‘A Galileo-Crisis Not a Luther Crisis’? English Catholics’ Attitudes to Contraception

Abstract

This chapter explores the intimate, often poignant correspondence of English Catholic women and men to the Archbishop of Westminster, outlining their perspectives on responsible parenthood and contraceptive choices within the fluid sexual landscape of the 1960s. In focusing on the laity’s emotional and experiential reactions to Humanae Vitae, it explores transformed understandings of the sacrament of marriage and the place of marital love within it, alongside shifting attitudes to authority, conscience, gender and sexual relationships. In considering the distinctively English dimensions of this decade of apologetic ferment, the ecumenical landscape, concerns about the ‘new morality’, and the discursive hegemony of the media in framing and shaping the debate emerge as particularly salient dimensions of the English response.