Contraception - Why do Catholics say it's wrong

There are a lot of misconceptions about why the Catholic church teaches against using birth control but I find that few understand about this and even some priests do not understand it.

I'm going to take the usual questions one by one:

1. Why shouldn't we use the birth control pill?  First of all, there are many health reasons to not use it. The pill greatly raises the risk for heart attack, stroke, thrombosis and breast cancer and not just if you are older.  Since the advent of the pill, even the so called "safe" low dose pill, we have seen heart disease and strokes in women in their 20's and 30's!  Secondly, the way the pill works is that it prevents a fertilized egg from implanting. Yes, it does stop ovulation but not all the time. The woman on the pill ovulates LESS, she does NOT stop ovulating totally.  About 25% of the time, her eggs DO get fertilized and if this happens, the pill prevents the new conception from implanting in the womb. Instead it passes into the toilet and dies. This IS abortion because what was passed into the toilet was genetically a total new human being!  That's why they call the pill an abortifacient!

2. Why shouldn't we use barriers like condoms?  Again, there is the irritation factor for the woman and of course, the men feel a greatly reduced libido using these.  Those are definitely the safest type of birth control but they are not all that safe.  Other barriers like shields don't work but if an egg does get fertilized, the shield may be a problem. Shields can also cause irritation and raise the risk for uterine cancer etc as does any source of constant irritation internally.

OK, those are the physical reasons now let's look at the theology.  We are not supposed to say "no" to God. That is, Christians believe that each life, each pregnancy, is a planned Act of God so if a life results as a repercussion of a couple making love, that is God's Plan EVEN if it creates an unplanned pregnancy to unmarried people - we do not know why God plans things that we don't understand, but we know that we cannot understand much of God's plan and/or won't until we get to Heaven.

So does the Catholic church feel that we should do as the Duggers did and have umpteen kids?  No, actually the church does believe in family planning using Natural Family Planning which means abstinence for 7 days a month.  That isn't very much and the rest of the time, you can proceed totally naturally. Natural Family Planning is NOT the old method of rhythm and not dependent on having regular periods - it is done by observing bodily signs "down south" in order to tell exactly when you are ovulating!

Ironically, Natural Family Planning is now known to be much more effective than the pill in preventing pregnancy - the pill is only 60% effective but Natural Family Planning is 95% effective and actually used by many who are not Catholic or even Christian!

What, you might ask then, is the difference, between Natural Family Planning and contraception?  Good question. The differences are several.

First, you are not saying "NO way" to God - instead you are saying "I don't think I'm ready now" because by not doing anything artificial, you are opening the door to God overriding (I prayed that God would override my Natural Family Planning - I felt uncomfortable having another child because of a chronic illness but I knew if God overrode, it would be ok... unfortunately, God never DID override our Natural Family Planning).

Second, you are not mutilating your body or doing anything destructive to avoid pregnancy. Remember, our bodies are the "Temples of the Holy Spirit".

Third, of course, if an egg gets fertilized which we do believe is a planned Act of God, then it will get implanted and you will be blessed with another child, that is, although you let God know you don't think this is a good time for you to get pregnant, you are also saying "But Thy Will be done" that is, if He has planned another child for you, you leave the door open!

Fourth, Natural Family Planning is something done as a mutual decision of the man and the woman!  Since they are a couple, this is the way things should be!

Planned Parenthood estimates that 60% of abortions are due to failed artificial birth control i.e. if you have said "NO WAY" to God and He overrides, then you might want to terminate your baby.

Planned Parenthood also says that 80% or more of Catholic women are using artificial birth control. Why is this?  My feeling is, it's due to not knowing any better - that is if they knew that Natural Family Planning was not only a whole lot more effective than the pill  but also, it's not defying God's Will should He want to provide another child, and if they knew how easy Natural Family Planning was to learn and how wonderful it feels, and how risky to their health the pill is (some researchers say that the two most avoidable causes of breast cancer which is in epidemic in our society now - are abortion and the pill!), few women would want to continue using the pill.

Consider learning Natural Family Planning - it's better - way better for you, it will not raise your risk for heart attack, stroke, thrombosis and breast cancer and best of all, it does not lock the door to Divine Providence!  Win- win, yes?

Priest dismissed because of pro life homily?

Lifesite news recently reported that a priest in the diocese of Rockford, was dismissed because of daring to preach on Natural Family Planning (NFP). That does sound concerning so I researched it a bit.

I couldn't get hold of anyone at the parish but I did read the homily available on the Lifesite website. Even from reading the homily, I got a very different point of view of what happened than was reported by Lifesite news.

First of all, it wasn't a homily, but rather a sermon having little to do with the readings (the homily is supposed to be a clarification of or based on the readings of the day).

Second, it was rather long and he rambled on and on. In places, the sermon could have been called a rant.

Third, he was inflammatory toward doctors, categorizing all of them (he did not qualify his statements to say "some" or even "many") as money greedy and incompetent. I understand his ire toward the medical profession but spinning negative stereotypes during a sermon in church is very inappropriate.

Fourth, he recommended (for some reason) two secular books on NFP which he admitted DID advocate contraception which is against church law - there is a Billings website, there is couples-to-couples league, EWTN and one-small-life and lots of CATHOLIC groups putting out NFP information so why would he recommend two secular books which advocate contraception? Most concerning about that is that NFP is NOT "Catholic contraception" and should NOT be thought of as such. It is making conception a decision between two married people and then, leaving the door open for God to override in case He sees fit. VERY different idea from contraception and important for Catholics to understand the difference.

Fifth, although Fr Tom's sermon mentioned that NFP was God's Plan, the sermon had nothing whatsoever to DO with the season of Advent or getting ready for the coming of Jesus and God has little mention in the sermon or rant.

It is not surprising that several parishioners left the church in frustration especially as this may not have been the first time Fr Tom gave a similar talk.

Can't blame them. As pro life as I am, I think I would rather hear a HOMILY on the readings, during the holy season of Advent (and I heard some excellent ones which helped me get ready for Christmas). Mentioning pro life is very appropriate but doing a teaching on the mechanics of NFP (including how one does it) during Advent when one is supposed to be talking about the readings seems very inappropriate even to some of us who are pro life folks.

My bets are, his dismissal from the parish is NOT because he was talking about NFP from the pulpit but rather has to do with many factors, some of which may be:

• That there may have been several complaints about his long Off Topic rants
• The fact that he admitted he was hospitalized recently for an unnamed illness but in a 70 year old, every illness is serious - his health may just not be holding up well under the stress of parish work
• That he seems to have no qualms about putting inflamatory statements into his sermons - those really don't do any good and can end up turning people away from the church
  

So now the diocese is likely finding him a position which will be easier on him energy-wise as well as discerning a place for him which will make the best use of his ardent pro life feelings and ability to teach NFP (maybe at this moment they are making a blog for him to write in!). :)

There are unfortunately, several pro life sources which have high visiblity, which do not check their information well and often write with a heavy bias.

Bad information from Catholics and/or pro lifers is as annoying as bad information from the press. In these days of spin we must question --- EVERYTHING....