BISHOPS’ MANIFESTO

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 229, 26 August 1938, Page 2

BISHOPS’ MANIFESTO

BIRTH PREVENTION. VIEWS OF CATHOLIC CHURCH. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Aug. 25. At their meeting in Wellington last week Roman Catholic Bishops of New Zealand, Archbishop O’Shea, S.M., and Bishops Brodie, Whyte and ! Liston, decided to issue the following statement:— “The attitude recently taken by two societies of the Dominion at their annual conference in Wellington on matters affecting the law of God and therefore human dignity and welfare calls for a statement by us of the position of the Catholic Church. One of these societies, the Women's Institute, held fast to the Divine law and, to its honour, rejected several objectionable remits. The other, alas, the Women’s Division of the Farmers’ Union, made itself responsible, although not without strong opposition, for the advocacy of many things that we do not hesitate to say are an offence to Christian belief and morality. Its official attitude lias seriously alarmed the conscience of its Catholic members and may easily com--pel them to leave the society. “The coming of new life into the world of man is of first importance. It is a gift of God. Who has made sacred the state of marriage for its proper care. Human instinct finds something wrong in its coming outside the married state. Let husband and wife trust ill God’s care and be unselfish, generous, and, if needs, be. heroic. Yet, of course, the health of the mother and the circumstances of the home are to be taken into account, and. if for good motives sanctioned by conscience, husband and wife decide that it would not be prudient to have other children, they will not be going.against the law of God and the teaching of the Catholic Church, provided always (a strict proviso) they do so only by practising abstinence and continence in their married life. “Artificial prevention of births, whatever method is used, is wrong in itself, perversion ever, and in all circumstances, immoral, sinful, and grievously sinful. No motive of love or fears of poverty and ill-health (so often illusions) can make it right any more than they could make suicide morally, right. “All this is the law of God, The Catholic Church does hut preach it. The Church knows the difficulties. , problems, and hardships full well, and enters into the lives of families with understanding and sympathy, but she also knows that the keeping of God v law is necessary for the happiness of husband and wife, the safeguarding of their love and lovaltv, the home life of the children, and the \yell-heing of the nation. When His law is defied, only misery can corn* 3 . “How. we ask, can New Zealanders hold their country if this evil persists. A nation that puts obstacles in, the way of the stream of life coming into its world will go down, not merely because its numbers will decrease, hut even more because it will fail in the spiritual and moral qualities that are its real strength. ' - “The Catholic Church holds to the Divine law, ‘Thou slmlt not kill.’ and therefore condemns all direct and voluntary abortion, even it be ‘therapeutic’ in character —that is performed to safeguard the mother’s life or health. Abortion of this kind means the direct taking away of an innocent human life. Homicide and murder are not justifiable, for the child unborn has not been guilty of any crime. It is no more permissible to a medical man than to anyone else, and, indeed, is rejected by great men of the profession as an insult to their skill and dignity. “It would anpear that there are several thousands of these abortions year by year in our country. They are murders —just that and nothing else. • We may not do evil, that- good may come. “If proposals to establish clinics for birth-control and to give the protection of the law in any way to the manufacture and sale of contraceptive devices were ever accepted by Parliament, it would lx? degradation of family lifo in New Zealand and the introduction of swift poison into our national life, married and unmarried. There are problems, indeed, for large families, but Parliament can and should meet them with boldness and ease their burdens by laws that are just and wise. Men and women of goodwill will applaud such measures, and religion, desiring to see justice and charity among men, will see in them a powerful means of securing human dignity and a proper measure of happiness on God s earth.’.’