In our current day the primacy of conscience is often cited as giving license to any sort of behavior. Yet how do we know when we are listening to our conscience or hearing the din of our appetites?
One could imagine dissenting theologians asking, after the Sermon on the Mount, "Is this binding?" The circus that broke out after the issuance of HV set off a series of events over a quarter of a century which spelled a real crisis of authority. Dissenters have aged out of the picture but in their wake is a laity woefully unaware of the beauty of sacramental marriage and the meaning of the marital act.
Isn't, as pro-contraception advocates tell us, the best way to reduce the number of abortions to provide more and more contraception? Dr. Janet Smith, one of the leading scholars on life ethics issues, shows that, on the contrary, the links between the contraceptive mentality and abortion are deep and profoundly damaging to society and culture.
Between 1979 and 1984 Pope John Paul the Great delivered a series of 129 homilies outlining the Theology of the Body. This approach to the relationship between God and man has been called "one of the boldest reconfigurations of Catholic theology in centuries."
The Culture of Life is truly a countercultural position in modern society. We are assaulted with propaganda from the left and the right arguing for the necessity of contraception and abortion. To win the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens we must base our arguments on solid philosophy and present them with the proper delivery.
Artificial contraception is either beneficial or neutral in regards to the health of the woman. The pharmaceutical companies and NGO's that promote contraception care about women. Dr. Mary Davenport, a renowned pro-life obstetrician gynecologist in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area, will debunk these and other commonplace myths about reproductive technology and women's health.
To build a culture of life, start with love.