The following is an article by Fr. Edward Connolly (you might know him as the co-host of the Road To Cana DVD series). It's taken from his blog, www.ReasonablyWell.com. I found this to be really excellent and insightful, and would love to hear your comments. Here it is presented in its entirety:
Seventeen New Human Beings!
The word from Gloucester High School in Gloucester, Massachusetts, is that seventeen students are pregnant. Some people think this is unmitigated bad news. I don't think so. I think it is — dare I say it? — sort of kind of GOOD news! Now I won't go so far as to say that it is PERFECTLY MARVELOUS good news. It's mixed-bag news, but much more GOOD than BAD!
You have to admit that it's a whole lot better news than some news we've heard lately coming out of high schools! I mean the kind of news that tells us that some adolescent sociopath snuck an AK-47 into Problems of Democracy and bumped off a teacher, a vice-principal, fourteen of his peers and himself — all before lunch.
Much rather would I like to hear news about high-school kids who are actively engaged in increasing the human population rather than decreasing it.
Don't jump to any hasty conclusions now!
I am not (repeat NOT) in favor of teenage fornication. In fact, I'm not in favor of adult fornication. In fact — and you can quote me on this — I'm totally against fornication by anybody at any time! My negative attitude towards fornication has everything to do with my Catholic faith. I'm against fornication because God is against it.
HOWEVER — fornication combined with artificial contraception is FAR more sinful than fornication plain and simple. In fact, consensual intercourse engaged in by two unmarried teenagers who are not using any artificial contraception is not nearly as sinful as intercourse engaged in by a married couple who are using artificial contraception.
Before reading any further, please re-read that last paragraph. Recognize how utterly counter-cultural it is! Recognize also that it is indisputably true. Recognize also that, if you do not know that it is true, then the fact is that (a) you have never learned the truth or else (b) having once learned the truth, like Demas, enamored of the world, you have departed from it.
Let's give those seventeen Gloucester girls some credit. At least they know that the Creator, when He invented birds and bees, very definitely had reproduction in mind. After all, what do we call those parts of the anatomy? We call them "the reproductive organs", do we not?
So, let's do some high-fives for seventeen new human beings. May God bless, protect and preserve the babies! May they be healthy, wealthy and wise. May they be happy. May they all get baptized and learn about Jesus and get good marks in school and get good jobs and pay taxes so that I keep getting my Social Security check and may they be givers of love and receivers of love and have some good laughs and sing some funny songs and do some good deeds and discover a cure for cancer and a car engine that runs on water and go to Heaven to worship God and the Lamb.
By the way, Gloucester is a very Catholic town — and heavily Italian and Portuguese. Our world is blessed to have more Italians and Portuguese. They are wonderful people! And, Lord knows we need more Catholics!
Fulton Sheen on Love and Marriage
Entire FultonSheen.com library
