INTERVIEW WITH FR. TOM HENNESSEY

Fr. Tom: My name is Fr. Tom Hennessey. I'm in the Diocese of Atlanta, Georgia. The first time I ever heard about the tape by Janet E. Smith was when I was in seminary. I received it in the mail, all the seminarians did. We started listening to it, and it was so phenomenal, just an incredible tape. It clearly talked about why contraception is wrong, and it was wonderful to hear that. And to do it in such a simple and good way that almost anybody could listen to that tape. Especially any of these people who are very anti the Church's teaching. Now the priests in Atlanta and I order boxes of these tapes.

I do marriage preparation and I give these out to couples all the time. A lot of people really get so much out of it. They love it. It's really brought them into an understanding of the Church's teaching, and they start to practice the Faith in more vivid ways.

I also do work with young adults and have a young adult's group here. Probably about thirty five to forty young adults in their mid twenties and late twenties. What I started doing was teaching on moral theology to the kids, and I gave out all the tapes. I gave each one of them a copy of the tape. I thought they would really need to know what the Church teaches on contraception because most of these kids will most likely go into the vocation for marriage. They need to know what the Church teaches on this and why the Church teaches.

I gave it to quite a few young men. Because of this tape they really had a major conversion in their life. One of these young men decided to join the priesthood because this tape really called him to conversion. He also had a roommate, [a] good friend of his, who was, I think, just living a basic secular life, not really believing what the Church taught. After giving him this tape, he is now thinking also about a conversion and also thinking about studying for the priesthood. His mind is open to it now. He sees the Church so clearly teaching this doctrine on the immorality of contraception.

Some people I can't meet and I can't get in touch with [because I'm a priest]. This one friend of mine who's now studying for the priesthood goes to parties with friends of his. He hands these out at the parties. It's so funny because these people are somewhat - they're not living their faith. Suddenly they have this tape in their hands, and it becomes a major point of discussion. Where, for me as a priest, it's like you're just pushing the Church's teaching. But if just as a friend [you're] handing out this tape, it becomes a sense of, "Well, that's really interesting, I never knew that." It brings these people to conversion. Hopefully what it has done, I see, is that it brings them to understanding their faith. [They] really believe in the Church's teaching in a clear way. I see this tape as a real gift of God. I see the conversions that it's bringing about, and the radical changes of life these people have made mainly because of this tape and the grace of God. And that's basically the story.

If you would like to help us send FREE copies of "Contraception, Why Not" to seminarians like Fr. Tom, or if you are or know a seminarian who would like to receive a copy of "Contraception, Why Not" you can get in touch by e-mailing us or writing us at: