Contraception and Sterilization
Contraception (and the related evil of sterilization) is "the elephant in the room" of many Catholic parishes. Unfortunately, many Catholic couples continue to practice contraception and sterilization because they simply have never heard the Gospel teaching on conjugal love.
John Paul II's Theology of the Body offers a compelling vision of the human body in God's plan including the harm caused by contraception. It provides much substance and elaboration to the teaching of Humanae Vitae. The Pope's teaching is made very accessible by the popular author and speaker Christopher West. West's work is a good place to start.
Good News About Sex and Marriage: Answers to Your Honest Questions About Catholic Teaching (Revised Edition)
Publisher: Servant Publications; Revised edition (June 2004)
ISBN-10: 0867166193
Another foundational resource is Prof. Janet Smith's newly updated talk: Contraception: Why Not? http://www.omsoul.com/catalog/contraception-why-not-new-and-revised-p709.html
Here is some concise info on how contraceptive pills, patches and injections work. This is important to know because each of these contraceptives can also cause very early abortions. In other words, contraception is not just about preventing pregnancy, but may also result in the death of a newly conceived human being.
http://www.all.org/issues_birthcontrol.php
http://www.thepillkills.org/points.html
http://www.lifeissues.org/connector/2010/Feb10_Dispelling_The_Myths.html
Natural Family Planning
Finally, it is critical that priests have a solid understanding of modern methods of Natural Family Planning (NFP). Modern NFP is NOT the so-called rhythm method or calendar method. Modern methods are scientifically researched and highly reliable. One of the fundamental principles of NFP is that each woman's fertility cycle contains relatively easy to observe signs, which, if tracked and recorded, can reveal to a couple times of natural fertility and infertility.
If you're new to NFP, you should attend an information session in your area for one of the three main methods of NFP: Sympto-Thermal, Billings Ovulation, or Creighton Model. See our Resources section for more information.
Some Preaching Points
- Contraception, on a fundamental level, comes down to the question: what is authentic love? We know what love is only from God, for God is love! Jesus Christ is the example and model of love. It is from him that we understand what human love is meant to be. Jesus gave himself on the cross in an act of love that is free, total, faithful and fruitful. As St. Paul teaches us, married love has been made an image of this love of Christ for his Bride, the Church. True love, then, is only and must always be both unifying and open to life. We can know this both from witness of our faith as well as from a simple natural consideration of our sexual faculties.
- We cannot redefine love according to our own wishes. We cannot separate the unifying and life-giving dimensions of married love without a serious violation of God's design and, thus, serious harm to ourselves.
- What we do with our bodies matters! In everything from handshakes to hugs and kisses, our body communicates meaning. This is most especially true in the most complete union of bodies - sexual intercourse. The meaning inscribed in the marital act can either be respected or violated - but it cannot be changed.
- Sexual intercourse allows for the most intimate and complete union between two human beings - for it is a union not just of heart and mind but also of body - i.e. it is a union of the whole person. The very act is a sign of total self-giving. When contraception is used, that act of total-self giving becomes a lie - for the couples withhold from each other the very gift they have that allows them to share in the creative power of God.
- The most intimate act of union of man and woman, by its very design, is precisely the place where new life is formed. To reject this connection between spousal union and openness to life is to reject authentic love.
- A woman's fertility is not a disease that we must attack with pills, patches and devices in order to shut it down because it gets in our way.
- As Christopher West says: "Contraception was not invented to prevent pregnancy. We already had a 100%, 100% reliable means of doing that."
There is a vast difference between contraception and Natural Family Planning.
Contraception = Union without openness to life.
Natural Family Planning = Union with openness to life.
Does this mean that couples must blindly have as many children as possible?
No. Though some would like to accuse the Church of this. So how are we to understand "responsible parenthood?" Spouses may limit the size of their family for serious reasons. These reasons may include financial or psychological strain, risks to the health of the mother, or another serious reason. This is a judgment that must be made by the couple themselves, and not by a third party. However, it is important that couples prayerfully discern whether their reasons are truly serious. Does the evil avoided by not having another child truly outweigh the good that another child would bring to you, to your other children, and to the world? Every child makes large financial and psychological demands of his parents - these sacrifices are a normal part of parenting. They must be evaluated realistically, but not exaggerated. While a larger family will certainly have less material things, they will be far richer in the things that matter - love, friendship, and character. See Gaudium et Spes n.50 and Humanae Vitae n.10
A woman's fertility has been given a natural cycle by God which can be understood through the methods of NFP. NFP thus allows spouses a means to space births that does not violate the integral meaning of the conjugal act.
Church Documents and Teaching
Humanae Vitae: On the Regulation of Birth, Pope Paul VI, 1968 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html
Fr. Tom Lynch, National Director of Priests for Life Canada provides an overview of Humanae Vitae (Video, 47 minutes plus Q & A).
Evangelium Vitae: On the Value and Inviolability of Human Life, Pope John Paul II, 1995 http://www.usccb.org/prolife/tdocs/evangel/evangeli.shtml
Familiaris Consortio: On The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World, Pope John Paul II, 1981 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio_en.html
Liberating Potential, CCCB, September 2008
http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/humanae_vitae_en.pdf
Statement on the so-called "morning-after pill", Pontifical Academy for Life, 2000
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_academies/acdlife/documents/
rc_pa_acdlife_doc_20001031_pillola-giorno-dopo_en.html
Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2370-2371 http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm
Quotes:
Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality. These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favour the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, "every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible is intrinsically evil" (CCC, #2370).
"Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality. . . The difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle… involves in the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality" (Familiaris Consortio, #32, para. 5).
"Let all be convinced that human life and the duty of transmitting it are not limited by the horizons of this life only: their true evaluation and full significance can be understood only in reference to man's eternal destiny" (CCC, #2371).
"There is an unbreakable connection between the unitive meaning and .the procreative meaning (of the conjugal act), and both are inherent in the conjugal act. This connection was established by God, and man is not permitted to break it through his own volition" (HV, #12).
". . . Similarly excluded is every action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation - whether as an end or as a means. Neither is it valid to argue, as a justification for sexual intercourse which is deliberately contraceptive, that a lesser evil is to be preferred to a greater one... it is never lawful even for the gravest reasons to do evil that good may come of it" (HV, #14).
". ..direct sterilization of the male or female, whether permanent or temporary is equally to be condemned" (HV, #14).
"Freedom of conscience is never freedom "from" the truth but always and only freedom "in the truth" (VS, #64)
The acceptance of contraception as a means to 'circumvent God's plans' often leads to the 'abortion mentality'. Frequently contraceptives cause abortions. When contraceptives fail, abortion is resorted to as a back-up. The use of contraceptives is anti-life, exploitative and negates God's design for married couples - the pro-creation of children.
