Why do most people ignore the Church's teaching on contraception?

[PhiloMed]

Here’s my adjusted answer to the OPs question.

People don’t follow Church teaching on contraception and sterilization because they are human. We are all sinners in some regard. We all have that one thing we have trouble with. We all struggle in different ways and we often have trouble relating to others’ struggles.

Sometimes we tell ourself it isn’t a sin. Sometimes we tell ourself it isn’t THAT bad or that everyone else is doing it so why can’t I. I mean this is regard to essentially every sin, not just this particular issue.

That’s the answer. We are sinners.

 

[anthrogirl]

Being a “member of the Magisterium” does not mean that one is infallible, and ALL who voted contrary to Pope Paul’s definitive teaching against contraception in Humanae Vitae, which has the infallible doctrine, were proved to be in error. Any of them not accepting that are in dissent.

Pope Pius XI in *Casti Connubii *(1930) had already declared infallibly that contraception was gravely evil, and the Commission to deliberate on the “Pill” had no mandate to deliberate on anything else. Those not accepting the infallible declaration in Humanae Vitae were again wrong.

Papal infallibility is a relatively new concept, finding its way into acceptance in 1870, as part of the first Vatican Council. It was hotly contested during discussions at the council and did not sit well with many Catholic religious and lay persons. The council outlined conditions which must be met for something to be considered infallible. And strangely enough, it made it retroactive.

Many theologians from the time of the proclamation thru today have had problems with the concept. They can point to numerous examples where papal infallibility as applied by 1st Vatican Council standards has proven to be quite fallible. My favorite was Pope Liberius, who had Catholics ditch the Nicene Creed so he could keep his job.

There is a modern theologian, probably familiar to many in this forum, Father Kung. He challenged others in the faith to discuss the concept. One of the people who took up the challenge was Father Ratzinger (later to become Pope Benedict). Father Ratzinger expressed his own concern over the concept. He wrote in “The Problem with Infalliability” (1974), “A predominantly critical article should not, however, ignore the positive side of Kung’s book. This can be clearly deduced from all that we have said before, when we affirmed that he opened for discussion, in an explicit and unequivocal way, problems that must be reformulated. He denounced obscurities in the historic and systematic structure of Catholic theology, which in fact have persisted and until now have usually been avoided and not confronted head-on” …… "I want to emphasize again that I decidedly agree with Kung when he makes a clear distinction between Roman theology (taught in the schools of Rome) and the Catholic Faith. To free itself from the constraining fetters of Roman Scholastic Theology represents a duty upon which, in my humble opinion, the possibility of the survival of Catholicism seems to depend.”

I think that some popes feel the power of their office and enjoy wielding it. Pope Pius would be a good example of this. Then you have the more humble servants of God like Pope John XXIII who once remarked: “I am only infallible if I speak infallibly but I shall never do that, so I am not infallible.”

If we could prove papal infallibility, many arguments here would be made moot. But the fact that there exist so many examples of the fallibility of papal infallibility, we need to be more discerning when it comes to walking the path of Christ.

 

[1ke]

The problem is that modern people see sex without procreation as a right. They see it as the norm and babies as the exception. It isn’t either.

And, the Church’s teaching has always been that if you cannot welcome a child, abstain. Completely.

Using “recourse to the interfile period” is a great mercy given to couples by the Church as science has taught us more about a woman’s cycle and natural times of infertility-- it isn’t a RIGHT and it should not be the NORM.

Those who have discerned a serious reason not to have a child or more children, and who can use the infertile period, may do so. Those who cannot use the infertile period, abstain.

Yes, it’s difficult. The contraceptive world around us has deafened many people to God’s law and commands in this regard and countless others. The world “changing” is not an excuse for disobedience to God nor will the Church “change” because it cannot. God’s law is eternal, and it is not changeable. Contraception has always been, is, and will always be grave matter against the sixth commandment.

 

[Usige]

So for those Catholics that hold their conscience as having greater weight than Church teaching, why do you think Christ left us the Church? If we are each to look at the evidence and say “that does not apply to my reality” then why did He leave a Church at all?

If you believe that Christ left the Church to guide mankind to holiness, then why do you think it’s right on so many things, but simply think that it suddenly got this part wrong?

This is an honest question. Many answers I have seen here seem to echo our Protestant brethren that there is not a single truth, but rather a truth that applies to me. There is but one truth in Christ and our personal realities do not dictate that truth.

When I converted I had to make a profession of faith that said “I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church teaches, believes and proclaims to be revealed by God.” No where in there is there a capitulation that says “I believe what makes sense to me and reject anything that is inconvenient”.

 

[PhiloMed]

So for those Catholics that hold their conscience as having greater weight than Church teaching, why do you think Christ left us the Church? If we are each to look at the evidence and say “that does not apply to my reality” then why did He leave a Church at all?

If you believe that Christ left the Church to guide mankind to holiness, then why do you think it’s right on so many things, but simply think that it suddenly got this part wrong?

This is an honest question. Many answers I have seen here seem to echo our Protestant brethren that there is not a single truth, but rather a truth that applies to me. There is but one truth in Christ and our personal realities do not dictate that truth.

When I converted I had to make a profession of faith that said “I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church teaches, believes and proclaims to be revealed by God.” No where in there is there a capitulation that says “I believe what makes sense to me and reject anything that is inconvenient”.

Right, but if it was that simple then there would be no reason for reconciliation would there?

See my PP on why people reject Church teaching on this or anything else.

It just happens that this particular topic draws the most interest.

 

[Usige]

The world “changing” is not an excuse for disobedience to God nor will the Church “change” because it cannot. God’s law is eternal, and it is not changeable. Contraception has always been, is, and will always be grave matter against the sixth commandment.

I think that this at the root of this conundrum. Some believe that truth and reality change or that it is somehow mutable simply because something has become more or less difficult.

I get that some know it’s a sin, but commit it in their weakness. It doesn’t make it right, but I can understand human frailty. The issue I have is when others flat out state it is not a sin because their conscience dictates otherwise. The first is honesty where the second is hubris.

 

[Usige]

Right, but if it was that simple then there would be no reason for reconciliation would there?

See my PP on why people reject Church teaching on this or anything else.

It just happens that this particular topic draws the most interest.

The problem around this issue and reconciliation is that many who use birth control have zero intent to amend their actions. Reconciliation has no efficacy if people do not have an intent to amend their actions.

I certainly mess up like everyone else, but I gauge my actions against Church teaching and say “where do I need to amend my life to better please God”. A sinner that simply says “where does the Church need to amend her teachings so that I can better please myself” is not contrite and seeking holiness.

 

[marymary1975]

That doesn’t make using them okay. The ends don’t justify the means.

Condoms have a ridiculously high failure rates. Here the point that the church sees that secularism is missing is that condos are being sold as “safe sex”. Then people.thinks that they can have more sex with no consequences. Then the frequency is higher and because the failure rates are so high more women get accidentally pregnant which increases abortion. A pretty good chunk of abortions due to.contraceptive failure are the result of condom failure. So in the end the secular solution increases the problem. The church has been pointing out this problem for decades and people just ignore it.

 

[Horton]

Here’s my adjusted answer to the OPs question.

People don’t follow Church teaching on contraception and sterilization because they are human. We are all sinners in some regard. We all have that one thing we have trouble with. We all struggle in different ways and we often have trouble relating to others’ struggles.

Sometimes we tell ourself it isn’t a sin. Sometimes we tell ourself it isn’t THAT bad or that everyone else is doing it so why can’t I. I mean this is regard to essentially every sin, not just this particular issue.

That’s the answer. We are sinners.

 

[marymary1975]

We’re all getting sidetracked with our personal agendas and problems.

The answer to the OPs question, in my opinion, is that some people do not have the financial or emotional bandwidth to unsuccessfully practice NFP. For those for whom it has always worked, it’s a non-issue. It works. For those who never tried, maybe it’s fear. But for those who tried and it failed it’s much more than that. Its survival.

there are many happy families with very little means who have far above the national average number of children. They welcome each one with excitement. I think it is difficult or maybe impossible for them to understand that there are some of us who don’t view another child with such excitement. It’s more than financial ability, it’s a physical and emotional ability. The church provides little in terms of practical help for those people.

Likewise, little practical support is provided for those families financially strapped other than a temporary band-aid that may not solve their problem. A family down the street just lost their house prior to thanksgiving after being unable to pay the mortgage. They have 8 children ranging from 22 to 8. I kept wishing I could help them. Not just like the St Vincent DePaul society with an electric bill. Really help them. Pay off their mortgage and give the father a job. I don’t want to be Warren Buffet rich. I’d settle for Jimmy Buffet.

I am.not.in any way for.ABC but I do see the struggle for people that NAP does not work.for.them and suffer due to lack of financial.resources to support their kids or difficulties due to emotional.problems.because they have too many small.children that the mother can’t handle. I really think that there is very little support for people going through theses struggles in the church (and let’s face it in some.cases these struggles.end up in bad situations).

On the same way that I think that for fighting abortion is not enough to provide it, to be able to.fight it you have to help the women who are struggling with the difficult situation of.an.unwanted pregnancy, I don’t think.that just sitting and saying don’t use abc and when the person is struggling the answer is just go and figure out by yourself.is right. The church needs to provide help to.people in situations like Kelfa and philomed.

As someone stated earlier, most of the time.NFP instructors don’t have any medical training. In fact in my personal.experience I have never seen an instructor with medical training. While volunteers do work for people.with regular cycles.and.no issues, there are people with complicated cycles that will.need people.with medical training. The Marquette method is great but ridiculously expensive. The church really needs to start developing strategies to people that want to but they are struggling with making it work. I don’t know.who.said earlier that the church needs to be more proactive. Sitting down and just saying don’t do it but offering no guidance or support is not good. We need to become.more proactive on looking for.solutions.

 

[Memaw]

I’ll tell you why a lot of people ignore the Church’s teaching on contraception.

There are so many confusing aspects of the theology of sexuality, and the Church hasn’t created a teaching that people that easily understand. When you try to dig deeper, there are questions that aren’t answered in a plain way, but resort to allegory or esoterics.

So, people want to be faithful to the Church, as much as they see the faithfulness to be practical. Most people do not use NFP for two reasons: Abstinence and reliability. The real-world application of NFP has some people with 100% effectiveness (like my wife and me), and others who thought they did it correctly and had many more babies then they planned. True, some people have babies using ABC, too.

Women are afraid to get pregnant, except when they are trying. That is a strong motivator.

I only have a High School education and yet I understand the Church’s teaching on ABC. . Have you ever read or I should say studied, Humanae Vitae ? It is a beautiful Encyclical, well worth studying. The problem is in what you said, “people want to be faithful to the Church, as much as they see the faithfulness to be practical.” That’s why we have so many “cafeteria” Catholics. We are to be faithful to Church teachings even when it doesn’t seem “practical” to us. We are not GOD. His laws are not for us to pick and choose. Society has strongly influenced us especially in the last 50-100 years. If only the Church could influence us as much, we would be so much better off and on the road to Heaven. Our Lord warned us not to listen to the wrong voices. I think it’s time we get back on the right track to God. God Bless, Memaw

 

[jtauke]

I am sorry you are going through this. I probably won’t change your mind but if I may share that contraception in any form is destructive I have lived it. It is subtle but it is there and I promise you that there is something diabolical present. Contraception is NOT the answer to freedom in a marriage even though it seems like it. A test years ago on primates found that when females were put on contraception the males were “turned off” by them. Something fundamental about the chemicals in a woman’s body are changed and noticed (even subconsciously) by their husbands in a negative way but tyou won’t see that in the commercials. All they show in commercials are happy young women that are “free.” I pray for your situation and depression, you might decide to try the pill anyway or other means, but there are no easy solutions in life. I promise you that you are simply trading one set of problems for another and I hope you do not experience the deep pain that I did. God bless you please be assured of my prayers.

To the original poster: I think the root problem is not contraception. I have read that anywhere from 45-70% (depending on the polls you read or believe) don’t believe in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist!!! If someone does not embrace the source and summit of our faith, if someone doubts Jesus is there for them body, blood, soul and divinity then of course everything else falls apart! Why would I follow a teaching I believe to be silly and inconvenient, especially when the highlight of my faith is simply eating a piece of dry bread? I think this is the source of our problems, just my two cents.

Not sure an experiment on primates is applicable to human beings. No matter how “sentient” an animal is they are still held captive by instinct. Is it not possible that instinct tells a primate to reproduce as much as possible, and move on if reproduction isn’t concurring?

Human beings aren’t slave to instinctual reproduction. To imply that a male human being would become “disinterested” in a woman because she doesn’t want, or can’t have a 4th child is a stretch. What kind of love stops with reproductive ability…not the type of love I would want if I was a woman.

 

[1ke]

The church really needs to start developing strategies to people that want to but they are struggling with making it work.

I really don’t understand what people want “the church” to do.

The strategy for those who cannot use NPF is: abstain. It’s not complicated.

Yes, it is difficult. The Church offers us many ways to embrace difficult challenges through prayer, adoration, frequent reception of the sacraments.

Stop trying to turn a spiritual war-- against sin-- into something else and state the Church needs to “do more”. If people think they need a support group, then start one. WE are the Church, people. So start a ministry if you think one is needed. That is the proper role of the laity.

 

[marymary1975]

We kept having miscarriages and I went to a large university system in the Baltimore area to figure out why. I was told that you always got your period 14 days after you ovulated. If your cycles float between say 28 and 31 days, the variance occurs in the first half of the cycle. I knew for a fact that this wasn’t true, that I ovulated on day 11 and I got my period usually on day 31. I did the combination of temperature taking and ovulation predictor kits (a very expensive undertaking, by the way), so I was pretty certain I was right. It was only after testing did the doctor concede that I was right. I can see where there is a lot of room for failure in the NFP. Not every women falls in the statistical norm. A lot of us fall outside and that can spell disaster if NFP is your only choice of birth control.

I agree with you. This is why I say that to me it is problematic.that is very hard to find experiences medical.professionals assisting people with NFp. Most of the time the instructions are done on a generalized group of women that fall into a very specific pattern, so if you are outside of the pattern it is disaster. I have a.very odd case too as I have a very outside the norm long cycle which would have thrown off any NFP instructor. I was lucky enough to have a very Catholic.pro life obgyn (though not in the US) who was able to figure it out for me, but had I been at the time in the U.S. of I would had tried to use any type of.NFP it would have been massive disaster.

 

[Memaw]

The NFP physicians in this area are little more than quacks in my medical opinion. They have not been at all helpful as when I begin to challenge them with medical fact their eyes glaze over and they babble about the failure rates of OCPs which I’m not interested in using anyways. I have a good physician and I am a good physician and am very comfortable making medical decisions and understanding my options.

As far as spiritual direction goes, yes, I have but ultimately it is the word of a man who will never be a mother or understand how I feel.

I appreciate these types of threads because I always come away more informed and more certain of my spiritual direction. I don’t think it is the direction most here would necessarily agree with. But never the less, thank you.

Get in touch with Dr. Tom Hilgers at the Paul VI Institute in Omaha, NE. I know they have offices all around the country. You certainly can’t call him a “quack.” God Bless, Memaw

 

[Regina7]

Get in touch with Dr. Tom Hilgers at the Paul VI Institute in Omaha, NE. I know they have offices all around the country. You certainly can’t call him a “quack.” God Bless, Memaw

Yes. I worked with a nurse there for years, and all over the phone. Any tests I needed were done at my local lab and sent to them.

 

[1ke]

Yes. I worked with a nurse there for years, and all over the phone. Any tests I needed were done at my local lab and sent to them.

I wonder of the statement regarding NFP instructors not being medical professionals is localized?

Because my Creighton instructor (over 10 years ago) is an RN. And, Marquette was developed at the nursing school at Marquette… so, many Marquette instructors are nurses.

And a lot of pro life doctors have trained with Dr. Hilgers.

 

[Regina7]

I wonder of the statement regarding NFP instructors not being medical professionals is localized?

Because my Creighton instructor (over 10 years ago) is an RN. And, Marquette was developed at the nursing school at Marquette… so, many Marquette instructors are nurses.

And a lot of pro life doctors have trained with Dr. Hilgers.

It must be a localized issue. But since I know firsthand that the PPVI Institute will work remotely, there really isn’t an excuse. And like memaw said, dr. Hilgers and his staff of nurses are far from “quacks.”

 

[anthrogirl]

So for those Catholics that hold their conscience as having greater weight than Church teaching, why do you think Christ left us the Church? If we are each to look at the evidence and say “that does not apply to my reality” then why did He leave a Church at all?

If you believe that Christ left the Church to guide mankind to holiness, then why do you think it’s right on so many things, but simply think that it suddenly got this part wrong?

This is an honest question. Many answers I have seen here seem to echo our Protestant brethren that there is not a single truth, but rather a truth that applies to me. There is but one truth in Christ and our personal realities do not dictate that truth.

When I converted I had to make a profession of faith that said “I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church teaches, believes and proclaims to be revealed by God.” No where in there is there a capitulation that says “I believe what makes sense to me and reject anything that is inconvenient”.

That is a great question!! And I’m sure you’ll find many answers. While I work in the legal field, my background is in history and anthropology. I also teach church history in the RE program at my church. Lastly, I’m big on personal responsibility when it comes to my faith. I’m right there with St Francis of Assisi who said that there is time to be on your knees and time to be out in the world getting your hands dirty for Christ. And being out in the world exposes us to a lot of things, a lot of diversity, even within the church itself.

While I see some problems with missionary work, I also see the beauty in it, especially when people combine their own traditions with the traditions of the church. For example, we have Latin American catholic communities that bury their dead with little bags around their necks that contain the things the deceased will need to successfully make their journey to heaven. Do you look down on these people for holding onto pagan traditions or do you rejoice in their acceptance of Jesus? The Catholic church is quite diverse and because of that, we are so much stronger and resilient.

If you study church history, you will see that we had A LOT of growing pains. Our church was on the wrong side of history far too many times not to acknowledge that as an institution, we are far from perfect. We’ve made mistakes that have injured and even killed innocent men, women and children. We’ve ignored suffering and in some cases, even covered up our immoral acts. The Church has and always will be less than perfect. It has and always will make horrible decisions and misjudgments. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. We also do great work. Just look at the much beloved CRS and Catholic Charities. Catholic schools and hospitals. And so much more. But we also know that we are all sinners, all the way up to the pope. What that means is that we need to take personal responsibility for our actions, for our own paths in Christ. We’ve should not abdicate personal responsibilities for our faith to anyone but ourselves and God. When you die, who stands there with you to be judged? The pope? The USCCB? No just you, answering to what you did in your life. We together believe, accept and follow the Nicene Creed, the 10 Commandments, the Sermon Mount and the Our Father. We are all humbled by the sacrifice of our Lord and try to emulate him every day in every way. We are receptive of the grace that God bestows upon us with every communion wafer we consume. We join to together in a mighty force to bathe the world in the goodness and love of Christ. We are the universal church, whose members are quite aware of our failings and who try to do better every day.

 

[marymary1975]

I really don’t understand what people want “the church” to do.

The strategy for those who cannot use NPF is: abstain. It’s not complicated.

Yes, it is difficult. The Church offers us many ways to embrace difficult challenges through prayer, adoration, frequent reception of the sacraments.

Stop trying to turn a spiritual war-- against sin-- into something else and state the Church needs to “do more”. If people think they need a support group, then start one. WE are the Church, people. So start a ministry if you think one is needed. That is the proper role of the laity.

What can the church do? As I said, it would be really good if instead of only having Lay volunteers as instructors they could involve pro life obgyns with proper medical knowledge to help couples for.whom.NFP does.not.work.because they are not in the standardized norm. In my pro life group abroad we used to have an.entire list of pro life obgyns to.supportpeople. Why ccan’t similar initiatives be done in the U.S.?

Again I agree with NFP but having the blanket philosophy of well it doesn’t work don’t have sex (specifically writhing marriage) is exactly like in the area of.abortion saying to a pregnant woman that have no means to support the kid you cannot abort but when the kid is born good luck with it and turning tour back on her. Let’s.be realistic, telling a married couple who have real.reasons to not.get pregnant again don’t have sex ever for the rest of your life is going to cause divorces and family ruptures and marital problems.and unhappy children. We already facing a.destruction.of the nuclear family, so.should we help.to destroy families quicker because the policy is don’t have sex good luck, deal with it? To me that seems.uncharitable and it fuels the anti life movement and it gives them strong ammunition.

There are many strategies that the church can do…which in fact are done in.other countries and they work (there is. Reason why the anti life movement.has.more.difficulty getting into.other cultures than the US). It is.not.about starting a spiritual.war, it is about opening eyes. Starting a.ministry here in the US is not that easy. I have spent.years of.my life being active in.pro life groups and I have to say that in the U.S. it is a much more difficult task because people, don’t.think is necessary, they are stuck with the idea that NFP will work for everyone no matter what, they don’t see it.as.an.issue, or they have the attitude of lay back and see what happens, then add that there are many parishes with priests that would not help. Saying start a.ministry is a much more easier to be said than done, even in my parish that has a very old.fashioned understanding and helpful priest is.not.that easy if people don’t.open.their eyes to the fact that there is more to.do.