CHARLOTTE — Three Diocese of Charlotte leaders who help teach local Catholics about “Humanae Vitae” reflect on the 50th anniversary of the encyclical and share their perspectives on putting its teachings into practice in their own lives:
Jessica Grabowski is a married mother of three and the diocese’s Respect Life program director.
Humanae Vitae is a profound document which foretold many intricacies of the future of the family – which is the culture as we see it today – in a truly prophetic way. I had the privilege to study this and other papal documents in moral theology classes at The Catholic University of America (my alma mater).
In one particular class, Christian Marriage and Family Life, which I unknowingly took with my future spouse (and taught by my future father-in-law), I had the opportunity to study “Humanae Vitae” and the detrimental impacts birth control has had on families and marriages throughout the last five decades.
Despite the warning signs provided in this document, I realized how far the good of the family had fallen because of the Pill. By focusing on the beauty of what marriage and family ought to be when husband and wife fully give themselves to God, one another and their families, we as a family try to emulate all that marriage and family should be according to His divine will. We truly believe that leading through example and prayer in our family life is the most powerful way to help bring the sanctity of marriage and family back into our culture.
Families and marriages need support and enrichment to stay strong, especially with the state of our current society. So we look to the example of other strong marriages and families and try to provide that same example by prayerfully following God’s will in our family.
Batrice Adcock is a married mother of three and the diocese’s Natural Family Planning director.
When I think about my own experience with Natural Family Planning, by God’s grace my husband and I were introduced to a priest right here from our own diocese when we were discerning marriage. He really explained to us the beauty of the Church’s teaching on marriage and sexuality and family planning, so that when we got married we were able to embrace Natural Family Planning.
It has been very helpful for us throughout our almost 15 years of marriage, for avoiding pregnancy when we needed to, for achieving pregnancy quickly when we tried and for helping me overcome problems with my health that were causing miscarriage.
So we are really thankful for what Natural Family Planning has provided for us.
It totally changed my career path. Pope Paul VI even mentioned this in “Humanae Vitae,” saying that often couples, through their own experience, would be inspired to share this with others.
Ultimately, that is what has happened with me. I am very thankful to be in the position that I can share this with others in our diocese.
Elizabeth Harris is a nurse and Natural Family Planning instructor.
Catholic health care workers are called to courageously uphold the Church’s teachings on the sanctity of human life by being informed on the harmful effects of contraception, sterilization, artificial fertility treatments and abortion, and by boldly sharing this knowledge with patients and colleagues – even if it means risking their job and their worldly sense of security. At the end of our lives, all that will matter is what we have done for God.
I would like to see a world where women who are lost in the current culture of the women’s movement find authentic freedom in living a life of purity and chastity because that is where our dignity and empowerment truly are. This virtue allows our God-given beauty to shine radiantly, from the inside, and for our total gift of self to be given in the act of the marital embrace the way that God intended.
In the first sentence of “Humanae Vitae,” Pope Paul VI states, “The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator.” This act is sacred and holy, and it is not intended to be used outside of a covenantal marriage. It is also not meant to be distorted and made into something that is self-serving, such as pornography, which harms God’s beautiful design for love, sexuality and marriage.
How can we seek to uphold one another as God’s creation in our relationships and see each other as His masterpieces, instead of like objects to be used like a commodity? That is degrading of one’s dignity and is a cheap imitation of sexuality and love.
God wants so much more for us.
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
At www.ccdoc.org/natural-family-planning: Learn more about natural family planning classes being held across the diocese, and find helpful guides on NFP apps, NFP-supportive doctors and much more