From Our Vaults 56 Years Ago: August 7, 1968

by Admin · August 16, 2024

SA bishops on birth control

South African bishops have responded in different ways to Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae, which restates the Catholic Church’s ban on artificial birth control. Archbishop Denis

Hurley expressed disappointment that the open consultation of Vatican II was lacking in the decision on birth control. Cardinal Owen McCann of Cape Town said that the pope’s decision must be accepted as coming from the supreme teaching authority. Archbishop John Garner of Pretoria said that those who advocated a modification of the teaching had been “like troops who have advanced far beyond the limits fixed for them”. Bishop Gerard van Velsen of Kroonstad said that the ban on artificial birth control “is a discipline rather than a doctrine, and therefore it leaves the door open for personal decisions”.

Decision on baptismal rites

In their plenary session, the bishops decided that the Catholic Church in Southern Africa will now recognise baptisms performed by Anglican, Lutheran and Dutch Reformed churches. The rite of baptism of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches will be recognised as valid, but they need further study.

Milestone for the Church

In his editorial, Fr Louis Stubbs notes that Pope Paul VI’s decision to uphold the Church’s ban on artificial birth control “seems certain to become a milestone in Church history, for its outcome will quite likely affect not only the question of birth control, but also the wider question of the structures of authority in this Church”.