Birth Control and The Catholic Church - Page 2

[lilyka]

Who and how would I talk to someone else in the Church about this w/out offending or outing the teacher that told me this. She is the only female teaching RCIA so I'm afraid if I ask to talk with the other teacher or the priest they will refer me back to her. Any ideas? I really appreciate all of your help!

if you can not take this to your parish priest then I would consider another parish. I think you can bring this up to your priest without being harsh towards the teacher. I would just mention that you heard something in your rcia class that doesn't match up with other things you have read and wanted to get his opinion and guidence on it. I mean weather or not the church allows birth control is pretty straight forward. especially ones that work as abortificients. there is really no question about it. I am not catholic but in my church ones spiritual father can allow for exceptions (such as with some forms of birth control, fasting etc) but that doesnot mean the church officially allows for these things. ...also if someone was telling the converts misinformation it would be best to go to the priest with it and allow him to speak gently with the instrustor. I don't see any reason to go to the other teacher with it. but your priest should be approachable and willing to discus this with you. it will be clear who gave you this information and he will be able to deal with it as he will.

[Tradd]

Originally Posted by springmama

Well I was under the impression that NFP was ok no matter the reasons and that only contraception i.e condoms, withdrawal, the pill etc were an issue.

I'm having a hard time understanding this. I understand where the Church is coming from for the most part on this issue, but what if you really just have no desire to have any more children, then shouldn't you be able to avoid with NFP? You would at least be practicing self control to abstain during fertile times and accept any surprises that may come along. To me it doesn't seem like something that would need to be taken to confession. So far this has been my main issue with the Church and I am having an easy time with the other things covered in RCIA (except this hasn't been covered within the whole class)

Who and how would I talk to someone else in the Church about this w/out offending or outing the teacher that told me this. She is the only female teaching RCIA so I'm afraid if I ask to talk with the other teacher or the priest they will refer me back to her. Any ideas? I really appreciate all of your help!

Unfortunately, you're not the only person I know who's run into this - I've had multiple Catholic friends who've gone through the Pre-Cana (marital preparation) classes (in various US locations) who've been told by the instructors, "This is what the Church teaches [NFP], but nobody really follows it, so you really don't have to pay too much attention to it."

Also, I wouldn't be concerned about "outing" the teacher. Really, if someone is against official Church teaching and instructing others, they should either keep their disagreements against Church teaching to themselves, or not instruct others. Maybe the priest doesn't know what this woman is actually teaching in RCIA. Catholic priests are stretched pretty thin these days, and I've heard various stories about stuff going on (such as on Catholic Answers open phones call-in days) in parishes that wasn't "kosher," but the parish pariest wasn't aware of it.

[shelbean91]

First, we should not labour under the misapprehension that NFP is always OK. Birth control is never OK if the direct purpose is to prevent birth. NFP is only OK when the couple have serious social, psychological, physical or financial reasons to avoid another pregnancy for the time being or indefinitely.

From http://www.catholic-pages.com/morali...traception.asp

Not sure how 'legit' this site is, but what is a serious reason to some may not be to others. That is what is on a person's conscience when making the decision to abstain or not.

[dinahx]

The book 'The Art of Natural Family Planning' explains the Catholic position on Birth Control very well. Even if it didn't act as an abortafacient it would beget abortion, because it gives the user the ILLUSION that they are in 'control' of their fertility. Which they are not and could not be. Then any surprise embryos are framed as Birth Control Failures and not properly Blessings from God!

So that is it in short. I was raised Catholic and taught NFP in HS. Honestly, when used consistently and correctly, there is NO need whatsoever for another type of BC.

Also incidentally, as sort of proof of harm, all BC besides NFP damages the body (which is a temple) greatly. Hormones, IUDs, Sterilization, even latex Condoms are very chaff-ey.

[JMJ]

NFP is considered by the Catholic Church to be the only moral means of preventing conception and can also be used to achieve pregnancy. NFP to achieve or postpone pregnancy in and of itself is moral, though reasons for using it for either may be immoral. Using it to postpone having children because of selfish reasons or using it to seek pregnancy just because you cannot control yourself are both wrong.

"Grave reason" is an English translation for something that is more complex to translate from the Latin. A more up-to-date translation is "serious reason." Still, this translation requires more explanation than a word-for-word translation. The issue of planning our families is a very serious issue that needs to be thought about and prayed about thoroughly. We should actively seek to discern God's will in our lives and use NFP deliberately according to our best understanding of God's will for our families.

This may be very difficult at times and may require a lot of prayer and, in some cases, the help of a spiritual advisor. Ultimately, nobody but you can really judge your reasoning.

[springmama]

God is really working on me today! : I had just about thrown in the towel on my conversion because of this issue but this morning I finally talked about it with another Catholic. I have been so afraid to discuss it with anybody. And then I came here and saw that someone posted on this today.

I am going to accept the Church's teaching on this issue and use NFP. I've got some more reading to do to back it up; Humanae Vitae and Theology of the Body but I feel very confident in my decision to do what is right.

My dh may not feel the same way as he does not want any more children but at least I can tell him that NFP is more reliable than withdrawal. He may be ok with it or he may run to get a V (oh, I pray he doesn't!).

[Snugglebugmom]

Humanae Vitae is definitely a good read for this! Ultimately, anything that is specifically geared at preventing children from being born is a no-no. Using NFP to space your children so that all can be safely born and cared for, is alright.
I'm glad you are feeling better about discussing the subject! Blessings to you and your husband.