I long ago stopped being a fan of Germaine Greer, but, actually, this article is very much worth reading. I don't disagree with anything she says, and I find some of the evidence quoted to be quite reassuring.
However, the fact remains that whilst the Vatican retains its vile genocidal policy on contraception, it continues to destroy the attempts of many many people (including a vast number of nominal and devout Catholics) to fight the real immorality, Poverty.
Incidentally, someone of my acquaintance, who has spent the last ten years working as a Catholic lay chaplain, pointed out to me that the Vatican's policy on condoms to prevent AIDS is not only morally wrong, but is inconsistent with other teaching.
Many women are prescribed the contraceptive pill as a form of hormone treatment, for gynaecological or endrocrinological problems. The main purpose is to treat those conditions, in much the same way that anti-biotics are prescribed to kill bacteria. The fact is, by taking the Pill, the woman is thus also rendered infertile, is regarded doctrinally as an acceptable incidental consequence, and the woman is not deemed to be 'in sin'. Therefore, by that logic, using condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS should also be doctrinally acceptable, because the contraceptive function is merely an incidental consequence.
Her mother, and my mother (who know each other) regard the contraception teaching as ridiculous and outdated, and what a couple do in their private life is of no concern to the priest in confessional. Another friend has a brother who is a Catholic priest and he has made it quite clear to this friend that effective contraception is an essential part of a sensible married life - just count the children and the bedrooms and do the sums.
Whilst unaccountable, exclusively (or predominantly) male organisations seek to impose their crackpot ideas on governments and wider society, I believe we have a moral duty to speak out against them.
The chaplain and the priest speak out from within. There again, they are exceptionally intelligent, well-educated people with a greater understanding of the world than your average dullard plonked into the parishes of the world.
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