February 26, 2012

February 26, 2012 Column Father De Celles


As we begin the season of Lent let me commend to you a short excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI’s “Message for Lent 2012”:

“Being concerned for each other” also entails being concerned for their spiritual well-being. Here I would like to mention an aspect of the Christian life, which I believe has been quite forgotten: fraternal correction in view of eternal salvation. Today, in general, we are very sensitive to the idea of charity and caring about the physical and material well-being of others, but almost completely silent about our spiritual responsibility towards our brothers and sisters… The Scriptures tell us: “Rebuke the wise and he will love you for it. Be open with the wise, he grows wiser still, teach the upright, he will gain yet more” (Prov 9:8ff). Christ himself commands us to admonish a brother who is committing a sin (cf. Mt 18:15)….The Church’s tradition has included “admonishing sinners” among the spiritual works of mercy. It is important to recover this dimension of Christian charity. We must not remain silent before evil. I am thinking of all those Christians who, out of human regard or purely personal convenience, adapt to the prevailing mentality, rather than warning their brothers and sisters against ways of thinking and acting that are contrary to the truth and that do not follow the path of goodness. Christian admonishment, for its part, is never motivated by a spirit of accusation or recrimination. It is always moved by love and mercy, and springs from genuine concern for the good of the other…In a world pervaded by individualism, it is essential to rediscover the importance of fraternal correction, so that together we may journey towards holiness…”

“LIES, DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS.” In discussions about the administration’s attack on religious liberty we keep hearing supporters of the administration say some variation of the line: “98 percent of Catholic women use birth control.” Well, surprise! It turns out that’s a lie. And, amazingly, even Glenn Kessler, the “Fact Checker” at the Washington Post agreed with me, in an article in last Sunday’s paper headlined “The claim that 98 percent of Catholic women use contraception: a media foul.” [I will put his text in italics, with underlining indicating my emphasis].

Ever since the battle erupted between Catholic bishops and the Obama administration over providing free contraception coverage as part of health plans for workers, a striking figure has appeared in the news — that 98 percent of Catholic women have used contraceptives Kessler quotes Nancy Pelosi, National Public Radio, The New York Times, and The Washington Post itself referring to this statistic.

…But what does this figure really mean and where does it come from? The 98-percent figure first appeared in an April 2011 study written by Rachel K. Jones and Joerg Dreweke of the Guttmacher Institute, which…promotes reproductive health and had started as an arm of Planned Parenthood. The study is titled “Countering Conventional Wisdom: New Evidence on Religion and Contraceptive Use.”

So the study was done by an offshoot of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of “reproductive health,” i.e., abortion, contraception and sterilization. Maybe a little bias involved here? One wonders how much one should trust a group who makes it’s living off of radical support for the abortion industry.

The study drew on data from the 2006-2008 National Survey of Family Growth, which relied on in-person interviews with 7,356 females from the ages of 15 to 44…

In other words, the survey group represents not 100% of “Catholic women,” but only about 49% of “Catholic women” (the percentage of women, Catholic or not, in the 15 to 44 age group, according to the 2010 U.S. Census).

The Guttmacher Institute, citing “confusion” over the statistic, on Wednesday posted the actual data behind it. It turns out it was based on a question that asked self-identified Catholic women who have had sex if they have ever used one of 12 methods of birth control….

First of all, I’m no expert, but this doesn’t seem to be a very scientific survey. I wonder how many good Catholic women would simply refuse to take part in a study conducted by the abortion industry? And how “Catholic” are the women who did participate–do they hold to the teaching Church on other matters, or feel free to pick and chose?

More importantly, the survey excludes women who have never had sex in calculating the “98%”. A closer look at the survey reveals that 53% Catholic women of child bearing age are not married, and that 31% of those have never had sex, so that roughly 16.4% of all Catholic women of child bearing age were excluded from the survey. Which leaves us with a survey of only 41% of “Catholic women”—not 100%, and not even 50%.

In other words, a woman may have sex only once, or she may have had a partner who only used a condom once, and then she would be placed in the 98 percent category. Jones said the correct way to describe the results of the research is this: “Data shows that 98 percent of sexually experienced women of child-bearing age and who identify themselves as Catholic have used a method of contraception other than natural family planning at some point in their lives.”

So, among the 41% of Catholic women included in the survey, the “98%” includes women and girls who may have had sex (and used contraception) only one time in their whole lifetime. Newsflash: I would guess at least 98% of the Catholic women in this study also failed to honor their parents at least once in their lifetimes. From that fact, should we infer that that “98% of Catholic women” think dishonoring one’s parents is okay and that the Church is wrong to call it a sin?

… But…the media has gotten it wrong. The journalistic shorthand has been that “98 percent of American Catholic women have used contraception in their lifetimes.” But that is incorrect, according to the research.

Let this be a lesson learned. You shouldn’t believe everything you hear from the “main stream media” and other supporters of religious oppression. Well, at least not 98% of the time.

Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles