By Patrick Hauf, Contributing Writer
Last week, Luke Nolan wrote an article titled, “Contraception isn’t a right,” where he stated the negative effects of “the pill” on both patients and society as a whole.
From observing the campus reaction to this piece, one would think Nolan is Satan himself. This, of course, is not the case.
Consider Saint Pope John Paul II’s thoughts on contraceptives.
“Through contraception married couples remove from the exercise of their conjugal sexuality its potential procreative capacity, they claim a power which belongs solely to God; the power to decide in a final analysis the coming into existence of a human person,” said John Paul II.
He concludes, “In this perspective, contraception is to be judged objectively so profoundly unlawful as never to be, for any reason, justified. To think or to say the contrary is equal to maintaining that, in human life, situations may arise in which it is lawful not to recognize God as God.”
If Nolan’s article makes him evil, then what does that make John Paul II? Nolan’s piece is far from malicious. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Nolan is simply promoting Catholic teaching.
This leads to a further issue: Why is there such outrage on a Catholic campus over the promotion of Catholic teachings?
In this semester’s first edition of The Bona Venture, I wrote a piece on Catholic teachings towards sexuality and chastity. Weeks later, I questioned Marc Lamont Hill on abortion. I now find myself, along with Nolan, despised by many students here on campus. Why is that?
There is a misconstrued view of what Catholic teaching is all about. Catholic teaching promotes the holy lifestyle that Jesus calls us all to live. This lifestyle can appear demanding, but the reward is literally endless: eternal life.
Nobody can live up to the perfection of Jesus, but we must strive for it.
haufpj17@bonaventure.edu
