Priests Extol Humanae Vitae to Parishioners

WASHINGTON TIMES, Aug. 2—Priests across the country surprised parishioners — and newspapers — by vigorously defending Humanae Vitae from the pulpit on the 30th anniversary of the document's promulgation by Pope Paul VI.

In a feature that usually excerpts Sunday's sermons the following morning, one Washington, D.C., daily had to seek out and belatedly print a homily Father William Saunders delivered to his Alexandria, Va., parish about the Catholic faith's opposition to contraception.

Said Father Saunders: “Thirty years later, the Church still upholds the same truths. Today, as we mark the anniversary of Humanae Vitae, I ask you to open your hearts and listen.…”

“The most beautiful expression of marital love is the conjugal, physical love of husband and wife.… Their love in union with God may overflow and they may also conceive a child, a unique precious individual.”

“Think of it! While God himself creates and infuses each person's soul, a couple in union with God may bring life in this world.… Because of this teaching, St. Paul denounced lust, fornication, and perversion as serious sins in the eyes of God. Because of this teaching, contraception is a serious sin in the eyes of God.”

“Humanae Vitae affirmed that marital love must always respect both its love-uniting and life-giving dimensions, and therefore, must be open to the possible transmission of human life. To deny either dimension violates the sanctity of the marital act as designed by God. Contraception purposefully suppresses and denies the love-uniting dimension.”

Church to Receive Gunman Who Shot Youth During Mass

MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, Aug. 4—Father Larry Dulek from St. Anthony's Parish in Milwaukee was not expecting to meet one of the killers who had shocked his parish when he visited a local prison July 23.

His church had been the scene of an ugly murder, when Israel Rodriguez, 15, was shot to death on the church steps March 22 during an evening Mass. Father Dulek had come outside to give last rites to the victim of a gang dispute. He was probably shot by Bobby Moore, 18, who was killed in April in apparent retaliation, and Frederick Huffman, who is in prison after pleading guilty to second degree reckless homicide and felony possession of a firearm.

Shaken by the crime, Father Dulek had taken to visiting prisoners as a result, said the report. On July 23, Huffman was playing cards in the jail when a fellow inmate pointed out the priest.

Says Huffman, “I walked over to him, and I asked for forgiveness for what happened. He looked shocked. He didn't believe me at first.”

The priest has begun teaching the Catholic faith to Huffman in jail at his request with the intention of baptizing him and receiving him into the Church, said the report.

Governors Have Pro-Life Powers

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, July 28—Pro-family voters worry about the president, Congress, and the Supreme Court — and well they should. But, as San Francisco's morning newspaper points out, they would do well to pay attention to their own state capitol as well. It listed the powers California's — and any state's — governor has to curtail abortion and slow the contraceptive culture.

• The governor has power to shape the state budget, and to prevent it being used to force tax-payers to pay for contraceptives, abortifacients, abortion-related services, anti-abstinence sex education, abortion clinic's business-seeking drives and actual abortions, it said.

• The governor often has decisive legislative influence in controversial fights over laws that strip parents of their consent rights in their teenage children's abortions and laws that allow doctors to end the lives of babies about to be born by using late-term abortion procedures.

• The governor directly oversees the California Department of Health, and its Office of Family Planning and Office of Women's Health, which promotes contraceptive, abortifacient, and abortion-related services to 600,000 women with taxpayer money.

• The governor makes thousands of appointments to state posts and commissions, many of which deal with many contraceptive, abortifacient, and abortion-related issues and services, and decides to what extent the state will promote such services to minors.

• The governor appoints judges, from state Supreme Court justices to court of appeals and trial judges, whose decisions have made contraception, abortion, and anti-abstinence programs prevalent despite the opposition of voters.