Author Description

That is kind of the way the definition of human life has evolved in the last few decades. A hundred years ago, when a woman got pregnant, she knew she wasn't having a dog or cat in nine months. She knew she was carrying a living boy or girl and if she got rid of that child, she was killing it. So why suddenly, with the dawn of the '60s and '70s, was there a question about when life begins: it's at conception; no, it's fertilization (which sounds like something for farm crops); no it's later, at implantation in the uterus; no, it's....on and on. It's a zygote, an embryo, fetus, but never called a child until the moment of birth -- and maybe not even then if a handicap is present. Science went from sincerely asking about the beginning of developing life in utero, to a Pilate attitude, "What's life?" an ultimate blow-off: We know it's human, it's got the requisite chromosomes, but what's the big deal. You don't want it, call it something else -- tissue, product of conception -- and get rid of it. This issue of the Bellarmine Forum magazine is all about the big deal of "Life: In the Beginning." Our unparalleled writers -- Charles Rice, Reginald Gallop, Monica M. Miller -- take on the issue of anti-life, that is, contraception, why its is wrong, and how it is leading Catholics on a collision course with government. Gallop describes sexual union as picking up the hotline to God. Miller says outright taking God out of the picture by the use of contraception is contributing to gay marriage. Rice foresees persecution of the Catholic Church on the horizon. Articles include: Marriage and the Hotline to God, Dr. Reginald Gallup Contraception -- The Folly of Freedom, Dr. Monica M. Miller A Clear and Present Danger, Dr. Charles Rice Campaign for Humanae Vitae, Christopher Manion Contraception & Persecution, Matthew Yonke Think with the Church, Pedro Arrupe, SJ As God Leaves the Sta