LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX
We can't talk about contraception and Humanae Vitae until we talk about sex. There are two purposes of
sex that are inseparable: love (union) and life (procreation). If we separate
them we are "using" a human person, which is never in accord with
human dignity. There are two other purposes of sex within marriage as well
(that also tie our sexuality directly to God): a foretaste of heaven and a way
to heaven (marriage is a sacrament, sacraments get you holy, sex or "the
marital embrace" is a big part of marriage and consummates the marriage, the
marital embrace is doing physically what marriage vows do verbally).
IT STARTED IN THE
GARDEN
I always think of Eve when I think of contraception,
primarily The Pill: "But it's just a little fruit!"
("But it's just a little pill!") So what's the big deal whether we
use artificial contraception (against God's Word, natural law and Church
teaching) OR Natural Family Planning (acceptable)? Isn't the goal the same: to
prevent pregnancy? Isn't Natural Family Planning (NFP) just "Catholic
birth control?" Yes and no. No.
THE END DON'T JUSTIFY
THE MEANS
The goal of contraception and NFP might be the same, that
is, to avoid pregnancy (although NFP is also used to achieve pregnancy whereas contraception is always to prevent), but
the end doesn't justify the means. Contraception is doing something (having sex during a woman's fertile time) while
thwarting one of its inseparable purposes at the same time (life). Natural
Family Planning is not doing
something: abstaining from sex during a woman's fertile time so that the
marital embrace will always be "open" to both love and life when it
is engaged in. Contraception and NFP are equally effective, around 97% if done
accurately. However, for couples who absolutely must not get pregnant--the
wife/mother risks death if she becomes pregnant again--NFP can be practiced
with 100% accuracy by adding more days of abstention during the woman's cycle.
4 million couples in China are using the Billings Ovulation Method, some with
100% accuracy because the alternative in one-child-policy-China is forced
abortion.
ATOMIC TRUTH BOMB
Let's start with what is probably the biggest truth bomb
regarding the very great differences between contraception and NFP: John Paul
II calls them "two irreconcilable
concepts of the human person and of human sexuality" (Familiaris
consortio, 32). Wowwwwww. Whatever can he mean? For years--although I
accepted Humanae Vitae (the Church's
1968 reaffirmation of her 2,000 year old rejection of contraception and
abortion) as infallible Church teaching--I really didn't understand it, nor
could I explain it to anyone else. For a fallen mind (humanity after the Fall),
what should be obvious often isn't. It wasn't until I discovered John Paul II's
"Theology of the Body" that not only Humanae Vitae made sense to this former radical feminist, but the
entire Catholic Faith began to make sense through this very concrete,
sacramental lens.
YASSSSSSSSSSS
Although the Church has always had a pro-woman, pro-man,
pro-child, pro-family, pro-life, body-positive stance with regard to
contraception and abortion (remember, whenever we say "no" to
something, we're saying "yes" to something else), when Humanae Vitae was issued, it caused not
only an uproar among the faithful, but a well, rather "unfaithful"
reaction: it was rejected and Catholics contracepted anyway (the Pill was
invented in 1960). Without realizing it, Catholics (and anyone else who uses contraception) brought the Sexual Revolution into their marriages. But the SexRev is the antithesis of marriage.
POPE PAUL'S PRESCIENT PREDICTIONS
Now. We should obey God, His Word, His Church and right
reason, even if we don't fully understand--while we delve deeper. (St. Anselm
called this "faith seeking understanding.") But that didn't happen.
So here we are, 50 years later, reaping the bitter fruits that Paul VI
predicted would come to fruition if society wholeheartedly embraced
contraception: promiscuity/marital infidelity/breakdown of the family;
increased objectification of women; governments mandating/promoting anti-life
policies; thinking we can do anything
with the body as raw material instead of treating it as sacred.
HOW IS HUMANAE VITAE PRO-WOMAN?
Humanae Vitae is
pro-woman because it is attentive to and respects a woman's psyche, body and
her cycles. The man also must be attentive to a woman's psyche, body and her
cycles! Mother Nature has cycles: it's not always Spring and Summer, there's
Fall and Winter. Mother Church has cycles: it's not always Christmas and
Easter, there's Advent and Lent. Women have cycles: monthly fertility cycles.
Women are not always available, that's the lie of male domination, porn,
prostitution, a misunderstanding of Scripture, and contraception.
"Matrimony" means "Mother's Mission," cuz the man doesn't
get preggers, the woman does, and when she does? It's all about her and the wee
one(s).
IT'S NOT ABOUT
"ARTIFICIAL"
You will never hear me use the word "artificial"
before the word "contraception." That's not the prob. It's not
artificial vs. natural means. Catholics love true progress. We love science and
medicine and technology and we use them all the time...in accord with human
dignity: hearing aids, pacemakers, operations, medicine, etc. There is nothing
as "natural" as an "artificial" arm. What?! Why? Because a
prosthesis takes the place of a missing/disabled arm and does what an arm does.
Contraception does not do what a
healthy, functioning system in the body does (namely, fertility). It does the
exact opposite and turns a healthy, functioning body system into an unhealthy,
malfunctioning system, often over long periods of time.
"NATURAL FAMILY
PLANNING" IS A BIT OF A MISNOMER
Natural Family Planning first and foremost is about the
husband and wife's total gift of body and soul to each other, not about how
many children to have and when to have them. NFP is primarily about not holding
anything back. With contraception it's: "I love all of you except your
fertility which you must suppress." What happens physically in the marital
embrace also happens spiritually (because we are body and soul at all times)
and the lack of a total gift can erode and cool the relationship over time
without the couple even understanding what's happening. Think about these terms
and apply them spiritually: "withdrawal," "spermicide,"
"barrier method," etc. And with a condom? There's not even true
physical contact.
ARBY'S HAS THE MEATS
AND WE HAVE THE SCIENCE
But! God is so merciful to us that now we have the science
(biology and social sciences) that prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that what
God told us is good for us actually is, and what God told us is bad for us
actually is. The physical, spiritual, psychological, relational and societal
effects of contraception are damaging and destructive. The physical, spiritual,
psychological, relational and societal effects of NFP are healthy and
empowering. I'm going to quote only one statistic here that should make all of
us sit up and pay attention and want to know everything we can about NFP: the divorce rate of NFP couples is 1-2%.
RESOURCES:
NFP--Toronto (Billings Method):
https://toronto.naturalfamilyplanning.ca
https://toronto.naturalfamilyplanning.ca
New documentary by former pro-abortion radical feminist and atheist: www.SexualRevolutionMovie.com
Best books on Humanae Vitae, Theology of the Body, contraception and NFP: www.tinyurl.com/topTOBbooks
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