I frequently give consideration to the problem in today’s anti-child society and how we might combat the terrible devaluation of children that is so prevalent in our country and worldwide. I believe that the attitudes we are witnessing are the result of the acceptance of contraception. With contraception, you remove God from your marriage and from your decision. People no longer consider what might please God, but rather what will please you. You begin to think you can decide when you will have a child, when a child fits into your lifestyle, when you can afford a child and what kind of a child it will be. Like our first parents, contraception has deceived people into thinking that they have become like God.

After pursuing every goal of career and pleasure, the perfect home, the new car, that certain income, people decide that now a baby is needed to complete the picture of the family. The baby is now planned and wanted. But in the process, babies have become a commodity, manufactured in a lab, selected for genes or gender, and even used for spare parts. No longer are they the unique and unrepeatable gift of God, described by John Paul II in the Mall in Washington.

But let me recall for you a different scenario. The message of children as a blessing was a common one when I was growing up. Large families were praised as the fulfillment of God’s promises. They were truly the lucky ones, blessed by the gift of fertility. Newly married couples hoped for a child in their first year of marriage. Couples who had no children were pitied and they themselves felt deprived of the gift of children and sought to adopt children.

Then came the “Pill” and even the churches folded to the new message of “responsible parenthood.” Parents of large families were asked why they had so many children - shouldn’t they have been more prudent? The country was swept by the message of the population people and their goal of the two-child family. We were only supposed to replace ourselves, not contribute to overpopulation.

Planned Parenthood indoctrinated young people with the message that pregnancy is a sexually transmitted disease that must be prevented. Women must be made infertile with contraceptives. The feminists got into the act, telling women that they had bigger and better things to do than raise children. Babies would prevent their achieving equality with men in the workplace. In a word, they must become men to achieve success. Abortion was needed to take care of contraceptive failures. Children in sex-ed classes were told that babies were costly and messy and pregnancy the worse thing that could happen to you. It’s okay to have sex, just don’t have a baby!

Now in a world filled with death, divorce, and disrespect for human life, I believe we can still restore the love and value we once felt for children. We can call upon our churches to preach on the value of children. Parents must share with other families the love and value they give to their children. Parents of large families should rejoice in the blessings they have received from God because of their openness to the gift of life. We can all recall the lessons of the Old Testament. The ultimate gift and blessing that God gave to people who were faithful to His laws was a child. And, what greater gift can anyone receive than a new life made in the image of God, placed in our care to bring God’s love to a world sorely in need of it.

Mary Anne Hackett