It may seem odd for the Catholic Church to be against contraception when it has become the norm in the world today.
Sometimes people come to understand the church’s
teachings, not only through lectures and reading, but by living them out. As a couple uses NFP, they notice their communication improving and their love making being very special. And after a while they say, this has been really good for our marriage and, oh, it was the Catholic Church that told us that we should do this. For a teaching to be valid, we need to be able to practice it in our lives. And this is possible through NFP.
Since you are asking the Church to make your marriage a Sacrament, it is important to learn a little bit about it. So, let’s explore it briefly.
The Catholic Church has been very consistent; it has been opposed to anything that would interfere with conception for more than 2000 years. . However, the thing that most people don't realize is that all Christian churches banned the use of contraception until the 1930's.
During the 1960’s, 2 things happened that changed contraception from “not being socially acceptable” to being “the responsible thing to do”. First, the pill and the IUD were introduced making contraception very effective. Second, books like “The Population Bomb” (by Ehrlich) and others created a fear in the world that if we don’t limit family size soon that the world will be so over populated that we will not be able to feed everyone. Almost over night contraception became accepted in all forms by all churches except the Catholic Church.
In 1968, Pope Paul VI issued the encyclical letter Humanae Vitae, which means “Of Human Life" reiterating the Catholic Church's teachings. Most people in the Catholic Church expected Pope Paul VI to go along with the other churches and say contraception was OK for Catholics. Instead, he shocked the world by upholding the original teaching.
This caused major dissent in the Catholic Church as people thought that this was an unreasonable teaching. However, at the 25th Anniversary of this encyclical there was a conference in Omaha, Nebraska with Mother Teresa and every moral theologian that you can imagine, celebrating the wisdom of Humanae Vitae. Why was there such a change in 25 years? Well, it turns out that Pope Paul VI was very prophetic in Humanae Vitae.
1. He was concerned that contraception would lead to an increase in promiscuity and especially identified the youth as using contraception if it was available;
AND we have seen the teenage pregnancy rate soaring.
2. He was concerned about the marriage bond being affected and infidelity increasing;
AND the divorce rate has increased from 1 in every 11 marriages in 1930 when all churches opposed contraception; 1 in every 7 marriages in the 1960's when the pill and IUD
were introduced; and to 3 in every 5 marriages today. And the leading cause of divorce in America today is infidelity.
3. He was concerned about women being used as mere objects of sex and not be treated as our beloved companions;
AND we have the battered women syndrome, sexual harassment cases, an increase in rape and every product being sold by a picture of a sexy woman today.
4. He was concerned about the side effects of the pill and IUD, etc.
AND there was a $2.5 billion settlement with the makers of the Dalcon Shield IUD which caused 50 women's death and 150 women to lose their fertility with hysterectomies. And the pill is a very powerful drug. We now have research that shows that the pill increases the risk of breast cancer and that it ages the cervix prematurely. And the pill can be abortifacient: one of its functions is to shrivel the lining of the uterus so that if conception occurs, the new life cannot implant.
5. He was concerned about governments using contraception to control population growth. And, we see this today in China & South America, really throughout the world.
Pope Paul VI was concerned that if contraception was widely available that people would have relationships that they would not otherwise have, which would lead to these consequences.
But, Pope Paul VI didn’t just say, “no, you can’t use contraception”. He called for men of science and medicine to find natural methods that would be effective for couples to use.
This has led to the development of the modern methods of NFP, including theBillings
Mother Theresa has said, "Contraception cannot be an expression of total self-giving because in contraception, something is done to oneself to destroy the power to conceive a child. That same selfishness that wants to prevent the child by contraception will grow until it wants to kill the child already conceived. We must fight selfishness with a true, generous and sacrificing love ... The way to plan the family is natural family planning, not contraception.”
Pope John Paul II has reiterated this teaching in his writings and in his visits throughout the world.
And, I think that one of the most interesting things that has happened is that Protestant churches are coming full circle on this now. Both Dr. Kennedy on “Truths that Transform” and Dr. Dobson on “Focus on the Family” have had several programs on NFP on Christian radio. NFP does not stand for “Not For Protestants”. Our fertility has no religious persuasion - it doesn’t matter if you are Buddhist, atheist, protestant or Catholic - you can use Natural Family Planning.
5. He was concerned about governments using contraception to control population growth. And, we see this today in China & South America, really throughout the world.
Pope Paul VI was concerned that if contraception was widely available that people would have relationships that they would not otherwise have, which would lead to these consequences.
But, Pope Paul VI didn’t just say, “no, you can’t use contraception”. He called for men of science and medicine to find natural methods that would be effective for couples to use.
This has led to the development of the modern methods of NFP, including the
Mother Theresa has said, "Contraception cannot be an expression of total self-giving because in contraception, something is done to oneself to destroy the power to conceive a child. That same selfishness that wants to prevent the child by contraception will grow until it wants to kill the child already conceived. We must fight selfishness with a true, generous and sacrificing love ... The way to plan the family is natural family planning, not contraception.”
Pope John Paul II has reiterated this teaching in his writings and in his visits throughout the world.
And, I think that one of the most interesting things that has happened is that Protestant churches are coming full circle on this now. Both Dr. Kennedy on “Truths that Transform” and Dr. Dobson on “Focus on the Family” have had several programs on NFP on Christian radio. NFP does not stand for “Not For Protestants”. Our fertility has no religious persuasion - it doesn’t matter if you are Buddhist, atheist, protestant or Catholic - you can use Natural Family Planning.
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