Praying for a world
still recovering from 9/11

		Living  and Learning  Msgr. Daniel T.  Ganshert

Shock, frustration, sadness, despair, anger. These are just some of the emotions that filled our hearts and lives seven years ago following the tragedy of the terrorists attacks on September 11, 2001.

The reality of evil in the world is undeniable. However, in recent times, it had seemingly in no way come into our own experience on such a devastating scale.

Bombings, high school shooting sprees, and other atrocities are still in our collective memory. These, too, have left a lasting wound of the deepest kind in the lives of all whose families and communities were changed forever through senseless violence.

It is as though we all now better understand what they went through due to the sheer scope of what happened in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. We are still left searching for answers, just like so many people before us who have witnessed other events in history that brought them into the heart of darkness.

Who would have ever imagined that our new millennium could have started off like this? We still wonder what does the future hold if this is only the beginning of a century that seemed one of great promise for us and now has left us wondering if we will ever be safe again? We pray for our soldiers who serve and protect us.

It is now, as always, that our faith is poised to bring us closer to reality. Oh yes, evil is real. We make no mistake about that. However, it was just for this reason that 2,008 years ago a world in darkness, a world imprisoned by evil, saw a great light. God sent his only begotten Son to free us from all evil. Jesus himself then invited us to believe in him and be saved.

Jesus entered the heart of darkness through his own terrible suffering and dying for you and for me. Then he broke the bonds of death that had choked the life from all people by himself rising from the dead.

Even though the reality of evil is very present in this imperfect world, the reality of Jesus Christ is even more present. He is the one and he has forever been the one who brings us from darkness into light, from slavery into freedom, and from death into life. His life and words show us the way to do this because he is the way, the truth, and the life.

Our decision to follow him breaks the power of evil in our lives and in the world. Even in the face of horrific acts of terrorism, we believe in the power of God's love in Christ, who is our hope, and through the working of the Holy Spirit that this love will dismantle the structures of hatred and violence which are all too prevalent in the world today, which are all too prevalent, sometimes, even in our own lives.

Truly, a world in darkness sees a great light when you and I put on Christ and make him visible to others by who we are and by the way we live. This is exactly why Jesus sends us out to all the world, to make his presence real. That is why he is our hope for this new millennium still before us.

Let us continue to pray for the victims and their families on this anniversary of 9-11-01.

Msgr. Daniel Ganshert is vicar general for the Diocese of Madison.

Consequences of society's
contraceptive mentality

		Straight Answers  on Marital Love  Fr. William P.  Saunders

Reprinted from the Arlington
Catholic Herald with permission.
Sixth in a series of six.

In the 1960s, the Church faced increasing pressure regarding the use of contraceptive means with the marketing of the anovulant pill.

In response, Vatican Council II stated in Gaudium et Spes, "In questions of birth regulation, the sons and daughters of the Church, faithful to these principles, are forbidden to use methods disapproved of by the teaching authority of the Church in its interpretation of the divine law" (#51).

However, Pope Paul VI had transferred the investigation of new questions concerning this matter to a special commission (originally established by Pope John XXIII in March 1963) for the study of population, the family, and births. The Holy Father would then review their findings and render judgment.

On July 25, 1968, Pope Paul VI issued Humanae Vitae, which upheld the consistent teaching of the Church based on natural law as well as divine revelation: "Each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life" (#11).

Pope John Paul II continually repeated the Church's teaching. In Familiaris Consortio, he lamented the signs of a "disturbing degradation of some fundamental values" evident in "the growing number of divorces, the scourge of abortion, the ever more frequent recourse to sterilization, the appearance of a truly contraceptive mentality" (#6).

'Grave consequences'

Interestingly, Pope Paul VI prophesied grave consequences from contraception: increased marital infidelity and a lowering of moral standards; increased lack of respect for women, including seeing a woman as a sex object and as an instrument to satisfy sexual pleasures rather than seeing her as a partner in marriage; and the danger of empowering public authorities to regulate the lives of others.

Forty years later, these warnings have become realities: Statistics show the rapid increase of divorce, from a rate of 25 percent in 1965 to 50 percent in 1975 during the first five years of marriage. By the year 2000, 50 percent of American teenagers had lived a significant part of their lives without a father figure. Moreover, Dr. Robert Michaels of Stanford University found a direct, positive correlation between the growing rate of divorce and the rate of contraception.

Pornography has become increasingly prevalent, with 630 million pornographic video rentals reported each year in the United States.

More statistics

The separation of the unitive from the procreative aspects of marital love and the removal of marital love from marriage itself has made "sexual love" simply recreational and promiscuous. Many government-sponsored high schools in particular have inculcated the attitude among students that they can have "safe sex," thereby obfuscating any responsibility for a child, or any thought of disease or any other consequence.

Fifty percent of current high school teens will lose their virginity during high school (The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001). In 1995, 32 percent of all newborns were born to unmarried mothers (1995: Monthly Vital Statistics Report). On the other hand, 98 percent of all abortions are performed for elective, non-medical reasons, i.e. "the unplanned pregnancy" (Abortion: Some Medical Facts).

Are not all of these statistics correlated and together show the erosion of the sanctity of human sexuality, marriage, and marital love?

More consequences

Crimes of rape continue to rise each year. The news is replete with cases alleging sexual harassment and sexual abuse, even among clergy.

The rise of the "same sex marriage movement," the adoption of children by homosexual couples, testifies to the loss of understanding of God's design for marriage and the family.

Procedures involving in vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, and surrogate motherhood are increasingly available. Moreover, research for human cloning continues.

The intrusion of government into family planning has become more prevalent. Some municipal or state governments, as Maryland and Kansas have tried in the past, have attempted to begin programs which pay women to use Norplant to control the pregnancies of teenagers and welfare recipients.

Foreign countries like Peru have introduced sterilization programs and have compelled poor citizens to be sterilized. Mexico's National Commission for Human Rights on December 16, 2002, lamented that health organizations in all 31 of that country's states have imposed contraceptive devices on the native population and peasants. International policy set by the affluent Western nations to help developing Third World countries oftentimes include mandatory population control provisions, including artificial birth control and abortion.

Negatively changing the future

Ironically, even the forecast of the future has changed. One generation ago, Paul Ehrlich in his book The Population Bomb warned that overpopulation would "kill the planet." Contraceptives were hailed as the remedy for this pending doom, and Humanae Vitae was derided.

Now we find ourselves in a different situation. The Population Division of the United Nations published its report "World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision," projecting a decline in world population projections: two years ago, the Population Division projected a world population of 9.3 billion people in 2050; now it projects 8.9. It also projects that the fertility levels in most developing countries will fall below the replacement rate of 2.1 children during this century, and by 2050, population levels in more developed countries will have already been declining for 20 years.

With forecasts of higher life expectancy, more elderly and less young, now the population planners are asking, "Who will take care of the elderly? Where will taxes come from to support social programs?"

Embracing Humanae Vitae

Little wonder, Pope John Paul II declared Pope Paul VI's Humanae Vitae a "truly prophetic proclamation" (Familiaris Consortio, #29). The time has come to return to the Lord and His truth regarding human sexuality, marriage, and marital love.

Interestingly, Dr. William May in 1968 signed a statement with numerous other theologians dissenting from Humane Vitae. He has long since recanted. In 1988, on the 20th anniversary of the encyclical, he said, "I began to realize that the moral theology invented to justify contraception could be used to justify any kind of deed. I saw that it was a consequentialist, utilitarian kind of argument, that it was a theory which repudiated the notion of intrinsically evil acts. I began to realize how truly prophetic the pope had been, and how providential it was that he had been given the strength to resist the tremendous pressures brought to bear upon him" (Columbia).

Pope Paul VI concluded Humanae Vitae with the statement that the Church is to be "a sign of contradiction." So indeed she is in upholding the sanctity of marriage and the error of contraception.

Yes, the Church is going against the popular culture of the age. Nevertheless, St. Paul's words originally addressed to the Romans should resound in our own ears: "Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God's will, what is good, pleasing, and perfect" (Romans 12:2).

Fr. William P. Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Potomac Falls, Va. His columns from the Arlington Catholic Herald have been compiled in two books called Straight Answers. Call 703-256-5994 for more information.

Heavy floods affecting people in Ghana

It has been a while since we have reported on the news that binds our hearts and minds with our partner in northeastern Ghana.

Our diocesan Global Solidarity Team was alarmed to learn recently that our friends are once again suffering from serious flooding.

Opening flood gates on dam

Last year, during the normal rainy season, Burkina Faso, the country that lies to the north of Ghana, opened the Bagre Dam. This dam controls the Volta River, which flows south into Ghana.

By agreement between the two countries, Burkina Faso gives Ghana a two-week notice that they intend to open the flood gates on the dam in order to save it from bursting due to high water levels.

Because Ghana lacks an adequate system of dams and communication in that area, 275,000 people were displaced, untold numbers died, and thousands of hectares of crops were destroyed, along with livestock and homes.

Most unfortunately, it has just happened again. On August 26, Burkina Faso once again opened the Bagre Dam. With better communications, we hope far fewer lives will be lost, but property damage will be devastating for people who have very little to start with. Government and local resources are far too weak to offer the help the refugees need.

Helping our partners survive

	For more information, visit: www.graphicghana.com www.peacefmonline.com/ www.myjoyonline.com/news/200808/19567.asp www.myjoyonline.com/news/200808/19188.asp www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/ 73379f4450f44b56e30cf733bdb4ec55.htm allafrica.com/stories/200709130800.html

We need to have a response for our partners. We need everyone to help our partners survive this. We need to do what we Catholics do. We step up; we take care of those who need us when they have few places to turn.

We will be contacting the parishes in the diocese and especially those delegates who have personal knowledge of how quickly this area can go from barely making it to "nowhere to turn" and to the parishes who hosted our delegation from Navrongo-Bolgatanga.

A lot of us know what it is like to fight "nature" and lose. We also know that we need help to come back, even in our affluent country. Our brothers and sisters in Ghana desperately need our help right now.

We ask all interested individuals or parish groups to send donations to: Diocese of Madison, Susanna D. Herro, P.O.Box 44983, Madison, WI 53744-4983 (Memo: Flooding in Ghana).

Jessica Brey is the director of religious education at Nativity of Mary Parish, Janesville, and has been a member of a delegation visiting the Diocese of Navrongo-Bolgatanga in Ghana as part of Catholic Relief Services Global Solidarity Partnership.