Cardinal Eijk: Roman Catholic Church the Only Institution to Uphold Marriage and Sexual Morality
The Cardinal sees the Catholic Church as "virtually the only institution in the world" that upholds the natural concept of marriage and classical norms in the area of sexuality.
The core of this teaching is the connection between marriage, sexual intercourse and procreation, he explained.
Since the introduction of hormonal contraceptives in the 1960s, the separation of marriage, sexual intercourse and procreation has become a mass phenomenon.
Marriage is less and less seen as an institution established by God, and norms for sexuality are declining.
Cardinal Eijk criticised the current individualistic culture made possible by growing prosperity: "The individualist chooses his own philosophy of life and his own values and norms. He insists on his autonomy. He is his own 'pope'."
Radical feminism has led to the gender theory, which assumes that sex and the social roles of men and women can be completely disconnected from biological reality, the prelate said: "This means the most radical separation of marriage, sexual intercourse and procreation."
Cardinal Eijk added that in the Netherlands, the Church's teaching on sexual ethics doesn't influence current social attitudes because church attendance is declining inexorably, with only 2.5% of Dutch 'Catholics' currently attending the Eucharist on Sundays.
He hopes that in the future, when the culture of hyper-individualism and secularization will collapse, a "creative minority" of faithful Catholics will be able to lead the emergence of a new culture.
Picture: Jacobus Eijk © wikicommons, CC BY-NC-ND, #newsCddhnpbvfa