Living Catholicism: Being a Pro-life Family & The Use of Contraception

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October 16, 2004

Being a Pro-life Family & The Use of Contraception

We live in a culture of death...literally. America has embraced the use of artifical contraception, homosexuality, abortion, and so forth. The family is under constant attack as well. So what are we to do? Will America ever become a culture of life?

The answer lies within our own homes. What have we become as Catholic families? Do we use birth control? Do we teach our children about true human sexuality? Do we believe and stress to our children the value of every human life? These are the questions we must ask ourselves.

Pope John Paul II, in his Encyclical Letter, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) wrote:

Man is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God. The loftiness of this supernatural vocation reveals the greatnes and the inestimable value of human life even in its temporal phase. Life in time, in fact, is the fundamental condition, the initial stage and an integral part of the entire unified process of human existence. It is a process which, unexpectedly and undeservedly, is enlightened by the promise and renewed by the gift of divine life, which will reach its full realization in eternity (cf. 1 Jn 3:1-2). At the same time, it is precisely this supernatural calling which highlights the relative character of each individual's earthly life. After all, life on earth is not an "ultimate" but a "penultimate" reality; even so, it remains a sacred reality entrusted to us, to be preserved with a sense of responsibility and brought to perfection in love and in the gift of ourselves to God and to our brothers and sisters.

Understanding the value of life, the dignity of life requires of us a constant awareness of our "ultimate" reason for existence which is life everlasting with God. We are His, we are not our own. Our life is a gift, as is the life of every other human being.

In order to live out this reality, Catholic family are obligated to be completely open to life and defenders of life from the moment of conception to natural death. In this article we will look at the first moments of life and why using contraception is not in accord with being a people for life.

Artificial Contraception by its very name tells us much. First, that it is "artificial" meaning not natural. As human beings we are natural beings, so by this description we understand that in using contraception we step outside of the natural order. Second, the word contraception literally means "against conception." Conception is the "natural" beginning of all life.

There are few things that have so subtlely destroyed the Christian family as contraception. Contraception, consciously or subconsciously, makes love a lie. The husband and wife, in Matrimony, profess to give themselves entirely to one another, yet by using contraception they withhold the fundamental element of their very selves - the capacity to create life. This withholding begins to make marital love empty and selfish. The unitive nature of the conjugal act suffers because its equal, the procreative nature of the conjugal act, is missing. The act itself, by its very nature, has a biological and moral function of reproduction. That is the reason that science calls the human sex organs the "reproductive organs." Humanae Vitae, the encyclical letter of Pope Paul VI on this very issue states:

8. Conjugal love reveals its true nature and nobility when it is considered in its supreme source, God, who is Love, "the Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth receives its name".
Marriage is not, then, the effect of chance or the product of the evolution of blind natural forces; it is a wise institution of the Creator to realize in mankind his design of love. By means of the reciprocal personal gift which is proper and exclusive to them, husband and wife tend toward that communion of their beings whereby they help each other toward personal perfection in order to collaborate with God in the begetting and rearing of new lives.
For baptized persons, moreover, marriage takes on the dignity of a sacramental sign of grace, inasmuch as it represents the union of Christ and the Church.
9. In this light, one sees clearly the characteristic marks and requirements of conjugal love. It is of the highest importance to have an exact understanding of these marks and requirements.
This love is first of all fully human; that is to say, it pertains at the same time to both sense and spirit. It is not, then, a simple transport of instinct and feelings but also, and principally, an act of the free will, destined to endure and to grow by means of the joys and sorrows of daily life, in such a way that husband and wife become one heart and one soul, and together attain their human perfection.
And this love is total; that is to say, it is a very special form of personal friendship, in which husband and wife generously share everything, without undue reservations or selfish calculations. Whoever truly loves his spouse, does not love only for what he receives from her, but for herself, happy to be able to enrich her with the gift of himself.
This love is also faithful and exclusive until death. Such in fact do bride and groom conceive it to be on the day when they freely and with full awareness assume the duty of the marriage bond. A fidelity, this, that can at times be difficult, but which is always possible, always noble and meritorious, as no one can deny. The example of so many married persons down through the centuries shows not only that fidelity is according to the nature of marriage but also that it is a source of profound and lasting happiness.
Finally, this love is fruitful, for it is not exhausted by the communion between husband and wife, but is destined to perpetuate itself, bringing new lives into existence. "Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained to the begetting and rearing of children. Indeed, children are the most precious gift of marriage and contribute immensely to the good of the parents themselves."

I highly recommend that all Catholics read this encyclical letter so as to understand exactly what the Church teaches about contraception.

True love is found most perfectly in the Blessed Trinity, in which the love that exists between the Father and the Son is so real that it forms a Third Person, the Holy Spirit. So too it is in the family. The love that exists between the husband and wife is so real that it brings forth life in a child. We are created in the "image and likeness of God" and the two fundamental things that we do know about God is that He is loving and creative. The two cannot be separated, neither can they be separated in matrimony. Openness to life is crucial to maintaining a healthy, loving relationship with one's spouse as well as to having a marital relationship that is pleasing in the eyes of God.

In order for us to be pro-life family we must be families that are open to life. In upcoming articles I will discuss the difference between contraception and Natural Family Planning (NFP). These two are often misunderstood as being the same thing, but they are completely different.

May the Holy Family continue to bless and guide you and your family. Amen.