A professor of moral theology, Janet Smith is the author of Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later, editor of Why Humanae Vitae Was Right: A Reader, and Life Issues, Medical Choices. (Click To Listen, Right Click To Download)
Contraception: Why Not? - Part 1
Contraception: Why Not? - Part 2
SOURCE: CatholiciPod
To hear an interview with Dr. Janet Smith, Fr. Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Ethics and Professor of Moral Theology from an Australian Radio (May 2, 2006 at 8.30pm)
on the topics of condoms and AIDS:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s1629283.htm
While you are thinking about it… Stop in and take a look at Taylor Marshall’s The Bible Against Contraception
David Bennett
Jennifer
asimplesinner
Fr. J.
Chad Toney
Jorge Flores
Jonathan B
carmelbennett
nicenehobbit
Jason S
jaybird68
papaz
March 22, 2008 at 12:31 am
Thank you so much for putting these files up, SS. I always have couples preparing for marriage listen to this lecture. I had run out of copies to give out to couples. Now I can make as many CD’s as I like to hand out.
Blessed Triduum
March 22, 2008 at 2:47 pm
The Marshall bit on the Bible and contraception is a bit of a stretch in most instances. I’m sympathetic to his/your position on the issue, but I don’t see how Ananias & Sapphira have much bearing on the issue, except in the most general way.
March 22, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Irenaeus, as Catholics, Taylor and I aren’t proof-texters, of course. Any one of these texts we could debate… But in the spirit of the teaching on birth control and our co-participation with the Father in the creation of immortal souls, it is easy to see the parallels in this case.
Again, we aren’t proof-texters, we’re Catholics.
March 22, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Irenaeus, I know these recordings are long and you may not have much time. I will tell you though, as a Catholic and even seminarian I never took HV seriously until I listened to Janet Smith. She completely changed my point of view.
As I said before, I have all the couples I marry listen to this lecture. Of the hundreds who have listened to them, none has come back to me saying they still thought the Church was wrong on this. Many may find the teaching difficult. But, none have found it wrong.
March 22, 2008 at 4:04 pm
SimpleSinner, yeah, I’m aware; but maybe it would have been better for the poster to have presented *some* sort of hermeneutical context. I can see how some of the texts in a general way pertain to giving of oneself, and I suspect certain Fathers back in the day might even have used them in relation to sex, marriage and contraception. But as the list stands, I don’t think it does much. I do very much, however, want to dive into the issue of sorcery, witchcraft and pharmaceuticals in the OT and NT. I’ve not heard this angle on life issues and contraception until very recently.
Fr. J., I can make time for good and important stuff. (In fact, once the semester ends, I’ve got a severe stack of Catholic books I want to get to.) I think I heard her briefly on the BBC some months ago getting abused by the interviewer.
Now, I’ve never quite gotten why men would go to seminary, entertain and commit to a life of celibacy, and then feel free to dismiss and disregard Catholic teaching. I’m glad your not in that place. Keep up the good work.
March 22, 2008 at 4:13 pm
PS: SimpleSinner, I responded to your recent comment on remarried couples attending church at my post on it.
March 24, 2008 at 12:01 am
Very thought provoking lecture. The explanation of why the Catholic Church has been anti-contraception was very helpful - and not something I had heard before. As a Protestant, the rational behind that church policy (or lack of one) was never clear, but I think Dr. Smith’s points made sense.
July 28, 2008 at 8:07 am
[...] You can listen to it on MP3 HERE [...]
August 15, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I wish I had encountered Dr. Smith’s writings 16 years who, while still unmarried, I found myself involved in a relationship that very quickly leaped into pre-marital sex and contraception. And you know what? Everything Dr Smith talks about was true of that experience. We couldn’t say “I want to have a baby with you” and when faced with only “I want to have sex with you” the relationship soon floundered.
It’s interesting in that I got married three years after this mishap and in that relationship we remained true to the principles Janet Smith outlines and the outcome was decidely different!