Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, July 25, 2004

LIFE ISSUES FORUM

July 16, 2004
For Immediate Release

"A Way of Life, A Way of Love"
by Theresa Notare, MA

On July 25 the dioceses will begin a week-long campaign to help Catholics understand the Church's teachings on birth control. The campaign-Natural Family Planning Awareness Week-has as its theme "A Way of Life, A Way of Love." Why pick July as a time to do this? Two reasons: the anniversary of the important encyclical on birth control, Humanae vitae, falls on July 28th, and summer is typically a time when people slow down. It's a good time for reflection. Most Catholics are unaware that these teachings are about what God originally planned for His children.

Catholic teachings on sex and birth control come right from Scripture. That's where we find what God wants for men and women. Genesis begins with the creation of men and women made "in the image of God" (Gen. 1:27). This means that men and women have an inner dignity. It also means that they are not merely "of the human family," but are of a "divine family" - God's own children! In light of our salvation in Christ, St. Paul built on this ancient revelation teaching that those who are baptized "are the body of Christ" (I Cor. 12: 27). In fact St. Paul says that "If ... any man is in Christ, he is a new creature" (2 Cor. 5:17). St. Peter echoes this understanding that baptized Christians are "a chosen race ... a holy nation," in fact, "the people of God" (1 Peter 2:9 & 10).

The Church has always understood that because of baptism, Christians are really different-they are living members of the body of Christ! What does this have to do with sex and birth control? St. Paul says that as members of Christ, Christians carry a responsibility in their own bodies-they are temples of the Holy Spirit (see I Cor. 6:19). Because of this, if Christians abuse human sexuality, he continues, they gravely dishonor God dwelling within (see I Cor. 6:13-20).

Genesis is clear about God's design for marriage: "A man shall leave his father and the mother and cling to his wife and the two shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24) and "God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply'" (Gen. 1:28). God's design is that one man and one woman bond as "one person" and that within that bond, a holy reality, an awesome responsibility exists-to cooperate with Him in bringing new life into the world. Decisions regarding the timing of possible pregnancies should be made prayerfully and with respect for God's design (i.e., working with the natural cycle of human fertility). Artificially blocking fertility effectively shuts God out of the bedroom!

Christian married love is "a way of life" and "a way of love" that stands in stark contrast to secular notions of marriage. It is bound up with a purpose greater than the needs and desires of the couple, namely, God's original design for creation. Natural Family Planning Awareness Week celebrates this divine plan.

Theresa Notare, MA, is the Assistant Director of the Diocesan Development Program for Natural Family Planning, Pro-Life Secretariat, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Can it truly be said that the primary purpose of marriage is the procreation of children?

I wish I had more time tonight to address more of your excellent questions, but as far as this point, most absolutely it is defined Catholic doctrine that the primary purpose of marriage is the procreation and education of children, and that all other purposes of marriage must be subordinated to that primary purpose. This has been stated numerous times with the full weight of magisterial authority. Here is one good example from Pope Pius XII:

Pope Pius XII Allocution to Association of Italian Midwives

Now, the truth is that matrimony, as an institution of nature, in virtue of the Creator's will, has not as a primary and intimate end the personal perfection of the married couple but the procreation and upbringing of a new life. The other ends, inasmuch as they are intended by nature, are not equally primary, much less superior to the primary end, but are essentially subordinated to it. This is true of every marriage, even if no offspring result, just as of every eye it can be said that it is destined and formed to see, even if, in abnormal cases arising from special internal or external conditions, it will never be possible to achieve visual perception.
It was precisely to end the uncertainties and deviations which threatened to diffuse errors regarding the scale of values of the purposes of matrimony and of their reciprocal relations, that a few years ago (March 10, 1944), We Ourselves drew up a declaration on the order of those ends, pointing out what the very internal structure of the natural disposition reveals. We showed what has been handed down by Christian tradition, what the Supreme Pontiffs have repeatedly taught, and what was then in due measure promulgated by the Code of Canon Law. Not long afterwards, to correct opposing opinions, the Holy See, by a public decree, proclaimed that it could not admit the opinion of some recent authors who denied that the primary end of marriage is the procreation and education of the offspring, or teach that the secondary ends are not essentially subordinated to the primary end, but are on an equal footing and independent of it.

I don't think it could be possible to be more clear, more strong, more definite, more forthright. And this statement has the ring of infallibility, ordinary rather than extraordinary infallibility, because the pope is calling as witness every source of Catholic doctrine, reinforcing the perennial and universal quality of the teaching, and then defining it as unquestionable and certain.

Unfortunately, being aware that artificial forms of birth control are contrary to Church teaching doesn't necessarily mean that people know they're sinning if they use them. At least not in today's more secularized world, very sorry to say.

I disagree completely. The entire nation is aware that The CC is against contraception. Any Catholic who uses it is committing a grave sin, usually mortal. How culpable each person is we can't say, but that is true for any sin. As one poster has pointed out, there is no such thing as the "sacrament of ignorance". Just because people intentionally choose to remain ignorant of the truth does not let them "off the hook". The CCC #s 1740 and 1741 say that Catholics are under s serious obligation to form their consciences correctly. We are not talking of some obscure canon law that folks would not run into, but a fundamental truth that is critical to leading a holy life. Many of us are liable.

Some have said that Protestants as in the same boat. Meaning that, they too, are committing a mortal sin most of the time if they use contraception. The argument, I think, rests upon the natural Law.

You're right that it's pretty much common knowledge that the Catholic Church is against contraception. However, if I advise a woman about it, or call her on her using it, the reaction is pretty much that she knows she's/would be doing something wrong, and feels uneasy about it, but there's no "connect" to its objectively being a mortal sin. They know it's "wrong" - but the word "sin" feels harsh to them. Mortal sin? Oh, no...it can't be! Or so I've sensed in their reactions. "I'm not perfect," and "Jesus understands," seems to be the prevalent reaction I've heard, along with the reasons they can't be pregnant now.

As one poster has pointed out, there is no such thing as the "sacrament of ignorance". Just because people intentionally choose to remain ignorant of the truth does not let them "off the hook". The CCC #s 1740 and 1741 say that Catholics are under s serious obligation to form their consciences correctly.

As you implied, even though only God can judge the soul, each of us has the responsibility of forming our consciences correctly, and that involves our learning the Church's objective teachings concerning sin, namely, what is a sin, and *this* is a mortal sin, and *that* is a venial sin. Unfortunately, many people go about life, and religion based on feelings, rather than reasoning, and today, the world has run amok with it.

Since it seems to have become one of my life's missions (:oD) to deal with people who deal with life on the basis of their emotions, I know first hand how difficult and exhausting it is to try to help them to change gears from their emotions to their brains. If they stay stuck in their emotions, they really can't see the objective status of a particular sin. Objectively, they are committing mortal sins, and only God can judge how responsible and culpable they are. They're in God's hands, and I can't do anything more besides pray for them.

Faith, knowledge, understanding, and the application of moral laws do not happen in a vacuum. Much depends on the availability of an individual in a rational sense. There is a lot involved in the translation of the Law, from words on a page to that which God has "written in our hearts." And then there's application of the Law. The truth is universal at all times, and in all places, so the application of the Law is always possible, with the Grace of God. There's always an answer, although finding it can be a difficult prospect.

Some have said that Protestants as in the same boat. Meaning that, they too, are committing a mortal sin most of the time if they use contraception. The argument, I think, rests upon the natural Law.

I agree with you concerning Natural Law. As far as the Anglicans/Protestants go, here is an interesting article:

Protestants and Birth Control

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