Another battle looms

Looks like the Curia has learnt nothing from the divorce debacle. Instead of licking their wounds and attempting retrospection in order to learn some lessons from the mistakes of the past, the head honchos of the local Catholic Church are girding their loins for the IVF wars.

It seems to me that the local Catholic Church is going through an identity crisis - it simply cannot stomach the fact that it no longer holds sway over the majority of the Maltese population. Gone are the days when the Maltese trembled in the pews as the priests thundered from the pulpits and the congregation never questioned what they were being told.

After reading a couple of news reports regarding the infamous IVF pastoral letter I decided to look it up online and read it for myself, since clearly it is not right to form an opinion based on just a few quotes that might have been taken out of context.

Reading the whole letter did not make much of a difference unfortunately. I was left with mixed feelings, as I am sure were many. I can understand why the Church is concerned regarding some aspects of IVF - after all if we believe that human life commences at conception then there is something unpleasant about the thought of someone going through a number of "babies" to decide who gets a shot at life and who will be allowed to die a natural death or get shoved into the freezer.

The problem, however, is that although I could see kernels of truth in what was written, the whole letter was penned in such a distasteful and unsympathetic way, that by the end of it I was seething.

Let us take the following quote for example. It starts off offering a modicum of sympathy for those who are going through, or have experienced, the trauma of infertility, but then there is a major sting in the tail with the insinuation that in some cases some couples might actually be responsible for making themselves infertile.

"It is normal for a newly wedded couple to desire children. It is often the case that when faced with the problem of infertility, a couple feels that it has failed. This sense of failure is aggravated if this condition arises as a consequence of certain choices which the couple would have made in the past."

When I read that paragraph I immediately recalled the ludicrous statements made by the "natural family planning expert" we had to listen to when undergoing our Kana course prior to getting married. The woman insisted that women who went on the pill would then find it difficult, if not impossible, to conceive once they stopped taking it. When confronted by a doctor in the audience, she responded by saying that gynaecologists knew that the pill made women infertile, but that they lied in order to protect their interest. So much for the logic behind the bishops' claims regarding the choices couples make that lead to their becoming infertile.

It is also incredible that the bishops are somehow implying that couples who do not have children are a failure. When a couple does not conceive they do not feel like they are a failure. They feel like they have a hole in their heart which they long to fill with love for their children. The despair and longing that takes over their lives has nothing to do with failure, but everything to do with love.

Then there was the following paragraph, which had me scratching my head. According to the bishops if a couple undergo IVF, they are committing adultery! Apparently a couple has the "right" to procreate via sex, and if the sex does not work, then they should just keep having sex and exercising their right, because introducing a doctor into the equation will result in a "rupture" of their fidelity. Kind of makes you wonder what the bishops think the couple gets up to with the IVF doctor, does it not?

"The married man and woman, through their reciprocal gift of love, bring one another to perfection when they cooperate with the Creator in the conception and bearing of children. For this reason, any couple which accepts a third party to participate in the process of artificial fertilisation is in effect constituting a rupture of their conjual unity, their conjugal fidelity; it also obstructs the right of the married couple to become parents exclusively through their mutual co-operative action."

The insults and insensitivity do not stop there, unfortunately. Take the following quote for example:

"The Church is heavily committed in several ways to assist couples who are facing such a situation and to offer proper guidance on the real nature of their condition. First of all, the Church steadfastly encourages couples not to concede to the temptation of taking "easy" solutions simply because these seem technically possible. Not only are these solutions morally wrong, but they are susceptible to danger in that they are to the detriment of the physical and mental health of the couple, most especially the woman. "

Couples who undergo IVF only do so as a measure of last resort. It is an extremely taxing procedure which the bishops themselves admit is detrimental to the couple's health - and yet apparently it is an "easy solution". Yes, a quick fix!

And now this, the star of the show. The bishops start off by implying that children born via IVF are somehow different from other children and that notwithstanding this, the great almighty merciful Lord still finds it in his forgiving heart to love them. Then they inform us that those parents who have been to hell and back in their quest to have a child need to ask for forgiveness, for they have sinned.

"The Church holds close to her heart all those children who are born as a result of IVF methods and confirms that they are still children of God, even if the methods through which they were conceived go against Church teachings and against human dignity. The Church urges the parents of these children to trust in God's mercy and to seek the road to self-reconciliation, in line with their call and mission as parents."

I shake my head and sigh.