By Fr. John Hollowell:
Fr. John Hollowell
I was at an event recently where an evangelical Christian was speaking about the problem our society faces being the breakdown of the family.
He made fine and true points. But here’s the deal. If we want to solve the problem we have to know what caused it. If there’s 10 inches of water in the basement one ought to be applauded for noticing, but the question that ultimately needs answering: “where did the water come from so we can FIX the problem”???
The problem is actually found in a source most people don’t want to acknowledge: contraception. The Catholic Church has held the line on this teaching and Paul VI, in the late 60’s, said that if contraceptive use became widespread, then our culture would arrive at precisely the disaster we are in.
If you look at society and say the problem is “the breakdown of the family” you get half credit for that answer. But it’s time to treat the cause. Simply shouting at families “STOP BREAKING DOWN” will not work.
Start with your marriage. Kick contraception to the curb. And then have the courage to invite others to do the same. Or waste your time hoping families will stop breaking down.
Addendum after reading people’s comments below: This is precisely why we lose the argument, because we all say “Yeah, the break down of the family is contraception, you’re right, and it’s also _____________” We have to stop saying “also ________________” and start treating it at the source.
Contraception is always evil. Full stop. We need to keep saying that if we want to get through to people. Inserting another 100 other related social ills (which are all true…nihilism, socialism, selfishness, pride, vanity, materialism, no fault divorce, greed, adultery, and on and on and on…those are all bad too, and related to contraception) inserting those other things in the argument just waters down our effectiveness when speaking about what has destroyed the family