Pope Paul VI Archives

How G.K. Chesterton Influenced Pope Paul VI

Humanae Vitae Giving Day * * * By Dale Ahlquist In his book of St. Francis of Assisi, G.K. Chesterton says, “The moment that sex ceases to be a servant it becomes a tyrant.” He understood that separating sex from birth would lead not only to personal strife but societal strife, to broken relationships, to…

‘Clarity with Charity’: Why we Need Humanae Vitae

Humanae Vitae Giving Day * * * By Sheila Liaugminas For the past couple of years, I have considered the idea of tweeting out Humanae Vitae, or key lines from that prophetic document, so people in modern culture with busy lives and short attention spans, who are totally unaware of its contents, might be grabbed…

Radical Feminist Becomes Nun

Humanae Vitae Giving Day * * * By Sister Helena Burns You may be wondering what a nun has to do with or say about Humanae Vitae, the little 1968 encyclical that reaffirmed the Church’s 2,000-year-old position on contraception. Two thousand years? Yes. There have always been forms of contraception and abortion, and the followers…

Humanae Vitae is a Gift of Love

Humanae Vitae Giving Day * * * By Cardinal Timothy Dolan It’s no secret that when Humanae Vitae was released it set off a difficult period of turmoil and confusion within the Church. However, if we look at the encyclical today, we see the many ways in which Blessed Pope Paul VI correctly understood and foresaw the consequences…

Humanae Vitae: Guidance for a New Mom

Humanae Vitae Giving Day * * * By Janet Sahm Easter I braced myself for the day our daughter arrived in this world. I say braced because I have found the arrival of new life to be a motley mash of high emotions and tests of strength – simultaneously joyful, exhausting, wonderful, miraculous…and scary. There…

Humanae Vitae Brought Me Back to the Church

Humanae Vitae Giving Day * * * By Tommy Tighe As your typical cradle Catholic, I made sure to go through all the motions growing up: I was an altar server, I attended CCD and I continued to attend Mass every week even while enjoying all the fun that came with attending UC Santa Barbara.…

HV Invites Us to the Fullness of God’s Love

’Humanae Vitae Giving Day * * * by Ann Gundlach Former CCL Director of Communications Welcome to our celebration of Humanae Vitae! Many today would disagree that the message of Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae is worthy of celebration. Most people who are even aware of it tend to dismiss it as old-fashioned, as the…

Humanae Vitae 45 Years Later: Part V

Part 5: Dissenters and Living Martyrs Bob & Gerri Laird This week marks national NFP Awareness Week as well as the 45th anniversary of the encyclical Humanae Vitae. The final installment of this series honors those clergy who stood up in the face of dissent. History is worth repeating. On the 25th Anniversary of Humanae…

Humanae Vitae 45 Years Later: Part IV

Part 4: Natural Family Planning…a loving response Bob & Gerri Laird This week marks national NFP Awareness Week as well as the 45th anniversary of the encyclical Humanae Vitae. Part 4 of this series explores Natural Family Planning. What is the role of Natural Family Planning (NFP) with regard to HV? Humanae Vitae encourages…

Humanae Vitae 45 Years Later: Part III

Part 3: Humanae Vitae in 21st Century Language Bob & Gerri Laird This week marks national NFP Awareness Week as well as the 45th anniversary of the encyclical Humanae Vitae. Part 3 of this series explores Humanae Vitae’s arguments via the modern language of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. In his writings and…