Contraception and Holiness. A symposium introduced by Archbishop Thomas D. Roberts. Fontana Books. 5s.
That some sort of revolution is taking place in the Roman Catholic Church must be clear to everyone by now. That it can never be the same again is certain; that it will not be changed enough is equally true. Some great causes will be won; victory in others will be at worst postponed. One can, I think, talk in these terms because what is going on now, despite protestations to the contrary from ‘official’ sources, amounts to civil war.footnote1 And it is not wholly naïve optimism to claim that history seems to be on the side of the forces of light.
The great trial of strength engaged now in the Pope’s international commission to study problems of population and birth-control is but one battle in this civil war, but it is one of very considerable importance for the Church. If the use of mechanical means of contraception is accepted by the Council, the Church will be catching up with the current practices of more and more Catholics in the advanced societies. If the assembled bishops should duck this responsibility or offer some supposed compromise, it will be condemning the Third World to death by over-population and consequent starvation and at the same time alienating an increasingly large proportion of ‘the faithful’ in the industrial nations. For in Europe, and to an even greater extent in the United States, Catholics are finding themselves trapped between the exigencies of modern society and the teachings of the Church—and with varying degrees of personal suffering ‘the faithful’ are opting for the real world.footnote2