Denver Catholic

4 I OPINION MAY 7, 2014 I DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER ARCHBISHOP AQUILA'S SCHEDULE May 5-8: Priests' Convocation, Estes Park May 8: Mass and confirmation, St. Frances Cabrini Parish, Littleton (7 p.m.) May 10: Mass, Catholic Biblical School graduation, Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (9:30 a.m.); Mass and confirmation, Holy Trinity Parish, Westminster (7 p.m.) May 11: Mass, St. Rafka Maronite Church, Lakewood (11 a.m.) May 12: Mass and confirmation, St. Cajetan Parish, Denver (7 p.m.) OFFICIAL APPOINTMENTS Deacon George Brown, appointed deacon at St. Thomas More Parish in Centennial, effective April 1, 2014. THE CATHOLIC DIFFERENCE GEORGE WEIGEL Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna has long been a vo- cal supporter of "Humanae Vitae's" teaching on the morally appropriate means of family planning. So it was noteworthy that Cardinal Caffarra recently conceded that, while "Humanae Vitae's" conclusions were true, its presentation of those truths left something to be desired. As the cardinal put it, "No one to- day would dispute that, at the time it was published, "Humanae Vitae" rested on the foundations of a fragile anthropology, and that there was a certain 'biologism' in its argumentation." Which put me in mind of a document I discovered in 1997 in a dusty Cracovian library while ingesting copious amounts of antihistamines: "The Foundations of the Church's Doctrine on the Principles of Conjugal Life." Its somewhat academic title notwithstanding, that document represents one of the great "what if" moments in modern Catholic history. The document was the final report of a theological commis- sion established in 1966 by the archbishop of Cracow, Karol Wojtyla, to help him in his work on the Papal Commission for the Study of Problems of the Family, Population, and Birth Rate, inevitably dubbed the "Birth Control Commission" by the world media. According to one of the document's authors, Father An- drzej Bardecki, the Polish theologians on Wojtyla's commission had seen two drafts of an encyclical on conjugal morality and fertility regulation. One had been prepared by the Holy Office (now the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith); it strung together various papal statements on the issue without even mentioning Pius XII's endorsement of natural family planning. And that, Bardecki told me, struck the Cracow theologians as "stupid conservatism." The other draft had been sponsored by German cardinal Julius Doepfner; it represented a grave mis- reading of what God had inscribed in human sexuality "in the beginning," the Cracovians believed, and did so in a way that emptied individual choices and acts of their moral significance. So: were the only options "stupid conservatism" or the decon- struction of Catholic moral theology? The Cracovians didn't think so. They thought the truth of the Church's teaching about conjugal morality and fertility regula- tion could be presented in a humane and personalistic way: one that acknowledged both the moral duty to plan one's family and the demands of self-sacrifice in conjugal life; one that affirmed methods of fertility-regulation that respected the body's dignity and its built-in moral "grammar;" one that that recognized the moral equality and equal moral responsibility of men and wom- en, rather than leaving the entire burden of fertility-regulation on the wife. In proposing this fresh presentation of classic moral truths in a delicate area of pastoral care, the Cracovian theolo- gians drew on the pioneering work done by their archbishop, Karol Wojtyla, in "Love and Responsibility"—work that Wojtyla, as John Paul II, would later develop in the Theology of the Body. And so, what if? What if Paul VI had adopted the Cracovian approach to presenting the truths he taught in "Humanae Vitae"? What if the encyclical had been built upon a less for- malistic, even abstract, view of the human person and human sexuality? What if "Humanae Vitae" had deployed a richly-tex- tured and humanistic anthropology that was not susceptible to the charge of "biologism"? 1968 being the year it was, and the theological politics of the moment being what they were, there would still have been an uproar, I expect. But had the Cracovian report provided the framework for "Humanae Vitae," the Church would have been better positioned to respond to that uproar. The Catholic Church now has ample materials with which to make sense of, teach, and apply its settled convictions on the morality of marital love and procreation: the Theology of the Body; John Paul II's magnificent 1981 apostolic exhortation, "Familiaris Consortio"; the pastorally sensitive 1997 "Vade- mecum for Confessors on the Morality of Certain Aspects of Conjugal Life." And we have a brilliant analysis of the effects of a contraceptive culture in Mary Eberstadt's "Adam and Eve After the Pill" (Ignatius Press), which is must-reading for every bishop attending the upcoming synods on the family. Still, I wonder: what if? 'Humanae Vitae': what if? LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Golden years Many thanks to Julie Filby's article "Senior citizens, you're not off the hook" (April 16 Den- ver Catholic Register). I believe Filby is on to something good. In my visits to nursing homes, it appears that our senior citi- zens have reached a point of no return. I don't believe this is the end of the road nor should it be for our elderly. Contrary to what are called the "golden years," senior citizens do strug- gle, physically and spiritual- ly, as did Abraham and Sarah, etc. I would rather call these "golden years" a time of self-re- flection in which we truly em- brace our present experiences. When we embrace our pres- ent experiences, we are in the words of St. Augustine, "Trust- ing the past to God's mercy, the present to God's love, and the future to God's providence." The greatest compliment we can give to a senior citizen are the affirmative words "Thank you!" Thank you Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Simeon and Anna! Father John R. Shedlock (Retired) Arvada LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters should be no more than 250 words and should include the writ- er's name, address and telephone number. We rely on our readers to recognize that the opinions expressed in letters to the editor are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Archdiocese of Denver. Letters containing plainly misstated facts, misinformation or libelous statements will not be printed. Unsigned letters will not be printed. Letters may be edited. Send letters to: Editor, Denver Catholic Register, 1300 S. Steele St., Denver, CO 80210 or fax to 303-715-2045. E-mail us at: editor@archden.org. BY MATT AND MINDY DALTON It was early in our marriage that I, Matt, treated Mindy more like an object than as a help- mate—I was selfish. My own mother sensed a lack of grace from our marriage. She ap- proached me and said that if I hadn't been to confession in a real long time that I wasn't truly being faithful to God, my wife and the Church. That was pain- ful to hear. However, it seemed to put the finger on the heart- beat, or rather lack of heartbeat, in our marriage. Because of selfishness and sin, I was asleep in our marriage, or at the least in a deep slumber. Begrudging- ly returning to the sacrament of confession, as my mother pro- posed, I experienced the love and mercy of Jesus that I had never allowed him to pour out and into me. 2 Corinthians 5:17 states: "So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come." In Christopher West's book "Theology of the Body Ex- plained" he notes that "matri- mony" literally means "the state of motherhood." "Matri" means "mother" or "motherhood" (from the Latin mater – "moth- er") and "mony" comes from munus which means "mission, calling, gift, present or service." Human beings are the crowning glory of all of God's creation and God knowing all, saves the best for last—wom- an. Eve is the very last of God's creation in Genesis. May we as men boldly, with the help of God's grace, stand up—like the first Adam failed to do—and crush the head of any serpent that tries to tempt our brides, our sisters our mothers, or any woman, away from God. May we defend our brides and lead them and our families toward God. May all husbands be men of God and carry out a mission that our wives want to be under. The graces received from the sacrament of reconciliation that day awoke me from my slumber, and a newfound love for Christ, our Church and my bride came about. Sometimes we men fail to realize that we can be "real men" on our knees; we can be real men praying the rosary to our Blessed Mother Mary; we can be real men teaching our children about our beautiful faith; we can be real men hon- oring the dignity of all women, but especially our wives. With continual growth in the sacra- mental life of the Church and with God's abundant grace, Mindy and I joyfully celebrated our 23rd anniversary on Divine Mercy Sunday. The month of May is the month of Mary, our Blessed Mother, and in it we celebrate Mother's Day for women all over the world. When Jesus freely laid down his life for his bride the Church, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son," and to his beloved apostle, St. John, "Behold, your mother." Jesus, from his holy and vener- able cross, created a new order and gave his mother, Mary, to all of humanity as our mother. Mary is the new "Eve." Genesis 3:20 states: "The man gave his wife the name 'Eve' be- cause she was the mother of all the living." Or as St. John Paul II put it in his apostolic letter "Mulieris Dignitatem" ("On the Dignity and Vocation of Wom- en"): "Thus the 'fullness of time' manifests the extraordinary dig- nity of the 'woman' … the 'wom- an' is the representative and the archetype of the whole human race: she represents the human- ity which belongs to all human beings, both men and women." St. John Paul II, pray for all men to protect and honor the dignity of all women! Matt and Mindy Dalton can be reached at matt@marriage missionaries.org, 303-578-8287 or at www.marriagemissionaries. org. In honor of the beauty of 'woman': mothers, sisters and brides MARRIAGE MISSIONARIES

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