February 19, 1969

The Rev. John A. O'Brien
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556

Dear Father O'Brien:

Thank you for your note of February 7 and the reprint "Birth Control and
the Catholic Conscience”.

You set a difficult task to suggest only a very brief comment on this con-
tentious issue, which can be explored at sommany different levels. Further-
more, I fully recognize my limitations as someone outside your church. Some
points are, however, eso obvious as to need little apology. The church will
destroy itself if communicants are not given the right to appeal to individual
conaté@ence. The world has already suffered a great deal at the hands of mono-
lithic authority and we must find new ways to live happily and fruitfully in
new times. I admire your own courage in expressing your conscience as clearly
and forthrightly as you have, plainly motivated by a profound loyalty to the
moral foundations of your church.

Your writing has eloquently shown that the real issue is the role of enlightened
conséience. I am not so easily convinced that the encyclical bears witness to
Paul VI's acquiescence in this principle, and I will therefore be quite sur-
prised at any rescission. However, as you pointed out, this teaching is not
cloaked with infallibility and there can be little doubt that if the church is
to survive at all, it mast legitimate the role of enlightened conscience. The
question now is how many years of torment must precede such an evolution.

Sincerely yours,

Joshua Lederberg
Professor of Genetics