The Linacre Quarterly
Volume 30 | Number 2 Article 10
May 1963 The imeT has Come .... Richard Cushing
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Recommended Citation Cushing, Richard (1963) "The imeT has Come ....," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 30 : No. 2 , Article 10. Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol30/iss2/10 which are theologically incorrect and said, however, that some of the po • • • certainly misleading. sitions which he defends therein are When he speaks on the formation not in agreement with Catholic of the Catholic conscience he fails to teaching. The N.C.W.C. News Service has released the following text fan take into consideration the true article written by Richard Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of E ston, complexity of this problem and so Surely Doctor Rock, and other commits in the field of theology the physicians, have much to offer the on a book entitled, The Time Has Come, by Dr. John Roe! The _ Church and her teaching authority article appeared in the April 20 of the Boston Pilot. Rea same mistake he urges against the issue rs of theologians in the field of reproduc if medical men and theologians THE LINACRE QUARTERLY will recognize the subject fro ma- tive physiology. The entire chapter study together the complex prob lems of human reproduction. Theo terial published in previous issues of our own journal. ?n the teaching of the Natural Law m matters which pertain to the logians must recognize the compe tence of Dr. Rock in the field of �orality of artificial contraception Dr. John Rock of Brookline has detailed and graphic accoun' Jf the IS oversimplified. reproductive physiology but he must published a new book entitled The history of the birth control Jntro recognize their competence in the In his Time Has Come with a subtitle sug versy in the United Stat, and defense of the "natural" field of Catholic moral teaching. and, to his mind, "lawful," use of the gesting that this work is intended to many times he rightly critic .:s the progestational steroids as present "a Catholic doctor's propos excesses to which some ( holies contracep Fair minded people will appreciate tive devices, als to end the battle over birth con have gone in this matter. Dr. Rock does not meet that such cooperation in no way cur the ncisive trol." Since Dr. Rockwrites explicit _ ! arguments against his tails the_ doctor's scientific freedom. He has quoted accurately dun po�ihon which have been continually It would rather aid him in his dedi ly as a Catholic, and since I am his voiced Bishop, I have been asked from sev equivocally from officially ... iroved by Catholic moral theo cated pursuit of the ultimate truth logians. eral sources to make some observa Catholic authors in an att 1pt to in this matter, the defense and for tions on his latest publication. present a correct picture of t much mulation of which in theological misunderstood Catholic po, on on . In the pages of this book Dr. Rock terms is not the task of an individual The law of the Church requires birth control, and has clear!} emon JS emphatic in his claim to be a good but that of the whole teaching and that every Catholic who writes on a strated that the Church is ot op devoted Catholic. It must be Church. subject pertaining to faith or moral posed to birth control as sur but to ity submit his manuscript to Church the use of artificial means o con- authority for a so-called "imprima trol births. tur." This is an official statement by the local bishop that the contents He presents many coge, argu are free from doctrinal and/or moral ments for the formation of public error. Such a law should not be in policy on birth control, and ome of terpreted in any sense as an unjust his suggestions could conir b ute to infringement upon the rights of the the establishment of dome,• c peace Catholic in question, but rather a in our pluralistic society. \'. th rea means which the Church is entitled son, he calls to task those who are to employ in order to keep an ac unwilling to face the irnpli< . tions of curate image of her official teaching the much publicized popul, ion ex before the eyes of the non-Catholic plosion. world. He makes an eloquent, and much I regret to observe that Dr. Rock needed, plea for Federal i-,rants to has published his book without such perfect the so-called Rhythn1 System an "imprimatur." Therefore, the so that it might become a means of opinions on the morality of artificial controlling births which is not onlY birth control as presented in the text morally acceptable but also scien lack any official approval as authen tifically accurate. tic Catholic teaching. Not ·everything in the book, how In this book there is much that is ever, can pass without criticism. It good. The author has presented a also contains several statements 94 LINACRE QUARTERLY l.JNACRE QUARTERLY 95