{"id":78279,"date":"2015-10-16T00:33:53","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T05:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aleteia.org\/?post_type=post&p=78279"},"modified":"2015-10-16T00:33:53","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T05:33:53","slug":"from-the-synod-on-birth-control-lay-auditor-says-this-paralyzed-status-quo-cannot-continue-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2015\/10\/from-the-synod-on-birth-control-lay-auditor-says-this-paralyzed-status-quo-cannot-continue-2\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Synod: On birth control, lay auditor says, \u201cThis \u2018paralyzed status quo\u2019 cannot continue\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\n

John Thavis reports:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

The question of birth control, sometimes described as the \u201celephant in the room\u201d at the Synod of Bishops on the Family, was the focus of a bluntly worded talk by a lay auditor at the Vatican assembly.<\/p>\n

The auditor, Sharron Cole from New Zealand, told the synod that the teaching of the encyclical\u00a0Humanae Vitae\u00a0<\/em>has been largely ignored by Catholic couples. This has led to a \u201cparalyzed\u201d pastoral situation that requires a fresh discussion \u2014 not by clergy alone, who have shown inadequate understanding of sexuality and psychology in the way they have dealt with clerical sexual abuse, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe time is now for this synod to propose that the Church re-examine its teaching on marriage and sexuality, and its understanding of responsible parenthood, in a dialogue of laity and bishops together,\u201d Cole said.<\/p>\n

Cole was one of few people to talk at the synod about\u00a0Humanae Vitae<\/em>, the 1968 encyclical that declared it immoral for married couples to use artificial birth control. The encyclical allowed for natural methods of spacing births, and Cole said that as a former board member of a natural family planning organization, she found that this method worked for motivated couples.<\/p>\n

But for many couples, she added, the natural method is not practicable. The teaching that artificial contraception is intrinsically wrong has provoked \u201cmassive dissent,\u201d she noted, with Catholics essentially making their own decision in conscience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe response of the Church to this unsatisfactory situation has been for better catechesis or to ignore the dissent. This \u2018paralyzed status quo\u2019 cannot continue,\u201d Cole said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read on.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Thavis reports:\u00a0 The question of birth control, sometimes described as the \u201celephant in the room\u201d at the Synod of Bishops on the Family, was the focus of a bluntly worded talk by a lay auditor at the Vatican assembly. The auditor, Sharron Cole from New Zealand, told the synod that the teaching of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bishops","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nFrom the Synod: On birth control, lay auditor says, \u201cThis \u2018paralyzed status quo\u2019 cannot continue\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"John Thavis reports:\u00a0 The question of birth control, sometimes described as the \u201celephant in the room\u201d at the Synod of Bishops on the Family, was the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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