Former encyclical protestor signs 'Humanae Vitae Pledge'

Front Royal, Va, Aug 3, 2008 / 01:37 pm
(CNA).- In this weekly email newsletter, President of Human Life
International, Father Thomas J. Euteneuer, shared a letter he received
that caused him “to shed tears of gratitude.”  The author, a
former priest who had protested Humanae Vitae in 1968, had written to
tell Fr. Euteneuer about his conversion from dissident priest to his
acceptance of the controversial and prophetic encyclical.

The writer of the letter had decided to sign HLI’s “Humanae Vitae
Pledge,” promising loyalty to the teachings of the Catholic Church,
obedience to the teachings of Humanae Vitae, and “to embrace God’s
precious gift of life.”

“There is for me a special significance in signing this Pledge, and
[it] will give me a peace of mind and heart that I have not experienced
since 1968. In 1968 I was a young Franciscan priest studying in the
Graduate School of Religious Education at Catholic University,” the man
wrote.

The writer knew many who signed the document in protest of Humanae
Vitae such as Fr. Charles Curran, Fr. Dan Maguire, and Fr. Robert
Faricy, S.J. “Since they, as well as many other professors and graduate
students were signing the Protest Document, I went along and did so
also.”

“In 1975 for personal reasons not related to any doubts or questions
about the Faith, or the Church, or the Religious Life…I requested and
obtained…a dispensation from Pope Paul VI returning me to the Lay
State. Later, I was married in the Church and raised my two children in
the Faith….I have had many conversations with my Pastor and with his
assistant (who is my spiritual director) about my days as a Franciscan
Priest, and have been active in many of our parish’s lay apostolate and
ministries.”

“But I have always regretted having signed the Protest Document against
Pope Paul’s teaching in 1968, and having learned a few years ago that
Fr. Faricy had publicly repudiated signing the Protest, I had wished
that I, too, could repudiate in some official way, having signed the
Protest….And so your ‘Pledge’ document offers me an opportunity to
correct my mistake, and find healing – and telling you about all this
helps me to feel that my repudiation of the Protest is now known and
accepted in a kind of semi-official sort of way by an ‘authority’ in
the Church.”

“And thank you for reading this, thereby humoring an old man, who
despite everything else, knows that he is a ‘priest forever, according
to the Order of Melchizedek.'”

Fr. Euteneuer explains that this conversion story demonstrates that:
“in Christ’s Kingdom it is never too late, even after forty years, to
fully embrace the Truth. All of us make mistakes and all of us sin, but
He gives us all a chance to be reconciled with Him and turn our sorrow
into joy.”