Sometimes you read an article in a newspaper or journal which on first reading appears illogical, so you read it again. That second reading either clarifies the issue or confirms the first impression.  

That was the case with a short report in the Tablet this week, 3^rd August, with the heading “Contraceptive mentality” led to gay marriage, says Egan. It was a brief summary of a statement issued to the Portsmouth Diocese last week by their Bishop, Philip Egan.  I totally fail to follow the argument.  

We have just passed the 45^th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, the encyclical of Paul VI that caused much trouble at the time and whose continuing effect is still felt across the Catholic Church. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the argument that ensued, I see this as having nothing whatsoever to do with the current discussion of gay marriage. They are separate, self-contained issues.  

I wrote last week about the beauty and strength of sacramental marriage, of a life-long experience of growth and the coming together of a man and a woman. That union grows from the initial attraction and courtship of two people through to their consummation of that love within the lived sacrament of marriage.  The consequence of that consummation may be the gift of life when a child is born; it is also a means to strengthen and give growth to their personal relationship as the years progress.  

The management of family size must be and should be a matter for the couple themselves in the light of a whole number of factors.

If that decision is taken within a sincerely held position of conscience and not just selfishness, then so be it. A family of two, three or four children cared for in a loving relationship between a mother and father where contraception may be an option is one, sometimes necessary, position. To argue that the use of artificial contraceptives in Britain in the early ‘60s has undermined “the traditional Christian understanding of marriage and sexual intercourse as an expression of love and for procreation” is to make a blanket statement applicable in such a general way as to be nonsense.  

Then, further, to switch tracks and to imply that acceptance of artificial contraception has a direct link with the gay marriage issue is mind-blowing. There is no connection.  

We have learnt much in recent years relating to our basic understanding of human relationships. I have no difficulty in giving a positive response to this appreciation in the light of my Christian Faith. I do however find it very hard to accept a contorted view of our human sexuality that makes the linkage in this report of Bishop Egan’s message to his diocese between gay marriage and the pill.