NFP vs. Contraception

NFPPILL

NFP• Natural Family Planning

• Not For Protestants

• No Fun Periodically

• No Faith in Providence

Natural Family Planning

Signs of fertility

• fertile mucus• rise in

temperature• change in cervix

Consider

• It is moral not to have sex:– Because one spouse or the other

• has a headache• wants to read a book

– The walls are too thin

• So why would it be wrong not to have sex because it is not a good idea to have a child at this time?

Why NFP is not Immoral

• It is not immoral to decide not to have a child at a given time

• It is not immoral not to have sex during the fertile time

• It is not immoral to have sex during the infertile phase

• Therefore, NFP is not immoral

ProvidentialistsUnless grave reasons present themselves (such as very serious health or financial ones), couples should just “let the babies come”; they should allow God to plan their family size

NFP Faith in Providence

Catechism 2368 …For just reasons, spouses

may wish to space the births of their children. It is their duty to make certain that their desire is not motivated by selfishness but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood…

Dubium 1853

"Should those spouses be reprehended who make use of marriage only on those days when (in the opinion of some doctors) conception is impossible?" The reply was: "After mature examination, we have decided that such spouses should not be disturbed [or disquieted], provided they do nothing that impedes generation"

Providentialists’ claims

• Children are primary purpose of marriage

• “grave reasons” mean “near death” or “near financial ruin”

Children purpose of marriagePope Pius XI, Casti Connubii, Dec. 31, 1930:

“The primary end of marriage is the procreation and education of children.”

“Since, therefore, the conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children, those who in exercising it deliberately frustrate its natural powers and purpose sin against nature and commit a deed which is shameful and intrinsically vicious.”

Pope Pius XI, Casti ConubbiGod wishes men to be born not only that they should live and fill the earth, but much more that they may be worshippers of God, that they may know Him and love Him and finally enjoy Him forever in heaven; and this end, since man is raised by God in a marvelous way to the natural order, surpasses all that eye hath seen, and ear heard, and all that hath entered into the heart of man. From which it is easily seen how great a gift of divine goodness and how remarkable a fruit of marriage are children born by the omnipotent power of God through the cooperation of those bound in wedlock.

“I told him I loved him and he said it back.”

John Paul II: Evangelium Vitae A certain sharing by man in God’s lordship is also evident

in the specific responsibility which he is given for human life as such. It is a responsibility which reaches its highest point in the giving of life through procreation by man and woman in marriage. …“Begetting is the continuation of Creation”. This is what the Bible teaches in direct and eloquent language when it reports the joyful cry of the first woman, “the mother of all the living” (Gen 3:20). Aware that God has intervened, Eve exclaims: “I have begotten a man with the help of the Lord” (Gen 4:1). In procreation, therefore, through the communication of life from parents to child, God’s own image and likeness is transmitted, thanks to the creation of the immortal soul. (43)

Vatican II

Gaudium et Spes 50: Parents should regard as their proper mission

the task of transmitting human life and educating those to whom it has been transmitted. … Let them thoughtfully take into account both their own welfare and that of their children, those already born and those which the future may bring. For this accounting they need to reckon with both the material and the spiritual conditions of the times as well as of their state in life. Finally, they should consult the interests of the family group, of temporal society, and of the Church herself. The parents themselves and no one else should ultimately make this judgment in the sight of God.

Gaudium et Spes 50: But in their manner of acting, spouses should

be aware that they cannot proceed arbitrarily, but must always be governed according to a conscience dutifully conformed to the divine law itself, and should be submissive toward the Church's teaching office, which authentically interprets that law in the light of the Gospel. Among the couples who fulfill their God-given task in this way, those merit special mention who with a gallant heart, and with wise and common deliberation, undertake to bring up suitably even a relatively large family.

Pope Paul VI

Humanae Vitae 10:

If we look further to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by those who, guided by prudent consideration and generosity, elect to accept many children. Those are also to be considered responsible, who, for serious reasons [seriis causis] and with due respect for moral precepts, decide not to have another child either for a definite or an indefinite amount of time.

Moral Reasons• Physical

– Near death?– Fatigue?– Appearance?

• Economic– Near financial ruin?– Need to buy a van?– Concern about paying for

college?• Psychological

– Near nervous breakdown?– Irritable?

• Social– Forced abortion?– Country in famine?– Rejected by family?

Humanae Vitae 16:

“Certainly, there may be just reasons [justae causae] for spacing offspring; these may be based on the physical or psychological condition of the spouses, or may be based on external factors.” Further on it states that the spouses may have worthy and weighty justifications (argumenta . . . honesta et gravia); defensible reasons (probabiles rationes); and just reasons (iustae rationes) for limiting their family size.

Responsible Parenthood

Kinds of Precepts• Negative: avoid evil (always

binding)– Do not steal

– Do not use contraception

• Positive: do good (relative)– Be generous

– Have children

Importance of Translation

Latin Word Transliteration Translation

seriis serious serious

gravia grave weighty/serious

justae just just

probabiles probable justifiable

honestae honest worthy

Categories of Interpretation of Law

Rigorism must follow the strictest interpretation of the law

condemned

Tutiorism must follow the safest interpretation of the law

approved

Probabiliorism may follow the interpretation of the law that is more probable

approved

Probabilism may follow the interpretation that favors liberty

approved

Laxism one follows an interpretation that is doubtful

condemned

“Catholics Must Go to Church on Sunday.”

Rigorism one should be wheeled to mass on one’s hospital bed if that is the only way to get there

Tutiorism even if one is seriously ill or must drive 100 miles (one way) on Sunday to get to mass, one must get there

Probabiliorism

Probabilism/

if one is sick enough that one would not go to work, one will not go to mass; one would drive for a mass about as far as one would drive for anything else one thought to be of importance

Laxism If one has a headache or if one need drive more than ½ hours one need not to mass as a reason

“Spouses must have children.”Maximalists Couples must have as many babies

as their bodies will bear

Pronatalists Work to have babies every 1 ½ and 2 years

Providentialists Just let the babies come: reasons for limiting must be grave; very, very, serious

Optimalists Have the number of babies that is good for the family/state

Optionalists Children are an optional good

“Christians must give to charity.”

Maximalists Empty out the bank account each month

Survivalists Give away as much as possible while reserving enough for a basic life style

Tithers Give at least 10 per cent; give until it hurts a bit

Security seekers

Look to one’s own security first; give from one’s excess only

Vocation

Difficult Decisions

• How to budget money?– Spend equally on each child?– Spend more on very talented/very needy

child?– Take expensive vacations?– Give to charity?– Borrow to go to college?– Send children to state schools?

Limits

Default number of children?

8-10 over 20 years of child-bearing?

Souls waiting to be born

Karol Wojtyla on Family SizeTo create a family means to create a community, since the family is a social unit or else it is not a family. To be a community it must have a certain size. This is most obvious in the context of education. For the family is an educational institution within the framework of which the personality of a new human being is formed. If it is to be correctly formed it is very important that this human being should not be alone, but surrounded by a natural community.

We are sometimes told that it is easier to bring up several children together than an only child, and also that two children are not a community—they are two only children. It is the role of the parents to direct their children’s upbringing, but under their direction the children educate themselves because they develop within the framework of a community of children, a collective of siblings.

cont.

Moral Responsibility to Limit Family Size?There are, however, circumstances in which this disposition [to be a responsible parent] itself demands renunciation of procreation, and any further increase in the size of the family would be incompatible with parental duty. A man and a woman moved by true concern for the good of their family and a mutual sense of responsibility for the birth, maintenance, and upbringing of their children, will then limit intercourse and abstain from it in periods in which this might result in another pregnancy undesirable in the particular conditions of their married life and family.

Cure for using NFP selfishly?

• Use NFP–Requires self-mastery

–Facilitates discussion about having children

–Builds appreciation for fertility

NFP Builds VirtueWith the increased use of NFP in recent decades the Church has discovered that the informed practice of NFP actually builds virtue. In other words, couples who have used NFP become unselfish by using NFP properly. Thus, the Church has learned that if authentic virtue is weak or absent at the beginning, using NFP properly instills it! …Therefore, anything which leads to a greater appreciation of the dignity and value of human beings fosters love.

DIOCESE OF FARGO BECOMES 2ND IN NATION TO REQUIRE NFP CLASSES FOR MARRIAGE PREPARATIONFARGO, ND, USA, July 19 (CNA) - Bishop Samuel J. Aquila, announced today that the Diocese of Fargo will now begin requiring couples preparing for marriage in that diocese to complete courses in Natural Family Planning, the Church's only accepted form of birth regulation.

Fargo follows the Archdiocese of Denver, which was the first in the country to implement the requirement years ago.

19-July-2005 -- Catholic News Agency

KIDS