There is an excellent article on Catholic Online website by a physician and father of nine, Dr. Dominic Pedulla, dealing with the personal shame that sears the hearts of married women, especially Catholic married women, who contracept. As a doctor, he is in the business of healing, so his provocative insight into the dis-ease caused by this nearly ubiquitous sin is based on the reality of his professional experiences. The infection in the soul must be faced head on and the remedy of a good confession applied, otherwise it will fester and grow more rancid with every contraceptive act. In this article, Doctor Pedulla does not examine the inner effect on a man’s psyche, only the woman’s. With the woman, the effect of the sin is more personal, more against her maternal nature. Pedulla calls this simmering guilt that infects a contracepting woman so deeply, the Herodias Syndrome. Read on and see why; then share this light of moral wisdom with others. This is our common call, to evangelize, and that sometimes means to do a tough work of spiritual mercy — to admonish the sinner. Or, if not by word, we must get a work of counsel, such as this article, into others’ hands who can, with authority, give a challenging word, especially good priests.
Doctor Pedulla: Having spoken to many women about contraception in my professional practice, I know well the personal and professional cost one must be prepared to pay — the “grudge” — when one is willing to “trespass” this beehive of feminine shame and anger in the clinical setting. One fully expects to get stung! Read full article here.
