II

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae and of all of the various responses by clergy and lay people that followed its publication. The division that was so evident then remains with us now. In 2018, progressive Catholics remembered HV as a symbol of a church that refuses to listen to the experiences of the laity and the arguments of trained theologians. Traditional Catholics celebrated the opening of a path toward the renewal of sexual ethics which began with Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body, and pointed to widespread evidence confirming Paul VI’s prophetic vision regarding the consequences of approving artificial birth control (i.e., marital infidelity, decreasing respect for women, declining morals, and government imposition of contraception). Rarely do the two camps engage each other. Rarely do they turn together to engage the world.

The brief document that is subject of this roundtable, “Pastoral Approaches,” was written by members of the papal birth control commission and submitted to Paul VI along with the majority report, the minority report, and the response to the minority report at the conclusion of the commission in 1966. Along with the other documents, it was anonymously leaked to two news organizations and the National Catholic Reporter broke the story in July 1967. According to theologian Joseph Selling, it was “approved by the cardinals and bishops of the Commission to complement the final report. That report, being of a technical, theological nature, was felt by some prelates to be difficult for the layperson to understand. Thus, they asked for a more pastorally oriented, easily understandable statement to serve as an introduction to the theological report and possibly as a basis for an official pronouncement on the matter.”³

Though brief, the document is much more pastoral in tone and content than the commission’s other documents or HV. The vision it presents had the potential to inspire good conversation on sexual practice. It led me to wonder, “What if Catholics had engaged in the conversation and formation the document seeks to begin? Would we still be so divided? Would we have a better chance of engaging in dialogue with the world?”

This last question is particularly important in light of the #MeToo, #SilenceIsNotSpiritual, and #ChurchToo moment which began in the fall of 2017 and continues to unfold. These movements have brought to light not only the reality that sexual violence is still a far too prevalent feature of women’s lives, but also that scripts of dominance and disrespect which result in what has been dubbed “bad sex” are a normal part of many women’s sexual experience. Unfortunately, churches are not often spaces where women can count on support, let alone prophetic speech. Catholics have not been major voices in the recent public conversation on sexual violence and bad sex. The Catholic public sexual ethics presence is limited to discussion on contraception. With a few notable exceptions, Catholics have not shown up for women the way they have for other vulnerable populations. And because we have not shown up, we have missed an opportunity to lead a public conversation that goes beyond consent to the deeper problems brought to light in this heart-breaking public story-telling moment.

But what if “Pastoral Approaches” had been adopted and implemented? How might that have changed things? The document points us to three key questions: What is sex for? What is marriage for? What kind of sacrifice is necessary in a good life?

What is sex for? Much attention has focused on HV’s claim on the inseparability of the two purposes of sex. “Pastoral Approaches” focuses on the unitive side without diminishing the essential outward facing dimension of fruitfulness. “Sexuality in marriage must be a unifying force,” it says. There is a recognition that this will take time, effort, and growth. “The act of love, like all expressions of intimacy between them, needs to be humanized, progressively refined.” Abstinence still might be called for at times in light of the desires and needs of each person. Love and passion are to be nurtured but discipline is still important. Developing the unitive meaning...