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April 26, 2018
Peggy Saunders
San Carlos
Catholic San Francisco should be commended for the balanced article by Dr. Elisa Yao (“Family planning in the 21st century,” April 12, Page 11). It makes the honest and true statement that when natural family planning is practiced imperfectly, the accidental pregnancy rate is around 22 percent. Taken together with Father Tad Pacholczyk’s statement that “nobody is perfect” (“The wrong-headedness of ‘wrongful-birth’ lawsuits,” April 12, Page 15) we can all make our own decisions.
Dennis Sadowski’s article about Archbishop Chaput in the same issue (“Catholic teaching guides teaching on contraception, archbishop says,” Page 8) needs further comment. Given how much disagreement within the theological community there is on “Humanae Vitae,” Catholics must make some serious choices. Archbishop Chaput insists that humans are endowed with free will. This implies choices that must be based on an objective personal examination of conscience.
As part of the series of educational articles now running in CSF, readers may hope that one will provide real guidance on conscience. Such an article should be written without reference to the emotionally charged concerns of family planning because the use of conscience in the decision-making process is the same for each potential action. The article should give detail of how conscience must be based on full information, including moral directives of the church, the underlying technology or science, and the personal situation that requires the free will decision process.
Editor’s note: Father Mark Doherty’s commentary “On conscience” appeared in the Feb. 8, 2018, issue. It may be viewed at https://catholic-sf.org/news/on-conscience. A U.S. bishops’ article, “Understanding Conscience,” may be viewed at www.usccb.org/about/pro-life-activities/respect-life-program/2017/understanding-conscience.cfm.
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