55 years ago today, Saint Paul VI promulgated Humanae Vitae, the historic encyclical that affirms the Church’s teaching on marriage, family, and children. It was a prophetic warning that flew in the face of the Sexual Revolution, and Cardinal James Stafford saw its impact on the ground as a young Baltimore priest in 1968. Cardinal Stafford said it best 15 years ago:
“The summer of 1968 is a record of God’s hottest hour. The memories are not forgotten; they are painful. They remain vivid like a tornado in the plains of Colorado. They inhabit the whirlwind where God’s wrath dwells. In 1968 something terrible happened in the Church. Within the ministerial priesthood, ruptures developed everywhere among friends which never healed. And the wounds continue to affect the whole Church. The dissent, together with the leaders’ manipulation of the anger they fomented, became a supreme test. It changed fundamental relationships within the Church. It was a Πειρασμός for many.”
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