Should we remain open?

[Charlie_Chautin]

My husband and I are a young couple with two children, one in heaven due to miscarriage, and one on earth, who is 10 months old. I am having problems with people confronting us about our openness to life. We are far below the poverty line, and receive food stamps to help provide groceries. My husband is still in college, he is a manager at a movie theater, and I work part time there also. We are open to having more children, because we believe that the Lord will not give us more than we can handle, but we have received many compelling arguments, often by good Catholics, to not have any more children until we are more financially stable. I realize that the Church has allowed couples to pospone conception in rare circumstances. My husband is unwilling to use NFP, and as he is going to graduate soon, we will most likely be better off in a year or two. Given all these veriables should we remain open to life, or should we use birth control in order to provide our children with a “better quality of life”?

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Dear C,

It would be appropriate for you to use NFP in the face of your current finances. Natural family planning does not put an obstacle directly between the couple and the vows they made at the altar. Contraception does and is therefore, seriously sinful. It is not an option for married Catholics who recognize the obligation of their “I do.”

I strongly encourage you to get a hold of “Good News About Sex and Marriage” by Christopher West. You can order it through shopcatholic.com or by phone: 888 291 8000. It’s not expensive and a book all Catholic couples should have. Your husband needs to learn more about NFP and how good it is for the couple to be so intimately aware of the cycles for life in their marriage.

You both are in my prayers.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.