The good and bad of Humanae Vitae at 50

This coming Wednesday, July 25, marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of the encyclical Humanae Vitae by Pope Paul VI. (And I just realized now for the first time that this encyclical came out just a little over a week before my parents got married; I had never realized that before!)

Probably more people inside and outside the Church have heard of this encyclical than any other papal encyclical in modern times because it discusses such a controversial topic, contraception. Everyone has an opinion on it.

Again, much will be written about it in Catholic media about it this week, and one can find a wealth of information. I will just say a few things:

From where I stand, the encyclical has more good than bad, but both need to be discussed.

The good is that it came to the right conclusion, using artificial birth control is not a morally right decision. Its predictions what would happen with increased use of it have largely come true: increased divorce, infidelity, abortions, sterilization programs, and loss of respect for women have all occurred since then.

There is some bad though.

First, is it is generally agreed that it could’ve been a better written document, with more references to Scripture and Tradition, as well as more references to the theology of the entire body, not just the sexual act. (Would things be different if John Paul II had written it instead of Paul VI? A case could be made for that.)
Another bad, which I just learned today, was that there was a three year gap between the end of the commission to study the issue, and the time the encyclical was published. It certainly didn’t come across as decisive with that amount of time passed.
Finally, the worse bad of them all it that has been largely been a failure, more Catholics are practicing birth control now than ever before. ( Maybe it didn’t stand a chance being published at the height of the sexual revolution in 1968? Who knows? )

So while it has been proved prophetic, it has not necessarily been proven successful.

All these things should make rich topics of conversation this week in the Church, and hopefully we all can do some reflection this week on this issue. To that end, I most likely will publish a few more things about this issue throughout this week, so stay tuned!