I very sincerely seek some advice from people on CAF who have/know of family members who use contraception (whether this is second hand knowledge or first hand knowledge) and how you approach this issue. Particularly in those cases in which you are not, friendship wise, very close to the person, but nevertheless have some kind of communication with them even if irregular/ see them every now and then or at least can practically go to see them (regardless of how often or not this is actually one).
My credibility is diminished by the fact that I am young, (20), am not married and do not have children. For me to approach the contraception issue with a relative who is Catholic, married, and with children, and currently pregnant (it having happened while on contraception), and having related sicknesses, can be very difficult.
I imagine facing such thins as " None of your business" or " You don’t know what it’s like to have children, etc".
To be clear, no, I am not intending to go up to the person and start spontaneously rebuking. I am just hoping that in time, an opportunity to address contraception will come up. For example, if at a family gathering, someone asks her " Are you going to have more kids?" Surely something like this will come up. I don’t know if that is the time to intervene. In one sense, it would be great in that you can witness to multiple people. On the other-hand, if all of those multiple people are pro-contraception, the backlash will probably difficult to handle effectively. Whereas if it’s one-to-one discussion, this is more manageable.
But … I do know that sometimes our silence can be interpreted as assent. I do not want this to happen. I also know we must be prudent. I also know we much lead people to the truth.
Please, if you could share your experiences … thank you.
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