Is it allowable to use NFP in order to have no child?

  • Thread starter Thread starter someone429
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

someone429

Guest
Hello!

Is it allowable to use NFP (natural family planning) in order to have no child?

It seems that a valid Catholic marriage requires that the spouses are open to children when they consent to marry. So, I guess that it is not. But I am not sure.

If it is not, then, is it allowable to use NFP in order to only have one child?

It will be better if you can support your opinion with some official teaching from the Catholic Church or a Pope.

Thank you!
 
Are you meaning to enter into marriage with the intent of not having children?
 
Reply to (name removed by moderator):
(It seems that the forum’s built-in reply function doesn’t work.)

Thank you for your reply!

Do you mean that NFP needs a good reason to be allowable? Where can I find that? Generally, where can I find the Catholic Church’s teachings on NFP?

You said that with NFP there is still some chance of getting pregnant. This is not contrary to my questions. What I mainly consider is this intention that two spouses may have: we hope that we will not have any child (or only have one child, etc), but if we have any child (or any more child), we will accept him or her, and raise him or her well. Is using NFP with such intention allowable?
 
Last edited:
someone429 said:
Thank you for your reply!

Do you mean that NFP needs a good reason to be allowable? Where can I find that? Generally, where can I find the Catholic Church’s teachings on NFP?

You said that with NFP there is still some chance of getting pregnant. This is not contrary to my questions. What I mainly consider is this intention that two spouses may have: we hope that we will not have any child (or only have one child, etc), but if we have any child (or any more child), we will accept him or her, and raise him or her well. Is using NFP with such intention allowable?
Click to expand...
Pope Pius XII, Allocution to midwives, October 29, 1951:
Serious motives, such as those which not rarely arise from medical, eugenic, economic and social so-called “indications,” may exempt husband and wife from the obligatory, positive debt for a long period or even for the entire period of matrimonial life. From this it follows that the observance of the natural sterile periods may be lawful, from the moral viewpoint: and it is lawful in the conditions mentioned. If, however, according to a reasonable and equitable judgment, there are no such grave reasons either personal or deriving from exterior circumstances, the will to avoid the fecundity of their union, while continuing to satisfy to tile full their sensuality, can only be the result of a false appreciation of life and of motives foreign to sound ethical principles.
Click to expand...
https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P511029.HTM
 
Last edited:
someone429 said:
It will be better if you can support your opinion with some official teaching from the Catholic Church or a Pope.
Click to expand...
Is there a reason that you cannot do this ^ yourself? Have you have tried to find the answer in the CCC but failed to understand it?

In my words…the married couple need to have good reason to avoid having children. Good reason would be different to people. It’s left up to the couple to decide what a good reason is for them. It should not be something frivolous, or something outside of God’s will - that would require some thought and prayer, or discernment as Christians say, to figure out the best course for each couple.
 
Last edited:
According to at least two Popes in the past, one cannot use NFP without a sufficient cause.
 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states “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” (2370). There is no requirement of a good reason mentioned here. If a good reason is required, why is not such a requirement mentioned here?

I haven’t found any requirement of a good reason for using NFP mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Could you please tell me where I can find such a requirement in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (if there is)?
 
Well for one, Pope Paul VI said it in his groundbreaking Encyclical Humanae Vitae:

“With regard to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those who, for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time.” [Humanae Vitae, 10]

Humanae Vitae
 
Just cause. The Popes use the word “just”.

To better understand “just” think of the opposite, what would be an unjust reason? “I do not want to have children because I hate children”, that would be unjust.
 
To understand serious reasons, think of reasons that would not be serious. Flippant reasons.

Calm down this is something that has clear answers.
 
To avoid is a sacrifice, it is difficult. I’ve never met anyone who could make that sacrifice for a flippant reason.
 
It is possible for a serious reason to be an illicit one.
 
The good news is, the only people who decide what is or is not a serious reason is you and your spouse. That is it. If you guys cannot agree, ask your priest.
 
There are objective moral principles which have to be followed. You can’t just decide for yourself.
 
Actually, we went over the principals. Reasons are to be non flippant and just. The rest is up to you and your spouse.

Honestly, do you really want the job of “Conception Police”?
 
But I mean the reasons. Pope Pius XII as well as Pope Paul VI listed the legitimate reasons.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top