"Once the diocese has enough trained teachers, [Bishop] Olmsted will become one of only three bishops in the country to require a full course of natural family planning for anyone who wants a church wedding, joining his counterparts in Denver and Fargo, N.D. Natural family planning is the only church-approved method of birth control." (Source)
I'm all for the idea. I've met too many Catholics that either don't know the truth with the Church's position on contraception or either don't follow it. I think classes for married couples would be infinitely beneficial to the Church's mission - to sanctify the world.
Remember, artificial contraception is always a mortal sin. First, if you are not married then you shouldn't have sex - that's a sin. So, if you don't put yourself in that position you won't even be tempted to use artificial contraception. Second, married couples should always be open to the creation of life. If God's wills a child, then a child will be conceived. (For more info, see a past post of mine on this topic)
The article claims, "... Nine out of 10 Catholic women have used it and that 65 percent of Catholics and 40 percent of priests do not believe use of contraception is always a sin. " I pray that is the wrong and will be just the opposite.
9 comment(s):
I'd like to see a spectrum of NFP taught - not just Billings or Sympto thermal, but the use of ovulation monitors as well, so folks with complicated cycles can have some options too. One problem with NFP is the manual that goes along with it, and I at least needed a refresher course after each child. It would be great if all parishes required this before weddings though.
I think that if God wants you pregnant, it won't matter what you do. Speaking from experience. I conceived twice on birth control pills. (This was also in my pre-religious days) I don't take anything now, and just sort of hope that God thinks 4 children is enough. hehe.
As for classes, I don't know. People want the choice to be their own, and don't want to be forced to do something because of their religious beliefs. I know that goes against what the church teaches, but humans were given this amazing this called free will from God. Somehow, I think that should and very likely does include birth control issues. What works for one, won't work for another.
I just don't understand why NFP is different than other forms of birth control.
Do you know why one is acceptable and the other is not?
Jennifer,
All forms of artificial contraception are opposed to the natural will of God. This prevent them from conceiving a child and if they were meant to by God, then they couldn't.
NFP isn't artificial contraception. Through NFP couples have sex only when the female couldn't get pregnant, so this is just being careful. This isn't opposed to the natural will of God.
One reader in the past gave me an excellent analogy. NFP is a like person going into the room and closing the door saying, "Only come through if you have to". Artificial contraception is running in their, slamming the door closed, and locking it. Would you lock God out or trust Him if He had to come through?
well, I'd agree that 1 night/week is too much. our class was 1 night/month, which makes more sense as you can actually get some experience charting your cycle and can ask questions. with the mechanical ovulation monitors where one tests with a urine stick it requires only one class, but it is much more expensive. (worth it in my opinion)
Its not just Marriage;
Preparation for the SAcraments here is really inadequate;
in our Parish we have about 60 Bapitsms a year, the vast majority of the parents either do not live in the Parish (its Grandparents who are getting their grandchildren "done") or do but have no wish to attend Mass or pray with their children.
I bitterly regret not having had good marriage preparation myself; we had a lovely chat with a lovely OPriest a few times and I don't blame him at all.
He just didn't have any Church guidelines on the topics that needed to be covered; I knew nothing of NFP and we didn't even discuss the need to bring up children as CAtholics and how we proposed to do that. I am lucky, my non Catholic husband takes his duties far more seriously than many avowedly Catholic husbands.
Monica,
That's a great idea for 1 night/month for a few months. I would certainly pray that people wouldn't get married outside of the Church to avoid it as people need to know this information on contraception.
And, Karen,
I agree preparation for the Sacraments is inadequate. There was a diocese a few years ago that had it's confirmations cancelled. The bishop walked out and announced that the students were not ready. I'm afraid too many people receive such an awesome gift as the Holy Spirit without knowing what it is. The Holy Spirit is God!
I also an an advocate for more prepration for the Sacraments.
I believe sex before marriage is wrong,but I don't believe using condoms is evil and I believe the pill should be legal as many women have health problems and need to be on hormones. The Catholic hierarchy view of contraception as evil is the same as what Jehovah witnesses's view of a public transfussion. The Catholic Church believes that since a women can get pregnant she should get pregnant because it is God's will she get's pregnant and cannot use methods to prevent pregnancy from occuring as NFP does not work for women with irregular cycles, the same way Jehovah witnesses view well if God gives someone leukemia they should not get a blood transfusion because God wants them to have cancer.
Anonymous, pregnancy is not a disease like cancer. Jehova's witnesses don't believe Jesus is God either. This analogy is off base. Pregnancy is a healthy and blessed condition. The church is entrusted with teaching the truth and it's the church's responsbility to proclaim the truth. We shouldn't be cafeteria Catholics and just follow those parts of the truth that suit us and discard others. The Lord said "The truth will set you free"
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