Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on the 3rd Sunday of Lent.
My dear Parishioners,
Peace! There are nine (9) “In Brief” articles in the
Catechism of the Catholic Church addressing the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ The following is a reflection on CCC 2399.
Holy Mother Church calls husbands and wives to be generous and responsible for the children they bring into this world. The phrase “responsible parenthood” includes knowing how many children you are able to care for in God’s providence and to act accordingly. The virtue of chastity is no less necessary for married people as it is for those who are not married. Marital chastity may include times or periods of sexual abstinence. The use of direct sterilization or contraception are occasions of sin and morally unacceptable in the eyes of Mother Church because they do not foster the virtues of chastity, fortitude or justice. Such practices lessen chastity insofar as the libido or sexual drive, is given primacy. The use of contraceptives or direct sterilization do not require the strength of character or fortitude which chastity require and widespread use has lead to increased promiscuity. Justice, giving each their due, including God, the spouse, the offspring, is thwarted by recourse to these behaviors.
There are various forms of contraceptive practices, some of which I name here: condoms, diaphragms, oral contraceptive pills, injectable or implantalbe contraceptives, spermicides, intrauterine devices. Among the various sorts of direct sterilization are the tubal ligation, vasectomy, and elective hysterectomy.
Morally acceptable means of regulation of children include NaPro Technology which focuses on the quality of cervical mucus as a sign of fertility in order to achieve or postpone a pregnancy. The Couple to Couple League (CCL) uses the “sympto-thermal” method which examines not only the quality of cervical mucus, but also the basal body temperature and the aperture of the cervix in order to pinpoint ovulation, again so as to achieve or postpone a pregnancy.
More than a generation ago Blessed Pope Paul VI in his encyclical Humanae Vitae pointed out some of the finer points of the natural law, especially concerning the keeping of the Sixth Commandment, ‘You shall not commit adultery“ (25 July, 1968). While this encyclical has been called by its detractors the ”birth control encyclical" it treats much more than mere evils against human generation such as the inseparability of the generative and unitive aspects of sexual intercourse between husband and wife (cf. HV, 12, 14, 17)? Pope Francis as recently as 16 January, 2015, during his trip to the Philippines, has again endorsed the teaching of Blessed Paul VI, whom he had beatified on 19 October, 2014. In this we see continuity between the current Vicar of Christ and his predecessors, Benedict XVI (e.g. 2 October, 2008), Saint John Paul II (Theology of the Body). While conception does not occur each time a couple engages in the nuptial or marriage act, their openness to life and their physical union are two sides of the same coin.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr