On Fri, 7 Apr 1995, MS MARY T HALLOCK MORRIS wrote:
> >From a former Catholic, here is my take on the situation
> with the Pope and his feeling on birth control,
> abortion,etc.... "What can you expect from a church that
> will not allow women to be priests? From a church where the
> priests used to (and some still do) tell abused women to
> stay with their husbands because divorce was a sin?"
>From another former Catholic -- Amen. In my opinion, the Pope and the
vast majority of the Church hierarchy have a lot to answer for and the
Pope's most recent message was so distressing to me -- when I think of
the influence it will have in many, many parts of the world where both
the environment and the people are suffering from problems directly
related to overpopulation -- that I found it difficult to respond to the
initial post.
On the other hand, I think it is VERY important to look at the issue of
how WE are part of the problem in those same parts of the world. Yes,
they may be exceeding the carrying capacity of their environment, but
large portions of the environmental destruction in THEIR part of the
world is due to OUR overconsumption. My husband and I watched "The
Burning Season" last night. It was a very good reminder that one of the
reasons the elites in less developed countries are willing and eager to
destroy the environment is to raise *luxury* crops and livestock for US.
In that sense -- as much as I hate to say it -- the Catholic Church
may have a point. Who *are* we to tell them to have fewer children to
save the environment?
So, while I disagree completely with the Pope on the matter of the
"sinfulness" of birth control, I also question the assumption that
overpopulation is strictly a matter of *numbers*. My one child is
probably more destructive to the overall environment than several
children who live in other parts of the world. This, in spite of our
efforts to consume less and teach him the value and joys of living simply.
Jayne
