Thomas Malthus, the original population doomsayer who preached total abstinence in order to save the world from mass starvation, this contraceptive mentality might be just as easily called the Malthusian mentality.  It was this seed of thinking, that responsible men must take charge of their own destiny by thwarting the gift of procreative powers or be doomed to starvation, that was scattered about.  

Seeds germinate and sprout, that is their nature, so too did this idea.  

For if man was wise enough to discover his power to save the universe, then he must be equally endowed with the good sense to order his life as best he sees fit.   So if one man can justify the end, of inhibiting the conception of a new life, then another man can do the same even if by different means.   If the end is good, why squabble over the means.   While the initial idea took some decades to establish hardy root-age, "modern" science, and a well-known woman named Margaret Sanger, eventually hailed a new way to rescue planet earth and its female inhabitants from the dreaded potential of babies. 

Fortunately, the Catholic Church continued to stand upright, keeping Her branches bathed in the Son light, so that She alone continues to speak the truth that contraception is a misuse of the body and  counter to the Will of the Creator, and therefore an impermissible  moral evil.   Pope Paul VI, in his famous encyclical Humanae Vitae, reiterated the truth of God's design of creating them male and female and prophesied the dire results that would follow were mankind to allow this seedling of contraception to remain rooted in its heart.   As he forewarned, the right balance and inherent beauty of our world has all but been completely overgrown with ideas and practices of the culture of death. 

Now if we are of the mind to dig up the problem, we must acknowledge that while the Church rejected the lie of contraception, Her people did not all heed Her instructions.   Quite frankly, too many entrusted in the ranks of shepherds either allowed the culture of death to flourish unchallenged or aided its foothold through their sins of omission in the pulpit.   Today the onslaught of the HHS mandate seems to have awakened the sleeping giant, who is now rubbing the sleep from his eyes and beginning to shake the trellis which was built beneath him.  
A welcome renewal, but not enough alone to reclaim the garden.

Morally good and constitutionally right as it is to argue for the protection of our religious liberty in light of the current threat of a  mandate, we cannot hope to achieve victory if we continue to provide fertilizer in the enemy camp.   Plainly stated, it is a contradiction that we fight for religious liberty in our healthcare system while at the same time the majority of Catholic physicians in our pews willingly sustain the culture of death by penning countless prescriptions for contraceptives and scheduling quick and easy sterilizations.  

Not to mention, the majority of their Catholic patients are  happy to give them their business.  
Why even the heralded breakthrough of ultrasound is often wielded in the doctor's hands as a tool to discern the fit from the "unfit" in the womb.    Ask any mother over the age of thirty-five and you'll likely find she has been offered, if not downright pressured to submit to, a battery of tests aimed at informing her and her doctor as to the "quality of life" her unborn child might be expected to have and to offer.  

Because by extension of the anti-life mentality, a child who might require extra attention and care is a drain on his parents and society, so it is the duty of the doctor to offer an alternative.  It didn't take long to come full circle with this technology, as recent headlines prove that female babies are targeted for sex selection abortions even within the borders of our blessed America.  
America is only a step to two away from adopting another of China's infamous policies if we continue down this path.

Wish that I could say, the meager faction of Natural Family Planning teachers and promoters were fully doing their part to reseed the truth, but sadly that message, also, has been watered down.   Only ten years ago when my husband and I were trained to understand the signs of our mutual fertility, it was directly noted that a serious reason needed to be discerned in order for a couple to rightly postpone a pregnancy, even indefinitely.   The very word serious was meant to reflect the challenge and requirement of monthly turning to God and seeking His guidance as to whether or not husband and wife could actively avoid the fertile phase.  

We affirmed our Creator's role, the ...
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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: contraception, HHS mandate, NFP, Natural Family Planning, contraception, contraceptive mentality, Tara K. E. Brelinsky

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