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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

Interview With Westminster Diocesan Aide

LONDON, APRIL 18, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Natural fertility awareness is not just a method to avoid pregnancy, it's about gaining a new understanding of the power of procreation, says a promoter of a new diocesan resource in Britain.

Edmund Adamus, director for pastoral affairs of the Archdiocese of Westminster, has helped to launch an educational resource entitled "Natural Fertility Awareness: The Joy of God's Plan."

The resource includes a DVD and booklet produced by the Catholic Truth Society, in conjunction with Luton Good Counsel, a pro-life counseling service.

In this interview with ZENIT, Adamus comments on the new resource and the reasons behind its production.

Q: Your new resource says that it is a guide to natural fertility awareness. Isn't this just natural family planning?

Adamus: Natural fertility awareness is not simply about natural family planning, but about creating within people, especially couples, a deeper sense of appreciation for the gift that is fertility. And, like all gifts from God, we are called to use it wisely and cherish it as we promise to cherish our spouse in the marriage ceremony.

Fertility awareness means so much more than just being able to know how to avoid getting pregnant in conformity with the Church's teaching on artificial contraception; it's also about empowering couples, particularly women, with the God-given knowledge about their bodies so that they might also achieve pregnancy as co-creators with God.

When one in five couples these days are experiencing serious problems of either subfertility or chronic infertility, then assisting couples to achieve pregnancy naturally, avoiding the injustice of in vitro fertilization, has to be seen as a pastoral priority.

Q: Why is this new resource needed? Aren't there already myriads of resources available to Catholic couples looking to use natural methods of birth control?

Adamus: There may be "myriads of resources available," but couples who practice natural family planning will almost always say that they had to strive very hard to be instructed, trained and supported in their locality.

That's not to say that there haven't been some amazingly gifted and generous natural family planning trainers out there who have tried very hard to make their presence felt and their services more widely available. However, without adequate support, the message has, at best, been paid lip service to -- and in most cases ignored.

This resource aims to overcome the problem of access. It is designed to make the Church's teaching on marriage and sexuality and the wisdom underlying it easy to present in clear and simple terms. It makes no demands on local clergy, but rather puts into their hands a resource to enable them to impart objectively and consistently a teaching they may find difficult to present otherwise.

Q: There are various different schools of thought within natural family planning, such as the Billings Method and the Creighton Method. Is this resource a new method? Aren't all methods more or less the same?

Adamus: This resource is not announcing, promoting or defending any particular method of fertility awareness. It is primarily about acquainting people -- including the clergy -- with a sharper sensitivity to the dangers of the contraceptive mentality -- so often announced by Pope John Paul II.

Basically, the resource simply points to fertility awareness as a concept, and although some of the various methods are showcased, it is ultimately up to each couple to decide which method seems most appropriate for them.

John Paul II exhorted experts working in this field to "appreciate their respective work and mutually exchange experience and results, firmly avoiding tensions and disagreements, which could threaten this important and difficult work."

Q: Natural family planning or fertility awareness has been described as the Catholic Church's best kept secret. Why do you think so little attention has been paid to it by Catholics, and society at large?

Adamus: In essence, the issue of ignorance and lack of engagement with natural family planning and fertility awareness is the problem of the contraceptive culture and mentality.

Commentators -- especially Catholics -- who disagree with the Church's teaching on artificial contraception like to think that the problems regarding this issue are due to the promulgation of the encyclical "Humanae Vitae" in 1968.

Clearly this isn't so, and one would have to be morally blind not to see all the effects of widespread contraception which Pope Paul VI prophesied -- and even those he could never have predicted, such as embryonic research, cloning and in vitro fertilization.

The theological and pastoral divisions within the Church since then have caused, and continue to cause, a source of enormous supernatural damage for evangelization. Furthermore, given the present cultural climate, it's very hard to be immune to the effects of what John Paul II called "the culture of death," even for very devout Catholics.

Even for those who have never, or would never, consider using contraception, but especially for those who do, the effects of the "smoke" we are breathing in is causing moral damage. Without out due care, consciences will continue to grow dull and drowsy to the toxic, narcotic effects of this mentality.

Q: Do you think parish priests and those responsible for catechetical and marriage preparation should be more willing to speak about natural fertility awareness and the Church's teaching in this area? Why do you think many priests have been reluctant to do so?

Adamus: Yes, I do believe that marriage preparation presents itself as the best, though not the exclusive, teaching moment for a richer appreciation of fertility awareness -- even for couples in irregular unions such as cohabitation.

We must never "shortchange" the engaged on what is rightfully theirs -- a full, frank and informative catechetical experience of all of the Church's teaching on marriage and family life. Only then can we offer hope to these couples, who can go forward to their wedding day confident that the Church loves them, shares their dreams and continues to pray for and cherish their calling just as much as she prays for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

It puzzles, but doesn't surprise me -- given all I have said about the effects of the contraceptive mentality -- that clergy express real apprehension about their ability to say anything meaningful to the engaged, and yet there is more in common than they are prepared to admit.

The sacrificial aspects of priestly life and ministry have so much to bring to the renewed appreciation of the sacrament of marriage, and married couples who exercise self-control with fertility have much to offer to a renewed understanding of the charism of celibacy.

Q: How well-known are natural birth-regulation methods in the United Kingdom? Would this resource be used beyond the scope of parish use, in secular environments?

Adamus: It is true that, sadly, natural methods of fertility regulation are certainly less well-known in the U.K. than artificial methods. There could be many reasons for this, but I mention a comment made by one of the couples in the DVD that there is no money in natural methods of fertility regulation, whereas a lot of people are making money with artificial methods!

Could this resource be used in secular environments? I honestly believe that the moral climate and spiritual receptivity has never been better for proclaiming the benefits of natural family planning from the rooftops. There are countless women who desperately want to hear it and multitudes of men who need to learn it.

As John Paul II said in his theology of the body, because of the Fall, the onus is upon men to show the initiative and be the stewards of creation they were called to be from the beginning. This includes, most especially, answering the call as men to be guardians, protectors and lovers of fertility.

Code: ZE07041815

Date: 2007-04-18

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

"One of the Great Promoters of Dialogue Between Faith and Reason"

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 18, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today at the general audience in St. Peter's Square. The reflection focused on St. Clement of Alexandria.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

After a time of holidays, we return to our normal catechesis, despite the fact that the square is still visibly decorated for the feasts. With these catecheses, we return, as I said, to the theme previously begun. We have spoken about the Twelve Apostles, then the disciples of the apostles, and now we turn to the great personalities of the nascent Church, of the ancient Church.

Last time, we had spoken about St. Irenaeus of Lyons and today we will speak of Clement of Alexandria, a great theologian who was probably born in Athens, sometime around the turn of the second century. In Athens, he picked up a keen interest in philosophy that would make him one of the great promoters of dialogue between faith and reason in the Christian tradition.

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 18, 2007 (Zenit.org).- U.S. bishops have sent a letter of solidarity to their counterparts in Zimbabwe, as the growing humanitarian and governmental crisis continues in that African country.

Bishop Thomas Wenski, chairman of the U.S. episcopal conference's international policy committee, wrote: "We acknowledge and accept the bishops' invitation to join with you in prayer for Zimbabwe."

In the letter, directed to Archbishop Robert Ndlovu of Harare, president of the Zimbabwe episcopal conference, the U.S. prelate added: "We offer profound respect to you and our brother bishops in Zimbabwe for your brave and faithful pastoral ministry in these difficult days."

The Zimbabwean bishops issued a pastoral letter posted as an Easter message in churches throughout the country.

Further bloodshed and mass uprisings, they said, would only be prevented through democratic elections.

Bishop Wenski called their letter "a powerful testimony to the prophetic leadership of the bishops of Zimbabwe and to the tragic situation of the people in your country."

He added: "Your Pastoral Letter describes the deep crisis facing your people -- a crisis that is at once a crisis of governance, a crisis of moral leadership and a spiritual and moral crisis."

Code: ZE07041820

Date: 2007-04-18

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

Founded an Institute of Sisters to Care for Needy

CASTELLAMMARE DI STABIA, Italy, APRIL 18, 2007 (Zenit.org).- According to the prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes, Jesus was truly "the first and the last" for Mother Maria Magdalena Starace.

Cardinal José Saraiva Martins gave this synthesis of the life of the religious who was proclaimed blessed on Sunday.

The founder of the Institute of the Compassionist Sisters was born Sept. 5, 1845. In 1850, the Daughters of Charity established themselves in Castellammare to help the sick and then opened an orphanage and boarding house for children, where she was admitted. There, she decided to consecrate herself to the Lord.

Later, because of health reasons, she had to return to her family various times. Her confessor allowed her daily Communion (at that time permission was necessary) and, at age 15, allowed her consecration. She took the name Sister Maria Magdalena of the Passion.

When several epidemics of cholera hit Castellammare, she founded in 1869 the Institute of the Compassionist Sisters, approved two years later.

Charism

Her charism can be summarized in four points, the congregation explains: "To love God in every brother and sister. To share aspirations with every person. To participate, like Mary, in the redeeming work of Christ in the world, with love, prayer and sacrifice. To be with Mary at the foot of the infinite crosses of man, where Christ is still crucified."

In 1893, the congregation of the Compassionists was officially joined to the order of the Servants of Mary.

Sister Maria Magdalena of the Passion died of pneumonia on Dec. 13, 1921.

In the homily at her beatification, Cardinal Saraiva Martins underlined how God was at the center of her life. He said she "directed her institute kneeling at the altar, first speaking to the Lord about the life of each foundation and the individual problems of her daughters."

The "fundamental criteria of the new Servant of God," the cardinal recalled, "was centered around the conviction that true happiness in helping elderly persons, in educating youth, in giving oneself to those in need of help and comforting, was in direct relation to personal sanctification, with deep union with God."

Cardinal Saraiva Martins recalled that this is also discussed by Benedict XVI in "Deus Caritas Est," because, he said, it goes back to the "primacy of charity in Christian life and in the Church, underlining that the privileged witnesses of this are the saints, who made this their existence, even with thousands of different shades, a hymn to God-Love."

"The weapon of prayer, acceptance of the cross and abandonment to the will of God" were fundamental to the life of the newly beatified, the cardinal added.

"Let us learn from her to turn our gaze up to he who is the first and the last, the living," Cardinal Saraiva Martins concluded. "[She] sacrificed her life for the poor, children, the old and in [Christ's] spirit taught her daughters, convinced that only living this way could one be happy living on earth."

Code: ZE07041802

Date: 2007-04-18

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

Upholds Ban on Partial-Birth Procedure

WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 18, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee for Pro-Life Activities has welcomed the Supreme Court decision upholding a ban on partial birth abortion.

The U.S. bishops' conference released a statement today from Cardinal Justin Rigali in which he hails the 5-4 decision.

"Today, after a decade of struggle in legislatures and courts, the U.S. Supreme Court finally upheld a federal law prohibiting the brutal and inhumane partial birth abortion procedure. This is the first time in 34 years that the court has upheld a ban of any type of abortion," the cardinal said.

The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President George Bush in 2003. It aimed to prohibit the particular abortion procedure which involves partially removing the fetus from the womb and then puncturing the skull and extracting the brain, then delivering the rest of the dead body.

Because of court challenges, the ban never went into effect.

Renewed hope

Cardinal Rigali said that today's decision is a reason for hope for pro-life Americans.

"The court's decision does not affect the legal status of the great majority of abortions, and does not reverse past decisions claiming to find a right to abortion in the Constitution," Cardinal Rigali wrote. "However, it provides reasons for renewed hope and renewed effort on the part of pro-life Americans.

"The court is taking a clearer and more unobstructed look at the tragic reality of abortion, and speaking about that reality more candidly than it has in many years."

The cardinal, who is archbishop of Philadelphia, added: "Especially welcome is the court's explicit recognition of certain key facts: that abortion is the taking of a human life, and that government has a legitimate interest in protecting and preserving this life at every stage."

He further praised the court's recognition "that 'respect for human life finds an ultimate expression in the bond of love the mother has for her child'; that abortion may also cause grief and sorrow for women, which is only made worse when the reality of the procedure has been withheld from them until it is too late; and that the ethical integrity of the medical profession, as well as the fabric of our society, is threatened by the acceptance of practices that are difficult to distinguish from infanticide."

"The court also acknowledges that in some past decisions, the usual rules for constitutional review were distorted by an unwarranted hostility to legislative efforts to respect unborn human life," the 71-year-old cardinal added.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that the opponents of the act "have not demonstrated that the act would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases."

Bush's two appointees to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, sided with the majority. Also in the majority were Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia.

Cardinal Rigali's statement concluded: "We hope today's decision marks the beginning of a new dialogue on abortion, in which fair-minded consideration will be given to the genuine interests of unborn children and their mothers, to the need for an ethically sound medical profession, and to society's desperate need for a foundation of respect for all human life."

Code: ZE07041823

Date: 2007-04-18

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Focuses Audience Address on Clement of Alexandria

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 18, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI urged Christians to be able to give reasons for their faith in Christ, following the example of Clement of Alexandria, a key figure in the early Church.

The Pope made that request today during his address at the general audience in St. Peter's Square.

Clement of Alexandria died around the year 215 and was one of the first Christians to harmonize Christian faith with Greek philosophy, the Bishop of Rome explained.

The Holy Father referred to the three principal works from Clement that still exist today.

"Taken together, Clement's catecheses accompany the catechumen and the baptized step by step, because, with the two 'wings' of faith and reason, they lead to knowing the Truth, which is Christ, the Word of God," he said.

For Clement, "the knowledge of Christ is not just a thought, but a love that opens the eyes, transforms the person and creates communion with the 'Logos,' the divine Word that is truth and life," the Pontiff explained.

He added: "On the journey to perfection, Clement gives the same importance to moral requirements as to the intellectual ones. The two go together because it is not possible to know the truth without living it, nor to live the truth without knowing it.

"It is not possible to make oneself like God and contemplate him simply with a rational knowledge: In order to achieve this objective, it is necessary to live according to the 'Logos,' a life according to truth. And, therefore, good works have to accompany intellectual knowledge, as the shadow accompanies the body."

The Pope asserted that Clement of Alexandria "decisively continues along the path of those who want to 'give reason' for their faith in Jesus Christ."

And, echoing Pope John Paul II, Benedict XVI urged theologians and catechists of today to "recover and express to the full the metaphysical dimension of truth in order to enter into a demanding critical dialogue with […] contemporary philosophical thought."

Code: ZE07041805

Date: 2007-04-18