RECANT on NFP vs. contraception

[marci]

I have been wanting to do this for a few weeks now, but I haven’t gotten around to it, but after just having chastized someone else, I will now take some of my own medicine (gulp)

When I first joined CAF I posted on a NFP thread that I did not understand church stance on condoms vs. NFP. I said that, although I personally didn’t use contraception, I felt they were the same thing, that both were, in my opinion, being used to thwart conception and that therefore, were two sides of the same coin.

Let me just say that after having been on the forums for awhile and having read more on the subject, I WAS WRONG. I didn’t consider how my argument might have created scandal for others who were struggling to follow church teaching or for non-catholics or potential converts for that matter.

I want to apologize for my statements and say that after much thought on the matter, I have given my mind over to the Lord, and I will never speak my prior reservations to anyone again.

I will pray a rosary that anyone I might have confused with my statements will find peace and understanding about church teaching on contraception.

God Bless,
Marci

 

[LilyM]

That’s OK Marci - you wouldn’t be the first nor will you be the last to have difficulties with Church teaching on contraception. Far from it

Takes guts to publicly change one’s mind - more guts than I sometimes possess

God bless.

 

[Malcolm_McLean]

When I first joined CAF I posted on a NFP thread that I did not understand church stance on condoms vs. NFP. I said that, although I personally didn’t use contraception, I felt they were the same thing, that both were, in my opinion, being used to thwart conception and that therefore, were two sides of the same coin.

Let me just say that after having been on the forums for awhile and having read more on the subject, I WAS WRONG. I didn’t consider how my argument might have created scandal for others who were struggling to follow church teaching or for non-catholics or potential converts for that matter.

“I am obedient to the church’s teaching on contraception but personally I believe it to be wrong” is a perfectly legitimate position for a Catholic to take on non-dogmatic teachings.

However I am glad to see that you now realise that, though the Church hasn’t completely finished the process of discernment on this one, there are extremely powerful reasons for regarding artificial contracpetion as undesirable, and it is unlikely that there will be much change. The divorce rate amongst Catholics who neither live together before marriage nor use contraceptives within marriage is almost zero. I’d be very surprised if their personal views on the correctness of that teaching make any differene to the statistics.