Everything is connected and it may sound absurd to link contraception with the economic collapse, but think about it:
History will look back and decide that artificial contraception was the most radical and earth shattering invention ever devised by mankind. When the link between the sexual act and procreation was broken it not only changed our sexual behavior, it changed everything.
Most importantly, it changed the way we think about ourselves and our actions. The links between our actions and their natural consequences were broken. We began to expect that we could have whatever pleasure we wanted when we wanted and how we wanted and that we could avoid all the consequences of those actions. In sexual behavior it seemed to be so.
We became gods. We could do anything and have anything and we could avoid the cost. Extrapolate this mentality to the economic sphere and you’ll see what I mean. We told ourselves that we could have anything we wanted instantly simply by taking out another loan. If we were the lenders, we insured ourselves against loss in case those loans were not re paid.
The responsibility could always be shifted. The ‘problem’ could always be solved. Paying the price could always be delayed. We could just re-finance. Just as we got instant sexual gratification for free, so we thought we should have everything else instantly for free.
How different our mentalities would be if we still understood that every time a man and woman come together a baby might be made. If we lived that way we would have to grow up and be more sober about all things. We would have to take responsibility, and if we did not the consequences would meet us very soon.
Instead we have become a society of spoiled brats. Stamping our feet and demanding instant gratification and entertainment and pleasure, and believing that somebody else somewhere will pick up the tab.
Where did it come from? I realize the causes are complex, but a contributing factor is artificial contraception which changed the way we think and respond at a very profound level.
I think that’s a brilliant post, Father. I absolutely agree with everything you say. However, no one outside the Catholic world wants to listen.It will come across as unfeeling to suggest it, but perhaps something like the financial crisis is required to shift our expectations. What starts in the financial world might, just might, trickle down into general ethics in a few generations. We hope and pray.
Change the name of a concept, and you’re home free: homosexuality/lesbianism=gay;socialism/communism=”change you can count on”. The easier the concept is to swallow, needing no brain power, the more ‘sheep’ will allow themselves to be towed comfortably on an overflowing barge down the river to perdition. It feels good.
Hey, that’s deep. That’s good stuff, Father.
Wise and brilliant, Fr. You’re absolutely right. Can you please print this in every church bulletin across America?
Add to that the demographics of so fewer consumers in a consumer driven economic system and it all makes sense. Few children = fewer workers / earner = fewer buyers = less industry = a smaller overall economy. This is not rocket science people! – Thanks for the insight Fr.
Brlliantly spot on, Fr D. I’m doing a study on this very subject at the momnent.
The LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Contraception just allows more money to be had in the many evil businesses: pornography,abortion,drugs,etc. and corrupts good businesses:media,lawyers,doctors,priests,etc. by that greed and love of money.
A very perceptive post,Fr. Thank you.
Although the problem of indecency and promiscuity today and the economic status we currently face are related, I’m not sure causality is demonstrated here. They are both symptoms of the same root problem: forgetting our place vs. God’s place in the natural world – elevating the created higher than the Creator. One is not necessarily the cause of the other.
hear, hear, Father L.When contraception fails, abortion is the answer…still the ME, ME, ME issue.When Our Lord is not shown on a crucifix, when we stare at a blank cross, we do not see suffering – we see a cleaned up, hurried up view of salvation.We see “I am god and I will do things my way”Current economics is such a reflection of not just the contraception age, I dare write, but the age of Luther and his defiance. It has trickled down from there…Thanks for the great post, Father Longenecker.
Georgetown Prof. Patrick Deneen made similar comments regarding an obscene sexual ideology promotion event at Georgetown.“So what is the message being sent to today’s students? Sex, like everything else, is a matter of preference, choice, personal liberty and utilitarian pleasure. It is largely consequence-free recreation. We should recognize that the same moral climate that contributed to the devastation of the worldwide economy is the same moral climate that informs ‘Sex Positive Week’,” he said.And of course there is Paul VI in Humanae Vitae:”But to experience the gift of married love while respecting the laws of conception is to acknowledge that one is not the master of the sources of life but rather the minister of the design established by the Creator……unless we are willing that the responsibility of procreating life should be left to the arbitrary decision of men, we must accept that there are certain limits, beyond which it is wrong to go, to the power of man over his own body and its natural functions—limits, let it be said, which no one, whether as a private individual or as a public authority, can lawfully exceed.”He also wrote how self-discipline and chastity “helps them[spouses] to repel inordinate self-love, which is the opposite of charity.” The rebellion against natural limits is a form of grasping pride, whether in finance or in marriage. These limits may be violated only for so long.
Sad to say our Church has not helped the situation much. In the last ten years, since I’ve been back in the Church and going to Mass almost every day, I have never heard a sermon promoting the teaching against artificial contraception. Recently, when the priest allows it, I petition for the promotion of Humanae Vitae from the pulpit…and I get glares from others at Mass.
I have been wondering for some time how long it would take for the penny to drop and for the experts to recognise that the genocide being practised against the unborn in the majority of developed nations over the last forty years would have dire effects for everybody. As helgothjb says above, it is not rocket science.
I used the same approach as Father for years when explaining Humanae Vitae. I avoided the natural law, mortal sin, approach and tried to make it more personal. Not negating the concept of sin or nature, but trying to show how this one scientific invention could give us a false sense of emotional freedom resulting in abuse of women by men and to themselves, economic impact through less children for one thing as well as the thrust of Father’s argument no concept of discipline, sacrifice, and selflessness. Those are a hard sell. I doubt if many people realize how they became members of the human race let alone remember Sept. 11th 2001. Selective memory according to immediate desire. Nothing else matters.
Thanks Father, I’m going to link to this article on my blog. Although you have many more readers than I do, everyone needs to read this. We should start a national dialogue about the hubris of some people in our society who believe they can change the mores of thousands of years of civilizations with a lawsuit and a good public relations campaign.
artificial contraception was the most radical and earth shattering invention ever devised by mankindYes and no. The onset of contraception, artificial or not, was indeed a major event, but it was merely one step in a process that had begun long before, namely the interrelated philosophies of utilitarian materialism and nihilistic existentialism, together with various class-based Marxist philosophies. Each of these worked their way into the mainstream of thought so as to undermine and destroy the very foundations of society, to wit, marriage and family, and to implement a new world that is, at once, both individualistic and selfish on the one hand, and the diametrically opposite: loss of individuality in group/class identification.Contraception, whether it is artificial or NFP used with a contraceptive mentality, was merely a case of throwing gasoline on the fire.(cross-posted at The Anchoress)
flexo, I was talking about an invention, not a new idea.
Hi, Father, Wonderful post! Very interesting way to connect the two, though there is a more direct connection: capitalism is based upon the assumption an ecnoomy will *grow*. Stocks are expected to *grow*. Businesses are expected to *grow*. Grow, not just remain subsistent.The economy cannot grow unless the population grows. John XXIII predicted that permissibility of contraception would lead to short term prosperity and then economic disaster. Pat Buchanan warned about it in _The Death of the West_, and HLI wrote a plea to President Bush to stop pushing the population control agenda/repeal the Kissinger Doctrine in 2003, saying that we were on the verge of worldwide economic collapse.However, one small point: artificial contraception was not invented in the 20th century. It was invented thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, and, when you see that Pharoah’s concern about the Israelites in Exodus 1 is that they are reproducing while the Egyptians are not, it puts things in a *very* interesting perspective.
John H, would you please make email contact? I would like to ask you a few questions about your v. interesting comment.
Wonderful post!However I would add that taking care of each other (socialism or rather social programs) came well before the greed of restrained capitalism.In fact I would add to what Fr said by suggesting that it was the greed of unrestrained capitalism (not necessarily free markets in general which can be a good thing) which lead to the demise of the family in that people. No longer was our lively hood directly effected by those around us in our community rather the American Dream became focused on materialism. It’s not just contraception, think about how we treat our extended family? No longer to people tend to take care of them and learn from their knowledge – we stick them in a home so we can focus on the all important “me” again.Contraception, Family etc… the demise of all of that is due more to our unrestrained materialist mindset which to me has been driven by unrestrained capitalism. Free enterprise and capitalism in general is good, but like in our lives (as Fr said), there must be some restraint. What’s good for the one, might not always be what is good for the many (community).Our Church and truly our Nation is a community. When too many fail, we all fail. The right has brainwashed people to believe that being willing to share the success they have is somehow a bad thing… it’s not.
My first visit here! Brilliant and thought-provoking post. I’ve been trying to determine economic causation and this is an idea that never occurred to me, but it makes so much sense!
Thank you for the post. I wish more Christians understood this.I think you are right on. George Grant in his biography of Margaret Sanger hits many of the same points. It was one of the things that turned my heart away from contraceptives of any form.