FRONT ROYAL, VA — The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, STL, president of Human Life International, (HLI) has announced a “Clergy Pledge of Assent to Humanae vitae,” as part of HLI’s Humanae Vitae Initiative, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the landmark papal encyclical, inviting “every Catholic bishop, priest, deacon and seminarian in the world to sign!”

Euteneuer said the pledge “is a veritable manifesto of priestly love for our beloved Magisterium, doctrine and priesthood, in the face of a whole generation of silence and dissent to this most critical of all papal encyclicals, HLI is endeavoring to form a new generation of assent, both from the ranks of the existing clergy and among those who are studying for Holy Orders.”

He continued, “It is our desire and purpose to tell the world that we will not be silent about this encyclical or its teaching. Nor will we stand by idly when Pope Paul VI’s predictions of cultural and spiritual degradation are manifesting themselves around us in broken marriages, devastated families and pernicious immorality.

“We believe that the Catholic clergy has a large part to play in turning this situation around, and only a full, conscious and active promotion of the teachings of this encyclical by the clergy will be a force for change in our present culture of death.”