and setting a bad example for others) by taking drugs or abusing alcohol? • Have I harmed someone through insults or bullying? • Have I mutilated or harmed my body? • Have I tried to commit suicide? • Did I have an abortion? • Have I encouraged, helped, or in any way participated in someone else’s abortion? • Have I easily lost my temper or shown anger toward someone? • Have I fostered a grudge or failed to forgive another?

Sixth and Ninth Commandments “You shall not commit adultery.” – Exodus 20:14

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.” – Exodus 20:17

• Do I treat the body as a temple of the Holy Spirit, respecting the sexual dignity of others and myself? • Have I willfully engaged in impure thoughts or desires? • Have I looked at pornographic images or videos? • Have I watched impure TV shows or movies? • Have I committed impure acts by myself (i.e., committed the sin of masturbation)? • Have I committed impure acts with another or led others to commit impure acts? • Have I dressed or acted immodestly, possibly leading others to sin? • Have I practiced any form of contraception?

Seventh and Tenth Commandments “You shall not steal.” – Exodus 20:15

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.” – Exodus 20:17

• Have I stolen anything or helped or encouraged anyone else to steal? • If I have stolen something, have I made restitution to its owner? • Have I damaged another’s property without acknowledging and making restitution? • Have I been greedy or overly attached to the things of the world? • Have I carelessly wasted time at home, at school, or at work? • Have I failed to help others—especially the poor—by neglecting to share what I have? • Have I honored my debts?

Eighth Commandment “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” – Exodus 20:16

• Have I lied? • Have I revealed the faults of others without just cause? • Have I gossiped about others? • Have I failed to honor a confidence or secret entrusted to me? • Have I damaged another’s reputation through lies or accusations? • Have I failed to defend someone’s good name?

The Seven Deadly Sins and the Opposite Virtues

Am I guilty of any of the following sins? Consider how you can grow in the opposing virtue. (See CCC 1866.)

1. Pride, Humility

2. Greed, Generosity

3. Lust, Chastity

4. Anger, Patience (Meekness) 

5. Gluttony, Temperance

6. Envy, Kindness

7. Sloth, Diligence (Persistence)

The Spiritual Works of Mercy

By considering the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy we can remember times we may have committed sins of omission. We can also be reminded of ways in which we can grow in holiness.

Have I neglected to do the following when circumstances obliged me?

1. Counsel the doubtful.

2. Instruct the ignorant.

3. Admonish sinners.

4. Comfort the sorrowful.

5. Bear wrongs patiently.

6. Forgive all injuries.

7. Pray for the living and the dead.

The Corporal Works of Mercy

Have I neglected to do the following when circumstances obliged me?

1. Feed the hungry.

2. Give drink to the thirsty.

3. Clothe the naked.

4. Shelter the homeless.

5. Visit the sick.

6. Visit the imprisoned.

7. Bury the dead.

Be fruitful and multiply, Part Six

At the Easter Vigil this past weekend, the very first reading was Chapter 1 of Genesis, the creation story, which has served as the leading inspirational Scripture for this series of posts.   It is appropriate to begin, this, our final reflection in this series, with a quote from that reading:

Then God said:
"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
the birds of the air, and the cattle,
and over all the wild animals
and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."
God created man in his image;
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, saying:
"Be fertile and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it.
Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air,
and all the living things that move on the earth."
God also said:
"See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth
and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food;
and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air,
and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground,
I give all the green plants for food."
And so it happened.
God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.
Evening came, and morning followed—the sixth day.

How appropriate that we begin the most solemn ceremony of the entire liturgical year with this reading.   We begin our celebration of Easter by recalling this great act of God, in creating the world, creating nature, and creating man and woman as the pinnacle of that creation, and then immediately telling man to “be fertile and multiply”.   This command did not come years, months, days, or even hours after we were created. No, it came moments, or even seconds, after our creation. “Be fertile and multiply”. 

This command has been with us since the beginning of time.   It will be with us until the end of time. There is no time in our history where that command has not been imposed on us by God.  This command came before the Ten Commandments.  It came before the Beatitudes, and other teachings of Jesus.  Without this command, no other command of God makes sense.  Without this command, there can be no life.  Without life, there can be no other good.   If we ignore this command, we cannot do much else.

All signs, at least here in this country and in many other of the traditional industrialized, or world powers, unfortunately, sadly show that we are not doing this.  We are shrinking as a population.  We are being told reason upon reason why we should not be growing.   There is not enough food, they say.   The environment cannot sustain us, they say.   There is not enough room for everybody, they say.   Overpopulation is a drain on the economy, they say.

Well, here are some facts, courtesy of the website overpopulationisamyth.com

1)      Every family in the world could have a house and a yard and fit in the state of Texas.

2)      The fact that so many people are delaying having children or not having children at all is causing many countries birthrate to fall below replacement rate.  This causes economies to collapse or at least be terribly strained when there are not enough working people to support the elderly of the population.

3)      There is enough food in the world for everyone to live a healthy life.   Modern farming methods allow us to grow food in places we could never before, like parts of Africa.   Lack of infrastructure, and war, contribute much more to the problem of famine in some areas than does overpopulation.

4)      Poverty is not caused by overpopulation.  Communities allow us to divide tasks, share resources, and come up with creative solutions to problems.   Our average standard of living has grown as the population has grown.   The percentage of poor people goes down as the population has grown.   People are the solution to poverty, not the cause.

5)      Cities are overcrowded, but that does not mean the world is overpopulated.   They are not the same, and often we confuse the too, especially since this is the experience of many of us who live in densely populated areas.  

I would add another point here, and it has to do specifically with life in the Church.  So often when we discuss problems in the Church we hear things like people are not going to Mass and/or Confession regularly, we do not have prayer lives, we give a less than acceptable percentage of our income to the Church, and other reasons why churches are a lot emptier and more lifeless these days than they were, and these are valid reasons why things are as they are.   However, we often do not consider a more basic reason: There are not as many people out there.   There are not enough people to work, and give to the Church.  There are not enough people to fill the churches.   There are not as many opportunities to evangelize.   Now, there are indeed spiritual elements to the decline in the Church.   If more people were practicing their Faith, then yes, the churches would be fuller.  If we evangelized better than we are, more people would be joining the Church.  All this is true.   However, let us not easily dismiss the fact that there are fewer of us than there were before, and this is contributing at least somewhat to the problem.

I believe as a nation we need to turn again to God, in many areas of our life.   We need to make a commitment to live all his Commands.  We need to have a holy fear of God.  We need to love him with all our hearts and love our neighbor as ourselves.   We need to honor our mother and father, keep holy the Sabbath, not commit adultery, not covet one another, not steal, and not cheat.  We need to be prudent, just, strong, and temperate.   We need to be peaceful, meek and merciful, pure and righteous before God.   

However, before all this, we need to exist in the first place.  We need to be alive.  We need to be given the chance to live, to come into this beautiful world that God created that is so beautifully described in the Creation story.

So when we turn back to God, we need to give him our whole selves.  This includes all our being, including our sexuality.   We cannot close any part of us to God, and that includes our most private body parts.   We have to develop what Saint John Paul II called a “culture of life”.   This means we must respect all human life from conception until natural death, and we must provide the necessary means to support that life.    We need to support people having children, and we must consider it ourselves if we can.   And on the other end of the life spectrum, we must not seek to kill our elderly, but rather, we must develop a society where there are indeed enough of us to support them so they can live fruitful, peaceful lives in old age.

Controlling or limiting the population is not the answer to our problems.  It is against the will of God.   Not only will it cause issues as we have discussed here, and are available to read about elsewhere, but it may very well cause us eternal issues in the next life when we stand before the judgment seat of God. Let us never forget those beautiful words from Genesis, “Be fruitful and multiply”.   If we do, we can be assured that when our times is up, and we are standing before the judgment seat of almighty God, we will hear another set of beautiful words:

 “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master’s house.” (Matthew 25:23).

Joseph, glory of home life, pray for us.

He made him the lord of his household.   And prince over all his possessions.

Be fruitful and multiply, Part Five

In this second to last installment of this series, we will look at the issue of population control. 

I found it interesting that when I looked up population control on Wikipedia, and looked in the part of the article entitled “opposition”, the very first opponent listed was none other than the Roman Catholic Church.  It quoted Pope Emeritus Benedict who said, in his message for the World Day of Peace in 2009, “The extermination of millions of unborn children, in the name of the fight against poverty, actually constitutes the destruction of the poorest of all human beings."  

The United States and other developed nations will help poorer nations, but typically only if they keep those populations under control.   Listen to what John Paul II had to say about this reality in his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae (the Gospel of Life), in which the Holy Father compared the powerful governments of the world to the notorious Pharaoh!

The Pharaoh of old, haunted by the presence and increase of the children of Israel, submitted them to every kind of oppression and ordered that every male child born of the Hebrew women was to be killed (cf. Ex 1:7-22). Today not a few of the powerful of the earth act in the same way. They too are haunted by the current demographic growth, and fear that the most prolific and poorest peoples represent a threat for the well-being and peace of their own countries. Consequently, rather than wishing to face and solve these serious problems with respect for the dignity of individuals and families and for every person's inviolable right to life, they prefer to promote and impose by whatever means a massive program of birth control. Even the economic help which they would be ready to give is unjustly made conditional on the acceptance of an anti-birth policy.

Here is some proof that this is exactly what was happening.  An executive government level entitled National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests (NSSM200was published in 1974, but only declassified in 1989.  It was written by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and adopted as policy by President Gerald Ford in 1975.  It has not been replaced since.   The basic thesis of the memorandum is that population growth in the least developed countries of the world (LDC’s) is a concern to our nation’s security because the higher the population in underdeveloped countries, the more unrest there would be, and the harder for us it would be to access the natural resources of those lands.  It states as follows:

The U.S. economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less developed countries [see National Commission on Materials Policy, Towards a National Materials Policy: Basic Data and Issues, April 1972]. That fact gives the U.S. enhanced interest in the political, economic, and social stability of the supplying countries. Wherever a lessening of population pressures through reduced birth rates can increase the prospects for such stability, population policy becomes relevant to resource supplies and to the economic interests of the United States.... The location of known reserves of higher grade ores of most minerals favors increasing dependence of all industrialized regions on imports from less developed countries.

See how this document really promotes selfishness?    Instead of allowing nations to develop and grow their population so they become self-sufficient, we seek to control them for our own needs.  John Paul’s analogy was right on.

The document goes on to seek as a goal as two-child family on average by the year 2000 While specific goals in this area are difficult to state, our aim should be for the world to achieve a replacement level of fertility, (a two child family on the average), by about the year 2000. ...Attainment of this goal will require greatly intensified population programs ... U.S. leadership is essential.    This would be achieved by ensuring these populations had access to birth control and abortion because as it states "No country has reduced its population growth without resorting to abortion.... under developing country conditions foresight methods not only are frequently unavailable but often fail because of ignorance, lack of preparation, misuse and non-use. Because of these latter conditions, increasing numbers of women in the developing world have been resorting to abortion”    Despite what this says, I would propose the framers of this document were really not interested in reducing abortions, but rather, reducing people.   If they were truly interested in the former, then they would propose moral and spiritual formation, not condoms, as the answer to reducing abortions.  This statement, I think, reflects a very dismal view of the human person, that we will instinctively turn to abortion to solve our problems.   Are we that cause-and-effect?   No, there are much larger issues at work here.

There is even more disturbing statements in this document.  Public relations spin is noted as something very important, even if it obscures the truth that a powerful self-serving government such as ours is behind everything.  It states:  We must take care that our activities should not give the appearance to the LDCs of an industrialized country policy directed against the LDCs. Caution must be taken that in any approaches in this field we support in the LDCs are ones we can support within this country. "Third World" leaders should be in the forefront and obtain the credit for successful programs.”  It also states “"In these sensitive relations, however, it is important in style as well as substance to avoid the appearance of coercion."   Note it does not state we should avoid coercion, just the appearance of it.   When spin is more important than the truth, danger signs should go up.

Now, like I said, this document has never been disavowed formally, so even today, its doctrine could still be practiced.   I am confident many billions of taxpayer dollars have gone into these efforts since this policy was adopted.    Even into the 2000’s international pro-life organizations were calling on the Bush administration to formally disavow it.   I could not find where they did.

What does the Church propose instead of all this?    It proposes that we keep in mind the following values or concepts when formulating social policy (each of which could be a post on its own, perhaps for a later time).

1)       Solidarity    People and nations standing with each other in pursuit of the common good.  We are all dependent on each other.   We must be our brother’s keeper.  The rich are dependent on the poor.  The poor are dependent on the rich.  (Note this is not simply a materialistic view of human persons and society!)    John Paul II said this in his 1987 encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis (The Social Concern):   "Solidarity is undoubtedly a Christian virtue. It seeks to go beyond itself to total gratuity, forgiveness, and reconciliation. It leads to a new vision of the unity of humankind, a reflection of God's triune intimate life.  It is a unity that binds members of a group together.    This document seemed to want to make the poor dependent on us only.

2)      Charity   As individuals and societies, we must learn to give to each other, “without counting the cost”.   We are to be concerned for the other, so much that we are willing to empty of ourselves for others, as Christ did for us.   We should not be seeking some benefit for ourselves, unlike what this document was proposing.

3)      Subsidiarity    This literally means to “sit behind”.   A community of a higher order should not interfere with a community of a lower order.  Rather, it should support it in case of need, and seek to coordinate its activities with that of the rest of society.  The classic example here is the government as the higher order, and the family as the lower order.  Does it not seem the opposite today, where families feel they are serving the government instead of the other way around?   That is what this document seemed to be proposing, the families of the poorer nations serving the government of the richer ones.

4)      Distributism  Social and economic structures should support social justice, and social justice is best served through wide distribution of ownership.  The world was created for the use and benefit of all God’s creatures, not just the rich and powerful.    There seems to be no such equality hinted at or called for in that document.

Any good social policy or program should reflect those four principles noted above.  Does that secret State Department document do that?  I think not.   Is a world where all of the above are practiced sound like a much better place to be than the world of us against them, us lording it over them, and us taking from them, that the State Department document promotes?  I would say so.

We must be careful for going along with any social policy that seeks to put anything except the human person at the front of its agenda.   Be careful when you hear phrases like “a better world”, “a better planet”.  The main focus of any good social policy cannot be on the material world, yes even nature.  The focus must, rather, be on the human person.    I am not saying to automatically disregard any policy that uses these phrases, but just be very, very careful, dig deeper, analyze beneath the surface.  I would even urge a little caution when you hear things like a “better community”.   Dig deeper.  Does it mean a communion of persons?  If so, then it might be OK.  If it means a communion of man and something else, like Mother Earth, then be careful.

Artificial population control goes against God’s command to be fruitful and multiply.  It is why the Church has always been opposed to it.    Let’s make sure we are well rooted in the heart, soul, and mind in solid Catholic spirituality so we can better discern hidden layers of selfishness, and even evil, underneath well-sounding, or even well-meaning programs social programs.  Let’s pray that if any of these programs are going on “behind the scenes” that they be exposed by the light of Christ, either working through us, or maybe even directly (like Saint Paul experienced when thrown off his horse on the road to Damascus).

As the principle of subsidiarity shows, it is more ideal for the family to be at the center of human affairs than the government.   The family, in Catholic social teaching, is the first and most basic unit of a society.  When it fails, so does society.    We must pray to Saint Joseph in his role as a head of the Holy Family, and the family of the Church, that he helps strengthen family life, and therefore, helps strengthen society at large.

Saint Joseph, pillar of families, pray for us.

Be fruitful and multiply, Part Four

In previous posts, we have discussed Scriptural and Papal teachings that frown on under population, as well as practical effects of under population.   In this post, we will discuss a little bit the spiritual effects of under population.

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is a notorious one.   It tends to be shied away from a lot today because of the imagery it uses, and its perceived anti-homosexual message.  We have to, though, as Catholics, not shy away from those parts of the Bible that we find uncomfortable.  While we can pick and choose what our favorite parts of the Bible might be, we have to embrace the whole of Scripture as the inspired Word of God, both our favorite parts,  and our not so favorite parts, and see what the message may be that God is telling us, even in those parts we find difficult to read.

Here is the story as found in Genesis 19, and then we will discuss some points afterward as it relates to our subject.

The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground.  He said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the square.”  But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; ^and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.”  Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, ^and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.  Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”  But they replied, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break it down.  But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.  And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door.

 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city—bring them out of the place.  For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up, get out of this place; for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.”  But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city.  When they had brought them outside, they ^said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.”  And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords;  your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!”  He said to him, “Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.  Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” Therefore the city was called Zoar.  The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven; ^and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.  But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord; ^and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.

So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.

Clearly, the Lord was displeased with the behavior of the men who were seeking to “know” (in other words, to have sexual relations) with the male guests of Lot.   (They turned out to be angels, of course, but that had not been revealed at that point.)    Now, some commentators try to work around this story by saying that what the Lord was truly displeased with was a lack of social justice being practiced in those towns, or the wickedness of those cities in general, and that, and not the homosexual behavior specifically, is why they were destroyed.  But I looked up the passages they referred to in Isiah 1, Ezekiel 16, and Deuteronomy 23 and I unfortunately cannot support their conclusions based on those passages.

However, one could possibly theorize that maybe the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak, were the men trying to force themselves on their guests; in other words, it was more the non-consensual aspect of it, more so than the homosexual act, that caused him to finally destroy the town.   This theory posits that if they kept their behavior to themselves, this behavior, while it would not please him, would not lead him to destroy the city because of it.   This argument, I admit, is a bit of stretch, but it is possible, and much more plausible than the theories posited by those aforementioned commentators, in my opinion.  (I am guessing we cannot consider Lot’s action of offering his daughters up immoral because I am guessing that his daughters would have consented to prevent the guests from being victims of sodomy, and to prevent the men of Sodom from committing that act.  This sounds egregious by our standards today; offering up one’s daughter like that, and them consenting to be used like that, but back then, maybe not.)

Also, we should keep in mind that it was all the men of the city who came to Lot’s house that night, not just some.  Recall that Abraham had pleaded with the Lord in the chapter before that if some innocents were found, he would not destroy the city.   The Lord consented.  However, unfortunately, none were to be found, and it was destroyed.   So, in other words, any individual practicing homosexual sex, or any other sin, should not see him or herself as the cause of his or her entire city being ruined (although it does put his or her individual salvation in jeopardy).

So what does all this have to do with the topic at hand?   Well, I think we can take this lesson from it.  If many people in a culture, as was the case in Sodom, use sex in a way, which is designed by God to help us be fruitful and multiply, and instead, use that gift in a way that at worst, negates that possibility, or at best, where that possibility is not wished for, then we, in effect,  cause fire to reign down upon us, and we destroy ourselves.   If we use sex simply for sensual enjoyment,  or if we use sex as a means of controlling someone,  and therefore, do not use it, at least in part, to be fruitful and multiply, then we risk death, either by our own fate because we fail to populate, or perhaps, by the wrath of God.  

A nation that under populates risks being destroyed.  We, especially in the Western world (North America and Europe specifically) need to pay heed to this.  We need, even if just a few of us, to be those lone wolves in a wicked culture that will cause the Lord’s wrath to pass over us.   Let’s pray that we are among those that Abraham spoke of in the previous chapter in Genesis that will hold back the wrath of the Lord:

Then the Lord said, “How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin!¹ I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know.”

So the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham came near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?  Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it?  Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”  And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.”  Abraham answered, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.  Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”  Again he spoke to him, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.”  Then he said, “Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”  He said, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.”  Then he said, “Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.

Unfortunately, no just men were found in Sodom.  It was destroyed. 

May we commit ourselves to justice and righteousness, and commit ourselves to obey the just God who commands us to turn from wickedness, do good, which includes, being fruitful and multiplying, and in doing so, save our nation and culture.

Joseph most just, pray for us.