Contraception & Catholics

Are U.S. Roman Catholics using contraceptives as much as their non-Catholic neighbors? There is some evidence that the answer is yes. So reported Msgr. Irving A. De Blanc, director of the National Catholic Family Life Bureau, citing still inconclusive studies* resulting in "an alarming, arresting and provocative finding." Furthermore, Msgr. De Blanc is sure that contraception is harmful, not only morally, but "psychologically, socially and emotionally." Far more research is needed, he said, but there are even some "weak indications that birth control affects the body physiologically."

In an article published for last week's National Catholic Family Life convention in San Antonio, De Blanc expounded his view that women have a built-in need to procreate, that frustrating this natural consequence of sexual intercourse results in guilt, and guilt leads to psychological damage. Non-Catholic doctors and churchmen were quick to disagree. P: William H. Genne, a Congregationalist clergyman and De Blanc's Protestant opposite number as director of the Department of Family Life for the National Council of Churches: "Contraception can bring many beneficial emotional and spiritual effects when morally used. Protestant clergymen at home and abroad have seen not only the debilitating physical and socio-economic effects of haphazard childbearing, but have also been deeply concerned with the spiritual devastation wrought by fear of bearing children unable to be provided for." P: Dr. Alan Guttmacher, director of obstetrics and gynecology at Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital and a leader in the Planned Parenthood Association: "Contraception promotes health rather than illness. A good contraceptive device--the right one found for a particular patient--causes the complete blooming of the emotions during sexual intercourse because of the sense of freedom. Sex is all above the neck anyway--it's not below the waist." P: Psychoanalyst Lawrence S. Kubie: "There isn't one shred of evidence that birth control is physically or physiologically harmful. If someone is made to feel guilty, on this or any other subject, the internal conflict can of course be disturbing; but that's all."

Such views distress Msgr. De Blanc, and he fears that they may be catching. He sees signs that many Catholics may gradually abandon the teachings of their church and accept the customs of the secular society in which they live. His solution: an "open ghetto," in which Catholics should avoid intimate contact as far as possible with non-Catholic culture. Mixed marriages are out of the question. "I don't think a Protestant should seriously date a Catholic, and vice versa. Of course we want to get to know and do business with persons of other faiths, but I wonder if a devout person should bring someone of another faith into his home, into his family surroundings. Catholics should not have close associates who are in a different religious situation. You soon compromise with a cultural pattern."

* Among others, by Dr. Ronald Freedman of the University of Michigan, who interviewed some 2,000 couples.

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