Catholic Medical Quarterly Volume 67(4) November 2017
Correspondence
Humanae Vitae:
Dr Steven Brennan
Dear Sir,
I have read with interest all the recent CMQ papers/ letters on “Humanae Vitae”, and feel that I mostly agree with James Flood's comments in his letter of Aug'17. I was not in the Guild as a medical student in London 1964-69, but was involved in the resistance to the Abortion Act. Later, when “Humanae Vitae” came out, I was a single junior doctor and was not surprised that the Church "stuck to its guns" on contraception, but worried. Later again, as a married junior doctor, blessed with an Anglican wife and 4 children in 5 years, I became a more frequent attender at Confession, and managed to stay in the Church whilst frequently failing to live up to its ideal! I continued to believe those ideals were right, however difficult I found them. I think many Catholics of my generation coped in that way.
I didn't find the Editor's comment after Dr Flood's letter very helpful, it seemed to introduce yet another "elephant in the room"! Certainly, back in the '60's, we would never have imagined "gay marriage", and while clearly a gay "marriage" entails a complete bar on procreation, this could only be compared to a heterosexual "marriage" where the couple have vowed never to have any children, a fairly rare event.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Steve Brennan