Can one be a good and faithful Catholic and contracept?

[gryskull]

reveal:

So, by the answers to this posted question, am I to assume that many of you have very large families?

What does the size of the family have to do with contraception? Just because one doesn’t contracept doesn’t mean that they will automatically have a huge family. Couples do have other options such as NFP and chastity.

 

[GodBlessJoanie]

esr:

There is a distinction between being a sinner, which we all are, and being faithful to the Church. Being faithful to the Church means obeying the teachings on faith and morals. There is a huge difference between drinking, which in and of itself is not a sin, and blatantly refusing to believe or be obedient to the teachings of the Church. To be a faithful Catholic means that a person is humbling themselves to the teachings of the Church because you believe that the Holy Spirit guides the Church on its teachings. If you don’t believe that (ie you don’t believe contraception, homosexuality, pre-marital sex, or any other teaching), then I would presume that you are not a faithful Catholic.

A person can sin (drink too much, lie, contracept) and know that it is wrong but in their human weakness commit the sin anyway and still be a faithful Catholic. However, you cannot sin because you do not believe it is a sin and be a faithful Catholic.

This is an excellent piece.
Pick and plucking the Church’s teachings brings serious consquences. I know this from personal experience.

I now bow fully to Her Wisdom and resulting authority.

The Authority of the Church comes from the author: Jesus Christ.

Wasn’t G.K. Chesterton the Protestant convert who said he finally understood about BIRTH CONTROL…

NO BIRTH AND NO CONTROL!

Scott Hahn says “God’s love is so powerful within the Sacrament of Marriage that in 9 months you may have to give it a name!”

Blessings,

Joanie

 

[Catholic4aReasn]

Patrick:

Let’s talk real life here though … I suspect that if we followed what you suggest, 95% of Catholics would have to leave the church and we would be left with a very small minority of terrific Catholics. But the majority of the 95% that left would still be followers of Christ and live what most would consider to be morally good lives … so what’s the point in booting them out?

Well, if all Catholics were faithful Catholics then there wouldn’t be so much confusion among non-Catholics about what the Church teaches and there would be far less scandal.

For example, I was against my husband (who is not Catholic) getting a vasectomy to which he replied “The doctor who is going to do it is Catholic” as though that were “proof” that one can be Catholic and and see sterilization as OK.

By the way, I think that doc will be held responsible one day for giving my husband that false impression.

In Christ,
Nancy

 

[stanley123]

The answer to the question should be no, but according to the following article in US Catholic

uscatholic.org/2005/09/featb0509.htm

“It is well-known that the overwhelming majority of U.S. Catholics do in fact use artificial contraception.”
“After much thought and prayer, they decided that contraception was the best solution for them. Freedom from fear of conception has had a very positive impact on their relationship and their family life as a whole.”

 

[felra]

stanley123:

The answer to the question should be no, but according to the following article in US Catholic

uscatholic.org/2005/09/featb0509.htm

“It is well-known that the overwhelming majority of U.S. Catholics do in fact use artificial contraception.”
“After much thought and prayer, they decided that contraception was the best solution for them. Freedom from fear of conception has had a very positive impact on their relationship and their family life as a whole.”

Lets meet the author behind those quotes:

---

Article author:** Susan A. Ross** *is a professor of theology at Loyola University Chicago. *

Full-Time Faculty in Theology - R

Susan A. Ross
Ph.D., University of Chicago
Professor

Specialty: Systematic, Feminist, Sacramental Theology
Research Interests: Feminist theology; Theological anthropology; Feminist ethics

Office: Crown Center 321
Phone; 773-508-2364
E-mail: *sross@luc.edu*

Dr. Susan A. Ross is a Professor of Theology and a Faculty Scholar at Loyola University Chicago. She received her BA from Manhattanville College, her MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the faculty at Loyola, she taught at St. Norbert College and Duquesne University. She is the author of Extravagant Affections: A Feminist Sacramental Theology (New York: Continuum Press, 1998), the co-editor (with Maureen A. Tilley) of Broken and Whole: Essays on Religion and the Body (University Press of America, 1995), and the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on such topics as women and the Eucharist, embodiment, feminist theology and feminist ethics. She is the recipient of a Louisville Institute Sabbatical Grant, the Book of the Year Award from the College Theology Society in 1999, and the Ann O’Hara Graff Award of the Women’s Seminar of the Catholic Theological Society of America. She is currently at work on a new book project on feminist theology and the beautiful.
http://www.luc.edu/depts/theology/faculty/vitas/r.html

 

[fix]

stanley123:

The answer to the question should be no, but according to the following article in US Catholic

uscatholic.org/2005/09/featb0509.htm

“It is well-known that the overwhelming majority of U.S. Catholics do in fact use artificial contraception.”
“After much thought and prayer, they decided that contraception was the best solution for them. Freedom from fear of conception has had a very positive impact on their relationship and their family life as a whole.”

Indeed, separating sex and love has ushered in vast acceptance of sodomy, fornication, abortion, IVF and a host of other positive impacts. The lay magisterium strikes again.

 

[elzbeth99]

Satan veils himself as an Angel of Light

It is sad that more and more people are being lead to sin by the “well educated” i.e. lay magisterium. I am reminded by the reading for today that Christ did not pick the most educated to lead his Church. Not that I think education is bad, but I do think it is known that he did this in part so that no one would think what was being past on was man made and so that no one could boast that they had figured it out
It is true that even with prayer we can still choose to go against God. Too many people think that God will strike them dead if they sin, so they don’t think they are sinningThen they wonder why they are depressed, not that people are depressed only because of there own sinfulness, but some are blessed to be given this warning and the opportunity to seek their joy back. Though their are too many of us that don’t seem to notice the lack. That is why those who have the Joy of Jesus Christ must shine like the morning when they can, and no get too caught up in pointing out others sins.
Why are we so happy that we are not contracepting??
How has God blessed our families, and how are we able to share those blessings with others??
How are these blessings different than this “freedom from the fear of contraception” ?

Spread your joy with out Boasting!!

 

[GWofVA]

felra:

Can a sacramentally married man/woman be a good and faithful Catholic and contracept the marital act (either through drug, devise or sterilization)?

Hello felra,

To contracept is to willingly kill that which would have become a human. That is the whole point of contraception. If a person does something so awful as to willing kill a little child whose only sin is that of original sin, that person cannot be a good Catholic, or any Catholic for that matter. The Church has stated its stance on the subject and that is that the act is a sin. Now, as concerns sterilization, in this a person willingly denys the purpose of what the marital act is for. The Creation of New Life. Period. Thats it. Thus, when a person does such a thing to themselves, they reduce one of the most beautiful acts between two married people to that of a selfish, animalistic sin. There is no reason behind it but to turn a person into an object of desire and self-gratification. And people who do that cannot be good Catholics. If the life of one’s spouse is endangered from the act of intercourse or child bearing then let them practice chastity and celibacy. Their love should remain strong through this situation if it is true. Anyone who takes the life of a child at any stage of growth is not fit to be a parent. That is all I have to say.

Sincerely,
GWofVA

 

[felra]

GWofVA:

If the life of one’s spouse is endangered from the act of intercourse or child bearing then let them practice chastity and celibacy. Their love should remain strong through this situation if it is true.
Sincerely,
GWofVA

Unfortunately, from my experience, this is where many good Catholics falter in their faithfulness, and some never recover their step enough to reconcile their personal opinion/sentiments with authoritative Church teaching.