The history of Christ's church has always been marked by resistance to its teachings, causing loss of faith. In each situation Christ's promise "I am with you all days to the end of time" was fulfilled when schisms and heresies were countered by such stalwarts as Ignatius, Francis, Dominic, and Mother Teresa.
Directed by the Holy Spirit and strengthened by the courage of David and the zeal of St Paul, they became the Davids who conquered the Goliaths of secularised regimes as well as a weak and apathetic hierarchy in their own church. In each case their decisive victories were victories of Christ over evil.
In this country, where a beleaguered church is staggering from crisis to crisis, a new hope has surfaced in the form of Father David O'Hanlon. Like St Patrick at Slane he has lit his fire at nearby Kentstown. His first Goliath was our then head of state, Mrs Mary Robinson, when he pointed out the errors of her ways in Rome (when she met the Pope).
His next Goliath was the hypocrisy and dishonesty of sections of his fellow clergy who want to retain Catholic labels but who have no hesitation in rejecting the principles established by their founder Jesus Christ and the teachings of his representative, Pope John Paul II. While he has identified these and branded them for what they are, his remarks must also apply to the silent majority of clergy who fail to preach that artificial contraception is logically incompatible with Catholic teaching. "Every action which proposes, as an end, or as a means, to render procreation impossible is intrinsically evil." (from the Humanae Vitae papal encyclical).
Father O'Hanlon goes further and says: "No amount of human interest, or amusing anecdotes, can take away from the dishonesty of a priest who uses his ministry to undermine what is essential Catholic insight into an essential area of human life."
The Father Trendies, the Reverend Dissenters and the self-styled compassionate and "understanding" liberals take it upon themselves to translate Christ's values to suit their human needs and popular demand. These will deny Peter's successor the authority vested in him by Christ: "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
So many do not have the humility to accept papal teachings, or do not have the courage to preach and teach the facts, that artificial contraception is intrinsically evil because it falls short of the total giving and receiving in the marriage covenant. Since life comes from God, anything which deliberately prevents or destroys it is not compatible with Christ's teaching.
One can understand the attitude of atheists and agnostics to contraception. One can even understand those who find that "this is a hard saying", and walk away. But those who don't accept it and preach the opposite are in fact the real promoters of secularism and liberalism.
Those who are ordained to preach the truth and remain silent on this issue must surely fall into the category, "because you are neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth".
Both sections are actively contributing to the deterioration of the whole Christian ethos. One might ask what spirit is guiding them. Is it the spirit of truth which they received at ordination or some other spirit?
If, as Father O'Hanlon states, a person of integrity who tolerates artificial contraception cannot in conscience remain a Roman Catholic, how much more serious is it for a priest who participates daily in Mass, where bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of the living Christ, and who then goes out to advocate or tacitly accept artificial contraception which frustrates the natural life-giving act so as to render procreation impossible.
Every proper consummation of the marriage act is a renewal of the marriage covenant and sacrament. Every celebration of the Eucharist is a renewal and consummation of the covenant of Jesus Christ who takes the church as his bride. Would those priests who approve the confining of the marriage act to the pleasure given only, and the use of means to prevent the transmission of life, apply the same criteria to the celebration of Mass, i.e. a Mass celebration which by intent would exclude the act of consecration and prevent transubstantiation from taking place. Even the most vehement dissenting theologian would proclaim this a blasphemous frustration of what God intended.
The wholesale acceptance and the practice of the evil of artificial contraception is akin to an infectious sterile disease which has reached plague proportions. That it traces its development and growth to the negative attitudes of clergy who failed to expose its lethal effects is a scandal.
We now have a physician with a cure. If his colleagues will go with him Ireland's soul can be saved. Well done Father David O'Hanlon. Please extend your endeavours to those platforms from which our faith has been attacked, - The Sunday Show, Liveline, The Pat Kenny Show and Would You Believe?
Frank Flanagan is chairman of the Christian Centrist Party
