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Divorce of Love and Life
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What Child is This?
What did they die of?
You are the Man
You may be a liberal if...
Get Rid of that Worthless Relative
Planned Un-Parenthood
Weighing Pro-Life Issues Prior to Voting

by Monsignor James C. Brunner	Faith Points

The Catholic Church condemns contraception and yet many Catholic couples practice it. This has led to their rejection of the magisterium. This cannot be limited to contraception because if the magisterium could be wrong in this matter it could be wrong in any other. How could the Church be the "pillar and the foundation of truth" (I Timothy 3:15) if it is wrong in this case?

What does the Church see wrong in contraception when so many others think it is essential? More than most suspect. Few have bothered to explore the implications of contraception and the fact that approving it involves approval of other things that couples would condemn in another context.

Contraception is wrong because it is against a fundamental principle of the natural law. Most societies have held that innocent human life is a value that must be respected. We must respect the life of anyone who has done nothing to forfeit this right. The right of the innocent to continue living is not a matter that can be arbitrarily be removed at the desire of whim of another. Human life lies outside of the jurisdiction of anyone who might want to threaten it. Acting directly against this common tendency of mankind is universally recognized as evil. In addition to the right to life itself there is a fundamental tendency to multiply human life. It is not just a personal good but one that involves continuation of humanity. So the good of procreation like the good of life is also a basic human good that must be respected. We cannot act directly against this fundamental human value. It lies outside the jurisdiction of anyone who would act directly against it. Contraception is by definition a direct attack against the good of procreation. We are not allowed arbitrarily to remove this fundamental value at our own whim. Murder is a direct attack against the fundamental value of human life and we cannot act directly against it. Contraception is similar to it because it is a direct attack against the sources of human life. Murderers and contraceptors resemble one another in that they both act directly against a basic human value. Both act immorally.

Contraception is a falsification of total self-giving required in marriage; it gives only a part and not the whole. Sex open to life says, "I am willing to enjoy myself with you and be responsible for its consequences." Contraception says, "I am only willing to enjoy myself with you." This is precisely what one says to a prostitute. It would not be total giving but a use to say, "I give myself to you for a weekend." Any giving that is less than total is using rather than loving a person. Couples who practice contraception degrade one another. Each is made into an object of use, an insult to the image and likeness of God. Even if both persons agree to satisfy sexual impulse in this manner it still remains a use, a mutual using of one another. In its essence it is a mutual masturbation. If masturbation is recognized as an immature act of self-love why should the mutual masturbation that is contraception not be treated with equal contempt?

To say that it should be allowed as an expression of love in marriage is to say that it is all right to set aside a fundamental principle of the natural law for the sake of some desired outcome. If that were the case with procreation, why would it not also be the case with respect for life as long as it produced some good result? To say that contraception is morally permissible is to say that masturbation must be allowed in marriage. If mutual masturbation in marriage becomes a virtuous act, how about solitary masturbation when intercourse is not possible?

It is not possible to judge the morality of an act solely from the attitude of the persons performing the act. The judgment must be grounded in the nature of the act independent of anyone’s attitude. True, a good act can be vitiated by a bad attitude, but a bad act does not become good because of someone’s attitude. Stealing to help the poor remains theft, killing to ease pain remains murder, lying under oath to keep someone from prison remains perjury. And contracepting to promote marital love remains a perverted and immoral employment of sex.

To justify contraception one must logically say that under certain circumstances sex solely for enjoyment is justifiable. Once the principle that sex for enjoyment alone is permissible and meritorious is established in society, and, further, we are allowed to do anything necessary to keep it that way, we have successfully undermined the biblical discipline on sex. If sex is for fun what is wrong with premarital sex? Or, for that matter, adultery and homosexuality? Why should the bible condemn these acts since they are all pleasurable? How can couples who practice essentially recreational sex for most of their married life tell teenagers to refrain from recreational sex? Some teenagers are all too eager to emulate their parents in divorcing love from life.

Contraception was supposed to be good for marriage because it allowed spontaneous sex without fear of unwanted pregnancies. How is it that the rise in contraception is accompanied by the highest divorce rate in our history? Is this coincidence or is it cause and effect? It appears that contraception, which removes life from love, also diminishes love.

There are objections to contraception because some of the methods employed involve further immorality. The intrauterine device (IUD) does not prevent conception but implantation of the new human being. That makes it, not an anti-conceptive device, but an abortifacient (something that causes an abortion). The same can be said of the contraceptive pill at least in some cycles. The pill does not always suppress ovulation, which means that conception can take place. The pill is still effective because it also prevents implantation of the fetus. One estimate is that this occurs 20% of the time. Anyone who uses these methods cannot with consistency be opposed to abortion.

There are morally good alternatives to contraception: generous fruitfulness, abstinence, and natural family planning (NFP). Couples who practice NFP, unlike contracepting couples, have a very low divorce rate, about 1-2% as compared with about 50% for the rest of the population. Modern NFP methods are just as effective as the contraceptive pill. Yet, there are few persons who teach them and even where there are teachers there are few students. Not only are our couples addicted to immorality, but they do not even wish to examine proven moral alternatives. Couples who have sought training in NFP and become qualified to teach others are undertaking an apostolate that is extremely valuable even if they must feel frustrated by the disdain that many give their apostolate. The next time that an announcement for NFP classes appears in these pages do the teaching couples and your marriage and spiritual life a favor. Sign up for the classes. Learn how to express marital love without a direct attack on the sources of life.