Another Contraception Prophecy

We've had discussions here before about how Humanae Vitae was prophetic. It's difficult even to listen to folks try and argue that Pope Paul was somehow wrong. Granted, he wasn't choosing the PowerBall numbers, but his predictions were so freaking dead-on that you have to be pretty blind not to acknowledge it.

This post from over on Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit even puts His Holiness's oracular powers to shame. It's quoting from a book called Birth Control by Fr. Stanislas de Lestapis, a signator of the pre-Humanae Vitae minority report. How about this for accuracy?

• “We do not hesitate to say that the acceptance of contraception will produce profound changes in our civilization, these changes are already taking place in countries that have officially endorsed contraception for one or two generations.”

• “Voluntary numerous families will progressively disappear, and the large family will tend to appear as a monstrosity.”

• “Populations and families which have deliberately become less creative will experience spiritual ageing and premature sclerosis.”

• “The idea and the ideal of family happiness will be downgraded in terms of a so-called right to happiness and of what people think are the ‘techniques’ of achieving it.”

• Morality among the young will deteriorate. The unmarried will be more licentious. The sexuality of women will lose its connection with marriage.”

• “There will be a grave change in the bond of love, due to the reversal of sexual function. It will remain fixed at an ‘adolescent’ stage. Society as a whole will slip into this ‘transitory’ stage.”

• “The maternal instinct will become sterile, due to the repression of the desire for children which is innate in women. There will be a silent hostility toward life and its first manifestations: pregnancy, childbirth and even sometimes towards dolls and babies.”

• “A new concept of sex, now essentially defined as ‘the capacity for erotic play for the sake of the couple,’ all reference to procreation now being only accidental.”

• “A growing tolerance of homosexual behavior, as erotic play that succeeds in expressing personal intimacy between friends or lovers.”

• “Finally, contraception will raise hopes which it cannot fulfill, and will give rise to frustrations and deep dissatisfactions, which will contribute to:

- The crisis of divorce and instability of modern marriages.

- The deterioration of mental health, and lack of sexual desire in women.

- The abdication of parents confronted by their task as educators.

- The ennui secreted by a civilization that is entirely centered on a comfortable way of life and sexual satisfaction.”

Now that, dear readers, is well-nigh creepy in nailing the last four decades or so. The only thing that is missing is a comment about how people will actually think these things are good or funny. For me, it's hard to imagine that society was ever not like this.

I'm terrified for what it's going to be like for my kids when they're my age.