"It helps to take the long view."

CNS columnist Father Peter Daly, last seen on this site throwing cold water on Summorum Pontificum, has a terrific piece in today's Catholic Telegraph of Cincinnati on the fortieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae. The concluding paragraphs are excerpted below. Bravo, Father Daly.

Forty years ago the advocates for contraception said that it would mean fewer unwanted children. There would be less child abuse and neglect because children would be more wanted since they were more "planned."

Ironically, today children seem less wanted. They are seen not as gifts from God but as financial burdens. Television reporters do stories on the "total cost" of raising a child as if children could be compared to buying a boat or a second home.

With the ability to prevent pregnancy came the presumption that you should prevent pregnancy. Babies are now regarded as a burden. Large families are regarded with derision even in Catholic circles.

Birth control has led to an anti-child mentality.

When a woman today begins to show with a third or fourth pregnancy, people ask her, "Did you make a mistake, dear?"

Forty years ago there an explosion in the Church over Humanae Vitae. Now that the dust has begun to settle a bit, it seems that secular culture was wrong about many of its claims for birth control.

It helps to take the long view. Maybe that is God's view?