Dr. Pincus, “Father of the Pill,” invented something
that would drive a deep wedge
between millions of Catholics and their Church.

“Goody” Pincus and the jaws of death
By W. V. O’Farrell

Massachusetts in the early 1960s was a dynamic place to be!

Our native son, John F. Kennedy, had just been elected as the first Catholic president of the United States. In that same year, 1960, the FDA approved the sale of the first effective birth control pill. It had been discovered in Massachusetts by a research team at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology led by Dr. Gregory Goodwin Pincus, known to his friends as “Goody.”

“Oh, Goody,” said millions of American married women, “at last we have a safe, convenient, contraceptive pill.” By 1962, an estimated 1,187,000 women were using it. That same year I graduated from Holy Cross College, a fine Jesuit college in Worcester, not far from “Goody’s” research lab foundation. I had a degree in biology and recall being asked at job interviews by pharmaceutical companies whether I, as a Catholic, would have any problem telling MD’s about my company’s contraceptive products.

Despite my Petrine-like denials of any misgivings about selling products opposed by my Church, I was rejected by those companies.

But not to worry, a few months later I opened a letter from a prospective employer and exclaimed, “Oh, Goody! The Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology wants me as a lab technician.”

To be honest, in the 8 short months I worked for the research complex where “Goody” Pincus was president, I saw him only a few times. Little did I realize at that time that as “Father of The Pill,” “Goody” Pincus had invented something that would drive a deep wedge between millions of Catholics and their Church, which teaches that contraception is a mortal sin.

That wedge is still in place. It won’t be removed unless bishops, priests, and contracepting Catholics make changes. Hence, this story. And if they decide to make changes, rest assured that the necessary graces will come from God, who has a 40+ year buildup of grace to unleash!

At Caesarea Phillippi, Jesus told Simon Peter, “You are Rock, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the jaws of death will not prevail against it.” (Matt. 16:18). In the 1950s, prompted by challenges issued by Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, biologist Dr. Pincus developed the Pill. Meanwhile Satan was saying to “Goody’s” research partner, “You are Rock, and I will use your help to destroy your Church.”

Yes, the web site of Planned Parenthood seemingly gloats as it describes Dr. John Rock of Harvard Medical School, who performed the clinical trials on the “Pill” for Pincus, as “an eminent Catholic gynecologist.”

But John Rock, MD was not the only Catholic Bostonian who supported contraceptive research. President Kennedy, whose candidacy was opposed by Margaret Sanger, became — says Planned Parenthood -— “the first president to endorse contraceptive research and the use of birth control as one remedy for the crisis of world population growth.”

JFK saw himself as a defender of separation of church and state, a defense still held by many in Congress who profess to be Catholic but still support abortion. JFK said, “I may be opposed to birth control as a member of my church, but I have no desire to impose my views on others.” On TV, a viewer challenged him: What if his archbishop confronted him with a straight out directive? Kennedy answered that one flatly, “I simply would not obey.” To Jesus, faith means obedience, but apparently not to JFK.

By 1965, unmarried female college students were getting the Pill prescribed by infirmary physicians. In 1972, the US Supreme Court, a scant year before Roe v. Wade, upheld the sale of birth control devices to all persons, married or single. In 1968, Pope Paul VI stoutly defended centuries of Church teachings when he issued the encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” to howls of disappointment from Catholic couples anxiously awaiting “modern” Church approval to practice artificial contraception.

Just how widespread is the use of artificial contraception among today’s Catholics? In late 1999, the weekly National Catholic Register interviewed a midwestern Catholic OB-GYN for a front page biographical sketch. He said that “only 2-4% of married Catholics use Natural Family Planning” (NFP), which is approved and taught by the Catholic Church.

Many Catholic observers trace a pathway from the FDA approval of “Goody” Pincus’s birth control pill in 1960 to the proliferation of a variety of sinful practices. Among them: premarital sex, extramarital sex, abortion, the proliferation of sexually transmitted diseases, cohabitation, 50% failure rate in marriages, and pornography.

Let me add one more to that list. Sacrilegious reception of the Eucharist.

Sadly, a tone of self-righteousness has permeated the mindset of many contraceptors. Expressions of vindication and justification are commonplace. “Jesus never said anything about birth control” is one. “A priest once told me that it’s OK to use ‘the pill’ as long as it doesn’t bother my conscience” is another. Some never talk about it. (Don’t ask, don’t tell.) They march up to receive the Eucharist just because it’s the time of Mass to do that. Others might be fearful about implications of sinfulness in the minds of onlookers if they remain in the pew. And we can’t forget those who contracept because they feel it’s the lesser of two evils. “God wouldn’t want us bringing more children into an overpopulated world,” they reason.

But there’s hope. Some priests — often young ones realizing the seriousness of the situation — are emerging with courageous but non-accusatory homiletics. We have a number of them in the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska and their fearlessness is slowly reaching older priests.

Recently our parish’s assistant pastor, ordained in 1999, gave a homily on the sinfulness and widespread use of contraception among fertile Catholics. He begged contraceptors to stop, and to cease receiving the Eucharist sacrilegiously until they repented. In the weeks that followed, a few parishioners sought healing. But the dissenters were not so much upset by his remarks about the sin of contraception — committed in the privacy of their homes — as being told that they shouldn’t be receiving the Eucharist — which is done before the eyes of hundreds in the congregation.

Father Larry Richards is a 41-year-old priest in Erie, Pa. In his magnificent audio tape, “The Mass Explained,” he vents his exasperation about mindless and self righteous communicants. Reading from 1 Cor. 11: 27-30, he reinforces Paul’s admonition that “he who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily eats and drinks a judgment upon himself.” Father Richards preaches, “They are condemning themselves; they are receiving not the Bread of Life but that of death.”

Paul warned the Corinthians, “That is why so many of you are sick . . . and why so many of you are dying.” If anyone doubts this, look at what happened, in a matter of hours, to the first person with a mortal sin on his soul who received the Eucharist at the Last Supper.

Sacrilegious communicants, the prototypical “cafeteria Catholics”, will cling to extenuating circumstances, saying for example, “Father is right about unworthy receptions, but MY CASE IS DIFFERENT. We can’t afford more kids. Look at the money it costs to educate them.” Or, “MY CASE IS DIFFERENT. My husband travels in his job, so NFP is impossible. If I say ‘no’ he’ll be furious.” Or, “Our last child was born with problems. MY CASE IS DIFFERENT.”

Bishops and priests need to counter these objections from the pulpit. No couple can use contraception in any circumstance. And no contraceptor should be receiving the Eucharist without repentance and absolution.

Was Jesus gentle with sinners? Absolutely, but not with hypocritical and self-righteous Pharisees. Should priests be gentle with sinners who contracept? Absolutely, but not if they persist in self righteously receiving the Eucharist. Admonishing sinners is a spiritual work of mercy.

The first movement obviously won’t come from self righteous contraceptors. It must arise from bishops and priests, all of whom are aware of the warnings to them in Wisdom 6:2-8. “Terribly and swiftly he will come against you” are words that are part of this chilling admonition. And Jesus taught, “Fear is useless; what’s needed is trust.” (Luke 8:50). Although that applies to clergy and laity, nonetheless fear and reluctance do exist in both groups.

What Jesus is telling us is that in order to have the courage necessary to overcome our fears, we need to rely on God’s help — to trust Him. Jesus saw it all coming — the pill, the other barrier and chemical contraceptive methods, and the sacrilegious receptions of his body and blood. In 1931 he began appearing to the Polish nun, Faustina Kowalska. Isn’t it fitting that the words he told her to place at the bottom of the Divine Mercy illustration were, “Jesus, I trust in You”?

Regarding courage, we’ve all heard the expression that when we work for God, “the necessary graces will be provided.” The patron saint of parish priests, John Vianney, hit the nail squarely in his “Sermon on Temptations”. He asks, “Do you know what the Devil’s first temptation is to the person who wants to serve God with dedication? It is human respect.” Father Francis Fernandez echoes this in In Conversation With God, “We all have an inner aversion from being put to shame before others. But this sacrifice, if we make it, will be the cause of our greatest joy — to take a stand for Jesus Christ, whenever and wherever the circumstances require it.”

I think “the circumstances have required it” (fortitude) since the 1968 negative reaction to “Humanae Vitae.” We are talking here about the most widespread and divisive area of sin of the 3rd millennium. Per surveys, over 80% of Catholics disagree with the Church on contraception; nearly all those at Sunday Masses receive the Eucharist; and few married Catholics use NFP.

We need leadership from every bishop and priest — and now is the time to start not just with booklets and bulletins, but especially from the pulpit. People need to hear, from the pulpit, that there is a Real Divine Person in the Eucharist. His Body and Blood MUST be consumed worthily — or not at all. People need to be told, from the pulpit, that certain sins are objectively mortal whether or not they agree. These sinful thoughts, words, and actions need to be named.

Courageous, truthful homilies are likely to trigger despair in some contracepting couples. Step #2 for the priest/shepherd is assuring us that God loves unconditionally, never gives us more than we can handle, and that we must place our trust in him. Step #3, right on the heels of the parish’s first “tough love” homily, should be the establishment of a support group of young and older married couples in that parish willing to offer testimonies about their experiences with NFP practice.

It is crucial that we learn that the solution to coping with all these sins that have become more prevalent since 1960 is no different from Christ’s time. The Good News is that the only answer then — and now — is Jesus. But in these troubled times, there is a growing crisis. The crisis is not one of pornography, nor contraception, AIDS, fornication or adultery.

The crisis of today is one of Faith. Have we forgotten what happened when Jesus died on the Cross for us? Do we really believe what he won for us? HE CONQUERED SIN! — yours and mine; ALL sins, past, present and future. “It is finished” (John 19:29)” were his final words on the Cross to his father — and to us. Dying, he destroyed our death! Not only do we observe the feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross on September 14, we celebrate the joy of reconciliation at every Mass! Happy are those called to his supper!

And how do we share in this conquest? With FAITH that the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus saves us from sin and temptation. Salvation is an offer from a merciful God – that can only be accepted by faith. Faith breaks pride, the stepping stone to every sin ever committed.

Satan has cleverly gone high tech. He has infiltrated the entertainment industry with MTV, pornography, and sexually explicit music — under the cloak of freedom of expression. He has cleverly convinced us that cohabitation is justifiable because it tests compatibility before marriage. And he cleverly used Drs. “Goody” Pincus and John Rock to create the Pill — under the guise of giving us control over unwanted pregnancies.

But the main weapon in the devil’s arsenal has not changed since the Redemption. Satan wants us to focus on our own abilities to resist temptation and sin. He would like us to think that these are battles we have to win ourselves; that the outcome depends on us. Jesus not only won the battle against sin, He won the war! We need to have faith that Jesus did what we, saddled with the fallen nature of our first parents, cannot do. Because He is “rich in mercy, God brought us to life in Christ when we were dead in sin.” (Eph. 2:4-5).

Section 143 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church reads “by faith we completely submit our intellects and wills to God”. We cannot follow Jesus if we remain self-absorbed, so we must surrender to him as Lord and Savior. In order for faith to break pride, we must deny ourselves through penance, and live according to his teachings. But few of us want to detach, to be docile like sheep.

How long would sheep survive on their own — with wolves lurking? When will we humans realize that our chances of survival — alone in a minefield of temptations — are about the same as a slow, dumb, defenseless sheep who marches off on his own? The saving difference, for sheep or us, is the Good Shepherd, Jesus, who assured us the jaws of death would not prevail against his church.

But are the jaws of death closing on the necks of contraceptors?

The former executive editor of The Catholic Faith magazine would probably have answered affirmatively. No contemporary discussion about the Eucharist and contraception would be adequate without a reference to Father John A. Hardon, S.J., who died on December 30, 2000 at age 86. He was a prolific writer and teacher whose Catholic Catechism has sold over a million copies. He was also chosen by Mother Teresa to design a series of self-study courses for her order of nuns.

The last book written by Father Hardon in his 53rd year as a Jesuit was about the Real Presence in the Eucharist. On one of his audio tapes, he said that the greatest crisis in the entire history of the Catholic Church is the present day crisis of the Eucharist. He defined this crisis as disbelief in the Real Presence and the sacrilegious reception of the Eucharist.

In the November/December 1998 issue of The Catholic Faith magazine, to mark the 30th anniversary of the stormy public reception to the papal encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” Father Hardon wrote an article titled, “Contraception: Fatal to the Faith and to Eternal Life.”

He did not mince words. He knew, of course, that the two objectives of the Catholic Church are the worship of God and the salvation of souls. Particularly noteworthy was a no-nonsense statement, in humble love, to the laity, and another one for bishops and priests.

For Laith: “The deliberate practice of contraception between husband and wife is objectively a mortal sin. Those who persist in its practice are acting contrary to the explicit teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. They may protest that they are Catholic. They may profess to be Catholics. But their conduct belies their profession.”

For Bishops and Priests: “When the present Holy Father made his first (1979) pilgrimage as Pope to the United States, he pleaded in Chicago with the American bishops to do something over the scandal of so many Catholics on Sundays going to Holy Communion and so few going to confession . . . The single principal cause for the breakdown of the Catholic faith in material countries like ours has been contraception.”

Can anything be more clear?

What about dioceses or parishes that are in the middle of major fund drives? Are they prudent to wait for completion of these before addressing the need for tough love homilies on contraception and the Eucharistic crisis? Although saving souls is more important, there is nothing that says that God won’t bless both efforts if they proceed simultaneously. To repeat the words of Jesus, “Fear is useless; what is needed is trust.” (Luke 8:50)

To this point, I have not mentioned the Holy Spirit. Mortal sin drives away the Holy Spirit. Repentance brings him back. When that occurs, watch out, I tell you, because anything can happen! Guaranteed, when “tough love” homilies start, some contraceptors will bolt . But some of those who don’t will repent and feel the indwelling fire of the Holy Spirit for perhaps the first time in decades. (Acts 5:32) Their subsequent proclamation of the gospel, combined with personal witnessing, may well be the evangelistic force that brings fallen away Catholics back to the Church.

I suppose some readers might be wondering about my credentials. How am I qualified to be giving advice so freely? I am not a priest. I have no advanced degrees. I can only offer a testimony to God’s patience and mercy. During most of my married life I refrained from receiving the Eucharist because my wife and I were contracepting. At a 1997 parish retreat, we sat in church together at a break, and said, “Let’s trust God and do his will, not ours.” He heard that prayer and the transformation began!

In closing, I am reminded of the first words of John Paul II’s papacy. “Do not be afraid.” Bishops, do not be afraid to devise plans to counter the crisis of the Eucharist in every parish. Priests, do not be afraid to give tough love homilies about the sin of contraception, sacrilegious reception of the Eucharist, and that personal surrender in faith to Jesus is the only means of salvation. Laity, do not be afraid, faith means trusting Jesus. Like the grain of wheat, you must die to self before he can live in you.

None of these changes will happen, of course, unless we pray to the God to empower us. Is this possible in these greedy times? Naysayers, take heart. Listen to what Paul told the Ephesians (3:20) about the Holy Spirit, “Glory be to Him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.”

That sounds encouraging to me? What are we waitin for?

Mr. Walter V. O’Farrell is a graduate of Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass. He resides with his wife in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he works at the University of Nebraska’s Technology Transfer Office handling licenses for university patents. This is his first article for HPR.