Vessel or Obstacle of Grace?

Perhaps you may have heard about the recent to-do out at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. It seems that a senior, Katie Freitas, has taken it upon herself to distribute condoms on Stonehill’s campus because the college does not have any programs that provide contraception for its students. Of course, this is the policy of the college because it is a Catholic institution, and most know that the Church cannot support the use of contraception – even Ms. Freitas knows this.

I do not wish to comment on the obvious moral issue involved in encouraging college students to engage in casual sex, nor on the medical or relational issues. Instead, I want to focus on one of Ms. Freitas’ statements. She is quoted, “Abstinence can be part of sex-ed, and should be…But college students are going to have sex, and they should be encouraged to have safe sex. In certain moments, students aren’t going to stop to run to CVS, so I think they should be available on campus.”1

Perhaps without willing it, Ms. Freitas denies the efficacy of grace with this statement. Christian anthropology is essentially a doctrine of God’s grace as it is expressed in the human person. Parents may train their children, schools may try to influence the people they educate, but fundamentally human action is influenced by the grace of God. God’s grace precedes, sustains, continues, and brings to fruition all human endeavors. All of the baptized have access to grace through preaching, the sacraments, and other vessels as God so chooses. In fact, you and I are often vessels of God’s grace for others, and if we are obstacles to grace, then we will have to answer for it when we die. However, if we act as coefficients of grace, then we are indirectly to be praised for the actions of others.

Ms. Freitas – and those like her – would rather have herself and her campus be obstacles to God’s grace. I do not wish to target Ms. Freitas in particular; she seems to have a large heart, and this move to provide contraception does not seem to arise out of an ill-will towards her fellow men and women. However, if we look at what she does through the lenses of grace, then we cannot approve of her actions. College students will not have sex inevitably – at least, I can say with absolute certainty that at least one man got through his college years without having sex, and it wasn’t because of a proliferation of condoms, but because of the grace of God. Perhaps we should focus on becoming, with God’s help, coefficients with His grace, and in so doing, transform the culture that sees “safe sex” as the only realistic alternative.

-Rev. Mr. Ryan Hilderbrand
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1 “Catholic college bars student’s free condoms,” Boston Globe online edition. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/05/catholic_college_bars_students_free_condoms/ Accessed 5 March 2009.

Rev. Mr. Ryan Hilderbrand is a contributor for Columna Veritatis.
He can be reached at ryanpaulhilderbrand@gmail.com.