Detroit Area Catholic Leaders Focus On Document Condemning Contraception

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 22 Aug 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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Despite "overwhelmingly negative" responses and "rampant noncompliance" of some Roman Catholics to Pope Paul VI's 1968 Humanae Vitae, which condemns contraception use, some Catholic leaders in the Detroit area are increasingly promoting the encyclical, the Detroit News reports. Some priests in the area said church members are expressing a growing interest in the document's teachings (Krupa, Detroit News, 8/20). "Humanae Vitae," which translates to "On Human Life," is a document that says most Catholics should refrain from using "artificial birth control" (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 5/12).

A conference on Humanae Vitae is scheduled for next month at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. Janet Smith, a professor at the seminary, said, "Our purpose is to deepen the understanding of the teaching, so that it will be accepted by Catholics, and to make them better defenders of it." She added that the seminary also is "trying to meet those who have rejected it to reconsider and hopefully to accept it."

Some surveys have shown that more than 90% of sexually active Catholic women have used some form of birth control, and about the same percentage of Catholics believe the church should permit members to use condoms and oral contraception. However, Robert McClory, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Detroit, said the younger generations "not involved with the intensity of the introduction of Humanae Vitae" view the document as a "new approach" to sexuality. He said that the topic most often is raised in marriage preparation courses, adding that some young couples are beginning to show a willingness to follow the encyclical (Detroit News, 8/20).

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