I accept Birth Control, and that's not gonna change!

[Island_Oak]

To the OP: There are so many folks out there walking the same walk with you–SILENTLY–who think and do as you do, ALL of whom love the Church, even in the midst of their disagreement and disobedience. They are, each and every one of them, Catholics and members of the family of the Church as truly as are all the other sinners in the congregation. Perhaps they are even a bit more honest and deliberate in their disagreement and disobedience, and their commitment and love of their faith binds them to us all as they struggle to discern the truth of the teachings and apply them to their own lives. God bless you and keep you close to Him in your struggle with this issue.

 

[SaulTentmaker]

That was my attempt at sarcasm. With a side-effects list like that, getting pregnant should be the least of anyones’ worries.

Mark,

I am always worried about “the pill has bad medical side effects” rout. Though it is true that birth control has a long list of side effects, referenced from Merck, it is not substantially longer or shorter than the average “change the biochemistry” drug, such as Prozac.

And the Birth Control pill also has certain medical benefits, true benefits.

I think arguing the way of “birth control is bad for your health”, or using other blatantly unscientific arguments weakens the position of the Church, which is a very good position: birth control is wrong.

It wouldn’t matter if birth control had no side effects, refreshed you when waking up, never caused abortions, or any of that. It’s still very, very wrong. From the perspective of natural law.

And as we like to argue from natural law, we would like to say “see how unnatural birth control is? It causes these diseases?” Natural law is already very clear about how bad contraception is and must be to the spirit of the user. The damage to the body isn’t directly from the pill in most cases. The damage to the body follows from the damage to the spirit. An unhealthy spirit leads to an unhealthy body.

 

[mrs_abbott]

I don’t know if this is universal, but in our Diocese, we are not allowed to volunteer for catechetical or liturgical ministries if we are not in good standing with the Church.

The RCIA candidates have the right to assume that their instructor believes the faith that he is teaching.

But if he doesn’t say anything or do anything that would indicate that he wasn’t in “good standing” with the Church, would it still matter?

 

[valient_Lucy]

Don’t get me wrong, the Dominicans (I think) accept this teaching (that contraception is wrong) as absolutely true. Some (not all) just don’t consider it infallible.

That doesn’t make any sense. If something is absolutly true, then what does it matter whether or not the teachings have been defined as infallible? Are they saying that people could wake up tomorrow and decide that what was ABSOLUTLY true yesterday is not true today? Something cannot be “absolutly true” and “subject to change at a later date” at the same time.

 

[mercygate]

But if he doesn’t say anything or do anything that would indicate that he wasn’t in “good standing” with the Church, would it still matter?

Yeah. You’re right. It’s OK to say one thing and live another as long as nobody finds out.

 

[mrs_abbott]

Yeah. You’re right. It’s OK to say one thing and live another as long as nobody finds out.

Didn’t say it was ok but no one could make him quit teaching if they didn’t know.

 

[mercygate]

Didn’t say it was ok but no one could make him quit teaching if they didn’t know.

Since noma has posed the question himself, and is troubled about the essential hypocrisy, I think we can allow him to wrestle with the matter as he has indicated: through counsel with his priest and further personal self-examination.

What more could anybody ask?

 

[tequilamac]

Since noma has posed the question himself, and is troubled about the essential hypocrisy, I think we can allow him to wrestle with the matter as he has indicated: through counsel with his priest and further personal self-examination.

What more could anybody ask?

and:
We can pray that she does whatever the priest tells her to do.

 

[mercygate]

and:
We can pray that she does whatever the priest tells her to do.

Careful, tequila! In this day and age, that could be a big problem! Make that a prayer that noma’s priest will help him grow towards a full understanding and appreciation of the beautiful teaching on marriage and family life.

 

[tequilamac]

Careful, tequila! In this day and age, that could be a big problem! Make that a prayer that noma’s priest will help him grow towards a full understanding and appreciation of the beautiful teaching on marriage and family life.

True to a point, but most priests these days are well aware of the Nomas of the Church. A most common counseling problem. Sometimes I hark back to the sixties when I was a know it all teenager. I went to my priest in confession and said so what’s wrong with abortion anyway? Seems people have the right. His answer was to tell me I could not remain in the Church that way, to leave and not come back til I grew up a bit. Hey, but you know what? I grew up quick- three seconds and I was recanting.

 

[jmcrae]

But if he doesn’t say anything or do anything that would indicate that he wasn’t in “good standing” with the Church, would it still matter?

I’m not sure how it’s possible to get up in front of a group of people and teach effectively about something that you don’t really believe is true, especially as emotional a topic as this, that so often brings on so many intensely curious questions from students.

At some point, the students are going to peel away the lies, and reveal the truth, and the impression they’re going to come away with is that the Church is awfully desperate for Catechists - apparently, anyone who’s breathing will do.

It would be much better for the RCIA candidates to be with someone who faithfully follows the teachings of the Church, and can share how they overcame the struggle for faith and obedience, and show the candidates how to make the necessary changes in their lives, and what benefits they can expect to experience when they do that.

 

[Syele]

So IF the pill was 100% effective at preventing ovulation (which other studies show it reduces the risk of ovarian cancer) would you all still have a problem with it?

If it was 100% effective at preventing ovulation, proven to not ause early abortions and it was safe to take I would not have a moral problem with it… keep in mind though that I’m not Catholic .

I still wouldn’t take it because messing with my hormones makes me a total nutcase in need of a mental hospital. http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/silly/crazy.gif

 

[DILCIA]

I just felt I had to say something not really directed to any particular person, but something I heard today and it goes as follows.
Generally, people behave as though their life on earth will last forever, that they won’t die. They don’t realise that this is a blink in time and that for all eternity they will be in heaven or hell.
Personally I am aiming for the former and try to follow my Catholic faith. Sometimes it’s difficult, sometimes rewarding, sometimes I want to hide under my bed for a week, sometimes I cry with pure joy, but always every day is a struggle. What gets me through it all is that I love Jesus and remember that when I die I have to face Him.
If I had a body I would be on my knees begging for mercy!!

 

[Mommyof02green]

I’ve seen several posts that when referring to Noma they say “She”. Noma is a man:

My wife is a protestant. She sees nothing wrong with using birth control in the manner we are. About this I agree with her.

Here, noma states that HIS wife is a protestant. I just wanted to point that out. Noma is a HE!

God Bless
M2G

 

[Leeta]

Nona (and FIll the void) as Catholics we are to practice what we preach.

The Church has always said that contraception is a serious sin and this is infallible because it has been taught continuously for 2000 years, like for instance, the fact that adultery is gravely sinful. This is called the ordinary magisterium, that is infallible teaching which has been continuously taught. This doctrine that all marital acts must be open to life was not proclaimed by an ex cathedra statement of the pope, an extraordinary exercise of the teaching authority of the Church.

Now when your chidren reach teenage years, you will not be credible to them when you tell them that they must remain chaste and not have marital relations while being unmarried. They will know unconsciously, even if you don’t tell them, that you as a married person are unable to master your desires for even a few short times during your married life and so how can you expect them to not give in to these desires?

They will conclude, one has to give in to these desires no matter what because there is no controlling them.

Also, how is your marriage going to survive this? Those who contracept tend to develope a selfish atttude towards their spouse. The nature of contraceptive intercouse is that there is a deliberate frustration of fertility on the part of one, the act becomes a lie. The marital act says, I give myself to you, body and soul. So when the fertility is frustrated, that is a part of your body which is not being given to the other. So these contracepted acts then say, ‘I love you except for your fertility’. Or ‘I’ll give you everything except my fertility’.

This puts a strain, at the very least, on your marital relationship.

NFP (used for serious reasons to aviod pregancy) is actually more effective than the Pill or IUD. There is a nturally infertile time during a woman’s cycle. Now by taking an NFP class from the Couple to Couple League, one can learn how to know in any given cycle when that time is.

I’ve talked with so many who conceived when on the Pill, wearing an IUD, using condoms, etc., after sterilization.

Where do you get the idea that any contraception or sterilization is 100%? It is not so. So when one does conceive while contracepting, it is usually very unexpected and since the person believed that because they were ‘being good’ and contracepting that they have a right not to be pregnant. Many are then tempted to kill the child or reject it by abuse.

Also, ecological breastfeeding is a great way to space babies for some. It extends the natural infertility after childbirth.

 

[jmcrae]

I just felt I had to say something not really directed to any particular person, but something I heard today and it goes as follows.
Generally, people behave as though their life on earth will last forever, that they won’t die. They don’t realise that this is a blink in time and that for all eternity they will be in heaven or hell.
Personally I am aiming for the former and try to follow my Catholic faith. Sometimes it’s difficult, sometimes rewarding, sometimes I want to hide under my bed for a week, sometimes I cry with pure joy, but always every day is a struggle. What gets me through it all is that I love Jesus and remember that when I die I have to face Him.
If I had a body I would be on my knees begging for mercy!!

Another problem is that those who go against Church teaching seem to think that God and the Church are unrelated to each other - that the Church just kind of comes up with stuff, pretty much out of nowhere. They also seem to figure that whatever makes the most sense to themselves is also what makes the most sense to God - they can’t imagine God having a different point of view from themselves.

I also don’t think they really “get” that God is the author of the Church, and that everything that the Church teaches comes originally from God.

 

[noma]

That doesn’t make any sense. If something is absolutly true, then what does it matter whether or not the teachings have been defined as infallible? Are they saying that people could wake up tomorrow and decide that what was ABSOLUTLY true yesterday is not true today? Something cannot be “absolutly true” and “subject to change at a later date” at the same time.

Firstly, I am a man (a good point of deduction by another in this forum). Secondly, the issue concerning the infallibility vs. absolute truth is important. The clarification: if something is taught infallibly, then we know it is absolutely true. If something is not taught infallibly, we may strongly think it is true, but we cannot have certain knowledge of this. The Dominicans are open to the possibility that they are wrong in what they think is absolutely true.

 

[valient_Lucy]

Firstly, I am a man (a good point of deduction by another in this forum). Secondly, the issue concerning the infallibility vs. absolute truth is important. The clarification: if something is taught infallibly, then we know it is absolutely true. If something is not taught infallibly, we may strongly think it is true, but we cannot have certain knowledge of this. The Dominicans are open to the possibility that they are wrong in what they think is absolutely true.

It’s not JUST the Dominicans who teach that contraception is wrong, though.

Ohio State 42-Michigan 39

O-H! I-O!

 

[Julianna]

Did you arrive at your decision in good conscience?

People here like to say other people aren’t “in full communion with the Church”. But the Church itself didn’t seem to have any problem paying off pedophile Priests’ victims in many different countries so they would keep quiet and then keeping the offending Priests “in communion with the Church” by simply assigning them to one parish after another where they continued to abuse young people sexually. There are literally hundreds of such cases. I guess using a condom or the pill is a graver sin than child molestation.

I wonder how many of the strict rigorist doctrinaires in the forum are off the hook as far as contraception goes because they don’t have to worry about it anymore. It’s easy to be a doctrinaire if the tubes are already tied or the vasectomy already done, or one of the spouses is past reproduction age.

All one has to do is look around their church and see the 1, 2, and 3 child families. Hmmmm…at least the OP has the courage to face the slamming he/she is receiving on this thread and won’t have to tell any of his/her children, that they were an “oops”.

 

[renee1258]

I realize I’m late in the game responding to the original poster and some critics of Natural Family Planning.

As have many others ask for you to reconsider such a stance on artificial birth control. Birth control is mainly a women’s burden, we are the one’s who have to take the Pill and if it fails we are one who are pregnant and become venerable. As with many single women they have to worry if the father will stay and commit to her and raising the child, abandon her, or worst encourage her to an abortion.

First our sexuality is driven by procreation (and it is fun too). When a man’s ejaculates he releases millions of spern, and women are much more sexually aroused at the point of ovulation. It is the hormones that our reproductive system create that our sexual desire. Now women are only fertile 96 hours in any given cycle, if God wanted us to have babies every time when made love he would of made woman fertile 100% of the time. But we always must accept any children that come from sex.

Think about from this point of view, the female body is such an amazing thing why mess with it? My husband married me, as me and we respect each other as sexual beings. That means we would not do anything to supress each other’s human diginity as sexual beings. For me to take the Pill or other form of contraception or for my husband to use a condom or withdraw would be denying full “pleasure” of the act.

With contraception someone is getting the raw end of the deal when it comes to enjoying sexual embrace. It is someone’s responsibility and not BOTH of your responsibility. Either the has to take a pill that basically makes a woman neuter when it comes to an interest in sex, or the man has to cap it unable to get full stimulation. That is sure a poor way to express love to one another.

People might think it is frustrating to wait and abstain during the fertile phase of a woman’s cycle. I think because we live in an on demand society in which sex becomes a right without care how or what is being expressed. But the key is WE are BOTH abstaining TOGETHER, we are acknowledging and respecting our sexuality and when we do have sex we are really expressing love with our bodies as one flesh. Yes sex can be not sinful and not just pleasurable but an absolutely joyful expereince!

Another thing if contraception is going to fail, it is going to fail in your fertile phase of your cycle. So imagine having to take the Pill EVERYDAY or wearing a condom EVERYTIME. I’m sure if you take that into consideration the failure raites of contraception is much higher.