Santiago cites ‘primacy of conscience’ in defense of RH Bill
Catholic Church opposition to contraceptives 'outdated'
Lots of error in the article:http://ph.news.yahoo.com/catholic-church-opposition-contraceptives-outdated-040002667.html#mwpphu-container
Sen Santiago in black fonts:
Sancta_Rosa in blue:
"With Vatican II, the seeds of a democratic revolution were sown. In the past, Catholics simply obeyed the bishops. But now, many Catholics are no longer willing to give blind obedience to the Church,"
Vatican II, like all other Councils, was the workd of the Pope and the body of Bishops and the Holy Spirit. Not a democratic revolution. Also, blind obedience to the Church has never been required by God of the faithful. We are to use faith and reason to understand that to which we adhere. What many modern-day Catholics are not willing to give is the assent of faith to Church teachings, and so they sin.
"The senator said Humanae Vitae, the encyclical on which the Church bases its opposition to contraception, was based on the minority report. The majority report recognized that "in some cases, intercourse can be required as a manifestation of self-giving love" and not just for procreation."
The teaching against contraception was the definitive teaching of the ordinary and universal Magisterium long before Humane Vitae. The teachings of the Church are not democratic, so it is irrelevant what the majority or minority believed. See this
Zenit article on HV: http://www.zenit.org/article-7791?l=english
"The teaching of the Catholic Church on contraception is one of the important reasons why the absolute authority of the Church has grown weaker over the years," Santiago added.
That may be true, to some extent. When there is a conflict between inordinate use of sexuality and religion, many choose sex.
Santiago, who has a master's degree from the Maryhill School of Theology, said Humanae Vitae contradicts Vatican II, "which allowed for a wider basis for evaluating the morality of (sex)."
Not at all true. Vatican II also condemned birth control: "Relying on these principles, sons of the Church may not undertake methods of birth control which are found blameworthy by the teaching authority of the Church in its unfolding of the divine law." The footnote cites Casti Connubii and Address to Midwives.
Santiago said contraception falls under liberation theology, which sees the Catholic Church as "an earthly community of human beings who have a mission that includes the struggle on behalf of justice, peace, and human rights."
Contraception falls under moral theology. The type of liberation theology cited has been often condemned by the Church, including condemnations by Cardinal Ratzinger as head of the CDF. The description of the Church quoted above is heresy, because it omits from the Church, Christ as Her head, Her members in Purgatory and Heaven, Her mission of salvation and teaching (on faith AND morals).
"I humbly submit that the struggle for an RH bill to protect the health and quality of life of the mother and child in the context of unspeakable poverty is part of liberation theology," she said.
Yes, it is a part of a theology that the Magisterium has condemned for its many errors.
Santiago added that Vatican II taught the "primacy of conscience." Conscience is inviolable, and the individual Catholic has a right to follow her own conscience, even when it is erroneous,” she said.
Conscience is subordinate to the teachings of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, through His Church. The human person is obligated to inform his conscience, so that errors are discovered and removed. No one has an objective right to believe what is erroneous, not to act based on error.
Vatican II: "they cannot proceed arbitrarily, but must always be governed according to a conscience dutifully conformed to the divine law itself, and should be submissive toward the Church's teaching office, which authentically interprets that law in the light of the Gospel."
